Psychedelics & Spirituality

What Are Psychedelics?

Psychedelics are a class of psychoactive substances that produce non-ordinary states of consciousness through changes in perception, mood, and cognitive processes.

Psilocybin for End-of-Life distress

Entheogens : connecting with the sacred

Ancient use of psychedelics was sacramental as it continues to be among indigenous traditions

Non-ordinary states of consciousness

Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness cultivated in all known Religious traditions

Sacred knowledge

“Striking correspondence between key qualities of classical mystical states of consciousness and states that arise from psilocybin”

Healing outcomes via spiritual experiences

Rachel Petersen Participant in JHU psilocybin trial

“It’s not that my despair had diminished; the frame around it expanded. And in that vast blessed blank space, I find divine okayness. The sense of being held by a great, ineffable Beyond makes it easier to hold my own suffering, and others’”
“At the peak of my experience, my sense of self dissolved and I unified with an abiding force that permeated all existence — something that felt conscious, vast, benevolent, eternal, peaceful, and furiously important. After sitting up on the couch six hours later, covered in snot and tears, I struggled to put words to an encounter that felt more real than everyday reality — a mind-bendy paradox characteristic of many mystical experiences”

Plants as Teachers?

“I was under the impression that healers would learn their practices during an apprenticeship period, usually with older family members. However, when I began interviews, I was surprised that, though some of them had apprenticed with an elder, when asked who their teachers were and how they learned, most of them began by describing their plant teachers.

Essential Competencies (Phelps, 2017)