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- Why Entheology.org?
Our simple and concise mission statement including information regarding submissions. We pay you for reprint rights on any research paper we'd like to include here at Edoto...just click for details.
- Plants of the Gods
Absolute essential read for anyone interested in sacred entheogens. Includes detailed history and preparation of 97 psychoactive and/or sacred plants.
- Annual Causes of Death in America
The REAL truth is the most sobering statistic.
- Annual Causes of Death in America
The REAL truth is the most sobering statistic.
- Extracting Salvinorin from Salvia Divinorum
This is a concise extraction method for educational purposes only.
- Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
Extremely important information regarding MAOI's, complete with Diet Card.
- Traditional Quid Preparation
Information regarding the traditional praparation of Salvia divinorum for divination by the Mazatecs.
- Pharmacology of Bufotenine
Exhaustive case study regarding Bufotenine, 5-MEO-DMT, and related substances.
- Study on Calea Zacatechichi (Dream Herb)
Calea zacatechichi is a plant of extensive popular medicinal use in Mexico. An infusion of the plant is has been reported to have psychotropic properties that have been clinically-proven to induce dreaming, and increase the frequency of dreams as well.
- In Depth Report Regarding DMT
In this article I wish to draw attention to a strange property of DMT which sets it apart from other psychedelics, namely, it's ability to place users in touch with a realm that is apparently inhabited by discarnate entities of an intelligent nature.
- The Science of Ethnobotany
Ethnobotanists share two decades of experience living with the indigenous peoples of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia.
- Entheogens and the Future of Religion
The book should prove to be a welcome complement to other serious studies in mysticism (including those that take a fundamentally different tack).
- Tukanoans
The Tukanoans are one of the most known cultures that utilize ayahuasca as their sacrament. They are one of about 70 tribes who share this practice.
- Ayahuasca, shamanism, and curanderismo in the Andes
The term ayahuasca comes from the Quechua, meaning literally "the vine of souls," although it is also called "the visionary vine" or the "vine of death." The folk term refers to the botanical species of liana known as Banisteriopsis Caapi , which is also
- The Santo Daime Religion
In this paper, the reader will be introduced to the sect of Santo Daime, a Brazilian religion which combines Christianity with the indigenous practice of using ayahuasca, a native entheogenic plant.
- Santo Daime Church Wins Court Case
Freedom of Religion versus the Psychotropic Substance Treaty - The Verdict
- Ayahuasca: Human Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature
Anything with the name Ralph Metzner even remotely attached to it is a safe buy. An elder statesman responsible for dramatic shifts in consciousness within this nation and throughout the world...
- DMT: The Spirit Moecule
Covering a groundbreaking psychedelic substance that is actually found in human cerebrospinal fluid, Rick Strassman tells a first-person story of his research on the profoundly mysterious substance dimethltryptamine (DMT).
- The World As You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes
John has done a lot to honor and preserve the indigenous teachings and the ethnobotanical environment.
- Shapeshifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation
John has done a lot to honor and preserve the indigenous teachings and the ethnobotanical environment.
- Canada to Decriminalize Cannabis
The Liberal government is preparing to move ahead in the new year with legislation to decriminalize marijuana, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said yesterday.
- Solubility of Active Components – Quick Guide
Brief discussion on active components of plants and whether they were traditionally extracted into alcohol, water, or other solvents.
- Amanita Muscaria
This mushroom could very well be human's oldest hallucinogen, as it has been identified as Soma of ancient India.
- Anadenanthera - Yopo, Cebil, Villca
YOPO or PARICA (Anadenanthera peregrina or Piptadenia peregrina) is a South American tree of the bean family, Leguminosae. A potent hallucinogenic snuff is prepared from the seeds of this tree.
- Argyreia nervosa - Hawaiian Baby Woodrose
Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds are perhaps one of the least understood of modern-day entheogens and exotic botanicals. There is much controversy in regards to its true place in Shamanic and traditional history outside of its native culture and home; India.
- Argyreia nervosa - Hawaiian Baby Woodrose
Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds are perhaps one of the least understood of modern-day entheogens and exotic botanicals. There is much controversy in regards to its true place in Shamanic and traditional history outside of its native culture and home; India.
- Banisteriopsis caapi - Ayahuasca
Used in the western half of the Amazon Valley and by isolated tribes on the Pacific slopes of the Columbian and Ecuadorian Andes.
- Brugmansia aurea - Golden Angel's Trumpet
Golden Angel’s Trumpet is native to the highland areas around the Andes mountain range in South America. It is very well known throughout southern Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. It has also been transplanted throughout Mexico and Central America, and it is f
- Brugmansia sanguinea - Blood-Red Angel's Trumpet
Bloodred Angel’s Trumpet is native to the midland and lowland areas around the Andes mountain range in South America. It grows wildly throughout Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru. It has also been found growing at sea level in Chile. The plant’s
- Brunfelsia grandiflora - Brunfelsia
Brunfelsia Grandiflora is a tree-like shrub indigenous to the tropical regions of South America, ranging from Venezuela to Bolivia and it is especially abundant in Brazil and on the Caribbean Islands.The plant’s psychoactive compounds are found in the lea
- Caesalpinia sepiaria - Yun Shih
This plant was reputedly used in China as hallucinogen, this is nearly all we know about this plant.
- Calea zacatechichi - Dream Herb
Calea zacatechichi is a plant used by the Chontal Indians of Mexico to obtain divinatory messages during dreaming.
- Cannabis sativa - Marijuana
The original home of Cannabis is thought to be central Asia, but it has spread around the globe with the exception of Arctic regions and areas of wet tropical forests.
- Areca catechu - Betel Nut
Betel nuts have been used as a drug for thousands of years. The practiced is thought to have started in south-east Asia and there is archaeological evidence to support this view.
- Claviceps purpurea - Ergot Alkaloid
Ergot: A Fungus Disease Of Rye That Contains LSD
- Conocybe siligineoides - Conocybe
Conocybe Siligineoides is a sacred fungus endemic only to Mexico.
- Coleus blumei - Painted Nettle
COLEUS (Coleus pumas and C. blumei) is cultivated by the Mazatecs of Oaxaca, Mexico, who reputedly employ the leaves in the some way as they use the leaves of Salvia divinorum
- The Bwiti Religion and Tabernanthe iboga
The use of vegetable hallucinogens by humans for religious purposes is very ancient, probably even older than its use for healing, magic or teaching purposes. The profound alterations in one's state of consciousness brought about by the use of a hallucino
- Shamanism and Peyote Use Among the Apaches
In a volume devoted to the study of shamanism and hallucinogenic drugs it is important to include data concerning a group whose experiences with the hallucinogenic peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) in shamanistic rituals resulted in serious conflict a
- The Mazatec Indians - The Mushrooms Speak
The Mazatec Indians, who have a long tradition of using the mushrooms, inhabit a range of mountains called the Sierra Mazateca in the northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Properly speaking they are Huautecans; but since the language they sp
- Use of Psychoactive Plants Among the Hupda-Maku
This paper is the fruit of a twenty day stay in four different villages of the Hupda population, known as the Maku, located in the region between the Japu and Uaupés rivers in the northwest Amazon.
- Gnostisismo Revolutionario de la Concienca de Krishna
Like the Santo Daime in Mapia, Brazil, Gnostisismo Revolutionario de la Concienca de Krishna is an example of a spiritual community based around the use of a psychoactive sacrament as an inspiration and teacher.
- Maria Sabina - Curandera, Shaman - (1896-1985)
Maria Sabina, Mazatec healer, curandera, and Shaman. A native of Huautla de Jimenez, in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, passed away in 1985 at the age of 91.
- A Brief History of the Native American Church
Today the Native American Church of North America has eighty chapters and members belonging to some seventy Native American Nations. In the continental United States, every state west of the Mississippi has at least one chapter.
- Barquinha
Barquinha, a split off the Santo Daime and the smallest of the three established Brazilian churches who use 'huasca', as its called in Brazil. As with the others, the religion incorporates beliefs from Spiritism, Christianity and the native jungle tribes.
- Huichol Indians of Mexico
The Huichol Indians of Mexico call themselves "the healers." Isolated high in the Sierra Madre mountains of northwestern Mexico, these indigenous people have preserved the purest preColombian culture in our hemisphere.
- Who are the Tarahumara?
Among the peoples of North America, the Tarahumara are considered to be the most primitive, the least touched by modern civilization. They are also the most unmixed of any of the Indian tribes of Mexico.
- Nature in the Rastafarian Consciousness
Living in harmony with the environment and the laws of Nature is one of the central ideas of Rastafarianism. To live in accordance with the Earth is to live in accordance with Jah; it is incorporated into the morality that is Rastafarian consciousness.
- The Taino World
Taíno culture was the most highly developed in the Caribbean when Columbus reached Hispaniola in 1492. Islands throughout the Greater Antilles were dotted with Taíno communities nestled in valleys and along the rivers and coastlines, some of which were in
- Shamanism in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet
Article on Tibetean Shamanism of the Bon Tradition.
- The Matses Indians - Making Magic
The Matses are a small, seminomadic, hunting-gathering tribe who live in the remote jungle along the Rio Yavari, on the border of Peru and Brazil.
- The Yanomami
The Yanomami comprise a society of hunter-agriculturists of the tropical rainforest of Northern Amazonia, whose contact with non-indigenous society over the most part of their territory has been relatively recent.
- Fasting Fakir Flummoxes Physicians
Prahlad Jani, a holy man, or fakir, who is over 70 years old, has just spent 10 days under constant observation in Sterling Hospital, and during that time, he did not consume anything and "neither did he pass urine or stool", according to the hospital's d
- Fasting Fakir Flummoxes Physicians
Prahlad Jani, a holy man, or fakir, who is over 70 years old, has just spent 10 days under constant observation in Sterling Hospital, and during that time, he did not consume anything and "neither did he pass urine or stool", according to the hospital's d
- Chile rediscovers native Mapuche remedies
Chileans are rediscovering ancient herbal remedies of the Mapuche indigenous tribe.
- Narcotics Control Board Destroying Coca Cultures
In a culturally insensitive and irrational move, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has called for the governments of Bolivia and Peru to abolish all uses of the coca leaf, including coca leaf chewing.
- Narcotics Control Board Destroying Coca Cultures
In a culturally insensitive and irrational move, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has called for the governments of Bolivia and Peru to abolish all uses of the coca leaf, including coca leaf chewing.
- LSD Helped Forge Alex Grey's Spiritual, Artistic and Love Lives
Interview with artist Alex Grey explores his use of psychotropic drugs and their influence on his art, his spirituality, and his life.
- The Shroom Tragedy
Magic mushrooms are on the verge of being outlawed by the Dutch government for the usual sensationalized reasons as everywhere else.
- The Shroom Tragedy
Magic mushrooms are on the verge of being outlawed by the Dutch government for the usual sensationalized reasons as everywhere else.
- Blood is Thicker Than Friends
Fiji's interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama describes his experience with a Vanuatu kava session.
- Incense May Relieve Depression and Anxiety Naturally
Researchers find psychoactive link between burning frankincense incense and relieving symptoms of anxiety and depression.
- Brazil Appeals Court Rules Drug Possession Not a Crime
At the end of March, a Brazilian appeals court in São Paulo declared that possession of drugs for personal use is not a criminal offense. Several lower courts had previously ruled in the same way, but the ruling from the São Paulo Justice Court's 6th Crim
- Will Harvard Drop Acid Again?
Dr. John Halpern of Harvard University conducts research through human clinical trials into the medicinal value and applications of LSD and psilocybin. Joining forces with Halpern is Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedeli
- Low-Dose Psilocybin Brings Relief To Cluster-Headache Sufferers
Anecdotal evidence and comprehensive, scientific case studies point to successful treatment of cluster headaches with psilocybin mushrooms.
- What Herbs May Help People With Anxiety
Dr. Michael W. Kahn, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Director of Ambulatory Psychiatry at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, discusses alternative herbal therapies for treating anxiety.
- How the Internet Fuels the Global Psychedelic Community
This year and the next, the United Nations will evaluate the War on Drugs. Since its official start in 1998 we have been bombed with official statistics on drug use, drug addiction, drug trafficking, street prices, courtcases and all the like. But what do
- US Leads World in Substance Abuse, WHO Finds
The United States leads the world in rates of experimenting with marijuana and cocaine despite strict drug laws, World Health Organization researchers said on Tuesday. Countries with looser drug laws have lower rates of abuse, the researchers report in t
- Absinthe - Green Fairy - Wormwood
Now that the ban on absinthe has been lifted in the United States, as well as around the rest of the world, all of us now are able to enjoy The Green Fairy again in all her psychoactive and sometimes psychedelic glory that inspired many great artists.
- Turbina corymbosa - Ololiuqui
Ololiuqui is the Aztec name for the seeds of certain convolvulaceous plants which have been used since prehispanic times by the Aztecs and related tribes, just as the sacred mushrooms and the cactus peyote have been used in their religious ceremonies for
- The Land of the Lotus Smokers
Metaphor and drug use from Homer's the Illiad and he Odyssey, and modern day use of the lotus flower in extracts and herbal blends.
- Theobroma cacao
Cacao truly is a "Food of the Gods", especially now that it's been clinically-proven to be extraordinaily good for our bodies. Yes, chocolate is indeed derived from cacao and has extraordinary nutritional properties, as well as psychoactive and aphrodisi
- Might the Gods be Alkaloids?
The question related in the title of our presentation addresses the role and use of psychoactive plants, throughout the process of human evolution, as inducers of altered states of consciousness.
- Marc Emery, Canada's Prince of Pot
In November 2002, Cannabis Culture publisher Marc Emery completed his second run for Mayor of Vancouver, Canada's West Coast cannabis capital. The renowned pot seed merchant placed fifth on the crowded ballot, participating in all major debates and campai
- Who Will Be Obama’s Pick For ‘Drug Czar’?
by Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director.
- Healing and Regenerative Effects of Ayahuasca
One writer's personal journey into healing and self-awareness at Camp Ayahuasca.
- Russia Bans Blue Lotus Smoking Blends
Light drugs are still available in free sale in Russia despite the official decree issued by Surgeon General Gennady Onischenko. One can purchase a blend of dry herbs in specialized shops. Dope sellers assure their customers that their products are absolu
- Russia Bans Blue Lotus Smoking Blends
Light drugs are still available in free sale in Russia despite the official decree issued by Surgeon General Gennady Onischenko. One can purchase a blend of dry herbs in specialized shops. Dope sellers assure their customers that their products are absolu
- Ancient Psychoactive Incense and Preparations
Psychoactive incense has been known about and used for thousands of years; Over time and after many trials mankind has discovered that a potent hallucinogenic incense could be made by combining several different plants, resins, bark and roots.Although the
- Ancient Psychoactive Incense and Preparations
Psychoactive incense has been known about and used for thousands of years; Over time and after many trials mankind has discovered that a potent hallucinogenic incense could be made by combining several different plants, resins, bark and roots.Although the
- Empathogenic Effects of Sceletium tortuosum
As far as being a potentiator of cannabis, there is no doubt that sceletium has this effect. Much more was gotten from much less when sceletium was added. Overall, it is my opinion that the pleasant effects of this substance, when used in moderation far o
- History of Sceletium tortuosum (Kanna)
Other reports confirm that kougoed induces feelings of euphoria and deep meditative tranquility. Subjects report that the relaxation induced by kougoed enables one to focus on inner thoughts and feelings, and enables one to intensely concentrate on the be
- The God Chemical: Brain Chemistry And Mysticism
Barbara Bradley Hagerty discusses the latest in brain research and the use of entheogens to induce spiritual states of mind in the laboratory. Topics covered include: Peyote ceremonies, lessons learned from scientific studies of LSD's effect on the brain,
- Marijuana Kills Brain Cancer Cells
The study showed, conclusively, that THC (the active alkaloid in Cannabis) caused brain cancer cells to undergo a process called autophagy. This process causes cells to feed upon themselves, thereby destroying them, and not only did researchers witness t
- Melissa officinalis - Lemon Balm
Lemon Balm has long been known for its aromatic qualities and its culinary uses. The Greeks used Lemon Balm to treat insomnia, to calm nerves and alleviate anxiety. It was used as an ingredient in Mediterranean dishes, as a garnish, as an additive to flav
- Ethnopharmacology of Ska María Pastora
S. divinorum is one of several vision-inducing plants employed by the Mazatec Indians, one of the native peoples living in the mountains and upland valleys of northeastern Oaxaca. Unlike other Mexican tribes, there is little information concerning their e
- Spiritual Effects Of Psilocybin In Sacred Mushrooms
In a follow-up to research showing that psilocybin, a substance contained in "sacred mushrooms," produces substantial spiritual effects, a Johns Hopkins team reports that those effects appear to last more than a year. Writing in the Journal of Psychopharm
- Oldest Christian Bible - Let Translations Begin!
The early work known as the Codex Sinaiticus has been housed in four separate locations across the world for more than 150 years. Starting Monday, it became available for perusal on the Web. Scot McKendrick, head of Western manuscripts at the British Libr
- Salvia on Schedule: Detriment to Research
Scientific American explains how the scheduling the mind-altering herb as a controlled substance could slow medical research. This is not news, but the fact that Scientific American published this article is.
- Entada rheedii - African Dream Herb
This liana vine is well known for its enormously large seeds and has been used, by African tribal healers, for centuries to commune with the spirit world through their dreams. The medicine men believe that by consuming the seeds of this magical plant they
- Celastrus Paniculatus - Celastrus Seeds
For thousands of years, Ayurveda medicine men have used the Celastrus seeds for their potent medicinal properties. It was used for many different ailments, but most notably it was administered as a powerful brain tonic, appetite stimulant, and emetic.
- Cyperus Articulatus - Piri Piri
Guinea rush grass, or Piri Piri, is native to the Amazon basin, where native tribes have used it as a medicine for hundreds of years; but it is also known to be a potent dream herb, euphorant and sedative.
- Helichrysum Odoratissmum - Imphepho
Tribes in South Africa have used Imphepho to make smoking blends, often they mixed it with Shamanic grade tobacco to induce deep trance states and shamanic visions.
- Hemidesmus indicus - Sugandi, Sariva
This healing plant, known in ancient Ayurveda medicine as Sugandi, has been revered for its medicinal properties for nearly a thousand years. It naturally produces a wide variety of beneficial compounds known for their healing, calmative and dream inducin
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The Temple of the True Inner Light was formed in 1980 by Alan Birnbaum as an offshoot of the New York City branch of the Native American Church. The Temple uses Di-Propyl Tryptamine (DPT) as its sacrament which Temple followers regard as the actual manifestation of God, rather than a means to access God. DPT ingestion, according to the Temple, allows direct communication with spirit forms and this communication provides the source of their theology. The Temple theology has been described as "eclectic drug-based Christian revisionism" (Lyttle, 1988 p275) and the Temple itself states that:
If you do not belong to Christ, (our temple), you cannot receive the Salvation of Yahweh, the Psychedelic. They have told us clearly, and many times, that Christ (King Moses, David, Elijah, Jesus, Vishnu, Gautama, Mohammed, Mani, Quetzacoayl), is alive again physically, and that the crucifixion has happened again...the mystery has been revealed.
Anyone who enters into Their (the Psychedelic's), Presence without belonging to Christ's Body is an alien and a foreign visitor to Them. We are Their Children and citizens of Their Realm.
Whoever does not belong to Christ, belongs to anti-Christ. As King Jesus said, "whoever is not with me is against (anti) me".
If anyone hears the Holy Spirit, which is Yahweh's, the Psychedelic's, Testimony that we (our temple), are the true Body of Christ, before having joined with us, they can no longer join us in this physical life.
Sections of the Old and New Testament are re-examined and found to contain many references to psychedelics. A Temple member, Michael Hoana, says (in Spirit Magazine, No.6, June/July 1997), "this religion, the true religion, is not something that started in the '60s. If you look at the scriptures, the Bible, there are certain things like oil and unctions, that teach people, that teach directly. What can that possibly be? If it is an oil that is teaching you something then we are obviously talking about something that was extracted from a plant...there is the presence bread. Why would somebody call something 'presence' bread? They mention a living spirit in it and that is obviously not wheat. And to actually say that this is food from heaven, they can only be talking about a psychedelic".
All serious applicants are screened first via a personal interview. All sessions are conducted in the temple, semi-privately, and involve listening to tapes (which include readings of Biblical texts) after ingesting DPT. According to Lyttle (1988, p275): "the goal here is a particular gnosis and re-examination of inspired literature via DPT".
Peter Gorman, Executive Editor of High Times, visited the Temple in 1989:
Droning music plays on an old boom box. Over it, dubbed onto the tape, someone reads scripture. Michael, just 22 or 23, with straight brown hair nearly down to his waist, lights the raspberry leaves he's put in the hookah bowl, I suck the white-smoke sacrament and put the mouthpiece down.
I have no idea how high I will get and worry about that. I worry, too, because I am with a stranger and have no idea whether or not this is the right stranger to be getting high with. The whole scene is a little shaky; I'm in a New York City tenement, sitting on the floor beneath a loft bed, smoking a bowl of raspberry leaves which are covered in a psychotropic substance I've never heard of, listening to religious scripture with an avowed apostle of the Lord, one who has explained to me that I am a sinner for not accepting Jesus as my saviour, and the white smoke as Jesus. It's not the most conducive setting in which to experiment with the stability of my mind. Still, here I am, holding onto that smoke until I know nothing will escape when I open my mouth and gulp a fresh lungful of air.
The high is instant and hard. No warning, no intimation, just swallow and peak. Suddenly, my worries disappear and I'm warm and sitting in West Virginia and it is 1971...
I'd just returned to the east Coast from months of hitchhiking out West, to Norman's house in Sugar Grove, and it was Ellen's birthday and the three of us had planned on tripping together and when Ellen decided she didn't want to and walked off into the woods to make love with Norman I ate all three hits of windowpane and for the first time ever it was a large enough dose of acid to turn me inside out. Up on the ridge the trees started dancing and I felt them moving inside me. I felt the ground breathing with my breath. I spoke - in a way I couldn't identify - with the insects, warning them off with reminders that I was their brother.
The rain pounded, drumming in my blood, and I was Earth and Air and Goodness and Light and everything made sense in a way I'd never dreamed it could. I glimpsed the holistic system of things and communed with divinity and understood the life-force and how it was in all things, even in those things which we don't think have it, like rocks - oh, how they were filled with life! - and when the rain told me to get in out of it, that it was about to let loose a violent storm, full of lightening and thunder, that's what I did, and there, on cue, in the main room of the little farm house someone had put Richard Alpert's Be Here Now, right out in the middle of things and I read and understood and knew what being here - here in the minute, in the page, in the letters, in all things at all times, in history and in stone and in the lightening banging at the house - knew what that meant and that it was a truth I' d keep forever.
The walls and I breathed together all that afternoon - their rhythm was fantastic and musical! - and when Norman and Ellen returned and saw that I'd eaten all the acid they asked whether I was alright and I assured them that not only was I alright, I was divine. They nodded. They knew the secret, too...
"Are you alright?" Michael asks gently.
"I'm fine. I'm thinking about something wonderful"
"Do you want to share it?"
I think about that for a minute before answering. And when I answer I say no, it is too personal. Perhaps I think I can't express it well enough, or that if I do I would be putting water into the cup and diluting my moments, moments I haven't really thought about since the day they happened, nearly 20 years ago.
I have another toke from the raspberry bowl and think about the funny route things take sometimes, about how it happens that in 1989 I should be in a church which uses a potent psychedelic as its sacrament and seems to live according to what I know as Catholic dogma - reinterpreted through that psychedelic. This particular church, The Temple of the True Inner Light, views Christ in quite a literal Biblical sense: Christ said he was in the Light; Temple members have recognised the psychedelics as Light, and therefore Christ is the psychedelic. When you eat the body of Christ - smoke the psychedelic - you can get high enough to see beings, and those beings are seen as the angels of the lord, the messengers of God.
I release the toke and try to picture my eighth grade teacher, Sister Grace Maureen, as I tell her abut this church and others where psychedelics - DMT, DPT, LSD, marijuana, psilocybin, MDMA, peyote and probably some I don't know about - are the sacraments. She would wonder what the hell I'm talking about. And yet, here I am, in one of them, attending their mass, listening to a reading of the same Bible I'd listened to as a child. And, while I don't see their angels or receive their messages from God, I do leave feeling that Michael and the other Temple members are good people, genuine in their beliefs. I don't believe Sister Grace Maureen would've bought any of it and that I would be writing "I will not make fun of the church's teachings" on a blackboard somewhere still.
Operating out of Manhattan's Lower East Side, the Temple practices a revisionist Christianity whose members see themselves as apostles of a very real Jesus, a Jesus baptised by modern-day John the Baptist Timothy Leary, the man who spread the Word about the coming of Christ, the arrival of psychedelics. Inspired by visions in which members realised that the psychedelic was the Light, the Temple evolved its theology beginning with the revised story of the Garden of Eden. In their visions, they saw that what the Biblical Serpent actually offered Eve was the psychedelic - intimate knowledge of God - a knowledge which both she and Adam accepted but which a morally corrupt mankind could not. The Temple's mission is to spread what they consider to be the true and inspired Word of God.
References
Lyttle, T. (1988) 'Drug Based Religions and Contemporary Drug Taking', The Journal of Drug Issues, 18 (2), 271-284
Rose, M. (1997) 'Psychedelic Eden', Spirit No.6
Temple of the True Inner Light flyer found on alt.psychoactives.
Michelle Pauli, January 1997.
© Peter Gorman. A longer version of this article was first published in High Times, January 1990. |