September 1, 2003 - We live in an age when a divine vision is dismissed as an hallucination, and desire to experience a direct communication with god is often interpreted as a sign of mental illness. Nevertheless, some scholars and scientists assert that such visions and communications are fundamentally derived from an ancient and ongoing cultural tradition.

July 1, 2016 - ... The purpose behind this practice is to facilitate altered states of consciousness and foster spiritual encounters. Ingesting haoma was regarded as a pathway to connecting with the divine, purifying the soul, and achieving spiritual enlightenment (Abdullaev 2010, Aymankuy & İpkoparan 2022

June 1, 2019 - These considerations are what initially led me to the ayahuasca analogue hypothesis, as the structure and performance of the ritual during which ayahuasca is drunk by members of one the churches that use it as a sacrament, namely the church ...

June 10, 2014 - absinthium, Salvia divinorum, Dionysian ritual, mandragora

Psychoactive plants, particularly ... gods, plant teachers, or magical and healing plants. These plants are sacred because they allow the living to contact and commune with gods (entheogens) or drive out evil spirits....

November 8, 2023 - The cuneiform evidence testifies to the broad experience of Assyrian and Babylonian healers with plants. Actually, many of the uses tally with the information of the ancient Greek plant lore, pointing to a clear transmission of knowledge from ...

February 12, 2024 - The qualitative and quantitative study of the assemblage and its spatial distribution within the temples' precincts enables us to address plant choice and possible use, unraveling the timing of rites, types of offers, and improving our understanding of this extinct culture. Indeed, plants in ritual contexts shed light on the seasonality of rites, the role of agriculture, medical/psychoactive activities, and the geographic origin of offerings3,4,5,6,7,8,9.

The answer to that question is marijuana. Hemp as originally used in religious ritual, temple activities, and tribal rites, involved groups of worshippers rather than the solitary individual. The pleasurable psychoactive effects were then, as now, communal experiences.

The use of these plants differs from contemporary religious practices in a key way. For while religious prayer, ritual and communion are engaged to propitiate god or gods, the use of sacred plants is intended to give the participant direct access to the divine experience.

The insights gained from the marijuana high by the ancient worshippers were considered to be of divine origin and the plant itself an "angel" or messenger of the gods. The sacramental use of marijuana predates written history and this tradition continues with diverse tribes in Africa, certain Hindu sects, Muslim fakirs and Sufis, Rastafarians, as well as modern Occultists and Pagans.

December 20, 2014 - Holidays such as Christmas, Easter, Holy Communion, and Marriage all appear to have their roots in the experience that Christ is centered upon; Sacred Psilocybin Mushrooms. This book takes a deeper look into the myths, artwork, and stories that ...

July 28, 2014 - Several mesolithic rock paintings from Tassili n’Ajjer, a prehistoric North African site of the Capsian culture, depicted the shamanic use of mushrooms. Mushroom motifs have been found in Mayan temple ruins in Guatemala, and there’s a long history of use among the native peoples of Mesoamerica for religious communion, divination, and healing.

June 17, 2025 - Discover the profound connection of Plants in Religion and spirituality. Explore how sacred plants bridge earth and spirit in religious traditions.

February 11, 2023 - The most powerful of those plants, which are known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of consciousness, have always been regarded as sacred. In this book, the world’s most renowned authorities on psychoactive flora provide a fascinating and moving testimony of these “plants of the gods”, tracing their use throughout the world and their significance in shaping history and culture.

“Plants of the Gods” is a term referring to the religious meaning members of many primitive cultures worldwide attribute to plants containing hallucinogenic or mind-altering substances. The plants are customarily considered sacred and ...

Such an etymological transition from hazard to cure, as well as psychedelic to dye, is detailed in Derrida’s reflections on the Platonic pharmakeus (a physician-magician-legislator-writer) and informed kabbalistic notions that fused seemingly antithetical components into a new blend.5 The ambiguity surrounding the ancient Greek noun to pharmakon also characterizes the Hebrew term sam. Derived from the Assyrian šammu and the Aramaic-Syriac sama, the word connotes medicine, poison, dye, and essence.

January 17, 2024 - _Psychoactive_ plants have played an important role in medicine, religion, _ritual_ life and recreation since ancient times and_ have been_ consumed by many cultures, cults and groups during religious rituals and ceremonies for centuries. Used in indigenous contexts and acting as divine intermediaries, they provide treatment for physical, psychological, spiritual and social symptoms, diagnosis and cure of diseases as well as supernatural experiences focused in religious rituals.

Like modern humans, early humans had · a range of built-in desires—a desire to live

January 1, 2005 - In shamanic religions, which appear to have dominated throughout much of human pre-history, trance induced by psychoactive plants and other techniques permits direct contact with the divine.

1 week ago - In ancient Eurasian and Mediterranean societies, scholars hypothesized the sacramental use of entheogens in mystery religions, such as the Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece. According to The Road to Eleusis, psychoactive kykeon brews may have ...