Psychedelics and Religious Uses (Entheogens)

Modern understandings of historical entheogens

Contemporary researchers continue to revisit ancient entheogenic practices. The Eleusinian Mysteries (circa 1500 BCE–4th century CE), for instance, involved drinking kykeōn, which is a brew infused with ergot, a psychoactive fungus on barley. ^[2] In modern days, the ergot fungus is used to produce lysergic acid, which serves as a precursor for the synthesis of the well-known psychedelic LSD.

Building on ancient entheogenic practices, Brian Muraresku argues in The Immortality Key that psychoactive potions influenced early Christian rites. He argues this point by citing archaeological finds (like Roman wine jars) with traces of opium, cannabis, and hallucinogenic herbs. ^[3] His thesis of a “psychedelic Christianity” has captured public imagination, though scholars remain cautious. Much of his evidence is symbolic or circumstantial, and direct textual proof of Christian entheogen use is lacking.

Still, today’s psychedelic renaissance is prompting scholars to reexamine these histories. There’s growing acknowledgment that entheogens likely played a role in religious practices across many cultures, even if the full story remains incomplete. ^[4]

Prominent historical examples

Ancient Americas – Peyote and teotlnanácatl

Archaeological specimens from Shumla Cave on the Rio Grande have been radiocarbon-dated to 3780–3660 BCE (≈5,700 years ago), confirming that peyote was used in ritual contexts at least five millennia before present times. ^[2]

This small cactus, peyote, induces vivid visions and became central to rituals among indigenous groups, like the Huichol and later the Native American Church (NAC). [6] Farther south, theAztecs and Mazatec used psilocybin mushrooms, calling them teotlnanácatl (“flesh of the gods”). ^[2][5][7]

Ancient Near East and India – Soma and cannabis

The Rig Veda (c. 1500 BCE) praises a sacred visionary drink called soma. The sacrament is thought to grant divine insight and immortality. Although the exact ingredient is lost in history, some scholars argue that soma could have been a psychedelic mushroom or another entheogen. ^[2][8][9] 

In neighboring Persia, Zoroastrian texts describe haoma, likely a similar plant sacrament. ^[9] Additionally, cannabis was used ritualistically in various Near Eastern cultures; for example, archaeologists found cannabis residue at ancient Jewish temples, suggesting possible ceremonial inhalation (though cannabis is not a classical psychedelic). ^[10]

Ancient Mediterranean – Eleusis and Dionysian rites

As noted, the Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece centered on the potion kykeōn that may have contained ergot alkaloids. Initiates (like Plato and Cicero) wrote in awe of the profound revelations experienced at Eleusis, although they kept the rite’s details secret. ^[11] 

Meanwhile, cults of Dionysus and other mystery religions in the Greco-Roman world sometimes employed wine infused with herbs or fungi to induce ecstasy. ^[12] 

Shamanic traditions – Ayahuasca, iboga, and others

Beyond the better-known ancient civilizations, countless indigenous traditions have their own entheogens. Amazonian shamans, for instance, developed ayahuasca, a potent tea from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and DMT-containing leaves, used for healing and spiritual vision. Ayahuasca’s use in tribal rituals dates back at least hundreds of years, possibly much longer. ^[13]

In West-Central Africa, the Bwiti religion in Gabon venerates the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga. Taken in initiation ceremonies, iboga induces prolonged visionary states through its alkaloid ibogaine, allowing initiates to contact ancestors and divine guides. ^[14] 

Ranging from ancient Greece to the Amazon rainforest, psychedelic substances have continually surfaced as vehicles for religious experiences. While the specifics differ, the common thread is the belief that these natural sacraments can “bring people closer to their creator,” their ancestors, and the spiritual world. ^[1]

Used in these contexts, they are regarded not as “drugs” in a recreational sense. This is a vital distinction, as they are considered sacred medicines or gifts from the gods, only to be used with reverence and strict ritual protocols.

Cultural importance of entheogenic rituals

Based on the importance of rituals in certain cultures, it’s important to recognize entheogen use as a part of ancient societies, as customs with strong spiritual and cultural implications.

Native American Church (NAC) (Peyote)

The NAC, founded in the late 19th century, is one of the most prominent modern examples of entheogen-based religion. NAC incorporates peyote cactus as its sacrament, which is eaten or brewed in all-night prayer ceremonies. During an era of great trauma, when U.S. policies forced indigenous peoples onto reservations and banned their customs, peyote ceremonies emerged for spiritual healing and cultural survival. ^[1][15]

The peyote ritual blends indigenous traditions with some Christian elements (like prayers and Bible readings), creating a syncretic faith centered on communion with the Great Spirit. Participants ingest peyote in a circle around a fire while singing, drumming, and praying until dawn. ^[1]

The intent is not recreational hallucination; instead, the goal is to seek visions, wisdom, and community bonding under sacred guidance. As the NAC’s council emphasizes, peyote “is not [used] to induce visions… but to bring people closer to their creator and to facilitate healing and fellowship”. ^[1]

Today, an estimated 250,000 Native Americans across dozens of chapters partake in these ceremonies. ^[1]

Ayahuasca churches (Santo Daime and UDV)

In Brazil, syncretic religions (like Santo Daime and União do Vegetal UDV) have incorporated the entheogenic brew ayahuasca into Christian-oriented worship. ^[16] 

Santo Daime was founded in the 1930s by Mestre Irineu, who, after drinking ayahuasca in the Amazon, reported a vision of the Virgin Mary as the “Queen of the Forest”. ^[1]

The church’s doctrine mixes Amazonian shamanism, Afro-Brazilian spirituality, Spiritism, and Christianity. Ayahuasca (called daime by members) is regarded as the Blood of Christ and is consumed in ceremonies that include prayer, hymn singing, and rhythmic dancing. ^[1][16] 

Similarly, União do Vegetal (founded in 1961) considers ayahuasca (which they call hoasca) a holy sacrament that allows direct experience of god. These churches illustrate how entheogens can be integrated into modern religious frameworks, complete with clergy, congregations, and scripture, rather than remaining only in pre-modern tribal settings. ^[17] 

The ayahuasca rituals are tightly structured: Participants dress in ceremonial uniforms, follow liturgical hymns, and often report profound mystical experiences or moral insights. The União do Vegetal and Santo Daime have tens of thousands of members and offshoots in North America and Europe. ^[1][17]

Bwiti (Iboga) and African tradition

In Gabon, the Bwiti spiritual tradition revolves around the use of the iboga root in initiation rites. Consuming iboga in a Bwiti ceremony is an arduous ordeal. Over the course of a night, initiates ingest shavings of the bitter root bark under the supervision of elders, accompanied by continuous music and dance. The intense psychedelic journey, sometimes lasting 24–36 hours, is believed to allow the initiate’s spirit to travel, meet ancestors, and receive wisdom from the otherworld. ^[18]

Iboga thus serves as a rite of passage, fostering a salient transformation and a lifelong connection to the community and ancestral lineage. Its cultural importance is such that iboga is considered a “cultural keystone species” for the Gabonese. ^[14]

Likewise, in South Africa, certain Zulu and Xhosa healers ingest psychoactive bulbs or fungi as part of ubulawu medicine to induce prophetic dreams. While this practice is less well-known globally, it shows that entheogenic rituals are living traditions on multiple continents. They are vital for teaching the next generation about their heritage, connecting community members, and preserving a worldview in which nature’s psychoactive gifts are revered as teachers. ^[1][19]

As mentioned, ritual context is key in all these groups. The setting, songs, prayers, and lineage of knowledge surrounding entheogen use set it apart from recreational drug experiences as a genuine religious sacrament.

Legal challenges and religious freedom

Most entheogens remain classified as Schedule I substances under U.S national (The Controlled Substances Act) and international drug laws, criminalizing their religious use. In the U.S., exemptions exist, but they apply only narrowly. The NAC secured protection for peyote in 1994 through an amendment to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), and the Supreme Court upheld the right of União do Vegetal to use ayahuasca in 2006. ^[20] 

Yet, these victories are limited to established groups. New or independent entheogenic communities struggle for legal recognition. Although the DEA maintains a religious exemption process, it has never granted one voluntarily without a court order. ^[21]

Applicants must often suspend ceremonies for years, risking prosecution while awaiting a decision. For instance, the ayahuasca church Soul Quest in Florida was denied an exemption in 2021 after the DEA questioned their religious sincerity. ^[21]

These cases highlight the fragility of legal protection. Even sincere practitioners face arrests, loss of sacramental medicine, and drawn-out legal battles.

Elsewhere, legal frameworks vary. Brazil permits recognized ayahuasca churches, while many European countries ban even ceremonial use. This climate of criminalization stifles practice and transmission, as elders fear teaching or leading ceremonies under the threat of prosecution.

Sustainability and environmental threats

Several plants central to entheogenic religions are threatened by overharvesting and habitat loss.

Peyote decline

Peyote (Lophophora williamsii), for example, is a slow-growing cactus native to the wild desert of Texas and northern Mexico. It can take 7–12 years for a peyote plant to mature to a harvestable size. ^[1] 

In recent decades, wild peyote populations have been declining sharply. Causes include urbanization and agriculture clearing its habitat, poaching by drug seekers, and unsustainable harvesting practices that uproot entire plants rather than cutting buttons. Critically, rising interest from non-Indigenous psychedelic enthusiasts has increased demand on a fragile supply. ^[1]

The NAC now faces a shortage of its holy medicine—an ironic and painful twist after surviving a century of external persecution. Recognizing this, some NAC leaders have implored outsiders to refrain from using or seeking peyote. “Peyote is sacred medicine crucial to our religious identity… The spiritual healing power it offers is only attainable through Native American protocol,” explained Steven Benally of the NAC, stressing that it must be preserved for Indigenous communities (as quoted in the Los Angeles Times, 2020). ^[1][22]

In response, the NAC and allies formed the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative (IPCI), which purchased land in Texas to safeguard habitat and cultivate peyote for future generations. The IPCI’s 600-acre ranch is used to grow peyote and teach sustainable harvesting, representing a proactive step by Native communities to ensure this vulnerable species endures. ^[1]

Iboga at risk

A similar challenge confronts the iboga plant in Africa. Tabernanthe iboga is now classified as an endangered species in Gabon, primarily due to overharvesting driven by global demand for ibogaine (its psychoactive compound) in addiction treatment clinics. ^[14]

According to conservationists, “overharvesting and export of iboga impacts the Bwiti, [for whom it is] part of their spiritual practice.” In recent years, “a sharp rise in global consumption of iboga root bark” and ibogaine production has led to poaching and black-market smuggling, depriving local villages of access. ^[14] 

It can take a decade or more for an iboga tree to grow large enough to yield substantial root bark, and the standard method of uprooting kills the plant. If current trends continue, Bwiti initiations could be curtailed by sheer scarcity of iboga, breaking an unbroken chain of tradition. ^[14]

Ayahuasca pressures

Likewise, the ayahuasca vine and its companion plants are not yet endangered. Still, the boom in ayahuasca tourism has raised concerns about overharvesting in certain Amazon regions and pressure on other hallucinogenic species, like the San Pedro cactus, which is used in Andean ceremonies.

Conservation responses

Environmental stewardship has thus become an essential part of preserving entheogenic religions, bridging ancient knowledge with modern conservation science.

Internal and cross-cultural pressures

In response to significant internal and cross-cultural pressures, groups have adapted their rituals and practices to meet societal and governmental expectations.

Ritual standardization

Entheogenic faiths now navigate inner tensions and outside pressures. As mainstream science embraces psychedelics, some members push to professionalize or standardize rituals—moves that can collide with lineage-based, spirit-guided traditions. ^[23]

NAC adaptations

Debates continue within the NAC over whether rituals should be adapted for younger members and include non-Native guests and researchers. ^[24]

Global ayahuasca spread

Brazilian ayahuasca churches now operate globally, raising concerns about maintaining ritual and doctrinal integrity abroad. ^[25] While global spread can signal growth, it risks diluting traditional forms.

Breakaway sects and syncretism add complexity, blending practices in ways that may diverge from original teachings.

Language loss

These traditions are also bound to ancient languages and cultural symbols. As younger generations move to cities or adopt global languages, transmitting the full spiritual context becomes more difficult. ^[26] Despite this, many groups have responded by forming councils, recording oral histories, and collaborating with scholars to safeguard their traditions.

Entheogenic religions stand at a crossroads; their motivations are buoyed by growing spiritual interest, yet they are threatened by legal constraints and cultural dilution. Their future depends on how these pressures are managed.

María Sabina

An infamous story of appropriation is that of María Sabina, a Mazatec mushroom healer from Oaxaca, Mexico. In 1955, Sabina reluctantly hosted R. Gordon Wasson, a Western banker-ethnomycology specialist, at a nighttime velada (mushroom ceremony) in her village. ^[27] 

Wasson was the first outsider to partake in the Mazatec sacrament of psilocybin mushrooms (los niños santos, “the holy children”). Consequently, he published a sensational article in Life magazine in 1957, introducing the “magic mushrooms” to the world. ^[27]

The result was an avalanche of counterculture seekers descending on Sabina’s village in the 1960s. The sacred mushrooms, once protected by secrecy, were commodified into a worldwide psychedelic revolution, resulting in a significant cost to the Mazatec way of life. Sabina died in 1985, respected but somewhat ostracized by neighbors who felt her openness had betrayed their traditions. ^[27]

Beat poets & Yagé

The Western fascination with ayahuasca took root in the 1960s, propelled by a wave of popular literature that introduced this Amazonian brew to new audiences. Among the most prominent early seekers was William Burroughs, the infamous heroin user and Beat writer, who ventured to South America in search of what he called “the final fix”. ^[26]

Disillusioned by other substances, Burroughs believed ayahuasca might offer something different, something transcendent. His journey, however, ended in disappointment. “I had been conned by medicine men,” he later wrote, disavowing the brew and the promises surrounding it. ^[28]

Seven years later, fellow Beat poet Allen Ginsberg followed in Burroughs’ footsteps, though his experience aligned more closely with the romanticized, transformative narratives that continue to shape Western perceptions of psychedelics. Their collected letters from these journeys became The Yagé Letters, blending skepticism with idealism. ^[26][28]

This divergence reflects a deeper rift. Popular figures (like ethnobotanists Richard Schultes and R. Gordon Wasson) approached Indigenous psychedelics as subjects of academic inquiry, documenting their use without necessarily seeking personal transformation.

In contrast, cultural outsiders (like Burroughs and Ginsberg) were driven by a desire to assimilate these Indigenous sacraments into Western frameworks of meaning, whether spiritual, literary, or psychological. This tension between study and appropriation, plus documentation and consumption, continues to shadow the global spread of ayahuasca. ^[26]

Ayahuasca tourism

The popularity of Amazonian shamanic retreats has exploded in the last 20 years. In places like Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil, dozens of retreat centers cater largely to foreign (European and North American) clients seeking psychedelic healing or insight. This ayahuasca tourism has had mixed effects. ^[12] 

It has provided income for some indigenous practitioners and spread awareness of their knowledge, but it has also attracted charlatans. Some self-proclaimed shamans with minimal training have set up businesses to serve foreigners, occasionally leading to unsafe scenarios. Reports of psychological trauma, assault, or even deaths have surfaced when brew potency or health contraindications were mishandled. ^[12]

Ayni reciprocity

The Chaikuni Institute, which was launched in 2018 by the Temple of the Way of Light and its sister NGO, is a program that applies the Quechua principle of ayni (reciprocity) to ayahuasca tourism. Shipibo families receive training and seedlings to integrate Banisteriopsis caapi vines into mixed agroforestry plots. In phase one, 24 families are restoring 24 ha of degraded land, with community agreements protecting ~5,300 hectares of surrounding rainforest. ^[29][30] 

The project has already planted 1,800+ ayahuasca vines, created new income streams for local farmers, and modeled a supply chain in which Western retreat revenue directly funds Indigenous-led reforestation and food sovereignty efforts. ^[29][30]

Therapy & indigenous wisdom

Moreover, the psychedelic therapy renaissance, spearheaded by Western science, has started to acknowledge the value of ancient cultural knowledge. Clinicians studying psilocybin or MDMA therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often incorporate elements of ceremony, music, or intention-setting inspired by indigenous practice. ^[31]

There is also a growing movement for integration and reciprocity, guiding those who partake in these substances to respect their original cultures and give back in tangible ways. ^[31]