Question

Why were substances with hallucinogenic properties used by ancient religions and cults? Give examples and cite your sources.

Answer 1

• Drug cult, group using drugs to achieve religious or spiritual revelation and for ritualistic purposes.Though the idea may be strange to most modern worshippers, drugs have played an important role in the history of religions.
• The ceremonial use of wine and incense in contemporary ritual is probably a relic of a time when the psychological effects of these substances were designed to bring the worshipper into closer touch with supernatural forces.
• Modern studies of the hallucinogenic drugs have indicated that such drugs, in certain persons under certain conditions, release or bring about what those persons claim to be profound mystical and transcendental experiences, involving an immediate, subjective experience of ultimate reality, or the divine, resulting from the stirring of deeply buried unconscious and largely nonrational reactions.
• The notion that hallucinogenic drugs played a significant part in the development of religion has been extensively discussed, particularly since the middle of the twentieth century. Various ideas of this type have been collected into what has become known as the entheogen theory. The word entheogen is a neologism coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists (those that study the relationship between people and plants).
• The literal meaning of entheogen is "that which causes God to be within an individual" and might be considered as a more accurate and academic term for popular terms such as hallucinogen or psychedelic drug. By the term entheogen we understand the use of psychoactive substances for religious or spiritual reasons rather than for purely recreational purposes.
• For thousands of years, people in many cultures have used hallucinogens in an attempt to gain spiritual insights to help them deal with the uncertainties that are part of their daily lives. They try to communicate with their deities to gain understanding and control over unpredictable events like birth, death, and illness. People in these cultures induce hallucinations by eating plants such as peyote and several species of mushrooms that naturally produce hallucinogenic chemicals.
• In both the Rigveda and the Avesta there is frequent mention of soma. In these episodes soma is described as a plant from which a drink or potion could be produced that was consumed by the gods, giving them fantastic powers which aided them in their supernatural feats. People who understood the identity of the plant soma could use it to empower themselves and to communicate more effectively with the deities.It was Amanita muscaria. Amanita muscaria or the "fly agaric" is a large mushroom that is instantly recognizable.
• The use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, presumably Amanita muscaria, by the inhabitants of Siberia appears to be a very ancient practice. This is suggested by the discovery of several Stone or Bronze Age rock carvings (petroglyphs) in 1967 in northern Siberia near the Arctic Ocean. These seem to represent mushrooms and women with mushrooms growing out of their heads.
• This is an area inhabited by the Chukchi people, who were one of the subjects of the 18th-and 19th-century reports on Siberian mushroom use, so it may be supposed that they had used mushrooms continuously over many years. Indeed, the use of Amanita muscaria for its hallucinogenic actions continues in Siberia to this day.
• Archaeologists believe that hallucinogens were also used in a number of ancient societies to help leaders make important decisions relating to issues such as war, hunting, migrating to a new home, and selecting tribal and spiritual leaders. All of these situations were important enough to require consultation with a deity, who was believed to communicate with earthly beings while they were in a trance.
• The most commonly reported ritual use of entheogens among indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere is for healing the sick. Among such cultures, the world of medicine and the spirit world are inseparable. Among the tribal peoples of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, the mushrooms are not simply botanical hallucinogens; they "were known to the American Indians as medicines,many, one time or another during their lives, have eaten the mushrooms, either to cure themselves of an ailment or to resolve a problem
• Shamans have long known that hallucinogens cannot cure ailments such as broken bones, but they believe that hallucinogens can cure many other medical problems, including those with no apparent physical cause.
• The healing session takes the form of a meeting in which both the shaman and his patient eat the entheogen. After an hour or so, when the hallucinations begin, the shaman acts very much like a Western doctor or psychiatrist might and asks the patient about the origins of the illness. After the patient describes the history of the illness, the shaman goes into a trace and chants about where to look for the cure for the disease.
• The use of entheogens continues today in large areas of the Western Hemisphere, including the United States. In many cases, this modern use goes beyond healing. The most widely used entheagen is peyote, a form of cactus, which is legally used by some members of Native American tribes living in the Southwest and among tribes throughout Mexico and South America.The ingredient in the peyote button that produces hallucinations is a chemical compound called mescaline.
• The peyote ceremony continues to serve the same role it did in ancient times, whenever an occasion requires spiritual guidance.
• Of all the experiences reported by those who use peyote or mushrooms, by far the most common is a sense that they have made direct connection with a deity. Yet fascinating as researchers have found the spiritual component of the use of hallucinogens, they have been even more intrigued with what they saw as the potential some of these drugs seemed to have for explaining the workings of the human mind and for treating mental illness.