Spirituality

Divinity… how shroom churches offer meaning

It’s the search for meaning, purpose, and spirituality outside conventional religious institutions. Many non-religious people are finding solace in psychedelic churches. There, psychedelic journeys and communal connections allow them to experience key elements of religious life. [For example]… don’t require belief in God or the supernatural. Instead, they aim to address questions of purpose, meaning,…

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Anthropology

Harvard launches new study of psychedelics in society and culture

The $16 million gift will include an endowed professorship with a broad focus on human health and flourishing… These fellowships in Psychedelics, Transcendence, and Consciousness Studies, based between Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley, will engage researchers from different fields to forge cross-disciplinary research. Original Article (Harvard University):Harvard launches new study of psychedelics in…

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Anthropology

…terror at music festival…

The Supernova Sukkot Gathering was a weekend-long outdoor trance music festival that began on 6 October 2023. Thousands of young men and women gathered at a vast field in southern Israel near the Gaza border to dance without a care. Old and new friends jumped up and down, reveling in the swirl of the bass-heavy…

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Anthropology

Magic mushrooms… San Francisco…

Hodges said his church, which has nearly 92,000 members, is accepting new members only at its original location in Oakland. Dave Hodges, the founder of Zide Door… his organization is not relying on the Board of Supervisors’ 2022 resolution for legal protection and is instead relying on the federal government’s First Amendment right to freedom…

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Anthropology

Drugs and religion have been a potent combination for millennia, from cannabis at ancient funerary sites to psychedelic retreats today

What led our prehistoric ancestors to these powerful plants and fungi, and why did they use them over and over? It would be very easy to project contemporary desires onto them: to battle depression or escape everyday life; to heal wounds, both physical and mental; to get high and just feel good; to self-medicate; to…

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Spirituality

…magic mushroom church is opening a new chapel…

…SoMa facility is no ordinary chapel: it’s the second location of the Church of Ambrosia… a nondenominational religious organization that believes… psilocybin mushrooms are divine sacraments… an interfaith organization dedicated to expanding public access to psychedelic mushrooms… …magic mushrooms have been a part of religious practices around the globe for thousands of years… any adult…

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Spirituality

…psychedelic mushroom church, finds faith with fungi

The “sacred mushrooms,” as the church often calls them, are a Schedule I controlled substance that can carry a punishment of up to three years for possession, but registered 508(c)(1)(a) churches like Psanctuary [non-profit religious organization] have certain legal protections they say allow them to use mushrooms in controlled worship contexts. “We believe that Sacred…

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Anthropology

​Direct evidence of European use of multiple… psychoactive substances

The findings are an affirmation of the knowledge and use of plants as drugs among prehistoric Europeans, says ethnobotanist Giorgio Samorini, an expert on psychoactive substances… in a study published… in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers confirm that chemical signatures in the secreted samples of Es Càrritx hair provide the first direct evidence for hallucinogenic drug use in…

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