TT White Molecular Mysticism: The Role of Psychoactive Substances in Shamanic Transformations of Consciousness There 1s a question that has troub- led me, and no doubt others, since the heyday of psychedelic research in the 1960s, when mary groups and indi. viduals were concerned with the prob- ‘ems of assimilating new and powerful mind-aitenng substances into Western society. The question, simply stated, wastlus: “Why did American Indians succeed in integrating the use of peyote into then culture, including its legal Use as a sacrament to this day, when those interested in pursuing con- ‘ciousness research with drugs in the dominant White culture succeeded only in having the entire field made taboo to research, and any use of the Aubstances a criminal offense punish. able by imprisonment?“! Since the Native American subculture is much by Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. ‘older and ecologically more sophisti- cated than the European White culture whichattempted to absorb or eliminate At and since many sensitive individu- als have long argued that we should be learning from the Indians, not extermi- natmg them, the examination of this question could lead to some highly interesting conclusions. The answer to this ethnopsychol- cogical puzzle became cleat to me only after started observing and participat ing wn a number of other American Indian ceremonies, such as the healing circle, the sweat lodge, of the spint dance, that did not involve the use of peyote or other psychoactive sub. stances. I noted what many ethnolo- gitshave reported that these ceremo- nies were simultaneously religious medicinal, and_psychotherapeutic ‘The sweat lodge, like the peyote ntual, as regarded as a sacred ceremony, as a formofworshup of the Creator: they are also both seen and practiced as a form of physical healing. and they are per- formed (or solving personal and collec tive psychological problems. ‘Thus it was natural, for those tribes that took up peyote, to add this medium to the others they were already familiar with, asa ceremony that expressed and rein: forced the integration of body, mind and spirit In the dominant White society, by contrast, medicine, psychology and religious spirituality are separated by seemingly insurmountable paradigm differences, The medical. psychologi cal and rehgious professions consid- ee Ree ee SEE SHAMAN'S DRUM / SPRING, 198815 Drered the phenomenon of psychedelic drugs and were frightened by the ‘unpredictable transformations of pes- ception and worldview that they seemed to trigger. Thus, the dominant society's reaction was fear. followed by prohibition, even of further research, None of the three established profes- sions wanted these consciousness-ex pending instruments; and neither did they want anyone else to have them of their own free choice. The umplicit assumptionis that people are too igre: rant and gullible (0 be able to make reasoned, informed chuices as to how to treat their illnesses, solve therr psy- chological problems, or practice their religions. The fragmented condition of our society is mirrored back to us through these reactions. For the Native Amen ‘ans on the other hand, healing, wor- ship and problem-solving are all sub- sumed in the one way, which 1s the traditional way, the way of the Great Spirit, the way of the Earth Mother ‘The integrative understanding given in the peyote visions is nat feared, but accepted and respected, Here the implicit assumption is that all people have the capability, indeed the task, to attune themselves to higher spiritual Sources of knowledgeand healing, and the purpose of ceremony, withor with- out medicinal substances, 1s rogarded asa facilitating of such attunement Peychedelies as Sacrament or Recreation Several observers, for example Andrew Weil? have pointed out the historical pattern that as Western colo- nual society adopted psychuactive plant or food substances from native cultures, their use of such psychoactive materials devolved from sacramental to recreational. Tobacco was regarded as a sacred power plant by Indians of North, Central and South Americs, and is still so regarded by Native ‘Americans, even though in the White Western culture, andincountries influ enced by this dorunant culture, ciga- rette smoking is obviously recres- thonal, and has even become & major public health problem The coca plant, as grown and used by the Andean Indian tribes, was treated asa divinity, Mama Coca, and valued for its health maintaining properties, while cocaine ‘on the other hand is purely a recrea onal drug and its indiscriminate use also causes numerous health prob Jems. In this, and other instances, de- sacralization of the plant-drug hat been accompanied by crminalization Coffee is another exampic. Appar ently first discovered and used by Is famic Sufis who valued its stimulan! Properties forlong rights of praverane meditation, 1t became a fashionable recreational drink in European society in the 17th century, and was ever banned fora whileasbeing toodanger oust Even cannabis, the epstome of th recreational “high”, is used by som sects of Hindu Tantrismasan amplific of visualization and meditation. Since secramental healing plant have been so rapidly and completels desacralized while being adopted b’ the West's increasingly materialist culture, it should not be surprising tha newly discovered synthetic psychaa. five drugs have generally been ver: quickly categorized as either rectes 16 SHAMAN'S DRUM / SPRING, 1588tional or “nateotic’,or both. Concomi tantly, as the indiscriminate, excessive, non-sacramental use of psychoactive plants and newly synthesized analogs spread, $0 did patierns of abuse and dependence, Predictably, established society reacts with prohibitions, which } inturn lead to organized crime activi- ties. This is 50 in spite of the fact that many of the original discoverers ofthe new synthetic psychedelics, people such 95 Albert Hofmann and Alexan- der Shulgin, are individuals of deep spiritual integrity. Neither their ef- forts, nor the efforts of philosophers such as Aldous Huxley and paycholo- * gists such a8 Timothy Leary to advo- cate a sacred and respectful atlitude towards these substances, were able to prevent such profanation from taking place. The recently discovered phenethyl- amine psychedelic MDMA provides {an instructive example of this phe- nomenon Two patterns of use seem to have become established during the Seventies: some psychotherapists and spiritually inclined individuals began toexplore its possible applications as a therapeutic adjuvant and as an ampi- fier of spiritual practice, while another, much larger group of individuals, began using it for recreational pur- poses, as.a social “high” comparable in somerespectstococaine Theirrespon- sibleand widespread usein this second category by increasing numbers of peopl understandably made the medical and law-enforcement authori- ties nervous, and the predictable reac- tion occurred MDMA was classified as a Schedule 1 drug in the United States, which puts itm the same group asheroin, cannabisand LSD, making it 4 criminal offense to manufacture, use or sell the drug. and sending a clearly understood off-hmts signal to phar- maceutical and medical researchers. When Hofmann returned to Mazatec shamaness Maria Sabina with synthetic psilocyban in order to obtain her assessment of how close the syn- thesized ingredient was to the natural + Product, the “magic mushroom”, he ‘as appropriately acknowledging the Prmacy of the botanical over the syn- thetic. The argument could be made, and has been made, that perhaps for The shamanic use of psychedelic mushrooms by Mesoamerican curanderos (healers) has been documtented extensively by R. Gordon Wasson and others, ‘each of theimportant syntheticpsyche- delies, there Js some natural, but un known plant that has thesame ingredi- ‘ents-and that this plant is our connec- tion to the laigely lost knowledge of indigenous cultures. Perhapsitshould be our research strategy to find the botanical “host” for the psychedelics emerging (rom the laboratory. In the case of LSD, research om the use of morning glory seedsin ancient Mexico and baby woodrose ir, Hawai each of which contain LSD analogs, might al- low us todiscovera shamaniccomplen which has coevolved with this mole- cule, If Wasson, Hofmann and Ruck are correct 1m thelr proposal that ar LSD-like, ergotderived beverage was used in Greece as the initistory sacra- ment at Eleusis, the mplications are profound’ Using Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphogenetic fields* one could suppose that by re-growing or re-hybridizing this particularplant, we might then be able to “tune in” to and reactivate the morphogenetic field of the Eleusinian mysteries, consideresi by some the ancient world’s most awe- inspiring mystical ritual. Sheldrake's hypothesis of formative causation postulates that the behavior of any entity-inorganic, organic, crys talline, cosmic, plant, animal, human, social-is 4 function of the frequency of past occurrences of this behavior Thus, the laws of nature can really be considered habits. ‘The growth of any form/e g-embryonic)is determined by form-generating (morphogenetic) fields, which shape the developing ‘organism the way similar organisms have been shaped before. These fields are nol energy-ficlds and thev extend across time ae wellasspace by kind of “morphic resonance’ Memory, whether personal or collective, com scious or unconscious. 1s thus equiva Jent to morphic resonance. Sheldrake wntes that “nay hypothesis is that so- aetes have sociai and cultural mor ‘phe fields which embrace and organ- ize all that resides within them.” He describes rituals as involving morphic resonance with ancestors. Shamamc cultures always emphasize that rituals must be performed in exactly the same way as they were done before, by the ancestors. "The conservatism of ritual would create exactly the nght cundt fions for morphic resonance to occur between those performing the tal now and all those who performed it previously.” Thus, by using the same plant substance in the same way as it was used at Eleusis, we would be tun- ing to to the experiences of our ances: SHAMAN'S DRUM / SPRING, 1945.17The ceremonial use of peyote is at the heart of the shamanic rituals, art and life of the Huichol Indians of the Mexican Sierra Madres. tors who participated in the Mysteries. ‘There 15 no inherent reason why sacramental use, arid recreational use ofa substancein moderation, could nat cowaist_In fact among Native Ameri ‘ans, tobacco often does play this dual role: after a Sacred Pipe tual with tabacco or other herbs, participants may smoke cigarcites to relax We know the sacramental use of wine in the Cathohe communion nte: and we certainly know the recreational use of wine. We are able to keep the two contexts separate. and we are also able to recognize when recreational use becomes dependence and abuse. Simi- lar sophistication could be developed with regard to psychoactive plant products. There could be recognized sacramental and therapeutic applica: ttons:and certan patterns of usc might develop that were more playful, ex- ploratory, hedonistie-but which could be contained within a reasonable and acceptable social framework that mini- muzes harm. ‘The “abuse” of a drug, in such a relatively enlightened system, would not reier to who uses it, or where it originated, or whether doctors or other authority condone it, but would rather depend on the behavioral cor quences in the drug user. Someone becomes recognized as an alcoholic. thot ts.anabuser of alcohol. when his or her interpersonal and social relation: ships are nottceably impaired. There should be no difficulty in establishing similar abuse cnteria for other psy: choactive drugs. Paychedelics as Gnostic Catalysts Jn 1968, in a paper entitled “On the Evolutionary Significance of Psyche-