Ratsch & Baker (Eds) - The Gateway To Inner Space

THE GATEWAY TO
INNER SPACE
The Albeit Hofmann Foundation was established in Los
Angeles, California as a non-profit corporation in 1 9 8 8 and
named in honour of the man who discovered LSD and
psilocybin. The pu rp ose of The Foundation is to establish and
maintain a library and world information centre dedicated to
the scientific study of human consciousness. With the materials
already promised, The Albeit Hofmann Library is assured of
being the largest collection of its kind in the world. In addition
to the Library, there will also be an art gallery and conference
centre, all of which will be open to the public. The Board of
Advisors of The Albeit Hofmann Foundation brings together
most of the original pioneers in the field of psychedelic
research from around the world . For information about
membership and the Foundation's Newsletter, write to The
Albeit H ofmann Foundation at 132 West Channel Road, Suite
324, Santa Monica, CA 90402 , USA, or call USA (2 1 3) 28 1 -
8 1 1 0.
THE GATEWAY TO
INNER SPACE
A Festschri ft i n Honor of
ALBERT HOFMANN
edited by
CHRISTIAN RATSCH
translated by
JOHN BAKER
For Albert Hofmann,

Dr.phil . , Dr.pharm . h . c . , Dr.rer. nat . h . c . , Dr.sc.nat.h.c.
on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday
�
PRISM · UNITY
"When a person is unaware of his intrinsic relationship to
the world, then he lives within a prison whose walls he
detests . When he encounters the eternal spirit in all objects,
however, then he is set free, for only then does he discover
the full meaning of the world into which he has been born;
he finds himself as he is in truth, and his harmony with the
universe is established . "
Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana
GATEWAY TO INNER SPACE
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by The Guernsey Press Limited.
C onte nts
Christian Ratsch
Introduction: The Exploration of Inner Space
Rich Yensen
From Mysteries to Paradigms: Humanity's Journey
from Sacred Plants to Psychedelic Drugs 11
Stanislav Grof
Beyond the Brain: New Dimensions in Psychology
and Psychotherapy 55
Ralph Metzner
Molecular Mysticism: The Role of Psychoactive
Substances in the Transformation of Consciousness 73
Tom Pinkson
Purification, Death, and Rebirth: The Clinical Use
of Entheogens within a Shamanic Context 91
George Greer
Using Altered States t o Experience Choice 1 19
Claudio N aranjo
Psychedelic Experience in the Light of Meditation 1 23
Wolfgang Coral
Psychedelic Drugs and Spiritual States of
Consciousness in the Light of Modern
Neurochemical Research 133
Charles Muses
The Sacred Plant of Ancient Egypt 143
Christian Ratsch
St. Anthony's Fire in Yucatcin 161
Claudia Miiller-Ebeling
The Return to Matter - The Temptations of
Odilon Red on 167
Terence McKenna
Among Ayahuasquera 1 79
Hanscarl Leuner and Michael Schlichting

A Report on the Symposium On the Current State
of Research in the Area of Psychoactive Substances 2 1 3
Bibliography 24 1
The Contributors to this Volume 255

Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann was born in the Swiss canton of Argau

on January 1 1 , 1 906. A deep love of the nature of his home,
which as a boy he once experienced as mystical enchantment,
awoke in him a desire to obtain deeper insight into the
structure and essence of the material world by studying
chemistry.
In 1 92 5 , he began his studies at the University of Ziirich. In
1 929, he completed his well-received doctoral dissertation
under the guidance of the Nobelist Paul Karre r.
With respect for the achievement of every little blade of
grass, which, using only light for its energy, produces
substances which the work of hundreds of chemists over many
years could not suffice for, he devoted his research at Sandoz
AG in Basel between the years 1 929 and 1 9 7 1 to the chemistry
of natural substances. At the heart of his work stood his
investigations into ergot, out of which a number of important
medications were obtained.
On April 1 9 , 1 94 3 , his work was rewarded with the
discovery of the hallucinogenic effects of LSD , which he had
first synthesized from ergot five years earlier. As Hofmann
himself later commented on this momentous event, only a
mind that is ready finds. Recognizing his responsibility, he
exerted himself continuously for a beneficial and advantageous
use of this substance, even after its increasing misuse had
brought LSD into the crossfire of public disfavor.
Hofmann's interest in psychoactive substances led him to
the sacred plants of Mexico (Psilocybe mexicana and ololiuqui) ,
whose active agents he investigated (he was able to isolate the
active principle psilocybin) , and whose healing applications he
became acquainted with during field work in Mexico, where he
made the acquaintance of the curandera Maria Sabina. His
research engagement also brought him together with some of
the leading figures in the world of the mind - the authors
Emst Jiinger and Aldous Huxley, the Orientalist Rudolf
Gelpke, and the psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, to name but just a
few.
Yet Hofrnann was not motivated by the sciences alone. His
broad philosophical and metaphysical interests led him to
author several books . In 1 9 7 8 , he wrote The Road to Eleusis
(together with R.G. Wasson and C.A.P. Ruck) . In 1 9 7 9 , Plants of
the Gods (co-authored with R.E. Schultes) a.lld LSD - Mein
Sorgenkind (translated into English in 1 98 0 as LSD: My Problem
Child) appeared. Einsichten - Ausblicke, Hofmann's plea for the
unity of humanity and nature, was published in 1 98 6 .
Hofmann's extensive list o f publications (encompassing some

1 40 original works) has brought him honors from American,
Swedish, Swiss, and German universities . H e is the recipient of
honorary doctorates from Stockholm (Dr.pharm.h.c.) and
Ziirich (Dr.sc.nat.). He is an Honorary Member of the
American Society of Pharmacognosy and of the Gesellschaft fiir
Arzneimittelforschung. In December, 1 98 8 , he was awarded
his third honorary doctorate: Dr.rer.nat.h.c. from the Faculty
for Pharmacy at the Free University of Berlin "for his
fundamental contributions to the isolation, structural descrip
tion, and complete synthesis of the active substances of
important medical plants, for his ground-breaking work in
developing specific drugs by partially synthesizing natural
ergot alkaloids, for his successful phytochemical studies of
sacred Mexican· plants , for the discovery of the unique
psychoactive properties of LSD and his critical discussion
concerning the effects of this discovery . . . "
Hofrnann is a member of the directors of a number of

committees, endowments, and colleges. A library in Los
Angeles dedicated to the study of consciousness bears his
name.
Today, Alben Hofmann, father and grandfather, lives with his

wife Anita in Leimental, outside of Basel. His house overlooks
the border, and is surrounded by the magnificent plants that
have been and still are his "Gateway to Inner Space" .
Christi an R atsch
Intr oducti on: The Exp l or at ion of
Inner Sp ace
((Our sort of science keeps its distance from the reality of life,
whereas shamans grab hold of life at its roots and experience a
blazing reality."
Holger Kalweit (1984:24 7)
Asleep, a person is more or less motionless. His

breathing is slow, and his eyes are closed. He does not stand, or
speak, or eat, or drink - and yet, he has a multitude of
experiences. He may fly or swim, suffer martyrdom, fight,
make love to an angel, or dance with demons. He may give a
speech, walk upon a rainbow, slash his way through the jungle,
ride a bicycle, converse with the dead or with strangers, or
laugh and joke with his friends. He may experience himself as a
child, an animal, or a spirit, or even loose his teeth. For he is
dreaming. Dreaming is the unconscious experiencing of the
dreamer's inner space.
In shamanic trance, a person may throw himself upon the
ground, vibrate, twitch and shake, whisper in non-human
voices, stutter in unknown tongues, or grimace. In appearance,
he is like a dying man, or an epileptic. He has lost all contact
with his fellows - in the very act of helping them. He has
departed from the normal realm of the visible. He staggers
through endless tunnels and jagged gorges, and fights with
whirlwinds and exploding rocks. A volcano engulfs him and
smothers him with lava, only to then spew him out once again.
He is crushed by gigantic rocks. The flesh is torn from his
frame, and the bones of his skeleton crack open. His marrow
evaporates in the maelstrom of an underworld that spares
nothing. Lashed by fire, tormented by haunting faces - the
myriad particles of his former self begin to sparkle, to
Gateway to Inner Space
sublimate. Ascending through layers of light to lofty heights,

they congeal to a cloud, and then take on new forms. He
becomes a fish, an eagle, a jaguar. He dances through galaxies
of shimmering blue upon weighdess paws. A light attracts him.
A being of light, radiant in all the colors of the rainbow,
containing all the elements of being, speaks words of welcome.
He talks with him, teaches him the secrets of the plants,
animals, minerals, reveals supreme knowledge, and shows him
the way in which he will later be able to find the lost souls of the
ill and bring them back to earth. His receiv�s a gift: a magical
object to take back to the normal, visible world. This will be his
key to future shamanic journeys. The shamanizing man is an
artist of consciousness; he is initiated into the secrets and
revelations of inner space.
A person in a psychedelic state sits or lies, dances or rolls
around, laughs or cries , and trembles. His eyes shine. He can
be spoken with, touched, or embraced. He may react as he
normally would, or express passive astonishment. He may
reveal philosophical wisdom, or babble like a fool. He remains
visible to his fellows - even when they fade away to invisible
shadows. He goes within himself: and finds there a world not
previously perceivable. He feels at home in this world; for it is
his own inner space which, in its continually new and
wonderful infinity, reveals itself to be an inexhaustibly rich
universe. The space he has entered becomes a source of
revelations to its bearer. He makes himself at home there. He
marvels at the worlds and communicates with beings from
other realities. He sees things he loves and beholds things that
are threatening; and realizes that everything has legitimacy and
meaning. He perceives himself- but from a completely new
perspective: he may be one of the cells of his body, or even an
atom.
He becomes aware of his inner organs, his skeleton. His
flesh decays, dropping away from him as if eaten by acid. The
skeleton which remains appears as the ridge beam of another
universe. Death takes life from this beam, and spreads itself
2
The Exploration of Inner Space
into infinite space. A skeleton sits in the lotus posttlon,

contemplating nothing. There, where the living have their
navel, licks a small tongue of flames. This becomes a ball of fire,
from which issue flashes of lightning. The whirling and
gleaming ball becomes a river, a torrent composed of all the
ideas, thoughts, emotions, images, and conceptions of the
universe. As if propelled by a tidal wave, this flood roars
through his chest and shoots into his empty skull. Great waves
of energy emanate from his head, and shower the old skeleton
with new life. Light encompasses a perfect body, whose beauty
floods the shining universe with flashes of light. Embedded
with soft, bluish-pinkish clouds, a giant hand approaches . The
newly created person takes a seat upon the hand. He is lifted
ever higher. Infinite space gleams in brown, and then turns to a
deep Indian yellow. The universe laughs, and is united with the
joyful being capable of perceiving it. This moment of ecstasy
and illumination of inner space remains a memory for
eternity.
Dreams, shamanism, and psychedelic experiences are all
gateways to inner space: "Inner space refers to consciousness.
Consciousness eludes a scientific definition, because it is that
which I require in order to be able to think about what
consciousness is. It can only be circumscribed, as the receptive
and creative mental center of the ego" (Hofrnann 1 986:25) .
Through this gateway to inner space, a person can enter realms
which are closed to the world of waking consciousness that is
perceivable by the senses.
Among many non-Western cultures, as well as in many
archaic religions, dreams are considered to be experiences in
other realities. Interpretive systems are utilized to structure this
reality. In culturally encouraged dream-work, the alternate
reality of sleep is investigated and assigned meaning. The
shamans of such cultures, the seers of archaic religions, and the
mystics of the most varied religions are p rofessional exp lorers
of other realities, which they approach by means of certain
techniques. Shamans, seers, and mystics do not experience
3
Fig. 1: Drawing by a subject after an LSD session. Notes made after

the session contained the following description: "I associated the
concept of 'life' with a powerful dandelion which exploded through
the asphalt and burst into yellow blossoms. And then I noticed that I
had become a leopard which had crawled out from under the
pavement! I snarled and growled, and stretched and flexed my claws.
In doing so , crusts of old asphalt crumbled from my arms, shoulders,
and paws. Simultaneously, tremendous amounts of energy must have
been released, with an unbelievable stretching and straining. Bolts of
energy moved down my arms and back and from my paws. An
enormously powerful cat had emerged from within me, and I was
completely surprised and filled with joy and happiness. "
4
T he Exploration of Inner Space
inner space as a dark hole, but rather as an infinite universe,

whose diversity is beyond comprehension and richness beyond
measure.
There are many doors to this universe, including yoga,
meditation, fasting, flagellation, ecstatic dance, long-distance
running, sensory deprivation, and the administration of sacred
plants or psychedelic drugs. In his contribution to this volume,
Rich Yensen describes how psychedelic drugs have been
regarded, evaluated, and utilized in different times and among
various cultures , as well as in the modern study of
consciousness. Stanislav Grof discusses their philosophical
implications. Three traditional systems - shamanism,
alchemy, and tantric yoga- are presented in Ralph Metzner's
article on molecular mysticism.
Psychedelic drugs also have a long medical history. The
sacred plants of the American I ndians (e.g. , peyote, psilocybin
mushrooms, ayahuasca) are attributed special powers of
healing. They treat the person as a whole, by bringing him into
harmony with the world around him and making it possible for
him to experience joy. Tom Pinkson discusses manners in
which the drugs of the Indians can also help in curing the
ailments of persons from the Western world. Recent research
has also shown that other psychoactive substances (MDMA,
ketamine) possess a similarly strong potential for healing, and
may be of usefulness for both psychically ill and healthy
persons. A discussion of these possibilities is given in the
contribution from George Greer.
The phenomenology of consciousness, as expanded
through meditation techniques or the consumption of a variety
of drugs (of the LSD-type, phenethylamine, ketamine, and
harmala alkaloids) , is the subject of an article by Claudio
Naranjo. Wolfgang Coral presents a discussion of the
relationship between the biochemistry and the phenomenology
of spiritual states.
Many ancient cultures considered hallucinogenic or
psychedelic plants sacred, or associated them with gods. One of
5
these plants, the sacred plant of the Egyptians, has now been
identified for the first time. Charles Muses reports on the
botany, chemistry, and cultural significance of this plant. A
second historical reconstruction by Christian Ratsch looks into
the case of St. Anthony's fire in the Mexican peninsula of
Yucacin.
Many poets and writers have explored inner space - often
with the aid of psychedelic drugs (cf. Miiller-Ebeling and
Ratsch 1989) . Through their hymns, poems, and fantastic tales,
Navalis, Baudelaire, H . P. Lovecraft, Hermann Hesse, and
Aldous H uxley have opened doors which revealed a gleaming
world otherwise accessible only to shamans and mystics. Artists
have shown us other ways. The paintings of Hieronymous
Bosch are strongly reminiscent of the worlds which may
become manifest during a session with LS D . The painters of
the fin de siecle also made visible their inner space. Motifs and
symbols which may become manifest during LSD sessions are
found frequendy in their paintings. Claudia Miiller-Ebeling
casts light upon this in her contribution. The "Temptation of
St. Anthony" has been the subject of coundess reinterpretations.
St. Anthony's fire, a condition caused by the consumption of
ergot alkaloids (cf. Hofmann 1964), has burned in numerous
heads.
Psychoactive substances , of course, have also been
consciously used in a variety of cultures around the world . The
extent to which the experiences elicited by such substances
depend upon factors specific to a particular culture remains
an open question, one taken up by Terence McKenna in Among
Ayahuasquera . The journey to Peru he describes aimed to
determine how ayahuasca, a concoction utilized throughout
the Amazon basin, compares to other substances and whether
the experiences it elicits may only become manifest within a
jungle setting.
Since the beginning of the 1 970s, there has been litde new
research into psychedelic substances. The initial scientific
enthusiasm has been stifled by the mass media, social taboos,
6
The Exploration of Inner Space
Fig. 2: A drawing by a subject following a session with ketamine (I 00

mg) . The protocol contains a description of a "universe next-door":
"I thought: This is how death could be, or the way in which this world
is perceived by another being or someone who is insane. The walls
became many-cornered; G., who was sitting behind me, became
angular and metallic. A green-brown double-vonex of infinite size
carried me away and swept me through space. I was utterly at the
mercy of this vonex, pressed backwards, and was only able to gape in
astonishment. I tried to make contact with my old environment and
to restore my old perception, but I couldn't succeed . I was glued to
the wall of the gigantic green-brown rotor, almost completely
paralyzed; I sweated profusely and thought, if I do not return from
here, then I'll have to stay. "
7
administrative complications, and political measures. As a

result of new discoveries in modem biochemistry, anthro
pology, and transpersonal psychology, however, psychedelic
research has been experiencing a renaissance. A comprehensive
discussion of current research, interdisciplinary approaches,
and theoretical models is provided in the concluding article of
this volume, a repon on the symposium " O n the Current State
of Research in the Area of Psychoactive Substances" .
Western culture, according to H . P. Lovecraft, has taken the
former visionaries and "chained them to real things, before
explaining the effects of things for so long that the world lost all
of its secrets" ( 1 980 : 1 44) . With the opening of new gateways to
inner space, however, mystic fusion with the universe has again
become possible.
8
10
Rich Ye nse n
Fr om Mysteries t o Par adi g ms :
Hu mani ty's Jour ney fr om S acre d
Pl ants t o Psyche delic Dru gs
From Mysteries to Paradigms

Can the judicious application of frontier scientific
concepts enhance our understanding of how to best use the
unique group of psychoactive chemical compounds known as
psychedelic drugs? These substances have been known to
mankind throughout history; they occur in many new and old
world plants and are held sacred by the cultures that use them.
Beginning in the 1 950s, a large segment of American society
was exposed to a semisynthetic compound with psychoactive
properties remarkably similar to those of plants long associated
with philosophical and religious mysteries in other cultures.
This remarkable rediscovery on a mass scale of substances long
held to be sacred is all the more interesting because of the state
of relative ignorance fostered by the social and cultural context
of America at the time. For this reason, our cultural
relationship to the mystical is of particular significance in trying
to understand the impact of a drug which, though it came from
a modern laboratory, alluded in its effects to ancient mysteries
with sacred plants.
In American society, medicine, psychotherapy, and religion
have become discrete pursuits. This society, as a founding
principle, legally separated the functions of Church from State.
While advancing in complexity, the culture unfonunately
created an almost impenetrable wall between secular, everyday
life and mystical and archetypal sources of meaning. Carljung
wrote his accounts of modern mans's search for a soul and
suggested that there was a dimension of h uman awareness th at
might enrich contemporary existence with a much needed
transcendent quality. As industrial society became more
11
complex and non-homogeneous , the concept of the sacred

suffered steady erosion. More and more people of different
cultural heritage banded together into a metacultural military
industrial empire of vast new proportions.
Anthropologists have long noted that most societies divide
their culture into the " holy" and the "prof ane", either
conceptually or in their behavior, or both . The secular is the
realm of mundane, workaday technology, of ego control, of
relatively low emotional charge, and of constantly evolving
adaptation to the environment. By contrast, the sacred is a
realm of adaptation to anxieties of high emotional potential,
of positions the more heatedly defended the less def ensible
by common sense (La Barre 1 9 7 5: 1 7-18).
American society took a slighdy different course. An attempt

was made to completely separate culturally diverse notions of
spirituality1 from daily pursuits without denigrating them. Yet
the very lack of a shared social context of sacred dimensions has
relegated a much sought after dimension of human experience
to a profane prison of silence. This is perhaps a necessary way
to avoid social conflict among groups with different beliefs. In
fact, the greatest virtue of the separation between Church and
State remains enhanced tolerance for diverse beliefs in the
religious realm. Through this process , the spiritual realms of
human consciousness have become separated from the
ordinary world, both when it is appropriate and when it is not.
Is it any wonder that religious scholars speak of the death of
God?
The discovery of LSD began a series of events that would
eventually unleash the most powerful mind altering drug
known to man into this cultural setting. Scientific investigation
of this new and phenomenally powerful drug proceeded with
litde awareness of relevant knowledge developed by other
cultures which used plants that contain similar active
principles.
1 God, the devil, and the existence of a spirit world.
12
After nearly 20 years of serious research into the potential

uses and abuses of LSD , the drug was suddenly thrust into the
national spotlight. In the 1 960s, the Americas and Europe were
rocked by a sociological earthquake of unprecedented
proportions . A central factor in this upheaval in belief was the
alarming wave of illicit LSD experimentation by the young.
This wave of experimentation took place among a generation of
socially disenfranchised youth larger in numbers than ever
before. This phenomenon was fueled by the near-messianic
claims made by some researchers who applauded the
unsupervised use of LSD as a panacea for the apparently
unique human problems of this generation. This advocacy
never gave sufficient attention to the possible risks of using such
powerful substances without an appropriate setting. The
legislative knee-jerk reaction to this irresponsible advocacy was
the creation of laws which have seriously impeded responsible
research into possible applications for LSD and other
psychedelic substances while having little or no effect on
abuse.
This controversial area can be put in a more balanced
perspective through a brief overview of the use of mind-altering
substances throughout history. We may best explore this
material from a vantage point which gives consideration to the
transpersonal dimensions of the profound human experience
which these substances evoke. Psychedelic compounds are not
new, and they are not associated with countercultural forces in
the rituals of traditional cultures . In fact, traditional societies
use them as a powerful tool for renewing and passing on the
basic belief systems of their cultures. There are many cultures
that use sacred plants containing psychedelic compounds as an
essential part of their rituals of divination, healing, member
ship, and worship. There is evidence that as long as 1 00,000
years ago humans were using medicinal herbs. The use of
plants to indu ce altered states of consciousness has been
documented to circa 8 ,000 B . C . (Furst 1 9 7 6) . Sacred plants
appear to have played an influential role in the formation of
13
religions and the early development of Western philosophy. R.

Gordon Wasson is foremost among a new genre of scholars
who call themselves ethnopharmacologists and who specialize
in examining the role of psychedelic plants in history. His book
Soma, the Divine Mushroom of Immortality meticulously relates the
legendary Soma as described in the Hindu oral tradition of the
Rig Veda to Amanita muscaria , a psychedelic mushroom. Mr.
Wasson' s scholarly efforts, not be confused with the fanciful
proposals of others regarding mushrooms and religious
practice (e.g. , Allegro 1 9 7 0) , amount to a profound inter
disciplinary analysis of how Amanita muscaria mushrooms fit
the Rig Veda's poetic imagery from the perspective of botany,
chemistry, pharmacology, anthropology, and psychology.
Wasson presents convincing evidence for his hypothesis that at
the dawn of human history, the effects of a sacred plant were a
cornerstone in the foundation of one of the great religions of
the world.
Not content to allow this scholarly tour de force to stand
alone, Wasson has since joined with others to present strong
evidence that the "wine" consumed as part of the mysteries at
Eleusis in ancient Greece was made from ergot-infested grain
and hence possessed mystical, sacred, and psychedelic
properties due to the effects of lysergic acid amides. These
renowned mysteries were said to profoundly affect the
participants, which included Plato and Socrates in Greece and
Pythagoras in Egypt (Wasson et. al. 1978).
Sacred plants have played a more significant role in human
history than common knowledge would suggest. The use of
these plants has been in the context of deeply meaningful ritual
settings that invoked transpersonal experiences of a mystical
and spiritual nature. Cultures of oral tradition reveal their awe
in the names they use for plants that are sacred: semen of the
sun, vines of the serpent, the tracks of the deer, plant of the
tomb, vine of the soul, mainstay of the heavens, herb of
divination, and flesh of the gods (Schultes & Hofmann
1 979).
14
Shamanism and Plants: the ·Origins of Psychothern.py

and Religion
Tribal cultures can provide us with a window into our
cultural past. We can experience the ground of our collective
being by examining the practices of societies that maintain
tribal lives. Could their beliefs be similar in some ways to those
held by our long extinct tribal ancestors? We can also observe
among these contemporary tribal peoples a sensitivity to the
uses of psychedelic substances that may have long ago became
lost or atrophied in our culture.
In tribal societies, the spiritual leader of the group is usually
referred to by anthropologists as the shaman. This individual
serves the society in a multifaceted role that encompasses much
of what we consider to be the separate, if perhaps related,
provinces of the psychotherapist, the clergyman, and the
physician. The shaman is at once the myth-bearer, myth
maker, ecstatic mystic, spiritual guide, and healer for the social
group. The shaman knows and reenacts the myths that are the
foundations of the culture in a manner that renews collective
belief through the direct individual experience of the spirit
world. The shaman is the guide for the group and guardian of
the delicate psychic and ecological equilibrium necessary for
survival in the wondrous and frightening, magico-religious
world in which such people live. Anthropologists have
proposed shamanism as the Ur-religion, or proto-religion,
which broke up into many cults, some of which evolved into
the great world religions (Furst 1 9 7 6) .
The Role o f the Shaman

The shaman holds a position of supernatural power
and prestige within his culture that is unparalleled in our own.
The medicine man or woman plays a role not only in individual
healing, but also in the collective quest for meaning of the
grou p . It is difficult to imagine such a uniquely powerful figure
from the perspective of a society as diverse and complex as our
own. As a healer, the shaman makes clever use of this power in
15
an ultimately holistic approach to illness. Through skilled use

of suggestion and the invocation of spiritual power, the shaman
is able to address healing effons toward the socio-familial fabric
as well as the individual psyche.
The direct experience of the natural and supernatural is of
central imponance to shamanism; it is this quest for spiritual
power and knowledge through direct experience that has led
some scholars to consider shamanism as primarily a collection
of pragmatic techniques for attaining ecstasy (Eliade 1 964) .
"The native peoples of Nonh and South America share an
epistemological touchstone for reality . . . direct personal
psychic experience of the forces of nature" (La Barre
1 9 7 2 :2 7 8 ) .
Attitudes toward Sacred Plants

Among many groups in the Americas, shamans employ
plants which are regarded as having spiritual power or being
sacred. Most of these plants fall into the pharmacologic
category of hallucinogenic, psychotomimetic, psychedelic, or
"mind-manifesting" substances . The shamans, however,
prefer to conceive of these unusual plants as powerful in a
spiritual sense: "Whether the shaman alone, or shaman and
communicants, or communicants alone imbibe or ingest . . .
any of the vast array of (N onh and South American)
psychotropic plants, the ethnographic principle is the same.
These plants contain spirit power" (La Barre 1972: 277).
The reasons that use of sacred plants has persisted for
centuries can be clarified by observing the role of divine plants
in some contemporary tribal and traditional cultures. These
groups present facets of human development from the past
mixed with contemporary influences. Shamanistic practition
ers of today, who still use sacred plants , have evolved anful
ceremonies which combine the old with the new. This layering
or syncretism preserves the beliefs necessary for the beneficial
application of divine plants in rituals of mythical quest for
rebinh, healing, and renewal. The sacred plants play a primary
16
role in the preservation and intensification of the core beliefs

which constitute membership in a particular group . Shamans
use the plants to contact the " spirit world" for various
purposes, including: control of natural forces, contact with
ancestors, receiving advice from supernatural sources, h e aling,
sorcery or witchcraft, out-of-body experiences, etc. In short, the
shaman makes use of the plants to foster transcendence of the
human condition. This ability to transcend is necessary to fulfill
the shamanistic role of intermediary between the visible and
invisible planes of existence.
Eduardo Calderon Palomino, an unusually acculturated
contemporary practitioner of the shaman's art in Peru,
described the effects of a sacred plant, San Pedro (literally, "Saint
Peter"; botanically, Trichocereus pachanoi) to Douglas Sharon, an
anthropologist:
For himself
(The physical effects) are first a slight dizziness that one
hardly notices. It produces a light numbness in the body and
afterward a tranquility. And then comes a detachment, a type
of visual force in the individual inclusive of all the senses:
seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, et cetera - all the
senses, including the sixth sense, the telepathic sense of
transmitting oneself across time and matter . . . It develops
the power of perception . . . in the sense that when one wants
to see something far away . . . he can distinguish powers or
problems or disturbances at great distance, so as to deal with
them . . . It (also) produces . . . a general cleansing.
For his patients:

San Pedro . . . tends to manifest itself in the form of vomiting,
perspiration . . . sometimes in dancing. At times during
diagnosis, a patient automatically starts to dance alone, or to
throw himself writhing on the ground. And there "unf olds"
the power (that is, the ailment, or evil power) placed into the
person.
It seems that . . . not all of us are resistant. Some are very
susceptible, very unstable, and San Pedro tends to reach the
17
subconscious . . . and the conscious, in such cases. It

penetrates the blood . . . rises to, let us say, the intellectual
nervous system . Then it "visualizes" and opens up a sixth
sense. . . . Then the individual, sometimes by himself, can
visualize his past or . . . the present, or an immediate future
(Sharon 1 9 7 8 :45) .
Eduardo describes what he means by the subconscious and the

healing strategy of the curandero's (curer or white witch)
approach:
The subconscious is a superior part (of man) . . . a kind of bag
where the individual has stored all his memories, all his
valuations. . . . One must try . . . to make the individual
"jump out" of his conscious mind. That is the principal task
of curanderismo. By means of the magical plants and the
chants and the search f or the roots of the problem , the
subconscious of the individual is opened up like a flower,
and it releases these blockages. All by itself it tells things. A
very practical manner . . . which was known to the ancients
(Sharon 1 9 7 8:46) .
We may characterize the attitudes or perceptual paradigms of

cultures using magical or sacred plants as including the
following elements: l) The plants are regarded as sacred or
mystical. They are described as containing supernatural agents.
Whatever the individual group's variation on this theme, the
result of the belief is great respect and perhaps even some fear
regarding these plants. 2) Plants are used in specific ceremonies
or rituals that support and renew the world view of the culture
in which they are used. 3) There exists a world apan from this
one to which the plants give access. Useful experiences take
place in this hidden dimension of existence and valuable
knowledge may be gained in this realm . 4) The use of these
substances is an acknowledged pan of membership in the
group or some significant sub-group, i.e. , shamans. 5) These
plants can be used by those adept in th eir application to heal
and to effect other changes in the ordinary world.
The ritual in which power plants are used is a psycho-social
18
framework for experiencing the sacred and mystical effects.

Among different peoples, it may be obsetved that the goal of
the framework varies from a pure existential quest for meaning
(Munn 1973) or rites of spiritual membership and renewal
(Furst 1 9 7 2) to rites of violence ( Chagnon 1 9 68; Harner 1 9 7 3) .
Whatever the purpose o f the framework, the shaman i s charged
with using the available technology of the culture to create the
most effective environment possible for the collective ends. A
variety of stimuli may be employed: candles, drums, chants,
various forms of an, etc. The stimuli are ingeniously used to
enhance and guide the experience along an accepted or
desirable course.
Contemporary tribal groups that use sacred plants are
extremely resistant to erosion of their belief in a spirit world by
contact with the dominant culture. No doubt this is a
consequence of the fact that we offer nothing of comparable
experiential power to the effects of these plants in our religious
practices. Certainly, the dominant culture seeks to suppress
these practices with sacred plants either overtly or covertly.
However, lacking a comparable replacement for the exper
iential impact of divine plants, aboriginal groups are more
likely to go underground with their practices than to abolish
them.
In the past, Western society at large has considered the
phenomena of shamanism as an interesting consequence of
primitive beliefs about the nature of the universe. However,
when contemporary scholars of anthropology, botany, and
psychopharmacology examined the knowledge of sacred plants
and their psychological effects, which many tribal groups
possess, they were most impressed at the extent and
sophistication of this lore about plants and spirits. The writings
of this brave and curious group are forcing a general re
evaluation of our accepted beliefs about primitive society
(Castaneda 1 96 8 , 1 97 1 , 1 972 , 1 974, 1 977; Efron 1 967; Sharon
197 8; Schultes & Ho fmann 197 3, 1979; Wasson & Wasson
1 95 7 ; Wasson 1 968 ). Among some peoples, sacred plants are
19
cultivated and combinations of various plants are used to

produce exactly the desired state of mind using a pragmatic
knowledge of biochemistry and pharmacology that we can only
match with highly developed equipment and tests. Richard
Evans-Schultes, an ethnobotanist from Harvard University,
comments on the sophistication demonstrated in the selection
of ingredients in a sacred brew made from jungle vines and
plants in South America:
In the westemmost Amazon - in Colombia and Ecuador -
the admixture put into the drink basically prepared from the
bark of Banisteriopsis inebrians commonly includes leaves of B.
rusbyana.. The bark (of this plant) is apparently never
. .
employed - always the leaves. Recent studies have shown

that the leaves and stems do not have the beta-carboline
alkaloids so characteristic of B. caapi and B. inebrians but that
they contain a very large amount of N ,N -dimethyltryptamine
(DMT). It is this alkaloid that increases the strength and
duration of the visions . . . . The tryptamines are ineffective in
the human body unless they are taken with some
monoamine oxidase inhibitor. The beta-carbolines act as
this inhibitor, allowing the tryptamine to h!lve its hallucino
genic effect in man.
How could "primitive" people develop such sophistication?

Dr. Schultes speculates:
One wonders how peoples in primitive societies, with no
knowledge of chemistry or physiology, ever hit upon a
solution to the activation of an alkaloid by a monoamine
oxidase inhibitor. Pure experimentation? Perhaps not. The
examples are too numerous and may become even more
numerous with future research (Schultes 1 9 7 2: 3 8 -3 9) .
Visitors from our culture who participate i n actual healing or

curing ceremonies report that aboriginal groups have great
practical knowledge which parallels and perhaps in useful ways
is complementary to our healing arts and sciences. These tribal
peoples also display the profound philosophical and existential
insights possible through use of these plants in their
20
mythology, art , and conception of the world. R. Gordon

Wasson tells us of the response given by a Spanish-speaking
Mazatec Indian muleteer when he was asked why the sacred
mushrooms of the region were referred to by a name meaning
literally "that which springs forth" . Wasson found the response
of this man, who though he spoke Spanish could not read or
tell time by clock, so profoundly poetic and sincere that he
preserved it word for word: El honguillo viene por si mismo, no se
sabe de donde, como el viento que viene sin saber de donde ni por que
(":rhe little mushroom comes of itself, no one knows whence,
like the wind that comes we know not whence nor why";
Wasson 1 972) .
Wasson tells of his visit to M aria Sabina, "a curandera or
shaman of outstanding quality" who allowed outsiders to
participate in her ceremonies for the first time in 1 955 and
thereby revealed the long-held secret of the sacred mushrooms
to Wasson:
You are lying on apetate or mat. . .. It is dark, for all the lights
have been extinguished save a few embers among the stones
on the floor and the incense in a sherd. It is still,for the
thatched hut is apt to be some distance away from the village.
In the darkness and stillness, that voice hovers through the
hut, coming now from beyond your feet, now at your very
ear, now distant, now actually underneath you, with strange
ventriloquistic effect . . .. Your body lies in darkness, heavy as
l ead , but your spirit seems to soar and leave the hut, and with
the speed of thought to travel where it wishes, in time and
space, accompanied by the shaman's singing and by the
ejaculations of her percussive chant. What you are seeing and
what you are hearing appear as one: the music assumes
harmonious shapes, giving visual form to its harmonies, and
what you are seeing takes on the modalities of music -
music of the spheres . . . the bemushroomed person is
poised in space, a disembodied eye, invisible, incorporeal,
seeing but not seen (Wasson 1971 :36-37).
It is clear from the above account that even a conservative, well-
21
acculturated visitor from the United States2 found that the

effects of these plants, long forgotten to the West, transcended
the artificial ban of silence separating the sacred from the
secular to convincingly demonstrate the continued existence of
a realm of the spirit. Indeed, Mr. Wasson immediately
recognized that this practice and the unusual healer, Maria
Sabina, represented a deep level of religious experience
unknown since the time of the mysteries of ancient Greece and
Egypt. This brief review of sacred plants, their role in human
history, and their use among aboriginal peoples today leads us
back to our story of how a highly t�chnological society
responded to the introduction of psychedelic substances
without a ritual frame. The concept of reality in Western society
is so different from the sacred and mythological views still held
by groups using psychedelic plants. How could such a society
respond to the unexpected rediscovery of this pharmaceutical
power in a laboratory?
The Discovery of LSD

In 1 938, LSD-25 was synthesized at the Sandoz Research
Laboratories, Basel, Switzerland by Anhur Stoll and Alben
Hofmann. They were making a research effon to discover
compounds that mi ght facilitate childbinh or aid in the
treatment of migraine headaches. Animal trials with LSD-25
gave uninteresting results and the compound was set aside for
later study. In 1 943, Alben Hofmann decided to explore
possible psychological effects of the substance. The first step
was to synthesize a fresh batch of LSD . After completing the
synthesis, Hofmann found himself restless and dizzy. He
stopped work, rode home on his bicycle, and got into bed,
there experiencing " a not unpleasant state of drunkenness
which was characterized by an extremely stimulating fantasy".
With his eyes closed, Hofmann experienced an inner world
2 Mr. Wasson was a retired corporate official from the Mm-gan Trust and
Guaranty Company.
22
populated by " fantastic images of an extraordinary plasticity.

They were associated with an intense kaleidoscopic display of
colors" (Hofmann 1 975: 1 1 1 ) . These symptoms lasted for only
about two hours.
Hofmann wondered afterwards if it was possible that he
had absorbed some of the LSD-25 during the synthesis . He was
rather suspicious of this explanation, since the compound
would have to be unbelievably potent. He decided to
experiment by ingesting what seemed to him a most
conservative amount of LSD, 250 micrograms (250 millionths
of a gram) . Hofmann quickly learned that he had discovered
the most potent psychoactive substance known to man. Here is
his own account of the experience:
April 9, 1943:
Preparation of an 0. 5% aqueous solution of cl-lysergic acid
diethylamide tartrate.
4:20P.M.
0. 5 cc (0. 2 5 mg LSD) ingested orally. The solution ts
tasteless.
4:50P.M.
No trace of any effect.
5:00P.M.
Slight dizziness, unrest, difficulty in concentration, visual
disturbances, marked desire to laugh .
At this point the laboratory notes are discontinued. The
last words were written only with great di ffi cu l ty I as ked my
.
laboratory assistant to accompany me home, as I believed

that I should have a repetition of the disturbance of the
previous Friday. While we were cycling home, however, it
became clear that the symptoms were much stronger than
the first time. I had difficulty in speaking coherendy, my field
of vision swayed before me, and objects appeared distorted
like images in curved mirrors . I had the impression of being
unable to move from the spot, although my assistant told me
afterward that we had cycled at a good pace.... Once I was at
home the physician was called.

By the time the doctor arrived, the peak of the crisis had
23
already passed . As far as I remember, the following were the

outstanding symptoms: vertigo; visual disturbances; the
faces of those around me appeared as grotesque, colored
masks; marked motoric unrest, alternating with paralysis;
and intermittent heavy feeling in the head, limbs and the
entire body, as if they were filled with lead; dry constricted
sensation in the throat; feeling of choking; clear recognition
of my condition, in which state I sometimes observed, in a
manner of an independent, neutral observer, that I shouted
half insanely or babbled incoherent words. Occasionally I
felt as if I were out of my body.
The doctor found a rather weak pulse but otherwise
normal circulation . . . . Six hours after ingestion of the LSD,
my condition had already improved considerably. Only the
visual disturbances were still pronounced. Everything
seemed to sway and the proportions were distorted like the
reflections in the surface of moving water. Moreover, all the
objects appeared unpleasant, constantly changing colors, the
predominant shades being sickly green and blue. When I
closed my eyes, an unending series of colorful, very realistic
and fantastic images surged upon me. A remarkable feature
was the manner in which all acoustic perceptions (e.g. , the
noise of a passing car) were transformed into optical effects,
every sound evoking a corresponding colored hallucination
constantly changing in shape and calor like pictures in a
kaleidoscope. At about one o'clock I fell asleep and awoke
the next morning feeling perfectly well (Hofmann 1 9 7 5 : 1 1 1 -
1 1 5 ; 1 9 7 9 : 28-34).
In the 42 years since the startling discovery of LSD's effects, the

international research community has produced a torrent of
studies on the psychological effects and possible utility of this
unusual drug and other similar compounds. The body of
scientific literature on this topic is voluminous and filled with
conflicting claims. Some order can be discerned from the
apparent chaos if we consider the history and development of
three major scientific conceptualizations about the effects of
psychedelic drugs: 1 ) The Psychotomimetic (mimicking
psychosis) view holds that these drugs induce a mental state
24
resembling psychosis which may seiVe as a laboratory model

psychosis. 2) The Psycholytic (mind dissolving) view holds that,
since the drug effects alter the dynamic relationship between
the conscious and unconscious portions of the personality, this
altered state can be useful in psychoanalytically oriented
psychotherapy. 3) The Psychedelic (mind manifesting) view
regards these compounds as facilitators of mystical and peak
experiences when administered in the proper dose and setting.
These experiences are considered capable of producing
profound , lasting, and positive changes in personality.
The Psychotomimetic Paradigm

The origin of the psychotomimetic view precedes the
discovery of LSD. The existence of a substance capable of
creating a schizophrenic or catatonic psychosis was proposed
around the turn of the century by Kraeplin, Serieux, and
Jelgersma ( Kraeplin 1 8 92) . They suggested that schizophrenia
and catatonia might be caused by an endogenous toxin which
poisoned the brain. In 1 9 24, Louis Lewin, an influential
German pharmacologist, published a seminal volume:
Phantastica: Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs - Their Use and Abuse
(originally published in German as Phantastica - Die betiiubenden
und erregenden GenuBmittel and translated into English in 1 93 1 ) .
He described a new category, phantastica, which included the
peyote cactus (Loplwphora williamsii) and reasonably includes
LSD :
. . . I mean the action o f chemical substances capable of
evoking such transitory (visionary and psychotic) states
without any physical inconvenience for a certain time in
persons of perfecdy normal mentality who are pardy or fully
aware of the action of the drug. Substances of this nature I
call Phantastica. They are capable of exercising their
chemical power on all the senses, but they influence
particularly the visual and auditory s phe re s as well as the
general sensibility (Lewin 1 964:92).
Lewin suggested that these substances could be extremely
25
useful to ethnologists and students of religion. In addition to

describing mystical and transcendental effects, Lewin men
tioned that phantastica can create a mental state similar to
psychosis which he felt ought to interest psychiatrists . Lewin
appears to be the first author to conceive of a psychotomimetic
(mimicking psychosis) categorization for the effects of these
bizarre mind drugs. Lewin' s understanding of the substances
he classified as phantastica outstripped that of his contem
poraries. A colleague of Lewin's, Kurt Beringer, published an
influential book on the effects of mescaline (the major active
ingredient of Peyote) entided Der Mescalinrausch ( 1 92 7 ) . He
described the drug as singularly psychotomimetic in its effects
and found it of no medical use. In 1 92 8 , Heinrich Kliiver
published a monograph examining the sensory and perceptual
phenomena occurring after the ingestion of the peyote cactus:
Mescal: The Divine Plant and Its Psychological Effects. In his choice of
tide, he demonstrated the powerful association of peyote with
divinity and religious ritual established by anthropologists'
reports on indigenous use (Daiker 1 9 1 4; Gilmore 1 9 1 9; Shonle
1 925) . The link with ritual prevented the claims of the
psychotomimetic school from totally dominating the literature
about peyote. The cactus might induce madness, but certainly
the madness must have divine aspects for the Indians to use it
in their rituals. Kliiver did mention the "Mescal Psychosis" in
the tide of his fourth chapter, however, focusing more on the
power of the altered state exp erience to affect normal
consciousness:
In some individuals the "ivresse divine" . . . is not very
pleasurable; in fact it is rather an ivresse diabolique. But in
either case it is true that the experiences in the mescal state
are not easily forgotten . One looks "beyond the horizon" of
the normal world, and this "beyond" is so impressive or
even shocking that its after-effects linger for years in one's
memory (Kliiver 1 966:55).
In 1 93 6 , the psychotomimetic parad igm was furthered by the

publication of an article entided "Mescaline and Depersonal-
26
ization" by two Englishmen ( Guttmann & Maclay) . Their

article, in turn, prompted G. Tayleur Stockings to publish "A
Clinical Study of the Mescaline Psychosis With Special
Reference to the Mechanism of the Genesis of Schizophrenic
and other Psychotic States" ( 1 9 40) . Stockings completely
embraced the paradigm of psychotomimesis: "The discovery
of mescaline . . . has placed in our hands a substance which has
the property of reproducing in a normal individual all those
phenomena which are met with in psychotic patients, without
risk to the individual" (Stocking 1 940:29) .
Perhaps because Hofmann' s accounts of his first two
exposures to LSD contained statements reminiscent of
depersonalization and autistic thinking, or possibly because of
the influence of Beringer and others who elaborated on the
original psychotomimetic conception suggested by Lewin (as
only one facet of phantastica) , LSD came to be described and
studied as the inducer of a model psychosis. Hofmann also
described an out-of-body experience, but clinicians apparendy
felt more comfortable calling this an hallucination or an
experience of depersonalization rather than entenain the
hypothesis that it might be a phenomenon genuine enough to
warrant study. The strength of the psychotomimetic idea about
LSD is not to be underestimated; it served the same organizing
and limiting functions for research in this area as Thomas
Kuhn describes for other major paradigms of science in The
Stnu:ture of Scientific Revolutions ( 1 9 70) . The belief that LSD and
related substances mimic psychosis dominated the research of
the late 1 940s and came to this country in 1 949 when LSD was
first introduced. It is surprising that this paradigm gained such
popularity, since the first psychiatric study by Werner A. Stoll,
M . D . (son of A. Stoll, who first synthesized LSD with Alben
Hofmann) at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Zurich,
concluded that LSD was a phantasticum (Hofmann 1 980:35).
The idea that LSD was a drug which produced a model
psychosis nonetheless gained wide exposure among Western
researchers investigating its effects on human subjects .
27
Naturally, this assumption seiVed as a point of departure and

consequendy affected the direction, design, and results of
experimentation throughout the early 1 950s. This assumption
has continued to appear in the literature, although it represents
but one aspect of the multifaceted subjective reactions to
phantastica. This understanding has been as tenacious as it is
incomplete, probably because it allowed researchers to think in
a familiar way associating a specific drug action with
phantastica.
The appeal of the model psychosis viewpoint to investigators
included the resurrection, with a new scientific basis, of the old
theory of the endotoxic origin of schizophrenia and catatonia.
This idea had a synergistic effect when it combined with the
excitement over newly introduced major tranquilizers. The
powerful new tranquilizers and their dramatic effects led many
psychiatrists to the supposition that, between the new
antipsychotics and the discovery of psychotomimetics, a
complete understanding of the riddle of schizophrenia was
imminent. It appeared certain to some that biochemistry was
about to rid mankind of a major mental disorder. Although the
drugs involved have changed, this dream is still an active one
for psychiatric researchers with a biological orientation.
The Psycholytic-Therapeutic Adjuvant Paradigm

In 1 950, a new experimental paradigm began
emerging with the p ublication of an article by Busch and
Johnson describing LSD as an aid to psychotherapy. They had
obseiVed that psychotic patients were sometimes able to
verbalize repressed components of their conflicts during a toxic
delirium. Such a delirium might be provoked by a high fever.
They felt that a delirium might prove useful in psychotherapy.
They interviewed patients under the effects of Sodium
Pentothal and Amytal, insulin shock, and during recovery from
electroshock therapy. A few dramatic successes amid many
failures with these techniques led them to investigate drugs
which might induce a temporary state of delirium. Sandoz
28
offered LSD as a possibility. Rather small doses were given

intramuscularly (30 micrograms for females, 40 micrograms
for males) to 2 1 psychotic and 8 neurotic patients. The
conclusion: " O n the basis of this preliminary investigation,
LSD-25 may offer a means for more readily gaining access to
the chronically withdrawn patients . It may also serve as a new
tool for shortening psychotherapy. We hope further investiga
tion justifies our present impression" (Busch & Johnson
1 950:243) .
In 1 95 3 , Waiter Frederking of Hamburg, Germany
published one of the first European articles on LSD as an
adjunct to psychotherapy in Psyche. He published a similar
English article in the United States in 1 95 5 . Frederking used
low doses of LSD (30-60 micrograms) and mescaline (300-500
mg) to shorten the course of therapy, ease feeling or memory
blocks, and to promote emotional catharsis. Combined with
ongoing psychoanalytic treatment, this approach produced
positive results.
In 1 95 4 , Sandison and his group in England published an
article emphasizing the abreactive qualities of LSD. Being of a
Jungian persuasion, they mentioned contact with the healing
archetypes of the collective unconscious as the curative factor in
their therapy with neurotics. Sandison, Frederk.ing, Leuner,
Alnes, Arendsen-Hein, and others joined in Europe to form an
association of psycholytic therapists. Psycholytic therapy is the
use of LSD an d similar substances in low to moderate doses
with the aim of shortening and facilitating psychoanalysis and
psychoanalyti cally oriented psychotherapy. This involves
multiple drug sessions (2- 1 00) within the framework of an
ongoing therapeutic relationship.
· The psycholytic school gained considerable support in
Europe in the late 1 950s and acquired some adherents among
therapists in the United States in the early 1 9 60s. A number of
favorable articles were published from 1 95 4 to 1 96 7
(Ab ramson 1 9 6 7 ; Buttetworth 1 9 62; Chandler & Hartman
1 960; Eisner & Cohen 1 95 8 ; Frederking 1 95 5 ; Ling & Buckman
29
1 960; Martin 1 95 7 ; Rolo et al. 1 9 64; Sandison & Whitlaw 1 954,

1 95 7). The psycholytic approach focuses on regression to, and
re-experiencing of, painful childhood memories. Some
psycholytic therapists, such as Sandison, report encounters
with Jungian archetypes of the collective unconscious, but the
more usual approach among therapists in this school of
thought is to regulate drug dosage in order to produce material
from the patient's personal history. Experiences with a mystical
flavor are usually interpreted as wish fulfillment or regressive
avoidance of traumatic material; and material of primordial or
archetypal nature is considered a psychotic (symbolic) defense,
indicating excessive drug levels.
The psycholytic (therapeutic adjuvant) paradigm emerged
quite smoothly from the psychotomimetic view. Clinicians
sometimes speculated that LSD was a toxin. Of course, the
original investigators who reported therapeutic value began
their research with the intention of creating a toxic delirium.
Therapists began to notice that most patients had a clear
memory of the experiences under the effects of phantastica.
The recall of the altered state experiences was of great
importance for the therapeutic integration of new insights into
normal consciousness. This unclouded recall of the altered
state experiences is not a characteristic of delirium. Sodium
Amytal, Pentothal, insulin shock, and electroshock recovery
interviews all were plagued with subsequent amnesia, slurred
speech, and such a profound delirious alteration of conscious
ness that communication was extremely difficult or impossible.
In this light, phantastica seemed almost perfect adjuvants to
psychotherapy. Researchers did not immediately recognize
and describe this difference between the effects of phantastica
and delirium because of the effects of the psychotomimetic
(toxic psychosis) paradigm on their thinking. To fully recognize
this and other unique qualities of the new family of
com pounds would require the creation of a new paradigm.
An excellent example of the psycholytic (therapeutic
adjuvant) description of LSD is given by two English
investigators:
30
During the early months of 1 95 9 she (22-year-old married

female suffering chronic migraine headaches) had nine
sessions under LSD in which she relived with great fear a
series of visits to the hospital's dental department. The first
dental session was recalled with terror at about (age) 5. She
felt terrified of the gas mask on her face, and felt aggressive
towards her mother who was excluded from the rooms. The
succeeding sessions were occupied with her increasing fear at
each dental session and at the third session she realized that
the origin of her nightmares dated from her fear of the
pressure of the gas mask on her face. Each session seemed
more frightening to her than the one before. She has never
had another genuine nightmare.
During the fifth and sixth sessions she relived the
overpowering sense of desolation while she was in the long
term hospital and felt with clarity her sense of abandonment
when her mother left her on visiting days.
At the eighth session she relived with great anxiety
fighting against being anesthetized for tonsillectomy. She
fought with three doctors who tried to hold her down and
she was anesthetized in a state of acute terror. After the recall
of these memories, she felt at peace with her mother whom
she realized was in no way the cause of her childish
unhappiness.
At the ninth session all her experiences seemed to fit in
place and she felt completely at peace with herself. This
abreaction of forgotten experiences, combined with a sense
of forgiveness towards her mother, has resulted in complete
alleviation of her migraine (Ling & Buckman 1 96 3 : 40-4 1 ) .
The early reports that LSD was useful i n therapy were anecdotal
clinical notes, not carefully controlled scientific studies.
Meticulous scientific studies remained a stronghold for the
psychotomimetic paradigm, whose advocates published many
apparently objective scientific papers studying the model
psychosis, including double-blind clinical trials.
It w as no t until the late 1 950s that several researchers began
to question the assumptions underlying the psychotomimetic
school (von Felsinger et. al. 1 956; Savage & Cholden 1 956) . Leo
31
Hollister published a description of phantastica effects (LSD ,

mescaline, and psilocybin) ; his observation was that adjectives
used to describe the effects in the psychotomimetic literature
are primarily negative clinical judgments:
Somatic symptoms (nausea, loss of appetite, dizziness, pares
thesias, blurred vision, weakness, drowsiness and trembling)
are frequent, usually associated with sympathomimetic
effects. Perceptual changes are impressive, especially the
marked visual illusions and hallucinations, less often
increased acuity of hearing. Psychic changes are also marked
(decreased concentration, slow thinking, difficulty in
expression, depersonalization, dreamy states, changes in
mood and anxiety) ( Hollister 1 962: 8 1 ).
The awareness that the psychotomimetic school was an attempt

to fit the effects of a revolutionarily different new drug into
existing diagnostic and descriptive frameworks is an important
insight into the effect that a paradigm has on the perception of
researchers and explains why reputable investigators were
reporting such incompatible descriptions of phantastica. Since
both psychosis and delirium had been extensively described,
researchers naturally began their exploration of this new drug's
effects by applying old descriptions to a new phenomena It
took many years to begin reappraising these initial impressions,
which biased attempts at impartial investigation. The psychoto
mimetic and the psycholytic viewpoints on phantastica effects
and applications were joined by a third, more radical, but
paradoxically ancient view of the new substance.
The Psychedelic Paradigm

Humphrey Osmond and Abraham Hoffer came to a
reassessment of the effects of phantastica following a study in
which they administered large doses of LSD to chronic
alcoholics. The psychotomimetic hypothesis guided the design
of this study. Hoffer and Osmond thought that a single large
dose of LSD might mimic delirium tremens and produce a
frightening enough experience to discourage further drinking
32
behavior. Instead, they found that the patients who derived

greatest benefit from the treatment program were those who
reponed mystical experiences. These individuals said the LSD
experience was valuable and gave them new insight into the
meaning of life (Hoffer & Osmond 1 96 7 ; Osmond 1 953,
1 95 7 ) .
The idea that a mystical experience might be therapeutic
had been suggested by C . G. Jung, but was not accepted by
most psychiatrists and psychologists. The possibility of mystical
experience through drug ingestion rather than years of
hardship, yearning, prayer, and meditation was repugnant, not
only to many researchers, but to some conservative religious
scholars and clergymen. One scholar, after having a psychoto
mimetic experience, wrote a scathing indictment of chemically
induced religious experiences in Mysticism, Sacred and Profane
(Zaehner 1 95 7 ) .
In 1 95 7 , Humphrey Osmond introduced the name
psychedelic, which means mind manifesting, to provide a label
for experiences of great and lasting benefit. He, and other
investigators of the effects of phantastica, had observed
profoundly positive personality changes in some of their
subjects. These great spurts in personal growth seemed to
follow transcendental, mystical or, as Osmond proposed,
psychedelic experiences with phantastica. He proposed
psychedelic as a new label for these substances and their effects
in the hope of liberating scientific investigation from the
enduring influence of the psychotomimetic paradigm, which
offered limited field of application and a definite pejorative
bias . Osmond found that LSD , mescaline, and psilocybin are
useful not only in studying psychopathology, but also that they
shed new light on the greatest philosophical enigma of human
existence, the purpose and meaning of life:
Our subjects include many who have drunk deep of life,
authors, artists, a junior cabinet minister, scientists, a hero,
philosophers, and businessmen . . . . Most find the experience
valuable, some find it frightening, many say that it is
33
uniquely lovely. If mimicking mental illness were the main

characteristic of these agents, psychotomimetics would
indeed be a suitable generic term. It is true that they may do
so, but they do so much more . . . . I have tried to find a more
appropriate name (Osmond 1 95 7 ) .
The psychedelic paradigm proposes that therapeutic improve

ment in patient populations and superior functioning in
persons of normal adjustment would follow phantastica
induced experiences of a death-rebirth mystical type. The focus
in the psychedelic approach is on a peak or mystical type of
drug experience as potentially curative and psychotherapy, if
included, is considered as preparatory and facilitative. This is
significandy different from the psycholytic-therapeutic ad
juvant paradigm, where the main emphasis is on the facilitation
of psychotherapy.
In the psychedelic paradigm, we see a return to a more
ritualistic use of phantastica. It is interesting that Osmond was
drawn to experience a tribal ritual using peyote later in his
career (Osmond 1 96 1 ) . The idea that certain kinds of
experience are intrinsically healing is not new. In ancient
Greece, a similar attitude was held toward the value of healing
dreams . The temple of Aesculapius (Asclepius Gr. ) was originally
held to be a place of great healing energy where a person
suffering from illness might come, sleep, and have an
intrinsically curative d ream. The rite changed somewhat over
time, and the tem p le attendants or Therapeutes began to serve as
interpreters of the healing instructions concealed within the
symbolism of the dream. The dreams became less endowed
with some intrinsically healing force or experience and were
instead cryptic messages. It then became necessary to properly
analyze these communiques from the spirits in order to
determine the correct course (Reed 1 9 7 5). Our English word
therapist has mor� than an etymological origin in Greek! The
introduction of the psychedelic model was a return, on the part
of therapists in a technological society, to a rol e more closely
approximating that of the earliest Aesculapian temple
34
attendants in ancient Greece.

An eloquent spokesman for the psychedelic view is Charles
Savage, a psychoanalyst and researcher who moved from a
psychotomimetic to a psychoadjuvant and finally to psyche
delic view of phantastica. In 1 962, he wrote about alcoholics
and psychedelic treatment as follows: " Our conception is that
alcoholics live an inauthentic existential modality (i.e.
alienation) , and that illness arises from an inability to see
meaning in life. LSD provides an encounter which brings a
sudden liberation from ignorance and illusion, enlarges the
spiritual horizon and gives new meaning to life" (Savage et al.
1 962: 426) .
Note that Savage (despite his obvious sophistication) refers
to LSD as though it has intrinsically curative properties and,
common to many researchers using the psychedelic model,
speaks as though this sort of reaction is usual, just as the
psychoadjuvant psycholytic model addresses itself to the
psychodynamic reaction as the usual one and the psychoto
mimetic model sees the psychotic or psychotoform reaction as
usual. Simplistic cause-effect thinking about phantastica yields
much confusion.
It is clear that there are great differences among the
competing paradigms. This conclusion was inescapable when
the josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation sponsored an LSD conference
in 1 95 9 (Abramson 1 960) . Investigators of a psychotomimetic
persuasion indicated their subj ects found LSD a horrifying
experience and one they did not wish to repeat. This was in
keeping with Paul H . Hoch's (one of the leaders in the
psychotomimetic group) earlier published conclusions that
"mescaline and LSD are essentially anxiety producing drugs"
(Hoch 1 95 7 :442) , and " LSD and mescaline disorganize the
psychic integration of the individual" ( Hoch 1 955 : 7 8 8 ) .
At the same meeting, Mortimer H artman reported that his
group had two Freudians and two Jungians. He noted that the
patients of therapists with a Freudian view reponed a higher
incidence of childhood memories while the Jungian's patients
35
more frequendy reponed transcendent experiences. The

Jungians' patients achieved considerable therapeutic improve
ment after these experiences as did the Freudians' patients after
theirs. What was panicularly fascinating, however, was that
when Freudian patients "accidentally" reponed transcendent
visions they were not accompanied by improvement (Abramson
1 960: 1 1 5 , 1 32). Although transcendental experiences are
reponed in anthropological accounts of phantastica, childhood
memories are rare in the literature of anthropology and the
earliest experimental work. Charles Savage, making good use
of his experience as a member of each of the competing
groups, gave an excellent summary of the results of this early
conference:
The meeting is most valuable because it allows us to see all at
once results ranging from the nihilistic conclusions of some
to the evangelical ones of others. Because the results are so
much influenced by the personality, aims, and expectations
of the therapist, and by the setting, only such a meeting as
this could provide us with such a variety of personalities and
settings . It seems clear, first of all, that where there is no
therapeutic intent, there is no therapeutic result. . . I think
.
we can also say that where the atmosphere is fear-ridden and

skeptical, the results are generally not good . . . . This is all of
tremendous significance, for few drugs are so dependent on
the milieu and require such careful attention to it as LSD
does (Abramson 1 960: 1 93- 1 94) .
In Savage's remarks, we can see emerging at that time a respect

for, and recognition of, the imponance extrapharmacological
variables have in determining the drug reaction. These
extrapharmacological factors have also been called set and
setting. Set refers to the attitude of the individual taking the
LSD , the personal history, psychological condition, expecta
tions for the experience, and the relationship with the person
administering the drug. Setting refers to the physical
surroundings and their power to suggest a certain response or
interpretation.
36
Extraphannacological Factors
Demand Characteristics
The demand characteristics in experimental situations
have been defined as "the cues . . . which communicate (by any
means) what is expected of (the subject) and what the
experimenter hopes to find" (Orne 1 969: 1 46). Demand
characteristics describe an important part of the setting for any
experience and are therefore very relevant to our discussion of
the history of ritual practices and scientific research with
psychedelic drugs or any attempt at healing through
psychological influence (Frank 1 9 7 3 ) . If we consider the
demand characteristics of the experimental situation en
countered by subjects participating in the early psychoto
mimetic studies, the results become understandable and are a
direct consequence of the researcher's belief that the new drug
was a psychotomimetic agent. These researchers frequendy
wore hospital-like white lab coats and either openly shared
their belief that this drug would produce a temporary psychosis
or unwittingly communicated to the subject what response was
expected. The subjects found themselves in a novel situation
and were extraordinarily open to accepting the experimenter's
clues as to what interpretation to give an ambiguous but
powerful change in subjective state. LSD may also produce a
state of extraordinary !ability which allows the on-going
experience to change according to the interpretation given by
the experiencer. In a psychotomimetic setting, the likeli h ood of
a psychotomimetic response is increased since the experi
menter, through his actions , is providing the subject with a
framework for interpreting the experience. What results is a
sort of mutual hypnosis in which the experimenters'
boundaries are lowered along with the subjects' and
information about the expected response is shared, often
without the conscious awareness of the participants in this self
fulfilling prophecy.
In a psycholytic-therapeutic adjuvant setting, th e experi
menter provides an environment with specific demand
37
characteristics that direct the subject toward the recall of past

experiences. Naturally , the psycholytic subjects produce such
experiences with much higher frequency than they would in,
say, a psychotomimetic environment. The limits of the
interpretational systems used in psycholytic therapy often lead
the therapists to manipulate dosage in order to minimize the
occurrence of experiences which fall outside the interpreta
tional framework of the analytic system in use.
In the psychedelic setting, there is a decisive orientation
toward the production of a mystical-religious experience. Large
doses of phantastica are used to facilitate dramatic changes in
consciousness with powerful overwhelming quality and to
bring subjects into transpersonal and collective dimensions of
awareness. The physical environment is prepared to be
aesthetically pleasing and music that has been carefully selected
for its evocative and religious qualities may be used. The
therapist's communication to the subject is weighted in a
mystico-religious direction.
Phantastica (LS D , mescaline, psilocybin, etc.) appear to be
unique among psychoactive compounds in their extreme
sensitivity to extrapharmacological factors. This has created a
tremendous problem for researchers attempting to assess the
effects of these drugs. Every researcher has his or her bias and
opinion about what the drugs do, or at least has been exposed
to the thinking of others in this regard. This communication of
ideas influences the approach taken in studying the effects of
the drugs and interacting with the subjects in the studies.
We have explored reasonable and currently acceptable
explanations for the contradictory results of research with
phantastica in humans. One remaining factor is the possibility
of some telepathic influence between experimenter/therapist
and the subject/patient. Telepathy is an ephemeral event, and
information is rarely transmitted in an exact way. However,
alterations in consciousness are known to provide enhanced
opportunities for paranormal events ( Krippner & Ullman 1 9 70;
Ullman & Krippner 1 9 70), and sacred plants have been
38
associated with the paranormal in most cultures that use them

(Rouhier 1 986). Discussion of telepathy creates considerable
discomfort among scientists because it appears to defy our
known physical laws and is incompatible with the Cartesian
assumptions underlying Western thought. The Cartesian view
is that mental and physical phenomena are strictly independent
of one another. Although evidence is accumulating that this is
simply not the case, our paradigms are slow to change, and
require adequate replacements.
Another controversy that arose in the literature concerning
the effect of the scientist on the experiment was that of whether
or not the experimenter had experienced the effects of
phantastica. The dimensions of the controversy that raged
about the nature of the phantastica experience included
concern about this issue, which borders on telepathy and is
equally threatening to the Western world-view.
Modem society is threatened by the notion, resembling
tribal ideas, that phantastica might allow the healer to acquire
power through direct knowledge of the spirit world. In the
Cartesian reality, scientists are unbiased if they behave as
though they are. What an investigator thinks should have no
effect on the outcome of double-blind experiments. In the
West, we focus on the outcome first and the process later.
Regardless of the exact mechanism involved, it is clear that
virtually all of the clinical research with phantastica in human
subjects has been effected by the biases of the researchers and
clinicians. It is ethically and scientifically relevant for us to
mention here that attempts at creating an unbiased environ
ment may be potentially damaging when dealing with human
subjects and the action of such powerful substances on human
beings: " It seems clear, first of all, that where there is no
therapeutic intent, there is no therapeutic result" (Savage et al.
1 962) .
A unique sociological phenomena arose in relation to
phantastica because these powerful substances were thrust
from the laboratory into the midst of our ill-prepared society by
39
the actions of a few, probably well-meaning, researchers. The

powerful boundary-dissolving effects of these compounds
apparendy also dissolved the social boundaries between
medical experimentation and non-medical use. Let us examine
our society's reaction to the non-medical introduction of
powerful consciousness altering drugs into use by the general
population. The response of our society to this event is a
significant factor influencing current research and our
collective view of phantastica.
The Creation of a Sociological Phenomena

In 1 962, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, two
Harvard psychologists conducting research with LSD , mes
caline, and psilocybin, had their contracts terminated by the
trustees of the university. The issues around their dismissal
included the claim that they had administered these drugs to
undergraduate students in violation of a previous agreement to
refrain from such activities. This touched off a series of articles
in the popular press about the Harvard D rug Scandal. The
reporters mentioned the growing popularity of LSD as an
intoxicant among college students. The drug scandal was
fueled by many alarming and inflammatory articles in the
popular press. Unfortunately, the majority of these stories were
written by misinformed journalists who had paid litde or no
attention to professional articles and books on the topic. This
irresponsible stance was exacerbated by Timothy Leary's ill
advised j unkets around the country advocating the use of LSD .
These events heralded the birth of a counter-cultural
movement centered , among other things, around the use of
LSD and marij uana. Public concern, stirred by the press,
provoked a series of crisis-oriented legislative measures. The
unauthorized manufacture and sale of LSD was declared
illegal, as was its use by the general public. That law has proved
difficult to enforce because of the ease with which LSD can be
synthesized and the tiny amounts of the d rug required to
produce an effect. LSD is a colorless, tasteless substance, and
40
active doses are measured in millionths of a gram.

In March of 1 9 6 7 , a new scandal arose over reports of
genetic damage from LSD (Cohen et al. 1 96 7 ; for a review of
this research see Dishotsky et al. 1 9 7 1 ) . The early scare publicity
was based on the application of extremely large doses of LSD to
human cells cultured in the laboratory. The mean rate of
chromosomal breakage increased in the cell cultures receiving
the largest doses of LSD. Even though coffee, aspirin, and
many other commonly used drugs would do the same, LSD
was singled out and depicted as the sole offender in the lay
press.3
Later controlled studies in human volunteers failed to
confirm the early reports of chromosome breakage (Tijo et al.
1 969; Bender & Sankar 1 9 68) . The popular press covered the
breakage scare impeccably. This was no doubt partly a
consequence of the general alarm about LSD abuse by the
country's youth. An entire generation was being exposed,
without supervision or support, to experiences beyond the
frontiers of our society's world-view. Substances which had first
been used in ancient religious mysteries were rescued from
oblivion by the re-discovery of LSD. LSD was so formidable in
psychological effects relative to such minute doses that it
stimulated scientific curiosity. Then, after 20 years of research,
an unprecedented event took place: the drug was released to
the youth of our country by overzealous researchers. A society
totally unprepared for the experiential impact of psychedelic
drugs was faced with widespread use of the most powerful
psychoactive drug known. A sociopharmacological pheno
menon of global proportions ensued. Psychoactive compounds
of arcane scientific interest in our research facilities rapidly
became associated with a counter-cultural phenomenon of
grave concern. Adolescents found the use of psychedelic drugs
a powerful (and dangerous) tool in their rebellion against
parents and social mores. There seemed no reasonably
3 How such in vitro experiments on blood cells extrapolate to the living
organism and its reproductive cells is open to speculation.
41
effective way to control this menace to the prevailing social

order. The chromosome breakage findings were announced.
There was, naturally enough, little press coverage of sub
sequent, more carefully controlled studies with contrary
results .
Effects on Research
The combination of illicit use and repons of genetic
damage led to laws severely limiting the availability of LSD and
related drugs to responsible researchers wishing to conduct
research with human subjects. In 1 965, there were over 200
research projects in this country using LSD or other phantastica
in human subjects . The political nature of government research
funding was dearly illustrated by the sudden dearth of grants
for clinical research with psychedelic drugs. Presently there is
one , small, privately funded research project actively conduct
ing psychotherapy research with LSD and human subjects in
the United States.4 There is also one laboratory program
investigating perceptu al distortions caused by phantas tica. 5
In a 1 968 survey of researchers using or having used LSD in
studies on human subjects , it was reponed that these
researchers felt lay publicity had adversely affected subj ect
recruitment, subject attitude, and the scientific respectability of
their work. Several of the researchers al so reponed difficulty in
recruiting staff and changes in the attitude of therapists to an
overcautio u s and even fearful stance (Dahlberg et al. 1968).
Although street use of LSD app ears to be self-limiting
(McGlothlin 1 9 7 1 ) , the official response to illicit use obviously
has been crippling to scientific research into responsible and
humanitarian applications for phantastica.
4 Approval tQ treat 25 cancer patients with LSD-assisted psychotherapy was
recendy extended to a group of researchers working through the University of

Maryland in Baltimore, Maryland (Di Leo 1 9 80).
s Ronald K. Siegel is conducting studies examining the perceptual constants
involved in hallucinations produced by phantastica. This work is an extension
of Kliiver's studies with Peyote (Siegel & Jarvik 1 9 7 5; Van der Horst 1 9 80).
42
A Potential Use for Phantastica

Despite the considerable difficulties we have discussed,
evidence strongly suggests that phantastica are useful facilitative
agents in psychotherapy. Reports of positive outcome
indicating that a broad range of disorders are amenable to
treatment with phantastica have been published by researchers
embracing the psycholytic and psychedelic paradigms. Most of
this literature is based on clinical impressions rather than
controlled studies. This fact prompts many scientists to reject
these findings without understanding the factors which make
controlled studies with phantastica impractical and unethical.
There is a history of consistendy positive results from clinicians
following the psycholytic and psychedelic paradigms, regard
less of their individual theoretical or cultural orientations .
Researchers have reported, in over 300 articles, that group and
individual psychotherapy is enhanced by phantastica (Hoffer
1 965; Mogar 1 965; Spencer 1 963). The most impressive results
mentioned are for chronic, unresponsive patients. The reports
encompass the major schools of psychotherapy and span the
world's cultures from the Americas to Europe and Asia.
The Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and the

Psychodelytic Paradigm
The Maryland Psychiatric Research Center was the last
major research facility in the United States to conduct clinical
studies with LSD and related compounds . Research with LSD
began at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in 1 9 62.
The early studies were large-scale attempts at controlled studies
of the application of LSD in the treatment of inpatient
alcoholics. This research used the psychedelic paradigm,
focusing on the production of a single, overwhelming,
mystical-religious peak experience. Tme to the nature of this
orientation, the greatest therapeutic gains were observed when
this end was achieved. In the years that followed these initial
very impressive studies, the clinical staff had op Po rtunities to
probe more deeply into the nature of the therapeutic process
43
facilitated by LSD . Certain individuals from the original studies

returned for additional treatment in the years that followed. It
was apparent that these individuals had experienced a relatively
long-term withdrawal from alcohol (up to 5 years) . The
psychedelic peak therapy provided these individuals with a
mystical experience and new insight into the meaning of their
lives. However, the staff was impressed that some important
conflicts were not adequately worked through in the
preparatory and post LSD-session integrative therapy. The
renewed sense of meaning discovered in the psychedelic
session slowly but steadily diminished following the treatment.
For a variable amount of time, these individuals remained
sober and demonstrated considerable benefit from the
treatment, but when confronted with high stress situations they
responded by drinking as an attempt at self-medication. The
review of this long-term refractory type patient indicated that
psychedelic peak psychotherapy might be improved upon by
the inclusion of a more traditional psychodynamic approach.
This conclusion evolved from staff discussions about this
particular category of patient. There were many patients that
remained alcohol free following treatment with only one high
dose LSD session and 35 hours of psychotherapy.
The staff discussions were much influenced by the presence
of a very experienced psychedelic clinician, Dr. Stanislav Grof.
Dr. Grof had conducted in depth naturalistic research with
LSD in the treatment of psychiatric patients with severe
character disorders, neuroses, and even psychotic diagnoses in
Prague, Czechoslovakia. He brought to our discussions much
experience with the psycholytic paradigm and a commendable
receptivity to the psychedelic paradigm. Perhaps the most
important insights which Grof shared involved his observations
of the unfolding of psychodynamic complexes over serial
administrations of LSD in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Grof
introduced the Maryland group to his theoretical framework,
which unifies the personal psychodynamic, perinatal or binh
like, and transpersonal levels of consciousness as revealed in
44
psychedelic sessions. Consequendy, the last research con

ducted with LSD and a host of related substances at the
Maryland Psychiatric Research Center was guided by the
psychodelytic or extended psychedelic paradigm. This app
roach, first suggested by Stanislav Grof, was an effort to
combine and compliment the expansive, positive effects of the
psychedelic paradigm with the dear personal insight of the
psycholytic paradigm (Grof 1 9 7 5).
This approach involved several high-dose sessions with a
psychedelic drug in an environment previously used for
psychedelic peak therapy. The number of drug sessions was
increased and the theoretical framework expanded to include a
greater emphasis on personal dynamics, perinatal dynamics,
ego-transcendence, and other transpersonal experiences (Grof
1 9 7 5). The resolution of personal conflict often led patients to
a peak or mystical experience. Thus, the aim of this therapeutic
approach was to work through the early childhood traumata
which presented themselves in the course of individual
psychotherapy and the early drug sessions. This working
through was aided by mystical and peak experiences which
were most likely to occur later in the therapeutic process. The
mystical experience was used to integrate traumatic memories
from childhood. Profound religious experiences provided the
patient with a deeply experiential philosophical position from
which life had new meaning. The sense of meaning in life was
intrinsically healing. The Clinical Sciences Division of the
Maryland Psychiatric Research Center conducted several
studies using the psychodelytic approach in neurotic out
patients and inpatient alcoholics using compounds with a
shorter duration of action than LSD ( dipropyltryptamine and
psilocybin) (Rhead et. al. 1 9 7 7 ; Richards & Berendes 1 9 7 7) .
The results o f these studies and a pilot study exploring a milder
psychedelic drug, MDA (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine) in
neurotic outpatients had promising results (Yensen 1 9 7 5). The
psyched el ic paradigm appeared most useful i n work with
terminal cancer patients (Richards et. al. 1 9 7 7 ) , while the
45
newer, more involved paradigm seemed most promising with

neuroses and character disorders (Yensen 1 9 7 5; Richards &
Berendes 1 9 7 7) . All of the psychotherapy research with LSD
and related substances at the Maryland Psychiatric Research
Center concentrated on individual psychotherapy.
A Contemporary Shamanic Approach to Group

Therapy
It seems apparent that the next paradigm about
phantastica ought to combine ancient and modern knowledge
about these substances. While the United States was reeling
from the effects of the Vietnam War, and phantastica research
was being drastically restricted, some fascinating clinical work
was proceeding in Mexico. Salvador Roquet, a psychotherapist
and investigator of phantastica working in Mexico City, was
much influenced by the shamanic use of psychedelic plants in
his country. He developed an intriguing new form of group
therapy. The investigations which led to this new form of
psychotherapy began in 1 96 7 and were suspended in 1 9 7 4 .
Most notable i n Roquet's approach is the use o f group demand
characteristics and audiovisual stimuli in a manner truly
befitting a contemporary shaman (Yensen 1 9 7 3 ) . It follows
from the artful blending of old and new therapeutic methods
that Roquet calls his approach psychosynthesis. It points the
way toward a paradigm that might allow the integration of
ancient and modern concepts about phantastica.
Although a detailed description of the technique is beyond
our scope in this article, a review of the innovative aspects of
Roquet's approach will reveal the interesting new directions he
was stimulated to explore after contact with many of the
shamans using sacred plants in Mexico. Roquet is the first
therapist/researcher with psychedelics to be so profoundly
influenced by indjgenous groups. In Mexico, there are several
Indian nations that have been using plants containing
psychedelics in their healing ceremonies since pre-Columbian
times. Roquet visited the shamans of several groups and
46
developed his approach as a modern healing ritual that

combines elements from psychotherapy with the ancient
shamanistic practices (Roquet 1 9 7 1 ) . Roquet worked primarily
with group sessions held in the evening following the example
of the mushroom velada as practiced by the Mazatec Indians of
southern Mexico. A group session involved from 1 0 to 20
patients and would last for 1 8 to 22 hours. The patients in a
group would be a carefully selected mix of classes, sexes, and
diagnoses. The patients' interaction with each other would help
to structure the expectations for the session. Individuals who
were about to finish their therapy would talk with patients just
beginning. Naturally, the subculture of patients regarded the
therapy as useful and communicated these expectations to the
new members of the group. This sort of self-reinforcing group
process established great and positive expectations enhancing
the patient's receptivity to the treatment approach involved.
During the actual drug session, the patients would be given
any one of a number of different psychedelic substances (LSD ,
psilocybin mushrooms, peyote, morning glory seeds, etc.). The
environment was manipulated by Roquet and his assistants
using three stereo sound systems, several 35mm slide
projectors, and 8 and 1 6mm motion picture projectors. By
using this equipment in different combinations, the environ
ment could be modulated throughout the session from calm
and comforting love scenes to overwhelming confrontations
with the horror of existence. This environment would be used
to create a devastating and frightening encounter with the
unconscious. During these sessions, powerful catharsis and
intense abreaction was common. Roquet would integrate the
material released in the session during the following morning
and afternoon using family pictures and dialogues between the
group participants and significant family members.
Psychosynthesis (not to be confused with the psycho
synthesis of Roberto Asogioli) was oriented toward both
psychodynamic material focusing on the Oedipal complex and
transpersonal issues with a great emphasis on love, the
47
meaning of life, and religious experiences. Patients would

experience one drug session per month followed by a non
drug group therapy of 8 hours duration and an individual non
drug consultation. Occasionally, the patient might receive an
individual drug session. The patient population consisted
primarily of character disorders and character neuroses. The
course of treatment was usually from 1 8 months to 2 years.
Roquet reported encouraging results in 85% of his patients
(Roquet et. al. 1 9 7 5 ) .
Summary
In reviewing the historical trends in the use of sacred
plants and phantastica, it is clear that these substances are too
powerful and unique in their psychological effects to be studied
as just another group of psychotropic compounds. The
powerful effects of differing theoretical constructs on the results
of Western research hint at the unusual qualities of these drugs.
The fact that expectations can so profoundly influence an
altered state of consciousness as to confuse trained observers
suggests that our methods of observation are crude. When we
attempt to monitor ephemeral and easily influenced processes,
such as those involved in human consciousness, our methods
of study and our assumptions may actually influence the events
under study and hence determine the outcome of the research.
In 1 93 7 , Werner Heisenberg demonstrated what he called an
uncertainty pri nci p l e in relation to attempts at measurement of
the location and spin of electrons around the nucleus of an
atom. He suggested that any attempt to measure such
minuscule phenomena would actually change the system
under study in such a manner as to produce inaccurate results.
Consider the possibility that our tools and methods for
studying the human personality and the effects of phantastica
are presendy so limited that they demonstrate a similar
uncertainty principle for this type of research.
When we enter the realm of the psyche through the
powerful aegis of phantastica, we explore a domain of forces
48
which are still by and large unknown. Through the effons of

clinical and theoretical geniuses, we have a few sketchy maps of
consciousness. Some of the forces and mechanisms of the mind
have been elucidated, for example, repression, transference,
suggestion, abreaction, insight, etc. Psychology has attempted
to formulate rational theories of mental processes and to
measure personality in a quantitative fashion in order to gain
acceptance in the Western scientific community. In our rush to
understand and make effective use of our scientific tools, we
may lose track of the fact that our insight is panial, that many of
our judgments are premature, and that our effons at precise
measurement often result in measuring only the anifacts of our
orientation. It is possible that what we presently label
transpersonal or paranormal events will someday be recog
nized as major factors not only in the history of healing and
exorcism but also in the process of psychotherapy.
We tend to resolve events dichotomously into either the
normal or paranormal realms. Yet this distinction loses the
essential quality of the actual phenomena, which take place
along a continuum. For example, in repeated sessions using
phantastica in psychotherapy (under the combined influence of
psycholytic and psychedelic paradigms) , one may observe that
a patient passes through many stages. A series of sessions may
begin with visions of unusual symbols and proceed to the
reliving of childhood memories . During these experiences the
individual maintains a paradoxical awareness of being an adult
and yet vividly perceives the body image and point of view of a
child. The scene may be repeated many times in a series of
sessions, with the patient re-experiencing the scene from the
perspective of each person present at the original event. This
has been described in detail and termed the complex reliving
of a core scene (Grof 1 9 7 5 ) . The course of an individual's
experience may then proceed to binh-like events during which
there is an alternation between having a body image suggesting
that of a fetus with accompanying sensations of intense physical
pressures, and having the body image of an adult reliving
49
scenes which may have little or no obvious connection to the

life of the patient. Such a series of sessions might then lead to
out-of-body experiences in which the patient feels that he has
no physical body at all and is traveling in space as a point of
consCiousness.
The childhood memory may be characterized as an event
likely to take place in dynamically oriented therapy. However,
such complete and complex relivings of childhood scenes are
relatively rare with conventional approaches. The out-of-body
experience may be resolved into either a clear · hallucination,
experience of depersonalization, or a distinctly paranormal
event. It is more reasonable to acknowledge that in the recall of
the childhood scene (complete with the experience of the
childhood body image) , we have a mild form of out-of-body
experience as well as an unusual dislocation in the time
boundary of the patient's ego. It is the alterations in the time,
space, and body image boundaries of the ego that lead to
transpersonal experiences. As psychedelic sessions progress in
a series, the experiential phenomena more and more clearly
enter into transpersonal realms which challenge our Cartesian
assumptions about the world.
It is clear that phantastica produce experiences in humans
which threaten the assumptions about the structure of the
universe on which our society has been built. Our response as a
society may be to force the use of these powerful, and
potentially helpful compounds , into an underground exis
tence. If our society chooses to ignore the vast realms of human
experience which phantastica illuminate, we then lose much
that could enhance a technological society and lead it to
develop in more humanistic directions . At th e turn of the
century, William James eloquently expressed the great loss
which befalls any culture that refuses to acknowledge those
mystical and unknown qualities characteristics of the state of
mind invoked by phantastica:
Our normal waking consciousness . . . is but one special type
of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the
50
From Mysteries to Paradzgms
filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness

entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting
their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus and at a
touch they are all there in all their completeness, definite
types of mentality which probably somewhere have their
field of application and adaptation. No account of the
universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other
forms of consciousness quite disregarded. How to regard
them is the question - for they are so discontinuous with
ordinary consciousness. Yet they may determine attitudes
though they cannot furnish formulas, and open a region
though they fail to give a map . At any rate, they forbid a
premature dosing of our accounts with reality (James
1 96 1 :305; first published in 1 902) .
Because of the continuing crisis in psychiatric and psycho

l ogical treatment and the very limited current knowledge of
brain function, we cannot afford to ignore a whole fam i ly of
psychoactive drugs that have demonstrated great promise
throughout history. The need is too strong to advance our
knowledge of the human mind in health and disease. Drugs
like LSD hold a tremendous promise for mankind, if only we
can find ways to funher our understanding of how to use them
responsibly and appropriately.
Phantastica not only challenge our cultural assumptions in
a global sense, they also challenge the regulatory and legislative
mechanisms of our society. Current research with LSD is
conducted through the use of an IND or Investigational New
Drug permit from the Food and Drug Administration. The fact
that LSD was discovered in 1 93 8 and has been extensively
studied points to the paradox in labeling such a compound
" new" . In effect, though psychedelics are not " new" , they
challenge the existing regulatory mechanisms because they are
such powerful compounds. Surely it would be irresponsible to
release such compounds as prescription drugs available
through any licensed p hysician. Even if that p hys ician were a
psychiatrist, this approach would be irresponsible and doomed
to failure. Any physician or scientist wishing to use psychedelic
51
compounds must be carefully and extensively trained in their

use. Such training must reflect our knowledge of shamanism
and the history of such Western approaches as psychoanalysis,
by requiring extensive first-hand experience with these
substances under the careful supervision of more experienced
scientists/practitioners. Most assuredly, it is inappropriate for
these drugs to be administered by those who refuse to
thoroughly explore their own psyche with them as a necessary
precondition for responsibly dealing with another human
being's response to the same compounds. There has been great
controversy about the use of these compounds by investigators
in the past. I suggest that we learn from this experience that
such exposures need to be conducted as part of a compre
hensive "training analysis " . After receiving such postdoctoral
training, the trainee, upon the recommendation of the training
faculty, might apply for a special license to conduct naturalistic
research with phantastica. Such a license would carry with it the
responsibility of reponing results of investigation and of
clearing each protocol with a committee of similarly trained
scientists. This system, or one like it, would create a responsible
frame for serious investigators to conduct meaningful research.
Such a system must also attempt to protect both society and the
investigators from the excesses that history has shown us are
possible.
Experimenters can become so enamored of their quantita
tive tools that they may forsake the human sensitivity and
openness that must guide all good research. Naturalistic
research methods are for this reason appropriate because the
frontier that these compounds expose is so exquisitely sensitive
to experimenter effects. The graduate of such a training
program would be trained in how to use such effects to
produce positive and desirable outcomes. A naturalistic
approach must include meticulous records and, where feasible
and appropriate, measurements might be introduced. Most of
all, such studies must be allowed to progress without pressures
to prematurely rigidify experimental designs or treatment
52
protocols. These compounds are unique in their ability to

amplify human sensibility, and must be managed by carefully
trained and selected individuals who demonstrate the clarity of
intent necessary to employ these powerful drugs wisely to
reduce human suffering for the betterment of society. I caution
against premature quantification, not out of an automatic
aversion to more formal studies, but from the clear perspective
offered by the history of "scientific" attempts to understand
these compounds that premature formalism of design and
measurement may be worse than no measurement at all . These
difficulties, rather than discouraging research and treatment
efforts with these compounds, ought to stimulate us to develop
new and more sensitive methods for exploring the vast frontier
of inner space revealed by phantastica. Our technology is
expanding in exciting ways, and the use of computers to
manage an environment for psychedelic training, therapy, and
research might offer an ideal naturalistic and contemporary
theater of the mind. Such an environment would allow free
access to a tremendous variety of audio-visual stimuli to
enhance and manage responsiveness to the compounds while
still permitting unobtrusive measurement of physiological
states and their subsequent correlation with the experiences
facilitated by phantastica and this setting (Yensen 1 98 2 ) .
Efforts t o understand and employ phantastica for the
betterment of our society should proceed with an inter
disciplinary approach. The disciplines of psychology, anthro
pology, philosophy, and theology must not be excluded merely
because we conceive of these compounds as drugs, and of
drugs as the exclusive province of physicians. We also must not
overlook the quickly vanishing aboriginal peoples of the world
(particularly the New World) . These peoples have significant
practical knowledge and experience concerning the use of
sacred plants for the benefit of their societies. One can only
sincerely hope that our science and culture is able to forsake its
hubris and ethnocentricity for long enough to understand and
assimilate this knowledge before it vanishes from the face of the
earth along with the peoples that d eveloped it.
53
54
Stanislav Grof
Beyond the Brain: New
Dimensions in Psychology and
Psychotherapy
During the last decades, a number of disciplines which

study the human psyche have independently made obseiVations
that represent a critical challenge for Western science and the
absolute validity of N ewtonian and Cartesian thought. These
include data from psychedelic research, from the various
psychotherapies of self-experience, from C. G. J ung' s analytical
psychology, from the experimental study of consciousness
(biofeedback, sensory deprivation and overload, hypnotic
trance states, such kinesthetic apparatus as the witch' s scale or
the rotating couch, from Kundalini research, modem
parapsychology, anthropology, and thanatology. If one
attempted to succinctly and summarily describe these new
discoveries, one might say that they point to an entirely new
relationship between consciousness and matter and introduce
birth, death, and transcendence (or the transpersonal) as new
critical dimensions in psychology and psychotherapy.
In this article, I shall discuss findings of psychedelic
therapy. There are several reasons for this approach. The
psychedelica may best be described as non-specific catalysts
which raise the general level of energy in the unconsciousness
and amplify the psychic and psychosomatic processes. The
person to whom these drugs are administered does not
experience a "toxic psychosis" - a chemical phantasmagoria
which has nothing to do with the normal functions of the mind:
he undertakes a fantastic journey into the interior of the mind
and soul.
For this reason, such drugs make it p ossible to obseiVe a
variety of phenomena which are in fact nothing other than
exteriorizations of the immanent dynamics of the unconscious
55
mind which play a decisive role for mental and spiritual

processes . It is thus by no means an exaggeration to compare
the potential impact which psychedelic drugs may have for
psychology and psychiatry with that which the microscope had
for biology and medicine or the telescope had for astronomy.
Because the psychedelic spectrum covers the entire range of
experiences possible for humans, it includes numerous
phenomena which may also manifest themselves in other
situations without drugs - in the rites of passage and other
ceremonies of non-Western peoples, spiritual practices, self
experience therapies, modern laboratory techniques for
altering consciousness, in parapsychological research, and in
life-threatening situations and experiences of clinical death.
At the same time, the catalytic and amplifying effects of
psychedelic drugs make it possible to evoke extraordinary
states of consciousness of unusual intensity and clarity under
controlled circumstances and thus obtain relatively consistent
results. It is this fact which makes psychedelic phenomena
especially amenable to systematic study. The last and most
important reason for the limitation of this discussion to the
field of psychedelic research is my many years of scientific
experience in the field. Since I have conducted several
thousand therapeutic sessions with LSD and other substances
and have personally experienced many psychedelic states, I
possess a knowledge in this field which I lack with respect to
other forms of self-investigation.
Even though there is very strong evidence that LSD is a
non-specific catalyst of psychic processes, it would not be
enough to merely carry out experiments with LSD and then
assert that the findings have universal validity for psychology.
For this reason, I would like to mention that my wife Christina
and I have developed a non-pharmacological method which
utilizes only breathing, music, sound technology, and carefully
directed work with the body. During the last ten years, we have
worked with this method, which we call holonomic integration
or holotropic therapy, with thousands of persons in almost all
56
Beyond the Brain
continents of the globe. In doing so, we have demonstrated that

it is possible to elicit the entire spectrum of psychedelic
experiences without drugs . If these phenomena can be induced
physiologically, e.g. , through breathing, then there can be no
doubt that we are dealing with natural manifestations of the
psyche.
Since 1 95 4 , when I had my first experiences with
psychedelic drugs, I have conducted more than 3 ,000 sessions
with LSD and studied the protocols of over 2 ,000 sessions
supervised by colleagues in Czechoslovakia and the U .S.A. The
participants in these experiments were " normal" volunteers,
numerous groups of psychiatric patients, and persons who had'
terminal cancer and were facing death. The group of non
patients consisted of psychiatrists, psychologists, scientists,
artists, theologians, students, and nurses at psychiatric clinics.
The patients with emotional disorders represented a variety of
diagnostic categories; my investigations dealt with depressive
patients, psychoneurotics, alcoholics, drug addicts, sexual
deviants, persons with psychosomatic ailments, borderline
patients, and psychotics.
Two periods may be distinguished in my clinical work with
psychedelics. During the first ten years, I worked in
Czechoslovakia with middle-level doses of psychedelics and
repeated administration. This technique is known as psycho
lytic therapy. It entails a stepwise process of self-exploration
which is based upon the Freudian model . The dosages were
between l OO and 250 micrograms of LSD , and the number of
sessions varied between 1 5 and 1 00 . One of my patients very
fittingly characterized this technique as "peeling away the
layers of the unconscious " .
Since 1 967, m y work in the United States as the Chief of
Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research
Center has utilized a different approach known as psychedelic
therapy. The dosages are high - between 300 and 600
micrograms - and the number of sessions is limited to
between 1 and 3 . The experiences are almost totally
57
internalized through the use of eyeshades , headphones, and

stereophonic music. The aim of this work is to communicate a
profound experience of a transcendental nature - death and
rebirth, feelings of unity with humanity, the universe, and God,
archetypal phenomena, etc. We have systematically studied the
effects of psychedelic therapy in controlled studies of
alcoholics, neurotics, heroin addicts, and cancer patients. We
also had a training program in which over 200 psychiatrists,
psychologists, social workers, and pastoral counselors were
able to have supervised psychedelic session s .
Unfonunately, we have never had the opponunity of
applying holotropic therapy as pan of a cor.trolled study, as was
the case with psychedelic therapy. We use this form of therapy
in our five-day and four-week seminars at Esalen Institute in
California and in workshops in other pans of the world .
Because these seminars are open to all interested without
discrimination, we have worked with success on an entire
spectrum of emotional and psychosomatic disturbances.
There are five categories of insights from our experiences
with the depth psychology of psychedelic drugs and holotropic
therapy that have general validity for psychotherapy and self
experience:
1. A new model of the human psyche (topography of inner
space) .
2 . Architecture o r ge o m et ry of psychopathology (dynamic
structure of psychosomatic and interpersonal problems) .
3 . Effective mechanisms of therapy and personality
change.
4 . Strategies o f therapy an d self-exploration.
5. The relationship between consciousness and matter
and the nature of reality.
1. Dimensions of Consciousness: A New Topography

of the Psych e
The model of the psyche in traditional psychiatry and
in mainstream psychoanalysis is personal and biographical.
58
Beyond the Brain
According the Sigmund Freud, the newborn is a tabula rasa , and

the psychological history of the individual begins after birth.
The biography and the individual unconscious are considered
to be explanatory principles sufficient to account for all forms
of psychogenic disturbances. A psychotherapy which works
with biographical material is held to be a fully adequate
therapeutic technique.
Modern consciousness research has produced over
whelming evidence that such a view of psychotherapy is
superficial and inadequate. In order to be of real theoretical
and practical use, the model of the psyche must be
fundamentally expanded. O ne such model has four levels or
realms; two of these are of a transbiographical nature.
In the initial phase, techniques which activate the dynamics
of the unconscious often have a stimulating effect upon the
sensory apparatus. The most superficial level of experiences
which they elicit - in the sense that they are easily accessible to
the average person - is consequendy the level of sensory
experiences (elemental visions of colors or geometric shapes,
hearing simple sounds) . They reveal no specific symbolic
meaning in connection with the personality of the person
concerned and are explainable within the framework of the
anatomy and physiology of the sensory organs . It appears as if
there is a sensory barrier which must be penetrated before a
person is able to enter the realm of the unconscious.
The next domain or level of the human psyche is the
biographical level; its dynamics concern the individual
unconscious, which Freud discovered and described. In this
level, a person may relive emotionally important memories
from various phases of his or her life history; it also contains
many symbolic elements which may be decoded as variations
or new combinations of biographical elements (in a manner
quite similar to that of dream images in Freudian psycho
analysis) . This aspect of the human psyche does not require
much illustration or discussion, as the model of traditional
psychiatry and mainstream psychoanalysis, which does not
59
recognize other domains of the psyche, has provided a

thorough description of the biographical level. Freud's theory
(with certain modifications) has shown itself to be quite
appropriate for explaining the phenomena of this level.
It may appear to be quite surprising that it is occasionally
possible to relive with photographic precision memories from
the first days or weeks of one's life. Memories of severe somatic
traumas, e.g. , injuries, accidents, experiences of near-drowning,
or illnesses of great importance, appear to be of greater
importance than the psychic traumas which are rather one
sidedly emphasized by contemporary psychology and psy
chiatry. Situations in which breathing is affected (pneumonia,
whooping cough, diphtheria, etc.) appear to be especially
important. Apparendy, such experiences have direct effects
upon the development of various emotional and psycho
somatic disturbances. This even holds for certain experiences
during operations carried out with the aid of a general
anesth etic. Yet no matter how new and surprising some of these
findings may be for medicine and psychiatry, we would not
require a new scientific paradigm in order to integrate them
into contemporary psychiatry.
Difficult theoretical problems arise, however, in connection
with the third realm of the human psyche, for which I have
coined the term perinatal. Clinical observations from LSD
therapy and from new experiential therapies clearly demon
strate that the human unconscious possesses dynamic
repositories the activation of which leads to reexperiences of
birth and to a profound encounter with death. The associated
process of death and rebirth has not only biological, but also
psychological, mythological, philosophical, and spiritual
dimensions . It is connected with an opening of inner
transcendental realms of the human mind, which are
completely independent of the individual's particular racial,
cultural, or educational grou p .
These experiences pose two substantial theoretical prob
lems. For persons in such non-ordinary states of consciousness
60
Beyond the Brain
are able to experience once again elements of their biological

birth in all its complexity and sometimes with astonishing
detail which can be objectively confirmed. It is often possible to
validate the exactness of many such descriptions, even among
persons who had previously quite certainly had no closer
knowledge of the precise circumstances surrounding their
birth. They often describe details of certain peculiarities and
anomalies of their fetal position, the dynamics of their birth,
the intervention of the persons assisting the birth, and details of
postnatal care. The experience of a breech birth, a placenta
praevia , or an umbilical chord wrapped around the neck, and
the use of a forceps, various anesthetics, or certain techniques
of resuscitation, are examples of just some of the phenomena
which have been observed in this context.
Memories of these events appear to extend to the tissue and
the cells of the body. The process of reexperiencing the trauma
of one's own birth may be accompanied with the reoccurrence
of all of the corresponding physiological symptoms, such as the
acceleration of the pulse, choking, profound changes in skin
color, profuse salivation and mucous secretion, excessive
muscular tension with the abreaction of energy, certain
postures and movements, and with the manifestation of
contusions and birthmarks .
There is evidence that the reexperience of birth may also be
associated with biochemical changes which represent an exact
reproduction of the situation during birth, e.g. , a low blood
oxygen content, changes in the catecholamines and steroid
hormones as indicators of stress, and in certain characteristic
values of carbohydrate metabolism. This complex repro
duction of the situation at birth, which may extend to the
smallest cellular processes and biochemical chains of reaction,
poses serious questions for current models of scientific
thought.
Yet other as p ects of the p rocess of death and rebi rth are
even more difficult to explain. The symbolism which
accompanies the experience of death and rebirth can be drawn
61
from the most varied cultures of the world, even when a person
was not previously acquainted with their mythologies. In some
cases, there is not only the generally known symbolism of death
and rebinh within our own Judeo-Christian tradition - the
suffering of Christ, the crucifixion, and the resurrection - but
also motifs from the lesser-known myths of Isis and O siris,
Dionysus, Adonis, Attis, Orpheus, Mithras, or the Nordic god
Balder, and details from the little-known counterparts of the
cultures of Central America or corresponding elements of
different mythologies of the natives of Africa or· Polynesia. The
abundance of new, often quite esoteric information which may
arise in this context is extremely striking.
Yet the greatest and most decisive challenge for the
Newtonian/Cartesian conception of the world comes from the
final realm of the human psyche, which I term transpersonal. The
common denominator of this comprehensive and widely
ramified group of extraordinary experiences is that the person
concerned has the feeling that his consciousness is expanded
beyond the limits of the body-ego and has transcended the
normal limitations of space and time. In " normal" or everyday
states of consciousness, we experience ourselves within the
limits of the physical body (body schema) ; our perception of
the environment is determined by physically ascertainable
domains of the external perceptual organs. The American
author and philosopher Alan Watts has characterized this type
of self-perception as "skin-encapsulated" ego.
Both internal perception (interoception) and external
perception (exteroception) are restricted by the spatiotemporal
limits of Newtonian reality. Under normal conditions, we
clearly and concretely experience with all of our sensory organs
only the present moment and the immediate conditions. To be
sure, we recall events of the past, and anticipate or fantasize
about the futu r'e. Memories of the past and fantasies about the
future, however, lack the feeling of reality, the intensity and the
sensory richness which are characteristic of immed iate
experience. During transpersonal experiences, one or more of
62
Beyond the Brain
the above-mentioned restrictions of our everyday perception of

the world is apparendy suspended.
We may distinguish between three general categories of
transpersonal experiences. The phenomena in the first group
may be interpreted as regression in historical time and as the
exploration of one's own biological, cultural, or spiritual past.
In psychedelic sessions and in holotropic therapy, it not
infrequendy occurs that the subject quite concretely and
realistically reexperiences episodes of his embryonic and fetal
existence. Many persons have described life-like sequences in
which their existence is apparendy expressed in the form of
sperm or ovum on a cellular level of consciousness.
Occasionally, this journey into the past appears to go further
back, and the subject has convincing experiences from the lives
of his ancestors or even from the store of collective and racial
memories. At times, persons under the influence of LSD have
reported experiences in which they identified themselves with
different animals on the phylogenetic tree or had a distinct
feeling that they were reliving memories of their existence
during an earlier incarnation. There have also been situations
where a person may precognitively experience future events or
receive complex visions of the future of the world.
The second category of transpersonal experiences is
characterized by a transcendence of spatial rather than
temporal limitations. This group includes complete identifica
tion with other persons, with an entire group of people, or even
with all of humanity. It is even possible to surmount the limits
of specifically human experience and enter a state in which
consciousness appears to be that of an animal, a plant, or even
of inanimate objects or processes. In extreme cases, a person
may feel himself as all life, the entire planet, or as the universe
itself.
The third group of transcendental phenomena differs
fundamentally from the first two. Thus far, the contents of the
events we have been describing contain elements of the
phenomenal world as we encounter it in our daily lives. Some
63
of these experiences call into question the absolute nature of

the limitations of the linear course of time and the three
dimensional space of the Newtonian world-view as well as the
Cartesian conception of the world as something which exists
independendy of the observer. While such experiences cast
doubt upon the view of a universe which consists of material
objects which may be distincdy separated from one another,
they do not exceed that which the Western world terms
"objective reality" .
As a rule, we agree that we share a complex phylogenetic
tree of human and animal ancestors, that we are heirs to a
particular racial and cultural inheritance, and that we have
developed out of the union of two gametes to a highly
differentiated multicellular organism. The events of our daily
lives suggest that we live in a world which contains a coundess
number of humans, animals, plants, and inanimate objects.
The aforementioned world of consensual reality is based upon
direct sensory perception, confirmation by our fellow humans,
empirical evidence, and the findings of scientific research.
What at first is so surprising about those transpersonal
experiences in which the limitations of time or space are
transcended is not the contents as such, but rather the
possibility of experiencing and of consciously identifying with
various aspects of the world without the aid of sensory
perception. Under normal circumstances, these are considered
to be external to us and insusceptible to direct access . In the
case of the lower animals, plants, and inorganic matter,
moreover, we may be surprised that we encounter conscious
ness or perception in something which we normally hold to be
unconscious. Even in those cases of traditional parapsycho
logical phenomena in which we are faced with extrasensory
perception, it is not the contents of the experiences which
surp rise us, but rather the manners in which cenain
information can be obtained via other persons.
The third category of transpersonal experiences is
characterized by contents which lie outside of the conceptions
64
Beyond the Brain
of Western science and culture. Among these are experiences

with Jungian archetypes - a world of gods, demons,
demigods, radiant heros, and complex sequences of a
mythological or fairy tale nature. The most profound and most
universal experiences of this type involve identification with
cosmic consciousness or with the supracosmic and metacosmic
void.
Why do we ascribe so much imponance to transpersonal
experiences? Within the context of the mechanistic conception
of the universe, there appears to be something absurd in
assigning relevance to these phenomena. They should
automatically be considered dream-like and obviously insane
products of the brain. Yet the situation is not so simple; for
there are cenain properties of transpersonal experiences which
compel us to take them seriously. And because they are
essentially irreconcilable with N ewtonian and Canesian
conceptions of nature, they represent a serious challenge for
Western science and the philosophical assumptions upon
which it is based .
Persons who repon transpersonal experiences often obtain
access to detailed and relatively esoteric knowledge about the
corresponding aspect of the material universe which vastly
exceeds their general level of education and their specialized
knowledge about the area in question. For example, repons of
episodes in embryonic states , at the moment of conception, or
as a cell, cellular tissue, or an organ, contain an abundance of
medically correct insights into the anatomical, physiological,
and biochemical aspects of the processes involved . Similarly,
the experiences of collective and racial unconscious in the sense
of Jung, and the memories of previous incarnations, often
contain quite astounding details concerning specific historical
events and costumes, architecture, weaponry, an, or religious
practices of the societies concerned . Persons who relive
p hylogenetic memories or consciously identify themselves with
a living species of animal not only repon · on the unusual
authenticity and convincingness of these events, but also obtain
65
in this manner unusual insights into animal psychology,

ethology, species-specific habits, complex reproductive cycles,
and the mating customs of the most diverse species.
Persons who consciously experience identification with
plants or botanical processes occasional report remarkable
knowledge about the germination of seeds, the process of
photosynthesis, the role of auxins in the growth of plants,
pollination, or the exchange of minerals and water in the root
system. Experiences of inorganic processes and materials may
also bring forth interesting new insights.
The difficult theoretical challenges posed by· such reports
are amplified by the fact that transpersonal experiences whose
contents contain archetypal material often permit access to
completely new information. In non-ordinary states of
consciousness, it is possible to obtain very specific insights into
gods, demons, and complex mythological motifs as well as
heaven, paradise, hell, or the phases in the journey after death,
as represented in various of the world's cultures. Such
information is also often quite detailed and very specific; it may
be confirmed by checking books on mythology. This may also
occur in cases of very esoteric information which could not
possibly have been available beforehand to the person
involved.
In this context, we may also mention classical parapsycho
logical phenomena, which constitute a subcategory of trans
personal experiences. Here we find telepathy, clairvoyance,
clairaudience, the ability to discern the future, psychodiagnosis,
psychometry, out-of-body experiences ( O O BE) . Some of these
involve the transcendence of the normal limitations of time,
others the suspension of the limitations of space, and still
others involve both. Because all of these concern the obtaining
of new information via extrasensory channels, such effects do
not differ essentially from other transpersonal phenomena. As
soon as the existence of transpersonal p henomena is admitted
and recognized, the fine line between psychology and
parapsychology disappears.
66
Beyond the Brain
Such experiences have led many subjects - including

those with college educations - to independendy suggest that
consciousness is not a product of the central nervous system
and thus cannot be restricted to humans and the higher
vertebrates. They suddenly viewed consciousness as an
attribute of existence which can neither be reduced to nor
derived from anything else.
Transpersonal experiences may reflect events of the
microcosm and the macrocosm, i.e. , domains which are not
direcdy accessible to the human senses, or events of periods
which historically preceded the origins of the solar system, the
Earth, living organisms, the nervous system, and Homo sapiens.
These experiences suggest that in principle all of us, in some
unexplained manner, have information concerning the entire
universe and every type of existence at our disposal, that we
have the potential to experience all of its aspects, and that, in a
certain sense, every one of us is a part of the entire cosmic
network. This insight represents a paradoxical complement to
our everyday experience that every one of us is merely an
infinitely small and insignificant biological entity. Modern
observations have provided us with a completely new and
surprising picture of the human psyche, a picture which may
be summarized in a single sentence: The human psyche is not a
limited reflection of the material universe: in a certain sense, it is identical
with the entire universe and with all existences.
The new topography of the psyche which I have just
described is of decisive importance for any serious attempt to
study and to explain such phenomena as psychedelic states ,
shamanism, religion, mysticism, the rites of passages of various
societies, extrasensory perception (ESP) , experiences of death,
and the symptomatology of psychotic states. This is not an
matter of purely academic interest alone; it has profound and
revolutionary consequences for the understanding of psycho
pathology and opens new typ es of therapeutic possibilities .
67
2. The Architecture of Emotional and Psycho

somatic Disturbances
ObseiVations from LSD psychotherapy and holotropic
therapy cast new light upon the controversies which rage
between the various competing schools and theories of depth
psychology concerning the origin of psychogenic disturbances
and the psychodynamic powers which lie at their roots. In
general, the architecture of psychopathology that is manifested
in experientially-oriented forms of psychotherapy is much
more complex and complicated that current theories of the
personality would lead us to expect. These new obseiVations
very clearly demonstrate that the biographical model is not
sufficient for adequately explaining psychopathological pheno
mena or actually profoundly influencing them therapeutically,
because their dynamic roots lie in the transbiographical - the
perinatal and the transpersonal - realms of the psyche.
In most cases, psychopathological problems exhibit a
multi-layered dynamic structure with important roots in all of
the levels of the psyche - the biographical, the perinatal, and
the transpersonal. In order to be able to meaningfully deal with
problems of this kind, the therapist must recognize the
theoretical existence of these levels and be ready to work
practically with them without prejudice. Psychotherapeutic
schools which deny the existence of transbiographical sources
of psychopathology are not able to exploit the powerful
mechanisms of healing and change of the perinatal and
transpersonal levels and are seriously limited in their
therapeutic efficacy.
3. Effective Mechanisms for Therapy and Personality

Change
Experientially oriented work shows that a powerful
potential of psychic and physical energy is contained within the
dynamic structure of psychogenic symptoms. Considering this
fact, it may be seen that attempts to influence such a structure
with verbal means are fraught with problems .What is required
68
Beyond the Brain
is a therapeutic technique which allows for and encourages

direct experience, for only in this way can noticeable results be
obtained within a reasonable amount of time. Moreover, if
therapeutic work is to become fully effective, the perinatal and
transpersonal realms should not be lacking in the therapist's
conceptual framework.
As long as the process of an experientially oriented therapy
is concentrated solely upon the biographical level, the results
are very limited, except when the material concerned contains
unsettled gestalts of severe physical traumas . The immediate
and long-term effects are much more dramatic when profound
experiences of death and (re)birth are involved. Claustro
phobia and other forms of anxiety, many types of depression,
suicidal tendencies, alcoholism, drug addiction, asthma,
migraines, sadomasochistic tendencies, and many other
problems may often be favorably influenced by experiences of
a perinatal nature.
Very effective therapeutic mechanisms also operate on the
transpersonal level. Among these are the profound healing
effects of experiences of unity with the universe, identification
with cosmic consciousness, experiences of reincarnation,
mythological and archetypal phenomena, and authentic
identification with animals.
4. General Strategies of Psychotherapy and Self

exp l o rati o n
The various schools of psychotherapy differ largely
with respect to their understanding of nature and of the
functioning of the human psyche, in their interpretation of the
origins and dynamics of psychogenic symptoms , and in the
directions for strategies and methods of psychotherapy. This
basic lack of agreement concerning such fundamental
questions is one of the reasons why psychotherapy has so
frequently been denied the status of a scientific procedure.
The observations which have been made in experiential
therapy agree with concepts first developed by C . G. Jung .
69
According to this view, the human psyche has a powerful self

healing potential at its disposal whose source is the collective
unconscious. For this reason, the therapist's task is not to
rationally understand a client's problems and to apply a certain
technique to them in order to alter the situation according to a
preformed plan. It is enough to make it possible for a client to
access the deeper layers of the psyche and to create a supportive
context. Under these conditions, healing will develop from a
dialectic interaction between individual consciousness and the
personal and collective unconscious.
5. A New C onception of Reality and Human Nature

Many of the observations from holotropic and
psychedelic therapy are in principle irreconcilable with the
Newtonian/Cartesian paradigm which has dominated Western
science for the last 300 years. In particular, the transpersonal
experiences and their dynamics point to the urgent need to
subject the model of the universe which has been advanced by
classical science to a fundamental overhaul. It is no longer
possible to consider consciousness as an epiphenomenon of
matter and as a product of physiological processes within the
brain.
Because they encompass such apparendy absurd concep
tions as relativity, non-local connections between all of the
components of the universe, communication via unknown
media and channels, memories without a material substrate,
non-linearity of time, or even the conception that our
consciousness is linked with the consciousness of all living
organisms as well as inorganic matter, transpersonal exper
iences violate several of the basic assumptions of mechanistic
science.
From the perspective of our new knowledge, however,
consciousness appears to be the primary property of existence
and is threaded into the structure of the p henomenal world .
Instead of being the product of the biographical history of an
individual, the human psyche is revealing itself to be something
70
Beyond the Brain
which potentially encompasses the entire universe and the

totality of existence, as characterized in Aldous Huxley's
"perennial philosophy" .
71
72
Ralph Metz ner
Molecular Mysticis m: The R ole
of Psych oactive Substances
i n the Tr ans for mati on of
C onsci ous ness
There is a question that has troubled me, and no doubt
others, since the heyday of psychedelic research in the 1 9 60s,
when many groups and individuals were concerned with the
problems of assimilating new and powerful mind-altering
substances into Western society. The question, simply stated,
was this: why did the American Indians succeed in integrating
the use of peyote into their culture, including its legal use as a
sacrament to this day, when those interested in pursuing
consciousness research with drugs in the dominant white
culture succeeded only in having the entire field made taboo to
research, and any use of the substances a criminal offense
punishable by imprisonment? The use of peyote spread from
Mexico to the N onh American Indian tribes in the latter half of
the nineteenth century, and has found acceptance as a
sacrament in the ceremonies of the Native American Church. It is
recognized as one kind of religious ritual that some of the tribes
practice; as well as being acknowledged by sociologists for its
role as an antidote for alcohol abuse.
This intriguing puzzle in ethnopsychology and history was
personally relevant to me, since I was one of the psychedelic
researchers who saw the enormous transformative potentials of
"consciousness expanding" drugs, as we called them, and were
eager to continue the research into their psychological
significance. It would be fair to state that none of the early
explorers in this field, in the 1 950s and early 1 960s, had any
i nkli ng of the social turmoil that was to come, nor the
vehemence of the legal-political reaction. Certainly Dr. Alben
Hofmann, that epitome of the cautious, conservative scientist,
73
has testified to his dismay and concern over the proliferation of

patterns of abuse of what he so poignandy called his "problem
child" (Sorgenkirui) . Thus resulted the strange paradox that
substances regarded as a social evil and a law-enforcement
problem in the mainstream dominant culture are the
sacrament of one particular sub-culture within that larger
society. Since the Native American sub-culture is a much older
and ecologically more sophisticated culture than the European
white culture which attempted to absorb or eliminate it, and
since many sensitive individuals have long argued that we
should be learning from the Indians, not exterminating them,
the examination of the question posed above could lead to
some highly interesting conclusions .
The answer to the ethnopsychological puzzle became clear
to me only after I started observing and participating in a
number of other American Indian ceremonies, such as the
healing circle, the sweat lodge, or the spirit dance, that did not
involve the use of peyote. I noted what many ethnologists have
reponed: that these ceremonies were simultaneously religious,
medicinal, and psychotherapeutic. The sweat lodge, like the
peyote ritual, is regarded as a sacred ceremony, as a form of
worship of the Creator; they are also both seen and practiced as
a form of physical healing, and they are performed for solving
personal and collective 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, as a ceremony that
expressed and reinforced 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,
psychological, and religious professions and established
groups, each separately, considered the phenomenon of
psychedelic drugs. and were frightened by the unpredictable
transformations of perception and world-view that th ey seemed
to trigger.
Thus, the dominant society's reaction was fear, followed by
74
Molecular Mysticism
prohibition, even of further research. None of the three

established professions wanted these consciousness-expanding
instruments; and neither did they want anyone else to have
them of their own free choice. The implicit assumption is that
people are too ignorant and gullible to be able to make
reasoned, informed choices as to how to treat their illnesses,
solve their psychological problems, or practice their religion.
Thus , the fragmented condition of our whole society is
mirrored back to us through these reactions. For the N ative
Americans , on the other hand, healing, worship, and problem
solving are all subsumed in the one way, which is the way of the
Great Spirit, the way of the Earthmother, the traditional way.
The integrative understanding given in the peyote visions is not
feared, but accepted and respected. Here, the implicit
assumption is that everyone has the capability, indeed the task,
to attune themselves to higher spiritual sources of knowledge
and healing, and the purpose of ceremony, with or without
medicinal substances, is regarded as a facilitating of such
attunement.
Psychedelics as Sacrament or Recreation

Several observers, for example Andrew Weil ( 1 985),
have pointed out the historical pattern that as Western colonial
society adopted psychoactive plant or food substances from
native cultures (most of which are now regarded as belonging
to the Third World) , the pattern of use of such psychoactive
materials devolved from sacramental to recreational. Tobacco
was regarded as a sacred, or power plant, by Indians of North,
Central, and South America (Robicsek 1 9 7 8) ; it is still so
regarded by Native Americans, even though in the white
Western culture and in countries influenced by this dominant
culture, cigarette smoking is obviously recreational, and has
even become a major public health problem. The coca plant, as
grown and used by the Andean Indian tribes, was treated as a
divinity - Mama Coca - and valued for its health
maintaining properties; cocaine, on the other hand, is purely a
75
recreational drug and its indiscriminate use as such also causes

numerous health problems. In this and other instances,
desacralization of the plant-drug has been accompanied by
criminalization. Coffee is another example: apparently first
discovered and used by Islamic Sufis who valued its stimulant
properties for long nights of prayer and meditation, it became a
fashionable recreational drink in European society in the
seventeenth century, and was even banned for a while as being
too dangerous (cf. Emboden 1 9 7 2 ; Weil & Rosen 1 9 8 3 ) . Even
cannabis, the epitome of the recreational " high", is used by
some sects of Hindu Tantrism as an amplifier of visualization
and meditation.
Since originally sacramental healing plants were so rapidly
and completely desacralized upon being adopted by the West's
increasingly materialistic culture, it should not be surprising
that newly discovered synthetic psychoactive drugs have
generally been very quickly categorized as either recreational,
or "narcotic" , or both. Concomitantly, as the indiscriminate,
excessive, non-sacramental use of psychoactive plants and
newly synthesized analogues spread, so did patterns of abuse
and dependence; predictably, established society reacted with
prohibitions, which in turn led to organized crime activities.
This in spite of the fact that many of the original discoverers of
the new synthetic psychedelics, people such as Albert
Hofmann and Alexander Shulgin, are individuals of deep
spiritual integrity. Neither they, nor the efforts of philosophers
such as Aldous H uxley and psychologists such as Timothy
Leary to advocate a sacred and respectful attitude towards these
substances, were able to prevent the same profanation from
taking place.
The newly discovered phenethylamine psychedelic MDMA
provides an instructive example of this phenomenon. Two
patterns of use seem to have become established during the
seventies : some p sychotherap ists and s p iritually inclined
individuals began to explore its possible applications as a
therapeutic adjuvant and as an amplifier of spiritual practice;
76
Molecular Mysticism
another, much larger group of individuals began using it for

recreational purposes, as a social "high" comparable in some
respects to cocaine. The irresponsible and widespread use in
this second category, by increasing numbers of people,
understandably made the medical and law-enforcement
authorities nervous , and the predictable reaction occurred:
MDMA was classified as a Schedule I drug in the United States,
which puts it in the same group as heroin, cannabis, and LSD ,
making i t a criminal offense to make, use, o r sell, an d sending a
clearly understood off-limits signal to pharmaceutical and
medical researchers .
When Hofmann returned to the Mazatec shamaness Maria
Sabina with synthetic psilocybin in order to obtain her
assessment of how close the synthesized ingredient was to the
natural product, he was following the appropriate path of
acknowledging the primacy of the botanical over the synthetic.
The argument could be made, and has been made, that
perhaps for every one of the important synthetic psychedelics,
there is some natural plant that has the same ingredients and
that this plant is our connection to the larger lost knowledge of
indigenous cultures. Perhaps it should be our research strategy
- to find the botanical host for the psychedelics emerging
from the laboratory. In the case of LSD , research on the use of
morning glory seeds in ancient Mexico and baby woodrose in
Hawaii, each of which contain LSD analogues, would allow us
to discover a shamanic complex involving this molecule. If
Wasson, Hofrriann, and Ruck are correct in their proposal that
an LSD-like ergot-derived beverage was used as the initiatory
sacrament in Eleusis , the implications are profound (Wasson et
al 1 9 7 8 ) . Using Rupen Sheldrake's theory of morphogenetic
fields, one could suppose that by re-growing or re-hybridizing
this panicular plant, we could tune in to and re-activate the
morphogenetic field of the Eleusinian mysteries, the ancient
world's most awe-ins p iring mystical ritual.
There is no inherent reason why sacramental use and
recreational use of a substance, in moderation, could not eo-
77
exist. In fact, among Native Americans, tobacco often does play

this dual role: after a sacred pipe ritual with tobacco or other
herbs, participants may smoke cigarettes to relax. We know the
sacramental use of wine in the Catholic communion rite; 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. One could envision similar sophistication developing
with regard to psychoactive plant products. There could be
recognized sacramental and therapeutic applications; and
certain patterns of use might develop that were more playful,
exploratory, hedonistic and yet could be contained within a
reasonable and acceptable social framework that minimizes
harm.
The "abuse" of a drug, in such a relatively enlightened
system, would not be a function of who uses it, or where it
originated, or whether doctors or other authorities condone it,
but rather of the behavioral consequences in the drug user.
One becomes recognized as an alcoholic, i.e., an abuser of
alcohol, when their interpersonal and social relationships are
noticeably impaired. There should be no difficulty in
establishing similar abuse criteria for other psychoactive
drugs.
Psychedelics as Gnostic Catalysts

In 1 96 8 , in a paper " O n the Evolutionary Significance
of Psychedelics" published in Main Currents of Modem Tlwught, I
suggested that the findings of LSD research in the areas of
psychology, religion, and the arts could be looked at in the
context of the evolution of consciousness:
If LSD expands consciousness and if, a s is widely believed,
further evolution will take the form of an increase in
consci9 usness, then can we not regard LS D a s a possible
evolutionary instrument? . . . Here is a device which, by
altering the chemical composition of the cerebra-sensory
information processing medium, temporarily inactivates the
78
Molecular Mysticism
screening-programs, the genetic and cultural filters, which

dominate in a completely unnoticed way our usual
perceptions of the world.
From the perspective of almost twenty years reflection, I now

propose to extend and amplify this statement in two ways: ( 1 )
the evolution of consciousness is a transformation process that
consists primarily in gaining insight and understanding, or
gnosis ; and (2) the acceleration of this process by molecular
catalysts is not only a consequence of new technologies, but is
also an integral component of traditional systems of trans
formation, including shamanism, alchemy, and yoga.
In psychedelic research, the "set-and-setting hypothesis" ,
which was first formulated by Timothy Leary in the early 1 960s,
has become accepted by most workers in the field. The theory
states that the content of a psychedelic experience is a function
of the set (intention, attitude, personality, mood) and the setting
(interpersonal, social, and environmental) and that the drug
functions as a kind of trigger, or catalyst, or non-specific
amplifier or sensitizer. The hypothesis can be applied to the
understanding of any altered state of consciousness when we
recognize that other kinds of stimuli can be triggers, for
example, hypnotic induction, meditation technique, mantra ,
sound or music, breathing, sensory isolation, movement, sex,
natural landscapes, a near-death experience, and the like.
Generalizing the set-and-setting hyp othesis in this way helps us
to understand psychoactive d rugs as one class of triggers within
a whole range of possible catalysts of altered states (Tart 1 9 7 2 ;
Zinberg 1 9 7 7) .
An imponant clarification results from keeping in mind the
distinction between a state (of consciousness) and a psycho
logical trait; between state changes and trait changes . For
example, psychologists distinguish between state-anxiety and
trait-anxiety. William james, in his Varieties of Religious Experience
( 1 9 6 1 ) , discussed this question in terms of whether a religious
or conversion experience would necessarily lead to more
"saintliness", more enlightened traits . This distinction is crucial
79
to the assessment of the value or significance of drug-induced

altered states . Only by attending to both the state-changes
(visions, insights, feeling) and the long-term consequences , or
behavioral or trait changes, can a comprehensive under
standing of these phenomena be attained.
Having an insight is not the same as being able to apply that
insight. There is no inherent connection between a mystical
experience of oneness and the expression or manifestation of
that oneness in the affairs of everyday life. This point is perhaps
obvious, yet it is frequendy overlooked by those who argue
that, on principle, a drug could not induce a genuine mystical
experience or play any role in spiritual life. The internal factors
of " set" , including preparation, expectation, and intention, are
the determinants of whether a given experience is authentically
religious; and equally, intention is crucial to the question of
whether an altered state results in any lasting personality
changes . Intention is like a kind of bridge from the ordinary or
consensus reality state to the state of heightened consciousness;
and it can also provide a bridge from that heightened state back
to ordinary reality.
This model allows us to understand why the same drug( s)
could be claimed by some to lead to nirvana or religious vision,
and in others (for example, someone like Charles Manson)
could lead to the most perverse and sadistic violence. The drug
is only a tool, a catalyst, to attain certain altered states; which
altered states being dependent on the intention. Rather, even
where the drug-induced state is benign and expansive, whether
or not it leads to long-lasting positive changes is also a matter of
intention or mind-set.
The drug indeed seems to reveal or release something that
is in the person; which is the factor implied in the term
"psychedelic" - mind manifesting. In my opinion, the term
"entheogen" is an unfortunate choice because it suggests the
god within, the divine p rincip le, is somehow " generated " in
these states. My experiences have led me to the opposite
conclusion: the god within is the generator, the source of life-
80
Molecular Mysticism
energy, the awakening and healing power. For someone whose

conscious intention is a psychospiritual transformation, the
psychedelic can be a catalyst that reveals and releases insight or
knowledge from higher aspects of our being. This is, I believe,
what is meant by gnosis - sacred knowledge or insight
concerning the fundamental spiritual realities of the universe in
general and one's individual destiny in particular.
The potential of psychedelic drugs to act as catalysts to a
transformation into gnosis, or direct, ongoing awareness of divine
reality, even if only in a small number of people, would seem to
be of the utmost significance. Traditionally, the number of
individuals who have had mystical experiences has been very
small; the number of those who have been able to make
practical applications of such experiences has probably been
even smaller. Thus, the discovery of psychedelics, in facilitating
such experiences and processes, could be regarded as one very
important factor in a general spiritual awakening of collective
human consciousness. Other factors that could be mentioned
in this connection are the revolutionary paradigm shifts in the
physical and biological sciences, the burgeoning of interest in
Eastern philosophies and spiritual disciplines, and the growing
awareness of the multi-cultural oneness of the human family
brought about by the global communications networks.
Psychedelics in T:raditional Systems of T:ransformation

In my earlier writings, I emphasized the newness of
psychedelic drugs, the unimaginable potentials to be realized
by their constructive application; and I thought of them as first
products of a new technology oriented towards the human
spirit. While I still believe that these potentials exist, and that
synthetic psychedelics have a role to play in consciousness
research and perhaps consciousness evolution, my views have
changed under the influence of the discoveries and writings of
cultural anthropologists and ethnobotanists , who have pointed
to the role of mind-altering and visionary botanicals in cultures
across the world.
81
One cannot read the works of R. Cordon Wasson on the

Mesoamerican mushroom cults ( 1 9 80), or the work of Richard
E. Schultes and Albert Hofmann ( 1 9 7 9) on the profusion of
hallucinogens in the Americas , or the cross-cultural work of
such authors as Michael H arner ( 1 9 7 3) , Joan Halifax ( 1 982) ,
Peter Furst ( 1 9 7 6) , and Marlene Dobkin d e Rios ( 1 984), o r the
cross-culturally oriented medical and psychiatric researchers
such as Andrew Weil ( 1 980), Claudio Naranjo ( 1 9 7 3) , and
Stanislav Grof ( 1 985), or more personal accounts such as the
writings of Carlos Castaneda, or Florinda Donner ( 1 982), or the
McKenna brothers ( 1 9 7 5 ) , or Bruce Lamb's biography of
Manuel Cordova ( 1 9 7 1 ) , without getting a strong sense of the
pervasiveness of the quest for visions, insig�ts, and non
ordinary states of consciousness; and, further, the sense that
psychoactive plants are used in many, but by no means all, of
the shamanic cultures that pursue such states. Thus, I have
been led to a view closer to that of aboriginal cultures, a view of
humanity in a relationship of eo-consciousness, communication
and cooperation with the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom,
and the mineral world. In such a world-view, the ingestion of
hallucinogenic plant preparations in order to obtain knowledge
for healing, for prophecy, for communication with spirits, for
anticipation of danger, or for understanding the universe,
appears as one of the oldest and most highly treasured
traditions .
The various shamanic cultures all over the world know a
wide variety of means for entering non-ordinary realities.
Michael Harner ( 1 9 8 0) has pointed out that "auditory driving"
with prolonged drumming is perhaps as equally widespread a
technology for entering shamanic states as hallucinogens. In
some cultures, the rhythmic hyperventilation produced
through certain kinds of chanting may be another form of
altered state trigger. Animal spirits become guides and allies in
shamanic initiation. Plant spirits can become " helpers" also,
even when the plant is not taken internally by either doctor or
patient. Tobacco smoke is used as a purifier, as well as a support
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Molecular Mysticism
to prayer. Crystals are used to focus energy for seeing and

healing. There is attunement, through prayer and meditation,
with deities and spirits of the land, the four directions, the
elements, the Creator Spirit. Through many different means,
there is the seeking of knowledge from other states, other
worlds, knowledge that is used to improve the way we live in
this world (through healing, problem-solving, etc.) . The use of
hallucinogenic plants , when it occurs, is part of an integrated
complex of interrelationships between Nature, Spirit, and
human consciousness.
Thus, it seems to me that the lessons we are to learn from
these consciousness-expanding plants and drugs have to do not
only with the recognition of other dimensions of the human
psyche, but with a radically different world-view; a world-view
that has been maintained in the beliefs, practices , and rituals of
shamanic cultures, and almost totally forgotten or suppressed
by twentieth century materialistic culture. There is of course a
certain delightful irony in the fact that it has taken a material
substance to awaken the sleeping consciousness of so many of
our contemporaries to the reality of non-material energies,
forms, and spirits.
In discussing alchemy as the second of the three traditional
systems of consciousness transformation mentioned above, I
would like to emphasize first that we have only the minutest
shreds of evidence that ingestion of hallucinogens played any
part in the European alchemical tradition. The use of
solanaceous hallucinogens in European witchcraft, which is
related to both shamanism and alchemy, has been documented
by Hamer ( 1 9 7 3 : 1 25- 1 30) . Likewise, in Chinese Taoist
alchemy, the use of botanical and mineral preparations to
induce spirit-flight and other kinds of altered states has been
discussed by Strickmann ( 1 9 7 9 ) . A complete account of the role
of hallucinogens in alchemy has not as yet been written.
Possibly our ignorance in this field is still a consequence of
intentional secrecy on the part of the alchemical writers.
Mircea Eliade, in his book The Forge and the Crucible ( 1 9 62) ,
83
made a strong case for the historical derivation of alchemy from

early Bronze Age and Iron Age metallurgy, mining, and
smithing rites and practices . One could argue that alchemy is
one form of shamanism: the shamanism of those who worked
with minerals and metals, the makers of tools and weapons.
Many of the concerns and interests of the alchemists parallel
shamanic themes. There is the strong interest in purification
and healing, in discovering or making a "tincture" or "elixir"
that will give health and longevity. There are visions and
encounters with animal spirits, some clearly from the imaginal
realms. There are stories and visions of divine or semi-divine
figures often personified as the deities of classical mythology.
There is the recognition of the sacredness, the animating spirit,
of all matter. And there is the integrated world-view, which sees
spirituality, religion, health and illness, human beings, the
natural world and its elements, all interrelated in a totality.
It might be objected that there does not seem to be the
equivalent of a shamanic journey in alchemy; no clear
indication of an altered state of consciousness in which visions,
or power, or healing abilities are attained. It appears to me that
the alchemical equivalent of the shamanic journey is the opus,
the work, the experiment with its various operations, such as
solutio} sublimatio} martificatio , and the like. The focus is more on
the long-term personality and physical changes that the
alchemical initiate has to undergo, just as the shaman in
training does . The experiments in alchemy were regarded as
meditative rituals, during which visions might be seen in the
retort or furnace, and interior psychophysiological state
changes triggered by the observation of chemical processes .
Furthermore, in an interesting recent work, R.J . Stewart
( 1 9 85) has argued that in the Western tradition of magic and
alchemy, which has roots in pre- Christian Celtic mythology
and beliefs , and of which traces can still be found in folklore,
ballads, popular songs, and nursery rhymes , the central
transformative experience was an underworld journey. This
underworld or otherworld initiation involved taking a
84
Molecular Mysticism
"journey" into other realms, encounters with animal and spirit

beings, attunement with the land and the ancestors, meditative
rituals centering around the tree of life symbolism, and other
features that place this tradition clearly into the ancient stream
of shamanic lore found in all parts of the globe.
Turning now to yoga as the third of the traditional systems
of evolutionary transformation of consciousness, we need not
concern ourselves with the question of whether the use of
visionary botanicals is a decadent or debased form of yoga, as
Eliade ( 1 958) seems to believe; or whether the use of
hallucinogens was primary, in the Vedic-Indian tradition as the
Soma cult, as Wasson ( 1 968) has proposed. Sometimes, with
the latter view, the corollary is proposed that yoga methods
were .developed when the drug was no longer available as an
alternative means for attaining similar states. Suffice it to say
that in the Indian yoga traditions, in particular the teachings of
Tantra, we have a system of practices for bringing about a
transformation of consciousness with many parallels to
shamanic and alchemical ideas.
The use of hallucinogens as an adjunct to yoga practices is
known to this day in India, among certain Shivaite sects in
particular (Aldrich 1 9 7 7 ) . Those schools and sects that do not
use drugs tend to regard those that do as decadent, as
belonging to the so-called left-hand path of Tantra, which also
incorporates ritual food and sexuality (maithuna) as valid
aspects of the yogic path. Under the influence of nineteenth
century Western occult and theoso p hical ideas , this left-hand
path tended to be equated with "black magic" , or "sorcery" . In
actuality, the designation left-hand path derives from the yogic
principle that the left side of the body is the feminine, receptive
side; and thus, the left-hand path is the path of those who
worship the Goddess (Shakti) , as the Tantrics do, and
incorporate the body, the delight of the senses, nourishment,
and sexuality into their yoga. Thus , as in shamanism and
alchemy, we fi nd here a strand of the tradition that involves
respect and devotion to the feminine principle, the mother
85
goddess, the eanh and its fruit, the flesh and blood body, and
the seeking of ecstatic visionary states.
It is true that the Indian yoga traditions seem not to have
the same concern for the natural world of animals, crystals, and
plants as is found in shamanism and alchemy. The emphasis is
more on various inner and subtle states of consciousness.
Nevertheless, there are interesting parallels between the three
traditions. The focusing of inner light-fire energy in different
centers and organs of the body, as practiced in Agni Yoga and
Kundalini Yoga, is similar to the alchemical practice of
purification by fire, and to shamanic notions of filling the body
with light (Metzner 1 9 7 1 , 1 98 6) . The Indian alchemical tantric
tradition had the concept of rasa, which is akin to the European
alchemical concept of "tincture" or "elixir" . Rasa has internal
meanings - feeling, moo<;!, "soul" , and external referents -
essence, juice, liquid. Rasayano was the path or way of rasa, the
way of fluid energy-flow, that involves both external and
internal essences. 1 As a third parallel, I will only mention the
Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana system, which is a remarkable
fusion of Tantric Buddhist ideas with the Tibetans' original Bon
shamanism: a system in which the various animal spirits and
demons of the shamans and sorcerers have become trans
formed into personifications of Buddhist principles and
guardians of the dharma (Govinda 1 960) .
Conclusions
It appears incontrovertible that hallucinogens played
some role, of unknown extent, in the transformative traditions
of shamanism, alchemy, and yoga. If we regard psychotherapy
as the modern descendant of these traditional systems, then a
similar, if limited, application of hallucinogens could be made
in various asp �cts of psychotherapy. And this has in fact already
occurred, as the various studies of psychedelics in alcoholism,
I We may say that the physico-chemical processes of the rasayana seJVe as the
vehicle for psychic and spirirual operations. The elixir obtained by alchemy
corresponds to the 'immortality' pursued by tantric yoga (Eliade 195 8 : 2 8 3).
86
Molecular Mysticism
terminal cancer, obsessional neurosis, depression, and other

conditions testify ( Grof 1 98 5 ; Grinspoon & Bakalar 1 9 7 9) . It
seems likely that these kinds of applications of psychedelics as
adjuncts to psychotherapy will continue, if not with LSD and
other Schedule I drugs, then with other, newer, perhaps safer
psychedelics.
What appears unlikely to me is that this kind of controlled
psychiatric application will ever be enough to satisfy the
inclinations and needs of those individuals who wish to explore
psychedelics in their most ancient role, as tools for seeking
visionary states and hidden forms of knowledge. The fact that
the serious use of hallucinogens outside of the psychiatric
framework continues despite severe social and legal sanctions
suggests that this is a kind of individual freedom that will not be
easy to abolish. It also suggests that there is a strong need, in
certain people, to re-establish their connections with ancient
traditions of knowledge in which visionary states of conscious
ness and exploration of other realities, with or without
hallucinogens, were the central concern.
It may be that such a path will always be pursued by only a
very limited number of individuals; much as the shamanic,
alchemical, and yogic initiations and practices were pursued by
only a few individuals in each society. I find it a hopeful sign
that some, however few, are willing to explore how to re
connect with these lost sources of knowledge, because, like
many others, I feel that our materialist-technological society,
with its fragmented world-view, has largely lost its way, and can
ill afford to ignore any potential aids to greater knowledge of
the human mind. The ecologically balanced and humanistically
integrated framework of understanding that the ancient
traditions preserved surely has much to offer us.
Furthermore, it is very clear that the visions and insights of
the individuals who pursue these paths are visions and insights
for the present and the future, not just of historical or
anthropological interest. This has always b een th e pattern: th e
individual seeks a vision to understand his or her place, or
87
destiny, as a member of the community. The knowledge

derived from altered states has been, can be, and needs to be
applied to the solution of the staggering problems that confront
our species. This is why the discoveries of Alben Hofmann
have immense imponance - for the understanding of our
past, the awareness of our presence, and the safeguarding of
our future. For, in the words of The Bible: "where there is no
vision, the people perish."
88
90
Tom Pinkson
Purification, D eath and Rebirth :
The Clinical Use of Entheogens.
within a Shamanic C ontext
"A person is neither a thing or a process but an

opening through which the Absolute can manifest. "
Martin Heidegger
In the fall of 1 98 1 , I joined a small group of Americans

traveling in Mexico on a two-week pilgrimage with a Huichol
Indian shaman. The Huichols are a complete cultural group
living in the rugged mountains of Nonh-Central Mexico. Many
Huichols still follow their ancient religion, which emphasizes
the peyote pilgrimage. The peyote cactus' Latin name,
Anhalonium lewinii (or Lophophora williamsii), reflects the work of
pharmacologist Louis Lewin, who first identified the psycho
active property of peyote in 1 8 8 8 . Peyote had been utilized by
the Huichols long before the Spanish invasion in the sixteenth
century. It is a sacrament for the H uichols, it is their teacher.
Used with proper respect and reverence under the shaman's
direction, it helps them to "know God's heartbeat" and receive
guidance for their lives.
Gordon Wasson refers to peyote and other plant substances
that, when ingested, lead to an experience of the Divine as
"entheogens", meaning God within us (Wasson 1 980) . Wasson
feels this term provides the respect these substances deserve.
Primal man considered entheogenic plants as sacred. This age
old perception and resultant usage pattern is still practiced
amongst various tribal groups around the world. The H uichols
are but one example (Staffo rd 1 9 8 3 ; Schultes 1 983).
Through their annual pilgrimage under the direction of the
shaman, the Huichols gather and ingest the sacrament in an all-
91
night ceremony that "brings them to their life" (Myerhoff

1 9 7 8 ) . Under the psycho-active influence of peyote and with
the help of guardian spirits, the Huichols pass through the
mystic doorway, the neirica, from the world of ordinary reality
into transpersonal states of being from which they derive their
supernatural knowledge. Dr. Stanislav Grof, Czechoslovakian
psychiatrist and pioneering researcher into the clinical use of
altered states of awareness, defines our ordinary state as
hylotropic consciousness, limited to our biological physical
organism existing in one place at one time ( Grof & Halifax
1 9 7 8 ) . But, says Grof, we also possess the potential of what he
calls holotropic consciousness, that transcends the usual
boundaries of time and space. As a psychologist in private
practice and clinical consultant to numerous hospice and
oncology programs, I have spent over ten years specializing in
clinical work with people facing life-threatening illness, mostly
cancer. I am intimately familiar with altered states of awareness
occasioned by illness, medical treatment, and approaching
death, as well as those induced by hypnosis, meditation, and
relaxation/visualization methodologies. I am also familiar with
the LSD therapy done with terminally ill cancer patients which
Grof himself had been involved with before restrictive
legislation all but eliminated this promising line of research
(Aaronson & Osmond 1 9 70). My curiosity piqued when
opportunity arose to observe first hand how the H uichols make
use of their powerful entheogen and the altered states it
produces as well as how they integrate the experience into the
social fabric of their culture.
In late September 1 9 8 1 , I met with my fellow pilgrims in
the town of Tepic, capital of the State of Nayarit, Mexico to
await the arrival of our shaman. It had been raining heavily for
several weeks and many outlying villages were isolated by
flood-swollen rivers. For several days we waited in Tepic for the
river level to drop so our shaman could leave her village.
During this time, one of our gro up discovered another
entheogen, Psilocybe cubensis, growing in a cow pasture outside of
92
Purification, Death, and Rebirth
Tepic. The mushroom was known as teonanacatl in ancient

Mexico, "flesh of the Gods " . It was used by the Indians of
Southern Mexico much as the Huichols used peyote - to see
beyond the world of physical appearance to discover the
underlying spiritual reality. In moving through the passageway
from ordinary consciousness into the transpersonal realm, the
intent in both cases was sacred, to gain knowledge of the
mysteries of life and death .
The discovery of the mushroom brought great excitement,
for they were not thought to have grown in this area. Members
of our group gathered a supply and packed them in honey to
preserve their freshness. The next day the shaman arrived and
we began our pilgrimage.
The entheogenic mushrooms were ingested several nights
later as we camped out at the site of ancient ruins dating back to
7 00 A. D . I sat by the fire and watched a Huichol woman
warming tortillas in the coals. Her two older children sat next to
her awaiting their dinner as she nursed an infant. Between us,
fire illuminating her face, stood Dona Andrea, our sixty-eight
year-old shaman, spiritual guide, and protector on the
pilgrimage. Barely five feet tall, thin and muscular with a
dynamic energy that could turn from laughter to anger and
back again in the blink of an eye, Doiia Andrea was a rich
mixture of simplicity, earthiness, beauty, power, depth, and
wisdom. She was totally devoid of pretense and her emotional
state of the moment emanated with great strength and clarity. I
watched her reverendy ingest several mushrooms and followed
her example. She than stood up and, looking upward into the
heavens, prayed aloud in the guttural tones of her native
language. Moonlight bathed the desert, fusing with the light of
the fire to create a dancing mosaic of hues and shadows. Tears
trickled down Dona Andrea's cheeks. Her body shook with the
intensity of her prayers for the people of her village and for life
itself.
I l ay by the fire, transfixed by the sublime beauty of age-old
rhythms - praying shaman invoking the spirits, crackling fire
93
sounds and food cooked as it has been for thousands of years ,

children sleeping, infant gendy nursing. A great reverence for
the simplicity and continuity of life stirred deeply within me.
The effects of the mushrooms began to manifest as waves of
energy began to course through my body, increasing my
appreciation of the beauty before me.
Suddenly a large serpent slithered out of the surrounding
desert and entered my body. The next thing I knew was that I
had become the serpent. Just as I was getting used to being a
snake, a large eagle swooped down and grabbed me with its
talons. My body jerked under the impact, but I felt no pain.
Holding me securely in its grasp, the eagle rose up from the
earth and flew straight into the sky until it merged with the light
of the sun. My personal identity as a separate awareness
dissolved. There was only oneness with the light.
After the immeasurable passage of time, a sense of personal
awareness returned. It was located in the body lying next to the
fire that was me. Doiia Andrea, the nursing mother, and her
children were asleep. We were alone by the still flickering fire.
The moon had progressed several times its width across the
sky. Excited as I was for the experience, the rigors of the
pilgrimage and lack of sleep soon took their toll in physical
exhaustion and I fell into a deep sleep .
The next morning I awoke with enthusiasm. I felt thankful
for the visitation of the two new totem allies , serpent and eagle,
and the teachings they brought. The serpent, I reflected , is
symbolic in Hindu metaphysics of the psychospiritual energy
lying dormant at the base of the spine. The goal of yoga is to
awaken this "serpent power" and bring it up to the psychic
centers ( chakras) of the torso, opening each in turn, but
continuing on to the final energy center atop the head, the
thousand-petaled lotus chakra, to achieve union with God . My
vision of the previous night showed me how to call for the eagle
to help raise this "kundalini" serpent upward to the higher
centers.
94
"Suddenly a large serpent slithered out of the surrounding desert and entered my
body. The next thing I knew was that I had become the serpent. just as I was
getting used to being a snake, a large eagle swooped down and grabbed me with its
talons . . .. Holding me securely in its grasp, the eagle rose up from the earth and
flew straight into the sky until it merged with the light of the sun. "
95
Later, in talking with a member of our party more familiar

with Huichol and ancient Mexican culture, I was reminded of
the significance of the eagle and the serpent in Aztec history.
Ancient myths recount that the site for the great capital city of
Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City, was foretold by the appearance
of an eagle with a serpent in its mouth. Further, the great god
hero of Mexico, Q.uetzalcoad, is symbolized as the feathered
serpent. I learned also that k u is the H uichol word for serpent,
and kupuri is their word for life energy. I noted with interest the
similarity between the Hindu term kundalini and the H uichol
term k upuri for a very similar concept and that the symbol of the
serpent is integral to both. I asked my informant about pu , the
second syllable of k upuri. "What does it mean?" "Pooh," he
replied, "you know what it is? It's shit! And the best place for
shit is the earth. She can take it and use it in a good way, as a
transforming agent for new growth." The significance of his
explanation was heightened considerably through events that
were to take place on my last evening in Mexico.
Several nights later I again sat by a fire, this time in the
Huichol holy land, Wiricuta, a desert plateau 9 ,000 feet above
sea level. The soft light of a full moon illuminated our
gathering. We sat in a circle and were led through an all-night
ceremony of song, prayer, drumming, and chanting that
accompanied the ingestion of "grandfather peyote" . In the
early hours of the morning, while gazing into the fire and
listening to the chants, another vision app eared . It was of
Christ, being crucified on the Cross. I saw that each time a
negative judgement was made about ourselves or someone
else, a spike was driven into Christ's body and he screamed in
pain. When a negative judgement was stopped, not repressed
or denied , but acknowledged and then released, a spike was
removed. A beautiful smile burst from Christ's face lighting all
in his presence as he thanked us for our kindness. The
holographic vision in the fire was a dramatic enactment of the
healing power of fo rgiven es s, a lesson I'd learned a great deal
about over the years of working with children and adults facing
96
cancer (Pinkson 1 984). When the teaching-message of the

vision had been imbedded into my nervous system, it slowly
dissolved back into the flickering firelight. Once again I heard
the sounds of the d.rumming and singing, but now with even
more openness and appreciation to the mysterious creation of
which I was a part. The final evening of the pilgrimage was
spent next to a lake with the impressive tide of La Laguna de
Oro de Santa Maria. Residing within the lake, we were told, was
the guardian ally of our shaman. It was a large, warm lake
surrounded by rolling hills thick with greenery of shrubs and
palm trees. The water itself was a welcome relief after the din
and dryness of the areas we had been travelling through as we
visited various H uichol holy sites on our journey to Wiricuta.
But now we were returning from the holy land, and the
proscription against using water to wash or drink that had been
ln effect prior to gathering and ingesting the peyote was lifted.
We dove into the lake with shouts of joy.
When darkness fell, I sat by the fire alone in thought. I felt
deeply grateful for the visions and teachings I had been blessed
with on the pilgrimage. Yet I also felt a sense of heaviness over
personal difficulties I was having in my marri age of founeen
years. I felt frustrated that my wife's and my own spiritual
growth together was not as strong as I wished for. During my
silent ruminations, Dofi.a Andrea looked at me. After having
studied me silendy for several minutes, she said sharply, "Go,
take a Grandfather Peyote and sit down by the lake. Light this
candle and face the mountains where the moon will rise shordy
from across the lake, and you will see truth in what you are
looking for." Shocked by her abruptness, a chill raced through
me. Suddenly, I did not know if I wanted to face truth without
the protection of my ego defenses. I believed Dofi.a Andrea was
right, that if I did just as she said, I would indeed look into the
face of truth. I was afraid of what I might see.
I plunged deeper within to look at my worst fears. Dragging
them up into the light of consciousness, I painstakingly
reviewed each one. I shuddered with each envisioning, but
97
somehow their negative charge was reduced by this airing. I

then sought guidance from within as to whether it was right for
me to follow Dofia And rea's suggestions. It felt important that I
make the decision myself, and not give her the power to make it
for me. Several minutes went by. Gradually, an inner clarity
emerged that said "yes, go ahead . " I went over to the ice cooler
in the van; filled with the bounty of freshly picked peyote that
Dofia Andrea was bringing back to the people of her village. I
picked out a large "grandfather" and went down to the lakes as
instructed. Lighting a candle, I placed it on the ground in front
of me. I gazed out over the lake to the distant ·m ountains and
offered a prayer of thankfulness to the teaching power of the
sacred plant, to the earth from which it came, and to the Great
Mystery into which it could take me. I dug a small hole, six to
eight inches deep , six inches wide, to place the bottom portion
of the root which I was not going to eat. Then I sat back to
watch the moon rise.
Soon, familiar energy changes began to move through my
body and I knew the "medicine" was starting to take effect. To
my complete surprise, a four-year old boy whose father had
just died appeared in my consciousness. It was me at that age.
As an adult, I had experienced a great deal of training in grief
work and served as a consultant to many programs nationally
dealing with loss. I thought I had completed my own work with
mourning, but I was wrong. Sobs of sadness and anger poured
forth from the anguished litde boy within me, for the pain he
suffered with his loss. The next thing I knew, I was lying on my
stomach with my face emersed in the hole I had dug. Tears,
mucus, sweat, and spittle poured out in convulsions of body
wrecking sobs. After what seemed like hours, I felt totally
empty. There was no more. A peaceful warmth flowed through
me. I opened to its soothing presence, but all too soon another
memory jolted me back into more pain.
Searing into my consciousness was an event that took place
when my wife Andrea and I were dating, almost eighteen years
ago. Andrea was getting ready for bed . In a totally innocent
98
manner, she began to recite a prayer out loud. I was taken back
in surprise. I had never seen this before, having grown up an
atheist. I reacted with sarcasm, for I had no spiritual awareness
and saw religion and prayer as "opiate for the masses. " In
horror, I watched the scene unfold. I saw Andrea cringe in
response to my attack. She had been totally open and
vulnerable. Now, with alarm, I witnessed her wounding and
immediate withdrawal. I burst into tears in realization of the
pain I had caused. Sobs and mucus again poured fonh into the
hole in the eanh. "This is my pooh, my shit I have been
carryi ng around for all these years, not knowing it was there," I
realized. Now I gladly released it into the eanh where it could
be convened into something useful, instead of polluting my
psyche. A spasm of relief reminded me of the Christ vision
teaching from Wiricuta about releasing negative judgement
and the healing power of forgiveness. I spit my guilt into the
dark hole and gulped in forgiveness with each successive
breath. Slowly I felt my body growing more expansive and
lighter. I felt new life pulse through me and a vibrant
enthusiasm to return home to heal the wound of so long ago. I
turned over onto my back and looked up into the sky. Soft
streaks of light were spreading across the dark sky.
The next day we drove back to Tepic. I bid a tearful
goodbye to Doiia Andrea and exchanged warm hugs with the
others, then boarded a bus at Tepic to head back to the Pueno
Vallarta airp ort and a plane ride home. The long ride through
the night offered ample time to reflect on my pilgrimage
experience. Gradually I realized that the entheogenically
induced visions were interwoven threads of initiation into a
very powerful psychospiritual healing process. The visions
served as a vehicle for ancient wisdom struggling to be heard in
technological, urbanized societies that overemphasize rational,
ego-based ways of knowing.
It was not sufficient, I reflected, to "call in the eagle" (or
whatever other process one might use, be it yoga, chant,
meditation, prayer, etc.), to raise the serpent power. No matter
99
how strong the eagle, if there is a blockage, either it will not be

able to get through or it will be weakened by its efforts to
overcome the blockage. It is imperative to first confront one's
personal darkness (of fears, guilts, negative judgments, shadow
forces, repressed material, and power to destroy) and bring it
into the light of consciousness to be faced, owned, and then
either transformed and/or released or accepted with love. This
purification and death of the old material (or death of one's
previous toxic relationship to it) is necessary in order for the
eagle to freely reach the serpent and rise with it to the higher
levels. Peter Russell, in The Global Brain ( 1 983), speaks of the
need to improve the functioning of the mind to raise the level
of consciousness and increase the quality of the experience. His
term "psychotechnological tools" for methodologies that
produce these results might apdy be applied to the ceremonial
use of the entheogens I experienced in Mexico.
Shamanistic and visionary cultures such as the Huichols
emphasize personal relationship with the mysterious powers
that permeate daily life. Over eons of time, they developed rites
of passage that comprise sophisticated psychospiritual tech
nology to shift consciousness from ego-centeredness to the
transpersonal. They did not separate knowledge from the
sacred, as we do in modern society. Through their psycho
technological methodologies, they went direcdy into the heart
of mystery to commune with it and receive guidance for their
lives .
They knew from direct experience that there is a
"mysterious, ubiquitous, concentrated form of non-material
energy, something loose about the world and contained in a
more or less condensed degree by all objects" (De Angulo
1 9 7 3 ) . They learned to "watch, listen, wait and pay attention
with awareness" to this sacred power in all its manifestations
(Beck & Watters 1 9 7 7 ) . This is the most ancient way of learning,
knowledge through attunement. Jose Argii elles, in his book
Earth Ascending, asserts the necessity for continuing the existence
of aboriginal society and ways of knowing because of their
1 00
"biological primacy" , side-by-side with the growth of

civilization. From this base of phenomenological data of mind
in nature/nature in mind, aboriginal people familiarized
themselves with the order and structure of connectedness in
life. Representations of this order of nature were made manifest
in the minds of men. They saw as a result of their daily
observation and total body receptivity that all things are
dependent upon each other. Through this knowledge, the
norm of reciprocity in all relationships was raised to the height
of sacred status. Balanced reciprocity with all of creation was to
be observed at all costs, because, without its practice, the fragile
web of life would be irreparably damaged.
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines "sacred" as
"that which is worthy of religious veneration; holy; entided to
reverence and respect" . Knowledge is defined as "the fact or
condition of apprehending truth or fact" , or "being aware of
something" . Sacred knowledge thus refers to knowing/being
aware of information which is deserving of reverence and
respect.
Is there an awareness more imponant and deserving of
respect and reverence than that of the reciprocal inter
connectedness and interdependence of life? Modern society is
characterized by an explosion of information in many fields
that are perceived to be separate and unrelated to one another.
There doesn't appear to be a coherent linkage connecting it all.
Alienation exists on individual, social, national, and planetary
levels. That this condition exists is most significandy a
manifestation of the loss of sacred vision arid knowledge. It is a
world-view based on perceptual and cognitive models of
separation. My experience with entheogens transponed me
beyond rational means of knowing into a holotropic state
wherein I encountered what Dr. Arnold Mandell calls the "core
religious experience" . Mandell, neurochemist and international
expen on brain states and behavior, believes the core religious
experience und erl ies p hysical manifestation an d is th e source
wherein sacred knowledge can be found ( 1 9 7 8 ) .
101
Despite differences in temporal, cultural, and geographic

locale, other accounts of the core religious experience describe
similar phenomena. They repeatedly attest to the unity of
creation (Pahnke & Richards 1 969).
At the level of our deepest being, we appear, as Willis
Harmon, Director of the Institute of Noetic Science, states,
"not to be separate from one another or from the earth or the
universe" ( 1 983). Sacred knowledge re-minds us of this truth
and that, as Harmon further asserts, "our ultimate sense of
security appears to come from full recognition of this oneness"
( 1 983). Truly, the greatest force for peace and healing on the
planet lies within our own being, in recognizing that as we
harm others we harm ourselves.
Biologist Barry Commoner, in his book The Closing Circle,
articulates the same ideas in his Four Laws of Ecology:
1 . There is no such thing as a separate thing.

2 . For every action there i s a reaction.
3 . There i s n o such thing as a free lunch.
4. Nature knows best.
Incorporating an experiential awareness of these concepts into

our strategies for addressing personal, national, and global
needs strengthens our chance for survival. Entheogenic
substances, plant materials that come directly out of the bosom
of the earth, have an inherent integrity, an intelligence encoded
within them that for millennia has been used by shamanic
cultures to help cultivate, explore, develop, and pass on
survival-based wisdom. Modern, technologically based civiliza
tions lose a great deal by not establishing legitimate and
culturally validated opportunities for the controlled and
judicious use of these powerful modalities. Trained guides
could help p rospective explorers prepare for the experience,
utilize the transpersonal state for maximum benefit and then
integrate its teac h ings i nto their daily lives. Biochemist Dr.
Alexander T. Shulgin calls for " human beings to more
1 02
consciously and clearly communicate with the interior of their

own mind and psyche in order to defuse the accelerating mad
compulsion toward destruction and extinction" ( 1 9 8 3 ) . On a
planetary level, we are faced with a scale, balanced on one side
by the potential of nuclear annihilation, man's aggre ssiveness
externalized and magnified by technology. On the other side of
the scale is an interior implosion, consisting of mankind's
tapping the potential of the human mind and utilizing it for the
good (i.e. , peace, justice, health, eradication of hunger and
oppression on a worldwide basis). As a psychologist in private
practice, I address these issues on an individual level, trying to
help clients in pain work with the interior of their own mind
and psyche with a minimum of time and cost, but with a
maximum of quality, care, and effectiveness . Upon returning
from Mexico, I wondered about the efficacy of using
entheogens within a sacred context for individuals in my
practice. I was frustrated by the restrictive legal prohibitions as
well as my own anxiety for how others might react, both
clinically and socially. So for the initial year after my return
from the H uichol pilgrimage, I did nothing about it save
contemplate its meaning and implications . I also sought to
learn of other entheogenic substances whose usage had not
been restricted. Through meetings with ethnobotanists
conducting field research with shamanic cultures within the
Amazon jungle, I learned of several such substances.
Personal research, substantiated by anthro p ological accounts
and the direct experience of ethnobotanists themselves taking
these substances with Amazonian shamans, opened a doorway
to a trial experience with selected subjects.
About this time a client from my private practice, a forty
year old businesswomen, was just completing a period of grief
resolution after the traumatic death of her boyfriend of five
years. She had indicated a continuing interest in shamanic
cultures in her personal life and was looking for some means of
closure to her mourning. She also sought empowerment to
move back into the world of the living, which she now felt ready
1 03
to do. I was moved to share my own experience of death and

rebirth but resisted at first. Encouraged by a series of dreams
and a strong intuitive urging, I finally did tell her of my
pilgrimage experience. She responded with interest and
anxiety - interest in trying an entheogen in an environment of
trust and responsibility but anxiety about what might occur. We
spent several months exploring and working with her fears,
after which she made the decision to try it. A number of others
who had heard me lecture on my experience with the H uichols
mentioned they too would be interested in trying an entheogen
in a supervised setting. I interviewed, screened, and selected a
pilot group that included a physician in general practice, a
research biochemist, a hospice worker, two therapists, a
businessman, and my client. All participants, except my client,
had at least one prior experience with psychedelics.
We assembled several weeks later in a rural setting in
Northern California for a twenty-four hour retreat. Since this
initial retreat, I have utilized this same structure and process
with groups and a number of clients from my private practice.
Before discussing results to date, I want to elaborate on this
structure. Participants with previous entheogenic experience
emphasize the difference between their earlier recreational use
and the sacred context which this ritual structure provides.
They speak of it being a stronger experience, deeper and more
focused . Might the sacred intentionality of the retreat somehow
unite with a field of information (Sheldrake's morp hogenetic
field, Argelles' psi bank) that has built up over mankind's
sacred usage of entheogens for thousands upon thousands of
years, and which exists as an actual field of energy, invisible to
the eye of the beholder who remains in hylotropic conscious
ness? Might the ceremonial psychotechnology facilitate access
to this information field? Whatever the answer to these
speculative questions, the set does appear to significandy
influence the experience. I will use the conceptual framework
of ceremonial stages that Elizabeth Cogburn (educator and
teacher of sacred dances) uses to describe her work ( l 9 8 4) . Each
1 04
stage seiVes as a gateway to the next level of experience and

state of consciousness.
The Call Naming the retreat "Purification, Death, and
-
Rebirth" and communication to those carefully selected its

purpose, as based on the visionary instructions from my time
in Mexico:
Purification-Death-Rebirth-Retreat
A Night-long Ceremony
Using ancient shamanistic rituals to enter non-ordinary
awareness, we will be open to the teachings and testings of
Mother Earth, Grandfather Fire, and Great Mystery. For the on
going dance of life requires letting go, the release of what has
been, so that new growth can come forth. This is the way of
health and healing. To deeply know and trust this path, we
must face and know darkness - of the night, of the soul, and of
death. Working ceremonially with the Earth Medicines, prayer,
song, drumming, dance, and chant, we learn to die to the old
and birth the new.
Preparations Encouraging prospective participants to begin
-
focusing on their goals for the retreat and developing their

practice of mindfulness. I also encouraged a cleansing fast of
one to three days leading up to the experience, and suggest
readings on shamanism, ethnobotany, mysticism, Jungian
psychology, and dream work.
Gathering & Welcome Invocation of Spirit and Consecration of the
Ground - By lighting of the Ceremonial Fire around which the
night-long retreat takes place. Opening prayers, introduction of
participants as well as the goals and the statements of purpose
for the gathering.
Telling of the Story An historico-psychodynamic accounting of
-
the pilgrimage visions and oudine of the retreat's structure.
PurificationSmudging with the smoke of burning sage, a

-
means of physical and spiritual cleansing, leading into the
1 05
construction of the Death Arrow. This is a means by which to

face one's darkness. Participants are led through meditation
and silent construction of an arrow to embody the guilts, fears,
toxic behavior patterns, negative self-images , and unmourned
emotional wounds from the past they wish to release. It is also
an opportunity to face one's shadow forces and anxiety of the
unknown.
Central Celebration -
A. Shamanic drumming, sounds and movement - are inter
woven with all the activities to activate totem animals and to
become power-full. The dynamic here is to help install
confidence for the next step.
B. Ingesting the sacrament - explaining dosage and effects,
with each participant choosing the amount they wish to have.
C. Facing the darkness - as the effects of the entheogen
begin to manifest, participants are plunged into the struggle of
trying to maintain ego control or else surrendering/releasing
into the experience. This brings them to the threshold of the
symbolic death necessary for entry into the mystery.
D. Release of the Death Arrow - at the time of their own
choosing, each person approaches the fire to place their arrow
into its center. This is usually a very moving experience,
involving both physical and emotional release.
E. Construction of the Life Arrow - this arrow embodies what
each participant is praying for. The arrow becomes a focusing
point for the direction of life force for the participant's future.
The r.,est of the night until dawn is spent around the fire
experiencing the effects of the entheogen and the information it
brings to each participant. Periods of silence alternate with
verbal interaction, drumming, songs, and prayers throughout
the evening.
F. Sunrise.ceremony - prayers of thankfulness to welcome
the new day and to empower the Life Arrows. Upon leaving the
retreat site, each person takes their Life Arrow with them to be
planted into the earth at a place of their own time and
choosing.
1 06
G. Group sharing - participants reflect on what they have

experienced in a supportive context emphasizing the duality of
the student/teacher role we each play for the other.
H. Closing communal meal to break the fast and closing
-
prayer. This serves to bring participants back into base-line

consciousness and initiate exploration of how to integrate the
experience into everyday lives.
My role is primarily that of guide and reference point for
the participants. I remain available throughout the experience,
functioning through verbal processes when needed, or through
drumming, song, touch, and prayer as needed. I also serve as a
bridge between levels of altered states and the physical reality
plane. I remain by the fire all night, maintaining its light as a
focal point. Individuals can approach me at any time and
frequendy do.
This structure that has evolved to date is based on the
traditional structures of primitive cultures who intuitively
recognized the need to relate to nature with the fullness of their
being in order to maintain a viable relationship with the world
within and around them. Their ritualistic, sacred use of
entheogens served as mechanisms for renewal by transporting
participants from their everyday experiences into dynamic
reconnection with the "deep ecology" (La Chapelle 1 9 7 8) of
their creative forces within. This allowed for a re-visioning of
themselves and their myths. A similar re-visioning of self and
life-myth occurs during a Purification, Death, and Rebirth
Retreat. Participants journey into the realm of the transpersonal
to explore the creative psychospiritual healing power of the
human mind. They are encouraged and supported in facing
their darkness instead of projecting its contents into others, and
to commune with a wisdom whose breath and depth is far
beyond the confines of the human intellect as we know it today.
Aldous Huxley counseled that " modem society critically needs
a guiding wisdom to strengthen its understanding of human,
ecological , and spiritual val ues to balance runaway technical
process" ( 1 9 7 7 ) . For millennia, earth peoples around the world
1 07
have turned to the respectful use of entheogens as a means to

access this guiding wisdom. Its strongest impact cannot be
taught, it must be experienced through direct communion. It is
through the supreme quest, the seeking of an encounter with
the Divine, that we can reconnect with the mysteries of sacred
knowledge.
Obviously, the judicious use of entheogens is not the only
means to alter consciousness and explore non-ordinary reality.
Other methodologies I use personally and/or in my practice
and retreats include prayer, relaxation and visualization
techniques, hypnosis, meditation, shamanic drumming,
singing, dance, wilderness retreats, mountain climbing, and
looking into the face of death. All of these experiences and
many others can open the neirica or passageway into the realm
of sacred knowledge. Of central importance here is not the
form of seeking, so long as the dignity and free choice of the
individual is protected. Instead it is the knowledge itself, of our
essential oneness and interconnectedness and the integration
of this knowledge into our daily lives that is crucial. Given the
perilousness of our times and the precariously balanced
aforementioned scale, we can no longer afford the luxury of
our cultural paranoia and ostrich-like, head in the earth
approach to the healing potentials of proper usage of
entheogenic materials. Huxley speaks of the "inward power" of
entheogens and the benefits they hold, given their responsible
usage in supportive psychosocial environments for "the welfare
of people living in a technological society. "
The concluding portion of this addresses H uxley' s notion
of what these benefits might be. Reports from Purification,
Death, and Rebirth Retreat participants confirm my own
observation of a reoccurring cycle that moves through the body
as waves of energy. Each wave brings its own information and
opportunity.
The first cycle is a passive one that I call the " Revelatory
Stage" . Participants are usually lying down, receiving infor
mation. I encourage them to spend as much time as possible
1 08
within themselves, for as the Huichol shaman said, "truth is

within you. Stay inside and you will find it. " Ego controls
loosen with the dissolution of reality constructs based on
language. An opening occurs that takes participants into direct
relationship with reality states underlying verbal cognitive
means of knowing. This is full, head-on attunement with the
sacred mystery of what is, not our mental concepts of what is.
Participants either voluntarily let go of ego controls or else they
are worn down over time as the energy continues to course
through them until they are exhausted from the struggle of
holding on. It is at the moment of release, the death-like
surrender into the flow of the experience, that the deeper
dialogue begins. Entheogenic plants are very visual, but their
communication can be sounds, voices, feelings, and kinesthetic
responses. It usually takes 20-40 minutes after ingestion for the
effects to begin. Various somatic changes, such as a slight
nausea lasting several minutes, signal the onset of energy
starting to open up and move through the body. This is the
moment for long, slow, deep breaths in and out in order to
surrender into the unknowing with ease. It's like floating down
a river and watching the scenery on the banks . Only in this
journey the scenery is from the multi-dimensional reality of
expanded states of consciousness. The observing witness, as
psychiatrist Arthur Deikman calls it, is one piece of luggage to
bring along. For what is to be revealed speaks of humankind's
evolutionary past and future potential. Comparable to the
microscope for medicine or the telescope for astronomy, the
proper usage of entheogens opens awareness into fields of
consciousness that transcend the usual notions of material
reality. Potentials for healing, creativity enhancement, para
normal abilities such as telepathy and clairvoyance, spiritual
growth, and insight into the mysteries of existence all become
available.
One category of experience is of the specific individual's
psychosocial life history. New insight and perspectives on
personal issues, relationships, and behavioural patterns emerge
1 09
with striking clarity. People do not necessarily get what they

want or expect, but instead and with great consistency, they get
what they need to face and address in order for them to grow.
One woman came prepared with the expectation that God
would reveal her life's purpose. I watched her struggle with
herself through much of the night. I offered my assistance but
she declined. Later she revealed that what kept coming up for
her were her own ego attachments, exactly what she needed to
see as prerequisite to receiving the information she was seeking.
A frequent experience for many is cathartic release through the
outpouring of tears, grief, and pain from previqusly repressed
emotional wounds and/or losses that have not been success
fully mourned or resolved.
A forty-four year old physician was able to experience and
express his grief and sadness at the dissolution of his marriage
and open up to the possibility of a new relationship after years
of feeling immobilized. A thirty year old therapist faced his
hesitations and fears about fatherhood. To his surprise, he
discovered a deep reserve of masculine nurturance within
himself that very much wanted to have children. He also
tapped into a primal confidence in his own fathering abilities.
Another therapist was able to reconcile his previously
conflicting beliefs that humor and the sacred cannot occur
together, but must remain separate. He experienced himself as
an archetypal elf who well knew the healing qualities of
laughter and play.
My client who sought a rite of passage repeatedly went out
into the darkness, away from the fire, to face her fears. Each
time she returned to the fire calm and relaxed , reporting a deep
sense of inner peace, much to her surprise after her anxious
expectations. She greeted the dawn with a feeling of triumphant
victory, eager and motivated to get on with her life. A thirty
three year olc\_ businessman with political involvements saw a
previously repressed aspect of his psyche that used his power in
politics to bully others. He was able to observe this behavioral
pattern without defensiveness, and later began to explore ways
1 10
of utilizing his political and personal power in a non

authoritarian manner. H eightened receptivity and lowered
defense mechanisms reduce proj ections, enabling participants
to obseiVe their own and other's behavioral patterns with
greater clarity and less defensiveness. Participants interact with
one another, as well as with me, and these interactions
frequendy become vehicles for learning through the exper
ience of others. A number of participants speak of experiencing
a sense of agape, a cosmic love presence with an embracing
feeling of unity and oneness with all life.
A small number of participants reponed undesirable
physical effects of continuing nausea and somatic discomfort,
but they qualified their remarks with the assertion that the
insights gained were wonh the price of physical discomfort.
Others have had anxiety reactions to fearful or unpleasant
images, such as a vicious looking serpent appearing suddenly
in the fire or to the loss of control in not being able to stop the
flood of information coursing through them. Others were
fearful about a particular state they were in and what it meant.
Calm reassurance and support in facing or going into these
states or images to see what one can learn from them has
proved successful in enabling participants to continue on their
journey.
These confrontational episodes initiate the second cycle,
which I call the " Shamanic State of Transformational Work" . It
involves active participation. Traditionally, the shaman enters a
non-ordinary state of consciousness to do something - to see,
to find and retrieve a lost soul, travel into the future, discover
and heal the cause of an illness, contact an animal spirit to help
in the hunt, or other such related activities. Modern
participants undergoing shamanic journeys on the Purification,
Death, and Rebirth Retreat also may find themselves working
on specific concerns. Acting upon a previously chosen purpose
or goal, or in response to information accessed in the
Revelatory Stage, participants have the opportunity to assert
their will while still in a state of non-ordinary reality. Clarity of
111
�
intent and the ability to visualize the desired state are key
dynamics in this process. By focusing visually on the desired
change, be it a personality trait, a behavioral or attitudinal
pattern, a belief system, or whatever, coupled with strong affect,
a new seed is planted in the garden of the deep psyche. A
journalist described this state as "gaining access to the central
control room" . O nce there, it's up to the individual what new
programming they want to work on. A woman in her late
twenties, a health practitioner with a private practice, observed
in the first stage how her anxiety and fears about financial
success were interfering with her clinical skills. During the
transformational stage, she actively worked at releasing these
fears and replacing them with positive images of clinical and
financial success. A follow-up phone conversation six weeks
later indicated a reversal of her financial situation, along with
strengthened self-esteem and increased confidence in her work
with patients . A mother of a founeen year old boy saw clearly
how her critical interactive style was causing difficulties
between her and her son. During the second stage, she was able
to explore more loving modes of interaction based on respect
and affirmation.
Betsy, a thirty-nine year old communications trainer in an·
international corporation, was experiencing her first psyche
delic journey. Since adolescence, Betsy had been experiencing
stomach problems, and recently had complained of feeling
blockage in the left side of her torso. When the entheogenic
state began, Betsy at first made repeated moaning sounds.
Then she stood up and alternated laughter with groans.
Afterwards, she reponed seeing a number of tiny men entering
the blocked pan of her body with brooms to clean it up. She felt
a clearing taking place and took to hean the little men's
instructions to "lighten up" . Betsy experienced physical
opening and symptom relief after this encounter.
Carl, a thirty-two year old Englishman, was also taking his
fi rs t psychedelic journey . He was a member of a men's group
and interested in self-discovery and curious about the
1 12
Purification, Death, and Rebirth Retreat. He also had a great

deal of anxiety about what would happen and wasn't sure he'd
do it right up until departure time. Carl had his own moving
business and was also quite anxious about its future. During
the experience, Carl kept walking away from the fire several
paces and then, after a short passage of time, returning to his
sleeping bag. This went on a number of times . He was totally
silent during this time, so I didn't know what was taking place
internally. In the morning he described his walks away from the
fire as an attempt to "find something special out there."
Gradually he came into an awareness of an " eternal presence"
underlying physical reality of the senses and that it was always
"right here" . Carl related that our main responsibility was
learning to blend with this eternal presence, and that when he
did so during the retreat, he felt a deep sense of peace and
happiness.
Irene, a twenty-eight year old from Switzerland traveling in
the United States as part of her spiritual explorations, actually
became a see-er. She developed clairvoyant abilities where she
could see into the physical and emotional states of the other
group members . This was a totally new experience for Irene,
and was at first confusing. She needed assistance in
differentiating her projections from what in fact she was picking
up from others. As I supported her in this differentiation, her
clarity and confidence grew in her usage of this newly emerging
faculty of inner vision.
Bill was a computer salesman in his early thirties . He had
one child from a previous marri age, another child from a
second marri age, and one more on the way. During the
revelatory stage, Bill was confronted with his guilts and fears
regarding his responsibilities as a father and wage-earner for his
family. He and his wife were in dire straights because of Bill's
inner conflict. Bill, at one point in the evening, thought he was
going to die. He came face to face with his death for the first
time and through it was able to choose life with a renewed sense
of personal worth and self-confidence. What remained to be
1 13
done was the healing of his relationship with his wife. As I

looked into Bill's face across the fire in the wee hours of the
morning, I suddenly saw what he needed to do. At that precise
moment Bill stood up and walked over to me. He picked up the
drum, returned to his spot, and began to sing out with his own
drum accompaniment. He sang a healing song that was just
what I had seen him doing before his physical act took place.
Bill also reported seeing an image of Q.uetzalcoad in the
firelight, but more on that later.
Experiences such as this one with Bill and the others
discussed in this article raise important questions about
Western concepts of communication and learning theory,
psychology and psychiatry, philosophy, the practice of
medicine and health maintenance, education, religion, and
spirituality. Results of the few follow-up interviews conducted
indicate sustained growth and enthusiasm that participants
attribute to insight gained through the Purification, Death, and
Rebirth Retreat. Due to the time and financial limitations, I
have not been able to pursue follow-up research to the depth I
believe is necessary. This next step is vital to ascertain what
long-term beneficial effects may emanate from the experience
as well as what are its limitations, dangers, and contra
indications. But a central question remains, and that is, might
the shamanic usage of entheogenic plants constitute a viable
engineering approach to the exploration of the human
mind?
Survival of the human species dictates the need to
illuminate the unconscious to depotentiate its destructive urges
and utilize our inner resources, the full holographic power of
the human mind to pursue peace and our own evolutionary
potential. Thus could we come to know the accuracy of
psychiatrist Dr. John Lilly's contention that "the universe
created a part of itself to study the rest of it, and that this part, in
studying itself, finds the rest of the universe in its own natural
inner realities" ( 1 9 8 4) .
This latter portion of the twentieth century i s a crucial time
1 14
to address and heal the splits in our "own natural inner

realities". There is gross imbalance between the rational means
of knowing about ourselves and our world versus the intuitive
means of knowing through direct attunement. Technology
bereft of sacred knowledge becomes a daemonic force and
alienation and destruction loom larger and larger in our lives.
Analogous to illness in the human organism feeding back
imbalance on an individual level, we have a similar occurrence
taking place on the American continent. The political,
economic, and social upheavals in Central and South America
are the stomach pains from the body feeding back about
imbalance to the head, North America, which is dominated by
the rational, logical means of knowing. This dominance was
raped into N onh America by the invasion force of the
intellectual tradition brought over from Europe 500 years ago.
We can no longer afford to perpetuate this imbalance, which
leads to unconsciousness, alienation, devaluation, and numb
ness regarding the part of our being below our chins - our
body, our feelings, and the non-rational means of knowing that
bring us what Buddhism calls "felt knowledge" of life's
interconnectedness. The entheogenic plants from the lush
jungles of South America and their sacramental usage are
analogous to the homeostatic and immunological forces within
the human body trying to return the organism to a balanced
state of health. To not heed the message of imbalance from the
body leads eventually to terminal illness . Yet the messages do
not dictate rejection of technology and the intellect, nor a
return to primitive lifestyles. We can not and need not go
backwards. We must go forward. It is time for integration, for a
fusion of shamanic ways of knowing with their biological
primacy and sense of the sacred back into the body politic and
its technological endeavors on a planetary level.
just as the body communicates in its own unique manner,
perhaps the re-emergence of specific myths and images is
another form of communication trying to elicit our attention.
Up from the belly of this continent, Mexico and Central
1 15
America, comes the hero-quest story of Q.uetzalcoad, the

Feathered Serpent that appeared in my vision on the Huichol
pilgrimage and in the vision of Bill, the computer salesman on
the Purification, Death, and Rebinh Retreat. The image of a
feathered serpent is itself symbolic of a joining of eanh and sky,
of the material world and the spiritual dimension. Q.uetzacoad
is a primal culture hero, healer, sage, and prophet of the
America's, as Christ is in the Christian tradition (Brown 1 9 7 4 ) .
His eanhy demise was occasioned b y trickery, and h e burned
himself upon a funeral pyre. His hean arose from the ashes to
become the morning star. But before depaning, he prophesied
his return, and with it the awakening of sacred view and re
establishment of sacred order. Q.uetzalcoad taught that
humanity's full actualization flows from inner awareness, and
that love is the source of All. It truly is time for a return to a
multileveled relationship to consciousness that fuses spiritual
awareness and attunement with eanhly action. The return of
the Feathered Serpent empowers a shift from either-or split
consciousness, go within or take action, to the healing both and
consciousness of the whole. The Christian mystic Meister
Eckhan gave humanity a critical reminder for a successful
binhing of the twenty-first century with his admonition that
what is taken in by contemplation, must be given out in love.
We must contemplate, we must act, and we must do so with
love. It makes for a full circle, a healing circle. Q.uetzacoad
returns.
1 16
1 18
George Greer
Usi ng Altered States t o
Exp erie nce Ch oice
What is the purpose in using drugs to alter one's state of

mind? The answer to this question is different for everyone, but
is the main one that needs to be answered because it
determines the direction one's experience will go. My purpose
in giving people mind-altering drugs is to help them
experience choice more often in their lives. I'm sure the states
of mind that MDMA and ketamine provide could be used for
other purposes, including some I don't know about. However,
I find sessions go best if we are working toward identical or
congruent purposes . That way, if things get difficult, we will be
working together rather than in opposition.
As a way of explaining why I believe making choices is so
important, let me divide human experience into four levels.
The most apparent level is physical: the concrete world we
share, totally definable and predictable, where no free will
exists at all. It follows all the laws of high school physics . It
includes our sensory perceptions, which are the only way we
have of knowing about this level. The next level is mental: Ideas
and concepts that can be communicated verbally and defined
in relationship to each other. These two levels make up the
objective world in our culture: the world we can easily talk
about with almost anyone and know we are talking about the
same thing.
The next level is hard to define, but consists of inner feelings,
moods, emotions, values, some psychic phenomena, and other
inner experiences . Energy and flow characterize this level. Its
content cannot be defined or agreed upon; it is subjective and
not objective; it is in constant flux and cannot be predicted very
well. It is just as much a part of our experience as the first two
levels, but harder to talk about. Our drive and motivation to
move in any given direction comes from this level.
1 19
The last level is spiritual or existential. This is where we

make choices and decisions. This is where purpose both
originates and is realized. There are no limits or definition
possible. Pure action, before it becomes manifest in time and
space, is another way of looking at it. It is completely open. The
main experiential quality of this level is that it IS. It cannot be
taken away from us or destroyed, and is completely unaffected
by the other levels.
I am not aware of anything or any experience that can be
thought about that does not fit into one of these four levels . I
say levels because they possess varying degrees of freedom,
with the last level having total freedom and the first one having
none. Our awareness moves among these levels very rapidly,
changing several times a second. We focus on a sense
impression, label it with a name, feel how much we like it,
maybe impulsively move toward it or away from it, and
sometimes consciously decide to pay attention to it or not. Our
minds have established routines and patterns of responding to
the varied experiences we have. Habits of moving our bodies,
thinking, and feeling develop as a way of coping with our
environment. O nly intermittendy does our awareness enter the
highest level and make conscious decisions and choices, while
the rest of the time we operate out of habit or impulse.
When we are self-aware in making conscious choices, there
is a wholeness and presence in our lives that is qualitatively
missing at other times. Making these choices does not always
mean doing something with our bodies; we may choose simply
to pay attention to whatever is happening in the moment. At
these times, there is no conflict, no problem to solve, nothing
that we need. But it is not dull; it is the essence of being alive.
These moments are probably available much more often than
we think, but because they can be so brief we don't notice
them. However, the more they happen, the more opportunities
we have to direct our lives in the direction we want them to go
and, generally, the more they go that way.
In altered states of cqnsciousness, our habits don't work the
1 20
Using Altered States to Experience Choice
same. It's like putting a computer program in a computer that

has been rewired, or is operating at a different frequency. The
usual pattern of flow keeps running into dead ends, the
computer keeps asking the operator what to do, so the operator
has to make a choice. Our brains work very similarly. The drug
changes the brain chemistry, which changes the way the nerve
cells communicate with each other. Habitual patterns do not
work as well, and (if we are not sedated) our brain asks us which
way to go a lot more often. Again and again we are confronted
with_ the question of what our purpose is. To the extent that our
purpose is easily realized, this can be a very wonderful
experience. But if we do not know what our purpose is, or know
but can't fulfill it, the experience can be difficult. The difficulty
pushes us either to change our purpose or to change ourselves
in order to move closer toward our chosen goal. A great deal of
important learning can take place in this situation, which our
hab!tual patterns have a way of avoiding as much as
possible.
Depending on how altered our state of mind is, the things
we learn and the new patterns we consciously arrange in our
minds can still be operational once the drug is out of our
system . The more patterns that are broken up, the more
choices we have a chance to make. H owever, the more they are
fragmented, the less we can bring back with us. Fortunately, the
altered state returns to normal gradually, so that a gradual
translation and repatterning can take place. O ne may not be
able to reexperience exactly what happened during the altered
state, but she can label it in a way that her everyday mind
understands so that she can be certain that it actually
happened. And when the session is over, she can decide to
learn more simple, efficient, and practical ways of being able to
make more'choices , without having to spend a lot of time in a
drug-induced state.
121
•
1 22
Claudio Naranj o
Psychedelic Experience in the
Light of Meditation
Since Albert H ofmann has not only given us LSD-25

but also spoken of it' s potential as a gateway to meditative
consciousness, I have thought it appropriate to respond to the
invitation to take part in this Festschrift with a brief statement of
my own ideas on the commonality between meditative and
psychedelic experiences.
These ideas constitute an analysis of psychedelic peak
experiences (i.e. , psychedelic proper, in the etymological sense
of Osmond' s term; cf. Aaronson & Osmond 1 9 70) in the light
of a theory of meditation that has taken shape in my mind in
the course of the last fifteen years, one which I first presented at
the 1 98 2 Conference on Transpersonal Psychology in Bombay
and had the pleasure of summarizing last year at Esalen
Institute in the presence of the man whom we now celebrate on
h is eightieth birthday.
In the following pages, I will sketchily re-state my
explanation of meditation according to a multi-dimensional
model and show, as I do, the relevance which the factors I see
as the essence of meditation have for an understanding of
psychedelic experience. I think that you will agree after this that
the categories of analysis derived from reflecting on traditional
spiritual exercises are also applicable to pharmacologically
induced states of consciousness, and that the theory of
meditation that I propose may be extended into a theory of
psychedelic experiences.
What does all meditation have in common? The usually
shared answer in academic circles since Benson's work is the
"relaxation response" . In the view that I am suggesting here,
however, the answer to this question is sixfold rather than
single. Let me begin by iterating th is gen eralized notion and
asserting that at least one component of meditation (most
1 23
striking in some of its forms - such as Buddhist Samantha) is on

inner stillness . It is the attitude of effortlessness (Wu-wei) and the
stilling of the mind (Pantajali' s cittayrittiniradha - the extinction
of the agitation of the mind) that are essential, while outer
stillness and muscular relaxation may be considered as an
appropriate suppon or technical expediency.
Yet just as stillness is most prominent in cenain kinds of
meditation, something fairly opposite is true of others , and in
these practices (which I called " dionysian"; cf. Naranjo &
Ornstein 1 9 7 6) we also encounter a generalized quality of
meditation beyond its forms: that of letting go, non
interference, surrender of self-control, and allowing of the
spontaneity of the mind . In the model for the understanding of
meditation that I am oudining, I re-fuse these two - not doing
and letting go - as opposite ends of a single bipolar dimension
of meditation, to which I have sometimes referred as the " stop
go" dimension. Yet stillness and flowing are not the
contradictory states that they might seem to be when we regard
their conceptual labels. For if we attend to experience rather
than discursive thought, we observe that they are, somewhat
paradoxically, complementary. Giving the mind free rein, for
instance, leads to its eventual purification, and an attitude of
effortlessness leads, not to a dead stillness, but to a dynamic
experiential flow. And while the two poles may be found in
comparative isolation at the beginning steps of meditation,
deeper meditative attainment may be best characterized by the
convergence of peace and inner freedom, and as a stability
without fixity - as in the Zen metaphor that likens the mind to
an empty space that, like the sky, allows birds to fly
unimpeded.
When we regard pharmacological expanded states of
consciousness in the light of this polarity, we at once see that
letting go is as relevant to these as to the meditation states, only
that surrender arises most spontaneously and almost implicidy.
Yet it is also easy to see that the evidendy " dionysian"
psychedelic state with all its letting-go - from twitching
1 24
Psychedelic Experience in the Light of Meditation
muscles to feelings, memories , and visions - is the expression

of non-interference in the past by the everyday mind. We may
say that the "following" aspect of the state - the experiential
unfolding popularly likened to a trip - is the other side of an
inhibition of habitual inhibition. And just as the suspension of
ordinary perceptual schemata and habitual behavioral disposi
tions is well known to observers of the phenomenon,
sometimes the stilling of conceptual mind may be directly
observable as well - as Henry Michaux describes in his essay
on "What is 'Coming to Oneself ' . The answer which he gives
to the question that he poses in the title of his paper is that
when the effect of a psychedelic wears off, the individual is
"restored to thought" .
While we may say that both a measure of "ego-suspension"
(which may be experienced as impending or actual "ego
death") and a measure of release of spontaneity from
customary inhibitions are part of the psychedelic experience,
we may also observe a difference in the states most usually
brought about by different classes of psychoactive drugs. While
it is the dionysian aspect that occupies the foreground in the
case of the (sympathomimetic) LSD-like psychedelics or
hallucinogens, psycho-motor relaxation is relatively more
prominent in the case of the (parasympathomimetic) harmala
alkaloids, of ibogaine and ketamine. The feeling enhancing
drugs, such as M DA and MDMA, stand between these two
groups: in their case a peaceful state of mind typically serves as
a background (particularly in the presence of skillful guidance)
for a spontaneously unfolding process of discovering, and the
suspension of habitual defensiveness opens the way to
suppressed points, unacknowledged perception, and repressed
memories . A second bi-polar dimension that can help us
conceptualize the realm of meditative experience and
techniques is one that I have characterized in terms of the
polarity of "mindfulness" and " God-mindedness". While in
certain practices (such as vipassana) the meditator's task is
concentration on the givers of perception and emotion, m
1 25
others attention is fused on symbolic content (mosdy

conceptual, visual, or auditory) as a means of evocation of
honesty that transcends the field of mental contents proper; the
sense of H oliness. In these cases the meditator is enjoined to
become so totally absorbed in the meditation object (a divine
attribute or a mountain, for example) that nothing else remains
in the field of awareness and there arises a sense of subject
object fusion - an identification with the contents of creative
imagination.
If we examine psychedelic states from the point of view of
the second dichot�my, we observe that both kinds of
experience are included among them: "visionary" states in
which, just as in traditional contemplation, there is an
identification with imaginative or symbolic content, and states
of enhanced awareness of the "here and now" , in which (as
Huxley stated using William Blake's expression) the "doors of
perception" (Huxley 1 954), usually clouded by stereotypes and
habituation, open to a greater clarity and complexity. In
addition, it is common for both states to be superimposed, so
that things realistically perceived take on symbolic and
numinous tones and there occurs the subject-object fusion
characteristic of visionary experience.
Just as in traditional spiritual methodology, where the two
complementary techniques of meditation - with an object and
through attention to the " here-and-now" - merge upon the
cultivation of samadhi, so in the psychedelic situation it would
seem that a single quality of consciousness may be manifested
in alternate ways, according to the forms of attention. There are
differences in the various types of psychedelic quality to this,
however: whether or not the above is true of the LSD-like
hallucinogens, the feeling enhancers rarely elicit symbolic
nature, but characteristically facilitate the perception of
physical and emotional states, whereas the harmala alkaloids
and ibogaine are almost exclusively "visionary" drugs.
The third dimension according to which I have explained
both the nature of meditation and the variety of its forms is an
1 26
affective one (in contrast to the active and cognitive dimensions

just explained). It involves the complementariness of non
attachment and love.
Even though the motivation of non-attachment is predom
inant in yoga and in most forms of Buddhist meditation, while
that of love is the main characteristic in devotional religions, it
is possible to say that both love and self-emptying or
selflessness are facets of a single consciousness that may be
approached through either pole, and that love and non
attachment are interdependent even when one or the other is in
the foreground of experience. Examined from the point of view
of this polarity, we may say that it is the experience of love that
is emphasized in LSD-like peak experiences, though a non
attached attitude may be said to underline it and sustain it.
Applying this dimension of meditative experience to
psychedelic experiences, it may be said that the expanded
states of consciousness induced by LSD-like hallucinogens are
different from those typical of the harmala alkaloids and
ibogaine, for in the latter it is not universal love but cosmic
indifference that is the foreground of experience. Also, in the
case of ketamine, the non-attached quality predominates, while
in the feeling-enhancers the dominant characteristic is
warmth.
I have spoken of not doing, mindfulness, non-attachment,
letting go, Godmindedness, and love as six "inner gestures"
that are balanced in the maturity of meditative experiences,
and described higher consciousness or meditative depth as a
multi-faceted experience in which there is a convergence of
peace and surrender, awareness of the here and now,
numinousity, equanimity, and compassion.
Something similar, I think, may be said of psychedelic peak
experiences: these different aspects of consciousness are
present in them, sometimes in isolation, but most commonly
in combination.
To sHmmarize and complete these thoughts on meditation
which I am proposing to apply to the psychedelic domain, let
1 27
us consider the following diagram:
BEING
no t d o i ng l e t t ing gc
:\ 0 ::\ - EGO/
NOT! I I l\ Gl\ESS
My intention here is to portray the fact that the six

elementary "gestures" or ways of meditation are means of
suspending (and eventually transcending) the ego (in a
traditional rather than psychoanalytic sense of the term) and
that because they remove the veil of obscuration, they
constitute gateways to the experience of Being.
Of psychedelic peak experiences too, it may be said that
they have aspects of something more basic and encompassing;
different degrees of "ego-death" - i.e. of dissolution of
conditional personality - and of break-through to spiritual
perception. They are states rather than steps of consciousness,
and yet states that can powerfully influence the individual's
growth process.
1 28
The apprehension of being, through which everything

seems more real and in which the individual feels that "it is
enough to be", is not only the core of religious experience; I
believe it is also behind what may be described in merely
aesthetic or sensuous terms, and that such common
psychedelic properties as a more intense light or color or
sharper contours may be symbolic translations of a spiritual
event that the person is not familiar enough with to describe
otherwise. Also, there are states, not of the fullness of being but
of reaching after being, of struggling towards intuited spiritual
reality as in the birth process. Psychedelic births may be
associated with memories, but I think that it would be a mistake
to regard them only as that. Images of biological birth -
whether memories or fantasies, can also be understood as the
symbolic visionary expression of a non-biological, spiritual
birth taking place at the moment.
Similarly, together with experiences of nothingness, we
must consider experiences of moving toward nothingness -
i.e., dying. In the case of what has appropriately been called an
" annihilating illumination" (Andrews) , it may generally be said
that - as in western Mysticism - it is the birth and Being
aspects that lie in the foreground. In harmaline and ibogaine
experiences, as in the case of ketamine, it is more likely that
dying, nothingness, and " cosmic space" will predominate. This
is surely related to the faa that the word ayahuasca, given to the
Banisteriopsis drink in Q.uechua, translates as "vines of death"
(Harner 1 9 7 3 : 1 -5). It may not be a coincidence that subjects
who have been administered ketamine frequendy interpret
their experiences as a glimpse of death or a journey into after
death states.
Teachings of the more sophisticated meditation schools -
particularly those of Tibetan Buddhism - emphasize that
techniques of meditation are only means for attaining an
understanding of the nature of our mind - a consciousness of
objeas, similar to the awareness that an empty mirror might
have of itself beyond the images it reflects. This self-
1 29
apprehension of the ground of consciousness is understood to

be the source of the experience of both being and of
nothingness .
Though psychedelic experiences are permeated by the
sense of being and abound in glimpses of nothingness, I think
that we may say that being and nothingness, while closer to
psychedelic than everyday awareness, are still mosdy veiled in
religious, archetypal, biological, and aesthetic symbolism , and
are not always clearly apprehended as that "transcendent
knowledge" of which spiritual traditions speak. If this is true,
then an orif'ntation toward being and emptiness - such as that
provided by Buddhist or Sufi discourse - may constitute a
valuable context and preparatory "set" for psychedelic
experiences. For just as bi rth and death experiences are central
to psychedelic phenomenology, being and nothingness may be
regarded as the core of its spiritual philosophy or "theology" .
1 30
1 32
Wol fg an g Coral
Psychedelic D rugs and Spiritual
States of C o nscious ness i n the
Light o f M oder n
Neur oche mical Rese arch
For thousands of years, psychedelic drugs have been

used during sacred rituals in almost every ancient culture
throughout the world. Ethnopharmacological research has
shown that the aim was to attain direct spiritual experience,
during which the individual made contact with higher worlds
in order to gain knowledge and wisdom for his further life
(Harner 1 9 7 3 ; Pahnke & Richards 1 9 7 2 ; Wasson 1 96 8 ) . In
Western industrialized society, where spiritual experiences are
no longer an immediate aspect of our culture, it is hard for us to
understand the unity of this continuum of experience.
The break with our own mythos which occurred during the
Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution left us with only
"half' a culture. Rationalism, the belief in science, materialism,
and Christianity all offered hope, but none was able to
compensate for the lost half, through which it had been
possible for each person to find wholeness through the direct
experience of his own divinity. In addition, the triumph of
rationalist worker societies went hand in hand with the social
prohibition of psychedelic drugs .
Instead, a marked preference emerged for such sedative
and narcotic drugs as alcohol, tranquilizers, and barbiturates,
which resulted in rendering large sections of society dependent
or even addicted to the point of self-destruction. In the rich
nations, the pharmaceutical concerns find pleasure in the
notion of a gu aranteed turnover of painkillers, sleeping pills ,
neuroleptica, anti-depressants , and stimulants on pres crip ti on .
Doctors who refuse their patients such drugs only lessen their
1 33
chances for the future. Since 1 98 2 , we have known that alcohol

dependency and heroin addiction can be traced back to the
same biochemical metabolites (cf. Peng and Cheng 1 982). This
notwithstanding, a general mental line is still drawn between
alcohol on the one hand and such drugs as hashish, LSD ,
heroin, o r cocaine o n the other. From a pharmacological
perspective, such a division is unrealistic, as all are more or less
similarly psychoactive substances, between all of which lie
levels of structural transition.
Our receptors are generally insusceptible to ideological
programming. They react directly and reliably to psychoactive
molecules according to the oldest principle of recognition of
evolution: the chemical structure of the receptor surface
recognizes a complementary, related structure by means of the
affi nity of their chemical bonds. The greater the bonding
energy between molecule and receptor, the greater the number
of stimulating impulses which are released from this spot on
the synapse.
Affinity measurements have shown that a receptor may
have other partners which bind to it much more strongly than
the actual transmitter substance that is released on the other
side of the synaptic fissure. On the other hand, almost every
structurally-related molecule can bond with every receptor,
although most bond weakly and elicit only a low impulse
strength. In the natural process, neurotransmitters are
produced at the same spot in the nervous system where they
will subsequently be destroyed by enzymes immediately after
the release of the stimuli. In contrast, the "alchemically
supernatural" aspect of intoxication results from the rapid
flooding of the entire central nervous system by one and the
same molecule. The substance administered can thus
distribute itself among all the receptors, whereby its concentra
tions will be greate�t at those bonding points where affi n ity is
the strongest. Depending upon the molecular structure, a
distribution pattern emerges based on b on d ing possibilities
throughout the receptor population of the entire organism. To
1 34
Psychedelic Drugs and Spiritual States of Consciousness
the extent that an administered drug is not completely identical

with an endogenous transmitter, the resulting intoxication is
also artificial in that the metabolites differ from those of the
original molecule. Whereas a neurotransmitter is destroyed just
a fraction of a second after it has transmitted its stimulus to the
next neuron, the time required for such passivation is greater
when the structure of the drug is- more foreign and our
enzymes are less able to react to it. Under the proper
circumstances, the metabolites which result from the o riginal
substance may also have intoxicating effects.
The overall effect is a s up er im posit ion of all of the
stimulated and inhibited centers of the neural network.
Although this pattern of neurophysiological stimulation is
difficult to measure using external means, the quality of the
psychic effects are more or less recognizable to the psychonaut.
I refer to the perceivable quality as the "molecular script" of a
substance.
This term is not so much intended to describe the state of
consciousness one attains, but rather the mode in which he is
"transported" there. All of the physical side-effects and the
sequence of secondarily effective m etabolite s al s o b elo ng to the
molecular script.
Drawing upon an analogy from Roland Fischer ( 1 9 7 5), it is
as if different melodies can be played on the same instrument,
depending upon which chemical structure reaches the system .
Nevertheless, the music i s always p layed by the same
instrument. That factor which is common to all psychoactive
substances is we ourselves, as experienced from differing
perspectives. What is more, more or less all of t h e states we may
induce are quite familiar to u s, si nce we alread y contain all the
key molecules.
The refinement in analyti cal methods for examining
nervous tissue has led to new neurophysiological findings .
Increasin gly differentiated recep tors have been detected by
tracing the paths of a multitude of psychoactive substances
through the nervous system using radioactive markers . The
1 35
frozen patterns of distribution which are recorded in this way

enable us to more exactly relate these substances to certain
types of receptors. The classic set of adrenaline, norepinephrine,
dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine rcceptors soon proved
to be insufficient. Surprisingly, specific bonding sites have been
discovered for almost every tested substance. The next
question arose as a matter of course: what is the purpose of
receptors which, as in the case of PCP, apparently specifically
react to newly-synthesized structures? Later research then
aimed at searching for the endogenous transmitter substances
which are normally accepted at such sites. In the example
just given, the neuroprotein angeldustine was found to be the
endogenous agent.
Recently, even morphine has been found in the nerve cells
of animals ( Goldstein et al. 1 985). In my opinion, it should be
assumed that certain endogenous substances elude measure
ment because of their microscopically low concentration and
immediate enzymatic destruction. Yet the most effective
substances are those which are present in the lowest
concentrations . The maximum to have been measured thus far
was for an homologue of LSD ( D . Nichols, personal
communication) . In the human body , j ust one one-thousandth
ppm of this substance suffices for a psychedelic dosage. Such a
concentration lies far below the levels ascenainable through
chemical analysis. The large number of phenethylamines and
amphetamines discovered during the last years (largely as a
result of the work of A. L. Shulgin) produce many different
psychic states which have only a partial psychedelic character or
none at all.
In Jacob's ( 1 9 8 4) recent book on hallucinogenics, Michel
Hamon described in detail the many experiments carried out
by a number of renowned scientists in their search for a special
type of receptor responsible for the effects of psychedelic
substances . The author concluded that in such cases the flow
gradient of the Ca-ions may be the key factor at the synapses . At
this point, however, a scientist working alone tends to lose his
1 36
way in a myriad of details, for he will not be able to arrive at a

solution to the questions he is facing unless he has
interdisciplinary contacts to psychology.
We have more or less strenuous means of transportation at
our disposal. However, these lose their importance when the
psychedelic state is attained . Yet when the vehicle is not in the
proper condition for the journey (as manifested through such
physical side-effects as muscular spasms, paralysis, high blood
pressure, or cardiac arrhythmia or irregularities) , then we may
not be in a position to deal with the psychedelic state in a
positive manner. If the psychedelic experience is seen as a
process of death and rebirth, then we may die a whole range of
deaths, from a pleasant to a terrible, physically unbearable
death. When opening the gateways to our subconscious, we
should exercise the greatest possible care. If we damage these
gateways in the process, so that they can no longer be closed,
then we may be confronted with a permanent flood of infor
mation. An overly violent approach, moreover, may also
destroy forever the treasures contained in our subconscious.
Reasonable limits are formed by a condition in which a person
maintains both awareness and memory, so that his experiences
may subsequendy be constructively analyzed .
Further psychedelic research will be concerned with finding
a substance which acts specifically upon the information level
of consciousness. The ideal psychedelic should be identical
with , or at least correspond as closely as possible to, the
structure of our own neurotransmitters . If identical, then the
body's own metabolic reactions should be inhibited in order to
prolong the experience. In my opinion, substances which
approach this ideal include DMT and 4-hydroxy-D MT
(psilocin) , closely followed by LSD .
The altered state o f consciousness would then result solely
from changed distributions of the sites most likely occupied
throughout the populations of receptors . These changes have a
purely informational character which can either be under
psychic control or can be seen as part of consciousness itself.
1 37
The toxicity of these substances is so very low (LSD: between 50

and I 000 times the effective dose) that they could hardly be
classified as toxins.
It is extremely difficult to investigate the nature of
psychedelic experiences at the molecular level. While this level
certainly provides some useful data, there are no universally
valid rules for relating the structure of a psychedelic substance
to its effects. Apart from artificial sweeteners, psychedelica is
the only class of substance which is relatively inaccessible to
animal experimentation. As a result, self-experimentation by
the responsible researcher remains the final criteria, and is thus
irreplaceable.
The minimal precondition for psychedelic experiences
appears to be the complexity of the human nervous system . At
the same time, psychedelic experiences represent the ultimate
experience which has emerged during the evolution of this
nervous system .
A number of authors have attributed psychedelic sub
stances with a central role in the process of human evolution.
One theory of cannibalism has suggested that the pineal gland,
which contains very large amounts of serotonin and melatonin,
was the most prized organ of the body. Work carried out by C .
Wilson ( 1 9 82) has indicated that serotonin played a substantial
part in the Buddha's illumination. The magic mushroom of the
species Psilocybe (the active principle of which, psilocin, is very
similar to serotonin) , may be found in all areas of the globe.
Evidence is accumulating that these mushrooms found
application in a number of archaic cultures, e.g. , as the soma
referred to in the Indian Vedas (Miiller-Ebeling & Ratsch 1 9 8 6 ).
It is conceivable that visual stimulation caused by this
mushroom exercised a strong evolutionary force in the
development of the organs of perception and the associated
cerebral centers (McKenna 1 9 7 5 ) .
The ability t o create an internal image o f the world i s the
basis of intelligent activity. The simulation of external
conditions before they occur allows danger to be anticipated
1 38
before it arises, thus offering an evolutionary advantage. In

order to store inner images, a certain code is needed which can
recall these by means of association. This code also makes it
possible to exchange images with others. This may have
provided the impetus for the growth of the cerebral cortex,
which first made possible specifically human thought and
language in reciprocity with visual stimulation.
Thus, both historically and in the present, the psychedelic
experience is linked with the development of human
spirituality. In my opinion, research into psychedelic states of
consciousness has much to gain from studying more ancient
spiritual systems in both the East and the West. In Roland
Fischer's ( 1 98 0) comprehensive system of the "cartography of
conscious states" , two complementary paths lead to higher
levels of consciousness:
The cartography of conscious states (from Fisch£r 198 0).
1 39
The path of hyperarousal leads to ecstasy via increased

activity, creativity, and catalepsy. The path of hypoarousal leads
to the Dharma of the Samadhi state by progressing through
relaxation and Za-Zen. Both of these paths approach the same
goal - the ultimate state of self, with a minimum of " I "
involvement - albeit from two different directions .
Interestingly, almost all of the psychedelica may be
arranged along a scale ranging from stimulation to sedation.
They differ with respect to their relative positions along this
scale. LSD has a strongly sedative effect, psilocin a medium
sedative effect, and the amphetamines emphasize the
stimulating side of the scale. At the same time, such morphine
antagonists as cyclacozin and other sedatives also possess
greater or lesser psychedelic elements.
With ketamine, this polarity is actually distributed over the
two optical isomers. Preliminary work indicates that d
ketamine-H C L possesses purely narcotic effects not found with
the i-isomer. Alone, the latter has only a slighdy stimulating
effea. The psychedelic dimension is lacking in both isomers,
and only appears when one is added to the other. Thus, the
molecular structure alone is not responsible for the psychedelic
effea of ketamine; this arises from a synergistic interaction
between two structurally identical but inverted molecules.
The following analogy may help to illustrate this polar field
of tension: An obseiVer is sitting in a room next to an open fire,
and looking through a window (the perceptual organs) onto the
world. If it is dark outside, then she sees the fire refleaed on the
inside of the windowpane. She could also perceive this fire if
she were to fan its flames so that it outshines the impressions
from without. The visionary fire, in other words, can also be
perceived when a specific sedation of the sensory pathways
occurs during waking consciousness. The outer world (which
ultimately includes one's own body) disappears almost entirely,
right down to the cells of the neiVous system. This also shows
how the psychedelic experience can lead beyond the
physiological or pharmacological level to a state of pure,
1 40
disembodied consciousness.
The complementary activating impulse for this is the direct
stimulation of pure consciousness. As in the case of shamanic
ecstatic techniques, an over-activation of vital energy is
channeled to evoke higher states of consciousness. The
psychedelic experience results from the tension between these
two poles.
For the biochemical relationships at the basis of the various
states of consciousness, as well as for the states of consciousness
altered by means of psychoactive substances, it is becoming
increasingly clear that the qualitative differences in the psychic
effects are products of our complex nervous system and not
just drug-induced artifacts, as the term hallucinations would
appear to suggest. Dream research, studies of catatymic images,
and reports of shamanic journeys all indicate how colorful,
plastic, and realistic the visions which can be experienced
without drugs may be. Our brain is capable of this without
outside help, for it produces such psychedelic substances as
DMT, dopamin, tryptophane, and probably many other
substances as well whose propensities to alter consciousness are
still unknown and may never be analytically demonstrable
(McKenna 1984).
We are approaching a universe which becomes more
fantastic the more we are capable of perceiving slight vibrations
and subtle meanings. Through comprehensive education and
spiritual training with the aid of psychedelic substances , we will
be able to attune our " receiver" to ever more "transmitters" (cf.
H ofmann 1984 , 198 6: 19-56). The increasing amount of
information which we will consequently be able to take up
from our environment will continually expand our reality. That
which we now look upon as "non-ordinary reality" or as
magical may soon be a part of our everyday reality.
Although there are no other substances which are capable
of getting as close to the space between the spirit and matter as
the psychedelica, they remain matter. While they may have an
enormous influence on consciousness, the latter is so complex
141
and self-regulating that it is also influenced by such other

factors as will, self-assertion, the power of self-suggestion, and
the emotional intensity of a person.
Hypnosis, in which almost all states of consciousness may
be attained without the use of a material agent, provides us with
a good example. Here, we are in essence able to elicit
psychedelic experiences through suggestion, albeit with some
exertion and practice. Drugs serve us more comfortably,
although in doing so they lead us for a time along the "lines"
laid out by their molecular script. We are automatically
exposed to certain processes. With hypnosis, it is relatively easy
to leave a state. Of course, our consciousness is also capable of
self-hypnosis while under the influence of drugs. Precisely in
such states is it possible to attain intense, synergistic
mcreases.
There are a variety of spiritual techniques which can lead to
states similar to those attainable through drugs: breathing
techniques (hyperventilation, pranayama, rebirthing) , medita
tion, abstention from sleep and food, ecstasy in dance, music,
or tantric sex (Grof 1985). Because specific psychedelica enable
us to attain certain states with an ease which varies starkly from
that of other often strenuous and sometimes medieval
methods, the former are usually preferred . The danger lies in
assuming a passive attitude to the consumption of drugs . The
two paths are by no means mutually exclusive; they can
complement one another and result in a new, more intense
path where cosmic experiences attained using drugs provide
the motivation to greater exertions along the path of the spirit.
The anticipation of such an experience may yield new
perspectives along a developmental path which would
otherwise be threatened by forgetfulness and daily routine.
142
Charles M uses
The Sacred Plant of Ancient
Egypt
My personal recollection of Alben H ofmann is an

after-dinner conversation with him at his comfortable Basel
home in the late 1960s, during which I asked whether higher
(butyl) or lower (methyl) groups replacing the ethyl groups in cl
lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) would change its psycho
pharmacological properties. It was then I learned to my keen
interest that the two ethyl groups were optimal, and that an
aliphatic alteration in either direction would lessen potency.
Later, it became apparent (Shulgin et al. 1978) that such
structural optima characterized other important psychoaaive
molecules, for instance an extraordinary substance (Fig. 2, item
6) discovered by a Merck team in Germany in 1914, but never
seriously noticed until after 1950.1
Albert H ofmann is one of the pioneers of ethnobotany in
our times, having first discovered LSD or lysergic acid
diethylamide as well as its relation to the sacred morning glory
(ololiuqui) of the Nahuatl peoples; and was also the first to
synthesize psilocybin, the active principle of mushrooms
revered in the cultures of various Central American and other
peoples, specifically the species P. psilocybe and P. cubensis among
others. He also contributed importantly to a study going well
toward demonstrating the presence of LSD-like alkaloids in the
ergot-bearing grasses or grains used in the Eleusinian Mysteries
of old Greece (Wasson et al. 1978, 1984).
The Legacy of Egypt

In this paper, we shall take the search back to the oldest
1 Its dextrorotatory form (+ I 7.2 ° in ethanol) is much more psychoacrive
than the levorotatory isomer, showing that helical fomtations play essential
roles in psychopharmacology.
143
sophisticated culture known in recorded history: Imperial

Egypt, which was already ancient when Chinese shamans were
just beginning to scratch the 1-Ching oracles on burnt bones,
and whose high art and theology (already so old that the
language of the Fifth Dynasty Pyramid texts is archaic) antedate
Sumer. Despite abortive attempts to denigrate Egypt's
magnificent heritage, one need only compare texts and art of
contemporaneous Sumer and Egypt to see the profound
difference in sensitivity and artistic achievement.
Since the Orphic and Eleusinian doctrines are traced even
by classical Greek writers to Egypt - home of the teaching that
the soul's immortality is assured through appropriate and
(literally) mysterious transformations of the psyche - it is
logical to enquire whether ancient Egypt had a sacred plant
deployed in that process. We know from the Sum er-Babylonian
cuneiform tablets that the hero Gilgamesh sought such a plant,
found it, and was then defeated at the last moment in his quest
- reminding us of the stories of Isis and the baby son of the
King and Q.ueen of ancient Phoenicia, who also lost the
immortality Isis could have conferred when the rites were
interrupted through the queen-mother's fears (Demarest
1972). We also know that Glaucus found the miraculous plant
of life and succeeded in his apotheosis (Demarest 1972), and
that Dante in referring to that memorable legend used for the
first time in modern language the remarkable word trasumanar,
to "transhumanize."
Degenerate religions are based on a " God" (or gods) of
terror, inspiring fear. The highest world religions without
exception have taught that the more divine a being is, the
greater the love we receive from that being - and that the
highest divine state of consciousness would appear to us as
ineffable and infinite love - an ocean of Love-Flame so to
speak. In the light of this principle, the most profound theology
of Ancient Egypt stands very high on the scale. H umans have
the potentiality of becoming god-like, and are ultimately
welcomed into the divine community with the tenderest love
144
The Sacred Plant of Ancient Egypt
by Divine Mother and Father images. Ancient Egyptian

doctrine was never absurdly and one-sidedly sexual (as is the
tendency in the narrower, over-masculinized Judeo-Christian
context) but always included the feminine aspect of divinity,
Goddess with a capital G.
Indeed, the Roman Catholic prominence of the Virgin as a
Goddess figure, Regina Coeli, Queen of Heaven, springs directly
from Isis-So-this via the Apocalyptic vision of H er standing on
a moon, crowned with the sun, and a rainbow-like arc of twelve
stars over her head . The very title Regina Coeli was taken over
word for word from the large community in Rome who vener
ated Isis into Christian times - a title that in turn was simply
the Latin translation of the Ancient Egyptian nwb-t pt c:;7 0
Q.ueen of Heaven, one of the Great Goddess's titles . Ther�e�
also two sets of seven archetypes, that later in Christianized
form became the fourteen Stations of the Cross, as seen today
on Roman Catholic votive lamps showing the above-described
figure of the cosmic Virgin- Goddess with the two sets of seven
Stations circling the lamp above and below Her in two
zones.
Since lsis-Sothis was par excellence the agent of immortal
ization of the soul - of that metamorphic transformation that
changed the larval/pupal (cocoon or mummy-swathed) form of
Osiris into the winged (deific) H orns-imago - it is natural to
seek some connection of this process with the twelve stellar
archetypes which in Anciem Egypt are called the "Twelve Star
Gods". For it was She who was their Q.ueen, as Horns was their
Director.
The idea of a metamorphic destiny for humanity existed
not only in Ancient Egypt and China (by a remarkable diffusion
to the theurgic Taoism - imported from "The Jade Kingdom
of the Western Moon" - that climaxed in T'ang times) but
even manifests itself in modem Western culture. As early as
1922, the keen social critic Lewis Mumford wrote in a
remarkable visionary passage which we abridge here:
In the midst of the tepid and half-hearted discussions that
145
continue to arise out of peace conferences, let us break in

with the injunction to talk about fundamentals - consider
Utopia!
The world with in men's heads has undergone transform
ations which have disintegrated material things with the
power and rapidity of radium. I shall take the liberty of
calling this inner world our id6lum. I use it to stand for what
the theologians would perhaps call the spiritual world in
term s of which people pattern their behavior.
But if the physical environment is the earth , this world of
ideas corresponds to the heavens. It is by means of the idlum
.
that the facts of the everyday world are bro ught together and
assorted and sifted, and a new sort of reality is projected back
again upon the external world to provide a condition for our
release in the future, to change it so that one may have
intercourse with it on one's own terms.
This utopia of reconstruction is what its name implies: a
vision of a reconstituted environment which is better
adapted to the nature and aims of the human beings who
dwell within it than the actual one; and not merely better
adapted to their actual nature, but better fitted to their
possible developments.
By a reconstructed environment I do not mean merely a
physical th ing. I mean , in addition, a new set of habits, a
fresh scale of values, a different set of relationships and
institutions, and possibly an alteration of the physical and
mental characteristics of the people chosen (Mumford
1 92 2).
Bold as this passage still seems, it pales in comparison with
the clarity of the Ancient Egyptian prototype - nothing less
than the quest and prescription for the release of humanity's
nascent divinity, in turn enabling the rejoining of a world and an
already functional co mm uni ty of highly advanced beings who
welcome the newcomers in joyous puissance.
The principal agent of this transformation was "the divine
food" which, like what some super royal jelly could do for bees,
would stimulate metamorphic neurosecretory organs in the
human central nervous system and enable a superbiological
146
The Sacred Plant of Ancient Eg;ypt
process to take place to mature a higher model body than our

present molecular one, a body that can transcend the
dissolution of the molecular body at death and is capable of
furnishing a sensorium to perceive and function in a world freer
than the transient three-dimensional one in which we are
currendy confined. This was the ageless promise that Ancient
Egypt held fonh most explicidy. And this is the essence of any
religion wonhy of the name that is to be more than a mere
excuse for the seizure of societal power and control.
Theurgic Use of Divine Plants

Still closer to the truth of what may be possible for
humankind comes the summary statement of Alben Hofmann
(1979:207-209; emphasis ours) :
M editation begins at the limits of objective reality, at the
farthest point yet reached by rational knowledge and
perception. Meditation thus does not mean rejection of
objective reality: on the contrary, it consists of a penetration
to deeper dimensions of reality. It is not escape into an
imaginary dream world; rather it seeks after the compre
hensive truth of objective reality . . . . As a result of the
meditative penetration and broadening of the natural
scientific world view, a new, deepened reality consciousness
would have to evolve, which would increasingly become the
property of all humankind. This could become the basis of a
new religiosity, which would not be based on belief in
dogmas . . . but rather on perception.
The characteristic property of (higher psychoactive
substances) to suspend the boundaries between the
experiencing self and the outer world in an ecstatic,
emotional experience, makes it possible with their help, and
after suitable internal and external preparation . . . to evoke a
mystical experience according to plan, so to speak . . . .
Accordingly it seems feasible that in the future, with the help
of(such substances). the mystical vision crow n ing meditation
could be made accessible to an increasing number of
practitioners . . . . I see their (i.e. , such substances) importance
147
in the possibility of providing material aid to meditation

aimed at the mystical experience of a deeper, comprehensive
reality. Such a use accords entirely with their essence and
working character . . . as sacred.
All this brings us to a key point in Ancient Egyptian

ethnobotany: ingestion of the sacred material was designed not
merely to give "a high" but to trigger and impel the metamorphic
process leading to a theurgic transmutation of human nature
into apotheosis , in which the previously merely mortal is to be,
using Meister Eckhart's graphic word, vergottet, i.e. "begodded".
But that process, overseen by cosmic regents, the living
archetypes of stellar powers, had to be resonantly timed with those
powers. (For other details, the reader is referred to the recently
published Lion Path (Musaios 1 98 5) in which are deciphered the
meanings of the Egyptian hieroglyphs and recondite theological
passages in this regard .) Suffice it to quote some key passages
from the Book of Coming Forth Into Day (miscalled the Totenbuch or
Book ofthe Dead), from utterances 64 and 1 49 , Brit.Mus. Papyrus
No. 9900 , sheets 23, 24 and Papyrus No. 1 0,47 7 , sheet 30:
I am Yesterday and Tomorrow, and have power to regenerate
myself ... The hitheno closed door is thrust open ... and
the radiance in my heart hath made it enduring. I can walk in
my new immortal body ... and go to the domain of the
starry gods . . . Now I can speak in accents to which they
listen, and my language is that of the star Sirius.
But to attain the awareness of these star powers and benefit
from them required a sedulous and rhythmic preparation of
consciousness (cf. Coffin Texts 468: I embrace Sothis in her
hours) by means of resonantly timed ingestion of a sacred plant
substance (cf. Fig. 1 ). It is a valuable principle in investigating
.
Egyptian theology that later or even corrupted magical texts
often enshrined bits and pieces of much older and more sacred
texts, long venerated and held to be of great power even after
their original meaning was partly or wholly forgotten The
Harris Magical Papyrus, written down in hieratic characters in
148
The Sacred Plant of Ancient Eg;ypt
• •
��-j;!ft.k)ttl�.le,l�
d'Ja;l\.11:
•
=�I � ;t.C!Oc � -=>1
- � �T Ill�-
��}� ::.J.::JJ � 11 � �·
•
*Jll
� �� :,:,�· 1. �Pl e-.
��
Figure 1. An important hieratic text (reads from right to left as in
Arabic), line 11, column VII of the Harris Papyrus 50 I, dated 311
B . C . E . by its colophon (British Museum Papyrus No. 10.042),
together with its hieroglyphic transcription emended from Budge
(1910) by the author, printed to read from left to right as in English.
The translation of the key portion, the first two complete phrases
(between the first and second, and second and third bullets), which
preserves much older doctrine, reads: A full measure of lwly abdu fish
(which pilot the sacred boat carrying the divine egg-embryo) to lead the
speech of the ape-guides (baboons, passing messages by mimicry,
symbolized the reverberations of divine guidance); and a like measure of
the divine shrubs (khat) to prompt the speech of the star gods. This passage is
multum in parvo. The holy fish express the power of water; the apes'
voices, of air; the shrubs, of earth; and the star gods, of fire - the four
"elements" representing functional states of substance rather than
objects. The holy plant and the star powers were one half of the
process; the attention to one's higher self and the consequent
"hearing" of the transmitted inner guidance were the other and just
as essential half of the regenerative process. See The Lion Path (M usaios
1985:passim, and especially 11 7 -120). Note that the glyph for khat is
clearly shown in the second line of both the hieratic and hieroglyphic
texts in the figure.
149
3 1 1 B . C . E . , provides an excellent illustration of this principle;

for in a spell to protect against evil beings' attacks, we find the
amazing line shown in Figure I and translated and discussed in
the caption.
Thus, the sacred plants of Ancient Egypt, as in other later
cultures, were regarded as food for the gods. Let us pursue the
hint. We find in the hieroglyphic texts explicit phrases ( cf.
Musaios 1 98 5 : 8 4-- 8 6) pertaining to this matter: terms like " the
sacred laboratory of Osiris" , where plant principles were
ground with mortar and pesde, weighed , and extracted; or
"cuttings from the shrub from the lands of the gods", the no me
or district of Sopdu , a name related to the resurrecting power of
Horns in the world after death, or in this body before its death.
Geographically, this district covered Western Arabia and the
East African coasdands between the Nile and the Red Sea, i.e.,
Abyssinia (Ethiopia) or ancient Nubia. We read too of "the
substance from the land of the gods" , also called celestial food
and essence of being ( cf. Musaios 1 98 5 : 8 4--85).
All that remains in living-language is the Egyptian word kht,
as in the hieratic papyrus already quoted, and in other places
with tree or shrub ( Q ) and twig ( � ) determinative, the two
sometimes found combined (+)· Undoubtedly, there was a
specific name, now lost to us, but the plant was so essential to
theurgic practice that it came to be called "the shrub" or "the
tree" , i.e. khat. The word was preserved in N ubia as the stell used
Amharickhat (cat) ( Leslau 1976) and in Kenya as the khat tree, the
active principle extracted from which is called mira'a in Swahili
(corrupted from the m'iraj, the mystical night journey, angel
guided, of Muhammed through the celestial regions to the very
Throne of Allah). Among the Kikuyu, the principal people of
Kenya, the plant principle is known as murungu, and the chewing
of leaves and the brewing of them or of the flowers in tea, is still
widely done in Arabia, Kenya, and by Galla tribesmen and
muslims in E thi opia 3 Indeed, the fame of khat passes straight
.
across Africa to Angola where, in the Lunyaneka language, it is

known as otyibota.
1 50
Khat (ht) is an old word even in ancient Egyptian, going back

to the Pyramid texts (e.g. Unas, line 555). It is hieroglyphically
written as ;: , � , or even as only the determinative - ,
and means twig, tree, shrub, branch, and by attribution, pole,
staff and wood. With added determinative, the same word can
also mean a heap or mound, and in particular the sacred
staircase ( ;: L!) on the top of which Osiris sat enthroned
(Musaios 1985:57) as each departed soul passed before him to
have its posthumous fate decided (see, for example, the Pr
mhrw , miscalled " the Book of the Dead", since its tide means
(the Book ofj the Coming forth Into Day, utterance 22).
Some Alkaloid Chemistry

The tree/shrub, which attains a height of 6- 10 feet, is
known in Western botany as Catha edulis, first identified and
named to occidental science by the eighteenth century
botanist-explorer Pehr Forskal ( 1732- 1763), who was born in
Helsingfors ( Helsinki), he having named it after its ancient
name of Khat (latinized to Catha) when he visited Arabia and
Egypt, leaving behind his manuscript Flora aegyptiaco-arabica sive
descriptiones plantarum quas per Aegyptum inferiorem et Arabiam felicem
detexit, which was posthumously edited after his untimely death
by Carsten Niebuhr and published at Copenhagen by M oiler in
177 5. In this now rare work, Forskal identified and named for
European botany not only the evergreen Catha edulis, but also
the related species Catha spinosa, the " Catha" being simply a
latinization of the ancient Egyptian word ht for a tree or woody
substance that had been taken over into Arabic and still
survives in Arabian and East Africa as khat, kat, or qat in various
spellings. The first and most ancient form is reflected in the
Amharic word for the plant eat, the first letter being a
palatalized and glottalized ejective (in which the flow of air is
shut off by the glottis and then forcibly expelled through the
3 Or what is left of it, since the locust-plague of totalitarianism seized it
rapaciously, and expectedly rendered it the land of famine it is today.
15 1
constricted palate) (Leslau 1976:xiii) .

In 1930, its perhaps most abundant alkaloid - cathine -
was identified by 0. Wolfes as d-norisoephedrine, which is a
sympathomimetic and can produce states of euphoric and
nonordinary consciousness. It is a substituted phenyl
methylamine with a molecular weight of 15 1 . 1 and, as the
name-prefix indicates, it rotates a beam of light clockwise as
seen by the viewer at the far end when the beam traverses the
substance in solution. For a solution in ethyl alcohol, the
specific rotation is + 32.5 o.
Since fresh khat leaves are known to be more psycho
physiologically effective than the separate known alkaloids of
the plant, there must be as yet unidentified principles. Besides
d-noriso-ephedrine (cathine), Catha ed ulis contains {-ephedrine,
d-isoephedrine, an as yet unidentified alkaloid cathinine, as
well as cathidine A, B, C, and D, the last having been isolated as
a tetra-ester of the hexa-alcohol cathol (CtsH2607) (Cais et al.
1964). This plant and its principles have attracted little attention
in Western ethnobotanical literature,4 yet it is on pharma
cological record that even ordinary ephedrine in high doses can
produce unusual visual, auditory, and tactile perceptions; and
d-norisoephedrine (also less perspicuously called "pseudo"
instead of iso) is a more powerful central nervous system
stimulant than ephedrine. There is also the related detone
cathone.
In Figure 2, one of the chief alkaloid components of the
khat leaf is shown in relation to affi liated molecules and
neurotransmitters, all rooted in amino acid structures
fundamental in the genetic coding (cf. Figure 3) of both plant
and animal life.
4 Although after the author's invited lecture o n June 18, 1985 a t the Esalen
Institute, where the ancient lineage and ethnobotanical importance of Catha
edulis were first announced, interest has augmented considerably; indeed,
the well-known psychopharmacological chemis t Alexander Shulgin, following
the author's suggestion to him at Esalen, was at last repon working on three
plant specimens.
152
The Sacred Plant of Ancient Ef!Jpt
Aliphatic
Substitutions
s 6
B ex
4; = "1 CH-CH-NH
� 4
I I
Ring
J-2
I. Phenylalanine (genetic codons Ill or 112)

Substitutions
H COOH H
I
2. Tyrosine (genetic codons 141 or 142) 4-0H H COOH H
3. Methylphenylamine (Amphetamine) H CH3 H
4. Norisoephedrine (Phenylpropanolamine) OH CH3 H
5. Ephedrine OH CH3 CH3
6. Methylenedioxymethamphetamine 3-0 ......
_ ....-CHz H (CH3)z* H
(Methylenedioxyphenylisopropylamine) 40
7. Mescaline 3,4,5-CHzOH H H H
8. Phenylethylamine H H H
9. Tyramine 4-0H H H H
10. N-Methyltyrarnine 4-0H H H CH3
11. Hordenine (Anhaline) 4-0H H H CH3)zt
12. Dopamine 3,4-0H H H H
13. Norepinephrine (Noradrenalin) 3,4-0H OH H H
14. Epinephrine (Adrenalin) 3,4-0H OH H CH3
15. Epinine 3,4-0H H H CH3
. .
t.e. t i.e.
CH3 CH3
CH .. C_...
' NH .. N_...
'
CH3 CH3
Figure 2. The structure of the essential amino acids (lines 1 and 2)

from which lion-type molecules can be biosynthesized: lines 3 - 1 1 are
thereby biosynthetically derivable psychoactive alkaloids and amines;
1 2- 1 4 are structurally affiliated neurotransmitters, and 1 5 is an
alkaloid almost identical with adrenalin. The naturally occurring
amino acid phenylalanine has the genetic codes Ill or 1 1 2, where 1
here denotes uracil (or thymine in animals); 2, cytosine; 3, guanine;
and 4, adenine, these digits being the numbers of CC and/or CN
double bonds in the nucleotide (see Figure 3). I ts most closely related
amino acid is tyramine (line 2). These two principal amino acids serve
as the biosynthetic precursors of phenolic plant alkaloids and related
substituted phenylethylamines, many of which are powerfully
psychoactive molecules. The figure, which comprises fifteen
molecular structures, portrays graphically the close affiliations
between some important amino acids, neurotransmitters, and plant
alkaloids like ephedri ne and phenylpropanolamine or noriso
ephedrine (als·o called norpseudoephedrine), one of the principal
alkaloids of the khat tree, Catha edulis.
153
H H
o,/
N
J"" 0�{��
,.. 411
HN 1 5 N 1 5
"'.�? �v
0 I
NH2
Uracil (I) Cytosine (2) Guanine (3) Adenine (4)

(or, in animals,
thymine, which is
5-methylllted uracil)
Number ofC=C
double bonds
Number ofC=N 0 2 3
double bonds
Total number (I) (2) (3) (4)
Figure 3. The four nucleotide bases for the genetic code in plants
arranged in order of their numbers of high energy (i.e. CC or CN)
double bonds (the oxygen double bond is weaker, not in a ring, and
not nearly so structurally important). Note that complementary base
pairs in the double helix (Uracil + Adenine 1 +4 and Cytosine +
=
Guanine 2+3) sum to the same energy total, 5 , and that is why they
=
are complementary. This succinct method of classifYing these

genetically primal molecules by their potential energy levels was first
announced by the author in a publication of the national Research
Council of Italy (Muses 1965) . It enables a mathematically concise
and richly informative notation for the genetic code. Thus, two
essential amino acids which furnish biosynthetic substrates for many
plant alkaloids (including the lion-type psychoactive molecules) are
phenylalanine (coded I l l or 112) and lysine ( 444 or 443). It is at once
apparent, since Ill + 444 112 + 443
= 555) that these two
=
biosynthetically primal amino acids form a complementary pair.

Similarly, another such biosynthetically important set, phenylalanine
and tyrosine ('1 4 1 or 1 4 2) are complementary in the central members
of their codon triplets and identical in their first and third codon
members.
154
The Sacred Plant of Ancient EKJpt
The Three Paths

Far beyond technology, the real wonders of the world
will continue to elude those who in ignorance disregard
realities beyond the narr ow bounds of their unaware
preconditioning - and in particular, the real ity of human
metamorphosis. Ancient Egypt did not ignore that reality,
however, and left a teaching based on three paths, each with its
own fate and pharmacopoeia.
First, and most common, are the medicines of ordinary
bodily therapy and their related path of birth, growth,
dissolution, and eventual re-cycling of the molecular body we
all know so well that many of us make the mistaken assumption
that it is all there is to know of what being a human being
means. That viewpoint constitutes what Egypt called the
hippopotamus path and its related "hippo medicines" of
ordinary therapy, which are admittedly very useful. Then there
is the path between molecular-body re-cyclings that leads
through the interincarnational realm called the Duat in
Egyptian doctrine, the Barz.akh or inter-state in Islam, and the
Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism - roughly equivalent to the
Dantesque Purgatorio, the place of cleansing. In Egypt, this path
was called that of the divine cow, who ruled the heavens that
nourished all things on earth; and it too had its own
pharmacopoeia of "cow medicines" that could lead one, even
during this life, into Bard o type experiences - which could
-
grant therapeutic visions or, in those not ready for positive

therapy, destructive nightmares. It is interesting that the
important " cow molecules", which involve richly visionary
experience, contain an indole ring: D MT (Dimethyltryptamine)
harmaline, ibogaine, LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) , and
psilocybin.
Finally , there was the lion path and its pharmacopoeia,
those special elixirs that accelerated the metamorphic process
towards an other than merely molecular type of body, a body
able to function in a higher kind of objectivity, comprehending
more than the quinto-sensory world and the "real-dream"
1 55
world of the Duat/Barz.akh/Bardo . The lion path could prepare

one to pass through the Duat after molecular dissolution, into a
more enduring and more lastingly happier sphere. Then the
Duat becomes what its ancient etymology prefigures: a place of
dawning, that leads beyond itself as the dawn leads out of the
night and into the day.
Catha Edulis (Khat)

The sequence of these three paths and their distinct
characterS were symbolized by the tradition of a threefold
choice of Osirian couch in Ancient Egypt, almost miraculously
preseiVed for us in Tut-ankh-amun's relatively undisturbed
tomb ( Fox 1951 ) . Incidentally, the word " tomb" was not
known in our nihilistic sense, being called in Egyptian the
"chamber of transformations". The unique lion-path pharma
copoeia, providing functions to stimulate the human meta
morphic process, and some of its bio-chemical roots and fruits,
are exhibited in Figure 2. The old Egyptian usage devolved
around item 4, along with related and as yet litde investigated
alkaloids found in the young leaves and branch shoots of Catha
edulis as well as in its flowers (called "flowers of paradise" in
Yemen) , from which a restorative tea is still made in Arabia.
Details on the contemporaneous khat tradition are available, for
example, in H . H ofmann et al. (1955), S. Prarirokh and E.
Shellard (1962), and 0. Sierung ( 1957) .
The tradition of khat passed from the Ancient Egyptian into
the Islamic pharmacopoeia. Extract of khat was, for example,
prescribed by an able thirteenth century Islamic physician,
Naguib ed-Din, to combat depressed states. And the well-·
known pseudonymous author, Isak Dinesen (the Baroness
Tania von Blixen) herself used the leaves of the khat tree to gain
creative vision and insight.
We have now resurrected what was well one of the most
sacred plants in Ancient Egyptian culture and religious
s First suspected by Alexandre Piankoff, whom the author met in 195 7 in
Cairo, although Piankoff did not surmise their full significance.
156
practice. The ancient Egyptians perhaps also knew of ergotized

grass (tellingly called in French l'ivraie) which, as a friend and
correspondent, the Egyptologist Jean-Claude Goyon, writes,
appears to have been connected with l'ivresse d'Hathor, the
intoxication of Hathor, a ceremonial trance-state conducted by
priests and priestesses of Isis-Hathor (Goyon 1985) .
However, it is not a grass (much less a mushroom) to which
the ancient hieroglyphic and hieratic texts refer (see Figure 1)
when they speak of the divine plant that can manifest the gods
and , in particular, the star gods. In these connections, the
glyphs refer unmistakably to the leaved branches of a shrub or
tree. The single candidate is the Khat tree, Catha edulis Forsk. ,
now identified as the sacred plant of Ancient Egypt.
At the end of his invited foreword to the 1980 printing of
the authoritative reference work by R. Schultes and A.
Hofmann, Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens, H einrich
Kliiver, the prominent psychologist and expen on mescaline,
notes (p. xv) that "The well-nigh frenetic research activities in
the field of psychoactive drugs have frequently been pursued
without considering recent advances along ethnopharmaco
logical and ethnobotanical lines . " By the same token, Schultes
himself, specializing actually in Amazonian plants in Columbia
(where he lived twelve years) , does not have kat, khat, or Catha
edulis in his index. And even Alben H ofmann mentions it only
once in another book ( H ofmann 1979), and then merely in a
passing citation from the work of a researcher far ahead of his
time, Ernst von Bibra, who briefly noted kat in 1855 under the
casual rubric of "pleasurable" substances in the train of coffee
and tobacco. Hofmann would have relied on Schultes to point
it up ethnobotanically, but the latter remained unaware of it
and hence H ofmann left it uninvestigated . It is time the hiatus
is filled.
Another prominent writer, however, this time in the field of
literature, was not at all unaware of khat. We refer again to the
Baroness Tania von Blixen, better known by her nom de plume
of Isak Dinesen. It is clear from Errol Trzebinski's fascinating
157
biography6 of the Baroness' high-born British lover, Denys

Finch H atton, that she used khat regularly to attain the creative
states in which she \\Tote many of her stories; and one of them,
"The Dreamers" , specifically refers to it as miraa.
One looks in vain through all the plethora of standard (and
non-standard) works on hallucinogens and ethnobotany since
the 1 950s for any mention, much less discussion, of the plant
shrub Catha edulis. That this plant has ancient cultural roots is
attested by the extant prescriptions of it for emotional
depression dating back to thirteenth century Islam -
prescriptions that attest a far more ancient heritage. Khat-flower
tea finds also old lineage in Saudi Arabia, which overlies the
Ancient Egyptian nome or district called Sopdu, sacred to the
deity of the same name, who is identical with H orus-in-the
Duat, Horus-Sokar, or Horus-of-Sothis - the dark7 counterpart
and companion of Isis-Sothis, whose stellar form was the
brightest of all our stars, Sirius.
The Guiding Vision

These linkages more than hint at an ancient astro
nomical awareness (preserved in the Egyptian-influenced
Dogon tribe, as the work of ethnologists Germaine Dieterlen
and Marcel Griaule has shown) of the " dark companion" star
of Sirius discovered in modem times by Alvan G. Clark in
Massachusetts on January 3 1 , 1862, following the calculations
of his colleague, Truman Saff ord . It was later ( 1 9 60) established
by van den Bos, working in South Mrica, that the very dense
Dark Companion of Sothis circles her once in almost exacdy
fifty (50.09) years, their next nearest approach or periastron
occurring in April, 1 994.8
6 A book (Silence Will Speak) used as a source for the splendid 1985 film "Out of
Africa", based on the life of the Baroness von Blixen.
7 Black-and-gold-painted falcon-mummy cases were his icons.
8 For more information on the interesting resonances between that periastron

and the perihelion and rare crossing of Neptunes's orbit by Pluto, together
with connections to Am.ient Egyptian doctrine, see The Lion Path (Musaios
1985:21, 77-82).
158
But for the essential human faa in all this, one must return
to the earliest vision of Albert H ofmann, to what may be called
the epitome of his spiritual autobiography:
While still a child, I experienced . . . deeply euphoric
moments on my rambles through forest and meadow. It was
these experiences that shaped the main oudines of my world
view and convinced me of the existence of a miraculous,
powerful, unfathomable reality that was hidden from
everyday sight.
Intrigued by the plant world since early childhood, I
chose to specialize in research on the constituents of
medicinal plants . . .. In studying the literature connected
with my work, I became aware of the great universal
significance of visionary experience. It plays a dominant role,
not only in mysticism and the history of religion, but also in
the creative process in art, literature, and science. (Hofmann
1979, 1983).
Here are the roots of a perennial value system, for without a

sense of the sacred there is no valid approach to any
psychoaaive substances and their point is inevitably missed.
Ancient Egypt knew that well, and can still point the way to
nothing less than human metamorphosis.
1 59
Christian Ratsch
St. Anthony's Fire in Yucatan
" . . . for St. Anthony is merely a symbolic cloak, within

which the centuries have 'wrapped' their questions and
their problems."
Claudia Miiller-Ebeling ( 1983: 1)
In 1560 , the physician Gay Didier, who served at the
Antonite hospice in Saint Antoine du Viennois, wrote about the
" Fire" of St. Anthony in his Epitome Chirugieae: "The fire consists
of a mortifying gangrene of a limb, it is also called Saint
Anthony's- or St. Manial's-Fire. What is remarkable about this
disease is that it causes such pain and heat that it resembles a
real burn" (cited in Bauer 1973:22).
During the sixteenth century, St. Anthony's Fire was a
disease epidemic throughout Middle and Southern Europe.
The etiology of this devastating condition, ergot poisoning, was
first discovered in the seventeenth century. Since ergot
(Claviceps purpurea) grows almost exclusively on rye - although
other grains may also be affected (cf. Hofmann 1984) - the
disease appeared only in areas in which the population was
nourished primarily by rye (or other cereal grains) .
When the Spanish conquered the Mexican peninsula of
Yucatcin during the sixteenth century, members of the
Franciscan order aiso came into the land . They have left us with
a number of reports and lexicons (cf. Hermanns & Probst
1986). In'·one of the three most important lexicons, the so
called Viennese Dictionary, which dates to approximately 1625
(Andrews Heath de Z . 1978), there are several very remarkable
and interesting entries which concern St. Anthony and the fire
that bears his name:
metnalil kak: Juego de San Ant6n
He metnalil kake humpati uinic lie yule/
16 1
Esta enfermedad mata sin remedio (WD 306).

("Hell-Fire: St. Anthony' s Fire. The H ell-Fire burns all persons
without remedy")
Metnalil is derived from metnal. According to the same
lexicon, the word metnal (also written as mitnal) refers to the
inftemo, or "hell". The Mayan word metnal/mitnal was borrowed
from Aztecan.
Kak literally means "fire" , but is also used to refer to a
number of skin rashes and diseases. According to the Viennese
Dictionary, the derivation kakil has two meanings:
- fuego} enfermedad queda de ordinario a Ios indios
(" Fire, a disease which typically strikes the Indians").
- plaga de foego como pestilenz
("A plague of fire like a pestilence") .
Another entry reads:
- u kakil metnal: fuego de(l) infiemo
("The fire of 'hell': Hell-fire") .
These entries make it clear that the author o f the Viennese
Dictionary interpreted certain Indian forms and terms as
referring to St. Anthony's Fire, which he was acquainted with
from Europe. Yet since the connection between St. Anthony's
Fire (ergotism) and ergot had not yet been established, and
bec..ause the ergot fungus is not indigenous to Yucacin, Juego de
San Anton must have referred to another disease similar in
appearance. At the time the Dictionary was compiled , " no
actual epidemics were known to have occurred in the
Northwest of Spain, where even today ergot contains the
highest concentrations of alkaloids"; Bauer ( 1973:54) assumes,
however, that the Spanish population was aware of the dangers
of ergot and was thus able to exercise appropriate care.
The Franciscan author of the Dictionary may have seen
paintings of the "Temptation of St. Anthony" such as the one in
the Lisbon Altar (from H . Bosch); in any case, he would
certainly have been acquainted with the legends surrounding
162
St. Anthony's Fire in Yucattin
the saint. Moreover, at the time, St. Anthony's Fire was the "all
encompassing term for all forms of cold and hot gangrene"
(Bauer 1 9 7 3:29). The Spanish may have also considered the
Mayan images of their gods, images which often portrayed the
gods of the underworld (metnal!), as material manifestations of
the temptations of St. Anthony.
The word metnal may provide the key to this puzzle. The
Maya had a highly developed mythology of death and
concerned themselves greatly with death and the experience of
death. They had necromancers (uaay xibalba) who could travel at
will to metnal, the underworld, and bring back to the living
reports of the dead. In all likelihood, the Mayan view of the
underworld corresponded to Christian conceptions of hell or
of St. Anthony's Fire, which could manifest itself in either a
gangrenous form or through hallucinations. In Europe, St.
Anthony's Fire had also been known as " Hell-fire" since the
Middle Ages: "All of the stricken are affli cted with visual and
auditory hallucinations with continually recurring themes of
devils, grimacing animal faces, and fire. They believed
themselves to be in the claws of demons, and had the
impression they were being burned" (Miiller-Ebeling 1 983:1 3) .
Metnal is a word borrowed from Aztecan (from mictlan). The
Aztecs believed in a number of realms of the dead , one of
which was called mictlan tecutli. In this underworld, the souls of
the dead were subjected to terrible torments and were
nourished by "all of the poisonous herbs" ( S el er 1927:302),
especially the prickly poppy (Argemone mexicana), a narcotid
psychotropic plant (cf. Ratsch 1 98 5a) . The Aztecs possessed a
remarkable botanical knowledge and were thoroughly familiar
with the "toxic" properties of many plants. They knew that
such plants as toloache (Datura inoxia and D. stramonium) could
elicit strong hallucinations accompanied by experiences of
death or dying.
It may be that fuego de San Ant6n was a term for Datura
poisoning. This leads to many symptoms also found with
convulsive ergotism (hallucinations, spasms, paralysis), together
163
with a reddening and/or drying out of the skin, fever, and

feelings of heat ( Roth et al. 1 98 4 : IV- 1 D ,6 F) . Datura , in Mayan,
is xtohku, " the way to the gods" ( Ratsch & Probst 1 985), perhaps
because it may be lethal. Before death occurs, however, a
person experiences hallucinations and states of confusion
which an outsider could very well interpret as a batde with
demons. 1 While there is no evidence that gangrenous
symptoms occur with Datura poisoning, this is not unlikely, for
these effects can also be elicited by non-ergot alkaloids, e.g. ,
DOB (cf. Shulgin 1 98 1 ) .
Judging from the entries i n the Viennese Dictionary,
however, there must have been epidemic forms in Yucacin
similar to those of gangrenous ergotism. Reports by two
Spaniards, Cogolludo and Landa, indicate that St. Anthony was
already revered in Yucacin during the early phases of the
colonial period . The conquistadores erected a chapel to St.
Anthony on top of the ruins of the temple to the god Ah Chun
Caan , "the root of heaven" . Ah kak nexoi ("he who twists himself
around the fire" ), the god of the celebration of the month of Zip
(in the Mayan calendar) , was identified with St. Anthony
(Ratsch et al. 1 98 6 : 2 7 3 ). During the colonial period, there were
many epidemics which were subsumed under the term
pestilence; the Maya referred to these as maya cimlal, or " Maya
death" (cf. Ratsch 1 98 5 : 28 2 ). Leprosy was present in Mexico
during the sixteenth century (Schendel 1 98 6), a fact which
would also have been known to the Franciscans. In Europe, this
disease was never associated with St. Anthony's Fire. This leaves
us with syphilis, the origins of which are still unknown (cf.
Baumler 1 9 7 6). When syphilis began claiming many victims in
sixteenth �entury Europe, St. Anthony became the patron saint
of those affiicted by the new disease ( Miiller-Ebeling 1 98 3: 7 5 ) .
For the Christians, the "scourge of lust" w as seen as a heavenly
1 Towards the end of the Middle Ages, thorn apple and other plants used by
witches (belladonna, mandrake, henbane, hellebore, wolfsbane, hemp) were
considered to be plants of Saturn, and Saturn was identified with St. Anthony
(Miiller-Ebeling 1985).
1 64
St. Anthony's Fire in Yucatan
warning against vice.

Wasfuego de San Ant6n a metaphorical term for syphilis? Did
the Franciscans wish to counter the sins of the Indians, or even
protect them from temptation? In Yucatan today, syphilis is
called u k'ohd'nil xch'uplal, the "woman's disease" ; and u k'ak'il
metnal, "the fires of the underworld" , burn those who are
k'ebd'n , or " sinful". Ergot is still unknown, and thorn apple
remains the plant used by native healers to journey "in the way
of the gods". Just as St. Anthony's Fire has been extinguished
in Europe, fuego de San Ant6n has also died out in Yucacin.
1 65
Portrait ofa smoking spider monkey with a cocoa fmit in its hand. Taken from a
vasefrom the classical Mayan period. The monkey was the sym bol oflascivious
ness and sexual obsession. He nourished himselfon aphrodisiac cocoa fruits and
smoked an intoxicating cha maf, most likely filled with a mixture of tobacco and
datura leaves.
(drawing by Nikolai K. Gntbe; the vase is in a private collection in New

York)
1 66
Claudia M iille r- Ebeling
The Re turn to Matter - The
Temptations of O dilon Redon
" Somewhere, there must be primitive forms whose
images are ideas. If they could be seen, it would be
possible to understand the relationship between matter
and mind and the nature of being. "
(Gustave Flaubert 1 9 7 9 : 1 7 7)
In their dealings with paintings, art historians are faced

with three categories of reality: social criticism, pure aesthetics,
and visionary. The latter case includes images of internal
realities whose realness is generally not recognized. Yet what is
an image of reality? Which reality is the most real? In particular
for the field of art - and in this case painting - the following
statement by Dr. Albert Hofmann has been most profitable for
me: "While there is just one outer space, there are as many
inner spaces as there are people" ( 1 98 4 : 1 1 ) . Outer space is that
which we commonly refer to as reality; it is the reality that is
presented to the eye of the painter. Inner space is the mixer
which links external reality with individual "mental and
creative capabilities", with "imagination, memory, the mind".
An artist's picture is thus the realization of his inner space;
regardless of which of the three aforementioned realities lies at
its basis. Yet it is also the materialized child of his idea , his
mind. When a picture encounters the retina of a viewer, then
the inner space of the painter, its material realization, and the
inner space of the viewer all fuse together in a process that is set
in motion by pleasure or displeasure. Here, at the very latest, it
becomes clear how many dimensions of reality are actually
involved in the process of percep tion .
In this article, I will look into the relationship between the

inner and outer spaces in Odilon Redon's "Temptation of St.
1 67
Anthony" . Painting is the product of creative energy; it also

provides evidence of a perpetration. In many of the paintings of
European an, we find Christian or mythological themes . Often,
these have no other purpose than to legitimize an approach to
topics that are taboo (e.g. , depending upon the epoch,
landscapes, nudity, the profane world) . The picture becomes
an alibi . The internal struggle with himself and with society has
often led an artist to choose the "Temptation of St. Anthony" as
his theme. Searching for a metaphor to make his own most
personal experiences understandable by others and thus free
them from the shell of individuality, the painter may have
chanced upon this legend of a saint. One anist who did was
Odilon Redon, who - inspired by Flauben's TemlJtation and
basing his interpretation upon this literary model - devoted
three series of lithographs to this theme during a period of eight
years, from 1 8 8 8 to 1 8 96. In Redon's graphics, we repeatedly
encounter single-celled organisms, mollusks, microorganisms
- the most primitive cells of matter, which have been shaped
into visions of terror. It is striking how Redon' s anistic fantasy is
ignited by precisely those passages of Flauben' s text in which
the author confronts his Anthony with the origins of life - with
matter.
Of the fony-three lithographs which compose these series, I
would like to present three drawings for closer consideration:
- Series 2, Sheet 4: "Somewhere there must be primordial
shapes".
- Series 3 , Sheet 1 3 : "And that eyes without heads were
floating like mollusks".
- Series 3 , Sheet 22: "The beasts of the sea, round like
leather bottles" .
Series 2, Sheet 4 : From out of darkness, a trace of light flows over
the sheet. It reveals undefinable lines - hatchings, tracks which
end abruptly. Coming from the darkness, a being enters the
light. We see a head with an enormous eye. A head that is
neither man nor beast, behind which snakes a tail cut off by the
1 68
The Return to Matter - The Temptations of Odilon Redon
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1 69
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1 70
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171
edges of the picture. It is not a real head. It lacks hair - with the
exception of the shaggy growth above the eye - it lacks a nose,
neck, and ears, while the mouth is the mere hint of a line, a
shadow which vaguely appears as one. With its tadpole-head
and whip-like appendage, it looks most like an enlarged
representation of a spermatozoa. Its eyes are empty, and yet
fixed upon something. It is the original form in the midst of
emptiness.
Series J, Sheet 1 J : This picture refers to the passage " headless
eyes . . . like mollusks". In an undefinable space, which is
structured imperceptibly by a shadow on the right side of the
picture and circular and linear scratches, four small, round
spherical and lentiform shapes are floating up from the depths.
Three larger, more differentiated spherical beings are
swimming in the foreground . These three all possess eyes
located in the middle or to the side. It appears as if they have
been drawn in different stages of biogenesis. The eye of the
figure to the left appears to be in the original state of cellular
division, the two eyes of the molecular being to the right appear
to be those of a lower animal. The form in the middle displays
vaguely anthropomorphic features . A face is recognizable,
which is clasped by a sinewy form; it has a flat nose, a mouth
which disappears into the darkness of the round form, and
blankly-staring eyes . It is this being alone which robs the
observer of the illusion that he · is looking through a
mtcroscope.
Series J, Sheet 22: The figure which gently flutters like a jellyfish
from the middle to the front of the picture and lazily spills
across the middle of the sheet, is devoid of all anthropo
morphic features. It is movement become matter, vanishing
into amorphousness. It lures the observer into the dark middle,
almost inviting him to become matter as well, to dissipate into
undefinable space, whose only other inhabitants are dark,
sphere-like shapes.
The forms are isolated in all three of the sheets. They are
1 72
either separated from one another, with no points of contact to

the others, or they are left alone in their solitude. The head in
the lower-right of the second sheet appears to have itself in a
strangle hold. The sinewy form which clasps it in a semicircle
separates it from its neighbors. All of the beings are floating
alone in space. They stare without sight and without intention.
They gape, they do not comprehend . For they are matter - not
mind. In their stares, there is just a trace of something
melancholily frightening. Only the third of the sheets contains
a suggestion that two of the figures are touching one
another.
The protagonist appears in almost none of the graphic
prints which make up the "Temptation. " The temptations are
present, but not the tempted . Loneliness and isolation is
omnipresent, especially in the three prints we have considered .
But where is St. Anthony?
St. Anthony stands directly before the webs of temptation.
He is the painter, Odilon Redon. He translates Flauben's
written visions, which he "wrung from himself with screams,
with sweat, in bitter solitude" (Foucault 1 9 7 9 : 2 1 9) , into a
language of pictures which provide new formulations for the
tools of temptation that have been handed down in the Canon.
Like Flauben, who admitted in 1 8 52 that " I myself have been
St. Anthony" ( 1 902 :Vol. 2,362) , Redon also feels himself akin to
the ascetic. He strives for the highest fulfillment in an, just as
the saint strived for illumination. He suffers from a lack of
recognition, just as Anthony suffered from his initial lack of
fulfillment. His uncompromising search for his own, personal
form of expression drives him into isolation, the solitude of the
hermit, where he is transformed into a wild man (Miiller
Ebeling 1 985). And here, as before, he is visited by visions of
torment -. which only begin to lose their horror when they
have been banished onto paper. The identification with the
lonely, ascetic saint - who, as personification of Saturn, also
guides the destinies of both anists and hermits - gains the
advantage of a self-elected solitude from the isolation that
1 73
comes from without. Flaubert spoke of his behavior, by which

he removed himself from social control , in the following
manner: " I am certain that there is a monk within me. I have
often admired those fellows who . . . lived alone; that was a nice
slap in the face of humanity, social life, usefulness, and the
general welfare" ( Flaubert 1 902:Vol. 3 ,396) . Redon comes to
much the same awareness: "The artist definitely knows that
those works which he creates in solitude reflect and reveal him
most exactly. Every creation hides a certain darkness, a secret of
its own. Only in solitude, free from the demands of the outside
world which force the artist to dissemblance, can he forcefully
experience his hidden depths" (Redon 1 9 7 1 : 1 02).
The theme of the "Temptation of St. Anthony" is a
metaphor for the situation of the artist in society. The artist
shares his hermitage with the solitude of the saint. The
"Temptation" provides a conventional alibi for the artist's lack
of convention. This finds expression in the domain of words.
The sentence "I am tempted to believe you" implies against
"my better judgement" or "in contrast to shared truths" . T he
person who succumbs to temptation violates his own system of
values , or that which he has acquired from his society. This
dilemma confronts the artist more than any other. If he wishes
to support himself through his art, then he is forced to conform
to certain cultural values. And yet, he must also reject these and
follow his own inner voice in order to rise above artistic
mediocrity. This is the dilemma which creates art. No matter
which of the voices he chooses to follow - in choosing, he
succumbs to temptation. Or he becomes a saint, beyond both
good and evil.
What constitutes the "hidden depths" of the artist for
Redon? What favors the ability to recognize contours there?
The attractiveness of this theme, especially for artists towards
the end of the nineteenth century (who tended' to concern
themselves with profane subjects) , lies in the possibility of
giving concrete expression to invisible visions and exorcise
afflictions visualized as demons . It aids them in their need to
1 74
extend their artistic expression, to give new forms to the

imaginary which are able to stand up to those of past epochs
and cultures . The painter does not merely copy the inner
screen of fantasy, but rather searches for sources which can fed
into his imagination. He searches for stimulants, so that the
nebulous forms of the imagination become as visible to the
inner eye as the chimeras of the temp tation of St. Anthony.
Solitude provides an important stimu fus. Yet what use is there
in a flood of visions, when they merely bubble up amorphously
to the surface? What happens when the power of imagination
dominates the power of representation?
Redon and Flaubert were misunderstood by their
contemporaries. Redon's "Noirs" (which includes the series of
the "Temptation") were considered to be the "products of
sickness and delirium" (Huysmans 1 98 1 : 1 42) because of the
manner in which they were characterized in the bible of the cult
of decadence, Huysmans' Against the Grain. Flaubert's Temptation
was viewed as "the protocol of a dream set free" (Foucault
1 9 7 9 : 2 1 9) . Each defended himself vehemently against the
manner in which he was received . " It cannot be denied that I
am capable of creating the illusion of life even in my most
unreal creations. My ability lies in allowing improbable beings
to live according to the laws of probability, like humans. To the
extent this is possible, I do this by placing the logic of the visible
in the service of the invisible" (Redon 197 1 :25). Expertise keeps
the monsters under control.
Redon's approach to the "little infinity" of microorganisms
which we encountered in the drawings discussed above took
place with the aid of Arman Clavaud. This botanist had
discovered that animal life began with the fenilization of a
plant. The scientist acquainted the painter with the world of the
microscope, as well as with Spinoza, Hindu poetry, and
contemporary literature. This multiplicity of interests, and the
scientist's unerring search for the most primitive life-form (a
search which he did not abandon in spite o f his colleagues' lack
of support) , fascinated the lonely painter. Redon articulated his
1 75
inner images with the aid of his newly won microscopic

knowledge. Trained through work with the microscope, his
eyes burned the precisely viewed inner images onto paper. The
microscope paved his way into the interior of matter and into
the mind of creative man, who opens new structures in this
way. Visions and dreams flow without form in the artist's
interior. They swell to an ocean which flows into a work of art,
i.e., in artistic creation. Flaubert needed the knowledge of
centuries in order to tame his flow of images. This knowledge
did not evoke the images; it merely made it possible to provide
concrete expressions for that which was still invisible.
"After exerting myself to precisely reproduce a pebble or
blade of grass . . . or something of living or non-organic nature,
I am mentally at the point of boiling; it is then that I feel the
need to be creative, to surrender to the representation of the
imaginary" (Redon 1 9 7 1 :25). Redon populated his inner space
with spermatozoa, flagellates, with intestines, blood corpuscles ,
with cells and ova - as in the three sheets from the
"Temptation" . In doing so, his psychic inner space was cleared
of the ghosts of deliria in an act of purification which resulted
from exact knowledge and not mental derangement.
In his book Realms of the Human Unconscious, Stanislav Grof
( 1 9 7 5) describes astonishing and often arduous walks through
consciousness with the aid of LSD . St. Anthony, who became
the patron saint of St. Anthony's Fire during the Middle Ages, is
the spiritual ancestor of LSD . The p o p ulace of Central Europe
was still being victimized by ergotism at the beginning of the
twentieth century (cf. Bauer 1 9 7 3). People were tormented by
visions similar to those of St. Anthony. In contrast to these
victims, however, St. Anthony was able to control his
hallucinations. As a result, he became the patron saint against
the epidemic.
Grof describes an LSD state in which a "spatial constriction
of consciousness is linked with its functional expansion"
( 1 9 7 8 :2 1 3) . In this way, the psychedelic voyager is able to enter
the level of cellular consciousness and to identify himself with
1 76
both egg and sperm. A protocol of an LSD session contains the

entry: "The consciousness of this spermatozoa was a
completely autonomous microcosm, an independent universe
. . . I could perceive that its physiological structure (that of the
D NA) also contained elements of ancestral memories,
primeval, phylogenetic forms , basic forms of historical events,
myths, and archetypal images" ( 1 9 7 8 :2 1 5) . The spermatozoid
forms which we encounter in Redon's "Temptations" arose
when consciousness was constricted to that which drove Redon
to artistic "birth" ; simultaneously, they were functionally
expanded into the "modern demons" of the "Temptation of St.
Anthony". Merely by identifying with St. Anthony, Redon
touched upon layers of the unconscious which only become
accessible to other persons through LSD .
The theme of the "Temptation" is based upon a dualistic
view of the world. The pivotal point is the transcendence of
mind over matter, a goal that many of the artists of the fin de
siecle strove for. Yet no matter how high an artist may soar up
into the oxygen-poor heights of the purely mental and aesthetic
world of art, his feet can never fully escape the material ground
below. For, in the words of Albert H ofmann "each of the forms
that have been created in outer space . . . is the realization of an
idea" ( 1 984: 1 4) .
Redon also admits the parentage o f mind and matter:
" H ere (in solitude) - more than in any other surroundings,
the artist may surrender himself up to his stimulations and
irradiate with his mind the matter he has woken and unfolded"
( 1 9 7 1 : 1 02) . The Romantic view of science which Redon
adopted from Clavaud also helped to overcome this dualism:
"The Romantics are said to possess the better of the two worlds,
the material and the mental, the inner and outer worlds, for
both are linked together inseparably" (Viola 1 962/64:49).
In a lecture on inner and outer space, Albert H ofmann
pointed out that the Christian mystics interpreted the
emotional experience of the suspension of the dichotomy
between subject and object as Unio Mystica ( 1 9 84: 1 5) . As long
177
as St. Anthony maintained this dichotomy by attempting to

fight off the material aspect, he was not able to experience this
illumination. The surrender to the temptation to become
matter himself, to recognize that mind is present in matter and
provides it with its idea; it is this temptation to break. through
the rigid, Christian, dualist walls which leads to the Unio
Mystica that is the goal of the saints. Only the last of the three
sheets does not communicate the feeling of complete isolation.
The fanning movement has something inviting about it - to
sink into the foundations of matter, just as Anthony did: " Oh!
Joy! Joy! , I have seen the birth of life, the beginnings of
movement. . . . I would like . . . to divide myself and enter
everything, to effuse in scents, to develop like the plants, to flow
like water . . . to take on every form, to penetrate into every
atom, to sink into the foundations of matter - to be matter"
(Flaubert 1 9 79: 1 8 9).
For a Christian, seeing the origins of life in "ciliated spheres
as big as the head of a pin", in short, in matter, is the greatest of
blasphemies. Is not God the creator of life? Or is every
"tempted" person a creative god?
178
Terence McKenna
Among Ayahuasquera
Information flows through the multiple continuum of

being, seeking equilibrium yet paradoxically carrying images of
ways its flow toward entropy is locally reversed by a being or
society or phenomenon. These images become concepts and
discoveries . We are immersed in a holographic ocean of places
and ideas. This ocean of images and the intricacy of their
connections is infinite. We understand it to whatever depth we
are able. This is perhaps why great genius proceeds by apparent
leaps. The revolutionary idea which inspires the genius comes
upon one complete and entire by itself from the ocean of
speculative mind. We seek the intuitive leap that reveals the very
mechanism of that other dimension. The need for such a leap
for humanity will grow as we- exhaust complexity in all realms
save the microphysical and the psychological. At present my
method is immersion in the images and self-examination of the
phenomena, i.e. taking psilocybin mushrooms and pondering
just what this may all mean, with confidence that time will at
least deepen understanding if not answer all questions.
My provisional acceptance of this view of the dimension
' seen' in hallucinogenic trance approximates the worldwide
' prim itive' view that we are somehow eo- m ingled with a ' spirit
world' .
Is the access to another dimension which the psilocybin
mushroom makes available something so uniquely peculiar to
it that it is reasonable to associate the phenomenon specifically
with a single species of mushroom? Or is this strange world a
thing unique to the chemical psilocybin, wherever it occurs in
nature? R. Cordon Wasson has written that when he presented
tablets of psilocybin to the mushroom shamaness of H uatla,
Maria Sabina, the old curandera avowed 'The spirit of the
mushroom is in the little pill. ' .
1 79
In my confrontations with the personified Other that is

resident in the mushroom, part of its message was its species
specific uniqueness and its desire for a symbiotic relationship
with Man. At other times it presented itself not so much as a
personage but as a giant network which many sorts of beings in
different parts of the universe were using for their own
purposes. I felt like a two-year-old child who struggles with the
dilemma: 'Are there little people in the radio?' Perhaps the
psilocybin-revealed dimension is a kind of network of informa
tion and images, or something even more substantial.
To answer such questions it seemed to me that it would be
necessary to explore another plant hallucinogen, taxonomically
unrelated to the psilocybin-containing fungi, yet chemically
related to psilocybin at the level of molecular structure. The
drug that I had in mind and that perfectly fits these criteria, is
yage or ayahuasca. This is a brew whose chief component is a
huge j ungle liana or vine, a woodly creeper that attains to
gigantic size in the Amazon Basin of the New World. The brews
of the Banisteriopsis liana have been known to science longer
than have the mushroom cults of Mexico, but they are no less
mysterious for that, even in today's overexplored world.
In 1 85 1 the British botanist and explorer Richard Spruce,
comrade of Alfred Russell Wallace, penetrated the upper Rio
Negro Basin, heartland of Amazonas . He found the Tokanoan
Indians of the Rio Vaupes using a strange drug to cause trances
an d p rophetic divination. The drug was called caapi, and
colorful and terrifying hallucinations were said to characterize
its effects. Spruce made careful collections and later wrote: ' I
saw, not without surprise, that i t belonged to the order
Malpighiaceae and the genus Banisteria , of which I made it out
to be an undescribed species and therefore called it Banisteria
caapi. '
Fantastic accounts have characterised the Banisteriopsis drug
since its discovery. The first description of the mysterious drug's
effects was reported in 1858 when the exp lorer Vi ll avincencio
took it among the tribes of the upper Rio Napo in Am � onian
1 80
Among Ayahuasquera
Ecuador. This area is frequently implicated in reports oJ

admixture plants, which are other plants added to the basi<
Banisteriopsis brew to strengthen the hallucinations.
Chemists who early attempted to isolate the alkaloids in B
caapi gave their compound the romantic name telepathine,
reflecting the deep forest reputation of yage as a genui ne!)
telepathic drug. This is an idea most recently given impetus b)
F. Bruce Lamb in his Wizard oj the Upper Amazon, in which Lamb's
informant details collective trance sessions where all par
ticipants shared the same vision. So yagt; is not without a
gnosis of its own. It has a reputation ao; a curing panacea and a
powerful hallucinogen, bringing visions of strange cities, jungle
beasts, and shamanic voyages to the heart of the Milky Way.
The great ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes inspired
my decision to seek ayahuasca and to compare its experiential
dimension to that of psilocybin when he wrote ' . . . we stand
merely on the threshold of our investigations into the botany,
ethnology, history, pharmacology, chemistry and therapeutics
o f that complex of intoxicants known as ayahuasca, caapi, or
yage.'
Our expedition to Peru would consist ofjust three persons:
myself, Kat, who was our photographer, linguist and botanical
artist, and Richard , an old friend and a medical historian with a
special interest in folk medicine and shamanistic curing.
Neither Kat nor Richard had been into equatorial jungle before,
but we prepared as carefully as possible and eagerly awaited the
day when we would be whisked south to what we hoped would
be warm jungles and high adventure.
Reality at last outran apprehension - on the morning of
March 6th 1 9 7 6, we arrived in Lima. As we flew south from Los
Angeles that night, Comet West was impressively visible from
29 ,000 feet up. I took it as a good omen for our trip. Our arrival
was typically unsmooth - we were forced to linger several days
in order to get our shotgun properly registered, a necessary
ordeal since going unarmed into the forest o nly invites di ffi cul ties .
In a matter of days after arriving in Iquitos we found
181
ourselves at the mouth of the Rio Napo, Loreto, Peru. Events

moved very quickly. We synchronistically and totally unexpec
tedly encountered Lord Dark, nicknamed for his piercing stare,
an old acquaintance of mine from Colombia, he was now a river
pilot with his own boat. We accepted his offer of passage up the
N apo. We, he and his female companion, and three young
Germans travelled for three days before we came to the mouth
of the N apo, with hopes of reaching Atun Cocha, a Yaqua village
on an oxbow lake, later that day. Our situation was an abyss of
ambiguity. The strangeness of simply being in the Amazon in
combination with the 'chance' encounter with Lord Dark had
made for a literary denseness of possibilities . I accepted the
situation because hourly we moved further up the N apo, deeper
into ayahuasca country, and nearer our own goals for the
voyage. But I hoped we would be able to pleasendy pan from
this odd boatman, the same who accompanied me and my
other companions nearly to La Chorrera on that distant
previous trip into the jungle. Finally we paned company with
our unkempt Charon. Fortunately we managed to pan on
strained good terms, so involved was he in a financial squabble
with his German passengers. The boat returned down the
N apo, leaving us for the first time alone and without immediate
onward transportation. We were at a small village some six
hours down river from Masan called Fancho Playa. There we
dried our clothes and recovered from the ordeal of five days of
cramped boat travel. The villagers had s hown us a house with a
sound roof and an attached cooking area and there we were
quite comfortable as we adapted and familiarized ourselves
with the environs . I was disappointed in the degree of
acculturation among the people living along the river. Though
it is not a route of trade, nevertheless traditional lifestyles have
either faded or moved deeper into the jungle.
The Amazon is full of reverses and surprises. Our stay in
Fancho Playa was difficult. We were plagued by mosquitos,
chiggers and biting black flies . Days of abuse by these pests
brought us to long fevered nights passed as in a waking dream .
1 82
Among Ayahuasq uera
In spite of the difficulties, which were trials indeed and were to

force us to new plans, we did learn that brujos with the ability to
kill and cure and with gnosis of ayahuasca are common in that
area. So well known are they that our informant was a child of
six whom we met while walking in the forest with one of the men
of the village, searching out cumala trees. Cumala is a generic
term that includes the Virola species and related genera. We
were too uncertain of how things stood to ask after. ayahuasca.
Our difficulties with insects and dysentery forced us to
reassess our first venture into the Rio Napo. There were many
things we needed but did not have. Even though we had located
a veritable nest of self-alleged ayahuasqueros, we could not dp
any work unless we re-equipped ourselves against the insects
that accompanied the unseasonal persistence of the rains.
Accordingly we made plans to leave Fancho Playa shortly before
dawn the next day on a launch bound for Iquitos. On the eve of
our departure we learned of an old woman in the village who
had a knowledge of ayahuasca. In addition, the people with
whom we shared some aquariadiente, the local distilled alcohol,
turned out to be village characters with a reputation for using
ayahuasca. We were assured by the people that every settlement
on these rivers has its own ayahuasquero .
After a rainy return to Iquitos and a number of days of
being worn out by our our illnesses, we came to our lowest
point. Our money was flowing away and we had few hints as to
where to contact anyone knowledgeable about ayahuasca.
Finally, after several futile attempts, we were able to find
someone who could point out to us the home of Manuel
Cordova Rios, whose story is told in Wizard of the Upper Amazon .
He was ninety one but looked sixty, except for cataract-clouded
eyes. He vehemently insisted that the ayahuasqueros of Iquitos
are largely charlatans. Cordova Rios was quick to point out that
it is not necessarily the deep forest indian who is master of the
ayahuasca gnosis - that it is simply a matter of finding someone
who knows how to prepare it. He urged us to look into the
Pucallpa area, and gave us the name of a woman who learned
1 83
her an from him many years ago, Juana Gonzales Obie, a leper
whose affliction was arrested using jungle remedies, but not
before she lost much of her hands and feet. Sr. Rios assured us
that she loved to prepare ayahuasca for people and had helped
gringos in the past. Since all other trails had grown cold, our
meeting with Sr. Rios gave our quest a new direction. We
decided to fly to Pucallpa hoping to find this woman and to be
found acceptable by her as observers.
We anticipated that a shift several hundred miles southward
would shed some optimism on our somewhat illness-wearied
and expense-riddled search. It was difficult amid the strain and
bustle of travel to keep in mind the strangeness of the object of
our search and the vision that would cenainly be a pan of our
experience if we succeeded . Our meeting with Cordova Rios
had seemed decisive, since he was the person who had
described the telepathiC collective trances that are a pan of what
we hoped to validate.
We arrived in Pucallpa shonly after dark. Our first im
pression was of a typical frontier town, more rough and ready
than Iquitos, too raw and jumbled to have much charm. It is a
sprawl of brick, monar and corrugated metal roofs . But for its
size it could be any of many river hamlets in the Amazon. No oil
companies were yet active out of Pucallpa and so the clash of
money and tradition was less noticeable than in Iquitos . The
streets were unpaved and we awoke the next morning to a cold
rain (out of season, we were assurred) that had turned the town
to a sea of red mud . Our first round of inquiries was completely
fruitless - whatever Juana Gonzales' situation was, it was not
overly publicized. It seemed that so far our trip had been a
series of wrong moves and wasted effons. Even in Pucallpa we
had no certitude that we would find what we were looking for.
Yet we had decided to continue until all our money was spent if
we could generate no other conclusion. We continued to hope
to find an ayahuasquero and learn whatever we could of the
craft.
After two days of fruitless searching our morale had drifted
1 84
Among Ayahuasq uera
even lower. It had remained impossible to locate Juana

Gonzales , but in our search for her we inquired about other
ayahuasqueros who might know of her. We were lead to the Bar
H uallaga, a country tienda at kilo meter twelve on the highway to
Lima, where we met Don Fidel Mosombite, a quiet but intense
man whose home and chacra, a field of slash and burn cleared
for growing food, were located nearby. As we climbed off the
collectivo in the midday sun we were swept into the scene in
progress on the dirt porch of the tienda. An older man was
drunk and stood raving; first he greeted us, then sang the praises
of our man, his amigo, a maestro, who sat silently near)Jy saying
nothing. 'We are one blood . Today la gente - un sangre. El
maestro brought me to my life. In Chiclayo, my home,
ayahuasca brought no visions, but with this man . . .' And so on,
very hard for me to follow. The man we had come to see said
nothing, but occasionally nodded agreement. H is air of calm
intelligence and disdain for the drinking going on was singular.
He seemed near forty, powerfully built, his eyes so dark they
appeared all pupil. My overall impression was of intelligence
and self control, nothing theatrical, nothing studied. The drunk
older man told of ayahuasca journeys that Sr. Mosombite had
made with Argentine doctors and other foreigners . The
difference of the brews throughout Peru was mentioned and I
asked concerning the necessity of chacruna as part of the brew to
produce visions. Sr. M . confirmed this. Chacruna is the local
term for a Psychotria species, Psychotria viridis , whose DMT
potentiates intense hallucination in combination with harmine
and other beta-carbolines.
Talk led to more talk and gradually the impression grew that
here was someone whose ambiente seemed correct for the
mystery that he claimed to understand . I mused that this
person, living peripherally to teeming Pucallpa and seeming an
intellectual and respected professional to his peers, fit the
typical profile of a shaman. We departed the small roadside bar
and went alone with the ayahuasquero to the nearby casa of the
herb-dealing old woman at whose stall in a Pucallpa market we
1 85
were first advised to seek Sr. Mosombite. As we walked Sr.

Mosombite openly discussed the plants we passed . 'Specialities
of the old woman, who grows them all near her house. ' Directly
adjoining the house was a shed of bare-board construction, a
place, we were told, where ayahuasca was taken every Saturday
night. The room was not different from that of a small jungle
church or school - it was in fact both . We talked at length with
the old woman of the house and with the ayahuasquero. We
spent the night and slept in an auditory environment of farm
sounds, sounds of the nearby j ungle and the occasional passing ·
of trucks on the nearby highway. At the invitation of Sr.

Mosombite we decided to return to take his ayahuasca with
them . The stress on visions led me to hope that we were closing
distance with the experiences we sought in coming to Peru . The
feeling then, since we had recently had so many disappoint
ments, was one of expectation tinged with the nervousness that
attends any challenging hallucinogen. If all went well we would
stay with this new circle of people and gather as much plant
material and information as we could . That became our firm
intention.
Finally the night came when at the casa of the herb woman
and in the company of Don Fidel and another shaman, his
nephew, we had our first ayahuasca experience. We arrived in
the late afternoon and relaxed and made small talk until eight
o'clock when it was thoroughly dark. Then the shaman smoked a
tobacco pipe of unusual construction, blowing smoke into a
brown glass quart bottle that contained the ayahuasca and
whistling through his teeth. The bottle was passed around , and
we were assured that we would be sick in half an hour. Beyond
slight discomfort none of us had any stomach difficulties. We
were all praised for having bodies so clean that we could hold
the ayahuasca. Don Fidel and the old man that had been with
him at our first meeting both vomited , the older man near the
half hour mark and Don Fidel many hours later. At thirty
minutes I felt myself slipping into a lulling numbness. My
senses were alert, and I felt at ease and comfortable in the
1 86
Among Ayahuasq uera
strange and unfamiliar surroundings. The singing began about

ten minutes later, inteiWoven walls of sound by which the singer
led and developed the hallucinations. As we were transported
by the singing, sometimes Quechua, sometimes Spanish,
sometimes monotonal chanting, hours passed .
My mood shifted from one of apprehension of a reputedly
powerful psychedelic drug unknown to me to disappointment
that the dose was apparently insufficient to trigger the antici
pated flood of visions . At a pause in the singing we discussed our
roughly similar states of mind with the maestros. We discussed
the difficulties of a first 'flight' , differences of diet, or chemical
poisons that might be interfering with 'la purga'. Don Fidel
questioned us about our drug use. Did we know marij uana? We
described our devotion to Cannabis and mushrooms and drew
praise for our habit of taking only plant drugs. We again drank
the ayahuasca. It was suggested that perhaps marij u ana would
help us concentrate on the ayahuasca even as the tobacco
helped them to do so. We had previously been too uncertain of
ourselves to smoke but in a moment I hauled out our Oaxacan
pollen and sent it around. Don Fidel abstained, Don Jose held
his toke d own and, eyes running tears , proclaimed it truly
'fuerte' . We put the candle out and again the song-induced walls
of nearly visible sound enwrapped us. Hours after the
beginning of the trip, my mind, relaxed by the familiar taste of
Cannabis, flowed out into a hallucination-filled space. The
synergistic effect of smoking Cannabis is apparently necessary
for deep rus hes of visionary images on lower doses of
ayahuasca, as it is with other hallucinogens. The singing showed
the way through the billowing hypnogogia. I roved and scanned
like a swimming fish caught in a spiral dance in a sea of
tryptamine images, the mundane and the unimaginable
crowding for my attention.
O ne moment among the many hours of the first ay ahuasca

night is amusing to relate. In the nearly absolute darkness of our
meeting place the s ingi ng was occasionally punctuated by
1 87
popping mouth noises, strange explosions of air. At one point I

heard a low puff of air and immediately felt a sharp tingling on
my right hand . I looked down and had the visual and tactile
sensation of a blue tingling circle of light on my hand . I reached
for the center of the sensation expecting a sliver or quill. The
thought of curare came and went in my mind, triggering a mild
alarm easy to talk myself out of. But the sensation remained and
grew: a spinning disc of blue foil hanging incandescent in the
dark, growing larger, then gradually fading. It was a vision, of
course, but it is not impossible that the sensation was caused by
something like a tsentsek, a psycho-physical power carrier
moved by the will, and perhaps by the breath, of the
shaman.
Don Fidel and his nephew are shamans who understand the
vegetable drugs as a means to explore and understand the
mechanics of mind . Don Fidel especially seemed without
elitism or any wish to obscure what he knew. They both
unhesitatingly answered our every question. 'Where are the old
wild ayahuasca plants in virgin forest? ' 'At kilometer 29 and
32.' was their open reply. What about admixture plants besides
chacruna? Don Jose recognized my description of Diploterys
cabrerana . He did not call it Oco-yage but knew it as puca
huasca, and said he would try to get some. He was concerned
that our hallucinations were not clear and definite. 'We must
concentrate on Jesus Christ,' he said . 'Concentrate on the fecund
white stone filled with light. ' He knew a woman in Yarina Cocha
who had puca-huasca, a plant we would later explore in order to
learn to cure.
The songs continued for many hours, songs declaiming the
shaman's perceptions that we, like them, were sound and
healthy, good persons for ayahuasca. There were songs for
absent persons with problems; a song for a young woman
present to have the dark effects of some dubious but unspecified
act expunged; songs of marijuana, another curing plant to
explore; songs of oration, invocation and prayer. There were
even songs asking the Lord to move the hearts of patients to pay
1 88
Among Ayahuasquera
their bills; these latter on the part of Don Jose, the nephew.
We paid 300 soles or six dollars for the songs of the
medicos and for the ayahuasca itself. In Yarina Cocha, raw
ayahuasca is 250 soles per kilo and chacruna is 1 50 soles per kilo.
(The ayahuasca is made in the ratio two and a half parts fresh
ayahuasca to one part chacruna.) We were happy to divert our
money from the overpriced accommodations of Pucallpa into
the rural people's hands. They understood our sincerity and
limitations. There was a sense of shared approach and of
different kinds of understanding mutually reinforcing each
other. 'The understanding that comes from understanding . . . '
was a phrase that I heard in my mind many times that first
ayahuasca night. It is a description of the gnosis which plant
psychedelics bring; a standing within things yet somehow
beyond them, an eidetic reduction which transcends subject
and object. The ayahuasca way of understanding was opened
before us. Though that night we only lightly brushed the power
of ayahuasca, after I was able to relax I felt that, given sufficient
opportunities, we would eventually be able to make our way
deeply into the mystery.
The next day we would make collections of other medicinal
plants and on Saturday, two days later, we would photograph
every stage in the preparation of a riew batch of ayahuasca and
again voyage with it that night. Eventually a number of
possibilities would loom. We hoped to make a pilgrimage to an
old wild grandfather plant in the forest. An attempt would be
made to collect and try various admixture plants . The shaman
claimed to be familiar with the use of the mushroom, although
he preferred ayahuasca. Is the use of the psilocybin mushroom
in the Pucallpa region a traditional folkway, is it something
learned recently from travellers familiar with the Mexican Indian
use of the mushrooms? How long has the mushroom been
taken in Peru? Is it possible it antedates the introduction of
Stropharia in the New World? Is it possible that its use is pre
Conquest? If the latter, then it is the first time such an ancient
folk use of psilocybin mushrooms has been suspected in South
1 89
America, or anywhere outside of Mexico. These are fascinating

questions , and the possibility exists of finding some concrete
answers. Many experiences and much work lay ahead but
having found the path of ayahuasca and having been judged fit
to follow it, we were filled with high anticipation of the things to
be learned and seen in the weeks ahead. Our job was to refine
our powers of observation so that we would make as much of
the opportunity as possible.
Pucallpa is far more a jungle outpost than is Iquitos. Iquitos
had a large Mestizo population while Pucallpa is a city built by
the indigenous people as their population center. Such
conditions explain the flourishing of jungle folkways in a
modern rural and urban situation. Ayahuasca curing is deeply
embedded in and respected by the Mestizo culture. It flourishes
and is pursued experientially and intelligently by those who
know and preserve the ancient New World ayahuasca cult.
It may be that the South American yage-ayahuasca complex
is the largest psychedelic cult in the world . From Panama to
Bolivia, from the Pacific coast to deep into Brazil these visions
are regularly sought out, individual practitioners making their
reputations on the quality of their brews, chants and cures. Like
all shamanic practices, the ayahuasca cult is the creation of
highly individual personalities. For this reason simple lab
oratory analysis of drug samples will not dispel the air of real
mystery surrounding ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca is as good as the person who makes it is
meticulous and demanding. The culture of rural Peru faces a
shattered past and a turbulent future. The fate of the ayahuasca
mystery hangs tremulously in the balance while at the collective
level the culture gropes towards a decision to repress or
re-enforce the institution of hallucinogenic shamanism.
To truly understand ayahuasca would take years , for there are
as many ayahuascas as there are Banisteriopsis varieties plus
admixtures. Local variations in ingredients and procedure
should be systematically studied. It is an important task,
reserved for one who wishes to give order to a particularly
1 90
Among Ayahuasquera
disordered set of ethnopharmacological issues. My own interest

is the vision state and the contact dimension per se. I want to
investigate these compounds as a means to those ends. For that
the tryptamine hallucinogens remain the most effective and
impressive investigative tools that I am aware of. With them
one can find oneself in the mandalic center of energies that lie
present at hand but are normally unseen, pure image and
imagination unconstrained by chemical limitations. The
hallucinations are not limited to visions of a type or color or
tone. It is as open a modality as, literally, it is possible to
imagine.
The quality that permeated associating with the shaman
Don Fidel was, at its best, a sense of mutual colleagues hip . He is
reverent in the face of the lux natura that his mystery reveals, but
his understanding is that the operational basis of the experience
is biochemical, subject to manipulation and open to theory
making and shared consensual validation. The ayahuasqueros
are true technicians of psychedelic sacrality. Their approach,
awed self-experiment and accumulation of a corpus of
techniques experienced as valid, is no different from our own.
Any approach that excludes these qualities will be too removed
from the subject matter to offer a useful description. This is why
anthropologists often miss the point. We should admit that
we know no more of the typology of the collective unconscious
ness than any other culture. No one is vastly more know
ledgeable in these things than a sincere person of any
background can choose to become. It is shamanic personalities,
grand exploring souls, who somehow rise above or find
themselves beyond any but a universal set of values. They
explore the deep waters of our colleaive being. They show the
way and to be with them is to be near the cutting edge.
Shamanism in Peru is like European alchemy in that it utilized
psychic involvement in matter, but European alchemy became
entrapped in a fascination with metals and purified elements.
Psychedelic shamanism more happily centered its attention on
living matter, specifically plants, where alkaloids and other
191
biodynamic constituents congenial to the primate nervous

system are encountered . Ayahuasca is such a plant and its
alchemy, jungle alchemy, is an immense panacea to those who
use it regularly.
Hoping to observe the cooking of a batch of ayahuasca, we
arranged to meet with Don Fidel early one morning at his
home. Though we arrived an hour late, for unclear reasons he
expressed amazement that we had made our way to his home so
early. 'Anyway' , he told us 'it has not been possible to get
chacruna, so there can be no cooking. ' He was not abrupt and
apparently that evening's ayahuasca session would still be held
with previously prepared brew, which is supposedly good for
six months . Don Fidel showed us an ayahuasca vine being kept
alive by being buried in wet sand, a sprout covered sandy stick
that his child brought from nearby. We asked about puca
huasca, which we assumed to be Diploterys caberana and were
unsettled when Don Fidel dismissed it as 'food for dogs'. When
questioned he would only say that it was 'too bizarre' and ' not fit
for Christians' . When we had mentioned it to Don Jose he only
said that he knew a woman in Yarina who could get it. Could this
woman have been the mysteriousjuana Gonzales Orbi? When
questioned, Don Jose agreed in essence with Don Fidel that
puca-huasca (D. cabrerana) is too strong to use for curing. He
also called it ' comida del perro' but it was less clear whether this
was an expression of contempt or an actual description of
some folk belief about the plants.
My attitude towards what we were, and still are trying to find
out is like that of a detective. We must simply work our way
through eacli lead, each possibility, separating the wheat from
the chaff. Does this rural ayahuasca-curing scene reflect the
presence of practitioners who truly understand, control and
voyage into the borderland world that classical shamanism
insists exists and whose parameters we are trying to define? A
possible and unexpected conclusion that I can imagine now
emerging from our trip to Peru is that while we can discover, and
even to some degree penetrate, rural systems of psychedelic
1 92
Among Ayahuas q uera
healing, we shall find it very hard to find people who look

beyond the curing power to ask what is its basis and what is the
meaning of hallucinogen-induced visions generally. The
ayahuasca-takers observe other worlds in space and time in
their visions but they feel a different son of involvement in
realizing and understanding what this may mean or in testing to
validate what they believe. At the edge of things, where the really
intense DMT caused visions occur, it is hard for the shaman's
personality not to be dissolved in a more primitive reaction of
fear and unthinking awe. The curing shaman will not seek
experiences in such titanic landscapes and the researching
shamanic explorer must step lightly, testing epistemological
equipment at every step. Such a one is hard to find since such a
person will proceed by some theory of activity, and theories,
especially concerning such arcane matters, do not travel well
from one language to another.
I am left to conclude that we must remain our own guides
into those still elusive dimensions, more unexplored than we
had previously imagined . This is what I have done for years ,
since each effort to find a pre-existing tradition which made
complete sense of the shamanic dimension as I personally know
it has been less than successful. It may be that possession of pure
chemicals in combination with collected living plants and the
collected available data of ethnography put one in a better
position to gain an overall sense of the importance of
psychedelic visions than can be gotten from any particular
informant, limited necessarily by adaptation to a single
approach. What I really wish to know is if we are along at the
edge of these mysteries, or whether there is a tradition of the
hyperdimensions of gnosis. If the latter, what happens to one
who gains admittance to its mysteries.
A hot and muggy equatorial afternoon found us awaiting
with anticipation our second opportunity to take ayahuasca. We
had moved to the home of the old woman where our first
session took place. With our dwindling funds we were only too
happy to accept living space and escape the tremendously
1 93
inflated hotel prices in Pucallpa. The hospitality of the people

was limitless, but the heat and the biting insects, about which we
could do nothing, remained to wear us down.
The regular Saturday night ayahuasca session was cancelled
because our friends were unable to obtain chacruna, the
Psychotria ad mixture. This disappointed many people, some
who had come from Lima by bus. Conversation in the wake of
that disappointment brought out someone's opinion that
chacruna grew and could be obtained at kilometer 29 - the
same area where Don Jose indicated that the very old
uncultivated Banisteriopsis caapi vines grow. We determined to
make a trip there.
We spent a day in search of the admixture plant. We took a
bus to kilometer 34 and arranged to purchase a substantial
amount the following Sunday. Then, hoping to find a small
supply to tide us over until then, we walked 6 k. off the main
road on the road to N ueva Requena to the home of Don Fidel's
uncle Don juan. Don juan occupies the elder uncle position in
relation to Don Fidel, even as Don Fidel occupies the same
position relative to Don Jose. At D on juan's we were shown and
allowed to photograph several small chacruna plants. They had
been grown from cuttings and did not appear to be doing well.
Perhaps these plants were in too dry a location, for according to
the two Dons, chacruna grows best in wet swampy lowland .
They were slow growing and were short. Don Juan also posed
proudly with a meter long piece of ayahuasca, almost as tall as
him. It had been gathered in primary forest some distance from
his home, the old, wild growing plants are preferred. After we
left Don Juan's and had stopped for a cerveza at the Bar
Huallaga, Don Fidel held forth on many subjects: the sins of
inducing abortions, the relations of some curanderos to God
and of some to the devil. Don Fidel emphasized a kind of
Manichean view of good and evil in which the world is a mixture
of things, some of which belong to God and some to the devil.
Man has two bodies, one visible and associated with the physical
and one invisible and associated with mind and thought. This
194
Among Ayahuasq uera
second body is not destroyed by death and it is the part of the

shaman that cures and sees . Strange how close to the world view
of the Corpus Hermeticum his ideas are.
One morning, having slept well, we set off for Yarina hoping
to observe Don Jose making ayahuasca. We found him settled
back with a couple of lady patients. Possibly they were smoking
some marijuana when we arrived , as there was some scrambling
upon which Don Jose's monkey gazed restlessly. Ayahuasca was
simmering in a shed not far away.
Don Jose gave us some chacruna leaves that he had
managed to get to give to Don Fidel and thus it was that we saw
mature chacruna foliage at last. Its Rubiaceaous nature was
clear, and the berries were about 3/ 1 6ths of an inch in diameter
and waxy green, just as Schultes had described . We obtained
voucher specimens. Don Jose pointed out a taxonomic feature
that he considered unique to chacruna: a double line of budlets
or mere stigmatic nodes that stud the underside of each mature
leaf. Perhaps this has not been noticed before.
Events were punctuated by discussion whenever we spent
time with D on Fidel. This particular day he was full of
cosmology and metaphor. We funher discussed puca-huasca
and I learned that not all visions are human visions; some that
are meaningless to human beings are visions meant for animals.
Puca-huasca carri ed the vision best understood by dogs.
Though he may have been pulling our leg a bit with this the
traditional avoidance of D. cabrerana is curious. Meanwhile the
chacruna market is booming - a kilo packet costs 250 soles .
Apparently chacruna only grows well in wet lowland , and those
lucky enough to have a source sell it at a dear price to less
fonunate ayahuasqueros.
It was on that same excursion to Yarina that we ran to
ground the search for Juana Gonzales Orbi. We inquired after
her in a pan of Yarina that we were told on a previous visit was
her home, but the trail was cold. The good woman had been
away four months and was not expected soon. We spoke with
her middle-aged brother, and learned that she now practices
1 95
out of Tingo Mari and travels between there and Lima. It

appeared that Juana Gonzales Orbi was not to be encountered
on this visit.
On the seventh of April, we had another try at Don Jose' s
ayahuasca. Again, while there was a build up of psychedelic
potential, there was no outbreak of deep visions. Several people
complained of the weak brew. This session ended any further
dealings with Don Jose, for he was apparendy not really able to
prepare ayahuasca, even though he has the traditional recipes
and materials. He represents the vitiated tradition. Financial
success, or more properly the search for it, has caused him to
forget the basics. Ayahuasca is in large measure dependent for
its strength on the even and smooth rhythm of preparation.
Don Jose is slapdash and hence his purga is 'el poco purga' as
Don Fidel said. It is Don Fidel's expectation that when the
ayahuasca is made properly, there is no difficulty in getting off.
We were eager to try Don Juan's brew. We had tried just a sip on
our visit to his house and it certainly tasted stronger than any we
had been offered.
During this time we were definitely moving closer to Don
Fidel and his uncle and away from the sobrino, Don Jose, who
was younger, eager, and, as Don Fidel says, 'ambitious . ' Don
Jose eventually went off to Lima on a reputation-building
errand and so faded as naturally as did J uana Gonzales. Thus we
were left with the older, poorer, more rural of the ayahuasqueros
we had met. Both Don Fidel and Don Juan gave us a feeling of
solidity and trustworthiness. We had really yet to get to know
Don Juan, who on our first visit to his home showed us
harvested ayahuasca and young chacruna bushes. With Don
Fidel we had long, groping talks. He sees his immediate
surroundings as transformed . He lives ' in an earthly paradise'
and the muddy trail winding past his thatched home is 'the path
that Christ walked on earth' . He says he leads a clean life and can
cure - it is his gift. His real interest is the invisible body that
persists after death and which is the mental vehicle of those who
travel on ayahuasca. This is an idea that I relate to the modern
1 96
notion of UFOs.
A day was spent with Don Fidel at his casa watching and
photographing how he prepares his ayahuasca. The chacruna is
placed at the bottom of a two gallon enamelled metal pot and is
covered by pieces of ayahuasca that have been crushed by being
beaten with a hardwood club against a log. The crushed stems,
some nearly two inches in diameter, are arranged in layers until
the pot is filled , then the material is covered with water and
boiled , none too gently, until the volume of water appears to be
cut in half. The plant material is then removed and the
remaining liquid, perhaps one and a half quarts, is poured into a
smaller pot to cool while the larger, now empty, enamelled pot
is refilled with a load of chacruna, ayahuasca, and water exactly
as before. This second load is boiled down just as the first was.
The two liquid fractions are combined in the enamelled pot and
the boiling down continues until about one !iter of cafe au lait
colored liquid is obtained . Sometimes further refining of the
ayahuasca to a paste is carried out. Don Fidel's brew is twice as
dark as the rather weak beverage prepared by Don Jose.
There can1e a day in April that began with the realization
that Kat and I were ill with salmonella. Our hope was to hold
our intestines sufficiently together to be able to do justice to the
ayahuasca that we had seen prepared the day before at D on
Fidel's house. Since the brew was twice as dark as the other
ayahuasca brews we had seen I hoped that it would be twice as
strong. We arranged to have two liters of ayahuasca prepared for
us, it being our hope that analysis of this and of our sample of
each brew we encountered would give us an idea, once back in
the U. S . , of their nearness to the ethnopharmacological ideal.
In spite of our two ambiguous trips I was hopeful that we would
find a compelling psychedelic dimension in the experience of
ayahuasca. While Don Fidel had been brewing, a man stopped
by for some medical consultation. When the subject changed to
ayahu as ca the visitor avowed that he had taken it and had ' seen
nothing' . Since it is regarded as a health restorative as well as a
hallucinogen, seeing visions seems to be the icing on the cake
197
for many who occasionally take ayahuasca. While for us

hallucinatio ns are a sine qu a non.
The factors that had previously impeded our getting off were
perhaps minor; the dose may have been insufficient or we may
have been resisting the effects, unconsciously unwilling to allow
ourselves the psychic vulnerability that would accompany
getting wildly intoxicated with a roomful of unfamiliar people. I
leaned to the idea that the dose was insufficient, and later events
proved that true.
We took ayahuasca five times with the shamans of Pucallpa,
the third time using ayahuasca made by Don Fidel and doled
out by him. This time both Kat and Richard got psychedelically
stoned. By their testimony, the brew worked . I , on the other
hand, spent a very hot, sticky night meditating on the threshold
of an intense psychedelic experience. Because of the rigid
control of the dose by the shamans it is nearly impossible for a
person of large stature to get an effective dose. There is nothing
to be done in such a situation but it was ironic to unwillingly
become a mere spectator to the drug experience in which I had
hoped to participate and for which I had come so far.
On the day following that evening we went with Don Fidel to
k. 29 to collect ayahuasca and with hopes of getting voucher
specimens of the plants comprising the brew. We found the
ayahuasca. It was a grand specimen - several vines twisted into
a cable nearly eight inches in diameter. But it was tragically
damaged. A ten foot section had been removed between where
the plant left the ground and the highest point that a standing
person could reach with a machete. Nearly all of the hundreds
of pounds of ayahuasca above the cut were so dried out as to be
deemed useless. Nonetheless we managed to fill a burlap bag
with this low quality material. We had found the ancient
Banisteriopsis, only to find it vandalized . Because of the size
and growth conditions of the Banisteriopsis plant, it is very
d i fficu l t to introduce into new areas or indeed even to preserve it
in areas where it is now indigenous. Because so much biomass is
necessary for the ayahuasca brew, Banisteriopsis species are
1 98
Among Ayahuasquera
particularly susceptable to being overharvested and often

therefore are in short supply. These huge old vines are certainly
growing rarer and rarer around population centers, and those
who use them inevitably seek further and farther afield,
presaging a day when their scarcity will seriously threaten the
ayahuasca cults.
Many of the early and uncertain reports of ayahuasca' s
effectiveness have been due, I believe, to the higher body weight
of explorers relative to the body weights of their hosts. Of the
brews we took only Don Fidel's had been truly effective. All the
inferior ayahuasca that we saw was an opaque liquid looking like
well-milked coffee that did not settle or clear, while Don Fidel's
brew was a rich coffee color which after a day or so settled out
and became a clear dark tea or amber colored liquid. How did
these other brews manage to appear so different, since Don
Fidel's method of preparation appears as direct and simple as
one could imagine? I suspea that since ayahuasca is sold by the
bottle, these other practitioners are very lax. They fail to boil off
excess water to obtain a really effective concentration. The
proper preparation of ayahuasca may well be a dying art.
What we see is a tradition growing vitiated and sterile before
our eyes. People here brew and take ayahuasca regularly but
rarely is it prepared with sufficient care and at sufficient
concentrations that one can get loaded on the dose apportioned
out at a curing meeting. So the usual story is one of exaggerated
claims and minimum effeaiveness. All these difficulties are only
compounded for a person with an above-average body weight.
As a consequence outsiders have given, and continue to give,
very different sorts of descriptions of the effects.
Mysteries abounded at even the most mundane level. Don
Juan arrived late one afternoon expecting to share with us the
bottle of ayahuasca we had paid him to prepare and which had
served �an untapped reserve bottle at our last session with D on
Fidel's brew. No one had seen that bottle since that evening,
everyone assuming that Don Fidel had transported it to his
house. Such was not the case and so grave suspicion came to rest
1 99
on the sobrino, Don Jose. He had slouched into the session late,
sung badly and loudly and against everyone else's song - and
had left in the early morning hours without a word to anyone.
Don Juan was certain that the sobrino had stolen the missing
bottle. He rushed to Don Fidel's and confronted him, saying
that Don Fidel's practice was in disarray and that taking on the
sobrino had been a mistake. It may have been that Don Fidel,
for reasons unclear, was very reluctant to expel his nephew from
the ayahuasca sessions. The fate of the missing bottle was
obscure enough, though one could not even be sure that the
outrage would rid us of the presence of the sobrino.
Don Juan finished his description of his visit to Don Fidel's
and then promised that Friday, Good Friday, we would do a
bottle which he would prepare. Naturally we agreed , we always
availed ourselves of every opportunity to take it. Kat was eager to
advance into it and I , while holding no great hopes for any
particular occasion, still hoped to experience the full effects of
ayahuasca before we departed .
At Don Fidel's casa we prepared two kilos of the concen
trated ayahuasca honey to return with us to the States for use
there. This cooking project occupied the better part of three
days. Don Fidel prepared four enormous pots, each boiled
three hours and drained, then recombined and reduced to two
liters . At its conclusion we had a material of which, we were later
to learn, two tablespoons was sufficient for visions. My own
point of view improved during this cooking since I found respite
from a wracking bout of salmonella that left me weakened but
still game.
In that rather calmer moment between bouts of illness and
ayahuasca-taking I assessed what we had accomplished . We had
been accepted into a particular ayahuasca-taking circle and had
enough exposure to the brew to know that effectiveness
depends entirely on the care used in making it and on the
knowledge and p ersonality of the shaman-chemist. The p erson
we met who brewed best was the person to whom we were
closest. He seemed to hold nothing back in matters of locating
200
Among Ayahuasq uera
and identifying plants or in making the brew. For him the heart
of 'la sciencia' lay in the mystery of the songs and the cures, and
of these things we were very ignorant. But we were free to return
and to learn as much as we wished to absorb. Don Fidel knows
well the correct way to prepare ayahuasca and this in itself is a
great secret today. He doubtless knows much more that he
would share over time.
Even at that time, without having yet felt the full effects of
ayahuasca, there were nevenheless things I noticed which
seemed to set it apart from other hallucinogens . As it comes on
it is mildly anaesthetic, so that the rush is not accompanied by a
restlessness or any sense of energy moving up the spine. Rather,
the visions appear without any particular somatic effect
accompanying them. Generally, except for the vomiting it
sometimes triggers, ayahuasca seems very smooth with a very
pleasant comedown that leaves one invigorated instead of
exhausted. In the initial rush it is DMT-like, later it exhibits the
long coherent visions that give it its reputation for being unique.
The experience of curing, the vast landscapes and the
communication at a distance are effects that have made
ayahuasca legendary.
Don Fidel had said to us in essence that we should use well
the many ayahuasca trips he was making available to us to take
home. If, after thirty or more trips, we had been carried to a
place where we wished to learn more, then we should return
here. He was wise to urge us to explore ayahuasca against the
background of our own culture and expectations. For '!! 1 the
interest that the shamanic performances we had witnessed had
held for us, they had necessitated that we behave as spectators;
yet real understanding of ayahuasca doubtlessly comes from
entering into it as a panicipant. This can only be done by
repeated and careful observation, once in a familiar environ
ment and free to experiment with dosage, setting and other
p arameters.
Don Fidel finished cooking the large batch of ayahuasca that
we had contracted for. And we made reservations to return to
20 1
California, thus setting an end to our period of field exploration

into the phenomenon of ayahuasca. Once in California we
would be able to examine the effects of the brew away from the
setting which is its natural home and in the setting which is our
natural home. Purists might object, but recurring bouts of
salmonella and various water fevers endemic to jungle Peru had
nearly broken our hold on health. These things cannot be
avoided when one lives as the people live. And of course we had
no resistance acquired through long exposure to these illnesses.
The situation in Amazonian Peru is as funky as I found rural
Nepal in '69, the previous record holder in these matters. Don
Fidel seemed in agreement with our decision to depart. He
knew we would be better able to gauge the personal importance
of ayahuasca once we had taken fifteen or twenty flights inside
the normal flow and structure of our lives.
There were many around less sympathetic to gringos than
Don Fidel. He had really risen to a universal humanism in his
dealings with people. He invited us to return some time and
allowed himself to boast of strange strong brews he knows how
to prepare. What few details could be gotten about these imply
no known drugs and so are especially tantalizing. 'Next time. '
says Don Fidel, 'when you are familiar with ayahuasca and have
your tape recorder.'
We had hoped to duplicate the ayahuasca brew in California

from Banisteriopsis plants that we had under cultivation there.
But if, as the ayahuasqueros maintain, the plants must be at least
five years old to produce the desired effect then we were naive to
take this approach. Perhaps these plants as cultivars in
temperate zone greenhouses will remain merely scientific
curiosities and cannot ever become the source of a substantial
amount of ayahuasca. Probably only a synthetic duplication of
ayahuasca compounded with the correct percentages of DMT
and beta c arb o li n e s will ever make the experience available
-
outside the area where it is endemic.

Hallucinogens reveal to the human psyche holographic
202
images from all parts of our continuum. Though humanity as a

whole may not integrate these images by undergoing evolu
tionary waves of advancement, our role as investigators is to
immerse ourselves in this revelation of atemporal images. We
need to make deep voyages through clear mindspace to
contemplate the source of these mysteries. This is what was
elusive during our trip in Peru - the turbulence of physical
travel made the crystaline mental dimensions we sought all the
rpore distant. In Peru we lived the life, saw the plants, met the
people and shared all the joys and discomforts - but this,
however it may seem, was not field work. True fieldwork for us
meant being psychedelically ecstatic and at play in the fields of
the lord in search of the shamanic dimension where UFO
contact is likely.
Once back and among familiar things comparisons and
distinctions could be more clearly made. Hallucinogens are a
finite set of compounds, and by acquiring experience of the
effects of the various chemically possible hallucinogens it is
possible to zero in on those compounds most reactive with
one' s own highly individualistic set of physical drug receptors.
Thus we can slowly learn the chemical route to just that set of
effects most personally useful and beautiful. 0 bviously this
cannot be taught, but must be learned through persistence in
attempting to define the self in the hallucinogenic dimension.
Probably no two routes are the same - and different people
have different methods, though they may use the same plant or
substance. Finally, it is the person and his or her unique place in
nature and time that determines the depth of the vision
vouchsafed. Many have sought to understand the way in which
persons and families evolve special drug receptors and thus
special relationships to certain botanical drugs . Choosing an
ally means finding a physiologically neutral way of repeatedly
triggering the esctatic drug/mind state in which contact with the
alien modality is possible.
We anticipated something special at the gathering on the night
203
of Holy Saturday. Both Don Fidel and Don Juan would be

bringing bottles and the sobrino would not be present. There
would be enough ayahuasca for everyone to have a proper dose.
It was to be our last opportunity to take ayahqasca in its native
setting. The experience nearly ten days in the past had given way
to calm, awaiting whatever this last experience would be. I had
given up anticipating the content of these experiences. I was
interested, almost as an outsider, in whether before we departed
Pucallpa we would meet the visions.
Our fourth ayahuasca trip made many things appear more
clear, and a few things less so. Both Kat and I managed to get off,
though she less than the previous time. My deepest immersion
in hallucination occurred that night, a full-field hallucination of
a kind of flowing magenta liquid. It seemed very promising but
then slowly faded away as quickly as it had appeared. A few
minutes later I walked outside to get some fresh air and to my
surprise I became suddenly sick. I thought that this would
surely be followed by an intense wave of hallucinations, but
nothing as strong as the first magenta wave was repeated. I wao;
pleasantly, somatically stoned. I affirmed to Don Fidel that it
was good and he seemed gratified. There is no doubt that one
can take flight with Don Fidel's brew if one is free to increase the
dosage until the connection is achieved. That night I glimpsed a
set of issues not explainable by the social context in which the
drug is taken, adumbrations of the idea that there is a vast
difference between naturally occurring, one-plant, full-spectrum
hallucinogens and prepared hallucinogens, even if the latter are
compounded of local plant materials. The unprepared naturally
occurring drug is a mystery, stabilized in the genetic component
of the plant itself. The composition of the active compound
remains virtually the same over thousands of years -
untroubled and uncompromised by the migrations , epidemics
and vicissitudes that occasionally disrupt the society of its
practitioners .
The case of a difficult-to-prepare combination drug is quite
different. For the tradition to remain intact the correct under-
204
Among Ayahuasquera
standing must be preserved and handed on. In such a case the

plants themselves lose some of their mystery and that mystery is
transferred to the persons who prepare and control the power of
the drug. Thus the way is open for a cult of personality to
intrude itself between the hallucinogen and the practitioner.
The efficacy of a preparation may last only as long as the lifetime
of the practitioner, and the mystery becomes a hollow sham if
the drug is not correctly made.
The night's imagery was drifting and incoherent, compar
able to the effects of a small amount of mescaline. Ayahuasca
seemed a hallucinogen with less of the internally self-organized
quality that characterizes mushroom psilocybin and seems to
make the psilocybin experience not so much self-exploration as
an encounter with an organized Other. I don't know whether
this is a distinction most people in my situation would make or
whether my long and intense involvement with the mushrooms
has allowed me, almost without realizing, to develop an empathy
so deep that it has become for me another personality - not a
chemical substance at all. Though this question hinges on a
number of subjective factors it is an imponant one to answer,
for it has implications for another question; whether we are
pursuing a phenomenon uniquely personal and therefore
forever private, or whether there is a special mental experience
encountered at great depth in the psychedelic experience that is
qualitively different through the apparent possession of psychic
autonomy with a hyperdimensional information deployment.
This state, the dimension of the UFO encounter, is only met in
fairly deep water. Shamans, at least the ayahuasca shamans, are
quick to call such autonomous power complexes evil or
demonic. Their approach to ayahuasca is usually to dose
themselves so as to only slightly exceed the hallucinogenic
threshold . The more disorienting and profound forms of
intoxication are kept out of the ceremonies we have seen,
probably because these are social events and some son of
collective ambience must be maintained . And cenainly these
states are strange - they are not mere phantasms drifting
205
before closed eyes, but are complete immersions in higher

topological manifolds and experiences potentially incompre
hensible or frightening. Individuals may take power to
themselves by boldly, even recklessly, exploring these dimen
sions, but even though these places are the heart and soul of
shamanism, they are too numinous and energy-laden to be
accessible through a tradition. Instead they must be personally
discovered in the depths of the psychedelically intoxicated soul.
It almost requires a modern mentality, or great courage alone,
to probe this area unflinchingly, for it is the bedrock of
being.
Our trip to Peru and our experiences with ayahuasca re
convince me that even with our modern methods of scientific
analysis it is going to take courage to understand what these
plants show. We have reached the point where we must accept
all responsibility for the direction we follow and then go alone
without the comfoning delusion that what we are trying to
define is not unique and unprecedented. These are the realms
of chaos into which one can go only as deeply as one' s
understanding shows the way. We each have different capacities
to understand and different forces driving us toward or away
from these mysteries; finally, when one finds the edge of what
one knows and even the edge of what anyone knows, then
perhaps one has reached the point where the real contact
begins.
Immense novelty is not something guarded by a shamanic
brotherhood that understands what it guards. Rather, all
brotherhoods that claim cenain knowledge of anything are
shams. Science and religion are such shams. Novelty is
unguarded because its domain is everywhere. It presses in on
the seeker often most obstrusively when he is funhest from the
secrets which tight-fisted lineages hover over. The power of the
other is humbling and magnificent, but because it cannot be
bent into power in this world priestcraft turns away from it. It is
the 'thrown away knowledge' of the Luis Senyo Indians of Baja
California. It is only seeing and knowing. It informs the blessed
206
Among Ayahuasquera
and abides with them. It is the Logos, the faint oudines of

humanity's evolving overmind casting the enormous shock
wave of its shadow out over the chaotic centuries that
immediately precede its rising out of the long cosmic night of
human hopes to end profane history.
Under the effects of ayahuasca I often found myself thinking

about the phenomenology of the hallucinatory state in general.
While the literature speaks of the effects of hallucinogenic drugs
as lasting for hours, in my experience it is actually only the
peripheral effects which endure so long. The period of intense
visual activity behind closed eyelids lasts more like forty minutes
to an hour, almost as though the episode of hallucination
corresponds to the temporary perturbation of some brain
subsystem by the presence of the psychoactive compound. As
soon as the brain is able to enzymatically respond to damp the
drug-induced perturbation, the episode of hallucination ends,
though other somatic effects may persist for some time.
Hallucinations are in part neural phenomena accompanying an
internal fluctuation of the brain-state of an organism. This
internal fluctuation is of an extraordinary sort, since it is of a
quantum mechanically delicate enough order to be partially
influenced by will and cognition.
A few days before we left Peru and at Don Fidel's wife
Rosabina's urging, we asked Don Fidel about the possibility of
taking ayahuasca once more. He seemed completely amenable
to the notion, so we scheduled the event for the next evening.
We would use the same botde as had been drawn from at the last
session.
This would be our fifth ayahuasca voyage in three weeks -
an unusually intensive exposure for most hallucinogens but
ayahuasca, aside from causing vomiting, seems to have no
adverse side effects . In fact, each day following a session I felt
cl arified and revitalized . Such is not the case with the frequent
use of other hallucinogens. Ayahuasca seems benign in the
body, but perhaps at higher doses this would be less true.
207
Psilocybin is also benign upon early exposure but done at the

frequency we had been doing ayahuasca even it would be
followed by aching muscles and enervation on the following
day.
Our fifth trip occurred in the same situation as the others;
semi-public and in the shed directly adjoining Senora Angulo's
house. Nothing radically different could be expected - all the
constraints of the earlier sessipns were in force. On that last
ayahuasca voyage an event occurred which has returned to my
mind again and again. We were joined that last night for the
second time by a man who was an aficionado of ayahuasca. He
had spent some time on the Rio Negro and in Brazil, always
pursuing the better brew. He sang a song - which he described
as 'de los brassleros' - that was almost a miracle. Through the
rhyme and rhythm each word seemed to have a galaxy of
relationships to all the words around it. Long warbling runs,
alternated with pleasing whimsical stops and glides . Some
Indian languages sound as close to the interiorized tryptamine
free-associations as anything I have encountered. It was high art
- a breakthrough to another plane.
These ayahuasca experiences seemed to have resolved
themselves into a series of perspective widening disillusions .
During my last voyage with Don Fidel I was not sick and became
approximately as intoxicated as on the previous two trips. The
dose stuck with me all night long but again the period of even
mild hallucination could not have lasted more than fifteen
minutes. After we returned to Berkeley we would find that a
larger dosage level of ayahuasca delivered the experience we
had expected from ayahuasca in its jungle habitat. The
shamanic curing context is perhaps not the ideal context for
determining the parameters of any hallucinogen.
On the brink of return to California, we said our last
goodbyes to the people in the ayahuasca circle. As we were
leaving Don Juan showed up \\>ith the bottle intended for that
night's regular session and we were able to get a sample for
analysis from his controversial brew. On our last visit to Don
208
Among Ayahuasquera
Fidel he also gave us a bit more of the essencia, the syrup that
finally precipitates to the bottom of a well-made bottle of
ayahuasca. We had learned much and gathered much hallucino
genic material.
Cities pass like billboards in the night of the mind, one night
Lima, the next night home. I could not but think as we crossed
over the Andes of the little circle of people back at Senora
Angulo's house whistling and chanting. H ow strange to have
shared their mystery with them and to be returning to our own
frenzied society that knows nothing of ayahuasca. How strange
a creature is Man; with religion, drugs, dream and poetry we try
to take the measure of the shifting levels of self and world. It is a
grand enterprise hedged about with tautology but no less grand
for that. I hoped that the sense of the special wonh of all plant
hallucinogens which this trip reinforced so unexpectedly would
not be lost once we had returned to a world wh ose familiarity
should not be taken for the merely mundane.
It had been barely seven weeks since Comet West glowed
outside the window of our airliner flying south toward Lima,
hardly a month since Lord Dark left us at Fancho Playa on the
Rio Napo. Worlds seem to have come and gone yet friends who
stayed behind in the U. S. hardly cognized that any time at all
had passed, emphasizing the bewildering sense of a density of
experience that the traveller is always able to make his own. We
were not unlike the psychedelic voyager who may be absent
from company only a single evening and yet may fill that
evening with years-long odysseys on strange and enchanted
worlds, may in fact explore strange times and worlds of alternate
possibilities in a single long silence.
Once returned to the States, our ayahuasca would setve as
the basis for experiments that shed light on its possible ability to
synergise psilocybin. We worked through those experiments
with a sense of their place in the context of hallucinogens
generally. We needed to reflect on the strangeness of the
possibilities that the magical plains have made familiar to us. We
must chan further directions of research that hew deep wate rs
209
yet minimize risk. Chanting as a vehicle of expression when on

tryptamine hallucinogens is something whose importance
people in Amazonas insist is central. This is a vital point since in
some way sound can control the topology of the hallucinations.
We need to shed our inhibitions and experiment with sound
and tone in the presence of these compounds. I have long felt
this but have been uncertain as to how to proceed; the style of
chanting of the ayahuasqueros is a beginning.
As I had anticipated during the visit to Peru, I was able to
find my way into the confidence of the ayahuasca mystery once I
was free to experiment with dosage and setting. Twice since
returning from the Peruvian Amazon Kat and I have taken Don
Fidel's brew. Neither of these trips was as intense for Kat as her
most intense experience in the Amazon. I, on the other hand,
got much deeper into it than I had ever done before.
The first of these experiments was inclusive and unsatisfy
ing. We each took fifty milliliters of ayahuasca, which looked to
us like the approximate dose that we had been given in Peru . I
experienced a brief surge of hallucinations, but of a very banal
sort, rather like being lost in a vast supermarket. We concluded
from this experience that we had somehow become inundated
by the telepathic background noise of the hillside suburban
community in which we lived . It made us reluctant to repeat the
experiment since a psychedelic brush with the subliminal
vulgarity of our own culture was somehow much more
disturbing than had been regular sessions with people who had
a whole different language and world view than our own.
During that first trip the subject of the flow of images was
shifting and seemed impersonal and removed from me.
Thinking of the impersonal aspect of these images encountered
in myself, I formed the aphorism; 'Sailing the ocean of the self;
every wave cut by the prow is myself. ' There was a tendency to
be drawn into emotional involvement with the scenes at once
removed from myself. Twice I reminded myself that feeling
frustration at the direction in which the images were flowing was
210
Among Ayahuasquera
inappropriate, and that I should be open to what is shown me

no matter how different it may be from my expectation. Kat was
as usual more affected than I . She had audible hallucinations -
a strange voice speaking a futuristic kind of musical English.
Toward the end of her visions she saw people in poveny stricken
and sleazy conditions. This may have been the DMT in action
since subthreshold DMT experiences often do dissolve into
squalid or banal images as the experience fades away.
A few weeks later, and in the company of a friend who like
ourselves had considerable experience with psychedelic agents,
we decided to try again. This time we each took sixty milliliters
initially and then about an hour later twenty milliters more. At
last I completely broke through. It was a dimension very similar
to the state invoked by the mushroom psilocybin, leading me to
harden my opinion that active compounds in Stropharia cubensis
are metabolized to some near relative of di-methyltryptamine
before the effect can take hold . At one point I was given a kind of
motto, which came unbidden: 'Mind conj urs miracles out of
time. ' It was like a Zen koan holding perhaps a clue to the nature
of reality. There were long bursts of science fiction-related
images and beautiful hallucinations against a black background,
a seeming characteristic of the ayahuasca visions. The message
from this trip, which came as a very deeply felt gestalt
perception, was that the Other is in Man. I felt this more clearly
than ever before. Unlike the psilocybin rapture, which presents
itself as an alien intelligence, the ayahuasca seemed to have a
kind of psychiatric presence that urged the recognition that all
images and powers of the Other spring from our confrontation
with ourselves. Like the psilocybin mushrooms it displayed a
network of information that seemed to make accessible the
experiences and images of many worlds, but ayahuasca insisted
that in some sense still hidden these were ultimately human
worlds.
211
212
H anscarl Leuner and Michael
Schlichting
A Report on the Symposium
" O n the C urrent State of
Research in the Area of
Psychoactive Substances "
held from November 2 9 to December 1 , 1 98 5 at
H irschhorn am Neckar, Federal Republic of Germany,
under the direction of Dr.med. Hanscarl Leuner
(GOttingen) and Dr.med. Peter Hess (Mannheim)
After greeting the 25 participants, Prof. Leuner

emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the symposium .
Three groups stand out: the first group of representatives of
basic research in chemistry, biochemistry, psychopathology,
and psychology; a second psychotherapeutic group consisting
of physicians, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and clinical
psychologists; and a third group encompassing anthropolog
ically oriented participants interested in "magical plants" and
their healing, religious, and prophetic applications, the study of
the customs of non-Western societies, etc. One of the
fascinating things about working with psychoactive substances
is that they arouse interest in such a broad spectrum of
research. Interdisciplinary meetings of this kind, however, also
bring with them the danger that the representatives of these
groups will meet with difficulties in communication. Th ey vary
with respect to the areas of interest and the resulting horizons
of experience and outlook, their different jargons, and the
diverse goals of their research: the basic researchers are
accustomed to experimentation and empirical findings , the
therapists are practical healers who utilize psychoactive
substances merely as adjuvants and are dependent upon the
213
rules of their profession, while the third group, which uses the
tools of the social sciences, speaks an entirely different
language.
Accordingly, Leuner viewed the symposium as a first attempt
at getting to know and understand one another and as a largely
unutilized form of learning from and providing stimulation to
one another. - Although large problems are involved in these
questions, researchers studying substance abuse were deliber
ately excluded. This did not occur as a result of any lack of
appreciation of their importance, but rather to keep the
framework of the symposium within reasonable limits.
The introductory lecture:

"The Current State of Phannacologically Assisted
Therapy"
was concerned with characterizing the sociopolitical status
of the participants' research approaches following a period of
two decades of misapplication of hallucinogenic and other
substances by the public. In considering these developments, it
is important to remember - apart from the legal measures that
have been adopted in all countries - the extremely negative
influence which the criminalization of drug users had upon the
sociopolitical status of hallucinogenic and analogous sub
stances and which these still possess in the public eye as well as
among the most important governmental agencies. - The
speaker detailed the developments of the period . Until the mid-
1 960s, LSD , psilocybin, and their derivatives were only
available to researchers and therapists as experimental
substances. Then, the flooding of the street market with these
agents led to the severe overreactions of the World Health
Organization (WH O) and the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and the increasing restriction of often very high quality
programs of basic and psychiatric research . The regular
meetings at the international congresses of the Collegium
lnternationale Neuro-Psychopharmakologikum (CINP) were
suspended at the beginning of the 1 9 70s. Patients treated with
214
Research in the Area of Psychoactive Substances
LSD therapy had their treatments stopped, while the physicians

and therapists who.were utilizing hallucinogenic substances to
aid in their psychotherapy felt compelled to abandon such
activities in order to preseiVe their reputations .
If we consider the situation today, thirteen years after the
culmination of this period of legal activity, the following
becomes apparent:
a) hallucinogenic substances play a very minimal role in the
drug scene, where they no longer play any role as "come-on
drugs", having been replaced by the use of heroin and other
"hard" drugs.
b) hesitant attempts have been made to have some influence
upon a reformulation of the guidelines of the WH 0, in order to
make a sharp distinction between "hard" and "soft"
substances.
c) because of popular scientific literature and broad-based
anthologies (d. the volumes of the Ethnological Museum in
Cologne; Grof; A. Hofmann), the inteJ:ested public (both lay
and professional) are much more aware of the problems
associated with drug use and abuse than at the beginning of this
period.
d) In Switzerland, a group of physicians has been formed who
strive for the application of psychoactive substances among
groups of particularly difficult or untreatable patients with
neurotic developments .
Yet how is the situation in practice? - Which director of a
clinic or department is prepared to advocate to the appropriate
body (municipal or state government, etc.) that his assistants
conduct hallucinogenically aided psychotherapy? - How
would the public view his status and that of his clinic? - Would
he in both cases not be in danger of acquiring a reputation for
advocating a "psychotherapy with dope? "
Which pharmaceutical company is prepared to introduce
one of the hallucinogens to the market? Like Sandoz, they
would have to fear for their reputation (to the extent that were
supplying anything other than purely scientific tasks) , and
215
which pharmaceutical concern would see a purpose in

producing the minimal amounts needed by the extremely
small group of governmentally authorized therapists? The
physician cannot hope to escape this situation by developing an
extensive program of scientific research, for the substances are
lacking for this purpose.
The group of basic researchers and the anthropological
group do not face these problems. With respect to the
development of new substances, however, the question soon
arises as to what their social status shall be and whether these
can be made available for clinical testing irregardless of
insufficient pharmacological investigation.
The problems that are involved have purposefully been
exaggerated. The fact that the authorities in the Federal
Republic of Germany will indeed grant qualified clinical
physicians permission to store and use hallucinogenic
substances for therapeutic purposes demonstrates that there
are legal possibilities . .Yet for our work and its future shaping,
we should not forget that such activity takes place in a
sociopolitical outsider position. This is especially apparent in
the fact that certain groups from the drug scene have an affi nity
for our work. Yet precisely the demarcation between
scientifically founded, medically serious therapy and the
frequently enthusiastic tendencies to self-administration is of
the greatest importance.
The speaker then drew the following conclusions:
When the members of a group of scientists do not want to
bring harm upon themselves and to advance their research and
therapy in a manner which is acceptable to both outsiders and
themselves, then certain alternatives should be investigated and
taken into consideration.
In any case, official and medical recognition of the work
pursued by such a group should be one of its goals . This
necessitates a n um b er of active steps, e g :
. .
- informing the scientific, medical, and general public.

- influencing legal institutions along the lines of the
216
aforementioned effort among the WHO .

- formulating plans o f research and applying for permission
to conduct research.
- influencing the referees of such applications .
Here, several tactical steps could be particularly useful:
1 . Removing such work from the interests of the drug scene
and alternative movements;
2. The creation of a new nomenclature which starklv distances J
itself from making associations to hallucinogens, narcotics,

LSD, and other substances;
3. The investigation of new substances which - as in the cases
of psilocybin and CZ 7 4 - are more controllable than
substances such as LSD .
. Among the "new substances" and substances which are not
directly associated with hallucinogens and LSD , the following
agents are relatively well studied. They have demonstrated their
utility for pharmacologically assisted psychotherapy at a
number of sites, including the Psychotherapeutic and Psycho
somatic Section at the University of GOttingen, which Leuner has
directed for two decades:
An amphetamine such as Ritalin or Pervitin;
A basic narcotic with twilight sleep effects such as Ketanest® 1;
A new substance which evokes emotions, often without optical
phenomena, for the limited period of three hours (a
phenethylamine derivate);
Also perhaps the weak amphetamine derivate M D MA, which
has recently become popular in the U .S.A.
Precisely the last-named substances may be said to
represent a new generation - as compared to LSD and related
substances. This group (with the possible addition of
amphetamines) can no longer be characterized as halluc
inogens, for their effects differ from one another and are
broadly diverse. For this reason, a new term should be used.
The name "psychoactive substances" is suggested . A therapy
with such substances would then be called "psychoactive
1 Generic name: ketamine; marketed in the United States as Ketalar.®
217
substance assisted psychotherapy" . When certain of these

substances, e.g. , Ketanest® , is utilized, the rarely used term
narcoanalysis could be used as an alternative name for such
therapy.
A number of questions were touched upon during the
extensive discussion which ensued.
Laatsch (GOttingen) pointed out that incompetent lay
persons often have a widely spread, incorrect evaluation of a
subject. He mentioned the current discussion about formalde
hyde as an example; in order to achieve a more factual
reevaluation of such agents as psychoactive substances, it is
necessary that specialists do not provide the public with less
information, but rather more, and that they do this more
thoroughly. Riitsch ( Hamburg) considers the present social
conditions favorable for discussing the topic of "psychoactive
substances" . The attitudes of both the media and the
anthropological world has "changed radically" in recent years.
There in an ever increasing interest in self-experience as well as
changes in the understanding of science which increasingly
take the subjective perspective of experience into considera
tion. Numerous publications, museum exhibitions, and
seminars are looking into new and previously disregarded
aspects in the use of hallucinogens, for example, as a type of
"social therapy" in the form of " ritual circles" .
Many of the participants were concerned about the
criminalization of psychoactive substances. Pharmacological
substances are more easy to control than analogous, non
pharmacological techniques for altering consciousness. They
are also sanctioned because "people tend to drop out of the
working world ." Moreover, the concept of health that is
currently prevalent carries with it a "fear of change".
Poggeler (GOttingen) reminded the participants that psycho
active substances are not harmless, non-toxic substances, but
have been shown to have strong effects upon the CNS and carry
with them undeniable risks and side-effects. His view is that in
the future psychoactive substances will become neuro-
218
pharmacologically significant especially in the field of

gerontology.
Roos (Berlin) stressed the factor of the external and internal
conditions under which psychoactive substances are admin
istered. He cited an American study by Andrew Weil in which it
was shown that when used ritually, these substances have fewer
side-effects and a lower toxicity as compared to their
uncontrolled use.
Bolle ( GOttingen) argued along the same lines, reporting on
several studies using Ketanest® in which the setting and the
relationship to persons present had a decisive impact upon
the experiences. Referring to risks and side-effects, Hess
(Mannheim) pointed out that other psychopharmacological
agents are much more dangerous. For example, estimates
suggest that there are over one million benzodiazepine addicts
in the Federal Republic alone. This notwithstanding, he
considers it unrealistic to expect that substances such as the less
toxic M D MA will be officially permitted.
Heller (Heidelberg) currently sees a favorable trend towards
"demythologization" and a decline in traditional prejudices;
especially in psychotherapy, the search is underway for "other
ways", whereby techniques which are experientially oriented
and stress the primary process are on the rise, while methods
(such as classical psychoanalysis) which emphasize cognitive
and intellectualizing methods are on the decrease.
Dittrich (Zurich) considers it indispensable that further
scientific work with psychoactive substances clearly distance
itself from the increasing " market of new irrationalism", the
flood of unscientific publications, and from sectarian move
ments (e.g. , Bhagwan) . Referring to his own work with
analogous, non-pharmacological techniques for producing
altered states of consciousness , he called for a more far-ranging
scientific study of psychic border-line states as well as more
factually oriented information for the public.
219
Following this discussion, L£uner (GOttingen) reported on his:

"Design for a Expanded C oncept Based upon Recent
Psychotherapeutic Experiences"
These experiences have shown that the spectrum of
psychoactive substances (amphetamine, Ketanest® , LE-25 , and
l.SD) may be differentiated according to each substance's
characteristic profile of effects. In particular, these substances
vary with regard to the extent to which their effects are aimed at
unfolding the psychogenetic and biographical domains of the
person involved.
Amphetamine, for example, is characterized by the fact that
it primarily activates psychic material concerning current
aspects of a person's life, easing (in the sense of deblocking)
verbalization and expression of these contents . It possesses
only slight regressive tendencies . As a result, it produces an
essentially cognitive experience with a generally over-awake
consciousness and a strong unfolding of associations.
In contrast, Ketanest® is considerably more effective in
inducing a regression to psychogenetically earlier stages of
development of the personality concerned (including pre
verbal, perinatal, and even prenatal modes of experience) .
Characteristic of LE-25, a phenethylamine related to the
amphetamines, is that it does not possess any unequivocal,
limited domains of effects or emphasis upon regression.
Rather, findings thus far indicate that this substance - like
LSD - may activate experiential material from (psycho
genetically) quite different developmental stages, whereby the
(cognitive) functions of reflection and insight are affected
remarkably litde.
A knowledge of these characteristic profiles of effects and
the role which regression plays in each of the various
psychoactive substances renders them more controllable and,
moreover, increases the possibility of their selective psycho
therapeutic application.
In the following discussion, Leuner ' s scheme o f different
roles played by regression found approval and was confirmed
220
by the therapeutic experiences of many of the participants .

It was emphasized once more that deep regression (in a
psychodynamic sense) can also be attained through non
pharmacological means . Hyperventilation techniques were
given as an example. Moreover, it was also asked with what
standards of psychological testing regressive phenomena may
be best objectified and thus made accessible to scientific
psychological investigation.
"Clinical Experiences and Results of the

Psych otherapeutic Application of Ketanest®"
Bolle (GOttingen) reported on a project carried out at the
Section for Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics of the U niv
ersity of GOttingen (Prof. Leuner) which investigated dream
experiences with a sub-narcotic dosage of anesthetic
Ketanest®.
1 6 subjects participated in 64 sessions in a psychotherapeutic
setting (between 3 and 8 sessions per person) . The preparation
(manufactured by Parke-Davis) is an internationally recognized
anesthetic which is used especially among children. Admin
istered i.m. in a low dose of 1 .4 mg/kg body weight, a twilight
sleep type of state can be produced with little or no distortion of
consciousness. The therapeutic spectrum is large. A very low
toxicity is claimed for Ketanest® ; changes resulting from the
substance have not been demonstrated. Tissue tolerance is
good. As expressed in the term "dissociative anesthesia" , the
preparation occupies a special place among comparable
products. This may be seen in EEG studies in which Ketanest®
has been shown to inhibit the activity of the cortico-thalamic
system while activating portions of the limbic system
(hippocampus) .
Previous studies of a large number of psychiatric patients
revealed that such phenomena as regression to early levels of
experience, activation and reliving of traumatic memories, and
symbolization of internal and external conflicts occurred
during the dream phase. The psychotherapeutic importance of
22 1
such phenomena is un questioned This investigation served to

.
describe experiences in the communicative phases prior to and

following the period of maximal Ketanest® effects, observation
of the course of a period of psychotherapeutically oriented
sessions, the investigation of the developmental psychological
and psych o dyn am i c relevance of the dream ph enom en a which
were manifested, and, finally , a critical evaluation of the
d angers that might be involved . Bolle only cursorily discussed
the objectivizing methods before and after the 90-minute
period of Ketanest® effects. In addition to a clinical symptom
qu e s tionnaire, a profile of the exp eriences was made and
Dittrich's qu estionnai re as s essing etiology ind ependent struc
-
n•res of altered waking states of consciousness was administered .
The repon concentrated on the experi ential phenomena of

a d ept h psychological relevance. Here, the focus was on the
exp eri e nce of symbiosis with such primary conte nts as water,
earth, air, or a dedifferentiated environment per se; a
dedifferentiation of the experience of the body as well as its
dissolution, fragm entation, and reduction to specific parts;
ch anges in sp atial p erception, e.g. , floating, flying, o r
swimming, and the di storti o n of sp ecific b o d ily regions s uc h
as increases or decreases in size. E piso des frequendy included
metaphors of the binh process as well as experiences of time or
infini ty . Bodily sensations reminiscent of the birth process
include fe elings of compression, of rooms flowing with blood,
i m ages of mucous m em b ranes , and fears of abonion. Archaic
anxiety situati ons refer to the d angers of symb i osis or fear of
annihilation, such as falling into pieces, losing one's orienta
tion, of being totally isolated . Some authors have spoken of
connections with the trauma of birth in this phase of
regre s sion. Archaic and later infantile object representations
may become manifest. Ego supporting aid by the th erapist is
gratefully accepted and may compensate for the disturbed
symbiosis. On th e other hand, contents from later develop
ment ph as es have also been described, such as traumatizing

memories duri ng the first and second year of life or t h ereafter.
222
In contrast, sexual contents are rare. Bolle discussed the relevant

concepts from depth psychology, of which the most distinctive
here are'probably the primary-narcissistic and oral regression,
only in passing. - The problem of transference and
countertransference during the dominating regression requires
particular attention and preparation by the therapist. According
to the literature, side-effects have been observed only in
connection with a substantially higher dosage of 0. 7 mg/kg
administered i.v. : glottal spasms and a short-term cessation of
spontaneous respiration which ceased on demand. As a
precaution, one-half ampule of atropine was administered
during the abovementioned experiment.
The discussion emphasized the great differences in effects
between i.m. and i.v. injections and thus the necessity of
avoiding an accidental i.v. administration. Little research has
been conducted into the possibility of oral administration,
which brings with it the disadvantage of uncertainties
concerning resorption. From Denmark, Hansen reported that
effects are manifested slowly and without undesirable side
effects following an 200 mg oral administration. - The
question as to the psychotherapeutic usefulness was answered
differently. A mild hallucinogenic effect has been observed.
Disturbances in the body schema may also be interpreted as a
hypothetical result of the anesthetic effects. - The effects begin
approximately 5 minutes after the injection and last for 90
minutes. Side-effects and after-effects may last up to 4 or a
maximum of 5 hours. The ability to drive returns after 3-4
hours at the earliest. Self-experimentation indicates that there
are two optical-isomer forms of the molecule with different
effects: the dextroisomer is probably responsible for the
narcotic effects.
Hansen has conducted a number of group sessions with
Ketanest.® He received permission for this work from the
health authorities and from the appropriate ethics commission
in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
His investigation has three goals:
223
1 ) To provide a description of the psychic phenomena which

may be elicited by Ketanest in sub-anesthetic dosages.
2) To study the possible - positive or negative - short-term
and long-term after-effects .
3) To investigate the possibility of utilizing Ketanest ® in
psychotherapy.
The group of subjects was composed of three psychiatrists,
an anesthesiologist, a general practitioner, a medical student,
and a psychotherapist. All of the sessions took place during
weekends in a private house in Northwest Denmark between
September 1 9 83 and February 1 9 8 5 . A total of 63 sessions were
conducted in peaceful surroundings and a non-clinical setting.
Experimental music or acoustically neutral white noise was
utilized. The Ketanest® doses varied between 1 5 and 200 mg
i.m. Hansen observed a variety of different alterations of
consciousness, such as abstract and aesthetic, psychodynamid
biographical , and perinatal and transpersonal components. In
several cases, a slight feeling of bodily discomfort appeared in
conjunction with queasiness and nausea. Long-term adverse
effects were not observed. The subjects themselves indicated
that they had gained more self-insight as a result of their
experiences; other reported an increase in their ability to
empathize. Following the positive findings of this study, Hansen
suggests that training groups be set up for professional
therapists in psychiatry in order to make it possible for them to
have intensive self-experiences with Ketanest® . Moreover, it is
to be hoped that research into Ketanest® as a psychotherapeutic
adjuvant be intensified .
"Ibogaine in Psychotherapy"
Baumann (Ziirich) reported on the psychotherapeutic usage
of ibogaine, a naturally occurring psychoactive substance
which is found in the root of a tropical bush and is used in the
Congo by the Bwiti for cult purposes. In this rite, the Bwiti use
the root I ) just one time in a person's life, during initiation; 2)
in very large amounts and repeated toxic doses administered
224
over a period of several days; 3) in the presence of the entire cult

community during the entire period; 4) in accompaniment of a
personal godfather.
The knowledge which the initiate is expected to attain is
precisely defined, and the encounter with the ancestors takes
place in an precisely defined and traditional manner.
Baumann described experiments with fully synthetic
ibogaine which he administered to only a few patients with
which there was a long and good therapeutic relationship. The
dosage was usually 5 mg/kg bodyweight. In this range, the
effects last some 5 to 8 hours and only slowly subside. In his
experiments with ibogaine, he found that the effects are not
specific to the substance per se, but that it induces a non
specific psychic and physical stimulus which is then answered
in the language that a patient is accustomed to using with the
therapist.
Baumann utilized especially a bioenergetic technique and
terminology. As a result, ibogaine unfolded particularly strong
bodily-oriented effects. Phenomena which have been inter
preted in classical hallucinogenic therapy as (especially initially
manifested) vegetative side-effects and given little attention and
considered undesirable form the primary focus of this work.
Thus, nausea was interpreted as "diaphragm blockage" ,
internal chills (which were not obviated by warming the patient)
as "obstruction" or " the first signs of relaxation in the
vegetative longitudinal-core current" , pain in the eye was
considered as "focusing of a brain-eye blockage", etc.
Baumann ' s method was to work primarily on and with such
symptoms, to encourage the patient to keep up his efforts,
etc.
This procedure, together with the long period of ibogaine
effects, necessitates that the therapist exert himself and dedicate
large amounts of time - up to three days for each patient
(including preparation and post-session work) . Generally,
however, the patient has a large gain in fundamentally
important insights into his psychophysical (and social)
225
constellation. Very concise images appear, not with the

stunning intensity often reported in psychedelic sessions, but
with the same persistence and intellectual clarity.
Summarizing, Baumann finds that the very drawbacks of
ibogaine are the source of its advantages for psychotherapy:
there is no danger of the substance being abused , because
outside of the therapeutic setting, its effects are largely
unpleasant and of little interest. The great requirements of time
force the therapist to be cautious in using ibogaine in order to
use his own time economically. A maximum of 5 to 1 0
ibogaine sessions per year i s the maximum which can be
expected.
According to Baumann, attempts to use the substance in
group settings - or with a number of patients in adjoining
rooms - proved of little value, for he had too great a feeling
that he was largely unable to follow each individual
process.
Laatsch (GOttingen) spoke on:

"Fly Agaric a s an Intoxicating Drug''
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) is widely known as a toxic
mushroom as well as a bringer of luck. Apparently, this
combination of rather contradictory properties has real
historical meaning. The name itself does not so much recall its
use as a fly toxin as it does the experiences of flying which occur
when it is used as an intoxicant.
G. Wasson's research indicates that fly agaric was being used
as an intoxicant almost 4,000 years ago and is identical with the
"soma" of the Aryans. There may also be links to the
Scandinavian " berserkers" . The use of the mushroom as a cult
intoxicant among the tribes of Siberia is well documented and
was first described in travellers' reports from the eighteenth
century.
Only in the middle of the 1 9 60s, after it was demonstrated
that the very small amounts o f muscarine present in the fly
agaric had no effects upon the central nervous system and that
226
bufotenine or atropine-like compounds are present - if at all

- in only insignificant amounts, was it possible for C . H .
Eugster and two other independent teams to chemically
identify the agents responsible for the CNS effects.
The non-proteinogen amino acid iboten acid (0.03-0. 1 % of
the weight when fresh) is the actual active substance of the fly
agaric. With increased temperatures (e.g. , when the mushroom
is dried) , this easily changes through decarboxylation into
muscimol, the effects of which are substantially greater. In
concentrations around 15 mg, muscimol induces central
nervous system disturbances with dizziness, numbness,
uneasiness, anxiety, ataxia, muscular spasms, paralysis,
agitation, delirium, euphoric or dysphoric moods, sleepiness,
inhibition of the motor system, decreases in concentration,
increases in emotional tension, and derealization and
depersonalization phenomena and changes in the experience
of space and time with all of the properties of a model
psychosis.
In extreme cases, mushroom poisoning can result in coma
with the danger of respiratory paralysis and circulatory failure:
I 00 g of fresh mushrooms may be deadly, although - as a
result of the substantial fluctuations in the amount of aaive
substance present - considerably higher doses may also be
ingested without harm . The symptoms disappear after about
1 0- 1 5 hours.
It is clear that the effects of fly agaric are not those of an
hallucinogenic, but rather of a deliriantium, in which the
insight into the cause and effects of the intoxication may be lost.
The disturbances of consciousness, the incorrect recognition of
reality, and the conviaion that strangers are present which are
typical of the delirantium also appear with fly agaric. Optical
hallucinations (to the extent that they appear at all) are not very
colorful; audio hallucinations typically appear in their place.
Often, insight is lacking into the artificiality of the situation and
one's position as observer. Memories of the peak period of
effects are lost.
227
Muscimol is a structural analogue of GABA ('Y -amino

butyric acid) which interferes with the central inhibitory GABA
neurotransmitter system. In vitro, it has been shown to have a
greater affi n ity for the postsynaptic GABA receptors than
GABA itself. The same relationship holds true for the
presynaptic autoreceptors, which presumably limit the release
of GABA by means of biofeedback. In vivo, muscimol is able to
activate the GABA receptors in a manner similar to that of
GABA itself. Moreover, muscimol interacts with the GABA
transport system (re-uptake) and may possibly be a media for
the neuronal and perhaps glial transport system. Although
muscimol is no substrate for the enzyme which metabolizes
GABA, it is quickly broken down by transamination. A number
of analogues, however, possess a higher biological half-life and
have strongly analgesic effects. Muscimol serves as a model
substance for the development of inhibitors and compounds
with specific effects upon the GABA transmitter system .
The second day of the symposium began with a lecture by

Dittrich (Ziirich) on:
"Etiology-Independent Structures of Psychic Borderline
States"
In his experimental investigations into altered waking states
of consciousness (AWS) among healthy subjects, Dittrich obtained
confirmation for the hypothesis that irrespective of the manner
in which they are induced, AWS have certain basic dimensions
in common which may be reliably tested psychologically and
are validly measurable. Primary hallucinogens (N ,N-Dimethyl
tryptamine, psilocybin, and 6. 9-TH C), a secondary hallucinogen
(nitrous oxide) , various types of reduced environmental
stimulation (sensory deprivation, hypnagogic states, autogenic
training, hypnosis) , and sensory overload were used to induce
AWS in N = 259 subjects. A control group was composed of
N 1 34 subjects. The APZ questionnaire developed by Dittrich
=
was used as the dependent variable.

In a broad-based " International Study into Altered States of
228
Waking Consciousness" (ISASC), the external validity of these

experimental results were checked by studying questionnaires
from the German-speaking area of Switzerland, the Federal
Republic of Germany, North Italy, Tessin, the United States,
Portugal, and Great Britain. Here, N = 1 1 33 subjects used the
1 58 items of the APZ questionnaire to anonymously describe
the last AWS they had experienced . In 7 0% of the cases, the la'it
AWS had been induced by a psychoaaive substance (usually
marijuana or LSD) , while in 1 0% analogous non-pharmaco
logical methods (meditation or autogenic training) had been
used.
Evaluations using a variety of multivariate procedures
demonstrated that the results of the ISASC agreed s atisfacto rily
with the experimental results obtained in Dittrich's own
study.
As a result of these investigations, the following three
primary scales have been constructed for understanding the
common, etiology-independent core of AWS:
1 . "Oceanic Self-Transcendence". This scale encompasses
items which reflect those aspects of mystical experience which
are independent of religion and culture.
2. "Anxious Ego-Dissolution" . The items of this scale measure
a loss of control perceived as threatening.
3. "Visionary Restructuring" . This scale consists primarily of
items which refer to optical and hallucinatory phenomena of
varying complexity.
Together with other traits, these three positively correlating
scales comprise the superordinate scale "Altered Waking States
of Consciousness", which encompasses the characteristic
structural features corr.mon to AWS. In this manner, the APZ
questionnaire makes possible a quantitative assessment of the
basic dimensions of psychic borderline states and represents a
valuable psychological tool for studying psychoactive substances.
In the ensuing discussion, particular attention was given to
the problems associated with linguistically assessing altered
states of consciousness in the regions of European culture. This
229
fundamental methodological question is also of relevance for

the basic possibilities and limits of psychological tests in the
investigation of psychic borderline states.
Michael Schlichting (GOttingen) reported on:

"LE-25 - Profile of Effects and the Therapeutic
Possibilities of a New Psychoactive Substance"
This lecture p resented information on a pilot study of a
new psychoactive substance (LE-25) from the ranks of the
phenylethylamines which was carri ed out by the speaker. To
ascertain the profile of effects of LE-25 and the possibility of its
use as an adjuvant in pharmacologically assisted psycho
therapy, this substance was administered to 1 8 subjects a total
of 66 times. The substance was given orally in the form of a
capsule soluble in the stomach; the dosage was individually
selected for each subject according to response and tolerance.
All of the sessions took place in a clinical setting under the
constant control and observation of a physician. Under such
conditions, Schlichting found that the effects began an average of
25 minutes after administration, the peak effects occurred
approximately one and one-half hours after the onset of effects,
and that the entire period of effects lasted for some 3 hours
(acute phase) and between 5 to 6 hours, including the
integrative and exploratory post-session phase. Measurements
of blood pressure and frequency of the pulse revealed only
slight fluctuations around the mean, all within the normal
domain. No adverse affects upon consciousness or orientation
were noted in the post-session examination conducted after the
cessation of effects; barely ascertainable to weakly pathological
findings were obtained in assessments of equilibrium. Within 2
hours, however, these had clearly normalized to discrete
residual amounts. Altogether, no serious side-effects or after
effects were noticed .
The frequencies of the individual symptoms of the
"psychotoxic basis syndromes" (according to Leuner) were
recorded by means of a questionnaire in the sense of a general
230
phenomenology. Vegetative symptoms, motor symptoms,

changes in optical and acoustic perception, changes in body
schema, alterations in spatial perception and the experience of
time, changes in thought processes and consciousness, and
changes in affectivity with a wide spectrum of emotional
qualities were all recorded.
In a profile describing the quality of the experience, the
subjects reported that under the influence of LE-25 , the
perceptual phenomena were relatively " clear" and " near" and
decidedly "emotional" and the contents "familiar" . Moreover,
they stressed the generally good memories of the session, the
strong emotional involvement, the distinct focusing of
attention on oneself, and the pronounced ability of the subjects
to create a reference to one's own self or life situation.
By means of a profile of polarities (according to Hofstiitter,
modified according to Leuner), the changes in the moods and
emotions of the subjects during the course of the session day
were measured. The shifts along some of the axes (from " clear"
to "blurred" and from "orderly" to "confused") which were
ascertained during the acute phase were completely reversible
within 2 to 3 hours; in other scales, the affective changes
remained after the post-session period in the form of a general
relaxation. Significant shifts were found along the scales from
"cold" to "warm" , from " colorless" to "colorful" , from
"uncomfortable" to "comfortable", from "irritable" to
"tranquil" , from "anxious" to "secure" , from "tense" to
"relaxed" , and from "inhibited" to "self-assured".
The results obtained using the APZ questionnaire
developed by Dittrich demonstrated the different expressions
and the frequencies of the particular items in the three scales
measuring "Oceanic Self-lfanscendence" , "Anxious Ego
Dissolution" , and "Visionary Restructuring" . What is more,
those APZ items which were seldom or never marked made it
possible to distinguish between the phenomenology of LE-25
and that of a psychotic symptomatology of a schizophrenic or
paranoid hallucinatory nature.
23 1
The FPI personality profile (according to Fahrenberg and Selg)

showed that clear changes took place during the entire period
of the study with respect to several scales measuring a decrease
or normalization of values in the dimensions "nervousness" ,
"spontaneous aggression" , "depressiveness" (highly significant
at the 1 % level) , "excitability" , and "emotional lability" . Such
changes do not appear to occur among psychically more
disturbed persons (patients) with higher pre-session values.
Schlichting characterized LE-25 as a psychoactive substance
lacking distinct substance-specific (euphoric or psychoto
mimetic) effects . Instead, the individual patterns of experience
determined by the personality and biography of the person
concerned was given a symbolic representation and intensely
reenacted. Since LE-25 also manifests the weak points of the
personality and is able to mobilize domains of problems or
conflict, the substance most likely has little future as an
euphoric street drug. On the other hand, the available results
suggest that it appears to be a promising pharmacological
adjuvant in a psychotherapy which is experientially oriented
towards dealing with conflicts . In order to avoid undesirable or
anxious reactions, the therapeutic application of LE-25 should
take place under the guidance of an experienced medical
psychotherapist.
In closing, Schlichting described two individual courses
which occurred under the influence of LE-25. One subject's
extensive protocol of experiences reflected a scenic and
dynamic course with detailed observations and precise
descriptions as well as with clear regression phenomena and
childhood reminiscences .
A second course, illustrated by means of video recordings,
was manifested by a diffuse preverbal and affectively intense
experience with stereotype movements within the context of a
deep regression to prenatal and perinatal patterns of
experience.
The ensuing discussion considered the similarities between
LE-25 and other known psychoactive substances, some of the
232
p eculiari ti e s of the experimental design, and the influences

which set and setting have upon the experiences induced by
psyc hoactive s u b stances
.
Peter Hess spoke on:

"Current Limitations in the Investigation of Altered
States of C onsciousness of the Kind Elicited by I..S D /
Psilocybin"
Based upon his own experi m ental study of N 20 healthy
=
subjects, the speaker discussed the difficulties i nvolved i n

ad equately as s essing neurophysiologically and psychologically
the altered states of consciousness induced by such hallucin
ogens as LSD or psilocybin. In spite of considerably improved
technical possibilities as compared to the numerous studies
carried out until the end of the 1 960s, the limits of statements
based upon current scientific methods are still very obvious.
Hess pointed to the technical problems and the susceptibility to
artifacts among neurophysiological studies (e.g. , EEG, visual
and invoked potentials, etc.) and to the resultingly very limited
general applicability of such studies. He also discussed the
methodological problems involved in the use of psychological
test batteries which, e.g. , are intended to assess hemispheric
differences under the influence of hallucinogens as compared
to normal consciousness states .
Hess impressively depicted the difficulties which are still
faced by such research, in particular from external conditions
which hamper further scientific research into such so-called
classical (primarily tryptaminergous) psychoactive substances
as LSD or psilocybin. For example, it is currently not possible
to find an official manufacturer of these substances, even when
a scientist has obtained permission from the health authorities .
Hess also called for the development of methodologically
sound approaches to such research in order to permit an
increase in our u nderstanding of the manners in which these
substances affect the central nervous system . In this man ner,
the dangers and risks - as well as the therapeutic possibilities
233
- of psychoactive substances may be more precisely circum

scribed.
"M DMA in Group Psychotherapy"

Two lectures were concerned with the use of 3 ,4-
Methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) as an adjuvant in
group psychotherapy. Claudio Naranjo (Berkeley) began with a
report on his many years of experience with the application of
various psychoactive substances (sometimes in combination) in
a group therapy setting. Naranjo distinguished the substances
he has utilized according to the focus of their effects: " head
drugs" (e.g. , LSD), heart drugs (e.g. , MDMA) , and "belly
drugs" (e.g. , ibogaine or harmin) . He has found that MDMA is
a substance which is well-tolerated and almost completely free
of side-effects. It produces a temporary amplification of
sensitivity with an extremely positive (euphoric) affective tone.
Changes of consciousness or false perceptions typical of the
hallucinogens were not observed with MDMA. For this reason,
it is difficult to understand why M DMA has been classified in
the United States (since July 1 , 1 985) in the most dangerous
category of drugs (Schedule I), which also includes LSD, PCP,
and heroin.
In the group setting, characteristic features of the ea. two to
three hour long effects of M DMA include an affective
intensification of communication and interaction between the
group's members with a noticeably increased " hearty"
empathy for the other participants. Tender physical contact, in
which inhibitions, anxieties, and other emotional blockage are
reduced and self-confidence, feelings of security, and openness
are increased, plays an important role in this connection. As a
result, Naranjo considers MDMA to be a very effective aid to an
experientially oriented group psychotherapy.
Akos Tatar (Berlin) confirmed these positive experiences
with MDMA. Tatar described 1 1 sessions of M DMA-assisted
group therapy with a total of 52 persons. MDMA was found to
be an excellent catalyst of group dynamic processes which did
234
not produce hallu cinations.

In its chemical effects, M D MA resembles the endogenous
substance adrenalin. In contrast to adrenalin, however, M D MA
is capable of permeating the blood-brain barrier, where it
produces the affective changes typical of MDMA primarily in
subcortical regions (including the limbic system) . In the body,
MDMA is apparently metabolized into adrenalin, and displays
adrenalin-specific effects which could be demonstrated in a
trial session with eleven subjects.
All of the sessions were conducted according to the
conditions described in the literature (Leuner, Grof, etc.) during a
weekend and under medical supervision.
The groups were largely composed of psychosomatic
patients of a general practitioner. Six of the participants
suffered from allergies , two had urinary difficulties, three had
psychogenic eczema, four had sexual disturbances, one
suffered from angina pectoris, and one had cancer.
Distinct improvements were found for all of the psychic and
psychosocial components of these complaints. T hree of the six
allergy sufferers remained symptomless after the session. The
patient with angina pectoris also reponed no more complaints.
No changes were observed in the patients with urinary
disturbances or psychogenic eczema.
In Tatar's opinion, M D MA - when utilized within the
framework of psycholytic therapy (Leuner) in a clinical setting -
thus demonstrated its usefulness as a valuable adjuvant in the
out-patient treatment of psychic and psychosomatic com
plaints and in sociotherapy.
The extensive discussion which followed the reports of
Naranjo and Tatar dealt with further technical details, the
behavior of the therapist, the importance of the setting, aspects
of group dynamics, and indications and contraindications.
"On the Psychic Effects of Harmin"

Maja Maurer (Zurich) spoke on the results of self
experimentation with increasing doses of harmin by three
235
persons. In the 1 920s, the B-Carbolin harmin was identified as

the most important alkaloid i n Banisteriopsis caapi, a vine which a
number of Indian peoples living in t_he Amazon basin use to
prepare a strong hallucinogenic beverage (ayahuasca, natma, or
pinde) . In the 1 930s, harmin found therapeutic application
among patients suffering from postencephalic Parkison's
disease; since the 1 950s, it has also appeared from time to time
in the American drug scene. In spite of the growing
anthropological interest in the ayahuasca cultures, and despite
the possible importance of B-Carbolin for the pathogenesis and
treatment of psychiatric and neurological affiictions, Maurer was
able to find only a very few reports on the psychic effects of
harmin in the scientific literature.
For this reason, Maurer (together with Lampartner and
Dittrich) tested the hypothesis that harmin is a hallucinogen in
eleven self-experiments (sublingual doses between 25 and 7 50
mg) . In contrast to expectations, harmin did not reveal itself to
be a substance exhibiting great similarities to such classical
hallucinogens as mescaline or psilocybin. Rather, harmin
elicits a state which Maurer described especially as a retreat from
the surroundings and a pleasurable relaxedness with slightly
lowered abilities of concentration. Short-term elementary
optical hallucinatory phenomena appeared only to the extent
that they otherwise appear with reduced environmental
stimuli. With dosages over 300 mg, such unpleasant vegetative
and neurological symptoms as dizziness, nausea, and ataxia
increased, so that the dosages were not increased beyond 7 50
mg.
According to Maurer, these findings suggest that in addition
to harmin, other substances may also be responsible for the
hallucinogenic effects of ayahuasca that are described in the
literature.
"Synergism between 0-Carbolins and Dimethyltryptamines

In his lecture, Mario Markus (Dortmund) reported
differently about the hallucinogenic potency of harmin. He
236
described a series of tests he conducted several years previously

in which th e p lant mixture which the Indians of the Amazon
regi o n use for ritual pu rp o s es was experim entally s imu lated .
For his s tu d y , Markus mixed a rep res entativ e of the B
Carbolins ( h armi n , harm al i n , o r 6-M e O harmal an) with a
-
tryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) . H e found a d omai n of optimal

mixtures in which marked psych o active productivity was
associated with h all u ci nato ry effects . Within certain s p ecifi c
ranges of dosage, the mixture was well-tolerated and there were
no serious side-effects.
The discussion tou ched up o n th e obvio us d i s crepancies in
descriptions of the effects of harmin. In addition to differences
i n term i n ology , other possible reasons for the ap p arendy
contradictory fi nd i ngs of Maurer and Markus were co ns idered .
On the third day of the symposium, Burkhard Poggeler ( GOttingen)

spoke on
"New Psychopharmacolo gical Research Approaches in
the Area of Psychoactive Substances"
While these findings are based largely on animal
experiments, they contain some important models for the
manners in which psychoactive substances affe ct humans.
I n experiments with animals, psychoactive substances have
been found to induce marked changes in species-specific
behavior. Lateral head movements (" head searching") , a
pattern of behavior characterized by standing up and holding
still ("posture and staring") , and complex play behavior
suggestive of pleasure ("investigatory play behavior") have all
been observed . The animals also exhibited a distinct
hypersensitivity and hyperlability with respect to external
stimuli. By means of a number of measurements , it was
possible to quantitatively determine changes in body tempera
ture, motor activity, and the learning behavior of the animals.
Bi p hasic reaction curves with rebound p henomena are
characteristic of the effects of psychoactive substances.
Poggeler stressed the point that such psychoactive substances
237
as the hallucinogens are not harmless agents but have deep

effects upon the neuromodulation of the nervous system. They
have been demonstrated to stimulate catecholaminergic and
inhibit serotonergic neurotransmission. Moreover, newer work
has shown that the biosynthesis of melatonin is particularly
increased . At the same time, all of the hallucinogens, and
especially the so-called " euphoro-hallucinogenic" substances
with a Methylendioxy group, block the metabolic destruction
of melatonin.
In its function as a neurohormone, neurotransmitter, and
neuromodulator, melatonin coordinates the endogenous
rhythms of the organism with the exogenous cycles of the
environment and thus influences all of the organism's
regulatory processes. It acts as a serotonin antimetabolite in the
mesolimbic system, especially in the dopaminergic pathways;
in the visual system, a neurotransmitter function has been
demonstrated . For these reasons, the "melatonin hypothesis"
suggests that melatonin plays a decisive yet insufficiendy
recognized role in shaping the multitudinous effects of
psychoactive substances.
The discussion considered the importance of chrono
biological research within psychopharmacology and the
assumed central role of melatonin in this domain. Particular
attention was paid to the possible relationship between the
effects of psychoactive substances and circadian rhythms in
melatonin levels .
" An Attempt at a Differential Psychology o f Non

Ordinary States of Consciousness"
Continuing the work of Dittrich on "Etiology- Independent

Structures of Altered States of Waking Consciousness", this
study by Daniel Lamparter (Zurich) attempted to explicate the
interindividual variability in the degree of expression of the
three dimensions of " O ceanic Self-Transcendence" , "Anxious
Ego-Dissolution" , and "Visionary Restructuring" . The invest-
238
R�search in the Area of Psychoactive Substances
igation preceded from the hypothesis that such differences -

which also appear when the setting is constant - are the result
of individual variations in personality and situational factors.
To experimentally test this hypothesis on a larger number of
volunteers, it is necessary that those personality variables that
are assumed to be of relevance are reliable and measurably
valid. Corresponding scales of psychological tests which appear
suitable for this task are already available or must merely be
modified; other complementary tests await development.
Lampa rter mentioned the following examples as hypotheses
which are already suitable for testing on the basis of the
available literature and self-experimentation: subjects with a
socio-religiously influenced world-view are more susceptible to
" Oceanic Self-Transcendence" than subj ects with an econom
ically and materialistically oriented world-view. Such dominant
personality interests may be assessed using Roth's test of
attitudes on values . An "Anxious Ego-Dissolution" may
appear primarily among subjects who have a general fear of
unrealistic experiences . This tendency could be ao;sessed by
means of the so-called tolerance of ambiguity, for the
assessment of which Kirschkel has developed a scale. The ability
to prognosticate visual hallucinatory phenomena ("Visionary
Restructuring") may be determined using a questionnaire
assessing the personality variable "passive-spontaneous imagin
ation" , which Diez.i, Faeh, and Hermann utilized in experiments
with sensory deprivation in a samadhi tank.
Using certain mathematical techniques (e.g. , the Kallmann
filter) , Lamparter's team hopes to develop a comprehensive set
of hypotheses which enable more precise predictions than the
single hypotheses. The "Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness"
which will be used to test these hypotheses will be induced
using a number of different pharmacological and analogous
non-pharmacological stimuli.
An anthropological contribution to the discussion con

cerning the use of psychoactive substances came from
239
Christian Ratsch (Hamburg) , who spoke on:

"The Intoxication of the Gods - On the Cultural Use of
Datura and Balche' in M exico"
Taking into consideration the synergism between dosage,
set, and setting in the effects of psychoactive substances, Ratsch
was able to explicate cultural peculiarities of experiences of
intoxicated states. Using as an example the ethnographic
context of the ritual use of various species of Datura to induce
culturally desirable and sanctioned states of consciousness,
Ratsch showed that a traditional knowledge of dosage, set, and
setting lends a positive orientation to the experiences of the
intoxicated states. The balche' ritual carried out by the
LaCandones of Southern Mexico illustrates the manner in
which a psychoactive beverage (balche' is produced from
honey, water, and the bark of Lonchocarpus violaceus) may have
sociotherapeutic effects when used in a traditional cultural
manner. A particularly important role is played by the ritual
circle which, together with communal ingestion of a
psychoactive substance within a group, offers a p ossibility of a
collective alteration of consciousness and renewal of the
relationship to the transcendental .
The symposium " O n the Current State of Research in the Area

of Psychoactive Substances" ended with a working session
which discussed possible forms of further scientific coopera
tion. After the successful course of this interdisciplinary
meeting, it was agreed that the coordination between the
various disciplines should be strengthened and that such
conferences should continue to be held in the future.
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ULLMAN , M. & S. KRI PPN ER
1 9 7 0 "An Experimental Approach to Dreams and Telepathy",
A merican journal of Psychiatry, 1 26 : 1 282- 1 289.
VAN DER H O RST, B .
1 98 0 "Cartographer o f Consciousness" , Onmi, 2( 1 2):35-5 8 .
VI OLA, Jerome
1 96 2/4 " Redon, Darwin and the Ascent of Man " , Mars_-vas,
1 1 : 42.
VO N FELS I N GER, J . M . , L. LASAGNA & H . K. BEECHER
1 956 "The Response of Normal Men to Lysergic Acid
Derivatives (di and mono-ethyl Am ides) " , journal of Clinical and
Experimental Psychopathology, 1 7 : 4 1 4-428 .
WASSO N , R. Cordon
1 968 Soma, the Divine M us hroom of Tm mortalit_-v , H arcourt Brace
Jovanovich , New York.
- 1 9 7 1 "The H allucinogen ic Fungi of M exico: An Inquiry into
the Origins of the Religious I dea Among Primitive Peoples" in M .
Weil , R . Metzner, & T . Leary (eds.), The Ps_-vchedelic Reader, Citadel,
New York.
- 1 9 7 2 ' The Divine Mushroom of I m mortality and What was
the Soma of the Aryans?", in Furst (ed.).
- 1 98 0 The Wondrous Mushroom: Mycolatry in M esoamerica ,
McGraw- Hill, New York.
WASSO N , R. Cordon , Car! A . P. RUCK & Albert H O FMANN
1 9 7 8 The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret ofthe M_-vsteries , Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich , New York ( German: Der Weg nach Elmsis , Insel ,
Frankfurt!M . , 1 984).
WASSO N , Valentina P . & R. Cordon WASSO N
195 7 Mushrooms, Russia and History , Panth eo n , N ew York.
WEl L, Andrew
1 98 0 The Marriage of the Sun and the Moo n , Hough ton M itllin,
Boston.
253
1 98 5 Talk at Second Esalen ARUPA Conference, June.

WElL, Andrew & Winifred ROSEN
1 983 From Clwcolate to Morphine, H oughton Miffiin, Boston.
WILSON, Colin
1 98 2 Das Okltulte, Berlin, Marz, Schlechtenwegen.
WH ITEH EAD, Alfred N.
1 96 9 Process and Reality , The Free Press, New York.
WOLFES, 0.
1 930 i n A rchiv der Pharmakologie, 268 : 8 1 .
YENS EN, Rich
1 9 7 5 " Group Psychotherapy with a Variety of Hallucinogens",
Paper presen ted at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the
Association for Humanistic Psychology, Montreal.
- 1 98 2 "The Thousand Petalled Lotus and the Computer: A
Tale of a Powerful Tool for the New Age" , Paper presented at the
Seventh International Tran spersonal Conference in Bombay,
India.
ZAE H N ER, R.C.
1 95 7 Mysticism, Sacred and Profane, Oxford University, Oxford.
Z I N BERG, Norman E. (ed.)
1 9 7 7 A ltmwfl' States of Consciousness , Free Press, New York.
254
Th e Contributors
Wolfgang Coral
holds a diploma in chemistry. He has conducted research into
a number of neurotransmitters, specializing in tryptamine and
phenethylamine.
George Greer
M . D . , is a practicing psychiatrist in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He
has studied the clinical uses of MDMA and published a
number of articles on this topic.
Stanislav Grof
M . D . , Ph. D . , is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He has been
involved in LSD research for the last thirty years, and has
developed a variety of pharmacological and non-pharmaco
logical forms of therapy He was director of th e M aryland
.
Psychiatri c Research Center, and is now one of the directors of

the Esalen Institute. He is the founder of the International
Transpersonal Society, and is Honorary President of the
German Transpersonal Society. He is the author of the books
Realms of the Human Unconscious: Obseroations from LSD Research
( 1 9 7 5), The Human Encounter with Death ( 1 9 7 8 ) , Beyond Death
( 1 980), LSD-Psychotherapy ( 1 98 1 ) , and Beyond the Brain ( 1 985).
Together with h i s wife Christina, he has established the
Spiritual Emergency Network.
Hanscarl Leuner
Prof. Dr.med . , is the former director of the Psychotherapeutic
and Psychosomatic Section of the Center for Psychological
Medicine at the Georg-August University in GOttingen. He has
investigated catathymic im ages and various psychic border
state s within psych ot h erapy . Among his most impon an t
pub l ications are the books: Die experimentelle Psychose ( 1 962) ,
Katathymes Bilderleben ( 1 9 7 0 , 2nd edition 1 98 1 ) , and Halluzin
ogene ( 1 98 1 ) .
255
Terence K. McKenna
is a writer and explorer living in California. For twenty years, he
has concerned himself with shamanism and the ethnopharma
cology of spiritual transformation. His travels led him to Nepal,
where he studied the shamanist Bon religion. He later journied
to Nias, Ceram, Sumbawa, and Timor. In 1 9 7 0, he conducted
research among the Witoto in the Amazon. Together with his
brother Dennis , he has written The Invisible Landscape ( 1 9 7 5) and
Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower}s Guide ( 1 9 7 5 ) . He is the
producer of the cassette/book True Hallucinations ( 1 98 4/ 1 989),
and the founder of Botanical Dimensions, a botanical garden of
plants of ethnopharmacological relevance (in Hawaii) .
Ralph M etzner
Ph. D . , has studied consciousness for over twenty years.
Together with Timothy Leary and Richard AI pert, he wrote The
Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book ofthe Dead
( 1 964) . In addition to numerous articles, he has written Maps of
Consciousness ( 1 9 7 1 ) , Know Your Type ( 1 9 7 9) , and Opening to Inner
Light - The Transformation of Human Nature and Consciousness
( 1 986). He is a practicing transpersonal psychotherapist,
Professor for East/West Psychology, and Academic Dean at the
California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco,
California.
C1audia M iiller-Ebeling
M.A. , studied art history, cultural anthropology, and literature
in Freiburg, Paris, Florence, and Hamburg. She wrote her
master's thesis on the temptation of St. Anthony. Field work
has taken her into the Caribbean ( Guadaloupe) , to the
Seychelles, and to the Himalayas. She has written articles on St.
Anthony and 'peoples of the rain forests and, with Christian
Ratsch, is the co-author of Jsoldens Liebestrank: Aphrodisiaka in
Geschichte und Gegenwart ( 1 986).
256
The Contributors
Charles Muses
Dr.phil . , is one of the pioneers of modem consciousness
research . In addition to writing numerous articles, he has
setved as the editor of the journalfor the Study of Consciousness. H e
is the director o f the Mathematics & Morphology Research
Center in Miramonte, California.
Claudio Naranj o
M . D . , is a psychiatrist and transpersonal psychotherapist. He
has conducted experimental and clinical research in the area of
psychedelic individual and group therapy at the University of
Chile and in California. Together with Robert Ornstein, he
wrote Psychology of Meditation ( 1 9 7 1 ) . He is also the author of
The Healing journey ( I 9 7 3).
Tom Pinkson
Ph. D . , is a practicing psychologist living in California. He
works with individuals, couples , groups, and incurably ill
children. He also lectures, holds seminars, and teaches at a
number of training centers . He is the author of the book Do They
Celebrate Christmas in Heaven.' ( I 9 84).
Christian Ratsch
Dr.phil . , studied pre-columbian cultures and languages,
cultural anthropology, and folklore in Hamburg. His field
work has taken him a number of times to the Maya and the
La.Candones in Mexico. In I 9 8 5 , he completed his dissertation
on Das Erlemen von Zauberspriichen. He is the author of the books
Ein Kosmos im Regenwald ( 1 984), Namaste Yeti ( 1 9 85), Bilder aus der
unsichtbaren lM!lt ( I 9 8 5 ) Chactun - die Cotter der Maya ( I 9 8 6 )
, ,
Indianische Heilkriiuter ( I 98 7 ) , and Lexikon der Zauberpjlanz.en

( 1 9 8 8 ) . He is currently conducting research into the ethno
pharmacology of psychoactive plants and animals in Mexico.
25 7
Michael Schlichting
is a physician and associate professor at the Psychotherapeutic
and Psychosomatic Section of the Center for Psychological
Medicine at the Georg-August University in GOttingen.
Rich Yensen
Ph . D . , is a psychologist who participated in the LSD research
program at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in
Baltimore. He is one of the eo-founders of transpersonal
psychology, and is currently the director of the Institute for
Human Development in Baltimore.
John Baker
Dr.phil . , translated a number of articles contained in this book
that were originally written in German and edited the entire
text. A cultural anthropologist residing in California, he has
worked on individual reality construction and the culture
mind-body problem .
Bemd Warmbier
is an artist who has devoted himself to psychedelic art. The
illustrations contained in this volume are available from him in
a limited series of numbered prints (A3 format) at: Schinkelstr.
8, 2000 Hamburg 60, Federal Republic of Germany.
258

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THE GATEWAY TO

For Albert Hofmann,

Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana

GATEWAY TO INNER SPACE

Published in Great Britain 1989 by:

and distributed in the USA by:

and published in Australia 1990 by:

ISBN 1 85327 037 7

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

Printed and bound in the Channel Islands

Hanscarl Leuner and Michael Schlichting

The Contributors to this Volume 255

Albert Hofmann was born in the Swiss canton of Argau

Hofmann's extensive list o f publications (encompassing some

Hofrnann is a member of the directors of a number of

Today, Alben Hofmann, father and grandfather, lives with his

Asleep, a person is more or less motionless. His

sublimate. Ascending through layers of light to lofty heights,

into infinite space. A skeleton sits in the lotus posttlon,

Fig. 1: Drawing by a subject after an LSD session. Notes made after

inner space as a dark hole, but rather as an infinite universe,

Fig. 2: A drawing by a subject following a session with ketamine (I 00

administrative complications, and political measures. As a

From Mysteries to Paradigms

complex and non-homogeneous , the concept of the sacred

American society took a slighdy different course. An attempt

1 God, the devil, and the existence of a spirit world.

After nearly 20 years of serious research into the potential

religions and the early development of Western philosophy. R.

Shamanism and Plants: the ·Origins of Psychothern.py

The Role o f the Shaman

an ultimately holistic approach to illness. Through skilled use

Attitudes toward Sacred Plants

role in the preservation and intensification of the core beliefs

For his patients:

subconscious . . . and the conscious, in such cases. It

Eduardo describes what he means by the subconscious and the

We may characterize the attitudes or perceptual paradigms of

framework for experiencing the sacred and mystical effects.

cultivated and combinations of various plants are used to

employed - always the leaves. Recent studies have shown

How could "primitive" people develop such sophistication?

Visitors from our culture who participate i n actual healing or

mythology, art , and conception of the world. R. Gordon

It is clear from the above account that even a conservative, well-

acculturated visitor from the United States2 found that the

The Discovery of LSD

populated by " fantastic images of an extraordinary plasticity.

laboratory assistant to accompany me home, as I believed

home the physician was called.

already passed . As far as I remember, the following were the

In the 42 years since the startling discovery of LSD's effects, the

resembling psychosis which may seiVe as a laboratory model

The Psychotomimetic Paradigm

useful to ethnologists and students of religion. In addition to

In 1 93 6 , the psychotomimetic parad igm was furthered by the

ization" by two Englishmen ( Guttmann & Maclay) . Their

Naturally, this assumption seiVed as a point of departure and

The Psycholytic-Therapeutic Adjuvant Paradigm

offered LSD as a possibility. Rather small doses were given

1 960; Martin 1 95 7 ; Rolo et al. 1 9 64; Sandison & Whitlaw 1 954,

During the early months of 1 95 9 she (22-year-old married

Hollister published a description of phantastica effects (LSD ,

The psychedelic paradigm proposes that therapeutic improve

psychedelic sessions. Consequendy, the last research con

Because of the continuing crisis in psychiatric and psycho

2. The Architecture of Emotional and Psycho

4. General Strategies of Psychotherapy and Self

According to this view, the human psyche has a powerful self