Psychedelic journeys have played a central role in healing, community harmonization, spiritual connection, and earth stewardship since the dawn of human civilization. Shamanic cave paintings dating back before 9000 BC in the North African Sahara reveal psilocybin mushrooms with anthropomorphic figures in the ceremony. Psilocybin has also been discovered in pottery dating back to 2000 BC in Xiongnu China and is said to be the main ingredient for the legendary Soma beverage central to the prolific spiritual traditions of Vedic India. In Ancient Egypt, the Blue River Lily was used as a rites of passage ritual in ceremonies of the underworld, afterlife, and divination. In Greece, the Kykeon brew was the central sacrament to the Eleusinian and later Dionysian mysteries. A pilgrimage while fasting to the sacred temples was followed by imbibing on ergotted wine (Ergot being the man fungal ingredient in LSD) hailed by Socrates, Plato, Emperor Marcus Oralius, Sophicles and many of the most enigmatic figures of Hellenistic Greece critical to the upholding the virtue of Athenian culture. There is evidence suggesting that the earliest Gnostic Christian eucharist was also an entheogenic sacrament. Indigenous cultures such as the Aboriginee in Australia still commune with the Pituri bush to enter the dream time realm for wisdom and healing. As the Bwiti tribe in West Africa utilizes the Iboga root, to connect with ancestors, explore their ancient lineage, and release unhealthy attachments. (A use the root is now renowned in contemporary medicine for its prolific capacity to rehabilitate those suffering from major opioid addiction.)
In the Western hemisphere, the use of psychedelics is no less prominent as it is central to the health, well-being, and cosmology of indigenous communities for thousands of years. Ayahuasca, the vine of souls, a brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi and psychotria viridis plants, invokes a powerful connection to the natural kingdom providing perspective to man’s role as guardians and stewards of All life. Peyote and Huachuma (San Pedro) cacti have played a central role in ceremonial indigenous traditions in both North & South America, largely responsible for the preservation of many sacred ceremonial traditions that would have been lost to persecution. And lastly, the Flesh of the Gods or psilocybin mushrooms, the essence of Teonanacatl Xoxipilli (God of Flowers) in the Aztec tradition, and core sacrament in Mayan and the ancient Mazatec tradition, continues to be utilized as a medicinal brew central to the upholding core virtues of the spirit, ancestral connection, healing, and self-realization.
Recreational use of psychedelics is a phenomenon that was born in the consciousness explorational renaissance of the 1960s. This isn’t to say that music, dancing, childlike wonder, and community revelry cannot be a central aspect of the experience even informal rituals. Yet throughout the enduring legacy of psychedelics, despite all odds of societal persecution and oppression, a central aspect of the journey revolves around an overt & powerful mystical experience that transcends recreation and rapidly shifts the journeyer into a space of sacred reverence, profound connection, and life transformative realization.
In the present day, these deeper internal revelations may come about through a recreational experience that later lead down a path becoming more serious and meaningful. For others, a careful consideration and analysis of mental health and/or historic use has led to a desire for an intentional foray into the mystery. Yet however you have arrived at this threshold, should you hear the call to experience this timeless tradition for healing & personal discovery, we welcome you to explore coaching & journey options with the Sparc. Experience the life transformative power of plant medicines used within a safe, ethical and deeply intentional framework.
01
The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name
By Author: Brian C. Muraresku
02
Visionary: The Mysterious Origins of Human Consciousness
By Author: By Graham Hancock (The Definitive Edition of Supernatural)
03
By Author: Joshua J. Mark, World History Encyclopedia (2009)
04
By Author: Richard Evans Schultes, Albert Hofmann, Christian Rätsch (2001)
05
Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality
By Author: R. Gordon Wasson (2021)
06
The history of ergot of rye (Claviceps pupurea) II: 1900-1940
By Author: M.R. Lee, National Library of Medicine (2009)
07
By Author: Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, Highexsitence (2016)
08
LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven
By Author: Christopher Bashe