Cover art created using OpenAI’s DALL-E image generator*

Setting the Scene: A Forest Hut in the Ancient Amazon

Rain gently patters the leaves outside of the forest hut deep within the forest of the ancient Amazon. A shaman humming an alien yet familiar tune hands you a wooden cup containing a deep maroon liquid, a light steam coming off its surface. The smell of wet earth fills your nostrils as the shaman gently places his hand underneath, urging you to drink until your cup is empty. This is your third helping, and you hand it back to him and he begins to fill it again. Your family shakes and rattles bundles of leaves called chakapas, which rhythmically accompany the shaman’s deep encaptivating melody. As you continue to drink, a euphoric sensation blossoms across your body, your abdomen filling with butterflies. You forget how long it has been since you first started drinking the brew, and the green of the trees are brilliantly vibrant. Leaves become winking emeralds and the shaman’s music and your family’s chakapas meld with the sound of rain. As the ayahuasca traverses your bloodstream, you rejoice with your kin at the beauty of life. The joy of sharing this beautiful planet with your loved ones quenches your soul, fulfillment at last.

A simple thought festers and invades your mind. You realize this cannot last forever. You, your family, and everyone you know will die one day. On your knees, you weep as your family encircles you with their arms, joining in your agony. Wrestling with the fact that one day everyone will be gone leaves you hopeless, wondering why does life exist if the end is inevitable. The warmth of your family’s embrace secures you as you sob, confused and angry because the only certain thing in life is death. Humming, chakapas, rain, green, earth, warmth, joy, agony. You feel everything, experience everything, all at the same time. Then you remember the warmth, the love, the joy, and understand that despite the inevitability of death, life does have meaning. Dumbfounded, you hold onto this thought for dear life despite the fact that it was sitting in front of your face all along. Indescribable understanding and resolution sweeps your body, your soul, and you hug and kiss your loved ones, everyone’s cheeks wet with tears. Time creeps back into existence and your family melts before your eyes, which you close at the disturbing sight of reality shattering. You come to. 

Not knowing how long it has been since the ayahuasca first started working, you look left and right. Your family is gone, and only the shaman sits in front of you, his humming slows down as he draws the ritual to a close. You begin to panic, as they were there just one moment ago. Grogginess subsides, you become more clear minded and realize you haven’t seen or spoken to your family in months since you started your new job. “Damn, I should call them” you think. After some time, the wrinkled Peruvian shaman helps you to your feet as you piece together your time in the ancient Amazon, and how to integrate the lessons you learned during your trip. 

This is a creative interpretation of many anecdotal ayahuasca ceremonies experienced throughout South America, where indigenous people conducted ceremonies of the same nature thousands of years ago. The importance of these ancient ceremonies is reflected in the prevalence of these traditions still being upheld today. These ceremonies were not exclusive to ancient Amazonian tribes, as significant archaeological evidence points toward the use of psychedelics by ancient cultures all over the world. Little stone mushroom men have been found all over what once was ancient Mesoamerica and the discovery of the Eleusinian Mysteries conducted by the ancient Greeks and Romans revealed seasonal rituals in which participants drank fungus infused “kykeon” that is theorized to have provided LSD-like effects. Psychedelics have been a mysterious and transformative force in human history, and are woven into the fabric of ancient civilizations. The influence of these ancient cultures can still be seen today, as the practice of psychedelic rituals is abundant among tribes in Central America, South America, and Central Africa. With the groundwork laid out for our discovery of the connection between early and modern day psychedelic practices, let’s delve into the ancient cultures and traditions that led to society’s psychedelic use today.

Ancient Use of the Egyptian Lotus

Our first stop takes us to the fiery desert of the Sahara, where we can find the ritualistic psychedelic use by ancient Egyptians. During the time of gods and pharaohs, the best physicians of the ancient world existed alongside the strong belief in deities and the afterlife (Harer, 1985). Dissections and embalming of the deceased proved to be efficient ways of preserving the dead. Sacrifices were provided to please the myriad of gods and pharaohs were buried with all their treasures to be taken with them to the afterlife. Other spiritual practices occurred, one of which is repeatedly depicted on walls and stelae (seen below) all throughout ancient Egyptian tombs. Iconography of nymphaea caerulea (better known as the Egyptian lotus or the blue water lily) depicts the flower being handed to pharaohs and gods, with its prominent pointed petals and lamp-like shape seen below.

Stela

© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

The blue water lily is known for its potent psychoactive properties, containing apomorphine and nuciferine, which cause euphoria, stress relief, and altered states of consciousness (Poklis et al., 2017). Additionally, archaeological evidence has discovered nymphaea caerulea residue in a clay ritual vase, further hinting at its use for shamanistic practices (Davide Tanasi et al., 2023). The extensive blue water lily iconography along with the discovery of its presence in a ritual pot, as well as our knowledge of its potent psychedelic properties, gives strong support to the claim that this plant was an important cultural and shamanic tool of ancient Egypt.

Mysteries of Ancient Greece and Rome

Our next stop shows us that ritualistic psychedelic use can also be traced to ancient Greco-Roman text and archaeological findings. The Eleusinian Mysteries were ancient secret initiation rites conducted in ancient Greece and later in ancient Rome. They resembled Persephone’s abduction by Hades, her time in the Underworld, and her return or “ascent”. These stages are part of the initiation ritual, resembling the eternity of life through cycles of death and rebirth (R Gordon Wasson et al., 2008). Initiates were given kykeon, a drink whose primary ingredient was ergot. This parasitic fungus infects grasses and grains, and it was from ergot alkaloids that Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Ergot poisoning is known to produce similar effects to LSD, and it is strongly suggested that the initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries were intentionally poisoned in this way to produce altered states of consciousness (Samorini, 2019). In an ancient temple dedicated to the Eleusinian Goddesses, Demeter and Persephone, ergot fragments were discovered inside of a vase alongside beer and yeast. This same fungus was found in the jaw of a 25-year-old man, which provides explicit evidence of it being chewed and supporting the hypothesis that it was the primary ingredient in the ritualistic kykeon drink (Juan-Ttresserras, 2002). There is speculation that darker events took place during these Eleusinian Mysteries, with ancient rumors telling of reenactments of rape and murder to symbolize Persephone’s suffering. With this in mind, it is important to recognize that while psychedelic use was happening in this time and culture, it may not have occurred within the bounds of what modern society considers ethical. Moreover, most people today probably would not consider this a positive or healing experience, which is generally viewed as the purpose of utilizing psychedelics.

The Fungi, the Brew, and the Cactus

While it may come as a shock, “unethical” or “improper” psychedelic use as we would call it today was probably a lot more common than we would like to believe. Our third stop is South America, where evidence of human sacrifices during ayahuasca rituals have been uncovered in areas where the Inca empire used to thrive. Two mummified children were found atop the Ampato Mountain in Peru, their nails and hair analyzed to show that they had been intoxicated with coca leaves and ayahuasca during the last days of their lives (Socha et al., 2022). While this discovery would be considered gruesome in most modern eyes, it is interesting to note that ayahuasca is brewed primarily using banisteriopsis caapi (b. caapi), a vine native to the amazon. The alkaloids within this plant act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI), which in modern medicine are a class of drugs used to treat depression and anxiety. Researchers believe there is a possibility that this ayahuasca brew could have been used to treat depression and anxiety in the children being offered as sacrifices (Socha et al., 2022). If this were the case, it would be one of the oldest recorded instances of psychedelic use as a treatment for depression. While this is merely speculation, it is important to highlight the primary effect of banisteriopsis caapi in the ayahuasca concoction. When taken orally, DMT does not have any psychoactive effect due to its rapid breakdown in the gut and liver. Otherwise, it has remarkably powerful psychoactive effects, which are known to last anywhere from 5-7 hours after ingestion (Uthaug et al., 2018). Monoamine oxidase is the enzyme responsible for DMT’s rapid metabolism, which keeps it from reaching the brain, thus preventing any hallucinogenic effects. B. caapi contains beta-carbolines, which produce the aforementioned MAOI effect. When b. Caapi is combined in a brew with a DMT-rich plant, ayahuasca is created, and the monoamine oxidase enzymes in the gut are prevented from metabolizing DMT, which allow it to be absorbed into the gastrointestinal tract and cross the blood-brain barrier, producing extremely potent mind-altering effects. Ayahuasca was not the only hallucinogenic utilized for its beneficial properties, there is also evidence that psilocybin mushrooms and peyote cacti were utilized thousands of years ago in healing and spiritual rituals (Carod-Artal, 2015). It was no coincidence that these plants were selected as medicine during ancient times, and they continue to be used in psychedelic practices happening today. 

Modern Medicine and Ancient Wisdom

A renaissance of psychedelic medicine is happening all over the world, and newfound uses for these compounds are being rediscovered in clinical trials and other areas of research. Psychedelics are being tested for their anxiolytic and antidepressant uses, as well as potential substitutes for ADHD medication and even for patients suffering from PTSD. The possibilities for these ancient and spiritual medicines are plentiful, which can be shown further in the cultures that are still utilizing them for spiritual and healing purposes to this very day. 

For example, Iboga is ritualistically consumed in Gabon, a country in Central Africa. Iboga contains the psychedelic compound ibogaine, which produces intense hallucinations and its drug effects tend to persist for between 24 and 48 hours. Many anecdotal reports claim to be bestowed with the plant’s wisdom, and some even recall contact and communication with their ancestors who had consumed it thousands of years ago.  One of the most notable reports was of a Gabon native, Myobi, who was initiated into Bwiti to connect to her homeland after traveling for many years. Bwiti is a spiritual tradition and practice that originated in Central Africa, where present day Gabon is. It incorporates the use of iboga as a means to connect with ancestors and spirits, and ceremonies typically last multiple days. The 29-year-old woman recounted her experience encountering her long departed grandmother and uncle, describing the reunion as joyous and loving. She also described meeting her grandfather, who had died before she was born, and gave her messages for her mother about taking care of the village, with specific descriptions of parts of the village that needed to be tended to. After multiple days of the ritual, Myobi stated she had a drastic personality change, and became someone rooted in purpose and perseverance (Dickinson, 2023).This account is one of many that have been recorded, with others undergoing extreme changes in their lives. 

Many other iboga anecdotes come from people with substance use disorders (commonly OUD), where a dramatic shift in their addictive behavior causes them to go drug free for the rest of their lives. Ayahuasca is used similarly in South America, and many shamans provide it to locals and travelers alike, to guide them through a spiritual journey of self discovery. There are local ayahuasca ceremonies that happen among indigenous south american tribes, which aim to make contact with spiritual realms, and open communication with ancestral  and even animal worlds (Luna, 2011). Additionally, there are opportunities for travelers to experience ayahuasca and many retreats offer this opportunity to individuals in many countries in South America. While this may seem like a tempting option, it is important to do research on each of these retreats to ensure a proper fit, and to avoid potential dishonest retreat organizations. Native American tribes like the Plains Indians, Navajo, and Apache, still utilize peyote and San Pedro in religious ceremonies as a way to maintain spiritual tradition that had been kept for thousands of years (El-Seedi et al., 2005). 

Psilocybin mushrooms are revered for their ability to guide users along a path of self discovery and development of new perspectives, and are used all over Central and South America in countries like Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Panama (to name a few but not all) (Spiers et al., 2024). Traditional use of these plants has been carried down for hundreds if not thousands of generations. Thanks to the strength and persistence of these traditions, a new age of psychedelic research has been born from the recognition of the vast potential benefits these plant medicines have to offer.

Psychedelics: The Past Present, and Future

We are currently living in a flourishing psychedelic renaissance, where new discoveries and novel therapeutic applications of psychedelics are seemingly being made left and right. While they are most certainly not a cure-all, psychedelics are a very promising potential alternative treatment method for individuals that have not been able to treat their mental health disorders. Treatment resistant depression and anxiety, addiction, PTSD, eating disorders, and Alzheimer’s are some of the many mental health disorders that are actively being researched for their potential treatment by psychedelics. Although there is plenty more research needed to standardize treatment methods using these compounds, a bright future for mental health seems to lie ahead. While this may look like a new age of medicine to most people, it is important to note that psychedelics have been used as spiritual and religious medicines for thousands of years. Despite lacking a modern understanding of science and medicine, it is remarkable that people utilized psychedelics as a way of healing long before it was recognized as a potential treatment by people today. While there is much progress that has been made on therapeutic use and modern practice, respect must be attributed to the ancient cultures and traditions, so as not to forget the origins of this new development in modern mental healthcare. With this knowledge being preserved, the potential for these mystical plant medicines to further the mental health and well being of people around the world will only grow more and more. Whether people take psychedelics for the purpose of self discovery with their friends or family at home, or if they venture into the rainforest with a shaman for a powerful healing experience, the future of psychedelic use is growing more and more prominent as time moves on. In the next few years, the stigma will shift from “illicit” and “dangerous” to what psychedelics truly are: a vital component of the future of medicine.

*I know this image is imperfect and potentially even problematic with regard to ambiguous iconography, nevertheless, this is the simplest and most efficient way for us to generate graphics for these posts. Afterall this is a student-run, volunteer organization. – Luke Johnson, blog editor

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