Spirituality Studies 10-1 Spring 2024 45 Samuel Bendeck Sotillos delic plant considered sacred to the Aztecs (1941). In 1960, Hofmann isolated lysergic acid amide from ololiuqui seeds, finding them analogous to LSD (Hofmann 1963, 194–212). It is worth recalling that the earliest scientific work on psychedelics was conducted in 1897 by the German pharmacologist and chemist Arthur Heffter (1859–1925), who isolated mescaline from peyote (Lophophora williamsii). It is important to clarify that the use of sacred medicines in the traditional world – especially for the First Peoples and their shamanic traditions – has existed for much longer than its modern Western uses. To be sure, entheogens are not new. In this context, we are reminded of the Mazatec native healer, María Sabina (1894–1985), who introduced the ceremonial use of psilocybin mushrooms to R. Gordon Wasson (1898–1986) in June 1955, who then documented his experiences in a landmark Life magazine article entitled Seeking the Magic Mushroom (1957). A week later, his wife – Russian-American pediatrician and ethnomycologist Valentina Wasson (1901–1958) – recounted her participation in this indigenous ritual in a magazine article from This Week titled I Ate the Sacred Mushrooms. One might wonder why the Wassons published their discoveries in popular magazines such as Life and This Week rather than in standard scholarly journals. Nevertheless, Wasson and his wife soon acquired a mythical status – although recent details have surfaced that undermine the narrative that has hitherto prevailed (Irving 2013, 565– 619). Unknown to Wasson, the funding of his 1956 expedition to Huautla de Jiménez was made by the CIA’s MK-ULTRA Subproject 58, of which Sidney Gottlieb (1918–1999) was the mastermind (Marks 1991; Kinzer 2020). This reveals the CIA’s role in launching the psychedelic revolution for its own nefarious covert purposes. With that noted, it was Schultes who first identified teonanácatl (Nahuatl for “flesh of the gods”) – the sacred mushroom of the Aztecs in the late 1930s (Schultes 1939, 37–54; 1940, 429–443). Wasson inspired American psychologist and counter-culture advocate Timothy Leary (1920–1996) to follow in his footsteps when he traveled to Cuernavaca in Mexico during August 1960 to try psilocybin mushrooms, which changed the course of his life [6]. Leary recalls, “[i]n four hours by the swimming pool in Cuernavaca I learned more about the mind, the brain, and its structures than I did in the preceding fifteen [note: years] as a diligent psychologist” (1990a, 33). It was Wasson who sent specimens of the Psilocybe mexicana mushroom to Hofmann, who, in 1958, was able to identify two psychoactive compounds for the development of a synthetic version of psilocybin. Beat writer William Burroughs (1914–1990) traveled to the Amazon in 1953 to explore yagé (ayahuasca), followed by Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) in 1960, resulting in the popular book The Yage Letters (1963). Following this surge of interest, other prominent individuals emerged who ignited further interest in shamanic or indigenous entheogenic traditions, such as Carlos Casta eda (1925–1998) (de Mille 1976; 1980) and Michael J. Harner (1929–2018) – all of this attention contributed to the widespread popularization of psychedelics in the modern West, which, in turn, served to launch the 1960s counter-culture and New Age movements (Aldred 2000, 329–352; Partridge 2019, 652–662). 3 Shadows of the Psychedelic Renaissance It has been said that the sacred uses of mind-altering substances are the “best kept secret” (Smith 1998, 10) in the history of humanity, referring to a hidden knowledge about the abiding use of entheogens within diverse spiritual practices worldwide. The psychedelic movement is not monolithic in nature, as it reflects varying perspectives on how entheogens should be used. The problems surrounding present-day psychedelic use are illumined by this telling comment: “[H]ow lucky those of us were who… approached LSD before it had either the demoniacal or the paradisiacal vibrations it has now – when it had no echoes of gurus and heroes, doctors or delinquents” (Huxley 1999, 74). Given this attitude, an astute observer has remarked that “[t]he psychedelic movement is antinomian” (Smith 1967, 146). This is indeed the case, as it radically breaks with sacred tradition by not conforming to its protective wisdom and healing knowledge – preferring to be led, instead, by its own idiosyncratic inclinations. We need to recall the infamous maxim of the English occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) [7]: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” (1976, 9). This is an inversion of what we find in St. Augustine (354–430): “Love [note: God], and do what thou wilt” (1888, 504). Leary, being instrumental in launching the psychedelic revolution, was not only influenced by Crowley but thought of himself as a continuator of his legacy, dubbing himself a “high priest” (1995) and writing a book called Start Your Own Religion (1967). The psychedelic renaissance has been marked by the problematic phenomenon known as “spiritual materialism” (Trungpa 2002) which is all too often unnoticed or ignored. Due to the loss of a sense of the sacred in the modern world, people are forced to find new ways to give meaning
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