Although psychedelic substances are often associated with the counter-cultural 1960’s and 70’s, they can be traced back to the very dawn of humanity. Some of the earliest human artifacts include shamanic depictions in cave paintings and hallucinogen paraphernalia. When used for their spiritual effects, psychoactive chemical substances are referred to as entheogenic, which translates to “generating the experience of God within”.
Entheogens have been used in a ritualized context for thousands of years; their religious significance is well established in modern anthropological evidences. Numerous historians and ethnobotanists believe that entheogens played a part in the development of world religions and form the basis of countless spiritual traditions. Many ancient cultures and religions used psychotropic drugs to alter perception and instigate religious ecstasy.
However, due to both prohibitionists and etymology, this history has been obfuscated, and for the most part, forgot in translation. Psychedelics have become one of our society’s greatest taboos because they pose an existential threat to western conservative ideals.
Masculine head with horns - Culture Nok, Unknown, 5 th century B.C.-5 th century A.C., From the collection of: Fundación Alberto Jiménez-Arellano Alonso - Universidad de Valladolid
Although this African mask might be initially interpreted as a warrior, the presence of the headdress indicates its shamanic function.
In this representation of a southern Tassil cave painting in of a Matalem-Amazar figure, The symbol of the mushroom was first interpreted as an arrowhead. Ethno-mycologicalists have used these pre-neolithic works like this to trace the ritual use of hallucinogenic mushrooms back as far as 9,000 years.
Stirrup-spout bottle with incised designs, Cupisnique style, 1500 BC - 500 BC, From the collection of: MALI, Museo de Arte de Lima
These types of vessels have provided insight about rituals and ceremonies of various Pre-Columbian cultures. Cupisnique pottery often depicted hallucinogenic plants and anthropomorphic figures that often represented deities.
High priests from these cultures would take entheogens in order to communicate with the gods, which is presumed to be the origin of their mythologies.
Mortar and pestle that represent a feline-owl and a snake ML300029, Cupisnique style, 1250 BC - 1 AD, From the collection of: Museo Larco
This ceremonial mortar was used to prepare psychotropic roots and seeds for use by shamans in ancient Peru to transcend their state of consciousness. The designs of the containers were used to communicate these shamanic visions. The connection between the mortal world, and the upper and under worlds are represented here by a feline, an owl, and a snake.
Hallucinogen tray with anthropomorphous figures, Eastern Cordillera - Muisca Period, 600/1600, From the collection of: Museo del Oro, Bogotá
This tray is an example of paraphernalia for hallucinogenic snuff, a sacred object with for the ritualistic culture of the Muisca.
Shaman, Culture Napo, 1200 AD - 1600 AD, From the collection of: Museo Casa del Alabado
This effigy depicts an Ecuadorian shaman connected to the spirit of ayahuasca, an entheogenic brew made from a shrub called chacruna (Psychotria viridis) and the banisteriopsis caapi vine, native to the Amazonian Rainforest, which is known as “the vine of the soul”.
Ayahuasca, also called yage, is a traditional medicine, administered by Amazonian shamans for healing, spiritual transformation and universal connectivity for over 5000 years.
The Fall of Man, Frans Floris, around 1560, From the collection of: Malmö Konstmuseum
The Fall of Man depicts the Christian creation mythos Adam and Eve. In the story, the forbidden fruit from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden gave to them a newfound subjective consciousness.
Today, this “fruit” is widely interpreted as an apple, although etymological research has shown that it was more likely to have been an apricot. Other ethnobotanical theorems point to entheogens.
In this 13th century fresco found in Abbaye de Plaincourault Mérigny, France, The Tree of Knowledge bears resemblance to the amanita muscaria mushroom. The Gnostics used the mushroom as an entheogen to access 'sacred knowledge'.
Sivaji making 'bhang' (intoxicant), unknown, 1801/1900, From the collection of: Academy of Fine Arts and Literature
Hindu god Shiva is known as the master of mystical plants and fungi. Many followers of Shivaism consume bahng (a psychoactive drink containing cannabis) as a sacrament to achieve a transcendental state of enlightenment.
Shiva is usually depicted with a third eye, symbolizing “internal vision”. One’s “third-eye”, or “inner eye”, is thought to be connected to the pineal gland which is located in the center of the brain (pictured). Several entheogens contain dimethyltryptomine (DMT) which has been scientifically proven to stimulate the pineal gland. The activation of this gland has been connected to euphoric visions tied to divinity.
Opium pipe and case, Unknown, late 19th century, From the collection of: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Opium is derived from the Greek work opos, which translates to “plant juice”, which refers to the latex that is extracted from the opium poppy.
Interpretations of a Sumerian tablet (3000 B.C.E.) tell us that the spiritual effects of opium have likely been known for at least 5,000 years. The Minoans used opium to induce ecstatic states for religious ceremonies where the shaman would offer oracles. According to Theocritus, the opium poppy grew from the “tears of Aphrodite”.
Peyote Cermony, James Auchiah (1906-1974), 1938, From the collection of: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
Peyote is a psychoactive alkaloid containing mescaline, which is extracted from the peyotl (the Nahuatl name for cactus).
Peyote originated in Pre-Columbian Mexico, and was used by indigenous cultures for healing, and in ceremonies where participants sought metaphysical revelation and/or spiritual introspection. Peyotism (The Native American Church) spread north to Canada by the late 19th century, and is still the the most widespread religion among the North American indigenous population.
Unlike most entheogens, and despite its history of prohibition, peyote is legal in North America when used by registered Native Americans for religious purposes within recognized tribes.
Reindeer-breeder (toiler). Right part (from triptych "In the ancestor`s Land"), Osipov Afanasii Nikolaevich, 1971/1971, From the collection of: The National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
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MALI, Museo de Arte de Lima
Museo Larco
Museo del Oro, Bogotá
Academy of Fine Arts and Literature
Museo Casa del Alabado
Malmö Konstmuseum
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
The National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Fundación Alberto Jiménez-Arellano Alonso - Universidad de Valladolid
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum