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Entheogens Research Paper

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Recommended: Drugs and consciousness psychology

The Effects of Using Entheogens in a Ceremonial Setting

For a long time, the use of psychoactive plants have played a role in the cultures of indigenous peoples. They are often plants that come in the form of peyote, fungi, and more. These plants are then ingested as a part of a ritual or ceremony with the focus on healing, growth, gaining insight, curing disease, and in a way taking a good look at one’s own heart. When psychedelics are used for the purpose of spiritual growth and insight they are called entheogens. As opposed to a person simply taking a psychoactive substance for the purpose of just tripping, participating in ceremony or ritual creates a profound experience.
For a long time the shamanic traditions of the amazon involve drinking a plant medicine known as ayahuscha. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant that is used in a brew as a part of the healing ceremonies carried out by the indigenous people of the people of the Amazon Basin. (Trichter,2) There is a whole ceremony around it that involves drinking the brew, physically purging the body by vomiting, a result of the brew, and letting the medicine show …show more content…

The relationship between the person taking the plant medicine and the ritual is like taking an already paved trail in the woods to get to the chosen destination rather than stumble around the uncharted parts. Plant medicines are amazing tools to explore the mind. Toys they are not, as they still manipulate the chemistry of the brain and can affect a person in almost unpredictable mind. By taking a plant substance person is agreeing to let that plant take your perception to a possibly completely different level. This shift of perception is not always a choice. Setting intention and participating in a ceremony or ritual allows the perception to be taken to a place that doesn’t turn your brain to

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