MAPS: Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Psilocybin for the dying. Soma among the Armenians, Ethnobotany, Anthropology, Armenian Mythology, Vahagn, Mithra, Mushrooms, Amanita, Iranian Mythology. By Robert Bedrosian Download in zip format soma.zip; pdf format soma.pdf Footnotes Page opens in separate window. [1] Soma was a god, a plant, and an intoxicating beverage. It is referenced in some 120 of 1028 verses of the Indian Rig Veda (mid second millenium B.C.). Haoma was its Iranian counterpart. During the past two hundred years, scholars have tried with varying degrees of success to identify this mysterious plant which was at the base of early Indo-Iranian worship.
In Soma Divine Mushroom of Immortality (1968), Wasson argued that the intoxicating plant called soma in the Rig Veda should be identified with the red-capped psychoactive mushroom, Amanita muscaria. In nature, this mushroom begins fruiting as a white "egg" enclosed in the membranous material of the universal veil; the stalk pushes up as it grows, and the distinctive orange-to-red cap appears from behind the veil.
Wasson's identification of soma with the Amanita muscaria mushroom has not won universal acceptance. Vahagn. The God Chemical: Brain Chemistry And Mysticism. Council on Spiritual Practices. Council on Spiritual Practices. Molecular Mysticism. Phanerothyme' Psychedelic Information Center Cambridge, Mass. All rights reserved. Used by the Council on Spiritual Practices with permission of the author. This essay has been difficult to write. It is very hard to talk about religious matters. It is harder still to discuss them in connection with a subject – phanerothymic drugs – which is so fraught with misconceptions and emotion.
The latter temptation has been made weaker in my case by the fact that I do not recognize my own experience in very much of what has been written. I make no contention that my experience is the only or the typical form of response to these drugs. Perhaps the use of a booklet like this is not that it will be believed or agreed with at the first reading but that it will function as a reminder of an alternative approach when some of the current approaches prove unrewarding. The ideas expressed in this pamphlet have developed out of some dozen phanerothymic sessions over the past five years. What is psychedelic? Esalen: Home. Psychedelic Spirituality. Psychedelics and Religious Experience. Entheogens in the Vajrayana Tradition. Warning: datura is an extremely powerful and dangerous hallucinogen. In addition to the dangers inherent in severe hallucinosis, the plant is quite toxic. There have been reports of coma and death resulting from this toxicity.The broad definition of entheogen used here is: "plants or substances capable of producing visionary experiences which are used for magico-religious or psychospiritual purposes.
" The use of entheogens in the Vajrayana tradition has been documented by such scholars as Ronald M Davidson, William George Stablein, Bulcsu Siklos, David B. Gray, Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, Shashibhusan Das Gupta, Francesca Fremantle, Shinichi Tsuda, David Gordon White, Rene de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, James Francis Hartzell, Edward Todd Fenner, Ian Baker, Dr.
Pasang Yonten Arya and numerous others. This investigation has focused primarily on the use of entheogens in the anuttara-yoga-tantra materials especially (but not exclusively) the Yogini-tantras. Partial Bibliographic List of Resources Dr. Watch Newspapers - TELLURIDE MUSROOM FESTIVAL 2011 Psychoactive Mushrooms and Spiritual Consciousness. TELLURIDE MUSROOM FESTIVAL 2011Psychoactive Mushrooms and Spiritual Consciousness AMANITA MUSCARIA – Found in forests throughout the region, contains a neurotoxin that causes the effects of inebriation, derangement of the senses, manic behavior, delirium, and deathlike sleep.
(Photo by Brett Schreckengost) slideshow A Quick Rundown of a Very Long History By Eugenia Bone The Telluride Mushroom Festival, despite its happy looniness and general carnival atmosphere, is one of the few mycological gatherings that features talks on entheogens and ethnomycology. Entheogen means “Creates God Within” (from the Greek en = within, theo = god or divine, gen = creates or generates). Most discussion of fungal entheogens is comprised of highly speculative theories regarding the cultural significance of two types of mushrooms: psychoactive mushrooms in the Psilocybe genus, and Amanita muscaria, the iconic red mushroom with the white dots. The Good Drug Guide : new mood-brighteners and antidepressants. Entheologues: Conversations with Leading Psychedelic Thinkers, Explorers and Researchers. Home Page.