Studio Practice : Entheogen's - Shamanic substances.

An entheogen "Generating the divine within" is a psychoactive substance used in religious, shamanic or spiritual context that may be synthesised or obtained from a natural source. Entheogens have traditionally been used to supplement many diverse practices geared towards achieving transcendence including sensory deprivation, divinatory, meditation, yoga, prayer, trance, chanting, hymns like peyote songs, and drumming. The use of entheogens was kept secret by native societies to the Western world until the 1950s, which quickly developed into psychedelic therapy.

Entheogen's have been used by native/shamanic cultures for hundreds or thousands of years and have played a big part in the spiritual practices of a shaman or guru due to there hallucinatory and mind altering effects.

Examples of some entheogen's include

Fauna are animal based entheogen's

- Colorado river toad

-Bullet ants

- Hallucinogenic fish

Flora are plant based entheogen's which are the most varied and commonly used

Fungi is an entheogen that sprouts from mould

-Fly agaric -Magic mushrooms (Psilocybin)

All off these different spieceis of entheogen all grow in various places around the world and some people believe that these have a big role to play in the evolution of the human consciousness (I will talk more of this in my Context of practice studies) Most of these substances are relatively safe with controlled doses. The fact that they have been used for thousands of years and shamanic cultures would not be the same without them really shows the spiritual power of these natural mind altering substances.

These are some images of specific entheogen's that are well known for there uses in shamanic ceremonies and in modern day are also used as a recreation.