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The world's religions share a common heritage of shamanism and entheogens. The modern religions of today: Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam - all find their origins in shamanism. Entheogens - which come in various forms of plants and extracts - are substances that allow us to access the God within us. After thousands of years, a large body of research now exists to explain how entheogens and shamanic practices helped give birth to modern religion in both Eastern and Western civilizations.
<aside> 💜 The research of various scholars makes very persuasive arguments for sacramental plant use in various cultures from Vedic Brahmins to Greek mystery religions and Christian mystics and Manicheans. Researchers have further focused their attention on various myths, folklore, and art to articulate the central and ancient role of “magical plants” from an Irish Soma to Tantric Buddhist sects. This extends to the heirs of these ancient religions in such traditions as Islam...[0]
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After much searching, I have found sufficient evidence to confidently claim all organized religion is based on mystical shamanic experiences using psychedelic plant medicine.
Shamanism traces its origins back to the age of hunter-gatherer societies. It is a religious practice that involves the interaction with the world of spirit through altered states of consciousness.
Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad are among the most illuminated mystics in history. They were undoubtedly tuned in to a higher plane of reality than most of us will ever be able to conceive of. But how do you think they reached such a level of enlightenment?
There are many ways to alter one’s consciousness. The mystical Sufis of Islam practice whirling dervish. The San people of Botswana conduct a trance dance - an indigenous ritual that uses rhythmic dancing and hyperventilation to achieve an altered state. Buddhist, Hindu and Christian monks practice meditation to elevate their consciousness and achieve nirvana. New age spiritualists teach astral projection where practitioners learn to use the dream state to access the astral realm. The tribes of South America have utilized a combination of the psychedelic brew Ayahuasca, fasting, and Sun dancing to raise their consciousness. Altering consciousness is so common we find it in every culture and every religion!
In all their forms, these acts of shamanism seek a divine mystical connection with the field of information that is best called Spirit, God, Consciousness, Allah, Brahma, Christ or All that is and All that will be.
The oldest archeological evidence linking humans and psychedelics comes to us from 7000-10000 years ago from art in the Paleolithic age from Tassili, Algeria cave paintings depicting Psilocybe mairei mushrooms [0], [1], [2], [3].
The U.S. Forest Service acknowledges Tassili as “the oldest known petroglyph depicting the use of psychoactive mushrooms,” adding the postulate that “the mushrooms depicted on the ‘mushroom shaman’ are Psilocybe mushrooms” [4].
Cave murals found in Spain that date to around 6000 years old appear to depict the use of Mushrooms in religious rituals - which would be the oldest evidence of their use in Europe. The Selva Pascuala cave mural near the town of Villar del Humo has a bull in the center, but researchers from America and Mexico are focussing on a row of 13 small mushroom-like objects.
Brian Akers at Pasco-Hernando Community College in Florida, and Gaston Guzman at the Ecological Institute of Xalapa in Mexico say they believe the objects are Psilocybe hispanica, a local fungi with hallucinogenic properties [5] [6].
Today, shamanism - once universal - survives primarily among indigenous peoples.
We can trace the origins of Indian society to around 3300 BC when the original Ayran people left central Eurasia to migrate to the Indus Valley [0], [2].