The Consumption of Psychoactive Plants in Ancient Global and Anatolian Cultures During Religious Rituals: The Roots of the Eruption of Mythological Figures and Common Symbols in Religions and Myths

Abstract

Psychoactive plants which contain hallucinogenic molecules that induce a form of altered states of consciousness (H-ASC) have been widely used during the religious rituals of many cultures throughout the centuries, while the consumption of these plants for spiritual and religious purposes is as old as human history. Some of those cultures were shaman and pagan subcultures; African native religions; Bwiti Cult; South American native religions; Amazon Cultures; Central American Cultures; Mexican subcultures; Aztec, Maya and Inca; Wiccan and witch subcultures; Satanists; American Indians; Greek and Hellenistic cultures; Sufis; Hassan Sabbah's Hashissins; Hindu, Indian and Tibetan cultures; some of the Nordic subcultures etc. Some of the psychoactive ingredients of the plants that were used during these religious rituals were; narcotic analgesics (opium), THC (cannabis), psilocybin (magic mushrooms), mescaline (peyote), ibogaine (Tabernanthe iboga), DMT (Ayahuasca and phalaris species), Peganum harmala, bufotenin, muscimol (Amanita muscaria), thujone (absinthe, Arthemisia absinthium), ephedra, mandragora, star lotus, Salvia divinorum etc. The main purposes of the practice of these plants were: spiritual healing; to contact with spirits; to contact with the souls of ancestors; to reach enlightenment (Nirvana or Satori); to become a master shaman, pagan or witch; to reach so-called-other realities, etc. Such "psychedelic-philosophical plant rituals" changed participating persons' psychology, philosophy and personality to a great degree. In these two successive articles, the consumption of psychedelic plants during religious rituals is reviewed and it is hypothesized that the images, figures, illusions and hallucinations experienced during these "plant trips" had a great impact on the formation and creation of many figures, characters, creatures, archetype images that exist not only in the mythology, but also in many religions, as well, such as angels, demons, Satan, mythological creatures, gods, goddesses etc. In the Middle East and Anatolia, within many hermetic and pagan religions, Greek and Hellenic cultures psychoactive plant use was a serious part of the religious rituals, such as Dionysian rituals or Witch's' Sabbaths. Although the impact of the "psychedelic experience and imagination" was enormous to the configuration of many religious and mythological characters, and archetypes, this fact has been underestimated and even unnoticed by many historians and anthropologists, because of the quasi-ethical trends of "anti-drug-brain-washed Western Societies".

Does the Nervous System Have an Intrinsic Archaic Language? Entoptic Images and Phosphenes

“…Considering that even old shamans were unlikely to imagine and envision such ingenious and inspired images without the aid of certain PSC-plants (Figure 1), we can hypothesize that these archaic and ancient images were drawn under the effect of PSC-plants and/or during many other trance states in shamanic rituals. During the last decades, a vast amount of archeological and anthropological items of evidence has accumulated, supporting our hypothesis, while many new discoveries were made about the correlation of shamanic trance states and PSC-plants (Stafford, 1978;Kent, 2010;De Corne, 2011;2014;Ruck, 2000;2013a;2013b). It is also interesting that some similar images were used in different cultures from the Amazon and North America, to the Middle East and Nordic countries, India and the Far East, while the ancient cultures living in those regions had no substantial connection and no means of communication with each other to transfer the knowledge or similar imaginative and visionary thinking; thus, supporting the hypothesis that these images are innate and they originate from the subconscious or collective subunconsciousness (Jung, 1968;1981).…”

“…The data, examples and figures presented in this and the accompanying article preceding this one (Sayin, 2014) clearly show that;…”

“…Also, there is ample evidence that most of the religious figures, such as mythological entities and creatures, gods, goddesses, demons, angels, etc. have close connections to what those ancient people were perceiving during the psychedelic rituals of shamanic origin (Stafford, 1978;Senn, 1989;Popik, 1995;Saver, 1997;Metzner, 1998Metzner, -2002Griffiths, 2006;De Corne, 2011;Krippner, 2011;2014;Ruck, 2006;2013a and2013b).…”

“…One of the most striking concerns is that these ancient drawings in different cultures that had no connections with each other have some common geometrical shapes, which we now call entoptic images or phosphenes (Figures-1, 2, 3). It was also an interesting finding that perception of many different entopic images occurs during the effects of many mind altering drugs and the administration of various PSC-plant extracts (Kent, 2010;Nichols, 2004;Ruck, 2006;2013-a-b;Sayin, 2012a;2014). Thus in this article we will discuss about the following hypothesis and conceptualizations:…”

“…These plants may contain either central nervous psilocin (in magic mushrooms, Psilocybe cubensis); ibogaine (naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in plants in the Apocynaceae family such as Tabernanthe iboga, Voacanga africana and Tabernaemontana undulate); N,N-Di-methyl-tryptamine (DMT, such as in Ayahuasca brew, Mimosa tenuiflora, Diplopterys cabrerana, Psychotria viridis, reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) and harding grass (Phalaris aquatica), etc. ); and tetra-hydro-cannabinol (THC, in Cannabis sativa) (Sttafford, 1978;Shulgin, 1991Shulgin, -1997Popik, 1995;Metzner, 1998;Krippner, 2011;Sayin, 2012a;Ruck, 2001;2013a, b) (See figures of the former article, Figures-1, 2, 3;Sayin, 2014). The plants that contain psychoactive substances are found extensively around the globe, from our closest gardens or prairies and local farms to regional or national forests and far away to the distant Amazon rain forests.…”