A collection of self-described healers, light workers, yogis, and New Agers gathered together on a grassy patch of land next to the turquoise blue waters of Tampa Bay. A strong breeze contributed to a pleasant cacophony of sounds emanating from the various chimes, bells, and sound healing tools intentionally placed around the altar. As the sun’s warm rays graced the participants of this group’s sound healing meditation, we were welcomed by the church’s founders. The ceremony had commenced.
This specific psychedelic “Temple” was founded by three women living on Florida’s Gulf Coast. An ordained minister and light worker, a kundalini yogi, and a doctor of acupuncture joined forces after sensing a need for accessible and intentional healing work in their community. As psychonauts themselves, they desired to serve their congregation Earth’s healing medicines with some degree of legal protection. Hence, their church was born.
Paperwork was filed with the State of Florida and months later, the Temple was approved. The sound healing that I attended was their inaugural service, held on the eve of the Spring Equinox, welcoming the New Moon in Aries. A group of approximately 25 gathered in a large circle, drums and singing bowls in tow, to initiate the Divine Feminine into our lives and welcome the coming Spring. We were ready to harness our collective power for positive change within ourselves and the greater community.
What is a psychedelic church?
Psychedelic churches are not a trendy cultural phenomena in the United States, they’ve existed for years, pushing the limits of what is considered religious by the largely Christian base in most of America. These small, niche groups arising across the country use psychedelics to heal and become closer to the Divine Creator, whomever or whatever that means to the individual sitting in ceremony.
Ssearching “What is a psychedelic church?” usually prompts a Wikipedia page under “Neo-American Church” referencing the Original Kleptonian Neo-American Church founded by Arthur Kleps, a member of Timothy Leary’s circle in New York in the 1960’s. Established in part as an Absurdist religion, its members practiced the tenets of solipsistic nihilism, the belief that one’s Self is the only thing sure to exist, and all religious and moral principles put forth by society are more or less meaningless.
However, Klep’s sentiments regarding the purpose of psychedelic churches is echoed by the Floridian Temple.
“The psychedelic churches exist to promote and defend the psychedelic religion, a religion which sees in the transcendental experience produced by the sacred substances the key to understanding life and improving the condition of man on earth.”
Arthur Kleps, 1966
The Temple seeks to provide the illuminating experiences offered by psychedelics as omniscient messengers connecting us to each other and a loving Universe. Their sessions are fluid, open to interpretation, and open to the community to voice its purpose and goals for participating. The reason for embarking on a psychedelic journey is not solely for the sake of ourselves, but for the sake of humankind as an interconnected and eternal organism. In essence, the Temple evokes the exact opposite of nihilism in their practices. Whereas Klep’s group adhered to an almost Dionysian sense of chaos and hedonism, the Temple seeks the communal and existential.
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
As the sound healing came to a close, the church founders addressed the congregation, stating that the sacrament of Psilocybin is to be offered once per month for those seeking to ground and heal through Mother Earth. This is to be performed legally as a state-approved church, via the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Introduced by Congressman Chuck Schumer in 1993, Public Law 103-141 protects the free exercise of religion. However, this Act was the result of a long battle to preserve the right to consume psychedelics.
The RFRA was passed in response to Oregon vs. Smith, where the court upheld a decision to deny two Native American men unemployment benefits after testing positive for peyote, a small, spineless cactus containing the alkaloid Mescaline. Peyote, a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl, peyōtl, is indigenous to Mexico and Southwest Texas. The two men asserted that they had consumed peyote as part of a religious ceremony.
A series of cases followed which the Supreme Court argued whether or not the RFRA was constitutional, eventually leading to 21 states taking up the RFRA to apply to their states and local municipalities, including Florida, et voilà, the Temple is borne.
However, it is important to note that the RFRA does not create immunity for psychedelic churches. To date, these churches operate in a legal gray area, meaning that they are not protected from potential liability or prosecution by the government, without explicit exemption. One example of exemption is the 2006 Supreme Court case, Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, a Christian Spiritist sect based in Brazil, with a New Mexico branch of approximately 100 individuals. In this particular case, Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the court, ultimately disagreeing with the federal government’s uniform enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act.
Despite this gray area and few instances of exemption, psychedelic churches remain. Some have even received national press in the United States; the Associated Press published a piece on Hummingbird Church and their Ayahuasca ceremonies in Hillsdale, Utah and the Washington Post reported on the Zide Door Church of Entheogenic Plants in Oakland, California.
Entheogens, Religion, and Ritual
Entheogen’s use in ceremony extends far beyond Timothy Leary’s circle of seekers. Indigenous peoples from around the globe have revered these natural hallucinogens as sacraments for thousands of years. Even today, these sacred plant messengers can be found in ceremonies across the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and beyond.
The archaeological record regularly reveals use of mind-altering substances by ancient peoples. A 2008 discovery at a burial site in Cueva del Chileno rock shelter, on the western slopes of Bolivia’s Andes, revealed a leather pouch containing a collection of ancient drug paraphernalia. The pouch contained bone spatulas, wooden tablets inlaid with gemstones, and a wooden snuffing tube. More than a decade later, anthropologists from Penn State University discovered that the 1000 year old pouch contained “the most varied combination of psychoactive compounds found in South America” including compounds found in ayahuasca and cocaine.
Psilocybin, or “magic mushrooms” were consumed by the Aztecs and many other Mesoamerican cultures for religious, medicinal, and recreational purposes. Their psilocybin ceremonies reportedly served many additional purposes, such as seeking solutions to problems, finding lost objects, or reconnecting with lost loved ones. In many ancient indigenous societies, illness was perceived as both physical and spiritual and entheogens posed as treatment for the root of whatever was ailing.
In today’s modern society, these ancient traditions have morphed into experiences such as the guided ceremony held by the Temple. These ceremonies are a physical manifestation of devotion to Mother Earth, and a means to expand one’s consciousness beyond the confines of society’s norms and expectations.
Eschewing Religion, Welcoming Faith
As the sun set over Tampa Bay, the tall palm trees swayed in the seabreeze. An evening chill set in as we gathered our belongings, it was time to process the activations we received through sound, only to meet again at the month’s end for the psychedelic sacrament.
In a society where religious affiliation is plummeting, dogma is being traded for exploration. There are no strict guidelines to adhere to, no scriptures to obediently abide, and no Hellscape awaiting other than that which we create for ourselves. In this changing era, a new dawn has arrived, one in which we welcome the philosophical, ethereal, and spiritual as a means to connect more deeply with the omnibenevolent forces which exist across our universe.
Disclaimer: Psychedelics, including psilocybin, are considered Schedule 1 drugs under the Controlled Substances Act. Due to their illegality, there is a lack of public information and accountability concerning psychedelic churches. Unfortunately, there have been reports of harm caused by instances of sexual abuse, substance impurity, and lack of integrity by facilitators. It is extremely important to do your own due diligence through research and recommendations when choosing to sit for a ceremony or join a psychedelic community.