cover image Spiritual Growth with Entheogens: Psychoactive Sacramentals and Human Transformation

Spiritual Growth with Entheogens: Psychoactive Sacramentals and Human Transformation

Edited by Thomas B. Roberts. Inner Traditions/Park Street, $18.95 trade paperback (320p) ISBN 978-1-59477-439-3

“Psychoactive” and “sacramentals” aren’t generally joined words, but for a group of theologians, scientists, and psychologists, “psychoactive sacramentals” was the theme for a weeklong conference held in California in 1995. Psychoactive substances employed in a sacred rite for spiritual growth (rather than recreational drug use) have been designated as “entheogens,” meaning, “awakening the god within.” Hence, conference participants addressed profound questions about what it means to be human and the role of entheogens in enhancing psychological and spiritual well-being and maturity. The essays in this book are an updated collection of reflections from those participants, including transpersonal pioneers such as Roger Walsh, Stanislav Grof, and Frances Vaughan, combined with new material. They offer a rich and broad mix of science, anecdotes, therapeutic indications, and spiritual philosophies exploring the legitimate and responsible use of entheogens—if not to produce genuine religious experiences, to “seed a spiritual life,” as Br. David Steindl-Rast says in an introduction. The authors expect that the ideas presented in this collection may stretch conventional orders of perception, but that the rewards of an open mind may reshape a new era of spiritual intelligence. (May)