J. Christian Greer, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology J. Christian Greer articulates a history of psychedelic communities without relying upon the poorly understood label “counterculture.” The counterculture falsely categorizes psychedelic communities as monolithic and united in their opposition to mainstream society. To counter this, Greer argues that the term “psychedelicism” better captures the complexity…
“With Best Intention: Psychedelic Intention-Setting Rituals as Rites of Sacralization”
Jeffrey Breau, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology Jeffrey Breau explores the role that intention-setting rituals play in psychedelic settings, drawing from ethnographic research at the annual Burning Man gathering in Black Rock City, Nevada. He argues that intention-setting is best understood as a “rite of sacralization,” a practice meant to symbolically mark a psychedelic…
“A Post-Cringe Theory of Psychedelic Spirituality in the Rave Scene”
Michelle Lhooq, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology Michelle Lhooq draws from her experience as a rave organizer and journalist to deploy the concept of “cringe” as an analytical tool to identify outdated tropes in the dance music scene. In an essay that is equally practical and philosophical, Lhooq argues that cringe is a corrective…
“Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church of Mother Earth v. The DEA: Religious Sincerity and Situational Adjustments in the Process of Defining a Church and a Plant”
Tarryl Janik, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology Tarryl Janik draws on his ethnography of Soul Quest, a Florida-based entheogenic church, to document how the organization attempted to navigate myriad legal and regulatory requirements. In complying with the government’s demands, Janik argues that Soul Quest undermined its religious sincerity case, ultimately leading to the church’s…
“The Legal Definition of Religion in the Context of Modern Religious Exercise with Psychedelics: Protection, Double Standards, and Potential Expansion under RFRA”
Allison Hoots, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology As an attorney for psychedelic organizations, Allison Hoots provides a detailed review of the case law that informs the structure and existence of modern psychedelic churches in the U.S. She concludes by arguing that the law fails to account for modern religious practice and aligns too closely…
“Manufacturing the Entheogenic Underground”
Brad Stoddard, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology Brad Stoddard shows how the underground is, in fact, created and maintained by government policy. As a result, psychedelic churches operating illegally must, at the same time, conform their beliefs and practices to the will of the state….
“Spiritual Promiscuity, Psychedelic Interdependence, and The First World Congress of Sorcery”
Julián Sánchez González, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology Julián Sánchez González examines the proximity of cultural production to cultural appropriation at the 1975 “First World Congress of Sorcery” (Primero Congreso Mundial de Brujería) in Bogotá, Colombia. Sánchez González analyzes the intermixing of politics, race, and cosmologies that took place there in terms of “spiritual…
“The Interconnection of Psychedelic Spirituality, Social Justice, and BIPOC Therapist Engagement in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy”
Candace Oglesby and Yvan Beaussant, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology Candace Oglesby and Yvan Beaussant presents a qualitative study of the experiences of BIPOC therapists who are familiar with or have practiced psychedelic-assisted therapy. They enumerate the barriers BIPOC therapists face to their involvement in psychedelic-assisted therapy, and they gesture to the central role…
“Relationality in Psychedelic Facilitation Training Programs: The UC Berkeley Case”
Moana Meadow, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology Moana Meadow’s essay demonstrates how the Berkeley Psychedelic Facilitation Certificate Program trains psychedelic facilitators through a relational and culturally sensitive approach….
“Facilitating the Sacred: The Role of Chaplains in Psychedelic Law and Policy”
Victoria Litman, CSWR, Psychedelic Intersections: 2024 Conference Anthology Victoria Litman, the Petrie-Flom Center Fellow in Psychedelic Law and Spirituality, argues that the current regulatory model’s exclusion of chaplains as psychedelic facilitators undermines the efficacy of psychedelic care. Her essay details the role that chaplains can and should play in psychedelic treatments and makes a forceful…