Entheogenic Spirituality: Characteristics of Spiritually Motivated Psychedelics Use

ABSTRACT

Investigations of the use of psychedelic or entheogenic drugs in spiritual contexts have focused on mystical experience. Arguing that entheogenic spirituality should be understood more broadly, this study recruited 319 individuals into an online survey. Respondents were predominantly from western countries, but reported a connection to an eclectic range of religious and spiritual traditions, with Buddhism as the largest religion. About half of the respondents reported having a meditation practice, and the most endorsed motivations for entheogen use related to personal growth and spirituality. For spiritually motivated respondents, entheogenic experiences were most commonly characterized by feelings of joy, peace, and love, by insight into oneself and one’s relations, and by improved connections with nature and with other people. Spiritually affiliated participants were more likely to report mystical experiences involving ego dissolution and contact or unity experiences and reported more positive long-term consequences from entheogen use. The study affirms the existence of a movement of spiritually motivated entheogen users that requires further investigation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13121846.v1

Ethical approval

All research reported in this article was conducted in accordance with the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki. Since the survey was anonymous and SurveyXact has an agreement with the University of Bergen guaranteeing General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance and participant privacy, the Norwegian Social Science Data Services waived ethical approval.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2022.2148060