Editing Entheogen (section)

=== Europe ===

Fermented honey, known in Northern Europe as [[mead]], was an early entheogen in [[Aegean civilization]], predating the introduction of wine, which was the more familiar entheogen of the reborn [[Dionysus]] and the [[maenad]]s. Its religious uses in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] world are intertwined with the [[Bee (mythology)|mythology of the bee]].

[[Dacians]] were known to use cannabis in their religious and important life ceremonies, proven by discoveries of large clay pots with burnt cannabis seeds in ancient tombs and religious shrines. Also, local oral folklore and myths tell of ancient priests that dreamed with gods and walked in the smoke. Their names, as transmitted by [[Herodotus]], were "''[[kap-no-batai]]''" which in Dacian was supposed to mean "the ones that walk in the clouds".

The growth of Roman Christianity also saw the end of the two-thousand-year-old tradition of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], the initiation ceremony for the cult of [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]] involving the use of a drug known as [[kykeon]]. The term 'ambrosia' is used in Greek mythology in a way that is remarkably similar to the ''Soma'' of the Hindus as well.

A theory that naturally-occurring gases like [[ethylene]] used by inhalation may have played a role in divinatory ceremonies at [[Delphi]] in [[Classical Greece]] received popular press attention in the early 2000s, yet has not been conclusively proven.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ethylene/ethylene_history1.shtml |title=History : Oracle at Delphi May Have Been Inhaling Ethylene Gas Fumes |work=Ethylene Vault |publisher=Erowid.org |access-date=31 March 2013}}</ref>

Mushroom consumption is part of the culture of Europeans in general, with particular importance to [[Mushroom picking in Slavic culture|Slavic and Baltic peoples]]. Some academics argue that the use of [[psilocybin]]- and/or [[muscimol]]-containing mushrooms was an integral part of the ancient culture of the [[Rus' people]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.narkotiki.ru/5_5281.htm|title=НАРКОТИКИ.РУ &#124; Наркотики на Руси. Первый этап: Древняя Русь|website=www.narkotiki.ru}}</ref>