Editing Entheogen (section)

== By region ==
{{See also|Regional forms of shamanism}}

=== Africa ===

The best-known entheogen-using culture of Africa is the [[Bwiti]]sts, who used a preparation of the root bark of ''[[Tabernanthe iboga]]''.<ref>[http://ibogaine.desk.nl/fernandez.html Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628094315/http://www.ibogaine.desk.nl/fernandez.html |date=28 June 2006 }} by James W. Fernandez, Princeton University Press, 1982</ref> Although the ancient Egyptians may have been using the [[Nymphaea caerulea|sacred blue lily]] plant in some of their religious rituals or just symbolically, it has been suggested that Egyptian religion once revolved around the ritualistic ingestion of the far more psychoactive ''[[Psilocybe cubensis]]'' mushroom, and that the Egyptian [[White Crown]], Triple Crown, and [[Atef]] Crown were evidently designed to represent pin-stages of this mushroom.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://shroomer.cz/upload/Hubicky_v_Egypte.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222064142/http://shroomer.cz/upload/Hubicky_v_Egypte.pdf |archive-date=22 December 2009 |title=The entheomycological origin of Egyptian crowns and the esoteric underpinnings of Egyptian religion |author=S.R. Berlant |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |volume=102 |issue=2005 |pages=275–88 |year=2005 |doi=10.1016/j.jep.2005.07.028 |pmid=16199133|s2cid=19297225 }}</ref> There is also evidence for the use of [[psilocybin mushroom]]s in [[Ivory Coast]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Samorini|first=Giorgio|title=Traditional Use of Psychoactive Mushrooms in Ivory Coast?|journal=Eleusis|year=1995|volume=1|pages=22–27|url=http://www.museocivico.rovereto.tn.it/pubblicazioni.jsp?ID_LINK=111250&area=3|access-date=8 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508061641/http://www.museocivico.rovereto.tn.it/pubblicazioni.jsp?ID_LINK=111250&area=3|archive-date=8 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Numerous other plants used in shamanic ritual in Africa, such as ''[[Silene capensis]]'' sacred to the [[Xhosa people|Xhosa]], are yet to be investigated by western science. A recent revitalization has occurred in the study of southern African psychoactives and entheogens (Mitchell and Hudson 2004; Sobiecki 2002, 2008, 2012).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnobotany.co.za/index.php/publications-and-writing/ethnobotanical-research |title=Ethnobotanical Research |publisher=ethnobotany.co.za |access-date=13 January 2013}}</ref>

Among the amaXhosa, the artificial drug 2C-B is used as entheogen by traditional healers or [[Xhosa people#Folklore and religion|amagqirha]] over their traditional plants; they refer to the chemical as ''Ubulawu Nomathotholo'', which roughly translates to "''Medicine of the Singing Ancestors''".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tacethno.com/info/2cb/2cbhistory.html#South%20Africa |title=2CB chosen over traditional entheogen's by South African healers. |publisher=Tacethno.com |date=27 March 2008 |access-date=15 May 2012}}</ref><ref>[http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/2cb/2cb_article1.shtml The Nexus Factor - An Introduction to 2C-B] Erowid</ref><ref>[http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/show_image.php?i=2cb/ubulawu_pack.jpg Ubulawu Nomathotholo Pack] Photo by Erowid.  2002 Erowid.org</ref>

==== East Africa ====
[[File:Harar Chat qat.jpg|thumb|Khat leaves of [[Harar]]]]

For centuries, religious leaders have consumed the [[khat]] leaves to stay awake during long nights of prayer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ogina.org/issue5/issue5_culture_of_khat_ezekiel.html|title=New Features}}</ref>

=== Americas ===
{{See also|Aztec use of entheogens|Entheogenics and the Maya}}
Entheogens have played a pivotal role in the spiritual practices of most American cultures for millennia. The first American entheogen to be subject to scientific analysis was the [[peyote]] cactus (''Lophophora williamsii''). One of the founders of modern ethno-botany, [[Richard Evans Schultes]] of [[Harvard University]] documented the ritual use of peyote cactus among the [[Kiowa]], who live in what became Oklahoma. While it was used traditionally by many cultures of what is now Mexico, in the 19th century its use spread throughout North America, replacing the [[toxic]] [[Calia secundiflora|mescal bean]] (''Calia secundiflora''). Other well-known entheogens used by Mexican cultures include the [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]]ic [[Aztec]] sacrament [[pulque]], ritual tobacco (known as 'picietl' to the Aztecs, and 'sikar' to the [[Maya people|Maya]] (from where the word 'cigar' derives)), [[psilocybin mushroom]]s, morning glories (''[[Ipomoea tricolor]]'' and ''[[Turbina corymbosa]]''), and ''[[Salvia divinorum]]''.

''[[Datura wrightii]]'' is sacred to some Native Americans and has been used in ceremonies and [[rite of passage|rites of passage]] by Chumash, Tongva, and others. Among the Chumash, when a boy was 8 years old, his mother would give him a preparation of ''momoy'' to drink. This supposed spiritual challenge should help the boy develop the spiritual wellbeing that is required to become a man. Not all of the boys undergoing this ritual survived.<ref name=Garcia>{{cite book | author=Cecilia Garcia, James D. Adams | title=Healing with medicinal plants of the west - cultural and scientific basis for their use | publisher=Abedus Press| year=2005 | isbn=0-9763091-0-6}}</ref> ''Momoy'' was also used to enhance spiritual wellbeing among adults. For instance, during a frightening situation, such as when seeing a coyote walk like a man, a leaf of ''momoy'' was sucked to help keep the soul in the body.

The mescal bean ''[[Sophora secundiflora]]'' was used by the [[shamanic]] hunter-gatherer cultures of the [[Great Plains]] region. Other plants with ritual significance in North American shamanism are the hallucinogenic seeds of the [[Ungnadia|Texas buckeye]] and jimsonweed (''[[Datura stramonium]]''). [[Paleoethnobotany|Paleoethnobotanical]] evidence for these plants from archaeological sites shows they were used in ancient times thousands of years ago.<ref>{{cite book |title=Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices and Cultures |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=18}}</ref>

==== South America ====
[[File:Colcoca02.jpg|thumb|left|Coca leaves]]

The [[Tairona]] people of Colombia's [[Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta]] chewed the [[coca]] plant before engaging in extended meditation and prayer.<ref name="banrep.gov.co">{{cite web |author=Museo del Oro, Banco de la República |url=http://www.banrep.gov.co/museo/eng/expo_bogota3c.htm |title=Museo del Oro, Colombia |language=es |publisher=Banrep.gov.co |access-date=2012-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511180916/http://www.banrep.gov.co/museo/eng/expo_bogota3c.htm |archive-date=11 May 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

[[Nicotiana rustica]] is used in the [[Amazon rainforest|Amazon]] by Mapacho,<ref>{{cite book | date = 1992 | title = Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge - A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution | publisher = Bantam | isbn = 0-553-37130-4 | page = 196 | chapter = Shamanic Tobaccos}}</ref> and tobacco shamans known as tobaqueros.<ref>{{cite web|title=Meeting The Tobacco Spirit - Reality Sandwich|url=http://realitysandwich.com/217970/meeting-the-tobacco-spirit/|website=Reality Sandwich|date=27 March 2014 }}</ref>

A ritual use by the [[Quechua people]] involves drinking [[guayusa]] infusion to have foretelling dreams for successful hunting expeditions.<ref>{{cite book|title=Notas de un botánico en el Amazonas y los Andes|last=Spruce|first=R.|publisher=Colección Tierra Incógnita|year=1996|location=Quito, Ecuador}}</ref>

[[Trichocereus macrogonus var. pachanoi|''Trichocereus macrogonus'' var. ''pachanoi'']] has a long history of being used in Andean [[traditional medicine]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bussmann |first1=Rainer W |last2=Sharon |first2=Douglas |date=2006-11-07 |title=Traditional medicinal plant use in Northern Peru: tracking two thousand years of healing culture |journal=Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine |volume=2 |pages=47 |doi=10.1186/1746-4269-2-47 |doi-access=free |issn=1746-4269 |pmc=1637095 |pmid=17090303}}</ref> Archaeological studies have found evidence of use going back two thousand years, to [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] culture, [[Nazca culture]], and [[Chavín culture]]. In 2022, the Peruvian Ministry of Culture declared the traditional use of San Pedro cactus in northern Peru as [[cultural heritage]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-17 |title=Declaran Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación a los conocimientos, saberes y usos del cactus San Pedro |url=https://elperuano.pe/noticia/197142-declaran-patrimonio-cultural-de-la-nacion-a-los-conocimientos-saberes-y-usos-del-cactus-san-pedro |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=elperuano.pe |language=es}}</ref>

=== Asia ===
{{references|section|date=April 2025}}
[[File:Salvia divinorum - Herba de Maria.jpg|thumb|alt=Three short green plants in a pot filled with soil. There are many oval-shaped green leaves and no flowers.|Salvia divinorum ([[Herba de Maria]])]]
The indigenous peoples of [[Siberia]] (from whom the term ''shaman'' was borrowed) have used ''[[Amanita muscaria]]'' as an entheogen.

In [[Hinduism]], ''[[Datura stramonium]]'' and cannabis have been used in religious ceremonies, although the religious use of datura is not common, as the primary alkaloids are strong [[deliriants]], which causes serious intoxication with unpredictable effects.

Also, the ancient drink [[Soma (drink)|Soma]], mentioned often in the [[Vedas]], appears to be consistent with the effects of an entheogen. In his 1967 book, Wasson argues that Soma was ''[[Amanita muscaria]]''. The active ingredient of Soma is presumed by some to be [[ephedrine]], an alkaloid with stimulant properties derived from the soma plant, identified as ''[[Ephedra (medicine)|Ephedra]] pachyclada''. However, there are also [[Botanical identity of soma–haoma|arguments]] about the [[botanical identity of soma–haoma]] suggesting it could have also been [[Harmal|Syrian rue]], [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]], ''[[Atropa belladonna]]'', or some combination of any of the above plants.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

==== West Asia ====
The earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the 15th century, in Yemen's [[Sufi]] monasteries.<ref name="Bennett">{{cite book|first1=Bennett Alan|last1=Weinberg|first2=Bonnie K.|last2=Bealer|title=The world of caffeine|year=2001|pages=3–4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qyz5CnOaH9oC&q=coffee+goat+ethiopia+Kaldi&pg=PA3 | isbn=978-0-415-92723-9 | publisher=Routledge}}</ref> The Sufi monks drank coffee as an aid to concentration and even spiritual intoxication when they chanted the name of God.<ref>{{cite news|last1=McHugo|first1=John|title=How a drink downed by Arab mystics went global|url=http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22190802|work=BBC News|date=18 April 2013}}</ref>

=== 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>

=== Middle East ===

It has been suggested that the ritual use of small amounts of [[Harmal|Syrian rue]]{{by whom|date=December 2020}} is an artifact of its ancient use in higher doses as an entheogen (possibly in conjunction with [[Dimethyltryptamine|DMT]]-containing acacia).{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

[[John Marco Allegro]] argued that early Jewish and Christian cultic practice was based on the use of ''[[Amanita muscaria]]'', which was later forgotten by its adherents,<ref name="ref1">
{{cite book
 | last = Allegro
 | first = John Marco
 | year = 1970
 | title = The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East
 | publisher = Hodder and Stoughton
 | isbn = 0-340-12875-5
}}</ref> but this view has been widely disputed.<ref name="Taylor2012">{{cite book |author=Taylor, Joan E. |title=The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWIMFY4VnI4C&pg=PA305 |year= 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-955448-5 |pages=305}}</ref>

=== Oceania ===
In general, [[indigenous Australians]] are thought not to have used entheogens, although there is a strong barrier of secrecy surrounding Aboriginal shamanism, which has likely limited what has been told to outsiders.

[[File:Kava.JPG|thumb|left|A sign showing a "Kava licence area" at [[Yirrkala]], in the [[Northern Territory]] of Australia]]
[[Kava]] or ''kava kava'' (''Piper Methysticum'') has been cultivated for at least 3,000 years by a number of Pacific island-dwelling peoples. Historically, most [[Polynesian culture|Polynesian]], many [[Melanesia]]n, and some Micronesian cultures have ingested the psychoactive pulverized root, typically taking it mixed with water.  In these traditions, taking kava is believed to facilitate contact with the spirits of the dead, especially relatives and ancestors.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Singh|editor-first=Yadhu N.|title=Kava from ethnology to pharmacology|year=2004|publisher=CRC Press|location=Boca Raton|isbn=1420023373}}</ref>

There are no known uses of entheogens by the [[Māori people|Māori]] of New Zealand aside from a variant species of kava,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.entheology.org/edoto/anmviewer.asp?a=67 |title=Macropiper Excelsum - Maori Kava |publisher=Entheology.org |access-date=13 January 2013}}</ref> although some modern scholars have claimed that there may be evidence of psilocybin mushroom use.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://erowid.org/library/books_online/magic_mushrooms_aunz/magic_mushrooms_aunz5.shtml.|title=Psilocybian mushrooms in New Zealand |publisher=Erowid.org}}</ref> Natives of [[Papua New Guinea]] are known to use several species of entheogenic mushrooms (''Psilocybe'' spp, ''Boletus manicus'').<ref name="ref2">{{cite web |url=http://www.shaman-australis.com/~benjamin-thomas/ |title=Benjamin Thomas Ethnobotany & Anthropology Research Page |publisher=Shaman-australis.com |access-date=13 January 2013}}</ref>

[[Pituri]], also known as mingkulpa,<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.22605/RRH4044 | title=The Pituri Learning Circle: Central Australian Aboriginal women's knowledge and practices around the use of Nicotiana SPP. As a chewing tobacco | year=2017 | last1=Ratsch | first1=Angela | last2=Mason | first2=Andrea | last3=Rive | first3=Linda | last4=Bogossian | first4=Fiona | last5=Steadman | first5=Kathryn | journal=Rural and Remote Health | volume=17 | issue=3 | page=4044 | pmid=28780876 | doi-access=free }}</ref> is a mixture of leaves and wood ash traditionally chewed as a [[stimulant]] (or, after [[Drug titration|extended use]], a [[depressant]]) by [[Australian Aboriginal|Aboriginal Australians]] widely across the continent. Leaves are gathered from any of several species of native tobacco (''[[Nicotiana]]'') or from at least one distinct population of the species ''[[Duboisia hopwoodii]]''. Various species of ''[[Acacia]]'', ''[[Grevillea]]'' and ''[[Eucalyptus]]'' are burned to produce the ash. The term "pituri" may also refer to the plants from which the leaves are gathered or from which the ash is made.<ref name=Ratsch>{{Cite journal|title = The pituri story: a review of the historical literature surrounding traditional Australian Aboriginal use of nicotine in Central Australia.|last1 = Ratsch|first1 = A|date = 2010|journal = Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine|doi = 10.1186/1746-4269-6-26|pmid = 20831827|last2 = Steadman|first2 = KJ|first3 = F|last3 = Bogossian|pmc=2944156|volume=6|pages=26 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Some authors use the term to refer only to the plant ''Duboisia hopwoodii'' and its leaves and any chewing mixture containing its leaves.<ref name=Silcock>Silcock JL, Tischler M, Smith MA. [http://journals.sfu.ca/era/index.php/era/article/viewFile/589/381 "Quantifying the Mulligan River Pituri, ''Duboisia hopwoodii'' ((F.Muell.) F.Muell.) (Solanaceae), Trade of Central Australia."] ''Ethnobotany Research & Applications''. 2012; 10:037-044. Retrieved 30 April 2015.</ref>