Near-death experienceA near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death which researchers describe as having similar characteristics. When positive, which the great majority are, such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, joy, the experience of absolute dissolution, review of major life events, the presence of a light, and seeing dead relatives.
2C-B2C-B (4-Bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine) is a synthetic psychedelic drug of the 2C family, commonly used as a recreational drug. It was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin in 1974. To date, there is limited scientific information about its pharmacological properties, where the substance has been classified as a stimulant, hallucinogen, entactogen, and empathogen. As a recreational drug, 2C-B is sold as a white powder sometimes pressed in tablets or gel caps. In Shulgin's book PiHKAL, the dosage range is listed as 12–24 mg.
Chavín cultureThe Chavín culture is an extinct, pre-Columbian civilization, developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru around 1000 BCE. It extended its influence to other civilizations along the Peruvian coast. The Chavín people (whose name for themselves is unknown) were located in the Mosna Valley where the Mosna and Huachecsa rivers merge. This area is above sea level and encompasses the quechua, suni, and puna life zones.
5-MeO-DMT5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) or O-methyl-bufotenin is a psychedelic of the tryptamine class. It is found in a wide variety of plant species, and also is secreted by the glands of at least one toad species, the Colorado River toad. Like its close relatives DMT and bufotenin (5-HO-DMT), it has been used as an entheogen in South America. Slang terms include Five-methoxy, the power, bufo, and toad venom. 5-MeO-DMT was first synthesized in 1936, and in 1959 it was isolated as one of the psychoactive ingredients of Anadenanthera peregrina seeds used in preparing Yopo snuff.
Entheogenic use of cannabisCannabis has served as an entheogen—a chemical substance used in religious or spiritual contexts—in the Indian subcontinent since the Vedic period dating back to approximately 1500 BCE, but perhaps as far back as 2000 BCE. It was introduced to the New World by the Spaniards in 1530-1545. Cannabis has been used by shamanic and pagan cultures to ponder deeply religious and philosophical subjects related to their tribe or society, to achieve a form of enlightenment, to unravel unknown facts and realms of the human mind and subconscious, and also as an aphrodisiac during rituals or orgies.
PsilocybePsilocybe (ˌsaɪloʊˈsaɪbi ) is a genus of gilled mushrooms, growing worldwide, in the family Hymenogastraceae. Most or nearly all species contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin. A 2002 study of the molecular phylogeny of the agarics indicated that the genus Psilocybe as then defined was polyphyletic, falling into two distinct clades that are not directly related to each other. The blue-staining hallucinogenic species constituted one clade and the non-bluing species the other.
BrugmansiaBrugmansia is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae. They are woody trees or shrubs, with pendulous flowers, and have no spines on their fruit. Their large, fragrant flowers give them their common name of angel's trumpets, a name sometimes used for the closely related genus Datura. Brugmansia species are among the most toxic of ornamental plants, containing tropane alkaloids of the type also responsible for the toxicity and deliriant effects of both jimsonweed and the infamous deadly nightshade.
Scholarly approaches to mysticismScholarly approaches to mysticism include typologies of mysticism and the explanation of mystical states. Since the 19th century, mystical experience has evolved as a distinctive concept. It is closely related to "mysticism" but lays sole emphasis on the experiential aspect, be it spontaneous or induced by human behavior, whereas mysticism encompasses a broad range of practices aiming at a transformation of the person, not just inducing mystical experiences. There is a longstanding discussion on the nature of so-called "introvertive mysticism.
Argyreia nervosaArgyreia nervosa is a perennial climbing vine native to the Indian subcontinent and introduced to numerous areas worldwide, including Hawaii, Africa, and the Caribbean. Though it can be invasive, it is often prized for its aesthetic and medicinal value. Common names include Hawaiian baby woodrose, adhoguda अधोगुडा or vidhara विधारा (Sanskrit), elephant creeper and woolly morning glory. Its seeds are known for their powerful entheogenic properties, greater or similar to those of Ipomoea species, with users reporting significant psychedelic and spiritual experiences.
MuscimolMuscimol (also known as agarin or pantherine) is one of the principal psychoactive constituents of Amanita muscaria and related species of mushroom. Muscimol is a potent and selective orthosteric agonist for the GABAA receptors and displays sedative-hypnotic, depressant and hallucinogenic psychoactivity. This colorless or white solid is classified as an isoxazole. Muscimol went under clinical trial phase I for epilepsy, but the trial was discontinued. Muscimol is one of the psychoactive compounds responsible for the effects of Amanita muscaria intoxication.
