Shamans and Drugs
Presented by Stanley Krippner.
The pioneering ethnologist Mircea Eliade looked upon
"narcotic usage" by shamans as an indication that their traditional
practices had degenerated. Although Eliade was right about many matters, he
erred regarding psychoactive drugs (few of them "narcotics"). What are today
called "entheogens" were present at the beginning of shamanism, especially
in Siberia and the Americas. Not all shamanic traditions use drugs, but
those that do continue to surround their employment with safeguards and
ritual. Ayahuasca, for example, was used in the Amazon for centuries before
it became a sacrament in some contemporary religious groups. Peyote is a
sacrament in the Native American church, and marijuana is sacramental among
Rastafarians. Join Stanley Krippner for an in-depth look at the Shamanic use
of psychoactive substances.
