Uses of Psychedelics in Shamanism and Psychotherapy—Ralph Metzner

Ralph Metzner will describe and compare the use of ayahuasca in Amazonian shamanic healing practices and contemporary contexts, the use of Psilocybe mushrooms in historical indigenous Mesoamerican culture for vision seeking and their contemporary applications (as psilocybin) in pre-death preparation, and the uses of the iboga root in African initiation ceremonies and contemporary drug addiction treatment programs. Emphasis will be on considering not only the drug effect, but the set and setting of the experience as well as the underlying worldview of the individual and the culture about the afterlife and the other world.