MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine), also known as Ecstasy or Molly, isn’t per se a psychedelic or hallucinogen (a dubious term).*9 Common labels for MDMA are empathogen (generating empathy) and entactogen (to produce a touching within). Psychiatrist Lester Grinspoon, M.D., describes MDMA as “a gentle invitation to insight.” And while it is

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Why, as a species, are we so fascinated by altered states of consciousness? What has been their impact on our esthetic and spiritual aspirations? What have we lost by denying the legitimacy of each individual’s drive to use substances to experience personally the transcendental and the sacred? My hope is that answering these questions will force us

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I had a discussion with Giorgio Samorini, who’s an Italian ethnobotanist and who has taken ibogaine, or Tabernanthe iboga, with the African tribe that uses that initiation. And in that initiation they give 400 grams of this plant that is effective at 4 grams. And they give 400 grams, and sometimes people die. And it’s pretty heavy duty stuff. And I... See more

5-MeO-DMT is very versatile. This molecule has been detected in a number of plants, many of which have been used/ingested in various forms over human history in arguably most of the six habitable continents. In 1965 it was detected in the secretion of one animal: a toad endemic to North America (Incilius alvarius: the Sonoran Desert toad or

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While on a sabbatical from Oracle (he would leave for good in 1995), Jesse set up a nonprofit called the Council on Spiritual Practices (CSP), with the aim of “making direct experience of the sacred more available to more people.” The website downplays the organization’s interest in promoting entheogens—Bob Jesse’s preferred term for

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