A new study suggests that participation in Indigenous-led ayahuasca retreats is associated with increased nature-relatedness. Ayahuasca has, in the past, been implicated in eliciting shifts in people’s relationships, perspectives and sensitivity towards nature, potentially catalysing pro-environmental awareness.

Andrew Jones explores the connection between LSD and the origins of clinical theology illuminating the striking gendered connection to mother-blaming. Jones shows how psychedelic experiences were navigated in a Christian theological context through the examination of a particular international collaboration that took place in the mid-1900s between a Canadian and a Brit.

The first LSD experiments in South America in the 1950s were carried out similarly to those in the United States, assimilating into the European psychiatric tradition. Looking at the first publications in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Perú, Venezuela, and Uruguay, that appeared between 1954 and 1959, Hernán Scholten and Gonzalo Salas argue that it is possible to detect some general features of LSD research at the time.

Ethnobotanist, Jean-Francois Sobiecki, outlines his research journey studying African psychoactive and psychedelic plants and their importance in understanding learning, growth and self development as well as their use as ubulawu in treating nervous system disease and mental illness.

Roger Heim (1900-1979) was a French biologist whose research into psychedelic mushrooms transcended interdisciplinary and transnational lines. Heim collaborated with major figures in the mid-twentieth century psychedelic community, including the Wassons and Hofmann, and appraised their use in divination.

Four Chacruna Institute members sit down to address eight frequently asked questions about the globalization of ayahuasca. They address issues related to cultural appropriation, legalization, religion and spirituality and are careful to outline the positive and negative aspects of the current rapid globalization of ayahuasca use.

Land and ecology matter to the global psychedelics movement because it is a movement born out of a long history of colonialism and land theft. The Indigenous peoples from which our psychedelic traditions originate continue to deal with the negative consequences of this colonial violence. Focusing on the Wixarika experience, Diana Negrin explores the intercultural work that needs to be done in order to help Indigenous communities thrive today.

Chacruna invites submissions to our Global History of Psychedelics series. The ongoing series highlights the dynamic ways that historic traditions, cultures, and research spaces have contributed to the field of psychedelics. We seek submissions that explore historical topics, but may include other approaches from anthropology, philosophy, religious studies, gender & sexuality studies.

The Amaro Science Festival (Festa da Ciência do Amaro), open to the general public since 1995, provides a window into Pankararé's culture. Participants take part in a ceremony that involves the consuming of a drink made from the jurema-preta root, which contains DMT.

The question of what ingredients comprise the soma drink of Vedic myth has troubled scholars for centuries. Noting this history, Ian Baker uses this article to reveal a living tradition of Soma consumption in an ancient center of Tantric practice in West Bengal, India.