In the Spring of 2021, Professor Ayize Jama-Everett of Starr King’s Sacred and the Substance course interviewed some of the top writers, practitioners, and religious leaders in the psychedelic movement. The final interview featured a roundtable of Starr King graduates who all work within the field of psychedelics.
As the psychedelic revolution begins in earnest throughout the country, more and more seminarians, religious leaders, and people of faith are presented with questions about the role of sacred substances when it comes to religion. Educational institutions from Harvard Divinity to the Naropa Institute are beginning to create theologically oriented psychedelic study programs. As the ever-growing “spiritual but not religious” demographic begins to encounter direct experiences with the divine, the role of the preacher, priest, and spiritual advisor becomes more nuanced. And as issues of cultural appropriation, ethical boundaries, and spiritual bypassing become more evident, the need for open and respectful dialogue becomes even more critical.