Psychedelic Religious Experience

"The Variety of Religious Experience" is a term that William James coined to describe the multiplicity of humanity's connections to the divine. Psychedelics also serve as an extraordinary channel to the spiritual world. People will often describe their mystical revelations on psychedelics as eliciting a sense of "interconnectedness" and "oneness," yet these broad labels likely miss the subtleties present in each individual's experience. In particular, each person's spiritual insights on psychedelics are likely to have a unique character that is shaped, at least in part, by their own religious background.

 In an effort to shed light on the variety of religious experience on psychedelics, this event will feature a dialogue between a Christian, a Tibetan Buddhist, and a pagan who have all taken psychedelics for spiritual purposes. They will each comment on the role that psychedelics have played in deepening their faith and their knowledge of the sacred. We hope that the discussion will help to reveal the remarkable breadth of avenues through which psychedelics illuminate universal spiritual truths.

A collaboration with Oxford University Psychedelic Society 
 

About the Panelists

Nikki Wyrd

Nikki Wyrd is a Director of the charity which runs Europe’s largest psychedelic conference, Breaking Convention. She is the Editor of the Psychedelic Press Journal, runs the Universe Machine publishing house, and also works as a freelance editor for books and papers related to psychedelics, occultism, anthropology, and medicine. Nikki often holds space at retreats and gives workshops centred around ritual practices. She enjoys dancing to psytrance, and as an ecologist, she actively encourages humans to reconsider how they can live in harmony with other organisms. Nikki’s past roles include British Isles Section Head of the Chaos Magic order The Illuminates of Thanateros, Ecology graduate, bass player in an all-women punk band, and a single mother.

Ricardo Rosa, PhD

Ricardo is initiated in Tibetan Buddhism, Andean Q’ero and Amazonian Shipibo traditions, and is an educator and academic researcher, Doctor of Philosophy and Architect. He leads courses and develops programs, and teaches and mentors adults in the creative fields. Additionally, he is a facilitator of group retreats, supporting people to explore their inner potential in a series of embodied practices breaking through barriers and unhealthy patterns.

He is a father of two children, and lives in Oxfordshire

Mark Juhan

Mark has been studying the sacramentality of the relationship between drugs and culture for seven years, having presented his research in Tallinn, Harvard, Breaking Convention and Prague. His interests span theology, philosophy, anthropology and literature and consider the relationship between measurable exteriorities, immeasurable interiorities, ritual and value generation, comparativism and natural theology. 

With degrees from Oxford and Durham, Mark is also a published poet and is about to pursue a PhD in comparative drug culture. His faith has led him to pursue a profession as a lay chaplain, researcher, and toy-demonstrator, gardener, special needs, piano teacher and humanitarian aid worker. He has taught psychedelic philosophy classes in London, conducted reading groups of The Rose of Paracelsus, and helps to conduct the Crossbones Rituals for the Outcast.

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For PSYCHEDELIC KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES please check out the Psychedelic Society website. 

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