The Entheogen Theory of Religion and Ego Death...by Michael Hoffman

"The main origin and ongoing wellspring of religion is the use of visionary plants. These plants include Psilocybe mushrooms, Henbane, Cannabis, Opium, Peyote, Salvia divinorum, and Amanita mushrooms.

Visionary plants have been commonly used around the world throughout the history of religion and culture (Hofmann, Schultes, & Ratsch 1992), including in the various forms of Western Esotericism (Heinrich 1994). Greek and Christian mythic-religious systems often refer to visionary plants (Ruck, Staples, & Heinrich 2001). Leading mystics throughout the history of various religions have used visionary-plant sessions on-demand, with mystic-state experiencing that was largely rationality-oriented (Merkur 2001).

Meditation, shamanic drumming, and liturgical ritual were developed as activities to do in the plant-induced dissociative state, not as methods of inducing the dissociative state in the first place. "...The Entheogen Theory of Religion...by Michael Hoffman
The large window of the Legend of St.
Eustace in Chartres cathedral shows many ‘mushroom trees’ and unambiguous
depictions of mushrooms throughout its panels. Hundreds of depictions of
mushrooms appear in Christian art...From The Entheogen Theory of Religion...by Michael Hoffman
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