Modern organized religion is based predominantly on secondary religious experience—we read about others extraordinary spiritual encounters with God but have no direct experience ourselves. Yet there exist powerful sacraments to help us directly experience the sacred, to help us seek out for ourselves the meaning of being human and our place in the universe, and to help us see the sacred in the world that surrounds us.

In this classic book, more than 25 spiritual leaders, scientists, and psychedelic visionaries examine how we can return to the primary spiritual encounters at the basis of all religions through the guided use of psychedelics. With contributions by Albert Hofmann, Huston Smith, Stanislav Grof, Charles Tart, Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin, Brother David Steindl-Rast, Myron Stolaroff, and many others, this book explores protocols for ceremonial and spiritual use of psychedelics, including LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and MDMA, and the challenges of transforming entheogenic insights into enduring change. It examines psychoactive sacraments in the Bible, myths surrounding the use of LSD, and the transformative ayahuasca rituals of Santo Daime. The book also includes personal accounts of Walter Pahnkes Good Friday Experiment as well as a 25-year follow-up with its participants.

Dispelling fears of inauthentic spirituality, addiction, and ill-prepared encounters with the holy, this book reveals the potential of psychedelics as catalysts for spiritual development, a path through which faith can directly encounter God’s power, and the beginning of a new religious era based on personal spiritual experience.

“A major contribution to ensuring the continued expansion of the renaissance in psychedelic research. This book would be an outstanding textbook in all courses of psychedelic psychotherapy, mysticism, and spirituality.” —Rick Doblin, director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

“For those who value profound religious experiences and who wish to become increasingly well informed about how entheogens could become responsibly integrated into meditative practices and the offerings of spiritual retreat centers, there is much to be learned from the well-chosen essays in this book.” —William Richards, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, author of Sacred Knowledge

Also by Thomas Roberts are The Psychedelic Future of the Mind and MindApps.