This conference will bring together a wide range of scholars and practitioners to discuss complex relationships between psychedelics and religion. We are now in the midst of what has been called a "Psychedelic Renaissance," which has raised many questions about the relationship between traditional uses of psychedelics (peyote, ayahuasca and psilocybin mushrooms) and modern scientific and medical research. Presenters will include indigenous artists and practitioners, psychiatrists, scientists and scholars in the fields of religion, anthropology and art history.
The keynote address will feature Luis Eduardo Luna, anthropologist and ayahuasca researcher at the Wasiwaska Rsearch Center. He will present “Indigenous Spirituality in a Time of a Much-Needed Paradigm Shift." Find the abstract here.
The conference will also include an exhibition of Mazatec art at Global Gallery Coffee Shop, 3535 N. High Street, Columbus, OH 43214. "Sacred and Ritual Mazatec Art," featuring works by Asunción Alvarado, will be on view from March 1 through March 29. The conference will host a reception at Global Gallery after the conference concludes on Friday (March 27) at 6 pm. Street parking is available on the side streets adjacent to the coffee shop.
All events are free and open to the public. RSVPs are requested. If the RSVP form states that the event is full, there may still be space! Stop by the conference to see if seats become available. Or, go to this form to add your name to the waiting list once the RSVP form is full.
RSVP here.
Keynote speaker Luis Eduardo Luna is a Guggenheim Fellow and Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London. He is the author of Vegetalismo: Shamanism Among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon (1986), and with Pablo Amaringo of Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (1991). He is co-editor with Steven F. White of Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon’s Sacred Vine (2000, with a revised new edition in 2016), and co-author with Rick Strassman, Slawek Wojtowicz and Ede Frecska of Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys Through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies.
Tentative Schedule
Friday, March 27
Panel 1: Psychedelics, Spirituality and the Sacred
1:15 - 3:30 pm
Presiding: Tarryl Janik (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater)
William Richards (Johns Hopkins University), “Sacred Knowledge: Phenomenology and Integration”
Glauber Loures de Assis (Yorenka Tasorentsi Institute and Federal University of Minas Gerais), “From Renaissance to Confluence: Kinship and Cosmic Diplomacy as a Paradigm Shift in Psychedelic Science”
Erika Dyck (University of Saskatchewan), “Indigenous Ceremonies and First-Generation Psychedelic Science: A Historical Look at Peyote”
Jeffrey J. Kripal (Rice University), “Mind-Manifesting Shock: Comparing Psychedelics and Abductions to Find What Connects”
Keynote Address
4 - 5:30 pm
Luis Eduardo Luna (Wasiwaska Rsearch Center), “Indigenous Spirituality in a Time of a Much-Needed Paradigm Shift”
Art Exhibition Reception
6 - 8 pm
At Global Gallery Coffee Shop, 3535 N. High Street, Columbus, OH 43214.
Saturday, March 28
Panel 2: Psychedelic Therapy and Mystical Experience
10 am - 12 pm
Presiding: TBA
Amy Koehlinger (Oregon State University), “Sacrality and Social Trust: Psychedelic Group Containers as Areligious Religious Practice”
Estrella Castillo (Yale University), "Defining a Moment: Peyote, Indigenous Methodologies and the Readmission of 'Ceremonial Doctoring' in Western Medicine"
Paul Gillis-Smith (Harvard University), “Mystical Medicinals, or Medical Mystics? A Genealogy of Mystical-type Experiences in the Study of Psychedelics”
Nese Devenot (Johns Hopkins University), “Felt Sense or False Signals?: The Challenge of Implicit Bias for 'Embodied Presence' in Psychedelic Therapy"
Panel 3: Psychedelics in History, Art and Practice
1:30 - 3:30 pm
Presiding: Paloma Martinez-Cruz (Ohio State University)
Jackie Tileston (University of Pennsylvania), “Transimmanence: Nondual Tantra, Psychedelic Gnosis and Embodied Practice”
Elías García Méndez (Casa Adobe Gallery), “Huautla: Entre la Curiosidad y el Olvido de una Tradición Sagrada”
David Yaden (Johns Hopkins University), “Psychedelic Experience and Belief Changes: Evaluating the Evidence”
Erik Davis (Independent Scholar), "Superstar: The Psychedelic Jesus of the Counterculture"
Transportation and Parking
Sullivant Hall
1813 N High St.
Columbus, OH 43210
The nearest parking is in the Ohio Union North Garage and the Ohio Union South Garage. The #2 COTA bus passes directly in front of Sullivant Hall: check the COTA Trip Planner to plan your route. Some metered spots are available on High Street and cross streets nearby.
Funds for this project come from a Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme collaborative grant. This is a joint project between the Center for the Study of Religion and the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education. Co-hosted by the Humanities Institute. With support from the departments of Anthropology, Comparative Studies, History, History of Art, Spanish and Portuguese and the Center for Folklore Studies.
The Humanities Institute and its affiliated centers host a wide range of events, from intense discussions of works in progress to cutting-edge presentations by world-renowned scholars, artists, and activists, and everything in between.
We value in-person engagement at our events as we strive to amplify the energy in the room. To submit an accommodation request, please send it to Nick Spitulski, spitulski.1@osu.edu.