Church of the Sacred Mushroom

What is an Entheogen?
The word "entheogen" refers to natural substances which induce alterations of consciousness.

The word entheogen is a neologism derived from the ancient Greek : entheos and genesthe.
Entheos literally means "god (theos) within", more freely translated "inspired".
Genesthe means "to generate".
So an entheogen is "that which generates God (or godly inspiration) within a person".
The Greeks used it as a term of praise for poets and other artists.

Griffiths RR, Richards WA, McCann U, Jesse R.
“Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance”.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006;

Psilocybin
Psilocybin (also known as psilocybine) is one of the psychedelic alkaloids of the tryptamine family, found in psilocybin mushrooms.

It is considered mostly to be an entheogen and a tool in use to supplement various types of practices for transcendence including in meditation, psychonautics, and illicit psychedelic psychotherapy whether self administered or not.

Psilocybin is a prodrug that is converted into the pharmacologically active compound psilocin in the body by dephosphorylation. This chemical reaction takes place under strongly acidic conditions or enzymatically by phosphatase's in the body.

Psilocin
Psilocin (4-HO-DMT) is the 2nd main active psychedelic alkaloid of the tryptamine family, found in psilocybin mushrooms, together with its close congener psilocybin.

It is present in hundreds of species of fungi, including those of the genus Psilocybe, such as Psilocybe cubensis and Psilocybe semilanceata, but also reportedly isolated from a dozen or so other genera. Psilocybin mushrooms are commonly called "magic mushrooms" or more simply "shrooms".

Though both Psilocin and Psilocybin rarely attract much attention from mainstream media, when they do, the focus tends to be on the recreational use and abuse to the exclusion of any other purpose.

Health dangers
Though magic mushrooms are not addictive, they can have severe psychological consequences when abused or when taken with alcohol and/or cannabis.

The intensity and duration of entheogenic and recreational use of psilocybin mushrooms vary depending on:

• species of mushrooms
• dosage
•  individual physiology
• 'set and setting'.