About

EntheoGenerator.com plays open source music that we consider advantageous for introspection, journeying, yogic practice, other ritual or at the very least, some simple relaxation.

We also produce an audio magazine (tentatively) called Walk The Talk containing articles of psychedelic & entheological interest as well as interviews with various people with something to share related to theme of this site.

This website is beginning out of a deep yearning to share something that brings people closer and into an awareness of the ever-present, ever-patient, ultimately irresistible force that is the Source of us and truly is the “who I am” of the “who am I?”

About the word Entheogen

My take on it:
An entheogen is anything used to, or with a proclivity (natural tendency) to foster awareness of the Divine (within).

Something may be called an entheogen or entheogenic when it proves effective for inspiring awareness of Divinity (within).

From Wikipedia:

The word “entheogen” is a neologism derived from two words of ancient Greek, ἔνθεος (entheos) and γενέσθαι (genesthai). The adjective entheos translates to English as “full of the god, inspired, possessed,” and is the root of the English word “enthusiasm.” The Greeks used it as a term of praise for poets and other artists. Genesthai means “to come into being.” Thus, an entheogen is a substance that causes one to become inspired or to experience feelings of inspiration, often in a religious or “spiritual” manner.

The word entheogen was coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists and scholars of mythology (Carl A. P. Ruck, Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, Richard Evans Schultes, Jonathan Ott and R. Gordon Wasson). The literal meaning of the word is “that which causes God to be within an individual”. The translation “creating the divine within” is sometimes given, but it should be noted that entheogen implies neither that something is created (as opposed to just perceiving something that is already there) nor that that which is experienced is within the user (as opposed to having independent existence).

It was coined as a replacement for the terms “hallucinogen” (popularized by Aldous Huxley’s experiences with mescaline, published as The Doors of Perception in 1953) and “psychedelic” (a Greek neologism for “mind manifest”, coined by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond, who was quite surprised when the well-known author, Aldous Huxley, volunteered to be a subject in experiments Osmond was running on mescaline). Ruck et al. argued that the term “hallucinogen” was inappropriate due to its etymological relationship to words relating to delirium and insanity. The term “psychedelic” was also seen as problematic, due to the similarity in sound to words pertaining to psychosis and also due to the fact that it had become irreversibly associated with various connotations of 1960s pop culture. In modern usage “entheogen” may be used synonymously with these terms, or it may be chosen to contrast with recreational use of the same substances.

The meanings of the term “entheogen” were formally defined by Ruck et al.:

In a strict sense, only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens, but in a looser sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial, that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens.

Since 1979, when the term was proposed, its use has become widespread in certain circles. In particular, the word fills a vacuum for those users of entheogens who feel that the term “hallucinogen”, which remains common in medical, chemical and anthropological literature, denigrates their experience and the world view in which it is integrated. Use of the strict sense of the word has therefore arisen amongst religious entheogen users, and also amongst others who wish to practice spiritual or religious tolerance.