Define Entheogen Meaning

A term derived from the Greek 'entheos', directly translated to mean having "God (theos) within" or more loosely translated as "inspired" and 'genesthe' meaning "to generate". 'Entheos' was typically used to describe poets, musicians and other artists who were believed to receive their gifts from the divine. The word entheogen thus exposes itself as meaning "that which generates God/the divine in a person". The term was first coined in 1979 as a replacement for 'psychedelic' and 'hallucinogen' which both carry with them certain denigrating connotations. The cultures of those who use psychoactives that fall within the category of entheogen (or enthnobotanical, a related term which refers specifically to psychoactive plants) and those who use such substances for 'recreational' or secular uses are in some cases, strongly at ends, and in others allied. Entheogen is a term to be used in strict reverence of substances that act as divine sacraments and facilitate transcendent experiences.

Refers to a psychoactive substance, usually of plant origin, which is ingested to produce an expanded state of consciousness for religious or spiritual purposes, providing transcendental experiences reported as a contact with God and the spiritual world.

A drug used to bring about spiritual connections.

Yesudas's voice.

A noun used by listless Westerners (and bolillos in general) to describe the drugs they take to deal with the ennui they experience from their lives lacking meaning.

Generally used in place of "psychedelics" or "hallucinogens" by wannabe Hippies playing as much semantics as the Bush administration.

Actual shaman probably would laugh at the people who call hallucinogens this term because physical and psychological trials usually accompany the ingestion of hallucinogenic substances in shamanistic cultures and these people just sit in the comfort of their air conditioned parents' house and think they're getting in touch with the divine.

Used by people with no knowledge of anthropology and those who would probably be considered Orientalists by those who don't live in Western societies.

n. a substance or process that draws one closer to the god within

Derived from the noun entheogen, 'entheogenic' is an adjective to describe a substance that causes feelings of ecstasy and enlightenment used for divination. The word originated from Greek and means to become one with god.

Entheogenic substances have a long history of shamanistic use across the continents and include: mushrooms containing Psilocybin (shrooms), cacti containing Mescaline (peyote), Ayahuasca, Ololiuqui, and etcetera. Entheogenic substances typically cause the user to experience psudohallucinations to hallucinations, euphoria, disassociation, mood changes, and sometimes the user exhibits behavior that resembles psychosis. These substances also have other effects on the body; some of them are harmful and on occasion deadly. They affect heart rate, breathing, and interact with other drugs as well as affect your brain chemistry which make entheogenic substances dangerous and are taken at the users own risk.

Although the term 'entheogenic' traditionally describes substances used by shamans for divination purposes it has now taken more modern terms and is sometimes used to describe any substance producing the effects previously described. Examples could include: DMT, LSD, MDMA and others.

ENTHEOGEN nov. verb.:

'God within us', those plant substances that, when ingested, give one a divine experience, in the past commonly called 'hallucinogens', 'psychedelics', 'psychotomimetics', etc etc, to each of which serious objections can be made. A group headed by the Greek scholar Carl A.P. Ruck advances 'entheogen' as fully filling the need, notably catching the rich cultural resonances evoked by the substances, many of them fungal, over vast areas of the world in proto- and prehistory. See Journal of Psychedelic Drugs Vol 11.1-2, 1979, pp 145-6. We favor the adoption of this word. Early Man, throughout much of Eurasia and the Americas, discovered the properties of these substances and regarded them with profound respect and even awe, hedging them about with bonds of secrecy. We are now rediscovering the secret and we should treat the 'entheogens' with the respect to which they were richly entitled. As we undertake to explore their role in the early history of religions, we should call them by a name unvulgarized by hippy abuse."