Seated below the stained glass of a historic Gothic Revival church building with incense burning and lit by multicolored lamps, nearly 100 people were gathered on a recent summer day to hear speakers talk about how their lives had been transformed, not by faith but by psychedelic drugs.
The first EntheoCon, advertised as a “psychedelic salon,” held Aug. 20, was organized by a new network of advocates of plant medicine, who aim to create awareness about psychedelics’ healing properties. They had invited therapists, shamans, wellness gurus and community members to listen and perhaps reconsider the stigma attached to using psychedelic Schedule I substances.
A former church — built as a Presbyterian church in 1903 and now owned by an arts group called the Union Project — was a fitting place to open their minds, said Ross Sullivan, one of the organizers of EntheoCon (“entheo” is Greek for “God within”).
Source: Psychedelic salon looks to the possibility of sacred healing