Psychonautics

{{Short description|Research on altered states of consciousness}} {{redirect|Psychonaut}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} [[File:GoldFlwr3.gif|thumb|right|upright|Illustration from ''The Secret of the Golden Flower'', a Chinese book of alchemy and meditation.]]

'''Psychonautics''' (from the Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|ψυχή}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|psychē}}'' 'soul, spirit, mind' and {{lang|grc|ναύτης}} ''{{lang|grc-Latn|naútēs}}'' 'sailor, navigator')<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations">{{cite book |last=Blom |first=Jan Dirk |title=A Dictionary of Hallucinations |page=434 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbF44AEMGdcC&pg=PA434 |access-date=2010-03-05 | isbn=978-1-4419-1222-0 | year=2009 | publisher=Springer}}</ref> refers both to a methodology for describing and explaining the subjective effects of altered states of consciousness, including those induced by meditation or mind-altering substances, and to a research group in which the researcher voluntarily immerses themself in an altered mental state in order to explore the accompanying experiences.<ref name="addiction research">{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/16066350801983707 |year=2008 |last1=Newcombe |first1=Russell |title=Ketamine Case Study: The Phenomenology of a Ketamine Experience |pages=209–215 |journal=Addiction Research & Theory |volume=16 |issue=3 |s2cid=143462683 }}</ref>

The term has been applied diversely, to cover all activities by which altered states are induced and utilized for spiritual purposes or the exploration of the human condition, including shamanism, lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition,<ref name="flores">As noted by {{cite book |last=Flores |first=Ralph |title=Buddhist scriptures as literature: sacred rhetoric and the uses of theory |year=2008 |publisher=State University of New York Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xq76kvMGAjoC&q=psychonaut&pg=PA163 |access-date=2010-03-05 |isbn=978-0-7914-7339-9}}</ref> the Siddhars of Ancient India,<ref>{{cite thesis |author= R. N. Hema |date= December 2019 |title= Biography of the 18 Siddhars |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338534110 |publisher= National Institute of Siddha}}</ref> sensory deprivation,<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> and archaic/modern drug users who use entheogenic substances in order to gain deeper insights and spiritual experiences.<ref name="toxicology">{{cite journal |last=van Riel |year=2007 |title=New Drugs of Abuse |journal=Clinical Toxicology |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=372–3 |doi=10.1080/15563650701284894 |s2cid=218860546 |url=http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=7439632&q=psychonaut&uid=789091652 |access-date=2010-03-05 |url-access=subscription }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Self-experimentation of psychedelics in groups may foster innovation of alternative medication treatment.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kempner |first1=Joanna |last2=Bailey |first2=John |title=Collective self-experimentation in patient-led research: How online health communities foster innovation |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027795361930351X |journal=Social Science & Medicine |article-number=112366 |language=en |doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112366 |date=1 October 2019|volume=238 |pmid=31345612 |s2cid=196544851 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> A person who uses altered states for such exploration is known as a ''psychonaut''.

==Etymology and categorization== The term ''psychonautics'' derives from the prior term ''psychonaut'', which began appearing in North American works in the late 1950s. The first reference that corresponds to contemporary usages of the term was in the 1965 edition of the ''Group Psychotherapy'' journal. A 1968 magazine, ''Beyond Baroque'', refers to Timothy Leary as a psychonaut.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

German author Ernst Jünger describes ideas related to psychonautics - in reference to Arthur Heffter - in his 1970 essay on his own extensive drug experiences ''Annäherungen: Drogen und Rausch'' (literally: "Approaches: Drugs and Inebriation").<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Jünger |title=Annaherungen: Drogen und Rausch |page=430 |chapter=Psychonauten}} Cited in {{cite book |last=Taylor|title=The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature |page=1312 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9kgUAQAAIAAJ&q=psychonaut+%22Annaherungen:+Drogen+und+Rausch%22 |access-date=2010-03-05 | year=2005 | publisher=Thoemmes Continuum|isbn=978-1-84371-138-4 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> In this essay, Jünger draws many parallels between drug experience and physical exploration—for example, the danger of encountering hidden "reefs."

Peter J. Carroll made ''Psychonaut'' the title of a 1982 book on the experimental use of meditation, ritual and drugs in the experimental exploration of consciousness and of psychic phenomena, or "chaos magic".<ref>{{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Peter J. |title=''Liber Null''. (1978) and ''Psychonaut''. (1982) (published in one volume in 1987) |date=April 1987 |publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=978-0-87728-639-4}}</ref>

The term's first published use in a scholarly context is attributed to ethnobotanist Jonathan Ott, in 2001.<ref>{{cite journal |year=2001 |title=Pharmanopo-Psychonautics: Human Intranasal, Sublingual, Intrarectal, Pulmonary and Oral Pharmacology of Bufotenine |journal=Journal of Psychoactive Drugs |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=273–282 |url=http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=103562030&ETOC=RN |access-date=2010-03-05 |doi=10.1080/02791072.2001.10400574 |last1=Ott |first1=Jonathan |pmid=11718320 |s2cid=5877023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302224138/http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=103562030&ETOC=RN |archive-date=2 March 2012 |url-access=subscription }} Cited by {{cite book |last=Blom |first=Jan Dirk |title=A Dictionary of Hallucinations |page=434 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbF44AEMGdcC&pg=PA434 |access-date=2010-03-05 |isbn=978-1-4419-1222-0 |year=2009 |publisher=Springer }}</ref>

===Definition and usage=== Clinical psychiatrist Jan Dirk Blom describes psychonautics as denoting "the exploration of the psyche by means of techniques such as lucid dreaming, brainwave entrainment, sensory deprivation, and the use of hallucinogens or entheogens, and a psychonaut as one who "seeks to investigate their mind using intentionally induced altered states of consciousness" for spiritual, scientific, or research purposes.<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/>

Psychologist Dr. Elliot Cohen of Leeds Beckett University and the UK Institute of Psychosomanautics defines psychonautics as "the means to study and explore consciousness (including the unconscious) and altered states of consciousness; it rests on the realization that to study consciousness is to transform it." He associates it with a long tradition of historical cultures worldwide.<ref name="Cohen">UK Institute of Psychonautics and Somanautics [http://www.transpersonalacademy.co.uk/psychonautics.htm page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101110073128/http://www.transpersonalacademy.co.uk/psychonautics.htm |date=10 November 2010 }} at his {{cite web |url=http://www.transpersonalacademy.co.uk |title=Academy for Transpersonal Studies |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923100000/http://www.transpersonalacademy.co.uk/ |archive-date=23 September 2010 }}</ref> Leeds Beckett University offers a module in Psychonautics<ref>{{cite web |title=Course Specification - BA (Hons) Psychology and Society |url=https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/~/media/files/Courses/Information/SPSYC.pdf |website=Leeds Beckett University |publisher=Leeds Beckett University |access-date=11 September 2020 |date=2017–18 |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314230052/https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/~/media/files/Courses/Information/SPSYC.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Elliot Cohen |url=https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/staff/dr-elliot-cohen/ |website=Staff Directory |publisher=Leeds Beckett University |access-date=11 September 2020}}</ref> and may be the only university in the UK to do so.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

American Buddhist writer Robert Thurman depicts the Tibetan Buddhist master as a psychonaut, stating that "Tibetan lamas could be called psychonauts, since they journey across the frontiers of death into the in-between realm."<ref name="flores"/>

===Categorization=== The aims and methods of psychonautics, when state-altering substances are involved, is commonly distinguished from recreational drug use by research sources.<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> Psychonautics as a means of exploration need not involve drugs, and may take place in a spiritual context with an established history. Cohen considers psychonautics closer in its association to wisdom traditions and other transpersonal and integral movements.<ref name="Cohen"/>

However, there is considerable overlap with modern drug use and due to its modern close association with psychedelics and other drugs, it is also studied in the context of drug abuse from a perspective of addiction,<ref name="addiction research"/> the drug abuse market and online psychology,<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1089/109493103322278790 |last1=Schifano |date = August 2003|first1=Fabrizio |last2=Leoni |first2=Mauro |last3=Martinotti |first3=Giovanni |last4=Rawaf |first4=Salman |last5=Rovetto |first5=Francesco |title=Importance of Cyberspace for the Assessment of the Drug Abuse Market: Preliminary Results from the Psychonaut 2002 Project |journal=CyberPsychology & Behavior |volume=6 |pages=405–410 | issue=4|pmid=14511453 }}</ref> and studies into existing and emerging drugs within toxicology.<ref name="toxicology"/>

==Methods== [[File:Starr 070320-5799 Echinopsis pachanoi.jpg|right|thumb|upright|The mescaline-containing San Pedro cactus (''Echinopsis pachanoi'') has been used for healing and religious divination in the Andes Mountains region for over 3000 years.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Bigwood, Jeremy |author2=Stafford, Peter J. |title=Psychedelics encyclopedia |publisher=Ronin Pub |location=Berkeley, CA |year=1992 |pages=118–9 |isbn=978-0-914171-51-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ec5hNgYWHtkC&pg=RA2-PA342}}</ref>]] * Hallucinogens,<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> oneirogens, and especially psychedelics such as peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD and DMT, but also dissociatives and ''atypical'' psychedelics such as ketamine, dextromethorphan, ''Tabernanthe iboga'', ''Amanita muscaria,'' ''Salvia divinorum,'' MDMA, and Cannabis * Icaros, which are the songs (i.e. something verbal that is ordinarily perceived as an auditory sensation) the Ayahuasceros sing to induce pictorial representations, rich tapestries of colors and patterns that are visually seen by the listener. (See: synesthesia) The ayahuasca ingredient, harmine, was once known as telepathine because of this group-facilitated activity of singing icaros and the shared perception it cultivates. A shaman who is one of the Ayahuascero people is expected to memorize as many icaros as they can.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Herzberg |first1=Nicholas |title=Analysing Icaros: The Musicology of Ayahuasca Ceremonies |url=https://www.academia.edu/13517785 |access-date=29 March 2023}}</ref> * Disruption of psychological and physiological processes required for usual mental states - sleep deprivation, fasting, sensory deprivation,<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> oxygen deprivation/smoke inhalation, holotropic breathwork * Ritual, both as a means of inducing an altered state, and also for practical purposes of grounding and of obtaining suitable focus and intention * Dreaming, in particular lucid dreaming<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> in which the person retains a degree of volition and awareness, and dream journals * Hypnosis<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> * Meditation<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> * Meditative or trance inducing dance, like Sufi whirling can also be used to induce altered state of consciousness * Prayer<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> * Biofeedback and other devices that change neural activity in the brain (brainwave entrainment)<ref name="dictionary of hallucinations"/> by means of light, sound, or electrical impulses, including: mind machines, dreamachines, binaural beats, and cranial electrotherapy stimulation * Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) refers to all forms of music-imaging in an expanded state of consciousness, including not only the specific individual and group forms that music therapist and researcher Helen Bonny developed, but also all variations and modifications in those forms created by her followers.

These may be used in combination; for example, traditions such as shamanism may combine ritual, fasting, and hallucinogenic substances.

==Works and notable figures== {{see also|Psychedelic literature}} {{multiple image |align=right|image1=Aldous Huxley.JPG|caption1=Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)|width1=125|image2=Timothy-Leary-Los-Angeles-1989.jpg|caption2=Timothy Leary (1920–1996)|width2=130||footer=Two iconic psychonautical researchers and advocates of the 20th century.}} Works such as Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey, The Hasheesh Eater by Fitz Hugh Ludlow, and ''On Hashish'' by Walter Benjamin have psychonautic elements insofar as they explore human and drug-induced experiences. They may be considered precursors to psychonautic literature, but they are not psychonautic works in their own right.

One of the best known psychonautic works is Aldous Huxley's ''The Doors of Perception'', which recounts his experience after taking 400mg of mescaline.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.fastcodesign.com/1673120/see-the-contest-winning-cover-for-brave-new-world |title=See The Contest-Winning Cover For "Brave New World" |last1=Dunne |first1=Carey |newspaper=Co.design |date=30 July 2013 |access-date=25 May 2015 }}</ref><ref name="darwinspharmacy">{{cite book |last=Doyle |first=Richard M. |date=2011 |title=Darwin's Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noösphere |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-99095-8 }}</ref><ref name="invisiblelandscape">{{cite book |last=Carpenter |first=Dan |date=2006 |title=A Psychonaut's Guide to the Invisible Landscape: The Topography of the Psychedelic Experience |publisher=Park Street Press |isbn=978-1-59477-090-6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/26/doors-perception-huxley-mescaline-reading-group |title=The Doors of Perception: What did Huxley see in mescaline? |last1=Jordison |first1=Sam |date=26 January 2012 |work=The Guardian |access-date=25 May 2015 }}</ref> The American physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, philosopher, writer and inventor John C. Lilly was a well-known psychonaut. Lilly was interested in the nature of consciousness and, amongst other techniques, he used isolation tanks in his research.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lilly |first=John C. |year=1956 |title=Mental Effects of Reduction of Ordinary Levels of Physical Stimuli on Intact, Healthy Persons |volume=5 |pages=1–9 |work=Psychiatric Research Reports. |url=http://www.planetpuna.com/Lilly%20Papers/40.%20LILLY,%20JOHN%20C.%201956.pdf |archive-date=28 May 2023 |access-date=25 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528025010/http://www.planetpuna.com/Lilly%20Papers/40.%20LILLY,%20JOHN%20C.%201956.pdf }}</ref>

Ken Kesey is an author well-known for accounts of his experimentation with psychedelic drugs. Philosophical- and Science-fiction author Philip K. Dick has also been described as a psychonaut for several of his works such as ''The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch''.<ref name="darwinspharmacy" />

Another influential figure is the psychologist and writer Timothy Leary.<ref name="invisiblelandscape" /> Leary is known for controversial talks and research on the subject; he wrote several books including ''The Psychedelic Experience''. Another widely known name is that of American philosopher, ethnobotanist, lecturer, and author Terence McKenna.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Richards|first1=Chris|title=Sturgill Simpson: A country voice of, and out of, this world|newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/sturgill-simpson-a-country-voice-of-and-out-of-this-world/2014/03/31/46277cce-b8f9-11e3-899e-bb708e3539dd_story.html|access-date=16 June 2015|date=31 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Harms|first1=Shane|title=Fall brings a change in the climate of consciousness|url=http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2014/10/28/features/fall-brings-change-climate-consciousness|access-date=16 June 2015|date=28 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224051611/http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/2014/10/28/features/fall-brings-change-climate-consciousness|archive-date=24 February 2015}}</ref> McKenna spoke and wrote about subjects including psychedelic drugs, plant-based entheogens, shamanism, metaphysics, alchemy, language, culture, technology, and the theoretical origins of human consciousness.

In the early 21st century, ayahuasca practice in the Amazon became increasingly linked to psychonautic exploration. Hamilton Souther, an American ayahuasquero, is known for his work with ayahuasca at Blue Morpho in Peru, gaining recognition through international media coverage<ref>{{Cite news |date=2004-09-12 |title=The Vision Seekers (Published 2004) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/12/travel/sophisticated/the-vision-seekers.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250814125753/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/12/travel/sophisticated/the-vision-seekers.html |archive-date=2025-08-14 |access-date=2025-10-04 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ayahuasca - National Geographic Adventure Magazine |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0603/features/peru.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709171055/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0603/features/peru.html |archive-date=2008-07-09 |access-date=2025-10-04 |website=www.nationalgeographic.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2010-08-21 |title=In Peru, a mystery tour of the mind |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/national/2010/08/21/in-peru-a-mystery-tour-of-the-mind/ccbfc965-4576-4906-91d3-fbde293c4135/ |access-date=2025-10-04 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> and later for his books describing his apprenticeship in Amazonian shamanism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Souther |first=Hamilton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OfpiEQAAQBAJ |title=The Mystical Secrets of Medicine vs Sorcery: The Untold Story of Ayahuasca Part 1 |date=2021-02-11 |publisher=Hamilton Souther |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Souther |first=Hamilton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CGiIEQAAQBAJ |title=The Mystical Secrets of Ayahuasca Part 2 |date=2022-12-18 |publisher=Hamilton Souther |language=en}}</ref>

American philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris has extensively discussed and written about the spiritual properties of psychedelics, notably in the 2014 book ''Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion''.

Among the most influential figures are undoubtedly Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin who together authored PiHKAL and TiHKAL, a pair of books which contain fictionalized autobiographies and detailed notes on over 230 psychoactive compounds. Some present-day psychonauts refer to themselves as "Shulginists" to denote a belief in the principles they identify in Shulgins' work.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Doc |first1=Zee |date=14 April 2018 |title=What is a Shulginist? |url=https://www.drzee.org/post/2018/04/14/what-is-a-shulginist |access-date=29 October 2022 |website=Doc Zee |language=en}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==  * [https://psychonautwiki.org PsychonautWiki] * [https://www.erowid.org The Vaults of Erowid] * [http://www.lycaeum.org/ The Lycaeum]{{dead link|date=May 2025}} {{webarchive|url=https://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160516174750/http://www.lycaeum.org/|date=16 May 2016}}

Category:Drug culture Category:Mental states Category:Parapsychology Category:Entheogens Category:Psychedelia Category:Spiritual practice Category:Subcultures Category:Human activities