Entheogeny and Psychedelia: the Philosophies of Ancestrality in Scientific Revolutions

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present a revolutionary approach to the correspondence between shamanism and philosophy in order to propose a decolonization of the structures of the paradigm of psychedelic science. Through an analytical-descriptive methodology that combines phenomenological experience in the field of research, intercultural dialogues, extensive bibliographic review, close reading, critical thinking and creative writing on the topics under discussion, this work aims to highlight the ontological, epistemological, ethical and political problems that permeate the so-called psychedelic renaissance. From the perspective of primordial peoples, psychedelia in the original sense of the “manifestation of the soul” has never died to be reborn; quite the contrary, it has always been alive in its metaphysical conceptions, entheogenic ceremonies and therapeutic practices that have existed for millennia and which, regardless of academic authoritarianism and prohibitionist ordinances, have always proven their effectiveness based on experience. Therefore, after intercepting and pulverizing the colonialist anomalies that are present at the core of the scientific method, such as Eurocentrism, racism, sexism, elitism and reductionism, we intend to justify the indispensability of recognizing the protagonism of wisdom traditions in the discoveries constituted from contemporary psychedelic studies.  By way of conclusion: in the state of agitation preceding the surprising scientific advances, we intend to demonstrate, based on decolonial reflections, to what extent the philosophies of ancestrality can be considered as the sparks that unleash the explosivity of psychedelic revolutions.