Music & Psychedelic Shamanism |
Psychedelic
Shamanism: Old World to New Age Alastair
McIntosh
Published in The Christian Parapsychologist, Churches' Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1985, pp. 123-133; also in Dutch translation as Psychedelisch sjamanisme: uit de Oude Wereld Naar de Nieuwe Tijd, Bres, Holland, No.119, 1986, pp. 24-36. The original published version of this contained a number of errors caused by transcribing the Pink Floyd lyrics by ear. These have been corrected and minor amendments made in this internet version. The ‘wicca’
re-evaluated Although
it is a prevalent attitude amongst present-day scholars that late medieval and
Renaisdance witchcraft was essentially a fiction created by the Church, recent
research has brought out another side to the story. For the medieval witch, it
seems; was the forerunner of the modern psychedelic drug “tripper” as well
as having been heir to shamanic practices with which some of our world’s
greatest religions have links, if not their genesis. Chemical
and empirical studies of the principa1 “magic” (and sometimes deadly)
plants used by European witches—datura (thorn apple), mandrake, deadly
nightshade, and henbane -show that all contain tropane alkaloids which can have
similar psychological effects to psychedelic drugs in contemporary use such as
cannabis and LSD. Furthermore,
some the of active constituents of these plants are readily absorbed through the
skin. Hence, the “magic ointment” with which witches were reputed to rub
themselves before flying off on their broomsticks. And as for the Freudian
notion that broomsticks were merely of phallic significance, a more probable
explanation is that they were a convenient means of applying “flying
ointment” to the vaginal membranes, from where it would more readily be
absorbed. As
the authorities wrote after investigating Lady Alice Kyteler in 1324, “... in
rifleing the closet of the ladie, they found a Pipe of oyntment, wherewith she
greased a staffe, upon the which she ambled and galloped through thick and thin,
when and in what manner she listed”.[1] Illustration from Harner op. cit., p.136 Undoubtedly
some of Europe’s witches were participants in what the Church called “devil
worship”. However, the majority were probably merely herbalists and healers,
playing the same role as shamans still play in less technologically advanced
societies today. Indeed,
the word witch is derived from the Old
English, wicca, which means wise. And there is much to suggest that from a perspective of caring
for the Earth and its environment, the pantheistic perspective of shamanic
beliefs worldwide show considerably more wisdom in their practical results than
does the more divisive dualism which has claimed Christianity and, arguably,
sanctioned the rape of the Earth. As one contemporary wicca
puts it, repression by the Church meant that: no
longer were the groves and forests sacred. The concept of a sacred grove, of a
spirit embodied in nature, was considered idolatrous. But when nature is empty
of spirit, forest and trees become merely timber, something to be measured in
board feet, valued only for its profitability, not for its being, its beauty,
or even its part in the larger ecosystem.[2] The
missionaries were not amused. As one described the Aztecs’ use of morning
glory seeds, which contain lysergic acid amide—a close relation of LSD
(lysergic acid di-ethylamide)— “... they place the mixture before their
gods, saying that it is the food of the gods... and with it they become
witch-doctors and commune with the devil”.[3] The
Inquisition succeeded only in driving the use of psychedelics underground. But
the essential meaning of Christianity made rather a deeper impact, for many
Indian cultures recognised in it the same God as they communed with while in
elevated states of consciousness. Thus,
contemporary Zapotec Indians in southern Mexico refer to the morning glory (Ipomea—often
“Heavenly Blue”) as Semilla de la
Virgen— “seed of the Virgin”. Likewise, the Delaware Indians who use
the peyote cactus as a source of mescaline say, “God made Peyote. It is his
power. It is the power of Jesus. God (through peyote) told the Delawares the
same things that Jesus told the whites. God told the Delawares to do good even
before he sent Christ to the whites, who killed him…” And
again, “The white man goes into his church house and talks about
Jesus: the Indian goes into his teepee and talks to
Jesus”.[4] Proto-Indo-European Connections Perhaps
it is fortunate that there was no Inquisition when the ancient religions of the
East were being established, otherwise we might never have had the Bhagavad
Gita, the Upanishads, the Tao Te Ching or the Dhamrnapada. For although
contemporary gurus generally advise against the use of psychedelic drugs, the
same was manifestly not so with some of their distant predecssors. A Taoist legend maintains that the “sacred” flowers of datura are carried by the spiritual envoys which mediate between earth and the heavens. Similarly, it is said that when Buddha was preaching, heaven sprinkled the datura plant with dew or raindrops. The
ancient Hindu brahmins left no doubt that their philosophy of the fundamental
unity of all creation was inspired at least
to some extent by psychedelic experience. Of the more than 1,000 holy hymns in
the RigVeda, 120 are devoted exclusively to the “Soma”: “Enter into the
heart of Indra, receptacle of Soma, like the rivers into the ocean … mainstay
of heaven!”.[5] Up
until 1968 experts believed Soma to have been a drink prepared from cannabis,
but then extensive interdisciplinary research revealed it to have almost
certainly been the fly agaric mushroom—a much more potent, albeit possibly dangerous,
source of psychedelic chemicals. Probably
it is little coincidence that this red and white-spotted fungus (amanita
muscaria) illustrates every self-respecting book of children’s “fairy”
stories, contemporary and otherwise. The psychedelic effects it produces on
ingestion are perhaps a major factor accounting for simiIarities in the outlooks
of the great Eastern religions, the Siberian shamans and the Western wiccas and
druids, amongst others. The
historical and philosophical links between these apparently diverse groups are
actually much closer than many realise. As Fuller summarises: About
1500 BC, a branch of the Indo-Europeans that spoke protoIranian invaded India
in war chariots from a homeland on the Asian steppes. They conquered the native
civilization of the Indus Valley and gave rise to the Hindus and the Sanskritic
languages. The similarities between Hindu and Celtic traditions are often cited
as evidence of a common Indo-European heritage.... There
are cognate Indo-European words that survive only in Sanskrit and Celtic, and
many parallel myths and gods. The caste system of India shows vestiges of a
three-part social structure like the Celts’ priests/warriors/commoners. Hindu
brahmins were originally religious leaders comparable to Druids.... The
Proto-Indo-European word for God, Deiwos (shining
sky) contains the roots of words like deity
and divine in Latinized English, Tiu
(a sky god) in Old Germanic, Zeus in
Greek, Devah (God) in Sanskrit, Dieu
(God) in French and dia (day) in
Spanish....[6] We
can probably say with reasonable certainty that the European witch or wicca was
heir to much more ancient traditions via the ancient Celts, and that the
psychedelic “magic” potions and ointments were a part of this legacy. Let us
now turn to the present and see what the wicca may have in
terms of contemporary successors. Transcendental Music
and the Dawning of the New Age We are now in the middle of the third decade of what has variously been called the “New Age”, the “Aquarian Age”, and the “Psychedelic Revolution”. [Since writing this the term “New Age” has become less positive, having become associated with guru figures who divorce spirituality from practical engagement with social and ecological justice, thereby compounding the problems of the world by selling a supposed escape from them. A.I.M., 2000]. What’s
new about it? Where is the revolution? The
changes were mainly internal. The “revolution” was in human consciousness.
The “human potential movement”, spearheaded by such thinkers as Jung,
Maslow, Assagioli, Huxley, Alan Watts, and others had been born and was waiting
to be discovered by those who wanted to know. What opened the movement out was not academic instruction in these people’s thought, because for the most part they were anathema to the materialistic “positivism” which at that time was enjoying its heyday in academia. No, it was “pop culture” which helped rouse widespread interest in the newly emerging “transpersonal psychologies”. This found
expression through music that,
in symbolic terms, represented a mystical metaphysic beingabout
deeper aspects of the psyche; in particular, about God. Let
me show some of what I mean by quoting lyrics which to many people would be
meaningless, but may in fact be deeply spiritual. These, and the evocative music
which usually goes with them are what I call “transcendental music”, which
I define as being any kind of music which rouses within one higher emotions and
sentiments which are not normally experienced in ordinary states of
consciousness. The
Beatles are a renowned example, though by no means the most exemplary. They
travelled to India to learn meditation and they also had Ravi Shankar teach them
to play sitar, giving rise to the name “Raga Rock” for music with lyrics
like these, from the song Tomorrow Never
Knows: “Turn off your mind; relax and float down-stream: it is not dying.
Lay down all thought: surrender to the voice: it is shining. That you may see
the meaning of within: it is Being.” Apart
from during their brief flirtation with India, the Beatles like most rock groups
were not noted for the spirituality of their lifestyles. But perhaps that is
beside the point. Perhaps the artist is but a medium for a message, and should
not necessarily be looked on as its embodiment also. Many artists whose work has
been of spiritual relevance deny that One
versed in the transpersonal psychologies would, of course, understand it very
well. A symbol, be it a dream, a parable, a fairy
tale or imagery in a lyric, can take on a thousand relevant interpretations
depending on the condition of the individual psyche resonating with it. The
meanings of symbols can vary for each individual. That is part of their magic. The
Moody Blues, for example, claimed in a recent BBC radio series that far from
being aboutotherwise induced altered states of consciousness, their
album To Our Children’s Children’s Children was merely about the
wonders of the Apollo moonshots. But with lyrics like the following, the reader
may judge for his or her self whether space walks or mind trips are the true
subject matter: Everything’s
turning, turning around See
with your mind, leave your body behind Now
that we’re out here open your heart To
the Universe, of which we’re a part. But
if you want to play Stay
right back on Earth Waiting
for rebirth. Their
moral philosophy is simple as it is timeless: Christian as it is Hindu. Those
who will “give just a little bit more: take a little bit less, from each other
this day” will, throughout life “stand on the Threshold of a Dream”. In
short, “So love everybody, and make them your friends.” In
their masterpiece album, In Search of the
Lost Chord, the inner Self, the Atman, and its ultimate unity with universal
Self, Brahman, is symbolised as a (musical) chord. Having earlier in the album
with a song about Timothy Leary implied the use of LSD to induce elevated states
of consciousness, they say: Two
notes of the Chord, that’s our full scope But
to reach the Chord is our life’s hope And
to name the Chord is important to some So
they give it a word, and the word is OM. OM
(pronounced aum), is the Hindu/Buddhist expression of all Being. And so, as they
conclude in On the Threshold of a Dream: Now
you know how nice it feels Scatter
good seed in the fields Life’s
ours for the making Eternity’s
waiting, waiting For
you and me. The
object of the exercise, then, is to see how it feels—to see that spiritual
reality is for real. Having achieved that; having obtained empirical proof;
the real work of life must then begin—that of scattering good seed. Mystical
experience, whether induced by psychedelic or any other means, must never be
looked on as a goal in itself. It is merely a pointer, a witnessing that the top
of the mountain really does exist and waits to be climbed by those who feel
ready, or left alone by those who do not. From Children’s
Children again: If
you think it’s a joke, that’s all right Do
what you want to do I’ve
said my piece and I’ll leave it all up to you. Pink
Floyd are another celebrated group whose “weird” music is at times
hauntingly beautiful and deeply mystical. Other times it is quite the contrary!
There is no secret about the influence which psychedelic experience has had on
their music. Here I shall look at just one piece, a track called Echoes which takes up a full side of their early album, Meddle. Like
the main track on their album Atom Heart
Mother, the music is tremendously evocative in a sense which has been
described as having the timeiess quality of an Indian raga. In symbolic terms
which would have delighted Jung, both the lyrics and the music in Echoes seem to portray the individuation process; comprising a
journey into the unconscious, a seeking for the Self during the “dark night of
the soul”, and finally, a transformation of psychic contents and structure
resulting in seif-realisation. Echoes
commences with a
regular, hypnotic pipping sound as made by a submarine’s sonar, integrated
into the magnificently uplifting and deeply peaceful main theme. An atmosphere
of plumbing the ocean’s depths is thus created, and as the music swells in a
manner suggestive of inward striving, the vocalist paints the opening scene: Overhead
the albatross hangs motionless upon the air And deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves The
echo of the distant tide comes willowing across the sand And everything is green and submarine The
image portrayed by the first verse, then, is one of the composer contemplating
the unconscious and what waits to be discovered and integrated within it. The
sonar pips and thc albatross’ overhead position suggest that he is already
embarking upon his journey, which leads us to the second stanza alluding to the
goal sought: And
no-one showed us to the light And
no-one knows the wheres or whys But
something stares and something trys And starts to climb towards the light Light
and associated objects such as the sun, candle, or fire, are ancient symbols of
higher Being, soul, or the “Self” as I shall call it here. The experience of
intense light is a common characteristic of mystical experience. The path
towards self-discovery is sought by few, and is different for each individual
(note Jung’s term, “individuation”). Hence no-one is able to guide the
writer or others; only that stirring deep within can advance us on our way. Strangers
passing in the street By
chance two separate glances meet And
I am you, and what I see is me. And
do I take you by the hand And
lead you through the land And
help me understand the best I can?
And no-one calls us to the land And no-one crosses there alive And
no-one speaks and no-one tries And
no-one flies around the Sun. Again, nobody forces us on the journey. But it is a one-way journey. Once embarked upon, there is no going back to the life that was before. You cannot, as Jesus put it, be new wine in an old skin. You cannot cross there with the former self still alive. And you cannot hedge your bets, keeping the destination at a safe orbital distance. God is a question of all or nothing. At
this stage in the music, variations on the main theme suggestive of diving to
great depths and then climbing to tremendous heights gradually cease. Strange
sound effects suggest chaos—the “dark night of the soul”. These merge into
the haunting cries of whales in the ocean. The impression created is one of
having attained profound depths in the unconscious; of being amongst its very
archetypical constituents. And
then, little by little, the whales give way to the sounds of a rookery— new
life; rebirth; yet associated with the crow—a symbol of death [and, in the
Tibetan tradition, of eternity]. For transcended, life and death are one. Now
the sonar bleep returns, but this time one hears not only the transmitted pip,
but the reflected echo too. The echo quickens. The goal is close. The music
begins a majestic re-formation. And then joyfully, triumphantly, the main theme
bursts forth again. And now this is the day you fall Upon my waking eyes Inviting
and inciting me to rise And
through the window in the wall Comes
streaming in on sunlight wings A
million bright ambassadors of morning. And no-one sings me lullabies And
no-one makes me close my eyes So
I throw the windows wide Haunting
you to cross the skies! And
yes, the shaman, the wicca, is still very much with us in the twentieth
century. Burning
times all over again? Not quite, but certainly contemporary music has found
itself to have few friends in countries dictated by the extreme left or right.
In some cases—in Chile, behind parts of the Iron Curtain, and
elsewhere—repressive campaigns against radical musicians could honestly be
described as witch hunts. Music
is a manifestation of “magic” in the true sense of the word. Magic, as one
authoritative wicca defines it, is “the art of changing consciousness at
will”. And according to that definition, she continues, “magic encompasses
political action, which is aimed at changing consciousness and thereby causing
change”.[9] But
how valid are such experiences when induced? What right does anybody have to claim
that they are, indeed, “mystical”? Only a small proportion of psychedelic “trippers”
are said to have mystical or “peak” experiences and, usually, only when on high dosages
and in conducive circumstances—both inwardly and outwardly. However, studies
of the nature of these experiences has generally come to the conclusion that in
every describable respect such induced mystical states are the same as
“naturally’ occurring ones.[10] That
raises challenging questions about the validity of any
sort of mystical experience. Does the ostensible fact that you can find God
by munching mushrooms mean that we should discard much of humankind’s
spiritual heritage? Is God merely a symptom of brain poisoning? And should we
therefore side with Bertrand Russell who trenchantly said “From a scientific
point of view, we can make no distinction between the man who eats little and
sees heaven and the man who drinks much and sees snakes”? Probably
not.[11]
For an hallucination is at odds with
the “real” world as seen by others. In so far as consensual validation of
the percept is lacking, its objective reality must be highly questionable. Although
psychedelics can induce hallucinations projected onto the real world, these are
fairly uncommon. The main effect is to act on consciousness
and therefore perception. Psychedelics appear to work by mimicking certain
of the neuro-transmitter chemicals used in the brain to carry impulses from the
synapses of one nerve to the next. With more “switches” turned on than
normal, the perception of both inner and outer reality is enhanced. Far
from being at odds with normal reality, the psychedelic state under positive
circumstances may, according to documented reports, transcend it. The doors of perception are
opened. The
ego-created distinctions between self and non-self start to dissolve until a
sense of undifferentiated mystical one-ness (unio
mystica) may be attained. This
can best be illustrated by analogy. Having a mystical experience is a bit like
waking up out of a dream. In an ordinary dream, my “greater mind” as it
might be called, projects a dream “me” into a dream world where I interact
with other dream people, until I wake up and realise that the dream’s only
reality has been as a mental fantasy entertained by my now alert “greater
mind”. Likewise,
as a person enters into a mystical state she sees that her ordinary self and the
mundane world are no more “real” than the dream Creation
itself comprises a mighty cosmic dream, born of love in the mind of her greatest
Self, which is one with universal Self, or “God”. “Atman is
Brahman”, as the Upanishads put it. Or in Christian terms, we are all
“members one of another”—all branches on the vine. Since
ordinary reality is not contradicted but
is merely being viewed from a different and apparently broader perspective,
there are no epistemological grounds for suggesting that the mystical
experience is any less valid than our every-day experience. Russell’s argument fails
because it is not comparing like with like. In
his hypothesis known as emanationism, the
philosopher, Henri Bergson, suggested that the brain may act as a kind of
“reducing valve” for cosmic consciousness. Researchers into the higher
altered states of consciousness have found this to be a useful working
hypothesis on the basis that psychedelics, meditation, fasting etc., perhaps
reduce the brain’s efficiacy at keeping material out, thereby permitting
reality to be perceived at a more fundamental level. Presumably the reason we do
not perceive like this all the time is that such a starry-eyed state would not
be conducive to the physical survival of the species. Neither would it give much
opportunity for spiritual growth by taking up the challenge to be “in this
world, but not of it”. Whatever
the truth of these matters, the fact remains that throughout history techniques
to act upon consciousness including the use of psychedelics have had a powerful impact on spiritual beliefs, artistic
creativity including music, and philosophical thought. As correspondence
published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research recently reveals for
the first time, C. G. Jung himself concluded that psychedelic experience
originates from the “collective unconscious”. Huxley would undoubtedly have
concurred, and we can only speculate as to the effects which their recently
publicised experiments with mescaline might have had on the thinking of such
influential British philosophers in the field of psychical and mystical research
as H. H. Price, C. D. Broad and R. C. Zachner.
[12] Although legal constraints since the sixties have effectively clamped the inquisition on further formal study of psychedelic drugs, we should not underestimate the impact their illicit use has had on our culture. Through music and the arts, this touches many more than those who have actually experienced altered states of consciousness. It may be, therefore, that in our modern society the shaman is suppressed, but not eliminated. And in true totemic tradition, he or she changes outward form taking many guises.
Alastair McIntosh, is Financial Adviser to the South Pacific Appropriate Technology Foundation in Papua New Guinea. He has various publications in the fields of parapsychology, anthropology and metaphysics as well as standard works on PR and marketing for charities. [1] Harner, M. J., Hallucinogens and Shamanism (New York, Oxford University Press, 1973). [2] “Starhawk”, Dreaming the Dark (Boston, Beacon Press, 1982). [3]
Schultes,
R.. B. and Hofmann, A., Plants of the
Gods (UK, McGraw-Hill, 1979). [4] Schultes
and Hofinann, Ibid. [5] Schultes and Hofmann, Ibid. [6]
Fuller, F., “Barbarians
and Empire” (Sausalito, California, Co-Evolution
Quarterly, Summer 1983). [7] Eisen,
J. (ed.) The Age of Rock : Sounds of the American Cultural Revolution (New
York, Random House, 1969). [8] Eisen,
Ibid. [9]
“Starhawk”, Dreaming
the Dark (Boston, Beacon Press, 1982). [10] Tart,
C. T. (ed.), Altered States of
Consciousness (New York, Wiley, 1969). [11] McIntosh,
A. I, “Mystical Experience, Hallucination, and
Belief in God” in The Christian Parapsychologist, Vol.3 No.1
(December 1978). [12] Smythies,
J. R., “The Impact of Psychedelic Drugs on Philosophy and Psychical Research”,
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 52, No. 795
(October 1983).
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