Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A psychoactive substance, usually one derived from plants or fungi but also from the secretions of animals such as toads, that is ingested by a shaman or another participant in a ritual in order to produce visions or gain mystical insight.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
psychoactive substance used for the purpose of inducing amystical orspiritual experience.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word entheogen.
Examples
-
Note: the word entheogen refers to a psychoactive plant or chemical used in a spiritual or religious context.
-
LSD is not a narcotic substance, Feldmar tried to explain, but an entheogen.
Canadian Professor Denied US Entry For Taking LSD in 1967 | Impact Lab 2007
-
SOMA (from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley) - Named after the food of the Hindu gods, soma is a narcotic, aphrodisiac and entheogen used in the ritual worship of Our (Henry) Ford.
-
SOMA (from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley) - Named after the food of the Hindu gods, soma is a narcotic, aphrodisiac and entheogen used in the ritual worship of Our (Henry) Ford.
August 2006 2006
-
Definitely concur on the entheogen connection: at the height of every such experience, I've 'seen' great vistas of fractal patterns and structures.
Mandelbrot Fractals William Harryman 2007
-
After all, the Church had descended from the Eleusinian rites that sported nine-day fasts—capped by a potent entheogen.
Experiencing the Next World Now Michael Grosso 2004
-
At the climax of the fast, one drank a powerful entheogen.
Experiencing the Next World Now Michael Grosso 2004
-
After all, the Church had descended from the Eleusinian rites that sported nine-day fasts—capped by a potent entheogen.
Experiencing the Next World Now Michael Grosso 2004
-
After all, the Church had descended from the Eleusinian rites that sported nine-day fasts—capped by a potent entheogen.
Experiencing the Next World Now Michael Grosso 2004
-
At the climax of the fast, one drank a powerful entheogen.
Experiencing the Next World Now Michael Grosso 2004
treeseed commented on the word entheogen
An entheogen, in the strictest sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious or shamanic context. Entheogens generally come from plant sources which contain molecules closely related to endogenous neurochemicals. They occur in a wide variety of sacraments of various religious rites UDV/NAC and have been shown to directly provoke what users perceive as spiritual/mystical experiences.
The word entheogen is a neologism derived from the ancient Greek : ἔνθεος (entheos) and γενέσθαι (genesthe). Entheos literally means "god (theos) within", translates as "inspired" and is the root of the English word "enthusiasm". The Greeks used it as a term of praise for poets and other artistscitation needed. Genesthe means "to generate". So an entheogen is "that which generates God (or godly inspiration) within a person".
_Wikipedia
February 4, 2008
john commented on the word entheogen
“Unlike the psychedelic painter Alex Grey, whose art conveys a true believer’s faith in the reality of an ultimately beneficent divinity accessible by means of “entheogens” — drugs that activate inner gods — and practices like meditation and chanting, Mr. Tomaselli teeters on the agnostic line between belief and skepticism.”
The New York Times, Picturing a Mind-Blowing World Made of Drugs, by Ken Johnson, October 7, 2010
October 9, 2010