Wednesday, July 27th, 2022 from 12:00-1:30pm PST

When thinking about religion, we do not often have (positive) associations about its relationship to psychedelic plant use. However, there is plenty of evidence exploring these connections, which Chacruna recently examined in our Religion and Psychedelics conference. Join us in this community forum in which we will take a deep dive into the world of Mormonism and psychedelics with Joseph West, who worked as a sociologist with research focused on early Mormon history, and Bia Labate, who is a Brazilian anthropologist and ED of Chacruna Institute. Bia will interview Joseph, who will give an overview of psychedelic use in early Mormon history/origins, with topics such as the Smith-Entheogen Theory as well as the magical worldview of Joseph Smith. He will also discuss psychedelic use in contemporary post-Mormon cultural circles, with examples such as recently published articles in the media surrounding this topic, looking at a mushroom church claiming religious protections, and talking about the ways psychedelics are being used as a means of healing religious trauma.

Joseph West lives in Tucson, Arizona with his three children and his partner Katherine Kincaid. Together, they own and operate private group psychotherapy practices in both Tucson and Salt Lake City. The practice specializes in psychedelic integration, and psychedelic assisted therapies. Joseph is passionate about creating safe contexts for the use and exploration of sacred medicines and technologies, both natural and synthetic. In past years, Joseph spent time working as a real estate professional, an accountant, a stay-at-home parent, and a sociologist. His social-scientific research on early Mormon history was published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines (http://chacruna.net, https://chacruna-iri.org, https://chacruna-la.org) and serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). She is also Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and Visiting Scholar at Naropa University’s Center for Psychedelic Studies. Additionally, she is member of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board’s Research Subcommittee, and Advisor at the Synthesis Institute and at InnerTrek. Dr. Labate is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site since. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-five books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (https://bialabate.net).

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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The Mormon Psychedelic Renaissance: Plant Medicines to Heal Religious Trauma?