page_title: Entheogen
section_title: Ancient times
hierarchical_section_title: Entheogen / History / Ancient times
caption_attribution_description: Echinopsis pachanoi
context_page_description: An entheogen is a psychoactive substance that induces alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development in sacred contexts. The religious, magical, shamanic, or spiritual significance of entheogens is well established in anthropological and modern contexts; entheogens have traditionally been used to supplement many diverse practices geared towards achieving transcendence, including divination, meditation, yoga, sensory deprivation, asceticism, prayer, trance, rituals, chanting, hymns like peyote songs, drumming, and ecstatic dance.
context_section_description: R. Gordon Wasson and Giorgio Samorini have proposed several examples of the cultural use of entheogens that are found in the archaeological record. Hemp seeds discovered by archaeologists at Pazyryk suggest early ceremonial practices by the Scythians occurred during the 5th to 2nd century BCE, confirming previous historical reports by Herodotus.
caption: Flowering San Pedro, an entheogenic cactus that has been used for over 3,000 years.[5] Today the vast majority of extracted mescaline is from columnar cacti, not vulnerable peyote.[6]
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