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entheogen (en-THEE-oh-jen) - n., a psychoactive substance used for the purpose of inducing a mystical or spiritual experience.
Such as mescaline, psilocybin, or ayahuasca, to name a few more famous ones, when used in a religious or ritual context. The ancient Greeks considered wine an entheogen, as evidenced by the myths of Dionysus, though the use of other entheogens long predates this. Coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists who were studying the inebriants of shamans, in order to avoid the perceived negative associations of hallucinogen and psychedelic, from ancient Greek roots en-, within + theos, god/divinity + -genēs, born -- so "engendering the god within" (entheos is the root of enthusiasm, note).
---L.
Such as mescaline, psilocybin, or ayahuasca, to name a few more famous ones, when used in a religious or ritual context. The ancient Greeks considered wine an entheogen, as evidenced by the myths of Dionysus, though the use of other entheogens long predates this. Coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists who were studying the inebriants of shamans, in order to avoid the perceived negative associations of hallucinogen and psychedelic, from ancient Greek roots en-, within + theos, god/divinity + -genēs, born -- so "engendering the god within" (entheos is the root of enthusiasm, note).
---L.
