Shamanism and Psychedelics: A Catholic Perspective

This is a summary of the conference I delivered for Católicos por Convicción regarding the practice of Shamanism and its opposition to Christian beliefs. If you understand Spanish, you can watch the whole conference in the following video. It has English subtitles:

Shamanism:

• Belief in the existence of an intermediary between the spiritual world and the physical world.
  • Shaman
  • Healer
  • Priest
  • Medicine Man
• Great Mystery, Universal Source, “all that is.”

Shamanism in America vs. the East

Bases of this belief

• Spirits of nature (animals, rivers, mountains, elements)
• Connection with ancestors (necromancy)
• Balance and harmony between good and evil
• Traditional medicine (herbs and plants)

Neo-shamanism

• Syncretism between different beliefs, sometimes contradicting each other
• Hippism (ecology, feminism, anti-capitalism)
• Distinct aesthetics.

Elements of a shamanic ceremony

• Preparation of a brew by the shaman (prayers)
• Circle around a “Sacred” fire
• Taking the “medicine”
• Chants and praises (use of drums and repetitive sounds)
• “Purging” (vomiting or diarrhea)
• “Vision quest” or “trance” (8-12 hours)

Chemical composition of psychedelics

DMT vs. THC
Visions: mere hallucinations?

• Vivid colors, intricate geometric figures, eyes, serpents
• Encounters with entities
• Intense emotional experiences
• Collective hallucinations (!)

Is reality just an illusion?

• Eastern Philosophy (Buddhism and Hinduism)
• Jungian Psychology (collective symbolic unconscious)
• Existentialist Philosophy (individual responsibility)

Lucid dreams
Astral travel

Risks of these practices

• Depersonalization
• Confusion between reality and dream
• Lucid nightmares
• Insomnia

Risks of using psychedelics

• Physical health risks
• Unpredictable reactions
• Psychosis
• Emotional dependence
• Deviation from faith
• Spiritual confusion.

Justifying visions and dreams with the Bible

• Genesis 20:3-7
• Genesis 28:10-17
• Numbers 12:6
• Matthew 1:20, Matthew 2:12-13

The eternal deception
Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
What does the Bible say?
Genesis 2:16-17 (New International Version): “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.‘”
Warning to the Romans
Romans 1:22 “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.“
Romans 1:25 “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.“

Why are shamanic practices not recommended?

• It goes against the First Commandment.
• It gives the false idea that one can saves by themselves.
• High risk to worse psychologic disorders.
• Openness to evil influences and fall in ocultism.
• Deviation from faith and trust in God.

Interpretation of dreams
ENCYCLICAL LETTER PASCENDI OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF PIUS X ON THE DOCTRINES OF THE MODERNISTS (1907)

Can one be both a pantheist and a Catholic?

“Christianity is the religion of the ‘incarnation’ of the Word of God. The ‘spirit’ and the ‘flesh’ are so associated that in Christ, ‘God-with-us,’ the Word becomes ‘Son of Man’ in the flesh; in Christ, God recapitulates all creation and man.” Fr. Miguel A. Fuentes, IVE

What to do if we have fallen into shamanism?

• Examination of conscience
• Reconciliation
• Penance
• Total renunciation
• Daily prayer (Rosary)
• Constant Eucharist.

“So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:6 (New International Version)