Ep 150.2 — Psychedelics in Early Mormonism; Debunking a Mormon Apologist on Mormon Book Reviews pt. 2

Part 2 of Episode 150! Yay!! And now for something completely different. This episode is a bit of a departure from our regular show. We invite Alex Criddle and Cody Noconi, researchers into the psychedelic origins of Mormonism, to respond to the recent debate on the Mormon Book Reviews channel between ourselves and Mormon apologist, Brian Hales. Brian attempts to provide the apologetic response to the theory that Joseph Smith utilized psychedelics (entheogens) in the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in order to facilitate visionary experiences for the early Saints. Disinformation requires much greater effort than simply stating information so we do our best to debunk his debunking (rebunk the theory?). This one is a long haul so we split it into 2 episodes to make it a little more digestible.

 

Show notes:

Video version: https://youtu.be/3l0L1EHtQOo

Support our research and outreach: https://www.patreon.com/SeerStonedProductions

Original here: Psychedelics & Early Mormonism Theory Brian Hales Responds on Mormon Book Reviews

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE7J0y_cPpg

 

Further information:

“The Higher Powers of Man” - Frederick M. Smith was a prophet of the RLDS Mormons and paternal grandson of the founder Joseph Smith. In 1918 Frederick published this Ph.D. dissertation breaking down altered states of consciousness from an early psychologist’s perspective, specifically, religious states of ‘ecstacy’ as he called it. A lengthy chapter devoted to peyote is particularly worth reading.

“The Higher Powers: Fred M - Smith and the Peyote Ceremonies” - Shelby Barnes’ 1995 paper highlighting the curious psychedelic interests of Frederick M. Smith. While Barnes does not make any direct connections to Joseph Smith and psychedelics, Barnes does note that Frederick’s interests were an attempt to find the reliable keys to visionary revelation that his grandfather Joseph had demonstrated.

“Restoration and the Sacred Mushroom”  - Dr. Robert Beckstead’s seminal research paper presented at the August 2007 Sunstone Symposium. Beckstead’s paper was the first to propose the possibility that Joseph Smith used psychedelics to facilitate visionary experiences.

“A 1920’s Harvard Psychedelic Circle with a Mormon Connection: Peyote Use amongst the Harvard Aesthetes” Alan Piper’s 2016 paper highlighting Frederick M. Smith’s interest in psychedelics, and how as a standing Mormon prophet Fred was funding a 1920s group of Harvard students with peyote.

“Revelation Through Hallucination: A discourse on the Joseph Smith-entheogen theory” - Bryce Blankenagel and Cody Noconi’s 2017 follow-up paper further explores the hypothesis originally put forward by Dr. Robert Beckstead a decade earlier.

“The Entheogenic Origins of Mormonism: A Working Hypothesis” - Dr. Robert Beckstead, Bryce Blankenagel, Cody Noconi, and Michael Winkelman’s paper published in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies in June 2019. This was the first paper on the subject published in an academic journal.

“Visions, Mushrooms, Fungi, Cacti, and Toads: Joseph Smith’s Reported Use of Entheogens” Brian Hales’ 2020 response paper to the one published in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies. As a believing Mormon engaged in academic apologetics, Hales details what he perceives to be holes in the proposed hypothesis.

“The Psychedelic History of Mormonism, Magic, and Drugs” - Cody Noconi’s book published in 2021.

“Psychedelics as a Means of Revelation in Early and Contemporary Mormonism (Part 1)” Alex Criddle's 2023 paper that was originally presented at the Forms of Psychedelic Life conference at UC Berkeley (April 14-15, 2023).

“Psychedelics as a Means of Revelation in Early and Contemporary Mormonism (Part 2)” A continuation of Alex Criddle’s 2023 paper.

“A Real Spiritual High: In Defense of Psychedelic Mysticism” An enlightening philosophical essay from Alex Criddle.

Bibliography and further reading:

• The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James

• The Higher Powers of Man, by Frederick M. Smith

• The Magus, by Francis Barrett 

• A Key to Physic, and the Occult Sciences, by Ebenezer Sibly

• Hearts Made Glad: The Charges of Intemperance Against Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet, by Lamar Peterson

• The Seven Sisters of Sleep, by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke

• The Encylopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications, by Christian Rátsch

• Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers, by Richard Evans Shultes, Albert Hoffman, and Christian Rátsch

• The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical Plants, by Christian Rátsch

• Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants, by Claudia Muller-Ebeling, Christian Rátsch, and Wolf-Dieter Storl

• Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible, by Chris Bennett and Neil McQueen

• Liber 420: Cannabis, Magickal Herbs and the Occult, by Chris Bennett

• Cannabis: Lost Sacrament of the Ancient World, by Chris Bennett

• Plants of the Devil, by Corinne Boyer

• The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name, by Brian C. Muraresku

• Veneficium: Magic Witchcraft, and the Poison Path, by Daniel A. Schulke

• Thirteen Pathways of Occult Herbalism, by Daniel A. Schulke

• The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens, by Richard Evans Shultes and Albert Hoffman

• Where the Gods Reign: Plants and Peoples of the Colombian Amazon, by Richard Evans Shultes

• Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, Their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia, by Richard Evans Shultes and Robert F. Raffauf

• Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline, Richard Evans Shultes and Siri von Reis

• Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion, by Jonathan Ott, R. Gordon Wasson, Stella Kramrisch, and Carl A. P. Ruck

• Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History, by Jonathan Ott

• Plant Intoxicants: a Classic Text on the Use of Mind-Altering Plants, by Ernst Bibra and Jonathan Ott

• Age of Entheogens & the Angels' Dictionary, by Jonathan Ott

• Drugs of the Dreaming: Oneirogens: Salvia Divinorum and Other Dream-Enhancing Plants, by Jonathan Ott, Gianluca Toro, and Benjamin Thomas

• The Road to Eleusis, by R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, Carl A. P. Ruck, Huston Smith

• Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences, by William A. Richards

• Entheogens, Myth, and Human Consciousness, by Carl A.P. Ruck and Mark Alwin Hoffman

• Mushrooms, Myth and Mithras: The Drug Cult that Civilized Europe, by Carl A.P. Ruck, Mark Alwin Hoffman and Jose Alfredo Gonzalez Celdran

• Sacred Mushrooms of the Goddess: Secrets of Eleusis, by Carl A.P. Ruck

• The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist, by Carl A.P. Ruck, Clark Heinrich, and Blaise Daniel Staples

• Psychedelic Mystery Traditions: Sacred Plants, Magical Practices, Ecstatic States, by Thomas Hatsis

• The Witches’ Ointment: The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic, by Thomas Hatsis

• Alchemically Stoned: The Psychedelic Secret of Freemasonry, by PD Newman

• Angels in Vermillion: The Philosophers’ Stone: From Dee to DMT, by PD Newman

• Theurgy: Theory and Practice: The Mysteries of the Ascent to the Divine, by PD Newman

• The Psychedelic History of Mormonism, Magic, and Drugs, by Cody Noconi

• Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy, by Clark Heinrich

• Psychedelic Medicine, by Richard Miller

• Mushroom Medicine: The Healing Power of Psilocybin & Sacred Entheogen History, by Brian Jackson

• The Religious Experience: It’s Production and Interpretation., by Timothy Leary

• Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals, by Huston Smith

• The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide, by James Fadiman

• Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide, by Paul Stamets

• Soma: divine mushroom of immortality, by Robert Gordon Wasson

• The Philosophy of Natural Magic, by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

• Dwellers on the Threshold; Or Magic and Magicians, with Some Illustrations of Human Error and Imposture, by John Maxwell

• The History of Magic, by Eliphas Levi

• Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, by Albert Mackey

• The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania, by Julius F. Sachse

• God on Psychedelics: Tripping Across the Rubble of Old-Time Religion, by Don Lattin

• The Peyote Effect: From the Inquisition to the War on Drugs, byAlexander Dawson

• The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzne, and Richard Alpert

• Entheogens and the Future of Religion, by Robert Forte

• How To Change Your Mind, by Michael Pollan

• The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America by Don Lattin

• Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered, by James B. Bakalar and Lester Grinspoon

• The Peyote Cult, by Weston LaBarre

• DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, by Rick Stassman

• A Hallucinogenic Tea Laced With Controversy, by Marlene Dobkin de Rios and Roger Rumrrill

• Occurrence and Use of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms Containing Psilocybin Alkaloids, by Jakob Kristinsson and Jørn Gry

• Psychedelics Encyclopedia, by Peter G Stafford

• Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research Since the Decade of the Brain, by Nicolas Langlitz

• Stairways To Heaven: Drugs In American Religious History, by Robert W. Fuller

• Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic, by Mike Jay

• DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: A New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible, by Rick Strassman

• Liquid Light: Ayahuasca Spirituality and the Santo Daime Tradition, by G. William Barnar

• Distilled Spirits: Getting High, Then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher, and a Hopeless Drunk, by Don Lattin

• The Mystery of Manna: The Psychedelic Sacrament of the Bible, by Dan Merkur

• Psychedelic Sacrament: Manna, Meditation and Mystical Experience, by Dan Merkur

• LSD and the Divine Scientist: The Final Thoughts and Reflections of Albert Hofmann, by Albert Hoffman

• The Doors of Perception, by Aldous Huxley

• Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy, by Don Lattin

• LSD: Doorway to the Numinous: The Groundbreaking Psychedelic Research into Realms of the Human Unconscious, by Stanislav Grof

• LSD and the Mind of the Universe by Christopher Bache

• Plant Teachers: Ayahuasca, Tobacco, and the Pursuit of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby and Rafael Chanchari Pizuri

• Visionary Vine: Psychedelic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon by Marlene Dobkin de Rios

• The Antipodes of the Mind by Benny Shannon

• Ancient Psychedelic Substances by Scott Fitzpatrick

• Psychoactive Sacramentals: Essays on Entheogens and Religion by Stan Grof, Huston Smith, and Albert Hofmann 

• The Shaman and Ayahuasca: Journeys to Sacred Realms by Don Jose Campos

• The Religion of Ayahuasca: The Teachings of the Church of Santo Daime by Alex Polari de Alverga 

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