Spirit world: Religion, Psychedelic experiences and Depth Psychology in conversation

From ancient records showing ritual use of entheogenic sacrements for prayer and connection with the divine, to the Good Friday Experiment in the 1960’s, the relationship between religion and psychedelics is one of the field’s most complex and overlooked dimensions. Both religion and psyche-delics offer access to the deep personal unconscious and the numinous archetypal worlds - in similar and very different ways. 

For some religion offers a meaningful framework for understanding one’s self, psychedelic experiences and connecting with the sacred. For others, it is a tool of shame, fear, spiritual abuse and  trauma. What happens when psychedelics connect us to our personal wounds with religions or connect us with the realms of the archetypes, gods and numinous? These experiences can be opportunities for healing and profound revelations,  while also challenging established self beliefs and identity.

This seminar explores the intersection of psychedelics, religion, and depth psychology. We will examine religious trauma, the role of faith in psychedelic experiences and the ways spiritual frameworks influence meaning-making and integration. Through a Jungian lens, we will also explore the shadow “Preacher” archetype and how spiritual authority, projection, and the desire to guide or save can emerge. Join us as we go deeper into the nuanced world of psychedelic experiences, depth psychology and spirituality. 

Seminar schedule:

• The Necessity of the Numinous: Religion, psychedelics and the desire to know.

Dr. Ido Cohen

• Divine Punishment, Divine Grace: Faith, religious wounding and the psychedelic potential.

Dr. Jaime Clarck-Soles, Rev and Marc Henri Sandoz Paradella

• Divine Union: When the religious and psychedelic come together.

Evelise Paradella, PhD and Igor Schmidt 

• Psychedelic Preachers: The shadow when chasing power and the numinous.

Simon Yugler, MFT and Mackenzie Amara PhDc