"Deine Säfte bringen mich nach Phantasien..." Die Rolle von Drogen in neuen Hexenkulten
Jahrbuch für Ethnomedizin und Bewußtseinsforschung 5.1996:99-116
The role of drugs in new witch cults
##This essay explores the various religious traditions of ritual drug use among neopagan witches - a religious movement whose identity is linked to a tradition of nature religion from European prehistory. The notion of ritual consumption of hallucinogens (as so-called "witches" ointments) in the popular religion of early modern times is well known among the New Witches, yet it has not been revitalized as a symbol of modern witchcraft. Traditional Wicca almost completely renounces all forms of external induction of ecstasy. Still hallucinogenic substances play an important part in the eclectic belief systems of many modern unorganized witches. They are mainly employed however for individual spiritual growth and not in a ritual context. Altered states of consciousness are considered to be of a more powerful quality when induced physically through direct contact with the supernatural rather than through external chemical agents.##
Keywords: witch cults, neopaganism, paganism and drugs, religion
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