Today my guest is Brian Muraresku and his book has a similar game changing effect as Michael Pollan’s “How to change your mind”.… except that Brian makes us rethink psychedelics and religion. So just what will the pope have to say?
Brian Muraseku graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University with a degree in Latin, Greek and Sanskrit and he has been practicing law internationally for fifteen years. In 2016, Muraresku became the founding executive director of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation. In arbitration with the NFL in 2018, Muraresku represented the first professional athlete in the United States to seek a therapeutic use exemption for cannabis. So, what brings the man on a podcast about psychedelics?
Brian and I met in an unusual place—yet a very one common for our times—in a Zoom Meeting. It was a meeting called “Faith & Delics” and was about Judaism and psychedelics, hosted by the amazing Adriana Kertzner, Co-Founder of the Plant Medicine Law Group.
Brian and I were not Jewish, but Catholic. So we were put in the Catholic break-out room with a pastor from the Midwest, and we talked psychedelics. This is where I learned about Brian's recently released amazing book, “The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name”. The Immortality Key is incredible, a journey into the psychedelic origins of the world's great spiritual practices and what those might mean for how we view ourselves and the world around us. Brian researched for 12 years, was able to get in the archives of the Vatican and check if there are any psychedelic hints (pssst …there are!). He travelled Europe to find out how ancient rituals were supported by psychedelic experiences. So did the Ancient Greeks use psychedelics to find God? And did the first Christians inherit the same, secret tradition? Brian's book and theories changed my whole idea coming from a Catholic culture, and growing up as a Catholic girl. So what if our cultures and religions were always based on psychedelic rituals?
Just imagine…
A little further reading about Judaism and psychedelics here.
Things I want you to know…
This week, it’s all about Clubhouse! I host several talks (in German and English) on psychedelics and mental wellness with amazing guests. Yes, I got fully engaged (and a little addicted) to the Clubhouse App.
And tadaaa. We will have our Jour Fixe now every Wednesday at 7pm, chatting with the guests who will be on our podcast a day later, surprise guests, AMA sessions with experts or sometimes just a nice evening chat. I would love it if you join me!
February 3rd: The new world of Cannabis and Mushrooms!
My guest is the great Jake Skinner —and we talk about products and wellness ideas that will come out of the new cannabis and (magic) mushroom world and we are excited to talk about this new industry and lifestyle! Join our talk! 🍄 🍃
February 4th: Mentale Wellness & Psychedelics? Ask me anything! 🇩🇪
Sue Giers Bloggerin und Lebenstil-Forscherin mit großer Community in Deutschland und ich laden Euch ein, Fragen zu Mentaler Wellness, Microdosing & Psychedelics zu beantworten. Denn wir brauchen eine neue Idee von Mental Health und neue Tools dazu. Wir freuen uns auf euch ! 🍃🍄
February 5th: 𝗭𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼 & 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘁: 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗱ie 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗻?
Christin Martens, Matthias Lorenz-Meyer, Thilo Mischke und ich sprechen über Trips & Therapie.
“Zwischen Techno & Tarot” ist ein Talk über Sinn- & Unsinn-Suche. Wir beleuchten Themen der Spiritualität mit Experten, teilen Erfahrungen, beantworten Fragen. Folge #2 dreht sich um Psychedelics.
A Research Round-Up by Ewan Waddell.
In German-centric news: Berlin-based psychedelics start-up ATAI Life Sciences have recently revealed their intentions to take on schizophrenia. For those that don’t know ATAI, you should - they’re a big mover in the psychedelic space and are backed by PayPal founder Peter Thiel.
How are they tackling schizophrenia? ATAI recently acquired Recognify, a company developing drugs to help treat schizophrenia. Although the clinical evidence from their trials (508 patients strong) of their lead drug R-007 have not yet been published, the acquisition deal was reportedly in the double-digit millions, suggesting ATAI has a lot of faith in Recognify. We look forward to hearing more about Recognify and R-007.
In legalisation news: The head of the successful Decriminalize Washington movement has taken the next step in forming The Plant Medicine Coalition (PMC) - a women-led, non-profit advocacy organization.
What’s their plan? The group aims to put pressure on archaic drug laws at a federal level. As well as implementing nationwide federal decriminalization, the group seeks to garner federal funding for research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds.
Why is this important? Governments have historically shown shamefully little support into this promising new area of mental health care, forcing research to be privately funded and littered with difficult regulatory hoops to jump through. Federal support would set a positive president financially, legally and culturally.
In Ergot news: In light of Canada’s rapidly evolving laws and cultural attitudes towards psychedelics, The Chacruna Institute recently published an informative guide to the historical relationship between Canada and the ancient psychedelic fungi of Ergot… The historical hallucinogen also gets a lot of coverage in The Immortality Key by this week’s guest Brian Muraresku!
All for now. Talk next week! :)
🍄 #50 - Brian Muraresku - Are our religions psychedelic? Were women the original (psychedelic) beer brewers?