Psychedelic Mysteries of the Feminine: Creativity, Ecstasy, and Healing by Maria Papaspyrou

Author:Maria Papaspyrou [Papaspyrou, Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620558027
Amazon: 1620558025
Barnesnoble: 1620558025
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Published: 2019-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

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The Bioethics of Psychedelic Guides

Issues of Safety and Abuses of Power in Ceremonies with Psychoactive Substances

Eleonora Molnar

This essay is concerned with issues of safety and the abuse of power, primarily by people who claim to be shamans, neo-shamans, healers, and wisdom keepers in ceremonies involving nonordinary states of consciousness.

Ceremonial settings and use of psychoactive substances can hold great promise for healing and transformation. However, such potential goes hand in hand with the potential for harm. The practice of ceremonies and the interest in the healing potential of psychoactive substances has been spreading internationally. Westerners who use ayahuasca, iboga, peyote, and psilocybin in search of authentic and ritualistic experiences open themselves up to abuses of power by shamans and neo-shamans. Such potential predators can take sexual, physical, and psychological advantage of participants, with female participants particularly vulnerable to this kind of maltreatment. While not all self-described ceremonial guides are abusive in their behavior toward ceremony participants, safety matters and precautions are important and relevant to all who participate in such explorations. Some of these ceremonies are of questionable legitimacy, authenticity, and participant safety.

According to the Collins Dictionary of Biology (2005) bioethics refers to the “study of the ethical issues relating to biological, medical and other scientific research and applications. Bioethics considers the perceived risks and benefits of the technologies involved, and their impact on society.” Bioethical concerns need to be considered in regulating the behavior of guides. During ceremonies, guides need to be responsible for ensuring a safe container for the exploration of nonordinary states of consciousness and the healing process.

There are four basic bioethical principles that, if followed regularly, would make ceremonies that use psychoactive substances safer. These four principles are: respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice (Beauchamp and Childress 2001). Respect for autonomy refers to the patient being able to choose or refuse treatment. Beneficence refers to doing what is in the patient’s best interest. Nonmaleficence refers to, above all, doing no harm. Justice refers to the allocation of health resources with emphasis on fairness and equality. The word patient could be interchanged with the one who has sought guidance regarding the therapeutic use of psychoactive substances.

For centuries and across myriad spiritual traditions, stories of gurus, priests, and teachers taking advantage of their students, subjects, and believers prevail. Archetypal power dynamics have been the basis of such abuses throughout history. The mythos surrounding nonordinary states of consciousness, in addition to indiscriminate power ascribed to guides who are sometimes called shamans or neo-shamans, can leave ceremony participants too vulnerable, open, and receptive to resist the suggestions of their guides.

Perhaps because of this mythos or because of the indiscriminate power ascribed to guides, ceremony participants may feel disempowered to question abusive behaviors. Once people experience a nonordinary state or a mystical experience, they often romanticize the benefits while minimizing the risks. Enchantment is the state of being under a spell or being charmed by a guide, the medicine, or parts of an indigenous culture that suit one’s Western idealization (one’s cultural paradigm).

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