Sacraments and Sacred Plants

An entheogenic Christian church, in its own words

The Church of the Only Begotten Son is an entheogenic church — a plant medicine church in the Four Corners of Colorado that holds sacred plants and holy herbs to be gifts of God for religious use. The clearest statement of that belief is the church’s own:

“We believe in the use of sacred holy herbs and substances by sacrament (modeled after the eucharist removed from modern day christianity) in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of one’s personal humanitarian life purpose, mental, health, physical health, and a greater understanding of what it means to be an eternal being in order to encourage a closer, more complete relationship with Jesus Christ.”

The church’s Official Lawful Notice describes how broadly it understands that sacrament, and the limits it sets on it:²

“If it fractals it is our sacramental or medicinal substance, given to us, by almighty God; made by him, to be used with judgement, not to excess and neither by extortion, commerce or usury”

The same notice states that sacramental substances are used “under the guidance, recommendation, administration and/or instruction of an OBS Church Certified Religious Leader for Members ONLY!” The sacrament is a matter of membership and ministry, not something offered to the public.

What “entheogen” means

The word entheogen was proposed in 1979 by the classicist Carl A. P. Ruck, the mycologist R. Gordon Wasson and colleagues, who wanted a term for plants used in religious ceremony that did not carry the connotations of “hallucinogen” or “psychedelic”.⁴ Built from Greek roots, it means roughly “becoming divine within”. An entheobotanical sacrament is a plant sacrament in that sense. Scripture is often cited in the same conversation; Genesis 1:29 reads: “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth.”⁵

The sacred plants

Each page below sets out what historians, anthropologists and scientists have documented about a plant in religious life, marks claims that remain contested, and links its sources.

Browse every plant and alias on the Sacred Plants A–Z index.

• Psilocybin mushrooms

  Magic mushrooms, Psilocybe, teonanácatl — art, Cana, mystical experience.

• Amanita muscaria

  Fly agaric, Siberian ritual, Soma theory, Plaincourault fresco.

• Cannabis

  Marijuana, hemp, kaneh bosm, Tel Arad, anointing oil, scripture study.

• Peyote & San Pedro

  Mescaline, Huachuma, Native American Church, AIRFA.

• Ayahuasca & DMT

  Caapi, chacruna, Santo Daime, UDV, O Centro.

• Manna

  Exodus bread from heaven and the church’s charge to gather.

• Kykeon & ergot

  Eleusinian Mysteries and the contested ergot theory.

• Soma & haoma

  Rig Veda drink; fly agaric and Syrian rue theories.

• Syrian rue

  Peganum harmala, harmala incense, haoma debate.

• Blue lotus

  Egyptian water lily, rebirth symbolism, recent finds.

• Iboga

  Tabernanthe iboga, ibogaine, Bwiti of Gabon.

• Frankincense & myrrh

  Biblical resins, anointing oil, Tel Arad incense.

Sacrament and Eucharist

The church places its sacrament inside Christianity: “modeled after the eucharist removed from modern day christianity.” It recognizes Dr. Jerry B. Brown’s The Psychedelic Gospel “as scripture and historic evidence of scripture,”³ a reference to the 2016 book by Jerry B. Brown and Julie M. Brown, The Psychedelic Gospels.⁷ The wider story — the Plaincourault fresco, the wedding at Cana and the debate over psychedelic Christianity — is told on the Psychedelic Christianity page.

The Science Behind The Religion

On its home page the church describes itself as offering “a scientific explanation” so that believers know “that God is real, alive today and loves us all unconditionally,” and its faith and science page sets out that view. In clinical research, a 2006 Johns Hopkins study by Roland Griffiths and colleagues found that psilocybin given in a supportive setting could occasion mystical-type experiences that volunteers rated among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives.⁶ Research of this kind is still developing, and it is described here as history and context, not as advice.

New to the idea of an entheogenic or psychedelic church? Start with Entheogenic church & psychedelic spirituality. For scripture, see Sacred plants in Scripture. Also read Declarations and Beliefs, the Historical Foundations and religious freedom.