Guest: Mike Marinacci, author of Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches: LSD, Cannabis, and Spiritual Sacraments in Underground America

Mike is an independent expert on psychedelic spiritual groups and nontraditional American religious sects. He is also the author of California Jesus and Mysterious California, and coauthor of the bestselling Weird California. And he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, USA.

In this very engaging conversation, Mike starts by talking about what inspired him to write this book, and then we jump into discussing several of the major psychedelic groups he discusses in his book. A few highlights of our interview: The Native American Church and their struggle to receive legal permission from the United States government to use peyote in their rituals; how non-indigenous people also tried to gain this legal permission for their own churches; the highly eventful life of Timothy Leary and his engagement with LSD, and his later League for Spiritual Discovery; the forerunner to satirical groups such as the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Neo-American Church; the introduction of ‘crisis response’ help with the use of LSD by the Church of Naturalism; the switch to the use of legal drugs by the Church of the Tree of Life; the success of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church with the Rastafarians, and the downfall of the Church after the group became too highly involved in drug trafficking; and the complicated efforts to profit commercially from the use of entheogens by the present-day Ayahuasca Healings group.

PROGRAM NOTES

Works by/ co-authored by Mike Mariancci:
Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches: LSD, Cannabis, and Spiritual Sacraments in Underground America: Marinacci, Mike: 9781644117071: Amazon.com: Books

Eerie California: Strange Places and Odd Phenomena in the Golden State: Marinacci, Mike: 9781579512514: Amazon.com: Books

California Jesus: A (Slightly) Irreverent Guide to the Golden State's Christian Sects, Evangelists and Latter-Day Prophets - Kindle edition by Marinacci, Mike. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Weird California: You Travel Guide to California's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (Volume 7): Bishop, Greg, Oesterle, Joe, Marinacci, Mike, Moran, Mark, Sceurman, Mark, Sceurman, Mark: 9781402766831: Amazon.com: Books

Email Mike Marinacci: psychedelic.cults@gmail.com
Instagram: Mike Marinacci (@psychedeliccults) • Instagram-foto's en -video's

OTHER LINKS
God on High: Religion, Cannabis, and the Quest for Legitimacy: Cozad, Laurie: 9781498504041: Amazon.com: Books

Psychedelic Intersections: Cross-cultural Manifestations of the Sacred Conference 2024, February 17, 2024 | Center for the Study of World Religions (harvard.edu)
YouTube Channel: (12) HDS Center for the Study of World Religions - YouTube

Theme Music: Daniel P. Shea

Other Music: Stephanie Shea

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