Psychedelic Mysteries of the Feminine

An anthology of essays on the relationship between feminine consciousness and psychedelic states — from ancient women's shamanism and the Eleusinian mysteries to contemporary feminist activism in psychedelic research.

Edited by integrative psychotherapist Maria Papaspyrou, ecstatic-cult researcher Chiara Baldini, and University of Greenwich consciousness researcher David Luke, with a foreword by visionary artist Allyson Grey. The book grew out of a 2015 panel at the Breaking Convention conference in London. Contributors include Carl Ruck on the Eleusinian sacrament, Max Dashu on uncovering female ecstatics, Martina Hoffmann on visionary art, and dozens of voices spanning anthropology, psychotherapy, witchcraft, and policy. Topics include goddess consciousness and the dark feminine, women's roles in the Dionysian rites, Norse witchcraft, holotropic breathwork, plant medicines, and what Papaspyrou calls "femtheogens" — the meeting of the feminine principle and the entheogenic experience.

Details

• Editors: Maria Papaspyrou, Chiara Baldini, David Luke (Foreword: Allyson Grey)
• Publisher: Park Street Press / Inner Traditions
• Published: 2019
• Pages: 416

About the Editors

Maria Papaspyrou, Chiara Baldini & David Luke

Maria Papaspyrou, MSc, is an integrative psychotherapist and family constellations facilitator based in Brighton, England, and co-director of the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy in the UK. Chiara Baldini is an independent researcher of the evolution of ecstatic cults in the West, based in Portugal. David Luke, PhD, is Professor of Exceptional Experience at the University of Greenwich, with over 100 academic papers on transpersonal experiences and altered states; he is a cofounder of Breaking Convention.