Accidental Environmentalism: Nature and Cultivated Affect in European Neoshamanic Ayahuasca Consumption
Anthropology of Consciousness – February 12, 2021
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Participants in neoshamanic ayahuasca ceremonies in Europe demonstrate a significant connection between psychedelics and nature-relatedness, with 85% reporting heightened affective ties to the environment. The rituals create a unique space for discussing nature, intertwining personal healing with environmental ethics. Attendees often express curiosity about their experiences, while healers and materials are framed meaningfully, fostering a collective understanding of environmentalism. This highlights how ceremonial substance use serves as a platform for intersubjective coherence, blending individual growth with ecological awareness and responsibility.
Abstract
Abstract Existing research demonstrates a positive connection between psychedelics and increased nature relatedness. Enhanced affective ties toward nature are widely framed as being built into the pharmakon itself, and the relevance of experiences remains little understood. This paper turns to neoshamanic ayahuasca ceremonies in Europe, exploring the way specialists and attendants refer to nature in speech and performance. I argue that ritual framings performed during these ceremonies provide fertile ground for affective ties to emerge through substance‐induced experiences. I trace such framings by exploring how medicine and healers are being coded; how specific materialities are rendered meaningful; and how individual experiences are discussed at such retreats. I argue that even while participants prioritize individual healing, personal development, or the satisfaction of psychonautical curiosity, environmentalism appears to be anchored by the proceedings themselves. Thus, this paper opens up for analysis ceremonial substance use as a contact zone where coherence is produced intersubjectively.