Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches

Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches is a comprehensive guide to North American spiritual groups that incorporate psychoactive drugs in their quest for higher consciousness.

This book delves into prominent psychedelic churches and sects, offering an in-depth look at the Native American Church and their peyote rituals, the cannabis-sex temple known as the Psychedelic Venus Church, and the Church of Naturalism, an LSD-therapy cult that met a tragic end.

Within its pages, you will find an encyclopedic survey of numerous minor organisations—many documented for the first time in an authoritative source. Through personal interviews and anecdotes, the book shares the strange and outrageous adventures of religious psychonauts, and includes rare photos and illustrations.

Author Mike Marinacci takes readers on a journey from LSD-powered guru Timothy Leary to cannabis sex cults to psychedelic outlaw churches. By exploring these North American religious sects and spiritual groups, he reveals how they use entheogens and psychoactive substances to pursue higher consciousness, mystical insight, and spiritual enlightenment.

Marinacci examines the prominent churches and cults in detail, focusing on the lives of their colourful leaders, the origins of their unconventional beliefs, and the controversial practices of their followers. He also highlights their numerous conflicts with law enforcement and public opinion.

The book features a detailed account of the Native American Church's legal battle over their peyote rituals and looks at other significant groups and temples of psychedelic spirituality, such as the cannabis sex temple of the Psychedelic Venus Church and the chilling demise of the LSD-therapy cult, the Church of Naturalism.

Through this extensively researched study of underground psychedelic religious sects in the United States, Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches uncovers their spiritual and cultural impact, spanning from the 1960s to the present day.