The Former Mormons Embracing Magic Mushrooms

Spirituality is Ever Changing

Spirituality is also a thing that can fluctuate throughout a person’s life depending on the circumstances. Events can trigger an awakening or a lapse. People can stop or start believing. Sometimes a person can switch from one spiritual path to another  — which is something that has happened from the very beginning of religion and spirituality. However, there is an interesting new trend among a specific religious group. A trend, because now there are enough stories coming out that we know it’s not a fluke. Yep — the Mormons are turning to magic mushrooms!

The Former Mormons Turning to Shrooms

It might be one of the last churches you could imagine using a psychedelic substance — coffee and tobacco are banned under the Mormon religion after all. However, to clarify; the majority of these stories are coming from former Mormons, or those who have left that specific faith behind. 

Many people leave their faith behind. But what is it about the Mormon to magic mushroom through-line that is making it a trend? We check out some of the spiritual stories floating around the internet to try and find answers…

The Divine Assembly

“Load up the handcart and join Utahns and Mormons who are trekking into psychedelic spaces,” reads an advert on Facebook for The Divine Assembly. The Divine Assembly is a church — a new church of just 2 years old, whose sacrement is none other than the psilocybin mushroom. Fascinatingly, its progenitors are Steve and Sara Urquhart — formerly devout Mormons. And not only that, Steve himself was until recently a very powerful Republican Senator and state lawmaker in Utah, known for being conservative even within a conservative branch. 

The Urquharts began to fall out of love with their branch of Mormonism, the most widespread of them all— the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) in 2008. Steve was suffering internally from years of repression and became deeply depressed, even attempting to take his life. He admits that by 2014 not a single day on the Senate floor was he sober. 

In 2017 he and Sara hopped on a plane to Amsterdam where they partook in an ayahuasca ceremony. It was in this moment that Steve experienced what he describes as the “rapture.” He saw God — a woman sat smiling in a garden, who loved him unconditionally. Both he and Sara were totally turned around. Once home, Steve began delving into the history of psychedelics in religious ceremony, a rich and ancient history he knew very little about. Using magic mushrooms as a channel through which to talk to or experience ‘God’ was key to the spirituality of the Maya, Aztecs, Huastec, Totonac, Mazatec, and Mixtec peoples, not discovered by the Western world until the 50s. 

Psilocybin as Sacrament

Steve, desperate to share the revelations he experienced, used his law-making know-how to ascertain the possibility of a ‘mushroom church’. Citing the First Amendment and anti-discrimination laws he himself had helped to put in place, he figured the possibility was there. And, he was not the first either. Many groups, like Steve, petition to use psychedelics for religious practices. Currently, only 3 religious groups are able to legally use psychedelic plants as a sacrament. They are the Native American Church, which uses peyote, the Brazilian União do Vegetal church, and the Brazilian Santo Daime which both use ayahuasca. Things could be changing however, with even Republican Senators advocating for research into psychedelics for medicinal use. 

Currently, if one of the 3,000 members of The Divine Assembly wants to consume a psilocybin sacrament they must bring it themselves. The church, or ‘platform’ as Urquhart prefers, states on their website;

“Psilocybin mushrooms are our sacrament. Our active sacrament helps us connect with self, others, and the Divine. Celebration can be part of a ceremony. Solemnity, reflection, and devotion also can be part. Creativity in ceremony is encouraged. Our sacrament is mushrooms, for heaven’s sake. Why would we follow a script? Safety, however, is always paramount, including a properly-trained and vetted guide.”

The Church is Open To All

The church is open to all is sure to continue to expand, especially due to its open and inclusive ethos. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Steve cheekily likens it to the sprouting of psilocybin mushrooms from cow dung — “the Divine Assembly is growing out of the death and decay of the LDS Church.”  

As well as the Urquhart’s who have made quite the splash in the post-LDS Utah community, there are many others who have also shared their experiences. 

Taking Back Personal Authority

Take Dave, who was 58 when he had his first psychedelic experience after leaving the LDS Mormon church. He had felt inadequate and disconnected from his faith.  During his first psilocybin trip he witnessed many things, including his own birth. It made him realize that his strength came from within — not some external force. He told Radiowest;

“I’m the authority in my life…I was taking back my personal authority… I don’t need to hide from anybody or sneak. Giving myself to permission to be an adult. If you want to do it, do it! It’s my choice.”

Seeking the Divine Comes Naturally

There is also Tess Huntington, a 29 year old who has immersed herself fully in her new psychedelic POV after leaving the Mormon church. She explains that psychedelics were like hitting the “jackpot”. They unleashed all the spirituality and meaning that her faith had been supposed to inspire in her all those years. Tess also had an interesting perspective on why it could be that those from the Mormon church have a special propensity towards psychedelics; 

She explains that Mormons are “already programmed to … seek the divine on the daily.”

And it is true; Mormons are expected to be in constant conversation with their maker, and being overcome by the spirit is encouraged. The original Mormon teachings written by Joseph Smith in 1842 state;

“We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.”

This gives Mormons a stomach for magic and ecstasy that many other faiths perhaps do not. It is just that the magic is now coming from a different angle. 

Mixing Mushrooms and Mormonism

There are some Mormons who remain in the faith, yet are experimenting with magic mushrooms and other psychedelics. (Although Mormonism bans tobacco and coffee there is no mention of psychedelics explicitly.) For example Peter, who had lost his faith, found it again after a psychedelic experience. His is a family who have been Mormon for many, many generations. He explains;

“When I took psilocybin, all of reality was imbued with a sense of the sacred. I’d learned the language of the sacred in a beautiful, powerful way in my tradition growing up. So, there was no dissonance for me.”

It is compelling to think that those already primed by religion could be most adept at accessing and recognizing the ‘sacred’, whatever source it is coming from. It is not a totally new idea. There have been various studies that aimed to look at the effects psychedelics have on those with an existing deep spiritual practice.

What Happens if a Rabbi or a Priest Takes Shrooms?

Most recently, Johns Hopkins were recruiting for a study that would recruit 24 religious leaders and give them each two strong doses of psilocybin. As many denominations and faiths as possible would be included. Already involved, when the study was announced in 2017 were Rabbis, Catholic, Presbyterian and Orthodox priests and a Zen Buddhist. At time of writing the researchers were still holding out for a Hindu priest or a Muslim Imam. 

The aim of the study was to assess if a transcendental psychedelic experience would make these religious leaders more effective and sure in their role, and if it would alter their religious convictions. 

Dr William Richards, who is working on the study at the university in Baltimore told the Guardian; 

“It is too early to talk about results, but generally people seem to be getting a deeper appreciation of their own religious heritage… The dead dogma comes alive for them in a meaningful way. They discover they really believe this stuff they’re talking about.”

As well as perhaps deepening personal religious convictions, it could also be that psilocybin is utilizing its most magical of powers — opening minds. Richards explains;

“They get a greater appreciation for other world religions. Other ways up the mountain, if you will… In these transcendental states of consciousness, people seem to get to levels of consciousness that seem universal. So a good rabbi can encounter the Buddha within him.”

Get Spiritual with Shrooms

Whatever your religious convictions — if they are strong, middling, or non-existent — it seems that a dose of psilocybin can open your spiritual realm for the better. You never know who you might meet!