Psychedelics, Eleusis, and the Invention of Religious Experience.
Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) March 1, 2026 Sharday Mosurinjohn, Richard S. Ascough 5 citations
A scholarly critique argues that the popular claim that the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries involved psychedelic drugs is based on flawed methodology and rhetorical tricks rather than solid evidence. The authors trace how Carl Ruck, Brian Muraresku, and influencers like Joe Rogan built a pseudo-history by presenting speculation as fact, then using that as a foundation for further conjecture. This effort to give Western civilization a psychedelic pedigree, the critique contends, resembles religious fundamentalism—treating a modern practice as the hidden true religion underlying all traditions. The fixation on a supposed Eleusinian drug ignores well-documented Indigenous psychedelic histories and nonpharmacological methods of altering consciousness. The authors conclude that this shaky historical foundation undermines arguments for modern psychedelic use and that honest scholarship, not mythmaking, is essential for progress in decriminalization and regulation.