Salvia divinorum (salvia) is a powerful, unique psychedelic, with its psychoactive compound salvinorin A acting as a kappa opioid receptor agonist. The purpose of this study was to investigate the subjective effects of salvia in a large sample and to gather early data regarding the validity of the salvia experience checklist (SEC). Four hundred participants were recruited online through forums...
The currently expanding science of anomalous experiences is unique, in the sense that it necessarily sits at the treacherous borderlands between the often-opposed ontologies of religion/spirituality and secular physicalism. As might be expected in such an inherently charged position, the scientific study of the hallucinatory neurobiological underpinnings of these experiences has resulted in the...
Jonathan Dinsmore’s Mystical Luminosity Experience: An Initiation of a Construct Grounded in Phenomenology offers a groundbreaking exploration of an often-overlooked phenomenon: mystical luminosity experiences (MLE). By bridging ancient mystical traditions with modern scientific inquiry, this work is a rare fusion of academic rigor and spiritual insight, making it a significant contribution to...