Entheogens and Amazonian Indigenous Practices: Bridging Healing and Ecological Renewal

Abstract

Amid climate disruption and biodiversity loss, interest has grown in entheogens – visionary substances rooted in Indigenous cosmologies – as catalysts of ecological consciousness and healing. This phenomenological study pursues three aims: clarify how ceremonies shape ecological awareness, describe unity experiences linked to ethical change, and assess life transformations after ritual practice. Methods combined document analysis with 36 semi-structured interviews in Indigenous and urban contexts in Colombia and Ecuador. Findings indicate that entheogens operate as living teachers: they mediate interspecies dialogue, rekindle relations with more-than-human agents, impart reparative insight, and cultivate pro-environmental attitudes. Participants described visions of nature, communications with non-human entities, and unity experiences dissolving self/other boundaries, consistent with non-discursive cognition and the Presentational Theory of Mind. Results challenge biomedical framings by foregrounding ritual preparation, relational protocols, and ethics as conditions for healing and ecological renewal. Ethical considerations include Indigenous custodianship, prevention of appropriation and commodification, and attention to psychological vulnerability. Policy implications include co-developing regulatory frameworks that honour source-community protocols, integrating ceremonial parameters into therapeutic settings, and incorporating Indigenous ecological knowledge into conservation. Theoretically, the study advances sustainability science by validating relational epistemologies and demonstrating their relevance for regeneration and governance. In sum, ecological transformation emerges from reciprocity and relational accountability, not technological innovation alone. Entheogens catalyze shifts in perception, ethics, and practice, offering a blueprint for integrating Indigenous protocols in sustainability, healthcare, and conservation. These insights can drive change, reorienting policy and practice towards reciprocal models that honour all beings while safeguarding cultural–ecological diversity and enabling spiritual regeneration.