Whenever Sweden is discussed in books, the media or in conversation, very rarely is anything said of its psychedelic culture. Yet if one takes a deeper look one will actually find a mycelium of scientists, artists, writers, hippies and freethinkers who were at some point shaped by psychedelics.
It is presumable that most people outside of Sweden only think of successful exports such as IKEA, ABBA and Ingmar Bergman when the country is mentioned. However, there is more to Sweden than mass-produced furniture, pop music and a legendary filmmaker. A story that has yet to be told is the one about Swedish psychedelia, and this essay is an attempt at portraying this subculture.
Before looking at culture though, let’s start with nature itself: The Swedish flora consists of several psychoactive mushrooms and plants. The fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria) often grows in abundance in the Swedish woods, and the royal fly agaric, also known as the king of Sweden Amanita (Amanita regalis), is common in many parts of the country. In addition, the liberty cap (Psilocybe semilanceata) can be found growing on meadows and lawns. When it comes to plants, species belonging to the Solanaceae family, commonly known as nightshades, may be encountered in the wild. The plant encyclopedia Den nordiska floran (lit. “the Nordic flora”) lists henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), Jimson weed (Datura stramonium) and belladona (Atropa belladonna). Hemp plants (Cannabaceae) are also part of the Swedish landscape, and even though it is rarely seen, Cannabis sativa may be found growing in railway yards, in harbours and in abandoned places.
To what extent these mushrooms and plants have been used for the purpose of intoxication over the course of history in Sweden is v...
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...alf of the 1960s, Netz, incidentally also a jazz musician, was an assistant military psychologist at Militärpsykologiska institutet (lit. “the department of military psychology”), MPI, in Stockholm, where he conducted LSD research as part of Projekt E 012. Fearing that the psychoactive would be used during war against Swedish soldiers, MPI wanted to learn more of LSD’s effects. Netz’s research resulted in a handful of scientific reports and newspaper articles. Interestingly, the psychologist also took LSD himself and in a 1968 report he refers to personal positive psychedelic experiences.
So far this essay has primarily discussed the work of scientists working in an academic context. Leaving science aside, the rest of this piece will for the most part deal with various psychedelically informed arts workers or freethinkers who were active from the 1960s and onwards.
During a visit to Mexico, Gordon Wasson, a mycologist, discovered the use of psilocybin mushroom in spiritual ceremonies by Indian tribes. Upon experiencing the spiritual and hallucinatory effects of the mushroom, Wasson returned to the area accompanied by an experienced mycologist, Roger Heim, who managed to cultivate the mushroom once in France and send samples of it to the scientist who had discovered lysergic acid, Albert Hoffman. From the mushrooms, Hoffman successfully isolated two compounds which he further named psilocybin and psilocin. Analogs of these compounds were further synthesized and were employed mainly for psychotherapeutic uses. Many tests on psilocybin were made at Harvard University in the early 1960’s. However, along with LSD, psilocybin became a scheduled substance in 1970, making it illegal. During this time, psilocybin mushrooms became a part of the psychedelic and hippy movement and were used for recreational and spiritual purposes. Research on psilocybin ended in the late 1980’s because of strict rules imposed by the government but recently scientist have started researching on this chemical once more.
Although farmers were aware of the fungus ergot, they did not know that ergot is the result of a mold that’s very toxic and fatal to humans. (Clark 2). They called it cockspurs, because the fact that ergot looks like black whole grains, they believed that it was just grains cooked by the sun and that they were completely harmless. (Clark 2). But they were wrong. Ergot contains alkaloids including lysergic acid isoergine (the main ingredient in LSD) so when ingested, the fungus begins to affect the central nervous system and can cause vasoconstriction. (Vogel 1 and Clark 3). It can lead to sudden death, limit fertility, and it damages the immune system making the body more susceptible to get other diseases because it’s too weak to fight off infection. (“5.1 Poisons of the Past/Ergotism.” 1). Symptoms caused by ergot are feelings of numbness, hallucinations, and feelings of suffoca...
In 1967 the Beatles were in Abbey Road Studios putting the finishing touches on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. At one point Paul McCartney wandered down the corridor and heard what was then a new young band called Pink Floyd working on their hypnotic debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. He listened for a moment, then came rushing back. "Hey guys," he reputedly said, "There's a new band in there and they're gonna steal our thunder." With their mix of blues, music hall influences, Lewis Carroll references, and dissonant experimentation, Pink Floyd was one of the key bands of the 1960s psychedelic revolution, a pop culture movement that emerged with American and British rock, before sweeping through film, literature, and the visual arts. The music was largely inspired by hallucinogens, or so-called "mind-expanding" drugs such as marijuana and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide; "acid"), and attempted to recreate drug-induced states through the use of overdriven guitar, amplified feedback, and droning guitar motifs influenced by Eastern music. This psychedelic consciousness was seeded, in the United States, by countercultural gurus such as Dr. Timothy Leary, a Harvard University professor who began researching LSD as a tool of self-discovery from 1960, and writer Ken Kesey who with his Merry Pranksters staged Acid Tests--multimedia "happenings" set to the music of the Warlocks (later the Grateful Dead) and documented by novelist Tom Wolfe in the literary classic The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968)--and traversed the country during the mid-1960s on a kaleidoscope-colored school bus. "Everybody felt the '60s were a breakthrough. There was exploration of sexual freedom and [...
Psychedelic drugs were an icon of the 1960s, its role embedded within the rising counterculture in response to the economic, social, and political turmoil throughout the United States. As a means to impose a central power and control social order, federal authorities were quick to ban the recreational and medical use of psychedelic drugs without consideration of its potential benefits. The recent state laws on the legalization of marijuana in Oregon and Colorado with others soon to follow, is a sure sign of an eventual collective shift in the perceptions of psychedelic drugs. Not only does Daniel Pinchbeck document his reflections on the personal consumption of psychedelic drugs in his unconventional novel Breaking Open the Head, he also advances several assertions on modern Western society in his exploration of polarized attitudes on this controversial topic.
Boyer, B., Boyer, R., & Basehart, H. 1973. Hallucinogens and Shamanism M. Hamer, Ed.. England: Oxford University Press.
LSD has proved that the mind contains much higher powers and energies, beyond the average10% of the brain that a typical human uses. These powers and energies, under the right circumstances, can be taken advantage of to benefit human kind spiritually, creatively, therapeutically, and intellectually. LSD has given human kind the option to chemically trigger mental energies and powers. Arguments that LSD is potentially a dangerous discovery and mind control should be strictly prohibited by the government holds much validity, although there are benefits and arguments of personal freedom of neurology to consider. Whether LSD reflects negativity as a weapon and mind control drug, or radiates euphoria as a mind-expanding chemical and sacrament, the choice to engage in such an experience should be through personal reasoning. It is not the states and other bureaucracies’ duties to take control of the human brain and body.
Psychedelic drugs affect more then creativity, they are also known to have the ability to increase the users sense of spirituality and religion. In the academic journal, “Voice of The Psychonauts,” author Levente Moro explores the correlation between spirituality, and psychedelic drug use. He claims that when psychedelic drugs are taken in a “supportive” environment they have the ability to induce “deeply meaningful religious revelations and spiritual awakenings” (Moro et al. 190). Psychedelic drug use in hopes of spiritual revelations is not new, and has actually been going on for hundreds of years. The Native American Church has been known to traditionally use psychedelic drugs for spiritual experiences (Moro et al. 190). Some Mexican tribes are also known to ingest psilocybin mushrooms in order to induce religious awakenings (Moro et al. 190). To further prove his argument, Levente Moro conducted an online survey amongst 667 random people. His results suggested that people still take psychedelic drugs in order to have religious experiences, even though it is looked down upon in certain religious groups (Moro et al. 195). Levente Moro is not the only one interested in psychedelic drugs and religion. Many other scientists have also examined this theory. In the article, “Values and Beliefs of Psychedelic Drug Users,” author Michael Lerner also discusses the relationship between psychedelic drug use and spirituality. Lerner also believes that when psychedelic drugs are taken with the correct mindset, they have the ability to increase ones sense of religion. In order to test his theory, Michael Lerner had 183 volunteers fill out a questionnaire. Even though he conducted the survey amongst people from all over the world...
Beginning with the late 1960’s counterculture in San Francisco, music and drugs will forever be inter-linked. Hippie bands such as the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, and Phish are associated with marijuana, mushrooms, and LSD. Modern electronic “rave” , or club music is associated with MDMA or Ecstasy. When one thinks of rock and roll, sex and drugs immediately come to mind. While the use of drugs is not essential for the creation or performance of all new music, it was certainly in important factor for the counterculture music of the late 1960’s. While some of the most important and influential music was made with the help of psychoactive drugs, it was often to the detriment of the artist. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and countless other tremendously talented artists had their lives cut short due to drug use. Drugs were most often good for the music, but deadly for the music makers.
The drug culture was not limited to one group of individuals; different subgroups had their drug of choice. The belief that the drug culture was something that counterculture groups participated in is also a fiction, as there were other types of drug cultures present during the rise of the counterculture in the 1960s. However, alcohol, tobacco, and tranquilizers were the socially acceptable forms of drugs, so the demonization of LSD, marijuana, psilocybin, among others was allowed to take root and hold on strongly. It is only in the past few years that some of the states have decided to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Perhaps greater knowledge of the actual affects of these traditionally vilified drugs will lead to a conversation that includes measures for legalization and control.
“Of all the Buddhist groups in America, those focusing on meditation have been most attractive to young people from the drug scene, and it is these groups that have taken the strongest stand against drug use. The psychological literature as well as the literature on Zen abounds in descriptions of the altered states of consciousness experienced under the influence of LSD-25 and other hallucinogenic drugs. Descriptions of these drug-induced states often compare them with the experience of satori or enlightenment which may result from Buddhist meditation. Frequently the opinion is expressed that, under certain circumstances, the LSD experience is a satori experience. ”
Drugs are used to escape the real and move into the surreal world of one’s own imaginations, where the pain is gone and one believes one can be happy. People look on their life, their world, their own reality, and feel sickened by the uncaringly blunt vision. Those too weak to stand up to this hard life seek their escape. They believe this escape may be found in chemicals that can alter the mind, placing a delusional peace in the place of their own depression: “Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly halucinant,” (52). They do this with alcohol, acid, crack, cocaine, heroine, opium, even marijuana for the commoner economy. These people would rather hide behind the haze than deal with real problems. “...A gramme is better than a damn.” (55).
A largely debated topic in today's society is whether or not psychedelic drugs should be legalized for medicinal purposes and if they should, how this legalization would affect the communities in which they’re being prominently medicinally used. Although many scientists have argued that psychedelics pose a mental health risk, closer examination shows that communities would have a significantly lower depression rate if certain psychedelics were legalized. Now to fully understand how psychedelics could be beneficial or the opposite thereof, you’ll need to understand how they work and what they are. What a psychedelic drug is, the immediate effects, both mentally and physically, and how communities might benefit and function with the sudden use of these drugs.
5)Groff, S. Realms of the Human Unconcious: Observations from LSD Research. Jeremy Tarcher Inc., LA. 1980, pp 87-99.
Nichols, D. E., & Chemel, B. R. (2011). LSD and the serotonin system's effects on human
Pre-Columbian Mexicans used many substances, from tobacco to mind-expanding (hallucinogenic) plants, in their medicinal collections. The most fascinating of these substances are sacred mushrooms, used in religious ceremonies to induce altered states of mind, not just drunkenness.