What if at least some of the old myths record real stories of real entities observed during some moment of altered consciousness in which the observers are able to see into the other dimensions? What if the warnings against the use of pharmakeia by the Bible and the historic Church are not the result of simple close-minded, fun spoiling bishops, but the result of the observation of something very real and very dangerous being very near to us all the time?Return of the Dragon, 132
So we think we are being enlightened but we come out with Hallmark greetings? No. People who regularly do psychedelics do not have stronger marriages or better relationships with their parents and children. They are not known for doing more charity work than sober people. It is hard to point to a single place where the users of psychedelics are more moral or ethical than the general population.Return of the Dragon, 128
More often than not, when shamans, witchdoctors, prophetesses, mediums, and sorcerers did their work in the ancient world, a brew of some sort of hallucinogenic form was employed. And the two practices became so associated in the minds of the ancient Greek world that they shared a single word: pharmakeia.Return of the Dragon, 86-87
The word for witchcraft and the word for drugs are the same in the language of the Bible. The Friberg Lexicon defines pharmakeia as, "one who prepares and uses drugs for magical purposes or ritual witchcraft, sorcerer, poisoner, magician."Return of the Dragon, 84
As Christianity developed from a small sect of Judaism in a corner of the Roman Empire to the largest and most powerful religion in the world, arguably one of the biggest effects was the banishment of the use of drugs for religious purposes.Return of the Dragon, 83