Psychedelic Churches in the US Pushing Boundaries of Religion
An empty pitcher and shot sized cups sit on the altar during an ayahuasca ceremony hosted by Hummingbird Church in Hildale, Utah, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew that contains an Amazon shrub with the active ingredient, DMT, and a vine containing monoamine oxidase inhibitors that prevents the drug from breaking down in the body causing visions lasting several hours. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Lorenzo Gonzales, center, and other retreat participants reach their hands to the sky during a breathwork ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. The session was a part of a three-night ayahuasca ceremony hosted by Hummingbird Church. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Participants lay face down on the grass during an integration circle at an ayahuasca retreat in Hildale, Utah, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Following each of the three ayahuasca ceremonies, Hummingbird Church asks their participants to partake in integration, or a group reflection and discussion, to help interpret messages they received from the ayahuasca. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Lorenzo Gonzales, center, cries as he shares parts of his ayahuasca experience during an integration circle on the third day of a Hummingbird Church retreat, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. Gonzales and his wife decided to try ayahuasca in hopes that it would help cure his physical and mental ailments. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Hummingbird Church hosts an ayahuasca retreat in the small town of Hildale, Utah, just south of Zion National Park, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. The town was previously known as the stronghold for The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Michael Vasconez, a facilitator with Hummingbird Church, blows a sacred tobacco snuff used by shaman in Brazil and Peru up his nose, while leading an integration circle on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Following each of the three ayahuasca ceremonies, Hummingbird Church asks their participants to partake in integration, or a group reflection and discussion, to help interpret messages they received from the ayahuasca. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Talia Gross, a retreat participant, plays a sound bowl while waiting for the ayahuasca ceremony to begin at a Hummingbird Church retreat in Hildale, Utah, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
The Hummingbird Church hosts an ayahuasca ceremony next to a cemetery where infants of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church, were buried, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. A handful of former FLDS members attended the ceremony to help heal and understand past trauma. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Diwaldo and Mileidys Salado hold hands during a breathwork session at Hummingbird Church’s ayahuasca retreat in Hildale, Utah, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Some sobbed uncontrollably during the session, which included rhythmic exhaling and inhaling set to a feel-good soundtrack that included “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban. They finished with a group scream. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Columbian shaman, Taita Pedro Davila, leads an ayahuasca ceremony with Hummingbird Church, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. Following the traditions of his grandfather in Colombia, Davila prays, chants, and sings in Spanish and the language of the Kamëntsá people over the psychoactive brew before serving it to individual participants. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Eloy Delgadillo, musician and facilitator for Hummingbird Church, practices songs for the upcoming ayahuasca ceremony, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A statue of Mother Earth sits at the front of an alter used by a Columbian shaman, healer and traditional medicine man who leads the Hummingbird Church ayahuasca ceremonies, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Like many groups using psychedelics as sacraments, Hummingbird functioned underground for many years, hosting word of mouth ceremonies. But in Feb. 2021, they decided to go public. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)