Bad Shamans and Transcendent Politics: How the Gods Turn Right

What happened to the idea that psychedelics inevitably make us more liberal, peaceful or enlightened? 

What if these drugs do not point toward any particular politics at all?

How do you tell a good shaman from a bad one?

For half a century, psychedelics seemed to belong to the cultural left: entwined with anti-war movements, the counterculture, environmentalism and dreams of collective liberation. To change consciousness, the story went, was also to change society. Psychedelics would dissolve the ego, loosen old certainties and perhaps make us more peaceful, open-minded and free.

But something strange has happened. As the old political binaries of left and right begin to fracture, some of psychedelics’ most influential champions can now be found among conservative Christians, Silicon Valley elites, libertarians and figures on the populist right. The same substances once associated with dropping out of the establishment are being embraced by people seeking spiritual renewal, individual optimisation, social order and radically different visions of the future.

Drawing on years of reporting from the psychedelic underground, journalist Mattha Busby traces how psychedelics became politically ambidextrous and what that transformation reveals about the strange relationship between altered states and political power. Moving through psychedelic churches, underground ceremonies, tech culture and new spiritual movements, he asks who acquires authority when ordinary ways of making sense of the world fall away, and why the desire for transcendence can lead people toward such radically different destinations.

Psychedelics may now be for everyone. But as they move from the counterculture into the mainstream, a more difficult question emerges: who gets to decide where they take us? And, in an age crowded with gurus, prophets and would-be visionaries, how do you tell a good shaman from a bad one?

EVENT DETAILS

DOOR OPENS: 6.30pm
SESSIONS STARTS: 7pm

VENUE

Join us at Love Shack, a vegan restaurant and cocktail bar spread over three beautiful exposed brick arches in the heart of Hackney, East London. 

YOUR FACILITATOR:

Mattha Busby

Mattha Busby is a journalist who covers drugs, power, culture and health. His work has been published in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Wired, VICE, and elsewhere. He is the author of two slim book volumes, Should All Drugs Be Legalized? (Thames & Hudson, 2022) and Psychedelics: A Pocket Primer (Hoxton Mini Press, 2025). 

@matthabusby

OUR TEAM

Carlotta Artuso

Carlotta is an Event Coordinator at The Psychedelic Society, with a deep passion for nature, personal and collective growth, mystical experiences and food (Italian roots play a big role here!).

Psychedelics have profoundly transformed her life, opening her mind to new perspectives and deeper self-awareness, allowing her to break free from the 9-5 grind and to launch her own PR and Events company -  Carlotta PR.

She believes in their potential to heal and transform, and she's passionate about advocating for their safe, intentional use to inspire positive change and open new pathways of consciousness. 

 @carlotta.artuso

 

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