 Hello everyone, it's great to see you again. Happy holidays! Today we have a super special episode for you. The video you're about to watch was actually made for a great documentary by Collective Evolution called Psyched Out. This is a documentary about psychedelics, they're used throughout time and how our perspective of them has changed over the course of human history, as well as the healing benefits and practical applications of these substances. The documentary is not out yet but it's slated for the beginning of 2017. If you want to sign up for notifications on when this movie comes out, check out the author comments below for a link to a sign up page on Collective Evolution's website. Oh and stay tuned till after this video, we've got one more special holiday announcement for you. Without further ado, enjoy! The first humans to ever use psychedelics in history is widely debated and discussed in the worldwide entheogen communities. Terence McKenna pioneered the idea that early prehistoric men found and ate psychedelic mushrooms, which became a stepping stone for cognitive evolution, allowing humanity to emerge as the powerful mental beings that we have become today. This would have taken place in Africa and being at the fundamental basis for shamanism and animism, the earliest forms of spiritual beliefs on the planet that we know of today. Events such as these are of course not recorded in history and thus are only theories at this time. It's important to note that until we actually have a recorded history placing tangible dates on psychedelic usage, many of these dates are theories and in theory they could have been used a lot earlier in history as well. That said, support for this idea is found in the numerous cave paintings found around the world dating back as early as 40,000 years and seeming to depict a very similar pattern of geometric waves emerging from the minds of the various indigenous people, as well as humanoid figures with mushroom heads. The first tangible evidence of psychedelic cultivation is debated, some claiming to find evidence of cannabis and psychedelic mushroom cultivation as early as 15,000 BC across Asia. Where the more concrete evidence lies in 8,000 BC in Taiwan, with twisted strands of hemp being used in the making of patterns on clay pots. As early as 4,000 BC, we find more evidence of the Amanita muscaria mushrooms used by the shamans of Siberia. Around the same time and shortly thereafter, we see evidence of various psychedelics being used for spiritual practices in ancient Egypt. The blue lotus flower was revered along with the Amanita muscaria mushroom for their psychedelic and transinducing properties. Meanwhile, in the Amazon jungle, evidence of ayahuasca is seen as early back as 3,000 BC. By around 2,800 BC, the Chinese tradition holds that hemp and cannabis cultivation officially began being grown both for its fiber as well as the medical properties of cannabis itself. It was used as a treatment for malaria, berry berry, constipation, rheumatic pains, absent mindedness, and menstrual cramps. During the classical period of ancient Greece in roughly 1,700 BC, the Greek mysteries emerged as an evolution from the ancient Egyptian mystery schools, which became widely popular, and they used a substance called kaikion after several days of fasting, which led to profound visions giving the initiates an understanding of life after death. In 1500 BC, the Rig Vedas were written in India, talking about a plant-slash-god called soma introduced by the Aryans. There is not too much known about this, except that based on the writings, it's highly likely that soma was a potent psychedelic drink of some kind, of immense importance to spiritual ceremonies. It was known for increasing awareness, imparting mystical experiences, poetic inspiration, and even immortality. In 1200 BC, a substance called bong, made up of dried cannabis leaves, seeds and stems, are mentioned in the verses of the Hindu Atharvaveda, as one of the five sacred plants of India. Around 1,000 BC, some of the original ideas of Judaism were written down for the first time. Of course, it has been speculated by many historians that many of these traditions were passed down orally for a very long time. In a newly emerging theory, the concept of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil are believed to be the combination of the Siberian birch and the Amanita muskariya mushroom, which often grows symbiotically together. During this same time period, we see that peyote and san Pedro cacti were discovered and used by the American Indian shamans on the western continent, as well as many stones carved into magic mushrooms appearing in the Mesoamerican cultures, beginning with the Olmecs and stretching through the Incas, Mayas, and other Mesoamerican cultures for the next 2,500 years. Psychedelics in Greece continued to be used for another thousand years in different forms, too. In 800 BC, at the Temple of Apollo in Greece, priestesses would deliver messages from Apollo while intoxicated with smoke from henbane seeds, and in 700 BC, Herodotus describes Scythians entering into Eastern Europe from Asia and introduced cannabis for the first time. In the first century AD, Josephus Flavius writes about the supernatural properties of Mandrake, and Pliny the Elder discusses hemp at great length, completing his book Natural History in 77 AD. Though it's widely debated, there is evidence now that even Jesus Christ himself used cannabis oil in his healings. A substance called cannibosum is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible, and recent investigations have led to the discovery that this substance was most likely made up of cannabis oil. In the 4th century AD, Christianity became the legal religion of the Roman state and dogmatically condemned all other beliefs. Mankind entered into the Dark Ages, yet hemp cultivation became very popular in Europe for the next 600 years. Use and abuse of hashish became widespread, and eventually was suppressed. By 1000 AD, European contact in China caused shamanism to decline and, along with it, the psychoactive use of cannabis, though it was still cultivated for its fiber. In 1500, this European culture sailed to the Americas and destroyed the Aztec Empire, beginning the Spanish colonies in the Americas. After the Renaissance, between the 14th to the 17th centuries, there is now widespread discussion, though in smaller, focused groupings of people discussing and exploring psychedelics in all manner of forms. Everything from mushrooms to cacti, and of course, cannabis, were discussed and written about all over the world in various formats. However, due to the Dark Ages, there was still a general religious stigma around them, and often those who cultivated or practiced with these plants were labeled as warlocks and witches, or considered crazy. As the white, largely Christian culture moved west and took over North America, Native American use of psychedelics were suppressed and demonized as well, although as integrations of cultures did happen, by the 20th century many groups of people formed organizations to support their spiritual uses, such as the Native American Church, being formed around the protection of the use of peyote cactus in spiritual ceremony. In 1938, LSD is created and discovered, and the earliest psychiatric experiments with it begin by 1948. In 1951, the first CIA experiments of the psychological effects of LSD began. In 1957, Life magazine published a story on psychedelics, which was one of the first major boosts of popularization of psychedelics in America. Shortly thereafter, psychedelics become widely popular in America during the 60s, before the American government shuts it down through the 70s, and they once again become a taboo subject. Nevertheless, psychedelic use has prevailed through the course of its suppression, and people still find themselves interested in the secrets of the mind, which psychedelics have been demonstrated to unlock. Today, and thanks to the power of the internet, information about psychedelics has become widespread, and the information can no longer be contained. Many documentaries are created, leading to a newfound global respect for psychedelics, shamanism, and the power of the mind. Thank you for watching. Through this new documentary and new spirit science videos to come, we'll be cracking open the psychedelic discussion even further. However, in the meantime, we've been working really hard on another new project, and wanted to share it with you to celebrate the spirit of the season and the new year. For a long time, we've been dreaming of creating a fully animated tarot video series, but decided that before we could make a tarot video series, we'd have to make our own deck. So a lot of work has gone into it this past month especially, and while the full deck itself is not yet ready, the major arcana is, and so we've decided to put together a digital download pack with printable HD images just for you this holiday season, and we encourage you to make tons of posters. Along with this, we've also compiled a 50 plus page ebook on what tarot is and how it works, describing the connections between the cabala and the astrological signs and in-depth readings on each of the major arcana so that you can really begin observing the connections between the symbologies and using these images in your daily meditations. In the spirit of the season, there's a free holiday bundle that everyone can download, and the complete printable poster package with the full book is about half off till the end of the year, and you can go and check out our store here if you're interested. If you've pledged on Patreon, go and check out the Patreon feed for additional discounts too, and stay tuned, there's a lot more in development, and we're so excited for what's to come. Till next time.