幻覚的な churches in US 押し進めるing 境界s of 宗教
HILDALE, Utah (AP) - The tea tasted bitter and earthy, but Lorenzo Gonzales drank it anyway. On that frigid night in remote Utah, he was hoping for a life-changing experience, which is how he 設立する himself inside a テント with two dozen others waiting for the 幻覚的な brew known as ayahuasca to kick in.
Soon, the gentle sounds of a guitar were 溺死するd out by people vomiting - a ありふれた downside of the 麻薬. Some gagged; several threw up in buckets next to them.
Gonzales started howling, sobbing, laughing and 繰り返して babbling "wah, wah" like a child. Facilitators from Hummingbird Church placed him 直面する 負かす／撃墜する on the grass, 静めるing him momentarily before he started laughing and はうing on all fours.
"I seen these dark veins come up in this big red light, and then I seen this image of the devil," Gonzales said later. He had 静かなd only when his wife, Flor, put her 手渡す on his shoulder and prayed.
His 旅行 to this small town along the Arizona-Utah 国境 is part of a growing 全世界の 傾向 of people turning to ayahuasca in search of spiritual enlightenment and an experience they say brings them closer to God than 伝統的な 宗教的な services. Many hope the 幻覚的な tea will 傷をいやす／和解させる physical and mental afflictions after 従来の 医薬s and therapy failed. Their problems 含む eating disorders, 不景気, 実体 use disorders and PTSD.
The rising 需要・要求する for ayahuasca has led to hundreds of churches like this one , which 支持するs say are 保護するd from 起訴 by a 2006 U.S. 最高裁判所 判決，裁定. In that 事例／患者, a New Mexico 支店 of a Brazilian-based ayahuasca church won the 権利 to use the 麻薬 as a sacrament - even though its active 成分 remains 違法な under U.S. 連邦の 法律. A その後の 地裁 決定／判定勝ち（する） 支配するd Oregon 支店s of a different ayahuasca church could use it.
Colombian shama n Taita Pedro Davila, leads an ayahuasca 儀式 with Hummingbird Church, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. に引き続いて the traditions of his grandfather in Colombia, Davila prays, 詠唱するs, and sings in Spanish and the language of the Kam?nts? people over the psychoactive brew before serving it to individual 関係者s. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
"In every major city in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs, every 週末, there´s 多重の ayahuasca 儀式s. It´s not just a twice-a-year thing," said Sean McAllister, who 代表するs an Arizona church in a 訴訟 against the 連邦の 政府 after its ayahuasca from Peru was 掴むd at the port of Los Angeles.
But with the growth of プロの／賛成の-幻覚的なs movements has come 増加するd scrutiny. In 新規加入 to ayahuasca 出荷／船積みs from South America 存在 掴むd, some churches stopped operating over 恐れるs of 起訴. There are also 関心s these unregulated 儀式s might 提起する／ポーズをとる a danger for some 関係者s and that the 利益s of ayahuasca 港／避難所't been 井戸／弁護士席 熟考する／考慮するd.
"Our knowledge is 肉親，親類d of 限られた／立憲的な," said Anthony 支援する, a professor at the University of Washington School of 薬／医学 in Seattle. "There is not as much （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about safety as the 正規の／正選手 other 医療の 治療s that you might get if you went to a 正規の／正選手 doctor in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs."
It was dark as the Hummingbird 儀式 began on a Friday night in October, except for flickering candles and the orange glow of heaters. 幻覚的な art hung from the 塀で囲むs; statues of the Virgin Mary and Mother Earth were positioned 近づく a 一時しのぎの物，策 altar.
A mix of 軍の 退役軍人s, 法人組織の／企業の (n)役員／(a)執行力のあるs, thrill 探検者s, ex-members of a polygamous Mormon sect and a man who 恐らく struck it rich on a game show had converged for the $900 週末. Many appeared apprehensive yet giddy to begin the first of three 儀式s.
They sat silently, を待つing the arrival of Taita Pedro Davila, the Colombian shaman and 伝統的な healer who oversaw the 儀式.
The brew 含む／封じ込めるs an アマゾン rainforest shrub with the active 成分 N, N-Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, and a vine 含む／封じ込めるing harmala alkaloids that 妨げる the 麻薬 from breaking 負かす／撃墜する in the 団体／死体.
Those who drink ayahuasca 報告（する）／憶測 seeing 形態／調整s and colors and going on wild, いつかs terrifying 旅行s that can last hours. In this dreamlike 明言する／公表する, some say they 遭遇（する） dead 親族s - one woman saw family members who had died in a car 事故 - 同様に as friends and spirits who talk to them.
"When you were 招待するd here, you were 招待するd for a 週末 of 傷をいやす／和解させるing," Davila told the group in Spanish through a 翻訳家, before people lined up for 発射 glass-sized-doses of the 厚い, dark tea in plastic cups.
Davila, wearing a fedora, a boar-tooth necklace and beaded chest plate with a jaguar image, locked 注目する，もくろむs with each 関係者, uttered a 祈り over the cup, blew on it with a whistling sound and 手渡すd it over. After everyone drank and was settled on mattresses, Davila strolled through the テント as the 麻薬s took 持つ／拘留する, shaking a bundle of leaves and playing a mournful tune on the harmonica.
"Every 過程 is an individual one and 完全に different for every one of us," he said. "We are going to turn off our minds and open our hearts. If you feel like you are dying, die. This is going to 許す you to be reborn."
Gonzales and his wife, Flor, were の中で several ayahuasca newcomers.
They had driven from California, hoping for 救済 for Gonzales. He'd 戦う／戦いd 麻薬 中毒 for much of his 50 years, was 苦しむing the 影響s of COVID-19 and had been 診断するd with 早期に-行う／開催する／段階 dementia - likely a result of concussions over the y ears, one from a motorcycle 衝突，墜落 and another from an 産業の 事故. He doesn´t 運動 予定 to memory loss, rarely sleeps and is 傾向がある to angry 爆発s.
"My poor 団体／死体 is dying and I don´t want it to die," Gonzales said.
Flor Gonzales, 48, had grown 疲れた／うんざりした of doctors and the pills they 定める／命ずるd. 非，不，無 of it worked and she 恐れるd losing Lorenzo. So the born-again Christian who 好意s natural 薬／医学 研究d ayahuasca and 人物／姿／数字d it was 価値（がある） trying.
"If he´s already sick and he´s been placed on all these 医薬s that have 味方する 影響s, what do we have to lose? ... It might stop the progression of the illness," she said. "It might help him ... 受託する things more without the 怒り／怒る."
Maeleene Jessop was also an ayahuasca newcomer but was intimately familiar with Hildale, the Utah town where the 儀式 was held. She's a former member of the 根本主義 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, a polygamist offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The 儀式 was held in a テント on the grounds of a house owned by a former FLDS member in Hildale, where Jessop grew up, 耐えるing 性の and physical 乱用 in the group´s 要塞／本拠地. Jessop left the church after its leader, 過密な住居 Jeffs, was 逮捕（する）d for sexually 強襲，強姦ing girls he considered brides. He is serving a life 宣告，判決 in 連邦の 刑務所，拘置所.
The 35-year-old woman has struggled to adapt to life after the FLDS, which controlled almost everything from what she ate to what she wore. Since leaving, she has tried anti-depressants, therapy and other 幻覚的なs like mushrooms to を取り引きする 不景気 and a 範囲 of physical 病気s, 含むing 審理，公聴会 and 見通し problems she 非難するs on the 乱用 she 苦しむd.
"I felt like I needed something more, like I needed a stronger 打開. S o this is the next step," she said of ayahuasca. "Hopefully it´s the last step."
She remains 用心深い of 組織するd 宗教, but felt like Hummingbird 申し込む／申し出d what she was looking for - a sense of community and freedom to connect "to a higher 力／強力にする, whether that´s us or the universe or God, whatever you want to call it."
More than three months after the 儀式, Jessop said she credits ayahuasca with 緩和 her 不景気 and 改善するing her 焦点（を合わせる）. She 設立する some clarity about her life goals and 計画（する）s to 熟考する／考慮する communications to help her speak out about 乱用.
The roots of ayahuasca go 支援する hundreds of years to use by Indigenous groups in the アマゾン. In the past century, churches sprouted up in South America where ayahuasca is 合法的な. Some Brazilian churches are a mix of Christian, African and Indigenous 影響（力）s.
The movement 設立する a foothold in the 部隊d 明言する／公表するs in the 1980s and 利益／興味 has 強めるd more recently as celebrities like NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Hollywood 星／主役にする Will Smith and Britain's Prince Harry talked about using it.
Some people spend thousands of dollars taking ayahuasca at five-星／主役にする 退却／保養地s in the アマゾン. In the U.S., the movement remains 大部分は 地下組織の, 促進するd by social マスコミ and word of mouth. Some 儀式s occur at 支持者s´ homes, Airbnb 賃貸しのs and remote areas to 避ける 法律 施行 scrutiny.
Lik e many of these, Hummingbird won´t be mistaken for a 伝統的な Western church.
It has no written text and relies まず第一に／本来 on Davila´s 祈りs, 詠唱するs and songs, in Spanish and the language of the Kam?nts? people, to guide 関係者s. Davila follows traditions he learned from his grandfather in Colombia, spending several days 準備するing the ayahuasca.
Before serving the tea, Davila 行為／行うs 洗浄するing rituals - like blowing タバコ 消す up some 関係者´s noses to 高くする，増す its 影響s.
Courtney の近くに, Hummingbird´s 創立者 who credits ayahuasca with helping her 打ち勝つ コカイン 中毒 and 地位，任命する-partum 不景気, believes the 任命 as a church helps show that 関係者s are "doing this for 宗教的な 推論する／理由s." But when it comes to defining it as a 宗教, の近くに 強調する／ストレスs much depends on individual 関係者s´ experience.
"We just try to create a spiritual experience without any dogma and just let people experience God for themselves," said the 42-year-old, who 参加するd in about 200 儀式s and had a 見通し to start the church at one of them.
Since 持つ／拘留するing the church´s first 儀式 in Joshua Tree five years ago, の近くに has seen Hummingbird´s numbers grow and its demographic change - mostly from young hipsters to older, working-class people desperate for mental health 治療.
The most jarring moments have been people talking 率直に about 自殺 and 見解（をとる）ing ayahuasca as their only hope. She 解任するd a sex 罪，犯罪s 捜査官／調査官 and 戦闘 退役軍人 who was so depressed he couldn't speak without crying and told her: "If this doesn´t work, I´m 殺人，大当り myself."
の近くに said Davila 申し込む／申し出d the man ayahuasca then said to 包む him in a 一面に覆う／毛布 on his 味方する so he wouldn´t choke on his vomit. She hoped the 幻覚的な would 供給する him with a transformative, death-like experience while remaining 肉体的に 安全な.
"After the 週末, he looked like a different person where I was like, `Oh my God. Like, this guy is smiling and talking to people,´" she said.
But の近くに knows ayahuasca comes with 危険s, 特に when inexperienced 使用者s 焦点（を合わせる）d on making money start hosting events.
"That´s so dangerous," she said, recounting instances of people at 儀式s 存在 sexually 強襲，強姦d, ripped off and sent home without follow-up support.
To 改善する safety, Hummingbird has brought doctors, nurses and CPR-trained staff to 儀式s, encouraged 関係者s to stop taking 確かな 医薬s before they arrive, and created an intake 過程 that 少しのd out those with 厳しい mental illnesses and some heart 条件s. They 器具／実施するd a no-touching 政策 during 儀式s and stopped 申し込む／申し出ing other 幻覚的なs.
But の近くに worries a U.S. 政府 厳重取締 is coming, given the presumption the 大部分は unregulated movement is "an 疫病／流行性の of 幻覚的な churches that are creating a public health 危機."
支援する in California, Flor Gonzales is 納得させるd the 麻薬 is behind Lorenzo´s 改良.
"The ayahuasca changed him in a lot of ways," she said. "We´re more 楽観的な about the 未来."
The father of four said he has stopped taking pills for 不景気, PTSD and insomnia. He still has moments of forgetfulness and doesn´t 運動, but says he sleeps through the night and his 叫び声をあげるing fits are a thing of the past.
"I feel healthier," he said. "I feel like a dark 軍隊 has been taken out of my soul."
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Associated 圧力（をかける） 宗教 ニュース報道 receives support through the AP´s 共同 with The Conversatio n US, with 基金ing from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is 単独で 責任がある this content.
An empty 投手 and 発射 sized cups sit on an altar during an ayahuasca 儀式 hosted by Hummingbird Church in Hildale, Utah, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew that 含む／封じ込めるs an アマゾン shrub with the active 成分, DMT, and a vine 含む／封じ込めるing monoamine oxidase inhibitors that 妨げるs the 麻薬 from breaking 負かす／撃墜する in the 団体／死体 原因（となる）ing 見通しs 継続している several hours. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Lorenzo Gonzales, 中心, and other 退却／保養地 関係者s reach their 手渡すs to the sky during a breathwork 儀式 on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. The 開会／開廷／会期 was a part of a three-night ayahuasca 儀式 hosted by Hummingbird Church. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
The moon 向こうずねs over a large テント 住宅 about two dozen individuals partaking in an ayahuasca 儀式, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Hummingbird Church, which hosted the 週末 ayahuasca 退却／保養地, is part of a growing 全世界の 傾向 in which people are turning to ayahuasca to 扱う／治療する an array of health problems after 従来の 医薬s and therapy failed them. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Talia 甚だしい／１２ダース, a 退却／保養地 関係者, plays a sound bowl while waiting for the ayahuasca 儀式 to begin at a Hummingbird Church 退却／保養地 in Hildale, Utah, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Diwaldo Salado, a 退却／保養地 関係者, sits on an 空気／公表する mattress during a breathwork 開会／開廷／会期 before the beginning of a Hummingbird Church ayahuasca 儀式, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. A rising 需要・要求する for ayahuasca has spurred the 形式 of hundreds of groups li ke Hummingbird across the U.S. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Diwaldo and Mileidys Salado 持つ／拘留する 手渡すs during a breathwork 開会／開廷／会期 at Hummingbird Church's ayahuasca 退却／保養地 in Hildale, Utah, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Some sobbed uncontrollably during the 開会／開廷／会期, which 含むd rhythmic exhaling and 吸い込むing 始める，決める to a feel-good soundtrack that 含むd "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban. They finished with a group 叫び声をあげる. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Maeleene Jessop, a former member of the 根本主義 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church, second from left, 会談 with her fellow 関係者s before the third and final ayahuasca 儀式 during a 退却／保養地 hosted by the Hummingbird Church, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. Hummingbird is part of a growing 全世界の 傾向 in which people are turning to ayahuasca to 扱う／治療する an array of health problems after 従来の 医薬s and therapy failed them. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski).
Hummingbird Church hosts an ayahuasca 退却／保養地 in the small town of Hildale, Utah, just south of Zion 国家の Park, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. The town was 以前 known as the 要塞／本拠地 for the 根本主義 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Maeleene Jessop lies 直面する 負かす／撃墜する on the grass during an 統合，差別撤廃 circle at an ayahuasca 退却／保養地 in Hildale, Utah, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. に引き続いて each of the three ayahuasca 儀式s, Hummingbird Church asks their 関係者s to partake in 統合，差別撤廃, or a group reflection and discussion, to help 解釈する／通訳する messages they received from the ayahuasca. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Michael Vasconez, a facilitator with Hummingbird Church, blows a sacred タバコ 消す used by shaman in Brazil and Peru into his nose, while 主要な an 統合，差別撤廃 circle on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. に引き続いて each of the three ayahuasca 儀式s, Hummingbird Church asks their 関係者s to partake in 統合，差別撤廃, or a group reflection and discussion, to help 解釈する／通訳する messages they received from the ayahuasca. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A Hummingbird Church 退却／保養地 関係者 lays in a hammock while an 統合，差別撤廃 circle takes place on the grass behind him, discussing the previous night's ayahuasca 儀式, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Talia Goss, a 退却／保養地 関係者, shows a 製図／抽選 of a 見通し she had during an ayahuasca 儀式 in Hildale, Utah, hosted by the Hummingbird Church on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
関係者s lay 直面する 負かす／撃墜する on the grass during an 統合，差別撤廃 circle at an ayahuasca 退却／保養地 in Hildale, Utah, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. に引き続いて each of the three ayahuasca 儀式s, Hummingbird Church asks their 関係者s to partake in 統合，差別撤廃, or a group reflection and discussion, to help 解釈する／通訳する messages they received from the ayahuasca. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
The Hummingbird Church hosts an ayahuasca 儀式 next to a 共同墓地 where 幼児s of the 根本主義 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 …に出席するd the 儀式 to help 傷をいやす／和解させる and understand past 外傷／ショック. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A statue of Mother Earth sits at the 前線 of an altar used by a Colombian shaman, healer and 伝統的な 薬／医学 man who leads the Hummingbird Church ayahuasca 儀式s, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Like many groups using 幻覚的なs as sacraments, Hummingbird 機能（する）／行事d 地下組織の for many years, hosting word of mouth 儀式s. But in Feb. 2021, they decided to go public. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Eloy Delgadillo, musician and facilitator for Hummingbi rd Church, practices songs for an 近づいている ayahuasca 儀式, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
