Glossary: Psychedelic Medicine

Sacrament

A substance, object, or ritual regarded as sacred and used to facilitate spiritual connection, religious observance, or communion with the divine.

Sacred Ecology

A worldview recognizing the reciprocal relationship between human well-being, biodiversity, spirituality, and stewardship of the natural world.

Sacred Landscape

A geographic location regarded as spiritually significant because of its history, cultural meaning, ceremonial use, or relationship to ancestral traditions.

Sacred Medicine

Plants, fungi, animals, minerals, or other natural substances used within Indigenous healing traditions for physical, emotional, spiritual, or communal well-being. The healing value derives from both the medicine itself and the ceremonial context in which it is used.

Sacred Plant

A plant regarded within a particular cultural tradition as possessing spiritual significance and used ceremonially for healing, prayer, initiation, or communion with the sacred.

Salvia divinorum

A psychoactive sage native to Oaxaca, Mexico, traditionally used by the Mazatec people for divination and healing. Its primary active compound, salvinorin A, is a potent kappa-opioid receptor agonist rather than a serotonergic psychedelic, producing brief but intense alterations in perception and consciousness.

San Pedro (Echinopsis pachanoi)

A fast-growing Andean cactus containing mescaline that has been used ceremonially in South America for more than 2,000 years. It remains an important traditional medicine in Peru, Ecuador, and surrounding regions.

Scope of Practice

The activities and responsibilities that a professional is educated, trained, and legally authorized to perform.

Self-Regulation

The ability to monitor and manage emotional, cognitive, physiological, and behavioral responses in a flexible and adaptive manner.

Serotonergic Psychedelic

A psychedelic whose principal effects are mediated through the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor.

Serotonin (5-HT)

A neurotransmitter involved in mood, emotion, cognition, appetite, sleep, and perception. Classic psychedelics exert many of their effects through serotonin 5-HT2A receptors.

Serotonin Syndrome

A potentially life-threatening condition caused by excessive serotonergic activity, characterized by autonomic instability, altered mental status, hyperreflexia, clonus, and elevated body temperature.

Set

The individual's internal state entering an experience, including expectations, beliefs, intentions, emotional state, personality, previous experiences, and psychological readiness.

Setting

The external environment in which an experience occurs, including the physical surroundings, interpersonal relationships, cultural context, and level of safety and support.

Sitter

A person who remains present during an altered-state experience primarily to provide safety, reassurance, and practical assistance while generally avoiding directing the experience.