Legal Worship

The United States Supreme Court established these (quite helpful and good) legal standards in the UDV case involving the religious use of ayahuasca. The Court unanimously found that the group’s use of ayahuasca was protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), because their use was safe and central to the group’s sincerely-held religious beliefs. They (the UDV) weren’t pretending to be religious. They were religious. A lower court further bolstered these strong standards in the Santo Daime case. Both court opinions are quite readable.

What does it mean that mushrooms must be “central” to the exercise of your religion?

Centrality means you can’t do without mushrooms and still practice your religion. The centrality factor needs to be satisfied at the institutional level AND at the level of an individual member who faces a legal challenge. As for the institution, TDA was conceived and birthed out of communion with the Divine during religious mushroom ceremonies. During those religious communions, Mushrooms were shown to open a sacred portal to the Divine. Also, the mycelium was shown during those ceremonies to be the organizational structure for TDA that best allows for individual worship and spiritual growth. Without our mushroom sacrament, there is no TDA. TDA satisfies the question of “centrality.”

However, if YOU are prosecuted, YOU—the individual worshiper—would likely need to show the centrality of mushrooms to the exercise of YOUR sincerely-held religious beliefs as a TDA member. You would need to show that you are not pretending, you are religious, and magic mushrooms are your sacrament. To do that—and, much more importantly, to actually grow, heal, and benefit from religious use of the sacrament—members are encouraged to draft, continually update, and live by a personal covenant established between themselves and the Divine, as part of the spiritual integration process. To develop that covenant, members are encouraged to commune with the Divine and learn directly what things they should release and what things they should nurture. This practice extends far beyond the occasional psilocybin ceremony. It involves work, introspection, and change before and after ceremonies. And it involves the continual, day-to-day development of respect for self, others, and the Divine. This is the process of actually making our worship central to our beliefs and our lives. Write them down. These are your sacred texts. You might or might not need them for court, but you should have them for your life and your spiritual journey.

If interested, TDA members can make a donation and receive a membership card. Both the donation and the card, while not definitive, help show sincerity of your worship.

TDA, of course, is very aware that our sacrament is a schedule I controlled substance. This always means that use of our sacrament could lead to arrest and incarceration. In other words, there is no guarantee that we will not be persecuted for our religious beliefs and practices. Everyone needs to be aware of that. Anyone who brushes off the possibility of governmental persecution is not thinking clearly. Thus, members must responsibly handle and use the sacrament. Again, this legal standard helps us accomplish what we desire. TDA seeks to commune and heal, not to provoke. The sacrament can never be diverted outside of ceremonial use or be shared with individuals under 21. It should never move through the mail. And, again, safety cannot be compromised.

All that being said, TDA refuses to hide. Our religion aims to foster communion and improve people’s lives. Our sacrament is an active and effective sacrament. We happily place it next to any legally-recognized sacrament and invite a comparison of the visions and spiritual enlightenment that flow from each.