Psychedelic
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:''For "psychedelics," see [[psychedelic drug]].''
[[Image:SantanaAbraxas.jpg|thumb|270px|Many artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s attempted to illustrate the psychedelic experience. One example of this experimentation is seen in [[Mati Klarwein]]'s painting ''Annunciation'', which was used as the cover art for [[Carlos Santana|Santana]]'s ''[[Abraxas (album)|Abraxas]]''. The cover of Pink Floyd's 1968 album ''[[A Saucerful of Secrets]]'' is also of this type.]]
The word '''psychedelic''' is an English term coined from the Greek words for "soul," ψυχή (''psyche''), and "manifest," δήλος (''delos''). A [[psychedelic experience|'''psychedelic''' experience]] is characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly ordinary fetters. Psychedelic states are an array of experiences elicited by [[sensory deprivation]] as well as by psychedelic substances. Such experiences include [[hallucination]]s, changes of [[perception]], [[synesthesia]], altered states of awareness, [[mystical]] states, and occasionally states resembling [[psychosis]].
The term was first coined as a noun in 1957 by [[psychiatry|psychiatrist]] [[Humphry Osmond]] as an alternative descriptor for [[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogenic drug]]s in the context of [[psychedelic psychotherapy]]. The term featured prominently in a now-famous exchange with [[Aldous Huxley]], in which the little-used term ''phanerothyme'' (derived from roots relating to "spirit" or "soul") was suggested:
:''To make this trivial world sublime,''
:''take half a gram of phanerothyme.''
Osmond responded:
:''To fathom Hell or soar angelic,''
:''just take a pinch of psychedelic.''
[[Timothy Leary]], who was largely responsible for the popularization of the term "psychedelic",{{Fact|date=September 2007}} was a well-known proponent of their use, as was Aldous Huxley. Both, however, advanced widely different opinions on the broad use of psychedelics by [[sovereign state|state]] and [[civil society]]. Leary promulgated the idea of such substances as a [[Panacea (medicine)|panacea]], while Huxley suggested that only the cultural and intellectual elite should partake of [[entheogens]] systematically.
The use of psychedelic drugs became widespread in the modern [[Western culture|West]] in the mid-1960s. One of the first uses of the word in the music scene of this time was in the 1964 recording of "[[Hesitation Blues]]" by the [[Holy Modal Rounders]]. The term was introduced to rock music and popularized by the [[13th Floor Elevators]] 1966 album [[The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators]].
==Psychedelia==
The fashion for psychedelic drugs gave its name to the visual style of '''psychedelia''', a term describing a category of [[Rock and roll|rock music]] known as [[psychedelic rock]], [[visual art]], [[fashion]], and [[culture]] that is associated originally with the high 1960s, [[hippie]]s, and the [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood of [[San Francisco]], [[California]]. Psychedelia generally began in 1966, but truly took off in 1967 with the [[Summer of Love]]. Although associated with San Francisco, the style soon spread across the [[United States|US]], and worldwide.
The [[counterculture of the 1960s]] had a strong influence on the popular culture of the early 1970s, and is well recognized even by those who are naïve to its psychedelic origins. It later became linked to a style of electronic dance music commonly known as [[psytrance]] (Also known as Psychedelic Trance or Goa Trance)
==Modern usage==
The impact of psychedelic drugs on western culture in the 1960s led to [[semantic drift]] in the use of the word "psychedelic", and it is now frequently applied to describe any brightly patterned or colored object. In objection to this new meaning, and to what some consider [[pejorative]] meanings of other synonyms such as "[[hallucinogen]]" and "[[psychotomimetic]]", the term "[[entheogen]]" was proposed and is seeing increasing use. However, many consider the term "entheogen" best reserved for religious and spiritual usage, such as certain Native American churches do with the peyote sacrament, and "psychedelic" left to describe those who are using these drugs for recreation, psychotherapy, physical healing, or creative problem solving. In science, [[hallucinogen]] remains the standard term.
At the same time as psychedelic drugs were being used by the [[counterculture]] of the 1960s, they were also being used in experiments by governments, who saw them and [[sensory deprivation]] as useful agents for [[mind control]]; see [[MKULTRA]] for the [[CIA]] involvement in the use of psychedelic drugs.
==See also==
*[[Cyberdelic]]
*[[Drugs]]
*[[Entheogen]]
*[[Hippie]]
*[[Psychedelic art]]
*[[Psychedelic drug]]
*[[Psychedelic era]]
*[[Psychedelic experience]]
*[[Psychedelic literature]]
*[[Psychedelic music]]
*[[Psychedelic psychotherapy]]
*[[Purple#Additional variations of purple|Psychedelic purple]]
*[[Psychedelic trance]]
*[[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants]]
*[[Rave]]
*[[The Fool (design collective)]] - a group of psychedelic artists active in the 1960s.
*[[Liquid light shows]]
==External links==
*[http://www.erowid.org/ Erowid]
*[http://sci-con.org/2003/06/the-neurochemistry-of-psychdelic-experiences/ ''Science & Consciousness Review'', The Neurochemistry of Psychedelic Experience]
*[http://www.cedu.niu.edu/lepf/edpsych/faculty/roberts/index_roberts.html University courses on psychedelics]
*[http://csp.org/chrestomathy/ Online archive: Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments]
==References==
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