Hiya
@Panpsychic
Welcome.
I was wondering what texts you are reading on ancient rites involving psychedelics. I do love reading about ancient civilizations, and really got into the Sumerians and their belief systems. I myself joined this forum after a looking for answers on what it meant to get closer to God. Particularly the 'Book of Enoch', where it led me down a path of believing there was something in *roots* (referenced by "the cutting of roots") that was one of the 'eternal secrets' the "Watchers" had told humans about, and were apparently not supposed to. Anyways, each piece of information I found heading down that path ultimately landed me here. It has been a great source of knowledge.
Some of my reading has come from various papers and book chapters discussing this although its far from conclusive. I see it however that I am doing a modern interpretation of an ancient rite.
I try to follow some ceremonial elements associated with the Soma ritual and its likely connection to Peganum Harmala.
The word 'soma' itself comes from the word meaning to 'pound' or 'press' as part of a preparation, again it has been interpreted differently based in what the identity of the plant(s) have been put forward as.
I believe that ritual itself need not necessarily be something extra, but rather the processes involved in preparation and consumption of the sacrament themselves can take on a kind of sacred significance. I have a granite pestle and mortar I use for grounding the seeds before brewing into a tea, which I use exclusively for this purpose:
Of course I could use something else like a coffee grinder and it would serve the purpose but this is an example of an opportunity I would say for doing it as part of a rite, so I keep it.
Then of course Rue seeds can be burned as incense which also adds a purifying ambience before tripping, traditionally Rue is used in this way to purify spaces so this is a living link to ceremonial use. Here is a traditional Rue incense burner that I got, and you can see it is meant to be portable and opens and closes to sanctify spaces.
You can obviously also do rituals around the taking of the brew itself and use some kind of goblet or special glass for serving, and around the taking up of the pipe or bong.
This is a nice article about traditional use of Peganum Harmala or Aspand meaning 'holy'.
A folkloric resource containing hundreds of interlinked pages describing and illustrating amulets, talismans, and lucky charms from around the world and all eras.
www.luckymojo.com
These are all ways of, at least temporarily making the space that you partake of feel more like a kind of sacred temple, which it indeed becomes at that time.
Outside of that there are some books I am looking to get that I think will provide some insight into ancient rites that likely have links to psychedelic use such as by the author P.D. Newman who has written a couple of books specifically about DMT and its link to ancient rites leading up to Freemasonry and its hidden symbology of the everlasting acacia.
So that's what I do now and also on my reading list, but I don't get too much into just trying to learn the history but rather as
@Pandora said, it's about the now being a living history and bringing some of these ancient rites and the mindset accompanying them into the present, since the Depth is timeless and outside of time anyway it connects in that moment to the eternal celebration and ceremony.
