League for Spiritual Discovery (LSD) was a spiritual organization inspired by the works of

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

, and strove for legal use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for the purpose of meditation, insight, and spiritual understanding. It was in existence during the mid-to-late 1960s, and eventually closed by Leary. The

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Center for the League of Spiritual Discovery, in existence for around a year, was co-founded by Timothy Leary and Nina Graboi in 1966. The center was the first LSD-based meditation center in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

.''Santa Cruz Sentinel''
"Remembrances"
02 January, 2000

Origins

Timothy Leary and

Richard Alpert Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and author. His best-selling 1971 book '' Be Here Now'', which has been d ...

were psychedelic researchers at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in the

Psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

Department during the early 1960s.Staton, Scott
“Turn On, Tune In, Drop by the Archives: Timothy Leary at the N.Y.P.L."
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', 11 June 2011Hiatt, Nathaniel J
“A Trip Down Memory Lane: LSD at Harvard"
''Harvard Crimson'', 23 May 2016 In 1962 Leary set up a grassroots nonprofit group with Alpert (later known as Ram Dass) called the International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF), in order to carry out studies in the religious use of psychedelic drugs. IFIF was subsequently disbanded and renamed the Castalia Foundation (after the intellectual colony in Herman Hesse's

The Glass Bead Game ''The Glass Bead Game'' (german: link=no, Das Glasperlenspiel, ) is the last full-length novel by the German author Hermann Hesse. It was begun in 1931 in Switzerland, where it was published in 1943 after being rejected for publication in German ...

), when Leary and Alpert set up a communal group in 1963 at the

Hitchcock Estate The Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook, New York is a historic mansion and surrounding grounds, associated with Timothy Leary and the psychedelic movement. It is often referred to in this context as just Millbrook; it is also sometimes called by its o ...

in Millbrook, New York.Chevallier, Jim
“Tim Leary and Ovum - A Visit to Castalia with Ovum"
''Chez Jim/Ovum'', 03 March 2003Ulrich, Jennifer
“Transmissions from The Timothy Leary Papers: Hesse, Gurdjieff and Minor White"
New York Public Library, 14 May 2012 Leary and Alpert lived and worked at the Millbrook estate with a small group devoted to the exploration of consciousness-expanding drugs.Junker, Howard
“LSD: ‘The Contact High’"
, ''The Nation'', 05 July, 1965 The group's journal was th
''Psychedelic Review''
The Castalia Foundation hosted weekend retreats on the estate where people paid to undergo the psychedelic experience without drugs, through meditation, yoga, and group therapy sessions. The Castalia Foundation adopted some of the mystic teachings of Gurjieff for their non-drug workshops. During 1965 Castalia Foundation members collaborated with artists, including the media art collective

USCO USCO was an American media art collective in the 1960s, founded by Gerd Stern, Michael Callahan, Steve Durkee, Judi Stern, and Barbara Durkee in New York. The name USCO is an acronym for Us Company or the Company of Us. The collective was most ac ...

(The Company of US), to reproduce the LSD experience in improvised audio-visual psychedelic shows in Manhattan.Ulrich, Jennifer
“Transmissions from The Timothy Leary Papers: Evolution of the "Psychedelic" Show"
New York Public Library, 04 June, 2012 The origins of the League for Spiritual Discovery can also be found in the Original Kleptonian Neo-American Church, whose clergy members administered sacraments in the form of psychedelic drugs. The church was founded in 1965 by Arthur Kleps, a participant in Leary's circle at Millbrook. The Millbrook residents were a tight-knit group whose goal was to discover and cultivate the divinity within each person, and they regularly took high doses of LSD in group sessions. Leary was arrested in December 1965 for possession of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...

History

On September 19, 1966, Leary reorganized the IFIF/Castalia Foundation under the nomenclature of the League for Spiritual Discovery, a religion with LSD as its holy

sacrament A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the rea ...

. By doing this, he hoped to legalize LSD based on a "freedom of religion" argument. They were influenced by the Native American Church's historical

peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains Psychoactive cactus, psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar Pupa#Cocoo ...

use. The League for Spiritual Discovery was incorporated by Leary as a religious organization in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

.Linder, Douglas O
“Testimony of Timothy F. Leary"
Famous Trials Leary's goal was to create a new concept of religion based on his communal experiences at Millbrook, in which people with shared spiritual goals came together to expand consciousness. The organization was also referred to as the League of Spiritual Discovery. Anyone at Millbrook could read publications such as Leary's ''Psychedelic Prayers'' (a book of poems inspired by the ''

Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion ...

'' meant to be used as an aid to LSD trips), and underground newspapers to which the group subscribed. The League for Spiritual Discovery's belief structure was based on Leary's mantra: "drop out, turn on, tune in." Though the more popular "turn on, tune in, drop out" became synonymous with Leary, his actual definition was: "''Drop Out'' – detach yourself from the external social drama which is as dehydrated and ersatz as TV. ''Turn On'' – find a sacrament which returns you to the temple of God, your own body. Go out of your mind. Get high. ''Tune In'' – be reborn. Drop back in to express it. Start a new sequence of behavior that reflects your vision." Although The Brotherhood of Eternal Love would subsequently consider Leary their spiritual leader, The Brotherhood did not evolve out of the League for Spiritual Discovery. The motto of the group, " Turn on, tune in, drop out" became synonymous with the sixties. Nicholas Sand, the clandestine chemist for the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, followed Leary to Millbrook and joined the League for Spiritual Discovery. Sand was designated the "alchemist" of the new religion.Grimesmay, William
“Chemist Who Sought to Bring LSD to the World, Dies at 75"
''New York Times'', 12 May 2017 Owsley Stanley encouraged Sand to shift his operations to California, and offered him the services of his lab partner, Tim Scully. There Sand and Scully manufactured Orange Sunshine LSD - their history is documented in the documentary ''The Sunshine Makers''. On October 6, 1966, LSD was made illegal in the state of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Later, on October 24, 1968, LSD was added to the list of Schedule 1 substances, which made it illegal to possess, manufacture, or use for any purpose in the United States. At the end of 1966, Nina Graboi, a friend and colleague of Leary's who had spent time with him at Millbrook, became the director of the Center for the League of Spiritual Discovery in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. The Center opened in March 1967. Graboi explained "The League of Spiritual Discovery had only two commandments: Thou shalt not alter the consciousness of thy fellow man, and Thou shalt not prevent thy fellow man from altering his own consciousness." Graboi accepted the position as director to disseminate information about the use and misuse of psychedelics, in order to minimize their ill effects. Leary thought their work together could educate people about the constructive use of LSD, as well as serve as a rescue center. Leary and Alpert gave free weekly talks at the center, and other guest speakers included Ralph Metzner and

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

. During late 1966 and early 1967, Leary toured college campuses to spread the psychedelic gospel by presenting a multi-media performance called "The Death of the Mind" which attempted to artistically replicate the LSD experience. It had initially opened at a theater that became the location for the

Fillmore East The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the (at the time) Lower East Side neighborhood, now called the East Village neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan of New York City. I ...

. Leary said the League for Spiritual Discovery was limited to 360 members and was already at its membership limit, but he encouraged others to form their own

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...

religions. He published a pamphlet in 1967 calle
''Start Your Own Religion''
to encourage people to do so. At the end of 1967, Leary was evicted from the Millbrook estate, and shortly thereafter moved to

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and ...

after Rosemary Leary became his third wife. He was arrested on December 26, 1968 in

for possession of

. In 1970, Leary received a ten-year sentence for the marijuana arrest. He escaped from prison with help from the Weather Underground and

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

, but was arrested again in 1973. He was released from prison in 1976.Menand, Louis
“Acid Redux: The life and high times of Timothy Leary"
''New Yorker'', 26 June 2006 Around end of 1967/early 1968 the League for Spiritual Discovery was closed down, and the New York Center for the League of Spiritual Discovery was abandoned shortly after Graboi left her position as director. Leary's papers at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

include complete records of the International Federation for Internal Freedom, the Castalia Foundation, and the League for Spiritual Discovery.

Revival

In October 2006, th
League for Spiritual Discovery
was restarted, taking all of the original intents of the prior organization as a foundation, but updating the message and expanding the work.

References

{{Timothy Leary Religious organizations using entheogens American psychedelic drug advocates Religious organizations established in 1966 Timothy Leary

Origins

History

Revival

See also

References