Psychedelics and promiscuity were promoted together as part of feminism. But few people understand why. It’s ironic that psychedelics are often thought of as countercultural. In fact, Brave New World was actually based on the non-fiction writings of the elite groups Huxley, a famous promoter of psychedelics, aligned himself with.
Since I was recently asked about my views on psychedelics, this article will explain why I think they are immoral. To explain their connection to feminism, however, we first need to consider the work of Erich Neumann (1905 – 1960), particularly his work Origins and History of Consciousness (1949).
It’s a common complaint that modern society is feminised. Neumann, too, saw modernity as a reversion to 'effeminacy' and 'the negative aspect of the Great Mother.' In his theory, ego consciousness is a male development and supersedes non-individuated infancy. To become a man, the boy has to break away from his mother.
He illustrated this with the Gilgamesh epic. In the Gilgamesh epic, the goddess Ishtar admires Gilgamesh’s virility and tries to seduce him. But he kills her because he knows the fate of her former lovers, who all died at her hands. And this, Neumann observed, echoes the younger male god Marduk's killing of the female water-monster Tiamat in the poem 'Enuma Elish'.
Why must the masculine heroes kill Ishtar and Tiamat? Because they are both Gaia figures. As Neumann warns, ‘The stronger the masculine ego-consciousness becomes, the more it is aware of the emasculating, bewitching, deadly, and stupefying nature of the Great Goddess.’