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Psychedelic churches in US pushing boundaries of religion

The Hummingbird Church hosts an ayahuasca ceremony next to a cemetery where infants of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church, were buried, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. A handful of former FLDS members attended the ceremony to help heal and understand past trauma. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Hummingbird Church hosts an ayahuasca retreat in the small town of Hildale, Utah, just south of Zion National Park, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. The town was previously known as the stronghold for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Maeleene Jessop, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon church, second from left, talks with her fellow participants before the third and final ayahuasca ceremony during a retreat hosted by the Hummingbird Church, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. Hummingbird is part of a growing global trend in which people are turning to ayahuasca to treat an array of health problems after conventional medications and therapy failed them. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski).

Eloy Delgadillo, musician and facilitator for Hummingbird Church, practices songs for an upcoming ayahuasca ceremony, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

A statue of Mother Earth sits at the front of an altar used by a Colombian shaman, healer and traditional medicine man who leads the Hummingbird Church ayahuasca ceremonies, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Like many groups using psychedelics as sacraments, Hummingbird functioned underground for many years, hosting word of mouth ceremonies. But in Feb. 2021, they decided to go public. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Participants lay face down on the grass during an integration circle at an ayahuasca retreat in Hildale, Utah, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Following each of the three ayahuasca ceremonies, Hummingbird Church asks their participants to partake in integration, or a group reflection and discussion, to help interpret messages they received from the ayahuasca. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Talia Goss, a retreat participant, shows a drawing of a vision she had during an ayahuasca ceremony in Hildale, Utah, hosted by the Hummingbird Church on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Lorenzo Gonzales, center, cries as he shares parts of his ayahuasca experience during an integration circle on the third day of a Hummingbird Church retreat, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. Gonzales and his wife decided to try ayahuasca in hopes that it would help cure his physical and mental ailments. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

A Hummingbird Church retreat participant lays in a hammock while an integration circle takes place on the grass behind him, discussing the previous night's ayahuasca ceremony, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Michael Vasconez, a facilitator with Hummingbird Church, blows a sacred tobacco snuff used by shaman in Brazil and Peru into his nose, while leading an integration circle on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Following each of the three ayahuasca ceremonies, Hummingbird Church asks their participants to partake in integration, or a group reflection and discussion, to help interpret messages they received from the ayahuasca. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Maeleene Jessop lies face down on the grass during an integration circle at an ayahuasca retreat in Hildale, Utah, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Following each of the three ayahuasca ceremonies, Hummingbird Church asks their participants to partake in integration, or a group reflection and discussion, to help interpret messages they received from the ayahuasca. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Colombian shaman Taita Pedro Davila, leads an ayahuasca ceremony with Hummingbird Church, in Hildale, Utah, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. Following the traditions of his grandfather in Colombia, Davila prays, chants, and sings in Spanish and the language of the Kamëntsá people over the psychoactive brew before serving it to individual participants. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Diwaldo and Mileidys Salado hold hands during a breathwork session at Hummingbird Church's ayahuasca retreat in Hildale, Utah, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Some sobbed uncontrollably during the session, which included rhythmic exhaling and inhaling set to a feel-good soundtrack that included "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban. They finished with a group scream. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Diwaldo Salado, a retreat participant, sits on an air mattress during a breathwork session before the beginning of a Hummingbird Church ayahuasca ceremony, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. A rising demand for ayahuasca has spurred the formation of hundreds of groups like Hummingbird across the U.S. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Talia Gross, a retreat participant, plays a sound bowl while waiting for the ayahuasca ceremony to begin at a Hummingbird Church retreat in Hildale, Utah, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

The moon shines over a large tent housing about two dozen individuals partaking in an ayahuasca ceremony, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Hummingbird Church, which hosted the weekend ayahuasca retreat, is part of a growing global trend in which people are turning to ayahuasca to treat an array of health problems after conventional medications and therapy failed them. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Lorenzo Gonzales, center, and other retreat participants reach their hands to the sky during a breathwork ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. The session was a part of a three-night ayahuasca ceremony hosted by Hummingbird Church. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

An empty pitcher and shot sized cups sit on an altar during an ayahuasca ceremony hosted by Hummingbird Church in Hildale, Utah, on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew that contains an Amazon shrub with the active ingredient, DMT, and a vine containing monoamine oxidase inhibitors that prevents the drug from breaking down in the body causing visions lasting several hours. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Psychedelic churches in US pushing boundaries of religion