by MADELINE FERGUSON

Utah’s first and only mushroom church, The Divine Assembly, was recently featured in Rolling Stone in an article titled, “These Mormons Have Found A New Faith -- In Magic Mushrooms.”

The article dives into the life and history of Steve Urquhart and Sara Urquhart, co-founders of the church and post-Mormons (a term used to describe those who have left the LDS church), but then ventures into religion and takes a deep dive into feminism. The article is a journey, like some of the author's psychedelic experiences detailed in the piece.

The Urquharts & The Church

“I just got out of one goofy religion. There is no way in hell I’m going to start another,” reads a relatable quote from Sara Urquhart in the article.

Rolling Stone reporter Cassady Rosenblum spent two weeks in Utah with the Urquharts learning about their past inspirations for The Divine Assembly. Let’s be clear, while the husband and wife duo started the church, they don’t see themselves as the “leaders”, the point of TDA is to allow people to find their own spirituality and find a community along with it.

Steve Urquhart was a state Republican lawmaker and LDS convert. While in office, Urquhart hid despair and hopelessness behind alcohol and drugs. The despair came from a trifecta of his daughter being bullied, getting prostate cancer and his father’s passing. This made him question his faith, which is a terrifying thing for those in organized religion because it can mean loss of community and “social annihilation”.

After years of hardship, Steve and Sara decided to try ayahuasca as a healing modality. When the couple returned home after their trip, Steve started to feel the pull to create something to share this healing with others; those were the beginning flickers of The Divine Assembly.

Feminism, Mormons & Psychedelics

On that fateful trip to Amsterdam, Steve told the Rolling Stone he saw God, and God was a woman. The article also references several other instances where people had their own psychedelic experiences in which they saw a female deity.

This ties interestingly to the long-standing issues of gender inequality in the LDS faith. Women are meant to serve and obey the men in their lives. Only men can hold leadership (priesthood) positions in the church and recently Mormons were told they can no longer pray to the “heavenly mother”.

The article hints that this may be some of the appeal psychedelics hold to post-Mormon women. It’s a way of spirituality that they are not treated as second-class citizens and often the God they find is a woman.

Here’s a fascinating expert from the article where the reporter talks about a psychedelic experience she participated in with a group of women.

“We settle onto the floor of Lark’s living room, slumber-party style. While the scene feels familiarly feminine to me, it’s still new and electric to them. All five women are discovering, with the help of psychedelics, what it means to connect with themselves, and one another. From Huntington’s perspective, the LDS Church systematically robbed them of that.”

National Coverage For The Divine Assembly Is A Win For Healing

Seeing Utah’s first and only mushroom church featured in a national publication is a step in the right direction for those in need of the healing power of psychedelics and community because as Steve often says, TDA is more about the community than anything else.

I’ll leave you with a final quote from Steve.

“We are connecting. And when we connect, we rise, like the mushroom. We are connecting and rising, and we are healing.”

Go for your own journey with the full Rolling Stone article here.

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