The anthology contains works by domestic and foreign authors, reflecting the main directions of research into the significance of altered states of consciousness for culture and society, their role in the origin and development of the human mind, the cultural and historical conditioning of the content, functions and characteristics of these states. The publication is addressed to psychologists and students students of psychology, cultural scientists, ethnographers, philosophers, sociologists, doctors (especially narcologists and psychiatrists), historians, religious scholars, as well as a wide range of readers interested in the problems of altered states of consciousness.