Akoma, Oakland’s First Black-Owned Psychedelic Church, Is Ready to Serve

A walkthrough of Akoma Entheogenic Church

Security checks my ID before welcoming me in. To my right, the backlit bar displays an elegant array of jars partly filled with dried mushrooms and cannabis, bottles of elixirs, and pitchers of jeweled-tone juices. A neon sign flashing the words “Akoma” and “Experience Euphoria” alongside a mushroom appears like a beacon. My eyes adjust to the warm lighting reflecting off walls painted red on one side, bricks on the other. It didn’t’t occur to me until later that this spot, located at 1727 Telegraph Ave. between 17th and 18th Street in Oakland – just up the road from the Fox Theater – used to be Somar Bar and Lounge, a joint I remember fondly from pre-pandemic life. Today, it’s home to Akoma Church of Entheogenic Plants, the Town’s first Black-owned psychedelic church.

“Akoma really is an idea. It's based on an Adinkra symbol for love, unity, endurance, understanding, patience, goodwill, and faithfulness,” explained an  owner who asked to be called “The Manager” in this interview. To the 48-year-old entrepreneur, Akoma the church is“basically a place where we use sacred plants like mushrooms and cannabis as we practice our religion. And it was created by us.”

Akoma opened its doors with a soft launch a few months ago to offer access to sacred plants in different formats, including capsules and gummies. Memberships are only available to adults aged 21 and older, and in addition to requiring registration and a valid ID, prospective members must also verbally state that they want to use entheogenic plants for religious purposes. For $5 a year, members gain access to the medicine and the space. For $20 a month, the benefits expand to include a range of wellness services including yoga and Zumba, and community events like comedy shows and panels. 

“We ask for certain donations depending upon the service” The Manager clarified. “But we're not going to turn anyone down. We're going to make sure that if you need the help, you can get it.”

Everything about Akoma is intentionally geared toward serving the needs of the community and was inspired by The Manager’s own experience. 

“I started microdosing [mushrooms] 4-5 years ago. I found them useful in my life for mental wellness and became a big believer,” he recalled. “I was going to different churches and thought they were adequate, but when I walk into any place I would like to see diversity. I would like to see people who look like me at some point, and not just working the counter.” 

The lack of diversity left The Manager longing for a psychedelics space that considered the experiences of Black and brown folks. “It’s understanding my background, understanding where I'm coming from, and [where] my people may be coming from,” he remarked. And he wasn’t alone; a group of Black women eventually approached The Manager expressing the same view. So they started brainstorming.

“No offense to anyone else, but as we're looking for a place where we could feel comfortable utilizing entheogenic plants, we felt like there was a gap,” he said. “It was lacking, and once I saw that I wasn't the only person who saw that, it really built up steam to say ‘hey, let's create a space for ourselves.’”

The seeds of what would become Akoma officially planted, the team began the hard work of creating, “a space that we could feel comfortable in, [where] we could celebrate our heritage, celebrate the sacred use of entheogenic plants with the thought of [being] a great place for people of color – Black people in particular,” he explained. That meant having conversations to define what this group of owners stood for, how they could support the community in ways that yielded a positive impact, and the details of what a BI&POC-centered entheogenic church should even look like.

But I had to confess: This place, with its red walls and chill vibes, looked more like a perfect excuse to dress up and go out on a Friday night, than it did a house of worship offering entheogenic sacraments — based purely on imagination of course, as this was my first visit to such a church. The Manager agreed. 

“When we're talking about how people may worship, what does the service look like? What should the space look like? It should look like a place where, like you said, on a Friday you want to be there, you want to enjoy yourself, you want to be at peace,” he said.

“When we grew up, we didn't have anybody to really guide us through our journey with mushrooms,” said Reggie Harris, Founder of Oakland Hyphae, its potency testing leg Hyphae Labs (where Akoma is a client), and the Hyphae Leaks Substack and podcast. He says Akoma’s presence “helps normalize mushrooms, particularly, in the Black community. It gives us [connection to] people who look like us [that] we can communicate with who’ve oftentimes had some of the same experiences. If you were to stand here at this place, it’s a Black crowd [here]. They're not advertising it, that’s just how it is.”

Sure enough, there were multiple Black practitioners studying Akoma’s menu within minutes of its opening that evening. The Manager placed a small amount of medicine on a small scale for a customer who asked to be called “L,” and then described coming across Akoma via Google search for “magic mushrooms”. 

“I went online, signed up, and then came through,” L said of his first visit, which left quite an impression. “I’m like, it's beautiful, people of color all up in here! They had the music up my first time in here, it was popping!” 

L began to explore the mushrooms as tea with The Manager’s guidance – and some trial and error. “I was a little bit nervous at first because I just smoke herb, mostly for my back pain and spasms. Taking muscle relaxers is gonna make me drowsy and I'm trying to get away from that. I had to learn that drinking [alcohol is] counter to the psilocybin. Then I thought you had to eat, because I was scared I’d get sick and start throwing up, but then it minimizes the psilocybin's effects when you’re on a full stomach.” 

L described the medicine as producing a euphoria similar to “a deep Indica feeling” before transitioning into a more visual experience. “It helps that intense, gnawing pain that I was feeling go away,” he added.“That was really powerful.”

According to The Manager, all who enter Akoma can expect education as part of their experience. “We get a ton of people searching for something different,” he said. “We have a dosing guide to give people at least a generalized idea of what you should be doing. We recommend microdosing so people don't just jump in – whether you are trying to stop using alcohol, dealing with depression, having some mental health issues, or just want to do something different [from] prescription drugs.” 

As The Manager prepares for Akoma’s official grand opening on June 29, the significance of this moment is not lost on him. Preferring to remain anonymous in this piece not only came as a result of last month’s reported raiding of a different minority-owned church in Oakland, but also from his past experiences in another sector of plant medicine.

“Being involved early on in the cannabis industry, being raided multiple times, seeing them disproportionately go after people of color, and then seeing the industry evolve and suddenly you really only see people of color delivering or budtending if they're lucky,” he stated. “I want to see a different system with this industry.”

A Black-owned entheogenic church is now open on a block filled with Black-owned businesses and located right in the heart of one of the most progressive cities in the country. Looks like the system is already changing. 

The grand opening is today June 29th, doors open at 3pm. With special guests: Kufikiri Imara, Ayize Everett, Roz McMillan and Acacea Lewis speaking about, “Healing with psycheleics in the Black community”. All are welcome, RSVP here!