The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants

Zusatztext This book covers pretty much every psychedelic/psychoactive plant out there! including several that people may not realize have psychoactive properties...For anyone interested in learning more about psychoactive plants this book will likely answer all your questions and more. It's a great complement to other books on the subject as well as a stand-alone book for your education on this expansive and important topic. Zusammenfassung The most comprehensive guide to the botany! history! distribution! and cultivation of all known psychoactive plants. Informationen zum Autor Christian Rätsch! Ph.D.! is a world- renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants for spiritual as well as medicinal purposes. He studied Mesoamerican languages and cultures and anthropology at the University of Hamburg and spent! altogether! three years of fieldwork among the Lacandone Indians in Chiapas! Mexico! being the only European fluent in their language. He then received a fellowship from the German academic service for foreign research! the Deutsche Akademische Auslandsdienst (DAAD)! to realize his doctoral thesis on healing spells and incantations of the Lacandone-Maya at the University of Hamburg! Germany. In addition to his work in Mexico! his numerous fieldworks have included research in Thailand! Bali! the Seychelles! as well as a long-term study (18 years) on shamanism in Nepal combined with expeditions to Korea and the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon. He also was a scientific -anthro-pological advisor for expeditions organized by German magazines such as GEO and Spektrum der Wissenschaften (Spectrum of Sciences). Before becoming a full-time author and internationally renowned lecturer! Rätsch worked as professor of anthropology at the University of Bremen and served as consultant advisor for many German museums. Because of his extensive collection of shells! fossils! artifacts! and entheopharmacological items! he has had numerous museum expositions on these topics. He is the author of numerous articles and more than 40 books! including Plants of Love ! Gateway to Inner Space ! Marijuana Medicine ! and The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical Plants . He is also coauthor of Plants of the Gods ! Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas ! and Witchcraft Medicine and is editor of the Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness . A former member of the board of advisors of the European College for the Study of Consciousness (ECSC) and former president of the Association of Ethnomedicine! he lives in Hamburg! Germany. Klappentext In the traditions of every culture! psychoactive plants--those known to transport the mind to other dimensions of consciousness--have been regarded as sacred. This book details the history! botany! and use of psychoactive plants and is lavishly illustrated with color photographs of the people! ceremonies! and art related to the ritual use of the world's sacred psychoactive plants. Inhaltsverzeichnis Foreword Preface Introduction What Are Psychoactive Plants? The Use of Psychoactive Plants Psychoactive Plants and Shamanic Consciousness The Fear of Psychoactive Plants The Study of Psychoactive Plants Psychoactive Plants as Factors in the Development of Culture THE PSYCHOACTIVE PLANTS On the Structure of the Major Monographs The Most Important Genera and Species from A to Z Major Monographs Little-Studied Psychoactive Plants Minor Monographs Reputed Psychoactive Plants Legal Highs Psychoactive Plants That Have Not Yet Been Identified PSYCHOACTIVE FUNGI The Archaeology of Entheogenic Mushroom Cults Cultivating Mushrooms The Genera and ...

Auteur

Christian Rätsch, Ph.D. (1957 – 2022), was a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specialized in the shamanic uses of plants for spiritual as well as medicinal purposes. He studied Mesoamerican languages and cultures and anthropology at the University of Hamburg and spent, altogether, three years of fieldwork among the Lacandone Indians in Chiapas, Mexico, being the only European fluent in their language. He then received a fellowship from the German academic service for foreign research, the Deutsche Akademische Auslandsdienst (DAAD), to realize his doctoral thesis on healing spells and incantations of the Lacandone-Maya at the University of Hamburg, Germany.

In addition to his work in Mexico, his numerous fieldworks have included research in Thailand, Bali, the Seychelles, as well as a long-term study (18 years) on shamanism in Nepal combined with expeditions to Korea and the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon. He also was a scientific anthropological advisor for expeditions organized by German magazines such as GEO and Spektrum der Wissenschaften (Spectrum of Sciences).

Before becoming a full-time author and internationally renowned lecturer, Rätsch worked as professor of anthropology at the University of Bremen and served as consultant advisor for many German museums. Because of his extensive collection of shells, fossils, artifacts, and entheopharmacological items, he had numerous museum expositions on these topics.

He is the author of numerous articles and more than 40 books, including Plants of Love, Gateway to Inner Space, Marijuana Medicine, The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical Plants, and The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants. He is also coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, Witchcraft Medicine, Pagan Christmas, and The Encyclopedia of Aphrodisiacs and was editor of the Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness. A former member of the board of advisors of the European College for the Study of Consciousness (ECSC) and former president of the Association of Ethnomedicine, he lived in Hamburg, Germany.

Texte du rabat

In the traditions of every culture, psychoactive plants--those known to transport the mind to other dimensions of consciousness--have been regarded as sacred. This book details the history, botany, and use of psychoactive plants and is lavishly illustrated with color photographs of the people, ceremonies, and art related to the ritual use of the worlds sacred psychoactive plants.

Résumé
The most comprehensive guide to the botany, history, distribution, and cultivation of all known psychoactive plants.

Échantillon de lecture
**Introduction

"The peculiar, mysterious longing and desire for stimulants that is common to almost all peoples has always prevailed, to the extent that we are aware of historical traditions, and has been satisfied in the most varied of ways. Inducing a happy mood m which emotions, sorrows, and everything else that may weigh upon the soul can be forgotten; shifting into a state of partial or completely absent consciousness in which the individual, detached from the present, surrounded by the glowing and shining images of an excessively amplified imagination, becomes free from the misery of his every day life or from bodily pains; artificially inducing peace and sleep for the fatigued body and mind in all cases where these necessary requirements for life cannot he brought about in the normal manner, and finally gaining creative strength, both physical and mental, by means of these stimulants--these are the primary reasons why these agents are used."
--Louis Lewin, Über Piper Methysticum (Berlin 1885: 1)

Every day, most persons in most cultures, whether Amazonian Indians or Western Europeans, ingest the products of one or more psychoactive plants. Even the Mormons, who claim that they do not use "drugs," have a psychoactive stimulant: Mormon tea (Ephedra nevadensis), which contains the very potent alkaloid ephedrine, the model substance for amphetamine.

The use of psychoactive substances is extraordinarily common in the countries of South America. After rising, a typical Amazonian Indian will drink guaran&#225…