The Sacramental Use of Psychoactive Plants

A series of illustrations in a 15th century Timurid manuscript record the mi’raj, the ascent through the seven heavens by Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam. Several of the illustrations depict Burāq, the fabulous creature by means of which Mohammed achieves his ascent, with distinctive features of the Amanita muscaria mushroom. A. muscaria or “fly agaric” is a psychoactive mushroom used by Siberian shamans to enter the spirit world for the purposes of conversing with spirits or diagnosing and curing disease. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the author explores the routes by which Burāq could have come to be depicted in this manuscript with the characteristics of a psychoactive fungus, when any suggestion that the Prophet might have had recourse to a drug to accomplish his spirit journey would be anathema to orthodox Islam. There is no suggestion that Mohammad’s night journey (isra) or ascent (mi’raj) was accomplished under the influence of a psychoactive mushroom or plant.

Having written previously on Mestizo Modernisms, Hedrick is now at work on a study of national and cosmic identity discourse across the Latin American and Latino Americas diaspora.  Her meditation on the mid-20th century Mexican mushroom vogue is drawn from that project, whose working title is Queering the Cosmic Race: Gloria Anzaldúa, Ana Mendieta, and Walter Mercado, 1968-2010.

Preface
Throughout all of Europe we find examples of folk-belief assigning special qualities to the seventh-born son or daughter of a family. At times these attributes were positive, at times negative. However, they always had a magical aura about them (Bloch [1924] 1983). For the most part, these beliefs have been written off as superstitious residue from times past and as a result little attention has been paid to documenting the concrete social practices associated with them. An exception to this tendency is the work of Marc Bloch, who in 1924, called attention to the supernatural powers attributed to the seventh son and at times, to the seventh daughter, born after an uninterrupted series of the same sex, remarking that seventh-born children were credited with a “particular supernatural power” (Bloch [1924] 1983: 293, 296). Writing in 1924, Bloch observed that “La croyance sous cette forme a été et est sans doute encore très largement répandue dans l’Europe occidentale et centrale: on l’a signalée en Allemagne, en Biscaye, en Catalogne, dans presque toute la France, dans les Pays-Bas, en Angleterre, en Escosse, en Irlande […]”  (Bloch [1924] 1983: 294-295).

Specifically, Bloch noted that from at least the 16th century onwards, children born into a seventh position in their family supposedly had the power to heal by touch. Such extraordinary people, often deemed sorcerers, even devils, were also referred to by a variety of expressions such as mahr (German) or murawa (Polish) and consequently they had the ambivalent privilege of tapping into powers that were inaccessible to normal humans. Specifically, they were viewed as having healing and divinatory powers, which could entail shape-shifting (Vaz da Silva 2003). That is, those individuals were endowed with the ability to take the form of an animal. From the point of view of modern Western thought this belief causes the dividing line between humans and animals to become blurred. Nonetheless, that blurring or fusion of two natures would be in accordance with the cosmology of native peoples in other parts of the world, especially contemporary hunter-gatherers, where such animistic beliefs also prevail (Bird-David 1999; Brightman 2002; Ingold 2000; Willerslev 2007).

It is quite clear that the qualities assigned to the seventh-son or daughter harken back to an earlier animistic mindset, notions of nonhuman personhood and social practices that in turn connect back to shamanic modes of healing. At the same time, as noted in the earlier chapters of this study, the fused nature of the Bear Son, the half-human, half-bear being known as Hamalau “Fourteen” in Basque, reflects a similar blurring of the Western human-animal divide and related cultural conceptualizations.

And as Bertolotti has demonstrated in his detailed and extraordinarily well researched study Carnevale di Massa 1950 (1992), European versions of the Bear Son folktales, e.g., Giovanni l’Orso, may well reproduce much earlier beliefs, more in consonance with the cosmovision of hunter-gatherers who inhabited these zones in times past. More concretely, the fact that the figure of Hamalau is grounded in the belief that humans descended from bears allows us to consider the significance and symbolism of this character’s own genesis: he is born of a human female, but his father is a bear. In this sense, he is a double-natured intermediary occupying the ontological ground between humans and bears.

The purpose of this article is to provide a ‘state of the art’ research overview of what is currently known about how entheogens, including the classic psychedelics, affect the brain and transform conscious experience through their altered receptor dynamics, and to explore their implications for understanding the conscious brain and its relationship to existential reality, and their potential utility in our cultural maturation and understanding of the place of sentient life in the universe.

A series of illustrations in a 15th century Timurid manuscript record the mi’raj, the ascent through the seven heavens by Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam. Several of the illustrations depict Bur¯aq, the fabulous creature by means of which Mohammed achieves his ascent, with distinctive features of the Amanita muscaria mushroom. A. muscaria or “fly agaric” is a psychoactive mushroom used by Siberian shamans to enter the spirit world for the purposes of conversing with spirits or diagnosing and curing disease. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the author explores the routes by which Bur¯aq could have come to be depicted in this manuscript with the characteristics of a psychoactive fungus, when any suggestion that the Prophet might have had recourse to a drug to accomplish his spirit journey would be anathema to rthodox Islam. There is no suggestion that Mohammad’s night journey (isra) or ascent (mi’raj) was accomplished under the influence of a psychoactive mushroom or plant.

This paper will evaluate the hypothesis that the phylogenetic development of higher cognitive faculties in human beings was prompted by the prehistoric, ritualistic use of psychotropic hallucinogens, or entheogens. The ritualistic use of entheogenic drugs is a uniquely human behavior. Although ample evidence supports the existence of a preference for intoxicated states among elephants, chimpanzees, and some butterflies (McKenna 1992:XVI), no other species replicates our elaborate, culturally institutionalized relationship with the metabolites of psychoactive plants. The use of plants by humans can be considered a cultural mimetic complex, an agglomeration of cultural knowledge and experience that has been transmitted and imitated since the beginnings of our collective history. This mimetic complex has, through the influence of physiologically active metabolites, stimulated human symbol formation, linguistic facility, and olfactory sensitization, all of which conferred important evolutionary advantages to our phylogenetic predecessors. By determining the ultimate evolutionary function of shamanic practices and the neural ecology of psychotropic-induced altered states of consciousness, we may illustrate a holistic view of plants, humans, evolution, and the transpersonal experience of psychointegration.

El texto considera una exposición en torno a la cibercultura y su posible relación con el ámbito de lo sacro a través de la figura del cyborg. La ponencia expondrá algunos nodos claves para comprender cómo se vivencian religiosidades y articulan mitologías contemporáneas en el ámbito de lo digital que guardan fuertes relaciones con metáforas arcaicas. Particularmente nos referiremos al cyborg, híbrido entre máquina y hombre como producción simbólica actual de un sujeto que intenta extender las fronteras de su corporalidad matérica y orgánica en pos de una ampliación de sí mismo más- allá de lo terrenal. Con esto, se pondrá en relieve un estatus del cuerpo y por ende de lo humano, que devela un deseo ancestral de trascender los límites de lo físico, al igual que chamanes y rituales de las culturas mítico-mágicas que buscaban un salir del cuerpo para vincularse con animales, espíritus, etc. Así, lo post- orgánico y lo virtual, conceptos asociados a simbología de índole futurista, develan un anclaje transhistórico y transcultural que potencia su importancia como criterios de análisis para las representaciones del cuerpo en el mundo contemporáneo.

This paper provides a summary and analysis of the regulation of ayahuasca in Brazil, from its prohibition in the mid-eighties to the recent adoption of CONAD's (Conselho Nacional de Políticas sobre Drogas) 2010 Resolution, which established a set of rules, norms and ethical principles to be applied to religious and ritual uses of ayahuasca. Brazil's regulatory process is used as a starting point to explore emerging international regulatory themes as various nations respond to the global expansion of the Santo Daime and UDV (União do Vegetal) ayahuasca religions.The text reviews the primary legislative and court documents, academic literature, as well as solicited expert opinions.Three prominent themes have emerged internationally. The first concerns the scope of international treaties regarding plant-based psychoactive substances, as well as the responsibilities of individual nations to adhere to said treaties. The second concerns the scope of religious liberty and how to determine religious legitimacy. The final theme addresses the potential dangers of ayahuasca to health and public safety.Over the past 20 years the Brazilian ayahuasca religions have established a global presence, with congregations in the USA, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Australia, and throughout Europe and Latin America. As a result, many nations are faced with the predicament of balancing the interests of these religious minorities with the international “war on drugs.” The regulatory process applied in Brazil exemplifies a progressive approach, one which considered issues of anthropology and involved representatives of ayahuasca religions, and which provided a degree of deference to the principle of religious liberty. The Brazilian process has influenced judicial and administrative decisions internationally, and stands as a model worthy of further consideration.

In 1968 R. Gordon Wasson first proposed his groundbreaking theory identifying Soma, the hallucinogenic sacrament of the Vedas, as the Amanita muscaria mushroom. While Wasson’s theory has garnered acclaim, it is not without its faults. One omission in Wasson’s theory is his failure to explain how pressing and filtering Soma, as described in the Rig Veda, supports his theory of Soma’s identity. Several critics have reasoned that such preparation should be unnecessary if equivalent results can be obtained by consuming the raw plant, as is done with other psychoactive mushrooms. In order to address these specific criticisms over 600 anecdotal accounts of Amanita muscaria inebriation were collected and analyzed to determine the impact of preparation on Amanita muscaria’s effects. The findings of this study demonstrated that the effects of Amanita muscaria were related to the type of preparation employed, and that its toxic effects were considerably reduced by preparations that paralleled those described for Soma in the Rig Veda. While unlikely to end debate over the identity of Soma, this study’s findings help to solidify the foundation of Wasson’s theory, and also to demonstrate the importance of preparation in understanding and uncovering the true identity of Soma.

There is an accelerating interest in strong acting psychoactive plants such as ayahuasca for healing and personal development. However, what has become apparent with initiating into South African traditional healing, and key literature sources from South America, is the importance not only of the strong mind 'opening' visionary plants but the equally significant utilization of subtle acting psychoactive plants that cleanse and strengthen the initiate healers, that are used in a sequence of initiation plant medicines both in the South African and South American traditional medicine systems. This paper explores and describes a cross cultural technology of healing with psychoactive initiation plants that are used in a sequential manner in order to take the initiate traditional healer through a process of self enquiry, growth and potential self-mastery. Understanding this sequential use of traditional initiation plant medicines and their physiological and psychological correlates could elucidate possible therapeutic mechanisms involved with the use of psychoactive traditional medicines and their potential applications in future medicine and healing. The connection is also made between the role of perturbation in the learning process healers engage and how psychoactive plants produce perturbation in the nervous system and what adaptive benefit this may have.

At present, there is a lack of academic literature on the subject of Rastafarians (RASTAFARI); in one part, my efforts are to correct this. In another manner, this lack of “citable” material is mentioned that for the purposes of this paper, my sources include appropriate materials available. Information on the ancestors of the RASTAFARI people that I am studying was collected and kept by the oppressors, not kept at all, or purposefully destroyed. Much of the story of the ancestors was shared by oral traditions; the last 60 years it has been shared through recorded music. The descendants of these original people, removed from their lands and displaced into the new world use the technology and means of communication accessible to them. These mediums include: blogs, simple html websites, YouTube™ videos, and Facebook™ among other emerging technologies and portals. This directly relates to the theory of Transformative Adaptation: Indigenous people using the mediums available to them to transform their culture for a greater chance of survival in a globalized world.

Written with my friend D.S. Flattery, I took on the pen name of J.M. Pierce MD. I was a full time psychiatrist and Air Force reservist. Berkeley in the early 1960's was not such a liberal place, and the small book had to be privately published. It was written at a time when many in mental health were interested in the subject, and before the general public had acquired a taste for psychedelic drugs. By the late 1960's the dangers of psychoactive substances was clear to everyone.  This small volume is presented here for historical interest only.

The chemistry of the Amanita muscaria mushroom has long been a puzzle for scientists, and many pieces of this puzzle remain in dispute. One recurrent dispute centers on the role of muscarine in Amanita muscaria inebriations and poisonings. Currently, it is widely believed that muscarine does not occur in Amanita muscaria in pharmacologically active levels, however, anecdotal and folkloric evidence suggest otherwise. In order to resolve this confusion, over 600 anecdotal accounts of Amanita muscaria inebriation and poisonings were collected and analyzed for evidence of muscarine-like symptoms. The findings of this study demonstrated that consumption of moderate amounts of this mushroom was occasionally reported to produce physiological effects akin to muscarine poisoning in consumers.

Arguably, the religious use of hallucinogenic drugs stems from a human search of metaphysical insight, rather than from a direct need for cognitive, emotional, social, physical, or sexual improvement. Therefore, the sacramental and spiritual intake of hallucinogenic drugs goes so much beyond other biopsychosocial functions that it deserves its own category in the drug instrumentalization list.

Not much is known from an ethnohistorical perspective about the use of psychoactive substances in southern Central America; it is mainly through the archeological record that their presence in the past has been inferred. This article reviews evidence for the use of mind-altering plants and mushrooms in the societies that inhabited the current Costa Rican territory during pre-Columbian times, and explores the cultural significance of this activity. Historical, ethnographic, archeological, and paleobotanical information was examined and integrated with the data obtained from the analysis of 46 artifacts with a presumed linkage to psychoactive drug use that were selected from an exhaustive search in the collections of the Museums of the Central Bank of Costa Rica and the National Museum of Costa Rica. Preliminary results suggest the consumption of tobacco (Nicotiana spp. L.), morning glory (Ipomoea spp. L.), cohoba [Anadenanthera peregrina (L.) Speg.], psychedelic fungi [Amanita muscar...

Ayahuasca, a divine being, a plant teacher, an entheogen, a hallucinogen, a medicine, a drug, a “juice cleanse”, cognitive tool, a commodity, a preparation, a tea. The definitions associated with ayahuasca are almost as diverse as its uses. As the authors highlight, the use of ayahuasca throughout the world is composed of many different practices - indigenous
shamanism, religious groups, therapeutic use, neoshamanic groups associated with the new age movement, a particular form of tourism, and entrepreneurship, etc. Despite the variety of practices, uses and groups, they are all part of what the authors chose to call the “world ayahuasca diaspora”, or the ayahuasca boom. Thus, this volume presents has an important task: trying to understand the complexities regarding ayahuasca, as its use expands worldwide, and leads to reinventions and controversies. Issues such as tradition, identity, legitimacy, stigmatization, disputes between groups, legal prosecutions, drug policies, gain a new perspective through the ayahuasca diaspora lens.

Cult scenes illustrated in miniature on administrative stone seals and metal signet rings from Late Bronze Age Minoan Crete are commonly interpreted as “Epiphany Scenes” and have been called “shamanic.” “Universal shamanism” is a catch-all anthropological term coined to describe certain inferred ritual behaviours across widely dispersed cultures and through time. This study re-examines evidence for Minoan cultic practices in light of key tropes of “universal shamanism,” including consumption of psychoactive drugs, adoption of special body postures, trance, spirit possession, communication with supernatural beings, metamorphosis and the journey to other-worlds. It is argued that while existing characterisations of Minoan cult as “shamanic” are based on partial, reductionist and primitivist assumptions informed by neo-evolutionary comparative ethnologies, shamanism provides a dynamic framework for expanding understandings of Minoan cult. It is of course understood that while this study is a careful, informed analysis of the evidence, it is but one interpretation among others. ------------------------- Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture.

http://www.petergasser.ch & http://www.freiraum-institut.ch Jörg Fuhrmann besuchte den Psychiater Dr. med. Peter Gasser in seiner psychotherapeutischen Praxis in Solothurn und führte mit ihm ein spannendes Gespräch über Anwendung, Nutzen und Forschung zur LSD-Therapie und Psychotherapie mit psychoaktiven Substanzen (wie bspw. auch MDMA, Psilocybin). Die Psycholytische Therapie, bei der bewusstseinsverändernde Substanzen eingesetzt werden, ist zur Zeit aus legalen Gründen in Peter Gassers Praxis nur in Ausnahmefällen durchführbar. Die meisten hier besprochenen Substanzen sind in vielen Ländern Betäubungsmittel und somit in der Anwendung verboten oder eingeschränkt. Erkundigen Sie sich über die rechtliche Lage in Ihrem Land.