Plants of the Gods

Disavowing the use of this volume as a guide to taking hallucinogens though they specify effective doses, experts overview the ritual/medicinal uses, botanical characteristics, chemistry, and range of 97 such plants featured in many unique color and b&w illustrations (some new to this edition). Schultes was the late director emeritus of the Botanic

"Richard Evans Schultes has been the nexus of almost everything interesting and supportive concerned with economic and cultural uses of plants. Plants of the Gods gives precise and illuminating portraits of the many peoples of the Earth who pay homage to and gain insights with the aid of psychedelic plants: an exquisite, thoroughly scholarly book."

Auteur

Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001) was a Jeffrey Professor of Biology and Director of the Botanical Museum at Harvard University, considered by many to be the father of modern ethnobotany.

Texte du rabat

Three scientific titans join forces to completely revise the classic text on the ritual uses of psychoactive plants. They provide a fascinating testimony of these ""plants of the gods,"" tracing their uses throughout the world and their significance in shaping culture and history. In the traditions of every culture, plants have been highly valued for their nourishing, healing, and transformative properties. The most powerful of those plants, which are known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of consciousness, have always been regarded as sacred. The authors detail the uses of hallucinogens in sacred shamanic rites while providing lucid explanations of the biochemistry of these plants and the cultural prayers, songs, and dances associated with them. The text is lavishly illustrated with 400 rare photographs of plants, people, ceremonies, and art related to the ritual use of the world's sacred psychoactive flora.

Contenu
Plants of the Gods
Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers
Preface
Introduction

1. What are Plant Hallucinogens
2. The Plant Kingdom
3. Phytochemical Research on Sacred Plants
4. Geography of Usage and Botanical Range
5. Plant Lexicon
6. Users of Hallucinogenic Plants
7. Overview of Plant Use
8. Fourteen Major Hallucinogenic Plants
9. Mainstay of the Heavens
10. The Hexing Herbs
11. The Nectar of Delight
12. St. Anthony's Fire
13. Holy Flower of the North Star
14. Guide to the Ancestors
15. Beans of the Hekula Spirit
16. Seeds of Civilization
17. The Magic Drink of the Amazon
18. Ayahuasca Analogs
    19 Trumpets of the Angels
19. The Tracks of the Little Deer
20. Little Flowers of the Gods
21. Diviner's Sage
22. Cactus of the Four Winds
23. Vines of the Serpent
24. Semen of the Sun
25. Gateway to Dreamtime
26. Chemical Structures of Hallucinogens
27. Uses of Hallucinogens on Medicine
    Epilogue
    Picture Credits
    Bibliography
    Acknowledgments
    Index