The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications

4979 Pages·2005·71.77 MB·English

by  Christian Ratsch

Acknowledgments for the English Edition

I am very gratified that my Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants has received so
much international recognition that it is now being translated into English and
published by Inner Traditions and the courageous Ehud Sperling.
I would like to give special thanks to Dr. John R. Baker for his outstanding
translation of this Encyclopedia into English and for his meticulous efforts to
eliminate typographical and printing errors and bibliographic inconsistencies! I
would also like to thank Annabel Lee and Cornelia Ballent for their excellent
translation work.
Translating a work of this size into another language is an enormous
undertaking. For the translators, such a task poses many challenges; for the
editorial staff, it requires a painstaking attention to detail and a continuous
awareness of the big picture. And it is a risk for the publisher. For these reasons,
I would also like to thank all of the readers of the English edition for their
support of this project!

Christian Rätsch
Contents

Acknowledgments

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 Species from A to Z

Purported Psychoactive Fungi

General Literature on Psychoactive Fungi

PSYCHOACTIVE PRODUCTS

ACTIVE CONSTITUENTS OF PLANTS
Active Plant Constituents and Neurotransmitters

The Active Plant Constituents from A to Z

Botanical Taxonomy of Psychoactive Plants and Fungi

Footnotes

General Bibliography
Bibliographies
Periodicals

About the Author

About the Inner Traditions

Books of Related Interest

Copyright
Foreword

“The real is just as magical as the magical is real.”

ERNST JÜNGER
SIZILISCHER BRIEF AN DE MOUD [SICILIAN LETTER TO THE MOON]

In this world, the point at which something happens is determined by the
circumstances that call for it to happen. This Encyclopedia of Psychoactive
Plants had to appear at just this time, for our contemporary society has need of
such a work.
This need is connected with the spiritual and material dilemma of our times. It
is not necessary to list all of the things that are no longer right in our world. But
we can mention some: in the spiritual domain, materialism, egoism, isolation,
and the absence of any religious foundation; on the material level, environmental
destruction as a result of technological development and over-industrialization,
the ongoing depletion of natural resources, and the accumulation of immense
fortunes by a few people while the majority become increasingly destitute.
These ominous developments have their spiritual roots in a dualistic
worldview, a consciousness that splits our experience of the world into subject
and object.
This dualistic experience of the world first emerged in Europe. But it had
already been at work in the Judeo-Christian worldview, with its god that sits
enthroned above creation and humankind, and his admonition to “subdue . . . and
have dominion . . . over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
This is now occurring at a terrifying rate.
A change for the better will come about only when a general shift in
consciousness takes place. Our fractured consciousness, which Gottfried Benn
characterized as a “fateful European neurosis,” must be replaced by a
consciousness in which creator, creation, and created are experienced as a unity.
All means and all ways that will help lead to a new and universal spirituality
are worthy of support. Chief among these is meditation, which can be enhanced
and intensified through a variety of methods, including yogic practices,
breathing exercises, and fasting, and through the appropriate use of certain drugs
as pharmacological aids.
The drugs I am referring to belong to a special group of psychoactive
substances that have been characterized as psychedelics and, more recently, as
entheogens (psychedelic sacraments). These effect an enormous stimulation of
sensory perceptions, a decrease or even neutralization of the I–Thou boundary,
and alterations in consciousness in the form of both sensitization and expansion.
The use of such psychedelic drugs within a religio-ceremonial framework was
discovered among Indian tribes in Mexico at the beginning and in the middle of
the twentieth century.
This sensational discovery led to ethno-botanical investigations to remote
areas around the world to search for psychoactive plants, the results of which
were documented in numerous publications and pictures. The encyclopedic
compilation of ancient knowledge and new discoveries about psychoactive
plants that is in your hands was produced by a well-qualified author who has
contributed important new insights on the basis of his own fieldwork. It is an
undertaking of great value.
Disseminating knowledge about psychoactive plants, together with the proper
ways to use them, represents a valuable contribution within the context of the
many and growing attempts to bring about a new, holistic consciousness.
Transpersonal psychology, which is becoming ever more important in
psychiatry, pursues the same goal within a therapeutic framework.
The holistic perspective is more easily practiced on living nature than on the
inanimate objects created by humans. Let us look into a living mandala instead,
such as that found in the calyx of a blue morning glory, which is a thousand
times more perfect and beautiful than anything produced by human hand, for it is
filled with life, that universal life in which both the observer and the observed
find their own individual places as manifestations of the same creative spirit.

ALBERT HOFMANN, PH.D.
SUMMER 1997
Preface

“Thoughts are free, . . . for my thoughts tear the fences and walls asunder. . . .”

GERMAN FOLK SONG

My grandmother taught me many wise things that I have followed my entire life.
In particular, her saying “An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory” has
had a considerable influence upon me and made it much easier to follow the path
that has led me to the psychoactive plants.
It was during the 1967 “Summer of Love,” when I was ten years old, that I
first heard of hashish. I was listening to the radio. A menacing voice spoke of the
“horrible dangers” that were descending upon our imperiled youth with the “new
wave of drugs” from the United States. The picture that continues to dominate
our drug policies was sketched out in dramatic fashion: Hashish was a gateway
drug that inevitably, even compellingly, led to death from a golden shot of
heroin. This was terrible news! But by that time I had already learned that I
should not trust my teachers or the conservative politicians. I instinctively felt
that the voice on the radio was lying. As a result of that broadcast, I yearned for
nothing more than finally to try hashish myself (my experiments with cigarettes
were already behind me, and I had noticed that I could not find any use or
enjoyment there). At that time, it was not as easy to obtain hashish as it is today.
Two years went by before I had my first opportunity. Up until then, I had only
smoked dried banana peels and inhaled chloroform that I had synthesized
myself. One morning, on the school bus, an older student walked down the aisle
and whispered, “Hash, hash, anyone want hash?” “I do!” I cried, barely able to
contain my joy and excitement. Back then, one gram cost about 3.50 marks
(roughly one U.S. dollar), my entire allowance. But what does money mean
when we’re talking about the fulfillment of a two-year-old dream?
With the hashish in my pocket, I sat through my classes, bored to death as
usual, waiting for the time when I would finally make it back home. After the
ordeal of school, the time had finally come. I stood at home with my precious
stash and pondered the best way to smoke it. Tobacco was not an option, for I
genuinely disliked it. I went into the kitchen, saw a small bag of dried
peppermint leaves, and immediately knew that I had found the appropriate
admixture. I pedaled my bike into the nearby forest, stuffed a pipe full of mint
and hashish, and lit it up. I immediately sensed that this mixture was easy to
inhale, a wonderful contrast to those disgusting cigarettes. Although the effects
were mild, they were enough to make me want to continue my experiments. The
next time, I went into the forest with a friend and we smoked the pipe together.
An incredible sense of mirth overwhelmed us, and we almost split our sides with
laughter.
I now know that my quest to obtain hashish and my deliberations as to what it
could best be combined with marked the beginnings of my
ethnopharmacological research. Today, I still search for psychoactive plants in
all corners of the world and experiment with them until I have had meaningful
experiences with them and learned what I could from them. And I still feel that I
am being lied to when the media and the politicians talk about “drugs” and
“narcotics,” and I think to myself, “Oh, if only you too had smoked a nice pipe
of hashish when you were twelve; so many problems could have been avoided!”
During my fieldwork in Nepal, I learned that the three fundamental evils of
existence are hate, envy, and ignorance. The tantric doctrine has developed a
number of methods for becoming aware of these evils and overcoming them by
means of altered states of consciousness. It is my hope that all people—
especially the politicians and the psychiatrists of Western countries—will one
day understand that ignorance is one of the main reasons behind the catastrophic
condition of our Mother Earth!
During my extended journeys to the various continents, I have seen time and
again how people in all cultures, and of all social strata, religions, and skin
colors, consume psychoactive plants and psychoactive products. Why do people
ingest psychoactive substances? Because a fundamental drive for inebriation,
ecstasy, blissful sleep, knowledge, and enlightenment is written right into our
genes.
While working on the manuscript of this book, I realized that it would be my
first “life work.” The results of twenty years of research and experience are
compiled in this work. I have collected information all over the world,
assembled a large and specialized library, attended countless meetings and
symposia, photographed my way through the plant world, and experimented
with as many psychoactive plants as I could. The knowledge I have gained has
now been distilled and organized into this encyclopedia.