The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications

2251 Pages·2005·71.139 MB·English

by  Christian Rätsch

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Acknowledgments for the English Edition

I am very gratified that my Encyclopedia of Psycho-active 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
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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
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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

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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 Psycho-active 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
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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
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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.
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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.
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