Entheogenic Drugs And The Archaeological Record
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Entheogenic Drugs And The Archaeological Record
Entheogenic drugs have been used by various groups for thousands of years. There are numerous historical reports as well as modern, contemporary reports of indigenous groups using entheogens, chemical substances used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Common era A Finnish study assayed psilocybin concentrations in old herbarium specimens, and concluded that although psilocybin concentration decreased linearly over time, it was relatively stable. They were able to detect the chemical in specimens that were 115 years old. New World The Maya, Olmecs, and Aztecs have well-documented entheogenic complexes. North American cultures also have a tradition of entheogens. In South America, especially in Peru, the archaeological study of cultures like Chavin, Cupisnique, Nazca and Moche, have demonstrated the use of entheogens through archaeobotanical, iconographic and paraphernalia. Olmec entheogens The Olmec (1200 BCE to 400 BCE) lived in Central America and are largely v ...
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Entheogenic Drugs
Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications'' pub. Park Street Press 2005 in sacred contexts. Anthropological study has established that entheogens are used for religious, magical, shamanic, or spiritual purposes in many parts of the world. Entheogens have traditionally been used to supplement many diverse practices geared towards achieving transcendence, including divination, meditation, yoga, sensory deprivation, healings, asceticism, prayer, trance, rituals, chanting, Imitation of sounds in shamanism, imitation of sounds, hymns like peyote songs, Drum circle, drumming, and ecstatic dance. The Psychedelic drug, psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as those experienced in meditation, ...
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Florentine Codex
The ''Florentine Codex'' is a 16th-century ethnographic research study in Mesoamerica by the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. Sahagún originally titled it: ''La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España'' (in English: ''The Universal History of the Things of New Spain''). After a translation mistake, it was given the name ''Historia general de las Cosas de Nueva España''. The best-preserved manuscript is commonly referred to as the ''Florentine Codex'', as the codex is held in the Laurentian Library of Florence, Italy. In partnership with Nahua men who were formerly his students at the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, Sahagún conducted research, organized evidence, wrote and edited his findings. He worked on this project from 1545 up until his death in 1590. The work consists of 2,400 pages organized into twelve books; more than 2,000 illustrations drawn by native artists provide vivid images of this era. It documents the culture, religious cosmology ( ...
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List Of Acacia Species Known To Contain Psychoactive Alkaloids
This article is a list of ''Acacia'' species (''sensu lato'') that are known to contain psychoactive alkaloids, or are suspected of containing such alkaloids due to being psychoactive. The presence and constitution of alkaloids in nature can be highly variable, due to environmental and genetic factors. Acacias known to contain psychoactive alkaloids Acacia species having little or no alkaloids in the material sampled Species containing a concentration of alkaloids of 0-0.02% include: * ''Acacia acinacea'' * ''Acacia baileyana'' * ''Acacia decurrens'' * ''Acacia dealbata'' * ''Acacia mearnsii'' * '' Acacia drummondii'' * ''Acacia elata'' * '' Acacia falcata'' * '' Acacia leprosa'' * '' Acacia linearis'' * ''Acacia melanoxylon'' * ''Acacia retinodes'' * ''Acacia saligna'' * ''Acacia stricta'' * ''Acacia verticillata'' * '' Acacia visco'' * '' Acacia vestita'' See also * Entheogenic drugs and the archaeological record * List of plants used for smoking * List of psychoactive ...
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History Of Entheogenic Drugs
Entheogenic drugs have been used by various groups for thousands of years. There are numerous historical reports as well as modern, contemporary reports of indigenous groups using entheogens, chemical substances used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Early history One of the oldest known entheogens is peyote, which has been used for at least 5,700 years by Native Americans in Mexico. 20th century In 1912 Merck laboratories sintetized the drug 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), currently known as ecstasy, It was used to enhance psychotherapy beginning in the 1970s and became popular as a street drug in the 1980s. In 1928 Heinrich Klüver was the first to systematically study its psychological effects in a small book called Mescal and Mechanisms of Hallucinations. The book stated that the drug could be used to research the unconscious mind. He coined the term "cobweb figure" in the 1920s to describe one of the four form constant geometric visual hallucina ...
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Cannabis And Religion
Different religions have varying stances on the use of cannabis, historically and presently. In ancient history some religions used cannabis as an entheogen, particularly in the Indian subcontinent where the tradition continues on a more limited basis. In the modern era Rastafari use cannabis as a sacred herb. Meanwhile, religions with prohibitions against intoxicants, Buddhism, Baháʼí, Latter-day Saints (Mormons) except with a prescription from a doctor, and others have opposed the use of cannabis by members, or in some cases opposed the liberalization of cannabis laws. Other groups, such as some Protestant and Jewish factions, and certain Islamic schools madhhabs have supported the use of medicinal cannabis. Historical religions In Ancient Egypt there is a written record of the medicinal use of hemp. Thus the Ebers papyrus (written 1500 BCE) mentions the use of oil from hempseed to treat vaginal inflammation. Cannabis pollen was recovered from the tomb of Ramses II, ...
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Ancient Use Of Cannabis
The history of cannabis and its usage by humans dates back to at least the third millennium BC in written history, and possibly as far back as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (8800–6500 BCE) based on archaeological evidence. For millennia, the plant has been valued for its use for fiber and rope, as food and medicine, and for its psychoactive properties for religious and recreational use. The earliest restrictions on cannabis were reported in the Islamic world by the 14th century. In the 19th century, it began to be restricted in colonial countries, often associated with racial and class stresses. In the middle of the 20th century, international coordination led to sweeping restrictions on cannabis throughout most of the globe. Entering the 21st century, some nations began to take measures to decriminalize or legalize cannabis. Ancient uses Hemp is possibly one of the earliest plants to be cultivated. Cannabis has been cultivated in Japan since the pre-Neolithic period for its f ...
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List Of Entheogens
This page lists substances used in ritualistic context. Psychoactive use Entheogens This is a list of species and genera that are used as entheogens or are used in an entheogenic concoction (such as ayahuasca). For ritualistic use they may be classified as hallucinogens. The active principles and historical significance of each are also listed to illustrate the requirements necessary to be categorized as an entheogen. The psychoactive substances are usually classified as soft drugs in terms of drug harmfulness. Animal Mushroom Plant Chemicals Many man-made chemicals with little human history have been recognized to catalyze intense spiritual experiences, and many synthetic entheogens are simply slight modifications of their naturally occurring counterparts. Some synthetic substances like 4-AcO-DMT are prodrugs that metabolize into psychoactive substances that have been used as entheogens. While synthetic DMT and mescaline are reported to have identical entheogenic qual ...
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Psilocybe Hispanica
''Psilocybe hispanica'' is a species of fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. It produces small brown mushrooms with conical to convex caps up to in diameter and stems long by thick. Reported as new to science in 2000, it is only known from the Pyrenees mountain range in northern Spain and southwestern France, where it grows on horse dung in grass fields at elevations of . The mushroom contains the psychoactive compound psilocybin. The possible depiction of this species in the 6,000-year-old Selva Pascuala rock art suggests that it might have been used in ancient religious rituals—the oldest evidence of such usage in prehistoric Europe. Taxonomy The species was described by Mexican mycologist Gastón Guzmán in a 2000 publication, based on specimens collected by Ignacio Seral Bozal near Huesca in northern Spain in 1995. ''Psilocybe hispanica'' is classified in the section ''Semilanceata'' of the genus ''Psilocybe'' because of its thick-walled spores and fruit body th ...
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Ego Death
Ego death is a "complete loss of subjective self-identity". The term is used in various intertwined contexts, with related meanings. Jungian psychology uses the synonymous term psychic death, referring to a fundamental transformation of the psyche. In death and rebirth mythology, ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition, as described by Joseph Campbell in his research on the mythology of the Hero's Journey. It is a recurrent theme in world mythology and is also used as a metaphor in some strands of contemporary western thinking. In descriptions of drugs, the term is used synonymously with ego-loss to refer to (temporary) loss of one's sense of self due to the use of drugs. The term was used as such by Timothy Leary et al. to describe the death of the ego in the first phase of an LSD trip, in which a "complete transcendence" of the self occurs. The concept is also used in contemporary New Age spirituality and in the modern understanding of Eastern religions to desc ...
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Therianthropic
Therianthropy is the mythological ability of human beings to metamorphose into animals or hybrids by means of shapeshifting. It is possible that cave drawings found at Les Trois Frères, in France, depict ancient beliefs in the concept. The best-known form of therianthropy, called lycanthropy, is found in stories of werewolves. Etymology The term ''therianthropy'' comes from the Greek ''thēríon'' ηρίον meaning "wild animal" or "beast" (implicitly mammalian), and ''anthrōpos'' νθρωπος meaning "human being". It was used to refer to animal transformation folklore of Europe as early as 1901. Sometimes the term " zoanthropy" is used instead. Therianthropy was used to describe spiritual beliefs in animal transformation in a 1915 Japanese publication, ''A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era''. One source, ''The Human Predator'', raises the possibility the term may have been used as early as the 16th century in crimin ...
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Psilocybe Mairei
''Psilocybe mairei'' is a species of mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. It is found in Algeria and Morocco and contains the psychoactive compound psilocybin. (on Fondazione Museo Civico di Rovereto) The oldest example of rock art suggesting use of psychedelic mushrooms might depict ''P. mairei''. In 1992 the Italian ethnobotanist Giorgio Samorini reported finding a painted mural from Tassili n'Ajjer in the Sahara desert in southeast Algeria, dated 7000 to 9000 BCE, portraying mushrooms (later tentatively identified as ''P. mairei''). See also *List of Psilocybin mushrooms *Psilocybin mushrooms *''Psilocybe ''Psilocybe'' ( ) is a genus of gilled mushrooms, growing worldwide, in the family Hymenogastraceae. Most or nearly all species contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin. Taxonomy Taxonomic history A 2002 study of the mole ...'' References {{Taxonbar, from=Q7255896 Entheogens Psychoactive fungi mairei Psychedelic tryptamine carriers Fun ...
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Tassili N'Ajjer
Tassili n'Ajjer ( Berber: ''Tassili n Ajjer'', ar, طاسيلي ناجر; "Plateau of rivers") is a national park in the Sahara desert, located on a vast plateau in southeastern Algeria. Having one of the most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world, and covering an area of more than , Tassili n'Ajjer was inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1982 by Gonde Hontigifa. Geography Tassili n'Ajjer is a plateau in southeastern Algeria at the borders of Libya, Niger, and Mali, covering an area of 72,000 km2. It ranges from east-south-east to . Its highest point is the Adrar Afao that peaks at , located at . The nearest town is Djanet, situated approximately southwest of Tassili n'Ajjer. The archaeological site has been designated a national park, a Biosphere Reserve (cypresses) and was inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage Site list as Tassili n'Ajjer National Park. The plateau is of great geological and aesthetic interest. Its panorama of g ...
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