Inner Worlds, Art and Sacred Plants

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Join the Luis Eduardo Luna, Steven F. White, and leading authorities on ethnobotany and ayahuasca for an enlightening afternoon Symposium and stimulating evening Salon this Saturday, November 19, at The Alchemist’s Kitchen in NYC. Learn more.

The following essay was included in the catalog for Luis Eduardo Luna’s 2015 Valparaiso University winter exhibition, “Inner Visions: Sacred Plants, Art, and Spirituality.” 

Since the advent of human consciousness, we have been drawn simultaneously towards the external and the internal world. Magnificent examples of figurative Paleolithic art have been preserved which depict many species of animals of economic or ritual importance. For example, the paintings depicting pig deer found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, according to recent studies, are at least 35,400 years old, and the horses, rhinoceri and lions from the Chauvet cave in southern France date from 30,000-32,000 BP. Representations of strange, non-naturalistic beings that are human-animal composites (therianthropes) also have been discovered from an equally distant past and probably possess a mythic-religious significance associated with ritual music and dance. In the cave at Fumane, near Verona (Italy), one of the oldest known depictions of a human being is a horned therianthrope. It is called “the shaman” and is at least 35,000 years old, with claims that it may be even 8,000 years older (Broglio et al. 2009). In the Chauvet cave (a World Heritage site), a mysterious figure is a composite of a female lower body and a feline head, with one of the legs growing into a second body that has a head of a bison. In the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, located in the Valley of Lone, Baden-Württemberg (Germany), a magnificent 32,000-year-old female wood sculpture with a lioness’s head was found. Perhaps the most famous therianthrope is the “dancing sorcerer” of the Cave of the Trois-Frères in France with a figure that seems to be in the process of animal transformation (figure 1). Numerous examples of therianthropes in rock art from various periods are found in the African continent (see http://www.sarada.co.za) as well as in the Americas (figure 2).

Therianthropes have been a part of our species’ artistic endeavors ever since. They are found in the human-headed winged bulls and lions guarding Assyrian palaces. In ancient Egypt, we have Anubis, the jackal-headed god associated with the afterlife, Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of war and battle, and, of course, the sphinx, silently gazing forever toward the eastern horizon. In India, there is Ganesha, the elephant god, and Hanuman, the monkey god. Fauns, centaurs, mermaids and angels are familiar images from antiquity, as well as Satan, a powerful archetype of Christianity and Islam, depicted as a therianthrope with horns, tail and wings. We find therianthropes in Picassos’ Minotaur. They are also the main heroes of today’s blockbuster films such as Spiderman, The X-Men, and the Na’vi of planet Pandora, in Avatar.

Clearly, our compulsion to create myths explaining our place in the natural world and the nature of existence itself dates from ancient times. What is the origin of all these enigmatic figures depicted in such diverse geographical areas since the very beginning? Do they come from dreams? Have they emerged from altered states of consciousness, as proposed by Lewis-Williams (2002)? Are they manifestations of beings that exist either in other dimensions or in the minds of particular individuals with enough power or charisma to imprint them in future generations? This remains a great mystery. In any case, they are certainly not beings from ordinary reality. Subjectively, at least, our ancestors were deeply affected by such apparitions, and, as far as we know, most cultures through time and space have believed that human-animal figures play an important role in supernatural worlds.

Historians usually mark 4,000 BCE as the approximate advent of complex societies. As children, we learned that civilization originated in the “Old World”, and only later in the “New World”.  This may be true if one takes into account the recent discoveries of Göbekli Tepe, in Turkey, where 11,000-year-old sophisticated ritual architectural sites are being unearthed, and if one also accepts the existence of a much older Egypt, which is still a matter of dispute (Schoch 1995). If, according to traditional interpretations, one views the origin of western civilization in Sumer, it is important to be aware that, at the same time, another civilizatory process was taking place on the other side of the Atlantic. One needs to visualize Norte Chico, located some 100 miles north of Lima, where archeologists have uncovered more than 30 major sites with monumental communal architecture (though lacking ceramics), occupying from 25 to 500 acres in an area along four short river valleys running into the ocean on a 15-mile stretch of Pacific coast. These sites are dated 3200-1800 BCE. Archeologists consider Norte Chico the cradle of Andean civilization.

Asians crossed to America through the now submerged Beringia, which, at that time, bridged the two continents from at least 37,000 years ago. The two populations were separated at the end of the last glaciation (18,000-12,000 BCE), each following their own development and establishing advanced civilizations on both sides of the Atlantic. These were two old worlds that would meet at a later point in time. And when it did happen, it was not the “discovery” of a new world but, rather, the violent collision of two ancient worlds, one overpowering the other, which gave birth to the new world in which we live today. I’m referring, of course, to 1492, when a process began by which the Americas were nearly totally overtaken by peoples from the other side of the sea.

At the end of the 15th century, two competing kingdoms (Portugal and Spain), on the western tip of Eurasia, began an impetuous expansion of exploration and conquest, the purpose of which was to dominate the whole world. Two more kingdoms, France and England, would soon enter the race. These nations had advanced navigation technology, superior weaponry and combat experience, as well as a cultural commonality that included a shared fervent religion: Christianity in its diverse forms. There was no such cohesion in the Americas. Apart from two large empires, the Incas in South America, and the Aztecs in Mesoamerica, Amerindians were fragmented into hundreds of cultures with various degrees of technical development.

Over the course of millions of years of separation, Eurasia and the Americas developed their own unique flora and fauna. One of the great differences between the two worlds was the larger emphasis given in Eurasia to the domestication of animals: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and chickens. This profoundly affected their way of life, their use of land and water, in addition to the development of their immune systems as they gradually developed a resistance to several illnesses that jumped from animals to humans during the domestication process. When the Europeans arrived on the other side of the Atlantic, they not only took their plants and animals with them, but also, unknowingly, a formidable biological weapon: their germs. Within 150 years of contact, approximately 90-95% of the Amerindian population had disappeared. Concurrently, plants and animals from Eurasia invaded the Americas, initiating what Crosby (1986) calls “biological imperialism”.  

Few animals were domesticated originally in the Americas, and all of these had a limited geographical impact: the llama, alpaca and guinea pig of the Andes, the turkey and the dog in Mesoamerica. Eurasian plants played, then as well as now, a crucial global role, as we still consume rye, wheat, rice, barley, rye and chickpeas. But Amerindians mastered different ecosystems with great skills, developing hydraulic technology and domesticating plants for food and a wide range of other uses: the many varieties of corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, squash, manioc, quinoa, amaranth, edible cacti, avocados, pineapples, and numerous other fruits; stimulants such as cacao, tobacco, coca and mate; medicines such as quinine (used in the treatment of malaria) and the active compounds from the various curare of Amazonians which now make open heart surgery possible. Rubber extracted from several species of Hevea was essential in the birth of modern transportation (bicycles and cars) as well as other industries.  

It is within this larger context of plant knowledge that one needs to consider the discovery and use in the Americas of numerous species of psychotropic plants, probably within a shamanic context. Once this important defining characteristic is understood, suddenly a great deal of previously enigmatic pre-Columbian art makes far more sense. Representations of the human-jaguar motif, for example, are found all over Central and South America, as Stone (2011) has demonstrated. Reichel-Dolmatoff (1988) recognized the birdman motif in a large number of Colombian Amerindian works in gold. Many of these figures are probably expressions of subjective states: animal transformation, for instance, or depictions of meetings in non-ordinary states of consciousness with therianthropes. The use of psychotropic plants seems to coincide with the dawn of certain major Amerindian civilizations. From Caral (2600 BCE), one of the ceremonial sites of Norte Chico, we know of inhalators used to absorb a plant, though it has yet to be identified botanically. Coca was in use since at least 8,000 BCE and is still considered sacred among Andean communities of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, as well as indigenous groups of the Sierra Nevada in northern Colombia.

In the circular plaza of the temple of Chavín de Huántar (1200-300 BCE), one of the figures in the gallery of the offerings (figure 3) is a man-jaguar therianthrope with snakes as hair and a belt holding a piece of Trichocereus pachanoi, the well-known San Pedro cactus still used by healers in Andean and coastal Peru. Chavín ceramic representations of this cactus, either in association with a jaguar or a deer, confirm its importance in this advanced culture.

Several hundred Maya mushroom stones have been found in Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala, dating from 2500 BP. Mushrooms are still used ritually by Mazatec healers, as the meeting of Gordon Wasson and María Sabina revealed (Wasson 1980). Peyote buttons that date from approximately 3000 BCE were found in a cave in Texas in a context suggesting ritual use (Schultes & Hofmann 1979:132). There are ceramic representations of peyote from Monte Albán (300-100 AD) and Colima (100 AD) in Mexico.  Although persecuted by the religious and civil authorities of Mexico since the 16th century, peyote is still the central sacrament of the Huichol, Cora and Taraumara of that country. In the US the American Indian sacramental use of peyote was threatened in 1990 by an ominous decision of the Supreme Court, in response to which the Native American Church (NAC) seeking protection of the ancient use of Peyote prevailed on Congress to enact in 1993 the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and to amend in 1994 the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), both signed into law by President Clinton, to ensure the continued religious use of peyote by thousands of members of the Native American Church.

The oldest date for the use of Anadenanthera colubrina (based on known archeological evidence) is from around 2100 BCE. A related species, Anadenanthera peregrina, was used by indigenous groups of northern South America and taken to the Antilles around 2000 BP. The first book written in the Americas in a European language was mostly about the ritual used of cohoba (the vernacular name of this plant) by the Taíno on the island of Hispaniola (known today as Haiti/Dominican Republic). This book was written by Ramón Pané, a Catalonian friar, under the orders of Christopher Columbus during his second voyage of conquest and discovery (Pané 2008). The seeds of these two species were roasted, ground to powder and inhaled by means of snuff trays and inhalators of various kinds.

Anadenanthera colubrina had obvious religious significance in the remarkable Tiwanaku culture (0-1000 AD), which had its capital near the shores of Lake Titicaca. In the Ponce Stela at the Kalasasaya Courtyard, a figure holds in his hands strange objects that archeologists believe were ritual objects of some kind. Thanks to discoveries in San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile, an area influenced by Tiwanaku, these objects are now identified as paraphernalia related to the inhalation of the seeds of A. colubrina. In San Pedro de Atacama, approximately 25% of the male funerary bundles contain perfectly preserved wool bags enclosing wooden snuff trays for depositing the seed powder, inhalators and tiny spoons to handle it, as well as leather pouches containing snuff powder with traces of bufotenine, its main psychoactive compound (Torres & Repke 2006). In spite of persecution by religious authorities, as was the case with other sacred plants, A. peregrina and A. colubrina are still used by a limited number of indigenous groups.

Ayahuasca is the Quechua name of a brew consumed in the Amazonian areas of Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, and parts of Ecuador. It is prepared by cooking the stem of Banisteriopsis caapi, a vine in the Malphighiaceae family, and the leaves of Psychotria viridis, in the Rubiaceae. In Colombia and adjacent areas of the Ecuadorian Amazon, a normally cold infusion known as yajé is prepared by macerating the stem of Banisteriopsis caapi and the leaves of Diplopterys cabrerana, another malphighiaceous vine. Both preparations are pharmacologically similar: P. viridis and D. cabrerana contain dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an alkaloid present in many plants and in all mammals, including, of course, humans. This alkaloid is orally inactive, but in the presence of harmine from the Banisteriopsis vine, it crosses the blood brain barrier, stimulates serotonin-2A receptors and blocks adjacent metabotropic glutamate receptors in the nervous system, and finally binds to sigma-1 receptors inside the neurons. In appropriate concentration it produces changes in mood and cognition, and often elicits extraordinary visions that are culturally interpreted. Recent studies show that DMT has anti-inflammatory properties at a cellular level and may play a role as an immune regulator (Frecska et al. 2013; Szabo et al. 2014). It is extraordinary that such as simple molecule on the cellular level has such healing property, while at the same time opens up the visionary realm.  

 The names ayahuasca and yajé may be used to refer solely to the Banisteriopsis vine, but there are also numerous vernacular names among the dozens of indigenous groups that use these preparations in the Upper Amazon. In the Peruvian Amazon, other admixture plants (some of them psychoactive) may be added to the basic ayahuasca brew. In the Sibundoy Valley, in the Colombian Putumayo area, the Kamsá and Ingano –with a special expertise in Brugmansia species- add potential medicinal plants to yajé in order to study their properties and thus expand their pharmacopeia (Bristol 1966).  The oldest known archeological reference to ayahuasca is no more than two hundred years old, but the use of at least Banisteriopsis caapi is probably much older. Among contemporary Amazonians it is used to communicate with the spiritual side of nature, for divination (diagnosing illness, finding lost objects or learning about others), or as a tool “to learn” about this and other worlds. It is also connected with ethical aspects: it is given to young people as an initiation to help them to lead a good life. Among the Aguaruna (or Awajún, their endonym) it is not enough simply to know facts; one must learn to think well by bringing together the body, the emotions, and the intellect in the epiphany of the visionary experience (Brown 1985). It is also the source of inspiration for indigenous songs and ornamentation. Reichel-Dolmatoff (1971, 1978) was the first to realize that the decoration on the communal houses or malocas, ceramics, and painting in general, was associated with the visions that the Desana and Barasana of the Colombian Vaupés received under the effects of caapi, their vernacular name for the Banisteriopsis vine.  Jean Langdon (1979) discovered that among the Siona of Southwest Colombia the body painting mimics designs perceived on the spirits encountered in visions. In Siona culture, most narrative is related to the adventures of shamans in parallel worlds. The Shipibo of the Ucayali believe they are covered and penetrated by normally invisible three-dimensional designs that are revealed in non-ordinary states of conscious and subsequently are represented by the woman through the textiles, ceramics and body painting. In earlier times, they also covered houses and objects of their material world. These designs have a musical aspect: shamans see them when they ascend to the summit in their cosmology and listen to the songs of the spirits. These are the same songs they use to cure their patients, restoring their spiritual patterns to them in the healing process (Gebhart-Sayer 1985).  All designs are believed to be found on the skin of the cosmic serpent, a spiritual being that surrounds the world (which, curiously enough, is also the case in Germanic cosmology). Music is probably older than language itself. To a certain extent, the so-called power of the shaman resides in an ability to evoke powerful, non-linguistic, archetypical images through his chanting.

From 1980-1986, I carried out research among vegetalistas, mestizo practitioners who use ayahuasca, tobacco, and other powerful plants as a vehicle to diagnose and heal illness, which is thought to be caused in most cases by soul loss or by an animated agent that is either natural or supernatural. Vegetalistas are experts in the use of specific powerful plants they believe are doctores or plant-teachers from whom it is possible to learn medicine and acquire certain powers.  A strict diet and isolation that may last for several months or even years is required in order to “learn from the plants”. Transmission of knowledge is most often mediated through icaros, powerful songs or melodies used in their shamanic practice.  This tradition is at least one hundred years old. When I was doing research in the 1980s, I was worried this tradition was in danger of disappearing, since, at that time, I did not meet any young people interested in undergoing the hardships of such training. This situation has radically changed since the beginning of the 1990s due to the interest in ayahuasca shown by a growing number of non-Amazonians. Today, there are dozens of practitioners, some Amazonians (indigenous or mestizo), some from a surprising variety of Western countries and even beyond, who are offering sessions or have created centers where it is possible to be in isolation and observe the required diet.   

In the summer of 1985, ethnopharmacologist Dennis McKenna and I were collecting plants in Pucallpa, in the Peruvian Amazon. Dennis introduced me to Pablo Amaringo (1938-2009), then living in a very modest house with no electricity, running water or proper sanitation. I soon realized that Pablo Amaringo was very knowledgeable about the mestizo ayahuasca traditions I was then studying. He had been a vegetalista but had stopped practicing seven years before we met.  Almost by chance, he showed us a few watercolors on cheap paper depicting jungle motifs. He claimed to have a photographic memory. I was inspired by Reichel-Dolmatoff, who had taken paper and pencils to the Barasana, a Tucanoan group of the Columbian Vaupés, and asked them to paint whatever they wanted. They painted their visions. I asked Pablo whether he could remember his visions under the effects of ayahuasca. He made two paintings, and gave each of us one of them. At home in Helsinki, where I was living at that time, I photocopied the painting I had received from Pablo and requested an explanation with regard to several elements in his painting, which he did without delay. This initial painting and the letters we exchanged are displayed in the exhibit. I understood that Pablo could elucidate the inner world of mestizo Amazonians graphically, and, for years, I provided him with the best possible art materials, organized exhibitions, transformed his living conditions and those of his family, and finally published Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (Luna & Amaringo 1991). The paintings displayed here are among those I acquired from Pablo during the first years that he began to produce his work.

Once copies of Pablo’s paintings began to circulate, and even more so when the book was published, I witnessed a profound reaction among Peruvian Amazonians themselves, who immediately recognized that these paintings depicted worlds revealed by the ayahuasca experience. Except for a few illustrations by Peruvian artist Yando Ríos that appeared in a book on ayahuasca by his wife, anthropologist Marlene Dobkin de Rios (1972), to the best of my knowledge no artist had attempted to render these kinds of visions as works of art. Friends of mine who are anthropologists took the book to Amazonian indigenous communities and encountered similar reactions. The book also caused something of an international stir, with some people claiming this publication was partially responsible for the new global interest in ayahuasca.

In 1988, Pablo Amaringo and I created the Usko-Ayar Amazonian School of Painting in Pucallpa, a project to which I dedicated several years of my life, buying high- quality materials, photographing the art, and organizing exhibits in various countries. At its apex, the school had three hundred students, mostly between the ages of 10- 20. Amazonians seem to have extraordinary eidetic memories, and Pablo, a remarkable pedagogue, was able to transmit his own technique of projecting on paper what the students had seen in the forest. Although it might be difficult to believe, not a single sheet of high quality paper was ever wasted. A few students attempted to paint their own ayahuasca visions, but Pablo, who had already abandoned his practice as a vegetalista many years before, did not encourage it.

One of these students (and certainly the most talented), Anderson Debernardi, entered the school at age 18, but left after a few years to follow his own path, specializing in highly realistic depictions of Amazonian birds, plants and forest landscapes. In 1994, due to an urgent need to continue my own research in other areas, I resigned from my responsibilities at the Usko-Ayar school. I was offered a visiting professorship in the department of anthropology of Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Florianópolis in southern Brazil. Several years later, I saw Andy, who had just finished several huge murals at the Helsinki Zoo. I knew he had partaken of several ayahuasca sessions and that they had a great impact on his life. I proposed that he paint his visions. The result is clearly astounding. He gives the same kind of fine detail to his visions that he does to his strictly naturalistic paintings.

Donna Torres, whose father is Canadian and mother is Colombian, is a painter, an art teacher and a botanical illustrator. She has collaborated with scientific drawings in publications by retired art historian and archeologist Professor Constantino Manuel Torres, her husband. Manolo is an expert on Tiwanaku, the world authority on pre-Columbian snuff-trays, and has travelled extensively to visit important archeological sites, especially in Northern Chile, always accompanied by Donna, who is herself interested in shamanic traditions and sacred Amerindian plants.  I met Donna and her husband in July 1985 at the 45th Congress of the Americanists, which that year was held in Bogotá. They were in the audience of the very first international and interdisciplinary symposium on ayahuasca, which I organized. The three of us became instant friends and have collaborated since then on various projects. I have followed Donna’s artistic development with admiration and I am extremely thankful for her collaboration not only with paintings, but also with her exquisite botanical drawings of sacred plants.

I met Rick Harlow in 1993 through legendary Professor Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001), the father of modern ethnobotany. Rick was our guide when Pablo Amaringo, two of his students and I visited Washington in 1994 in connection with an exhibition at the Capital Children’s Museum. As a result of subsequently meeting him on many occasions in various countries, I became aware not only of his work as an artist, but also his admirable commitment to various projects with Colombian indigenous groups, such as teaching the Amazonian Makuna and Tanimuka to make paper with the pulp of Cecropia species and helping the Arahuacos and Kogi of the Sierra Nevada, in northern Colombia, to record and publish tales of the elders in their native language for free distribution among the young.  In his paintings, Rick juxtaposes the visionary realm with nearly photographically realistic landscapes. “Ayahuasca taught me to read the book of nature,” he says. Rick was one of the artists I invited to participate in the exhibition Visions That the Plants Gave Us, which took place in 1999 at the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, and I am grateful he accepted to exhibit some of his truly exemplary, intriguing paintings here in Valparaiso.

Alex Sastoque is a Colombian artist, who, in my opinion, is a rising star. He is the youngest of the artists in this exhibition, but already has compiled an impressive artistic résumé. We have not yet met in person, but Skype is a good substitute. Donna suggested that I consider his work while I was in the process of planning this exhibition. Alex’s art is obviously influenced by Amerindian shamanic themes –for instance the therianthrope motif- since he has taken the sacred plants in ceremonies with several indigenous groups. At the same time, he has collaborated with the great visionary artist Ernst Fuchs. This is a powerful artistic confluence that is perfectly visible in Alex’s work.  

What might the current interest in sacred Amerindian plants mean for the religious and spiritual life of today’s globalized world? It isn’t entirely clear. New religions that adopted ayahuasca as a sacrament under the names Santo Daime and Vegetal emerged in Acre and Rondônia (in the Brazilian Amazon) beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1960s. These syncretic religious institutions incorporate Christianity, Afro-Brazilian religious elements, European esoteric traditions and Amazonian ideas. Undoubtedly, institutions of many kinds are now being developed that will have a future impact. Experiences with sacred plants (in the proper setting) are not incompatible with these worldviews or symbolic systems. Previously held cosmological ideas may even be reaffirmed: encounters with Jesus or Mary, Lord Shiva, Odin, Ogun, the Cosmic Serpent, the World Tree, or Mother Earth (Gaia) are common. Strassman (2014) finds powerful explanatory models in the mystic Jewish tradition for the DMT experience. And, certainly, as presented by Professor Richard DeMaris in this catalogue, visionary experiences abound in the Christian tradition.

Remarkably, regardless of their cultural background, many persons participating in ceremonies with the sacred plants discover a renewed interest in nature and environmental issues. This represents extremely important common ground. In this time of ecological calamity caused in part by the desacralization of nature, all world religions and spiritual traditions (regardless of ideological differences) urgently need to reconsider our relationship with the natural world. The worship of nature may unite us more than anything else and allow us to overcome doctrinal discrepancies that are relatively unimportant if considered from the perspective of human culture as a whole.

Our Western contemporary world is perhaps an historical exception in that our attention is constantly being drawn (in keeping with the devastating logic of unbridled consumerism) solely towards controlling and profiting from the external world. We have forgotten our own traditions that facilitate entering inner worlds during our waking hours, even though we have learned the benefits of meditation from the East. Too often, we pay no attention to our dreams, arranging our lives so that we are violently disconnected every morning from our inner world by all sorts of clocks and artifacts. Art saves us, which perhaps explains why it fascinates us. Art reminds us (sometimes explicitly, as in the case of the artists in this exhibition) of other realities, hidden in the inner recesses of our minds.  

References

Bristol, Melvin Lee. 1966. The Psychotropic Banisteriopsis Among the Sibundoy of Colombia. Botanical Museum Leaflets. Harvard University. Vol. 21 No.5, pp 113-140.  

Broglio, A., De Stefani, M., Gurioli, F., Pallecchi, P., Giachi, G., Higham, T., & Brock, F. (2009). L’art aurignacien dans la décoration de la Grotte de Fumane L’Anthropologie, 113 (5), 753-761.

Brown, Michael F. 1978. From the Hero’s Bones: Three Aguaruna Hallucinogens and Their Uses. In Richard I. Ford (ed.) The Nature and Status of Ethnobotany. Michigan: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. Anthropological Papers No. 67, 1978. Pp 118-136.

Crosby, Alfred. 1986. Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900. Cambridge University Press.

Dobkin de Rios, Marlene. 1972. Visionary Vine. Hallucinogenic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon. San Francisco: Chandler. Republished in 1984 in Illinois by Waveland Press.

Frecska, Ede; Szabo, Attila; Winkelman, Michael; Luna, Luis Eduardo; McKenna, Dennis J. 2013. A possibly sigma-1 receptor mediated role of dimethyltryptamine in tissue protection, regeneration, and immunity. J Neural Transm 120:1295–303.

Gebhart-Sayer, A., 1986. Una terapia estética. Los diseños visionarios del ayahuasca entre los shipibo-conibo. Amazonía Indígena, Vol. 46, No. 1. Mexico.

Langdon, Jean E.  1979.  Yage Among the Siona: Cultural Patterns in Visions. In David  Browman & Ronald A. Schwartz (eds.) Spirits, Shamans and Stars. The Hague, Paris, New York: Mouton Publishers.

Lewis-Williams, David. 2002. The Mind in the Cave. Consciousness and the Origins of art. Thames and Hudson, London.

Luna, Luis Eduardo. 1986. Vegetalismo. Shamanism Among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.

Luna, Luis Eduardo & Amaringo, Pablo. 1991. Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.

Mithen, Steven. XXXXX. The Singing Neanderthals: The Origin of Music, Language, Mind and Body. Harvard University Press.

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Pané, Ramón. 2008. Mitología taína o eyeri. Ramón Pané y la Relación sobre las antigüedades de los indios. El primer tratado etnográfico hecho en América. San Juan de Puerto Rico: Editorial Nuevo Mundo.

Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. 1971. Amazonian Cosmos: The Sexual and Religious Symbolism of the Tukano Indians. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  

Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. 1978. Beyond the Milky Way. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.  

Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. 1988. Goldwork and Shamanism. Medellín: Compañía Litográfica Nacional.

Schoch, Robert. 1995. The great sphinx controversy. Circular Times Archives. An International Networking Educational Institute.

Schultes, Richard Evans & Bright, Alec. 1979. Ancient Gold Pectorals from Colombia: mushroom Effigies? Botanical Museum Leaflets, Vol. 27, Nos. 5-6: 113-141. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Stone, Rebecca E. 2011. The Jaguar Within: Shamanic Trance in Ancient Central and South American Art. University of Texas Press.

Strassman, Rick, 2014. DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: A New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible. Vermont: Park Street Press.  

Szabo A, Kovacs A, Frecska E, Rajnavolgyi E. 2014. Psychedelic N,N-dimethyltryptamine and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine regulate innate and adaptive inflammatory responses through the sigma-1 receptor of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells. PLoS ONE 9(8): e106533. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0106533

Torres, C. Manuel & Rebke, David B. 2006. Anadenanthera: visionary plant of ancient South America. New York, Oxford, London: The Haworth Press.

Wasson, R. Gordon. 1980. The Wonderous Mushroom: Mycolatry in Mesoamerica. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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Join the editors of the new Ayahuasca Reader with leading authorities on ethnobotany and ayahuasca for an enlightening afternoon Symposium and stimulating evening Salon on November 19 at The Alchemist’s Kitchen in NYC. We will explore the cultural history, traditional and neo-shamanic practices, artistic and literary inspirations, and the scientific, therapeutic and ecological dimensions of the sacred Vine of the Amazon. The afternoon symposium will feed your mind and heart with compelling presentations and lively discussions, and the evening Salon will continue the journey with spoken word, art, music and dance. Learn more here.

Art: Pablo Amaringo

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Microdosing Psilocybin & Common Dosage Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivably, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing psilocybin.

Psilocybin Nasal Spray: Relief for Anxiety, PTSD, and Depression
Microdosing nasal spray with psilocybin, is that possible?! Oregan a start-up Silo Wellness believes so and has created this new option for PTSD treatment.

Mazatec Mushroom Usage: Notes on Approach, Setting and Species for Curious Psilonauts
A look at traditional Mazatec psilocybin mushroom usage, and a comparison to the cliniical therapeutic approach, with an examination of the Mazatec setting and species used in veladas.

María Sabina: The Mazatec Magic Mushroom Woman
Magic mushrooms are incredibly popular today. How they became introduced to into American culture isn’t usually a topic discussed while tripping on psilocybin fungi. We all may have María Sabina to thank for exposing the Western world to the healing properties of the psilocybin mushroom.

Guide to Magic Mushroom Strains
Are there different types of psilocybin? Read our guide to learn about the different magic mushroom strains and their individual effects.

Kilindi Iyi: Mycologist, Traveler, Teacher
Learn about traveler and mycologist Kilindi Iyi known in the psychedelic community for his research and exploration of psilocybin.

How to Store Shrooms: Best Practices
How do you store shrooms for optimal shelf life? Learn how and why the proper storage method is so important.

Shroom Chocolate Recipes: How to Make Magic Mushroom Chocolates
This recipe provides step by step directions on how you can make mushroom chocolates with the necessary ingredients. Read to learn more!

Why Do People Use Psilocybin? New Johns Hopkins Study
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines has just published a new study on psychoactive effects of psilocybin. Read here to learn more.

How-To Lemon Tek: Ultimate Guide and Recipe
This master guide will teach you how to lemon tek, preventing the onset of negative effects after consuming psilocybin. Read to learn more!

How to Intensify a Mushroom Trip
Learn about techniques like Lemon tekking, or discover the right time to consume cannabis if you are looking to intensify a mushroom trip.

How to Grow Magic Mushrooms: Step-by-Step
This step-by-step guide will show you how to grow magic mushrooms at home. Read this guide before trying it on your own.

How to Dry Magic Mushrooms: Best Practices
Read to learn more about specifics for the best practices on how to dry magic mushrooms after harvesting season.

How to Buy Psilocybin Spores
Interested in psilocybin mushrooms? We’ll walk you through all you need to know to obtain mushroom spores. Nosh on this delish How To guide.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

Having Sex on Shrooms: Good or Bad Idea?
Is having sex on shrooms a good idea or an accident waiting to happen? Find out in our guide to sex on magic mushrooms.

Gold Cap Shrooms Guide: Spores, Effects, Identification
Read this guide to learn more about the different characteristics of gold cap mushrooms, and how they differ from other psilocybin species.

Guide to Cooking with Magic Mushrooms
From cookies to smoothies and sandwiches, we cover various methods of cooking with magic mushrooms for the ultimate snack.

2020 Election: The Decriminalize Psilocybin Movement
Are you curious if mushrooms will follow in marijuana’s footsteps? Read to learn about how the U.S. is moving to decriminalize psilocybin.

Oregon’s Initiative to Legalize Mushrooms | Initiative Petition 34
Oregon continues to push ahead with their initiative to legalize Psilocybin in 2020. The measure received its official title and now needs signatures.

Canada Approves Psilocybin Treatment for Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu approved the use of psilocybin to help ease anxiety and depression of four terminal cancer patients.

Mapping the DMT Experience
With only firsthand experiences to share, how can we fully map the DMT experience? Let’s explore what we know about this powerful psychedelic.

Guide to Machine Elves and Other DMT Entities
This guide discusses machine elves, clockwork elves, and other common DMT entities that people experience during a DMT trip.

Is the DMT Experience a Hallucination? 
What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play?

How to Store DMT
Not sure how to store DMT? Read this piece to learn the best practices and elements of advice to keep your stuff fresh.

What Does 5-MeO-DMT Show Us About Consciousness?
How does our brain differentiate between what’s real and what’s not? Read to learn what can 5-MeO-DMT show us about consciousness.

How to Smoke DMT: Processes Explained
There are many ways to smoke DMT and we’ve outlined some of the best processes to consider before embarking on your journey.

How to Ground After DMT
Knowing what to expect from a DMT comedown can help you integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible from your journey.

How To Get DMT
What kind of plants contain DMT? Are there other ways to access this psychedelic? Read on to learn more about how to get DMT.

How DMT is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make DMT? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how DMT is made.

Having Sex on DMT: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered about sex on DMT? Learn how the God Molecule can influence your intimate experiences.

Does the Human Brain Make DMT? 
With scientific evidence showing us DMT in the brain, what can we conclude it is there for? Read on to learn more.

How to Use DMT Vape Pens
Read to learn all about DMT vape pens including: what to know when vaping, what to expect when purchasing a DMT cartridge, and vaping safely.

DMT Resources
This article is a comprehensive DMT resource providing extensive information from studies, books, documentaries, and more. Check it out!

Differentiating DMT and Near-Death Experiences
Some say there are similarities between a DMT trip and death. Read our guide on differentiating DMT and near-death experiences to find out.

DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time
From a representative sample of a suitably psychedelic crowd, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t tell you all about Albert Hofmann’s enchanted bicycle ride after swallowing what turned out to be a massive dose of LSD. Far fewer, however, could tell you much about the world’s first DMT trip.

The Ultimate Guide to DMT Pricing
Check out our ultimate guide on DMT pricing to learn what to expect when purchasing DMT for your first time.

DMT Milking | Reality Sandwich
Indigenous cultures have used 5-MeO-DMT for centuries. With the surge in demand for psychedelic toad milk, is DMT Milking harming the frogs?

Why Does DMT Pervade Nature?
With the presence of DMT in nature everywhere – including human brains – why does it continue to baffle science?

DMT Substance Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to DMT has everything you want to know about this powerful psychedelic referred to as “the spirit molecule”.

DMT for Depression: Paving the Way for New Medicine
We’ve been waiting for an effective depression treatment. Studies show DMT for depression works even for treatment resistant patients.

Beating Addiction with DMT
Psychedelics have been studied for their help overcoming addiction. Read how DMT is helping addicts beat their substance abuse issues.

DMT Extraction: Behind the Scientific Process
Take a look at DMT extraction and the scientific process involved. Learn all you need to know including procedures and safety.

Microdosing DMT & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing DMT.

DMT Art: A Look Behind Visionary Creations
An entire genre of artwork is inspired by psychedelic trips with DMT. Read to learn about the entities and visions behind DMT art.

Changa vs. DMT: What You Need to Know
While similar (changa contains DMT), each drug has its own unique effect and feeling. Let’s compare and contrast changa vs DMT.

5-MeO-DMT Guide: Effects, Benefits, Safety, and Legality
5-Meo-DMT comes from the Sonora Desert toad. Here is everything you want to know about 5-Meo-DMT and how it compares to 4-AcO-DMT.

4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

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