Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers Review

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(More customer reviews)Plants Of The Gods is a comprehensive reference work on psychoactive plants. It provides a definition of plant hallucinogens and information on phytochemical research on sacred plants, geography of usage and botanical range, the chemical structures of these substances and the use of hallucinogens in medicine.
The plant species discussed include the Amanita (Fly Agaric) mushroom, Atropa (Deadly Nightshade), Yellow and Black Henbane, Mandrake, Cannabis Ergot, Datura, Iboga, Yopo beans, Ayahuasca, Yage, Brugmansia, Peyote, the San Pedro cactus, the Morning Glory plus what the authors term "the little flowers of the gods" which include the various types of Psilocybe mushroom.
The text is enhanced by a wonderful variety of color and black & white photographs, illustrations and quite impressive paintings. The section Overview Of Plant Use consists of tables listing every plant's common name, botanical name, historical ethnography, context and purpose of usage, preparation and the chemical composition and effects.
Plants Of The Gods is a great and detailed investigation of entheogenic plants from around the world. This valuable reference book concludes with a bibliography and index.

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World-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist Christian Ratsch provides the latest scientific updates to this classic work on psychoactive flora by two eminent researchers.
' Numerous new and rare color photographs complement the completely revised and updated text.

' Explores the uses of hallucinogenic plants in shamanic rituals throughout the world.

' Cross-referenced by plant, illness, preparation, season of collection, and chemical constituents.

' First edition sold 33,000 copies.

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

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Plant Intoxicants: A Classic Text on the Use of Mind-Altering Plants Review

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(More customer reviews)First of all the Notes section of the book is written by Jonathan Ott and that alone makes this book a valuable purchase, especially considering the prices of Mr. Ott's other works.
As the back cover goes..
Plant Intoxicants is a pioneering study of psychoactive plants and their role in society. Initially pusblished in Nuremberg is 1855, it is one of the first books to examine the cultivation, preperation, and consumption of the world's major stimulants and inebriants. Drawing on his own travel experiences as well as the writings of his predeccessors, Baron Ernst von Bibra (1806-78) devotes a full chapter to each of seventeen plants, ranging from such mild stimulants as coffee and tea, through tobacco and hashish, to powerful narcotics and hallucinogens such as opium and fly agaric mushrooms.
Written in a lively style, Plant Intoxicants paints a fascinating panorama of the worldwide use of psychoactive plants in the nineteenth century. Von Bibra brings to the subject a keen intellect, an engaging sense of humor, and a refreshing open-mindedness unusual for his, or any, time. While frankly acknowledgeing and describing in vivid detail the depravities of the opium den, he holds the opinion that intoxicants, when used in moderation are "gifts bestowed by the gods on man to alleviate his misery and reconcile men with one another." His findings, unhampered by the restrictive morality of his era, are a testemant to the intellectual freedom enjoyed by wealthy private researchers in the nineteenth century.
Complementing and enhancing von Bibra's work is a full annotation by his modern-day counterpart Jonathan Ott, an ethnobotanist and the author of Pharmacotheon along with many other great books. A foreward by Martin Haseneier, the world's foremost authority on von Bibra's life and work, supplies a biographical sketch and places Plant Intoxicants at the vangaure of popular scientific writing on the role of plants in human culture.

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This pioneering study of psychoactive plants and their role in society, initially published in 1855, is one of the first books to examine the cultivation, preparation, and consumption of the world's major stimulants and inebriants. It presents a fascinating panorama of the world-wide use of psychoactive plants in the nineteenth century.

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Miracle Medicines of the Rainforest: A Doctor's Revolutionary Work with Cancer and AIDS Patients Review

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(More customer reviews)As always, product came in great condition, in a rapid fashion and I am appreciative!

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A doctor's astounding story of promising new treatments from the rainforests of Brazil for diseases that compromise the immune system.
During a working visit to Brazil, Dr. Thomas David was given a packet of leaves and bark by a native patient as thanks for his work, and a shaman gave him a recipe for a tea used by the rainforest people to treat a variety of ailments. Dr. David began using these plants in his clinical research in Europe and soon discovered that they were producing amazing results among patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, and other diseases that compromise the immune system.
Preliminary studies performed at Stanford and Harvard have substantiated his findings, bringing Dr. David international attention for his groundbreaking work.
Dr. David's story is significant not only for its account of research that may herald a major breakthrough in curing diseases that have been the scourge of the modern world, but also for its emphasis on the vast and largely unrecognized pharmacopoeia of the rainforest that is in imminent danger of being lost forever.

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