Plants of the Gods

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.

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.

Plants of the Gods
Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers
Preface
Introduction
1. What are Plant Hallucinogens
2. The Plant Kingdom
3. Phytochemical Research on Sacred Plants
4. Geography of Usage and Botanical Range
5. Plant Lexicon
6. Users of Hallucinogenic Plants
7. Overview of Plant Use
8. Fourteen Major Hallucinogenic Plants
9. Mainstay of the Heavens
10. The Hexing Herbs
11. The Nectar of Delight
12. St. Anthony's Fire
13. Holy Flower of the North Star
14. Guide to the Ancestors
15. Beans of the Hekula Spirit
16. Seeds of Civilization
17. The Magic Drink of the Amazon
18. Ayahuasca Analogs
19 Trumpets of the Angels
20. The Tracks of the Little Deer
21. Little Flowers of the Gods
22. Diviner's Sage
23. Cactus of the Four Winds
24. Vines of the Serpent
25. Semen of the Sun
26. Gateway to Dreamtime
27. Chemical Structures of Hallucinogens
28. Uses of Hallucinogens on Medicine
Epilogue
Picture Credits
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index