Plants and Human Cosmologies

Cosmologies

Cosmologies are branches of philosophy which deal with the origins and structures of the universe - religions that explain how the universe formed and our place within it are one kind (a very powerful kind) of cosmology

The Oak of Guernica

Basque coat of arms with Oak of Guernica

Oak of Guernica by Wordsworth - 1810

• THE OAK OF GUERNICA

The ancient oak of Guernica, says Laborde in his account of Biscay, is a most venerable natural monument. Ferdinand and Isabella, in the year 1476, after hearing mass in the church of Santa Maria de la Antigua, repaired to this tree, under which they swore to the Biscayans to maintain their "fueros" (privileges). What other interest belongs to it in the minds of this people will appear from the following.

SUPPOSED ADDRESS TO THE SAME

OAK of Guernica! Tree of holier power Than that which in Dodona did enshrine (So faith too fondly deemed) a voice divine Heard from the depths of its aerial bower-- How canst thou flourish at this blighting hour? What hope, what joy can sunshine bring to thee, Or the soft breezes from the Atlantic sea, The dews of morn, or April's tender shower? Stroke merciful and welcome would that be Which should extend thy branches on the ground, If never more within their shady round Those lofty-minded Lawgivers shall meet, Peasant and lord, in their appointed seat, Guardians of Biscay's ancient liberty.

Guernica by Picasso

The Fall by Michelangelo – detail from ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Moses and The Burning Bush

The sacred Maori Waka Huia

The sacred Maori Waka Huia

Miro tree – Podocarpus ferruginea

Cosmologies

Cosmologies are branches of philosophy which deal with the origins and structures of the universe - religions that explain how the universe formed and our place within it are one kind (a very powerful kind) of cosmology

From William Blake• "If the doors of

perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern." – The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - 1793

Entering the Another World

• In the western tradition, plants and plant products are used symbolically.

• Ritual intoxication is the point of many religions that use plants to enter another world.

Quanah Parker – Last Commanche Chief, co-founder of Native

American Church

“The white man goes into his church and talks about Jesus; the Indian goes into his tipi and talks to Jesus.”

Areas where special plants are used to enter another world

Cover of English edition Of Phantastica by Louis Lewin

Categories of Psychoactive Plants - from Lewin Phantastica

1. Euphorica - sedatives of mental activity - this group included opium and its derivatives morphine and heroin, as well as cocaine

2. Phantastica - drugs that cause evident cerebral excitation in the form of hallucinations, illusions, and visions - may be accompanied by unconsciousness or other symptons of altered cerebral activity - this group included plants like Datura sp., belladonna, peyote, ayahuasca from Banasteriopsis sp., ebena from Virola sp., fly agaric, Psilocybe and related mushrooms

Categories of Psychoactive Plants - from Lewin Phantastica

3. Inebriantia - substances produced primarily by chemical synthesis or some other manipulation of raw materials - such as alcohol, chloroform, ether, benzene - these produce a primary phase of cerebral excitation, followed by a state of depression

4. Hypnotica - substances that induce sleep, such as kava

5. Excitantia - stimulants that result in apparent excitation of the brain without altering consciousness - coffee, cola nuts, betel nuts, tobacco

Hallucinogens

• Hallucinogens are defined as: a nonaddictive substance that consistently produces changes in perception, thought, and mood, occurring alone or in concert, without causing serious disabilities like major disturbances to the autonomic nervous system.

• High doses may elicit disorientation, memory disturbances, hyperexcitation, stupor, or narcosis, but these reactions are not characteristic.

Hallucinogens

• Strictly speaking hallucinogens should be limited to those chemicals that mimic serotonin – the indolalkylamines like psilocybin, and phenethylamines such as mescaline.

• But sometimes other substances that cause changes in mood and perception along with causing disability are included as hallucinogens. Such substances include tropane derivatives like scopolamine, and dibenzpyran derivatives like THC, tetrahydracannabinol.

Narcotic

• Strictly speaking narcotic refers to morphine and related substances that are addictive and sedatives. But narcotic sometimes is used for any drug that alters mental state.

Methodological Considerations

1. When studying the plants it is critical to study them in a controlled clinical setting. There is a considerable placebo effect with hallucinogenic and psychoactive plants.

2. But it is also essential that we test the plants in the way indigenous people use them. If they eat the plant, the plant must be eaten. Indigenous people use psychoactive plants in many different ways.

Curandero and Tobacco CeremonySouth America

Psychoactive plants as a communal experience

• Many psychoactive plants have very subtle effects and appear to facilitate social interactions among people - plants included in this group include plants that yield recreational beverages such as beer, wine, herba mate, coffee, chocolate, and tea

Piper methysticum – source of Kava

Kava Chemical Activity

• The active chemicals in kava are lactones

• The two most important ones are kavain and dihydrokavain –

• As Polynesians moved east, they tended to select plants rich in kavain and poor in dihydrokavain

Samoan women prepare Kava for the Kava ceremony

Different varieties of Kava

• There are 9 major groups of kava plant clones - each differs in chemical activity

• A Samoan clone called “fellowship and brotherhood” makes one feel very friendly

• Another called “the white pigeon” imparts a sense of heightened perception, as though one were flying over the rain forest like a pigeon

More rapid entry to another world

• Many plants have been used around the world to enter another realm - as hallucinogens which permit one to travel to the spirit world

• They have been discovered in many parts of the world and interestingly all have somewhat similar chemical structure

• They all have features similar to serotonin - a major chemical messenger in the brain

Chemical structure of serotonin and psychoactive chemicals

Virola theiodora – source of Ebena

Justicia pectoralis – also used in Ebena

Ebena – “The Semen of the Sun”

• Ebena is usually prepared from the fresh inner bark of the tree Virola theiodora (F. Myristicaceae – the nutmegs). It is combined with ash of the tree Elizabetha princeps (F. Caesalpiniaceae – subfamily of legume trees) and dried powdered leaves of the herb Justicia pectoralis (F. Acanthaceae – Acanthus family)

Ebena Chemicals

• The sap of Virola contains the active ingredients. The sap contains several psychoactive compounds, primarily tryptamines, particularly N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), N-monomethyltrptamine (MMT), and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) – these are all related to serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine). The sap also contains several beta-carbolines, compounds that enhance the effects of orally ingested tryptamines and that are psychoactive in their own right.

Waika Indian inhales Ebena snuff blown through a tube

Steps involved with preparation of Ebena snuff

“Vine of the soul” - Banisteriopsis caapi – Source of Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca or Yaje

• Two species of the vine Banisteriopsis are used, depending on the area - either B. caapi or B. inebrians - both produce powerful psychoactive substances that are beta-carboline alkaloids - harmine and harmaline

• Ayahuasca bark is collected and boiled in a pot, a bitter tea is produced which is then drunk

• Sometimes ayahuasca is used with leaves of another plant Psychotria viridis to enhance its effects - it contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine which is also a powerful hallucinogen

Psychotria viridis

Painting by Pablo Amaringo, Peruvian shaman – showing visions received from Ayahuasca

Advantages of Ayahuasca

• In the words of Padrino Alex Polari de Alverga of the Santo Daime Community in Brazil, “Daime (ayahuasca) is basically a shortcut, it’s as if we had been traveling down the same highway as the rest of humanity, but then, in order to arrive at our destination more quickly we took a side road. When taking such a shortcut, however, we must be very careful and clear-minded. It is a shortcut that leads us to truth, but only if we follow in the footsteps of the Masters who have preceded us.”

Wysoccan – Datura sp.

Native Virginians - 1673

A priest and a conjurer

Black Elk’s Vision Quest

Wysoccan - Datura stramonium

• Given to boys in adolescent rites lasting 18-20 days - after which they were considered to be adults

• From it comes stramonium a drug used in the treatment of asthma - hallocinogenic agents are tropane alkaloids hyoscamine and hyoscine

Marijuana – Cannabis sativa

Ancient Use of Cannabis

• 2000 BCE – Writings of Shen Nung mention Cannabis as an important plant for the treatment of various illnesses including beri-beri, malaria, and forgetfulness. He also described the plant as freeing the psyche: “If taken over a long term, it makes one communicate with spirits and lighten one’s body.”

Ancient Use of Cannabis

• Writers in China warned that Cannabis was a “liberator of sin.” ~ 2000 BCE

• By 1500 BCE the plant known as “ma” was reported as useful for shamanistic purposes

• 2nd Century AD Chinese physicians mixed it with wine and used it as an anaesthetic during surgery

Ancient Use of Cannabis

• 500 – 300 BCE - ancient Scythians in the Near East used Cannabis as a psychotropic drug

• Herodotus reported that Scythians delighted in vapor baths scented by Cannabis seeds placed on heated stones

• 4th Century BCE - discovered with skeleton in tomb in Jerusalem

Al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbah

• By 1090 had established fortress on trade routes to China and India – ruled army of thieves whom he supplied with hashish and women in return for their loyalty

Introduction to Europe

• Europeans were introduced to Cannabis as a psychoactive plant by Napoleon’s soldiers after the conquest of Egypt in 1800. They began by consuming resin of Cannabis flowers and leaves (hashish). At first the resin was used to treat mentally ill, but soon it was used recreationally too. By 1844 so many fashionable Parisians were enjoying their visions from use of hashish that they formed a club, Le Club des Haschischins, and held monthly meetings at the Hotel Pimodan on the Ile Saint-Louis.

The Hotel Pimodan

Modern Water Pipe and Hashish

Bob Marley and the Wailers Album Cover - 1973

Cannabis smoker – Southeast Asia