This paper examines two cases of Zhuang religious revival involving multiple actors. It shows how consideration of “superstition” (, mixin) places some religious practice outside the institutional framework when discussing the modern concept of religion in China. In this paper, I particularly focus on two main dimensions of religious revival among the Zhuang people. The first is a grassroots...
Psychoactive plants which contain hallucinogenic molecules that induce a form of altered states of consciousness (H-ASC) have been widely used during the religious rituals of many cultures throughout the centuries, while the consumption of these plants for spiritual and religious purposes is as old as human history. Some of those cultures were shaman and pagan subcultures; African native...
The practice of drinking ayahuasca-a psychoactive brew indigenous to the Amazon-has been investigated in several studies and shown to have positive long-term effects on mental states, and a particularly strong positive effect on perceptions of identity. This article discusses if these previous findings can be found in the experience of gay people, who are often taught by their culture and...
The Romanian historian and philosopher Mircea Eliade suggested that the medicine man or shaman is a sick man who has managed to cure himself. Maintaining a so called "˜balanced' identity has become the constant feature of our ever-changing contemporary environment. Some contemporary socio-political events, and technological advances have given rise to traumatic emotional feelings of...
Abstract: In this study, I analyze how economic development projects and the ethnic tourism project in Southwest China have contributed to the failure of the ethnic Kachin villagers to observe taboos involved in shamanic healing rituals. Such a failure, initially as a local response to politico‐economic processes in Southwest China, exacerbates the increasingly poor health status of Kachin...
It is the aim of this paper to establish a temporal and cultural link between entheogen-use[1] in Classical mystery cults and their possible use in a segment of the early Christian Gnostic Church. As early Christianity was heavily influenced by the Classical world in which it first developed, it is essential to examine the evidence of entheogen-use within Classical mystery cults, and explore...
This is an autoethnography that provides a thick description, analysis and reflection of my personal Multiple Sclerosis healing journey, supported by a transpersonal modality based on an ancient shamanic wisdom.This research explores Ayahuasca as a transpersonal therapy, which is facilitated by a spiritual plant that has been used for centuries by Indigenous Peoples in the Amazonian region for...
SUMMARY In the present paper, the multidisciplinary research on Salvia divinorum and its chemical principles is analyzed regarding whether the ethnobotany, phytochemistry, psychopharmacology, and neuropharmacology of this sacred psychoactive plant and main principle clarify its experienced effects and divinatory uses. The scientific endeavor traverses from the recorded traditional ceremonies...
This contribution explains the context and basic principles of traditional medicine of the Amazon.In particular, it focuses on the hallucinogenic vine ayahuasca, traditionally used by indigenous communities in the Amazon as a tool for healing, establishing contact with spiritual life, and for many other purposes.In the last decades, there is rapidly growing interest in ayahuasca observed among...
Resumo: este artigo faz uma reflexao sobre a ayahuasca como uma beberagem de origem indigena considerada pelos diversos grupos usuarios como uma planta professora por meio da qual e possivel obter conhecimentos. Com base nas reflexoes de Boaventura de Sousa Santos analisa a epistemologia xamânica subjacente a experiencia da ayahuasca no sentido de evidenciar sua contribuicao para a dissolucao...