FEATURES Julia Ching. Mysticism and Kingship in China: The Heart ofChinese Wisdom . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. xxi, 302 pp. Hardcover $64.95, ISBN 0-521-46293-2. Paperback $22.95, 1SBN 0-521-46828-0. Mysticism and Kingship in China approaches Chinese intellectual history from the central thesis that mysticism—the ecstatic communion between man and the cosmos —lies at the center...
Reviewed by: Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline Karen Reeds Richard Evans Schultes and Siri von Reis, eds. Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline. Portland, Ore.: Timber Press, 1995. 414 pp. Ill. $49.95. As a word, ethnobotany is just a century old: it was coined by the American taxonomic botanist John W. Harshberger in 1895. As a discipline, it is barely a half-century old. Since 1941,...
Anthropology at the Edge: Essays on Culture, Symbol, and Consciousness. J. Ian Prattis. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1996. $27.50 (paper), xviii. 311 pp.
This brief overview argues that the evidence of the images themselves, as well as their contexts, suggests that some Franco‐Cantabrian Upper Paleolithic cave art was, at least in part, intimately associated with various shamanic practices. Universal features of altered states of consciousness and the deep caves combined to create notions of a subterranean spirit‐world that became, amongst other...
Salvia divinorum Epling & J. Tiva-M. is a member of the mint family (or Lamiaceae) native to the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is used by the Mazatec Indians of the region, in a manner similar to psilocybian mushrooms and lysergic acid-containing morning glory seeds, as a ritual entheogen (hallucinogen) and divinatory aid. It is propagated vegetatively by the Mazatecs, and no wild specimens...
In 1974-75, Wade Davis and Tim Plowman traveled the length of South America, living among a dozen Indian tribes, collecting medicinal plants and searching for the origins of coca, the sacred leaf of the Andes and the notorious source of cocaine. It was a journey inspired and made possible by their Harvard mentor, Richard Evans Schultes, the most important scientific explorer in South America in...
Participants (N = 206) experienced 15-min of monotonous drumming either before or after hypnosis (Harvard scale). Participants completed the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) in reference to the last 4-min of drumming. Stimulus order did not affect the objective trance levels as measured by the Harvard scores. The subjective trance level as measured by hypnoidal scores (predicted...
Breaches the wall between the psychotherapeutic and the sacred as respected pioneers in the field give their vision of the synergistic potential in these two powerful traditions. Since its original publication in 1980, this book has become a classic in transpersonal psychotherapy. This new edition contains articles by the major figures in the field, including new contributions by Stanislav...
ABSTRACTS Recent studies have taught us that “religion” is not a fixed category but an instrument of popular consciousness. While the studies' subjects have often been victims of colonialism and capitalist exploitation, cultural production through magical means need not be restricted to a society's most oppressed elements. Counter to the expectations of Max Weber, for whom capitalism marched to...
The mythology of evil has assumed renewed importance among diverse spiritual groups in the West and among scholars of the anthropology of consciousness. An investigation of Yurok mythology reveals that it is conceptualized asian "imbalance" between individuals (or groups) and parts of themselves, other community members, nature, and/or the Great Spirit. Yurok teaching stories, as well as...