Mundo Amazónico
2020
Jimmy Weiskopf
1 citation
This is the final episode of a three-part story about a visit to Iquitos at the time of the new millennium by the narrator, who lives in Colombia and has been drinking yajé (ayahuasca) with its indigenous shamans. For a book he is writing about the subject, decides to investigate its uses in Iquitos, where his host and guide to the rituals there is “Zappa”, an American expatriate who exports...
Social Science & Medicine
August 31, 2019
Evgenia Fotiou, Alex K. Gearin
86 citations
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant mixture used in ceremonial contexts throughout Western Amazonia. Its use has expanded globally in recent decades and become popular among westerners who travel to the Peruvian Amazon in increasing numbers to experience its reportedly healing effects. Through a review of relevant literature on Amazonian shamanism, combined with the authors' ethnographic data...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
June 4, 2019
Melanie J Miller, Juan Albarracin-Jordan, Christine K. Moore et al.
171 citations
Over several millennia, various native plant species in South America have been used for their healing and psychoactive properties. Chemical analysis of archaeological artifacts provides an opportunity to study the use of psychoactive plants in the past and to better understand ancient botanical knowledge systems. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to analyze...
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 1, 2019
Tom Hatsis
A commonly misunderstood area of Western psychedelic history involves psychoactive ointments that have become part of popular lore during the early modern and Renaissance eras. These substances amorphously considered as “flying ointments” have various histories. This paper addresses four separate histories regarding these beliefs: (a) one conveyed in the writings of anthropologist Michael...
Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniya
June 1, 2019
Валентина Ивановна Харитонова
3 citations
Я ИДУ СКВОЗЬ ТЕБЯ»: К ВОПРОСУ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 1, 2019
Michael Winkelman
63 citations
This introduction to the special issue reviews research that supports the hypothesis that psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, were central features in the development of religion. The greater response of the human serotonergic system to psychedelics than is the case for chimpanzees’ serotonergic receptors indicates that these substances were environmental factors that affected hominin...
Anthropology Today
April 1, 2019
Ruth Goldstein
37 citations
Elaborating on conversational exchanges with a Brazilian shaman about biopiracy and interweaving scholarly literature from the ontological and ‘botanical’ turn, the author examines the disciplinary as well as the political ramifications of plant healers and practitioners – particularly indigenous ones – going largely uncited in plant‐centred discussions. In Brazil, indigenous claims for...
Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
January 16, 2019
Birgitte Sonne
The professional ecstatic is a religious specialist, who has become recognized as a person able to carry out an ecstatic ritual, corresponding with the local cultural expectations in force. The ecstatic ritual per se comprises a number of persons, i.e. it is a collective ritual. Part of the criteria that may be employed as a measure of the professional ecstatic's social status, is covered by...
Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis
January 16, 2019
Anna-Leena Siikala
21 citations
Changes in the field of observation and body image, attenuated grasp of reality and self-control, which may lead to identification with authority in the case of the shaman with supranormal powers, are all identifying features of shamanic ecstasy. It also appears that some of the basic elements of the shamanic tradition can be explained on the basis of typical marks of identification of altered...
International Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research
January 2, 2019
Jan M. Keppel Hesselink, Jan M. Keppel Hesselink
Since the 2nd part of last century neo-shamanic rituals using mind-altering extracts from plants or animals have become increasingly popular in Europe and the USA. The first rituals coming to the west were based on drinking a special Amazonian tea, Ayahuasca, based on 2 different plants, with active compounds belonging to the class of the beta-carbolines (harmala alkaloids) and tryptamines. The...