Product Description

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.

• First edition sold 33,000 copies.

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.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22812 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-01
• Released on: 2001-11-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Whole Earth Review
. . . Schultes has been the nexus of almost everything interesting and supportive concerned with economic and cultural uses of plants

Review
"This superbly illustrated, encyclopedic volume provides a much needed, well-balanced scientific perspective on the use of hallucinogenic plants. Richard Evans Schultes, the worlds most eminent ethnobotanist, and Albert Hofmann, the former research director at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, emphasize the need for continued education about both the potential benefits and the inherent dangers involved in the use of hallucinogens."
(

Shaman's Drum

)

"Carefully researched, beautifully written, and abundantly illustrated, this book reminds us that the use of hallucinogenic plants has been a fundamental part of the human experience for millennia."
(

Michael R. Aldrich, Ph.D., Curator Fitz Hugh Ludlow Library

)

"It contains an incredible amount of rigorous and fascinating information in a highly accessible, beautiful, and compelling format."
(Journal of Scientific Exploration, October 2003 )

"Richard Evans Schultes has been the nexus of almost everything interesting and supportive concerned with economic and cultural uses of plants. Plants of the Gods gives precise and illuminating portraits of the many peoples of the Earth who pay homage to and gain insights with the aid of psychedelic plants: an exquisite, thoroughly scholarly book."
(Whole Earth Review )

Journal of Ethnobiology
A truly exellent book.

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Customer Reviews

Shamanic History at its Finest
If you're looking for information on how to prepare psychoactive plant medicine and, well quite frankly, how get high, this is not the book for you. However, if you'd like to gain more wisdom and insight into shamanistic practices around the world, this is a wonderful history that draws you into the mind of the shamin. I loved this book. It gave me new respect for the wisdom of those ancient people of whom we know so very little. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in shamanism and herbalism. It offers insight into not HOW but WHY psychoactive plants are ingested. Plant medicine is afford the tremendous respect it so rightly deserves.

Informative but...
This is a good starting point for working with Psychoactive Plants. It is however not quite as informative as the author's "The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications". If you are interested in working with plants but are not sure then this is the book for you to get the real information you need to make a informed decision.

A handy reference book
This is a good book on the topic of psychotropic plants, though I have to admit that I'm a little shocked that the opium poppy wasn't included. Oh well. There are enough books on that subject that I'm sure if you really want to study the "black smoke" you can find another book to read. It presents an interesting subject in an approachable, readable format. My one complaint is that parts of it read a little too New Age-y, which irks me. But that's the way I am. Aside from that one (rather small) problem, I would readily recommend this book to anyone looking for an all-in-one look at this branch of botany.