Lecture 2 Flashcards
Entheogens
Pyscoactive substances used in a religious or shamanistic context. Most are obtained from plant material.
- Played central role in many societies, structuring belief systems, hopes, values, and lives
Effects of mind-altering substances
- changes in spacial and temporal perception
- heightened emotions
- increased powers of concentration, attention, and memory
- feelings of detachment from reality
- typicaly interpreted as personal contact with a devine entity or with the future or past
What were entheogens used for?
to manipulate and control supernatural entities, to communicate with supernatural beings and realms, or to look inside oneself
– used by various cultures around the world
Aztec of Mexico use of entheogens. What were the 4 groups of hallucinogens used?
- Peyotl (cactus)
- teonanacatl (mushroom)
- tolache (realted to solanacaeous - tomato family)
- ololiugui (seeds of morning glories
Why did the Aztecs of Mexico use entheogens?
- ritualistically and ceremoniously to communicate with the supernatural
- to prophesize the future
- to determine the perpetrators or criminal or antisocial acts
where were the entheogens primarily used by the aztecs of mexico?
- in war-related rituals
- in human sacrificial ceremonies
- religious activities
therefore the clergy tightly controlled the ceremonial use of these powerful drugs
Inca of Peru. Most important entheogen
coca
How did the inca view coca?
A living manifestation of divinity
What did the inca use coca for?
- to alleviate hunger and symptoms of altitude sickness
- as a general stimulant
- Orators in the inca court used it to improve their memory and to divine the future
Two other plants used by the inca
Datura
Yopo - hallucinogenic snuff from the leguminous tree anadenanthera peregina
Plant Mestizos of amazon basin used
ayahuasca - baniteriopsis caapi an dB. inebrians
- taken most often as a mixture of Banisteriopsis spp. and chacurna
What do the mestizos use ayahuasca for?
- folk psychiatry to treat the mentally ill
- prohesize the future
- Healing sessions to determine illnesses and remedies
- tribal rituals
- allowed for clearity of thought
entheogens used by natives of North America
- peyote cactus
- thornapple (member of tomato family) - contains hallucinogenic alkaloid scopolamine
- mescal bean - evergreen leguninous shrub with poisonous and hallucinogenic seeds
- tobacco
why is the use of entheogens by aborigninals of australia not well understood?
reflects a reluctance by native shapmans to share their knowledge with non-belivers
what entheogens did the aboriginal of australia use
native tobaccos- had some hallucinogenic effects
- Pituri - most important and powerful entheogen - remains a critical part of austrailian aboriginal social life - member of tomato family
Corkwood
Solanaceous species, a close relative to pituri, contains the powerful hallucinogenic alkaloid scopolamine
what do the kuma and Kaimbi ppl of New Guinea use to resolve group tension and conflect?
hallucinogenic mushrooms
Nonda
Describes all mushroom, regardless of species
mushroom madness
occasional periods of social order breakdown in which women become delirious and men terrorized their own and surrounding villages
which do contemporary anthropologist think is more important for accounting for mushroom madness? social custom or chemical inebriation?
Social custom is more important then chemical inebriation - evidence from research indicating that commonly ingested “honda” mushrooms have limited or no physiological activity.
The Fang ppl of west Africa have used what powerful hallucinogen? and for what?
iboga to relieve fatigue and as a hunting aid
What is the Bwiti religious revitalization movement and what has it developed?
is centered around the ritualistic use of iboga, and developed in response to the culture and social disequilibrium that followed European contact. The movement stresses social cohesion, solidarity, and security
What is iboga thought to allow?
one to see a superior divinity known as the Bwiti and to communicate with ancestors and the supernatural relaems of the dead
What eroded the cult like ceremony and ritualistic ingestion of iboga?
westerners looking for a unique high
What do the Indian Vedas refer to marijuana as?
the “divine nectar”
what has marijuana thought to bestow?
supernatural powers and a sense of well being
Where was marijuana first mentioned?
Zend-Avesta (600BCE), but the pyscoactive properties of marijuana may also have been known to the shamans or ancient China (2,500ya) but this info was forgotten or suppressed by later generations.
where did marijuana achieve its greates importance?
as a ceremonial entheogen in the Himalayan region of India and Tibet
who considered marijuana a scared plant and what did they use it for?
Tantric Buddhist and Hindu faiths and it was used to achieve deep meditation and heightened sense of awareness.
What other species were used in india and china as medicinal and hallucinogens?
species in the solanaceous genus Datura
What do the uralic-speaking ppls of north-west Eurasia use to induce altered states of consciousness?
The fly agaric mushroom - it is poisonous at large doses and powerfully hallucinogenic
what was the fly agaric mushroom used for?
to facilitate communication with supernatural entities, to dvine the future, and to obtain answers to difficult questions, also to diagnose causes of illness and for general enjoyment
What does recent evidence suggest about fly agaric?
may have been used as an entheogen by the Athabascan adn Huron tribes of North America
What does Wasson (1968) argue concerning fly agaric
that it was the original soma of the Rigveda, although many scholars disagree with this interpretation.
What is Eleusis?
was founded 4,000 ya as a place fo rth eculut worship Demeter
Who is Demeter?
a greek deity associated with nature and cultivation of cereal crops
What happened 2800 ya?
the Demeter cult evolved in to the Eleusisian Mysteries
What is the Eleusisian Mysteries?
an important Athenian festical that included an elaborate ceremony of the divine gift of grain, in which a few chosen individual were granted passage through the portals of Eleusis
What were initiates to the Mysteries said to undergo?
a supreme physical -mystical experience that included sensations of trembling and powerful hallucinations
what were many of the grains used by the ancient greeks infested with?
fungal ergot
What did the infestation of ergot lead anthropologists to suggest?
that the “mysteries” of Eleusis may be expained by the controlled ingestion of the LSD-like hallucinogenic compounds found in ergot.
What three solanaceous species were important in medieval folklore and witchcraft? what do these species contain?
henbane, belladonna, and mandrake. All contain powerful hallucinogen scoplamine which induces a stat of oblivious intoxication characterized by the sensation of flying, perceptions of feats of prophecy, and transport to far-away places
Why is it suggested that the symptoms of witchcraft like flying on broom sticks to far-away places may have been induced by scopolamine?
because both henbane and belladonna were common ingredients in the potions and ointments of witches
