E-Book [en] The Enciclopedia of Psychoative Plants

Descrição:
O guia mais completo para a botânica, história, distribuição e cultivo de plantas psicoactivas.
Examina 414 plantas psicoativas e substâncias relacionadas. Explora como o uso de plantas psicoativas em um contexto culturalmente sancionada pode produzir importantes insights sobre a natureza da realidade. Contém 800 fotos coloridas e 670 ilustrações em preto-e-branco.

Nas tradições de cada cultura, as plantas têm sido altamente valorizado por sua cura, propriedades nutritivas e de transformação. As plantas mais poderosas - aquelas conhecidas para transportar a mente humana em outras dimensões da consciência - têm sido tradicionalmente consideradas sagradas.

Na Enciclopédia de plantas psicoativas Christian Rätsch detalha a botânica, história, distribuição, cultivo e preparação e dosagem de mais de 400 plantas psicoativas. Ele discute o seu ritual e uso medicinal, artefatos culturais feitas a partir destas plantas, e obras de arte que tanto representam ou foram inspirados por eles.

O autor começa com 168 das mais conhecidas substâncias psicoactivas - como maconha, datura, e Papaver - em seguida, apresenta 133 menores substâncias conhecidas, bem como plantas adicionais conhecidos como "drogas legais" (legal highs), plantas conhecidas apenas a partir de contextos mitológicos e literatura , e planta de produtos que incluem substâncias como a ayahuasca, incenso, e soma.

O texto é ricamente ilustrado com 800 fotografias a cores - muitas das quais são de extenso trabalho de campo do autor em todo o mundo - mostrando as pessoas, cerimônias e de arte relacionadas com o uso ritual de psicoativos sagrados do mundo. Christian Ratsch, Ph.D., é um antropólogo de renome mundial e etnofarmacologista que se especializou nos usos xamânicos de plantas. Ele é o autor da Maconha Medicinal e co-autor de Plantas dos Deuses, Xamanismo e Tantra no Himalaia, e Medicina Bruxaria. Ele mora em Hamburgo, na Alemanha, e da palestras ao redor do mundo.​

In this world, the point at which something happens is determined by the circumstances that call for it to happen. This Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants had to appear at just this time, for our contemporary society has need of such a work.

This need is connected with the spiritual and material dilemma of our times. It is not necessary to list all of the things that are no longer right in our world. But we can mention some: in the spiritual domain, materialism, egoism, isolation, and the absence of any religious foundation; on the material level, environmental destruction as a result of technological development and overindustrialization, the ongoing depletion of natural resources, and the accumulation of immense fortunes by a few people while the majority become increasingly destitute.

These ominous developments have their spiritual xuxa in a dualistic worldview, a consciousnessthat splits our experience of the world into subject and object.
This dualistic experience of the world first emerged in Europe. But it had already been atwork in the Judeo-Christian worldview, with its god that sits enthroned above creation and humankind, and his admonition to "subdue . . . and have dominion ... over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

This is now occurring at a terrifying rate. A change for the better will come about only when a general shift in consciousness takes place. Our fractured consciousness, which Gottfried Benn characterized as a "fateful European neurosis," must be replaced by a consciousness in which creator, creation, and created are experienced as a unity.

All means and all ways that will help lead to a new and universal spirituality are worthy of support. Chief among these is meditation, which can be enhanced and intensified through a variety of methods, including yogic practices, breathing exercises, and fasting, and through the appropriate use of certain drugs as pharmacological aids.

The drugs I am referring to belong to a special group of psychoactive substances that have been characterized as psychedelics and, more recently,
as entheogens (psychedelic sacraments). These effect an enormous stimulation of sensory perceptions, a decrease or even neutralization of the I-Thou boundary, and alterations in consciousness in the form of both sensitization and expansion.

The use of such psychedelic drugs within a religio-ceremonial framework was discovered among Indian tribes in Mexico at the beginning and in the middle of the twentieth century.

This sensational discovery led to ethnobotanical investigations to remote areas around the world to search for psychoactive plants, the results of which were documented in numerous publications and pictures. The encyclopedic compilation of ancient knowledge and new discoveries about psychoactive plants that is in your hands was produced by a well-qualified author who has contributed important new insights on the basis of his own fieldwork. It is an
undertaking of great value.

Disseminating knowledge about psychoactive plants, together with the proper ways to use them, represents a valuable contribution within the context of the many and growing attempts to bring about a new, holistic consciousness. Transpersonal psychology, which is becoming ever more important in psychiatry, pursues the same goal within a therapeutic framework.

The holistic perspective is more easily practiced on living nature than on the inanimate objects created by humans. Let us look into a living mandala instead, such as that found in the calyx of a blue morning glory, which is a thousand times more perfect and beautiful than anything produced by human hand, for it is filled with life, that universal life in which both the observer and the observed find their own individual places as manifestations of the same creative spirit.​

ALBERT HOFMANN, PH.D.
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