Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants

Christian Rätsch, Ph.D. (1957 – 2022), was a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specialized in the shamanic uses of plants for spiritual as well as medicinal purposes. He studied Mesoamerican languages and cultures and anthropology at the University of Hamburg and spent, altogether, three years of fieldwork among the Lacandone Indians in Chiapas, Mexico, being the only European fluent in their language. He then received a fellowship from the German academic service for foreign research, the Deutsche Akademische Auslandsdienst (DAAD), to realize his doctoral thesis on healing spells and incantations of the Lacandone-Maya at the University of Hamburg, Germany. In addition to his work in Mexico, his numerous fieldworks have included research in Thailand, Bali, the Seychelles, as well as a long-term study (18 years) on shamanism in Nepal combined with expeditions to Korea and the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon. He also was a scientific anthropological advisor for expeditions organized by German magazines such as GEO and Spektrum der Wissenschaften (Spectrum of Sciences). Before becoming a full-time author and internationally renowned lecturer, Rätsch worked as professor of anthropology at the University of Bremen and served as consultant advisor for many German museums. Because of his extensive collection of shells, fossils, artifacts, and entheopharmacological items, he had numerous museum expositions on these topics. He is the author of numerous articles and more than 40 books, including Plants of Love, Gateway to Inner Space, Marijuana Medicine, and The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical Plants. He is also coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, and Witchcraft Medicine and was editor of the Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness. A former member of the board of advisors of the European College for the Study of Consciousness (ECSC) and former president of the Association of Ethnomedicine, he lived in Hamburg, Germany.

• ForewordPrefaceIntroductionWhat Are Psychoactive Plants?The Use of Psychoactive PlantsPsychoactive Plants and Shamanic ConsciousnessThe Fear of Psychoactive PlantsThe Study of Psychoactive PlantsPsychoactive Plants as Factors in the Development of CultureTHE PSYCHOACTIVE PLANTSOn the Structure of the Major MonographsThe Most Important Genera and Speciesfrom A to ZMajor MonographsLittle-Studied Psychoactive PlantsMinor MonographsReputed Psychoactive Plants“Legal Highs”Psychoactive Plants That Have Not Yet Been IdentifiedPSYCHOACTIVE FUNGIThe Archaeology of Entheogenic Mushroom CultsCultivating MushroomsThe Genera and Species from A to ZPurported Psychoactive FungiGeneral Literature on Psychoactive FungiPSYCHOACTIVE PRODUCTSACTIVE CONSTITUENTS OF PLANTSActive Plant Constituents and NeurotransmittersThe Active Plant Constituentsfrom A to ZBotanical Taxonomy of Psychoactive Plants and FungiGeneral BibliographyBibliographiesPeriodicalsBooks and ArticlesAcknowledgmentsIndex

“. . . this superb academic reference is the first comprehensive work devoted to psychoactive plants. Ratsch, an anthropologist, ethnopharmacologist, . . . includes more than 400 traditional and modern substances that ‘affect the mind or alter the state of consciousness’. . . .Each major monograph contains the plant’s scientific and common names, chemical structure, history, distribution, cultivation, appearance, preparation and dosage, ritual and medicinal uses, commercial forms and regulations, and effects, as well as research literature references. . . .This book offers something for everyone. . . . Highly recommended.”