The Master Plant
The Master Plant

Author: Andrew Russell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-03

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1000183114

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Described as a ‘master plant’ by many indigenous groups in lowland South America, tobacco is an essential part of shamanic ritual, as well as a source of everyday health, wellbeing and community. In sharp contrast to the condemnation of the tobacco industry and its place in contemporary public health discourse, the book considers tobacco in a more nuanced light, as an agent both of enlightenment and destruction.Exploring the role of tobacco in the lives of indigenous peoples, The Master Plant offers an important and unique contribution to this field of study through its focus on lowland South America: the historical source region of this controversial plant, yet rarely discussed in recent scholarship. The ten chapters in this collection bring together ethnographic accounts, key developments in anthropological theory and emergent public health responses to indigenous tobacco use. Moving from a historical study of tobacco usage – covering the initial domestication of wild varieties and its value as a commodity in colonial times – to an examination of the transcendent properties of tobacco, and the magic, symbolism and healing properties associated with it, the authors present wide-ranging perspectives on the history and cultural significance of this important plant. The final part of the book examines the changing landscape of tobacco use in these communities today, set against the backdrop of the increasing power of the national and transnational tobacco industry.The first critical overview of tobacco and its uses across lowland South America, this book encourages new ways of thinking about the problems of commercially exploited tobacco both within and beyond this source region.

The Dirt Cure
The Dirt Cure

Author: Maya Shetreat-Klein

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-05-02

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 147679698X

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"In the tradition of Michael Pollan, Mark Hyman, and Andrew Weil, pioneering integrative pediatric neurologist Maya Shetreat-Klein, MD, reveals the shocking contents of children's food, how it's seriously harming their bodies and brains, and what we can do about it. And she presents the first nutritional plan for getting and keeping children healthy - a plan that any family can follow. Maya Shetreat-Klein is an integrative pediatric neurologist with a medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Board certified in adult and child neurology as well as pediatrics"--

This Is Your Mind On Plants
This Is Your Mind On Plants

Author: Michael Pollan

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2021-07-08

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 0141997346

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THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR NEW NETFLIX SERIES, HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND 'It's a trip - engrossing, eye-opening, mind altering' New Statesman 'Fascinating. Pollan is the perfect guide ... curious, careful, open minded' The Guardian Of all the many things humans rely on plants for, surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate, calm, or completely alter the qualities of our mental experience. In This Is Your Mind On Plants, Michael Pollan explores three very different drugs - opium, caffeine and mescaline - and throws the fundamental strangeness of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs, while consuming (or in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos. In a unique blend of history, science, memoir and reportage, Pollan shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively. In doing so, he proves that there is much more to say about these plants than simply debating their regulation, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. This ground-breaking and singular book holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds and our entanglement with the natural world.

Plant Teachers
Plant Teachers

Author: Jeremy Narby

Publisher: New World Library

Published: 2021-08-31

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1608687732

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A trailblazing anthropologist and an indigenous Amazonian healer explore the convergence of science and shamanism “The dose makes the poison,” says an old adage, reminding us that substances have the potential to heal or to harm, depending on their use. Although Western medicine treats tobacco as a harmful addictive drug, it is considered medicinal by indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest. In its unadulterated form, it holds a central place in their repertoire of traditional medicines. Along with ayahuasca, tobacco forms a part of treatments designed to heal the body, stimulate the mind, and inspire the soul with visions. In Plant Teachers, anthropologist Jeremy Narby and traditional healer Rafael Chanchari Pizuri hold a cross-cultural dialogue that explores the similarities between ayahuasca and tobacco, the role of these plants in indigenous cultures, and the hidden truths they reveal about nature. Juxtaposing and synthesizing two worldviews, Plant Teachers invites readers on a wide-ranging journey through anthropology, botany, and biochemistry, while raising tantalizing questions about the relationship between science and other ways of knowing.

Plant Spirit Shamanism
Plant Spirit Shamanism

Author: Ross Heaven

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2006-08-03

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1594776660

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An in-depth look at the role of plant spirits in shamanic rituals from around the world • Shows how shamans heal using their knowledge of plant spirits as well as the plant’s “medical properties” • Explores the core methods of plant shamanism--soul retrieval, spirit extraction, and sin eating--and includes techniques for connecting with plant spirits • Includes extensive field interviews with master shamans of all traditions In Plant Spirit Shamanism, Ross Heaven and Howard G. Charing explore the use of one of the major allies of shamans for healing, seeing, dreaming, and empowerment--plant spirits. After observing great similarities in the use of plants among shamans throughout the world, they discovered the reason behind these similarities: Rather than dealing with the “medical properties” of the plants or specific healing techniques, shamans commune with the spirits of the plants themselves. From their years of in-depth shamanic work in the Amazon, Haiti, and Europe, including extensive field interviews with master shamans, Heaven and Charing present the core methods of plant shamanism used in healing rituals the world over: soul retrieval, spirit extraction, sin eating, and the Amazonian tradition of pusanga (love medicine). They explain the techniques shamans use to establish connections to plant spirits and provide practical exercises as well as a directory of traditional Amazonian and Caribbean healing plants and their common North American equivalents so readers can ex-plore the world of plant spirits and make allies of their own.

The Master Plant
The Master Plant

Author: Andrew Russell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-03

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1000189740

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Described as a ‘master plant’ by many indigenous groups in lowland South America, tobacco is an essential part of shamanic ritual, as well as a source of everyday health, wellbeing and community. In sharp contrast to the condemnation of the tobacco industry and its place in contemporary public health discourse, the book considers tobacco in a more nuanced light, as an agent both of enlightenment and destruction.Exploring the role of tobacco in the lives of indigenous peoples, The Master Plant offers an important and unique contribution to this field of study through its focus on lowland South America: the historical source region of this controversial plant, yet rarely discussed in recent scholarship. The ten chapters in this collection bring together ethnographic accounts, key developments in anthropological theory and emergent public health responses to indigenous tobacco use. Moving from a historical study of tobacco usage – covering the initial domestication of wild varieties and its value as a commodity in colonial times – to an examination of the transcendent properties of tobacco, and the magic, symbolism and healing properties associated with it, the authors present wide-ranging perspectives on the history and cultural significance of this important plant. The final part of the book examines the changing landscape of tobacco use in these communities today, set against the backdrop of the increasing power of the national and transnational tobacco industry.The first critical overview of tobacco and its uses across lowland South America, this book encourages new ways of thinking about the problems of commercially exploited tobacco both within and beyond this source region.

Grandmother Ayahuasca
Grandmother Ayahuasca

Author: Christian Funder

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-06-29

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1644112361

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• Examines how ayahuasca affects the brain from a neuroscientific perspective and how its effects on consciousness relate to ancient esoteric texts • Shares interviews with people who have experienced ayahuasca’s powerful “spirit doctor” effects and the author’s own ayahuasca journey from suicidal depression to a soul at peace • Investigates how ayahuasca is interwoven with the ancient practices of Amazonian shamanism Brewed from a combination of two plants--the leaves of Psychotria viridis and the vine stalks of Banisteriopsis caapi--ayahuasca has been used for millennia by indigenous tribes throughout the Upper Amazon for healing and spiritual exploration. The shamans of the Peruvian Amazon call the plant spirit within the vine Abuela Ayahuasca, Grandmother Ayahuasca. Exploring the history, lore, traditional use, psychoactive effects, and current scientific studies, Christian Funder reveals how Grandmother Ayahuasca is a profound healer, wise teacher, and life-changing guide. Examining ayahuasca from a neuroscientific perspective, the author looks at recent research on the effects of DMT--one of the psychoactive compounds in ayahuasca--as well as fMRI studies of brain activity during altered states. He explores these fi ndings as they relate to the teachings on unified states of consciousness in ancient esoteric texts and to Aldous Huxley’s theory of psychedelics inhibiting the “reducing valve” mechanism of the brain. Sharing interviews with people who have experienced ayahuasca’s powerful “spirit doctor” effects, Funder also details his own revolutionary ayahuasca healing journey from suicidal depression to a soul at peace. He explores ayahuasca’s relationship to indigenous Amazonian shamanism, including an inside look at the Shipibo tribe and the healing songs known as icaros. Offering a holistic picture of ayahuasca--from science to spirit--the author shows that this venerated hallucinogenic tea has immense therapeutic potential and just might be the long-lost shamanic connection to the sacred Gaian mind.

Plant Spirit Healing
Plant Spirit Healing

Author: Pam Montgomery

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2008-01-30

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1591439957

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A hands-on approach to working with the healing powers of plant spirits • Explores the scientific basis underlying the practices of indigenous healers and shamans • Illuminates the matrix where plant intelligence and human intelligence join • Reveals that partnering with plants is an evolutionary imperative Indigenous healers and shamans have known since antiquity that plants possess a spirit essence that can communicate through light, sound, and vibration. Now scientific studies are verifying this understanding. Plant Spirit Healing reveals the power of plant spirits to join with human intelligence to bring about profound healing. These spirits take us beyond mere symptomatic treatment to aligning us with the vast web of nature. Plants are more than their chemical constituents. They are intelligent beings that have the capacity to raise consciousness to a level where true healing can take place. In this book, herbalist Pam Montgomery offers an understanding of the origins of disease and the therapeutic use of plant spirits to bring balance and healing. She offers a process engaging heart, soul, and spirit that she calls the triple spiral path. In our modern existence, we are increasingly challenged with broken hearts, souls in exile, and malnourished spirits. By working through the heart, we connect with the soul and gain access to spirit. She explains that the evolution of plants has always preceded their animal counterparts and that plant spirits offer a guide to our spiritual evolution--a stage of growth imperative not only for the healing of humans but also the healing of the earth.

What a Plant Knows
What a Plant Knows

Author: Daniel Chamovitz

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2012-05-22

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0374288739

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Explores the secret lives of various plants, from the colors they see to whether or not they really like classical music to their ability to sense nearby danger.

Sacred Plant Initiations
Sacred Plant Initiations

Author: Carole Guyett

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2015-03-16

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 1591432146

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A practical guide to connecting with plants through ceremony • Explains how to commune with plants and their spirits through the traditional shamanic method of “plant dieting” to receive their teachings and guidance • Details 8 ceremonial plant initiations centered on common, easily recognized plants and trees such as primrose, dandelion, oak, and dog rose • Provides instructions to develop your own sacred plant initiations and make ceremonial plant elixirs • Includes four audio journeys to facilitate plant initiations In this guide to sacred plant initiations, medical herbalist and shamanic practitioner Carole Guyett explains how to commune with plants and their spirits through the traditional shamanic method of “plant dieting.” A plant diet involves ingesting a particular plant over a period of time so you regularly receive the plant’s vibratory energy as well as its medicinal actions. Adding a ceremonial element to plant dieting offers a sacred initiation by the plant world, allowing you to connect deeply with all aspects of a plant, receive its sacred teachings, and forge a relationship for guidance and healing, benefitting both yourself and others. Each of the eight ceremonial plant initiations detailed in the book was personally developed by the author through extensive work with her ceremonial groups. They each center on an easily recognized plant or tree such as primrose, dandelion, oak, and dog rose. These common plants have powerful teachings and healing guidance to share with those who communicate with and honor them. The initiations, for both individuals and groups, work with the Wheel of the Year, honoring each plant’s sacred timing and connecting with one of the eight Celtic and Pre-Celtic Fire Festivals--the solstices, equinoxes, and the holy days of Beltane, Lughnasadh, Samhain, and Imbolc. Offering practical instructions so you can develop your own sacred plant initiations, the author also include access to 4 audio journeys to facilitate the initiations in the book. She also explains how to make plant elixirs for use in plant diets and for healing. She shows how connecting with plants allows us to deepen our relationship with Nature, access higher levels of consciousness and spiritual realms, and facilitate the full flowering of human potential.