Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast

The birth of the Psychedelic Renaissance is often attributed to Richard Schultes' research on peyote and magic mushrooms in the 1930's. Nonetheless, it was his collaboration with both Gordon Wasson and Albert Hofmann that brought this indigenous wisdom and chemistry to a wider world. At the same time, the equally extraordinary contributions of Valentina Wasson and Maria Sabina merit equal recognition and appreciation.   Allen, John W. “Mushroom Pioneers.” Www.erowid.org/Library/Books, 2002. De Rios, Marlene Dobkin. “María Sabina: Her Life and Chants.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, vol. 14, no. 3, 1982, pp. 259–260., doi:10.1080/02791072.1982.10471940. Erowid, www.erowid.org/. Estrada, Alvaro. María Sabina, Her Life and Chants. Ross-Erikson, 1981. Forte, Robert. Entheogens and the Future of Religion. Park Street Press, 2012. Furst, Peter T. Hallucinogens and Culture. Chandler & Sharp Publishers, Inc., 1997. Johnson, Cody. Magic Medicine: A Trip through the INTOXICATING History and Modern-Day Use of Psychedelic Plants & Substances. Fair Winds Press, 2018. Letcher, Andy. Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom. Ecco, 2007. Pfister, Donald H. “R. Gordon WASSON: 1898-1986.” Mycologia, vol. 80, no. 1, 1988, p. 11., doi:10.2307/3807487. Riedlinger, Thomas J. Sacred Mushroom Seeker: Essays for R. Gordon Wasson. Dioscorides Press, 1990. Schultes, Richard Evans, and Siri Von Reis. Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline. Timber Press, 2008. Schultes, Richard Evans. “Plantae Mexicanae II, the Identification Of TEONANACATL, a Narcotic Basidiomycete of the Aztecs.” Botanical Museum Leaflets of Harvard University, vol. 7, no. 3, 1939, pp. 37–54. Schultes, Richard Evans. “Teonanacatl: The Narcotic Mushroom of the Aztecs.” American Anthropologist, vol. 42, no. 3, 1940, pp. 429–443., doi:10.1525/aa.1940.42.3.02a00040. Sheldrake, Merlin. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. Random House, 2021. Wasson, Gordon. “The Death of Claudius, or Mushrooms for Murders.” Harvard Botanical Museum Leaflets, vol. 23, no. 3, 1972, pp. 101–128.

"Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum!” This immortal chant from Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic “Treasure Island” encapsulates much of the history of sugar and rum and the role they played not only in piracy, but also the rise of capitalism and slavery. This episode covers those issues as well as the underappreciated role these plant products played in the American Revolution. Also discussed is the rebirth of rum culture in the 21st century with an emphasis on all things Tiki.

The much-heralded Psychedelic Renaissance began in 1938 when Harvard graduate student Richard Schultes traveled to southern Mexico to investigate reports that the Mazatec peoples were ingesting mind-altering mushrooms for healing and divinatory purposes. His findings led to further research in both the field and the lab by folks like Gordon Wasson and Albert Hofmann, and this in turn eventually brought the healing potential of these and other mind-altering natural substances to the outside world.    

Palms- The Sacred Princes of the Plant Kingdom - In the words of the late ethnobotanist Richard Schultes, “A panorama does not seem tropical unless palms occupy a distinct and conspicuously visible part of the flora.” Although primarily associated with lowland rainforests, palms range as far north as Scotland and as high as 10,000 feet in the Andes. Furthermore, palms are considered sacred by many if not most of the world’s religions.

Hemp—a fiber of the Cannabis plant—has played an outsized role in world history. It was not only one of the first crops cultivated by our species, but also one of the crops planted by the first Europeans who landed in the eastern US. The Pilgrims grew it, as did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The foundational documents of American democracy, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, were initially drafted on hemp paper. Hemp fiber played a role in the rise of the American military and the Allies’ subsequent victory in WWII. This episode tells that story—and more. 

Marijuana – What do the ancient Chinese, George Bush and The Beatles have in common? Knowingly or not, all benefited from one of the most well-known plants of the gods: marijuana. Between the highly practical uses of hemp fiber and its popular mind-altering properties, marijuana has been part of the human experience for thousands of years. Even so, marijuana remains a contentious topic in the United States in the 21st century. This episode explores the past and present of marijuana’s impact on shaping human history.

The Life and Times of Richard Evans Schultes – Schultes was a scholarship student at Harvard College when entered as a Freshman in 1933. An undergraduate term paper on peyote resulted in an opportunity to partake in a traditional ceremony with the Kiowa in Oklahoma, which then led to research in southern Mexico where he produced the first detailed, scientific account of the so-called “magic mushrooms.” Post-graduate research led him to the Colombian Amazon where he produced the first detailed scientific account of ayahuasca and other Plants of the Gods. In 1967, he organized a conference in San Francisco with Albert Hoffman where the conclusion was that the Plants of the Gods would reshape the treatment of certain emotional and psychiatric disorders at some point in the future, a prediction, which has recently come to full fruition. Sources: Kreig, Margaret. Green Medicine: the Search for Plants That Heal. Bantam Books, 1966. Mann, John. Murder, Magic, and Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2000. Plotkin, Mark J. Ph. D. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: an Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest. Viking, 1993. Prance, Ghillean T., et al. Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs. Synergetic Press, in Association with Heffter Research Institute, 2018.   Stewart, Amy, et al. Wicked Plants: the Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009.

Ergot, LSD and the Birth of Western Religions – Ergot is a fungus that parasitizes rye where - in the Middle Ages - it was sometimes milled into the flour used to make bread. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting folks who ate the bread, ergot is rich in powerful alkaloids that can cause a range of symptoms, from visions to gangrene to death. Some historians have postulated that consumption of ergotized bread may have cause the bizarre behaviors that resulted in the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts in the late 17th century. When employed correctly, ergot offers many beneficial curative properties in terms of treating medical problems in childbirth as well as migraines. And it was the ergot alkloids that inspired Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman in 1938 to devise synthetic chemicals similar to the ergot alkaloids - and one of the results was LSD. This episode also delves into whether visions caused by ergot or other plants of the gods may have played an important role in the formation of several western religions. Sources: Balick, Michael J., and Paul Alan Cox. Plants, People, and Culture the Science of Ethnobotany. CRC Press, 2020.  Harner, Michael. Hallucinogens and Shamanism. Oxford University Press. 1981. Mann, John. Murder, Magic, and Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2000. Muraresku, Brian. The Immortality Key: the Secret History of the Religion with No Name. St. Martin's Press, 2020.  Schultes, Richard Evans., and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods. Vandermarck, 1979. Simpson, Beryl Brintnall., and Molly Conner-Ogorzaly. Economic Botany:Plants in Our World. McGraw-Hill, 2001. Stewart, Amy, et al. Wicked Plants: the Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009.

Hexing Herbs and the Witches of Medieval Europe –  The archetypal image of the witch as an old woman riding a broomstick was not a Hollywood creation. In the Middle Ages, “witches” were often skilled herbalists. Some used powerful plants of the Solanaceae family - plants like henbane and mandrake - that are rich in hallucinogenic compounds known as tropane alkaloids that can induce sensations of flying - to achieve altered states. And these plants were then rubbed on broomsticks that were applied to vaginal membranes, so they did fly through the hallucinogenic landscapes of their mind... Sources: Balick, Michael J., and Paul Alan Cox. Plants, People, and Culture the Science of Ethnobotany. CRC Press, 2020.  Harner, Michael. Hallucinogens and Shamanism. Oxford University Press. 1981. Mann, John. Murder, Magic, and Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2000. Plotkin, Mark J. Medicine Quest: in Search of Nature's Healing Secrets. Penguin Books, 2001. Schultes, Richard Evans., and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods. Vandermarck, 1979. 

The Ethnobotany of Warfare – Plants have played a fundamental role in warfare, not just as poisons and medicines but as ships, chariots, weapons and wound bandages. This episode traces this history from the time of primate clobbering each other with sticks to potential new battlefield medicines from plants.  Sources: Hughes, J.D. Pan’s Travail. Johns Hopkins Press, 1996. Majno, Guido. The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World. Harvard University Press, 1975.  Perlin, J. Forest Journey: The Role of Wood in the Development of Civilization. Harvard Press, 1991. Plotkin, Mark J. “The Ethnobotany of Warfare,” Herbalgram: 101: 48-57.