Many people believe they can achieve mystic or religious experience by taking hallucinogens, not realizing that they are reverting to the age-old practices of primitive societies.

Hallucinogenic plants have been used by man for thousands of years, probably since he began gathering plants for food. Some of the plants he found were nourishing, some were medicinal and a few had bizarre effects on his mind and body. Man has shown great resourcefulness in his utilisation of hallucinogenic plants. Plants can eaten fresh or dried or juice from crushed leaves or beverages can be drunk. Resins are licked; some are smoked or taken through the nose as snuff while others are occasionally taken rectally.

Cannabis

It was made into a drink, in ancient times, with opium-like effects. Indian medical writing, compiled before 1000 B.C., reports therapeutic uses of cannabis; the early Hindus called it “a heavenly guide” and soother of grief”. The Scythians – people who lived in the area that covers present-day Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia – grew cannabis along the Volga 3,000 years ago and threw the seeds and leaves on hot stones in steam baths to produce an intoxicating smoke. The Chinese tradition of using cannabis dates even further back to 4,800 years ago and was referred to as the “liberator of sin” and “delight giver.”

Datura

A member of the deadly nightshade family, solanaceae was used by the Thuggee cult in India to drug sacrificial victims to Kali. It was held sacred in China, where people believed that when Buddha preached, heaven sprinkled the plant with dew. All parts of the plant, especially the brownish-black seeds, are toxic. Datura is believed to have been the chief ingredient of wysoccon, used by the Algonquin Indians of eastern North America before the ritual of initiation into manhood. The Jivaros are a headhunting tribe from the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon and the only group known for the ancient practice of shrinking human heads. They believe that the spirits of their ancestors reprimand disobedient children during hallucinations induced by datura. The ancient Chibchas of Bogota used Datura aurea seeds to induce coma in the wives and slaves of dead warriors and chieftains before they were buried alive to accompany husbands and masters on the last trip.

Belladonna

Another member of the deadly nightshade, induces all sorts of hallucinations. It entered into the folklore and mythology of virtually all European peoples who feared its deadly power. It was one of the ingredients of the truly hallucinogenic brews and ointments concocted by the so-called witches of medieval Europe. The name belladonna, meaning beautiful lady, comes from the practice of medieval Italian women dropping the sap of the plant into their eyes to simulate the dilation of a woman’s pupils during sex. Witches flying ointment consisted of belladonna or mandrake, poplar leaves and soot and to hold it all together fat or clove oil. This ointment would be rubbed on the forehead, wrists, hands or feet. There are written accounts of witches rubbing broomsticks with the ointment and inserting it in into their vaginas. This is probably where the idea came from of witches flying on broomsticks. A fifteenth-century source reads, “They anoint a staff and ride on it or anoint themselves under the arms and in other hairy places”. If it was applied this way it was to insure the hallucinogen was quickly absorbed through the membranes.

Mandrake

It was an active hallucinogenic ingredient of many of the witches’ brews of Europe; in fact, it was one of the most potent ingredients in their complex concoctions. Mandrake was believed to have magic properties. The root of mandrake was likened to the form of a man or woman and, according to superstition, if pulled from the earth its unearthly shrieks could drive its collector mad. In many regions, the people claimed strong aphrodisiac properties for mandrake. Shakespeare more than once alludes to this plant, Cleopatra asks for the drug to help her sleep while Antony is away. “Give me to drink mandragora.” The notion that the plant shrieked when touched is referred to in Romeo and Juliet: “And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth.”

Morning Glory

Or ololiuqui, it was of major importance to the Aztecs and was presumed to have pain-killing properties. Before making sacrifices, Aztec priests rubbed themselves with an ointment of the ashes of insects, tobacco, and ololiuqui to benumb the flesh and lose all fear. Hernández, physician to the King of Spain, wrote “when the priests wanted to commune with their gods and receive messages from them, they ate this plant to induce a delirium, and a thousand visions . . . appeared to them.”

Iboga

It is native to Gabon and the Congo and is the only member of the dogbane family known to be used as a hallucinogen. The yellowish root of the iboga plant is used in the initiation rites of the Bwiti cult. The right of entry into the cult is subject to having “seen” the god plant Bwiti, which is made possible by the use of iboga. The drug has a reputation as a powerful stimulant and aphrodisiac and is used by hunters to stay awake all night. Large doses induce unworldly visions, and sorcerers take the drug to seek information from ancestors and the spirit world.

Fungi

They have been used in divinatory or religious contexts for at least 3000 years. Fly agaric mushrooms Amanita muscaria is the red fungus with white spots illustrated in fairy story books. This fungus has been in recorded use for over six thousand years. It was important to the druids of the Celtic tribes and referred to as the “food of the Gods” because they believed that they were in direct communication with the Earth and the Universe when they consumed it. The fly agaric was usually only taken by the druids and other magic users as it was considered too powerful for the untrained in the higher levels of the mind.

Swedish historians believed that before entering battle, the Vikings would go through a religious ritual in which they would dance around the woods and consume the fly agaric mushroomso they were able to fight without fear. For this reason the Vikings were also known as the berserkers. The tribesmen of Siberia ate the mushroom either sun-dried or toasted over a fire, or sometimes in reindeer milk or the juice of wild plants. Because the active ingredient is excreted in urine the tribesmen ritually drank the urine from men who have become intoxicated so that a few mushrooms could be shared by many. The effects of the mushroom is twitching, trembling, slight convulsions, coloured visions, numbness of the limbs, happiness and the urge to sing and dance.

Various types of mushroom were used as hallucinogens by the Aztec Indians, who called them teonanacotl, meaning “flesh of the gods”. Mushroom worship seems to have roots in centuries of native tradition. Mexican frescoes, going back to A.D. 300, have designs suggestive of mushrooms. The other- worldly experience induced by these strange forms of plant life could easily have suggested the existence of deities. The Spanish with their fanatical version of Christianity detested the vision-giving powers of mushrooms that allowed the native people to commune directly with their gods. By trying to stamp out the use of the mushrooms, the Spaniards drove the custom into the hinterlands, where it kept going and eventually adopted many Christian aspects.

The modern mushroom ceremonies of the Mazatec Indians of north eastern Oaxaca illustrates the importance of the ritual in present-day Mexico and how the sacred character of these plants has persisted from pre-conquest times. They believe that the mushroom springs up miraculously and that it may be sent from outer realms on thunderbolts. The divine mushrooms are gathered during the new moon on the hillsides before dawn by a virgin; they are often consecrated on the altar of the local church.

The effects of mushrooms include muscular relaxation, pupil enlargement, joviality, and difficulty concentrating as well as visual and auditory hallucinations. Visions are breathtakingly lifelike, in colour, and in constant motion but followed by mental and physical depression and alteration of time and space perception. The user appears to be isolated from the world around him and wholly indifferent to his surroundings as his dreamlike state becomes a reality.

Snuff

It is usually associated with tobacco; however, there are several types of snuff used in magico -religious rites. A potent snuff is made from the resin from the bark of the virola tree. This is prepared and dried and often includes the addition of ash or lime, presumably as base agents, and a powder made from the leaves of the justicia or hummingbird bush. It is usually administered in snuffing tubes made of hollow bird bones or, occasionally; in long tubes made of reed-like plants. Among numerous tribes in eastern Colombia the use of virola snuff is restricted to shamans; however, among the Waiká tribes of the frontier region of Brazil and Venezuela the snuff can be taken by any man either ritually or individually. The effects of virola are felt within minutes; first there is a feeling of increasing excitability followed by a numbness of the limbs, a twitching of the face, a lack of coordination, nasal discharges, nausea, and, frequently, vomiting. The Waiká believe that the hekulas, spirit forces, live in the virola tree and control the affairs of man. During the intoxication, medicine men appear to be fighting these gigantic hekulas.

Cacti

They have been used for thousands of years by the native peoples of the Americas. The Peyote cacti is probably the most well known of all hallucinogenic cacti and is the slowest growing cacti in the world, taking up to 10 years to grow to the size of a small apple. The peyote cactus has a religious significance to the Tarohumare, Huichol, and other Mexican Indians. The Tarahumare believe that when Father Sun left earth to dwell above, he left peyote, or hikuli, to cure man’s ills and woes. They also believe that the peyote sings and talks as it grows and when gathered it sings happily in its bag all the way home. The effects on the mind and body are so utterly unworldly and fantastic that it is easy to understand the native belief that the cactus must be the residence of spirit forces or a divinity. The most spectacular of the many effects is the kaleidoscopic play of rich, coloured visions.

An intoxicating drink called cimora is made from the San Pedro cactus. Short lengths of the stem, often sold in native markets, are sliced like loaves of bread and then boiled in water for several hours, sometimes with superstitious objects such as cemetery dust and powdered bones. Cimora is the basis of a folk healing ceremony that combines ancient indigenous ritual with Christian elements. The power of San Pedro is supposed to extend beyond medicine; it is said to guard the house like a dog and has the ability to whistle in such an unearthly manner that intruders run for their lives in terror.

Ayahuasca

It means “vine of the soul”, and is used by the shamans of the indigenous Western Amazonian tribes in religious and healing ceremonies. In addition to its hallucinogenic properties it is used for its healing properties as a purgative that cleanses the body of parasites and aids digestion. Yekwana medicine men mimic the roars of jaguars and Tukano Ayahuasca-takers sometimes experience nightmares of jaguar jaws swallowing them up or huge snakes slithering towards them and coiling around their bodies. Visions of brightly coloured snakes are seen climbing up and down the house posts. Shamans of the Conibo-Shipibo tribe acquire great snakes as personal possessions to defend themselves against these other worldly snakes.

Psychotropic

Plants are rich in alkaline substances such as nicotine and cocaine that produce a stimulant effect and may have helped people to endure their harsh lives. Until recently Australian Aborigines used the nicotine-rich plant pituri to help them endure desert travel without food. Andeans still chew coca leaves to help them work at high altitudes. In Pacific cultures where chewing betel nut is still widespread, it is seen more as a source of food and energy than as a drug. Some drugs do have real nutritional value. For example, 100 grams of coca leaf contains calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamins A, B2 and E. Some scientists argue that in some particularly tough environments, people’s diets may have been so poor that they struggled to produce enough chemicals to help the brain function normally.

Today many psychtropics are chemicals that don’t occur in nature, such as LSD, ecstasy and angel dust, and are used for reasons that are totally at odds with the motives of tribal peoples. People of the modern world not only use drugs for the mind-altering effects and feelings of well-being; they may also look for the approval of their peers, the relief from the stresses of modern life or to rebel against the constraints of authority.