I haven’t read very much that tackles this subject before reading this book. What piqued my interest was the use of henbane, datura, mandrake, etc. I really enjoyed the section that dived into the practice of shamanism in traditional Western societies. The final part explores the idea of the trans-cultural experience, or the concept that the substances produce similar experiences regardless of one’s cultural background. The first three parts focus on the locations that shamanism occurred: The Upper Amazon, Cultures Undergoing Westernization and In The Traditional Western World. It was definitely enlightening to read each individual study, and think about what the anthropologist experienced during his or her fieldwork. It is a fairly old book, so I was already familiar with its content. I think I first heard about this book from a Terence McKenna speech, and was pleasantly surprised to find it a few weeks ago in my local used bookstore. Michael Harner serves as the book’s editor, and does a good job of including studies that provide different sets of information to the reader. This is a collection of ten anthropological studies that explore the use of hallucinogens in shamanism.
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