Download or read book Tobacco and Shamanism in South America written by Johannes Wilbert and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1987-01-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ethnography of magic-religious, medicinal and recreational tobacco use among nearly 300 native South American societies. Wilbert found that South American Indians use tobacco in many ways and that a close functional relation exists between tobacco and shamanism.
Download or read book The Master Plant written by Andrew Russell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-03 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Portals of Power written by E. Jean Matteson Langdon and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shamans and their practices have fascinated Western civilization since publication of the earliest ethnographies. Yet, alien to a positivistic worldview and characterized by hysteria, ecstasy, and magic, shamanism has continued to be classified as vestigial or archaic long after such labels have become meaningless. Lately, a fresh approach has emerged that rejects arbitrary definition in favor of symbolic analysis and native interpretation. Portals of Power explores this new perspective. Researchers from South America, Europe, and the United States examine shamanism in twelve South American societies. In considering such aspects as visionary experience, native conceptions of power, ritual efficacy, expressive culture, and response to change, contributors to this volume present shamanism as an enduring cultural form, rather than an archaic religion. This is a work that transcends debates about "true" shamanism, to present a global view of shamanism as a dynamic aspect of culture.
Download or read book Spirits Shamans and Stars written by David L. Browman and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-07-22 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Plant Teachers written by Jeremy Narby and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book In Darkness and Secrecy written by Neil L. Whitehead and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2004-06-03 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Darkness and Secrecy brings together ethnographic examinations of Amazonian assault sorcery, witchcraft, and injurious magic, or “dark shamanism.” Anthropological reflections on South American shamanism have tended to emphasize shamans’ healing powers and positive influence. This collection challenges that assumption by showing that dark shamans are, in many Amazonian cultures, quite different from shamanic healers and prophets. Assault sorcery, in particular, involves violence resulting in physical harm or even death. While highlighting the distinctiveness of such practices, In Darkness and Secrecy reveals them as no less relevant to the continuation of culture and society than curing and prophecy. The contributors suggest that the persistence of dark shamanism can be understood as a form of engagement with modernity. These essays, by leading anthropologists of South American shamanism, consider assault sorcery as it is practiced in parts of Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela, and Peru. They analyze the social and political dynamics of witchcraft and sorcery and their relation to cosmology, mythology, ritual, and other forms of symbolic violence and aggression in each society studied. They also discuss the relations of witchcraft and sorcery to interethnic contact and the ways that shamanic power may be co-opted by the state. In Darkness and Secrecy includes reflections on the ethical and practical implications of ethnographic investigation of violent cultural practices. Contributors. Dominique Buchillet, Carlos Fausto, Michael Heckenberger, Elsje Lagrou, E. Jean Langdon, George Mentore, Donald Pollock, Fernando Santos-Granero, Pamela J. Stewart, Andrew Strathern, Márnio Teixeira-Pinto, Silvia Vidal, Neil L. Whitehead, Johannes Wilbert, Robin Wright
Download or read book Effects of Nicotine on Biological Systems written by Adlkofer and published by Birkhäuser. This book was released on 2013-03-08 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As part of its scientific activities, the German Research Council on Smoking and Health regularly provides opportunities for scientists to discuss progress in the field of nicotine research. In this context, the Research Council sponsored a Satellite Symposium in Hamburg, June 28-30, 1990 entitled "Effects of Nicotine on Biological Systems". This meeting was held in conjunction with the XIth International Congress of Pharmacology in Amsterdam and follows the first Satellite Symposium on Nicotine which was convened in Brisbane, Australia in 1987. The aim of these conferences has been to discuss state of the art research on the pharmacology and toxicology of nicotine and its metabolites and to integrate this information to help define nicotinic actions on the central and peripheral nervous system as well as to evaluate health or behavioral effects associated with use of this alkaloid. Furthermore, at this conference, potential therapeutic benefits of nicotine for certain disease states were discussed. Smoking and the health effects of smoking were dealt with only as far as they could not be separated from the effects of nicotine. This volume contains the lectures presented at the symposium and illustrates that knowledge of nicotine has advanced considerably in recent years with regard to mechanisms of its actions. Despite such progress however, it is apparent that a' large number of questions remain unanswered, especially in the light of new insight into cellular and molecular mechanisms which can be affected by nicotine.
Download or read book Use of Tobacco in Mexico and South America written by John Alden Mason and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Anthropology of Tobacco written by Andrew Russell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-04 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tobacco has become one of the most widely used and traded commoditites on the planet. Reflecting contemporary anthropological interest in material culture studies, Anthropology of Tobacco makes the plant the centre of its own contentious, global story in which, instead of a passive commodity, tobacco becomes a powerful player in a global adventure involving people, corporations and public health. Bringing together a range of perspectives from the social and natural sciences as well as the arts and humanities, Anthropology of Tobacco weaves stories together from a range of historical, cross-cultural and literary sources and empirical research. These combine with contemporary anthropological theories of agency and cross-species relationships to offer fresh perspectives on how an apparently humble plant has progressed to world domination, and the consequences of it having done so. It also considers what needs to happen if, as some public health advocates would have it, we are seriously to imagine ‘a world without tobacco’. This book presents students, scholars and practitioners in anthropology, public health and social policy with unique and multiple perspectives on tobacco-human relations.
Download or read book Black Smoke written by Margaret De Wys and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A diagnosis of cancer leads to healing and transformation in the Amazon jungle • Explains in vivid detail De Wys’s experience of being healed from cancer through visionary ayahuasca rituals in Ecuador • Describes her apprenticeship and relationship with the shaman who cured her • Explores the ways this spiritual medicine can heal the emotional origins of disease now plaguing our modern technological culture • Chosen as one of the “Top 10 Books of the New Edge” by Jonathan Talat Phillips on The Huffington Post When composer and Bard College music professor Margaret De Wys learned she had breast cancer, the diagnosis shattered her comfortable life. Seized by fear, crushed by existential loneliness, she couldn’t respond when her loved ones reached out to her. To everyone’s concern, the illness propelled her away from her family and deep into the Amazon to work with Carlos, a charismatic Shuar shaman and master of medicina milenaria, an ancient mystical tradition with a highly sophisticated and precise technology of healing. In Black Smoke, De Wys writes of her amazing encounter with Carlos as he guided her into a world of potent visionary plants, harrowing initiations, ritual purification, and miraculous healings, including the complete disappearance of her cancer. It was, as Carlos called it, “the path of the warrior.” Sharing a journey not only through cancer but also through self-transformation, De Wys provides an intimate inside look at the shamanic ceremonies of ayahuasca and the ways this spiritual medicine can heal the emotional origins of disease now plaguing our modern technological culture. Capturing her physical, emotional, and “holy voyage” through a world that differs vastly from our own in its perception of healing and wholeness, she offers a revealing chronicle of spiritual insight and a trenchant exploration of the limits of idealism. She not only provides a probing look at how our society can learn and benefit from indigenous wisdom but also weaves a cautionary tale about how potentially dangerous it is--on both sides--to try to cross those frontiers.
Download or read book Ayahuasca Medicine written by Alan Shoemaker and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insider’s account of the journey to become an ayahuasquero, a shaman who heals with the visionary vine ayahuasca • Details the author’s training and life as a curandero using ayahuasca medicine, San Pedro cactus, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms, and other visionary plants • Offers first-hand accounts of miraculous healing where ayahuasca revealed the cause of the illness, including how the author healed his mother from liver cancer • Shows how “ayahuasca tourism” symbolizes the Western world’s reawakening need to connect with the universal life force For more than 20 years American-born Alan Shoemaker has apprenticed and worked with shamans in Ecuador and Peru, learning the traditional methods of ayahuasca preparation, the ceremonial rituals for its use, and how to commune with the healing spirit of this sacred plant as well as the spirit of the San Pedro cactus and other sacred plant allies. Now a recognized and practicing ayahuasquero, or ayahuasca shaman, in Peru, he offers an insider’s account of the ayahuasca tradition and of its use for expanding consciousness and achieving healing through access to other dimensions of being. Shoemaker details his training and his own curandero practice using ayahuasca medicine, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms, and other visionary plants. He discusses the different traditions of his two foremost teachers and mentors, Don Juan in the Peruvian Amazon, an ayahuasquero, and Valentin in Ecuador, a San Pedro shaman. He reveals the indispensable role played by icaros, the healing songs of the plant shaman, and offers firsthand accounts of miraculous healing resulting from ayahuasca’s ability to reveal the cause of an illness, including how he healed his mother from liver cancer. The author also addresses the rising popularity of Northerners traveling to the Amazon to seek healing and mind expansion through ayahuasca and shows how this fascination is triggered by humanity’s reawakening need to connect to the universal life force.
Download or read book The Jewel That Inundates All Feeling the 72 Enchantments of Tobacco written by Arutam Ruymn and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-11-29 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Jewel which inundates all feeling is a peculiar work that intends to transmit the deep relationship of Native American people with the sacred leaf of Tobacco. It poetically describes the feeling of a Shaman's (Arutam Ruym�n) man-world relationship, in selected ceremonial moments. The depth of knowledge and the authenticity of the transmitted feeling is indescribable, as is the healing that it implies for our modern culture to be able to immerse ourselves in the spiritual way of life which the relationship with Tobacco meant for the peoples of America. 72 enchantments immerse the reader in a free fall towards the right feeling of Being, intending to be medicine combining its individual tendencies which are disorganized and separated from the world, in the only Great Feeling that holds the wealth of the original memory. Tobacco was always considered, by American shamanism, the most important leaf; the living book written by Arutam's (Great Spirit) own hand, with his blood full of his feeling; given to our grandparents in dreams, it continues making the young men of our time dream, see, and feel. This piece is also placed as a work to preserve the ancient shamanic art, with many answers for the drifting current times, inviting us to the opportunity of reflecting from the brightest peak of knowledge.
Download or read book Anadenanthera written by Constantino M Torres and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-11 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A multidisciplinary study of pre-Columbian South America—centering on the psychoactive plant genus Anadenanthera As cultures formed and evolved in pre-Columbian South America, Anadenanthera became one of the most widely used shamanic inebriants. Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America is more than a comprehensive reference on shamanic visionary substances; it is a useful tool for archeologists and pre-Columbian art historians. This thorough book examines the ritual and cultural use of Anadenanthera from prehistory to the present, along with its botany, chemistry, pharmacology, anthropology, and archeology. The earliest evidence for the use of psychoactive plants in South America is provided by remains of seeds and pods recovered from archeological sites four millennia old. Various preparations were derived from it with the intent of being a shamanic inebriant. Inhaled through the nose, smoked in pipes or as cigars, and prepared in fermented drinks, Anadenanthera served a central role in the cultural development of indigenous societies in South America. Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America explores the full spectrum of information gleaned from research, covering numerous archeological sites in the Andean region, as well as discussing Amazonian shamanic rituals and lore. Analyses of the artistic expressions within the decorations of associated ceremonial paraphernalia such as ritual snuffing tubes and snuff trays are included. The text is richly illustrated with photographs and images of decorated ritual implements, and provides a comprehensive bibliography. Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America explores: botanical aspects, taxonomy, and geographical distribution of Anadenanthera ethnographical, historical, and traditional aspects of Anadenanthera use chemical and pharmacological investigations of the genus and the various visionary preparations derived from it—with emphasis on the biologically active constituents theories of the mechanisms of action of the active tryptamines and carboline alkaloids comparisons of wood anatomy, morphology, and percentage of alkaloid content evaluation of stylistic and iconographic traits Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America is a thorough, useful resource for archeologists, anthropologists, chemists, researchers, pre-Columbian art historians, and any layperson interested in pre-Columbian art, archeology, or visionary plants.
Download or read book Smoke Signals written by Martin A. Lee and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-08-13 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the author, an investigative journalist, traces the social history of marijuana from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in an ongoing culture war. He describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a multibillion-dollar industry. In 1996, Californians voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Similar laws have followed in several other states, but not without antagonistic responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement. The author draws attention to underreported scientific breakthroughs that are reshaping the therapeutic landscape: medical researchers have developed promising treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, chronic pain, and many other conditions that are beyond the reach of conventional cures. This book is an examination of the medical, recreational, scientific, and economic dimensions of the world's most controversial plant.
Download or read book Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations written by Jules Evans and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2013-10-03 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When philosophy rescued him from an emotional crisis, Jules Evans became fascinated by how ideas invented over two thousand years ago can help us today. He interviewed soldiers, psychologists, gangsters, astronauts, and anarchists and discovered the ways that people are using philosophy now to build better lives. Ancient philosophy has inspired modern communities — Socratic cafés, Stoic armies, Epicurean communes — and even whole nations in the quest for the good life. This book is an invitation to a dream school with a rowdy faculty that includes twelve of the greatest philosophers from the ancient world, sharing their lessons on happiness, resilience, and much more. Lively and inspiring, this is philosophy for the street, for the workplace, for the battlefield, for love, for life.
Download or read book Dark Shamans written by Neil L. Whitehead and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2002-10-07 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the little-known and darker side of shamanism there exists an ancient form of sorcery called kanaimà, a practice still observed among the Amerindians of the highlands of Guyana, Venezuela, and Brazil that involves the ritual stalking, mutilation, lingering death, and consumption of human victims. At once a memoir of cultural encounter and an ethnographic and historical investigation, this book offers a sustained, intimate look at kanaimà, its practitioners, their victims, and the reasons they give for their actions. Neil L. Whitehead tells of his own involvement with kanaimà—including an attempt to kill him with poison—and relates the personal testimonies of kanaimà shamans, their potential victims, and the victims’ families. He then goes on to discuss the historical emergence of kanaimà, describing how, in the face of successive modern colonizing forces—missionaries, rubber gatherers, miners, and development agencies—the practice has become an assertion of native autonomy. His analysis explores the ways in which kanaimà mediates both national and international impacts on native peoples in the region and considers the significance of kanaimà for current accounts of shamanism and religious belief and for theories of war and violence. Kanaimà appears here as part of the wider lexicon of rebellious terror and exotic horror—alongside the cannibal, vampire, and zombie—that haunts the western imagination. Dark Shamans broadens discussions of violence and of the representation of primitive savagery by recasting both in the light of current debates on modernity and globalization.
Download or read book Does Pharmacology Corroborate the Nicotine Therapy and Practices of South American Shamanism written by Johannes WILBERT and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
