What is a Shaman?• Shaman can have various roles

– Healer– Spirit Guide– Interpreter

• The status of a Shaman in society can vary. Some people are designated Shaman while others are ordinary citizens with Shaman powers.

• A Shaman will often consume a drug (entheogen) to enter a trance to communicate with the spirits or better understand the world.

• Shaman have expert understanding of their culture and their surrounding environment. Their cultural knowledge of rituals and practices helps preserve tradition.

Entheogen

• An entheogen is a drug used for religious or ritual purposes. It is often consumed by the Shaman and those seeking his aid.

• Examples of entheogens:– Iboga by the Bwiti tribe in Africa– Mescaline by the Aztecs in South America– Peyote by the Native Americans in North America– Amanita Muscaria by Siberian Tribes in Siberia

Shamans in Siberia

• Birthplace of Shamanism• Ordinary people• Amanita Muscaria

Amanita Muscaria• Amanita Muscaria• Native to the Northern Hemisphere• Active Ingredients

– Ibotenic Acid– Muscimol

• NT Receptors– GABAa– NMDA Glutamate Agonist

• Effects– Hallucinations– Sweating– Tremors

• Varying Quality– Not distributed evenly throughout the mushroom (Cap > Base)

• Potentially dangerous

Muscimol

• Product of decarboxlyation of Ibotenic Acid• Hippocampus, Cerebellum, Cerebral Cortex• Full GABA Agonist• Responsible for Hallucinogenic effect

Other Uses of Amanita Muscaria

• Legal• Dangerous• Early Pesticide (Milk)• Vikings – Berserker Rage?

Aztec Use of Entheogens

The Florentine Codex• 12 books written 1540-1585

by Aztec natives under the supervision of Spanish missionaries

• Catalogues specifics of everyday Aztec life

• Extensive records of Aztecs using a plethora of plants for supernatural and everyday purposes

• Titles of Priest or Healer were obtainable by any person of noble descent

Plant Species and their Respective Uses• Ololiúqui (Christmas Vine)

• Seeds contain LSA, a precursor to LSD• Used by priests to communicate with the gods

• Tlitliltzin (Beach Moonflower)• Contains alkaloids with mild hallucinogenic effects• Used to induce a trance and communicate with the dead for the

purpose of divination

• Peyotl (Peyote)• Administered to warriors by shaman before battle as protection

• Pipiltzintzintli (possibly Salvia Divinorum)• Applied as a poultice• Boiled in water and ingested to reduce fatigue

The God Mushroom• Aztec name: Teonanacatl• Psilocybin mushroom• Eating these mushrooms

granted gifts from the Mushroom God• Clairvoyance• Relief from fever and gout

• Used very extensively • “Whenever there was

singing and dancing, mushrooms were to be eaten” – Florentine Codex

• Cult of the Mushroom still exists today in Central America

Use During Sacrificial Feasts• Human sacrifices given in honor of Quetzalcoatl • Feathered serpent god, creator of mankind

• Eaten with honey and chocolate for 4 days• Attendees would feast on day 1, then eat only

Teonanacatl for the remaining 3 days.• On the 4th day, nobles would choose a slave to

sacrifice • Slave would be displayed in front of entire settlement• Chest cut open, heart removed and eaten• Noble would keep the slave’s head for the rest of his

life

Pharmacological Violence?• A common symptom of extremely high psilocybin

doses is dysphoria (unpleasant, anxious, irritable and aggressive mood), and vivid hallucinations.

• Florentine Codex documents that many would see Quetzalcoatl while on trips, and be absolutely terrified• “He who eats many of these mushrooms sees many

things which make him afraid…he flees, hangs himself, or hurls himself from a cliff”- Florentine Codex

• Would these sacrifices occur without the influence of psilocybin mushrooms?

Additional Influence of Mushrooms• The Florentine Codex

catalogues over 20 species of mushrooms eaten as a staple by the Aztecs

• Many of these species are highly neurotoxic• Cooking and preparation

reduces neurotoxicity, but not always in its entirety

• How much of Aztec religion was derived from extremely high doses of a huge variety of drugs?

Mictlantecuhtli, ruler of the underworld. Also something you’d see on a bad trip.

HISTORY •Small, spineless cactus naturally growing from Rio Grande to Chihuahuan Desert, usually in warm climate•Entheogen •Very slow growing – up to 30 years to reach flowering stage!•Considered “endangered”

HUICHOL – “Wixáritari”

•Indigenous group of western central Mexico

•Deities: Trinity of Corn, Blue Deer, Peyote, and the Eagle.

•They fought for a long time to avoid Catholic influences by Spanish settlers. - Rejected priests

Huichol practices•Paint faces with icons, wear embroidered clothes to invoke the presence of ancestors•During the dry season, the ceremony included the “Peyote Dance”•Brother Blue Deer transforms to Peyote, Mother Peyote shot by bows and arrows at dawn

•Ceremonial officer pilgrimage•5 year term

Native Americans•Native American Church = peyotism (Orig. in Oklahoma)

•Apache people spread it up to what is U.S. area from the south

•Peyotism is an integration of Catholism with their own shamanistic religion

•Weekend rituals from Saturday night 8pm to Sunday morning breakfast

Pharmacology • Crowns sliced off and dried to form mescal buttons• These buttons are usually chewed and swallowed.

(or boiled and drank as tea)• About 30% of total alkaloid content is mescaline – Plus 50-60 other alkaloids

• So much variation that the ED50, LD50, potency are all unknown– Season, age, etc.

Mescaline • Primary active ingredient of peyote• Half life: ~6 hours but some studies suggest

that it is not metabolized at all before excretion– Can be excreted as carboxylic acid form of

mescaline = result of MAO degradation

• Binds to serotonin receptors as partial agonist

• Can build cross-tolerance to LSD

Effects of Peyote

PEYOTE TODAY • Schedule I – Illegal to sell and possess peyote– Native American Church and members are exempt

from registration– Manufacturers/distributers to NA Church are

required to obtain registration annually.

• Law varies state to state– CALIFORNIA?

• Still used as medicine to treat alcoholism, drug abuse or other social ills

Last thoughts…

Iboga and the Bwiti

What is Bwiti?• A West Central African

religion - Gabon• The name of the

people who practice Bwiti

• A syncretistic religion composed of animism, ancestor worship, and Christianity

Iboga

Pharmacology•A “dirty” drug – acts on multiple NT systems: 5-HT, DA, GABA•Primarily taken orally•Low doses for therapeutic effects, high for psychedelic effects•Iboga substance tastes like “sawdust mixed with battery acid”

•Ibogaine is 1 out of 12 alkaloids in iboga

Oral onset: 45 min-3 hrs

Iboga use among the Bwiti• 2 main uses:– Small doses used as

a stimulant, 3-5mg/kg

– High doses (>10 mg) used for Bwiti initiation rituals

• Bwiti “rebirth” ceremony used required of teenagers for group membership

Effects and Problems

+ Dreamlike visual hallucinations last 3-4 hours

+ Most intense period may last 24 hours or more

+ Lingering effects 1-2 days after

-Ataxia, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting-Heart arrhythmia resulting in

1/300 deaths-Neurotoxic at high doses

Therapeutic Applications• Reduction or elimination of

addiction to opiates, etc.• “Ibogaine scene”

quadrupled in the last 5 years– Ibogaine clinics

• Therapeutic effects may last up to 3 months– Depot binding, ibogaine

metabolized slowly• Diminishes morphine and

cocaine self-administration in rats

• Blocks DA release

Something to consider…• Ibogaine is a Schedule I drug in the

U.S. (1967)• Unavailable to the majority of addicts

worldwide• But, it has proven therapeutic effects

for treating opioid, methamphetamine, nicotine, and alcohol addictions

• If in good hands and used in a clinical setting, ibogaine can be a lifesaver

Works Cited• Ibogaine Therapy: A 'Vast, Uncontrolled

Experiment’. Brian Vastag. Science, New Series, Vol. 308, No. 5720 (Apr. 15, 2005), pp. 345-346

• Tabernanthe iboga: An African Narcotic Plant of Social Importance. Harrison G. Pope, Jr. Economic Botany, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1969), pp. 174-184

• Addiction Alleviator?: Hallucinogen's Popularity Grows. Brian Vastag. Science News, Vol. 173, No. 1 (Jan. 5, 2008), p. 6

Works Cited cont’d• http://peyote.org/• http://www.erowid.org/plants/peyote/

peyote.shtml• http://www.neuroinf.pl/Members/

neurofizjo/Article.2010-03-17.0423/getFile• http://wixarika.mediapark.net/en/assets/pdf/

THEHUICHOl-Wixarika.pdf• http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/

Native_American_Church/NATIVE_AMERICAN_CHURCH.html

Works Cited cont’d• Albert Hoffman, “Teonanacatl and Ololiuqui, two

ancient drugs of Mexico.” Bulletin on Narcotics, Issue 1, 1971.

• Elferink, Jan G. R., Flores, Jose A., Kaplan Charles D. “The use of Plants and Other Natural Products for Malevolent Practices Among the Aztecs and Their Successors.” Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl Volume 24, 1994.

• Mike Hughes, “Teonanacatl: The Secret History of Magic Mushrooms.” 30 September, 2010.

• Sagahun, Bernardino. Historia general de las cosas de Nueva Espana. 1590.

Works Cited cont’d• Amanita Muscaria and Siberia– Nyberg, H. (1992). "Religious use of hallucinogenic fungi:

A comparison between Siberian and Mesoamerican Cultures“

• Muscimol– S. R. Snodgrass (1978). "Use of 3H-muscimol for GABA

receptor studies".• Berserker Rage– Ödman S. (1784) “An attempt to Explain the Berserk-

raging of Ancient Nordic Warriors through Natural History”

• Early Pesticide Use– Clusius C. (1601). "Genus XII of the pernicious

mushrooms".