Book Reviews About Drugs And Spirituality
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Book Reviews About Drugs And Spirituality
Breaking Open the Head:
A Psychedelic Journey into
the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism
Describes the journey the author has taken on his search for modern shamanism. Some of the drugs investigated include ayahuasca, dmt, iboga, lsd, and magic mushrooms. Good book for those interested in the relationship between drugs, plants, shamanism, and spirituality. Over 350 pages.
Breaking Open the Head Cleansing the Doors of Perception:
The Religious Significance of
Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals
A collection of essays by religious scholar and author, Huston Smith. The book looks at the entheogenic plants and chemicals various cultures and individuals have used to expand spiritual awareness.
Although the author is known for his religious books like the world's religions, but he was also a participant in the Good Friday experiment of 1962, when a group (headed by Timothy Leary) ingested 30 milligrams of psilocybin (extracted from mushrooms) and attended Good Friday religious services.
Cleansing the Doors of Perception DMT: The Spirit Molecule:
A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into
the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences
Humans have DMT in our bodies naturally. Some claim without it, we would go mad or be unable to cope with society. The book looks at how DMT induces mystical states that were previously reserved for shaman, monks, and other spiritual explorers.
This is a very interesting book that is well written and hard to put down. Not scientific text that no one but another scientist can understand. It will allow the casual reader with an interest in the subject understand what DMT is about.
The author believes that DMT may give the user insight into a parallel universe. He is a doctor and medical researcher, but the book was written from a metaphysical angle. It is not just a boring medical text book.
DMT: The Spirit Molecule... Doors of Perception - Heaven and Hell
In the first half of the book, doors of perception, originally a separate volume, Aldous Huxley offers an argument for the use hallucinogens (specifically, mescaline) as a means for opening up the thinking mind to new ideas and perceptions, or even as a method for jump starting human creativity in common people.
Not only does he offer compelling historical precedents and sound medical research, but he also reveals positive details about his own personal experimentation with the drug. As is always the case with Huxley's essays, his various hypotheses are very articulately expressed and not easily dismissed.
The second part of the book, heaven and hell, also originally published separately, Huxley introduces the idea that spiritual insight and personal revelation can also be achieved through the use of hallucinogens.
While just as articulately written and researched as the first volume, the idea that religious insight can be gained through drugs may offend some readers. Thought provoking reading for both professionals and amateurs interested in the positive potential of mind altering drugs.
Doors of Perception - Heaven and Hell Entheogens and the Future of Religion
Is there a link between religion and drugs? If you want to know what scientists, religious people, and others think about the subject this would be a good book.
It looks at the subject from Christian, Buddhist, spiritual, scientific and legal considerations.
Entheogens and the Future of Religion Food of the Gods:
The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge:
A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution
Interesting world history from a spiritual/drug view. It focuses mainly on mushrooms (with info about other psychedelics).
The author looks at previous non-industrialized societies that lived in harmony, united in their love for mother earth. And the use of substances that helped further that harmony.
Food of the Gods Green Gold the Tree of Life:
Marijuana in Magic & Religion
A book about ancient history and the origins of religion. It looks at such things as marijuana, philosophy of consciousness, and linguistics with the role they have played in the evolution of religion.
Very extensive research with footnotes on every page and an impressive bibliography. It is serious reading and may be too complex for the average reader with a casual interest in the subject. It is aimed more at the advanced student or expert in the study of religion.
Green Gold the Tree of Life Moksha:
Aldous Huxley's Classic Writings
on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience
A collection of Aldous Huxley articles on psychedelics originally from his books, lectures, science papers, etc.
Moksha Mushrooms and Mankind:
The Impact of Mushrooms on
Human Consciousness and Religion
A book about the impact psychoactive mushrooms (primarily Amanita muscaria) have had on the history of the human race. If you have any interest in psychoactive mushrooms and how they have influenced the history of our planet, you should read a copy of this small book (about 100 pages).
Spanning from pre-history to the present, the author shows the deep impact mushrooms have played in almost every culture and religion that have had access to them. Includes mushrooms and Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, USA, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and more.
Mushrooms and Mankind Persephone's Quest:
Entheogens and the Origins of Religion
This book is about mushrooms, particularly mind-altering mushrooms (like fly agaric and psilocybe) and how they were used by the Greeks and others in rituals.
This book follows the pursuit of evidence to aid this theory and looks throughout the world. A scholarly view of mankind, primitive religion, and mushrooms.
From their religious use in Mexico, Central and South America, India, China, Siberia, Europe, and ancient Greece. According to Greek legend, Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of grain and the harvests.
Persephone's Quest (paperback) Persephone's Quest (hardcover) Pharmacotheon:
Entheogenic Drugs Their Plant Sources and Histories
Entheogenics are hallucinogenic drugs used in a religious or shamanic context. This book explorers just about all aspects of plants that early humans used for shamanic purposes.
A very good book for those with an advanced interest in entheogenic drugs. The author includes results of several self-experiments and offers an opinion on the issue of entheogenic use.
Pharmacotheon Plants of the Gods:
Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers
Comprehensive reference work about psychoactive plants. Lists the plant's common name, botanical name, historical ethnography, purpose of use, preparation, chemical composition, and effects. Includes color and black and white photographs, illustrations, and paintings, a bibliography and index.
Plant species discussed include the Fly Agaric mushroom, Atropa (Deadly Nightshade), Yellow and Black Henbane, Mandrake, Cannabis, Ergot, Datura, Iboga, Yopo beans, Ayahuasca, Yage, Brugmansia, Peyote, San Pedro cactus, Morning Glory, Magic Mushrooms and more.
Plants of the Gods Psychedelic Prayers & Other Meditations
Written while Tim Leary was visiting India in 1965 and finished the following year, Psychedelic Prayers is an adaptation of Book 1 of the Tao Te Ching.
As meditation is to Eastern spiritual traditions, psychedelic drugs were to Timothy Leary. The counterculture guru encouraged people to transcend ego-centered perspectives of ordinary human consciousness and liberate themselves from their limitations.
Psychedelic Prayers & Other Meditations Sacred Mushroom Seeker:
Tributes to R. Gordon Wasson
R. Gordon Wasson (September 22, 1898 – December 23, 1986) in the course of his mushroom research went to Mexico to study the religious use of mushrooms. In 1957, the details of 'magic' mushroom use was published in a Life magazine article (Seeking the Magic Mushroom). This brought knowledge of psychoactive mushrooms to the world.
This is a collection of articles about R. Gordon Wasson and his contributions to the world of magic mushrooms. Authors include those who have worked with and been influenced by him.
Sacred Mushroom Seeker Shamanism And Tantra In The Himalayas
Primarily about shamanism and various plants used for spiritual and medical purposes in the countries (Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Tibet) that surround the Himalayan mountain range in Asia. Not a lot of info about tantra.
Easy to understand text with hundreds of color photos. Several dozen black and white illustrations. Besides pictures of the plants and people being discussed, the book includes some full page (color) images of Hindu and Buddhist artwork. Beautiful book over 300 pages.
Shamanism And Tantra In The Himalayas Spirituality and Chemical Dependency
Collected essays discuss each step of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program focusing on how spirituality is used in recovery.
Additional contributions examine chemical dependency treatment in the field of art therapy, and specific issues for gay, lesbian, and Native American populations.
Spirituality and Chemical Dependency (softcover) Spirituality and Chemical Dependency (hardcover) Stairways to Heaven:
Drugs in American Religious History
From Native Americans' use of tobacco for solemnizing oaths to the spread of New Age religious beliefs in Haight Ashbury coffee houses, drugs have been intimately associated with American spirituality.
Stairways to Heaven illustrates how such substances as peyote, jimsonweed, hallucinogenic mushrooms, LSD, marijuana, wine, and coffee have stimulated ecstatic revelations of spiritual truth and strengthened the social bonds that sustain communities of faith.
Stairways to Heaven The Antipodes of the Mind:
Charting the Phenomenology
of the Ayahuasca Experience
The author, a cognitive psychologist and theoretician with published articles and a book, went to that Amazon to study the use and effects of ayahuasca. This book (based on about 2500 ayahuasca sessions) describes the ayahuasca experience from a scientific point of view.
Although it is written from a scientific point of view, it is not boring or filled with words that only a scientist would understand. Interesting and well written, it is recommended for anyone with an interest in ayahuasca, psychology, spirituality, religion, the mind, or visionary drugs.
Chapters include atmosphere and general effects, one-eyed visualizations, structural typology of ayahuasca visualizations, non-visual perceptions, contents and themes of visions, time, light, philosophical perceptions, and more. Over 450 pages.
The Antipodes of the Mind The Four Agreements:
A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
A Toltec Wisdom Book
Sit at the foot of a native elder and listen as great wisdom of days long past is passed down. In The Four Agreements shamanic teacher and healer Don Miguel Ruiz exposes self-limiting beliefs and presents a simple yet effective code of personal conduct learned from his Toltec ancestors.
The four agreements are:
1. Be impeccable with your word
2. Don't take anything personally
3. Don't make assumptions
4. Always do your best
The Four Agreements The Invisible Landscape:
Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching
Terence McKenna and his brother relate their experience with a South American psychoactive plant, and the insights that they gained from it.
The I Ching's 'King Wen sequence' of the 64 hexagrams is interpreted as a digital code. A book that would be of interest to persons who have a grasp of the I Ching and psychoactive substances.
The Invisible Landscape The Natural Mind:
An Investigation of Drugs and the Higher Consciousness
Interesting book, by Dr. Andrew Weil, about the inner workings of the mind and the effect drugs have. Easy to understand, it follows the authors own use of substances, and medical research to gain insight into higher consciousness.
Includes information about alcohol, marijuana, hashish, cocaine, DMT, heroin, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, speed, and other substances.
The Natural Mind The Psychedelic Experience:
A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead
Written (by Timothy Leary) for a mature audience of intellectuals, this is a book aimed at guiding the user through an experience with psychedelic drugs like LSD, mescaline, mushrooms.
It was originally released in the early 1960's when LSD was legal but most of the information can still be practically applied to the use of psychedelic (or other drugs). Explores such things as setting and preparation for a session, handling negative experiences, the ego, and more.
The Psychedelic Experience The Reluctant Shaman:
A Woman's First Encounters With
The Unseen Spirits Of The Earth
This book recounts the first steps in the making of a modern-day shaman. An honest account of a woman trying to make sense of experiences that are not comprehensible to most people living in our present society.
This is a candid account of the experiences of a young mother and student who was chosen by two South American shaman to learn and carry the light of their teachings.
The Reluctant Shaman The Road to Eleusius
A secret religion existed for 2,000 years in Greece (until the Christians displaced it around 400 AD). The rituals remained secret until the 1970's.
The Secret of the ritual involved the personal visions induced by drinking the grain concoction administered to the initiates. The domestication of grains permitted the development of Greek civilization, it also brought ergot fungus (LSD is made from ergot fungus).
The Road to Eleusius Visionary Vine:
Hallucinogenic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon
Explains the traditional use of ayahuasca in ceremonies that take place in the Peruvian area of the Amazon. Also gives a history of the Peruvian Amazon and various hallucinogenic plant medicines used in the area (for medical, ritual, and other purposes.
Visionary Vine Your Brain Is God
A collection of essays by Timothy Leary. He describes the period in his life following his dismissal from Harvard. During that time his psychedelic research moved from the scientific to the religious experiences.
He discusses the nature of religious experience as well as Tibetan, Buddhist, and Taoist experiences. But the book is not just about religion though. It also describes his early drug exploration and the proper set and setting for a session.
Your Brain Is God