‘Herbarium of Hallucinogenic Plants’

(From the exhibition GARDEN OF THE GODS)

The theme of these botanicals is the exploration of altered states of consciousness; unique experiences of the mind and brain and the relationship to self-awareness, creativity, and healing. It is the exploration of the profound interaction of plant and human biology. Plants feed us, heal us, poison us, and sometimes give us insight into the divine in our minds. Since Neolithic times these powerful, revered plants have induced states that are the realm of deep subconscious self-examination; the well of imagination, the source of myth and symbol, and the place of the sacred universal.

As we wake to the devastating consequences of irreversible environmental degradation, the advent of all-consuming technology, as most of our actions are economically and socially determined, we find ourselves at a crossroads of consciousness. We have lost our sense of the sacred and how to seek it. We are profoundly disconnected from our deeper natures and from nature itself. It is more important than ever to ask ourselves, how do we connect the universal to the personal, and what is it to be fully human?

Tabernanthe iboga (Iboga)
The tree is found in West Africa. The root contains indole alkaloids. The psychoactive effects are a central pillar of the Fang Tribe’s ‘Bwiti’ religion of the trees, an ancient spiritual practice fused with Christianity. Iboga is considered the 'Tree of Knowledge’ from the Garden of Eden. The ritual use is an initiation sacrament; a source of great endurance, a bridge to the dead, a vehicle for time travel, an initiation to the true world, and the central power of the Forest. The Fang Tribe credits the rainforest Pygmies with the discovery and cultivation of this consciousness expanding root.

Hyoscyamus (Henbane)
The ancient Delphi Oracles inhaled the tropane alkaloids from the smoke of burning seeds to produce a mania-madness. Possessed by the gods, they proclaimed their messages. This smoke has been inhaled by the Vikings, Persians, Chinese and across Medieval Europe; it was used to travel to other worlds, conjure the dead, and provide a wonton erotic atmosphere. By the Middle Ages it was demonized. Henbane is quickly absorbed through the skin. It was said that Witches smeared the ointment on the broomsticks that they rode upon, in the nude. The effects were immediate.

Datura innoxia (Mexican Thorn Apple)
Native to the American Southwest, Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, Datura has been used by the prehistoric Aztecs, Yucatec Maya, Pueblo, Navajo, Mixtec, Yaqui, Zuni, Apache and other cultures. The tropane alkaloid scopolamine in leaves, flowers, seeds and roots produces an intense prophetic delirium used in ritual magic and divination. Its stupefying aphrodisiac effects have also been associated with dark practices. The Huichol regard it as a ‘bad plant of the gods’.

Convolvulus Tricolor (Morning Glory)
This plant originates throughout the Mediterranean and North Africa. Its psychoactive constituent, ergot alkaloids, are found in the seeds. Drunk in the form of a cold-water infusion it produces a hypnotic effect, or taken in large doses an effect similar to LSD. It is believed to be an ingredient in the drink used in the secret Eleusinian initiation ceremonies of ancient Greece.

Peyote 
The cactus is found from Central Mexico to Texas. Archeological digs confirm use of peyote buttons dating as far back as 3000 BCE. It is a prehistoric sacred ritual plant. Its’ psychoactive property, mescaline, has been used by the Shamans of Mexico and by almost every North American tribe. The Huichol consider it fundamentally feminine; the origin and center of the universe. The visions it invokes keeps alive the memory of creation by leading humans back to the primal source, enabling them to experience the divine. Its veneration continues to this day.

Salvia Divinorum (Sage of the Diviners)
This rare sacred plant is native to the cloud forests of Oaxaca Mexico. The psychoactive constituent diterpenoid, is found in the leaves. The effect only lasts few hours. It is used by the Mazatec Shamans to divine healing. Their ritual usually takes place at night, in complete dark and silence. Among the common unusual euphoric effects are; perception of curved space, sensations of roiling motion as though being twisted about by unseen forces, becoming inanimate objects, being in two places at once, and revisiting childhood.

Brugmansia
This tree-like shrub originates in the high-altitude Andes. The toxic tropane alkaloids in the sweet-scented leaves, flowers and seeds makes it the most powerful hallucinogen in the plant kingdom. It is only used by the most experienced Shamans, as it can result in delirium, coma, and death. This sacred plant induces a level of consciousness that produces a days-long intense clairvoyant trance, whereby contact with gods, sprits and ancestors assist the Shaman with prophesy, divination and diagnoses.

Cannabis
Neolithic evidence of hemp use is found in the Mesopotamian Indus Valley. Shamanic and healing uses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from leaves, seeds, flowers and resins are found in Vedic, Yogic and Tantric references dating as far back as 1400 BC. In the 19th century hemp’s sedative, creative, and medicinal properties were adopted by Europeans. Later, Western demonization of the plant was based less on scientific concerns than on sociopolitical and economic structures. This is currently changing; its medicinal properties are being accepted.

Ayahuasca 
This giant vine is found in the Amazon Basin. For millennia, the Shamans of the Amazon have been combining the harmine alkaloid found in the bark and leaves with plants that contain DMT (often Psychotira viridis) to produce a drink that is a revered spiritual sacrament. The powerful visual, auditory and sensory hallucinations are the profound experience of one’s own ‘dream spirit’, which contains clues about the individual’s past and future, leading to experiences of great fear, elation, and profound self- illumination.

Passiflora incarnata (Passion Flower)
These plants are native to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America. In pre- Columbian times, they were used as a source of food, as sedatives and medicines. The active constituents are C-glycosylflavones. The effects have been compared to a subtle euphoric state similar to Cannabis sativa. When the Spanish invaded they declared the plant a sign from God, a symbol of the passion of Christ.

Papaver Somniferum, (Opium Poppy)
Native to Southern and Central Europe, cultivated in the Far East and Africa, and later to all parts of the world, the Opium Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants ever used by humans. The extraction of opium alkaloids in the latex was discovered in the Stone Age. A Sumerian tablet from 3000 BC describes it as ‘the plant of happiness’. A magical plant, a dreaming agent, it was used in ecstatic ritual by the Minoans, Vikings, Gauls, Romans, Egyptians; and by Chinese and Arabic surgeons as early as the 3 rd century. By the 1600’s it was a primary trade article. Morphine was isolated in 1805, revolutionizing medicine. By the 19 th century opium had become the ‘peoples drug’, helping or harming countless lives. In the 1920’s it was prohibited. Today it is the source of heroin.