Salvia divinorum, Herb of Mary, the Shepherdess Essay

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan is an interesting perspective of how humans over the centuries have filled certain desires through the use of plants. The apple represents the desire for sweetness, the tulip for beauty, marijuana for intoxication, and the potato for control. Pollan discusses the point and importance of these four plants and their development throughout history. Chapter 1: Desire: Sweetness/ Plant: The Apple This chapter goes into depth talking about the spread of the apple in the United States, and all over the world.

Use the root in a tea to enhance psychic powers. Used in Samhain rituals. Sleep, protection, healing. Bury in northwest corner of yard to bring favorable winds. Use in sachets and charms to make wishes come true.A very nutritious and universally beneficial herb. Use in dream pillows and sachets, the leaves and flowers can be used in tea for healing.

In the novel Fools Crow, the author, James Welch characterizes his protagonist, White Man’s Dog, who grows from an embarrassing and, almost, insignificant ‘boy’ to respected, revered, and knowledgeable man titled by the name, Fools Crow, through major events that changed him. Welch begins the story with White Man’s Dog poor medicine, which refers to his power or honor; he owned nothing of value and, too, was nothing of value among his people, the first major event that changed things for the better is the event of the War Party to Crow’s camp. Before the War Party to Crow camp led by Yellow Kidney, White Man’s Dog talks to best friend Fast Horse about his lack of fortune, “Even bad girls who hang around the forts wanted nothing to do with him. Because he did not own a fine gun and a strong horse they ignored him” (Welch 4). During this War Party, Yellow Kidney

     While American Indians are well known for their use of psychedelic agents other cultures have also been known to use psychedelics, especially psilocybin. So-called “magic'; mushrooms also grow naturally in many parts of Europe and Asia. Norse tribesmen, for example, were believed to use Amanita muscaria or fly agaric mushrooms to bring on feelings of rage before going into battle. The same mushroom may have also been the inspiration to the founders of Hinduism. Preparations of datura, the agent found in jimson weed, are used in magic and witchcraft in many areas of the world, (Aaronson, 1970). More recently many artist, writers, and musicians have been known to use mescaline and psilocybin and other naturally occurring hallucinogens such as those found in morning glory seeds, and nutmeg, as well as synthesized hallucinogens like LSD. Because of their mind-expanding qualities, the high insight into reality that they seem to produce, as well as highly complex sensory experiences, some report receiving inspiration from such drugs.

Not soon after the first Europeans set foot on American soil at the end of the fifteenth century, they began take note with varying degrees of fascination and revulsion of a strange indigenous custom psychedelic plant ritual. They were later to recognize this occurrence as an indispensable aspect of aboriginal religion and ritual in many parts of the New World. Intoxication by certain plants were ascribed supernatural powers by indigenous people.

Huichols or Wixarika are a group of indigenous people live in the rough and rocky terrain of central Mexico’s Sierra Madre Mountain whose rituals and traditions have endured all the way through the centuries, even in the countenance of absurd unusual. In spite of the efforts to change them to Catholicism follow by the Spanish invasion of Mexico, the Huichols’ immobile live today is quite related to the time as their ancestors lived many centuries ago. Huichols’ religion engages in recreations of central role in their everyday lives. From the most ordinary job, to the majority consecrated rites, each activity has special symbols and those symbols allude to Huichols’ belief system “myth”. Myth is defined as “a sacred story that people

No, this isn’t about Cannabis. This is about the leaves of a native Southeast Asian tree commonly known as “Kratom.” Its official botanical name is Mitragyna speciosa, and it’s the only natural source of opioid alkaloids other than the poppy plant.

These natural herbs not only provide healing purposes to the Aztecs but also created a living for them as well. Throughout Mexico, marketplaces are important areas that provide the sale and distribution of not only medicine but other very useful sources (“Medicines”). Aztecs have used markets as a way to sell the different medicines they make and earn a profit and living for their families. Along with medicine, Aztecs also used the plants to sell different potions that were believed to heal the strongest of diseases and instill or break different magic spells that were practiced (“Aztec Medicine”). The use of natural herbs was a way of life for Aztecs. For many, different combinations were the answer to any problem that life could face them with.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is a syncretic figure between the Spanish and Indian cultures because, for one, the Virgin of Guadalupe is the symbolic mother, which rest between humans and God, in both the Spanish and Indian cultures. When the Spanish came to America in efforts to try and conquer the Native Americans, but failed to do so in the end, they began converted many of the Indians into their religion, Catholicism. Since mostly all Native Americans were converted into Catholicism by the time the Spanish had left, due to the Pueblo Revolt, the Virgin of Guadalupe had become the Indians Native American Mother. With many of the Virgin of Guadalupe’s features, for instance, her brown skin representing characteristics of the natives. Just as the

This sacred tale aids in understanding the Mayan world, and responds to the universal and profound questions of how do I fit in with nature and society, and where do the roots of human existence come from. The symbolism of nature, that is to say, the creation of man through corn, implies a relationship with man and nature. The cultivation of corn is connected spiritually to Mayan people. There is a partnership between the environment and man, as opposed to having absolute control over land. The people serve not as the cultivators but rather as an integral part of the natural environment. It is from this corn, that they were created, so in essence, they share a religious connection to the natural world.

Herbs have been used throughout the ages not just for their culinary benefits. In the use of magick and healing certain herbs and plants are used for their spirits or characteristics.

In 1958, Albert Hoffman, the famous scientist to first isolate lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, took on the feat of isolating psilocybin, a compound found in mushrooms ingested in spiritual rituals in Oaxaca, Mexico. There are over 200 mushrooms with the compound called psilocybin, 4-phosphoryloxy- N,N –dimethyltryptamine, commonly known as “magic mushrooms”. In early history around the

The conquistadors came over wanting to evangelize the native people, and the Virgin of Guadalupe gave them an easy approach into doing it. It also discusses the resemblance between the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Mulier Amicta Sole description within the Book of Revelation. However, the article explains how the native people referred to the “Mother of God” as “Guadalupe” quite often. In fact, many of the native people still had not converted to Christianity, but instead formed cults with Guadalupe as their leader. The Mexican Guadalupe movement did not even grow large until the seventeenth century when the native blood became more mixed and more Creoles, Spaniards born in Mexico, made up most of the

Estetica de Las Proporciones En La Naturaleza y Las Artes (Spanish Edition) (Spanish) Paperback use pre formatted date that complies with legal requirement from media matrix – August, 2000

The Sonoran Desert is the most biodiverse desert in the world. This is due to the age of it, the sub-tropical climate in large parts of it, the creation of micro-habitats due to the different landforms and the diverse rainfall patterns. There are about 2500 species that can be found in it. It partially has a very high endemism with for example 552 species being endemic to Baja California. Numerous desert plants have been used by humans for food and medicine. Some plants like Agave tequilana which is grown to produce alcoholic beverages have some economic importance as