Jean-Francois Sobiecki - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Jean-Francois Sobiecki

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Jul 1, 2012

The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglecte... more The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. This article explores the healing dynamics involved in the use of popular psychoactive plant preparations known as ubulawu in the initiation rituals of Southern Bantu diviners. Research methods include a review of the literature, fieldwork interviews with Southern Bantu diviners, and an analysis of experiential accounts from diverse informants on their use of ubulawu. Findings reveal that there is widespread reliance on ubulawu as psychoactive spiritual medicines by the indigenous people of southern Africa to communicate with their ancestral spirits-so as to bring luck, and to treat mental disturbances. In the case of the Southern Bantu diviners, ubulawu used in a ritual initiation process acts as a mnemonic aid and medicine to familiarize the initiates with enhanced states of awareness and related psychospiritual phenomena such as enhanced intuition and dreams of the ancestral spirits, who teach the initiates how to find and use medicinal plants. The progression of the latter phenomena indicates the steady success of the initiates' own healing integration. Various factors such as psychological attitude and familiarization, correct plant combinations/synergy and a compatible healer-initiate relationship influence ubulawu responsiveness. Keywords-medicinal plants, psychotropic plants, psychospiritual healing, South African traditional medicine, traditional healers, ubulawu Anyone can use the plants [ubulawu] to connect with their ancestors. The plants give you what you are. Mama Maponya-Northern Sotho Diviner

The Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, May 1, 2013

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes ... more Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes of the Upper Amazon in their shamanic traditions. Its use has become popular amongst Westerners seeking alternative means of healing, and the medicine has now spread across the globe via syncretic spiritual healing traditions such as the Santo Daime Church. Despite the increased use of the medicine, little research exists on its effectiveness for healing depression. The existing literature does not contain a detailed self-reported phenomenological account of ayahuasca healing a case of depression. The aim of this paper is to share a personal account of healing depression using ayahuasca in a Santo Daime ritual in Johannesburg, South Africa. This experience was unplanned and unexpected and resulted in a profoundly transformative healing process. Based on my experience, I describe ayahuasca's ingestion as having created a powerful mind-body-spirit connection that resulted in what appeared and felt like a profound reconfiguration of the bio-electrical energy system in my body and a powerful anti-depressant action on my mind. These effects were catalyzed by a strong intention to heal and trust in and take responsibility for myself. Other South African Santo Daime members have reported healing of depression with ayahuasca, although in longer and different processes. It appears that the medicine engages the individual's unique collective self (life-history, physical and mental disposition, beliefs and intents) resulting in different outcomes for different individuals. Thus, from my own and others' experience, I describe ayahuasca as a spiritual medicine; one that promotes enhanced awareness and deeper connection to one's core self, to others and the greater universe, while facilitating the manifestation of one's intentions and beliefs. This encounter with ayahuasca provided me a first-hand experience of learning and healing from the medicine, making real to me the indigenous Amazonian description of plants as being teachers and doctors. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant medicine preparation used among the indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon. The word ayahuasca (also known as caapi or yage) is a Quechua term meaning 'vine of the souls' and is applied both to the beverage itself and to one of the source plants used in its preparation, the malpighiaceous jungle liana, Banisteriopsis caapi (Schultes, 1957). The preparation is made by boiling or soaking the bark and stems of B. caapi together with various other plants. The mixture employed most commonly is the Rubiaceous genus Psychotria, particularly Psychotria viridis (Schultes, 1957). The medicine is primarily used for cleansing, divination and curing illness and disease as part of indigenous shamanic practices (Luna, 1984). Shamanism involves practitioners who, by using 'techniques of ecstasy' (entering trance and enhanced states of awareness), through various means (depending on the tradition in question) such as song,

Folia Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2014

This paper summarizes and contextualises the history of psychoactive plant research in South Afri... more This paper summarizes and contextualises the history of psychoactive plant research in South Africa as well as the recent advances made in the field. Hypothesized mechanisms by which African psychoactive plants heal the mind are highlighted. Key areas requiring further research include: the indigenous cultural understandings of mental illness and psychoactive plants, the role of psychoactive plants in the spiritual practices of southern African traditional healers, the influence of various psychoactive plant species used in traditional formulas, the use of African psychoactive plants in treating drug addiction and the folklore and mythology relating to indigenous psychoactive plants.

Folia Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis

I am very pleased to write a short preface to the remarkable book on ethnobotany and phytotherapy... more I am very pleased to write a short preface to the remarkable book on ethnobotany and phytotherapy, or culturally different ways of relating to plants. The book is edited by my former Ph.D. student and an enthusiastic associate, Miroslav Horák. His dissertation was on the alternative phytotherapeutic treatment of drug addiction in the Peruvian Amazon based on long-term fieldwork represented a promising invitation. People's relationship with plants is the most fundamental aspect that has constituted and continues to constitute the world, although in somewhat alienated environment of cities we rarely see them directly. Higher plants, the only significant autotrophs on the planet, are feeding all of us, for the most part serve as a source of clothing and pharmaceuticals, their scent and beauty accompanies us from the cradle to the grave. Of course, they also have their shadowy and dark side and former deliberate folk poisoning belongs to it as well-today, we tend to poison each other with words and deeds without their contribution. Also, in our country ethnobotany had been of exclusive importance for a long time-even the Mattioli herbarium is for the most part composed of folk evidence and folklore. In the South Bohemian countryside, I experienced a decline of ethnobotany and ethnozoology in my grandparents' generation. Folk interpretation does not distinguish between therapeutic and magical applications-both merge into one; and it is after all a matter of taste and tradition that we understand the results of science, be it the administration of penicillin in the treatment of angina or the explosion of the atomic bomb, as "technical" operations that do not surprise us. The world as a whole is big, and plants are its strong subsection. I would like to wish the editor and his diverse team of writers much success, good health, and enthusiasm to further work in this field.

Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 2013

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes ... more Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes of the Upper Amazon in their shamanic traditions. Its use has become popular amongst Westerners seeking alternative means of healing, and the medicine has now spread across the globe via syncretic spiritual healing traditions such as the Santo Daime Church. Despite the increased use of the medicine, little research exists on its effectiveness for healing depression. The existing literature does not contain a detailed self-reported phenomenological account of ayahuasca healing a case of depression. The aim of this paper is to share a personal account of healing depression using ayahuasca in a Santo Daime ritual in Johannesburg, South Africa. This experience was unplanned and unexpected and resulted in a profoundly transformative healing process. Based on my experience, I describe ayahuasca's ingestion as having created a powerful mind-body-spirit connection that resulted in what appeared and felt like a profound reconfiguration of the bio-electrical energy system in my body and a powerful anti-depressant action on my mind. These effects were catalyzed by a strong intention to heal and trust in and take responsibility for myself. Other South African Santo Daime members have reported healing of depression with ayahuasca, although in longer and different processes. It appears that the medicine engages the individual's unique collective self (life-history, physical and mental disposition, beliefs and intents) resulting in different outcomes for different individuals. Thus, from my own and others' experience, I describe ayahuasca as a spiritual medicine; one that promotes enhanced awareness and deeper connection to one's core self, to others and the greater universe, while facilitating the manifestation of one's intentions and beliefs. This encounter with ayahuasca provided me a first-hand experience of learning and healing from the medicine, making real to me the indigenous Amazonian description of plants as being teachers and doctors. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant medicine preparation used among the indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon. The word ayahuasca (also known as caapi or yage) is a Quechua term meaning 'vine of the souls' and is applied both to the beverage itself and to one of the source plants used in its preparation, the malpighiaceous jungle liana, Banisteriopsis caapi (Schultes, 1957). The preparation is made by boiling or soaking the bark and stems of B. caapi together with various other plants. The mixture employed most commonly is the Rubiaceous genus Psychotria, particularly Psychotria viridis (Schultes, 1957). The medicine is primarily used for cleansing, divination and curing illness and disease as part of indigenous shamanic practices (Luna, 1984). Shamanism involves practitioners who, by using 'techniques of ecstasy' (entering trance and enhanced states of awareness), through various means (depending on the tradition in question) such as song,

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2012

The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglecte... more The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. This article explores the healing dynamics involved in the use of popular psychoactive plant preparations known as ubulawu in the initiation rituals of Southern Bantu diviners. Research methods include a review of the literature, fieldwork interviews with Southern Bantu diviners, and an analysis of experiential accounts from diverse informants on their use of ubulawu. Findings reveal that there is widespread reliance on ubulawu as psychoactive spiritual medicines by the indigenous people of southern Africa to communicate with their ancestral spirits-so as to bring luck, and to treat mental disturbances. In the case of the Southern Bantu diviners, ubulawu used in a ritual initiation process acts as a mnemonic aid and medicine to familiarize the initiates with enhanced states of awareness and related psychospiritual phenomena such as enhanced intuition and dreams of the ancestral spirits, who teach the initiates how to find and use medicinal plants. The progression of the latter phenomena indicates the steady success of the initiates' own healing integration. Various factors such as psychological attitude and familiarization, correct plant combinations/synergy and a compatible healer-initiate relationship influence ubulawu responsiveness. Keywords-medicinal plants, psychotropic plants, psychospiritual healing, South African traditional medicine, traditional healers, ubulawu Anyone can use the plants [ubulawu] to connect with their ancestors. The plants give you what you are. Mama Maponya-Northern Sotho Diviner

Numerous indigenous healing traditions around the world employ plants with psychoactive effects t... more Numerous indigenous healing traditions around the world employ plants with psychoactive effects to facilitate divination and other spiritual healing rituals. Southern Africa has thus far been considered to have relatively few psychoactive plant species of cultural importance, and little has been published on the subject. This paper reports on 85 species of plants that are used for divination by southern Bantu-speaking people. Of these, 39 species (45 %) have other reported psychoactive uses, and a number have established hallucinogenic activity. These findings indicate that psychoactive plants have an important role in traditional healing practices in southern Africa.

STUDIES ON ETHNO-MEDICINE, 2014

There has been a link between nutrition styles and human health and physical features for centuri... more There has been a link between nutrition styles and human health and physical features for centuries. Similarly, there has been a connection between the easiness and difficulty to reach food materials, and shortage and abundance of these material and human behaviors and moral structure. One of the efforts to make a connection between these qualifications comes from Ibn Khaldun. A thinker of Islam, Ibn Khaldun, who lived in the 18 th century, stated that moral characteristics and physical features in the communities which are deprived of food materials are higher than those of the communities having a wealthy living. According to him, overeating leads to the accumulation of harmful wastes in the body and thus to the deterioration of both physical and mental health of human being. Therefore, eating abundant food materials might not result in positive results for man. In the current study, it was investigated how the opportunities of reaching abundant food and types of nutrition affected human health in general and moral structure in Ibn Khaldun.

Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, 2002

This paper investigates the use of plants for psychoactive purposes in southern African healing t... more This paper investigates the use of plants for psychoactive purposes in southern African healing traditions. Information on psychoactive plant use was gathered by screening the ethnobotanical literature and interviewing 15 traditional healers on their use and prescription of plants for psychoactive purposes in South Africa. This information was subsequently compiled into an inventory. The inventory lists 306 plants, representing 94 families, with psychoactive uses in southern Africa. The plants listed in the inventory were arranged alphabetically by family, followed by the botanical species name, ethnic names and corresponding ethnic groups utilising the plants for psychoactive purposes, and literature reports on psychoactive use. Where available, information on plant part used, preparation, dosage, route of administration, known and potentially active psychoactive ingredients and personal fieldwork notes were included. Particular families contain high numbers of species used for psychoactive purposes. The chemotaxonomic research cited indicates that the presence of compounds with potential psychoactivity may account for the higher number of species per family used. Watt (1967) appears to have made the last comprehensive review investigating psychoactive plant use in southern Africa. Therefore, this inventory is a new and useful synthesis on the important, but thus far neglected, area of psychoactive plant use in southern Africa. The high number of species reported as having psychoactive uses from the literature supports the hypothesis that southern Africa has a flora that is rich in psychoactive chemicals that is substantially utilised by indigenous groups. ACANTHACEAE Crabbea hirsuta Harv. [(S) letsuijana/mereko] Sotho diviners use unspecified parts in conjunction with divining dice in South Africa (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Unspecified groups in Zimbabwe use the roots administered in porridge for madness (Gelfand et al., 1985). ADIANTACEAE Pellaea calomelanos (Swartz) Link [mumvuriwedombo (Sh)] The whole plant is taken as an infusion or smoked for convulsions in Zimbabwe (Gelfand et al., 1985). ALLIACEAE Agapanthus campanulatus Leighton [leta-la-phofu (S), ubani (Z)] Unspecified parts are used by the Sotho in South Africa to treat people "who have the spirit", which appears to be a type of mental disturbance (Laydevant, 1932). The Zulu use unidentified species of Agapanthus for inducing visions (imibono) and dreams in South Africa (Nonkazimlo Podile, pers. comm.). Tulbaghia alliacea L. f. [wild garlic] Unspecified groups administer rhizome infusions as enemas for fits in the Transkei, South Africa (Hutchings et al., 1996). Tulbaghia capensis A plant resembling this species is reported to be used in South Africa with Boophane disticha (L. f.) Herb. to induce visions (imibono: Zulu) (G. Mpai, pers. comm.). Tulbaghia leucantha Bak. [false garlic, mhondya (Sh)] Unspecified parts are administered in powder form and eaten in porridge for madness in Zimbabwe (Gelfand et al., 1985). AMARYLLIDACEAE Boophane disticha (L. f.) Herb. [bushman poison bulb, leshoma (S), incwadi (X), incotho (Z)] The Sotho and Xhosa use bulbs as narcotics (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Unspecified groups use a weak decoction of the bulb scales which is commonly administered as a profound sedative to violent, psychotic patients (Van Wyk & Gericke, 2000). The plant is also given to newly circumcised Sotho initiates, producing a stupor (Jacot Guillarmod, 1971). The narcotic alkaloid heamanthine, distichine and buphanine and a water-soluble alkaloid have been isolated from the bulbs (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Traditional healers and patients in South Africa drink bulb infusions to induce hallucinations for divinatory purposes, and also as a medicine to treat mental diseases. However, many injuries result from the toxic use of this plant (J.F. Sobiecki, pers. obs.). Crinum species [umduze (Z)] An unidentified species is reported to be used in the same way as Boophane disticha (L. f.) Herb. for inducing hallucinations in South Africa (Ruven Naidoo, pers. comm.).

The use of psychoactive plants in southern African traditional medicine has been a neglected area... more The use of psychoactive plants in southern African traditional medicine has been a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. However, recent reviews have demonstrated the significance of psychoactive plant medicines in the healing practices of the southern African traditional healers, and ethnopharmacological studies indicate numerous species of southern African plants with psychotropic activity for treating mental illness. Yet, much of the cultural understandings of this psychoactive plant use remain undocumented. A cross cultural healing technology of utilising psychoactive initiation plant medicines has been identified from southern African and Upper Amazonia, that may hold keys to furthering our understanding of how psychoactive plants could be used to treat mental illness and addictions with potential application in future medicine.

Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 2014

Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs II: 50 Years of Research, Conference Proceedings., 2018

There is an accelerating interest in strong acting psychoactive plants such as ayahuasca for heal... more There is an accelerating interest in strong acting psychoactive plants such as ayahuasca for healing and personal development. However, what has become apparent with initiating into South African traditional healing, and key literature sources from South America, is the importance not only of the strong mind 'opening' visionary plants but the equally significant utilization of subtle acting psychoactive plants that cleanse and strengthen the initiate healers, that are used in a sequence of initiation plant medicines both in the South African and South American traditional medicine systems. This paper explores and describes a cross cultural technology of healing with psychoactive initiation plants that are used in a sequential manner in order to take the initiate traditional healer through a process of self enquiry, growth and potential self-mastery. Understanding this sequential use of traditional initiation plant medicines and their physiological and psychological correlates could elucidate possible therapeutic mechanisms involved with the use of psychoactive traditional medicines and their potential applications in future medicine and healing. The connection is also made between the role of perturbation in the learning process healers engage and how psychoactive plants produce perturbation in the nervous system and what adaptive benefit this may have.

The use of psychoactive plants in southern African traditional medicine has been a neglected area... more The use of psychoactive plants in southern African traditional medicine has been a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. However, recent reviews have demonstrated the significance of psychoactive plant medicines in the healing practices of the southern African traditional healers, and ethnopharmacological studies indicate numerous species of southern African plants with psychotro-pic activity for treating mental illness. Yet, much of the cultural understandings of this psychoactive plant use remain undocumented. A cross cultural healing technology of utilising psychoactive initiation plant medicines has been identified from southern African and Upper Amazonia, that may hold keys to furthering our understanding of how psychoactive plants could be used to treat mental illness and addictions with potential application in future medicine.

Psychoactive plant research has been actively pursued over the last century around the world, par... more Psychoactive plant research has been actively pursued over the last century around the world,
particularly in the Americas. Yet, southern Africa has often been regarded to have relatively few psychoactive
plant species of cultural importance with little research conducted on the region’s potential psychoactive flora.
However, in the last decade, renewed interest has occurred in the study of psychoactive plants from southern
Africa. Recent anthropological studies have demonstrated the significance of psychoactive plant medicines in the
initiation process of southern African traditional healers and in treating mental illness, while numerous
ethnopharmacological studies have screened southern African plants for psychotropic activity, with promising
new findings and research directions resulting. Yet, despite this great progress, the indigenous cultural (ritual) uses
of psychoactive plants by the indigenous people of southern Africa remains a neglected area of ethnobotanical
research. Aspects identified as requiring further study include: the indigenous cultural understandings of mental
illness and psychoactive plants, the role of psychoactive plants in the spiritual practices of southern African
traditional healers, the influence of various psychoactive plant species used in traditional formulas and the folklore
and mythology relating to indigenous psychoactive plants. Thus, much is still to be learnt and documented from
the southern African traditional healers regarding their worldview and their botanical, diagnostic, methodological
and healing knowledge that can provide insights into the treatment of mental illness and the actions of psychoactive
plants.

recognizing and discarding cultural prejudices that prevent a more comprehensive and integrated u... more recognizing and discarding cultural prejudices that prevent a more comprehensive and integrated understanding of the science that intersects and forms the basis of many, though not all, cultural healing practices.


Numerous indigenous healing traditions around the world employ plants with psychoactive effects t... more Numerous indigenous healing traditions around the world employ plants with psychoactive effects to facilitate divination and other spiritual healing rituals. Southern Africa has often been considered to have relatively few psychoactive plant species of cultural importance, and little has been published on the subject. This paper reports on 85 species of plants that are used for divination by southern Bantu-speaking people. Of these, 39 species (45 %) have other reported psychoactive uses, and a number have established hallucinogenic activity. These findings indicate that psychoactive plants have an important role in traditional healing practices in southern Africa.

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Jul 1, 2012

The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglecte... more The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. This article explores the healing dynamics involved in the use of popular psychoactive plant preparations known as ubulawu in the initiation rituals of Southern Bantu diviners. Research methods include a review of the literature, fieldwork interviews with Southern Bantu diviners, and an analysis of experiential accounts from diverse informants on their use of ubulawu. Findings reveal that there is widespread reliance on ubulawu as psychoactive spiritual medicines by the indigenous people of southern Africa to communicate with their ancestral spirits-so as to bring luck, and to treat mental disturbances. In the case of the Southern Bantu diviners, ubulawu used in a ritual initiation process acts as a mnemonic aid and medicine to familiarize the initiates with enhanced states of awareness and related psychospiritual phenomena such as enhanced intuition and dreams of the ancestral spirits, who teach the initiates how to find and use medicinal plants. The progression of the latter phenomena indicates the steady success of the initiates' own healing integration. Various factors such as psychological attitude and familiarization, correct plant combinations/synergy and a compatible healer-initiate relationship influence ubulawu responsiveness. Keywords-medicinal plants, psychotropic plants, psychospiritual healing, South African traditional medicine, traditional healers, ubulawu Anyone can use the plants [ubulawu] to connect with their ancestors. The plants give you what you are. Mama Maponya-Northern Sotho Diviner

The Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, May 1, 2013

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes ... more Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes of the Upper Amazon in their shamanic traditions. Its use has become popular amongst Westerners seeking alternative means of healing, and the medicine has now spread across the globe via syncretic spiritual healing traditions such as the Santo Daime Church. Despite the increased use of the medicine, little research exists on its effectiveness for healing depression. The existing literature does not contain a detailed self-reported phenomenological account of ayahuasca healing a case of depression. The aim of this paper is to share a personal account of healing depression using ayahuasca in a Santo Daime ritual in Johannesburg, South Africa. This experience was unplanned and unexpected and resulted in a profoundly transformative healing process. Based on my experience, I describe ayahuasca's ingestion as having created a powerful mind-body-spirit connection that resulted in what appeared and felt like a profound reconfiguration of the bio-electrical energy system in my body and a powerful anti-depressant action on my mind. These effects were catalyzed by a strong intention to heal and trust in and take responsibility for myself. Other South African Santo Daime members have reported healing of depression with ayahuasca, although in longer and different processes. It appears that the medicine engages the individual's unique collective self (life-history, physical and mental disposition, beliefs and intents) resulting in different outcomes for different individuals. Thus, from my own and others' experience, I describe ayahuasca as a spiritual medicine; one that promotes enhanced awareness and deeper connection to one's core self, to others and the greater universe, while facilitating the manifestation of one's intentions and beliefs. This encounter with ayahuasca provided me a first-hand experience of learning and healing from the medicine, making real to me the indigenous Amazonian description of plants as being teachers and doctors. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant medicine preparation used among the indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon. The word ayahuasca (also known as caapi or yage) is a Quechua term meaning 'vine of the souls' and is applied both to the beverage itself and to one of the source plants used in its preparation, the malpighiaceous jungle liana, Banisteriopsis caapi (Schultes, 1957). The preparation is made by boiling or soaking the bark and stems of B. caapi together with various other plants. The mixture employed most commonly is the Rubiaceous genus Psychotria, particularly Psychotria viridis (Schultes, 1957). The medicine is primarily used for cleansing, divination and curing illness and disease as part of indigenous shamanic practices (Luna, 1984). Shamanism involves practitioners who, by using 'techniques of ecstasy' (entering trance and enhanced states of awareness), through various means (depending on the tradition in question) such as song,

Folia Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2014

This paper summarizes and contextualises the history of psychoactive plant research in South Afri... more This paper summarizes and contextualises the history of psychoactive plant research in South Africa as well as the recent advances made in the field. Hypothesized mechanisms by which African psychoactive plants heal the mind are highlighted. Key areas requiring further research include: the indigenous cultural understandings of mental illness and psychoactive plants, the role of psychoactive plants in the spiritual practices of southern African traditional healers, the influence of various psychoactive plant species used in traditional formulas, the use of African psychoactive plants in treating drug addiction and the folklore and mythology relating to indigenous psychoactive plants.

Folia Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis

I am very pleased to write a short preface to the remarkable book on ethnobotany and phytotherapy... more I am very pleased to write a short preface to the remarkable book on ethnobotany and phytotherapy, or culturally different ways of relating to plants. The book is edited by my former Ph.D. student and an enthusiastic associate, Miroslav Horák. His dissertation was on the alternative phytotherapeutic treatment of drug addiction in the Peruvian Amazon based on long-term fieldwork represented a promising invitation. People's relationship with plants is the most fundamental aspect that has constituted and continues to constitute the world, although in somewhat alienated environment of cities we rarely see them directly. Higher plants, the only significant autotrophs on the planet, are feeding all of us, for the most part serve as a source of clothing and pharmaceuticals, their scent and beauty accompanies us from the cradle to the grave. Of course, they also have their shadowy and dark side and former deliberate folk poisoning belongs to it as well-today, we tend to poison each other with words and deeds without their contribution. Also, in our country ethnobotany had been of exclusive importance for a long time-even the Mattioli herbarium is for the most part composed of folk evidence and folklore. In the South Bohemian countryside, I experienced a decline of ethnobotany and ethnozoology in my grandparents' generation. Folk interpretation does not distinguish between therapeutic and magical applications-both merge into one; and it is after all a matter of taste and tradition that we understand the results of science, be it the administration of penicillin in the treatment of angina or the explosion of the atomic bomb, as "technical" operations that do not surprise us. The world as a whole is big, and plants are its strong subsection. I would like to wish the editor and his diverse team of writers much success, good health, and enthusiasm to further work in this field.

Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 2013

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes ... more Ayahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes of the Upper Amazon in their shamanic traditions. Its use has become popular amongst Westerners seeking alternative means of healing, and the medicine has now spread across the globe via syncretic spiritual healing traditions such as the Santo Daime Church. Despite the increased use of the medicine, little research exists on its effectiveness for healing depression. The existing literature does not contain a detailed self-reported phenomenological account of ayahuasca healing a case of depression. The aim of this paper is to share a personal account of healing depression using ayahuasca in a Santo Daime ritual in Johannesburg, South Africa. This experience was unplanned and unexpected and resulted in a profoundly transformative healing process. Based on my experience, I describe ayahuasca's ingestion as having created a powerful mind-body-spirit connection that resulted in what appeared and felt like a profound reconfiguration of the bio-electrical energy system in my body and a powerful anti-depressant action on my mind. These effects were catalyzed by a strong intention to heal and trust in and take responsibility for myself. Other South African Santo Daime members have reported healing of depression with ayahuasca, although in longer and different processes. It appears that the medicine engages the individual's unique collective self (life-history, physical and mental disposition, beliefs and intents) resulting in different outcomes for different individuals. Thus, from my own and others' experience, I describe ayahuasca as a spiritual medicine; one that promotes enhanced awareness and deeper connection to one's core self, to others and the greater universe, while facilitating the manifestation of one's intentions and beliefs. This encounter with ayahuasca provided me a first-hand experience of learning and healing from the medicine, making real to me the indigenous Amazonian description of plants as being teachers and doctors. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant medicine preparation used among the indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon. The word ayahuasca (also known as caapi or yage) is a Quechua term meaning 'vine of the souls' and is applied both to the beverage itself and to one of the source plants used in its preparation, the malpighiaceous jungle liana, Banisteriopsis caapi (Schultes, 1957). The preparation is made by boiling or soaking the bark and stems of B. caapi together with various other plants. The mixture employed most commonly is the Rubiaceous genus Psychotria, particularly Psychotria viridis (Schultes, 1957). The medicine is primarily used for cleansing, divination and curing illness and disease as part of indigenous shamanic practices (Luna, 1984). Shamanism involves practitioners who, by using 'techniques of ecstasy' (entering trance and enhanced states of awareness), through various means (depending on the tradition in question) such as song,

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2012

The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglecte... more The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. This article explores the healing dynamics involved in the use of popular psychoactive plant preparations known as ubulawu in the initiation rituals of Southern Bantu diviners. Research methods include a review of the literature, fieldwork interviews with Southern Bantu diviners, and an analysis of experiential accounts from diverse informants on their use of ubulawu. Findings reveal that there is widespread reliance on ubulawu as psychoactive spiritual medicines by the indigenous people of southern Africa to communicate with their ancestral spirits-so as to bring luck, and to treat mental disturbances. In the case of the Southern Bantu diviners, ubulawu used in a ritual initiation process acts as a mnemonic aid and medicine to familiarize the initiates with enhanced states of awareness and related psychospiritual phenomena such as enhanced intuition and dreams of the ancestral spirits, who teach the initiates how to find and use medicinal plants. The progression of the latter phenomena indicates the steady success of the initiates' own healing integration. Various factors such as psychological attitude and familiarization, correct plant combinations/synergy and a compatible healer-initiate relationship influence ubulawu responsiveness. Keywords-medicinal plants, psychotropic plants, psychospiritual healing, South African traditional medicine, traditional healers, ubulawu Anyone can use the plants [ubulawu] to connect with their ancestors. The plants give you what you are. Mama Maponya-Northern Sotho Diviner

Numerous indigenous healing traditions around the world employ plants with psychoactive effects t... more Numerous indigenous healing traditions around the world employ plants with psychoactive effects to facilitate divination and other spiritual healing rituals. Southern Africa has thus far been considered to have relatively few psychoactive plant species of cultural importance, and little has been published on the subject. This paper reports on 85 species of plants that are used for divination by southern Bantu-speaking people. Of these, 39 species (45 %) have other reported psychoactive uses, and a number have established hallucinogenic activity. These findings indicate that psychoactive plants have an important role in traditional healing practices in southern Africa.

STUDIES ON ETHNO-MEDICINE, 2014

There has been a link between nutrition styles and human health and physical features for centuri... more There has been a link between nutrition styles and human health and physical features for centuries. Similarly, there has been a connection between the easiness and difficulty to reach food materials, and shortage and abundance of these material and human behaviors and moral structure. One of the efforts to make a connection between these qualifications comes from Ibn Khaldun. A thinker of Islam, Ibn Khaldun, who lived in the 18 th century, stated that moral characteristics and physical features in the communities which are deprived of food materials are higher than those of the communities having a wealthy living. According to him, overeating leads to the accumulation of harmful wastes in the body and thus to the deterioration of both physical and mental health of human being. Therefore, eating abundant food materials might not result in positive results for man. In the current study, it was investigated how the opportunities of reaching abundant food and types of nutrition affected human health in general and moral structure in Ibn Khaldun.

Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, 2002

This paper investigates the use of plants for psychoactive purposes in southern African healing t... more This paper investigates the use of plants for psychoactive purposes in southern African healing traditions. Information on psychoactive plant use was gathered by screening the ethnobotanical literature and interviewing 15 traditional healers on their use and prescription of plants for psychoactive purposes in South Africa. This information was subsequently compiled into an inventory. The inventory lists 306 plants, representing 94 families, with psychoactive uses in southern Africa. The plants listed in the inventory were arranged alphabetically by family, followed by the botanical species name, ethnic names and corresponding ethnic groups utilising the plants for psychoactive purposes, and literature reports on psychoactive use. Where available, information on plant part used, preparation, dosage, route of administration, known and potentially active psychoactive ingredients and personal fieldwork notes were included. Particular families contain high numbers of species used for psychoactive purposes. The chemotaxonomic research cited indicates that the presence of compounds with potential psychoactivity may account for the higher number of species per family used. Watt (1967) appears to have made the last comprehensive review investigating psychoactive plant use in southern Africa. Therefore, this inventory is a new and useful synthesis on the important, but thus far neglected, area of psychoactive plant use in southern Africa. The high number of species reported as having psychoactive uses from the literature supports the hypothesis that southern Africa has a flora that is rich in psychoactive chemicals that is substantially utilised by indigenous groups. ACANTHACEAE Crabbea hirsuta Harv. [(S) letsuijana/mereko] Sotho diviners use unspecified parts in conjunction with divining dice in South Africa (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Unspecified groups in Zimbabwe use the roots administered in porridge for madness (Gelfand et al., 1985). ADIANTACEAE Pellaea calomelanos (Swartz) Link [mumvuriwedombo (Sh)] The whole plant is taken as an infusion or smoked for convulsions in Zimbabwe (Gelfand et al., 1985). ALLIACEAE Agapanthus campanulatus Leighton [leta-la-phofu (S), ubani (Z)] Unspecified parts are used by the Sotho in South Africa to treat people "who have the spirit", which appears to be a type of mental disturbance (Laydevant, 1932). The Zulu use unidentified species of Agapanthus for inducing visions (imibono) and dreams in South Africa (Nonkazimlo Podile, pers. comm.). Tulbaghia alliacea L. f. [wild garlic] Unspecified groups administer rhizome infusions as enemas for fits in the Transkei, South Africa (Hutchings et al., 1996). Tulbaghia capensis A plant resembling this species is reported to be used in South Africa with Boophane disticha (L. f.) Herb. to induce visions (imibono: Zulu) (G. Mpai, pers. comm.). Tulbaghia leucantha Bak. [false garlic, mhondya (Sh)] Unspecified parts are administered in powder form and eaten in porridge for madness in Zimbabwe (Gelfand et al., 1985). AMARYLLIDACEAE Boophane disticha (L. f.) Herb. [bushman poison bulb, leshoma (S), incwadi (X), incotho (Z)] The Sotho and Xhosa use bulbs as narcotics (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Unspecified groups use a weak decoction of the bulb scales which is commonly administered as a profound sedative to violent, psychotic patients (Van Wyk & Gericke, 2000). The plant is also given to newly circumcised Sotho initiates, producing a stupor (Jacot Guillarmod, 1971). The narcotic alkaloid heamanthine, distichine and buphanine and a water-soluble alkaloid have been isolated from the bulbs (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Traditional healers and patients in South Africa drink bulb infusions to induce hallucinations for divinatory purposes, and also as a medicine to treat mental diseases. However, many injuries result from the toxic use of this plant (J.F. Sobiecki, pers. obs.). Crinum species [umduze (Z)] An unidentified species is reported to be used in the same way as Boophane disticha (L. f.) Herb. for inducing hallucinations in South Africa (Ruven Naidoo, pers. comm.).

The use of psychoactive plants in southern African traditional medicine has been a neglected area... more The use of psychoactive plants in southern African traditional medicine has been a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. However, recent reviews have demonstrated the significance of psychoactive plant medicines in the healing practices of the southern African traditional healers, and ethnopharmacological studies indicate numerous species of southern African plants with psychotropic activity for treating mental illness. Yet, much of the cultural understandings of this psychoactive plant use remain undocumented. A cross cultural healing technology of utilising psychoactive initiation plant medicines has been identified from southern African and Upper Amazonia, that may hold keys to furthering our understanding of how psychoactive plants could be used to treat mental illness and addictions with potential application in future medicine.

Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 2014

Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs II: 50 Years of Research, Conference Proceedings., 2018

There is an accelerating interest in strong acting psychoactive plants such as ayahuasca for heal... more There is an accelerating interest in strong acting psychoactive plants such as ayahuasca for healing and personal development. However, what has become apparent with initiating into South African traditional healing, and key literature sources from South America, is the importance not only of the strong mind 'opening' visionary plants but the equally significant utilization of subtle acting psychoactive plants that cleanse and strengthen the initiate healers, that are used in a sequence of initiation plant medicines both in the South African and South American traditional medicine systems. This paper explores and describes a cross cultural technology of healing with psychoactive initiation plants that are used in a sequential manner in order to take the initiate traditional healer through a process of self enquiry, growth and potential self-mastery. Understanding this sequential use of traditional initiation plant medicines and their physiological and psychological correlates could elucidate possible therapeutic mechanisms involved with the use of psychoactive traditional medicines and their potential applications in future medicine and healing. The connection is also made between the role of perturbation in the learning process healers engage and how psychoactive plants produce perturbation in the nervous system and what adaptive benefit this may have.

The use of psychoactive plants in southern African traditional medicine has been a neglected area... more The use of psychoactive plants in southern African traditional medicine has been a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. However, recent reviews have demonstrated the significance of psychoactive plant medicines in the healing practices of the southern African traditional healers, and ethnopharmacological studies indicate numerous species of southern African plants with psychotro-pic activity for treating mental illness. Yet, much of the cultural understandings of this psychoactive plant use remain undocumented. A cross cultural healing technology of utilising psychoactive initiation plant medicines has been identified from southern African and Upper Amazonia, that may hold keys to furthering our understanding of how psychoactive plants could be used to treat mental illness and addictions with potential application in future medicine.

Psychoactive plant research has been actively pursued over the last century around the world, par... more Psychoactive plant research has been actively pursued over the last century around the world,
particularly in the Americas. Yet, southern Africa has often been regarded to have relatively few psychoactive
plant species of cultural importance with little research conducted on the region’s potential psychoactive flora.
However, in the last decade, renewed interest has occurred in the study of psychoactive plants from southern
Africa. Recent anthropological studies have demonstrated the significance of psychoactive plant medicines in the
initiation process of southern African traditional healers and in treating mental illness, while numerous
ethnopharmacological studies have screened southern African plants for psychotropic activity, with promising
new findings and research directions resulting. Yet, despite this great progress, the indigenous cultural (ritual) uses
of psychoactive plants by the indigenous people of southern Africa remains a neglected area of ethnobotanical
research. Aspects identified as requiring further study include: the indigenous cultural understandings of mental
illness and psychoactive plants, the role of psychoactive plants in the spiritual practices of southern African
traditional healers, the influence of various psychoactive plant species used in traditional formulas and the folklore
and mythology relating to indigenous psychoactive plants. Thus, much is still to be learnt and documented from
the southern African traditional healers regarding their worldview and their botanical, diagnostic, methodological
and healing knowledge that can provide insights into the treatment of mental illness and the actions of psychoactive
plants.

recognizing and discarding cultural prejudices that prevent a more comprehensive and integrated u... more recognizing and discarding cultural prejudices that prevent a more comprehensive and integrated understanding of the science that intersects and forms the basis of many, though not all, cultural healing practices.


Numerous indigenous healing traditions around the world employ plants with psychoactive effects t... more Numerous indigenous healing traditions around the world employ plants with psychoactive effects to facilitate divination and other spiritual healing rituals. Southern Africa has often been considered to have relatively few psychoactive plant species of cultural importance, and little has been published on the subject. This paper reports on 85 species of plants that are used for divination by southern Bantu-speaking people. Of these, 39 species (45 %) have other reported psychoactive uses, and a number have established hallucinogenic activity. These findings indicate that psychoactive plants have an important role in traditional healing practices in southern Africa.