Plants of the Gods: S1E9. Ergot, LSD and the Birth of Western Religions

01/27/21 • 30 min

Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast

Ergot, LSD and the Birth of Western Religions – Ergot is a fungus that parasitizes rye where - in the Middle Ages - it was sometimes milled into the flour used to make bread. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting folks who ate the bread, ergot is rich in powerful alkaloids that can cause a range of symptoms, from visions to gangrene to death. Some historians have postulated that consumption of ergotized bread may have cause the bizarre behaviors that resulted in the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts in the late 17th century.

When employed correctly, ergot offers many beneficial curative properties in terms of treating medical problems in childbirth as well as migraines. And it was the ergot alkloids that inspired Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman in 1938 to devise synthetic chemicals similar to the ergot alkaloids - and one of the results was LSD.

This episode also delves into whether visions caused by ergot or other plants of the gods may have played an important role in the formation of several western religions.

Sources:

Balick, Michael J., and Paul Alan Cox. Plants, People, and Culture the Science of Ethnobotany. CRC Press, 2020.

Harner, Michael. Hallucinogens and Shamanism. Oxford University Press. 1981.

Mann, John. Murder, Magic, and Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2000.

Muraresku, Brian. The Immortality Key: the Secret History of the Religion with No Name. St. Martin's Press, 2020.

Schultes, Richard Evans., and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods. Vandermarck, 1979.

Simpson, Beryl Brintnall., and Molly Conner-Ogorzaly. Economic Botany:Plants in Our World. McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Stewart, Amy, et al. Wicked Plants: the Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009.

This episode also delves into whether visions caused by ergot or other plants of the gods may have played an important role in the formation of several western religions.

Sources:

Balick, Michael J., and Paul Alan Cox. Plants, People, and Culture the Science of Ethnobotany. CRC Press, 2020.

Harner, Michael. Hallucinogens and Shamanism. Oxford University Press. 1981.

Mann, John. Murder, Magic, and Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2000.

Muraresku, Brian. The Immortality Key: the Secret History of the Religion with No Name. St. Martin's Press, 2020.

Schultes, Richard Evans., and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods. Vandermarck, 1979.

Simpson, Beryl Brintnall., and Molly Conner-Ogorzaly. Economic Botany:Plants in Our World. McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Stewart, Amy, et al. Wicked Plants: the Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009.

Previous Episode

Plants of the Gods: S1E8. Hexing Herbs and the Witches of Medieval Europe

Hexing Herbs and the Witches of Medieval Europe – The archetypal image of the witch as an old woman riding a broomstick was not a Hollywood creation. In the Middle Ages, “witches” were often skilled herbalists. Some used powerful plants of the Solanaceae family - plants like henbane and mandrake - that are rich in hallucinogenic compounds known as tropane alkaloids that can induce sensations of flying - to achieve altered states. And these plants were then rubbed on broomsticks that were applied to vaginal membranes, so they did fly through the hallucinogenic landscapes of their mind...

Sources:

Balick, Michael J., and Paul Alan Cox. Plants, People, and Culture the Science of Ethnobotany. CRC Press, 2020.

Harner, Michael. Hallucinogens and Shamanism. Oxford University Press. 1981.

Mann, John. Murder, Magic, and Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2000.

Plotkin, Mark J. Medicine Quest: in Search of Nature's Healing Secrets. Penguin Books, 2001.

Schultes, Richard Evans., and Albert Hofmann. Plants of the Gods. Vandermarck, 1979.

Next Episode

Plants of the Gods: S1E10. The Life and Times of Richard Evans Schultes

The Life and Times of Richard Evans Schultes – Schultes was a scholarship student at Harvard College when entered as a Freshman in 1933. An undergraduate term paper on peyote resulted in an opportunity to partake in a traditional ceremony with the Kiowa in Oklahoma, which then led to research in southern Mexico where he produced the first detailed, scientific account of the so-called “magic mushrooms.” Post-graduate research led him to the Colombian Amazon where he produced the first detailed scientific account of ayahuasca and other Plants of the Gods. In 1967, he organized a conference in San Francisco with Albert Hoffman where the conclusion was that the Plants of the Gods would reshape the treatment of certain emotional and psychiatric disorders at some point in the future, a prediction, which has recently come to full fruition.

Sources:

Kreig, Margaret. Green Medicine: the Search for Plants That Heal. Bantam Books, 1966.

Mann, John. Murder, Magic, and Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2000.

Plotkin, Mark J. Ph. D. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: an Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest. Viking, 1993.

Prance, Ghillean T., et al. Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs. Synergetic Press, in Association with Heffter Research Institute, 2018.

Stewart, Amy, et al. Wicked Plants: the Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009.