 |  Magic, Witchcraft and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, 6/e Arthur Lehmann,
California State University -- Chico
Pamela Moro,
Willamette University
James Myers,
California State University -- Chico
The Religious Use of Drugs
Chapter Outline
Introduction
Drugs
-defining the term
-religious functions
-Western uses
-traditional uses: shamans
-situational variation of effects
-classifications
Traditional Drug Use
-post WW II awareness
-religious specialist
-focus on psychotropics
-culturally defined sense of reality
The Practice
-other elements involved
-emphasis on hallucinogens
-mind/body connection
-setting the stage: faith
-articles included on religious drug use
Article: Drugs by Francis Huxley
"Artificial Paradises"
-Lewis Lewin's categories
-two sides to the power
-the "drug problem"
-historic religious uses
-modern approach
The Religious Use of Drugs
-a discontented animal
-psychological technique with a physiological agent
-the shaman
-'definite ends'
-support of the ritual setting/ limitations
-opium use
-paradise and inferno
A Pact with the Devil
-addiction
-ethics
-Black Magic analogy
-Freud and anxiety
Separating Mind From Body
-dangerous lack of drive
-the Kogi of Colombia
-the use of coca elsewhere
-suppression of anxiety
Attacking the Self
-hallucinogenics
-no inhibition of anxiety
-frenzied and delicate purposes
-a "bad trip"
-anxiety into knowledge
-varied actions
Drug of the Aztecs
-peyote
-'teacher'
-the Native American Church
The Search for Power
-rapid social change and the "drug problem"
-wrestling with and obeying spirit
-amateur/recreational use
-in the service of an idea and method
Article: On the Peyote Road by Mike Kiyanni, as told to Thomas J. Csordas
Peyote
-sacrament and spirit
-"road men"
-Mike Kiyanni
Peyote Religion
-history of the Native American Church
-a peyote prayer meeting
-chief peyote and the altar/fire place
-adapting a practice
Opposition
-Navajo tribal government resistance
-1994 protective federal law
Mike Kiyanni's Story
-WWII Navajo Code Talker
-Truman Daily and peyote
-experimentation
-"it talked to me"
'How it Works, How it Can Heal': A Peyote Ceremony
-patient and healer
-the 'patient talks his mind'
-insight
-special ceremony at midnight
-"talking with nature"/ the Almighty
Spirit Peyote
-came to the Navajo on a very hard road
-power to enter into the heart
-humility and sincerity
-appropriation by the White Man
Article: Ritual Enemas by Peter T. Furst and Michael D. Coe
Mexican Indians at Conquest
-widespread ritual drug and alcohol use
-Spaniard POV
-account of the Anonymous Conqueror
-intoxicating enemas
Mesoamerican Drug Use
-sacred nature
-alcohol
-hallucinogens
The Maya to the South
-little conquest/colonial documentation of drug use
-mushroom effigies
-worldview
-Thompson--why?
-theories and discoveries: new and old evidence
-ritual use of intoxicating enemas
Intoxicating Enemas
-among South American Indians
-distinguished from Old World enemas
-rectal delivery system
Evidence
-iconographic discoveries
-new insight into old evidence
Conclusions
-still some who practice in Middle America
-unanswered questions
-insight into the classic Maya
Article: The Sound of Rushing Water by Michael Harner
The Sound of Rushing Water: A Healing Ritual
-tsentsak
-makanchi
The Jívaro Indians of Ecuador
-witchcraft as a major cause of illness/death
-waking life versus real life
-strong demand for specialists
Shamans
-the bewitcher and the curer
-natema
--preparation and chemical composition
Harner's Approach
-background/ experiences
-underestimated centrality of the drug
The Use of Natema
-contact with the "real"
-high proportion of shamans
-"darts" and spirit helpers
The Jívaro Point of View
-regurgitation and the transfer of tsentsak
-the novice shaman
-abstinence and self-discipline
-differentiation of types
-amassing power/tsentsak
Bewitching
-victims
-throwing the tsentsak
-pasuk and wakani bird
-a test of power
Curing: A Complementary Position
-diagnosis and treatment
-curing ceremony
-sucking darts/capturing the tsentsak
-identifying the bewitcher/suspicion
Maintaining Power
-constant accumulation of tsentsak
-tobacco juice
-the rainbow
Words Fall Short
-the difficulty of conveying the reality
-the centrality of natema
Article: Psychedelic Drugs and Religious Experience by Robert S. de Ropp
Cult of the "Flower Children"
-synthetic hallucinogens
-white Americans
-spiritual forefather: William James
Psychedelic Drugs and the Religious Experience
-Leary and the seven questions
-comparison with James
-static saintliness
-ability to permanently alter level of being?
-'the most that can be said'
Other Approaches
-Masters and Houston
--"nature mysticism"
-Alpert
--the highs and the lows
--psychedelics as an Upaya
How the Psychedelics Work
-wide range within "anesthetic revelation"
-Huxley and Broad: "Mind at Large"
-we can't know for sure
Legal, Social, and Spiritual Questions
-drug use in the U.S.
-public hysteria
-the 'Young'
- Leary's "guided trip" proposal
-strong government resistance/ prohibition
--effects of legislation
-avoiding the question/ problem
-the "abyss of meaninglessness"
Those Who Have Partaken
-two very different groups
-the trap of overuse: a weakened will
-a personal experience |
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2005 McGraw-Hill Higher Education