Anthropology of Religion: Some Hallucinogens Used By Shamans

COMMON HALLUCINOGENS USED BY
SHAMANS AROUND THE WORLD

Caution: these substances should be avoided due to their dangerously toxic nature.

Geographic Region Where Used	Plants Used	Hallucinogenic Drugs in Plants	Comment
Siberia	*Amanita muscaria* ("fly-agaric"--eaten raw)	muscarine muscimol	hallucinations reportedly make surrounding objects appear very large or very small
Southwestern North America	Datura metaloides (made into a tea)	atropine hyoscyamine scopolamine	causes nausea and dream-like mental state
Southwestern North America	Peyote (cactus bud is eaten raw)	mescaline	used as a sacrament in the Native American Church
Central America	mushrooms (eaten raw)	some contain psilocybin	causes dream-like mental state
South America (Amazon Basin)	Banisteriopsis sp. (common names: yagé, yajé, caapi, ayahuasca, "vine of death") combined with other plants in a tea or blown into the nostrils with a tube	harmine harmaline d-tetrahydroharmine	powerful hallucinogen--similar in effects to L.S.D., mescaline, and psilocybin
Western Europe	*Mandrake, Henbane, and Belladonna* (combined into a salve that was rubbed onto the forehead, armpits, and genital area)	atropine hyoscyamine scopolamine	reportedly caused sleep and visions of "flying"; it was common until the late Middle Ages when the Catholic Church labeled it witchcraft and put a stop to its use