bernard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are there any shamanic elements in Egyptian
> religion, i.e the existence of an underworld and
> upperworld and an axis mundi that communicated
> between the 3 levels; the existence of several
> souls- some of which could leave the body and
> return; the existence of altered states of
> conciousness induced by hallucinogens, drumming
> ,exaustion, etc. persons who could transform into
> animal- companions.?

AE religion not being my forte I don't have a particular view on this, but here are some extracts from various books/articles etc. that might be of interest (bearing in mind Katherine's caveat above, and the fact that you might already have an opinion of Emboden's work based on his Mayan material). Not all of them are necessarily directly relevant to your question, but hopefully are suggestive enough without my having to necessarily join all the dots ...

Apologies in advance for the length, but I'm hoping the effort will prove useful


Emboden, William A. 1979. "The Sacred Narcotic Lily of the Nile: Nymphaea Caerulea". Economic Botany, 32(4): 395-407.

One or two snippets:

"[...] The death and resurrection of Osiris is symbolized in the blue water lily. Nymphaea caerulea blooms for three consecutive days, with its flowers borne on stalks that lift the flower about 18 inches above the surface of the water. Each day it opens at around eight in the morning and closes about noon.

"The symbol of three was of great shamanic importance. Numerous incantations were tripartite, a sort of trinity existed between Osiris, Horus and the pharaoh. We are told in the legends of ancient Egypt that Osiris was murdered by Seth and his dissected body was cast into the waters of the Nile. He was made whole again by his wife and sister Isis, but variations on this legend indicate that he became the sacred blue lily of the Nile, opening with the ascendance of the sun and closing with its descent in the sky. That Osiris could be a flower, the sun, creator god, a mystical personage brought back from death, etc. is indicative of the ability of the Egyptian mind to harmonize disparate elements. His image is also to be found in the scarab beetle (dung beetle) of which the female imbeds its egg into a ball of feces and the male rolls this ball into the sun during the day and back into some crevice at night. Thus Osiris had a further alter ego in this insect. Budge (1900) found individuals in the Sudan who still involved themselves in devouring these beetles in what he alleged to be a vestige of the cult of Osiris. This was an element of 'eating magic' which was a sort of communication of the most intimate sort with those elements that were godly manifestations. This leads to the assertion that I shall set forth. Because the water lily was the incarnation of Osiris, it would most certainly be devoured as was the scarab beetle. The effect of an experience such as this would be an alteration of one's conscious state or the ecstatic separation of body and spirit. I shall adduce evidence to this end [...]" (p. 397).

#

"The Papyrus of Ani, better known as the Book of the Dead, is perhaps the most important document to emerge from the period of about 1500 BC to 1350 BC [...]. Written for the dead, these spells, incantations, and magical formulae can be traced to 1350 BC, and some are even predynastic, according to Budge (1913). In these texts, we encounter a chapter entitled 'Transformation into a water lily flower'. Some have called this simply 'lily', others 'lotus', but, given the early date of the texts and the late advent of the lotus from Assyria, it is impossible to use such surrogates. It is essentially a magical shamanic transformation. The water lily was initially the favorite of Ra, and a product or emanation from his being. Ani wished to have the power to transform himself into the sacred blue water lily so that his body might have new birth and ascend daily into heaven. Another version of this transformation allowed Ani to transform himself into Ptah (creator god). Importantly, the accompanying vignette is a human head springing from the open flower of Nymphaea caerulea growing in a pool of water. The text of this is attributed to 'Osiris Ani' who says, 'I am the holy water lily that comes from the light which belongs to the nostrils of Ra, and which belongs to the head of Hathor. I am the pure water lily that come froth from the field of Ra'. Later versions of the same text petition the water lily with requests for visions and soul flight. Such supplications suggest the power of the water lily and are important stylistic clues to the chemical nature of the flower which might be used to provide such transcendent experiences [...]" (pp. 399-401).

From the concluding paragraph:

"We are left with the inescapable conclusion that the blue water lily, Nymphaea caerulea, was exploited for its narcotic content in order to provoke the shamanic state of ecstasis among a priestly caste in ancient Egypt. These initial observations and comparisons with recent investigations into similar New World traditions may lead to a very different way of viewing Egyptian art and artifacts and may provide new insights into the mysteries of a priestly caste in that great ancient civilization. In a future paper, the author will adduce further evidence to support the contention that water lilies in the Old World and in the New World were important vehicles of shamanic ecstasis and have been disregarded in this context of use" (p. 407).

#

This article can be read in its entirety on-line (minus accompanying illustrations): [www.iamshaman.com]


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Emboden, William A. 1981. "Transcultural Use of Narcotic Water Lilies in Ancient Egyptian and Maya Drug Ritual". Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 3: 39-83.

Some representative snippets:

"[...] The Egyptologist Edwards (1976) made the important observation that 'from the evidence at present available, it appears that the cups representing the white lotus (Nymphaea lotus) were used as drinking vessels, whereas those representing the blue water lily (Nymphaea caerulea) were used only for ritualistic purposes'. These observations he couples with his strict adherence to such botanical details as petal number, shapes of petals, and acuminate versus obovate petal tips. He illustrates his contention with a chalic found in the tomb of Tutankhamun (Cairo no. 62125) which is exemplary of the non-ritual white water lily chalice. The nature of priestly ritual and the vehicles to shamanic ecstasis is less perfectly known. Religious beliefs in ancient Egypt evolved from primitive belief systems to complicated theologies. This is appreciated only when one reflects upon the fact that at the onset of the Late New Kingdom, 2000 years of development had taken place. It is not the function of this paper to review these many belief systems, but only to implicate the water lily N. caerulea in some of these [...].

"All of this [ie. the evidence reviewed by Emboden elsewhere in his article] leads to several conclusions. Shamanism was a part of Egyptian thought throughout many dynasties. Magic served the ordinary man and his consultations were with oracles and magicians. The priestly caste had a private religion and a more complex theology. Tales as reconstructed by Maspero (1915) and others indicate that magical events were wrought by eating magical foods, drinking magical liquids, reading magical papyri, eating magical hieroglyphs, undergoing shamanic transformation, talking with the dead, freeing the soul to journey to other realms, etc. Each of these will be taken up in a more extensive treatment of Nymphaea among the ancient Egyptians. In addition to these texts, images from tombs, papyri, vessels, etc., frequently depict the blue water lily in conjunction with the fruit of the narcotic Mandragora officinarum, the mandrake, and Papaver somniferum capsules, the opium poppy (Figs. 4 and 5). The blue water lily most frequently is found as a funerary offering or is depicted above what have been called 'unguent vessels'.

"Of the thousands of exquisite flowers that covered the Nile delta, the mandrake, opium poppy, and the blue water lily were certainly not selected by chance. All have the capacity to serve as psychodysleptics and induce deep trances. Bringing these together in funerary depiction suggests that they are a part of the mystical processes that governed shamanism. We see no depictions in which any of these are being ingested. The reference to their use is infrequent in papyri with the exception of Ra conquering Hawthor by 'spiking' her beer with mandrakes, thus putting her into a deep sleep. The absence of a specific writing relating a mode of use should not be taken as unusual, or non-affirmative, evidence. In the 10,000 verses of the Rig-Veda we find no specific mention of the plant that is soma. All references to it are oblique or metaphoric. Likewise, the Mystery of Eleusis, as revealed in the Hymn to Demeter, is veiled. Only recently in the presentation of Wasson et al. (1978) has the narcotic element in this latter Mystery been revealed. Cults dealing in sacred elements do not reveal in the same manner that mundane events are presented. Two approaches must be used: the frequency, use, and context of certain themes is to be explored; secondly, the remaining contents of vessels containing alleged psychotogens must be assayed by sophisticated chemical procedures [...]" (pp. 44-45, 48, 50-51).


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Emboden, William A. 1982. "The Water Lily and the Maya Scribe: An Ethnobotanical Interpretation". New Scholar: An Americanist Review, 8: 103-127.

"[...] I have personally prepared a decoction from macerated water lily flowers, six in all, and on two occasions I have consumed this in a glass of water. The beverage was not unpleasant, having a slightly sweet quality with astringent and bitter overtones. The odor is strong and not offensive. Within about 20 minutes visual hallucinations were experienced in a mild form which is perhaps best described simply as altered visual perception with respect to color and space. Auditory hallucinations were noted as sound displacement and selective perception and enhancement of certain sounds. There was no loss of motor coordination, some few tremors and mild nausea. The decoction did not result in vomiting, but this may be in part my own objection to the act of reverse peristalsis. I believe that most non-native Americans find vomiting only one cut above defecating, and neither act is ritualized nor discussed. The effects passed in about one and a half hours and an overwhelming desire to sleep came upon me. The profusion of rich dreams may or may not be attributed to the water lily brew. The entire experience is best described as contemplative and pleasurable [...]" (p. 111).


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Harer, Jr., W. Benson. 1985. "Pharmacological and Biological Properties of the Egyptian Lotus". Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 22: 49-54.

From the introductory paragraphs:

"The lotuses of the Nile contain potent narcotic alkaloids in both flowers and rhizomes (roots) - a fact generally unknown to Egyptologists and botanists. The mistaken belief among scholars in both disciplines that the water lilies of the Nile have no pharmacoactive properties is a classic example of a fundamental error adopted early in the history of a field of intellectual inquiry persisting for generations as standard wisdom.

"The error first occurred among the pioneer botanists of the early nineteenth century in the formative years of that science. Early travelers from Africa reported that stalks and rhizomes of lotus were boiled and eaten in famine conditions. Accordingly it was held that the plant had low nutritive value, but was innocuous. This belief was accepted by the Egyptologists of the time, and the misconception has persisted.

"[...] While correction of the misconception ranks as a minor footnote in botany, recognition of the narcotic effects of the lotus blossom could have significant impact in Egyptology where it has been accorded merely symbolic or decorative roles [...]" (p. 49).

And from the concluding section:

"[...] The alkaloids identified in lotus may have psychoactive properties to induce hallucinations or vivid dreams in some people according to anecdotes from the California drug culture. In higher doses it produces unconsciousness, stupor, and possibly death.

"Dr. William Emboden [1981] has reviewed the modern history of Nymphaea as an opiate substitute [...].

"[...] Since the time of Napoleon the misconception that lotus is pharmacologically inert has colored Egyptologists' interpretations of inscriptional, pictorial, and artifactual evidence for medicinal, social, and ritual use of the lotus as a narcotic. In light of our current knowledge that the lotus contains precisely defined narcotic alkaloids and that their effects were almost certainly known to the Egyptians, the modern Egyptologist may wish to reconsider traditional interpretations of much familiar material" (p. 53, 54).


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Wolinski, Arelene. 1987. "Egyptian Masks: The Priest and His Role". Archaeology, January/February: 22-29.

From the introductory paragraph of this article:

"Even today, the religion of ancient Egypt remains a relatively baffling aspect of one of the world's most fascinating cultures. While a great deal of scholarship exists on the subject and some of the world's finest monuments stand as eloquent testimony to the importance of religion in ancient Egyptian daily life, there has been too little synthesizing of archaeological, anthropological and linguistic evidence. Specifically, the importance of ceremonial masks has been too little appreciated for the past hundred years, with the consequence that widely accepted popular accounts make Egyptian religion seem extremely bizarre and exotic. Such accounts very often depict the Egyptian deities as animal-headed gods, ignoring the vital part played in Egyptian rituals by priests wearing animals masks that appeared artistically to be their heads. 'Masking' - an anthropological phenomenon found in a variety of past and present cultures - has rarely been discussed in terms of ancient Egyptian religion [...]" (p. 22).

And from the conclusion:

"[...] Why do accounts of Egyptian religious practices fail to draw the logical inferences from the available scholarship and from the extant artistic record? The answer lies, in part, in biases evident in some students of Egyptian religion who seem to want it to be more rational, more like the religion of the much-admired Greeks. But another part of the answer lies in the anomalous condition of modern Egyptian scholarship. There is a joke among Egyptologists that you really do not need to go to Egypt to excavate; you can 'dig' just as successfully among the thousands of artifacts stored in museum basements. The point of this joke is not so much that the artifacts have not been studied (although some of them probably have not) as that the scholarly tradition has buried some significant finds.

"The evidence on behalf of ceremonial masking in ancient Egypt, then, is richly suggestive. Art history books need to relabel their illustrations to correct the prevalent impression that the Egyptians worshiped animal-headed, but otherwise human gods. A subtler distinction is needed between the actual gods and the masked priests who worked in their service. It is time that the ancient Egyptians ceased to be labeled as weird or bizarre in their religious practices. While much about their religion still remains obscure to us, or difficult to fathom, the likelihood is that the Egyptians were not so different in their rituals than other African religious practices" (p. 29).


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Emboden, William. 1989. "The Sacred Journey in Dynastic Egypt: Shamanistic Trance in the Context of the Narcotic Water Lily and the Mandrake". Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 21(1): 61-75.

The abstract:

"Contemporary reference to the role of water lilies and mandrakes (Nymphaea and Mandragora, respectively) in ancient Egyptian healing, and subsequent research on the iconography of the water lily in Mayan shamanistic ritual, suggest the possible importance of these plants as adjuncts to shamanistic healing in dynastic Egypt. Although the usual interpretation of the water lily and the mandrake has been that of a part of ritual mourning, the present article revises this notion. Based on an extensive review of these two powerful narcotic (ie., hypnotic) plants in iconography and ritual, it is argued that the dynastic Egyptians had developed a form of shamanistic trance induced by these two plants and used it in medicine as well as healing rituals. Analysis of the ritual and sacred iconography of dynastic Egypt, as seen on stelae, in magical papyri, and on vessels, indicates that these people possessed a profound knowledge of plant lore and altered states of consciousness. The abundant data indicate that the shamanistic priest, who was highly placed in the stratified society, guided the souls of the living and the dead, provided for the transmutation of souls into other bodies and the personification of plants as possessed by human spirits, as well as performing other shamanistic activities".

And from the concluding paragraph of the article:

"[...] In the Egyptian dynasties, the essence of the shamanistic trance provided by the hypnotic constituents of the mandrake and the narcotic blue water lily are clearly in evidence. They continue to be portrayed and appear in magical writings from the Fourth Dynasty until the fourth century BC. The constituents of these plants are able to provide the requisites for shamanistic trance: a temporary derangement of the priest-shaman's equilibrium that separates the sacred from the profane, and the soul from the body. The spiritual death, journey, revelation, and resurrection are implicit in both writings and murals. Social stratification is broadly evident and the alter egos of the priest-shamans are frequently portrayed, with birds (soul flight) given primacy. This way of seeing the succession of dynastic portrayals provides a newer and more profound insight into the priest-shaman caste system of ancient Egypt" (pp. 74-75).


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Merlin, M.D. 2003. "Archaeological Evidence for the Tradition of Psychoactive Plant Use in the Old World". Economic Botany, 57(3): 295-323.

From the concluding section of this review article:

"[...] Emboden (1978, 1981, 1989) combined artistic, papyri, and paleoethnobotanical sources as evidence for ancient Egyptian use of two taxa, the 'sacred blue water lily', Nymphaea caerulea (= nouchali) and the mandrake, Mandragora officinarum in shamanistic practices. Representations of the water lily in wall paintings began during the Fourth Dynasty in ancient Egypt and increased in frequency until the Eighteenth Dynasty when this lily was united with the 'golden' (deep yellow when ripe) fruit of the mandrake. Depictions of these mind-altering species in Egyptian frescoes were originally interpreted as components of funeral scenes, with the plants as offerings. However, more recently this graphic evidence has been interpreted, with the help of various papyri, as portrayals of ritual healing: 'The abundant data indicate that the shamanistic priest, who was highly placed in the stratified society, guided the souls of the living and dead, provided for the transmutation of souls into other bodies and the personification of plants as possessed by human spirits, as well as performing other shamanistic activities' (Emboden 1989).

"The interpretation of ancient literary, artistic, or artifact interpretation without actual botanical evidence to support the identification of psychoactive plant use in antiquity limits a conclusive determination. In any case, the most significant forms of evidence that seem to link the sacred blue lily and mandrake, along with the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, to the priestly caste are the papyri, '... books of the dead, books of ritual magic, and related pictorial evidence - which were never meant to be seen by the public - present those same plants that are the vehicles to ecstasy' (Emboden 1989). For more evidence for these three species from Egypt in the form of artifacts, papyri, and fresco scenes see James (1982), Randall-MacIver and Wooley (1911), Quibbel and Hayer (1927), Merrillees (1968), and Merlin (1984).

"In a recent issue of Economic Botany, McDonald (2002) has attempted to determine the Middle Eastern Tree of Life, which he concludes is none other than 'the Egyptian lotus' or 'Lily of the Nile' (Nymphaea nouchali). Indeed, McDonald argues that we must 'identify the "sacral tree" of Mesopotamia as a stylized lotus shoot rather than a palm tree', and that 'the classical lotus bud-and-blossom motif that we encounter in Egypt as early as 3000 BCE and in Mesopotamia by the second millennium BCE is widely recognized as a symbol of rebirth and immortal life'. McDonald further asserts that through a great depth of time there has been a loss of '... our understanding of the mythic significance of the plant, and the ritualistic role it once played in the religious traditions of our distant forebears' [...]" (pp. 317-318).

#

Merlin's article also includes a "Chronological Table of Selected Archaeological Evidence for the Prehistoric Use of Psychoactive Drug Plants in the Old World" with details of Egyptian artifacts such as (1) "statue of small naked boy with disproportionate carnelian 'poppy capsule' earrings, found in coffin" (1550-1350 BC, Teti Pyramid, Saqqara); (2) "blue faience copy of opium poppy capsule; two gold earrings with capsule representation; gold necklace with gold poppy capsule pendants" (1550-1350 BC, Tomb of King Siphtah & Queen Tauosrit, Thebes); (3) "base-ring juglet once held liquid containing crude opium and oil that served as the solvent" (16th or 15th century BC, Egypt); (4) "base-ring Ware vase in form of unripe poppy capsule, containing crude opium" (16th or 15th century BC, Egypt); (5) "unguent jar depicts Hathor with necklace of water lilies and mandrake" (1350-1338 BC, Tomb of Tutankhamen); (6) "necklace with gold 'poppy capsule' beads" (1350 BC, Royal Tomb, Tell El-Amarna); etc. etc.


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McDonald, J. Andrew. 2002. "Botanical Determination of the Middle Eastern Tree of Life". Economic Botany, 56(2): 113-129.

Some representative extracts:

"[...] The frequent association of lotus blossoms and palmettes in the visual arts of the Middle East is of critical importance for several reasons. First, the classical lotus bud-and-blossom motif that we encounter in Egypt as early as 3000 BCE and Mesopotamia by the second millennium BCE is widely recognized as a symbol of rebirth and immortal life. Hence the symbolic inference of a sequential bud-and-blossom motif agrees conceptually with the metaphorical concept of an immortal 'tree of life'. Secondly, we note that Mesopotamian palmettes are usually subtended by a pair of lateral volutes with a deltoid or rounded appendage fixed between them [...]. This conventional feature of a palmette suggests that we are not dealing with a palm canopy, but rather a tetramerous, polypetalous flower that displays three of its four sepals in profile [...]. If this is the case, then we are compelled to identify the 'sacral tree' of Mesopotamia as a stylized lotus shoot rather than a palm tree, for flowers of the Egyptian lotus (Nymphaea nouchalii Burm. f.; = N. caerulii Savigny pro syn.; Verdcourt 1989) are large, tetramerous, and solitary [...]. In contrast, flowers of a date palm are miniscule, hexamerous, and born numerously on a highly ramified, spathate inflorescence [...]. Hence it follows that the columnar axis of the sacral tree does not represent the woody trunk of a date palm [...], but rather an upright, naked, succulent lotus stalk [...]" (p. 117).

#

"[...] We also note that paintings and ivory carvings of palmettes were intentionally rendered in blue by the use of lapis lazuli stone insets or pigments made from crushed azurite and oxides of copper [...]. Since flowers of the Egyptian lotus are blue-pigmented, and those of a date palm cream-colored, we may be sure that the palmettes were intended to represent a stylized lotus flower [...]" (p. 119).

#

"The convention of presenting three lotus flowers or fruits in the hands of Mesopotamian gods and dignitaries [...], probably derives from the ancient Egyptian practice of portraying lotus blossoms in triplicate (Emboden 1978, 1989). As noted by Emboden, this custom relates to the natural behavior of lotus flowers, which open and close thrice over the course of three days (Meeuse and Schneider 1989). It is also widely acknowledged that the symbolic relationship between the Egyptian lotus and sun is based on the natural color scheme and radial symmetry of lotus blossoms, for flowers of Nymphaea nouchalii display a golden ovarian disk inside a sky-blue corolla [...], suggesting the image of a yellow sun in an azure sky . Water lily blossoms also share a close behavioral connection with the sun by the idiosyncratic manner in which they open their petals at dawn and close them before the onset of dusk. Hence Egyptian and Middle Eastern iconographers and mythographers recognized a natural symbolic relationship between their sacred flower and the sun.

"The Egyptian lotus also shares a close symbolic association with various mythical serpents known variously as Edjo, Buto, Apep, or Seth. Images of these symbolic creatures appear frequently among reliefs of lotus groves that conventionally encircle Egyptian temples, or otherwise dangle from blue-winged, solar disks that decorate the hallways and portals of temple interiors [...]. These standard iconographic forms are apparently based, once again, on the general morphology and natural behavior of lotus shoots, as the latter structures bear a distinct likeness to a snake when they emerge from the dark recesses of their aquatic habitats. Their tubular stalks suggest the image of a rising serpent's body, while their swelling buds suggest the aspect of a serpent's head [...]. Lotus stalks also exhibit a decidedly snake-like behavior following the third day of anthesis, when their peduncles recoil in a serpentine fashion to draw their pollinated flowers back into the water [...]. Continually rising form, and retreating into, the waters of the rivers and lakes, lotus shoots were envisaged symbolically as the living embodiment of a recurrent sun and serpent: hence the widespread Egyptian and Middle Eastern iconographic custom of associating coiling snakes with budding and flowering lotus stalks [...]. To further develop this symbolic relationship, Egyptians often placed the emblem of a sun and moon upon the serpent's head to identify the plant and animal with their sun-like flowers [...]. This same stylistic nuance is frequently encountered in Near Eastern iconography [...]" (p. 122).

#

"[...] As already mentioned, the tree of life is often protected [in Middle Eastern iconographies] by various chimeric creatures, including griffins [...], winged humans [...], scorpion-men [...] or fish-men [...]" (p. 125).

#

"[...] The enigmatic cones and buckets that are customarily employed by winged genii in some sort of ritualistic context apparently relate to the giving or taking of life from the sacral tree [...]. On the River Nile at Beni Hasan we observe the same distinctive bucket in the hands of Egyptian maidens, who employ the implement to harvest lotus flowers and express their juices into large urns [...]. While archaeologists usually suggest that this scene portrays the preparation of perfumes [...], there is now reason to believe that the plants were used for different purposes. Recent reports indicate that Nymphaea species produce opiate alkaloids (Diaz 1975) and that these psychotrophic constituents have been employed by various peoples in ancient Egypt, India and Mexico to induce visions and euphoric states of mind (Emboden 1978, 1979, 1981, 1989; Nunn 1996: 157; Spess 2000). Emboden (1978, 1979, 1981) suggests that water lily extracts were employed by Egyptian healers as a shamanistic medium, perhaps in concoctions of poppy and mandrake potions, based on recurrent associations of lotus flowers with drinking vessels in libation scenes. Emboden (1979) references various pharmacological studies that identify the narcotic properties and constituents of water lilies (Delphaut and Balansarad 1941; Descourtilz 1829: 266; Pobeguin 1912: 49), and confirms these reports by personal experimentations with macerated preparations of Egyptian lotus buds and flowers. He reports that he experienced narcosis, altered visual perceptions, and auditory hallucinations. Diaz (1975) later confirmed that Mexican water lilies produce isoquinoline alkaloids, and hypothesized that these substances are responsible for the frequent occurrence of water lilies in mythic and ritualistic scenes on Mayan temples (Dobkin de Rios 1974; Diaz 1977; Emboden 1979, 1983; Rands 1953). More recently Spess (2000) has identified the western and eastern lotus (ie., Nymphaea and Nelumbo, respectively) as psychotrophic plants, suggesting that both plants have played a crucial role in the shamanistic practices of ancient Egypt and Asia.

"Evidence for the use of lotus extractions in religious ceremonies extends far beyond the banks of the Nile, as we frequently encounter images of the Egyptian lotus in depictions of libation scenes in Mesopotamia, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria [...]" (pp. 125-126).


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The following is from the only source here not published in an academic journal, but I've decided to include an extract here because it's referenced by McDonald above, and has received favorable reviews from the likes of Peter T. Furst, amongst others ...


Spess, David L. 2000. Soma: The Divine Hallucinogen. Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press.

"[...] Although a number of plants were used in the Rg Vedic soma ceremonies, there are two genera of indigenous Indian plants, the Nymphaea and the Nelumbo, that stand out among the rest as being used to prepare soma drinks in the Rg Vedic soma ceremony. Nymphaea plants are known as water lilies, while Nelumbo plants are the true lotus plants. When the genera are used together in my discussions I sometimes refer to both as lotus plants.

"India has the largest variety of naturally occurring water lily and lotus plants of any country in the world [...]. Despite what has been stated in various articles and books about the nonethneogenic effects of Nelumbo and Nymphaea plants, some Indian varieties of lotus and many water lilies do contain a variety of alkaloids and other compounds that are entheogenic.

"Here we can mention only a few studies of the psychoactive aspects of these plants as they pertain to our current subject of soma as a divine hallucinogen. Certain indigenous varieties of Indian Nymphaea plants, as well as Nelumbo plants, are psychoactive and can be visionary and auditory entheogens when the sap or juice of the plant, and certain other parts, are prepared properly [...].

"The compounds found in certain Nymphaea species are known to cause excitation, ecstatic states, luminous visionary and auditory hallucinations, narcotic sedation, and other psychoactive effects. The experiences are dependent upon the dosage, preparation, and parts of the plant used. The compounds responsible are found in the flowers, sap, nectar, stems, rhizomes, and possibly the leaves. The flowers of certain Nymphaea species have been shown to induce ecstasy states similar to those of the drug 3, 4-methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), popularly known as 'ecstasy'.

"In the nineteenth century the botanist de Candolle stated that the sap of lotus plants could be poisonous if taken in large quantities, but in small doses would merely induce hallucinations. De Candolle may have been using the term lotus in a generic way to refer to both the Nelumbo and Nymphaea genera, because the sap found in certain parts of both plants can be hallucinogenic and even poisonous. In the ancient Egyptian medical text known as the Ebers Papyrus, the rhizome of the Nymphaea species is described as poisonous, and in Sanskrit the rhizome of some Nymphaea species is called visa, meaning 'poison'.

"The water lilies of the Nile are of the same species as the water lilies of India; modern taxonomic botany has not been able to distinguish morphologically between the Egyptian and Indian Nymphaea plants, which indicates that they are conspecific and must have a common origin. That the Ebers Papyrus states that some water lily rhizomes are poisonous is significant [because] it is a known fact that many 'poisonous' plants are both renowned medicines and entheogens [...].

"Not only are some Nymphaea species psychoactive, but certain Indian Nelumbo varieties are as well. Nelumbo flowers, nectar, sap, leaves, and rhizomes contain compounds that are stimulating, hypnotic, and narcotic and that can induce trance-ecstasy states as well as visionary experiences. The psychoactive properties of Indian Nelumbo species have been known for a long time. Parts of the Nelumbo were mixed with tobacco and smoked for their psychoactive effects, which are similar to the effects of such plants as Cannibas sativa, Hyoscyamus niger, Datura alba, Datura fatuosa, Datura metal, and Papever somniferum. All of these plants contain strong psychoactive compounds that are narcotic, hypnotic, ecstasy-inducing and can be hallucinogenic.

"The evidence found in the Rg Vedic hymns clearly indicates that [the Vedic deity] Indra is initially stimulated by drinking soma, but he also exhibits other effects depending on what soma drink he has been offered. These different effects may indicate that soma juice when consumed alone or prepared in special combinations and in low dosages was a stimulant. But the same combinations in moderate dosages were entheogenic, and at higher dosages were narcotic and dangerous. This can be concluded from the hymns themselves, since Indra exhibits all three conditions after drinking soma. These same pharmacological traits are associated with the compounds and preparations of lotus and water-lily plant drinks.

"Soma is mentioned in the [Rg Vedic] hymns as being dangerous, but not fatal when consumed; the latter is probably due to its preparation. The sap from some parts of the Nelumbo plant can be dangerous. The rhizomes of a number of Nelumbo species are absolutely psychoactive, but not deadly, whereas the sap and rhizomes of most Indian species of Nymphaea are strongly psychoactive and deadly if overconsumed. A warning should be sounded here that certain parts of these two genera of plants are extremely dangerous if not properly used. Death can occur within minutes of ingesting certain parts in high dosages, especially the sap in the rhizomes of some Nymphaea species" (pp. 27-30).

#

From a footnote to chapter 3:

"Both Nymphaea and Nelumbo plants worldwide are little understood and have not been studied pharmacologically in any comprehensive way. Many misconceptions currently exist about the relationship between the two genera as well as the alkaloids and other compounds that are found in both. I have studied the folklore and medicinal and pharmacological aspects of both genera, and I have researched the psychoactive and medicinal effects found in various naturally occurring wild Nelumbo, Nymphaea, and Nuphar species described in a number of languages, including Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, English, Greek, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, and Polish. See Spess and Reding (2000) [[/i]Flowers of Ecstasy and Immortality: The Folklore, Medicinal Uses, and Psychopharmacology of Sacred Lotus and Water Lily Plants of Egypt and India. Taos: Codex Press)".


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Emboden, William A. 1995. "Art and Artifact as Ethnobotanical Tools in the Ancient Near East with Emphasis on Psychoactive Plants". In Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline, edited by Richard Evans Schultes and Siri von Reis. Portland, Oregon: Dioscorides Press (pp. 93-107).

A relevant snippet from this article:

"[...] The full exegesis of psychoactive plants in the context of dynastic Egypt is discussed by Emboden (1979, 1981). The argument is made that these plants and their psychoactive constituents were adjuncts to the state of ecstasis among the priestly castes of ancient Egypt and that they lead us to a new way of viewing Egyptian art and artifacts, as well as those of other ancient civilizations. A limestone relief of the Amarna period circa 1350 BC shows us the healing of King Semenkhara by his consort Meritaton using Mandragora and Nymphaea; this is a fine example of the specific context of these plants. These plant motifs appear again in the eighteenth dynasty portrait of Tutankhamen on his throne with his queen [...].

"One bit of iconography that still puzzles Egyptologists is the depiction of 'Lady Tuth-Shena' on the stela in which she is before the god Horus. Emanating from the sun disc on Horus's head are five 'rays' of tubular flowers that strongly suggest Datura [for a picture of the image Emboden is discussing see here: [members.tripod.com]. Since Datura is pantemperate and pantropical, the genus could not be considered scarce in any region. It is also a genus with easily identifiable virtues. It has been used in every area in which it is known, in rites of passage and in diverse forms of shamanism. Its psychoactive properties are extraordinary, and one of the usual modalities in the Datura experience is that of mystical flight, an out-of-the-body sensation.

"This explanation, like so many others relating to Tuth-Shena and Horus, might seem specious were it not for the other, associated plants that have psychoactive properties: the central flower and leaf of Nymphaea caerulea; at the foot of Horus, the unguent jar wrapped with the narcotic water lily bud; the strand of grapes and their leaves hanging from the opposite side of the supporting pedestal upon which offerings rest; the four repeated representations of a cleft water lily leaf in the series of glyphs at the right-hand margin. It is the realm of the dead, evidenced by the resin cone on teh head of Tuth-Shena. The light is the light of Horus, realized in the psychoactive flowers of Datura which 'illuminate' Tuth-Shena in allegorical fashion. It is the power of Horus before which she throws up her hands in awe. Vitis, Nymphaea, and Datura are in intoxicating elements portrayed in this scene of shamanic manifestation.

"It is perhaps by coincidence that the frequency of portrayal of psychogenic plants is correlated with the level of development of ancient civilizations, but I do not think so. A shamanic caste appears and, subsequently, there is further shamanic stratification, the adjuncts to these priestly offices - that is to say, psychoactive plants - increase. The length of the associated rituals is progressively increased, and the litanies or magical incantations become hypertrophied. We can see the same thing among the Maya. It parallels the complexity of medicine and medicinal practices, for all these are inseparable at a certain level. They are manifestations of belief systems that are enhanced by altered states of consciousness.

"In conclusion, rather than to try to elucidate the complexity of ancient agricultural practices, it may be more appropriate to comment on certain categories of plants important to a settled state of existence, and on the inclusion of greater numbers of plants with psychoactive properties as a civilization evolves. The best place to find these plant species may not be in cuneiform script or in the hieroglyphics of papyri, but in the art and artifacts of the civilization. This is especially necessay for the ancient Near East, where ethnobotanical evaluation has been virtually absent" (pp. 104-106).

> This may be the wrong place to ask, but do other
> African religions have these attributes. I know
> that the Khoisan and the hunter-gatherers who did
> the rock art in the Saharan and South Africa did
> have shamanic religions, but do Africans who are
> pastoralists and/or farmers have them?

This is a trickier question than you might at first realise.

For starters, I'd suggest you try and get hold of either of the following two articles by I.M. Lewis (author of Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession, first published in 1971):

Lewis, I.M. 1989. "South of North: Shamanism in Africa - A Neglected Theme". Paideuma, 35: 181-188.

Lewis, I.M. 1997. "The Shaman's Quest in Africa". Cahiers d'Etudes africaines, 145, XXXVII-1: 119-135.

The second of these two articles is an expanded reworking of the 1989 article.

Here's the introductory paragraph from Lewis's 1989 article:

"'We have omitted Africa', so Mircea Eliade concludes his regional survey of shamanism in his classic work, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (1951, 1972:374), in a pregnant footnote. It is rather ironical that Eliade should make this statement. For he is largely responsible for thrusting into general currency a conception of shamanism - which he represents as that of the classical Tungus institution - which has led subsequent authorities, such as Luc de Heusch (1971:273), to claim that shamanism is in fact rare in Africa. Others, for instance Michel Leiris (1968, 1980:37), have asserted the opposite, stating that the phenomenon is 'widely distributed in Africa'. I share Leiris's view that shamanism is common in Africa and, in what follows, will attempt to substantiate this assessment (not, of course, exhaustively). I shall also suggest reasons, including Eliade's influence on terminology, for this, as I see it, mis-reading of the evidence from Africa" (p. 181).

In his 1997 article, Lewis notes that the image of the 'cosmic world tree' has "been widely traced in Africa by the French ethnographer, Viviana Paques" (1964, L'arbre cosmique dans la pensee populaire et dans la vie quotidenne du nord-ouest africain. Paris: Institut d'ethnologie), and goes on to suggest that "many other symbolic motifs, in various combinations and proportions, [including the theme of 'mystical flight'] are widely if not universally associated with shamanism and more extensively distributed in Africa than is generally recognised" (pp. 128-129).

An example of some of the material that Lewis draws attention to:

Nadel, S.F. 1946. "Study of Shamanism in the Nuba Mountains". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 76: 25-37.

In his 1995 book, The Shaman, published for a non-academic audience, Piers Vitebksy (an anthropologist with an interest in shamanic practices in both Siberia and South Asia, and head of the Scott Polar Institute at University of Cambridge) notes that "it is possible that shamanic ideas [in Africa] are more widespread than is generally acknowledged" (p. 50).


Damian

_______________

My dear sir, in this world it is not so easy to settle these plain things. I have ever found your plain things the knottiest of all.

- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

________

'I am beginning to believe that nothing is quite so uncertain as facts.

- Edward S. Curtis

________

'We are coming now rather into the region of guesswork', said Dr Mortimer.
'Say, rather, into the region where we balance probabilities and choose the most likely. It is the scientific use of the imagination, but we have always some material basis on which to start our speculation', [replied Holmes].

- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

________

'It never does to be too sure, you know, in these matters. Coincidence killed the professor.'

- "Novel of the Black Seal" by Arthur Machen