Age of Discovery: The Discovery of Narcotics in the West

[Oncle Boris]

This is not a thread meant for me to positively assert anything about the topic, but rather to mobilize your collective knowledge.

Basically, I'm looking for reliable sources and documents relating to the discovery (and possible importation) of drugs by Western sailors in the 16th and 17th centuries. Everything is good, but I'm particularly interested in hallucinogenic mushrooms from Africa or India (mushrooms were an integral part of ancient Hindu rituals), and the possibility of them having made their way to the Dutch and Portuguese elites of the time.

The purpose is to verify the possibility of (amongst others) Descartes and Spinoza having tried them.

I will come back later and be glad to offer more details about the aim of my research, if some of you show interest - this is for a philosophical article BTW, I'm no historian.

 

[Maimonides]

Anything is possible therefore you can rest easy knowing the possibility is verified.

As for whether or not Descartes or Spinoza tried magic 'shrooms, we'll never know unless some document is found.

 

[Che Guava]

Somehwere in the backlogs of this forum, I posted a few pages on the history of hallucinogens in human society. Here's what i know:

THe mushrooms used by most indians (and I assume africans) are of the amanita genus. Hey are related to 'toadstool' mushrooms, and very different chemical compounds than the Psicobilyn genus (magic mushrooms) which originated in the Americas. Use of amanitas supposedly began with aryan nomads who collected the mushrooms on the persian and indian plateaus where they grow best. THey were used specifically for divination purposes and played a large role in shaman culture that the aryans fostered. As the migrated, the introduced (some debate here) the use of these mushrooms to southern indians, as well as middle-eastern cultures. There has been some evidence brought forward, in fact that some early christians were in fact a cult that worshipped the use of these "aryan mushrooms" (see John Marco Allegro's The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross ). It has also been proposed that these mushrooms were the mythical 'soma' mentioned the the vedas and zoroastrian texts (although much debate there too).

In other parts of the world, relatives of these mushrooms also played a role in the cults of northern uragic (sp?) and scandinavian shaman cultures, with multiple references to the consumption of 'red and white spotted toadstools' being consumed by russian and viking shamans for divination by both roman and arab travel acounts. Some have even proposed the the mushrooms may have been behind the infamous bloodlust of the viking 'berzerker' warriors (although anyone who has tried these hallucinogens might dispute thier usefulness in battle ).

Hope some of that is useful. I'd love to hear more about the topic you are covering..!

EDIT: here's the earlier thread I was speaking of. it has a few good links on it....

 

[Oncle Boris]

Huh, it appears that the search will be longer than expected, and probably won't bring any results.

My inspiration for asking the question comes from a theory defended in a book, whose name I don't recall, that Plato's idealism, knowing that Plato had received an education from Persian sages who, in all likeliness, practiced the cult of mushrooms, might have been inspired by such mystical experiences.
There is also, in Descartes' first meditation, a striking resemblance with some "bad" trips you can have while high on mushrooms.
My driving idea is that the hallucinations I've had on mushrooms - and those some of my friends had - can relate to Nietzche's description of the "dionysiac flow", and a certain evolution, during the trip, towards a skepticism aimed at regaining control of your self. This is what Nietzche would call the "illness of skepticism", which would be a denial of the unbearable flow. This denial begins with a denial of the body (Chritianty's illness).

PS: are you Chegitz from Apolyton?

 

[Che Guava]

PS: are you Chegitz from Apolyton?

I'm afraid not!

Certainly a intereting thesis. In your position, I might take a look at some of the later works of Aldous Huxley and his experiences with mescaline. He has a much more sober (no pun intended) take on the philosophical role of narcotics than most other modern 'entheogen mystics' and the like.