All traditions
Twenty-six living traditions that use psychoactive plants and fungi, each described on its own terms and drawn from published research.
Showing 26 of 26 traditions
-
Basotho psilocybe
A dung-growing mushroom some healers add to dream brews and carry against lightning curses.
-
Fang Bwiti iboga
Iboga, ancestors and the Catholic Mass meet in one of Gabon's official religions.
-
Fijian yaqona
The "water of the land," which binds people to their land, their chiefs and their ancestors.
-
Huni Kuin ayahuasca
Night-long ceremonies where songs in the language of the ancients steer the visions.
-
Jurema Sagrada
Through smoke and a consecrated trunk, the spirits of past healers return to help the living.
-
Jurema Toré
Jurema, a sacred tree and its drink, opens the way to the encantados, who heal, counsel and protect.
-
Kamëntšá and Inga Borrachero
Its flowers painted on Sibundoy's walls, borrachero now stands for Kamëntšá cultural revival.
-
Koryak fly agaric
Greeted with a song, the mushroom spirit answers through family songs and dreams.
-
Mazatec mushroom velada
In darkness and silence, the holy mushroom is said to speak, show the truth, and judge.
-
Mazatec salvia
Leaves that some Mazatecs say must never be burned, cut only after asking the plant's permission.
-
Mestizo ayahuasca
Healers learn songs and cures from the plants themselves, by keeping the dieta.
-
Mitsogho Bwiti iboga
Bwete's trunk: iboga carries the novice to the village of the dead.
-
Oaxaca ololiuqui seeds
The sick drink at night, a woman listens, and the seed speaks.
-
Peruvian mesa San Pedro
Under San Pedro, healers say, the stones and saints on the mesa reveal themselves.
-
Piaroa yopo snuff
Yopo is no teacher here: the shaman sees, and the power and responsibility are his.
-
Santo Daime
A "musical doctrine" whose hymns, received from the astral, are sung with Daime.
-
Shipibo-Konibo ayahuasca
Healers say they learn from plants, not people, in long diets alone in the forest.
-
Shuar arutam brugmansia
After fasting, seekers go to the waterfall to meet Arutam and return stronger, surer of the path ahead.
-
Shuar natem ayahuasca
Shuar healers drink the vine to see and suck out sorcerers' invisible arrows.
-
Tukanoan yajé
Seasonal rituals that "sweeten" fish and fruit, guided by the Jaguars of Yuruparí
-
Vanuatu kava
Shared in the shell and given as a gift, kava binds families, rivals and ancestors.
-
Warao tobacco shamanism
Tobacco smoke feeds the gods, and three kinds of shaman keep the balance between people and spirits.
-
Wixárika hikuri peyote
Pilgrims walk the ancestors' road to Wirikuta, renewing the journey that keeps the Sun rising.
-
Xhosa ubulawu
A diviner's training led by her dreams, opened by a head of white foam.
-
Yanomami yãkoana snuff
Powder that feeds the xapiri, whom Kopenawa defines in one word: health.
-
Zapotec mushroom
A mushroom that speaks at night, best picked by cheerful, talkative children.
No traditions match
Try fewer or different words, or clear the filters.