"Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda" is a popularly written
college-level introduction to ancient history and the Greek
classics. The text is fully annotated and illuminated by 200
genuine pharmaco-shamanic images from the ancient world. Since it
is popularly written, and very heavily illustrated with the
remarkable, overtly pharmaco-shamanic art of the ancient world, it
reads like a movie. But a movie with profound psychological and
political relevance for the contemporary world, since it uses the
words and pictures of our ancestors to address contemporary issues.
In this sense, it compares to "The Chalice and the Blade" and "Food
of the Gods," two recent bestsellers of similar intent. As such,
the book is a unique tool for exciting undergraduates about the
contemporary relevance of ancient history and the Greek classics.
This was the intent of Jane Ellen Harrison in her "Prolegomena" and
"Epilegomena to the Study of Greek Religion." Harrison was the most
influential classicist of the twentieth century, and, not
coincidentally, the most influential feminist historian of the
century as well. A major feature of "Shamanism and the Drug
Propaganda," in 4 of its 17 chapters, is its summary of Harrison's
seminal thesis, in her own words. Harrison was concerned with the
historical and psychological transition from the originary
matriarchal conscious of tribal culture to the warrior-oriented
patriarchal consciousness of industrial culture. She understood
this transition to be central to the process of industrial
enslavement. That enslavement necessarily demonized the
power-rites, the rites de passage, as she called them, of tribal
cultures. That is, Harrison pointed to the tribal, the matriarchal
pre-industrial roots of Classical, patriarchal-industrial, Greek
culture. She was, therefore, concerned with originary, tribal,
Greek sacramentalism. Herbal magic, real pharmaco-shamanism, is at
the core of all matriarchal cultures. The Goddess does not separate
from her herbal magic, from her invention of medicine. The central
sacrament of all Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures
known is an inebriative herb, a plant totem, which became
metaphoric of the communal epiphany. These herbs, herbal
concoctions and herbal metaphors are at the heart of all
mythologies. They include such familiar images as the Burning Bush,
the Tree of Life, the Cross, the Golden Bough, the Forbidden Fruit,
the Blood of Christ, the Blood of Dionysos, the Holy Grail (or
rather its contents), the Chalice (Kalyx: 'flower cup'), the Golden
Flower (Chrysanthemon), Ambrosia (Ambrotos: 'immortal'), Nectar
(Nektar: 'overcomes death'), the Sacred Lotus, the Golden Apples,
the Mystic Mandrake, the Mystic Rose, the Divine Mushroom
(teonanacatl), the Divine Water Lily, Soma, Ayahuasca ('Vine of the
Soul'), Kava, Iboga, Mama Coca and Peyote Woman. They are the
archetypal - the emotionally, the instantaneously understood -
symbols at the center of the drug propaganda. A sexually attractive
man or woman is an archetypal image, the basis of most advertising.
A loaf of bread is an archetypal image. The emotional impact of the
sacramental herbal images, or, rather, the historical confusion of
their natural function, is central to the successful manipulation
of mass emotion and individual self-image. That is, contemporary
politics has an unconscious, an evolutionary element, that involves
the industrial manipulation of instinct. That manipulation can only
be understood by contemplating what elements of our evolutionary
inheritance contemporary inquisitors want forgotten.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(4)
(3)
