Visionary Vine: Hallucinogenic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon

by Marlene Dobkin de Rios

The area of traditional folk healing with plant hallucinogens, such as the Peruvian urban setting studied here, is a unique human laboratory that is of interest to medical anthropologists, biologists, psychologists, and students of anthropology in general. One of the earliest firsthand observations of a practicing shaman and his use of native herbal medicines and psychedelic pharmaceuticals, this text makes an important contribution to understanding culture, illness, and healing.

Genres: Anthropology, Drugs, Nonfiction

161 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Adria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read 'Visionary Vine' for an anthropology class.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world is starkly divided between hallucinophobic and hallucinophiliac. As an individual from the Western world, a world that is highly hallucinophobic, Visionary Vine was thought-provoking and eye opening. Visionary Vine takes an in-depth, anthropological look at the nature of drug use within the Peruvian Amazon among an indigenous tribe that sees the use of ayahuasca–a vine that produces a hallucinogenic chemical—as an integral part of their religion, spirituality, and connection to nature. Visionary Vine provoked thoughts and questions on the criminalization of drugs both domestically and internationally, especially drugs that are not chemically altered such as marijuana and ayahuasca. It also allowed me to see past my own personal conceptions of what a drug is. Within this Amazonian region ayahuasca is not a drug to get "high" on just for the sake of euphoric feelings, but rather a portal to the realm of ancient knowledge and awareness.

[joe touzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book. really explores the potential of native medicine men and the huge incentive of preserving the cultures that support them. boo conservative western medicine.