Pharmako gnosis. Piante psicoattive e la via venefica

by Dale Pendell, Vanni Santoni (Preface), Anita Taroni (Translator)

"Pharmako Gnosis" è uno studio enciclopedico della storia e degli usi delle piante psicoattive e dei relativi sintetici scritto nella lingua della psilocibina. La «via venefica» percorsa da Dale Pendell rappresenta un contributo alla poetica moderna e allo studio interdisciplinare, un luogo d'incontro tra farmacologia e neuroscienze, etnobotanica, antropologia e mitologia, e si inserisce nell'illustre tradizione degli erbari inaugurata da Dioscoride in epoca classica. Il testo racconta piante e sostanze dagli effetti visionari come peyote, mescalina, DMT, ketamina, dettagliandone la chimica, l'uso, gli effetti, le implicazioni storiche, politiche e sociali. "Pharmako Gnosis" è un'immersione nell'universo culturale e spirituale dei veleni e dei medicamenti, un percorso che attraverso la conoscenza occulta conduce il lettore-adepto a una gnosi dal potere guaritore, un viaggio giocoso ed erudito nella cultura psichedelica e terapeutica, i cui riferimenti spaziano da Anaïs Nin a Friedrich Nietzsche, da Carlo Ginzburg a Timothy Leary... Prefazione di Vanni Santoni.

Genres: Plants, Nonfiction, Drugs, Spirituality, Herbs, Occult, History

396 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Dale Pendell is the author of the award-winning Pharmako trilogy, a literary history of psychoactive plants.
He reads and distills the literature of pharmacology and neuroscience, of ethnobotany and anthropology, of mythology and political economics as they intersect with the direct experience of human psychoactive use.

He and his wife Laura currently reside in California.

Reviews

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're interested in psychoactive drugs, but don't want to take any (like me), this book is perfect for you. DMT, shrooms, LSD, and others are artfully described, including the scientific breakdown of how the drugs work and visions seen on them. The artwork alone justifies buying this book.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pendell has surprised me yet again with another great book. Written in the style of Zen poetry meshed with anecdotal story-telling, Pendell takes us on an inner journey. This is the final book in his Pharmako trilogy, and it focused on psycedelic/entheogenic medicines. The only beef I had with the book was a 20+ page history of dragons, which seemed a bit out of place and unnecessary. The rest of the book was packed with valuable information and entrancing stories about medicines that fit into the categories of Phantastika and Daimonica plant poisons. It was easy to read and would be a good book for a psychopharmacological novice. It also gives sound advice to those who have experience traveling in entheospace and want to learn more about the nature of the mind.

[Venus Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acquistato a PLPL2021 presso @addeditore dopo essere rimasta folgorata dalla copertina psichedelica su IG. Infatti è un libro psichedelico. L’autore è poeta, etnobotanico e pazzo. L’opera è un viaggio tra le piante psicoattive, dalle loro origini ai loro usi; un patchwork di esperimenti, approfondimenti storici e socio-culturali, trip, ricette, mitologia e deliri poetici. La cura editoriale, inoltre, tra immagini, appendici, bibliografia e indice, è superlativa. Bisogna sbirciare il resto del catalogo della Add… 🌿

[Vanni Santoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oro colato, presto fuori anche in italiano.

[Patty 🐈‍⬛ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non ho mai letto un libro del genere: è unico. Ostico in alcuni passaggi per chi, come me, non ha nozioni di chimica e botanica.

[Vanni Santoni]

Ho avuto il piacere di scrivere la prefazione a questo libro unico.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that I skimmed the second half of the text. I found it good, not great. The disjointed nature of the information made it somewhat difficult for me to follow. I appreciate the author's efforts to incorporate the chemistry/pharmacology/toxicology into the description of the botanicals, but having a degree in chemistry and having done my graduate work in toxicology, I found the science cursory at best. If I didn't have the background I do, I would have been left scratching my head. Perhaps it would have been wiser to focus this work on the non-scientific aspects associated with ingestion of botanicals.

I haven't read the first two volumes of the Pharmako series, so perhaps my concerns have already been addressed.

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pharmako/Gnosis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path by Dale Pendell (Mercury House 1999) (615.321).

“Pharmacognosis” is the branch of pharmacology that deals with herbs and unprepared medicines in their natural state; this volume of three deals with visionary plants: hallucinogens and sleep aids/hypnotics among others.

I purchased a brand new PB copy from Amazon for $19.95 on 10/8/21.

My rating: 7/10, finished 4/12/2015.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[[[Reread; Updated review 9/16/23]]]

This installment in Dale Pendell's Pharmako Trilogy deals with entheogens, visionary plants, and natural substances.

Examples specifically explored in this volume include lysergic acid amides (Ipomoea - morning glory seeds), Psilocybin cubensis (psilocybe - mushrooms), Sophora secundiflora (mescal beans), Lophophora williamsii (peyote / mescaline), Trichcereus spp. (San Pedro cactus), Banisteriopsis caapi (ayahuasca / yage), Mimosa hostilis (jurema), Peganum harmala (Syrian rue / harmine - harmaline), Bufo alvarius (bufotenine 5-Meo-DMT) - toads), Phalaris spp. (Tryptamines - DMT), Arundo donax and Anadenanthera spp. (Giant Reed, Cebil, Yopo), Tropane alkaloids (scopolamine, hyoscamine, atropine): Hyoscyamus niger (henbane), Atropa belladonna (Deadly Nightshade), Mandragora officinarum (mandrake), brugmansia (tree datura - Angel’s Trumpet), Datura stramonium (jimson weed - thorn apple), Ketamine, Phencyclidine (PCP - Angel Dust), “Elemental” molecular gasses (O2, N2O, Xe, CO2), Amanita muscaria, the Dogbanes (Tabernanthe iboga (Iboga), Rauwolfia (Indian snakeroot), Trachelospermum jasminoides (star jasmine), Vinca (periwinkle), Oleander)), Tetraodontidae (Fugu - blowfish), and Kratom (Mitragynia speciosa).

Here’s one short passage from the text on the subject of active mushrooms that I found astonishing:“The only specific action of psilocin is to decrease serotonin. The LD50 (lethal dose in half of the subjects) indicates that a lethal human dose of psilocin would require the ingestion of twenty or twenty-five grams of pure psilocybin to be fatal in one-half of the cases. That corresponds to [eating] over ten pounds of dried Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms. As one would expect, there are no known fatalities.” (Pharmako/Gnosis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path, p.36)

I purchased a brand new PB copy from Amazon for $19.95 on 10/8/21.

My rating: 7.25/10, finished re-reading 9/14/23 (3866).

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[Pierre Ordinaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is very, very and I mean VERY difficult to describe the entheogenic experience, since words crafted for THIS reality do not work for THAT one.

The two writers who have managed it, in my opinion, are Huxley and Pendell.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many plants, so many cultures, so many things we do not talk about.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit uneven compared to the first two volumes but still invaluable. The section on LSD seemed particularly informal and lackadaisical, and suffered from too many Grateful Dead references. The linguistic labyrinth tracing the etymological roots of various dragons and their relationship with the evil eye asked a lot from the reader with little payoff. Even so, Pendell's work is to be cherished for its enormity as a whole.

[Ulvhud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mi ritrovo d'accordo con i commenti di altri lettori: è un libro unico, si respira la follia atavica del veleno e della pianta psicoattiva. Combina la chimica e una descrizione più scientifica a attimi in cui le frasi stesse paiono scombinate e, a modo loro, poetiche. Alcune digressioni sulle piante stesse nella mitologia o nella storia impreziosiscono il testo.

[M. Leibowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the part of the trilogy most are going to go for, and while certainly worth reading, maybe even essential, Pendell trades his tokenizing perspective on Indigenous Peoples for some barely veiled anti-Semitism, including quoting Julius Evola. Read it with some skepticism.

[Jc Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mash-up of ethnobotany, anthropology, alchemy, history, ochem, vision questing, poetry, other stuff

[Mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geez o Pete. Some really, really good information , but the slog through the writing makes it hard. Glad I read it, but more glad to be done reading it.

[Matt Knerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I plowed through this evening to finish the book and It’s left me scattered mentally. The knowledge here seems to be dark and poison abundant. I learned what I came to

[Saws3r · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative

[Nicole Fraticelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to reading the rest of the Pharmako series. Great references and beautifully interwoven accounts on hallucinogenic plants, shamans, anthropology. Almost like reading a case study of the experiences of humanity with certain chemicals.

[Diego González · Rating 5 out of 5]

These beautiful tomes deal with the wonders, dangers, and possibilities of the most powerful chemists on earth, plants and fungi. Coming at the topic from an approach not unlike The Botany of Desire (maybe plants are far more aware than we give them credit), Mr. Pendell writes elegies to plant teachers that tie in everything from chemistry, astrology, poetry, prose, history, music and mythology. Though dealing with many dangerous "allies" (as Mr. Pedell calls his subjects), these books do not condone rampant misuse of potent concoctions, but instead offer level-headed yet inspired advice on navigating the dangerous waters of nature and its curiosities.

This third volume deals some pretty heady topics and plants one is likely to rarely encounter without some serious and possibly perilous searching.

[AK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't do any better than this...

From the back:

The Poet of Plants...Pendell May be America's Answer to Blake, Coleridge and Wordsworth..."
-Emily Grenn, L.A. Times

"!?#*! Beautiful" - Dr. Alexander T. Shulgin

"A Beat Alchemist Working Textual DJ Decks" - Eric Davis

[Gerbik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great, but the guy is not nearly as into mushrooms as he should be. That chapter was a bit of a wash. Still, the chapter on The Fool as an archetype is amazing.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last in the series and my favorite of them all... I love these books.

[will · Rating 5 out of 5]

wide-ranging, poetic and scientific exploration of visionary plants.

[Gard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb.

[Diletta Anselmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5