Religions
June 29, 2023
M. Winkelman
22 citations
The term 'wu' (巫) is commonly translated into English as 'shaman,' but cross-cultural ethnological research shows that most types of Chinese wu ritualists resemble other ritualist types—priests, healers, mediums, and sorcerers—rather than shamans. Only prehistoric and commoner wu share key shamanic features such as altered states of consciousness and links to foraging societies. The paper argues that translating wu as 'ritualist' or 'religious ritualist' is more accurate, based on comparisons with biogenetic bases of ritual and cross-cultural patterns.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
April 19, 2022
M. Winkelman
3 citations
The book Fly Agaric is a comprehensive compendium of 29 chapters on the iconic mushroom Amanita muscaria, edited and co-authored by Kevin Feeney alongside a dozen researchers. It covers mushroom identification, religion, culture, folklore, archaeological evidence, diet, cuisine, pharmacology, and physiological effects. The work updates Gordon Wasson's theory that A. muscaria was the ancient Vedic sacrament Soma, supported by a third filter in preparation. It provides technical details for identifying psychoactive Amanita species, distinguishing look-alikes, and understanding the pharmacology of muscimol and ibotenic acid. The book assembles ethnographic, linguistic, historical, ecological, and biological evidence to trace the prehistorical and historical cultural traditions of fly agaric use.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 1, 2020
M. Winkelman
2 citations
Two volumes of conference proceedings, separated by fifty years, chart the trajectory of psychedelic research from its 1960s florescence to a 21st-century renaissance. The first volume, based on a 1967 conference in San Francisco sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and Public Health Service, gathered researchers from psychiatry, botany, pharmacology, chemistry, and anthropology. The second volume, from 2017, compiles 21 papers reflecting progress in ethnopharmacological psychedelic studies despite decades of repression during the War on Drugs. The work highlights discoveries of therapeutic potential in diverse psychoactive substances and notes unresolved issues, such as the origins of human psychotropic plant use and biblical references to psychoactive plants.