Observations placeholder
Paul Devereux - Flying over the landscape
Identifier
006594
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Marlene Dobkin de Rios was a medical anthropologist and psychotherapist who studied the use of entheogenic plants by Peruvian natives. Examining her subjects from cross-cultural perspectives, she wrote numerous books and articles about the use of hallucinogens, shamanic techniques of healing, and psychotherapy. From l999 to 2005, she directed the qualitative dimension of research in Brazil on the use of ayahuasca among adolescents in the União do Vegetal church. Having undergone chemotherapy treatment for cancer earlier in the year, Dobkin de Rios passed away in November of 2012. She is on the site.
Datura stramonium, known by the common names Jimson weed or Devil's snare, is a plant in the nightshade family. It is believed to have originated in Mexico, but has now become naturalized in many other regions. Other common names for D. stramonium include thornapple and moon flower, and it has the Spanish name Toloache. Other names for the plant include hell's bells, devil’s trumpet, devil’s weed, tolguacha, Jamestown weed, stinkweed, locoweed, pricklyburr, and devil’s cucumber
A description of the experience
Paul Devereux – Earth Mysteries
Marlene Dobkin de Rios claimed that the landscape lines were effectively depictions of this type of entopic [shamanic trance induced] motif, and the fact they seemed to be seen from above was because they related to the aerial journey or out of body spirit flight of the shaman… To this day village shamans in Mexico take Jimson Weed in order to ‘fly’, they believe to visit other villages at night.
American anthropologist Weston le Barre has emphasised this sense of soul flight that many native plant hallucinogens specifically promote.
The linear ground markings might have represented spirit trajectories or routes. It is worth noting that in Bushman rock art in Southern Africa, the out of body trance produced during their trance dances is depicted by a line. In this view, the desert lines were a form of spirit geography.