The comic book aficionados of yesteryear will well
remember Captain Marvel and his magical command
Shazam ! which, when uttered, usually under incredibly
traumatic situations, metamorphosed a quiet,
nondescript man into a scintillating, cape wearing,
flying being of superhuman powers and thought. His
later emulations , Superman, Super Girl, Wonder Woman
and others also shared similar attributes. Now mum
will know what I did with my spare time,
but I never quite found the right word !!
Similar entities also abounded in Mediaeval
Europe and although they were attributed with
flying powers their deeds were not really socially
acceptable, the witches if found were somewhat
hindered by heat barriers before descending
to a lower plane
Many of the so called witches were also the village
town physicians and herbalists acquiring an excellent
knowledge of herbs and plants that possessed
medical properties. Much of the knowledge
of the effectiveness of various herbs
was acquired from observations and the “word” was
passed down within families and societies for generations
In line with evolutional development, chemicals,
such as secondary metabolites, that are
similar in structure, tend to be found in plants
belonging to particular families. One such family,
the Solanaceae, contains a large number of
classes, species of which have high levels of
tropane alkaloids. As well as having the familiar
identities Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peppers, Nicotiana,
Mandragora, Cestrum, Henbane, Datura, Petunia,
Schizanthus etc. within its ranks this group also
contains some of the most toxic chemicals known
to man, many of which, in purified and measured doses,
are lifesavers in the world of medicine.
Some of the active ingredients of this group
include atropine and hyoscine. In humans they
stimulate and then depress various brain centers,
alter the heart rate, inhibit glandular secretions,
relax and open blood vessels, reduce gastric secretion,
increase body temperature and increase the lung
ventilation capacity. The ancient and mediaeval
herbalists knew about and used the herbs such as,
Belladonna, ( Species Atropa from the Greek Atropos
the fate who severs the thread of life ) for
eye ailments, stomach pains ( stomach ulcers ),
diarrhea and for local pain relief. These drugs, or
their equivalents are still used today in
anesthetics, ophthalmology, gastric disease
treatments and other areas of medicine.
The mediaeval period was reliant on agriculture for
its food and clothing and one could understand the
amount of animal fats and grease products arising
from skinning, curing, tallow manufacture for wick
lamps and food preparation that would occur
around the house. House water was not piped and
was generally drawn from wells, roof butts, from
the village pond or running stream and drawing on
basic human laziness and no knowledge of bacteria this
water would not be used for washing hands, too
much effort to collect so no trivial washing
please. The build up of fat residue on house appliances
used in sweeping and cleaning up after
preparations would be copious and since the handles
were made of wood the fats would tend to impregnate
them fairly thoroughly
Up until recent times the human skin was thought to
be reasonably impermeable to external
substances, however as the molecular structure of the
skin became known it was proven, unguents and
ointments based on creams had been around since the
ancient Egyptians, that fats and oils could be absorbed
through the skin, often having the ability to
“piggyback” other fat soluble or adherent chemicals
with them into the body.
All of the tropane alkaloids, expressed by
plants belonging to the potato family, Solanaceae,
are fat soluble and are able to penetrate the skin
barrier. The plant, Belladonna was harvested
regularly by the mediaeval herbalists, the
berries in particular holding the greatest concentration
of alkaloids and so were picked and crushed by hand.
The juice on the hand being absorbed by the fats in
the broomstick handle when the leaves, dirt and
residues lying on the floor were swept out
at the end of the session.
If the hands had been cleaned, possibly during
washing the laundry in the river, the absorption
of the alkaloids, when the broom handle was later
gripped, could be high and in different absorption
rates act as an hallucinogen.
One very common hallucination was the feeling
of being transported through space to rendezvous with
frantically dancing forms. A quick grip of the
old Freudian broom stick and even the ugliest of
old hags could get carried away on an erotic “virtual”
journey. The church hierarchy in mediaeval Europe
quickly branded those experiencing or practicing
these “trips” as heretics and subjected them to
inquisition. Many monasteries also operated physic gardens
and practiced herbalism, often charging for diagnosis
and treatments. In common with modern preemptive
strategy, what better way than to put your competitors
at a disadvantage in the area of public relations;
now witch corporation discovered those ancient books ?.
In 1968 Casteneda of the University of California
published a report of experiments inspired by
diaries of Porta ( 1562 ), a colleague of Galileo,
in which a formulae of witches salve was explained.
Casteneda and some post graduate students rubbed
an ointment of lard and alkaloids into their foreheads
and armpits, they fell into a deep sleep of just
under 24 hours in which the entire team reported
having bizarre dreams that featured wild flight,
frenzied dancing, weird apparitions and
adventures. A great research project for California
in the late 60’s “Hippie” culture.
Some of the most exciting research ever done in
Ethnobotany ( plant- human ) relationships was completed
in 1972 at the Harvard University School of Botany
by Gordon Wasson. His research on the only plant
known to have been deified involved archaeologists,
paleontologists, botanists, biochemists, mycologists,
toxicologists and many more ***ist’s . Wasson described
how a 2000 BC civilization, known as the Aryans,
invaded Afghanistan and India from the Northwest,
they spoke an Indo-European language known as
the Vedic tongue and possessed an hereditary priesthood.
This civilization was polydeious having many gods,
one of which was unique, the god Soma, being a plant,
or more correctly the mushroom Amanita muscari.
Fortunately for us the hymns of praise, eulogizing the
“spirit” of the mushroom Soma, were scribed and
became known in this century as the Rig Veda the
only documentation representative of an
entire civilization
After the Rig Veda was able to be interpreted, another
fascinating story, a red capped mushroom with
woolly fragments was described. Along with other
evidence the description fitted the poisonous,
Amanita muscari , known as the “Fly Agaric”.
The priests of Soma also described a practice of
ceremonial urine drinking, a practice used by
some scattered Siberian tribes until quite
recently. This description clinched the
identification since the active alkaloid in A. muscari
, mascimol, is the only known hallucinogen
excreted by human kidneys
In the new territories the sacred mushroom would not
grow and the god Soma’s influence waned. The early
priesthood kept total control of the plant, so seeing
the gods was not the prerogative of the common man.
As a symbol of power the priests of Soma carried
a serpent like staff, possibly suggesting the
swirling character of the hallucinations.
Plants of the Fly Agaric also form a symbiotic
association with many conifers particularly the
Siberian Birch and it was recorded that the first
priests located their dwellings at the base of these
declared sacred trees. When the influence of the
Aryan civilization is considered, the
entire area of Russia, Europe, North Asia and
the North American continent, this tree is suggested
as possibly the legendary “Tree of Life”.
With the slow spread of the Soma worshipping Aryan
civilization to the Mediterranean, some 2000
years before the birth of Christianity, an uncanny
similarity seems to exist in Genesis 3: 1 - 5.
The
serpent was more crafty than any wild creature that the
Lord God had made. He said to the woman ,”Is it true
that God has forbidden you to eat from any tree in
the garden?” The woman answered the serpent,” We
may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden , except
for the tree in the middle of the garden ; God has
forbidden us either to eat or to touch the fruit of
that; if we do , we shall die.” The serpent said , “Of
course you will not die. God knows that as soon
as you eat it , your eyes will be opened and you
will be like gods knowing both good and evil.”
