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Psychoactive Pathogens, Shamanic Antidotes, and Supernatural Myths
From Picasso’s absinthe-fueled visuals to the prophetic wormwood of Chernobyl
This is an excerpt from Sky Gods and the Recipe for Immortality: The secret influence of psychoactivity over science, society, and the supernatural.
For millennia, shamanic plants have been used to ward off demons of both the body and spirit — such as the disturbingly common pathogen called Toxoplasma. According to the CDC, nearly 40 million people in the U.S. carry the psychoactive parasite.
Toxoplasmosis has extraordinarily strange symptoms for mammals. Once infected, Nature reports that mice lose their fear of cats completely. There are even viral YouTube videos showing Toxoplasma-infected mice attacking cats to be purposefully eaten (and thereby transmitted).
The pathogen hijacks mammalian brains in a way that psychoactively incites reckless behavior. Studies show a link between toxoplasmosis infection and higher rates of car accidents, sexual promiscuity, and mental health disorders in humans.
Other research via PubMed explains that there are currently few good treatments for toxoplasmosis despite its broad proliferation. Validating shamanistic use across the world (in the form of ayahuasca and…
