Bat Country (Drugs, pt. 2)

Summary Let’s talk about psychedelics in ritual practice. From Hunter S. Thompson’s pilgrimage across the desert to the human sacrifices of the Incan empire in the sixteenth century to the use of opium during the late bronze age, people have been altering their mental states in religious contexts almost since the dawn of civilization. Join Em and Jesse in their second episode about drugs in honor of Em’s killer new novel, Dionysus in Wisconsin. Notes Get the novel! Dionysus in Wisconsin on Amazon, on Bookshop.org, and other sites. Or drop me an email at ehlupton(at)gmail(dot)com to get a signed copy ($15, including shipping, although that may be different if you are international, drop me a line and we’ll chat). 1/ From Chapter 1 of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (originally published by Rolling Stone in 1971 and then as a book by Random House in 1972). Here’s the clip from the amazing 1998 film, directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro. https://youtu.be/c2dwG3Lr49M 2/ See these articles about 1600–800 BCE Menorca! National Geographic article “European ‘shamans’ took psychedelic drugs 3,000 years ago.” The study published in Scientific Reports “Direct evidence of the use of multiple drugs in Bronze Age Menorca (Western Mediterranean) from human hair analysis,” authored by E. Guerra-Doce, C. Rihuete-Herrada, R. Micó, R. Risch, V. Lull, H. M. Niemeyer 3/ O. Hai & I. B. Hakkenshit, “A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine From N-Methylamphetamine.” Journal of Apocryphal Chemistry, Feb. 2012. DOI: 1F.1BC9/b00000F00A https://maggiemcneill.files.wo....rdpress.com/2012/03/ 4/ National Geographic “Ancient hallucinogens found in 1,000-year-old shamanic pouch.” Melanie J. Miller, Juan Albarracin-Jordan, Christine Moore, and José M. Capriles “Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America,” in PNAS 5/ Ayahuasca and coca evidence from two Inca children who were sacrificed. (Note that this isn’t the first time Em has seen this practice referenced, e.g., this Wikipedia article [tw child sacrifice].) Science News, “A special brew may have calmed Inca children headed for sacrifice.” 6/ “Antiquity of Coca-Leaf Chewing in the South Central Andes: A 3,000 Year Archaeological Record of Coca-Leaf Chewing from Northern Chile” in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, authored by Mario A. Rivera , Arthur C. Aufderheide , Larry W. Cartmell , Constantino M. Torres, Odin Langsjoen 7/ Paolo Nencini “Facts and Factoids in the Early History of the Opium Poppy,” in The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 36.1 (Spring 2022