Notes

These notes are collected from posts related to the tag Potions.

Ergotism—Saint Anthony’s Fire—Food Poisoning

The first mention of hallucinogenic mushrooms in European medical literature

What is an entheogen?

Crazy bread—it was in the month of July that famine was at its worst

God cursed women, so suffer dammit

Moses and the Burning Bush

Flying ointment, also known as witches’ flying ointment, green ointment, magic salve and lycanthropic ointment

Attitudes change….attitudes toward drinking

Rather than drinking the water…small beer contains very little alcohol

The Romantic period in England was toward the end of the Eighteenth century

Francis Bacon on Opium, Coffee and Tobacco, etc….

Theatricum Botanicum—Wikipedia on Psilocybin makes reference to a “foolish mushroom…

European use of psilocybin is undocumented…

Kykeon—While Christian Europeans shun ritual drug use

The alchemical panacea

As well as knowledge Faust might seek immortality

Beatific vision

Potions can fulfill all of our alchemical and Faustian aspirations

Poisoning was a steady business

Aqua Tofana, Acqua Toffana, Aqua Tophana, and Aqua Tufania and “Manna di San Nicola”

The distinction between magical and religious practices is in the context

The elixir of life also known as elixir of immortality

The search for secret/hidden/lost knowledge still goes on today…

Twentieth century psychedelic adventurer Terence McKenna suggested that the Biblical

Humans have forever speculated about the powers of the gods….

They say we do drugs to alleviate our pain

Hemp was a critically important product – it provided the

While some speculate that religion evolved out of the use

While the use of cannabis in early Judaism remains up for debate

Drugs which create a sensation of being closer to God figure in many religions

The history of coca – cocaine

History of cannabis

The oldest representations of hallucinogenic mushrooms in the world (Sahara Desert, 9000 -7000 B.P.)

In our own time we are excited by entheogenic/psychoactive substances

We don’t have much information about any general use of psilocybin in Western Europe in past centuries

Widely considered to be a highly poisonous mushroom Amanita muscaria

The sleep inducing medicinal plants of 17th century England

Smoking was uncommon in sixteenth century England

Tobacco is psychoactive in its wild…

Mithridate and theriac-protection from poisons….

If God can be found through the medium of any drug God is not worthy of being God

Visionary plant use throughout the history of Christianity and before.

Some history of entheogens in Europe

Psychoactive drug use can be traced to prehistory….

The Vienna Dioscurides or Vienna Dioscorides….

Witches’ weeds—Datura plants are often mentioned along with henbane…

A thing that comes to mind regarding psychedelics in Europe

Forbidden fruit

Paracelsus wanted a better pharmacopeia

The witch’s flight-Decoctions of hallucinogenic plants such as

Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalen as a Gardener

Images relating to witchcraft and potions from the Wellcome Library

Terence McKenna on Drugs:

Hermeticism & Alchemy (Terence McKenna)

Rodrigo Lopez was Queen Elizabeth’s physician during the time of

As Christianity grew in influence…

A discussion of the place of the Acacia in Freemasonry….

Goethe’s Faust – Faust is about to drink a glass of poison

A few references to potions from Goethe’s Faust

The ancient and revered emblem of the Mysteries….

Liebeszauber is a late 15th century painting which portrays a young, naked witch

The Love Potion – a painting by Evelyn de Morgan

The Witch’s Kitchen – an excerpt from Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Another – speculative as always – mention of Syrian Rue as an ancient entheogen

Moses may have been under the influence of a hallucinogenic substance when he witnessed the burning bush

Aqua Tofana was a well-known poison from 17th century

Long life – the Eighteenth century Comte de St. Germain

All witchcraft comes from carnal lust

Carlyle considers Cagliostro’s curative cosmetic cream career

Charles MacKay-The Slow Poisoners

A few infamous poisoners in European history….