Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History

I paid $50.00 for this book, so I am glad to have the opportunity to review it here. It seems to have been a self-published book, originally published in 1993.

Jonathan Ott is one of the most erudite and prolific writers on psychoactive plants and substances. This book is a compendium of information about "shamanic inebriants." This ranges from ayahuasca to magic mushrooms, from ergot to kava. His depth of knowledge is incredible and he has done his field work. Shulgin called the book “a thing of beauty.” With others, Ott coined the word 'entheogen’ ("realizing the divine within"). He has produced numerous works on 'entheogens,' sadly mostly out of print now, such as Ayahuasca Analogues and Teonanacatl: Hallucinogenic Mushrooms of North America (with Jeremy Bigwood). He has also translated Hoffman's LSD: My Problem Child . The number of references and the size of the bibliography of Pharmacotheon are truly impressive. In Albert Hoffman's words, it is first "comprehensive scientific compendium" of psychoactive (or rather shamanic) plants. Ott is no New Age writer. He has a no- nonsense, scientific approach to his subject. He dismisses Carlos Casteneda, for example, as a fraud in an entertaining manner. John Allegro’s Sacred Mushroom and the Cross is dealt with in a similar way.

Next to Shulgin’s PHIKAL and TIKHAL, perhaps this is the most important book for any serious student of psychedelics. Pharmacotheon is a masterpiece in it own way. Be warned, whilst an essential reference for the serious student of psychedelics/ entheogens, Ott's book is no easy read. Whilst Ott is to be commended for his scholarship, his style can be ponderous at times (see the quote below). Personally I find the way that he puts multiple levels of references in brackets in the text quite annoying (see second quote below), but that's a quibble. I did read the book from cover to cover quite quickly because the subject matter is fascinating, although the chemistry is beyond me.

His "Proemium" or introduction (online here) states his own position on the subject of drugs and prohibition at length. He has experimented with a large range of 'enthoegens' himself.

I have been privileged to be initiated into the sacred realm of the entheogens, sacramental plant teachers of countless generations of the family of humankind; have been vouchsafed a fleeting glimpse behind Our Lady Gaia's veil; have imbibed the amrta of Indra, the ambrosia of the Olympian gods, Demeter's potion; have for brief blessed instants gazed into Lord Shiva's blazing third eye. Having been graced by these and other holy visions, my life has been transformed and enriched beyond measure.... I have become an initiate to the sacred Mysteries of antiquity, what the Greeks called an epoptes, one who has seen the holy.

The book is not without humour:

While Jeremy Bigwood and I once commented that 5-MeO-DMT had "little recreational value" (Bigwood & Ott 1977) and M.V. Smith compared the effects of this drug to having a large elephant sit on one's head (Smith 1976), nevertheless it has its adherents, and recently a modern ritual cult has grown up around the "Toad of Light," Bufo alvarius, whose toxin contains principally 5-MeO-DMT. As mentioned above, adherents of the "Church of the Toad of Light" collect and dry the venom of this toad for smoking as a sacrament (Davis & Weil 1992; Krajick 1992; Most 1984).

This paragraph is typical of the book’s style.


Part One is about beta-Phenethlymaines—Petoye, San Pedro and mescaline. Part Two is about Indole Derivatives, including oliuhqui, LSD-25, ayahusca and DMT and psilocybin mushrooms

This is Ott’s description of DMT:

After inhalation of a full dose of DMT [in] a single breath, the effects will be experienced in ten to fifteen seconds, usually before exhalation of the smoke. The initial 'rush' sensation is similar to the feeling of rapid acceleration and may be accompanied by vertigo. Users often describe high-pitched sounds, which may be perceived as being insect noises. The peak effect occurs within two to three minutes, during which most users are stunned and speechless....

Part Three concerns amanitas and their active ingredients.


Part Four, the appendices are almost as long as the main text. Appendix A deals with “Sundry Visionary Compounds” including atropine, ibogaine, nicotine, kava, cannabis and salvia are included. Appendix B is concerned with “Putative Entheogens” which could be handy when looking at some web sites. An example of a ‘doubtful’ enthoegen is the lotus Nymphea ampla/ N. caerulea

At the end of the book, for the chemists amongst us, is an index of chemistry and pharmacology, complete with molecular diagrams, and a huge bibliography.

(See Jonathan Ott on video.)

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Excellent book review!
	Great book review, thanks.