Pharmako/Poeia, Revised and Updated: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft [Paperback]

***This paperback edition has a new introduction by the author and updated content.

This is the first volume of North Atlantic Books’ updated paperback edition of Dale Pendell’sPharmakotrilogy, an encyclopedic study of the history and uses of psychoactive plants and related synthetics first published between 1995 and 2005. The books form an interrelated suite of works that provide the reader with a unique, reliable, and often personal immersion in this medically, culturally, and spiritually fascinating subject. All three books are beautifully designed and illustrated, and are written with unparalleled authority, erudition, playfulness, and range.

Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraftincludes a new introduction by the author and as in previous editions focuses on familiar psychoactive plant-derived substances and related synthetics, ranging from the licit (tobacco, alcohol) to the illicit (cannabis, opium) and the exotic (absinthe, salvia divinorum, nitrous oxide). Each substance is explored in detail, not only with information on its history, pharmacology, preparation, and cultural and esoteric correspondences, but also the subtleties of each plant’s effect on consciousness in a way that only poets can do. The whole concoction is sprinkled with abundant quotations from famous writers, creating a literary brew as intoxicating as its subject.

ThePharmakoseries is continued inPharmako/Dynamis(focusing on stimulants and empathogens) andPharmako/Gnosis(which addresses psychedelics and shamanic plants).“Dale Pendell reactivates the ancient connection between the bardic poet and the shaman. HisPharmako/Poeiais a litany to the secret plant allies that have always accompanied us along the alchemical trajectory that leads to a new and yet authentically archaic future.”
—Terence McKenna, author ofTrue Hallucinations
 
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