Reviewed by Taylor Ellwood
If you find the subject of chemognosis (magic practice done with entheogens) fascinating, then this is a book you’ll want to pick up. The authors explore how plants and animals can be used to enhance dreaming and cause other altered states of consciousness through ingestion or smoking. They also recount some of their own trials using different plants and animals to induce altered states of consciousness, noting whether the trial was a success as well as any harmful side effects felt.
I particularly liked the explanation the authors offer at the beginning of the book about what is classified as an altered state of consciousness and where dream-enhancing entheogens fit within such states of mind. The explanation they provided for the neurochemistry behind dreams was also useful in understanding what neurotransmitters are being stimulated when an oneirogen is taken.
What’s been said…