Hallucinogenic Plants May Be Key to Decoding Ancient Southwestern Paintings

I wouldn't say it's surprising or new, but it's still interesting to see the connection in the find of Hallucinogenic Plants and rock paintings, and the possible decoding of the rock art.
It also makes me wonder how many other rock and cave paintings have been made using Hallucinogenic Plants around the world and the meaning behind them if so.

This article and the one below explain further, so enjoy.

Source

Dozens of rock art sites in southern New Mexico, recently documented for the first time, are revealing unexpected botanical clues that archaeologists say may help unlock the meaning of the ancient abstract paintings.

Over a swath of the Chihuahuan Desert stretching from Carlsbad to Las Cruces, at least 24 rock art panels have been found bearing the same distinctive pictographs: repeated series of triangles painted in combinations of red, yellow, and black.

And at each of these sites, archaeologists have noticed similarities not just on the rock, but in the ground.

Hallucinogenic plants were found growing beneath the triangle designs, including a particularly potent species of wild tobacco and the potentially deadly psychedelic known as datura.

Researchers believe that the plants may be a kind of living artifact, left there nearly a thousand years ago by shamans who smoked the leaves of the plants in preparation for their painting.

The triangle motifs first showed up at about 20 sites that the team surveyed at Fort Bliss, Loendorf said.

But it was during their second survey — of the lands around Carlsbad — that they noticed tobacco and datura growing under similar pictographs found there.

And when their work took them farther west, to record pictographs near Dona Ana in the Rio Grande valley, the team discovered the same pattern yet again, both in the rock art itself and in the plant life around it.

Cave Paintings and Shamanism

Images have also been found in cave art which look like UFOs or alien beings. Graham Hancock argues that this does not mean that prehistoric humans encountered aliens, as some conspiracy theorists might say, but instead could be a sign of hallucinations. If these caves were used for ceremonial or magical rituals, which the art does indicate, this might explain how religions originated. The ancient Egyptian religion, for example, is full of half-animal, half-human gods, as well as ritual and magic. The Egyptian religion, like the older forms of shamanism, could have been based on altered states of consciousness. Some have argued that the Blue Egyptian water lily, which has mild psychedelic properties, might have been used by ancient Egyptian priests in ritual practices. In Egyptian art found in the temple of Karnak, the lily is depicted in party-like scenes. The lily is also a symbol for the Egyptian deity Nefertem.

The first painting looks like a simple waveform, an early depiction of compression and rarefaction which can become visible on certain hallucinogenics

Volunteers to 'interpret'!

a reply to: Mianeye

Looks like they saw the Shadow People too while on that stuff.

a reply to: Iamschist

Datura is no joke.

Due to the potent combination of anticholinergic substances it contains, Datura intoxication typically produces effects similar to that of an anticholinergic delirium (as contrasted to a complete inability to differentiate reality from fantasy); hyperthermia; tachycardia; bizarre, and possibly violent behavior; and severe mydriasis (dilated pupils) with resultant painful photophobia that can last several days. Pronounced amnesia is another commonly reported effect.[16]

No other substance has received as many severely negative recreational experience reports as has Datura. The overwhelming majority of those who describe their use of Datura find their experiences extremely unpleasant both mentally and often physically dangerous.[16]

Its been used for murders, suicides and executions. Its also called a devil weed or witches weed as it was used alongside things like belladonna and nightshade in potions and alchemical practices.

Interestingly I have read accounts from South American mystics who claim that once mastered you can lift boulders and jump over the tallest trees.

a reply to: Thorneblood

Not joking. I read Castaneda. Anything can be dangerous if you do it wrong.

a reply to: Iamschist

Ah good, that's one of em...it also has links back to ancient India.
Aushadis

"She (Datura) is as powerful as the best of allies, but there is something I personally don't like about her. She distorts men. She gives them a taste of power too soon without fortifying their hearts and makes them domineering and unpredictable. She makes them weak in the middle of their great power."

In the case of states of being enhanced through medicinal plants, herbs, or drugs -- especially in the first few instances of use -- unless it is under the auspices of someone similar to the Curandera in the Velada Ceremony, the tribal elder with Sacred Datura, or an Obeahman as in the use of Branched Calalue, it is likely to be highly uncontrolled. The individual could easily find himself hurled into some far-flung region of inner space, with little chance to absorb or even notice the intervening regions. The power of the drug takes Awareness as it were, and artificially exposes it, stripping away or reducing mind created protective barriers and flings it --- Awareness --- out to an unfamiliar realm of consciousness. Without adequate preparation, the traveler can feel totally disoriented. However, under the hand of proper guidance, the space-time experience wedged open by the drug between the initial grasp of Awareness and it's ultimate closing, whether it is pinhole in size to a dam breaking, or a mili-second to an hour, it can be highly productive --- including the use and ability of Siddhis.

a reply to: Thorneblood

I like that Datura is a She. I did not know about India, love ATS cause I learn something new everyday. It makes sense given the climate of India. Was not aware the plant was that widespread.

I spent time in a sweat lodge which is the closest I think I have ever been to ancient peoples and their practices and it is a wonderful exerience, the oils giving off their intoxicating scents, the feeling of togetherness linked into the chanting and rounds I will never forget.

I would imagine that the ancient peoples knew more about their surroundings and plant life than we ever will. Thier Shamans would have known the paths taken when taking different plants and journeying was part of their role.

Its today with things like the church blocking the use of drugs incase someone decides to leave its fold as they can access a closer relationship with God via that experience, rather than no relationship just a token one through the priest. Also trhe pharma companies and their vested interests that stop people going back to what I regard as their roots

wisdom is always feminine
i liked Thorneblood's info (..if you give someone enough rope, they'll hang themselves)
cool topic, S&F'd

a reply to: Mianeye

including a particularly potent species of wild tobacco

I know a few people that got in trouble for growing a particular potent species of wild tobacco...

I thought the 'alien' cave paintngs looked like insects and always assumed hallucinagen were part of ritualistic practice. I have also heard of a 'magnified vision' effect from various plants ... the two seem to tie-in

just sayin
CD


btw great thread S&F

hehe - just noticed your av

originally posted by: tsurfer2000h
a reply to: Mianeye

including a particularly potent species of wild tobacco

I know a few people that got in trouble for growing a particular potent species of wild tobacco...

They should be very careful as they might end up being an artist, or even live in a cave somewhere remote

After reading this thread and the comments about wild tobacco, I would like to know if regular cigarette tobacco is related to wild tobacco or it's just a name. If both are related then we have more material for conspiracy theories.

There was a really amazing article a few years back about how similarities in art across the world were all related to the human eye, particularly what you see when you push your fingers into them. Its crazy but you can see the patterns for yourself doing this!

One thing people forget when interpreting old paintings is that they never necessarily represent something that was actually seen. Humans have always been artistic and expressive as they are now.

of course it was, they'd eat a button and off to the spirit world they'd go.
it's only natural, that during that trip they would try to illustrate what they saw.

didn't need a degree to figure that out.

a reply to: Mianeye

They should be very careful as they might end up being an artist, or even live in a cave somewhere remote

Actually their growing was an art form, but their cave looks alot like a jail cell. Damn TPTB just want to stifle the arts.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

of course it was, they'd eat a button and off to the spirit world they'd go.

Gotta watch those buttons as they can make for some interesting travels. It does amaze me though how well connected they were to their ancestors because of those buttons.

a reply to: Trueman

I remember when i started smoking cigarettes ( not the thing we can not speak about ) and got stoned for a few minutes due to nicotine, it was a direct cause for me to continue smoking cause i felt good.

It only lasted for a month when smoking one a day, and then i was a smoker, its been a pain in the ass since.

I couldn't imagine what it would be like to smoke wild tobacco, but i'm glad that it's not a commercial product, kind of weird it isn't actually.

I know that some remote tribes in South America are smoking or eating the more potent wild tobacco and still use it as a hallucinogenic, and for healing .