Professors Schultes and Raffauf in this new book take us on a journey to a place where healing with plants is the norm, and where ritual and magic play an essential role in everyday life. Vine of the Soul is the story of a time that was- when the Amazon Indians, living in their verdant and expansive rainforest, had a minimum of contact with cultures of the outside world. Thus, we have a firsthand picture of traditional life in this region. This is an exceptional photographic essay accompanied by detailed descriptions of the Amazon Indian's use of medicinal and other sacred plant substances. Included are over160 of the most significant photographs ever taken on this subject.
"A wonderful integration of ethnobotany, chemistry and photography [...] that will long be an important historic record of one of the threatened cultures of the world. I hope that readers learning about ayahuasca, the vine of the soul, and the other psychoactive drugs discussed here will have their concern heightened for the future fate of the Amazon Indians and their societies."
- Ghillean T. Prance [from the Foreword]