Aboriginal spiritual drug use

[Shadowsblaze]

I was curious do the tribes of Australia use any unusual plants associated with there "dream lives". I think that's what its called.

 

[footscrazy]

I've heard about use of 'pituri' (Duboisia hopwoodii) bush, particularly in central Australia. It's said to contain nicotine and scopolamine.

Our early European explorers in the Simpson Desert noticed the Aborigines chewing the leaves of the Pituri and discovered that it made them forget their thirst and hunger and made them happier. The leaves were moistened with saliva, roasted over a low fire then rolled to form a plug which they would carry behind the ear and used when necessary. The dried leaves were also mixed with ash of a certain Acacia and the mixture was believed to be more potent and as the ash had an alkaline effect, it released the active alkaloids in the plant so it could be absorbed more readily. The only member of the Burke & Wills expedition to survive, John King, admitted that it was chewing the Pituri that enabled him to survive. He said that by chewing the Pituri with the Aborigines he met, he became “perfectly indifferent to his miserable conditions”.

Besides being a reliever of hunger and thirst, the Pituri is also an hallucinogenic. Only the elders of a tribe were allowed to chew the leaves and this obviously helped them maintain their position within the tribe. Under the influence of Pituri, they claimed they could communicate with the spirits of their ancestors and were able to forecast the future. The plant does not grow in many areas of Australia and appears to be common in the south-west where Spinifex grows and is rare in the east so it became an important item of trade. Another way of use was to drill a small hole in the trunk, pour in some water, plug it and the following day it would become a strong liquor.

Here.

 

[Oldred3s]

I think they also use dmt. I had a friend that used to go and visit aboriginal tribes that lived out bush and used to do dmt with them made from acacia trees and what ever maoi.

 

[justsayknow]

Apart from Pituri I would be surprised if they were not aware of the various fungi that grow here. No idea if mushrooms have any place in any of the many dreaming stories through out the country. I have not heard of any so far.

 

[yagecero]

I've always been interested in this topic (I actually wrote an essay on it when I studied indigenous literature), but there doesn't seem to be much information available in regard to the traditional use of fungi within Australia's indigenous groups.

In 1841 the explorer George Grey published an account of his travels in Western Australia and reported that he'd seen seven species of fungi eaten by the Aborigines. He commented that "The different kinds of fungus are very good. In certain seasons of the year they are abundant, and the natives eat them greedily". The Tasmanian George Robinson wrote: "Various are the fungus which the natives eat, and all are known to them by different qualities which they possess, and all are known by different names".

Kalotas notes a Central Australian belief, as recorded by the anthropologists B Spencer and FJ Gillen at the beginning of the 20th century: "Falling stars appear to be associated with the idea of evil magic in many tribes. The Arunta believe that mushrooms and toadstools are fallen stars, and look upon them as being endowed with arungquiltha (evil magic) and therefore will not eat them." However, Kalotas comments that this cannot apply to all fungi, for a number are eaten by the central Australian people.

here

So it seems that some groups may have used psilocybe mushrooms while others didn't. It makes it difficult to know the truth given Australia's dark past and the terrible loss of so much ancient knowledge through the systematic erasure of indigenous history.

See what "The Lightning Brothers" are holding in their hands? They look remarkably similar to mushrooms.

 

[gimpan]

^ or a dildo?

 

[justsayknow]

Check out the picture of the "Omphalotus nidiformis" you can see how those evil spirit stories might have came about.
http://www.anbg.gov.au/fungi/aboriginal.html