Knot

Book Review: Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke

We have always been fascinated by the idea of humans learning to control fire. It must have been pure magic to our early ancestors. The smoke would have seemed like a spirit to them, released by the burning plant. Smoke had many uses for humans back then, as it still does today. This book examines the following uses in the introduction: medicinal, ceremonial, recreational, pest control, perfume, flavoring, and preservation. This introduction is somewhat brief. The remainder of the book is a list of over 1400 plant taxa with 2,383 ethnobotanical uses from 125 countries.
We were quite interested in the "macro-religious/ceremonial use" section, where the authors discuss the Delphic oracles of ancient Greece.



"Plants may have been burned in the oracles' presence to produce pnuema enthusiastikons, or hallucinogenic vapors, that helped the priestess commune with gods like Apollo . . . All of Pythia's mantic sessions were held in a special chamber in Apollo's temple while seated on a tripod that was fastened to the omphalos, or "navel" stone. Below the tripod was a small hole through which vapors arose, shrouding the diviner in a dense fog of fumes."
They also mention Indigenous Australians who use plant-derived smoke "to strengthen babies and mothers during and immediately following childbirth." They describe a bed of smoldering ash, fragrant with the smoke of various plants, which the babies were passed through in order to keep them well protected from evil spirits.
The real treasure of this book is the extremely thorough list of plants which have been used by humans at some time for their smoke. Each entry includes the species name, common name, and a brief description of how it has been used and by whom. We were surprised to see that garlic was used by people in Hungary for it's smoke, mixed with pig excrement and burned in order to calm frightened children! A quick glance through this extensive list reveals many surprises.
Uses and Abuses of Plant-Derived Smoke: Its Ethnobotany as Hallucinogen, Perfume, Incense, and Medicine. Marcello Pennacchio/ Lara Vanessa Jefferson/ Kayri Havens. Oxford University Press 2010.

network pareidoliac exercize I

What do you see?  Comments from the facebook:

"alien caveman beating his chest"
"alien fossil"
"the face of death in a mushroom cloud in a lightning storm"
"the state of Wisconsin"

Feel free to add to this list here.

Art in the Afternoons

The children are so creative right now, coming up with amazing art projects all of the time with no direction or guidance from a teacher.

One child constructed several pop- up books, folding pieces of paper with hearts, houses, and flowers cut but left attached, so that they really do pop up when you unfold them. She also wrote simple captions and stories in Japanese. She enjoys giving them as gifts and teaching others in the class how to make them.

Another child had been making a collection of gorgeous colored pencil designs which resemble fractal imagery. He works with great intensity and attention to detail. He remarked that the colorful patterns "just come into my brain." His most recent work looks quite like a classic Fibonacci spiral.

A group of children playfully took to drawing cartoons of their teacher with markers. We were depicted as a pink and green horse with explosive bowel movements, a baby with chicken pox, and a ghost wearing bright red lipstick.

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snow crystal melting

form dissolving

unique features lost

in a homogenous wet

pool reflecting all things

while possessing none

Speak Your Mind

Hoozer

We are proud to be a "hoosier." The word most likely derives from the Anglo Saxon "hoozer" with "hoo" meaning hill or rise, and "zer" possibly referring to "shire." Thus the word hoozer seems to mean "one who lives in the hill country" or something like that. A charming idea and a charming, weird, absurd word. Too bad it was hijacked by the university sports teams. It does function beautifully as a chanted mantra at stadium events, we must admit...

Technically only the southern third of the state is hoozer country, as that is where the hills are, knobby old hoozer hills that only barely escaped the last great glaciers. We hoozers of the southern hills are outsiders -- wierdos who stay close to nature. We disdain the manners and customs of polite society and find our own way through the forests of chaos. We accept no authority and subscribe to no ideology. We are hill folk of the finest quality.

It is time to take the name Hoozer back.

Babies At The Window

Curious babies peering out the window

Hands pressed against the pane

Eyes wide open, taking in the outside

Laughing babies, crying babies

We watch them watch us, too cold

For them to play outside, but we

Sprinkle snow at the window to show

How we are feeling and sometimes

They see us sledding and snowangeling

Finding foot long icicles which

We use as our magic wands

For if magic means anything

It means this, what we are doing

The babies bouncing and drooling

About the window watching us

Play in the snow, so now they know

And when they grow they will already know

How to have fun with snow.

Rolling Logs

We created a fun new game today. For now it can be called Rolling Logs. We found a thick cardboard tube about 5 feet tall with a 3 inch diameter, the kind they ship posters in. Two players are the "rollers" and they sit on the floor about 6 feet apart. Everyone else takes turns jumping over the "log" as the rollers roll it back and forth at different speeds. When your feet touch the log, your turn is done. We mostly played one kid at a time, sometimes two. Anymore than that gets a bit too crowded. The kids did not mind waiting in line. They chanted in support of their friends while they jumped. Kids also take turns being the rollers. We played this game for over an hour. It provides great indoor exercise, excitement, and improves coordination. It is best to play on a carpet or soft floor of some kind, as the kids will sometimes fall down.

Wowking

Walking alone in a world of snow
Knowing what most do not know

A feedback of farce
The illusion of closure
Blustery bits of crystal
Striking the cheek raw

What tropical fruit 
Would you truck up here?
A poisonous fish out of water
Flapping out like a hay wire  

Walk sore and skip soaring
Past the factory parts
Farther than old men walk 
In a lifetime for money

To wipe their little dirties with
To spike their spineless romance
To fire up the lion or
Lick the latest on loan

Walking along as the white and wet 
Lays a soft blanket the world will forget.

Thawing

The Vital Role of Play in Childhood...

While we do not work in a Waldorf school (as far as we know there are none in Indiana), we do find many useful ideas in the Waldorf philosophy of early childhood education, especially the emphasis on the importance of unstructured free play for young children.  We really enjoyed the following article:

http://www.waldorfearlychildhood.org/article.asp?id=5

Today's Play

Today in the fields of play we became
Cats and dogs and daddies and babies.
I started out as the owner of the pets,
Having them fetch and feeding them
From an empty old mustard bottle
Still smelling strongly of mustard
While they barked and meowed,
Moving about on all fours.
Then one of them put on a jersey and
Became a famous basketball player baking a cake--    
A cake containing chocolate, meaning
The dogs could not eat it so we decided
To bake them their own dog cake too.

Next some of them got married and
The rest of us became cats at the wedding
Meowing the Wedding Song melody as
Brides and grooms proceeded down the aisle.
Then I became their new baby,
Crying and crawling while they
Tried to comfort and feed me as
Two terrifying dragons had shown up
Feasting on insects with tweezers,
Screeching and breathing fire
Around poor little weeping baby.

This dramatic play experience
Was totally spontaneous and improvised.

Excerpt from The Hearing Trumpet

"Men are very difficult to understand," said Carmella. "Let's hope they all freeze to death. I am sure it would be very pleasant and healthy for human beings to have no authority whatever. They would have to think for themselves, instead of always being told what to do and think by advertisements, cinemas, policemen and parliaments."

by Leonora Carrington

The Soma Solution

One of the ethnobotanical problems that has been on our mind lately is the identity of Soma.  Soma was a sacred beverage among the early Indo-Iranians.  It is mentioned a lot in the Rig Veda and seems to have been highly influential on early Hinduism.  Scholars have been debating the possible ingredients of Soma for decades.  An early ethnomycologist named R. Gordon Wasson became convinced about 45 years ago that Soma's main ingredient was Amanita Muscaria, also known as the Fly Agaric mushroom.  Now a new researcher named Chris Bennett believes that Wasson was mistaken and that the Cannabis plant was the main ingredient.  We have ordered his book, The Soma Solution, and will post a review when we finish reading it.

The Amanita Muscaria has also been getting a lot of attention lately as "the Christmas mushroom" or "the Santa Claus mushroom."  NPR even posted a story about it:  NPR Santa and Shrooms 
There is a better article on the subject here:
The Psychedelic Secrets of Santa Claus

Hermit with Bird and a Craft Round

13 Stones