Medicines for introspection

Amanita muscaria is a crimson-capped mushroom from northern forests whose compounds muscimol and ibotenic acid act on GABA receptors, producing sedative, deliriant states unlike classical psychedelics.

Amanita Muscaria

Amanita muscaria

Dissociative · 4-8 hours · Moderate

Ayahuasca is an Amazonian brew that pairs the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with DMT-containing leaves to produce one of the most profound psychedelic experiences known, used in healing ceremonies for centuries.

Ayahuasca

Banisteriopsis caapi + Psychotria viridis

Hallucinogenic · 4-8 hours · Intense

Iboga is a Central African rainforest shrub whose root bark contains ibogaine, producing an intense, multi-day experience used in Bwiti initiation and studied for addiction interruption.

Iboga

Tabernanthe iboga

Hallucinogenic · 24-36 hours · Intense

Morning Glory is a common garden vine whose seeds contain ergine (LSA), producing a dreamy, watery psychedelic state gentler and shorter than LSD, used ceremonially in ancient Mesoamerica.

Morning Glory

Rivea corymbosa

Psychedelic · 6-10 hours · Moderate

Peyote is a small, spineless cactus from the Chihuahuan Desert, sacred to Native American peoples, containing mescaline and used ceremonially for thousands of years.

Peyote

Lophophora williamsii

Hallucinogenic · 10-12 hours · Intense

Psilocybe cubensis is a family of fungi containing psilocybin, used in Mesoamerican ceremony for millennia and now at the center of a renaissance in psychiatric research.

Psilocybin Mushrooms

Psilocybe cubensis (and 200+ species)

Hallucinogenic · 4-6 hours · Moderate

San Pedro is a towering Andean cactus containing mescaline, used in healing ceremonies for thousands of years and prized for its gentle, earth-connected psychedelic quality.

San Pedro

Echinopsis pachanoi

Psychedelic · 8-14 hours · Intense

Sinicuichi (Heimia salicifolia) is a Mexican shrub historically used in Aztec medicine, said to produce mild euphoria and unusual auditory effects, with research on its alkaloids still emerging.

Sinicuichi

Moderate

Syrian Rue is an ancient Eurasian plant containing harmala alkaloids that act as MAOIs, used for millennia in folk medicine and increasingly as a component in ayahuasca analogues.

Syrian Rue

Peganum harmala

MAO Inhibitor · 3-6 hours · Moderate

Yopo is a South American tree whose seeds are ground into a powerful DMT and bufotenine-containing snuff, used in ceremony across the Orinoco basin for centuries.

Yopo

Anadenanthera peregrina

Psychedelic · 1-2 hours · Intense

Blue Lotus is a sacred Egyptian water lily revered for millennia, producing gentle euphoria and dream-like states through nuciferine and aporphine alkaloids that act on dopamine receptors.

Blue Lotus

Nymphaea nouchali

Relaxant · 2-4 hours · Gentle

Cannabis is a resinous flowering plant whose cannabinoids interact with the endocannabinoid system, producing effects from mild relaxation to perceptual shifts depending on variety, dose, and context.

Cannabis

Cannabis sativa / Cannabis indica

Relaxant · 1-4 hours (inhaled), 4-10 hours (oral) · Moderate

Guayusa is an Amazonian holly (Ilex guayusa) traditionally brewed by the Kichwa people in pre-dawn ceremonies for dream interpretation, prized for its smooth caffeine and theobromine content.

Guayusa

Ilex guayusa

Gentle

Hawaiian Baby Woodrose is a tropical climbing vine whose seeds contain LSA, producing a dreamy, introspective psychedelic state with pronounced physical sedation lasting 6-8 hours.

Hawaiian Baby Woodrose

Argyreia nervosa

Psychedelic · 6-10 hours · Moderate

Kanna is a South African succulent used for centuries by Khoisan peoples, producing mood elevation and mild empathogenic effects through serotonin reuptake inhibition.

Kanna

Sceletium tortuosum

Empathogen · 1-3 hours · Mild

Kratom is a Southeast Asian tree whose leaves act on opioid and adrenergic receptors, producing stimulating effects at low doses and sedating analgesia at higher ones.

Kratom

Mitragyna speciosa

Stimulant / Sedative · 3-6 hours · Mild

Mambe and Ambil are an ancient Amazonian ceremonial pair, mambe (coca leaf powder) and ambil (tobacco paste), used by Uitoto, Muinane, Bora, and related peoples of the Colombian Amazon for sacred dialogue and clarity.

Mambe and Ambil

Erythroxylum coca

Gentle

Opium Poppy is the ancient source of morphine and codeine, whose milky latex has shaped medicine, trade, war, and addiction across thousands of years of human history.

Opium Poppy

Papaver somniferum

Sedative · 4-6 hours · Moderate

Salvia is a mint-family plant from the cloud forests of Oaxaca that produces one of the most intense, short-lived altered states known, acting on kappa-opioid receptors rather than serotonin.

Salvia Divinorum

Salvia divinorum

Dissociative · 5-30 minutes (smoked) · Intense

Belladonna is a European nightshade bearing glossy black berries and potent tropane alkaloids, a plant of oracles and witchcraft that crosses the threshold between vision and delirium.

Belladonna

Atropa belladonna

Deliriant · 12-24 hours · Intense

Coca is the sacred leaf of the Andes, chewed for millennia to sustain altitude, nourish ceremony, and carry prayers, often misunderstood globally yet central to Andean identity.

Coca

Erythroxylum coca

Stimulant · 1-2 hours · Mild

Datura is a thorn-apple nightshade containing powerful anticholinergic alkaloids, a plant with a long history in ritual and medicine and a serious reputation for danger even at low doses.

Datura

Datura stramonium

Deliriant · 12-36 hours · Overwhelming

Henbane is an ancient Mediterranean nightshade used in oracles and witchcraft, whose deliriant tropane alkaloids blur the line between sleep, vision, and waking consciousness.

Henbane

Hyoscyamus niger

Deliriant · 6-12 hours · Intense

Kava is a Pacific Island root whose kavalactones calm the nervous system and induce a state of sociable relaxation without intoxication, central to ceremony across Polynesia and Melanesia.

Kava

Piper methysticum

Relaxant · 2-4 hours · Mild

Mandragora is the storied root of European witchcraft and ancient medicine, a nightshade whose tropane alkaloids have long blurred the boundary between healing, vision, and madness.

Mandragora

Mandragora officinarum

Deliriant · 6-12 hours · Intense