Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft (Paperback)

~ (Author) "All the palmate-leaved ones, the pinnate, and the pinnatifid, the entire -Rosy Hawaiian babies, wise Mazatic sages, and the old Indian rope trick..." (more)
Key Phrases: poison path, solar medicine, anesthetic revelation, Green Man, United States, Canary Island (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Pharmacopoeia, according to Webster, is an authoritative book containing a list and description of drugs and medicinal products together with the standards established under law for their production, dispensation, and use. Pendell's two-part title, Pharmako/Poeia, reflects what he calls the "twin poles" of his explorations in pharmacology and poetics. It's a book about the interplay of plants, insects, animals, and humans, and it suggests how toxins shaped ecological systems. It's also about the people who for thousands of years investigated the properties of plants and learned to use them for healing, for their effects on the mind, and for poisons. Pendell writes about such topics as tobacco, opium, beer, wine, alcohol, and kava, exploring their history, taxonomy, pharmacology, and effects. The book contains a prodigious amount of scholarly and technical detail, yet Pendell writes with wit and inventiveness. Engaging black-and-white illustrations and provocative quotes complement the text. George Cohen

Review

"Dale Pendell reactivates the ancient connection between the bardic poet and the shaman. His Pharmako/Poeia is a litany to the secret plant allies that have always accompanied us along the alchemical trajectory that leads to a new and yet authentically archaic future."
—Terence McKenna, author of True Hallucinations

"Much of our life-force calls upon the plant world for support, in medicines and in foods, as both allies and teachers. Pendell provides a beautifully crafted bridge between these two worlds. The magic he shares is that the voices are spoken and heard both ways; we communicate with plants and they with us. This book is a moving and poetic presentation of this dialogue."
—Dr. Alexander T. Shulgin, University of California at Berkeley, Department of Public Health

"Pharmako/Poeia is an epic poem on plant humours, an abstruse alchemic treatise, an experiential narrative jigsaw puzzle, a hip and learned wild-nature reference text, a comic paean to cosmic consciousness, an ecological handbook, a dried-herb pastiche, a counterculture encyclopedia of ancient fact and lore that cuts through the present ‘conservative’ war-on-drugs psychobabble."
—Allen Ginsberg, poet

"Dale Pendell’s remarkable book will make it impossible to ever again underestimate the most unprepossessing plant. This compendium of how-to-get-high-by-eating-your-lawn ethnological data is mind-boggling, useful, and serves as a fine end run around the guardians of ‘official’ consciousness."
—Peter Coyote, actor --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mercury House; 1st edition (February 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562790692
• ISBN-13: 978-1562790691
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #582,658 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful overview of medicinal plants...., April 5, 2003

By	Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

PHARMAKO-DYNAMIS and PHARMAKO-POEIA by Dale Pendell contain much of interest to gardeners, artists, historians, drug counselors, and drug users. Pendell suggests that how a plant substance is defined (poison, drug, medicine) depends on the dosage, length of use, and intent of the user. In other words, if plant-based drugs are "abused" the problem lies not in our plants but in our selves. He says the reader can begin anywhere in either of his two books and arrive at the same place. I read PHARMAKO-POEIA last, not because it isn't interesting, but because coffee, tea, and cocao are covered in DYNAMIS. As a tea drinker, I wanted to find out more about my herb of choice before I ventured onto others.

POEIA includes a wonderful section on Absinthe which may be related to the seduction of angels. Students of 19th Century French art history and the Belle Epoch know about Absinthe. Absinthe is that lovely green substance the Impressionist painters liked to portray, which according to some was the devil's own drink (he being a fallen angel). Wilde was fond of Absinthe, and may have been using it when he wrote "The Portrait of Dorian Grey." On the other hand, it may have been his drug of choice when he developed his witty and amusing stage plays. Readers associated with Lewis' Screwtape Letters will recognize Absinthe's plant name-Wormwood. Wormwood was probably the bitter herb offered Christ in his last hour of agony and Revelations 8:10,11 has something to say about it. Artemisia is Wormwood's proper name, and the Greek Artemisia is the Roman Diana, Goddess of the Moon. Pendell says Oberon uses `Dian's bud' to reverse the effects of a love potion in A Midsummer Night's Dream. What was Shakespeare thinking??

Besides Artemisia and Valerian, Pendell discusses a few other suspect plants I grow in my own garden, such as Papaver, the Opium Poppy. Oh the feds tried to ban it once, but all the little old ladies came after them and Poppy reigns supreme in American cottage gardens. According to Pendell, the worldwide persecution of the Poppy plant continues even though Poppy plants (and Cannabis) have killed far fewer people than tobacco plants. This is wonderful wise book for crafty gardeners and their friends.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get the whole series!, May 14, 2006

By	Katrina Stone (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

I've read a lot of books on herbalism, but this series of books is a unique and extremely valuable find. Dale Pendell covers a wide variety of herbs and their affects on the human mind, body and spirit. What makes his book different from others is the poetic way in which he conveys his information. It makes reading the books far from dull or dry, and some herbal books read like medical textbooks in that sense. The authors brilliance, wisdom and sheer depth and bredth of knowledge shines through in this series, and I can't think of any other books that cover the "poisonous" herbs and substances in such a way. Read Pharmako/Poeia and you will probably want to buy Pharmako/Dynamis and Pharmako/Gnosis. They are all valuable to the herbalist, folklorist, entheobotanist, or anyone who just wants to know about the uses and side effects of various plants that are often stigmatized in our culture. Subjects range from:

Opium
Marjuana
Alcohol (beer, wine, distilled spirits)
Absinthe
Salvia
Tobacco
Nitrous
Kava Kava
And even, fossil fuel.

But don't think that he advocates the use (or abuse) of all these plants. He gives you the information, what they do, their history, and side effects. You will find no propaganda or scare tactics, just the truth (and the truth of what some of these plants can do is scary enough without embellishment!)

Another plus of these books: They're aesthetically pleasing. I honestly can't think of any problems with this series of books: Informative, accurate and beautiful. Dale Pendell is an asset to the herbalist community.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic in the Genre, March 1, 1999

By	Stephen Harrod Buhner at [e-mail] (Tum Tum, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Dale Pendell brings together the magic and mystery of plant intelligence and the poison path. He taps into the ancient wisdom that human beings have developed as human beings from their close association with plant intelligence and plant body. A long time associate of Gary Snyder and the other poets of the San Francisco Bay area Pendell is a major voice in his own right. He weaves the magic of his verse deeply into the stream of consciousness flowing through his work and takes the reader, like the plants he discusses, into worlds that themselves change consciousness. A tremendous work in the field.