Christian Rätsch, Ph.D. (1957 – 2022), was a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specialized in the shamanic uses of plants for spiritual as well as medicinal purposes. He studied Mesoamerican languages and cultures and anthropology at the University of Hamburg and spent, altogether, three years of fieldwork among the Lacandone Indians in Chiapas, Mexico, being the only European fluent in their language. He then received a fellowship from the German academic service for foreign research, the Deutsche Akademische Auslandsdienst (DAAD), to realize his doctoral thesis on healing spells and incantations of the Lacandone-Maya at the University of Hamburg, Germany.

In addition to his work in Mexico, his numerous fieldworks have included research in Thailand, Bali, the Seychelles, as well as a long-term study (18 years) on shamanism in Nepal combined with expeditions to Korea and the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon. He also was a scientific anthropological advisor for expeditions organized by German magazines such as GEO and Spektrum der Wissenschaften (Spectrum of Sciences).

Before becoming a full-time author and internationally renowned lecturer, Rätsch worked as professor of anthropology at the University of Bremen and served as consultant advisor for many German museums. Because of his extensive collection of shells, fossils, artifacts, and entheopharmacological items, he had numerous museum expositions on these topics.

He is the author of numerous articles and more than 40 books, including Plants of Love, Gateway to Inner Space, Marijuana Medicine, The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical Plants, and The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants. He is also coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, Witchcraft Medicine, Pagan Christmas, and The Encyclopedia of Aphrodisiacs and was editor of the Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness. A former member of the board of advisors of the European College for the Study of Consciousness (ECSC) and former president of the Association of Ethnomedicine, he lived in Hamburg, Germany.

Preface

Introduction

What Are Aphrodisiacs?
Aphrodite and Venus
What Are “Agents of Pleasure”?
What Is an “Intoxicant” or “Addictive Drug”?

How Does One Use Aphrodisiacs?
On Expectations, Disappointments, and Desires

How Do Aphrodisiacs Work?
Dosage, Set, and Setting

Who’s Afraid of Aphrodisiacs?
On Desire and Its Demonization
How Did It Come to This?

The Five Senses--Our Sources of Erotic Experience
Vision
Hearing
Touch
Smell
Taste
Fire, Water, Air, and Earth
To Experience with All of Our Senses?
Which Senses Are Still with Us?
The Forgotten Sixth or Seventh Sense
The Power of the Senses over the Course of Time

Aphrodisiacs in Art
Grape, Vine, and Wine
Poppies and Opium
Hemp, Cannabis, and Hashish
Coca Leaves and Cocaine
The True Character of Aphrodisiacs in Art
A Look at Aphrodisiacs Today
Aphrodisiacs and Morality in Art
Eroticism in the Art of Polytheistic Cultures
Eroticism in the Art of Monotheistic Cultures
The Perception of Eroticism, Sexuality, and Aphrodisiacs--Beyond Art

The Encyclopedia from A to Z
The Structure of the Monographs
Pharmacratica Aphrodisiae: Legal Issues
About the Images

Appendix. A Short History of Books on the Topic of Aphrodisiacs and Love Agents

Bibliography

Resources

Acknowledgments

Index