Jonathan Ott
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Ott is an ethnobotanist
, writer, translator, publisher, natural products chemist and botanical researcher in the area of entheogen
s and their cultural and historical uses, and helped coin the term "entheogen
".
, Jochen Gartz, and the late ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson. He translated Albert Hoffman
's 1979 book LSD: My Problem Child (LSD: Mein Sorgekind), and On Aztec Botanical Names by Blas Pablo Reko, into English. His articles have appeared in many publications, including The Entheogen Review, The Entheogen Law Reporter, the Journal of Cognitive Liberties, the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
(AKA the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs), the MAPS
Bulletin, Head, High Times, Curare, Eleusis, Integration, Lloydia, The Sacred Mushroom Seeker, and several Harvard Botanical Museum pamphlets. He is a co-editor of Eleusis: Journal of Psychoactive Plants & Compounds, along with Giorgio Samorini
.
Analogues, he identifies numerous plants around the globe containing the harmala alkaloid
s of Banisteriopsis caapi
, which are MAOIs
, and plants containing dimethyltryptamine
, which together are the chemical base of the South American Ayahuasca brew.
. While most of his books survived the fire, Ott's laboratory and personal effects perished in the blaze. Books given to Ott by Albert Hoffman were reportedly used as fuel. Details on the suspect(s) are scarce, but it is speculated that the arsonist specifically targeted Ott because of his research.
Ethnobotany
Ethnobotany is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants....
, writer, translator, publisher, natural products chemist and botanical researcher in the area of entheogen
Entheogen
An entheogen , in the strict sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Historically, entheogens were mostly derived from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious contexts...
s and their cultural and historical uses, and helped coin the term "entheogen
Entheogen
An entheogen , in the strict sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Historically, entheogens were mostly derived from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious contexts...
".
Writings
Ott has written eight books, co-wrote five, and contributed to four others, and published many articles in the field of entheogens. He has collaborated with other researchers like Christian RätschChristian Rätsch
Christian Rätsch is a German writer ethnopharmacology and psychoactive plants and animals. Rätsch is an anthropologist and author. He was born in 1957 in a Bohemian community in Hamburg, Germany. His father was an opera singer, his mother a ballet dancer...
, Jochen Gartz, and the late ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson. He translated Albert Hoffman
Albert Hoffman
Albert Hoffman may refer to:*Albert Hoffman , American artist*Albert Hoffmann , German politician and Nazi Gauleiter*Albert Hoffmann , German rosarian...
's 1979 book LSD: My Problem Child (LSD: Mein Sorgekind), and On Aztec Botanical Names by Blas Pablo Reko, into English. His articles have appeared in many publications, including The Entheogen Review, The Entheogen Law Reporter, the Journal of Cognitive Liberties, the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
The Journal of Psychoactive Drugs was founded in 1967 by David E Smith, founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic. It is an authoritative peer-reviewed quarterly periodical containing timely information of a multidisciplinary nature for clinicians and other professionals in the drug abuse field as...
(AKA the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs), the MAPS
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies is a membership-based 501 non-profit research and educational organization working to develop psychedelics and marijuana into legal prescription drugs...
Bulletin, Head, High Times, Curare, Eleusis, Integration, Lloydia, The Sacred Mushroom Seeker, and several Harvard Botanical Museum pamphlets. He is a co-editor of Eleusis: Journal of Psychoactive Plants & Compounds, along with Giorgio Samorini
Giorgio Samorini
Giorgio Samorini is an ethnobotanist and psychedelics researcher. He has published many essays and monographs regarding the use of psychoactive compounds and sacred plants. He was a frequent contributor to, and sometime editor of Eleusis the Journal of Psychoactive Plants & Compounds.-Books:* ....
.
Botanical research
Ott has experience of field collecting in Mexico, where he lives and manages a small natural-products laboratory and botanical garden of medicinal herbs. A number of his ethno-botanical products have been studied to determine their possible benefits to individuals suffering various mental aberrations. In his book AyahuascaAyahuasca
Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...
Analogues, he identifies numerous plants around the globe containing the harmala alkaloid
Harmala alkaloid
Several alkaloids that function as monoamine oxidase inhibitors are found in the seeds of Peganum harmala , including harmine, harmaline, and harmalol, which are members of a group of substances with a similar chemical structure collectively known as harmala alkaloids...
s of Banisteriopsis caapi
Banisteriopsis caapi
Banisteriopsis caapi, also known as Ayahuasca, Caapi or Yage, is a South American jungle vine of the family Malpighiaceae. It is used to prepare Ayahuasca, a decoction that has a long history of entheogenic uses as a medicine and "plant teacher" among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Rainforest...
, which are MAOIs
Monoamine oxidase inhibitor
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors are a class of antidepressant drugs prescribed for the treatment of depression. They are particularly effective in treating atypical depression....
, and plants containing dimethyltryptamine
Dimethyltryptamine
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound of the tryptamine family. DMT is found in several plants, and also in trace amounts in humans and other mammals, where it is originally derived from the essential amino acid tryptophan, and ultimately produced by the enzyme INMT...
, which together are the chemical base of the South American Ayahuasca brew.
Arson
In March 2010, Ott's home in Mexico was destroyed by arsonArson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
. While most of his books survived the fire, Ott's laboratory and personal effects perished in the blaze. Books given to Ott by Albert Hoffman were reportedly used as fuel. Details on the suspect(s) are scarce, but it is speculated that the arsonist specifically targeted Ott because of his research.
Books
- A Conscientious Guide to Hallucinogens: A Comprehensive Guide to Hallucinogens, Natural and Synthetic, Found in North American and the World with Joe E Axton and Jeremy Bigwood (1975) Do It Now Foundation, Institute for Chemical Survival
- Hallucinogenic Plants of North America (1976), ISBN 0-914728-16-4
- Teonanacatl: Hallucinogenic Mushrooms of North America (Co-edited by Jeremy Bigwood) (1978), ISBN 0-914842-32-3
- LSD: My Problem Child (1980) McGraw-Hill Book Company ISBN 0-07-029325-2 (translation only)
- The Cacahuatl Eater: Ruminations of an Unabashed Chocolate Addict (Natural Products Company) (1985) ISBN 0-9614234-1-2
- Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion with R. Gordon Wasson, Stella Kramrisch, and Carl A. P. Ruck (1986) ISBN 0-300-05266-9
- The Sacred Mushroom Seeker: Essays for R. Gordon Wasson by Robert Gordon Wasson, Thomas J. Riedlinger (1990) contributor
- Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History (1993), ISBN 0-9614234-2-0
- Ayahuasca Analogues: Pangaean Entheogens (1995), ISBN 0-9614234-4-7
- Plant Intoxicants: a Classic Text on the Use of Mind-Altering Plants by Ernst Bibra and Jonathan Ott (1995) Nature
- Age of Entheogens & the Angels' Dictionary (1995), ISBN 0-9614234-6-3
- Pharmacophilia: The Natural Paradise (1997), ISBN 1-888755-00-8
- Shamanic Snuffs or Entheogenic Errhines (2001), ISBN 1-888755-02-4
- Ometochtzin: Las Muertes de Dos Conejos (2001)
- Drugs of the Dreaming: Oneirogens: Salvia Divinorum and Other Dream-Enhancing Plants with Gianluca Toro and Benjamin Thomas (2007) Body, Mind & Spirit
- The Road to Eleusis (2008) By R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, Carl A. P. Ruck, Huston Smith (contributor)
Articles
hux to Dr. Alexander H. Smith by Jonathan Ott and Alexander Hanchett Smith (1978) Botanical Museum of Harvard University- Ethnopharmacognosy and Human Pharmacology of Salvia divinorum and Salvinorin A (1995)
- Pharmahuasca: On Phenethylamines and Potentiation (1996)
- Pharmahuasca, Anahuasca and Vinho da Jurema: Human Pharmacology of Oral DMT Plus Harmine (1997)
- The Delphic Bee: Bees and Toxic Honeys as Pointers to Psychoactive and Other Medicinal Plants - Economic Botany (1998)
- Applied Psychonautics: Ayahuasca to Pharmahuasca to Anahuasca (2001)
- Pharmanopo-Psychonautics: Human Intranasal, Sublingual, Intrarectal, Pulmonary and Oral Pharmacology of Bufotenine (2001)
- Jonathan Ott's victim of arson, signed copies of Albert Hofmann books used to start fire (2010)
See also
- Richard E. Schultes
- EthnobotanyEthnobotanyEthnobotany is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants....
- Psychedelic plantsPsychedelic plantsA list of plants that are used for psychedelic drugs. Some of them have been used for thousands of years for religious purposes. The plants are listed according to the substances they contain.-THC:Cannabis is a popular psychedelic plant...
- Amanita Muscaria in pop-culture