Christian Rätsch

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Christian Rätsch (1999)

Christian Rätsch (born April 20, 1957 in Hamburg ) is a German ancient Americanist and ethnopharmacologist . His area of ​​expertise is research into the ethnomedical and ritual use of plants and mushrooms, in particular the cultural use of psychoactive plants and mushrooms in shamanism .

Life

Rätsch studied ancient American studies, ethnology and folklore at the University of Hamburg . With a dissertation on the spells and incantations of the Lacandonen- Indians, a Mayan people in Chiapas (Mexico), Rätsch received his doctorate in philosophy . To do this, he collected his research material there for a year - as is usual in ethnological field research - as a participating observer . Later on, other books were created from this fund. During this project he was a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service . After graduation, independent research followed around the world on the subject of medicinal plants , magic plants and shamanism .

Rätsch, who lives as a freelance author, ethnopharmacologist and speaker in Hamburg, lives in a private and research community with the art historian Claudia Müller-Ebeling . The couple has published several books together.

Rätsch's encyclopedia of psychoactive plants , first published in 1998, has been translated into various languages. The encyclopedia of psychoactive plants is now considered to be the standard work in the field of “psychoactive substances”. In 2016 it reached the 13th edition. For the 944-page encyclopedia of psychoactive plants , Rätsch himself tested the effects of all the psychoactive plants and fungi described there. Rätsch is editor of the yearbook for ethnomedicine and consciousness research . He was a member of the advisory board of the European College for Consciousness Studies (ECBS) and President of the Working Group on Ethnomedicine (AGEM). Christian Rätsch maintains or maintained professional contact with, among others, Timothy Leary , Jonathan Ott , Ralph Metzner , Stanislav Grof and Markus Berger . He had a long friendship with the chemist Albert Hofmann and the Swiss artist HR Giger .

Due to his specialist knowledge of psychoactive substances and drugs , Rätsch was also often a guest in TV programs, such as B. Delta , people at Maischberger and TV Total .

Positions

Rätsch calls for the legalization of so-called “ soft drugs ”, including “ cannabis ”, which he describes as the “best-researched medicinal plant in human history”. In 2017, the ban on cannabis in Germany was relaxed and cannabis was released as a prescription drug in Germany. He regards the ban on cannabis, opium , cocaine , magic mushrooms and LSD as scandalous. For a legalization of these drugs, however, Rätsch calls for an orderly process and framework, for example, he points out that if the legalization of drugs means that “ capitalist criminal gangs” enrich themselves in the drug business, he rejects the legalization. Rätsch criticizes the term “drug” in general and prefers the term “psychoactive substance”. In addition, he criticizes the separation into “legal” and “illegal” drugs, as this is arbitrarily determined and thus users and addicts of illegal substances are criminalized and turned into criminals. Rätsch said that if there were alcohol junkies, then there should also be heroin junkies.

Based on his experience in researching psychoactive substances, he considers alcohol to be the most dangerous drug. He also attests that the Internet has a greater potential for dependence than LSD.

Rätsch regards the state of western culture as the main reason for drug addiction in the western world, which he considers to be addictive. In contrast, the use of psychoactive substances among primitive peoples is ritual and regulated.

Rätsch is a critic of neoliberalism .

criticism

The psychiatrist and psychotherapist Doris Schwarzmann-Schafhauser wrote about Rätsch's 1995 book Medicinal Herbs in Egypt, Greece and Rome : “Under the guise of an alleged medical history , the reader is offered not only a sect-like ideology in this“ Herbal Book ” , but it very concrete strategies for achieving the sect's goals are also conveyed ”.

Fonts (selection)

  • with K'ayum Ma'ax: A cosmos in the rainforest. Myths and Visions of the Lacandon Indians. Diederichs, Cologne 1984; 2nd, revised edition 1994, ISBN 3-424-00748-X .
  • Learning spells. A contribution to the ethnomedicine of the Lacandons of Naha ' (= ethnomedicine and consciousness research ). At the same time dissertation at the University of Hamburg. Express , Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-88548-362-9 .
  • Indian medicinal herbs: tradition and application. A plant dictionary. Diederichs, Cologne 1987; 7th, updated edition 1999, ISBN 3-424-00921-0 .
  • Hemp as a remedy: an ethnomedical inventory (= The Green Branch. Vol. 154). Werner Pieper's Medienexperimente und Nachtschattenverlag, Solothurn 1992, ISBN 3-925817-54-9 .
  • Children of the Rainforest: About the Lives of the Children of the Lacandon Indians. Coppenrath, Münster 1987; Revised edition (= The Green Branch. Vol. 157): Werner Pieper's Medienexperimente, Löhrbach [1993], ISBN 3-925817-57-3 .
  • Incense: The breath of dragons. 72 plant portraits. Ethnobotany, rituals and practical applications. AT, Aarau 1996; 6th edition 2012, ISBN 978-3-03800-302-1 .
  • Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Botany, Ethnopharmacology and Application. AT, Stuttgart 1998; 13th edition: AT, Aarau 2016, ISBN 978-3-03800-352-6 .
  • Beer: Beyond hops and malt. From the magic potions of the gods to the psychedelic beers of the future. Orbis, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-572-01343-7 .
  • with Claudia Müller-Ebeling: Lexicon of Love Means: Herbal, mineral, animal and synthetic aphrodisiacs . AT, Aarau 2003, ISBN 3-85502-772-2 ( reviews at Perlentaucher.de ).
  • The sacred grove: Germanic magic plants, sacred trees and shamanic rituals. AT, Baden 2005, ISBN 3-03800-204-6 .
  • with Arno Adelaars, Claudia Müller-Ebeling: Ayahuasca: rituals, magic potions and visionary art from Amazonia. AT, Baden 2006, ISBN 3-03800-270-4 .
  • Walpurgis Night: about flying witches and ecstatic dances. AT, Baden 2007, ISBN 978-3-03800-312-0 .
  • From the researcher who set out to learn magic: My experiences with the Maya heirs. Kosmos, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-440-11240-3 .
  • Mushrooms and humans: use, effects and importance of mushrooms in culture. AT, Aarau 2010, ISBN 978-3-03800-542-1
  • Abyssal Christmas. The true story of an utterly unholy festival. Riemann Verlag, Munich, 2014, ISBN 978-3-570-50165-8 .

literature

  • Guido Mingels: Interview with the Spiegel: "We are all illegal" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 23 , 2013, p. 116-119 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Rätsch: Hemp as a remedy: An ethnomedical inventory. Werner Pieper's Medienexperimente und Nachtschattenverlag, Solothurn 1992, p. 187.
  2. ↑ biography on christian-rätsch.de
  3. ^ Ruprecht Frieling: Encyclopedia of psychoactive plants by Christian Rätsch. literaturzeitschrift.de, August 21, 2018, accessed on February 26, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants. at-verlag.ch, accessed on February 26, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Christian Rätsch visits Menschen bei Maischberger (broadcast on November 19, 2014) on YouTube
  6. ↑ a b Christian Rätsch visits Delta (in September 2007) on YouTube
  7. ↑ a b Christian Rätsch as guest on TV Total (broadcast from November 2014) on YouTube
  8. ↑ a b c d e Christian Rätsch as guest on TV Total (broadcast from May 2015) on YouTube
  9. ↑ Christian Rätsch as guest on TV Total (broadcast from November 2015) on YouTube
  10. ↑ a b c d Spiegel TV interview with Christian Rätsch
  11. ↑ Christian Rätsch: Medicinal herbs of antiquity in Egypt, Greece and Rome. Mythology and application then and now. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Munich 1995.
  12. ^ Doris Schwarzmann-Schafhauser: Sect ideology in medical-historical guise. In: Würzburger medical historical research 17, 1998, pp. 577-579.
personal data
SURNAME Rätsch, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German American scholar and ethnopharmacologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg