Preliminary alterities. About some contemporary uses of psychotropic plants
This article deals with representations, discourses and practices related to some psychotropic plants initially used in shamanic contexts worldwide and now reappropriated as part of a quest for self. After a brief return to the socio-cultural circumstances and individual reasons for these involvements in post-industrial societies (reconnection with nature, work on oneself, personal development, search for deep experiences, valued relation the unknown, etc.), it exposes a particular current in the contemporary alternative spiritualities offering: the neo-shamanic approach, with its models of action inspired from shamanisms but reformulated to an audience that does not possess its common sense. The description of concrete situations of these usages of psychotropic plants, illegal in most country, is followed by that of the experiences lived by the persons taking them in the form of beverage. Although they may sometimes be painful, even frightening psychologically or physically, the experiences involved, liminal in an in-between of the conscience, are strong and almost always retrospectively considered as “teaching” and transforming the people involved. The notion of introspective “work”, systematically mobilized and the impact that these experiences can have in their existence thus distinguish these psychotropic substances from the ludic use of those commonly classified under the drug category.