Poison Plant Unmasked

Hari Srinivasan

Prof David Presti / GSI Carson McNeil

Psych C19 Drugs and the Brain

Commentary on Page 56, Pharmako Poeia by Dale Pendell

Poison Plant Unmasked

That plants have power is without a doubt. All are plant people in the end by fact and form, whether they be the modern science-backed western medicine or Ayurveda or the African Traditional Medicine. At times the poison of plants itself is the remedy. For instance, Foxglove is toxic yet has been used to develop treatments for congestive heart failure.

My sensory experience with plants has been largely influenced by the Ayurveda treatment I received in India over 5 summers in the coconut tree filled state of Kerala in South India. I have vivid memories of the scent of Ayurveda meds freshly concocted onsite from locally grown herbs in the nearby fields. The coconut and sesame oils boiled with Ayurveda powders made for sheer tranquility during the Shirodhara and Kizhi massages. The mind would be at peace and the soul in balance for that duration at least. The breeze from the nearby Bharatapuzha river would waft the scent through the cabin even as the cows on campus would wander up to receive a treat in the evenings. Even the very effective Ayurveda mosquito repellent smoke spread in the cabins in the evenings would carry the herbal tang in the air. But in all this euphoria, our eyes are blinded to the fundamental duality in life. For opposites coexist in all planes of life.

I am the power plant. I am the poison plant

… I build, I destroy

Fundamental Duality of Life

… Knowledge interlaced with ignorance

Even as plants heal with their poison, they also destroy. Like cobwebs they spin their net and take over the building that is the body and watch it decay. The web is entrancing, with its silken softness and its shimmer in the sunlight. The case of alcohol, whether it be the yeast fermented sugar, beer, wine or hard liquor is really nothing but the same. It’s poison effect is indeed heartbreaking.

My siren call lures good men adrift

A sip or two...whole bottle it is

Beautiful dreams lie in my arms

Long tresses caress the souls

…. worry begone, courage untold, be free

For...

I am the power plant. I am the poison plant. I am legend

A slow drown in the murk

I sing my siren song

You blindly trust me

I eat at your soul

For...

I am the power plant. I am the poison plant. I am legend

Alone. The siren is gone

Rotten carcass

Mighty price to pay

Poison Plant Unmasked

Dale Pendell in Pharmako Poeia likens alcohol to a seeming ally who flourishes as you decay. The ally who he likens to the devil, forever hints that it makes you a better man, a man who can rise forth anytime he wishes, to conquer a world where pain and worry would be a forgotten thing. The reality was that the jubilation at obtaining such an ally kept you from any real action. In the meantime, the ally makes inroads on you layer by layer like slime. The ally then abandons you even as the layers hardens. There is no way back yet you pay the cost of  your deal with the devil. Your marriage is lost, your family is lost, your money is lost, in essence, your life is lost. You are all alone. That is the duality of the power plant, the poison plant.

References

Pendell, D., & Snyder, G. (2010). Pharmako poeia: plant powers, poisons, and herbcraft. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.