page_title: Datura stramonium
section_title: Spiritualism and occult
hierarchical_section_title: Datura stramonium / Use / Spiritualism and occult
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Bieluń dziędzierzawa Datura stramonium, dojrzały owoz z nasionami, okaz uprawiany, Ogród Botaniczny Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, Wrocław, Polska. English: Jimsonweed Datura stramonium open fruit with seeds, plant cultivated in Wrocław University Botanical Garden, Wroclaw, Poland.
context_page_description: Datura stramonium, known by the common names thorn apple, jimsonweed or devil's snare, is a plant species in the nightshade family and datura genus. Its likely origin was in Central America, and it has been introduced in many world regions. It is an aggressive invasive weed in temperate climates across the world.
  D. stramonium has been used in various treatments of traditional medicine or drug abuse as well as a hallucinogen and deliriant that is taken entheogenically for intense visions. It contains tropane alkaloids which produce the hallucinogenic properties, and may be severely toxic.
context_section_description: The ancient inhabitants of what became central and southern California used to ingest the small black seeds of datura to "commune with deities through visions". Across the Americas, other indigenous peoples, such as the Algonquian, Navajo, Cherokee, Luiseño and the indigenous peoples of Marie-Galante also used this plant in sacred ceremonies for its hallucinogenic properties. In Ethiopia, some students and debtrawoch (lay priests), use D. stramonium to "open the mind" to be more receptive to learning, and creative and imaginative thinking.
  The common name "datura" has its origins in India, where the sister species Datura metel is considered particularly sacred — believed to be a favorite of Shiva in Shaivism. Both Datura stramonium and D. metel have reportedly been used by some sadhus and charnel ground ascetics, such as the Aghori as both an entheogen and ordeal poison. It was sometimes mixed with cannabis as well as highly poisonous plants like Aconitum ferox to intentionally create dysphoric experiences. They used unpleasant or toxic plants such as these in order to achieve spiritual liberation (moksha) in settings of extreme horror and discomfort.
  Among its sacred and visionary purposes, jimson weed has also garnered a reputation for its magical uses in various cultures throughout history. In his book, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wade Davis identified D. stramonium, called "zombi cucumber" in Haiti, as a central ingredient of the concoction vodou priests use to create zombies. However it has been noted that the process of zombification is not directly performed by vodou priests of the loa but rather by bokors.  In European witchcraft, D. stramonium was also a common ingredient used for making witches' flying ointment along with other poisonous plants of the nightshade family. It was often responsible for the hallucinogenic effects of magical or lycanthropic salves and potions.
caption: Seed capsule, showing dehiscence by four valves to release seeds
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