Graham Hancock's Books: Plant Medicine and Consciousness

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Graham Hancock's books argue that there is a war on consciousness, especially with regard to the use psychedelic substances, and that ancient civilizations in Egypt show an interest in seeking the divine information conveyed by these plants through altered states of consciousness.

Graham Hancock's books suggest that in our society we have been brought up in the last 45-50 years believing the absurd assumptions of the war on drugs.  He calls this a war on our consciousness and refers to it as “a wicked enterprise of lies and deception, that has been imposed up on us by a society seeking to use fear, and using it in such a way to create an internal enemy in our society to justify ever larger armed bureaucracies and ever larger control mechanisms.”  

More articles on Graham Hancock's Books
Graham Hancock's Books:  Consciousness Claims
Graham Hancock's Books:  Ancient Civilizations
Graham Hancock's Books:  Altered States
Graham Hancock:  Ayahuasca Experiences
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Graham Hancock calls today’s society insane, with a form of a psychopathic fundamentalism, suggesting we are destroying the planet that surrounds us and building towards the destruction of our own race.  He advised that we distrust oppressive governments, and not only that, but there is much to be gained from using psychedelics to enrich our lives in becoming consciously awakened. 

Graham Hancock books, when addressing this subject, tend to argue in favor of psychedelics is that he suggests it has been used since ancient times, and that there is wisdom and knowledge in these plant medicines.  He states that early Egyptian civilizations were well aware of this medicine and its effects. He shows evidence that the Egyptians had devoted what we know to be at least 3,000 years worth of consideration on the mysteries of life itself, and they did so in conjunction with use of psychoactive plants.

Graham Hancock’s research shows evidence in the hieroglyphic engravings and drawings of ancient Egyptian ruins to conclude that psychedelics were a significant part of their cultural belief and traditions. He believes that these psychedelics were informative to their world views, the nature of their realities, and even inspired the Book of the Dead.

These ancient hieroglyphs show again and again a series of drawings that would suggest the Egyptians use of psychedelics for consciousness expansion, and visionary quests with other worldly spirit realms.  Many Egyptologist consider the depictions of the opium poppy among the hieroglyphs to be a sign that they used the plants for medicinal effect.  One of Graham Hancock’s major interests is to consider the Egyptian drawings as suggestive that the ancient Egyptians were in fact tapping into a psychedelic experiences in order to solve problems and achieve spiritual awakening. 

Graham Hancock investigates Datura, a poisonous vespertine flowering plant, sometimes called “moonflower” or “angels trumpet” that appears in many Egyptian hieroglyphs, as well as the blue water lily also known as the Egyptian Lotus, found in their drawings.

Graham Hancock's books suggest that these plants were important to the Egyptians and their beliefs.

In many cultures the Datura is thought to be poisonous, and can be seen as synonymous with death, and the Egyptian Lotus, is said to have psychoactive effects on the mind when drank as teas, smoked, or made into tinctures.  This Lotus flower has a sedative effect and is conducive to sleep, but when administered in wakeful states has a dream like effect that some have compared to some subtle aspects of LSD.  Hancock states that blue water lily extracts were found in the 18th dynasty pharaoh’s tomb of Tutankhamun. 

Other hieroglyphs to support Graham Hancock’s claim for psychedelics as sacred are seen in an Egyptian depiction of the Tree of Life, which is actually Acacia nilotica, the plant known for its psychedelic properties through the extraction of DMT (Dimethyltryptamine).  He claims that Egyptians knew of alchemical spiritual practices and the consciousness expansion that could be achieved through the application of these psychedelic experiences. 

Other depictions suggest honoring the third eye, some of which show beacons of light coming out from the pineal gland.  This human gland, located in the center of the brain, produces of DMT on its own.  Hancock suggest that the Egyptian’s use of the substance could create expanded forms of consciousness, and visionary guidance could be achieved from other realms through administering DMT-containing plants to the human body.  He states that archaeological studies have found artifacts of “hallucinogenic snuffs” that were used for trading during these early, yet mysteriously advanced civilizations.  In 2014 he shares research that states the monoliths of Tiahuanaco, in the Bolivian Andes, are holding snuff trays and other paraphernalia which various types of DMT would have been used in.  

What Graham Hancock is suggesting here is that these psychoactive plants were not marginalized, or seen as a detriment in the society.  Rather they were brought to the forefront of civilization and revered for their powers and their ability to facilitate access to other worldly realms.  Hancock even goes as far as to question Moses’s experience of the speaking Burning Bush from the Bible, suggesting that this experience may have been induced with psychoactive plants. 

He states that it is possible that all religious experience came down to a psychedelic equation at one point or another and questions the nature of the society in which we live that has looked down upon these mysterious plants and their effect on the mind.

- Brandon Petty