Henbane, the divine plant. 2nd ed.
This is a historical and cultural-historical portrait of the plant rather than an ethnobotanical account. After introducing the ´character´ of the plant by alluding to esoteric categories such as an anthroposophical type of assessment Storl presents a wide range of associations and contexts around henbane, and cites from writers - like Shakespeare - who used images of the plant in their writings. The author recounts the origin and spreading of henbane, traces the etymology of the word, describes it as the sacred plant of Belenos and the flower goddess, relates it to Indo-European, even Chinese culture, Greek Antiquity, and deals with Old-Nordic mythology in this context - in the case of the latter as the herb of the Thing god, the death god Odin (=Woden, Wotan) etc. Then Storl describes henbane as the beer preparation of the thunder god Donar (=Thor, Thunar). Finally, henbane is described in the context of other agents, such as dill for magical purposes, and as a painkiller.
Keywords: nightshade plants, solanum plants, henbane, Nordic mythology, Thing god, Woden, Wotan, Odin, Donar, Thor, ethnobotany, altered states of consciousness, shamanism, spells, dill, botany
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