Hi,
Not sure how to categorize this, I guess is a good scientific hypothesis of psychedelic medicine in ancient Chinese culture. So I am putting it here.
During one of my literary analysis of the ancient Chinese mythology, the story of the eight immortals caught my eye. I initially had a debate with my wife about how many female immortals are in that myth, this drew me to the person 蓝采荷. His name sounded more like a female Chinese name. Upon some close look, a surprising revelation comes to me. I previously have heard about the psychedelic compound within blue lilies, and that some Egyptian culture will use it for medicinal properties and divinations. This match perfectly to the story of Lan, as his name is short for blue lilies. In his story, he used to be a normal guy who is morally astute, and fought against injustice in the court of his majesty the Tang dynasty emperor. Subsequently, he was tested by other immortals, and was given a sort of holy water with lily leaves enveloping it. This substances was said to be curing everything, and making him one of the eight immortals.
I wonder how many of these ancient myth are just code for different recipes of psychedelic drugs.
What are the connections between blue lilies and Egyptian cultures? How did the ancient Chinese could have know about this since there is no evidence of high blue lilies population in the current Chinese mainland natural environment? How did they made the connection between immortality and the psychedelic experience? Why this experience seem to be universally connected to immortality?
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