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The Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation


“Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation” is a new and unique podcast focusing on the hallucinogenic plants and fungi whose impact on world culture and religion – and healing potential - is only now beginning to be appreciated as never before.

Aug 13, 2025

The spice trade was one of the most influential economic and cultural forces that shaped the modern world. It profoundly impacted cultural exchange, cartographic knowledge and technology, cuisine, spycraft, and medicine. The spice trade strengthened mercantile capitalism and spread both Islam and Christianity while destroying indigenous cultures and tropical rainforests. This episode examines the spice trade from an ethnobotanical perspective.

 

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Miller, James Innes. The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire, 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Clarendon P, 1969.

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