# By Oak, Ash, & Thorn  ## Metadata - Author: [[D.J. Conway]] - Full Title: By Oak, Ash, & Thorn - Category: #books ## Highlights - Advances in neurochemistry have recently shown that the human brain produces its own consciousness-altering drugs, one of which is dimethyltryptamine. ([Location 130](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00472NPD6&location=130)) - Tags: [[orange]] - The term "ecstasy" is applied by Mircea Eliade to shamanism. The SSC is a state of exaltation or rapturous delight, which is also a description of the state achieved by Christian mystics. The shamanic trance-state is much safer than dreaming. In a dream, a person very often cannot voluntarily awaken and thus remove her/himself from an unwanted experience, particularly in a nightmare. In the SSC, the shaman wills her/himself into the altered state of mind and is able to remove her/himself at any time. There are no uncontrolled, inescapable "bad trips," such as occur under the influence of drugs. ([Location 137](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00472NPD6&location=137)) - Tags: [[orange]] - The prime purpose of a shaman's work today, as well as in the past, is to help others, whether this is prophetic or simply involving the patient in self-healing. By helping others transcend ordinary reality, the shaman can help them transcend their pictures of themselves as sick or diseased. When the individual can do this, she/he knows from the results of the work that she/he has become a true shaman. ([Location 187](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00472NPD6&location=187)) - Tags: [[orange]]