About the Author

Christian Rätsch

Dr. phil. Christian Rätsch studied Ancient American Studies, Ethnology, and Folklore in Hamburg and earned his doctorate on the Lacandon people. He learned the Mayan language of the Lacandon Indians living in Chiapas, Mexico, where he lived for a total of three years. For twenty years, Rätsch has been researching shamanic cultures worldwide and their ethnopharmacological, ethnomedical, and ritual use of plants. He is an internationally sought-after speaker. He lives with his wife, Dr. phil. Claudia Müller-Ebeling, as a freelance ethnopharmacologist, speaker, and author in Hamburg.