Tripping the Trail of Ghosts

Tripping the Trail of Ghosts by P. D. Newman delves into the exploration of psychedelic spiritual practices and afterlife beliefs among the Mississippi mound cultures.

Examining the Path of Souls or Trail of Ghosts, a Native American model for the after-death journey, the book demonstrates how psychoactive plants were used to evoke the liminal state between life and death in initiatory rites and spirit journeys. It also explores the symbology of the large earthwork mounds erected by the Indigenous people of the Mississippi Valley and how they connect to the Path of Souls.

The use of hallucinogenic substances like peyote and desert tobacco has long played a significant role in the spiritual practices and traditions of Native Americans. While the majority of those practices are well documented, the relationship between entheogens and Native Americans of the Southeast has gone largely unexplored.

P. D. Newman examines the role of psychoactive plants in afterlife traditions, sacred rituals, and spirit journeying by shamans of the Mississippian mound cultures. He explores in depth the Native American death journey known as the Path of Souls, illustrating how practices such as fasting and trancework, when used with psychedelic plants like jimsonweed, black nightshade, morning glory, and amanita and psilocybin mushrooms, could evoke the liminal state between life and death in initiatory rites and spirit journeys for shamans and chiefs.

The book further explores the earthwork and platform mounds built by Indigenous cultures of the Mississippi Valley, suggesting they likely served as early models for the Path of Souls. Newman also draws parallels between the Ghost Trail afterlife journey and the well-known Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead.