European witches flew after rubbing themselves with salves and unguents containing the skin-penetrating alkaloid atropine. Professor Harner also informs us that atropine is an active ingredient in the Datura genus of plants, known in the New World as Jimson weed, thorn apple, Gabriel’s trumpet, mad apple, and devil’s weed—the last being the variety whose root made Castaneda airborne. In fact, Harner predicted that Castaneda would fly like a witch before Castaneda rubbed himself with devil’s weed:
