Since at least 5,000 B.C., people have used "spiritual mushrooms" in their religious rituals. The San Peoples of Tassili in southeast Algeria left behind cave paintings illustrating dancing, masked medicine men with mushrooms in their hands. It's believed the mushrooms were of the consciousness-altering variety.
The area of Tassili is today an arid and desolate mountainous region of the Sahara desert but in the day of the cave painters, it had a habitable savannah-like climate with cattle, crocodiles and other large animals. Cultural ties of the San Peoples are evidenced across the Sahara region from Chad to Egypt, and perhaps in extension all the way to Greece.
The Greek Eleusinian Mysteries - spiritual initiation ceremonies - date back to 1,600 B.C. and for two millennia it was the most important spiritual initiation ceremony of ancient Europe. Many scholars believe the ceremony employed the use of mind-altering mushrooms. With participants such as Plato and Aristotle, the influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries on the formation of western culture cannot be underestimated.
Further north and a thousand years later, the Vikings used Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) to overcome fear before going into battle. In pre-battle spiritual ceremonies, they ate mushrooms and danced through the woods with wild abandon.
Granted, most of us would not consider this form of warrior spirituality in any way "admirable." But it was part of the Viking religious practices, whatever our opinion of them may be. Meanwhile, to the east, Siberian shamans also used Fly agaric as a spiritual tool to communicate with their deities.
In a controversial book titled Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality by R. Gordon Wasser, Fly agaric is even attributed as the source of the Vedic juice called "soma" - a liquid described to have been used in ancient Hindu religious practices, and said to be bestow divine qualities to the soul of the consumer, even immortality.
(Please note: Fly agaric is poisonous. It can also be easily confused with other more deadly species. Consumption is strongly discouraged.)
Across the Atlantic Ocean, spiritual rituals using consciousness-altering mushrooms were first recorded in the Mixtec Codex, which is of uncertain age from between the 13th and 15th centuries. In ancient engravings, the Mixtec gods are often depicted with mushrooms in their hands.
In spite of the fact that the Mixtec people of central Mexico self-professed to use spiritual mushrooms in their religious ceremonies, western scholars still questioned it in a characteristically condescending fashion.
An American botanist named William Safford was convinced that peyote buttons were confused for mushrooms, while other scholars maintained that the Mixtec tribe truly did use consciousness-altering mushrooms in their spiritual practices.
This debate carried on until amateur anthropologist Robert Weitlaner was invited to observe a Mixtec religious ceremony in the early 1930's and witnessed the use of mushrooms firsthand.
Two decades later, R. Gordon Wasser and his wife Valentina Povlovna were the first white people to participate in a Velada (mushroom ceremony). This religious ceremony lead by shaman Don Aurelio was described by Wasson in a 1957 Life Magazine article, which became the spring-board for public awareness of mind-altering mushrooms.
Out of 60 Psilocybe species, 25 are known to contain the mind-altering compounds psilocin (unstable) and psilocybin (stable). The two species Psilocybin caerulescens and Psilocybin mexicana are believed to be the ones used by the Mixtec. Although Psilocybin cubensis is now more common even in America, it is believed to have arrived with the Europeans.
Viewed as recreational drugs, mind-altering mushrooms have been prohibited in most countries since the early 1970's. The exception, which will come as no surprise, was The Netherlands, where fresh Psilocybe mushrooms were legal until very recently.
That all changed after a French 17-year-old girl jumped off a bridge when eating Psilocybe mushrooms. The Dutch parliament responded with a ban on the sale of so called "magic mushrooms," which took effect December 1, 2008. From Tassili to Amsterdam, the use of spiritual mushrooms is now officially history.
The area of Tassili is today an arid and desolate mountainous region of the Sahara desert but in the day of the cave painters, it had a habitable savannah-like climate with cattle, crocodiles and other large animals. Cultural ties of the San Peoples are evidenced across the Sahara region from Chad to Egypt, and perhaps in extension all the way to Greece.
The Greek Eleusinian Mysteries - spiritual initiation ceremonies - date back to 1,600 B.C. and for two millennia it was the most important spiritual initiation ceremony of ancient Europe. Many scholars believe the ceremony employed the use of mind-altering mushrooms. With participants such as Plato and Aristotle, the influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries on the formation of western culture cannot be underestimated.
Further north and a thousand years later, the Vikings used Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) to overcome fear before going into battle. In pre-battle spiritual ceremonies, they ate mushrooms and danced through the woods with wild abandon.
Granted, most of us would not consider this form of warrior spirituality in any way "admirable." But it was part of the Viking religious practices, whatever our opinion of them may be. Meanwhile, to the east, Siberian shamans also used Fly agaric as a spiritual tool to communicate with their deities.
In a controversial book titled Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality by R. Gordon Wasser, Fly agaric is even attributed as the source of the Vedic juice called "soma" - a liquid described to have been used in ancient Hindu religious practices, and said to be bestow divine qualities to the soul of the consumer, even immortality.
(Please note: Fly agaric is poisonous. It can also be easily confused with other more deadly species. Consumption is strongly discouraged.)
Across the Atlantic Ocean, spiritual rituals using consciousness-altering mushrooms were first recorded in the Mixtec Codex, which is of uncertain age from between the 13th and 15th centuries. In ancient engravings, the Mixtec gods are often depicted with mushrooms in their hands.
In spite of the fact that the Mixtec people of central Mexico self-professed to use spiritual mushrooms in their religious ceremonies, western scholars still questioned it in a characteristically condescending fashion.
An American botanist named William Safford was convinced that peyote buttons were confused for mushrooms, while other scholars maintained that the Mixtec tribe truly did use consciousness-altering mushrooms in their spiritual practices.
This debate carried on until amateur anthropologist Robert Weitlaner was invited to observe a Mixtec religious ceremony in the early 1930's and witnessed the use of mushrooms firsthand.
Two decades later, R. Gordon Wasser and his wife Valentina Povlovna were the first white people to participate in a Velada (mushroom ceremony). This religious ceremony lead by shaman Don Aurelio was described by Wasson in a 1957 Life Magazine article, which became the spring-board for public awareness of mind-altering mushrooms.
Out of 60 Psilocybe species, 25 are known to contain the mind-altering compounds psilocin (unstable) and psilocybin (stable). The two species Psilocybin caerulescens and Psilocybin mexicana are believed to be the ones used by the Mixtec. Although Psilocybin cubensis is now more common even in America, it is believed to have arrived with the Europeans.
Viewed as recreational drugs, mind-altering mushrooms have been prohibited in most countries since the early 1970's. The exception, which will come as no surprise, was The Netherlands, where fresh Psilocybe mushrooms were legal until very recently.
That all changed after a French 17-year-old girl jumped off a bridge when eating Psilocybe mushrooms. The Dutch parliament responded with a ban on the sale of so called "magic mushrooms," which took effect December 1, 2008. From Tassili to Amsterdam, the use of spiritual mushrooms is now officially history.
About the Author:
Dr. Markho Rafael has worked with natural health products since the mid-90's, now specializing in medicinal fungi. He does not support the use of consciousness-altering mushrooms. The article on this page is for entertainment only. Click cordyceps to visit site for more free mushroom articles, or cordyceps reishi for mycomedicinal products. Note: Absolutely no magic mushroom products, please do not inquire.
