For several
hundred years
the heart of the Mixeteco Mountains held a "divine" secret from
Europeans.
What began as a quest for the discovery of a mushroom rite in 1955
ended
in life-changing events for Robert Gordon Wasson, a banker, and his
friend
Allen Richardson, a photographer, who had come to Mexico in search of a
mushroom with vision-giving powers. They found their prize near this
marker
in the remote Mexican Indian village of Mixeteco, Oaxaca. The
basidiomycete Psilocybe mexicana grows in pastures, often
associated
with horse
or cow dung, and common during rainy seasons.
Some call the mushroom ‘nti sheetoand turn to it during times
of
distress with the belief believe that the mushroom will take them
closer
to God by enhancing their extrasensory perception in what seems a
religious
catechism. They believe that God speaks through the mushroom,
helping
to answer grave problems and consoling during troubled times. To
partake
in the mushroom rite is considered a privilege and is not taken
lightly.
Unlike alcohol in the United States which is consumed in mass
quantities
for mainly festival purposes, the magic mushroom is used to acquire
religious
insight. The practice, however, dates from deep into the past, before
the
Spanish conquest and introduction of Christianity. Near here on a June
night in 1955 Gordon and Richardson became the first outsiders to
witness
the secrets of the divine mushroom rite. The rite is conducted by a curandera
who begins by cleaning the mushrooms during a period of prayer.
Mushrooms
are partitioned in pairs and eaten with a slow chewing motion. The
mushrooms
are reported to have an unpleasant acrid taste that is accompanied by a
rancid odor that persists during consumption. Then participants
wait
silently in the darkness until hallucinations arrive. Clapping,
dancing,
chanting, and meditation are performed during the ritual while the curandera
invokes Christian saints for help. Wasson reported that his visions
were
unblurred and vividly colored. He saw images of everyday life as never
before --as if he were an outsider looking in. Wasson and his
colleagues
have been credited with establishing the field of ethnomycology
--A.
Reed
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