Jochen Gartz - Magic Mushrooms Around the ... - preterhuman.net

CHAPTER 7.2
MYCOPHILIA IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
Compared to the time of Wasson and
Heim's discovery, recent decades have brought
significant changes to several regions of Mexico in
terms of how local Indians relate to the
psychotropic Psilocybe species. In many remote
parts of the country, mushroom cults still exist in
their specific contemporary forms which combine
Christian views with elements from pagan and pre-
Christian Nature religions.
By contrast, in other parts of the country,
mushroom rituals have fallen into disuse in the
wake of interaction with Mexico's "modern life"
and its tourism industry. When Guzman
investigated the taxonomy and geographic
distribution of Psilocybe aztecorum Heim in 1978,
he noted that several active "curanderas" had been
the focal point of sacred mushroom worship 20
years earlier. Today, the next generation of Indians
no longer ingest the mushrooms and consider the
hallucinogenic species to be nothing but a popular
trading commodity for Western tourists.
Starting in the 1960s, large numbers of
young people from industrialized nations
("hippies") began to visit the centers of mushroom
worship as tourists, favoring the state of Oaxaca.
They came mostly from the United States, and
initially their main destination was the village of
Huautla de Jiminez, to visit Maria Sabina, who
guided R.G. Wasson during his first mushroom
session in 1955. To the extent that magic
mushrooms have been labeled "fool's mushrooms"
or "joker's mushrooms" in Europe, it is interesting
to note here that Maria Sabina herself repeatedly
referred to the mushrooms as "clowns" and called
herself "chief of the clowns" or "lord of the
clowns". In Mexico, magic mushrooms are also
known as "mushrooms of pure laughter".
Today we know that this run on Mexico's
mushrooms helped destroy the cultural identity of
the native Indians, causing discontent and rising
crime rates in several villages. Self-appointed
"curanderas", with no traditional roots, presided
over mass ceremonies with magic mushrooms.
Participants who had panic reactions did little to
ease tensions among the local population. Finally,
the police and the army were called in to put an
end to the resulting turmoil. Mushroom tourism
in Mexico dropped off rapidly, especially after
similar species were discovered in other
countries. Despite legal prohibitions, however,
various Psilocybe species are still being sold to
tourists in some areas of the country today. This
phenomenon is not limited to Mexico. In the mid-
1970s, Lowy reported from Guatemala that
Indian children near the capital city were offering
Psilocybe mexicana Heim for sale to foreigners, a
trading practice that has been observed in other
parts of the country as well.
Experts on bluing gilled mushrooms, who
travelled to South America and the Caribbean,
discovered several psychotropic species (e.g.
Panaeolus cyanescens in Jamaica), even before
mycological research established the existence of
these species. According to those few scientific
publications on taxonomic identity, the two most
commonly used species are Psilocybe cubensis
and Panaeolus cyanescens. Around 1970, tourists
who had previously been looking for Psilocybe
species in Mexico learned that they are abundant
among Colombia's mycoflora as well.
Consequently, knowledge about these
mushrooms spread quickly among Colombian
youngsters, possibly as a result of Central
America's Indian tradition. Thousands set out in
search of these species in and around their areas
of residence. Special communes were formed,
situated in idyllic regions of the Andes
Mountains. The most famous among them was
known as La Miel ("honey"). Psilocybe cubensis
and the Panaeolus species were also found to be
common across those regions of Amazonia where
Colombia, Peru and Brazil share common
borders. The archaeological park at San Augustin
near Bogota has been dubbed "heart of the magic
mushroom land". These species have also been
used in Peru. During the 1980s, road side signs
proclaiming "No To San Ysidro Drugs!" were a
common sight. The slogans referred to Psilocybe