DM Turner- The Esseential psychedelic guide

of psychedelics to facilitate development of the human brain is an important
part of his theory.
Worship involving psychedelic plants and their use in spiritual pursuits can
be traced to the beginnings of recorded history. The major role these plants
played in the formation of early religions has been documented by several
historians. R. Gordon Wasson has made a strong argument that the
inebriating Soma of the ancient Indian Rg Veda was the Amanita muscaria
mushroom. 1 Other historians have found evidence of psychedelic use in the
Eleusian and Dionysian rituals of ancient Greece. 2 Other references to
psychedelic plants can be found in ancient Buddhist, Hindu, and other far
Eastern texts. And in Africa, the use of Iboga was noted by the earliest
English explorers of the area.
Psychedelic plants are much more abundant in the New World and to this
day play a part in the religions of the Native Americans. When the Spanish
invaded what is now known as Mexico and South America they executed
psychedelic-using natives, and the religions and healing practices were
forced underground. A strong shamanic tradition persisted for centuries. In
the United States, only the Native American Church of North America
retained legal permission to continue religious use of its psychedelic
sacrament, Peyote.
The knowledge of one psychedelic sacrament, the psilocybe mushroom, was
all but lost to Europeans for centuries. R. Gordon Wasson began his quest
for knowledge about mushrooms in 1927, after he experienced a vast
difference in cultural attitude towards mushrooms between himself and his
Russian wife. Their research led to the understanding that the majority of
westerners are mycophobics, havmg a fear or loathing of mushrooms.
People in many other parts of the world are mycophiles, often being able to
distinguish many types of mushrooms by sight, knowing which are edible,
and having common names for the different species.
Wasson explored all he could find about mushrooms through folklore,
etymology, and references in literature and art. He came upon results
completely beyond anything he could have dreamed of: that mushrooms
which produce a "divine inebriation" have been used and worshipped in
numerous times and in several areas of the world
Wasson also discovered that an existing "mushroom cult" still continued
amongst certain Indians in Mexico, far removed from civilization. In 1955
he managed to get in touch with these Indians and participated in a
mushroom ceremony guided by a 65 year old shamaness, possibly
becoming the first white man to eat psilocybin mushrooms in hundreds of