![]() Īmerican banker and amateur ethnomycologist R. For the next four centuries, the Indians of Mesoamerica hid their use of entheogens from the Spanish authorities. Īfter the defeat of the Aztecs, the Spanish forbade traditional religious practices and rituals that they considered "pagan idolatry", including ceremonial mushroom use. In Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the mushrooms were called teonanácatl, or "God's flesh".įollowing the arrival of Spanish explorers to the New World in the 16th century, chroniclers reported the use of mushrooms by the natives for ceremonial and religious purposes.Īccounts describe mushrooms being eaten in festivities for the accession of emperors and the celebration of successful business trips by merchants. Īrchaeological artifacts from Mexico have also been interpreted by some scholars as evidence for ritual and ceremonial usage of psychoactive mushrooms in the Mayan and Aztec cultures of Mesoamerica. Ħ,000-year-old pictographs discovered near the Spanish town of Villar del Humo illustrate several mushrooms that have been tentatively identified as Psilocybe hispanica, a hallucinogenic species native to the area. įor example, murals dated 9000 to 7000 BCE found in the Sahara desert in southeast Algeria depict horned beings dressed as dancers holding mushroom-like objects. In Mesoamerica, they have been consumed in ritual ceremonies for 3000 years. ![]() 8.4 Hallucinogen-perception persisting disorder (HPPD)Ĭave art in Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria (look at the shoulders and knees)Ī growing body of evidence suggests that psychoactive mushrooms have been used by humans in religious ceremonies for thousands of years.It is highly advised to use harm reduction practices if using this substance. However, adverse psychological reactions such as severe anxiety, paranoia, delusions and psychosis are always possible, particularly among individuals predisposed to mental disorders. Unlike most highly prohibited substances, psilocybin mushrooms have low abuse potential and are neither addictive nor physiologically toxic. They also are reported to produce slightly more emotion enhancement, time distortion and ego loss than the aforementioned substances, as well as more nausea, confusion, and sedation. In distinction to psychedelics like LSD, mescaline, and 2C-B, which may be described as "stimulating", "cerebral", and "bright", psilocybin mushrooms are typically described as having an "earthy", "subliminal", or "dream-like" quality. They are often described to evoke entheogenic, mystical-like, or transpersonal experiences that may facilitate self-reflection and personal growth. The intensity and duration of effects can vary greatly depending on factors such as species and batch, which can complicate standardized dosing information (see this section). Subjective effects include visual geometry, hallucinatory states, time distortion, enhanced introspection, conceptual thinking, euphoria, and ego loss. As a part of the so-called "psychedelic renaissance", they are currently being investigated in the treatment of a number of ailments including anxiety, depression, addiction, and other mental disorders. Today, they are among the most widely used psychedelic substances (partly due to the ease of personal cultivation and harvesting). Widespread usage of psychedelics provoked a societal backlash, and they were prohibited in 1970. Along with LSD, they were incorporated into the youth counterculture movement of the 1960s. Based on imagery found in prehistoric rock art, they are thought to have been used by various human cultures since before recorded history.Īfter being introduced to the Western world in the 1950s, they generated substantial public interest. Psilocybin mushrooms occur on all continents and have been taxonomically classified into over 200 species, the most potent of which belong to the genus Psilocybe. The mechanism of action is not fully known, although binding activity at serotonin receptors is thought to be involved. Psilocybin mushrooms (also known as magic mushrooms, psychedelic mushrooms, and shrooms) are a family of psychoactive fungi that contain psilocybin, a psychedelic substance of the tryptamine class. Psilocybe cubensis, one of the most common psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
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