Sacred Mushrooms and Man: Diversity and Traditions in the World,
with Special Reference to Psilocybe
Gaston Guzman
(Click on numbers below to view images
connected to this chapter.)
“Nanacatépetl” glyph (hill of the mushrooms) in the Lienzo of Zacatepec No. 1 (Mexico) (from Wasson, 1980), an Indian head in relationship with mushrooms in the brain (probably Psilocybe zapotecorum or P. muliercula about Guzmán) (see fig. 31).
Important hallucinogenic fungi belong to Psilocybe (except 11 and 12). 2: P. mairei from Algeria, 3: P. hispanica from Spain, 4: P. mexicana from Mexico, 5: P. caerulescens from Mexico, 6: P. hoogshagenii from Mexico, 7: P. cubensis from Mexico and all the tropical and subtropical world, 8: P. aztecorum from Mexico, 9: P. muliercula from Mexico, 10: P. semilanceata from Europe and USA, 11: Panaeolus sphinctrinus a confused narcotic fungus not used by the indigenous people, 12: Claviceps purpurea, ergot, from temperate regions, used in the past in Greece, 13: P. kumaenorum from Papua New Guinea, but not used by the indigenous people, 13 bis: P. yungensis from Mexico and South America (all from Guzmán).
Two of the main hallucinogenic mushrooms. 14: Amanita muscaria, the “fly agaric” common in all of the world (from Fanti), 15: Psilocybe zapotecorum, “corona de Cristo” in Mexico and in all Latin America (from Halling).
Prehistoric murals with the use of psilocybes. 16-18.Tassili murals in the Sahara Desert. 16: situation of Tassili, 17: running men with a mushroom in one hand, 18: a shaman cover by mushrooms, 19-20: Spanish mural (19, natural, 20 a digital tracing). Note the line of the mushrooms pointed out by the arrows, note also the bulls and the deers (16-18 from Samorini, 2001; 19 from Piper, 20 from Ruiz).
The prehispanic use of Amanita muscaria in Mexico. 21: Capacha Culture in the Regional Museum at Guadalajara (from Fanti), 22-23: stone button of A. muscaria, front and back views respectively (from Guzmán), 24: A. muscaria in button (from Fanti).
Náhuatl heads with the effects by Amanita muscaria on the face (in the mind), 25: on the visions by the eyes, 26: on the mind, through a deformation of the face(from de Borhegyi collection).
The relationships of the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms with the god Quetzalcóatl. 27: Embracing Capacha Indians surrounding a tall mushroom (Psilocybe zapotecorum) by the macropsia effect (from Furst, 1974), 28: Ceremony in honor to Quetzalcóatl (from Donitz et al., 2001). Note in all the personages the snake-hat and the arms as snakes.
Psilocybe cubensis (known also as Stropharia cubensis by Heim) is a tropical and subtropical hallucinogenic mushroom on cow dung, named “San Isidro” in Mexico (from Guzmán).
Two important codices. 30: Part of the Magliabechiano Codex with the ingestion of “teonanácatl”; note the green mushrooms because they are bluing; the personage in the back of the Indian is the god of the mushroom (the mushroom is Psilocybe zapotecorum about Guzmán) (from Heim and Wasson, 1958), 31: Codex No. 27 with Nanacatepetl glyph, hill of the mushrooms, two mushrooms at the top, which about Guzmán they are P. zapotecorum or P. muliercula (from Caso, 1963) (compared with fig. 1).
Mushroom stones from the Maya culture. 32: The first piece found in El Salvador in the end of the IX Century, now in Zürich (Japanese copy, from Martínez-Carrera). 33: Mayan mushroom stones from Guatemala (from Ulloa). 34-35. Two Mayan mushroom stones with the personages head first, related with the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms (from Wasson, 1980).
Archeological pieces related with mushrooms. 36-38: Golden pectorals from Darién (Panama), personages with two mushrooms on the head (note the winds and the big earrings) (from Schultes and Hofmann, 1979). 39: A Colombian Indian woman in ecstasy, with two mushrooms (from C.M. Torres). 40: A Peruvian figure with a mushroom in his a hand and other on the hat (from the Denver Museum). 41: A Roman carved stone from an old market in Algeria (the mushrooms seems Volvariella about Guzmán) (from Harshberger, 1929).
Two different cultures, a Mazatec Mexican Indian teaching on hallucinogenic mushrooms and Dr. Singer, the scientific listening (from Guzmán in 1957).
Distribution of the sacred mushrooms in the world. A-E: At the present, A-B Ojibwa Indians on Canada and USA, respectively. C several ethnic groups in Mexico, D several indigenous people in Papua New Guinea, E Siberian tribes. 1-13: In the past, 1-3 several ethnic groups in Mexico, 4 Mayan mushroom stones from Guatemala and El Salvador, 5 Darién, Panama, 6 Colombia, 7 Peru, 8 Tassili, Algeria, 9 Spain, 10-11 France and Germany with some murals and carved, 12 Eleusis, in Greece, 13 Chukotka, Siberian petroglyphs (Note: Roman mosaics and the carved in Algeria are missing) (from Guzmán).
