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MUSHROOMS AND FUNGI – MUSHROOMS AND HUMANS

Those of you who already read the report are no doubt yearning to learn more about the topics we talked about there such as hallucinogenic plants. So today, we’ll be taking a much deeper dive into the relationship between mushrooms and fungi and mushrooms and humans. Settle in, because believe it or not, it’s been a pretty wild ride throughout the ages. There’s no better place to start than the beginning, right? As it happens, it just might be that the true beginning of the relationship between humans and mushrooms and cubensis spores started very, very long ago. Let’s continue to talk about the famous Stoned Ape Theory as proposed by the late, great ethnobiologist Terence McKenna.

IN THE BEGINNING… MAYBE! WHO WAS TERENCE MCKENNA, AND WHAT IS THE STONED APE THEORY?

Terence McKenna (1946 – 2000) was a well renowned ethnobotanist and author. Born in Colorado, McKenna would go on to join the likes of Timothy Leary as an outspoken proponent of psychedelics. He is perhaps best known for his “Stoned ape” theory, which—if true—would mean that even the early ancestors of modern humans had interactions with the Psilocybe cubensis mushroom. While criticisms of the theory have been presented over the years, it offers a fascinating possibility: have we modern humans, Homo sapiens, shared a relationship with fungi for quite literally our entire existence? The premise of McKenna’s theory goes something like this: our evolutionary predecessors, Homo erectus, were forced to migrate as a result of a shifting climate in Africa. As a result of those travels, new food sources had to be utilized, one of which might have been the psilocybe cubensis mushroom, otherwise known as “magic” mushrooms. Once Homo erectus began regularly consuming magic mushrooms, they experienced what could only be described as a mental expansion—an expansion of imagination, specifically. This shift in consciousness could have been responsible for the ultimate evolutionary shift to the particular brand of humanity we are now, Homo sapiens.

DURING ANCIENT TIMES, HUMANS WERE USING cubensis MUSHROOMS ALL OVER THE WORLD

Some of the earliest confirmed (or at least strongly suspected) cases of cubensis mushroom use come from around 11,000 years ago in Northern Africa. The aboriginal tribes there are thought to have created stone murals which depict the use of a local variety of Psilocybe cubensis. Later on, in Spain, it’s thought that Psilocybe hispanica is depicted in similar stone paintings, indicating that they may have been used in religious rituals. Similar artistic works have been found in Algeria, North America, Mexico, Guatemala, and Southern America across the ages. Needless to say, the influence of psychedelic mushrooms has had a strong impact on humanity for thousands of years.

PSYCHEDELICS – HALLUCINOGENS – AND ENTHEOGENS – OH MY

It’s important to understand that while we commonly think of cubensis mushrooms as “psychedelics” or “hallucinogens,” it’s more accurate to describe them as an entheogen. An entheogen is a psychoactive substance which is specifically used in religious or spiritual practices because of the changes in consciousness it can cause. For much of human history, Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms were used for that purpose, and probably less so for recreation. For example, indigenous Native American peoples, most notably the Aztecs and the Mayas, commonly used cubensis mushrooms and other entheogens like peyote and variations of morning glory plants and other hallucinogenic plants in their religious rituals. These rituals were often large gatherings or festivals enjoyed by the upper class of the society.

ANCIENT MUSHROOM RITUALS

Historians believe that magic mushrooms were used in the context of ancient mushroom religious rituals where the goal was to communicate with various deities. In fact, the Aztecs referred to cubensis mushrooms as teonanácatl, which roughly translates to “flesh of the gods” or “god mushroom.” It wasn’t until the Spanish arrived in Central America and began conquering the local people that these ancient mushroom rituals became less common. They were viewed as heresy against the Catholic church and fell out of common public practice. One cannot help but draw a comparison to the widespread banning of cubensis in the modern western world. Speaking of which, just how did the west first come to know magic mushrooms? In the next section, we’ll find out—and then we’ll discuss how and why cubensis mushrooms are illegal in the United States and many other countries (and why cubensis mushroom spores are not).

WHEN DID THE MODERN WESTERN WORLD FIRST BECOME EXPOSED TO cubensis MUSHROOMS?

It wasn’t until the mid 1950s that the mainstream of the western world and specifically the United States became aware of cubensis mushrooms. It’s possible some especially well traveled and adventurous Americans had experienced them prior to this time, but it was rare—and rarely discussed. The primary catalyst for this western awakening, as one might consider it, was when a Wall Street banker named R. Gordon Wasson, along with his wife Valentina and close friend and photographer Allan Richardson, visited a remote village in the mountains of Mexico where they participated in a religious ritual with the locals that involved cubensis mushrooms. Wasson wrote about it at length in what would become a popular article for Life Magazine. It’s a fascinating, colorful article, and it’s really no wonder that it excited the burgeoning class of western freethinkers. Evocative passages such as this abound. The visions emerged from the center of the field of vision, opening up as they came, now rushing, now slowly, at the pace that our will chose. They were in vivid color, always harmonious. They began with art motifs, angular such as might decorate carpets or textiles or wallpaper or the drawing board of an architect.