 Mushrooms - Many many species of mushrooms contain entheogens, especially the potent psilocybin molecule (a member of the tryptamine family of entheogens: the wildest, most organic, and most alien trips in the known universe). Psilocybin is like a magical key which simply melts the door to the imagination away. It introduces one to dimensions truly unimaginable in daily life- worlds of bizarre intelligent alien minds and entrancing geodesic orbs. The trip is very mathematically/geometrically oriented- one sees geometry as the ultimate artistic expression (LSD also shares this characteristic, but without the feeling that can only be described as “organic” and “friendly”, that make mushrooms many humans' drug of choice). Fractals upon the surface of clouds metamorphosize into winding tunnels of exponential laughter- a roller coaster for the soul- the riding-the-edge ecstasy a hawk must feel, as she dives, wings tucked and head pointing downward, for the joy of life itself.
A very interesting question to pose is: What happened when the first hominid consumed psilocybin containing mushrooms? What age in pre-history did that happen? What kind of cultural structures were set up around the use of the sacred mushrooms? Gordon Wasson, the esteemed ethnomycologist who was the first known white man to take entheogenic mushrooms, has some interesting things to say about this.
On the Tassili plateau, in what is now southern Algeria, there are cave paintings dating from at least 3500 B.C. They depict a man, backlit and glowing, with a beelike face, antlers or antennae, a pattern covering his body which can be interpreted as scales, all in beautiful order, and mushrooms. Sprouting from his body, clenched in his fists, mushrooms are erupting from this ancient artwork! There is also a handprint- the signature of the artist? The degree of fineness and workmanship is extaordinary- it is a full drawing, three dimensionally shaded, and the scales are truly in precise organic order- they look like the seed patterns on the face of a sun flower. Such workmanship is truly an accomplishment, with a piece of animal hair and wet mud (or other such tools) to paint with. Compare it to the level of two dimensional painting at the Les Trois Freres cave- there is a distinct difference! There are manymodern examples of entheogenic artwork which serve to show the profound beauty which may tumble out of an ecstatic artist's hands.
The psilocybin ecstatic experience may have been the original catalyst for the development of complex language forming capabilities in proto-humans. (Climatically, it is very possible that the Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms grew upon the African savannah (now the Sahara) 15,000 years ago.) Language is, indeed, one of the primary focuses of the mushroom trip. During the peak of a bemushroomed (or other tryptamine) trance, many users report a bizarre synesthesia- the hearing of colors and the seeing of sounds. This leads to the intonation of an spontaneous magical language, which produces objects in the space in front of the speaker- meaning may be literally beheld. Curanderos (an ancient class of entheogenic healers) of the warmer zones of the Americas are known for the curative songs which they sing- and, to those who are in the proper state of consciousness, these songs are not primarily heard, they are instead visual works, beautiful shimmering shapes and fabrics in space. After the intensity of the trip has broken over the user, washed her away, and receded, during the long, languid return to “ordinary” time and space, language is an incredible source of play and amusement. Puns, meanings, and the workings of the tongue in the mouth become both fascinating and funny learning experiences.
This article was taken from a Web site about Entheogens. The author never responded to our request to reprint it here, leading us to believe that he would indeed want to share this wonderful information with others. We are giving him/her full credit for the article, and thank him/her for their contribution to Entheogen Dot. |
