PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOMS: BEYOND OURSELVES

Beyond the Psychedelic Renaissance and the current research on the use of psychedelics to improve mental health and relieve anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc., psilocybin mushrooms have been a sacred medicine for indigenous communities around the world for thousands of years.

There is a rich history of traditional ceremonial use, particularly in the Mazatec tradition of Oaxaca, Mexico.

According to the mazatec worldview, these mushrooms are beings or entities with personhood, and they are sacred allies that can connect us with the spiritual realm. Psilocybin mushrooms hold life as much as the earth, the air, the mountains, the rivers, the clouds, etc. When you approach the mushrooms with reverence and respect, you establish a reciprocal relationship, and the offering of healing, wisdom and connection happens.

The psilocybin mushrooms or niños santos are not isolated beings but an integral part of the landscape.

Psychedelic mushrooms create a communication bridge with the earth, rain, thunder, the ancestors, the guardians of the hills, the caves, springs, etc. Psilocybin mushrooms provide a level of communication that goes beyond ourselves and our conflicts, and into the connection to the land, ancestors and other beings.

What’s the benefit of using natural medicines such as psilocybin mushrooms?

Controlled studies done by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have revealed that psilocybin can treat depression, anxiety, existential dread, PTSD and addiction. In those studies, 80% of those who received psilocybin said it was one of the five most meaningful experiences of their lives; 50% said it was the single most meaningful experience of their lives.

The use of these sacred medicines invites us to connect to our core, to our inner child, to our own “niño santo”, and at the same time to the ancestral well that resides within, to the internal source that is unique in all of us, and interconnected to other systems of change and vitality. In that inner landscape is where we can regenerate and hold space for transformation, where we can connect to the fluidity of our lives.

What psychedelic mushrooms can help us understand is that what we call the Self is not fixed and static as we believe it to be, but more like a porous membrane in constant communication with the whole, in continued communication with all that is alive. They can remind us that we are also a vital part of the web of life.