What is psilocybin?
Psilocybin is a type of sacred mushroom that was used by tribal shamans. These mushrooms were used in rituals mainly as a method of healing patients of the tribes. Psilocybin mushrooms were used together with other sacred plants, such as Salvia divinorum leaves, and the seeds of Rivea Corymbosa and Ipomoea violacea. This sacred fungus was used mostly by Mazatec shamans, located in Mexico.
The Mazatec people
The Mazatec people have been widely recognized for their ritual and therapeutic uses of psilocybin mushrooms. These rituals are popularly known as “veladas”. They have been widely described in the anthropological literature since the late 1950s, especially since the meeting between María Sabina and Robert Gordon Wasson in 1955, although the first studies by Blas Pablo Reko, Jean Bassett Johnson, Robert Weitlaner and Richard Evans Schultes date from of the 19th century. late 1930s.
The specific knowledge of the Mazatec shamans is neither unique nor new. Its roots extend to the ancient Mesoamerican tradition. For example, practices such as divination with grains of corn are recorded in codices from the 16th century and are still present in other indigenous practices today.
Deities have chosen shamans in Mesoamerica either through dreams, initiation rites, or due to persistent and unexplained illness. The ability to heal and communicate with sacred entities is considered a given gift and implies a permanent commitment to the community and the divinities. Among the Mazatecs, these sages are the chjota chijne.
Becoming a Chota Chijne
To access knowledge and become a chjota chijne there are several paths that are lived in three ways: being born with the gift, self-interest and the interest of a third party; in the latter case, the person can be chosen by a chjota chijne, by a main being, or by the sacred mushrooms, psilocybin The communication and interaction between the chjota chijne and the “main beings” or sacred entities occurs through several types of ecstatic trance, such as fasting, self-sacrifice or the use of plants, fungi and animals with psychoactive properties.
Among the best known and most sacred are the psilocybin mushrooms, the leaves of Salvia divinorum, also known as “Ska Pastora” or herb of the shepherdess, and the seeds of Rivea Corymbosa and Ipomoea violacea, popularly known as “Seeds of the Virgin”. ”. The chjota chijne do not necessarily use all of the fungi and plants mentioned above, depending on the patient’s illness, the time of year the plants are available, or the specialization that each shaman has.
The wisdom of the Mazatec shamans or chjota chijne lies in the knowledge of the properties of each of these plants and the different uses that each one has. If there is a patient at the time when there are no fungi, the leaves of the shepherdess are used. Of course, the Shepherdess is not strong enough. The “Seeds of the Virgin”, which were created by the Virgin herself, are also used in cases of divination.
