The Mythical Side of Shrooms: Folklore and Mythology
Many narratives depicted how shroom was linked to the mystical realm. Many accounts, like Gordon Wasson’s, have featured its emergence in folklore and mythology as a symbol of divine communication and enlightenment.
In ancient India, the Soma—a ritual drink described in the Vedas—was believed to induce altered states of consciousness. Many scholars like Wasson speculate that it may have been made from psychoactive plants, specifically, fly agaric. Some also say that this ancient concoction is a mixture of many plants.
Wherever it may have come from, the psychedelic past says that soma made sacred symbols appear during ceremonies. This highly represents the drink’s access to higher realms of knowledge or spiritual enlightenment.
The Modern Era
Summary of the Beginning Point
There are early accounts in pre-Columbian history of Mayans and Aztecs using psilocybin mushrooms. The Spanish prohibited its use in the 15th and 16th centuries as they considered it to be uncivilized.
The shamans ignored the law and secretly used mushies. For over 4 centuries, they preserved their cultural heritage and continued taking magic mushrooms.
Westerns Resurgence
During the 1950s, cubes were introduced to the Western civilized world by key proponents like R. Gordon Wasson, Roger Heim, and Albert Hofmann. While on the expedition in Mexico, the three managed to extract the two psychedelic drugs (psilocybin and psilocin) found inside the shrooms that they had collected from the Mazatec tribe.
Wasson then detailed his discovery of magic shrooms, their use, and his findings in Life magazine. With all these writings and the spread of word of mouth, the drug gained popularity as a psychedelic substance.
In the 1960s, it became closely associated with the Hippie culture; it made a buzz and soon considered cubes the gateway to spirituality. It sparked huge debates that shaped the revolution of hallucinogenic drugs for recreational use.
Continuation of the Summary: The Global Crackdown
In 1971, psilocybin was labelled as one of the illegal drugs by the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances as a Schedule 1 drug. This was along with Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and N, N-Dimethyltryptamine. Back then, the experts deemed them to have no medical value and a high potential for abuse.
This has led to widespread criminalization in Western countries, including Canada and the U.S. As a result, the spiritual and therapeutic practices of the drug were severely limited.