1. Antiquity of the Use of New World Hallucinogens Richard Evans
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The Heffter Review of Psychedelic Research, Volume 1, 1998 1. Antiquity of the Use of New World Hallucinogens Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D., F.M.L.S “In the exudates and decoctions from trees and herbs, man has found principles that have permitted him to experience a kinship with the whole of creation.” -- William Emboden (1979) Abstract: A review of psychoactive plants known from archaeological contexts and artistic representations shows that their use has spanned centuries, continuing in places in Mexico and South America to the present day. The discovery of the unusual properties of these plants took place as part of the exploration of the physical milieu of the Western Hemisphere. That these plants must in some cases be made into infusions in order to be consumed reveals ancient enterprise in manipulating aspects of the environment. The surprising results obtained from treating psychoactive plants allowed their users to communicate more directly with the unseen world which they believed to exist. It was the great German toxicologist Louis Lewin (1931) who wrote that "from the beginning of our knowledge of man, we find him consuming substances of no nutritive value, but taken for the sole purpose of producing for a certain time a feeling of contentment, ease and comfort." There is ample material proof that narcotics and other psychoactive plants, such as hallucinogens, were employed in many cultures in both hemispheres thousands of years ago. The material proof exists in some archaeological specimens of the plants in contexts indicating magico-religious use and in art forms such as paintings, rock carvings, golden amulets, ceramic artifacts, stone figurines, and monuments. Aquifoliaceae Guayusa (Ilex Guayusa) the grave with great care, gave positive tests for Guayusa, while probably not hallucinogenic as caffeine after 1500 years (Schultes 1972). ordinarily used, is definitely psychoactive, due to its Several caffeine-yielding species of Ilex have high concentration of caffeine. A tea of the leaves is been the source of beverages, especially yerba maté still used by the Jivaro and other Indians in Ecuador in Argentina, yaupon in the southeastern United as a stimulant and, in highly concentrated doses, as States, shui-chatze in Tibet and China (Hartwich an emetic for purification before ceremonies or 1911; Hu 1979). The presence in the Bolivian burial important tribal conferences. These functions were of so much equipment associated with snuffing and well developed long before the Spanish Conquest, the actual remnants of a powder clearly indicate that and the Jesuits early established a lucrative market the leaves were taken as a snuff: there is no reason to for the leaves in Europe as a cure for syphilis and believe that caffeine administered in this way would other diseases; according to their records, they not be absorbed into the general circulation through maintained a large plantation of Ilex Guayusa in the nasal mucosa. This discovery is the only one southern Colombia, the remnants of which can still which unequivocally shows that a caffeine-rich be seen (Patiño 1968; Schultes 1979). Today, product was used as a snuff. guayusa leaves are sold for medicinal purposes in If the extra tubes are correctly interpreted as Quito, Ecuador, and Pasto, Colombia, where they clysters, they may further indicate application by were believed to cure a wide spectrum of ills. enema, in which caffeine could likewise be absorbed It was with great surprise that an archaeological into the general circulation. No caffeine-rich plant find indicated the early use of these leaves in distant has ever been known to have been used in this way, Bolivia. In the tomb of a medicine man of the although rectal administration of tobacco, yopo, and culture, dated about A.D. 500, were found several other drugs in the New World is clearly perfectly preserved bundles of flattened leaves neatly substantiated. tied with fibrous material. In association with these bundles was a snuffing tube, other tubes that have Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) been interpreted as clysters, bamboo storage tubes for In the southeastern part of the United States, the powder, spatulas, snuff trays, and a mortar and Indians were employing a strong tea of Ilex pestle. The guayusa leaves, which were prepared for vomitoria - known as the Black Drink - as a 1 Schultes, Antiquity of Hallucinogen Use ceremonial stimulant and emetic when the first now known that mushroom ceremonies in southern Europeans arrived (Hale 1891; Milanich 1979). Mexico use at least two dozen species of mushrooms This tea was made by boiling large doses of leaves in several genera, the most important being for a long time, until the resulting solution was a Stropharia, Psilocybe, and Panaeolus (Guzmán 1959; dark green. In such concentrated infusions, the plant 1977; Heim 1963; Ott and Bigwood 1978; Schultes easily acts as an emetic and, so far as we know from 1939; 1969; Singer 1958; Wasson 1973; Wasson and early records, this ritualistic cleansing of the body Wasson 1957). before important tribal convocations was its The mushrooms are usually employed fresh and principal use amongst the American Indians - a dry. Their shamanistic use is today extraordinarily custom closely paralleled by the use of guayusa today important, especially among the Indians of Oaxaca. among the Jivaros of Ecuador. The officiating shaman in tribes of southern Mexico Evidence of its use in North America from - Mazatecs, Zapotecs, and others - may often be a archaeological contexts is circumstantial but woman. The all-night ceremony among the convincing. Cult objects from gravesites such as Mazatecs of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca often shell drinking cups engraved with cult symbols have includes a curing ritual; the most famous of the been interpreted as vessels for the ceremony of the shamans of this region, Maria Sabina, sings Black Drink. These shell cups, dating ca. A.D. throughout the night and prays for power from 1200, were widespread in the Southeast. Residues spiritual realms through the mushrooms. Since the believed to be from evaporated Black Drink have modern ceremony is part-Christian, part pagan, all been found in some (Milanich 1979). possible help is implored. The following sampling of the night-long chants in Mazatec (translated) Bolbitiaceae, Strophariaceae shows their variety: Teonanacatl (Stropharia cubensis; Panaeolus sphinctrinus) The law which is good Lawyer woman am I. The early Spanish ecclesiastics in conquered Woman of paper work am I. Mexico were much disturbed by pagan religions I go to the sky, centered upon the sacramental use of several Woman who stops the world am I. mushrooms known in Nahuatl as teonanacatl ("flesh Legendary woman who cures am I. of the gods"). Divination, prophecy, communion Father Jesus Christ with the spirit world, and curing rituals depended I am truly a woman of law, upon the narcotic intoxication induced by these I am truly a woman of justice... mushrooms and interpretation of the visual and/or Woman of space am I, auditory hallucinations accompanying the intoxi- Woman of day am I, cation. Persecution drove these Indian practices into Woman of light am I... the hinterland, so no archaeological evidence of the I give account to my Lord magico-religious use of mushrooms was found for a And I give account to the judge, long time. It was even doubted that teonanacatl was And I give account to the government, a mushroom; the idea that, because a dried And I give account to the Father Jesus Christ, mushroom resembled the dried top of the peyote And my mother princess, my patron mother. cactus, teonanacatl was but another name for peyote Oh, Jesus, Father Jesus Christ, was widely accepted (Safford 1915). Not until the Woman of danger am I, late 1930s and early 1940s were identifiable Woman of beauty am I... mushrooms collected from contexts interpreted as ceremonial (Schultes 1939). The modern center of The antiquity of sacred mushroom cults in the area in which this mushroom is used is in the Mexico and adjacent areas is now well established, Mexican state of Oaxaca, among the Mazatecs. and they appear to have deep roots in centuries of The velada or mushroom ceremony among the native tradition. Frescoes from central Mexico dated Mazatecs is usually held in response to a request by a to AD 300, indicate that mushroom worship goes person needing to consult the mushrooms about a back at least 1700 years (Wasson 1980). Stylized problem. A complicated diagnostic or curing ritual mushroom caps - undoubtedly Psilocybe aztecorum - frequently takes place during an all-night ceremony decorate the pedestal of a statue of Xochipili (Aztec (Schultes 1939; Wasson et al. 1974). One or two god of flowers) discovered on the slopes of Mount monitors who do not take the mushrooms must be Popocatepetl and dated to approximately AD 1450 present to listen to what is said. Certain abstinences (Wasson 1973). A terra-cotta artifact, ca. 100-300 must be practiced preparatory to the ceremony. It is AD, found in Colimo, shows figures dancing around 2 The Heffter Review of Psychedelic Research, Volume 1, 1998 a Psilocybe-like mushroom (Furst 1974). Clay williamsii), today widely valued as a sacred figurines with mushroom effigy "horns" from Jalisco intoxicant in magico-religious ceremonies in central are about 1800 years old (Furst 1974). A terra-cotta and northern Mexico and the basis of a religious cult figurine of the Remojadas style found in Vera Cruz among Indians of the United States and Canada - depicts a curandera praying over a mushroom; the was of great age. It is the spineless top of the peyote artifact is about 2000 years old (Heim 1967). cactus that is usually taken in Indian ceremonies. Even more remarkable are the so-called Most frequently, it is dried into a so-called "peyote "mushroom stones" found at highland Mayan sites in button," but sometimes the freshly severed crown of Guatemala.