Teonanacatl: Sacred Mushroom of Visions

by Ralph Metzner

Teonanácatl was the name given to the visionary mushrooms of indigenous Mesoamerica by the Aztecs, who used them in shamanic religious ceremonies for healing and divination. Condemned by the Catholic church and driven underground, the mushroom cult re-appeared in mainstream Western culture through an article in LIFE magazine in 1957 by the legendary ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson, who wrote about his participation in a mushroom ceremony with a Mazatec sage woman healer named Maria Sabina. The psychoactive principle of the visionary mushroom was identified as psilocybin by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD. Psilocybin has been used as an adjunct as an adjunct to psychotherapy, prisoner rehabilitation, enhancement of creativity, and catalyst for mystical experience; and is presently being studied as a treatment for OCD. The use of the mushroom, both wild and cultivated, spread from Mexico into North America and Europe, by seekers of consciousness expanding experiences - whether for self-understanding, spiritual exploration, creative inspiration or recreational hedonism. A worldwide mushroom culture was born that, like ayahuasca and other plant-based entheogens, still exerts, to this day, a hidden but profound influence in the worldwide renewal of a spiritual relationship with the natural world.

Genres: Psychology, Science, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Anthropology, Drugs

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Ralph Metzner Ph.D. was an American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later named Ram Dass). Dr. Metzner was a psychotherapist, and Professor Emeritus of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he was formerly the Academic Dean and Academic Vice-president. He received his undergraduate degree at Oxford University and his doctorate in clinical psychology at Harvard University, where he was also the recipient of an NIMH Post-doctoral Fellowship in psychopharmacology at the Harvard Medical School. He had a life-long interest in the many different realms of consciousness and its modifications.

He is the author of The Well of Remembrance, The Unfolding Self, Green Psychology, Birth of a Psychedelic Culture (with Ram Dass); editor of two collections of essays on ayahuasca and on psilocybe mushrooms; and author of a new series of seven books on The Ecology of Consciousness.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is divided into two parts following a lengthy overview by editor Metzner. The first contains objective essays by experts in their disciplines approaching the subject from a variety of angles including the botanical, the ethnographic, the psychological and the chemical. I found these essays and the introductory essay illuminating, especially that about brain chemistry. The second part consists of a lot of personal remiscences about relevant drug experiences. With a few exceptions I found this part tedious and repetitious. Some of the experiencers overlay a great deal of New Age mumbojumbo.

[Martyna Wieczorek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wspaniale się to czyta. Jeszcze większe chętki i znowu trochę wiedzy. Polecam tego allegrowicza oraz jego produkty.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though there's not much new here for a mushroom nerd, this is still a great book filled with informative essays on the history, chemistry, and ethnobotany behind fungi as well as a sampling of trip reports. Light on the woo woo and heavy on the info. Great for anyone new to and/or curious about psychedelic mushrooms.