Gordon Wasson Mushrooms
Cyanescens but psilocybin has also been isolated from about a dozen other generaas a prodrug psilocybin is quickly converted by the.
Gordon wasson mushrooms. They explored the issue together and in 1955 wasson travelled to mexico where he sought evidence of hallucinogenic mushrooms and their use by native people. From a 1980s issue of high times comes peter gormans tribute to the late godfather of the psychedelic revolution r. Psilocybin s a l e s a b n sy le sy bin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungusthe most potent are members of the genus psilocybe such as p.
Wasson found edible mushrooms one day but her new husband refused to eat them. The couple went to the catskill mountains for their honeymoon in 1927. Fascinated by the marked difference in cultural attitudes towards fungi in russia compared to the united states the couple began field research that led to the publication of mushrooms russia and history in 1957.
It was a uniquely odd article for a major publication in post. They have been pursuing the cultural role of wild mushrooms for 30 years. Even though wasson was a conservative military supporter he was still appalled by the concept of the american secret services using something so sacred for violent reasons and decided that the only way to stop this was to finally reveal the sacred mushrooms secret.
The magical mushroom quest of r. Gordon wasson and maria sabina. Beginning a new history of magic mushrooms ethnomycology and the psychedelic revolution.
In 1957 wasson published an article and photographs in life magazine about a mazatec indian woman who could literally communicate with the dead using sacred mushrooms. Some of us formed a committee under the chairmanship of carl ruck to devise a new word for the potions that held antiquity in awe. Wassons studies in ethnomycology began during his 1927 honeymoon trip to the catskill mountains when his wife valentina pavlovna guercken a pediatrician chanced upon some edible wild mushrooms.
Robert gordon wasson was an international banker amateur mycologist and author. Hes considered the discoverer of the magic mushrooms the man who launched the psychedelic movement and is also considered the father of the field of. After trying out a number of words he came up with entheogen god generated within which his committee unanimously adopted.
Gordon wasson is regarded as the discoverer of the magic mushrooms. His wife valentinas russian upbringing included a comfort with wild mushrooms in contrast to wassons innate fear and repulsion. They found that their diverging attitudes towards the plant was well documented in the folkloric traditions of europe.
In 1926 she married r. Wasson has aroused considerable attention in learned circles and beyond by advancing and documenting the thesis that soma was a hallucinogenic mushroom none other than the amanita muscaria the fly agaric that until recent times was the center of shamanic rites among the. The man the legend the myth.
The couple married in london england.