Gordon Wasson
In 1955 banker and amateur mycologist r.
Gordon wasson. His wife valentinas russian upbringing included a comfort with wild mushrooms in contrast to wassons innate fear and repulsion. Gordon wasson was among the first to lead international expeditions for the soul purpose of inquiring rare psychoactive fungi. After trying out a number of words he came up with entheogen god generated within which his committee unanimously adopted.
Few individuals have had as profound an impact on the field of psychedelic studies as robert gordon wasson the banker turned ethnomycologist who brought magic mushrooms to the world through a landmark article in life magazine that documented his time with curandera maria sabina and the mazatec tribe in mexico. These explorations helped fuel research and the self publishing of several books all pivotal within the ethnomycology community. 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.
Gordon wasson is regarded as the discoverer of the magic mushrooms. He was born in montana raised in new jersey and served as a radio operator in the american expeditionary forces during world war i. Gordon wasson traveled to mexico with a friend where they became the first white men in recorded history to eat the divine mushrooms seeking the magic mushroom published two years later in life magazine introduced psilocybin mushrooms to the west.
Gordon wasson was an international banker amateur mycologist and author. Gordon wasson was born in great falls montana in 1898 the son of a minister. Why is gordon wasson important.
After the war wasson studied at the columbia school of journalism and the london school of economics. Robert gordon wasson was an international banker amateur mycologist and author. Robert gordon wasson september 22 1898 december 23 1986 was an american author ethnomycologist and vice president for public relations at jp.
Gordon wasson p reparing for ceremony at which author chewed hallucinogenic mushrooms and had visions curandera eva mendez ceremonially turns fungus in the smoke of burning aromatic leaves. In the course of cia funded research wasson made contributions to the fields of ethnobotany botany and anthropology.