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The Aztecs and the Sacred Mushrooms
ByJohn W. Allen
Introduction
Psychoactive fungi of the genera Psilocybe and possiblyPanaeolus have been traditionally used for over 3000 years. The useof these interesting fungi in magico-religious ceremonies as divinatorysacraments among several tribes belonging to the Nahua speakingindians of Mesoamerica is well documented (Wasson & Wasson 1957;Schultes 1939, 1940).The Nahua are the ancestors of the once mighty Olmecs, Toltecs,and Aztecs. The Mayan cultures of Central America may also haveemployed the mushroom entheogens ceremoniously. The indigenousnative inhabitants of Mesoamerica currently employ severalentheogenic mushrooms for the purpose of healing and curingthrough divination via magico-religious veladas.Jim Jacobs, a renown investigator of the sacred Mexican "magicmushrooms” claims that "their use in a magico-religious ceremony iscorrect, but that their use is much broader" then one could possiblyimagine.To began with, what do we know of the existence of the sacredmushrooms? Were they always with us and why did they just recentlyresurface into the 20th century of entheoginism? And why did it takeover four hundred years of mystery shrouded in silence and secrecy before the mushroom entheogens resurfaced into our modern world?We must remember and never forget that it was the Mazateccurandera Doña María Sabina, the wisest of sabia's who shared her secrets with R. Gordon Wasson and photographer Alan Richardsonand made it possible for all of us to experience her ecstatic and sacredknowledge.
 
Many of the early Spanish chroniclers (which included naturalists, botanists and members of the clergy) sailed from far across theAtlantic. They were the first to explore this brave new world of ours.They traveled here under the fear of God, leaving behind them theterrors of the dark middle ages, leaving behind them a world theywere just learning to crawl out from under.More than 500 years have passed since España triumphed over 700 years of Moorish rule. In 1469, 17-year-old Ferdinand V, ruler of the kingdom of Aragon met and married 18 year-old Isabella I, queenof Castile and Leon. This was an important step in making España asingle kingdom. They had fought the Moors, the Mohammedaninvaders who had ruled mush of España for hundreds of years (700).In 1492, after more than twenty years of fighting, Ferdinand andIsabella conquered the city of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold inwhat is now Spain. It was also, at this point in their history, thatSpain began to expel most Jews from their country, forcing severalhundred thousand Jews to migrate to other countries, except for those who converted to their religion of Christianity.After the war with the Moors was over, Ferdinand and Isabellagave court to a navigator, who was also a mapmaker as well, a manwho claimed to know the "secrets of the winds." This man wasChristopher Columbus, a man who had dreamed of sailing west for more than twenty years. At first, Columbus tried to get help from theKing of Portugal, but that failed. Then in 1485, he turned to KingFerdinand and Queen Isabella, who at that time, were fighting to driveout the Moors from their country, so Columbus had to wait.Finally his orders arrived, given to him by Ferdinand and Isabella,the royal degree directing him for his first voyage. These documentsclaimed that Columbus would be sailing to "certain islands in the sea"which he knew existed. Interestingly, Columbus had once sailed toScandinavia and may have even heard stories about the travels of Leif Ericsson, thus presenting him with an incentive for finding shorter sailing routes to the Indies.
 
After the war between the Moors and Spain was over, it appearedthat it was very important for the merchants of Spain to find a newroute to India and Asia. After their defeat in Grenada, theMohammedan Arabs had shut off all of the eastward land routes toAsia and Portugal's explorers had not yet completed their passagearound Africa, so new sailing routes were often discussed by themerchants yet no one was enthusiastic about attempting to find newer sailing routes to increase the trade of the country.The purpose of Columbus' voyage and subsequent venturesacross the Atlantic was to increase the resources of Spain with newavenues of commerce and trade. Eventually, they accidently stumbledupon this brave new world, landing first at what is now El Salvador and later setting up the first colony in Haiti. Eventually Columbusexplored most of the South American Coast, and Central America asfar west as Panama.In 1519, the Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez landed with hismen in Mexico and set up a new town, Vera Cruz, and then marchedtoward the capital city. Within two years Cortez had conquered thecountry. Cortez also began the task of ordering his clergy to convertthe Indians into Christians and stop them from worshipping demonicidols and from performing their rituals that sacrificed human beings tothe gods. While these human sacrifices must have seemed very cruelto the invading Europeans, it would be more reasonable to assumethat Cortez turned out to be crueler in his conquest of the native peoples and the way he conducted his conquest than what he wastrying to destroy or change. Not only did Cortez destroy many of theAztec temples but he also brutally put down all resistance. At thetime of the conquest it was believed that there were more than100,000 Aztecs who lived in the capital and over six million Indiansliving throughout Mexico.Imagine the fear that the native population held towards their conquerors. Here was an enemy who had greater powers than their mighty Gods, with weapons of mass destruction, more powerful thantheir spears and arrows, muskets, rifles, cannons, armored suits andmighty vessels that breached the sanctity of the waters.
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