Historical Background

            The compound Psilocin derives from the Psilocybe mushrooms and is a main component in making the mushroom, hallucinogenic. Hallucinogenic mushrooms such as the Psilocybe mushroom have been a part of the human culture to the earliest recorded history. Ancient rock paintings displaying the use and worship of mushrooms dating to 5,000 B.C. have been found in caves on the Tassili plateau of Northern Algeria. Southern and Central American cultures built temples worshipping the mushroom gods and carved mushroom stones. These carvings are in the shape of mushrooms, or are shown under the cap of a mushroom, have been found from 1000-500 B.C. The mushrooms in the carvings display  the mushrooms as a religious aspect and are shown to be precious to the followers. Psilocybe mushrooms containing the compound psilocin were also found and used through writings of the mushrooms and also drawings. These mushrooms were not identified to contain psilocin and psilocybin until the 20th century, but from some representative rock paintings these hallucinogenic mushrooms have been being used since earliest recorded history. These mushrooms were believed to be a source of inspiration found in prehistoric rock art. These drawings were examined and confirmed to be men using the mushrooms for medicinal purposes. The main place where this art is found is in the Sahara Desert from the works of pre-Neolithic Gatherers which the mushrooms are shown to be being used in many different ways (pictures on bottom of page). The offerings of mushrooms, to gods containing masks resembling mushrooms, which was the first hallucinogenic mushroom cult found history. These works found showing the uses of these specific hallucinogenic mushrooms display them being used in rituals, and being worshiped as these religions most precious item. From these paintings found it shows a Saharian testimony that the use of hallucinogens goes back to the Paleolithic Period, except then these hallucinogens have been shown in the context of ritual use in polytheistic mystic-religious nature. Not only were the rock painting containing these mushrooms found in the Sahara, they are found all over the world. In some cases these mushrooms serve as a testimony to the preliterate history of human cultures. The specific Psilocybe mushroom have has a long history, and were brought to popularity by the native peoples of Mesoamerica. The natives of Mesoamerica used these hallucinogens for religious communion, and for medicinal purposes. From the pre-Columbian (14,000 B.P.) times up to present day, the natives have been using these mushrooms for many different ways. The hallucinogenic Psilocybe mushroom was known to the Mexican natives as teonanácatl meaning, "god mushroom", and were noted to be used and served for Montezuma II in 1502. The spreading of the Psilocybe mushrooms can be credited to the Spanish, the Spanish conquest exploded the popularity of the drug became a top addiction in the Spanish army but the mushroom became scarce and slowly disappeared. Closer towards the 20th century the Psilocybe mushroom use was thought by most of the world to have disappeared but in 1954, Valentina and R. Gordon Wasson became the first Westerners to participate in a religious mushroom ceremony. Following, in 1956 a French mycologist by the name of Roger Heim identified the "magic mushroom" the Wassons returned from Mexico with Psilocybe, and after some research, a Swiss scientist, Albert Hofmann, identified psilocin and psilocybin as the main active compounds in these mushrooms. The publicity of Psilocybe mushrooms also exploded through writings on cultivating the Psilocybe mushrooms in large quantities, and books describing the drugs affects were also published which brought the popularity of the drug to another level. From this publicity, the Psilocybe mushroom, and also other similar mushrooms have made it among the most widely used hallucinogenic drug in world

                          Christian Manna Art                                            Carvings of Mushroom Worship in the Temple of Demeter, Greece

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