Let me tell you the story of how early man and the mushroom found each other, and how the Master Teacher has both helped us and been opposed by us. Because so much happened so long ago, most of the story cannot be proven, but I would still like to claim that it is true. This is how it was told to me by the mushroom, the ash tree, the spirit world and my gut feeling about the conclusions of the insightful ethnobotanist Terence McKenna.
Man is awakened
A long time ago, when humans were not yet fully human, she sought out new lands. The horizon moved off into the distance, and the plants and animals were different there. This is where she first met the mushroom that would become her companion and teacher.
In small doses, her senses were heightened so that she was better able to perceive the behaviour of animals and plants. The mushroom introduced the future human to its surroundings, and the future human began to feel a sense of meaning and progression in life. Together with her flock, she explored the new sounds that began to emerge from her mouth and the play of emotions that deepened and became increasingly complex.
But it was at higher doses that the most transformative breakthroughs occurred. The mushroom helped the brain to evolve, creating new connections and making precise changes that would lead to an entirely new species. The brain grew physically much larger and began to have a clearer understanding of concepts that had previously been vague or non-existent. The sense of passing time was divided into a clearer now, then and later, which not only opened up the possibility of planning ahead and more easily learning from the past, but also gave way to thinking in chains of consequences.
With a deepening awareness of themselves and their surroundings, but also of something much larger, a spiritual experience was awakened. But the spiritual experience was not something abstract, it was strongly rooted in the togetherness of the flock and their relationship with the master mushroom. The wondrous journeys were something the flock undertook together, and out of this ecstasy the first ceremonies were born. Some proved particularly adept at navigating and interpreting the experience, both for themselves and for others, and they became the first shamans.
The very first shaman was a woman and she nourished her flock. At that time there was no fixed gender structure. Influence was different in different groups, depending on the members and their dynamics, but above all they cooperated and took care of each other. And they had the same attitude towards nature around them. Cooperation extended across species to include plants, fungi, animals and even the elements. Humans met many new masters and over time some collaborations developed into friendships and love stories, such as that between humans and wolves.
The separation from nature
Much later, but from our perspective still very long ago, there was a serious fracturing of the relationship between humans and Mother Earth. The change was brought about by man’s overconfidence in his own superiority. Now everything would be subject to Him. He took ownership over the land, the animals and even his sister. Cooperation ceased and was replaced by domination and oppression. Little by little, nature was tamed, enclosed and forced to become what He wanted it to be.
To do this, He also had to own the truth, so He decided that the approved spiritual contact should only belong to a few. The system of allowing intermediaries to interpret the will of the divine arose, which quickly corrupted the message to suit Him. To prevent teachers like the mushroom from undermining Him, the knowledge of the mushroom was transferred to the intermediaries and the sacraments shared with the masses began to be diluted.
Entheogens and religion
In time, power over the contact with the divine and the right to determine the truth became institutionalised. Where there was once a common and shared experience of the divine, within and outside ourselves, now religion was established whose main purpose was to maintain His power over others.
Contact with the mushroom and other entheogens survived to a limited extent in some cultures and contexts, but as religions grew in power, it became increasingly important for them to extinguish dissenting voices. Persecution increased, targeting anyone who had a relationship with Mother Earth and a
contact with the divine that was not integrated into the framework of religion. Blood was shed and flesh burnt to make all submit to His truth, and as His minions encountered new cultures, those who did not submit were hunted down and destroyed.
There were pockets here and there in the world; places He could not reach. Cultures where the divine contact blossomed within each individual, where the experience was shared, and whose shamans managed to remain unseen. They were few in number, however, and in many places those who knew the mushroom were wiped out, down to the last old person, woman and child. That is how dangerous self-experienced spirituality is to religion and to Him.
The West rediscovers entheogens
It wasn’t until the first half of the 20th century that entheogens were rediscovered in the West, when ethnobotanists in the USA became interested in peyote and mushrooms. In Europe, LSD was created and initially scientists and intellectuals were very interested in the potential of entheogens.
In the 1960s, entheogens became increasingly popular, first in scientific, intellectual and neo-spiritual circles, then in hippie culture. Yet again they were on a collision course with Him. When those drawn to the plant teachers discovered their own truth, refused to submit to the power structure and fight His wars, He banned entheogens and declared war on drugs. The ownership used its intermediaries, the Church and the State, to wage war against people’s own experience, Mother Earth and the masters who live within her.
He has decided to criminalise nature. Since His war began, there are certain plants and mushrooms that He has made it illegal for humans to interact with. They are not illegal because the government cares for the health of the people, but because the entheogens challenge His truth and dominion.
Entheogens today
More than half a century has passed since the war on drugs was declared, and there is a growing dissonance in society. The war is still being fought, but in places there is a fragile truce. Scientific research has returned, but the shamans, the original carriers of medicine, are still being persecuted. Instead of allowing people to have their own encounters with the medicine, they are trying to medicalise the masters and find new power brokers in doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists. Reform seems inevitable, but there is a tug of war between those who claim their own right to communicate with Mother Earth’s teachers and thus have and share their own experiences, and those who want to bring
entheogens under His control.
Meanwhile, an essentially shamanic movement is again emerging. Behind closed doors and out in nature, ceremonies are being held with mushrooms, LSD, ayahuasca and San Pedro, among other things, to help people heal, grow and connect with the divine. People do so alone and together, and Mother Earth’s teachers train new shamans to lead people back to themselves and their own experience. Back into harmony with Her, beyond His hubris.
