MUSHROOM CEREMONY MAZATEC INDIANS ethnic Folkways NM LP
$
125
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Description
Extremely rare in mint condition with booklet
Artist: MARIA SABINA
Title: MUSHROOM CEREMONY OF THE MAZATEC INDIANS OF MEXICO
Label: FOLKWAYS (FR 8975)
Released: 1957
Cover: NM
Record: NM
Description: Like new first pressing of this sought after Folkways release; a landmark in the history of psychedelic research. Includes original stapled booklet with translations & background info. No reserve.
Wasson's studies in ethnomycology began during his 1927 honeymoon trip to the Catskill Mountains when his bride, Valentina Pavlovna Guercken, a paediatrician, chanced upon some edible wild mushrooms. Fascinated by the marked difference in cultural attitudes towards the fungus in Russia compared to the United States, the couple began field research which led to the writing of Mushrooms, Russia and History published in 1957.
In the course of their investigations, they mounted expeditions to Mexico to study the religious use of mushrooms by the native population. They became the first Westerners to participate in a Mazatec sacred mushroom ritual. In 1957, they published a Life magazine article (Seeking the Magic Mushroom), bringing knowledge of the existence of psychoactive mushrooms to a wide audience for the first time. Through his collaboration with Roger Heim, the mushrooms were subjected to scientific study, and Albert Hofmann, using material grown by Heim from specimens collected by the Wassons, identified the chemical structure of the active compounds, psilocybin and psilocin. Two species of mushroom, Psilocybe wassonii Heim and Psilocybe wassonorum Guzman were named in honor of R. Gordon Wasson.
"HERE IS A SHAMANIC PERFORMANCE COMPLETE. DR WASSON, A PIONEER IN THE STUDY OF THE ROLE OF MUSHROOMS IN RELIGIOUS RITUAL, GIVES US A TRANSCRIPTION OF AN AUTHENTIC "CONSULTATION" OF THE SACRED MUSHROOM, IN SOUND. THE OCCASION WAS THE ILLNESS OF A YOUTH. THE MUSHROOM, THROUGH THE MOUTH OF MARIA SABINA, A FEMALE SHAMAN, DECREED THAT THE BOY MUST DIE. HE HEARD THE BAD NEWS AND DIED DAYS LATER. DR. WASSON TAPED THE ENTIRE VELADA. DR. WASSON IS ABLE TO PROVE THAT THE WORDS AND UNDOUBTEDLY THE CHANT ARE PRE-CORTES, GOING BACK FOR MANY CENTURIES. NOTHING LIKE THIS RECORD HAS BEEN DONE FOR THE NEW WORLD; IT IS RIVALED IN THE OLD WORLD ONLY BY THE VEDIC CHANTS OF INDIA".
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