Mushrooms and the Mind: 
A presentation by Dr. Dennis McKenna

Monday May 12 was a special evening for MMS. We were honored to have Dr. Dennis McKenna present a program on “Mushrooms And the Mind”.  Dr. McKenna is a renowned ethnobotanist and ethnopharmacologist who is especially known for his fieldwork in the Amazon studying the use of psychoactive plants by the indigenous peoples.  He has also researched the basic pharmacology of Ayahausca, a complex brew of jungle plants that produces intense visionary experience and is used sacramentally by religious sects in Brazil.

Humans discovered that certain mushrooms could induce ecstatic states of mind at least 6000 years ago.  Dr. McKenna presented a richly illustrated history of the use of psychoactive fungi by cultures from around the world-in the distant past, through the middle ages, to the contemporary psychedelic movement.  Until recently the use of psychoactive fungi invariably occurred in a religious context.  These fungi were considered magical gateways to the spirit world.  Anthropologists now call the specialists in their use “shamans”.  Shamans use psychoactive plants and fungi as a means to acquire important knowledge for their cultures and also for healing of spiritual or physical ailments.

There is a particular shaman that we have all come to know and love-his name is Santa Claus.  Dr. McKenna presented some quite convincing evidence that traces the origins of the Santa myth to Siberian Shamanism, in which Amanita muscaria plays a central role.  The Siberian shaman, accompanied by his familiar reindeers, consumes the sacred red and white (Santa’s colors) mushroom and has the experience of flying away into the spirit world.  In order to return to this world he has to pass through a long tubular passage (think chimney).  The Siberian shaman is often depicted carrying a bag containing his precious mushrooms slung over his shoulders.  Well, What do you think?  I think I believe in Santa again!

Dr McKenna next presented the history and chemistry of another prominent psychoactive fungus, Claviceps purpurea.  C. Purpueia, AKA the ergot fungus, is an ascomycete that infects rye.  It is toxic and hallucinogenic.  In the middle ages there were cases of whole villages experiencing terrifying visions accompanied by gangrene of the limbs after eating bread  made from ergot infected grain.  Fast-forward to 1943-Dr. Albert Hoffman, a prominent chemist working at the Sandoz pharmaceutical lab in Switzerland, was studying synthetic derivatives of ergot alkaloids, some of which had proven effective for migraine headaches..  One fine day, while riding home on his bicycle, he experienced a strange alteration in his perception of the world around him.  Intrigued by this he returned to the lab and did some self-experimentation by ingesting a tiny amount of the 25th derivative of one of the ergot compounds that he had been working with--it was labeled LSD-25.  That substance did indeed induce a profound altered state of consciousness in Dr. Hoffman-and the rest is history.

Albert Hoffman continued his study of the ergot fungus, both in the lab and in historical records.  As a result of these studies Dr. Hoffman and a colleague, R. Gordon Wasson (more to come) became convinced that the ancient Greeks had discovered a method of producing a hallucinogenic but less-toxic brew from ergotized grain and that it was this potion that was given to initiates of the Eleusinian Mystery Religion, a very important cult in the ancient world.  One of those initiates was Plato.

Finally we come to Psilocybe, the genus of mushrooms with the largest number of psychoactive species.  Like the previously discussed psychoactive fungi, there is a long and fascinating history surrounding their use.  The Spanish conquistadors found the Indians of South America and Mexico “worshiping” certain mushrooms, which they consumed to contact spirit beings. The native name for these mushrooms was teonanactl, which translates as “flesh of the gods”. The Spanish, who considered this practice a blasphemous mockery of the Christian Eucharist, brutally suppressed the mushrooms, and believed they had wiped out the practice.

Fast-forward again to the 1940’s.  The great ethnobotanist R.E. Shultes discovers that the mushroom cults survived, although with an overlay of Catholicism, in rural Mexico.  Shultes actually obtained specimens of the sacred mushrooms, which he sent to the Harvard herbarium.  The mushrooms were identified and found to be species of Psilocybe.  The next character to enter to the story was the father of ethnomycology, R. Gordon Wasson. Wassan was an eccentric New York banker who had a passion for mushrooms and history.  He happened to read about the Mexican mushrooms in an obscure botanical journal.  He was convinced that the mushroom cult was still alive, and his excitement lead him to mount an expedition to Oaxaca as if in search for the Holy Grail.  Wassan located a Maztec shamanm, Maria Sabina, persuaded her to allow him to participate in a mushroom ceremony,  and  became the first white man to experience the power of the sacred  mushroom.  Eager to share his discovery with the world, he published an account of his adventures in the May 13, 1957 issue of Life Magazine, complete with beautiful illustrations of newly identified species of Psilocybe.

Albert Hoffman then enters the picture once again.  He was called upon to isolate and identify the active chemical in Psilocybe mexicana.   He named the substance he isolated psilocybin.  Once again he bravely tested this new substance upon himself and found it was indeed a powerful hallucinogen.

Soon after the Life magazine article appeared hipsters, intellectuals and other seekers made pilgrimages to Mexico in search of the “magic mushrooms”.  The knowledge and use of the mushrooms began to spread, and a new cult of “consciousness expansion” emerged.  One of the initiates into that cult was Timothy Leary.  The Psychedelic Era had arrived.

Dr. McKenna , who has considerable expertise in neuropharmacology, then took us inside the human brain and explained how the mushrooms do their magic on a molecular level.  Here we enter the world of synapses, neurotransmitters, and brain receptors.  Dr. McKenna was able to make this complex and arcane molecular realm understandable to us laypersons, and furthermore, even entertaining.  We learned that psilocybin is quite similar in its structure to serotonin, the extremely important neurotransmitter (the one that Prozac tweaks) that is found throughout the brain.  The psilocybin molecule mimics serotonin in perceptual, cognitive and emotional systems in the brain, but with a dramatic twist.  Why that twist should be capable of producing profound religious mystical experience remains a challenge to science.

We were encouraged to learn that there is new science on the horizon.  After over thirty years of suspension of research on psychedelic agents as a result of national drug hysteria, a few scientists are being licensed to resume research on the therapeutic use of psychedelics.  One interesting and surprising example is the use of psilocybin for the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Another use is for pain control in patients with terminal cancer.  Initial results suggest that the effect may be superior to morphine.

I am sure that whenever new developments and insights emerge in the intersection of mushrooms and minds, Dennis McKenna will be there.  Let us hope that he will continue be a resource to MMS.

Review by Ron Spinosa
ronspin@juno.com