Insights for Modern Applications of Psilocybin Therapy from a Case Study of Traditional Mazatec Medicine
Anthropology of Consciousness August 14, 2022 Jesús M. González Mariscal, Paulina E. Sosa‐cortés 8 citations
Traditional Mazatec medicine has preserved the ritual use of psilocybin mushrooms as part of its health care systems. Renewed interest in psilocybin's effects on consciousness for therapeutic and recreational purposes often overlooks the historical and cultural background of indigenous peoples and the legitimacy of their practices. Through a case study of a foreign participant in a Mazatec ritual night ceremony (velada), the article argues for a transdisciplinary and intercultural approach to research on psychoactive plants and mushrooms. Such an approach reveals the profound complexity of healing in traditional indigenous contexts and highlights the limits of recreational uses or exclusively neopositivist and clinical approaches.