Succulentmeditator t1_j6odnff wrote
Reply to comment by Fkappa in TIL Maria Sabina was an indigenous medicine woman who introduced the western world to psilocybin. Her community's rituals were appropriated for power and fame, and she died in poverty. by kerblooee
Richard Schultes had a role in it as well. IIRC Albert Hofmann was the one who isolated and identified the primary psychoactive alkaloids, but Wasson and Schultes were the ones to track down and get Maria Sabina to share her knowledge and ceremony involving the fungi.
Fkappa t1_j6p4qbi wrote
I know Schultes not so deeply, but IIRC Schultes' studies on spiritual use of psychedelics plants had a great impact on this banker, who was an amateur-level mycologist, Gordon Wasson. I don't know whether Schultes actually met Sabina.
Wasson of course did, he got to know Maria Sabina and attended her veladas, the ceremonies involving psychedelic mushrooms use. Through Wasson and his wife, mushrooms were sent to Albert Hofman in order to identify and then synthesize the shrooms alkaloids: psylocin, psylocibin and baeocistin. Hofman delivered.
Wasson visited Maria Sabina and gave her some tabs of lab made shrooms alkaloid and Sabina noted they were as functionally good as natural shrooms.
Succulentmeditator t1_j6peha6 wrote
It’s spelled “Hofmann”; the other well known, 60’s yippie activist, Albert “Abbie” spelled his name as Hoffman. Here’s an article on the sequence of western rediscovery of ceremonial Psilocybe species use: https://inecol.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/bitstream/1005/111/1/8451_2008-10264.pdf
Fkappa t1_j6piikn wrote
Thank you!
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