Mazatec

Her bold, mystical paintings immortalize the Mazatec shaman María Sabina and the Chilean musician Violeta Parra, as if Giotto were commissioned to produce a series of broadsides for the Latin American left.

Among those taking part were indigenous groups from the south-western state of Oaxaca such as Triqui, Mazatec and Zapotec, as well as groups from southern Chiapas state, such as the Tzetal.

It wasn’t till the 1950s that their resurgence began, after an article in Life magazine detailed the mushrooms’ use in a Mazatec Indian village in Mexico — that’s where the term “magic” mushrooms originated.

I am going to revisit the Elizabethan poets and the beautiful chants of the Mazatec healer Maria Sabina, both for inspiration.

That night, Wasson, his wife, the photographer Allan Richardson and about 20 local indigenous people took part in a Mazatec ritual involving psilocybe mexicana, a species of hallucinogenic mushroom.