The heart of the Mayan royal rituals, which opened the portals of the future by induced trance states, appears to have been facilitated by their shamans. The area that comprised the Mayan empire is also known as the primary source area for the plant known as datura, which grows along rivers and streams. Also known as Jimson weed and the devil’s weed, the plant extract is exceedingly poisonous and known for producing visions of serpents. Might this have been the underlying reason or cause for the snake motifs seen throughout Mayan history on their steles, ceramics and temples? Likewise the recurring themes of mushrooms, water lilies and frogs?
The Mayan overlords were known for consuming their cacao(chocolate)mixed with a variety of substances, some with mildly psychotropic flowers(morning glory seeds, which contain minute amounts of lysergic acid)and munching on hallucinogenic water lilies.
Their native tobacco, nicotiana rustica, was a stronger version than of today and was rolled in leafs of corn husks or twisted into cigars. When the chocolate and the cigars weren’t powerful enough to trigger the trance state, another stronger concoction was used: the extract of the poisonous frog, Bufo Marinus was mixed and administered via the enema route. Depictions of the process on ceramic vessels portray the rulers being administered to by their servants. If that wasn’t enough, there were psilocybin mushrooms to be smoked or ingested in other fashions. The Mayan shamans knew the properties of all of these psychotropic plants and their derivations. The search for the visions and the ecstatic trance that produced the prophecies for the future of their realms required strong medicine: to allow oneself to be mutilated or sacrificed on the altar for the sake of the empire was indicative of the power of the drugs and the priesthood.
Could this be the reason for the Vision Serpent as noted on many steles and carvings? Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, was a historical Toltec invader who was captured by the Mayans, thrown into the Cenote of Sacrifice at Chichen Itza and survived…thought to have been spared by the gods; he became their king, known as Kulkulcan. The Feathered Serpent returned, to even greater glory and larger sacrifices. Pass the hot chocolate, please.
Comments
Your photograph of mushroom stones led me to your site.
My study of mushrooms, and mushroom imagery in pre-Columbian art was inspired by a theory first proposed by my father, the late Maya archaeologist Stephan F. de Borhegyi, that a hallucinogenic mushroom ritual was a central aspect to Maya religion. He based this theory on his identification of a mushroom stone cult that came into existence in the Guatemala Highlands and Pacific coastal area around 1000 B.C. along with a grisly trophy head cult associated with the Mesoamerican ballgame, and the ritual of decapitation.
The archaeological evidence presented by my father suggesting a Mesoamerican mushroom cult was based primarily on his research of mushroom-shaped stones and pottery shaped mushrooms that were commonly found throughout Central America, and in particular the Olmec influenced Maya region ( Borhegyi, 1957, 1961, 1963). The native population of Mesoamerica prior to the arrival of the Spanish considered mushrooms holy and divine, compared to their modern status of being offensive, and illegal. It is noteworthy that almost four centuries elapsed between Spanish chronicler Fray Sahagun's description of narcotic mushroom rites and the rediscovery of this cultural phenomenon in the 1930's. My intention in creating my research site is to present convincing, never previously noted, visual evidence from the prehistoric art of the New World to the effect that mushrooms are not only frequently depicted in this art, but that in Mesoamerica in particular, hallucinogenic mushrooms played a major role in the development of indigenous religious ideology. By so doing, I hope to correct a lamentable gap in our knowledge and understanding of the past.
Carl de Borhegyi
For more go to Breaking the Mushroom Code
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!