Mazatec shamanism

The Mazatec shamans are known for their ritual use of psilocybin mushrooms, psychoactive morning glory seeds, and Salvia divinorum. María Sabina was one of the best known of the Mazatec Shamans. Her healing psilocybin mushroom ceremonies, called veladas, contributed to the popularization of Indigenous Mexican ritual use of entheogenic mushrooms among westerners.

In their rituals, Mazatec shamans use fresh Salvia divinorum leaves. Ritual use traditionally involves being in a quiet place after ingestion of the leaf—the Mazatec shamans say that "La Maria (S. divinorum) speaks with a quiet voice."

There is little information concerning the Mazatec people generally before the arrival of the Spanish and less concerning their spiritual practices.

Several researchers have commented on the difficulty in obtaining information, as the Mazatec shamans tend to be secretive and protective of their practices.

Background

Mazatec shamanism has deep roots in the spiritual traditions of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. Practices such as divination with corn kernels have been documented in 16th-century codices and persist among contemporary Indigenous groups. Early 20th-century ethnographers such as Blas Pablo Reko, Jean Bassett Johnson, and Richard Evans Schultes documented the ritual use of Psilocybe mushrooms by the Mazatec, but international interest increased dramatically after R. Gordon Wasson's widely publicized 1955 visit to Huautla de Jiménez and his encounter with María Sabina.

Sacred mushrooms and ritual practice

At the center of Mazatec healing practices is the ritual ingestion of Psilocybe mushrooms, known locally as ndi xijtho ("the little ones that sprout") or “holy children.” These mushrooms are not merely seen as substances, but as conscious entities capable of communicating wisdom and healing.