Mushroom Magic ~ the journey inward
For the month of October I will guide you on a journey to meet,
The Spirit Of The Liberty Cap with the support of Ceremonial Cacao.
I feel called to weave Ceremonial Cacao and the Magic Mushrooms native to my ancestral lands of Scotland together to support us in this journey inwards as we prepare to surrender into the death of winter.
Welcoming the month of October, as the Celtic wheel turns towards Samhain.
The darkness of Winter approaches ushering in stillness and a composting of what no longer serves us as we transition into the depths and death that winter brings to the earth and within ourselves.
We often resist winter, the cold, the stillness, the darkness it brings, we long for the hot and long summer days but there is such magic and deep wisdom to be found in this season. As the land prepares to sleep, the leaves are shed from the trees and the earth begins to compost all that is being released from the year. The fertile mulch then becomes the soil in which we plant seeds in for the next cycle when we reach Imbolc. So this time is when the veil begins to thin, we begin to receive more insights from our unconscious, what needs to be released, composted so that new life can be birthed from the decay.
The weather becomes moist and the breeze crisp, the first signs of the shift from summer to autumn become apparent. There is a felt sense of oncoming change, and with that a call to retreat inwards. Deep within the soil the mycelium networks begin to awaken and produce fruiting bodies above ground. As mushrooms begin to poke their heads above the ground, the process and break down the remnants of summer that lay on the soil and integrate them back into the earth from which they came.
One of the first signs of life amidst this transition is the Fungi ~ Mushrooms the fruiting bodies of the mass mycelia network that lies beneath our feet. The consciousness of Mother Earth, communicating with all, the trees, the plants, the soil, providing nourishment to all life on this planet, including ourselves.
Mushrooms thrive in the Autumn, feeding from the decaying leaves and plant matter. Many species begin to fruit from early September into November, including the native plant medicine of Scotland, Ireland and England ~ Psilocybe semilanceata, The Liberty Cap mushroom.
Liberty Caps are a species of Magic Mushrooms, a name given to mushrooms that naturally contain the psychoactive ingredient psilocybin. Psilocybin is non toxic to the body but causes hallucinogenic or entheogenic effects, meaning the substance induces alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition and behaviour. The Liberty Cap mushroom can be found in approximately 30 countries across, Europe, North America, Canada, India, Australia and New Zealand. Psilocybin containing mushrooms have been used by indigenous people for thousands of years, if not more. It is evident that they were a part of our ancestors ceremonies and woven into cultures throughout human history.
Why Magic Mushrooms and Ceremonial Cacao?
CACAO & MUSHROOMS : FOOD OF THE GODS & FLESH OF THE GODS
Ceremonial Cacao and psilocybin containing mushrooms, a relationship deeply rooted in ancient history. The name of the Cacao tree ~ Theobroma Cacao, made up of the Greek roots Theo : (‘God’) and Broma : (‘Food’), to mean ‘ food of the gods’. Growing native to Mesoamerica, the ‘ food of the gods’ came from an interpretation of how the indigenous referred to the plant, as it is evident that Cacao had divine status, conveying its central importance in their culture. The Aztecs held Cacao as deeply sacred, a bitter beverage drank ceremonially.
Another plant medicine widely revered in Mesoamerica was Magic mushrooms, ‘Teonanacatl’ from the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, translates to ‘flesh of the gods’.
A fungus of divine status, the Teonanacatl refers to the psilocybin containing mushroom ~ Psilocybe Mexicana, a psychedelic mushroom native to Mesoamerica and historically paired with Ceremonial Cacao.
The connection to mushroom magic ~
Research of ancient Mesoamerican cultures provides us an insight into how plant medicine was used, revealing that Cacao has an established history of being consumed in combination with other ritualistic foods, especially psychoactive plants and fungi. In magic mushroom ceremonies, the Aztecs would combine Teonanacatl with Cacao and serve as a mixed beverage. In other cases, the mushrooms were consumed alone followed by ceremonial cacao in order to continue heightening the psychoactive effects. It is thought that the qualities found in Ceremonial Cacao help potentiate and guide an experience with the spirit of the mushroom. The synergistic effects of mushrooms and Cacao have become an anecdote thousands of years old.
Together Cacao and Magic Mushrooms give more depth to psychedelic experience, it is said that Cacao opens the heart while Mushrooms open the mind. Cacao being a non psychoactive plant medicine, works as a mood enhancer, containing MAO- inhibitors that moderate neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, this enhances the effect of psilocybin containing mushrooms.
Cacao works as a carrier for psilocybin, the natural fats present in cacao butter aid the body in absorption and utilisation of the active components. Helping the body receive the full effects of the mushrooms. These two master plant medicine teachers, Cacao and Mushrooms have such beautiful synergy. There wisdom and healing so ancient and profound, an honour to meet the spirits of these medicines to support the inner journey to meet ourselves deeper.
What lies ahead is a journey of learning how to weave spiritual practice and reverence to the magic mushroom experience with ceremonial cacao. As a means of creating greater connection with ourselves, with nature and spirit.
Mushroom Mystic : October reflection ritual
Mushrooms duty is to support natures process of letting go into the death phase cycle of life.
As humans we can process in a similar way and mushrooms can support us in this. We mark the Autumnal Equinox ~ when the light of day equals the dark of night and by doing this we honour the years growth, celebrate the harvest and welcome the onset of darker days ahead. We are invited to do as nature does, slow down, integrate and regenerate. Once we answer the call to go inward and choose to work with the medicines of the Land to assist us along the way, the journey begins.
Reflection Ritual
Begin by creating a sacred space somewhere you feel comfortable to journey in, your room, a space in your home, a beautiful space outdoors in nature perhaps. With intention and presence, cleanse the space energetically and then yourself with preferred smudging herbs. Light a candle and/or incense. Gather anything you may need to be comfortable, a journal, a cushion, blankets, spring water.
With loving presence prepare a beverage of Ceremonial Cacao with the intention to begin this journey inward.
An invitation to weave in a microdose of Mushroom MAGIC to your personal journey at this time.
When ready, listen to/read the guided meditation from the cacao COCOON space, Ground into the earth and feel into what may be present for you at this time of change and transition.
~ We can ask ourselves during this transition what is coming up right now, asking to be released?
~What can we offer back to the earth to be composted and transformed?
~What might we feel needs to be let go of?
We can hold what we feel needs to be released with compassion as we lovingly offer it back to Mother Earth giving deep thanks for her cycles, her embodiment of life, death and rebirth.
We can trust in our own inner alchemy and magic that what we release now serves as the compost for new life to grow, as for now we surrender into the stillness that winter brings.
A time for deep rest and nourishment, an invitation to slow down, integrate and regenerate.
~ We can ask ourselves during this time, what do I need to begin to slow down?
~ In what ways can I embody more slowness in my everyday?
It may be as simple as taking a few minutes in the morning to sip herbal tea and breathe as you watch the weather outdoors.
~ What might be calling to be integrated this season? How might I support myself in this?
~ What may support my regeneration through winter into next year?
May we walk through life feeling more connected to and in awe of our selves, nature and spirit.
Ceremony
Acknowledging the elders, indigenous wisdom carriers.
In modern times, the mushroom-cacao ritual is still intact in Mexico. The famous visit of Gordon Wasson to Maria Sabina in her home village outside Oaxaca Mexico in 1955 involved Wasson’s reception of a cacao beverage with Teonanacatl. Wasson’s experience was later published in 1957 and helped usher in the psychedelic era of the 1960’s.
Maria Sabina, one woman who shared the secrets of Mexican indigenous ritual with the world, she is hailed as ‘the priestess of mushrooms’.
Maria is possibly the most famous Mexican healer to have ever lived. Her history and reputation led her to serve as a bridge between the mystical and ritual worlds of her people, and the mystical exploration of the western world. Born into the Mazatec ethnic group, her father´s family included several shamans and from a young age she was in contact with her regions traditional ceremonies, which includes the intake of hallucinogenic mushrooms known as ‘holy children’.
The figure of Maria Sabina, specifically, was not only a bridge of wisdom within her community and between the world of divinity and that of humankind. She was also one of the key figures of recent decades in the worlds approach to the sacred practices of indigenous people, a journey which still has many lessons to show us.
The Druids, the ancient medicine carriers of the Celtic isles worked deeply with psychoactive containing mushrooms native to the land, although we have lost much of they’re wisdom and teachings we can still connect to the ways of our ancestors by practicing right relationship to earth, in sacred reciprocity, and by communing with the ancestral medicines of the land. Always giving deep thanks, prayers, and reverence to our ancestors, the wisdom carriers and indigenous peoples that have protected these sacred medicines for thousands of years.
