Those magic mushrooms are fun

Well, I am not ashamed (nor should I be) to admit that in my youth, years ago, I did eat mushrooms, more than once. I ate them within a safe environment and did not drive or have prior obligations that day or the next. The feeling was quite euphoric; like i said it was years ago, but I can still remember seeing trailers of leafless tree branches swaying in the cold wind of that December night.

I ate them with some friends-- we had fun, didn't harm anyone, and the 'shrooms did no harm to us. It was a unique experience; I specifically remember the first time I ate them and it felt like I was discovering the world around me for the very first time, like I was a newborn, but with the cognitive ability and awareness of an adult! I stared at my hand for about an hour; I noticed things about it that I had never realized before. It's crevices and wrinkles, the palm lines, the knuckles seemed to stand up more prominently; it was wild. And I can remember a feeling of creativity come over me that I haven't felt since I was a young boy. This ties into one of my earlier blogs about creativity and youth.

Anyway, reading this chapter, specifically the part about the shaman women of the Central American cult of teonanacatl, brought back those memories for me. It reminded me that all the stuff in the chapter is legitimate, that the world can be seen from another point of view simply through ingestion of a natural (or sometimes synthetic) substance. The vehicles are there, but most are illegal in this part of the world. How unfortunate.