Mycelium Wassonii

At a time when research into psychotropic drugs in the treatment of Many mental illnesses are making a comeback, with the essential role played by Valentina and R. Gordon Wasson in the study of psychoactive mushrooms remains yet little known to the general public. The Wasson family's journey began in 1927 in a cabin in upstate New York, during the couple's honeymoon, where Valentina manages to overcome her husband's mycophobia. The discovery of The world of mushrooms was love at first sight for Gordon, who, a banker by trade, now devotes all his free time to mycology. A few years later, the couple compiled a cookbook that gradually turns into an essay, a fusion of mycology and anthropology. Their research take them to Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca, where they meet the shaman Mazatec Maria Sabina and study the ceremonial use of sacred mushrooms; Gordon was one of the first whites to participate in a Mazatec ritual and documents, in a historical report published in Life, his experience of psilocybe consumption becoming the pioneer of mushroom use psychoactive drugs in the West. In a story where we come across the CIA, the writer Robert Graves and the Jp Morgan bank, Brian Blomerth traces with rigor and a a good dose of humor the fascinating human and scientific adventure of Valentina and Gordon Wasson. Blomerth shows a rare talent in declining endlessly, with surprising solutions each time, the same narrative structure in face-to-face on two pages; his creativity, his mastery of multiple techniques and Its incredible palette makes reading Mycelium Wassonii a wonderful experience. visual experience.