Full Description
It has been more than 50 years since sacred mushrooms were plucked from the shamanic backwaters of Mexico and presented to the modern world by R. Gordon Wasson. After sparking the psychedelic era of the 1960s, however, the divine mushroom returned underground from whence it mysteriously originated. Yet today, the mushroom's extraordinary influence is once again being felt by large numbers of people, due to the discovery of hundreds of wild psilocybin species growing across the globe. In The Psilocybin Solution, Simon G. Powell traces the history of the sacred psilocybin mushroom and discusses the shamanic visionary effects it can induce. Detailing how psilocybin acts as a profound enhancer of consciousness and reviewing the research performed by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Johns Hopkins University, and the Heffter Research Institute on psilocybin's ability to dispel anxiety in the terminally ill and its helpful effects on obsessive-compulsive disorder, he examines the neurochemistry, psychology, and spirituality underlying the visionary psilocybin experience, revealing the interface where physical brain and conscious mind meet. Showing that the existence of life and the functioning of mind are the result of a naturally intelligent, self-organizing Universe, he explains how sacred mushrooms provide a direct link to the wisdom of Nature and the meaning of life.
Contents
Foreword by Graham Hancock
Preface
Prologue A Question of Life and Death
One Sacred Ground
Two An Ancient Form of Communion
Three Psilocybin Flows in and out of the Western Mind
Four Investigating the Earth's Alchemical Skin
Five The Mushroom and the Synapse
Six The Stuff of Consciousness
Seven A Universe of Information
Eight Does the Universe Compute?
Nine The Fantastic Hypothesis
Ten A Neo-Shamanic Climax
Epilogue Trick or Treat?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
