Whether it be mainstream legal substances such as coffee, tobacco and alcohol, or less legal ones such as marijuana and magic mushrooms, people in different parts of the globe have used natural substances to alter their consciousness and perceptions for a long. ass. time. in more or less ritualized settings.

The consumption of magic mushrooms and other entheogenic plant matter such as peyote and ayahuasca, have played a central role in pre-colonial Central and South American spiritual life. After being pushed underground by the missionaries' efforts to eradicate indigenous beliefs, the ritual of eating magic mushrooms has been rediscovered in Mexico in 1955, with the help of Maria Sabina and R. Gordon Wasson. Further south in Guatemala, Mayan mushroom shaped effigies discovered and dated to 1000BCE, are believed to honor the mysterious fungi. Strong evidence therefore points to the use of psilocybin mushrooms - Teonanácatl, or mushroom of the gods, as the Aztecs call them - in spiritual settings.

More recently, academic interest into psychedelic substances has been popping up and giving medical legitimacy to these practices. Organisations such as MAPS and Johns Hopkins University have indeed shown long term mental health benefits of psilocybin mushroom ingestion.

In the same vein, we wanted something to help point out and remind us of the importance of these humble little fungi who give us the ability to heal when used responsibly. Replicas of the original mushroom stone effigies are our way of contributing to the growing interest in these substances, hoping that someday they'll be socially accepted and respected as they once were. We call them ShroomStones and you can get yours either directly from our Big Cartel store or our Etsy page.