R. Gordon Wasson

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By mrnngglry (Mrnngglry) on Saturday, December 08, 2001 - 10:53 pm:

has anyone here ever seen or read the 2 volume set "mushrooms, russia and history"? if so, can you tell me about it?

By Fanaticus (Fanaticus) on Sunday, December 09, 2001 - 09:27 pm:

It had to do with the people in that asian area that are known to have ingested the local Amanita Muscaria for trips. The use goes way back in time. The leaders of the tribe would first indulge in the potion. When they would take a pee, the pee would be colected and passed around and so forth until the whole gang was loaded.

The hallucinogens of that shroom don't metabolise and come out just fine int he Urine. Then it is recycled.

Kind of yucky, but if you go back to that realm in the ancient mountains, maybe it would not be so bad, and you would just dig getting totally ripped and comune with the gods.

PF

By Lizard (Lizard) on Sunday, December 09, 2001 - 09:52 pm:

I have been trying to find information on his daughter. Where is she? She ingested with them in the original Sabina trials at age 13. Is she ok? Any info appreciated.

Lizard

By mrnngglry (Mrnngglry) on Sunday, December 09, 2001 - 10:03 pm:

masha wasson britten seems to be fine. she contributed a story about her parents in the book "the sacred mushroom seeker: tributes to r. gordon wasson", published in 1990, 1997. if you are interested in wasson, shultes, hoffman and the gang, you should read this.

By Mjshroomer (Mjshroomer) on Monday, December 10, 2001 - 06:33 pm:

Hi Lizard King,

Actually Masha was 19-years-old when she first ate the magic mushrooms. That was an error on the part of R. G. Wasson in his life magazine article on shrooms. He later corrected it in the"Wondrous Mushroom: Mycolatry in Mesoamerica." However, María Sabina was 9 and her sister seven when they first ate mushrooms.

The 2 volumes set of books "Mushrooms Russia and History," which also cover the Mazatec rituals with María Sabina can be viewed in many libraries throughout the world. There is a copy at Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington and one in the University of Washington's Suzallo Library.

The books were originally intended as cook books of Russian recipies for shrooms but gradually expanded into an ethnomycological study of why people like shrooms and why others do not.

These books have only 520 copies and were first published simultaneousley with Wasson's article in Life Magazine (May 13, 1957). They were folloed by a second two volume set in French called Les Hallucinogenes du Mexique and The New Investigations into the hallucinogenic mushrooms of Mexico, published in 1958 and 1967. There were actually 1000 copies of those two volumes. I had three, of which two are autographed to me by Wasson. One is in Florida with a Dr. George Frebott the other set is in the University of Oriegons library and I have the third set. Sometimes the two French volumes are available for from $800.00 to $1500.00 per set. The Two volumes Mushrooms Russia and History sell for about $3000.00 to $5000.00 dollars per set.

Masha Wasson lkives in Binghampton, New York and her Brother Peter also lives somewhere in New York.

Masha Wasson described her trip on mushrooms in Thomas Reidlinger (editor), "The Sacred Mushroom Seeker: Essays for R. Gordon Wasson."


Have a shroomy day.

Mj

Of course I have listed these and several other books on shrooms in my web-site as Suggested Reading materialat the end of my Ultimate guide to shrooms species id section.