Interviews

Professor Ruck

  • These substances were previously called hallucinogens or psychedelics and hallucinogen made-up of the Greek roots arms for come into being as in genesis and the 1st element is the Greek verb for wander being lost so how this agenda is something that produces the experience of wandering and delusion and so forth and the other term psychedelic means it should mean that it reveals the soul it's you could charm but it's wrong for two reasons one is psychedelic had become associated with the psychedelic generation and the misuse of these substances and and the other defect with a psychedelic is that although psyche does mean soul in Greek the other words with the psyche roots in English come across with an O of in the psychedelic was not chosen because it would mean that it produces a said chaotic state which is also indicated by another term for the same stuff substance which is sacado memetic which very clearly means the mind is imitates the psychotic state and so the terms which are misleading you can't talk about a sacred substance I mean who would it think of referring to the Christian communion as a hallucinogen and I propose entheogen combining a Greek adjective antheus meaning that the God resides within you which also refers not only to being affected by the effects of diagnosis tacos and wine there also is used metaphorically you can be possessed with the aspiration towards art perfection and so forth it is it is a good term I think.

  • My colleagues ignored the my indiscretion in talking about such a thing as if I had farted in church but do you do you pretend that you haven't heard it.

    There was a meeting for the chair people and president's office and he began by saying because he was trying to improves the intellectual level of Boston University advancement would be should be determined totally by academic production then he looked at me and he said except in the popular press and that was his comment on the road to losses the ironic thing is that early 1960s at Boston University has a school of theology and at marsh Chapel in the basement they had the experiment where they presented to students of theology A an entheogen and a a something that was not an antigen and so after that the participants were asked to replies assuming that if you're studying theology you know what your religious experience is whether the experience was a religious or not it was determined that it was religious.

Inti

  • As Mazatecs, we see the mushrooms as a last resort for curing illness—physical, mental, or spiritual. They are sacred, and must be approached with respect and responsibility. They represent the deepest essence of our culture.

    My family views them the same way, with respect and affection, as divine gifts from Mother Earth. Traditionally we used them for divination and healing. I believe this practice must never be lost, because losing it would mean losing our identity as Mazatecs.

  • Fewer now. Hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies exist, so there is less reliance on mushrooms. Outside religions also condemn these practices, discouraging them. Today, ceremonies are often more for tourists than for Mazatecs. Some families still hold veladas, but very few.

  • My father, Renato García Dorantes, was motivated by his curiosity to know more about his own culture. He had many questions about the customs and traditions of his town. He also feared that one day all this knowledge and richness would be lost. That is why he began to investigate, collect, and document it—so it could be preserved.

    Thanks to his work, we now have the archive Historias y Memorias Mazatecas, which contains VHS and Betamax tapes, audio cassettes, film reels, documents, photographs, slides, negatives, textiles, and many other materials that capture the cultural richness of the Mazatec people.

    As for me, what motivated me to get involved was not to let my father’s work go to waste. Since childhood I often accompanied him—filming interviews, recording elders, and observing how he worked. I was always curious when foreigners or anthropology students came to see him, and I would listen to those conversations.

    I realized that our culture is so vast—there are things we Mazatecs still carry that are not written in any published book. That understanding motivated me to continue, to preserve the historical legacy and responsibility left to me by my father.

    It also comes from my own desire to learn about who I am—my traditions and culture as a Mazatec, as part of this community. I believe it is important to learn directly from the voices preserved in this archive: from the interviews, the writings, and the memories stored there. Through them I can learn and relearn what it means to be Mazatec.

  • We have continued with this project, and recently it led me to take a new step: the opening of the Museo Historias y Memorias Mazatecas here in Huautla.

    The purpose of the museum is for the community itself to see, feel, and take pride in being Mazatec, to value the essence of what we are as an Indigenous people, and to recognize our cultural heritage as something alive and vital.

Masha

  • Well, the actual ceremony itself was incredible—you have no idea what it’s going to be like. We really didn’t, because we didn’t know we were about to have hallucinations. You can stop them for a little while, actually, but you don’t want to do that.

    There are other effects on the body too. I remember feeling that you had no pain whatsoever when under the effect of the mushroom.

    The visions were very bright, very clear, very angular—at least mine were. The other thing that was true for me was that I could “hop” anywhere in the world. For example, the brother of a friend in France was in Indochina at the time, fighting for the French in the war in Vietnam. And I could go visit him over there. I could go anywhere I wanted.

    My mother also had an experience with one trip where it was all déjà vu. I had the same kind of experience too.

  • At the time, I didn’t know it would ever be used for medicinal purposes, like reducing anxiety. I don’t know much about the brain, other than I was conscious that the visions were coming from the back of my head, even though I was seeing out through my eyes.

    My mother’s thought, the very first time we tried them, was: “This is going to be used in medicine.”

    She knew instantly that it had a use.