Beginning April 20, 2026, join a video series presented by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Dartmouth.
Why Magic Mushrooms Matter:
The Science and the Spirit of Psilocybin
Companion to the podcast Her Magic Mushroom Memoir, this series explores how one small mushroom traveled from sacred Mazatec ceremony to Cold War laboratories—and into today’s scientific renaissance.
In 1957, Life magazine introduced Western readers to the “magic mushroom,” igniting fascination among scientists, seekers, and even intelligence agencies. Celebrated, criminalized, and now rediscovered, psilocybin’s story mirrors our own cultural evolution—revealing how politics, fear, hope, and curiosity shape what we choose to study, trust, or reject.
Early Classical Greek marble fragment of a funerary stele from the 5th century BC, which some theorize is Persephone and her mother Demeter holding mushrooms, which would have been used as part of the rites described in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Session OneUsing psilocybin as a lens, we explore how knowledge changes across generations. How does the spirit of an age—its zeitgeist—shape what we believe about the mind? What does modern neuroscience reveal about the ancient chemistry still guiding human thought and emotion?
Tripping With Time
Session TwoProtecting and Changing Our Mind…with Confidence
In a time of rapid technological change and rising uncertainty, how do we care for our minds? As artificial intelligence reshapes information and psychedelic research reshapes mental health, two powerful forces converge. This session asks a practical question: how do we protect our thinking—and change it wisely?
Additional sessions—The Normalcy of Evil and In the Room Where It Happens—will deepen the conversation.
Stay tuned.