Mexico’s Psychedelic Heritage
NOTE: This interview was translated from Spanish.
Reclaiming Indigenous Wisdom in the Global Psychedelic Movement
In this exclusive interview, we spoke with Dr. Osiris García Cerqueda. Osiris is an indigenous Mazatec historian and sociologist from Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, Mexico. He dedicates his life to the study and preservation of ancestral traditions surrounding sacred mushrooms and spirit medicine.
Osiris is a pivotal figure in the psychedelic field due to his deep knowledge and commitment to justice and reciprocity for indigenous peoples. His work amplifies the voice of indigenous peoples in the global psychedelic renaissance, helping to minimize their historical marginalization.
In our conversation, we explored how his community experiences and understands spirit medicine, the impact of tourism and cultural appropriation, and the challenges of integrating ancestral wisdom into contemporary context. Discover why his perspective is essential to understanding the future of this transformative movement!
4 Questions We Ask Every Guest
1. What does the term “psychedelic” mean in your community? If there’s an equivalent word or phrase your community members use to describe the “psychedelic” experience please share and explain. How do psychedelics impact your community, hometown and country?
Some Mazatec people associate the concept of "psychedelic" with drug use and substances for recreational purposes, especially by foreigners. The term is also tied to the history of the hippie movement, which arrived in the Mazatec highlands after Gordon Wasson’s revelations about mushrooms and María Sabina in 1957. In that sense, some Mazatecs believe foreigners use mushrooms as “psychedelics,” but not as sacred medicine.
Sacred mushrooms have many names in the Mazatec language, all of which convey tenderness and respect: tjain tse(sacred mushrooms), Ndi xi tjo (little ones that sprout), and Ndi xti santo (little saints). The rituals are known as “ceremonies” and veladas (night vigils).
In the Mazatec context, mushrooms are living beings whose essence comes from a divine world. Their ingestion is guided by very strict spiritual norms. We do not consider this a “psychedelic experience.” Our tradition tells us that a mushroom ceremony is a form of spiritual healing that benefits our physical and emotional well-being; it is an encounter with the Mazatec spiritual world, our ancestors, and deities.
“Xkon” is a word referring to situations, things, and material elements that must be respected; otherwise, negative consequences may arise for those who violate spiritual norms. In that sense, sacred mushrooms, their ceremonies, nature, and Mazatec cultural norms are all “Xkon.”
2. What’s happening in your country in regards to psychedelics that the rest of the world doesn’t know?
In Mexico, the consumption of psychedelics is increasing, yet there are no mechanisms to regulate these activities. Legislative efforts are vague. For the Mazatec and other Indigenous nations, this is problematic because extractivism, illegal bioprospecting, and cultural appropriation are on the rise.
While psychedelic use and research expand rapidly in Western societies, the Indigenous peoples who have contributed to the global psychedelic movement are neither acknowledged nor benefitting from the profits it generates.
3. Where do you see the psychedelic revival going in the future?
The psychedelic movement is global and made up of diverse ideological currents. It’s hard to analyze it as a single unified process, since each organization and group has different goals. However, we do see the rise of “psychedelic capitalism,” which grows and strengthens through narratives that combine scientific language with Indigenous epistemologies.
4. How does the work you do contribute to the psychedelic revival and into the future?
Together with an amazing team (Chacruna and IRI), we identify Indigenous organizations fighting to protect and strengthen their biocultures. We listen to them and understand the problems they face due to the excessive use of sacred plants and psychedelic tourism.
We share this information at psychedelic conferences to highlight the need for just relationships between the global North and Indigenous communities. We want Western consumers of sacred plants to understand the tragic history of knowledge extraction from Indigenous peoples.
We advocate for respect and solidarity. We also work to obtain donations to support Indigenous initiatives—helping create a more human psychedelic space that is justly connected to Indigenous biocultures.
Personalized Questions Curated for Our Guests
5. Psychedelic tourism is increasing in Mexico. Huautla de Jiménez has been a focal point since María Sabina. Many other regions are now seeing a rise. How can tourists better protect Indigenous communities, their legacies, and ancestral knowledge?
Psychonauts must act in solidarity and understand the complex challenges Indigenous peoples face in their territories—especially since their sacred medicines have been exposed to Western use. The presence of outsiders always impacts Indigenous communities.
Visitors should respect cultural norms surrounding sacred medicine, avoid imposing external projects, not remove plants or mushrooms from their local context, and honor Indigenous worldviews.
They must commit to supporting responsible community-led initiatives that prioritize biocultural preservation.
6. The U.S. lacks the rich psychedelic heritage of Mexico. What is the most important wisdom Mazatec shamanism and sacred mushroom ceremonies can share with the U.S. psychedelic culture—whether in therapy or more broadly?
Western societies suffer from ailments rooted in modernity’s fast pace. This leads to psycho-emotional conditions caused by a dehumanized global economic system.
In the West, substances like psilocybin are seen as cures, but often without acknowledging the spiritual dimensions of healing or our sacred connection to nature.
We, the Mazatec people and our chjota chjine (wise elders), know that true healing comes from sacred nature, divine realms, and our ancestors. Sacred mushrooms are intermediaries between these worlds.
The Western world, its psychedelic science and movement, still have much to learn from Indigenous ancestral knowledge.
7. How can a temazcal ceremony support a mushroom journey?
In Mazatec tradition, there isn’t a direct connection between a temazcal and a mushroom ceremony. Both are part of our healing system, but not necessarily used together.
A temazcal is not a “ceremony” in our view, but we recognize its physical benefits. It can strengthen the body and prevent illness, but it’s not required before a mushroom ceremony.
Today, these practices are often combined for psychedelic tourism purposes, especially for foreigners seeking “indigenous healing experiences.”
8. Mexico and the U.S. approach spiritual medicine from opposite extremes—mysticism vs. empiricism. Day of the Dead is a major holiday in Mexico, while death is a taboo in the U.S. How do you see psychedelic exchange evolving between the two countries in the next 10–20 years?
Mexico is culturally diverse, home to 68 Indigenous peoples, each with its own customs. We can’t speak of Mexico as a homogeneous nation—it’s multicultural.
Indigenous peoples in Mexico fight for their rights and also face the commodification of their culture, from clothing to language to sacred medicine.
That’s why we need reciprocity-focused projects led by Indigenous communities themselves.
Unfortunately, in Mexico, some non-Indigenous groups are trying to imitate U.S.-style psychedelic medicalization—like legalizing psilocybin—without consulting the Indigenous communities whose traditions they cite.
This is happening now with the Mazatec people and the push to legalize psilocybin mushrooms.
Western societies must commit to respecting Indigenous biocultures—recognizing their influence on psychedelic science, and creating cultural exchange that is truly fair and mutually beneficial.
The road ahead is long…
Dr. Osiris García Cerqueda
is an Indigenous Mazatec historian and sociologist from Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, Mexico. From a very young age, he has dedicated himself to the study of the history of his community and the practice of the ancestral ritual with psilocybin mushrooms, of which Maria Sabina was renowned. In recent years, reciprocity and restorative justice are the basis of his work of conducting a needs assessment in his community and developing activities to strengthen the Mazatec bioculture. He is the author of the book Huautla tierra de magia, de hongos y hippies [Huautla land of magic, mushrooms, and hippies] (2014) and the independent magazine, Mirador Mazateco (2010–2015). Osiris seeks to raise awareness about the impact of the Global North on the Mazatec people in this new wave of the psychedelic renaissance. He is Program Coordinator of Chacruna’s Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative of the Americas (IRI).
