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Among the Koryak peoples of northeastern Siberia, a red-and-white spotted mushroom called wapaq—known to science as Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric—held a place at the very center of shamanic healing and divination. What made this fungus extraordinary, in the eyes of the Koryak, was not merely its capacity to alter consciousness, but its role as … Read more

Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) is not a plant grown for visions alone. Among the Huichol people of Mexico, it is the herbal embodiment of Kauyumari, a divine deer spirit, reached through pilgrimage and used in ceremonial healing and divination. Yet the popular image of peyote as a hallucinogen first and foremost obscures what the historical record … Read more

Among the Zulu, Xhosa, Shona, and San traditional medical practitioners of southern Africa, a particular bulb—Boophone disticha, known as leshoma in Sesotho—held a precise and austere purpose: not to heal a fever or stanch a wound, but to reveal the architect of misfortune itself. When someone fell ill without visible cause, or when calamity seemed … Read more