Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom

«By his own confession Douglass was ‘not a botanist’, but he was a careful amateur mycologist, competent at mushroom identification and possessed of a passion for edible wild fungi. “For me,” he declared, ‘hunting mushrooms is a pastime, eating them an adventure.’ So it was with some considerable delight that he recognised a mass of mushrooms sprouting in a neighbour’s cucumber bed as Panaeolus retirugis.» — según Letcher, Douglass se declaraba no botánico pero micólogo aficionado competente, y reconoció los hongos del arriate del vecino como Panaeolus retirugis; la grafía de la especie es la del libro

«The definitive guidebook, Charles Mcllvaine's One Thousand American Fungi, assured him that these were both edible and good, and Douglass had not the slightest reason to suspect otherwise.» — la guía que según Letcher respaldó a Douglass fue One Thousand American Fungi de Charles McIlvaine, que declaraba comestible y buena la especie; el troceo imprime el apellido *Mcllvaine* con ele donde el impreso lleva I mayúscula

«Mrs Douglass was the most strongly affected. Her vision was distorted, she was unable to concentrate (Douglass noted, somewhat peevishly, that she played cards badly that night), and she became increasingly dizzy. “There was some cerebral stimulation too — a tendency to be jolly, hilarious — she laughed and talked inordinately and foolishly.’ Later, however, she became depressed, could not see properly, and found it hard to breathe. Her pupils, Douglass noted, were unnaturally dilated.» — el cuadro clínico de la esposa según el relato que Letcher cita de Douglass: visión distorsionada, hilaridad, luego abatimiento y pupilas dilatadas; el paréntesis sobre las cartas es del propio Douglass

«In the clear light of day, when the mushrooms’ effects had mercifully receded, a relieved Douglass concluded that the adventure had possessed absolutely no merits, was intellectually worthless, and was not in any sense worth repeating. He wrote it up and published it in the journal of the mycological society to which he belonged: a cautionary tale, designed to ‘restrain the hazardous’ and prevent others from making similar foolish mistakes.» — según Letcher, Douglass concluyó que la aventura no tenía mérito alguno, era intelectualmente inútil y no valía la pena repetirla, y la publicó como advertencia en la revista de su sociedad micológica

«Magic mushrooms are becoming hard to avoid. Once they were the preserve of the psychedelic underground — of hippies, freaks and travellers — the dedicated few who may still be seen in Britain and America every autumn searching diligently for the little goblin-capped mushroom, the Liberty Cap, Psilocybe semilanceata. Now, however, an underground army of net-head hobbyists grows more exotic species and strains away from the public eye, in jars and terrariums secreted in basement cupboards.» — Letcher fija el punto de partida del presente: el hongo dejó de ser cosa del underground psicodélico y hoy lo cultiva un ejército clandestino de aficionados conectados a la red

«Young Western travellers to Indonesia, Thailand and Bali, lured by the pull of the paradisiacal full-moon beach party, buy mushroom omelettes or cola-mushroom shakes from the surreptitious locals, illicit fuel for their all-night dancing. In Holland, where liberal attitudes to such matters prevail, magic mushrooms have become big business. ‘Paddos’, as they are called, can be sold quite openly from market stalls, in ‘head shops’ and in specialist ‘smart shops’, and inundations of tourists flock to Amsterdam to sample these unusual wares.» — el mapa del consumo contemporáneo según Letcher: los viajeros occidentales en el sudeste asiático y el comercio abierto de los *paddos* en los smart shops de Holanda

«For a few short years, until the legal loophole was forcibly slammed shut in July 2005, mushrooms could be bought in Britain too, provided they were fresh and unprepared. Almost overnight, it seems, they erupted onto the marketplace to become the fashionable illicit drug of choice for young and old alike.» — Letcher fecha en julio de 2005 el cierre del resquicio legal británico que permitía vender hongos frescos y sin preparar

«For example, at 2004’s Stonehenge summer solstice gathering — that great barometer of alternative tastes, lifestyles and ideas — the principal psychoactive being peddled was not cannabis, LSD or Ecstasy, as recent trends might lead us to expect, but cultivated Mexican mushrooms.» — el dato con que Letcher mide el cambio de gusto: en el solsticio de Stonehenge de 2004 la sustancia más vendida no fue cannabis, LSD ni éxtasis sino hongos mexicanos cultivados

«One evening in the late summer of 1916, an upright American surgeon from New England began to feel unwell.' Dr Beaman Douglass and his wife were on their way to play bridge with their neighbours when they were both overcome with preternatural waves of giddiness.» — Letcher abre el prólogo con el caso del cirujano estadounidense Beaman Douglass y su esposa, que en 1916 se sintieron mal camino de una partida de bridge; el nombre y la fecha son los que imprime el libro, y la llamada de nota sale pegada a *unwell*

«Earlier they had eaten a meal of what they thought were innocuous wild mushrooms, fried in butter and served on toast, which were, by all accounts, delicious: “We smack our lips even now over the savoury dish,’ wrote Douglass a year after the event. But what neither he, nor his wife, nor the unfortunate maid who shared their meal knew was that they had in fact eaten several cupfuls of hallucinogenic fungi. They were, in other words, tripping.» — según Letcher, la pareja y la criada habían comido varias tazas de hongos alucinógenos creyéndolos inocuos; la frase sobre relamerse es de Douglass un año después del hecho

«As a medical man, Douglass was obviously concerned for his wife's safety, but he knew enough about mycology to be reassured that their lives were not in any immediate danger for they had not eaten any of the deadly species. Nevertheless, as he too started to be taken by the effects of the mushrooms, he began to doubt his judgement.» — Letcher señala que Douglass supo por micología que no corrían peligro de muerte, y que aun así, al entrarle a él los efectos, empezó a dudar de su propio juicio

«Eventually, with the help of his friends — who read the medicine labels, prepared the syringe, and steadied his hand as he gave the injection — Douglass was able to administer atropine, morphine and an arsenal of emetics to his now ailing wife.» — Letcher reporta el antídoto que Douglass administró a su esposa: atropina, morfina y un arsenal de eméticos, con los amigos leyendo las etiquetas y sosteniéndole la mano

«‘The mind was stimulated truly, but the grade and result were below normal. Thoughts flew through my brain, but they were of secondary quality. The attention was easily distracted and disturbed . . . Objects near seemed far away, sounds were diminished, muscular weakness supervened and an uncomfortable feeling of anxiety appeared.» — la descripción que Douglass hizo de sus propios efectos, citada por Letcher: pensamiento estimulado pero de calidad secundaria, atención fácil de distraer, objetos cercanos vistos lejanos y ansiedad

«Then he had the strongest and most improper desire ‘to be noisy, to laugh and joke’, and worse, his own ‘trivial and foolish remarks met with warm personal appreciation’. It was a most unbecoming, embarrassing and disquieting experience.» — el remate del relato de Douglass según Letcher: el deseo impropio de hacer ruido y bromear, y la apreciación calurosa que recibieron sus observaciones tontas

«Never once did it occur to him that anyone might actually want to seek out the mushrooms deliberately.» — el gozne con que Letcher cierra el prólogo: a Douglass no se le ocurrió que alguien fuera a buscar los hongos a propósito; el tramo se corta aquí porque el troceo reemite la marca de plana en el límite de chunk, y sigue con que cuarenta años después eso fue justo lo que empezó a pasar

«The surge in mushroom consumption has not been restricted to festival-goers, hippies, clubbers, artists, musicians and the other usual bohemian suspects. I have heard of businessmen, academics, geneticists, photographers, architects, doctors, farmers, council workers and jour- - nalists who all make regular mushroom excursions.» — Letcher niega que el consumo se limite a la bohemia y enumera a los profesionistas que según él lo practican, dato con el que apuntala su tesis de un fenómeno moderno y masivo

«Ask these questions of mushroom enthusiasts and many — at least those who are aware that mushrooms have a history at all — will tell you that psychoactive fungi have been used since ancient times.» — Letcher resume la respuesta que atribuye a los entusiastas: que los hongos psicoactivos se usan desde la antigüedad

«With great certainty they will detail how mushrooms were used in prehistoric religious ceremonies, inspiring the building of the stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge and the Aztec pyramids at Teotihuacán. They will tell you how Plato, amongst others, drank mushroom tea at the ancient Greek rites of Eleusis; how mushrooms were eaten by the shadowy Celts and their Druidic priests, by the Vikings to access their jingoistic rages, and then later by the medieval witches in their secretive moonlit sabbats.» — el catálogo de la ortodoxia recibida que Letcher enumera para objetarla capítulo por capítulo: Avebury y Stonehenge, las pirámides de Teotihuacán, Platón en Eleusis, los celtas y sus druidas, los vikingos y las brujas medievales

«They will happily explain that folk memories of Siberian mushroom-shamanism gave us the figure of Father Christmas, who is, in fact, a magic mushroom in disguise. They will blame a blinkered, patriarchal and nature-hating ~ Christianity, or perhaps the scientific machinations of the industrial revolution, for the severance of this unbroken tradition and the wilful oppression of this throwback to the stoned age. And they will claim that by reviving mushroom use they are reinstating an ancient - shamanic heritage, a heritage that is their natural birthright.» — el resto de la ortodoxia según Letcher: Papá Noel como hongo disfrazado, el cristianismo o la revolución industrial como verdugos de la tradición, y el consumo actual como recuperación de una herencia chamánica

«Because of this entanglement, the story of the magic mushroom says something rather revealing about ourselves, about the ideas, hopes, fears, aspirations and desires that shape our time: not least about our yearning for enchantment in a barren scientific world stripped of magic and meaning.» — Letcher declara para qué sirve la historia que escribe: el hongo como ventana a las ideas, miedos y deseos del presente, y en especial al anhelo de encantamiento en un mundo científico sin magia

«The story of the magic mushroom therefore provides us with a window, albeit from a quite unexpected viewpoint, upon the modern condition itself.» — la fórmula con que Letcher justifica el objeto: una ventana, desde un mirador inesperado, sobre la condición moderna

«Mushrooms may not yet have inherited the earth, as Sylvia Plath ominously predicted, but what little fossil evidence there is suggests that fungi per se have inhabited it for at least 400 million years, since the Devonian period.» — Letcher data en cuatrocientos millones de años la presencia de los hongos, con la advertencia de que la evidencia fósil es poca; el verso es de Sylvia Plath, cuyo poema encabeza el capítulo

«It has been estimated that there may be as many as 1.5 million species of fungi currently in the world, of which only about 100,000 have been identified and formally described, with most of the new species being discovered in the tropics.» — la cifra de especies fúngicas que Letcher da como estimación, con solo cien mil descritas formalmente

«Though people often label them as plants (from a writer’s point of view, it remains occasionally convenient to do so), the fungi actually constitute a distinct biological kingdom, for they contain no chlorophyll and do not reproduce with flowers.» — Letcher enmienda la clasificación popular: los hongos son un reino biológico aparte porque no tienen clorofila ni se reproducen por flores

«Contrary to popular belief, mushrooms — or carpophores, to give them their scientific name — do not only grow at night: we just tend to notice the ones that appeared while we were sleeping.» — Letcher niega la creencia de que los hongos solo crezcan de noche y la atribuye a que solo se reparan los que aparecieron mientras uno dormía

«Nor, indeed, is the mushroom the entirety of the organism, for itis merely the reproductive structure, or fruiting body, concerned with the Darwinian task of propagating genes into the next generation. The main body actually consists of a network of microscopic threads, or hyphae, which grow and branch through the species” preferred substrate, forming what is called a mycelium.» — Letcher distingue el cuerpo fructífero del organismo entero, que es la red de hifas o micelio; el troceo imprime *itis* pegado donde el impreso lleva dos palabras

«Mycelia can grow to a vast size. One of the largest has been found in America, a single root fungus, Armillaria bulbosa. This spec. imen occupies an area of about fifteen hectares, weighs in the region of 10,000 kg, and is probably about fifteen hundred years old.» — el ejemplar de Armillaria bulbosa con que Letcher ilustra el tamaño de un micelio: quince hectáreas, diez mil kilos y unos mil quinientos años

«Mushrooms and toadstools exist solely to produce spores, which — they do by the million. Released and sometimes fired forcibly into the air, these microscopic ‘seeds’ are blown away by the slightest breeze - until, if lucky, they land on a suitable substrate where, when conditions are right, they will germinate.» — Letcher describe la función única del cuerpo fructífero, que es producir esporas por millones y lanzarlas al aire

«When two compatible types meet, they fuse together in: such a way that each hyphal cell then contains two distinct nuclei, two complete sets of chromosomes, which coexist together harmoniously until environmental cues trigger true sexual reproduction.» — la fase dicariótica que Letcher describe: dos núcleos conviviendo en cada célula hasta que las señales del ambiente disparan la reproducción sexual

«Indeed, the structure of the mushroom works on exactly the samt principles as the fan-vaulting of our Gothic cathedrals, though unlike» — la comparación con la bóveda de abanico de las catedrales góticas, que Letcher usa para el principio estructural del hongo; el tramo arrastra el folio y el encabezado corrido de la plana, que es pliego de dos páginas; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«The majority of fungi, whether mushroom-producing or not, Bre saprophytic, that is they are nature’s recyclers, feeding off dead plant and animal cells.» — la función saprófita que Letcher atribuye a la mayoría de los hongos, los recicladores de la naturaleza; el troceo imprime *Bre* por *are*

«However, some are symbiotic, bonding with algae to form lichens, or together with plant roots to form complex underground networks called mycorrhizae, a ‘wood-wide web’ without which both plant and fungus would struggle to survive.» — la simbiosis que Letcher describe: líquenes y micorrizas, la *wood-wide web* sin la cual ni planta ni hongo sobrevivirían

«Others are parasitic (think of ringworm and athlete’s foot) or pathogenic, while some are even carnivorous: remarkably, certain species c their hyphae into spring-loaded snares, which snap shut when an unfortunate, and equally microscopic, nematode worm wriggles through.» — los hongos carnívoros de lazo que Letcher describe; el troceo se come el verbo y deja *certain species c their hyphae*

«But just forty years later that is exactly what they started to do, and» — la continuación del cierre del prólogo tras el corte de chunk, que el troceo vuelve a abrir con la misma marca de plana: cuarenta años después la gente empezó a buscar los hongos a propósito

«the consequences were nothing if not extraordinary. Dr Douglass would have been astonished.» — el remate del prólogo, en el tramo siguiente al corte de chunk: Letcher dice que las consecuencias fueron extraordinarias y que Douglass se habría asombrado

«That year's Glastonbury festival — now an established mainstream cultural event, in spite of the countercultural hype — saw one wholesaler alone shifting an excessive 70 kg» — Letcher cifra en setenta kilos lo movido por un solo mayorista en el festival de Glastonbury, al que llama acontecimiento cultural ya incorporado pese a su retórica contracultural; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue con el cálculo de unos tres mil quinientos viajes

«of fresh mushrooms, a turnover that factors out at somewhere in the region of 3,500 individual trips.» — la continuación del dato de Glastonbury al otro lado del cambio de plana: setenta kilos que Letcher traduce a unos tres mil quinientos viajes

«the Oxford English Dictionary, that great bastion of language and meaning, has been forced to add “shroomer’ to its ever-expanding lexicon.» — la entrada de *shroomer* en el Oxford English Dictionary es para Letcher el registro lexicográfico del cambio; el ancla arranca aquí porque el troceo mete una raya suelta antes del artículo

«From Scandinavia to Spain, from the Americas to Australia, from Ireland to Indonesia, shrooms are gathered and eaten with apparent relish, and — with a total disregard for their prohibited status.» — el alcance geográfico que Letcher atribuye al consumo actual, con desatención total del estatuto prohibido

«the dioecious higher organisms, fungi have many hundreds of different mating types — sexes if you will, though the analogy is not precise» — Letcher cuenta cientos de tipos de apareamiento en los hongos y acota en la misma frase que la analogía con los sexos no es precisa; el ancla arranca en el artículo y el tramo corta ahí porque el troceo mete barras verticales de ruido a fin de renglón

«Unsurprisingly, then, mushrooms of all kinds have proved an enduring source of inspiration for writers, poets, artists and musicians alike throughout Western history. Whether it is their sudden + appearance, their ephemerality, their association with rot and decay, gastronomic pleasure and indigestive pain, their grotesque shapes, or just their sheer otherness, mushrooms and toadstools have always ^ stirred and troubled our imaginations.» — Letcher inventaría los rasgos por los que el hongo ha inspirado a escritores, poetas, artistas y músicos de la historia occidental: su aparición súbita, su fugacidad, su vínculo con la podredumbre y su rareza

«Strange and uncertain, dark and disquieting, ruled by apparently supernatural forces, mushrooms seem to us living repositories of all that is weird, enchanted, otherworldly and uncanny. They have produced in us desire and loathing in equal measure.» — la fórmula con que Letcher resume la ambivalencia que atribuye a la cultura occidental ante el hongo: depósito de lo raro y lo sobrenatural, y a la vez deseo y repugnancia a partes iguales

«Their cold, bloated fleshiness is, if not a genuine danger, then still an unwelcome reminder of mortality and death.» — Letcher lee la carnosidad fría del hongo como recordatorio incómodo de la mortalidad

«In music, the contemporary Czech composer Vaclav Halek quite literally takes his inspiration from mushrooms, for he apparently hears eldritch orchestral music playing whenever he gazes upon one.» — según Letcher, el compositor checo Vaclav Halek dice oír música orquestal al mirar un hongo; el nombre va con la grafía del troceo

«Though this is almost certainly caused by a bizarre medical condition called synaesthesia (more commonly a symptom of eating magic mushrooms), in which colours are sensed as sounds, numbers as shapes, sounds as smells and so on, mushrooms seem so. THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE strange to us that it is easy to believe Halek's claim that they really do sing out in otherworldly tones.» — Letcher atribuye la audición de Halek a la sinestesia y acota que aun así el hongo es tan extraño que resulta fácil creerle; el tramo cruza el encabezado corrido de esta plana, que es pliego de dos páginas

«The Belgian sculptor Carsten Hóller specialises in making accurate models of mushrooms. In one installation (Upside Down Mushroom Room, 2000) giant, human-sized fly-agarics appear to be growing downwards from the ceiling: a dizzying inversion guaranteed to make the hardest of heads spin.» — la instalación de Carsten Höller con amanitas gigantes colgando del techo, reportada por Letcher; el troceo imprime *Hóller* con tilde aguda en vez de diéresis

«Both Jules Verne and H. G. Wells imagined forests of giant mush: rooms growing at the centre of the earth and on the moon respectively, as if no other plant could capture the strangeness of these imagined places.» — según Letcher, Verne y Wells poblaron de hongos gigantes el centro de la tierra y la luna porque ninguna otra planta capturaba la extrañeza de esos lugares

«Shakespeare took a similarly enchanted view ol mushroom-kind, placing *demy-puppets . . . whose pastime is to make: midnight mushrumps' into the magical universe of The Tempest.» — Letcher trae el pasaje de La tempestad sobre los *demy-puppets* que hacen setas de medianoche; el troceo imprime *ol* por *of* y *mushrumps* como en el original isabelino

«it was more usual in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to hurl the word ‘mushroom’ as an insult.^ The actual mushroom's impudent a unexpected arrival, its equally rapid decay, its lack of a substantia root and its inherent love of ordure made it the perfect derogatory” metaphor for lambasting the emerging mercantile middle classes.» — Letcher sostiene que en los siglos XVI y XVII la palabra *mushroom* se lanzaba como insulto contra las clases medias mercantiles emergentes, por lo súbito de su aparición y su falta de raíz

«Consider this thou new made Mushroom man, Thy Life's a Blast, a Bubble, and a Span; And thou with all thy Gorgeous trappings gay, Art but a Mouldring lumpe of guilded Clay.» — los versos de John Taylor en su sátira de 1639 que Letcher cita como muestra del insulto: el hombre-hongo como soplo, burbuja y palmo; la ortografía es la del impreso antiguo tal como la trae el troceo

«Mushrooms, then, seem to us imbued either with an intrinsic earthy, grotesque and gnomic humour, or with all the beauty, glamour, danger and charm of a faerie enchantment.» — la doble imagen con que Letcher cierra el capítulo primero: humor terroso y gnómico, o encanto feérico

«The fact of the magic mushroom simply accords with all our expectations.» — el remate de Letcher: que ciertas especies sean alucinógenas encaja con lo que la cultura occidental ya esperaba del hongo

«There are, according to current estimates, 209 species of hallucinogeni mushroom, of which most fall into two broad groups.» — la cifra de especies alucinógenas que Letcher da como estimación vigente, repartidas en dos grupos; el troceo imprime *hallucinogeni* sin la c final

«The fly-agaric is not deadly, however, but contains a fuzzy cocktail of different chemical alkaloids, inclu ibotenic acid (a-amino-3-hydroxy-5 isoxazoleacetic acid) and muscimol (5= (aminomethyl)-5-hydroxyisoxazole), : which produce an unsteady set of. symptoms: nausea, dizziness, a flushed) countenance, twitchiness, increased stamina, euphoria, deep coma-like sleep, hallucinatory dreams and, occasionally, nothing but a headache» — Letcher niega que la amanita matamoscas sea mortal y enumera su coctel de alcaloides y el cuadro irregular que producen, hasta el simple dolor de cabeza del día siguiente

«The second group comprises those fungi, most commonly within the genus Psilocybe, that contain the active alkaloid ingredients psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine) and psilocin (4hydroxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine): these are the ones that we typically mean by the term ‘magic mushrooms’ and that constitute the main subject of this book.» — Letcher define el objeto del libro: los hongos del género Psilocybe con psilocibina y psilocina, que son los que se llaman hongos mágicos

«There are currently 186 known psilocybin species — the figure is rising all the time — of which 76 occur in Mexico alone.* To pick a mushroom at random in Mexico is to stand a very good chance of picking a hallucinogenic one, which is probably why it is the one part of the world where there is a genuinely old tradition of psilocybin mushroom usage.» — Letcher explica por qué México es el único sitio con tradición genuinamente antigua de uso de psilocibios: la altísima probabilidad de recoger al azar una especie alucinógena

«The first is the Liberty Cap, or Psilocybe semilanceata (naked head, half-lance shaped). In Britain this delicate little mushroom appears in the autumn months, growing in great abundance in ‘troops’. It is found in pastures across the British Isles, but especially in acid upland pastures, the wet, chilly sheep fields of Wales, the Pennines, Devon and Cornwall, and Scotland.» — la descripción del sombrerete de la libertad y su hábitat británico según Letcher, con la etimología del nombre latino entre paréntesis

«Somewhat parochially, we think of it as ‘our’ magic mushroom, but in fact it grows in many temperate regions across the world. It is found across western Europe, from Scandinavia in the north to the Spanish Picos mountains in the south; from Ireland in the west to the Czech Republic and Russia in the east. Moreover, it Brows across great swathes of the American Pacific Northwest, and also in New Zealand and Tasmania.» — Letcher enmienda la apropiación británica de la especie y traza su distribución mundial; el troceo imprime *Brows* por *grows*

«Contrary to popular wisdom, it is not coprophilic, that is it is not a dung-lover, but actually grows saprophytically upon the dead root cells of certain grasses.» — Letcher niega el saber popular de que el sombrerete de la libertad sea coprófilo y lo describe como saprófito sobre raíces muertas de gramíneas

«the mushroom's stalk was like a murderer's stake Where rags of loose flesh yet tremble on high, Infecting the winds that wander by.» — los versos de Shelley sobre el tallo del hongo como estaca de asesino, traídos por Letcher desde The Sensitive Plant; el ancla arranca después del año entre paréntesis para no coser la cita

«Both Charles Dickens in Dombey and Son (1847-8) and Edgar Allan Poe in The Fall of the House of Usher» — Letcher nombra a Dickens y a Poe entre quienes usaron el hongo como símbolo figurado del declive humano; el tramo corta antes del año entre paréntesis del segundo título

«It is common to find wild mushroom patches brutally trampled and kicked, as if their offensive presence will somehow drag us into ruin.» — la costumbre de pisotear los corros silvestres, que Letcher lee como si su presencia ofensiva fuera a arrastrarnos a la ruina

«The British artist Alison Gill placed human-sized papier-máché Liberty Caps into London's Jerwood Gallery» — la instalación de Alison Gill con sombreretes de la libertad de papel maché tamaño humano, reportada por Letcher; el troceo imprime *papier-máché* con tilde y el tramo corta antes del año entre paréntesis

«an installation that afforded the mushrooms a ghost-like presence.» — el efecto que Letcher atribuye a esa instalación: dar a los hongos una presencia fantasmal

«seem to capture the very nature of these peculiar mushrooms, for they appear surrounded by a coruscating, electric-blue aura.» — la serie de fotografías Kirlian de Alison Gill, según Letcher, con los hongos rodeados de un aura azul eléctrico; el ancla arranca después del año entre paréntesis

«and its close relative the panther cap, Amanita pantherina. The former is the red-and-white-spottes mushroom so familiar to us from childhood, where it appears ubiquitously in storybook illustrations as the preferred seating of gnomes» — Letcher empareja la amanita matamoscas con la panthera y recuerda que la primera es la del cuento infantil, asiento de gnomos en las ilustraciones; el tramo corta antes del signo con que el troceo rinde el guion de corte

«apart from, that is, in two areas of Siberia where there is a long tradition of using fly-agaric as an intoxicant. Nevertheless, this mushroom has generated a spectacular array of myths and legends about its supsed role in the origins of shamanism and religion — so many myths, in fact, that three chapters in the middle section of this book are devoted to exploring and unpicking them.» — Letcher acota a dos zonas de Siberia la tradición larga de uso embriagante de la amanita, y anuncia que tres capítulos del libro se dedican a deshacer los mitos sobre su papel en el origen del chamanismo y de la religión; el troceo imprime *supsed* por *supposed*

«Curiously, the fly-agaric seems to be the one mushroom that most people assiduously avoid, and yet it is the one concerning which people will happily countenance all manner of moonshine. Something about its colourful and memorable form makes the mere thought of it a potent catalyst for the human imagination, but just like its genuine, capricious, psychoactive effects, these tall tales need to be approached with a good deal of caution.» — la paradoja que Letcher señala: la amanita es el hongo que más se evita y a la vez aquel sobre el que se acepta cualquier patraña, y pide tratar esos cuentos con cautela

«are closely related to the deadliest species, the Destroying Angel, Amanita’ virosa, and the Death Cap, Amanita phalloides (which, as their names sug: gest, are responsible for the majority» — Letcher emparenta las dos amanitas psicoactivas con el ángel destructor y la oronja verde, a las que atribuye la mayoría de las muertes por hongos en el mundo; el ancla arranca en el verbo porque el troceo imprime *fun;* por *fungi*

«As luck would have it, this one species that grows so abundantly in the world happens also to contain a high and predictable concentration of psilocybin: about 1 per cent.» — Letcher señala la coincidencia de que la especie más abundante tenga además una concentración alta y predecible de psilocibina

«Were these concentrations not so stable, dosage would be impossible to gauge (as is the case with certain other psychoactive species) and the mushroom would probably not have been adopted as a psychoactive drug.» — el argumento de Letcher sobre por qué la estabilidad química es condición de que la especie se adoptara como droga: sin ella la dosis sería imposible de calcular

«cultivate: most of the magic mushrooms bought and sold, or g home terrariums, are cubensis.» — la continuación del argumento del cultivo al otro lado del corte de plana: para Letcher casi todo lo que se compra y se vende es cubensis

«Though different strains of cubensis exist, and cultivated mu rooms are marketed as such — for example ‘Thai’, ‘Colombi not identical. Every mycelium produces several ‘flushes’ of rooms, which can be made to look different by varying the wat regime, or the time when they are harvested: selling these as strains is simply a marketing trick to meet consumer expectati shaped by the cannabis trade — of variety and choice.» — Letcher niega que las variedades comerciales de cubensis sean distintas y llama truco de mercadotecnia a venderlas como cepas, calcado de las expectativas creadas por el comercio del cannabis

«Psilocybe cubensis is known by a variety of names. In Mi where it is sometimes viewed suspiciously because of its coproph habit, it is known as San Isidro Labrador after the patron saint ploughing. In Mazatec it is ‘di-xi-tjo-le-rra-ja’, the ‘divine mushro of manure’. In Thailand it is imaginatively titled ‘hed keequai’, *l mushroom that appears after the water buffalo defecates’. In Holl: it is the gigglehead; in America and Australia it is the Golden Top Golden Cap, or simply cubensis.» — el repertorio de nombres locales del cubensis que Letcher reúne, del santo labrador mexicano al hongo mazateco del estiércol y al que aparece cuando defeca el búfalo en Tailandia; las grafías son las del troceo

«Though the exact biosynthetic pathways have been identified, no ont knows exactly why these species produce the psychoactive alkaloid psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin.» — Letcher declara el límite del saber: no se sabe por qué estas especies producen los alcaloides psicoactivos

«that the mushrooms altruistically synthesise them for human benefit, to kick-start a human-mushroom symbiosis, or perhaps to our eyes to the planet’s ecological needs; others, that they are a gift from God.» — las explicaciones que Letcher llama chillonas y atribuye a otros: la síntesis altruista para el beneficio humano, la simbiosis hongo-hombre, la apertura de los ojos a las necesidades ecológicas del planeta, o el don divino; el ancla arranca después del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«More prosaically, they may simply be by-products from x essential metabolic process, or have some yet-to-be-determined ecological function, perhaps in deterring mycophagous flies.» — la explicación prosaica que Letcher prefiere, en condicional: subproductos metabólicos o función ecológica todavía no determinada

«Psilocybin, its chemical relatives and the mushrooms within which they are found are formally classed as psychoactives (‘activating the psyche’), psychedelics (literally ‘mind-manifesting’) or hallucinogens (‘producing hallucinations’).» — las tres etiquetas técnicas que Letcher enumera con su etimología: psicoactivos, psicodélicos y alucinógenos

«The psychophysical effects of these mushrooms come on anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour after consumption, depending on how empty the stomach is, and last between four and five hours; unlike, say, LSD which lasts in the region of ten to twelve hours.» — la farmacocinética que Letcher describe, con la comparación de duración frente al LSD

«It is rather as if a new, alien but curiously compatible piece of software is thrown into the brain’s computer, disrupting its normal operations in novel and unexpected ways.» — la metáfora informática con que Letcher describe la acción de la psilocibina sobre el cerebro

«One measurable symptom of all this chemical jiggery-pokery is tha} alpha-wave activity in the neocortex is completely replaced by b wave activity, but quite why this should produce such profound alte ations of consciousness, science has yet to explain» — Letcher declara el límite de la explicación científica: se mide el reemplazo de ondas alfa por beta y no se sabe por qué eso altera tanto la consciencia

«It is much larger than its diminutive cousin, its distinctive goldenbrown flying-saucer-shaped cap reaching sizes of up to eight centimetres across.» — el retrato del Psilocybe cubensis que da Letcher, con su sombrero dorado en forma de platillo volador; el troceo funde *golden-brown* en una sola palabra al unir el guion de corte

«It most definitely is coprophilic, and sprouts from the dung of bovines, or from well-manured ground, throughout the semi-tropical regions of the world.» — Letcher declara coprófilo al cubensis, por oposición al sombrerete de la libertad, y lo sitúa en las regiones semitropicales

«Psilocybin is about a hundred times less potent than LSD, but about ten times more so than mescaline, the active ingredient of the peyote cactus.» — la escala de potencia que Letcher fija entre psilocibina, LSD y mescalina

«When mushrooms are eaten most of the psilocybin is chemically converted (dephosphorylated) into the more potent psilocin by the action of stomach enzymes (though the fate of baeocystin is less well understood).» — la conversión de psilocibina en psilocina por las enzimas estomacales que Letcher describe, con la reserva declarada sobre la baeocistina

«The close similarity of psilocybin and psilocin to serotonin means that they latch onto the brain’s so-called 5-HT2a serotonin receptor sites (but, unlike LSD, psilocybin does not directly affect dopamine, the neurotransmitter implicated in schizophrenia).» — Letcher explica la acción por la semejanza con la serotonina y los receptores 5-HT2a, y acota entre paréntesis que, a diferencia del LSD, la psilocibina no toca la dopamina

«The old 1960s adage of correct set (mental preparation) and settin; safe and supportive environment) still holds true.» — Letcher da por vigente el adagio de los años sesenta sobre el *set* y el *setting*; el troceo pierde el arranque del paréntesis y deja *settin;*

«At low to moderate doses, the most immediate effect is that coloi seem brighter, more saturated and better defined. By contrast, at high doses all sense of reality and one's connection to it may be s ered, as the universe and one's identity dissolve into a maelstrom 0 colour and form.» — Letcher contrasta el efecto de dosis bajas, que solo satura el color, con el de dosis altas, donde universo e identidad se disuelven; el troceo imprime *coloi*, *s ered* y *maelstrom 0* por la pérdida del margen derecho de la plana

«However strange and unsettling this transformation, the bemushroomed may report a feeling of familiarity, of déjà vu, of having always known about this particular nook in the architecture of expe» — el sentimiento de familiaridad y de *déjà vu* que Letcher reporta de los consumidores, como de haber conocido siempre ese recoveco de la experiencia

«Some say it is as if they have stepped into an archetypal space where they are actors in some ancient drama played out by fools, lovers, kings and queens.» — el espacio arquetípico que, según Letcher, algunos consumidores dicen pisar, con su drama antiguo de locos, amantes, reyes y reinas

«This is more than an enchanted escapade: enthusiasts report that great noetic insights and philosophical connections flash unexpectedly into the mind, so that the experience is intellectually and ontologically rewarding.» — Letcher recoge de los entusiastas la pretensión de que la experiencia rinde intuiciones noéticas y conexiones filosóficas, y no solo encantamiento

«It is with eyes closed, however, that the most dramatic alterations of consciousness become apparent.» — Letcher sitúa con los ojos cerrados las alteraciones más marcadas de la consciencia

«Aficionados say it is as if one is gazing upon the surface of an everchanging sea, brightly coloured and turbulent, that throws up ever more dazzling combinations of pattern and colour, texture and form, with its constant boiling and seething; or perhaps upon an infinitely elastic rubber sheet, that stretches and oozes like some play-putty rolled between the fingers, luminously and languidly bulging and rippling in three dimensions, folding itself into endlessly delightful new arrangements.» — la descripción que Letcher compone de las visiones con los ojos cerrados, entre el mar cambiante y la lámina de hule infinitamente elástica; el troceo funde *everchanging* al unir el guion de corte

«Some users report hearing a soundtrack to complete the inner son et lumiére, à mysterious timbre of undulating squelches and whoops like those created by the Radiophonic Workshop, or the early Acid House pioheers, on their creaking analogue synthesisers.» — la banda sonora interior que Letcher reporta de algunos consumidores, comparada con el Radiophonic Workshop y los primeros sintetizadores del acid house; el troceo imprime *lumiére*, *à* y *pioheers*

«Nevertheless, serious mushroom users — ‘myconauts’, if you travellers in the realm of the mushroom - distinguish between sorts of ‘visuals’, which they regard as pretty but trivial, and a s ondary class of ‘visions’ obtained at much higher doses.» — la distinción que Letcher recoge de los consumidores serios entre *visuals* triviales y *visions* de dosis altas; el troceo pierde el margen derecho y deja *if you travellers* y *a s ondary class*

«These are the shamanic rei myconauts claim, where autonomous, discarnate beings, the spiri shamanism, impart information and reveal gnostic truths. report hearing the ‘mushroom’ talking to them, as clear as da» — la lectura que Letcher atribuye a los miconautas: son los reinos chamánicos, y los seres descarnados y autónomos imparten información y verdades gnósticas; el tramo va tal cual lo imprime el troceo, que en esta plana pierde el final de cada renglón

«Clearly, from a scientific point of view there is much more to be dis covered than is currently understood about the action of mushroon and about how they induce such peculiar sensations: reducing all th to an increase in beta-wave activity or to a broken cortical feedbae» — la objeción de Letcher al reduccionismo: reducir todo a ondas beta o a un circuito cortical roto no da la talla ontológica; el troceo corta el renglón y deja *feedbae*

«The parsimoniot explanation is that every hallucinogenic species contains its OM unique composition of alkaloids which, though they may be on weakly active, synergise with the heavyweight ingredients, psilocyb and psilocin, and influence the way in which they work.» — la explicación que Letcher llama parsimoniosa de por qué distintas especies producen efectos subjetivos distintos: cada una lleva su composición propia de alcaloides que sinergizan con las dos principales

«From a physiological point of view, the health risks from magic mus rooms are minimal (though no drug can be said to be entirely risk free).» — Letcher declara mínimos los riesgos fisiológicos y acota en el mismo paréntesis que ninguna droga está libre de riesgo

«With such a low toxicity it ha been estimated that you would have to eat your own body weight it mushrooms to take a lethal dose,» — la estimación que Letcher recoge: habría que comer el propio peso en hongos para alcanzar la dosis letal; el troceo imprime *ha* por *has*

«From clinical trials we know that taking psilocybin is a literally hairraising experience (it causes piloerection), which leaves subjects wide-eyed (it famously triggers mydriasis, a marked dilation of the pupils).» — los efectos que Letcher toma de los ensayos clínicos: piloerección y midriasis

«It is in the psychological domain that magic mushrooms become more problematic. Even experienced users know that mushroom trips can turn nasty: the visions can become hellish, the gnostic insights can be too much to take in, the fear of dying or going mad or of permanently losing one’s identity can become overbearing.» — Letcher sitúa en lo psicológico el problema real: visiones infernales, intuiciones insoportables y miedo a morir o a enloquecer

«Quiet reassurance is usually enough to turn the trip around, for its peak is over relatively quickly, but in extreme cases sedation may be necessary.» — el manejo que Letcher describe para un mal viaje, con la sedación como recurso extremo

«There is no evidence that mushrooms can make a healthy subject psychotic,* but any latent psychosis could be triggered, for even alcohol can bring latent mental illness to the fore.» — Letcher niega que los hongos vuelvan psicótico a un sujeto sano y acota en la misma frase que una psicosis latente sí puede dispararse, como con el alcohol

«the tempest of inner visuals condenses into coherer scenarios: visions of ancient civilisations or future space colonies; ¢ elves or angels, spirits or demons.» — el contenido de las visiones de dosis heroica según Letcher: civilizaciones antiguas o colonias espaciales futuras, elfos o ángeles, espíritus o demonios; el troceo pierde el final del renglón y deja *coherer* por *coherent*

«Although there has been an absolute moratorium on research i psychedelics since the moral panic about LSD in the 1960s, a rt softening of attitudes has opened the door to clinical trials with» — Letcher fecha en el pánico moral por el LSD de los años sesenta la moratoria sobre la investigación con psicodélicos, y registra su ablandamiento reciente

«The days are long gone, however, when white-coated scie: would, say, spike individual monkeys with psilocybin to see how th other, straight members of the experimental colony would react t having a tripper in their midst (the answer was, usually, badly).» — el experimento de los monos a los que se inyectaba psilocibina para ver la reacción de la colonia, que Letcher usa como ejemplo del sesgo político de esa ciencia

«Perhaps the biggest danger surrounding magic mushrooms is E danger of picking the wrong sort.» — Letcher sitúa el peligro mayor en la confusión de especies, no en la sustancia

«If harm reduction is the principal concern, then there is surely a persuasive argument for the legal sale of cultivated mushrooms to prevent people from making potentially lethal mistakes.» — el argumento de reducción de daños con que Letcher cierra el capítulo: la venta legal de hongos cultivados evitaría errores letales

«In the general scheme of things, then, the greatest risk to health, liberty and well-being comes from magic mushrooms’ proscribed status and the fact that using them carries the stiffest legal penalties: in law, psilocybin is typically listed alongside heroin as the most dangerous of illicit drugs.» — Letcher sostiene que el riesgo mayor viene del estatuto prohibido, con la psilocibina listada junto a la heroína

«Signatories agreed to prohibit these synthetics but, following appeals by the Mexican government, not the plants that contained them: the Mexicans were understandably wortied by the prospect of having to prevent indigenous mushroom use.» — el resquicio que según Letcher abrió el gobierno mexicano al lograr que la Convención prohibiera los sintéticos y no las plantas que los contienen, por no tener que perseguir el uso indígena

«This legal situation is the predominant cultural force about which contemporary mushroom enthusiasts must orientate themselves, rather like iron filings in a magnetic field.» — la imagen con que Letcher describe el efecto del marco legal sobre los entusiastas: limaduras de hierro en un campo magnético

«One of the reasons that invented histories, supposed lineages of mushroom use stretching back e the dawn of time, are so readily believed and so trenchantly defende pales is that they serve to legitimate this illicit hobby.» — la explicación que Letcher da de por qué se creen y se defienden las historias inventadas de linajes antiguos: sirven para legitimar una afición ilícita

«Of course, this kind of argument should immediately alert the cri cal enquirer, for whenever anything is deemed “natural” and “obvio: it almost always turns out, on closer inspection, to be culturally s; cific, localised and historically contingent — in other words, not at» — la regla de método que Letcher enuncia: lo que se declara natural y obvio suele resultar culturalmente específico, localizado y contingente; el troceo pierde el final del renglón

«The belief actually rests upon an implicit phil sophical assumption: that there is some universal or essent psychedelic experience that transcends history and culture, so anyone eating a magic mushroom will have a similar, usual spiritually inflected, experience irrespective of who, when and where they are.» — el supuesto esencialista que Letcher aísla para objetarlo: que hay una experiencia psicodélica universal que trasciende historia y cultura; el troceo pierde los finales de renglón y deja *phil* y *essent*

«Historians and archaeologists are now all too aware of how ou views of the past are tempered by the attitudes and dispositions of tht present, and how these views may say more about us than ever the} can about the people who came before us.» — el principio historiográfico que Letcher invoca: las visiones del pasado dicen más de nosotros que de quienes nos precedieron

«The belief in the ancient of psychedelia is no exception for it turns out, somewhat paradoxi ly, to have rather recent origins: to be a product of the utopian se ments that accompanied the psychedelic revolution of the 1950s and 1960s.» — Letcher data la creencia en la antigüedad de lo psicodélico en el propio movimiento psicodélico de los años cincuenta y sesenta, y no en la antigüedad; el troceo pierde el final de varios renglones

«The reason, he said, was simple: the longing to tram scend the drudgeries and privations of life “is and always has been on of the principal appetites of the soul’.» — la razón que Letcher atribuye a Huxley: el anhelo de trascender las penurias de la vida como uno de los apetitos principales del alma

«Other intellectuals and demics, caught up in the excitement of those early days, concurred b placed that ancient appetite not in the soul but in some essentia ‘human nature’, or in the genes, and argued that it is a drive that,» — según Letcher, otros intelectuales y académicos movieron ese apetito del alma a la naturaleza humana o a los genes y lo equipararon con el impulso sexual; el troceo pierde los finales de renglón y deja *demics* y *essentia*; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«Even today the popular writer Paul Devereux argues that human history is one ‘long trip’ from which modern Western culture with its ‘war on drugs” represents an anomalous aberration.» — la tesis que Letcher atribuye a Paul Devereux: la historia humana como un largo viaje del que la guerra contra las drogas sería la aberración

«In the case of magic mushrooms, therefore, enthusiasts imagine an unbroken tradition of use stretching back to the Palaeolithic, which includes the hunter-gatherer shamans, the Neolithic builders of Stonehenge and Avebury, the ancient Greeks at Eleusis, the Iron Age Druids and medieval witches, and which was only severed by Christianity and the machinations of the industrial revolution.» — la tradición ininterrumpida que Letcher atribuye a los entusiastas, del Paleolítico a las brujas medievales, cortada por el cristianismo y la revolución industrial

«Different people, let alone different cultures, have quite clearly approached the same drug differently, and the common thread linking disparate cultures in their relationship with drugs is more correctly an attitude of ambivalence.» — la tesis alternativa de Letcher: el hilo común entre culturas frente a las drogas no es el entusiasmo sino la ambivalencia

«In later chapters I shall look at the evidence for mushrooming traditions in an and Siberia, but for now let us start by sifting through the erial remains left by earlier, prehistoric European cultures» — Letcher anuncia el plan del libro y declara que empieza por los restos materiales de las culturas prehistóricas europeas; el troceo entrevera aquí dos renglones y el tramo se lee tal cual

«scientists wanted to ‘prove’ that psychoactive drugs derailed society turning good middle-class kids into zombie-like dropouts.» — Letcher atribuye a esos científicos la voluntad de probar que las drogas psicoactivas descarrilaban la sociedad convirtiendo a los hijos de la clase media en desertores; el ancla arranca ahí porque el troceo pierde el final del renglón anterior

«In 1971, the United Nations, under considerable American pressure, introduced its Convention on Psychotropic Substances» — Letcher data en 1971 la Convención sobre Sustancias Psicotrópicas de la ONU y la atribuye a presión estadounidense considerable; el tramo corta antes del año entre paréntesis de la convención anterior

«who famously took mescaline in the spring of 1953, and wrote up his experiences in Th Doors of Perception.» — Letcher fecha en la primavera de 1953 la mescalina de Aldous Huxley y su relato en The Doors of Perception; el ancla arranca en el relativo porque el troceo pierde el final del renglón previo

«The experience, in other words, has to be one worth repeating, desirable effects outweighing any negative consequences. Not one of these prerequisites is ever guaranteed.» — la cuarta condición que Letcher añade y su advertencia: la experiencia tiene que valer la repetición, y ninguno de esos requisitos está garantizado

«You will recall that this mushr favours acid upland pastures and grows in the kinds of conditioi where the only viable form of agriculture is sheep- or cattle-farm However, for much of its prehistory Britain was covered not in pa: but in dense primary forest,’ so the mushroom here would have uncommon or rare. It could only have been with the introduction: agriculture and the gradual clearance of the forests from the Neolitl onwards, from around 5000 BCE, that pastures of sufÏcient size would have been established to make psilocybin mushroom use in Brit» — el argumento ecológico con que Letcher objeta el uso prehistórico del sombrerete de la libertad en Britania: antes del Neolítico la isla era bosque primario y el hongo habría sido raro; el troceo pierde el final de casi todos los renglones y el tramo va tal cual

«It would be quite wrong of us to assume that just becau: magic mushroom is abundant now it has been so throughout all ol human history and prehistory.» — la advertencia de método de Letcher: la abundancia actual del hongo no autoriza a suponerla en toda la historia y la prehistoria

«In our scientific age it is easy to forget that pre-modern cultures have attributed all manner of phenom na to various agencies, not all of which proved to have substan» — Letcher recuerda que las culturas premodernas atribuyeron fenómenos a agencias que no resultaron tener sustancia, para sostener que la conexión causal no se da por descontada

«Take the example of ergot poisoning. At various points during Middle Ages, and even as late as 1953 in France and Belgii European society was periodically afÒicted by a terrible plague tl struck down whole regions at a time. The affected would be beset by trembling of the limbs, formication — the feeling that they were c ered in crawling ants — sweats and fevers, together with terrifyin; visions and hallucinations. In extreme cases, victims would go pert nently insane, or would develop a fatal gangrene in their extremiti» — el caso del cornezuelo que Letcher usa como prueba: la plaga periódica en Europa hasta 1953 en Francia y Bélgica, con temblores, formicación, visiones, locura permanente y gangrena

«This scourge was seen as a God-given punishment and named $ Anthony's fire, after the saint who was said to be able to appease thi Almighty and cure this terrible afÒiction.» — según Letcher, el mal se tuvo por castigo divino y se llamó fuego de san Antonio por el santo que apaciguaba al Todopoderoso; el troceo rinde la ligadura fl como Ò en *afÒiction*

«We now know that it was caused, if not directly by the hand of then by the ergot fungus, Claviceps purpurea, which grows par: cally upon grasses, especially species of rye.» — la atribución del fuego de san Antonio al hongo Claviceps purpurea, parásito de las gramíneas y en especial del centeno, según Letcher

«Ergot sclerotia cont potent array of psychoactive and toxic alkaloids, from which thi» — Letcher señala que del cornezuelo deriva el LSD y que molido en la harina causa gangrena y alucinaciones; el tramo cruza el encabezado corrido de la plana, que es pliego de dos páginas; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«Remarkably, though ergot’s vasoconstricting effects have long been known and employed in folk medicine as an abortifacient or to bring pregnancies to term, its role in causing St Anthony’s fire went undiscovered until the modern period. It seems that medieval herbalists were quite unable to spot the causal connection.» — el argumento con que Letcher cierra el caso: los herbolarios medievales usaban el cornezuelo como abortivo y aun así no vieron su papel en el fuego de san Antonio

«The opposite is in fact true, in that pre-modern cultures often wrongly attribute a range of virtues to plants and potions that we now know to be inert — most aphrodisiacs providing the obvious disap» — la simetría que Letcher señala: las culturas premodernas también atribuyen virtudes a plantas inertes, con los afrodisiacos como ejemplo

«But during the 1960s it was reported that the Kuma people from the Wahgi Valley of the West Highland region of New Guinea used a hallucinogenic mushroom to go into collective states of trance. The news caused a substantial amount of excitation in the West, for it was hoped that this would prove to be the first example of indigenous mushroom use outside Mexico and Siberia.» — según Letcher, el reporte de los años sesenta sobre el pueblo kuma del valle de Wahgi despertó la esperanza de un primer caso de uso indígena de hongos fuera de México y Siberia

«Under the influence of this mushroom, called nonda by the tribespeople, the men would dress up in ritual gear, grow tense and excitable, and run amok through their village. The women, meanwhile, would become relaxed and giggly, boast about their sexual exploits, dance provocatively and flirt indecorously with men. Both sexes acquired double vision, became shivery, and occasionally lost the power to speak. Some of the afÒicted claimed to be able to see spirits and bush demons.» — la conducta atribuida al *nonda* en ese reporte: los hombres corriendo enloquecidos y las mujeres desinhibidas, con visión doble y visiones de espíritus y demonios del monte

«However, in spite of several mycological expeditions to the region in which nonda specimens were successfully collected and identified (it turns out that nonda actually comprises several different species belonging to the genus Boletus), no trace of any hallucinogenic compound has ever been found within them.» — el dato con que Letcher desarma el caso kuma: el *nonda* resultó ser varias especies del género Boletus y nunca se le halló compuesto alucinógeno alguno

«This curious omission rather explains why the mushrooms only became ‘active’ at certain hc of the year and could otherwise be eaten with impunity, and why lying in running water apparently ‘cured’ the afÒicted.» — la consecuencia que Letcher saca: por eso los hongos solo se volvían activos en ciertas épocas y el agua corriente curaba a los afectados

«it seems more likely that the nonda rebels d example of an event known in anthropology asa ‘rite of mete: 3 p ike the carnivalesque antics of Mardi Gras, or the inen a of fools , these effervescent social dramas — which E at ered ly and ridicule the norms and rules of the status quo — act Pala a and release pent-up societal tensions.» — la lectura que Letcher prefiere, en condicional: el *nonda* como rito de rebelión al modo del carnaval o la fiesta de los locos, que libera tensiones sociales sin necesidad de droga; el troceo entrevera renglones y el tramo va tal cual

«In this instance the symptoi intoxication were quite spuriously attributed to a mushroom by Kuma, illustrating that knowledge of the causality between a drug a its action can never be assumed, however obvious that conn may appear to us.» — la moraleja de Letcher sobre el caso kuma: la atribución de los síntomas al hongo fue espuria, y el conocimiento de la causalidad entre droga y efecto nunca se da por supuesto

«he suggested that all ‘the vegetable sedatives narcotics, all the euphorics that grow on trees, the hallucinogens ripen in berries or can be squeezed from roots —all, without excepti: have been known and systematically used by human beings since tim» — la tesis que Letcher cita de Huxley: todos los sedantes vegetales, narcóticos, eufóricos y alucinógenos han sido conocidos y usados sistemáticamente por el ser humano desde tiempo inmemorial; el troceo pierde el final del renglón y deja *tim*

«three conditions must obtain: the plant must be available in sufid er to meet demand, either growing in a plentiful enough eu * ol "pete by trade; the culture must know that the plant in hd en ingested, is responsible for causing the subsequent» — las dos primeras condiciones que Letcher exige para que una cultura centralice una planta psicoactiva: disponibilidad suficiente, por cultivo o por comercio, y saber que la planta ingerida causa el efecto; el troceo pierde el arranque de varios renglones y el tramo va tal cual

«a cultural context in which those alterations can be mean- 'stully apprehended, and psychologically and socially integrated.» — la tercera condición y la que Letcher declara más importante: un contexto cultural donde esas alteraciones se aprehendan con sentido y se integren psicológica y socialmente; el troceo parte la palabra a fin de renglón y la rinde *mean-'stully*

«Finally, and most importantly, for a psychoactive plant to beco legitimated or even institutionalised there must also exist a cul agreed context into which the strange experiences it elicits can be slotted, and thus made meaningful and comprehended. But in cultures, both current and historical, that context has been wl lacking, and locally occurring psychoactive drugs have been know but shunned as either worthless or poisonous.» — Letcher insiste en que sin contexto culturalmente pactado la planta psicoactiva no se institucionaliza, y que en muchas culturas las drogas locales se conocieron y se rehuyeron por inútiles o venenosas; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«The reason for this discrep seems not to be a paucity of botanical knowledge but a cultural avé sion towards the plants and their pharmacological effects.» — Letcher atribuye la escasa proporción de plantas psicoactivas usadas en el Viejo Mundo a una aversión cultural y no a falta de saber botánico

«In the Amazon rainforest there is one psychoactive brew, known: ayahuasca or yagé, that is used almost ubiquitously by tribes a the region and forms a potent cornerstone of indigenous spirit Nevertheless, and in spite of peer pressure, some tribes in ayali regions regard it as so tainted with negative associations, with soi warfare and strife, that they will have nothing to do with it.» — el caso de la ayahuasca que Letcher usa como contraejemplo: algunas tribus de la región la rechazan por asociarla a la brujería y la discordia pese a la presión de sus vecinas

«Similarly, it has been known since the 1920s that throughout Él southern Pacific Ocean there are, rather bizarrely, several speci hallucinogenic fish, two of which are the Hawaiian manini Acanthurus triostegus sandvicensis, and the South African bream, Kyphosus vaigiensis.* The unknown active ingredients most concentrated in the fishes” heads and brains.» — los peces alucinógenos del Pacífico sur que Letcher reporta, con sus nombres científicos y el principio activo desconocido concentrado en cabeza y cerebro

«In Honolulu 1927 about thirty Japanese workers from the mayor's ofÏce we struck down with strange hallucinations and a feeling of pressu upon the chest after eating a meal of one such species. But we ha: to see the emergence of a psychedelic fish craze.» — el episodio de los trabajadores intoxicados en Honolulu y el remate irónico de Letcher: aún no ha surgido una moda del pez psicodélico

«Closer to home, there are several naturally occurring plant p choactives in Britain's flora, such as henbane (Hyoscyamus niger); mugwort (Artemesia vulgaris), but they have been largely ignored; actively shunned, by modern psychedelic enthusiasts.» — Letcher señala que el beleño y la artemisa crecen en Britania y han sido ignorados o rehuidos por los entusiastas psicodélicos modernos

«On the other hand, mugwort, which contains a drug called thujone, might be regarded as a little tame in comparison to modern synthetics, but this simply reinforces the point. Some drugs are seen as simply not worth the bother.» — el remate del argumento de Letcher: algunas drogas simplemente se juzgan no valer la pena

«With regard to magic mushrooms, the fly-agaric is found growing across great swathes of the temperate forest regions of the world but, barring the occasional outbreak, has only been consistently used as an intoxicant in two relatively small regions of Siberia.» — Letcher acota el uso consistente de la amanita como embriagante a dos regiones pequeñas de Siberia, pese a su distribución mundial en los bosques templados

«The fly-agaric was consumed in Japan, but only as a food, with an elaborate set of cooking techniques employed to rid the mushroom of its psychoactive ingredients.» — el caso japonés que Letcher aporta: la amanita se comía como alimento con técnicas de cocina destinadas justamente a quitarle lo psicoactivo

«Magic, presumably psilocybin, mushrooms have been known about in China since at least the Chin Dynasty (265-420 CE), when they were written about by Chang Hua in his Po-wu chib, or Record of the Investigation of Things.» — Letcher data el primer registro chino de los hongos que hacen reír en la dinastía Chin y lo atribuye a Chang Hua en su Po-wu chih; las grafías y las fechas son las del libro

«But for Chang Hua, and the later compilers of herbals that came after him, the mushrooms that ‘made you laugh unceasingly’ were poisons, to be avoided or, if accidentally eaten, to be treated with herbal remedies.» — la clave del argumento de Letcher: para Chang Hua y los herbolarios chinos posteriores, los hongos que hacían reír sin parar eran venenos que había que evitar o tratar

«In Europe, as we shall see, psilocybin mushrooms have been known about since at least as long ago as the fifteenth century, with some writers even likening their effects to those of opium, but no one seems to have eaten them intentionally until the twentieth.» — Letcher sostiene que en Europa los psilocibios se conocían desde el siglo XV, con comparaciones de sus efectos con los del opio, y que nadie parece haberlos comido a propósito hasta el siglo XX

«contemporary statistics from Holland show that although the numbers of people who have ever taken magic mushrooms is steadily increasing, most only take them Once or twice in their lifetime. If the desire to alter consciousness through drugs is a primal urge, as insistent as the drive to have sex, then we seem to have it very much under control.» — el dato holandés con que Letcher objeta la tesis del impulso primario: casi todos los que prueban los hongos lo hacen una o dos veces en la vida

«The first is that mushm i : er from almost all other naturally occurring psychoactives Rises me do not have to be prepared in any way before they are con- - They do not have to be roasted, fermented, pounded, boiled or» — el primer problema arqueológico que Letcher plantea: a diferencia de casi todo otro psicoactivo natural, los hongos no requieren preparación; el troceo pierde los finales de renglón

«They can simply be picked and eaten, and consequently there is not] ing in the way of paraphernalia that might have been left in th archaeological record to indicate their use.» — la consecuencia que Letcher extrae: al no haber parafernalia, no queda nada en el registro arqueológico que indique su uso

«The second is that mushrooms themselves, perhaps even more $ than plants, do not preserve well.» — el segundo problema que Letcher plantea: los hongos se conservan aún peor que las plantas

«We talk of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, bi quite what wonders might have belonged to any ‘Wood Age’ we sha never know, for they will have long rotted away.» — la analogía de la Edad de la Madera con que Letcher muestra el sesgo de conservación del registro arqueológico

«It should come as no surprise, therefore, to learn th fungi of all kinds appear extremely rarely in the archaeological rec» — la conclusión de Letcher: los hongos de toda clase aparecen rarísima vez en el registro arqueológico

«A variety of puffball, Bovista nigrescens, has been discovered at V ious British sites: from an Iron Age midden at Skara Brae in Or from a Roman fortification at Stanwick in Yorkshire, and fro» — los pedos de lobo hallados en yacimientos británicos, que Letcher declara misteriosos porque ya habían esporulado y no eran comestibles; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«Further afield in North America, nineteenth-century grave *guardians', that is carved figures of faces and animals placed in indigenous graves, appear to be made from the dried remains of the mushroom Fomitopsis ofÏcinalis, and not from wood as was originally thought.» — los guardianes de tumba norteamericanos que resultaron tallados en Fomitopsis officinalis y no en madera, según Letcher; el troceo rinde la ligadura fi como Ï en *ofÏcinalis*

«Needless to say, there is not a single instance of a magic mushroom being preserved in the archaeological record anywhere.» — la negativa que Letcher declara como hallazgo: no hay un solo hongo mágico conservado en el registro arqueológico de ningún sitio

«Supporters of the ancient mushrooming thesis have therefore invoked several other related lines of evidence to support their case but, as we shall see, none of these inferences is unequivocal, and each is open to a range of alternative explanations.» — Letcher anuncia que examinará las líneas de evidencia indirecta de la tesis del hongo antiguo y adelanta que ninguna le parece unívoca

«Neolithic man whose wounded body was preserved where it fell thousand years ago in the snow-capped Tyrolean Alps along the p sent day Italian-Austrian border — was found to have been cartyli pieces of fungus strung upon a leather strap.» — el hallazgo del hombre de hielo tirolés, con su cuerpo herido conservado cinco mil años en los Alpes y trozos de hongo ensartados en una correa de cuero, que Letcher trae como uno de los poquísimos ejemplos; el troceo imprime *cartyli* por *carrying*

«purpose the Iceman had them is unclear (metal razors having yet invented in the Stone Age): they could have been used for ti medicine or magic, or have had some other symbolic significance is unknown to us.» — Letcher declara desconocido el propósito de esos hongos y enumera las posibilidades sin decidir entre ellas: yesca, medicina, magia u otro sentido simbólico; el ancla arranca en el sustantivo porque el troceo pierde el final del renglón anterior

«The first comes from the fact that our European prehistoric ancestors were certainly knowledgeable about a range of other psychoactive plants.» — la primera línea de inferencia que Letcher examina: que los antepasados prehistóricos europeos conocían otras plantas psicoactivas

«Preserved poppy heads uncovered in Britain, Switzerland, and Spain - some of which were sterile, domesticated varieties — suggest that the dreamy but addictive analgesic drug opium (Papaver somniferum) was being deliberately produced and consumed from the Neolithic onwards.» — las cápsulas de amapola halladas en Britania, Suiza y España, algunas de variedades domesticadas, que según Letcher indican producción deliberada de opio desde el Neolítico

«Cannabis (Cannabis sativa) seems also to have been cultivated in Britain and Eastern Europe from perhaps the late Neolithic, and more commonly in the Iron Age.» — Letcher data el cultivo del cáñamo en Britania y Europa oriental desde quizá el Neolítico tardío y con más frecuencia en la Edad del Hierro

«The more menacing henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) may have been imported into Britain during the Neolithic, for seeds and pollen have been found in residues adhering to so-called Grooved Ware pottery sherds at Balfarg in» — el beleño que Letcher dice quizá importado a Britania en el Neolítico, por semillas y polen adheridos a cerámica de Grooved Ware en Balfarg

«Poppy seeds are a nutritious food source, while opium is a po erful painkiller and an effective treatment for respiratory and digest complaints. Cannabis likewise has a range of medical uses, and h long been grown for its fibres, from which strong and durable canvas and rope can all be made.» — la primera objeción de Letcher: la presencia de esas plantas no garantiza uso psicoactivo, porque la amapola alimenta y cura y el cáñamo da fibra

«Henbane seeds might have b purely for show, a proclamation that the owner had mastery over poisonous plant (shamanism, particularly in Siberia, has often accompanied by conjuring tricks — plunging hands into boiling wat swords through the body, and so on — to demonstrate superhi» — la lectura alternativa que Letcher propone para las semillas de beleño: exhibición de dominio sobre una planta venenosa, al modo de los trucos de prestidigitación que acompañan al chamanismo siberiano; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«As for Grauballe Man, his last meal might have been ea in full knowledge of ergot’s disturbingly mind-altering effects. then again, this poor unfortunate seems to have been rather unple: antly executed (whether as a criminal or as a willing religious sacri we do not know), for he had his leg broken and suffered a traumé blow to the head, and he might have died before any effects of | ergot became apparent. The administering of a plant that was know say, to terminate pregnancies might simply have held a terrifying» — la lectura alternativa de Letcher para el cornezuelo en el estómago del hombre de Grauballe: ejecutado con la pierna rota y un golpe en la cabeza, pudo morir antes de que el hongo surtiera efecto, y la planta pudo tener fuerza simbólica y no farmacológica

«The second problem is the one of cultural specificity that I h already outlined. Cultures that use one psychoactive plant may have socially constructed aversion towards, or be wholly ignorant [ another.» — la segunda objeción de Letcher: la especificidad cultural, por la que una cultura que usa una planta psicoactiva puede ignorar o rechazar otra

«Thus, when the late advocate for the magic mushroo Terence McKenna, travelled to a region of the Amazon to investi; the use of an indigenous psychedelic plant preparation, oo-ko he found that the locals were quite ignorant about the magic cub mushrooms sprouting abundantly from their cattle dur Psychoactive know-how is evidently not always horizontally tran» — el caso con que Letcher ilustra la no transferencia del saber psicoactivo: Terence McKenna halló en la Amazonia a gente que usaba una preparación indígena y desconocía los cubensis que brotaban en su propio estiércol de ganado

«sonable to assume that if ancient cultures did centralise the use of magic mushrooms they would have depicted this fact in their artwork.» — la premisa razonable que Letcher concede antes de examinarla: si una cultura antigua hubiera centralizado el hongo mágico, lo habría representado en su arte; el ancla arranca después del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«The trouble is that it is not always easy to tell whether something that looks to us like a mushroom really was intended to be one, and a magic one at that.» — la dificultad que Letcher opone: no siempre se distingue si lo que nos parece un hongo quiso serlo, y menos aún uno mágico

«In Hildesheim in Germany there is a magnificent Gothic cathedral, which is renowned for its pair of cast bronze doors. Each contains eight panels depicting biblical images, but one in particular has caught the attention of mushroom enthusiasts, for there, on the right-hand door, is a panel that seems to show human figures dwarfed by what looks extremely like a giant Liberty Cap.» — las puertas de bronce de la catedral de Hildesheim y el panel que, según los entusiastas, muestra figuras humanas empequeñecidas por lo que parece un sombrerete de la libertad gigante

«Given that every of every image held significance, and that the message on the d was so carefully constructed, it seems improbable that a magic room could have been surreptitiously slipped in without anyone no» — el argumento de Letcher: siendo tan deliberado el programa iconográfico, es improbable que se colara un hongo sin que nadie lo notara

«Nor could a secret mushroom cult have persisted and left such emphatic mark upon such a high-profile expression of religious po and piety without there being some other evidence for its exi: But of course there is none to be found anywhere» — la negativa que Letcher declara: no hay ninguna otra evidencia de ese culto secreto en ninguna parte

«The image on the door is simply a stylised representation of 1 most biblical of plants, the fig-tree.» — la identificación que Letcher da por buena: la planta del panel es una higuera estilizada

«Clearly it is not enough to identify an image as a representatio magic mushroom on the basis of homology alone» — la regla de método que Letcher enuncia contra la lectura por homología sola: en el arte prehistórico suele faltar el contexto que inclinaría la interpretación

«For example, amateur archaeologist Reid Kaplan publ an oft-cited paper in 1975 in which he argued that a recurring room-shaped motif found on various Scandinavian Bronze Age and petroglyphs depicts the fly-agaric, which he imagined form part of a solar-based religion. Others have suggested, howevi the motif is the sail of a ship, a tree, or a hatchet.» — el motivo con forma de hongo del bronce escandinavo que Reid Kaplan leyó como amanita en una religión solar, y las lecturas rivales que Letcher enumera: vela de barco, árbol o hacha

«More recently, laser scans have revealed some hitherto und is Bronze Age carvings on the sarsen stones of Britain's most ancient monument, Stonehenge." Some of them look remarkabl mushrooms in cross section, a fact that has led some archaeolo speculate that not only do these depict magic mushrooms, not like marks on the bedpost, but that the entire monument was butt resemble a magical mushroom fairy ring.» — los grabados de Stonehenge revelados por escáner láser y la especulación de algunos arqueólogos de que representan hongos mágicos y que el monumento entero imitaría un corro de brujas

«The more widely ace and prosaic theory is that the carvings are of Bronze Age axes, the their significance is unknown.» — la explicación más aceptada según Letcher: los grabados son hachas de la Edad del Bronce y su sentido se desconoce

«The archaeologist Robert Wallis has tentatively suggested that the vegetation might be a representation ofa choactive plant, or even, because of the pointy leaves, the Liberty Cap.” Then again, he accepts that it could be entirely decorative.» — la sugerencia tentativa de Robert Wallis sobre el caldero de Gundestrup y su propia reserva: la vegetación podría ser una planta psicoactiva o el sombrerete de la libertad, o ser decoración sin más; el troceo imprime *ofa* pegado

«the argument goes, psychedelic know-how was mola e m thus if a culture employed these psychoactive plants, Uis. an ly have known about, and used, hallucinogenic fungi.» — Letcher formula el argumento ajeno que va a objetar: si el saber psicodélico era transferible, una cultura que usaba esas plantas habría conocido y usado los hongos alucinógenos; el troceo entrevera renglones en esta plana y el tramo va tal cual

«Various writers have suggested that this is evidence for a medieval magic mushroom cult persisting secretly in spite of Christian oppression.» — la lectura que Letcher atribuye a varios autores del panel de Hildesheim: prueba de un culto micológico medieval clandestino pese a la opresión cristiana; el tramo corta en el cambio de plana

«doors were commissioned by Bishop Bernward in rors as the ing touch to his already magnificent cathedral. The images y extremely carefully chosen, for the eight descending panels on show the fall of Man, and the eight ascending panels on the ri redemption through Christ.» — el contexto con que Letcher objeta esa lectura: las puertas las encargó el obispo Bernward y sus dos series de ocho paneles narran la caída y la redención; el troceo imprime la fecha como *rors* y pierde el final de los renglones

«way of telling which, if any, is the correct interpretation.» — la abstención con que Letcher cierra el caso escandinavo: no hay manera de saber cuál lectura, si alguna, es la correcta; el ancla arranca ahí porque el troceo pierde el final del renglón anterior

«But perhaps the most famous example comes from the abundance of rock art found upon the Tassili plateau of southern Algeria, which dates, incredibly, from the Neolithic to the start of the Common Era.» — el arte rupestre de la meseta de Tassili, en el sur de Argelia, que Letcher data del Neolítico al comienzo de la era común

«Though not discovered by him, one particular Neolithic image was popularised by the aforementioned mushroom advocate Terence McKenna, who reproduced it in two of his widely read books.» — Letcher atribuye a Terence McKenna la popularización de la imagen neolítica de Tassili, reproducida en dos de sus libros más leídos, y no su descubrimiento

«Subsequently, it has become an icon for the psychedelic mushroom community, appearing on posters, T-shirts, postcards and, of course, liberally across the Internet.» — Letcher registra la conversión de esa imagen en icono de la comunidad psicodélica, en carteles, camisetas y postales

«The image depicts a squat, male, human figure, standing braced against the earth as if shouldering a heavy load. He wears feathers or plumes upon his head, and a bee-shaped mask. His form is covered in a psychedelic pattern of lozenges and dots, which swirl out between his legs. But most strikingly of all, he appears to be clutching handfuls of mushrooms, which also sprout alarmingly from his legs, arms and torso.» — la descripción que Letcher hace de la figura de Tassili: máscara de abeja, plumas, patrón de rombos y puntos, y hongos en las manos y brotando del cuerpo

«Surely here is incontrovertible evidence: a bemushroomed shaman depicted in the full force of a psilocybin-induced ecstasy?» — la pregunta retórica con que Letcher formula la lectura entusiasta antes de examinarla

«The popular image that has been so widely circulated is not a photo of the original, but a copy, a drawing made during the 1990s by McKenna’s then wife and mushroom enthusiast in her own right, Kat Harrison.» — el dato con que Letcher desarma el icono: la imagen que circula no es foto del original sino un dibujo hecho en los años noventa por Kat Harrison, entonces esposa de McKenna

«Neither went to see the original rock paint5 in Algeria, but derived their interpretation from photos in a book, e Rock Paintings of Tassili by Jean-Dominique Lajoux.» — Letcher señala que ni McKenna ni Kat Harrison vieron la pintura original y que trabajaron sobre fotografías del libro de Jean-Dominique Lajoux

«So in her drawing the pe canes definitely look like mushrooms, whereas in the original de semblance is not quite so emphatic: they could be mushrooms or ea be, say, arrows.» — la diferencia que Letcher señala entre el dibujo y el original: en el dibujo los objetos parecen hongos sin duda, en el original podrían ser flechas; el troceo pierde el arranque de varios renglones

«Similarly, in the original the plumes from he bara headdress are not distinguishable as feathers; neither are Dodo ing psychedelic patterns quite so obviously swirling and elic.» — el resto de la divergencia según Letcher: en el original ni las plumas del tocado ni los patrones psicodélicos son tan claros

«facsimile depicts a bemushroomed shaman, and has rightly adopted as such, but whether that was the intention of the o artist(s) is far from settled.» — el fallo en suspenso de Letcher sobre Tassili: el facsímil de Kat Harrison representa un chamán enhongado, y si esa fue la intención del artista original queda sin resolver

«For instance, there is the contextual presence of other closely related pieces of art from the same region that depict the same *bee-masked" figure but without any ‘mushrooms’. If the mushrooms were the most important aspect of the figure, why are they absent from these other pictures?» — la objeción contextual de Letcher: en la misma región hay figuras de máscara de abeja sin hongos, y pregunta por qué faltarían si fueran lo importante

«Curiously, mushroom enthusiasts have little to say about a further image of a woman bent over with ‘mushrooms’ apparently sprouting from her derriére.* Could it be that for these ancient artists mushrooms had a more scatological or sexual significance? Or that the mushroom’s more typical association with decay meant that the bee-masked ‘shaman’ was actually some apocalyptic figure reminding the viewer of mortality and death?» — las lecturas alternativas que Letcher propone en interrogativa para Tassili: sentido escatológico o sexual, o figura apocalíptica que recuerda la muerte, con la imagen de la mujer inclinada de la que brotan hongos

«Then again, if the mask was really meant to look like a bee, as McKenna thought, could it not be that those ‘mushrooms’ were actually arrows or stings, symbols of some superhuman power?» — otra lectura alternativa de Letcher en interrogativa: si la máscara es de abeja, los hongos podrían ser flechas o aguijones

«Lajoux thought the ‘mushroom’ protuberances incomprehensible and saw the figure as an anthropomorphised moufÒon, or sheep.» — la lectura de Lajoux que Letcher recoge: las protuberancias le resultaron incomprensibles y vio en la figura un muflón antropomorfo; el troceo rinde la ligadura fl como Ò en *moufÒon*

«McKenna also drew attention to another image from Tassili, which seems to show some anthropomorphised flat-capped mushroom figures, with faces, arms and legs, running while clutching ‘mushrooms’ in their hands.» — la segunda imagen de Tassili que McKenna destacó, con figuras antropomorfas de sombrero plano corriendo con hongos en las manos, según Letcher

«Admittedly, these figures are more convincing as mushrooms, but then again one is reminded of the cloth-capped jesters that appear in medieval art and have nothing to do with either mushrooms or psychedelia.» — Letcher concede que esas figuras convencen más como hongos y opone los bufones de gorro de tela del arte medieval

«The point remains that all the so-called incontrovertible visual evidence produced by enthusiasts to argue for prehistoric mushroom use turns out to be open to many and varied alternative interpretations. In each case, the mushroom interpretation may be correct, but it may equally very well not be.» — la conclusión de Letcher sobre el arte prehistórico: toda la evidencia visual llamada incontrovertible admite lecturas alternativas, y la del hongo puede ser correcta o no serlo

«Some mushroom-loving craftsman must have slipped the mushroom into the image» — la continuación de esa lectura ajena al otro lado del cambio de plana: un artesano aficionado al hongo lo habría deslizado en la imagen; el tramo corta donde el troceo reemite la marca de plana

«This is clearly an unsatisfactory state of affairs for both academics and partisan enthusiasts alike, but recently the discipline of rock-art studies was shaken up by two academics, David Lewis-Williams and Thomas Dowson, determined to set it on a more scientific and unequivocal basis.» — Letcher presenta a David Lewis-Williams y Thomas Dowson como quienes quisieron poner los estudios de arte rupestre sobre base científica y unívoca

«In the process they argued that some Palaeolithic rock art was an attempt to represent hallucinations obtained in trances and other altered states of consciousness, a move that has split the archaeological community ever since.» — la tesis de Lewis-Williams y Dowson según Letcher: parte del arte rupestre paleolítico intentaría representar alucinaciones de trance, y eso partió en dos a la comunidad arqueológica

«Their ‘three stages of trance’ model is one of the most hotly contested issues in current archaeology, and has triggered more than one good old-fashioned academic spat between the various parties.» — Letcher registra el modelo de las tres fases del trance como uno de los asuntos más disputados de la arqueología actual

«The first st a light trance, is marked by the appearance of so-called phosphen entoptic hallucinations: that is, hallucinations that are generated y in the physical apparatus of the vision system (these can be seen example, when we rub our eyes a little too vigorously).» — la primera fase del modelo según Letcher: trance ligero con fosfenos o alucinaciones entópticas generadas en el propio aparato visual, como al frotarse los ojos

«But as the trance deepens the second level, these entoptic hallucinations become consciou: h unconsciously interpreted as more culturally specific ‘iconic? for Thus, a person in this second stage seeing a zigzag might regard it say, a snake or a lightning strike depending on the relative signific: of each of these to his or her culture.» — la segunda fase según Letcher: las alucinaciones entópticas se interpretan en formas icónicas culturalmente específicas, y un zigzag se vuelve serpiente o rayo según la cultura

«At the third and deepest ley trance, subjects are unable to make any distinction between and iconic forms, for they are plunged into an overwhelmingly experience. Thus, they might feel themselves in the presence deities and mythological beings specific to their world view.» — la tercera fase según Letcher: ya no se distingue lo entóptico de lo icónico y el sujeto se siente en presencia de deidades y seres míticos de su propio mundo

«Thus, they abstracted what they regarded six typical entoptics: grids, parallel lines, dots, zigzags, filigi» — los seis entópticos típicos que, según Letcher, Lewis-Williams y Dowson abstrajeron como firmas de trance; el troceo pierde el final del renglón y corta la enumeración

«Originally they tested their model on the petroglyphs of people of southern Africa, which were known to have been immediately following participation in communal trance ritua archaeologists were excited to find both entoptic and iconic that corresponded well with the shapes predicted by their» — la primera prueba del modelo según Letcher: los petroglifos del sur de África, hechos justo después de rituales colectivos de trance

«In short, it looked as if this European rock art had been prodi people who were wholly familiar with altered states of conscio» — la conclusión que Letcher atribuye a esa aplicación del modelo al Paleolítico superior europeo; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«investigators found that under the influence of Mexican ic mushrooms they saw Aztec-style patterns woven throughout their hallucinations.» — el dato que Letcher trae: investigadores occidentales bajo hongos mexicanos vieron patrones de estilo azteca en sus alucinaciones; el ancla arranca después del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«The problem was that it might have been their cultural expectations, rather than some essential property of the mushrooms, that determined the form of these mutable inner tapestries. Subjectivity could never be entirely ruled out.» — la objeción de Letcher a ese dato: las expectativas culturales, y no una propiedad esencial del hongo, pudieron determinar la forma de las visiones, y la subjetividad nunca queda descartada

«Eye-catching headlines in the press about ‘Stone Age Psychedelia’ and ‘Raves in the Caves’ did much to propel this appealing idea into popular consciousness," but the equally compelling counterarguments, and the often impassioned and vitriolic manner in which the debate has been played out, are pretty much unknown beyond» — Letcher contrasta los titulares de prensa sobre la psicodelia de la Edad de Piedra con los contraargumentos, que dice desconocidos fuera de la academia

«most rest on the problem of cultural specificity and the method’s failure to escape subjectivity.» — el resumen que Letcher da de las objeciones al modelo: especificidad cultural y fracaso del método para escapar de la subjetividad

«For example, writers and artists have struggled since the time of the Romantics to represent their natural or drug-induced hallucinations, and so the idea that anyone could reduce these to six abstracted forms seems arbitrary, subjective and unduly optimistic.» — la objeción concreta de Letcher: reducir a seis formas abstractas lo que escritores y artistas llevan desde el romanticismo intentando representar le parece arbitrario

«And while altered states of consciousness may generate entoptic forms, not every entoptic form unambiguously indicates an altered state.» — la asimetría lógica que Letcher señala: que el trance genere formas entópticas no implica que toda forma entóptica indique trance

«And even if our ancestors did make use ond rime or other psychoactives, there is no reason why they ln ave wanted to record their entoptic hallucinations.» — otra objeción de Letcher: aun usando psicoactivos, no hay razón para suponer que quisieran registrar sus alucinaciones entópticas

«Academic opinion is at best divided over the model, at Bor ibit end : : A rst against it, so once again this particular line of inference reaches a dead end.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre esta línea de inferencia: la opinión académica está dividida o en contra, y la vía llega a un callejón sin salida

«They began their study by examining data from earlier neuropl ological investigations into the kinds of hallucination produced b psychoactive drug mescaline, and by certain types of migraine.» — la base del modelo según Letcher: datos neuropsicológicos previos sobre alucinaciones de mescalina y de ciertas migrañas; el tramo corta antes de los asteriscos con que el troceo rinde la llamada de nota

«ner of reasons why people could have been moved to leave patterns and marks upon rocks and stones. Inspired by nature, they might have wanted to draw ripples or waves. Primitive tools might have limited artistic expression to curves and zigzags. Like doodlers everywhere, Prehistoric artists might simply have found the patterns pleasing.» — las razones alternativas que Letcher enumera para dejar marcas en la roca: imitar ondas, límites de la herramienta, o sencillo gusto por el patrón; el ancla arranca en la segunda mitad de la palabra partida por el salto de renglón

«There is one final approach that we need to discuss, for if m: mushrooms were used in ancient times, they would have to have | used religiously (they are inherently spiritual, remember). It stand reason, therefore, that the place to look for traces is in the relics ancient shamanic-inflected European religions. And the spring most obviously to mind, to mushroom enthusiasts at le: Druidry, witchcraft and the ancient Greek rites of Eleusis.» — Letcher anuncia la última vía de indicio: buscar el hongo en las reliquias de religiones europeas de corte chamánico, y nombra las tres que se traen a cuento, la druidría, la brujería y Eleusis; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«For nearly two thousand years spanning ancient Greek and rule, mystery rites in honour of the goddesses Demet Persephone were performed annually at Eleusis, near Athens, ; temple marking the place where Hades was supposed to have ab ed Persephone into the underworld.» — Letcher data en cerca de dos mil años los misterios anuales de Deméter y Perséfone en Eleusis, junto al templo que marcaba el rapto

«The September cele! were open to all Greek speakers, excepting murderers, for the about a month's wages, and were attended by many thousands of] ple, from the lowly to the great and the good.» — Letcher describe la apertura de los misterios a todo hablante de griego salvo homicidas, por el precio de un mes de jornal, con asistencia de miles

«Celebrants walked a processional rout Athens, performing ritual ablutions along the way. They spent dancing in preparation and then they imbibed a potion from a $ cup, the kykeon, before entering the secret telesterion initiati where a great mystery was revealed.» — la secuencia del rito según Letcher: procesión desde Atenas, abluciones, danza, el kykeon bebido de una copa y la entrada al telesterion; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«disclosure of exactly what happened inside the temple at El punishable by death, the climax of the ceremony has remained E mysterious to this day.» — Letcher señala que la revelación del contenido del rito se castigaba con la muerte, y que por eso su clímax sigue siendo desconocido

«modern enthusiasts have argued that the potion mi been psychoactive. And that, of course, means it could have cont magic mushrooms.» — el argumento moderno que Letcher expone: como los escritores clásicos describen una experiencia extática, el brebaje habría sido psicoactivo, y por tanto pudo contener hongos mágicos

«The poet and author Robert Graves who, as we shall see, W stranger to mushrooms himself, was the first to suggest that pl lucinogens might have induced the reported mystical rap proposed, on the basis of his idiosyncratic interpretation | Homeric Hymn to Demeter and other Greek myths, that the p given to all celebrants had originally contained the fly-agaric, ref at a later stage by a more efÏcacious psilocybin mushro» — según Letcher, Robert Graves fue el primero en proponer alucinógenos vegetales en Eleusis, y sostuvo, sobre su lectura del Himno homérico a Deméter, que la poción llevó primero amanita y luego un psilocibio; el troceo rinde la ligadura fi como Ï

«American friend Robert Gordon Wasson — who played the lea the modern discovery of the magic mushroom — favoured erg» — la preferencia de Robert Gordon Wasson según Letcher: el cornezuelo como agente psicoactivo de Eleusis, con los alcaloides separables de los tóxicos por remojo del esclerocio; el troceo pierde el arranque del renglón y el tramo cruza el encabezado corrido de la plana; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«Sadly, in the absence of any material residues or documentary evidence that would tell us exactly what was in the cup, all these theories must remain speculative.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre Eleusis: sin residuos materiales ni documentos que digan qué había en la copa, todas esas teorías quedan especulativas

«And while Plato could certainly have entered the realm of eternal forms after drinking mushroom tea from the kykeon, the history of religion is also replete with examples of mass epiphanies induced by nothing more exotic than enthusiastic fervour (contemporary charismatic Christianity being a case in point, vehemently opposed as it is to drugs of all kinds).» — la objeción de Letcher: la historia de las religiones está llena de epifanías colectivas sin nada más exótico que el fervor, con el cristianismo carismático contemporáneo como caso, opuesto él mismo a toda droga

«The Eleusinian potion may have been alcoholic or, acting as placebo, may have contained nothing inebriating or psychoactive at all: the lengthy preparations and the great sense of anticipation and expectation could have been sufÏcient to have generated the feelings of religious awe that were so widely reported.» — las alternativas que Letcher pone sobre la mesa para el kykeon: alcohol, placebo, o nada inebriante, con la preparación larga y la expectativa bastando para el pasmo religioso

«The tendency to imagine drugs at the centre of a variety of ancient religions says rather more about us, and our inability to countenance religious ecstasy without the use of psychoactives, than it does about the religions concerned.» — la tesis de Letcher sobre el impulso interpretativo mismo: suponer drogas en el centro de religiones antiguas dice más de nuestra incapacidad de concebir el éxtasis sin ellas que de esas religiones

«With so little to go on, the belief that mushrooms were consumed at Eleusis is highly tendentious, and even if it were truly the case, the Greek participants, ignorant of what was in the potion, would surely have had no idea that it was mushrooms they were taking.» — la doble objeción de Letcher a Eleusis: la creencia le parece tendenciosa, y aun siendo cierta los participantes griegos no habrían sabido que tomaban hongos

«The same is not supposed to be true of the shadowy Druids who, it is widely believed, knowingly consumed mushrooms as part of their pem rites at Stonehenge.» — Letcher pasa a la creencia de que los druidas tomaban hongos a sabiendas en Stonehenge

«Again, it was Robert Graves who started e ball rolling. He argued, in one of his lengthy ruminations about the — bes that is Druids formed part of a pan-European mush-COMM by nx t att ji had remained on good terms with the ancient B. n te them with. bundles of fly-agarics wrapped in Gis E benedi y m consumption at Eleusis.» — la tesis que Letcher atribuye a Graves: los druidas como parte de un culto micológico paneuropeo en buenos términos con los griegos, a los que abastecerían de amanitas envueltas; el troceo entrevera renglones y el tramo va tal cual

«Others followed lm rai the id myths but the early Irish and Welsh ver-Bs which ‘ure uding the Welsh Mabinogion and the Irish ir rep) = with references to Druids and their magical E uc uem — alike have wondered whether these Biberon: aan y vei led references to psychoactive potions and their consciousness-altering effects.» — la deriva posterior según Letcher: no los mitos clásicos sino el Mabinogion galés y la literatura vernácula irlandesa, llenos de druidas y sus calderos mágicos, leídos por algunos como referencias veladas a pociones psicoactivas

«Well, once again, alarm bells should ring, for what we know about the original Iron Age Druids could almost be the back of a postcard.» — la advertencia de Letcher sobre los druidas de la Edad del Hierro: lo que se sabe de ellos cabría en el reverso de una postal

«They, being illiterate, left us no records o own beliefs and practices, while the archaeological record pre: € with a tantalisingly incomplete picture of Iron Age religious lif» — Letcher señala que los druidas eran iletrados y no dejaron registro propio, y que el registro arqueológico da un cuadro incompleto

«Stonehenge was already two thousand years old by the tim» — el dato cronológico con que Letcher declara espurio el vínculo entre druidas y Stonehenge: el monumento ya tenía dos mil años cuando aparecieron los druidas

«That we know of the existence of Druids at all is Greek and Roman classical authors chose to write about them is from these second-hand accounts that the stereotypical pi the Druids comes: the white-robed bearded philosophers, groves, harvesting mistletoe with golden sickles, and perform animal and human sacrifices.» — Letcher atribuye a los autores clásicos griegos y romanos todo lo que se sabe de los druidas, y de esos relatos de segunda mano el retrato estereotipado de filósofos barbados, muérdago y sacrificios

«But the extent to which the des and fantastical or rhetorical elements of these accounts can guished remains debatable: most of these authors had never Britain or Gaul, let alone encountered a Druid.» — la reserva de Letcher sobre esas fuentes: casi ninguno de esos autores había estado en Britania o la Galia ni visto un druida

«Nor do any of from the Celtic vernacular literature, which were written so the formal end of paganism, and by people so far removed that they can tell us nothing meaningful about the Druids they» — la negativa que Letcher declara: ni las fuentes clásicas ni la literatura vernácula céltica, escrita mucho después del fin del paganismo, mencionan hongos psicoactivos ni dicen nada fiable sobre los druidas

«In particular, the episode of the medieval and early modern hunts has particularly exercised, if it has not been exorcised fre Western scholarly and popular imaginations. As the remonstral surly Goth teenagers everywhere will surely attest, the wi not malevolent devil worshippers but pagans, herbalists, h midwives who almost certainly knew about the properties 0 mushrooms that they slipped into their ‘flying ointments”.* A t patriarchy, nine million of them, mainly women, were per: vindictive Christianity and burnt at the stake.» — el mito de la bruja tal como Letcher lo formula para objetarlo: paganas, herbolarias y parteras que conocían las propiedades de los hongos de sus ungüentos de vuelo, nueve millones de ellas quemadas por un cristianismo vengativo; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«This is the myth as it is popularly believed, but the real story, 8! is a little more complicated. For one thing, the figure of nine deaths is vastly overstated, and was more realistically in the forty thousand (though still a far from trivial number).» — la enmienda de cifra de Letcher: los nueve millones son exageración y la cifra realista ronda los cuarenta mil, que él mismo acota como nada trivial

«those accused as witches were most emphatically Christian, not pagan, and were, in the main, outsiders, loners and scapegoats who upset the communities in which they lived, or who took the blame for the petty hardships, travails and mishaps of ordinary life.» — la segunda enmienda de Letcher: las acusadas eran cristianas y no paganas, y en general forasteras, solitarias y chivos expiatorios

«The potent idea of witches as pagans seems to have been invented in the years between the two world wars, but was brought to widespread attention in 1921 by the British anthropologist Margaret Murray (1862-1963) in her influential book The Witch Cult in Western Europe.» — Letcher data entre las dos guerras la idea de las brujas como paganas y la atribuye a la difusión de Margaret Murray en 1921

«Here, and in subsequent volumes, she argued that the witches had not been devil-worshippers, as accused, but were actually members of an ancient pagan religion, existing secretly in rural backwaters since prehistory, that worshipped a ahorned god and practised magic.» — la tesis de Margaret Murray según Letcher: las brujas como miembros de una religión pagana antigua, secreta en los rincones rurales, que adoraba a un dios cornudo; el troceo imprime *ahorned* pegado

«Although her thesis has now been demolished (the way she inter-Preted witch-confessions and her habit of gathering data partially and selectively are rightly regarded as unsound“), her ideas gripped the» — Letcher señala que la tesis de Murray ya no tiene crédito y localiza el reparo en su lectura de las confesiones y en su recolección parcial y selectiva de datos, y añade que aun así prendió en la imaginación

«In particular, she inspired a retired colonial civil E LEM Gardner (1884-1964), to set about ‘reviving’ (that is, a 8) her witchcraft religion: currently, Wicca is the largest and 5t popular of the modern Pagan religions in Britain and America,» — Letcher traza de Murray a Gerald Gardner la revivificación de la religión de las brujas, y sitúa a la wicca como la mayor de las religiones paganas modernas de Britania y América; el troceo pierde el arranque de un renglón

«Wiccans are gradually a the scholarly revisions to their historical identity — that theirs. ally a recent, invented spirituality and none the worse for that one belief about early modern witchcraft remains firmly in pl ticularly amongst psychedelic enthusiasts: that of the witch» — Letcher registra que los wiccanos van aceptando la revisión histórica de su identidad, una espiritualidad reciente e inventada, y que una creencia sigue firme entre los entusiastas psicodélicos: la del ungüento

«According to contemporary accounts and recorded co; those accused of witchcraft would often admit to using di ments with which they would smear themselves before attendit sabbats. These greasy pastes enabled them to fly or even to turn selves into animals.» — los ungüentos que, según los relatos y confesiones que Letcher cita, las acusadas decían untarse para volar al sabbat o convertirse en animales

«The idea that these ointments were not n but mind-altering was mooted at the time of the trials. sceptics, refusing to countenance the idea of magic and advanced the hypothesis that the ointments were deliriants ly induced the impression of flying, of turning into animals, sorting with the devil and so on.» — Letcher fecha en los propios procesos la hipótesis escéptica de que los ungüentos fueran deliriantes que inducían la impresión de volar y de yacer con el diablo

«Margaret Murray gave the idea st consideration, and in an appendix to The Witch Cult her colle A. J. Clark concluded that some of the reported ingredients, aconite and belladonna, might have induced a feeling of vei ing when introduced via the skin.» — la conclusión de A. J. Clark en el apéndice del libro de Murray según Letcher: ingredientes como el acónito y la belladona podrían dar sensación de vuelo por vía cutánea

«The idea was picked up by eth-century psychiatrists keen to disprove the ascendant Fr theory that the persecutions were triggered by mass hysteria caus repressed material surfacing from the collective psyche.» — Letcher señala que psiquiatras del siglo XX recogieron la idea para oponerla a la teoría freudiana de la histeria colectiva como causa de las persecuciones

«It was during the 1970s, however, that the idea received its mo tile reception, when it was restated by the anthropologist Harner in his widely read book Hallucinogens and Sbamanist» — Letcher fecha en los años setenta la mayor acogida de la idea y la atribuye al antropólogo Michael Harner en su libro sobre alucinógenos y chamanismo; el troceo rinde el título con la grafía *Sbamanist*

«Harner's unfounded suggestion (apparently borro: sonous ingredients of the ointment through the sensitive lining Ol vagina, applied using broom-handles as dildos, allowed the wi be reinvented as ecstatic proto-feminist separatists, sexually ered yet independent of men.» — la sugerencia de Harner que Letcher llama infundada: el ungüento absorbido por la mucosa vaginal con el palo de la escoba como consolador, que permitió reinventar a la bruja como protofeminista extática; el troceo pierde el arranque de varios renglones

«From there, it was not so ta leap to add magic mushrooms into this potent mixture of sex» — el paso siguiente que Letcher describe: añadir los hongos mágicos a esa mezcla

«He took his own advice to heart, famously ‘going native’ while studying the Shuar Indians of Ecuador, and abandoning anthropology to undergo a gruelling shamanic training involving the repeated use of the psychoactive ayahuasca brew and of juice extracted from the datura plant.» — según Letcher, Harner se volvió nativo entre los shuar de Ecuador y abandonó la antropología por un entrenamiento chamánico con ayahuasca y jugo de datura

«Now datura belongs to the same family as belladonna, henbane and mandrake, the Solanaceae or potato family, and contains the same active ingredients as its three European cousins, namely the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine, atropine and scopolamine.» — Letcher emparenta la datura con las tres solanáceas europeas por sus alcaloides tropánicos

«Harner, then, reached his conclusion about the European witches less upon the historical evidence than upon the basis of his own experiences with datura. He knew, first hand, that the tropanes were more than powerful enough to convince users that they had flown or, say, had intercourse with the devil, for his own experiences had been sufÏciently terrifying and outlandish.» — la explicación que Letcher da de la conclusión de Harner sobre las brujas europeas: menos por la evidencia histórica que por su propia experiencia con datura

«The fact that there was no pagan witch-cult would rather seem to pour cold water on the whole notion of the ointments, no matter how powerfully psychoactive datura and its European cousins are. Even so, scholars have accepted that occasional and localised use of tropane-containing preparations amongst the accused cannot be entirely ruled out.» — Letcher niega el culto pagano de brujas y con él la base del ungüento, y acota en la misma frase que un uso ocasional y local de preparados tropánicos entre las acusadas no puede descartarse

«On the other hand, the fact that the ‘ointments’ conveniently explained how it was that tens, sometimes hundreds, of accused witches were able to gather for their sabbats without anyone noticing, makes the story just a little too convenient. It seems most likely that it Was a ‘plot device’ inserted to make the accusations seem more credible.» — la lectura que Letcher prefiere: el ungüento como recurso de trama que hacía creíble la reunión de decenas de acusadas sin que nadie lo notara

«of witches as adept users of hallucinogens appealed not the burgeoning sixties and seventies psychedelic counterculture, tient to find historical antecedents that would legitimate their practices, but also to feminists looking for empowering histo» — Letcher explica la acogida de la idea por dos públicos: la contracultura psicodélica que buscaba antecedentes históricos legitimadores y las feministas que buscaban modelos de poder; el troceo pierde el arranque y el final de los renglones

«were adept users of psychoactive unguents, employqm tropane-containing plants belladonna (Atropa beling ladonna), henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and mandrake (Mandragora inarum) as their three principal agents.» — la creencia ya popular que Letcher registra: las brujas como usuarias diestras de ungüentos con belladona, beleño y mandrágora como agentes principales; el ancla arranca en el verbo porque el troceo destruye el arranque del renglón

«remembered that Michael Harner was an anthropologist» — Letcher recuerda que Michael Harner era antropólogo y no historiador, dato con el que va a explicar de dónde salió su conclusión sobre las brujas europeas; el tramo corta donde el troceo reemite la marca de plana

«The book was read by Shakespeare and Milton amongst others, and the fact that Pamphilé’s transformation is often taken as a literal descripti hallucinogenic experience” suggests that it could easily have b as such by the witch-hunters. The origins of the ointments almost certainly to have been literary.» — la conclusión de Letcher sobre el ungüento: como la transformación de Pánfila se leía como descripción literal de una experiencia alucinógena, el origen de los ungüentos parece haber sido literario

«It seems that everywhere we look in the dim and distant p slippery and evanescent magic mushrooms simply evade oui There are none to be found in the archaeological record, nor ences from other psychoactive plant remains easy to make. images of mushrooms are, in the absence of contextual in quite possibly something else entirely, while purported hall cally inspired rock art may be nothing of the sort. Not one of evidence unequivocally points to their having been used by herbalists, Stone Age architects or prehistoric shamans.» — el balance de Letcher sobre la prehistoria: el hongo se escurre en todos los indicios, y ninguno apunta de manera unívoca a su uso por herbolarias, constructores neolíticos ni chamanes prehistóricos

«absence of evidence cannot be taken as evidence of ab: does seem inconceivable, given the huge amounts of time in qi that someone, somewhere, in European prehistory did not inte ally reach out to pluck a psilocybin mushroom from the problem is that, if they did, they left not a single piece of» — la reserva que Letcher se impone a sí mismo: la ausencia de evidencia no es evidencia de ausencia, y por el tiempo transcurrido le parece inconcebible que nadie en la prehistoria europea probara un psilocibio, solo que no dejó rastro

«The best we can do is to say that we really know, one way or the other, whether the ancients worshipped t spores of God. Though anyone is free to make that asserti should remember that they are doing so on the basis of wi: ing and not established fact.» — la abstención declarada de Letcher: no se sabe de un modo ni de otro si los antiguos veneraron las esporas de Dios, y quien lo afirme lo hace sobre deseo y no sobre hecho establecido

«much eaten by the Gentry . . . but as it may delight one, so it may be Poison to another.» — el epígrafe del capítulo cuarto, tomado de la Academy of Armory de Randle Holme, sobre el hongo que deleita a uno y envenena a otro

«Few mushrooms are good to be eaten and most of them do suffocate and strangle the cater. Therefore, I give my advice unto those that love such strange and new fangled meates to beware of licking honey amongst thorns lest the sweetness of the one do countervaile the sharpness and pricking of the other.» — el segundo epígrafe del capítulo, del Herball de Gerard, con su advertencia contra los manjares nuevos y extraños; el troceo imprime *cater* por *eater*

«The result is that, with the move into history, we have a much clearer picture of magic mushroom use in Europe than ever we can hope to obtain from the archaeological record.» — el giro del libro hacia el registro histórico, donde Letcher dice tener un cuadro mucho más claro que el arqueológico

«And the picture that emerges is quite surprising, for while peo-Ple appear to have been eating hallucinogenic mushrooms for as long as there have been records, until the twentieth century they always did 30 accidentally and unintentionally.» — la tesis central del capítulo según Letcher: en Europa se comieron hongos alucinógenos desde que hay registros, pero hasta el siglo XX siempre por accidente y sin intención; el troceo imprime *Ple* y *30* por *people* y *so*

«We must, of course, exercise a little caution when interpreting: records, for writers and archivists prior to the late twentieth did not use unambiguous terms such as ‘psychedelic’, ‘hallu or ‘tripping’, but looser terms like ‘choaking’, ‘vertigo’ and ‘gid» — la cautela de método que Letcher declara: los archivistas anteriores al siglo XX no usaban términos como psicodélico sino atragantamiento, vértigo y mareo

«Nevertheless, the language they used and the symptoms they are often more than suggestive of magic mushrooms, even if w never be roo per cent certain what species they were referring to» — el límite que Letcher se fija: el lenguaje y los síntomas sugieren hongos mágicos, y aun así no cabe certeza total sobre la especie; el troceo imprime *roo* por *100*

«He seems not to have been referring here to the fly-: for he describes it later on in the treatise.» — la reserva de Letcher sobre ese pasaje: Alberto no parece hablar de la amanita, que describe más adelante en el mismo tratado

«described a fungus known in Germany as the narrenschwa ‘foolish fungus’, which made people ‘mentally upset’ (unfortu the mushroom that most accurately fits his description is vaginata, but it is not psychoactive).» — el hongo de los locos que Carolus Clusius describió en Alemania, y la enmienda que Letcher pone en el mismo paréntesis: la especie que mejor encaja con su descripción no es psicoactiva

«the sixteenth-century physician known as (Pieter van Foreest, 1522-1597) recorded two possible cases ol dental intoxication: in one, a countrywoman fell after eating M rooms into a state of “grievous disorder” from which she recovered; in the other, a young woman was ‘flung into viol vulsions and the Risus sardonicus by eating mushrooms» — los dos casos de intoxicación accidental que Letcher toma del médico neerlandés Forestus: una campesina en grave desorden y una joven con convulsiones y risa sardónica

«donicus is a medical term that refers to the fixed ri symptomatic of tetanus, but in earlier medical parlance it des condition of pathological or uncontrollable laughter, which, know, is one of the well-attested characteristics of the bemush» — la lectura que Letcher hace de la *risus sardonicus*: en el habla médica antigua designaba la risa incontrolable, rasgo bien atestiguado del enhongado; el ancla arranca en la segunda mitad de la palabra partida por el salto

«Apart from that of Clusius, we have no records at all from th enteenth century, though the eighteenth is more forthcoming; record-keeping and fungal taxonomy become sufÏciently adv for us to hazard attempts at identifying the species concerned.» — la negativa que Letcher declara para el siglo XVII y su razón para abordar el XVIII: el registro y la taxonomía ya permiten arriesgar identificaciones

«In 1755 the Reverend er Pickering (c.1720-17 55), amateur botanist and Fellow of the Royal Society, submitted *A brief dissertation upon Fungi in general, and concerning the poisonous faculty of some species in particular . . ." to the Gentleman's Magazine, a journal to which Dr Johnson was a contributor.» — la disertación sobre hongos que el reverendo Roger Pickering, botánico aficionado y miembro de la Royal Society, envió a la Gentleman's Magazine según Letcher

«There, apart from referencing the examples from Forestus, he distinguished two distinct types of mushroom poisoning: the one bringing on violent vomitings, diarrhoeas, dysentries, &c’ but the other, more tellingly, affecting the nervous system with “a sense of choaking, convulsions, Risus sardonicus &c» — la distinción que Letcher atribuye a Pickering entre dos envenenamientos por hongos, uno digestivo y otro nervioso con atragantamiento, convulsiones y risa sardónica

«Two years later, in 1757, the same magazine reported that a tailor, a Mr Kirk from Salisbury, together with his wife, daughter and journeyman, ‘were in great danger of losing their lives in a stupor and conyulsions, with which they were seized, in consequence of their eating some stewed mushrooms for supper, which they gathered the same day on the downs near Amesbury» — el caso del sastre Kirk de Salisbury y su familia, en estupor y convulsiones tras cenar hongos recogidos en los pastos cercanos a Amesbury, según Letcher

«Clearly Kirk did not, like his more famous namesake, imagine himself boldly going where no man had gone before, but thought instead that he and his family were poisoned and very probably dying.» — la lectura de Letcher: Kirk no se creyó explorador de mundos nuevos sino envenenado y a punto de morir

«Nevertheless, the fact that the mushrooms were picked on pastures, and that the family’s alarming symptoms wore off after some hours, are consistent at least with the Liberty Cap.» — el indicio que Letcher retiene del caso Kirk: pastos y síntomas que remiten en horas, compatibles con el sombrerete de la libertad

«Some fifteen years later, the physician W. Heberden also wrote to the Gentleman's Magazine to warn readers of ‘the noxious effects of» — la carta del médico W. Heberden a la misma revista sobre los efectos nocivos de los hongos, según Letcher

«He described how a man and his family picked and a champignons! but were, some five minutes later, “all much E The man *was unable to shut his eyes and was so giddy he ra ardly stand; the woman felt the same symptoms in a more viosine E and the child, who had but just tasted them, had convulà E. ations in its arms» — el cuadro que Letcher toma de Heberden: el hombre incapaz de cerrar los ojos y tan mareado que no se tenía en pie, la mujer peor, y la niña con convulsiones en los brazos

«The family responded well to the emetics um la ¿pelo prescribed in such cases of poisoning; the mother, a ne unable to drink anything, made a complete recovery Em ater without this treatment.» — el desenlace del caso de Heberden según Letcher: la familia respondió a los eméticos y la madre, que no pudo beber nada, se recuperó igual

«The idea of the ointments was already in circulation at the time Of the trials, for in Apuleius’ second-century ribald fable and proto» — Letcher rastrea el ungüento hasta la fábula de Apuleyo del siglo segundo, que ya circulaba en tiempos de los procesos; el tramo corta en el guion de fin de renglón donde el troceo reemite la marca de plana

«novel The Golden Ass, the sorceress Pamphilé smears h paste before turning into an owl.» — el pasaje de El asno de oro que Letcher trae: la hechicera Pánfila se unta y se vuelve lechuza; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«comes from the herbalist and botanist Albertus Magnus ( 1280), in his thirteenth-century treatise De Vegetabilibus. cautioned against mushrooms ‘of a moist humour’ that “stop up i head the mental passages of the creatures» — el indicio más antiguo que Letcher registra: Albertus Magnus advirtiendo en su De Vegetabilibus del siglo XIII contra los hongos de humor húmedo que tapan los pasajes mentales de quien los come; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«One further incident, however, from 1799, has proved to b conclusive. Early one October morning Dr Everard Brande, a cian, was summoned urgently to a house in London’s Piccadi a family had been taken ill.» — el caso de 1799 que Letcher da por concluyente: el doctor Everard Brande llamado de urgencia a una casa de Piccadilly

«The father, known only as J.S d out to Green Park to gather wild mushrooms for his family’s fast, as he was accustomed to do every morning. He cooked u in an iron pot, and served the mushroom soup with tea.» — el padre, llamado solo por iniciales, que según Letcher recogía hongos en Green Park cada mañana y sirvió la sopa con té

«The doctor later described how the youngest son, Edward, “was attacked with fits of immoderate laughter, nor could the t of his father or mother restrain him» — el síntoma que Brande registró en el hijo menor y que Letcher cita: ataques de risa inmoderada que ni las amenazas de los padres contenían

«Shocking as this was, it ceeded by attacks of vertigo, then stupor, and when roused answered yes or no willy-nilly to a series of questions put to d how he was feeling. His pupils, Brande observed dispassiona: ‘dilated to nearly the circumference of the cornea» — la continuación del cuadro según Brande en el relato de Letcher: vértigo, estupor, respuestas al azar y pupilas dilatadas casi hasta el borde de la córnea

«Shortly afterwards his father, now equally wide-eyed, also s experiencing vertigo, then complained that everything h black’. The world was restored after ten minutes or so, but not sufÏcient to elevate his mood for he became convinced» — el cuadro del padre según Letcher: vértigo, todo negro diez minutos, y luego el convencimiento de estar muriendo

«Dr Brande, joined by his colleague Dr Bi immediately suspected poisoning, and proceeded then to apply ics and cathartics to his patients; he remained with them all the distressing symptoms had passed.» — el tratamiento que Letcher reporta: Brande y su colega sospecharon envenenamiento y aplicaron eméticos y catárticos, quedándose hasta que pasó el cuadro

«Gathering the remains of the mushrooms from the b instructing the father (who claimed that he had picked and eaté same sort of mushrooms for years, with no deleterious effects) t lect some more, Brande arranged to have the samples sent tO» — la diligencia de Brande según Letcher: recogió los restos, pidió al padre más ejemplares y los mandó a identificar; el tramo corta antes del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«The botanists noted that the other experts in the field, Dr William Withering (1741-1799) and Dr William Curtis (1746-1799) (the latter author of the magnificent Flora Londinensis), had listed this particular species as harmless.» — el dato que Letcher subraya: las autoridades de la época, Withering y Curtis, tenían esa especie por inofensiva

«Brande confidently wrote up the incident for publication in the London Medical and Physical Journal, concluding with a description of the offending variety of Agaricus glutinosus so that further incidents might be avoided.» — la publicación del caso por Brande en el London Medical and Physical Journal, con la descripción de la variedad para evitar accidentes

«It is thanks to Brande’s diligence and perspicacity that later mycologists have been able, in the light of the nineteenth century’s taxonomical revolution, to reclassify this species as Psilocybe semilanceata.» — Letcher adjudica a la diligencia de Brande que los micólogos posteriores pudieran reclasificar la especie como Psilocybe semilanceata

«For on hearing about the case, James Sowerby hurriedly postponed publication of his Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms, which had been due for release in January 1800, to insert an account of the incident and an additional plate illustrating the offending species.» — según Letcher, Sowerby aplazó la publicación de sus Coloured Figures para meter el caso y una lámina de la especie

«It is from his paintings, and from Brande’s description, that the fresh identification was made in the late 1960s. The American mycologist Dr Rolf Singer stumbled across the episode in Sowerby’s book and immediately identified the mushroom as the Liberty Cap.» — Letcher fecha a fines de los años sesenta la identificación nueva, hecha por el micólogo Rolf Singer sobre las láminas de Sowerby y la descripción de Brande

«other children — Martha, eighteen, Harriet, tv Charlotte, ten — were all affected to a greater or lesser» — los demás hijos de la familia de Piccadilly, afectados en grados distintos según el relato de Brande que trae Letcher; el troceo imprime *tv* por la edad de Harriet y el tramo corta donde se reemite la marca de plana

«Charlotte, in particular, was delirious, her sight impaired. All o had variable pulse rates, a feeling of coldness in the body, an voluntary motion.» — el cuadro de la hija menor y de los demás según Brande en el relato de Letcher: delirio, vista dañada, pulso variable, frío y movimiento involuntario

«a little-known fact that the common Mexican magic mushroom species have all appeared on postage stamps in the African Republic of Benin; also, a type of ‘felt’ pill-box hat } favoured in Romania is actually made from REPUSLIQUE DU SENIN 50f "mt the flesh of a bracket fungus, Ganoderma applanatum; and in Zambia tortoises are believed to have a passion for mushrooms, hence the expression “the guest of the tortoise has mushrooms for supper» — las tres curiosidades con que Letcher abre el capítulo cuarto, de los timbres de Benín al sombrero rumano de hongo y al proverbio zambiano de la tortuga; el troceo imprime *Iris* por *It is* y el ancla arranca después

«Back in the early nineteenth century, however, fungal ta still far from an exact science, and very often several s| lumped together as different varieties, as was the case wit glutinosus. Binomial classification had only just been intro lowing Linnaeus, and even then it was assumed that all n belonged to the same homogenous genus, Agaricus (na ancient Greek word for mushroom).» — el estado de la taxonomía fúngica a principios del XIX según Letcher: especies distintas metidas como variedades en un solo género, Agaricus

«In 1816 a Dr G. Glen was called to Knightsbridge to a who was suffering very badly indeed." The man had gon: morning to Hyde Park to pick mushrooms from his favouri trees behind Horse-Guard Barracks. He cooked up his delicious stew, but ten minutes after eating them he seized with a dimness or mist before his eyes, lightness of his head, with a general trembling and sudden loss of» — el caso de 1816 que Letcher reporta: un hombre recogió hongos en Hyde Park y a los diez minutos lo tomó la niebla ante los ojos, la ligereza de cabeza y el temblor

«Glen took samples of the mushrooms to his friend William Salisbury of Sloane Street, who identified them campanulatus (now called Panaeolus campanulatus) previously written to the Gentleman's Magazine to record cases of poisoning with this species.» — la identificación que Letcher reporta del caso de 1816: William Salisbury la atribuyó al Agaricus campanulatus, hoy Panaeolus campanulatus

«In September 1879, à three-year-old boy, ‘B.J.’, was brought to see Mr J. Ernest Bullock, the resident medical ofÏcer of the Western General Dispensary on London’s Marylebone Road.» — el caso de 1879 que Letcher reporta: un niño de tres años llevado al dispensario de Marylebone Road; el troceo imprime la *a* con acento grave

«According to his older sister, he had gone out to play in Hyde Park, then picked and eaten a few mushrooms, after which he had collapsed and been carried home by a passer-by. His teeth were so firmly clenched that no emetic would pass his lips, but by the next day he had recovered completely, with no memory at all of what had happened.» — el relato de la hermana mayor según Letcher: el niño comió unos hongos en Hyde Park, se desplomó y al día siguiente estaba recuperado sin memoria del episodio

«This, and other similar cases, led the respected naturalist Mordecai Cubitt Cooke (1825-1914) to issue a stern admonition to ‘parents and guardians, that children at play in the fields may be warned against putting in their mouths any of the little “toadstools” which grow amongst the grass» — la advertencia que el naturalista Mordecai Cubitt Cooke dirigió a padres y tutores sobre los hongos de los prados, según Letcher

«Nor were these incidents restricted to England. In 1883 a Dr E. Downes wrote to The Lancet from India to describe how several of his ‘coolies’ had been taken ill after eating mushrooms.» — el caso de la India de 1883 que Letcher trae de una carta del doctor E. Downes a The Lancet; la palabra con que el original nombra a los trabajadores va tal cual

«None of them seemed to know what they were saying or doing, and they charged around as if drunk. Neither salt water nor strong tea made the slightest difference to their condition, so the doctor had them tied down lest they roll down the precarious Indian hills during the night, never to be seen again.» — el cuadro de ese caso según Letcher: desorientación, carrera como de ebrios, y los enfermos atados para que no rodaran por las laderas

«Their symptoms — falling into a deep slumber, before rising up and rushing around madly — strongly suggest that this was a rare Case of accidental fly-agaric intoxication.» — la lectura que Letcher propone para el caso de la India: sueño profundo y luego agitación, indicios de una rara intoxicación accidental por amanita

«In late August 1830, D. Bu pu surgeon at Westminster Hospital, was called to assist a ‘aid md - Frederick Bickerton, aged twenty-five; his wife, Anne, E ee; and their child George Bickerton, aged four — who were E. E pacing around the waiting room.» — el caso de los Bickerton en el hospital de Westminster que Letcher reporta como el más reconocible de los del siglo XIX

«Remarkably, ‘their consciousness y unclouded’ and on ‘being charged with drunkenness, the adult ited the most lively indignation» — el detalle que Letcher subraya del relato de Edwards: la consciencia quedó sin nublar y los adultos se indignaron al ser acusados de borrachera

«The Bickertons, resident at No. 2, Providence Court, Pet Westminster, had fallen on hard times. Frederick was a labour chancer, but out of work for some time; the family had n nor money. Ever enterprising, they determined to pick mushro Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, and then sell them for p make ketchup, or ‘catsup’, which was a popular condimei» — la situación de los Bickerton según Letcher: sin trabajo ni comida ni dinero, salieron a recoger hongos en Hyde Park y Kensington Gardens para venderlos o hacer salsa

«but whatever the the family could not rid themselves of a single punnet. Of they had, they might have been responsible for the biggest oi magic mushroom poisoning on record, but as it was, tired, and dejected, they went home and cooked up a broth with th ing’s pickings. Between them they ate the lot» — el desenlace que Letcher narra: no vendieron ni una canasta y se comieron todo lo recogido en un caldo; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«Then he saw himself surrounded by ‘flames’; his became painfully acute and everyday objects “became co: eye. He occasionally felt a sentiment of uncontrollable gladnes prompted him to the muscular movements. Yet he remained full scious that he was in a state of preternatural excitement.» — el cuadro de Frederick Bickerton citado de Edwards: llamas alrededor, agudeza dolorosa de los sentidos, alegría incontenible y consciencia plena de estar en excitación preternatural

«These, then, are the records which, while not conclusive, strongly suggest that magic mushrooms had been eaten.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre este expediente: los registros no son concluyentes y sugieren con fuerza que se comieron hongos mágicos

«Amusing as they are to the knowing modern reader, they show that until the end of the nineteenth century both amateurs and experts were woefully ignorant about how to identify mushrooms, and that victims and medics alike took any strange symptoms as evidence of poisoning.» — la tesis que Letcher extrae de los casos: hasta fines del XIX aficionados y expertos ignoraban cómo identificar hongos, y víctimas y médicos leían cualquier síntoma extraño como envenenamiento

«Remarkably, to understand the cause of this bewilderment we need to go all the way back to the ancient classical world where natural philosophers, bafÒed by these strange autumnal fungal growths, created a Gordian knot of confusion and disorder that would not be sliced apart until the nineteenth century.» — el giro con que Letcher explica esa confusión: un nudo gordiano heredado de los filósofos naturales del mundo clásico; el troceo rinde la ligadura fl como Ò en *bafÒed*

«ulted with another expert, James Sowerby (1757-1822), and er they concluded that the mushroom was a variety of the recently described species Agaricus glutinosus.» — la identificación que Letcher reporta: el profesor Williams de Oxford consultó a James Sowerby y concluyeron que era una variedad del Agaricus glutinosus, especie descrita poco antes; el ancla arranca en la mitad de la palabra que el troceo parte

«Recovering slightly, he staggered out on to find assistance (as luck would have it, the doctor lived dred yards away), but then forgot who he was and wl going. A neighbour came to his rescue, and by the time Glen his ‘countenance betrayed great anxiety; he could but reeled about somewhat like a drunken man; he spoke tion and reluctance; he complained of no pain . . . [but] much from giddiness’. After a day's treatment he appe» — la continuación del caso de Glen según Letcher: el hombre olvidó quién era y adónde iba, lo socorrió un vecino y se recuperó tras un día de tratamiento; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones y el tramo va tal cual

«is possible, however, that Salisbury was mistaken, for his Ms was disputed shortly afterwards.* It may well have been t what he thought was Panaeolus campanulatus was actually» — la reserva de Letcher sobre esa identificación, disputada poco después: lo que Salisbury tomó por Panaeolus pudo ser el sombrerete de la libertad; el troceo imprime *Ir* por *It*

«At first Edwards was rather Yed at the inconvenience because he thought they were drunk and» — la primera impresión del cirujano Edwards según Letcher, que se molestó creyendo que los Bickerton estaban borrachos; el tramo corta en el cambio de plana

«wasting his time. However, closer inspection convinced him. inebriation proceeded from no ordinary cause» — la corrección de Edwards según Letcher: la inspección más cercana lo convenció de que la embriaguez no venía de causa ordinaria

«taken with the ‘highest hilarity’ and, giggling hysterically, th around ‘in continual motion, either dancing or throwing the into grotesque attitudes» — el cuadro de los Bickerton citado de Edwards: hilaridad altísima, risa histérica, movimiento continuo y posturas grotescas; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«Edwards records that they had picked ‘rather more than of them’, which, even if only a small proportion had been I Caps, would have made for a sizeable dose, especially when tak» — el cálculo de dosis que Letcher hace sobre la cifra de Edwards: aun con una proporción pequeña de sombreretes de la libertad, la dosis habría sido grande

«For country dwellers and metropolitan philosophers alike, mushrooms have always seemed mysterious and problematic. Their sudden appearance and equally rapid decay, their often grotesque shapes, smells and textures, their association with rot and decomposition, have all contributed to their becoming objects of fascination and occasional abhorrence. Perhaps not surprisingly, these slippery forms managed to elude all classical attempts to categorise them.» — la explicación de Letcher del desconcierto clásico: la aparición súbita, la putrefacción y las formas grotescas hicieron del hongo un objeto escurridizo a toda clasificación

«They were clearly not animals, yet neither were they plants. They grew in great Profusion but appeared to have no flowers and to shed no seeds. They Were sometimes exquisite to eat, sometimes deadly poisonous.» — las anomalías que según Letcher desconcertaron a los antiguos: ni animales ni plantas, sin flores ni semillas, exquisitos unos y mortales otros

«A common answer to the first was that mushrooms were neously produced by thunder, where lightning struck the gro great Roman natural historian Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) rather, that they were produced from mud and the acrid juices earth, especially that found beneath acorn-bearing trees.» — las respuestas antiguas que Letcher recoge: generación espontánea por el rayo, o para Plinio el Viejo, barro y jugos acres de la tierra bajo los robles

«the writer Nicander (fl. 197-130 BCE) thought mushrooms ' ferment of the earth’, warmed by the heat rising from its core» — la respuesta de Nicandro según Letcher: el hongo como fermento de la tierra calentado por su núcleo

«Pliny rather alarmingly thought that poisonous mushrooi livid in colour and edible ones red (several poisonous speci: fact red). Nicander thought that fungi growing on oak and oli! were poisonous, those on fig-trees safe.» — las reglas erradas que Letcher atribuye a Plinio y a Nicandro para separar comestibles de venenosos, con la enmienda de Letcher entre paréntesis de que varias especies venenosas son rojas

«Dioscorides (40-90 Greek-born physician, botanist, pharmacologist, and si Nero's army, who described about five hundred plants and thi ing properties in his De Materia Medica (On Medical Ma thought mushrooms edible unless they grew over rusty iron © serpents’ dens.» — la regla de Dioscórides que Letcher reporta: el hongo es comestible salvo que crezca sobre hierro oxidado o cerca de guaridas de serpientes

«The great herbals of the medieval and early modern peti tomes and compendiums of herbal remedies and lore prod Gerard, Clusius, Culpeper and others, took much of their km directly from these classical authorities, especially Dioscorides; retained their confusion about fungi.» — Letcher hace a los herbarios de Gerard, Clusius y Culpeper herederos directos de las autoridades clásicas, y con ellas de su confusión sobre los hongos

«Albertus Magnus in teenth century and Gerard in the seventeenth thought fungi excrescences’,” while others thought mushrooms a product of d position, not its cause.» — las dos lecturas que Letcher enumera: el hongo como excrecencia de la tierra, y el hongo como producto y no causa de la descomposición

«Later, in the eighteenth century, think their imaginations free rein and variously attributed mushrooms to» — las explicaciones dieciochescas que Letcher enumera con ironía declarada: fermentación de aceite y sal nitrosa, coagulación de baba de caracol, o cristalización vegetal; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«the great Swedish botanist Linnaeus (1707-1778) - who overturned the kind of unwieldy plant classification used by John Ray with his revolutionary binomial system — was persuaded by another naturalist, Otto von Munchausen, that fungi were created as dwellings by insects.» — según Letcher, Linneo se dejó persuadir por Otto von Munchausen de que los hongos eran viviendas hechas por insectos

«He quite overlooked the observation of Pier Antonio Micheli (167971737); published in 1729, that fungi did in fact reproduce by a kind of ‘seed’.» — la observación de Pier Antonio Micheli que según Letcher Linneo pasó por alto: los hongos sí se reproducen por una especie de semilla

«In particular, Dioscorides' binary division of Fungi esculenti (edible) from Fungi pernicosi (poisonous) became the template by which all fungi were categorised and led to the misguided search for generic rules rather than specific identifying features to distinguish the two.» — la tesis clave del capítulo: la división binaria de Dioscórides entre hongos comestibles y perniciosos se volvió plantilla y empujó a buscar reglas genéricas en vez de rasgos identificadores

«Thus, as late as the nineteenth century, and even in the early years of the twentieth, rules such as poisonous mushrooms “will blacken silver or turn onions brown’, or ‘can easily be peeled’, or ‘do not grow in meadows, open fields and roadsides', were published in august journals like The Times and The Lancet.» — las reglas espurias que Letcher cita como publicadas hasta el siglo XX en The Times y The Lancet: que el hongo venenoso ennegrece la plata o se pela fácil

«These rules, absolutely spurious but adhering impeccably to classical reasoning, made mushroom-eating a game of Russian roulette and caused more accidents than they prevented.» — el juicio de Letcher sobre esas reglas: impecablemente clásicas y absolutamente espurias, volvieron la micofagia una ruleta rusa y causaron más accidentes de los que evitaron

«Indeed, so entrenched was the classical paradigm that it was not until the nineteenth century that botanists began to see what had been staring them in the face since the invention of the microscope some two hundred years previously: that fungi were indeed living species, reproducing sexually by means of spores, and that variations in microscopic features enabled species, poisonous or otherwise, to be distinguished.» — Letcher fecha en el siglo XIX el momento en que los botánicos vieron lo que el microscopio tenía a la vista desde doscientos años antes: que los hongos son seres vivos que se reproducen por esporas

«It is certain that some [mushroom] species have an Intoxicating quality wrote the eighteenth-century Swiss botanist Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777), “followed often by deliriums, trem» — la frase del botánico suizo Albrecht von Haller que Letcher cita como ejemplo de esa lectura: ciertas especies tienen cualidad embriagante, seguida a menudo de delirios y temblores

«Such a Puzzle, thought classical writers, demanded philosophical, not empir» — el punto de partida que Letcher atribuye a los escritores clásicos: el hongo exigía indagación filosófica y no empírica; el tramo corta en el cambio de plana

«ical, inquiry and thus they attempted to reason the nature of rooms and thereby to address the two fundamental problem: exactly what mushrooms were and how they reproduced; and: how poisonous and edible varieties could be distinguished.» — las dos preguntas fundamentales que según Letcher se plantearon los clásicos: qué eran los hongos y cómo se reproducían, y cómo distinguir las variedades venenosas de las comestibles; el ancla arranca en la mitad de la palabra partida por el cambio de plana

«Hippocrates both recorded instances of mushroom fatalities, wi Roman Emperor Claudius was famously murdered by Agrippina, to ensure the succession of her son Nero. She prep him a dish of his favourite mushrooms laced with the Death Amanita phalloides: he died slowly and horribly.» — los casos antiguos de muerte por hongos que Letcher enumera, con el emperador Claudio envenenado por Agripina con oronja verde para asegurar la sucesión de Nerón; el ancla arranca en el segundo nombre porque el troceo pierde el arranque del renglón

«is hard for us to imagine anyone taking the classical beliefs seriously, but because of the lasting Western obsession with all things to do with the ancient world, their influence endured way beyond their time.» — Letcher atribuye la persistencia de esas creencias a la obsesión occidental con el mundo antiguo; el troceo imprime un corchete por la I inicial

«binary division remained stubbornly instilled in Western consciousness as the single, overriding framework for understanding all unusual mushroom-induced symptoms. It ensured that when magic mushrooms were accidentally consumed, as the various accounts suggest, their psychoactive effects were Tegarded as at best meaningless and at worst life-threatening or injuri» — la consecuencia que Letcher declara central para su tesis: la división binaria de Dioscórides quedó instalada como marco único de Occidente, y por eso los efectos psicoactivos del hongo comido por accidente se leyeron como carentes de sentido o como peligro; el troceo parte *injurious* y conserva el guion

«It would take the psychedelic revolution of the tury finally to overturn this pervasive framework.» — Letcher fecha en la revolución psicodélica del siglo XX el vuelco del marco heredado de Dioscórides; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«As the Age of gave way to the Age of Empire, Western society became and made use of, a series of ever more exotic psychoacti marily in medicine but also, to a certain extent, recreatioi» — el desconcierto que Letcher declara: mientras Occidente incorporaba psicoactivos exóticos en la medicina y en el recreo, el marco sobre los hongos no se movió

«exaggeration to say that the cogs of the industrial revo oiled with opium, which was available over the counter at in a variety of potions, powders and quack remedies» — la fórmula de Letcher sobre el opio como aceite de los engranajes de la revolución industrial, vendido sin receta en pociones, polvos y remedios de charlatán

«But in an aside about the early Euroj es on fungi, he noted that in ‘most of these authors we fin of mischievous effects from the pernicious kinds; which pro of them have equal to Opium, Aconite, or Henbane . . . not have made the link more explicitly.» — la observación de Watson que Letcher cita: los primeros autores europeos sobre hongos hablaban de efectos dañinos comparables a los del opio, el acónito o el beleño, y Letcher dice que no pudo ser más explícito

«Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) wrote his suppo inspired visionary masterpiece ‘Kubla Khan’ in or around year that Dr Brande was called to attend the young Edw giggling hysterically in the kitchen.» — la coincidencia que Letcher señala: Coleridge escribió su Kubla Khan hacia el mismo año en que Brande atendía al niño que reía sin parar

«Coleridge’s struggles v addiction were well known, those of Thomas de Quine 1859), the English opium eater, even more so, and other fa ers were afÒicted too: Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), aut children’s classic Little Women (1868-9), was one such.» — los adictos al opio que Letcher enumera: Coleridge, Thomas de Quincey y Louisa May Alcott; el troceo rinde la ligadura fl como Ò en *afÒicted*

«the chemist Humphry Davy found spiritual enlightenment silk bag of nitrous oxide, the French psychiatrist Jacqu Moreau de Tours dined on candies of hashish, the America trist Weir Mitchell chewed buttons of the peyote cactus, Sigmund Freud considered the pathways of the unc injecting himself with the occasional syringe of cocaine.» — el catálogo de perspectivas narcóticas disponibles en el XIX según Letcher: el óxido nitroso de Humphry Davy, el hachís de Moreau de Tours, el peyote de Weir Mitchell y la cocaína de Freud

«there were all manner of narcotic perspectives in» — la pregunta que Letcher deja abierta: había marcos narcóticos de sobra para releer los efectos del hongo y ninguno hizo la menor mella, porque el hongo era veneno y punto; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«twentieth-century scholars have, as we shall see, argued that ounts to evidence of a lingering primal taboo against the eating ucinogenic mushrooms, but we need not invoke such a tenuous» — la explicación ajena que Letcher se niega a invocar: un tabú primordial persistente contra comer hongos alucinógenos

«For although mushroom-induced fatalities were rare, they always reported sensationally and in gruesome detail.» — la explicación que Letcher prefiere: las muertes por hongos eran raras y siempre se reportaban de modo sensacionalista y con detalle truculento

«In other words, the mental connection between unusual hroom-induced symptoms and the possibility of a horrible death constantly reinforced, and would have been uppermost in peole's minds if and when any unexpected post-prandial symptoms materialised.» — la tesis de Letcher: el vínculo mental entre síntomas raros y muerte horrible se reforzaba sin descanso, y era lo primero que venía a la mente

«Persons have fancied themselves poisoned when they were not; indigestion produced by mushrooms is looked upon with fear and suspicion, and if a medical man be called in, the stomach-pump used, and relief obtained, nothing will persuade either patient or Practitioner that this has not been a case of poisoning. ‘You have saved my life,’ says one. ‘I think you will not be persuaded to eat any more mushrooms for some time,’ says the other: and so they part, each under the impression that he knows more about mushrooms than anyone else can tell him.» — la queja del micólogo Charles Badham que Letcher cita entera sobre el clima de histeria: el paciente cree que le salvaron la vida y el médico que no volverá a comer hongos, y cada uno se va convencido de saber más que nadie

«Added to this was the problem that mushrooms were often all Regarded as being essentially the same. The man J.S., for example, believed that he had been picking mushrooms, not a particular mushfoom.* Bemushroomed ‘patients’ typically had little idea of what Exactly they had been eating, while the medical and botanical experts led in to assist them were rarely any the wiser.» — el segundo factor que Letcher señala: se tenía a los hongos por todos iguales, y ni los enfermos ni los expertos sabían de qué especie se trataba

«the singular popular incapacity for individualizing fungus s They are all confounded together in the mind, and are not ed separately, each kind by and for itself, as are other pl ordinary Englishman’s only idea of gathering wild Fungi make a heterogeneous collection of everything fungoid that co in his way. Put into practice this will obviously result in ... Then the doctors will blame, not the stupidity or ca of the gatherer, but the mushrooms indiscriminately.» — la queja del naturalista William Hay que Letcher cita: los ingleses recogían cuanto fuera fungoide sin distinguir especies, y luego los médicos culpaban a los hongos y no al recolector

«Badham’s concerns were shared, and it was during teenth century that fungal taxonomy was finally systemat placed on an equal footing with that of plants, firstly by the. Elias Magnus Fries, who was the first to separate species on of spore colour, and later by the German Paul Kummer (183, who revised Fries's work on the gilled fungi.» — Letcher adjudica la sistematización decimonónica de la taxonomía fúngica a Elias Magnus Fries, primero en separar especies por el color de la espora, y a Paul Kummer, que revisó su obra sobre los hongos laminados

«However, the Victorian vogue for natural history ensured its transmission, for this was the era of the amateur naturalist club, that began in the 1830s and peaked some thirty years later.» — la vía de difusión que Letcher describe: los clubes victorianos de naturalistas aficionados

«It began organising ‘fungus forays’ in 1868, exc which members would stroll genteelly through the autumn € side, basket in one hand, mushrooming knife in the other, and identifying whatever fungi could be found along the way.» — las excursiones micológicas del Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club que Letcher fecha en 1868, con canasta y cuchillo

«By the turn of the century therefore, as a result of the work of this and similar clubs in publicising the new advances in taxonomy, the modern understanding of mushrooms as distinct species began to filter through to the popular consciousness.» — Letcher fecha en el cambio de siglo la llegada a la consciencia popular de la idea de los hongos como especies distintas

«The old folk wisdom about how to distinguish ‘mushrooms’ from *toadstools' gradually gave way to positive identification of species, or more commonly, to an avoidance of wild mushrooms altogether.» — el desplazamiento que Letcher describe: del saber popular sobre hongos y setas venenosas a la identificación de especies o, más comúnmente, a evitarlos del todo

«nection was spotted as early as 1744 by the naturalist a the Royal Society William Watson (1715-1787). Watson in an intellectual spat with the aforementioned Roger Pi the origins of mushroom poisons, for he disagreed veh» — Letcher fecha en 1744 la conexión vista por el naturalista William Watson, en disputa con Roger Pickering sobre el origen de los venenos del hongo; el ancla arranca en la mitad de la palabra que el troceo parte

«story of two soldiers and their cat who went mad and then agony after a mushroom repast was related in the Gentleman's» — el primero de los casos truculentos que Letcher cita de la prensa del XVIII: dos soldados y su gato enloquecidos y muertos con dolor tras una comida de hongos

«jn Bruges whose convulsions were so appalling that he broke his before expiring," and of an old man whose body was so black swollen that his face was no longer recognisable» — los otros dos casos truculentos que Letcher cita de The Times: el soldado de Brujas que se rompió la espalda en convulsiones y el anciano con el rostro negro e hinchado; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«ly extracted Psilocybe semilanceata from the heterogen Agaricus glutinosus, as part of a continual process of ever clo ulation by which the number of recognised species doubled E 1860 and 1890.» — el resultado que Letcher registra: la extracción del Psilocybe semilanceata del cajón heterogéneo del Agaricus glutinosus, dentro de un proceso que duplicó las especies reconocidas entre 1860 y 1890; el ancla arranca en la mitad de la palabra partida

«It is not hard to see why these upright Victorian gentleman mycologists would have found the idea of eating magic mushrooms abhorrent.» — la lectura de Letcher sobre los micólogos victorianos: la idea de comer hongos mágicos les habría resultado aborrecible

«One of these early mycologists and a member of the Woolhope Club deserves special mention, however, for of all of them he came closest to starting a Victorian magic mushroom craze.» — Letcher anuncia a Mordecai Cubitt Cooke como el micólogo victoriano que estuvo más cerca de iniciar una moda del hongo mágico

«He built the book upon the conceit that the Queen of Sleep, ii to fend off the political ambitions of her seven jealous sisters, each a narcotic drug capable of producing exotic visions and having power over man’s waking hours. Each sister then took of one part of the world - ‘Morphina’ taking Tartary and Mo for example, and ‘Amanita’ (fly-agaric) Siberia.» — la fábula con que Cooke armó su libro según Letcher: la Reina del Sueño reparte una droga narcótica a cada una de sus siete hermanas celosas, y a cada hermana una región del mundo

«Philanthropists at crowded assemblies,’ com Cooke, ‘denounce, in no measured terms, “the iniquities of the OP» — la frase de Cooke que Letcher cita contra la hipocresía burguesa: se denuncian las iniquidades del opio y luego se vuelve a casa a la pipa o al puro; el tramo corta antes del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«Of most interest here is Gooke’s description of the fly-agaric: not only did he popularise the myths surrounding the mushroom’s use in Siberia, but he also retold the story of Mr Glen’s encounter with the bemushroomed man staggering through the streets of Knightsbridge.» — lo que a Letcher le interesa de Cooke: popularizó los mitos sobre el uso siberiano de la amanita y recontó el caso del hombre enhongado de Knightsbridge; el troceo imprime *Gooke* por *Cooke*

«No fool, he realised that this must have been caused by a mushroom similar in its intoxicating properties to fly-agaric, for he wrote that ‘if future generations do not deem it desirable to indulge in a narcotic of this kind for the purposes of producing pleasurable sensations, or to smother the carking cares of life, yet they may learn more than we do at present know of the peculiar characteristics which distinguish this [mushroom] from all the others of the “Seven Sisters of Sleep» — la conclusión que Letcher cita de Cooke: aun si las generaciones futuras no buscaran ese narcótico por placer, aprenderían más sobre lo que distingue a ese hongo de los demás

«The implication was plain: future generations would indeed find local intoxicating mushrooms desirable, and Cooke knew exactly why.» — la lectura que Letcher hace de esa frase de Cooke: las generaciones futuras sí encontrarían deseables los hongos embriagantes locales

«Even though Cooke, a brilliant naturalist, knew all about the Liberty Cap and how to identify it, and seemed, here, to be interpreting its effects favourably, it is extremely unlikely that he consumed the mushroom himself.» — la reserva de Letcher sobre Cooke: pese a conocer el sombrerete de la libertad y a leer sus efectos con simpatía, es muy improbable que lo consumiera

«For one thing, the logic of his argument was that he, an Englishman, was not racially constituted to use mushrooms: that ability belonged only to the Siberians.» — la primera razón de Letcher: por la lógica racial del propio argumento de Cooke, un inglés no estaría constituido para usar hongos

«In spite of his great achievements in the field, his origins prevented him from entering the ranks of the gentlemanly classes who were busy establishing and institutionalsing the discipline of mycology. Unlike, say, his contemporary the Reverend M. J. Berkeley (1803-1889), Cooke always remained an» — la posición social de Cooke según Letcher: sus orígenes humildes le cerraron el paso a la clase de caballeros que institucionalizaba la micología, y quedó siempre como forastero

«he began his writing career with an exuberant and Bu. qus treatise on drugs, The Seven Sisters of Sleep» — la obra temprana de Cooke que Letcher rescata: un tratado exuberante y desvergonzado sobre drogas, escrito cuando rondaba los treinta y cinco; el tramo corta antes del año entre paréntesis

«argued for the moral equivalence, and therefore legitimacy, world’s regional drug preferences.» — lo que Letcher dice que Cooke sostenía en ese libro: la equivalencia moral, y por tanto la legitimidad, de las preferencias de droga de cada región

«was arguing, in the racial discourse of the time, that each of the groups naturally utilised the local narcotic to which it was dra result of geography and innate physical constitution» — la tesis que Letcher atribuye a Cooke y sitúa en el discurso racial de su tiempo: cada grupo humano usaría el narcótico local al que lo inclinan la geografía y la constitución física

«certainly plagiarised from James Johnston’s earlier best-s Chemistry of Common Life» — la deuda que Letcher atribuye a Cooke: la idea la habría tomado del libro anterior de James Johnston; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«For another, his career was, apart from this one book, distinguished by diligence, probity, and sobriety.» — la segunda razón de Letcher para dudar de que Cooke comiera hongos: su carrera, salvo ese libro, fue de diligencia, probidad y sobriedad

«Perhaps not surprisingly, therefore, he distanced himself from this earlier irresponsible work, born of a youthful naivety, as his career developed,» — el desenlace que Letcher reporta: Cooke se distanció de aquella obra temprana conforme avanzó su carrera

«plants described (tobacco, opium, hashish, betel, coca, belladonna and fly-agaric), Cooke devoted the most space to his own beloved tobacco.» — el reparto de espacio en el libro de Cooke según Letcher: de las siete plantas descritas, la mayor parte al tabaco que él mismo fumaba

«By the time Cooke published one of his last works, oom-poisoning firmly in place. Poisonous Mushrooms, in 1894, he had overturned his earl; ‘of mushr ions completely. In this classic work of Victorian philam: good deed performed for the greater public good, publ Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) — he ple to avoid Liberty Caps, and rather stufÏly caution overindulgence in all its manifestations: ‘punishment will dinate indulgence in any of the good things of this life, and tl disregard reason, and are intemperate in eating fungi, must» — el giro de Cooke que Letcher fecha en 1894: en un libro de la SPCK aconsejó evitar el sombrerete de la libertad y sermoneó contra el exceso; el troceo entrevera los renglones de esta plana y el tramo va tal cual

«The one person, might have triggered a Victorian magic mushroom craze by ‘narcotic’ discourse into the public consciousness, turned» — el remate de Letcher sobre Cooke: la única persona que pudo haber desatado una moda victoriana del hongo introduciendo el discurso narcótico en la consciencia pública, se volvió atrás

«t any kind of framework within which to interpret the experiences favourably, however, the victims, who believed themselves to have been poisoned, would have been most unlikely to repeat them.» — la explicación de Letcher: sin marco para leer la experiencia como favorable, las víctimas se creían envenenadas y difícilmente repetían; el troceo pierde el arranque del renglón

«The classical approach of lumping all mushrooms together meant that they would have had only a very confused idea of what type of mushroom to pick, even if they had wanted to. Intentional consumption therefore seems extremely unlikely.» — la segunda razón de Letcher: el amontonamiento clásico de todas las especies dejaba una idea confusísima de qué recoger, así que el consumo intencional le parece muy improbable

«The increasing incidence of ‘poisoning’ episodes throughout the nineteenth century did not represent a Victorian mushroom craze, but was simply a product of the better record-keeping of the emerging institutions of medicine and science.» — la enmienda de Letcher: el aumento de episodios en el XIX no fue moda micológica sino mejor registro de las instituciones médicas y científicas

«Of course, we have no first-hand accounts from the victims, who were mostly illiterate, but only from the physicians who treated them, so it is impossible to prove that mushrooms were never knowingly consumed.» — el límite que Letcher se impone: al no haber testimonio directo de las víctimas, iletradas casi todas, no cabe probar que nunca se consumieran a sabiendas

«Inadvertent consumption, however, seems more likely, with mushrooms eaten either by children who did not know any better or by families in such abject poverty that they were reduced to gathering whatever wild food they could find in order to put breakfast on the table.» — la lectura que Letcher prefiere: consumo inadvertido por niños o por familias en pobreza extrema que recogían cualquier comida silvestre

«But then, perplexingly, its listing as a poisonous Species began to disappear from the guidebooks until by the 1940s it was wholly absent.» — el dato que Letcher declara desconcertante: el sombrerete de la libertad fue desapareciendo de las guías como especie venenosa hasta faltar del todo en los años cuarenta

«Worthington Smith regarded it Bonos in 1891 but similarly omitted it from his guide to poilous fungi of 1910,” as did Mordecai Cooke from his Plain and E e econ of British Fungi of 1904.» — los otros dos casos de omisión que Letcher documenta, en Worthington Smith y en el propio Mordecai Cooke

«It is as if a collective amnesia d pon the founding fathers of British mycology, with the result that mischievous Liberty Cap was quite forgotten.» — la fórmula con que Letcher nombra el hueco: una amnesia colectiva de los padres fundadores de la micología británica; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«The Lancet, reporting the introduction of ofÏcial inspectors in France in 1934, suggested that in Britain * of mushrooms would go up by leaps and bounds if the publ that toadstools were never offered in their place» — el dato que Letcher trae de The Lancet sobre los inspectores oficiales franceses de 1934 y el consumo que subiría en Britania si el público confiara; el troceo rinde la ligadura fi como Ï

«stands out as a rather inexplicable episode of sloppy schol history of modern mycology.» — el juicio de Letcher sobre esa omisión: un episodio inexplicable de erudición descuidada en la historia de la micología moderna

«Without this lacuna, the story of the eventual red Liberty Cap might well have taken an entirely differ might not have happened at all. For when British hippies ing for indigenous magic mushrooms in the early 19708, that none of the authoritative field guides — such as The Guide to Mushrooms and Toadstools — listed any psilocyl» — la consecuencia que Letcher saca: sin esa laguna, el redescubrimiento del sombrerete de la libertad habría sido otro, porque en los años setenta los hippies británicos hallaron que ninguna guía autorizada lo listaba como venenoso

«Here, then, for the first time in its history, the Liberty C: were seen in an entirely different frame from the one that nated for at least seven hundred years: it was no longer * but ‘hallucinogenic’, which meant that its effects were, f time, seen as desirable.» — el giro que Letcher declara central: por primera vez en al menos setecientos años el hongo dejó de ser venenoso para ser alucinógeno, y sus efectos se volvieron deseables

«He who eats many, many things sees. Bernardino de Sahagún, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España» — el primero de los dos epígrafes del capítulo quinto, atribuido a Bernardino de Sahagún y su Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España

«Nothing that the mushrooms show should be feared. Maria Sabina, The Life» — el segundo epígrafe del capítulo quinto, atribuido a María Sabina y a su autobiografía; el troceo imprime el nombre sin tilde

«He shared the harvest with his niece by marriage, a Mrs Y., and between them they ate about apound of the mushrooms fried in butter. His nephew, Mr Y., declined to partake and was able to witness the dramatic events that followed unaffected.» — el reparto de la comida según Letcher: el señor W y su sobrina política comieron cerca de medio kilo fritos en mantequilla y el sobrino declinó y pudo atestiguar

«Then, getting up to cross the room, he had the distinct impression that time had slowed down and that it was taking him far longer than was reasonable to reach the door.» — el primer efecto que Letcher cita del relato del señor W: la sensación de que el tiempo se había hecho lento al cruzar la habitación

«They stepped outside and both were immediately struck by the brightness of colours. For Mr W., a “field of redtop grass seemed to be in horizontal stripes of bright red and green, and a peculiar green haze med itself over all the landscape» — la visión de colores que Letcher cita del señor W: el campo de hierba en franjas rojas y verdes y una neblina verde sobre el paisaje

«yelped with surprise on ding that her fingers had become delicately undulating snakes.» — la visión que Letcher atribuye a la señora Y: sus dedos convertidos en serpientes que ondulaban

«Ramsbottom (1885-1974) listed it as ‘suspicious’ in 1923, but omit- > d from both his Poisonous Fungi of 1945 and his widely read e rooms and Toadstools of 1953.» — el caso de John Ramsbottom que Letcher documenta: lo llamó sospechoso en 1923 y lo omitió tanto en su libro de hongos venenosos de 1945 como en su guía de 1953

«July 1914, as Europe was sliding ineluctably into war, an upheaval ofa very different kind was taking place in Oxford County, Maine. A man known to us only as Mr W. went mushroom-picking in the morning and ‘gathered a good mess of the mushrooms (Panaeolus papiljonaceus)’ which he prepared for his lunch.» — el caso estadounidense de 1914 con que Letcher abre el capítulo quinto: un tal señor W recogió en el condado de Oxford, en Maine, lo que creía comestible; el troceo imprime *Jn* por *In*

«le became very hilarious, wrote Mr W., ‘with an irreimpulse to laugh and joke immoderately, and almost hysteri» — la hilaridad que Letcher cita del señor W, con impulso irresistible de reír y bromear casi histéricamente; el troceo pierde el arranque del renglón

«The laughing could be controlled only with culty; at the same time we were indulging extravagantly in what seemed to us funny or witty remarks.» — la continuación del relato del señor W según Letcher: la risa apenas se dominaba y ambos se prodigaban en lo que les parecían ocurrencias graciosas

«Things took a slightly darker turn when the party re Mr W. noticed that ‘the irregular figures on the wall-paper have creepy and crawling motions, contracting and expand ually, though not changing their forms; finally they began from the wall and grew out toward me from it with unca» — el giro oscuro del relato del señor W: las figuras del papel tapiz con movimiento reptante que se desprendían de la pared

«This rather beautiful vision lasted only a short tim W. was overwhelmed with “a decided rush of blood to [the] a dizzying barrage of hideous human faces that leered at sides: "The faces appeared in all sorts of bright and even intei —so intense that I could only liken them to flames of fire, in 1 green and yellow colours, like fireworks . . . They were all rapidly and horribly and undergoing contortions, all the more and more hideous.» — el vuelco de la visión según el relato del señor W que trae Letcher: rostros humanos horrendos, de colores intensos como llamas, que se contorsionaban cada vez peor

«Looking down at his hands, he saw tl had become ‘small, emaciated, shrunken and bony, like mummy’. It was at this point that Mr W. decided to call for» — el momento en que el señor W vio sus manos secas y huesudas como las de una momia y decidió llamar al médico

«However, by the time the doctor arrived the worst of the had passed, and so, unlike his British counterparts, this phy unable to administer any palliative or useful treatment.» — la diferencia que Letcher subraya con los casos británicos: cuando el médico llegó ya había pasado lo peor y no administró tratamiento

«Mr W. also had the disti sion that he had become clairvoyant and could read the th those around him, but shortly afterwards the effects of the i quite normal again.» — el último efecto del relato del señor W según Letcher: la impresión de haberse vuelto clarividente y de leer el pensamiento ajeno

«There remains a degree of uncertainty over exactly which Mr W. and Mrs Y. had been eating, for modern studies h Panaeolus papilionaceus to be only capriciously psy» — la reserva de Letcher sobre la especie de ese caso y su conclusión: el Panaeolus papilionaceus resulta psicoactivo de manera caprichosa, y aun así la lista de síntomas encaja con la psilocibina; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«The fact that the episode was written up by Yale sist Addison Emery Verrill (1839-1926), and published in the major journal Science, suggests that mushroom ‘poisoning’ of this sed was as uncommon in the US, and therefore as noteworthy, as cuivalent incidents had been in Britain.» — el dato editorial con que Letcher mide la rareza del caso: lo publicó el zoólogo de Yale Addison Emery Verrill en la revista Science

«The earliest American guidebook, One Thousand American Fungi, published earlier in 1900, corroborated that Panaeolus papilionaceus had indeed been observed to cause intoxication, if only capriciously.» — la guía estadounidense más antigua, que según Letcher ya registraba la embriaguez caprichosa del Panaeolus papilionaceus

«Full acknowledgement must be given to the author of this pioneering guidebook, the courageous Captain Charles Mcllvaine (18401909), who on finding that very little was known about the edibility of American fungi determined to resolve the matter by eating each and every one himself. He clearly must have avoided the deadly varieties, for he lived long enough to catalogue the edibility of over a thousand species.» — el método del capitán Charles McIlvaine según Letcher: comerse cada hongo americano para resolver la cuestión de su comestibilidad; el troceo imprime *Mcllvaine* con ele

«His persistence was surely stoical at times, for he wrote (with, one detects, a certain degree of understatement) that ‘while often wishing I had not undertaken the work because of the unpleasant results from personally testing fungi which proved to be poisonous, my reward has been generous in the discovery of many delicacies among more than seven hundred edible varieties 1 have found» — la frase de McIlvaine que Letcher cita con su eufemismo: lamentó a veces haber emprendido la obra por los resultados desagradables, y contó como recompensa más de setecientas variedades comestibles

«A thorough man, he tested Panaeolus papilionaceus on himself, but found that thirty mushrooms produced no unusual effects whatsoever. E concluded that the species was probably best avoided.» — la prueba de McIlvaine sobre sí mismo que Letcher reporta: treinta ejemplares sin efecto alguno, y aun así concluyó que la especie era mejor evitarla

«But what is so striking about his account is that, Sven though he was forced to call a doctor when the visions became OPpressive, at no time did he consider himself poisoned.» — el rasgo que Letcher destaca del relato del señor W: llamó al médico y en ningún momento se tuvo por envenenado

«Indeed, as the E iof the mushrooms came on he immediately recognised that they similar to those attributed to other drugs, for he was familiar with mas de Quincey's writings on opium, Fitz Hugh Ludlow's on» — la razón que Letcher da: el señor W reconoció de inmediato el parecido con otras drogas porque conocía a De Quincey sobre el opio y a Fitz Hugh Ludlow

«seemed to become filled with roses of various colours and in great bunches, wreaths and chains, and with regular ban» — la visión del ramo de rosas que Letcher cita del señor W, con la habitación llena de guirnaldas y cadenas de rosas de todos los colores; el troceo pierde el arranque del renglón

«Notwithstanding the importance of this break with the as nothing to indicate that Mr W. ate the mushrooms purp their visionary effects: like all the unlucky characters in chapter, he entered into the trip quite unwittingly.» — la acotación de Letcher: nada indica que el señor W comiera los hongos a propósito, y entró al viaje sin saberlo como todos los casos del capítulo anterior

«However, just forty years middle-aged, temperate American gentleman with a interest in fungi did go actively seeking psychoactive m the express intention of experiencing their effects first» — el gozne del libro: cuarenta años después otro caballero estadounidense de mediana edad con interés por los hongos sí los buscó a propósito; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«How and why he did so, and what happened subsequent central subject of this and the following chapter, for Mexico had dramatic consequences that led directly to pable rise of the magic mushroom.» — Letcher anuncia que el viaje a México de ese hombre tuvo consecuencias directas en el ascenso del hongo mágico

«Perhaps uniquely in the world, there exists in the region ¥ Mexico a genuine history of intentional psilocybin mi sumption that extends back at least five hundred years to the Spanish conquest, but may go back much further.» — la excepción que Letcher concede: en México hay una historia genuina de consumo intencional de psilocibios de al menos quinientos años, y quizá mucho más

«Cortés (1485-1547) landed on the Mexican coast, near Vera Cruz, on Good Friday 1519.» — Letcher data el desembarco de Cortés cerca de Veracruz el Viernes Santo de 1519

«With just 550 men, some horses and dogs, à 72 “their application FEASTS AND REVELATIONS Cortés led a charmed offensive against the ruling Aztec civiliwhich, remarkably, fell to him a mere two years later.» — la cifra con que Letcher resume la caída del dominio azteca ante Cortés en dos años

«While it was the Aztecs’ predilection for sacrifice — the relentless offering of still-beating human hearts, nds at a time, to voracious gods — that was chiefly castigated, of a range of psychoactive plants and fungi in a variety of religious, secular, and prophylactic contexts’ caused the horrifed Spanish no less offence.» — según Letcher, el sacrificio humano fue lo más castigado, y el uso de plantas y hongos psicoactivos en contextos religiosos, seculares y profilácticos no ofendió menos

«In this particular encounter the West quite literally demonised the other, attributing the alleged curative and divinatory powers of these plants to the work of demons or the Devil.» — la fórmula de Letcher sobre ese encuentro: Occidente demonizó literalmente al otro y atribuyó al Diablo los poderes curativos y adivinatorios de esas plantas

«Nevertheless, it is thanks to the endeavours of the sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers, fascinated enough by what they encountered to make written records, that we have a picture of indigenous mushroom usage, however distorted it may be by the religious, imperialist and primitivist ideology through which the Spanish viewed this alien world.» — la deuda que Letcher declara con los cronistas españoles del XVI, y a la vez la distorsión religiosa, imperialista y primitivista con que dice que miraron ese mundo

«And all the lords and gi provinces rose and, to solemnise further the festivities, some woodland mushrooms, which they say make you lo es, and thus they sallied forth all primed for the dance.» — el pasaje que Letcher cita de Durán sobre la coronación de Tízoc en 1481: los señores comieron hongos del monte que, dicen, hacen perder el sentido, y salieron dispuestos a la danza; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«but, according to Duran, Aztec royalty rarely consumed and especially not alcoholic drinks. They preferred mushrooms which they ate raw, with which . . . they would grow merry and become somewhat tipsy» — según Letcher, Durán registra que la realeza azteca bebía poco y prefería los hongos crudos, con los que se alegraba y se achispaba

«The evident which the Aztecs took mushrooms to accentuate the plea ing seems thoroughly modern.» — la lectura de Letcher: el gesto azteca de tomar hongos para realzar el placer de la fiesta le resulta enteramente moderno

«employed a coterie of old priests whose jol consume mushrooms for divinatory purposes, especially to 74 "were they th FEASTS AND REVELATIONS outcome of battles.» — según Letcher, Moctezuma II mantenía un grupo de viejos sacerdotes cuyo oficio era comer hongos para adivinar el resultado de las batallas

«Anyone predicting defeat was, however, — perhaps a clue to why the Aztec ruler was so swift» — el dato con que Letcher ironiza: quien vaticinaba derrota era ejecutado, lo que quizá explique la rapidez de la caída; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«Moctezuma also appeased his traditional enemies with anual mushroom feast, the “Feast of Revelations”, a custom that y have originated at his own coronation in 1502.» — la Fiesta de las Revelaciones que Letcher reporta, banquete anual de hongos con el que Moctezuma aplacaba a sus enemigos tradicionales

«Spies from the Tlascalan tribe were captured, pardoned, and magnanimously ed with mushrooms. This gift may have been double-edged for, if ‘Duran is to be believed, ‘they all lost their senses and ended up in a ‘state worse than if they had drunk much wine; so drunk and senseless at many of them took their own lives, and by dint of those mushrooms, they saw visions and the future was revealed unto them, Devil speaking to them in that drunken state» — el pasaje de Durán que Letcher cita sobre los espías tlaxcaltecas agasajados con hongos: perdieron el sentido, algunos se quitaron la vida, y vieron visiones con el Diablo hablándoles

«Another more hard-line Franciscan friar, Toribio de Benavente (d. 1569), otherwise known as Motolinía, wrote a treatise on indigenous religious customs — his Ritos Antiguos, Sacrificios e Idolatrías de los Indios de la Nueva España — in which he described the Aztecs eating bitrer-tasting mushrooms sweetened with honey.» — el segundo cronista que Letcher trae, Motolinía, y su tratado sobre ritos antiguos donde describe a los aztecas comiendo hongos amargos endulzados con miel; el troceo imprime *bitrer* por *bitter*

«Less sympathetic than Durán, he claimed that the mushrooms merely sharpened the ‘Aztecs’ already savage cruelty." After eating the mushrooms the locals ‘would see a thousand visions and especially snakes; and as they completely lost their senses, it would seem to them that their legs and body were full of worms eating them alive, and thus half raving they would _ go forth from their houses, wanting someone to kill them.» — el pasaje de Motolinía que Letcher cita: mil visiones y sobre todo serpientes, la sensación de tener el cuerpo lleno de gusanos, y el deseo de que alguien los matara

«Motolinía's disapproving tone is perhaps attributable to his religious sensibilities, - Which were affronted by the unfortunate resonances of these practices with the Christian communion. The mushrooms were known in the local Nahuatl language as tennamacatlth, which meant “God's flesh’, and which to Motolinía would have seemed blasphemous.» — la explicación que Letcher propone para el tono de Motolinía: la resonancia de la práctica con la comunión cristiana, agravada por el nombre náhuatl que él transcribe como carne de Dios

«It stands as the first intimation framework of dividing edible ‘mushrooms’ from poi stools’, which had been in place for nigh on two mille to be overturned. Within the space of forty years a thi would be added — ‘hallucinogenic mushrooms’ — and, revolutionary, psychedelic discourse, the effects of these like those of other visionary plants, would be seen as wholly» — la lectura que Letcher hace del relato del señor W: primer indicio de que el marco de dos milenios que separaba hongos comestibles de venenosos iba a caer, con una tercera categoría por venir; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«Speaking the most sympathetic, was that compiled by the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún (1499-1590), who spent some sixty years p the indigenous populations.» — el tercer cronista que Letcher trae, Bernardino de Sahagún, a quien atribuye sesenta años entre las poblaciones indígenas y el relato más completo y relativamente más simpático

«His informants called the mushrooms teo-nanacat! — the name by which mushrooms subsequently became» — el nombre náhuatl que Sahagún recogió según Letcher, teonanácatl; el tramo corta en el cambio de plana y el troceo imprime un signo de admiración por la ele final

«famous in North America — a variant of Motolinía's tez translated likewise as ‘God’s flesh’.» — la continuación al otro lado del cambio de plana: el nombre que se hizo famoso en Norteamérica es variante del de Motolinía y se traduce igual como carne de Dios

«The mushrooms, he sa found growing in grassland, in fields, moors and waste pl a round cap and a thin stem.» — la descripción que Sahagún dio de los hongos según Letcher: crecen en pastizales, campos, páramos y baldíos, con sombrero redondo y pie delgado

«They were so bitter as to hi and only two or three were eaten at one sitting. They ca tions of the heart, excited lust, and induced laughter and teri» — los efectos que Sahagún registró según Letcher: amargor que había que tapar, dos o tres por sesión, palpitaciones, excitación del deseo, risa y terror a partes iguales

«At ‘the hour of blowing conches and flutes’, choca be drunk and mushrooms eaten, with honey taken to ease tj ness. After dancing and weeping, bemushroomed partici have visions in which they might see their destiny, or even. of their death, before falling into a stupor.» — la ceremonia que Sahagún describió según Letcher: chocolate y hongos a la hora de las caracolas y las flautas, miel contra el amargor, danza y llanto, y visiones del destino o del modo de morir

«Clearly, then, at the time of the Spanish invasion, mushrooms were being consumed in a variety of reli, recreational and even diplomatic contexts within the Mesoamerican Aztec civilisation.» — el balance de Letcher sobre las crónicas: al tiempo de la invasión se consumían hongos en contextos religiosos, recreativos y hasta diplomáticos

«Mesoamerican codices, the indigenous texts written in s ture language, portray mushrooms. For example, | Vindobonensis (the Vienna Codex), a Mixtec work de mythological origins of the world, shows several gods and ; including the feathered serpent god Quetzalcóatl, clutchi» — la evidencia anterior a la conquista que Letcher examina: los códices mesoamericanos que retratan hongos, entre ellos el Vindobonensis mixteco con Quetzalcóatl

«Another Mixtec codex, the Lienzo de shows a man with mushrooms in his hair, while the Magi ‘supernatural’ figure stands behind him, possibly Mictla Lord of the Underworld.» — los otros dos códices que Letcher enumera, con un hombre de hongos en el pelo y una figura sobrenatural detrás, posiblemente el señor del inframundo

«All are, in the light of the chron suggestive of mushroom use that predates the conquest.» — la conclusión prudente de Letcher: leídos junto a las crónicas, esos códices sugieren un uso de hongos anterior a la conquista

«Furthermore, throughout Central America, about stone and pottery ‘mushroom’ efÏgies have been uncovered.’ originating mainly in the highlands of Guatemala, a few found in the southernmost Mexican states.» — las efigies de piedra y cerámica en forma de hongo halladas en Centroamérica, sobre todo en las tierras altas de Guatemala, según Letcher

«These sculp a foot high and free-standing, are mushroom-shaped with a ! and a domed cap, and often depict a carved human, animal O natural figure squatting at the base.» — la descripción que Letcher da de esas esculturas: de un pie de alto, exentas, con pie y sombrero abovedado y una figura humana, animal o sobrenatural en cuclillas en la base

«Nevertheless, given the historical evidence, and discovery of other metal and pottery figurines from the region lepicting elated-looking humans with mushrooms, it is extremely likejy that these figures were connected with mushroom consumption, it in some unspecified and unknowable way.» — el fallo prudente de Letcher: con la evidencia histórica y las figurillas de humanos exaltados con hongos, es muy probable que las efigies se vincularan al consumo, de un modo que no se puede precisar

«This would suggest the practice extended back not just hundreds of years, to the time ofthe Spanish invasion, but thousands of years to the pre-classic peri- ‘od, The contexts in which mushrooms were consumed prior to the ‘Aztecs remain mysterious, however.» — la consecuencia cronológica y su límite según Letcher: la práctica se remontaría a miles de años, al periodo preclásico, aunque los contextos anteriores a los aztecas siguen siendo un misterio

«Moving forward in time to the period of Spanish rule, the historical and material evidence all but disappears. The Spanish chronicles cluster together in the sixteenth century, with only one further account from the seventeenth.» — el hueco documental que Letcher declara: bajo el dominio español la evidencia histórica y material casi desaparece, con las crónicas agolpadas en el XVI y una sola del XVII

«Here, the bullish cleric Jacinto de la Serna contrived to eradicate the persistent ‘idolatrous’ practices of the indigenes by writing a guidebook on how to minister to them correctly, his Manual de Ministros de Indios para el Conocimiento de sus Idolatrias y Extirpación de Ellas.» — el clérigo Jacinto de la Serna y su manual para extirpar las idolatrías, única fuente del XVII según Letcher

«he describes how an Indian by the name of Juan Chichitón (little dog’), a ‘great maestro of superstitions’, performed a mushroom ceremony in Serna’s own village.» — el caso que Serna registra según Letcher: un indio llamado Juan Chichitón, gran maestro de supersticiones, ofició una ceremonia de hongos en el propio pueblo del cura

«On investigating the matter, Serna discovered that the mushrooms were customarily picked by the locals after a night of ‘prayer and superstitious entreaties’, were gathered once the dawn breezes had subsided and, whether eaten or drunk, intoxicated the locals, deprived them of their senses and made them ‘believe a thousand foolish things» — lo que Serna averiguó según Letcher: los hongos se recogían tras una noche de rezos y súplicas, pasada la brisa del alba, y quitaban el sentido

«Chichitón's crime, it seems, had been to celebrate a saint's day with this solemn mushroom vigil ‘after the manner of Communion’, so that all Present ‘went out of their heads» — el delito de Chichitón según Letcher: celebrar la fiesta de un santo con una vigilia de hongos a la manera de la comunión

«Having incurred the priest’s Wrath, Chichitón went on the run and evaded all Serna's attempts to have him captured and censured. But as the ‘little dog’ melted away Into the Mexican foothills, so too did the knowledge of the mushfooms which, whether concealed from or simply unnoticed by the Estern gaze, was to remain unrecorded for another four hundred» — el desenlace que Letcher narra: Chichitón huyó, el cura no logró apresarlo, y con él se desvaneció el saber de los hongos por otros cuatrocientos años

«It therefore remains unclear how — or indeed whether ing practices continued in an unbroken fashion to mod Nevertheless, the discovery in the early and mid twentieth cent indigenous Mexicans were still using mushrooms in ways. ferent from Chichitón's all-night syncretic religious obs to have a much more dramatic impact on Western culture, the West was primed to accept a radically different way ¢ about psychoactive mushrooms and their strange effects.» — la abstención de Letcher sobre la continuidad mexicana: no queda claro si la práctica llegó sin corte hasta hoy, y lo que sí tuvo impacto fue el redescubrimiento del siglo XX en un Occidente ya dispuesto a otro marco

«The Western rediscovery of Mexican mushrooming pi ironically, with a vigorous scholarly denial that they had» — la ironía con que Letcher abre el redescubrimiento: empezó con una negación erudita y vigorosa de que los hongos existieran

«American botanist William Safford (1859-1926), oblivio shenanigans so close to home, published a paper on the i supposed teonanacatl of the Aztecs in which he stated that Sahagún and his native informants had been wrong.» — Letcher fecha en el año siguiente al caso del señor W la tesis de William Safford de que Sahagún y sus informantes se habían equivocado sobre el teonanácatl

«nanacatl, revealed Safford, had been none other than peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii).» — la identificación de Safford según Letcher: el teonanácatl no habría sido hongo sino el cacto del peyote, con los fragmentos secos confundidos por hongo

«Safford reported that ‘three centuries of invi failed to reveal an endemic fungus used as an intoxicant» — la frase de Safford que Letcher cita: tres siglos de indagación no habían revelado ningún hongo endémico usado como embriagante

«He bolstered his argument by claiming that peyote ‘reser mushroom so remarkably that at first glance it will trained mycologist» — el segundo argumento de Safford según Letcher: el peyote se parecería tanto a un hongo que engañaría a primera vista incluso a un micólogo entrenado

«He was wrong on both counts.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre Safford, dicho en una sola línea antes de desglosarlo

«As for the former, Safford’s failure to find tive fungi in Mexico was because, having misread Sa been looking in the wrong place.» — la explicación de Letcher del fracaso de Safford: al leer mal a Sahagún, buscó en el sitio equivocado

«A cursory consider: hydrophilic nature of fungi might have alerted Safford to sibility of finding mushrooms growing in the arid north but he remained implacable.» — la enmienda de Letcher: la naturaleza hidrófila de los hongos bastaba para descartar el desierto del norte, y Safford no cedió

«Given that the rest of h Mexican botany was first class, his findings became widel scientific circles.» — la razón que Letcher da para la difusión de la tesis de Safford: el resto de su obra sobre botánica mexicana era de primera

«An Austrian physician and amateur botanist who 1 | q» — el primero en objetar a Safford según Letcher: el médico austríaco Blas Pablo Reko, en El México Antiguo; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«is actually as Sahagún a fungus which grows on dung-heaps and which is still used the same old name by the Indians of the Sierra Juárez in Oaxaca their religious feasts» — la frase de Reko que Letcher cita de su carta de 1923 al herbario nacional estadounidense: el teonanácatl es, como dijo Sahagún, un hongo de los estercoleros que los indios de la Sierra Juárez siguen usando con el mismo nombre

«His cousin, Victor A. Reko, took up the cause, but the cousins’ objections did little to dent scholarly opinion, led as it was by the eminent Safford's assertion.» — Letcher registra que las objeciones de los primos Reko apenas mellaron la opinión erudita, encabezada por Safford

«In 1936, however, Robert J. Weitlaner (1883-1968), a linguist livingin Mexico City and an expert on Indian culture, set out to conduct field research amongst the Mazatec Indians in a small, remote and oth- 'erwise insignificant town in Oaxaca. The town’s name was Huautla de Jiménez, unheard of beyond its immediate hinterland but later to become famous as the epicentre of a global magic mushroom craze.» — la entrada de Robert J. Weitlaner y de Huautla de Jiménez en la historia, que Letcher fecha en 1936 y anuncia como epicentro de una moda mundial

«There, Weitlaner discovered through a good friend and local merchant that mushrooms were indeed used in curative divinatory rites.» — lo que Weitlaner averiguó en Huautla según Letcher: los hongos sí se usaban en ritos curativos y adivinatorios

«He managed to procure a sample of the mushrooms, which he had arranged to be sent to Reko, who forwarded them to the Botanical Museum at Harvard, but by this stage the fragments were too badly decomposed for formal identification.» — el destino de aquella primera muestra según Letcher: llegó a Harvard demasiado descompuesta para identificarla

«Reko’s determination to prove Safford wrong eventually paid off, however, for in 1938 he was joined by the brilliant young Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes. Together, and in spite of their acute political differences (Reko was a Nazi sympathiser), they collected samples from which Schultes was able to make the first formal identification: Panaeolus campanulatus L. var. sphinctrinus (Fries) Bresodola.» — la primera identificación formal, que Letcher fecha en 1938 y atribuye a Richard Evans Schultes junto con Reko, pese a que Reko simpatizaba con el nazismo

«Nearly twenty years later it transpired that although Schultes had identified the samples correctly, Pan. campanulatus was Neither psychoactive nor was it used in indigenous ceremonies, a misa that arose perhaps either from misdirection by his informants in field, or as a result of the labels becoming muddled at the Harvard» — la enmienda posterior que Letcher registra: la especie identificada por Schultes no era psicoactiva ni se usaba en ceremonias, quizá por desvío de los informantes o por etiquetas mezcladas en el herbario

«a party of linguists and anthropologists, led by Jean Bassett E. (1916-1944)" and inspired by Weitlaner, became the first ‘ers to witness an indigenous mushroom curing ceremony.» — el primer testimonio occidental de una ceremonia curativa con hongos, que Letcher atribuye a la partida de Jean Bassett Johnson, inspirada por Weitlaner

«The mounting evidence was incontrovertible peyote hypothesis was finally abandoned.» — el cierre de la disputa según Letcher: la hipótesis del peyote se abandonó

«Regarding the latter, the ethnobotanist Richard Ey. (1915-2001) drew attention to how extremely unlikely it anyone to confuse peyote with mushrooms, so different» — la objeción que Letcher atribuye al etnobotánico Richard Evans Schultes: confundir peyote con hongos es improbabilísimo por lo distinto de su apariencia; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«while under the influence of ‘Ucinogenic mushroom, divined the patient's illness» — la frase de Johnson que Letcher cita: el curandero, bajo el hongo, adivinaba la enfermedad del paciente; el troceo pierde el arranque del renglón y el tramo corta en el cambio de plana

«Robert Gordon Wasson (1898-1986) — or Gordon, as he be known — was born on 22 September 1898 in Great Fa the son of an Episcopalian minister.» — la ficha biográfica con que Letcher presenta a Robert Gordon Wasson, nacido en 1898 e hijo de un ministro episcopaliano

«After seeing active First World War, he graduated from Harvard with a bach: in literature and began his career as a journalist, eventually wo the financial news department of the Herald Tribune. ' across into banking, at first with Guaranty Company of: J and then with J. P. Morgan & Co., where he was vice-pre 1943 until his retirement twenty years later.» — la carrera de Wasson según Letcher: Harvard, periodismo financiero en el Herald Tribune y luego la banca, con la vicepresidencia de J. P. Morgan desde 1943

«This absorbing interest in the cultural history of n stimulated by a widely re-told incident from his hon ried Valentina Pavlovna Guercken (1901-1958), a training to be a paediatrician, in 1926.» — el origen que Letcher atribuye a ese interés: un incidente de la luna de miel con Valentina Pavlovna Guercken, pediatra en formación, casados en 1926

«The newlyweds to eymoon in the Catskill Mountains, famous for the b forests in autumn, and while strolling through the spotted some wild mushrooms. His horror and revulsion in intensity by his bride’s evident delight, for she ran about many mushrooms as she could stuff into the makeshift c knotted skirt.» — la escena de los Catskills según Letcher: el horror de él ante los hongos silvestres contrastado con el deleite de ella, que los recogía en la falda anudada

«Convinced that the pickings were toadstool not touch the meal she prepared, and expressed alarm wake up a widower.» — la continuación de la escena: convencido de que eran setas venenosas, Wasson no probó el plato y dijo temer despertar viudo

«He did not, and in the clear light of d wondered what could possibly lie behind their extreme tions: clearly there was a major difference between» — la pregunta que según Letcher quedó de aquella escena: qué había detrás de reacciones tan extremas y tan distintas

«Their curiosity aroused, they s embarked on what was to become a lifelong quest to investigate derstand the varied cultural relationships between humans and» — el proyecto que Letcher atribuye a los Wasson desde entonces: una indagación de por vida sobre las relaciones culturales entre humanos y hongos

«Its growing resemblance to a Hollywood movie script made n’s own daughter, Masha, question whether it had any subce at all, but eventually she conceded that the incident had geny occurred, however embroidered the story had become over the» — el testimonio que Letcher trae de Masha, hija de Wasson, que dudó de la sustancia del relato y acabó concediendo que el incidente ocurrió, por bordado que estuviera

«This is itself telling for, as we shall see, Wasson had a knack of E dry empirical facts in the interests of a good story.» — el juicio de Letcher sobre el método de Wasson, que va a sostener a lo largo de dos capítulos: tenía la maña de doblar los hechos empíricos en favor de una buena historia

«Whatever the details, it is clear that the Wassons began shortly "thereafter to accumulate a vast amount of evidence, from philology, tymology, ethnography, folklore and fairy tale, to explain the prove- “nance of their different reactions to all things fungal.» — el programa de los Wasson según Letcher: filología, etimología, etnografía, folclor y cuento de hadas reunidos para explicar la diferencia de sus reacciones

«After Valentina died in 1958, Wasson continued their investigations alone, going on to publish a large number of papers and a further five lavish books before he too died in 1986.» — la obra posterior de Wasson según Letcher: artículos y cinco libros más hasta su muerte en 1986

«These ideas came later, however, built upon the discoveries made in Mexico for which he is principally Temembered, and which, inserted hurriedly into Musbrooms, Russia and History just prior to its publication, transformed this otherwise laborious text into a classic of its genre.» — la cronología que Letcher fija: esas tesis vinieron después, sobre los hallazgos mexicanos metidos a última hora en el libro de 1957

«In 1952 Wasson received two letters, arriving virtually in the same Post, that alerted him to the existence of the Mesoamerican mushroom Stones, and to the fact that teonanacatl had been a mushroom.» — Letcher fecha en 1952 las dos cartas que alertaron a Wasson sobre las piedras-hongo mesoamericanas y sobre el teonanácatl

«This was exactly what Wasson wanted to hear an no time, he began to organise an expedition. In the late 1953 (the rainy, mushroom season), accompanied by his daughter, he made what was to be the first of ten successive Mexico on the trail of the psychoactive mushrooms.» — la reacción de Wasson según Letcher: organizó de inmediato la primera de diez expediciones, en la temporada de lluvias de 1953

«have been a more unlikely person than this upright and Wall Street banker to investigate and popularise the h mushrooms of Mexico, but remarkably, over the years, oped a passionate and consuming interest in all things role of mushrooms and fungi in human cultures.» — el contraste que Letcher subraya: nadie menos probable que ese banquero de Wall Street para investigar y popularizar los hongos alucinógenos de México, y sin embargo le creció la pasión por el papel de los hongos en las culturas humanas

«the mythological teonanacatl of the Aztecs was not only a but that it was still in use, it was inevitable that he woul journey to Mexico to investigate the matter for himself.» — la consecuencia que Letcher declara inevitable: sabido que el teonanácatl era hongo y seguía en uso, Wasson tenía que viajar a México

«presented their findings in a massive, privately published, two-volume ‘opus, Mushrooms, Russia and History» — la obra en dos tomos con que los Wasson presentaron sus hallazgos, publicada por ellos mismos; el tramo corta antes del año entre paréntesis

«a work that had itself mushroomed from its original conception as a Russian cookbook.» — el origen de ese libro según Letcher: había crecido desde su concepción primera como recetario ruso

«claimed to have solved the mystery of the identity of the Soma plant mentioned throughout the Rig Veda — that it was the fly-agaric mushtoom, Amanita muscaria» — la primera de las dos tesis mayores que Letcher atribuye a Wasson: el soma del Rig Veda identificado con la amanita matamoscas

«he wrote to Reko expressing his interest in the matter: Neko, by then an old man, forwarded his letter to a Eunice Pike, a mis-E^ resident in Huautla.» — la cadena que Letcher reconstruye: Wasson escribió a Reko, ya anciano, que remitió la carta a la misionera Eunice Pike, residente en Huautla

«lously that the Mazatecs believed the mushroom to have a ty’, which spoke through the curanderos, the healers, di cause and cure of illnesses and revealing the location of l» — el detalle que Pike añadió según Letcher: los mazatecos tenían al hongo por poseedor de una divinidad que hablaba por los curanderos y revelaba causa y cura de las enfermedades y el paradero de lo perdido; el troceo pierde el arranque y el final de los renglones

«Reko had died in the interim, but the Wassons were on this first trip by Weitlaner, who provided invaluable loc; edge and acted as translator. Together, they made their way by car over the appalling roads and then with donkeys oy and vertiginous mountain passes — to the town of Huautla.» — el primer viaje de 1953 según Letcher: Weitlaner como guía y traductor, caminos pésimos y burros por los pasos de montaña hasta Huautla

«After a little pet agreed to hold a velada, Wasson's term for the indigeno mushroom vigils, to determine the health and well-being son, Peter.» — la primera velada que Wasson presenció según Letcher, celebrada para averiguar la salud de su hijo Peter; *velada* es el término que el propio Wasson dio a las vigilias indígenas

«Though only Aurelio consumed mushrooms, at last able to witness, and make detailed records of, an authe» — la acotación de Letcher sobre esa primera velada: solo Aurelio comió hongos, y Wasson pudo presenciarla y registrarla

«On returning home, however, Wasson found things to be predicted: the enterprising Peter had made use of his father to hold a party in their New York apartment, and was indeed in of adolescent turmoil, having been spurned by his girlfriend Wasson noted, had scored a ‘palpable hit’.» — el desenlace de esa adivinación según Letcher: Peter había hecho una fiesta en el departamento y estaba en plena turbulencia adolescente, y Wasson anotó que el curandero había dado en el blanco

«The American’s second trip to Mexico, in 1954 — this mountainous Mijería region of north-east Oaxaca — genet ethnographic data on the indigenous use of mushrooms, b noteworthy here.» — el segundo viaje de Wasson, en 1954, que Letcher despacha sin datos nuevos de relieve

«His third trip, in 1955, with society ph Allan Richardson (they were only joined later by Va Masha), proved far more momentous. Returning to Hua! tla his now infamous meeting with the curandera Matt (1894-1985): not only was she a locally respected and healer but, most importantly of all, she agreed to let both Wa» — el tercer viaje, que Letcher declara el decisivo: el encuentro con la curandera María Sabina, que aceptó que Wasson y el fotógrafo Allan Richardson comieran los hongos sagrados; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«Thus, they became the first Westerners ever intentionally to do so.» — la fórmula con que Letcher fija el hito: Wasson y Richardson fueron los primeros occidentales en comer los hongos a propósito

«Maria Sabina, a Mazatec Indian, was born in Huautla on 17 March 1894," the year that Mordecai Cooke was fulminating against irresponsible parents for letting their unattended children pick and eat the ‘poisonous’ Liberty Caps.» — la coincidencia con que Letcher fecha el nacimiento de María Sabina en 1894, el año en que Cooke reprendía a los padres ingleses por dejar que sus hijos comieran sombreretes de la libertad

«Very different strictures operated in Huautla, however, for in her autobiography Sabina recorded how she intentionally ate her first mushrooms while still a child of about six or» — el contraste que Letcher marca: en Huautla, según su autobiografía, Sabina comió sus primeros hongos de niña, hacia los seis o siete años

«According to curanderos, mushrooms granted ACCESS to, or were literally seen as, spirits with whom the healers could "ge beneficial relationships. If a curandero proved worthy, the saint ven, as Sabina called them, would impart information, or speak ugh the healer in improvised, poetic chants that were believed to» — lo que los curanderos sostenían según Letcher: el hongo daba acceso a espíritus, o era visto literalmente como ellos, y el santo hablaba por el curandero en cantos poéticos improvisados

«in Huautla, Wasson won the confidence of a town ofÏcial, mo García, who arranged the meeting with Sabina, and again on used the well-being of his son as a pretext to partake in a velading to Wasson, García and the Americans picked a boxful mushrooms that were growing from a rubbish tip at the bottom valley and presented them to a delighted and grateful Sabina, immediately agreed to hold a ceremony that night, 29 June.» — la gestión del encuentro según Letcher: el funcionario Cayetano García concertó la cita con María Sabina y Wasson volvió a usar la salud de su hijo como pretexto; el troceo entrevera aquí dos columnas y el tramo va tal cual

«ing to Sabina’s autobiography, however, she only condescendn deference to Garcia, and the implication is that this was against better judgement. Nevertheless, she held not just one ceremony o, the second on 2 July» — la versión de Sabina que Letcher pone al lado sin armonizarla con la de Wasson: solo accedió por deferencia a García y contra su propio juicio, y aun así celebró dos ceremonias

«She ate her mushrooms sitting on the mountai: tending her family’s goats. Very soon she felt propel world full of temples and golden palaces. The mushroom waiting for her there, appearing as clownlike dwarfs with trumpets, children that sang and danced, children flesh of flowers. And the mushrooms talked, and I tal rooms... And the teo-nanacatl answered . . . saying . needed something, we should go to them and they» — la primera experiencia de Sabina según su autobiografía en el relato de Letcher: un mundo de templos y palacios dorados, los hongos como enanos payasescos hechos de carne de flores, que hablaban con ella

«Discovering that the mushrooms made her feel conter hope in life’, and secondarily that they assuaged her alm hunger, she ate them many times with her sister.» — lo que Sabina dijo hallar en los hongos según Letcher: contento y esperanza en la vida, y de paso alivio del hambre

«According to an interview she gave for the I L'Europeo,^ Sabina conducted her first healing ceremo was only eight years old.» — la primera ceremonia curativa de Sabina, que Letcher fecha a sus ocho años según una entrevista suya a la revista L'Europeo

«But famously she found her 3 her sister, Ana María, became seriously ill some years late sisterly affection, Sabina ate more mushrooms, and wi the mushroomic world than ever she had before.» — el episodio con que Sabina decía haber hallado su vocación según Letcher: la enfermedad grave de su hermana Ana María la llevó a comer más hongos que nunca

«But what do you wish to become, you, María Sabina? ! saint — an answer that granted her access to a great b though she could not read, filled her with the know» — la pregunta que el espíritu del hongo le hizo según el relato de Sabina en Letcher, y su respuesta de querer ser santa, que le dio acceso a un gran libro

«When I came to myself . . . I looked for the herbs had indicated to me, and I did exactly what I had Book. And also Ana María got well.» — el desenlace que Sabina contó según Letcher: buscó las hierbas que el libro le había indicado, hizo lo indicado y su hermana sanó

«Thus, when Wasson met her in 1955 she was, indigenous community, a renowned “curandera de p highest quality, una Señora sin mancha, a woman» — la posición de Sabina en su comunidad al conocerla Wasson según Letcher: curandera de la más alta calidad, una señora sin mancha

«Wasson was immediately struck by her. “She had pre: and was “a woman of rare moral and spiritual power, d become vocation, an artist in her mastery of the techniques» — la impresión que Sabina causó a Wasson según Letcher: mujer de rara fuerza moral y espiritual, artista en el dominio de su técnica

«He felt himself a ‘disembodied eye’ bove strange, new landscapes, and then, somehow, a witness the Platonic realm of forms. For a moment he felt as though he "understood the true, awful meaning of the word “ecstasy”» — la continuación de esa visión según Letcher: ojo descarnado sobre paisajes nuevos y luego testigo del reino platónico de las formas

«Like Huxley's, Wasson's writing became extremely 512 privately published copies of Mushrooms, Russia were priced well beyond the reach of all but private col versity libraries, but he popularised his discoveries in a middle-brow magazine Life, published on 13 May ticipate in the age-old rituals of Indians who chew s that produce visions» — la difusión de los hallazgos de Wasson según Letcher: la edición privada era inaccesible y el artículo de la revista Life de mayo de 1957 los llevó a millones

«Here, for the first time, a positive v standing the psychoactive properties of fungi was bro Western world, captured in the snappy and memorab Magic Mushroom» — el hito que Letcher fija: por primera vez una lectura positiva de las propiedades psicoactivas de los hongos llegó al mundo occidental con una fórmula memorable

«seemed as though the visions themselves were about to be tranded, and dark gates reaching upward beyond sight were _ about to part, and we were to find ourselves in the presence of the Ultimate. We seemed to be flying at the dark gates as a swallow at m dazzling lighthouse, and the gates were to part and admit us.» — el pasaje de Wasson que Letcher cita: las puertas oscuras a punto de abrirse a la presencia de lo Último, con los viajeros volando hacia ellas como golondrinas hacia un faro

«did not open and with a thud we fell back, gasping. We ippointed, but also frightened and half-relieved, that we Not entered into the presence of the ineffable, whence it EL. E id time, we might not have returned» — el remate de ese pasaje de Wasson según Letcher: las puertas no se abrieron, y el desencanto vino con miedo y alivio, porque de haber entrado quizá no habrían vuelto; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«not so much their stylistic pedigree as the fact that they s c had, and anticipated having, a religious or mystical expt had, in other words, already abandoned the classical frai favour of the psychedelic discourse, and went to Me» — lo que a Letcher le importa de esos relatos: muestran que Wasson ya esperaba experiencia religiosa y ya había dejado el marco clásico por el discurso psicodélico antes de ir a México

«He met Sabina several more times, separate recordings of her veladas, one of which was lic consumption (Mushroom Ceremony of the Maz» — las grabaciones de veladas de Sabina que Wasson hizo según Letcher, una de ellas editada para el público; el tramo corta antes de los asteriscos con que el troceo rinde la llamada de nota

«Wasson enlisted in his endeavours the help of (am: notable scientists, Roger Heim (1900-1979) and (1906-). Roger Heim, Professor of Mycology and d tigious Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in P task of identifying and describing the mushroom several species, primarily of the genus Psilocybe (but and Conocybe), were used according to» — los dos científicos que Wasson sumó según Letcher: Roger Heim, del Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, encargado de identificar las especies, sobre todo del género Psilocybe

«of LSD, to isolate the psychoactive alkaloids: in 1958, while srking for the Basle-based Sandoz pharmaceutical company, he ssfully synthesised psilocybin and psilocin, which he named after mushrooms” Latin epithet.» — el papel de Albert Hofmann según Letcher: en 1958, en Sandoz, sintetizó la psilocibina y la psilocina y las nombró por el epíteto latino del hongo

«Wasson and Hofmann discovered the Mexican Hierba ela Pastora or Hierba de la Virgen (‘herb of the shepherdess' or ‘herb ‘ofthe Virgin’) to be a variety of mint, Salvia divinorum® (like magic ‘mushrooms the bizarrely hallucinogenic Salvia has found its way into [ porary Western drug markets).» — el tercer hallazgo según Letcher: la hierba de la pastora identificada como Salvia divinorum, que con el tiempo entró en los mercados occidentales de drogas

«Within a very short space of time, then, the team made significant ‘ethnobotanical advances inside and outside Mexico, while Wasson himself went. on to promote his influential ideas about Soma, Eleusis the religious nature of the mushroom experience.» — el balance que Letcher hace del equipo: avances etnobotánicos dentro y fuera de México mientras Wasson promovía sus ideas sobre el soma, Eleusis y la naturaleza religiosa de la experiencia

«mushroom enthusiasts, Wasson has come to be seen as an intelgiant who bestrides the history of the magic mushroom, bring-P necessary scholarly gravitas to an otherwise flaky subject.» — la estatura que Letcher atribuye a Wasson entre los entusiastas: un gigante intelectual que da peso erudito a un asunto por lo demás endeble

«What pre-historic religion or tabu is finding expression governess, with a facial spasm and shudder, grinds a delect: under her heel and warns away her charge?» — el epígrafe del capítulo sexto, firmado por el propio Wasson: qué religión o tabú prehistórico se expresa cuando la institutriz aplasta un hongo con el tacón

«It is in the nature of an hypothesis, when once a man has con assimilates every thing to itself, as proper nourishment; moment of your begetting it, it generally grows the stronger you see, hear, read, or understand.» — el segundo epígrafe del capítulo sexto, del Tristram Shandy de Sterne, sobre la hipótesis que asimila todo cuanto se ve, se oye o se entiende; el troceo imprime las fechas del título con una equis

«But his temerity, his love of travel and even his slightly obsesrest in all things mushroomic do not really explain what motihim to keep going on these gruelling journeys: something more just the quest to find the magic mushroom was driving him on.» — la tesis que Letcher va a desarrollar: ni la audacia ni el gusto por el viaje explican los viajes de Wasson, y algo más que la búsqueda del hongo lo empujaba

«Gordon Wasson was convinced that the human religious impulse itself had been awakened by a Palaeolithic magic mushroom cult. The great pillars of Western civilisation, our religious traditions, owed their origins to a time when our distant ancestors freely ate from the original tree of knowledge, the divine magic mushroom.» — la tesis mayor de Wasson según Letcher: el impulso religioso humano despertado por un culto paleolítico del hongo mágico, que sería el árbol del conocimiento original

«And though long extinct, traces and legacies of the original cult could still be detected in certain attitudes and dispositions that obtained today.» — la segunda parte de la tesis de Wasson según Letcher: el culto se extinguió y dejó rastros detectables en actitudes actuales

«As he followed the mule trails ever deeper into the mountains, and as he left the modern world further and further behind, m became ever more convinced that the answer was positive, and that his hoped-for religion lived on.» — la convicción creciente que Letcher atribuye a Wasson conforme se internaba en la sierra

«felt as if his soul had been scooped out of his body.* Visions metric patterns gave way to ‘architectural structures, with nnades and architraves, patios of regal splendour, the stone-work brilliant colours, gold and onyx and ebony, all most harmoisly and ingeniously contrived, in richest magnificence extending» — la visión que Wasson escribió de su primera velada según Letcher: el alma sacada del cuerpo, y columnatas, arquitrabes y patios de esplendor regio en oro, ónice y ébano; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas de esta plana

«collected samples of what the Aztecs had called Ololiubqui, 4 these were identified as seeds of the Morning Glory, Turbina mbosa: Hofmann swiftly isolated their LSD-like active» — el segundo hallazgo del equipo según Letcher: el ololiuhqui azteca identificado como semillas de la Gloria de la Mañana, con principios activos afines al LSD aislados por Hofmann; la grafía es la del troceo

«remembered for his Mexican discoveries, but twenty years his death many of his ideas have yet to be subjected to any kind» — el programa que Letcher anuncia: veinte años después de la muerte de Wasson, muchas de sus ideas no han pasado por escrutinio formal

«Wasson was possessed of an assured self-confidence that ygreat wealth and high status — of the kind that comes from being IN ident of a major US bank — can bring. He feared no obstacles he would admit many times, he was used to getting what he» — el retrato que Letcher hace de Wasson: la seguridad que dan la riqueza y el cargo de vicepresidente de un gran banco, y su propia admisión de estar acostumbrado a obtener lo que quería

«he repeatedly made the trip to Mexico because he was looking idence, evidence that would prove a revolutionary new theory he been developing ever since his passion for ethnomycology had first been aroused. If true, he knew that it would both overturn estab-Jished thought about the history and origins of religion and ensure for» — el motivo que Letcher atribuye a Wasson: buscaba evidencia de una teoría nueva que volcaría lo establecido sobre la historia y el origen de la religión

«But what really spurred Wasson on was the hope that the cult had not died out entirely. What if, hidden away in the remote mountains of the Sierra Mazateca, it had clung on in some half-remembered form, ofwhich the indigenous mushroom ceremonies were, in fact, the very» — la esperanza que Letcher atribuye a Wasson: que el culto siguiera vivo en la Sierra Mazateca y que las ceremonias indígenas fueran su último vestigio

«made the biggest and most exhilarating find of all: María bina, the last living priestess of the ancient mushroom cult.» — la fórmula con que Letcher nombra lo que Wasson creyó hallar: María Sabina como última sacerdotisa viva del culto antiguo del hongo

«In the early 1950s, when Gordon Wasson first went to to and from the Mazatec hinterlands was a considerabl Roads into Oaxaca were rudimentary — or non: frequently blocked by muddy landslides and rockfalls. possible to travel some of the way by light aircraft, the o1 were those that had been cut precipitously into the sides which made landing a bumpy and perilous process. Fr only way forward was by foot, or on the back ofam er turned bad you could be stranded in one place for subsist on a local diet of eggs, cornbread and beans.» — las condiciones del viaje a la sierra mazateca en los años cincuenta según Letcher: caminos rudimentarios, pistas cortadas en las laderas, mulas y el riesgo de quedar varado

«They began to amass references to mushrooms from fol ogy, art history, etymology and philology, and noticed patte them, such as the paucity of names for mushrooms in the guage compared to the Russian.» — el método de los Wasson según Letcher: reunir referencias al hongo desde el folclor, la historia del arte, la etimología y la filología, y notar la escasez de nombres ingleses frente al ruso

«They coined the terms my mushroom-loving, and mycophobic, or mushroom-hatin rated the nations of the world accordingly, placing Rus ple, in the former category, and Britain in the latter.» — los dos términos que Letcher atribuye a los Wasson, micofilia y micofobia, con Rusia en la primera categoría y Britania en la segunda

«As the couple perused their unorthodox map, a troubl surfacing. What if the two reactions, mycophilia and were residual and half-forgotten cultural memories of strictures or taboos placed upon the eating of mushrooms» — la sospecha que Letcher atribuye a los Wasson ante su mapa: que micofilia y micofobia fueran memorias culturales residuales de prohibiciones antiguas sobre comer hongos

«He came to imagine the following scenario. Our European ancestors had consumed magic mushrooms — bly the fly-agaric, but perhaps later psilocybin mush original and archaic form of shamanism.» — el guión que Letcher atribuye a Wasson: los antepasados europeos comiendo hongos mágicos, quizá la amanita y luego psilocibios, en una forma arcaica de chamanismo

«As this loose: gradually became institutionalised, mushroom con restricted to, and jealously guarded by, a powerful pi placed a terrible taboo upon its profane usage.» — la segunda fase del guión de Wasson según Letcher: el consumo restringido y guardado con celo por un sacerdocio poderoso que impuso un tabú terrible sobre su uso profano

«But what made Wasson’s conclusions plausible that he modelled his theoretical and methodological approach tly upon the foundational works of anthropology, and consegently a diverse range of distinguished academics were persuaded Wasson was absolutely correct.» — la explicación de Letcher: la tesis pareció plausible porque Wasson calcó su método de las obras fundacionales de la antropología, y eso persuadió a académicos distinguidos

«a theoretical paradigm that steered Wasson’s hand, and that, ever the autodidact, he had soaked up through his reading, is now funi ‘cultural evolution”? As a systematising intellectual framework, it reached its peak in the early years of the twentieth century» — el paradigma que Letcher identifica detrás de Wasson: el evolucionismo cultural, que el autodidacta había absorbido leyendo y que culminó a principios del siglo XX

«espoused by the first anthropologists, such as Edward Dit Tylor _ (1832-1917) and Sir James Frazer (1854-1941). It emerged out of a tempestuous intellectual climate in which debates raged about Darwinian (and other) ideas of evolution, about Freudian psychoana-Bücrheories of the unconscious, and about the beliefs and practices of the ‘primitive’ peoples encountered through colonial expansion.» — los primeros antropólogos que Letcher asocia a ese paradigma, Tylor y Frazer, y el clima intelectual de Darwin, el psicoanálisis y los pueblos llamados primitivos; el troceo imprime *Dit Tylor* por *Burnett Tylor*

«Ideas of evolution and progress suffused the nineteenth century quite pect of Darwin’s intellectual breakthrough in naming E p the — of biological diversity and change.» — Letcher sitúa las ideas de evolución y progreso empapando el siglo XIX; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«it was not just plants and animals that evolved, a hipaa = MeV for example, thought that there E. asin y which societies moved from a theologi-E js : , to a scientific stage; Spencer, that evolution ue 5 into ever more complex forms of organisation.» — las tesis que Letcher atribuye a Comte y a Spencer: la sociedad pasando de la etapa teológica a la científica, y la evolución hacia formas de organización cada vez más complejas

«civilising’ values upon colonised cultures as a means ofa their “arrested development. But it also presupposed a from which all the cultures of the world had diverged, and the search for origins» — el uso colonial del paradigma que Letcher denuncia como su justificación intelectual, y su presupuesto de un origen común del que todas las culturas habrían divergido

«the academic discipline of anthropo founded on precisely this basis — the search for the “ori through the study of the primitive» — la fundación de la antropología sobre esa base según Letcher: la búsqueda del origen a través del estudio del otro primitivo

«According to Freud, within the Pandora’s box of the un lodged terrible scatological and oedipal desires which, when led inevitably to neurosis or psychosis.» — la aportación de Freud a ese clima según Letcher: los deseos escatológicos y edípicos del inconsciente que llevan a la neurosis o la psicosis

«If primitive societies were living fossils from an earlier human evolution, what vestigial myths and rituals might rei in our language, customs, folklore and religion?» — la pregunta que Letcher formula como motor de la cacería de supervivencias: qué mitos y ritos vestigiales quedarían en lengua, costumbres, folclor y religión

«Edward Tylor named this idea the ‘doctrine of survivals’ in umental Primitive Cultures of 1871, and by the beginning of tieth century the hunt for survivals in the hinterlands of culture had begun in earnest.» — Letcher atribuye a Tylor el nombre de doctrina de las supervivencias y fecha en su libro de 1871 el arranque de la cacería

«So while Cecil Sharpe (1859-1924) We through summer meadows collecting and preserving folk soi bowdlerising aspic,' other metropolitan folklorists and a gists lifted the stones on morris dancing and mummers’ play hope of uncovering the remains of fertility rites from our Ow» — los cazadores de supervivencias que Letcher enumera: Cecil Sharpe recogiendo canción popular y los folcloristas hurgando en la danza morris y los autos de mimos en busca de ritos de fertilidad

«Margaret Murray scrutinised the early modern witchsions for traces of her imagined ‘Old Religion’, while James Fi lated twelve volumes of data — published in three ever-ex] editions as The Golden Bough — in support of his notion that gions, including Christianity, were actually expressions of a uni motif, that of the dying and resurrected vegetation god. Ass vehemently opposed to religion, his hope was that he would West into Comte’s scientific stage of development, ban tionality once and for all.» — los dos casos mayores que Letcher enumera: Murray buscando su Vieja Religión en las confesiones de brujería y Frazer reuniendo doce tomos en torno al dios de la vegetación que muere y resucita, con la esperanza declarada de llevar a Occidente a la etapa científica de Comte

«which case could not the axis be the last surviving cultura ancient mushroom-worshipping religion? Surprising as seemed, the more the couple looked» — la hipótesis que Letcher atribuye a los Wasson: el eje micofilia-micofobia como último rastro cultural de una religión antigua que adoraba el hongo

«must have been instilled with mana, an object of awe, of terror» — la frase de Wasson que Letcher cita: el hongo mágico investido de mana, objeto de pasmo y de terror; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas de la plana y el tramo se corta antes de lo que sigue

«first sight Wasson’s extraordinary thesis seems incredible, more ke something from the novels of H. Rider Haggard than a serious demic proposition.» — el juicio de Letcher sobre la tesis de Wasson a primera vista: más cerca de las novelas de H. Rider Haggard que de una propuesta académica seria; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«represented the pinnacle of the evolu-ORA ica e goal to which all other cultures naturally aspired.» — la consecuencia del evolucionismo cultural que Letcher señala: Occidente como cumbre de la evolución y meta a la que aspirarían las demás culturas; el troceo entrevera los renglones de esta plana

«Alas, these works proved to be rather more titillating than repellent the general public, and exerted a lasting influence upon the popular “nation: the abridged 1922 version of Frazer’s The Golden Boughs for example, has never been out of print.» — el efecto que Letcher atribuye a esas obras: excitaron más de lo que repelieron, y la versión abreviada de La rama dorada no ha dejado de imprimirse

«Far from ushering in a scientific age, The Golden Bough was one of the factors that prompted people to go about reviving the supposed pagan religions described within it, leading to the emergence of modern Druidry and Wicca.» — la ironía que Letcher señala: lejos de traer la era científica, La rama dorada empujó a revivir las religiones paganas que describía, y de ahí la druidría moderna y la wicca

«Seen in this light, the provenance of Gordon Wasson’s obscure mushroom thesis starts to become clearer, for he too was influenced by Frazer, both directly and via a long correspondence and friendship with Robert Graves.» — la filiación que Letcher traza para la tesis de Wasson: influido por Frazer de modo directo y a través de su larga correspondencia y amistad con Robert Graves

«Wasson’s emphases on the importance of taboo = which he thought a lasting and ‘deep-seated emotional attitude’ — and of survivals — ‘fossil meanings, fossil sayings, fossilised folkloric bits of our various languages” — were both borrowed from Frazer.» — los dos préstamos que Letcher identifica: el tabú como actitud emocional honda y duradera, y las supervivencias como significados y dichos fósiles de las lenguas

«He religiously copied Frazer’s comparative methodology, amassing evidence from as many different sources as he could find (as a consequence of which his books are all, quite literally, weighty).» — el método comparativo de Frazer que Wasson copió según Letcher, acumulando evidencia de cuantas fuentes hallara, con la broma sobre el peso de sus libros

«The only problem with all this was that by the time Gordon and Valentina were bickering about the edibility of the Catskills’ mycoflora, the arguments about the merits of cultural evolution and the Frazerian comparative method were long over: both tropes had been Ed rejected within anthropology.» — la objeción central de Letcher: cuando los Wasson discutían en los Catskills, el evolucionismo cultural y el método comparativo de Frazer ya habían sido rechazados en antropología

«One of the staunchest critics E. pioneering American anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1942) i preferring fieldwork to library-based research, could find no evi-Ee for the sorts of evolutionary cultural progressions outlined by ELS Spencer, Tylor and others.» — el crítico que Letcher pone por delante: Franz Boas, que prefería el trabajo de campo a la erudición de biblioteca y no halló evidencia de esas progresiones evolutivas

«Without the rationale of cultural fy lution, searching for survivals was meaningless.» — la consecuencia que Letcher saca: sin la razón del evolucionismo cultural, buscar supervivencias carece de sentido

«Certainly cultural "ms and artefacts can linger way beyond their original historical» — la concesión de Letcher: las formas y los objetos culturales sí perduran más allá de su momento histórico original

«but anthropologists like Boas rejected the idea that it is work backwards from these alone to make inferences ab» — lo que Letcher dice que Boas rechazaba: que de esas formas solas pueda trabajarse hacia atrás para inferir culturas antiguas

«Later, by the 1970s, revisionist work undertaken by generation of folklorists and historians specifically demo idea that British folk customs were pagan survivals, and the Gi notion that myths inevitably had historical and not litera In anthropology at least, cultural evolution was cast aside as» — la revisión de los años setenta que Letcher invoca: folcloristas e historiadores contra la idea de que las costumbres populares británicas fueran supervivencias paganas y contra la de que los mitos tengan origen histórico y no literario

«Later, in the 1960s, perhaps as a reflection of social uphe home, anthropologists began to notice the importance of tra of rule-breaking, in the structuring of both traditional and. societies, and so challenged the great foundation of Wasson namely, the Frazerian notion of taboo as an enduring and» — el giro de los años sesenta que Letcher usa contra el fundamento de Wasson: los antropólogos vieron la importancia de la transgresión y del quebranto de la regla en la estructura de las sociedades

«showed that taboos have always been tl breaking. In any case, declaring that a hostile reaction to, sa? room is evidence that it must have been taboo at some earli cultural development is to make an unwarranted inductive» — el argumento de Letcher: los tabúes siempre se han hecho para romperse, y declarar que una reacción hostil al hongo prueba un tabú antiguo es una inducción injustificada; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«take this line of reasoning to its absurd limit, one could a Lenten restrictions are evidence of an early Christian tab eggs, which must have been secretly worshiped by a jealous p» — la reducción al absurdo con que Letcher cierra el argumento: por esa vía, las restricciones de Cuaresma probarían un tabú cristiano antiguo sobre los huevos, adorados en secreto por un sacerdocio celoso

«can be seen in the work of various writers — including T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), w. B. Yeats (1865-1939), D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930), and especially Robert Graves» — la estela de Frazer que Letcher traza entre escritores, de Eliot y Yeats a Lawrence y sobre todo Robert Graves; el tramo corta antes de los años entre paréntesis de las películas

«which portray the disturbing consequences of a modern return to the primitive.» — la segunda mitad de la estela de Frazer según Letcher: tres películas de culto que muestran las consecuencias inquietantes de volver a lo primitivo

«hence any myths or folktales involving mushrooms could be read as a vestigial memory of the supposed mushroom cult.» — la consecuencia que Letcher saca de ese préstamo: cualquier mito o cuento con hongos podía leerse como memoria vestigial del culto supuesto

«Frazer, Graves and Wasson all attemp their particular, preconceived hypotheses by accumula: amounts of apparently supporting evidence while ignoring a» — el reproche que Letcher extiende por igual a Tylor, Frazer, Graves y Wasson: acumular evidencia aparentemente favorable e ignorar la contraria

«The selection process inevitably reflected th class, gender and cultural biases of these scholars — a po upon by later Marxist, feminist and postmodernist critics» — la segunda objeción de Letcher: la selección reflejaba los sesgos de clase, género y cultura de esos eruditos, reparo que recogieron después las críticas marxista, feminista y posmoderna

«believed the comparative method could only ever produce picture of the subject, which is why he argued so forcibly for localised fieldwork — ethnography, in other words — to b basis of anthropological enquiry.» — la posición de Boas que Letcher recoge: el método comparativo solo da un cuadro distorsionado del asunto, y de ahí su defensa del trabajo de campo localizado como base

«The term ‘phobia’ implies an elming and irrational panic reaction, a force that bears down on the sufferer and has its origins deep within the unconscious, s anxieties about mushrooms are wholly rational.» — el reparo terminológico de Letcher: fobia implica pánico irracional del inconsciente, y la ansiedad ante los hongos es enteramente racional

«Fear of mushrooms is actually the fear of being ‘poisoned by mushrooms, and the way this expresses itself is no more rious than our aversion to other life-threatening dangers, such as snakes (which may or may not be venomous). Once someone is bitten, we all remain shy.» — la reformulación de Letcher: el miedo a los hongos es miedo a envenenarse, no más misterioso que la aversión a las serpientes

«A long-term study conducted during the 1970s in Colorado, where there is no widespread custom of gathering wild mushrooms, found that on average only six cases of accidental poisoning per year required hospital treatment. Fatalities were so rare as to be all but non-existent.» — el dato de Colorado que Letcher aporta: seis casos anuales de envenenamiento accidental con hospitalización y muertes casi inexistentes, donde no hay costumbre de recolección

«By contrast, in the Polish province of Poznan, which has a similar population size to Colorado buta long-standing folk tradition of mushroom-picking, an average of fifty or so incidents of poisoning every year required hospital treatment, of which around ro per cent proved fatal.» — el dato de Poznan que Letcher contrapone: con población semejante y tradición recolectora, medio centenar de casos al año y una décima parte fatales; el troceo imprime *ro* por *10*

«In other words, the risk of being killed by mushrooms was substantially higher in the culture that was nominally mycophilic.» — la lectura que Letcher hace de esos dos datos: el riesgo de morir por hongos era mayor en la cultura nominalmente micófila

«This runs counter to Wasson’s thesis and suggests that folk wisdom regarding mushroom identification is worryingly unreliable: without a decent field guide, the safest option remains not to go mushroom-picking at all.» — la conclusión que Letcher declara contraria a la tesis de Wasson: el saber popular sobre identificación resulta poco fiable, y sin guía de campo lo más seguro es no recolectar

«And, of course, patterns of mycophagy are not set in stone as Wasson supposed, but change with time.» — la segunda objeción de Letcher a la premisa: los patrones de micofagia no son fijos como suponía Wasson sino que cambian con el tiempo

«During the nineteenth centuty it was common for wild mushrooms to be sold at (supposedly Mycophobic) British markets, but fear of poisoning — no doubt encouraged by the antics of ne'er-do-wells like the Bickerton family = Meant that this had all but died out by the twentieth.» — el ejemplo que Letcher da: en la Britania nominalmente micófoba se vendían hongos silvestres en los mercados del XIX, costumbre extinguida en el XX por miedo al envenenamiento

«One small part Of the British Second World War effort, therefore, was directed at ‘Ncouraging people to learn how to identify edible mushrooms safely in order to prevent this nutritious food source going to waste.» — la campaña británica de la Segunda Guerra que Letcher reporta, dirigida a enseñar a identificar hongos comestibles para no desperdiciar ese alimento

«And from Graves he took the belief that myths, however fantastical they seem, have their» — el préstamo de Graves que Letcher identifica: los mitos, por fantásticos que parezcan, tendrían su origen en hechos históricos; el tramo corta donde el troceo reemite la marca de plana

«went with it remains that it attempts to make data fit theory» — la objeción principal que Letcher formula contra el método comparativo de Frazer: hace que el dato se ajuste a la teoría; el troceo pierde el final del renglón siguiente

«the very premise that prompted Wasson’s investigation — the Tm peoples are either mycophilic or mycophobic — now too problematic to be of use.» — la objeción de Letcher a la premisa misma: la división de los pueblos en micófilos y micófobos le resulta ya demasiado problemática para servir

«absence of any reliable methods for distinguishing the edible from the isonous, and given the high price of getting the decision wrong (a and painful death in the case of the Death Cap, Amanita phal- — lpides), blanket avoidance of all mushrooms is the most sensible and» — el argumento de Letcher: sin método fiable para distinguir lo comestible de lo venenoso, y con muerte lenta y dolorosa por la oronja verde, evitarlos todos es lo más sensato

«This is a far more complex s can ever be encompassed by Wasson’s blanket designation as a mycophobic nation.» — la enmienda de Letcher: la historia británica del consumo de hongos es más compleja de lo que cabe en la etiqueta de nación micófoba

«In any case, it is rather meani designate the eating preferences of an entire people as another, for taste is, by definition, a fickle thing.» — la objeción de fondo de Letcher: designar las preferencias alimentarias de un pueblo entero carece de sentido porque el gusto es por definición voluble

«So even though the terms mycophobia and mycop achieved a certain currency within mycological circles, the applied inaccurately, are based upon misleading assi should be abandoned as scientific terms.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre los dos términos: aunque circulen en los medios micológicos, se aplican mal, descansan en supuestos engañosos y deberían abandonarse como términos científicos

«Likewise, though ological record is sufÏciently vague for the possibility of pr magic mushroom use to remain open, Wasson's labor demonstrate that this was definitely the case.» — la posición de Letcher sobre el uso prehistórico: el registro arqueológico es bastante vago para dejar la posibilidad abierta, y los trabajos de Wasson no muestran que así fuera

«For while it anxieties about mushrooms have been expressed since there is nothing to suggest that these originated in amy exalted than a fear of poisoning.» — el argumento de Letcher: la ansiedad ante los hongos se ha expresado desde antiguo y nada sugiere que naciera de algo más elevado que el miedo a envenenarse

«Indeed the pressing que: why some cultures shun mushrooms, but why others ovi frequency of accidental poisonings and carried on eating regardless.» — la pregunta que Letcher invierte: lo que habría que explicar no es por qué unas culturas rehúyen los hongos, sino por qué otras siguieron comiéndolos pese a los envenenamientos

«In the evolutionary race that is the history Wasson's hypothesis would seem to have had its day.» — el veredicto de Letcher sobre la hipótesis de Wasson, dicho con la metáfora evolutiva: habría tenido ya su día

«Of course none of this would be of any great significa academic circles were it not for the fact that Wasson’s theo: have a rather profound impact upon the people he studied.» — el giro con que Letcher pasa de la teoría a sus efectos: la tesis de Wasson tuvo impacto hondo sobre la gente que estudió

«Though Gordon Wasson had little time for hippy culture; treated as a psychedelic guru, and expressed nothing but for Timothy Leary (the Harvard psychologist who, in the became notorious for his profligate use and advocacy of 1957 Life article ‘Seeking the Magic Mushroom’ played a s role in kick-starting the whole psychedelic revolution.» — la paradoja que Letcher señala: Wasson despreciaba la cultura hippy y a Timothy Leary, y su artículo de 1957 en Life fue pieza clave del arranque de la revolución psicodélica

«That Wasson wanted v recognition for his Mexican discoveries is clear but, perhaps of the distance he kept between himself and the hoi polloi, estimated the extent to which readers would want to follo» — la explicación que Letcher propone: Wasson quería reconocimiento por sus hallazgos y, por la distancia que guardaba con el vulgo, subestimó cuántos lectores querrían seguirlo

«The trickle of visitors in A early 19605 became a flood, until Oaxaca was awash with hippies ‘on the magic mushroom trail.» — el crecimiento que Letcher describe: de goteo a riada, con Oaxaca inundada de hippies en la ruta del hongo mágico

«The trip became fashionable, and with Pete Townshend, John Lennon and Bob Dylan, rs — rumoured to have made the pilgrimage, this was as a celebrity endorsement, making Huautla an essential destination.» — el aval de celebridad que Letcher registra: el rumor de que Pete Townshend, John Lennon, Bob Dylan y varias estrellas de rock hicieron la peregrinación volvió indispensable a Huautla

«She held her veladas in her basement on a compacted dirt floor and in front of a rudimentary altar upon which were placed pictures of Christian saints and a bowl of burning copal: the Mazatec resin used as incense.» — la escena de la velada que Letcher describe: sótano de tierra apisonada, altar rudimentario con estampas de santos cristianos y copal ardiendo

«By candlelight she would bless the mushrooms, passing them through the smoke before commencing a lengthy series of prayers to various saints. Then, gauging the appropriate dosage for each participant, she would pass round pairs of mushrooms, reserving the largest dose for herself.» — el protocolo de la velada según Letcher: bendición de los hongos en el humo, rezos largos a los santos, y reparto por pares con la dosis mayor para ella

«The candles would be extinguished so that the room was pitch black, and as the effects of the mushrooms came on she would begin to sing the improvised chants for which she was famous. Long lines, sung in a low monotone and interspersed with rhythmic claps and shouts, marked out the contours of the velada» — el resto del protocolo según Letcher: oscuridad total y los cantos improvisados de Sabina en monotonía baja con palmas y gritos rítmicos

«guided the trip, and almost invariably Western visitors — famous or otherwise — wrote of having had intensely spiritual experiences under her expert» — lo que Letcher registra de los visitantes occidentales: casi todos escribieron haber tenido experiencias intensamente espirituales bajo la guía de Sabina

«The trouble was that hippy culture arrived with a very different set of ideas and outlooks from those that prevailed in traditional indigenous Oaxaca. For hippies, the mushrooms were ‘psychedelic’, which Meant that they were bound up with notions of authenticity, freedom, individualism, bohemianism and rebellion.» — el choque que Letcher describe: para los hippies el hongo era psicodélico, ligado a autenticidad, libertad, individualismo, bohemia y rebeldía

«Used to seeing psychedelics as drugs not deities, commodities not conscious entities, many expected to be able to buy and consume mushrooms as and when they desired, irrespective of local sensibilities.» — la fórmula con que Letcher marca el malentendido: drogas y no deidades, mercancías y no entidades conscientes, comprables a voluntad sin miramiento por lo local

«lar, Maria Sabina was to have her life turned upside down by in his pursuit of his ancient mushrooming cult.» — la acusación que Letcher formula con cuidado: la vida de María Sabina quedó volteada por Wasson en la persecución de su culto antiguo del hongo

«Many of the pilgrims who came to her agreed that she possessed that mysterious quality, which in] times would have been labelled holiness.» — lo que Letcher registra de los peregrinos: coincidían en atribuir a Sabina una cualidad misteriosa que en otro tiempo se habría llamado santidad

«What is less understandable is why he dist other curanderos he encountered as second rate, pra degenerate tradition: their standing was as high as Sab their respective communities.» — el reparo de Letcher a Wasson: despachó como de segunda a los demás curanderos que conoció, pese a que su rango en sus comunidades era tan alto como el de Sabina

«For example, Sabina reco eyed Aurelio Carreras as a healer of distinction, and in Hi considered a ‘wise one”, while amongst the Zapotecs A was regarded so highly that he sat on a committee of cura But for Wasson, both were inferior to Sabina; Matías's bei utterances were, by comparison, “feeble”.» — los casos con que Letcher contradice esa jerarquía: Sabina tenía a Aurelio Carreras por sanador de distinción y entre los zapotecos otro curandero era tan estimado que estaba en un comité, y para Wasson ambos eran inferiores

«It is possible that Wasson's perspective was skewed by. seen only Sabina through bemushroomed eyes. After rooms with her, he wrote that she was “Religion Incarnate. hierophant, the thaumaturge, the psychopompos in who bles and aspirations of countless generations of the family: had found, were still finding, their relief.» — la explicación que Letcher propone: Wasson vio a Sabina solo con ojos enhongados, y escribió que era la Religión Encarnada, hierofante, taumaturga y psicopompo

«But I th compelling that Wasson alighted upon Sabina as *the shaman' because she neatly fitted his preconceptions ab priestess of his old religion should look like. On finding heart must have skipped a beat, for in her he saw the m which he had been looking.» — la tesis que Letcher declara como propia y en primera persona: Wasson dio con Sabina como la chamana porque ella encajaba con lo que él esperaba de una sacerdotisa de su religión antigua; el troceo pierde el final de los renglones

«But he had been bro Episcopalian by his father, a minister, and had read the B the age of eleven.» — la formación de Wasson que Letcher aporta como explicación: criado episcopaliano por su padre ministro, había leído la Biblia entera a los once años

«symbolism and practices — such as a complicated divination stem using husks of maize — Sabina employed very little parapher- "alia, preferring the mushrooms to ‘sing through her’ in a form of ‘improvised poetic glossolalia, a song of songs.» — el contraste que Letcher traza entre las veladas cargadas de parafernalia de otros curanderos y la de Sabina, que casi no usaba ninguna y dejaba que los hongos cantaran por ella en glosolalia poética improvisada

«Devout, suffering, ‘compassionate, generous, humble, a loving and devoted mother, a ic, a woman without stain: she was a most Mary-like figure, and as such she slotted so very easily into Wasson's High Church expecta» — la fórmula con que Letcher explica el encaje: devota, sufriente, compasiva, humilde, madre amorosa, mujer sin mancha, una figura mariana que calzaba con las expectativas de alta iglesia de Wasson

«Through his writings, and with the help of Richardson’s literaly iconic photos — cropped and reprinted in grainy black and white. the better to show Sabina supplicating to heaven and illuminated from above — Wasson beatified her.» — el verbo con que Letcher nombra la operación: entre sus escritos y las fotos recortadas de Richardson, con Sabina suplicante e iluminada desde arriba, Wasson la beatificó

«Then, through the Life article, he presented her to the world as the last living saint of his ancient rust» — el remate de esa operación según Letcher: en el artículo de Life presentó a Sabina al mundo como última santa viva de su religión antigua del hongo; el troceo imprime *rust rooming* por *mushrooming*

«and adaptive blend of Catholic and pagan ritual acti Christian saints and Mazatec spirits, for example — they: formed as an act of worship, or to induce mystical they were performed for the serious and pragmatic p» — la continuación de esa objeción: la mezcla de rito católico y pagano no se hacía como acto de culto ni para inducir experiencias místicas, sino con fin serio y práctico

«the vigils weren’ simple desire to find God, but were done with the sole ing the sicknesses that our people suffer from» — la frase de Sabina que Letcher cita contra la lectura de Wasson: las vigilias no se hacían por el simple deseo de hallar a Dios sino con el único fin de curar las enfermedades de su gente

«The solemnity and seriousness with which veladas (and which Wasson misinterpreted as being purely d. due to the fact that, as the mainstay of Mazatec medici, literally matters of life and death.» — la explicación de Letcher: lo solemne de las veladas, que Wasson leyó como devoción, venía de ser el sostén de la medicina mazateca y por tanto asunto de vida o muerte

«In the Mazatec world y — which, given poor diets and sanitation, occurred w regularity — was believed to be caused by the loss of one's a sudden fright, or through magical interference by n and human sorcerers.» — la etiología mazateca que Letcher describe: la enfermedad como pérdida del alma por susto o por interferencia mágica de seres y hechiceros

«When Sabina took mushrooms, the saint children, or mushroom spirits, would appear a whether or not the patient could be cured.» — el papel que Letcher atribuye a los niños santos en la consulta: aparecían y decían si el paciente podía curarse

«pss find Sabina and try the mushrooms themselves. He disher name and whereabouts in the Life article but not in shrooms, Russia and History, so very quickly they became public» — el dato con que Letcher fija la responsabilidad: Wasson dio el nombre y el paradero de Sabina en el artículo de Life y no en su libro, y así se volvieron conocidos; el troceo pierde el arranque del renglón

«hich he con ancient mushroom cult in Christian terms.» — el hallazgo de voz que Letcher subraya: Wasson concibió el culto antiguo del hongo en términos cristianos; el troceo pierde el arranque y el final de los renglones

«pictured his ancient mushroom cult as a form of prot mysticism, with mushrooms foreshadowing the sacrame» — la continuación de ese hallazgo: Wasson figuró el culto como misticismo protocristiano, con los hongos prefigurando el sacramento

«problem with all of this was that the veladas were not reli-Ceremonies i nies. That is, though each was framed within a unique» — la objeción de hecho que Letcher opone a toda esa construcción: las veladas no eran ceremonias religiosas; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«benevolent mushroom spirits would show her the cai — where and why, for example, the person's soul had she would then be able to heal the patient through th» — la función curativa que Letcher describe: los espíritus benévolos del hongo mostraban la causa y dónde se había perdido el alma, y Sabina sanaba luego por el canto

«Sabina recalled being almost permanently hungry d hood, and Mazatec society was marked by petty bloo tas, and alcohol-related problems (one of Sabina’s sons death during a drunken brawl), not to mention a wid malicious sorcery.» — el contexto material de Huautla que Letcher aporta contra la imagen del paraíso profanado: hambre casi permanente, venganzas de sangre, alcohol y brujería maliciosa; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas de esta plana

«Nor was it an unchanged, traditional way of life Mexico’s struggles to become an independent nation. O three husbands, for example, was a guerrilla who Carracista and Zapatista insurrections.» — el segundo reparo de Letcher a esa imagen: la vida mazateca no era inmutable, y uno de los maridos de Sabina fue guerrillero de las insurrecciones carrancista y zapatista; la grafía es la del troceo

«The Mexican authorities, the effects of mushroom tourism, intervened in 1967 deporting the mushroom seekers, and criminalising rooms a few years later.» — la intervención del Estado mexicano que Letcher fecha en 1967, con deportación de buscadores de hongos y criminalización posterior

«In this complex scenario, then, th internal sociopolitical factors upon the indigenes was as in the arrival of American and European outsiders.» — el balance de Letcher: el peso de los factores sociopolíticos internos sobre los indígenas fue tan importante como la llegada de los forasteros

«And, of course, the myth of the desecrated paradise but coercive effect of casting the indigenes as helpless primitives, able only to respond to the intrusion of forei them of agency, in other words.» — la objeción de Letcher al mito del paraíso profanado: convierte a los indígenas en primitivos indefensos que solo reaccionan, y les quita agencia

«It is rare for Western w tion Maria Sabina’s role in the Wasson affair, but in commentators have portrayed her as a modern-day slave woman who betrayed the Aztecs for her love of Wasson affair really some ghastly replay of this foundat in Mexican history?» — la comparación que Letcher reporta de comentaristas mexicanos: Sabina como Malinche moderna, y la pregunta de si el caso Wasson repite ese mito fundacional

«While there is a little merit in this while Sabina most definitely had a hand in what hap too harsh.» — el fallo matizado de Letcher: Sabina tuvo parte en lo que pasó y la comparación con Malinche le parece demasiado dura

«Certainly Sabina did what no other curandero had allowed Western outsiders to share the mushrooms; a her denials, she was happy to charge for her services.» — lo que Letcher concede: Sabina hizo lo que ningún otro curandero, dejar que forasteros compartieran los hongos, y pese a sus desmentidos cobraba por sus servicios

«Besides, she did not know all the facts and could have ha prehension of the likely consequences of her decision. B service Wasson, she was unwittingly brought into co» — la atenuante que Letcher ofrece: Sabina no conocía todos los hechos ni podía prever las consecuencias de su decisión

«In later life, she lamented that the power of the hrooms had been corrupted and was dwindling away, but I rather that this was an expression of the guilt she felt at what she had» — la lectura que Letcher propone del lamento tardío de Sabina sobre el poder menguante de los hongos: una expresión de culpa por lo hecho

«It is true that we have her autobiography, recently republished, " put she was illiterate and in none of the ‘writings’ attributed to her are we looking at her unedited words.» — la reserva de Letcher sobre las fuentes de Sabina: era analfabeta y ninguno de los escritos que se le atribuyen recoge sus palabras sin editar

«The well-known interview that 1 ed in the Italian magazine L'Europeo" during the 1970s was originally conducted in Mazatec, and translated first into Spanish and thence into Italian: a veritable chain of Chinese whispers.» — la cadena de traducción que Letcher reconstruye para la entrevista italiana: del mazateco al español y de ahí al italiano

«As for her autobiography, this was compiled by Álvaro Estrada, a Mazatec resident of Huautla, from a set of interviews conducted over the course of ayear between 1975 and 1976.» — el origen de la autobiografía según Letcher: entrevistas que Álvaro Estrada, mazateco de Huautla, hizo a lo largo de un año

«Young and under-confident, Estrada sent his transcripts to Wasson for comment. Wasson passed them on — to his friend, the Mexican poet Octavio Paz (1914-1998) who, while ‘expressing admiration for the work, suggested that Estrada edit it to make it sound more ‘primitive’ and more ‘in keeping’ with Sabina’s personality.» — el episodio editorial que Letcher documenta: Estrada mandó las transcripciones a Wasson, que las pasó a Octavio Paz, y este sugirió editarlas para que sonaran más primitivas y más acordes con la personalidad de Sabina

«We can only guess at the corrections that Wasson proposed. Whatever they were, Estrada dutifully complied, and so what We possess is an edited representation of Sabina’s words, tailored to Westernised primitivist expectations.» — la consecuencia que Letcher declara: lo que se conserva es una representación editada de las palabras de Sabina, ajustada a las expectativas primitivistas occidentales

«Estrada could therefore provide @great service to scholarship by publishing the transcripts of his interae verbatim, and it is regrettable that the recent academic reprint of Life did not seize the opportunity to do so.» — la petición que Letcher formula: que Estrada publique verbatim las transcripciones de sus entrevistas, y su lamento de que la reedición académica no lo hiciera

«In truth, Maria Sabina has always been misrepresented by Western Wasson b Had Eunice Pike, the missionary in Huautla who advised E. efore his first trip to Mexico, her bemushroomed utterances in 3 work of the devil.» — la tesis de Letcher sobre la recepción occidental de Sabina: para la misionera Eunice Pike sus palabras enhongadas eran obra del diablo

«Wasson inverted this reading to make her E Hd legions of mushroom enthusiasts across the world, she has ES e quintessential psychedelic shaman — a term she never used» — la inversión que Letcher atribuye a Wasson y su efecto: para los entusiastas del mundo, Sabina se volvió la chamana psicodélica por excelencia, con un término que ella nunca usó

«ortunately, gauging exactly what Sabina felt and thought is tremely difÏcult, for if there are precious few women’s voices in the y of the magic mushroom, then Sabina’s is the most marginalised» — el límite documental que Letcher declara: en la historia del hongo mágico hay poquísimas voces de mujer, y la de Sabina es la más marginada de todas; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«In Mexico the comparison with. Malinche may be popi intellectuals, but others see her as more heroic. She has ject of documentaries, had comic strips written about h: and theme pubs named after her. Her image has been bizarrely, in a campaign against drugs, and even more bi her three marriages, she has been reinvented as a lesbi» — las lecturas mexicanas de Sabina que Letcher recoge: de Malinche a heroína, con documentales, tiras cómicas, bares temáticos, una campaña antidrogas y hasta su reinvención como lesbiana pese a sus tres matrimonios

«seems set fair to make the journey from icon to brand, a knowing interplay of signs and surfaces continues to defin modern world, we can be certain that with the passing of tii María Sabina will slip ever further from our grasp.» — el pronóstico de Letcher sobre Sabina: de icono a marca, y cada vez más lejos de nuestro alcance conforme pase el tiempo

«Depressing as this is, there is at least one cause for con in the mountains, away from Huautla and the hippy tourii» — el consuelo que Letcher ofrece: lejos de Huautla y del turismo, las prácticas curativas indígenas, de las que la ceremonia del hongo era solo una parte, siguen; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«How long these traditional practices will survive the relent-Jess pressures of the modern world remains to be seen, but for the moment we can be grateful that Wasson's prediction of an immanent decline was, like so many of his pronouncements, an exaggeration.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre el vaticinio de Wasson de una decadencia inminente: como tantas de sus declaraciones, una exageración

«If his academic reputation in later life is anything togo by, we should think of him highly, for he was honoured with several accolades and awards. In 1960 he was elected an honorary research fellow of the Harvard Botanical Museum, a position that he proudly occupied until his death in 1986.» — los honores académicos de Wasson que Letcher enumera, empezando por la investigación honoraria en el museo botánico de Harvard desde 1960

«Then in 1983 he was awarded Yale University’s prestigious ‘Addison Emery Verrill Medal for having made an outstanding contribution to the study of natural history. Ten years earlier, and for identical reasons, he was elected a fellow of the Linnaean Society of London.» — los otros dos honores que Letcher registra: la medalla Addison Emery Verrill de Yale en 1983 y la membresía de la Linnean Society de Londres diez años antes

«Those who knew him eagerly report the details of their acquaintance, and stress his qualities as a scholar and a gentleman. He was, they say, a generous host and a tireless correspondent,” a raconteur possessed of a rich and witty sense of humour, a bibliophile, an unremitting grammarian, and a diligent and meticulous» — las cualidades que los conocidos de Wasson reportaban según Letcher: anfitrión generoso, corresponsal incansable, bibliófilo, gramático implacable y trabajador meticuloso

«According to his protégé Jonathan Ott, he was “a brilliant b er, a superb writer, a patient teacher, a kind and decent man, a yal friend”. Anthropologist Joan Halifax called him “a twentieth-century Darwin’, while Ott concluded that “the world will not soon see» — los elogios que Letcher cita de Jonathan Ott y de Joan Halifax: hombre brillante, amigo leal, un Darwin del siglo XX

«Amongst mushroom enthusiasts, Wasson is seen as a E. ding father, not only of psychedelia but also of a particular, rigorapproach to the study of this most colourful of subjects.» — la posición de Wasson entre los entusiastas según Letcher: padre fundador no solo de la psicodelia sino de un acercamiento riguroso al asunto

«claims and acclamations read as just a little excessive —: overblown - for his ideas have yet to shake the world in q; way as Darwin's.» — la reserva de Letcher sobre esos elogios: le resultan algo excesivos, porque las ideas de Wasson no han sacudido el mundo como las de Darwin

«This is by no means to detract from hi: ical discoveries in Mexico, which were genuinely grout taking the brave, perhaps foolhardy step of eating tl himself, he was able to bear personal witness to their po cinogenic effects, and thus to put the matter of the nanacatl beyond all doubt.» — lo que Letcher concede sin reserva a Wasson: los hallazgos mexicanos fueron de veras pioneros, y al comer él mismo los hongos puso el asunto del teonanácatl fuera de duda

«But his extraordinary ideas ; gins of religion, and the way he went about trying to pro _ seem very hard to countenance.» — el reparo que Letcher mantiene: las ideas de Wasson sobre el origen de la religión y su modo de probarlas le resultan muy difíciles de aceptar

«The key to understanding Wasson lies, I think, in the ever much he wanted to be taken seriously by scholars, he he longed to be one of them, he always was, and always the outsider.» — la clave que Letcher propone en primera persona: por mucho que quisiera que los eruditos lo tomaran en serio, Wasson fue siempre el forastero

«Always self-deprecating about his own ties, he greatly enjoyed erudition and the company of inte was delighted when they condescended — his view» — la envidia de erudito que Letcher atribuye a Wasson: se rebajaba a sí mismo y gozaba la erudición y la compañía de los intelectuales

«his radical ideas were really accepted within the academ d be bought, sold or treated as an investment — quite literally For example, his ancient mushrooming thesis received Hering money for information — with all the concomi: > 4 : 5 icomitant effects when presented to E. E. Evans-Pritchard (1902-1973) at Sabina toe bl and others that that was to have.» — el problema de evaluación que Letcher plantea: al publicar por la puerta trasera, en ediciones privadas y lujosas, es difícil saber si sus ideas radicales fueron aceptadas en la academia; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas de esta plana

«A substantial number of copies ol were given away to scholars and prospective reviewers, and extremely valuable gifts were double-edged for th saying their forceful author that much harder.» — la táctica editorial que Letcher describe: regalar sus libros lujosos a eruditos y reseñistas, obsequios de doble filo que dificultaban contradecir a su autor

«The books were, of course, a shrewd way of sid: some process of peer review, and to a non-academic ai books, as rare and beautiful objects, that have afforded ty. Like medieval alchemical grimoires, they came wrap of authenticity, and that, in popular terms, was sufÏ Wasson's ideas widespread acceptance.» — la lectura de Letcher: los libros eran un modo astuto de sortear la revisión por pares, y como objetos raros y bellos llevaban un aura de autenticidad, comparada por él con la de los grimorios alquímicos medievales

«How we judge Wasson, then, ultimately depends on. : we choose to regard him as a scholar. If we do, and judge h ing to the standards by which he so dearly wanted to be think we must now come down on him rather harshly.» — la bifurcación que Letcher plantea para juzgar a Wasson: medido como el erudito que quería ser, el juicio tiene que ser severo

«His subsequently formed ideas concerning tl religion and the division of peoples into mycophobes an are unfeasible, and should be rejected.» — el dictamen de Letcher sobre las ideas de Wasson acerca del origen de la religión y la división entre micófobos y micófilos: inviables y a rechazar

«His ethn detailed in places, was poorly conducted, sketchy o! resented the practices he observed. More worryingly, it detrimental effect upon the people he studied.» — el reproche etnográfico de Letcher: trabajo mal conducido, esquemático, que tergiversó las prácticas observadas y tuvo efecto dañino sobre la gente estudiada

«If we see him for what he was, however — a Wall St developed a passionate interest in hallucinogenic fungi — th we can absolve him from some of these criticisms, see h achievements in a more favourable light, and draw atten positive qualities: his charm, his manners, his skills as raconteur, and so on.» — la otra vara de medir que Letcher ofrece: visto como banquero de Wall Street apasionado por los hongos alucinógenos, se le absuelve de buena parte de esos reparos

«Gordon Wasson was, then, a literate, well-educated and somewhat "eccentric hobbyist who, driven by a personal obsession, made remark- ‘ble discoveries and then cleverly broadcast them to the world.» — el retrato final que Letcher da de Wasson: aficionado culto y algo excéntrico movido por una obsesión personal, que hizo hallazgos notables y los difundió con habilidad

«Thanks to Wasson, people began looking for and eating psilocybin mushrooms in just about every ‘country of the world, armed for the first time with a favourable way ‘of understanding their effects.» — lo que Letcher adjudica de hecho a Wasson: que en casi todo el mundo se empezara a buscar y comer psilocibios con un marco favorable para entender sus efectos

«He may have failed in his attempt to prove the existence of an ancient mushrooming cult, but in doing so he gave the world a modern one.» — la fórmula con que Letcher resume el saldo: fracasó en probar un culto antiguo del hongo y al hacerlo le dio al mundo uno moderno

«Amanita! You no eat her! Else you'll end up, On the slab! Boris and his Bolshy Balalaika» — el epígrafe de la segunda parte del libro, otra vez de la canción de Boris and his Bolshy Balalaika

«Oh you little gold-stiped fly-agaric, chao-chao-chao, Such tidings you brought me, chao-chao-chao, Little patterned-stiped fly-agaric, chao-chao-chao, Many messages, many words you have, chao-chao-chao. e Khanty Song from western Siberia» — el primero de los dos epígrafes del capítulo séptimo, una canción janti de Siberia occidental dirigida a la amanita; el troceo imprime *stiped* por *striped*

«Dear children, u Be not deceived p By the red toadstools! | a Kobayashi Issa» — el segundo epígrafe del capítulo séptimo, el haiku de Kobayashi Issa que advierte a los niños contra las setas rojas

«And because of its sheer presence, not to mention its oy bizarre psychoactive properties, this mushroom has exercised Been imagination for at least three hundred years in such a way fa lis story is inseparably intertwined with that of its visually drab, but Other ways more interesting, psilocybin-containing relatives.» — la tesis del capítulo según Letcher: por su presencia y sus propiedades psicoactivas, la amanita ha excitado la imaginación occidental al menos trescientos años y su historia es inseparable de la del psilocibio

«Found almost ubiquitously around the world grow association with birch, pine and fir, and often cult with flies, the mushroom has acquired many names. Italy, Spain and Russia it is respectively Fliegenpilz, mosquero and mukhomor, the *fly-mushroom'. In Fra tue-mouche, the ‘fly-killer’. Most delightfully, in Japan: take, the ‘long-nosed goblin mushroom’.» — los nombres de la amanita en varias lenguas que Letcher reúne, del hongo-mosca alemán, italiano, español y ruso al matamoscas francés y al hongo del duende narigón japonés

«Teasing apart fact and fiction in the cultural history o room is, however, made especially difÏcult because my greater profusion than the white spots that adorn its the ever more implausible stories concocted about the become almost a literary genre in their own right.» — la dificultad que Letcher declara para este capítulo: los mitos sobre la amanita abundan más que las manchas blancas de su sombrero y forman casi un género literario

«effort in networking, entertaining and pressing palms, up alliances with supporters and potential supporters — with Dick Schultes, Roger Heim and Albert Hofmann, (A time, he was a little too quick to dismiss detractors Pritchard out of hand as inherently mycophobic.» — la estrategia de Wasson según Letcher: mucho esfuerzo en tejer alianzas con partidarios y con partidarios posibles, y despacho rápido de los detractores tildándolos de micófobos; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas de esta plana

«stemmed less from the clarity or originality of his thin force of personality and his sheer belief in the product was a brilliant salesman.» — el juicio de Letcher sobre la fuerza persuasiva de Wasson: venía menos de la claridad o la originalidad de su pensamiento que de su personalidad y de su fe en el producto

«nted to be remembered as the man who, under his own steam, dis- ‘covered that the true origins of religion lay in a prehistoric mushroom “cult, His claim was misplaced, but what he actually succeeded in doing all the more extraordinary.» — la inversión con que Letcher cierra el capítulo: Wasson quería ser recordado por haber hallado el origen de la religión en un culto prehistórico del hongo, y lo que logró de hecho fue más extraordinario aún

«Itis impossible to go on with the story of the magic mushroom with- | out pausing, rewinding somewhat, and considering the cultural histoty of another altogether different fungus. Psilocybin mushrooms tend ‘to be brown and nondescript and often require an expert eye to distinguish them, but they have a distant and unruly cousin, which is by ‘contrast lurid and eye-catching, and positively demands attention: the Notorious fly-agaric, Amanita muscaria.» — el giro del libro hacia la segunda parte: Letcher interrumpe la historia del psilocibio para tratar la de la amanita, prima llamativa del hongo pardo y anodino; el troceo funde *It is*

«that the fly-agaric is similarly injurious turns out to ben long history, only a few deaths have been attributed to cases the victims were already in poor health» — la enmienda de Letcher: pese a su fama, en toda su larga historia solo se han atribuido a la amanita unas pocas muertes, y en esos casos las víctimas ya estaban enfermas

«But two stories in particular a more significant impact upon Western culture: the first concerned that mysterious class of people known as shamans» — las dos historias que Letcher declara decisivas para Occidente: la de los chamanes y la de la embriaguez con un hongo tenido por mortal en Europa

«Donning elaborate costumes of tat- : athers, they would dance themselves into a trance-like stu-Christmas (with his red-and-white coat and flying rein i less than a folk memory of fly-agaric shamanism; that pice with the aid of the monotonous beat of an enormous drum.» — la escena del chamán que Letcher resume de los relatos: vestidos elaborados, danza hasta el estupor y el golpe monótono de un tambor enorme; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas de esta plana

«and consequently he was insulated from the process of» — la atenuante que Letcher concede: Wasson quedó aislado del proceso de autorreflexión que la antropología emprendió desde los años sesenta; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas de esta plana y el tramo corta ahí

«tenacious in a long line of academic hypotheses and u that Jesus was an amanita-eater, breaking fly-agaric toad than the more usually accepted bread and wine at t» — la primera de las hipótesis que Letcher anuncia para desmenuzar: que Jesús comiera amanita y partiera setas en vez del pan y el vino aceptados; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas de esta plana

«s Magnus in the thirteenth century and repeated three hundred later by Clusius, the cultural history of the fly-agaric properly s in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.» — Letcher fecha entre fines del XVII y principios del XVIII el comienzo propio de la historia cultural de la amanita, pese a las propiedades insecticidas ya registradas en el siglo XIII y repetidas por Clusius

«that travellers’ tales about the peculiar habits of the so-called itive peoples living to the east of the ever-expanding Russian in Siberia, began to filter into polite Western society.» — la vía de entrada que Letcher señala: los relatos de viajeros sobre los pueblos al este del imperio ruso en expansión, en Siberia

«es were shocking, and hence grippingly enticing, for they revealed "that lying just over the edge of the civilised Western world were peoquite other in their lifestyle, habits, demeanour and religion.» — el efecto de esos relatos según Letcher: al filo mismo del mundo civilizado había pueblos enteramente otros en modo de vida, hábitos, porte y religión

«the many animistic Siberian E amit a few privileged persons, called shamans, who ediaries between the world of humans and the world of» — lo que los relatos de viaje decían según Letcher: entre las tribus siberianas animistas unos pocos privilegiados, los chamanes, mediaban entre el mundo humano y el de los espíritus; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas y el tramo va tal cual

«But it is also widely believed that the shamans of Sibe "Spirits. These strange, othe EE ops us o ig iind figures were called upon to heal gnosticate the future or divine the whereabouts of lost their spirit-journeys buoyed up by the mushroom; p" stolen property, and to interpret dreams and omens. And this they each other's urine — not to mention that of their mus! E i - ^ 5 h did in the i : E reindeer — to prolong the mushroom’s effects» — la segunda creencia que Letcher enumera para examinarla: que los chamanes siberianos viajaran con el hongo y bebieran su propia orina y la del reno para prolongar el efecto

«For the earliest Western travellers reaching Siberia in century, the shamans were clearly involved in diabolical | practices, which were roundly condemned.» — la primera lectura occidental del chamán según Letcher: cosa diabólica, condenada de plano

«shamanism enthused and titillated the newly emerging and socially ile middle classes, to the extent that the average literate person would have been unlikely not to have heard of their strange doings.» — la difusión del chamanismo en Occidente según Letcher: entusiasmó a las clases medias letradas hasta volverse noticia sabida

«As the century progressed, a shift of emphasis occurred in which the shaman ceased to be considered as the embodiment of irrationality and came to be seen as a privileged individual whose creative trance gave him a unique vantage point from which to view the world.» — el segundo giro que Letcher describe: el chamán dejó de ser encarnación de la sinrazón para volverse individuo privilegiado cuyo trance creativo le daba un mirador único

«Contemporaneously, the emerging Romantic movement produced its own inflated idea of the “artist”, with creativity viewed as something mysterious, God-given, and beyond the reach of ordinary men.» — el paralelo romántico que Letcher traza: la idea inflada del artista, con la creatividad como don misterioso fuera del alcance del común

«Artists were outsiders, set apart by their unique, inherent sensibility or genius. suffering for their art but only so that they could affect, transform aud momentarily elevate audiences to their own level through the bril- - of their vision and the creative force that flowed through them.» — la figura del artista que Letcher describe como gemela de la del chamán: forastero, dotado de sensibilidad o genio propios, que sufre por su arte para elevar al público

«In 1736 a E - we ish colonel Philip von Strahlenberg (1713-1755), his Dor uz pups Description of the North and Eastern Parts of emm "Ys was translated into and published in English. It E * ill-fated reconnaissance expedition, in which he had been (CON, a and held as a prisoner of war for twelve years. During Eu requently observed members of the Koryak tribe in the E ast of Siberia getting *drunk' upon an unspecified mush-E as mukhomor in Russian.» — la fuente que Letcher fecha en 1736: la descripción de Philip von Strahlenberg, prisionero de guerra doce años en Siberia, que observó a los koriakos embriagarse con un hongo llamado mukhomor

«highly prized mushrooms were in short supply, the poc always afford to purchase them from the Russian and who attempted to meet this local demand. Instead, m lower social strata would loiter outside the dwellings of ever a mushroom feast was taking place, waiting fo when the guests would come out to relieve themselves. urine in wooden bowls, they would then drink it d having still some Virtue of the mushroom in it, and by th [would] also get Drunk» — el pasaje de Von Strahlenberg que Letcher cita: los pobres esperaban fuera de la casa del festín para recoger en cuencos de madera la orina de los invitados y beberla, porque conservaba algo de la virtud del hongo

«It was this simple act, this unusual and, to polite Wes tern ties, revolting, dissolute and transgressive act of drin urine, that ensured that, as the myth of the fly-agaric West, it very rapidly made a splash.» — la tesis de Letcher sobre por qué el mito de la amanita prendió en Occidente: fue el acto de beber la orina, repugnante y transgresor para la sensibilidad culta, lo que lo hizo estallar

«The mukhomor mushroom was positively identified as the flythe urine-drinking was confirmed and the antics of the intoxi» — lo que los relatos posteriores añadieron según Letcher: la identificación del mukhomor como amanita y el relato reiterado de la bebida de orina

«the botanist Stephan Krasheninnikov wrote how he had ‘seen dried fly-agaric mushrooms consumed at feasts, rolled and swal- ‘lowed whole, or drunk with an infusion of berries. The signs of intoxication were announced by the twitching of limbs and the urge to run — and jump and dance, followed by the onset of stupor, sleep and strange hallucinatory dreams.» — el testimonio de Krasheninnikov que Letcher cita de su descripción de Kamchatka de 1755: amanitas secas tragadas enteras o bebidas en infusión de bayas, con temblor, carrera, danza, estupor y sueños alucinatorios

«Russian ofÏcers, it seems, had tried the local delicacy with wild and debauched results. One ofÏcer believed himself to have been commanded by the spirits of the mushroom to perform an act of bravado by strangling himself. He had to be restrained.» — el primero de los casos de oficiales rusos que Letcher reporta: uno se creyó mandado por los espíritus del hongo a estrangularse por bravata

«Another, perceiving a vision of hell, fell to his knees and publicly confessed all his sins, an act he no doubt regretted for he thereafter became the butt of ridicule. We do not know what he confessed, only that he indelicately revealed things that ought to have stayed secret, but his sins were probably sexual in nature.» — el segundo caso que Letcher reporta: un oficial que vio el infierno, confesó públicamente sus pecados y quedó de hazmerreír; Letcher declara que no se sabe qué confesó

«And one final ofÏcer was accustomed to consuming flybefore a long march, for he found that it prevented fatigue. lowever, overdoing things one day and having ‘indulged to the point of delirium", he apparently crushed his own testicles and died.» — el tercer caso que Letcher reporta: un oficial que tomaba amanita contra la fatiga de marcha y que, excedido hasta el delirio, se aplastó los testículos y murió

«They must be contrasted E € account by the Polish Brigadier Joseph Kopec, who in 1797 ed to have eaten the mushrooms himself.» — el contrapeso que Letcher opone: el relato del brigadier polaco Joseph Kopec, que en 1797 dijo haber comido él mismo los hongos

«Some might deem a crack to be as wide as a door, he tub of water as deep as the sea.» — el efecto sobre la escala perceptiva que Letcher toma de Krasheninnikov: una rendija parecería una puerta y una tina, el mar

«It was this absurd image of a man wits, so lost to irrationality, that he could no longer see tl was just a straw that seems particularly to have caught the» — lo que según Letcher atrapó a los escritores occidentales: la imagen absurda del hombre tan perdido que ya no ve que el obstáculo es solo una paja

«It became widely rea er, when an English translation was quoted at length in John Vegetable Kingdom of 1853» — la vía de difusión popular que Letcher traza: la traducción inglesa citada largamente en el libro de Lindley de 1853

«Cooke devoted a chapter of his Seven Sisters of Sleep to the fly-agar-As we shall see, the mushroom’s effects more typically icin Siberia, relating its recorded effects in unusually positive ter» — el tratamiento que Cooke dio a la amanita siberiana según Letcher: en términos inusualmente positivos

«At first it generally produces cheerfulness, afterwards giddiness and drunkenness, ending occasionally in entire loss of conscious- “ness. The natural inclinations of the individual become stimulated. The dancer executes a pas d'extravagance, the musical indulge in a song, the chatterer divulges all his secrets, the oratorical delivers himself of a philippic, and the mimic indulges in caricature. Erroneous impressions of size and distance are common occurrences . . . a straw lying in the road becomes a formidable object, to overcome which a leap is taken sufÏcient to clear a bar-One of the common consciousness-altering effects of the | rel of ale, or the prostrate trunk of a British Oak.» — el pasaje de Cooke que Letcher cita entero sobre los efectos de la amanita: alegría, mareo, embriaguez, la inclinación natural de cada quien exagerada, y la escala trastocada hasta saltar una paja como un barril

«He repeated this description, word for word but with a little less enthusiasm, in his Plain and Easy Account of the British Fungi of 1862.» — Letcher fecha en 1862 la repetición de esa descripción por Cooke, ya con menos entusiasmo

«By the end of the nineteenth century the putative p agaric to inspire writers and artists seems to have taken on own, quite independently of the more comprehensive R German ethnographies emerging from Siberia.» — la autonomía que Letcher atribuye al poder inspirador de la amanita: para fines del XIX corría por su cuenta, aparte de las etnografías rusas y alemanas

«Mushrooms appeared in many of these paintings, suggest the diminutive size of the fairies who pranced an amongst them, but to act as signifiers for the eldritch n fairies were supposed to inhabit.» — la función del hongo en la pintura de hadas victoriana según Letcher: dar escala a las hadas y señalar el mundo sobrenatural que habitaban

«Not one of these examples of mushroom Victoriana inspired by a first-hand experience with the fly-agaric: as noted, people had yet to acquire the taste.» — la aclaración de Letcher: ninguna de esas obras victorianas nació de una experiencia directa con la amanita, porque nadie había tomado aún el gusto

«The shaman, understanding none Walser’s incoherent babbling, nevertheless recognises the madman 'asone of his own, and so plies him with fly-agaric-infused urine.» — la escena de Carter que Letcher resume: el chamán reconoce al loco como uno de los suyos y le da orina impregnada de amanita

«Just like the Siberian tribespeople, they all fall into a stupor before arising again some hours later to perform their rituals, dancing jerkily all the while.» — la escena de Garner según Letcher: estupor y luego el rito danzado, calcados de los relatos siberianos

«Through his mastery of storytelling, Garner has E eed the power of the fly-agaric to shock.» — lo que Letcher adjudica a Garner: haber recobrado el poder de choque de la amanita

«This is telling, hycologica à e many of the early travellers to Siberia, and most of the jen Writers like Cooke, we tend to think now that it was ely the Siberian shamans who used the fly-agaric.» — el hallazgo de recepción que Letcher subraya: pese a los viajeros y a los micólogos, hoy se tiende a pensar que solo los chamanes siberianos usaban la amanita

«the two predominant stories to have reached us ir teenth century from the far north-east, that of the sha the intoxicating mushroom, have become commingled y temporary imagination. It is time now to return to Sil what truth there is in this; to see exactly who was where they were doing it, and for what ends.» — el programa que Letcher anuncia para el resto del capítulo: las dos historias, la del chamán y la del hongo, se mezclaron en la imaginación contemporánea y toca ver quién lo usaba, dónde y para qué

«Cooke per-Es. Rene warning that the “effects which follow on par-E. ina fungus have been recorded somewhat in detail, and fea Xication, but with dangerous symptoms which result in» — el giro tardío de Cooke que Letcher documenta: el relativista incauto cedió al micólogo serio y la nota pasó a advertir de síntomas peligrosos; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«the century, the Victorian love of fairies had dwindled, and with the mushrooms with which they had become inex: were banished to the domain of the nursery.» — el destino que Letcher traza para hadas y hongos a fin de siglo: desterrados al cuarto de los niños

«Carter (1940-1992) describes the inspired meeting of a tern journalist, Jack Walser, driven temporarily mad by a blow to head, and a Siberian shaman.» — la novela de Angela Carter que Letcher resume: el encuentro de un periodista occidental enloquecido por un golpe en la cabeza con un chamán siberiano

«author Alan Garner also explored the possibilities of fly-agaric shamanism in his novel Thursbitch» — la segunda excepción literaria que Letcher rescata: Alan Garner explorando el chamanismo de la amanita en su novela; el tramo corta antes del año entre paréntesis

«One half of the story concerns John ‘Jack’ Turner, an eighteenth-century packman, who presides over a peculiar and local form of paganism in aremote Cheshire village. Jack eats dried fly-agarics, or ‘corbel bread’, and shares his wonderfully named ‘piddlejuice’ with fellow villagers at auspicious times of the year.» — la trama de Garner que Letcher resume: un buhonero del siglo XVIII que preside un paganismo local, come amanitas secas y comparte su *piddlejuice* en fechas señaladas

«When we think about faraway places, distant in time or | space, our tendency is to simplify or reduce them in paper over the complex textures, cracks and folds of phies, climates and cultures with the simple stories, other pleasing patterns of our imagining. Beyond hinting est of contours, these shiny coverings say very little about actually lie beneath them; but they reflect the people who there — that is, our hopes, fears, prejudices and fantasies.» — la tesis de método que Letcher enuncia para el capítulo: al pensar lugares lejanos los cubrimos con historias simples que dicen más de nuestras esperanzas, miedos y prejuicios que de ellos

«the late Arab-American scholar Edward Said, who beqi world the concept of ‘orientalism’.” The ‘Orient’, he ma not exist. It is a Western fabrication, a mishmash of notions, half-truths and projections; harems and hashish hand, fanatics with Kalashnikovs on the other. None of the tice to the civilisations they purport to describe, and their: cive power merely serves the West’s ambition to proclaim | intellectual superiority.» — el concepto que Letcher toma de Edward Said: el Oriente como fabricación occidental de nociones a medias que sirve a la pretensión de superioridad intelectual

«The same applies when we think about Siberia and ; choked as they are with the accretions of four hund Western speculation and myth-making. Take the very n The small Khanate of Sibir was just the first of many n overcome by the nascent Russian empire after it cross Mountains in its economically driven expansion ea knowing otherwise, the Russians projected the name out until both it and their empire encompassed almost the entire! half of the continent. The name obliterates all sense of the of the region, its geographical diversity, and the complexi: nic, cultural and religious make-up, reducing it to @ homogenised and digestible whole.» — la aplicación que Letcher hace de ese concepto a Siberia: el nombre del kanato de Sibir proyectado sobre medio continente borra la diversidad geográfica, étnica, cultural y religiosa

«But the region we call Siberia is vast. It is as large as USA combined, covering seven time zones and several dis graphical regions: tundra in the north gives way to great forest or taiga in the centre, to be replaced in turn by the» — la escala de Siberia que Letcher da: tan grande como Europa y Estados Unidos juntos, con siete husos horarios y varias regiones geográficas

«At the end of the sixteenth century the Russians counted cimately 120 distinct linguistic groupings in Siberia» — la cifra con que Letcher mide la diversidad siberiana: unos ciento veinte grupos lingüísticos contados por los rusos a fines del siglo XVI

«Similarly, when we think about Siberian shamans, it tends to be a singular image that comes to mind, an image that has not substantially altered since the earliest Western travellers encountered these enig» — el segundo estereotipo que Letcher examina: la imagen única del chamán siberiano, que no ha cambiado mucho desde los primeros viajeros

«The priest doth begin to play upon a thing like a great sieve, with a skin on the one end like a drum . . . his face is covered with a piece of shirt of mail, with many small ribs and teeth of fishes, and wild beasts hanging on the same mail. Then he singeth as we use here in England to halloo, whoop, or shout at hounds, and . . . in the end he becometh as it were mad, and falling down as if dead . . . I asked them why he lay so, and they answered me, "Now doth our god tell him what we shall do, and whither we shall go.» — el testimonio de Richard Johnson, explorador inglés del XVI, que Letcher cita entero: el tambor, la cara cubierta de malla con dientes de peces y fieras, el grito, la caída como muerto y la explicación de los presentes de que el dios le dice qué hacer

«But while it is true to say that most, if not a e animistic tribal communities in Siberia supported people, sy 34 men, in the role of what we now call shaman, it would be Tong to think that they belonged to a static, monolithic, uni-Y adhered-to religion, or even to a pristine ur-religion as some» — la enmienda de Letcher: casi toda comunidad tribal siberiana tenía esa figura, y sería falso pensarla como religión estática, monolítica y única, ni como una urreligión prístina

«There never was a singular ‘» — la negativa que Letcher declara en su forma más breve: nunca hubo un chamanismo siberiano en singular; el tramo corta donde el troceo pierde el resto del renglón

«For one thing, the term itself was particular o Tungusic-speaking societies. It happened to be the first tered by seventeenth-century Russian and Dutch expl scribed it as schaman, a form amenable to the la German-speaking scholars working in Siberia for the R Outside Siberia the name stuck, but by far and away mon term within it was kam, followed closely by bó, e and oyun.» — el argumento filológico de Letcher: el término era propio de las sociedades de lengua tungús y los rusos y neerlandeses del XVII lo fijaron, mientras dentro de Siberia los nombres más comunes eran otros

«For another, ‘shamans’ everywhere assumed ent roles and undertook different duties, coexisting a religious functionaries, priests and magic-workers. E, expressed an individuality of style through distinctive t tumes, performances and attitudes, and each adhered to world view.» — el segundo argumento de Letcher: los chamanes asumían papeles distintos, convivían con otros oficiantes religiosos y cada uno tenía su estilo, sus herramientas y su visión del mundo

«Western scholars have laboured long and hard to find quality, some defining characteristic, that would captur the shaman — ‘the master of ecstasy’, ‘the wounded hea itive psychoanalyst’, ‘the madman”” — missing the oby shamanism has always been characterised by differen» — la objeción de Letcher a la erudición occidental: buscó una cualidad definitoria del chamán y pasó por alto lo obvio, que el chamanismo siempre se ha caracterizado por la diferencia

«The term ‘shaman’ is therefore a Western, ori applied willy-nilly to a range of practices around the have deemed to be the same, regardless of how the p» — el fallo de Letcher sobre el término: una categoría orientalista occidental aplicada a prácticas dispares al margen de cómo se nombren sus practicantes

«For every shaman that enjoyed prestige for being able sume a ‘poisonous’ mushroom, there were others who w the less of for their reliance upon it.» — la enmienda de Letcher a la imagen única: junto a los chamanes prestigiados por comer el hongo venenoso había otros a quienes se tenía en menos por depender de él

«An important cross-cultural belief areas was that the spirits of the mushroom would ap shaman, and then impart to him or her the desired info shamans’ songs — such as the one that opens this cha; thought to be sung “through them" by the mushroom spirit» — la creencia que Letcher declara común a varias zonas: los espíritus del hongo se aparecían al chamán y le daban la información, y los cantos se tenían por cantados a través de él

«The mushrooms were more widely used outside of however, and to a number of different ends.» — la enmienda central de Letcher al mito: el hongo se usaba mucho más fuera del ámbito chamánico y con fines diversos

«Indigenous bards would fortify themselves with fly-agaric mushrooms before lai impassioned recitals of epic heroic sagas, lasting throi They would then, apparently, fall to the floor exhausted (à somewhat reminiscent of Western rock music!). Others» — uno de los usos no chamánicos que Letcher reporta: los bardos se fortalecían con amanita antes de recitar sagas heroicas de horas, y caían exhaustos al final

«But the mushroom was used most commonly for the poses of pleasure and intoxication." Apart from the immediate psychophysical effects, much of the enjoym have stemmed from the fact that intoxicated people behave ly and ridiculously (although it was claimed that this v behest of the mushroom spirits whose orders could not» — el uso que Letcher declara más común: el placer y la embriaguez, con la coartada de que la conducta ridícula obedecía a órdenes de los espíritus del hongo

«Consequently, no festive occasion was complete mushroom-inspired antic or other, and fly-agaric brews quaffed at weddings, at feasts to celebrate a particular hunt, or even just to celebrate a neighbourly visit.» — el lugar festivo del hongo según Letcher: bodas, banquetes de caza y hasta la visita del vecino

«However the mushrooms were used, an average dose seems to have been three to five mushrooms. As many as eleven might be consumed for the purposes of obtaining visions, but figures higher than that are improbable.» — la dosis que Letcher fija: de tres a cinco hongos de media, hasta once para visiones, y las cifras mayores le parecen improbables

«Fly-agarics were most commonly eaten dried (a choice that, as we shall see, has a sound biochemical basis), but were also taken fresh, raw, cooked, made into tea or infused with berries, and of course distilled via human kidneys.» — las formas de consumo que Letcher enumera, con el secado como la más común y su base bioquímica, hasta la destilación por riñón humano

«The phase of development of the mushroom was also important: young, unopened mushrooms were thought stronger and more suitable for helping physical exertion; older, flatter mushrooms were better for visions and intoxication. Again, there is an element of biochemical truth in this claim, so the Siberians clearly knew their mushrooms.» — el saber local que Letcher acredita: los ejemplares jóvenes para el esfuerzo físico y los viejos para las visiones, con un fondo de verdad bioquímica

«With regard to the situation in post-Soviet Siberia, any attempt to make a detailed assessment is hampered by the sheer lack of published research in this area: there are very few ethnographic reports available in the West.» — el límite documental que Letcher declara para la Siberia postsoviética: hay pocos informes etnográficos publicados en Occidente

«However, during the 1980s the Estonian mycologist Maret Saar found that, within the traditional regions, fly-agaric was still being used in much the same way as before.» — el trabajo de campo de la micóloga estonia Maret Saar en los años ochenta, que según Letcher halló el uso de la amanita todavía vigente en las regiones tradicionales

«The extent to which this represented an unbro-E e seien back to the pre-Soviet era, or a self-conscious IN a ong-abandoned practice, has yet to be determined.» — la abstención declarada de Letcher: no se ha determinado si eso es tradición ininterrumpida desde antes de la era soviética o reanimación consciente de una práctica abandonada

«One puzzling question is how these Siberians learned to enjoy the effects of the mushroom, when almost everywhere else in the world it has been shunned as worthless and dangerous. And how did they discover that human urine is as potent as the fungus itself?» — las dos preguntas que Letcher plantea: cómo aprendieron los siberianos a gozar del hongo y cómo descubrieron que la orina humana es tan potente como el hongo

«One theory is that humans learned about the peculiar properties of the mushroom by closely observing the behaviour of reindeer. Just like their human herders, reindeer also become intoxicated after eating fly-agaric, and apparently pleasantly so, for they will actively seek it out.» — la teoría que Letcher expone: los humanos habrían aprendido observando al reno, que también se embriaga con amanita y la busca

«Not only that, but during the winter months, when they survive largely by eating lichen, the deer seem compulsively to crave human urine, presumably because it contains essential minerals lacking from their frugal diet: they will even fight over which of them gets to lap it up from the snow.» — el segundo eslabón de esa teoría según Letcher: en invierno el reno ansía la orina humana por sus minerales y pelea por lamerla de la nieve

«It is, however, a modern urban myth that shamans or anyone else drank reindeer urine: an intoxicated deer would be slaughtered and eaten, by which means the effects would be passed on.» — la negativa que Letcher declara: que chamanes o cualquiera bebiera orina de reno es leyenda urbana moderna, porque al reno embriagado se le mataba y se le comía

«This leads us to another of the great fly-agaric stories, the idea that the modern-day figure of Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, is an attenuated folk memory of Siberian fly-agaric shamanism.» — la siguiente historia que Letcher anuncia para examinarla: Papá Noel como memoria folclórica atenuada del chamanismo siberiano de la amanita

«The initial meeting with Urkachan, though obviously exciting, did 3 well, however, for she greeted the party with the ominous news , that they had offended the fly-agaric spirits and that until due recom-P made they would never leave Kamchatka!» — el episodio de Kamchatka que Letcher narra: la chamana Tatiana Urkachan recibió a los micólogos estadounidenses con la noticia de que habían ofendido a los espíritus de la amanita

«Due obeisance was made to the fly-agaric spirits, and the party returned unscathed yet mystified as to how this shaman knew about a jest performed days before and miles away. Even today, Siberian shamanism retains the wer to unsettle Western explorers.» — el remate de ese episodio según Letcher: la comitiva salió ilesa y perpleja de cómo la chamana supo de una broma hecha días antes y a millas de distancia, y él concede que el chamanismo siberiano todavía inquieta a los exploradores occidentales

«Itis not far-fetched to suppose that humans discovered the pleasures and pains of the mushroom after copying their animals and then, Watching how the effects of the fly-agaric passed from human to deer, Progressed to urine-drinking themselves.» — la conjetura que Letcher declara razonable: el hallazgo vino de copiar al animal y de ver pasar el efecto de humano a reno; el troceo funde *It is*

«the idea that shamans everywhere always used one more thread embroidered into the story. No wo when we reflected upon Siberia in the light of these interpreted the data to fit our expectations, to fit the ver shaman that we had created.» — el diagnóstico de Letcher sobre la construcción occidental: la idea de que los chamanes usaban alucinógenos en todas partes es un hilo más bordado en la historia, y los datos siberianos se interpretaron para encajar con el chamán que ya habíamos creado

«Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, came gradually to the mistaken conclusion that, w ponent or a late degeneration of a previously drug-free mushroom belonged solely to the domain of the» — la conclusión errada que Letcher atribuye a los estudiosos de la primera mitad del siglo XX: el hongo como asunto exclusivo del chamán

«Wasson proposed that the mysterious plant Soma, out the verses of the ancient Indian text known as the | in fact been the fly-agaric, and his ‘revelation’ that mushroom cult practised by Indo-Europeans, as well ; shamans, sent shockwaves through academia.» — la tesis de Wasson que Letcher resume: el soma del Rig Veda como amanita, y la revelación de un culto del hongo entre los indoeuropeos además de los chamanes siberianos

«impetuous winds, the drinks have lifted me up. Have I not drunk Soma? vastness, I surpassed the sky and this vast earth. Have I not drunk Soma? Tam huge, huge! flying to the cloud. Have I not drunk Soma? Rig Veda, 10.119» — el epígrafe del capítulo octavo, tomado del Rig Veda con el estribillo sobre haber bebido soma

«The orthodoxy in the late 1960s, the time when Gordon was writing about the matter, held that it had been composed ‘not by the indigenous Indus Valley civilisation of the subcontinent but Aryan invaders from the north. Originating somewhere in Europe, "perhaps the Caucasus mountains, the Aryans were thought to have ben marauding nomadic warriors who rampaged their way down "through the treacherous passes of the Hindu Kush, and into the Indus» — la ortodoxia de los años sesenta que Letcher expone: el Rig Veda como obra de invasores arios del norte y no de la civilización del valle del Indo

«There they seized control, subduing and violently imposing "heir pa archal religious and cultural values upon the local populace.» — la continuación de esa ortodoxia según Letcher: los arios imponiendo por la fuerza sus valores patriarcales a la población local

«The Rig Veda, consisting of 1,028 sacrificial hymns, was thought therefore to be a record of Aryan religious belief and practice, albeit ‘one that contained traces of the displaced Indian religion, acquired through syncretic absorption.» — la lectura que Letcher atribuye a esa ortodoxia: el Rig Veda como registro de la religión aria con trazas absorbidas de la religión india desplazada

«If its Origins are obscure, then the text of the Rig Veda is even more 30, for it raises as many questions as it answers. It is an extraordinary Work, with moments of poetic brilliance that still have the power to ate and electrify; and yet it is replete with idioms and ES that elude modern comprehension.» — el juicio de Letcher sobre el texto: obra extraordinaria de brillo poético, y a la vez llena de giros que escapan a la comprensión moderna

«Many deities are honoughout ~ notably the thunderbolt-wielding Indra, and the BU Ami ~ but one in particular, seemingly at once a god, a plant E. intoxicating drink, is singled out by the ecstatic and rhapsodic * of the hymns in his honour: the god Soma.» — la figura que Letcher aísla del panteón védico: Soma, a la vez dios, planta y bebida embriagante, con los himnos más extáticos

«We have drunk the Soma; we have becom we have gone to the light; we have found the gods.» — el verso del Rig Veda que Letcher cita: haber bebido soma, vuelto inmortales, llegado a la luz y hallado a los dioses; el troceo pierde el final del renglón

«Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuri Indologists tussled with the identity of the god-plant rise to such poetic raptures.» — el problema erudito que Letcher plantea: los indólogos forcejearon con la identidad de la planta-dios que provocaba esos arrebatos

«Forty-three candidates were advanced in teenth century alone, a figure that rose to over a hi twentieth.* No consensus was ever reached» — la cifra con que Letcher mide el fracaso: cuarenta y tres candidatos solo en el siglo XIX y más de cien en el XX, sin consenso alguno

«his attention to the Old World, and to the fly-agaric. The sequently had published in 1968, SOMA: Divine Immortality, proved to be, arguably, the most influenti» — el giro de Wasson hacia el Viejo Mundo y la amanita que Letcher fecha a mediados de los años sesenta, con el libro de 1968 sobre el soma como el más influyente de los suyos

«1968, is significant too, for it was received with op psychedelic counterculture that was both reaching the popularity and eager to find historical self-justification al narratives: Wasson’s thesis proved just the thing.» — la lectura de recepción que Letcher hace: la fecha halló una contracultura psicodélica en su cumbre y ávida de autojustificación histórica, y la tesis de Wasson le vino al pelo

«foundational Indian Hindu texts (such as the panishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramayana) are four bodies of ‘sacrificial hymns known as the Vedas, of which the Rig Veda is the ‘oldest, composed somewhere between 1500 and 1200 BCE.» — la ubicación que Letcher da al Rig Veda entre los textos fundacionales hindúes, como el más antiguo de los cuatro Vedas y compuesto entre 1500 y 1200 antes de la era común

«, gave des plants that could, if necessary, be substituted for Soma» — el dato filológico que Letcher aporta: los Brahmanas, de hacia 800 antes de la era común, describen plantas que podían sustituir al soma; el troceo imprime *Brabmanas*; el ancla arranca después del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«apparently crushed between stones, mixed with tered through wool, making a materialist reading of the t of recipe book plausible enough.» — el procedimiento que el Rig Veda describe según Letcher: machacado entre piedras, mezclado con leche y filtrado por lana, lo que hace plausible una lectura materialista del texto como recetario

«The centrepiece of his argument, however, was the fact that Soma have wasted such an emphatic metaphor as ‘the mainstay o was described as existing in two forms, one of which appeared to be ens’ upon a mere climbing weed like Ephedra or Sarcostemma, human urine. A cryptic verse in the Rig Veda states that "The swollen plant as glorious as the fly-agaric merited this kind of praise, men piss the flowing Soma» — el eje del argumento de Wasson según Letcher: el soma descrito en dos formas, la segunda de las cuales sería orina humana, con el verso críptico del Rig Veda sobre los hombres hinchados que orinan el soma

«If Wasson’s argument had rested upon second-guessing tl tion of the Vedic poets, which is notoriously opaque, it would less have made little intellectual impact.» — la concesión de Letcher: de haber descansado solo en adivinar la intención de los poetas védicos, el argumento no habría pesado

«Throughout the text there is no i roots, stems or seeds, all of which point to Soma being an Soma is repeatedly said to have come from the mountains, with the notion that the invading Aryans brought the flywith them and that they had to import the mushroom from» — los indicios internos que Wasson invocaba según Letcher: ninguna mención de raíces, tallos ni semillas, y un soma venido de las montañas, compatible con la importación por los arios

«The text states that sacrifice took place over a matter of hours, with Soma ci duce a tawny-coloured liquid. This, said Wasson, ruled oi holic beverage, which would take much longer to ferme! produced photographic evidence showing that, when p agaric does indeed express a tawny liquid.» — el argumento del tiempo y del color que Letcher atribuye a Wasson: el sacrificio duraba horas y daba un líquido leonado, lo que descartaría una bebida alcohólica y encajaría con la amanita exprimida

«This radical idea gained immediate academic support in influential ers, and not just from within Wasson's inner circle of collaborators: Roger Heim, Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann. The imposing French founder of structural anthropology, Claude Lévi-Strauss, was won over, as was the great Cambridge Sinologist Joseph Needham, who followed Wasson by suggesting that knowledge of Soma had spread overland into China, to be employed by the ancient and medieval Taoists in their eternal quest for immortality.» — los apoyos académicos inmediatos que Letcher enumera: el círculo de Wasson, Lévi-Strauss, y Joseph Needham, que extendió el soma a los taoístas antiguos y medievales en su busca de la inmortalidad

«La Barre believed that Siberian shamanism was the original ur-religion, which had crossed into the Americas with the migrations over the frozen Bering Straits during the last ice age. The widespread use of psychoactive plants in the Americas could easily be explained, he argued, for it had originated in Siberia with the shamanic predilection for fly-agaric.» — la tesis de Weston La Barre que Letcher reporta: el chamanismo siberiano como urreligión pasada a América por el estrecho de Bering, de donde vendría el uso americano de plantas psicoactivas

«A rather persuasive objection to the fly-agaric thesis was raised by two Indian scholars, Santosh Kumar Dash and Sachidananda Padhy.'* Interested in the prescription and proscription of plants throughout Indian history, these ethnobotanists scrutinised a manuscript known as the Book of Manu, the Manusmruti, or the Manava-Dharmasastra.» — la objeción que Letcher declara persuasiva: la de los etnobotánicos indios Santosh Kumar Dash y Sachidananda Padhy sobre el libro de Manu

«In this book of laws — attributed to Manu, the ‘first man’, and believed to record the rules and norms that obtained throughout the first millennium BCE — they uncovered some ardent prohibitions against both the eating of Behrens and the drinking of urine. A ‘twice-born’ person (some-Is belonging to the upper two castes) who eats a mushroom falls a caste, while anyone touching or drinking urine is expected to EN “an arduous penance» — lo que esos autores hallaron según Letcher: prohibiciones tajantes en el libro de leyes contra comer hongos y beber orina, con pérdida de casta y penitencia ardua

«Wasson knew about the Book of Manu but rather glossed over it in a later chapter of SOMA, conclud- ‘ng that its verses probably didn't apply to the Soma plant.» — la respuesta de Wasson a esa objeción según Letcher: la pasó por encima en un capítulo tardío concluyendo que esos versos probablemente no tocaban a la planta del soma

«But then again, these prol easily have been a legacy from Vedic times, in which case: ic theory would be seriously weakened. Certainly, they serious obstacle for Wasson’s supporters to overcome.» — la otra cara que Letcher pone al lado sin arbitrar: esas prohibiciones podrían venir de época védica, y entonces la teoría de la amanita quedaría muy debilitada

«The most trenchant critic of the fly-agaric thesis, howey Cambridge Vedic scholar John Brough, who condemn after its publication.» — el crítico que Letcher declara más duro: el vedista de Cambridge John Brough, que condenó la tesis poco después de publicada

«Exalted language is expected in li ances,’ he wrote, “and we can hardly suppose that all of | drug-induced. The point need not be laboured.» — la frase de Brough que Letcher cita: el lenguaje exaltado se espera en enunciados de ese género y no cabe suponer que toda la poesía venga de una droga

«Obviously bruised by the encounter, Wasson picked him delivered his own, somewhat bombastic counterblast; but. harnessing all his considerable rhetorical skills, his rather. Rejoinder to Professor Brough added little in the way ofn that might have overcome the Cambridge man's objectior» — la réplica de Wasson según Letcher: recogió el guante con retórica considerable y su respuesta añadió poco material nuevo contra las objeciones de Brough

«Brough maintained that the sheer geographical distance between the two regions — separated as they are by China and the Himalayas — meant that the one had absolutely no bearing upon the» — la posición de Brough que Letcher resume: la distancia entre Siberia y el norte de la India, con China y el Himalaya de por medio, hace que lo uno no toque a lo otro

«The identity of Soma could only be determined on the strength of the internal evidence of the Vedic texts and any local archaeological i evidence that emerged.» — el criterio de prueba de Brough según Letcher: la identidad del soma solo puede fijarse por la evidencia interna de los textos védicos y la arqueología local

«Implicit in all his work was the belief L which we encountered in Chapter Two — that hallucinogenically inspired gnosis always transcends linguistic and cultural boundaries and is therefore universal.» — el supuesto que Letcher declara implícito en toda la obra de Wasson: la gnosis inspirada por alucinógenos trasciende lengua y cultura, y por tanto es universal

«For Wasson, Siberia formed the template about which the Soma practices could be reconstituted because fly-agaric gnosis was always and everywhere the same.» — la consecuencia de ese supuesto según Letcher: Siberia como plantilla para reconstituir las prácticas del soma, porque la gnosis de la amanita sería siempre la misma

«But wedded as he was to the modernist approach of the comparative method, he failed to recognise that religious experience, whether obtained by eating mushrooms or granted by divine grace, is necessarily constrained by culture, and so historically contingent and particular.» — la objeción de fondo de Letcher: la experiencia religiosa, venga del hongo o de la gracia, está constreñida por la cultura y es por tanto históricamente contingente

«There is absolutely no reason why a fly-agaric cult should look the same in India as in Siberia, or anywhere else for that matter. Brough was right: the situation in Siberia was interesting, but could have no cultural relevance to Soma whatsoever.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre esa disputa, donde toma partido por Brough: nada obliga a que un culto de la amanita se vea igual en la India que en Siberia

«He dismissed any account that a that the mushroom produced violent, aggressive or stultified 3 viour, for this would have weakened his argument (hence also his Berness to demolish the berserker theory).» — la segunda parte del reproche: Wasson descartaba todo relato de conducta violenta o embrutecida por la amanita porque debilitaba su argumento

«But it is hard to imagine EV Vedic priests would have written such ecstatic poems about a a that rendered one so insensible, and distorted perception a degree, when the majority of Siberian shamans had the dis-Sernment to avoid it altogether.» — la objeción de sentido común que Letcher añade: cuesta imaginar a los sacerdotes védicos escribiendo poemas extáticos sobre algo que embrutece, cuando la mayoría de los chamanes siberianos lo evitaban

«The supposed link between Siberia and Soma mattered ; Wasson because it formed a crucial piece of evidence in his grand theory that the origins of all religions lay in mushroom cult.» — la razón por la que Letcher dice que ese vínculo le importaba tanto a Wasson: era pieza clave de su gran teoría del origen de toda religión en un culto del hongo

«Clearly, the use of teonanacatl by the Aztecs and the p prehistoric mushroom stones pointed to a long tradition mushroom use in Mesoamerica; it was not so great a leap o imagine this as ubiquitous throughout Central America World, however, the evidence for a mushroom cult was n coming ~ less charitably put, it was pretty well absent» — el balance que Letcher hace del caso de Wasson: fuerte en Mesoamérica y prácticamente ausente en el Viejo Mundo

«admitted that he had been unable to find ‘an umbilical the Mexican and Siberian cults» — la admisión de Wasson que Letcher recoge: no pudo hallar un cordón umbilical entre los cultos mexicano y siberiano

«Let us imagine, just for a moment, that the fly-agaric carried, as Wasson supposed, from Europe to India, acri from there over the Bering Straits to Alaska, and finally: Americas. We would surely expect to find evidence for nary religion scattered along the way, especially in North» — el experimento mental con que Letcher pone a prueba la tesis: si el culto viajó de Europa a la India y de ahí a América, habría que hallar rastros por el camino

«Other Indian scholars ha: tioned the idea of a cultural influx, arguing that the A people of the Indus Valley civilisation. They have, quit pointed out that the invasion theory, first mooted in century by white Europeans whose countries were bent expansion, was both a product of and supportive of imperialist agenda.» — la segunda revisión que Letcher recoge: eruditos indios que hacen a los arios el pueblo mismo del valle del Indo y leen la teoría de la invasión como producto de la agenda imperialista europea

«To be fair, much of this is recent scholarship that has oc Wasson's death. Nevertheless, he failed to spot the rather g cularity in his own argument.» — la equidad que Letcher guarda con Wasson y el reparo que aun así mantiene: buena parte de esa erudición es posterior a su muerte, pero la circularidad de su argumento sigue en pie

«But having used Siberia to argue his case for the Soma, he then suggested that the Soma cult had, in fact, India to Siberia. In this light, it is Wasson’s tortuous coi appear astonishing.» — la circularidad que Letcher señala: Wasson usó Siberia para sostener la identidad del soma y luego propuso que el culto había ido de la India a Siberia

«He based his theory not upon the messy and o! evidence garnered in the field, but upon the evidence of texts gathered at one remove, in the library.» — el diagnóstico de Letcher sobre el método de Wasson, al que agrupa con Tylor, Frazer, Max Müller y Eliade: erudición de biblioteca y no evidencia de campo

«The idea, then, of a fly-agaric-based gnostic religion spf eastwards is too problematic to be accepted. As Brough’s objections are met the status of the fly: remain highly questionable.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre la tesis del soma: demasiado problemática para aceptarse, y mientras las objeciones de Brough no se respondan el estatuto de la amanita seguirá muy en duda

«saric thesis simply spun it round with an extra impetus, and before Jong a queue of eager pundits were ready to line up with their own» — el efecto que Letcher atribuye a la tesis de Wasson: en vez de detener el juego de adivinar el soma, lo lanzó con más impulso y trajo una fila de nuevos candidatos; el ancla arranca después del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«Brough had questioned why the poetically enriched text of the Rig Veda would contain botanical information about the identification of ‘the Soma plant, when it was essentially a collection of hymns: after all, the Christian liturgy does not contain botanical descriptions of the vine.» — la objeción de Brough que Letcher retoma con su símil: por qué esperar información botánica en un himnario, cuando la liturgia cristiana no describe botánicamente la vid

«In 1989 two scholars, David Flattery and Martin Schwartz, pubfished their Haoma and Harmaline, in which they agreed that the text of the Rig Veda was so vague on botanical details as to be taxonomically worthless.» — la posición de Flattery y Schwartz que Letcher reporta: el Rig Veda es tan vago en lo botánico que resulta inservible para la taxonomía

«Instead, they turned their attention to Iran, which had also been invaded by the Aryans, and to the ancient Iranian text known as the ‘Avesta, which is linguistically related to the Rig Veda. Less contaminated by poesy than its Indian counterpart, the Avesta more clearly pointed to another candidate for Soma, or haoma (pronounced ‘horma’) as it was known in Iran: the Syrian rue, Perganum harmala.» — el candidato que Flattery y Schwartz proponen según Letcher: la ruda siria, sobre el Avesta iranio, menos contaminado de poesía que el Rig Veda; la grafía del nombre latino es la del troceo

«Its active ingredient is harmaline, which also turns out to be an important chemical ingredient of the psychoactive brew drunk throughout the Amazon basin, known as ayahuasca.» — el vínculo químico que Letcher señala: la harmalina de la ruda siria es también ingrediente de la ayahuasca

«Harmaline is a mono-amine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor, which means that it switches off the enzymes in the stomach that ordinarily block the absorption of harmful plant alkaloids. In other words, the mixing of harmaline into the ayahuasca brew is what allows the other principal ingredient, the more potent hallucinogen DMT, to be absorbed orally.» — la explicación farmacológica que Letcher da de la ayahuasca: la harmalina inhibe la monoaminooxidasa y por eso la DMT puede absorberse por vía oral

«Then, in 1992, the classicist Mott Greene published a book which, le agreeing with Flattery and Schwartz that the descriptions of the plant in the Rig Veda were so distorted by poetic fancy and rbole as to be botanically unusable, rejected their haoma thesis.» — el tercer candidato que Letcher reporta: Mott Greene, de acuerdo con Flattery y Schwartz en lo botánico y en contra de su haoma

«For Greene, this Eid. process would only be necessary if the species concerned q Special preparation — if, for example, it were poisonous» — el razonamiento de Greene que Letcher expone: machacar, mezclar con leche y filtrar solo haría falta si la especie exigiera preparación especial, por ejemplo por ser venenosa

«this led him to the conclusion that Soma could only ergot fungus, Claviceps purpurea. The preparation p argued, the essential means by which the psychoactive solved into the fat of the milk, were separated off from toxic alkaloids within ergot.» — la conclusión de Mott Greene según Letcher: el soma solo podría ser el cornezuelo, y la preparación sería el modo de separar los alcaloides psicoactivos de los tóxicos disolviéndolos en la grasa de la leche

«Conversely, mushroom enthusiast and champi psychedelics Terence McKenna thought that Soma co been a psilocybin mushroom, most probably the. Psilocybe cubensis.» — el cuarto candidato que Letcher reporta: Terence McKenna sostuvo que el soma habría sido un psilocibio, probablemente el cubensis

«McKenna centralised neither the the preparation but the experience of Soma, as descri pages of the Rig Veda.» — el criterio de McKenna según Letcher: no la planta ni la preparación sino la experiencia descrita en el Rig Veda

«His own disappointing person with fly-agaric had failed to produce the ecstasies pron Veda, whereas psilocybin mushrooms had repeatedly fu expectations in this regard.» — la base experiencial del argumento de McKenna que Letcher señala: su propia decepción con la amanita frente a lo que los psilocibios sí le daban

«Both men were convinced mushrooms would be discovered in India (as, indeed, and that their presence there could explain the sanctity in Hinduism: by providing the dung upon which s could grow, cows had become sacred by association.» — la tesis conjunta que Letcher atribuye a Wasson y a McKenna: se hallarían psilocibios en la India, y la santidad de la vaca vendría por asociación al estiércol donde crecen

«These, then, are just a few of the dazzling array o have been put forward by scholars and amateurs alike, ity rising and falling with the horses of the Soma car wheels of this ever-spinning ride turn upon two assu Soma has to have been hallucinogenic, and that the read, quite literally, as a recipe book.» — los dos supuestos que Letcher aísla bajo todas las candidaturas al soma: que el soma tuvo que ser alucinógeno y que el Rig Veda puede leerse como recetario

«It must be remembered that Soma could have ca ic force without actually having been hallucinogenic. with the Greek rites of Eleusis, this orientalist assump afar, may say more about us than about the supposed: ancients; about the fact that we cannot countena epiphany without the use of psychoactives.» — la objeción de fondo de Letcher, la misma que hizo con Eleusis: el soma pudo tener fuerza simbólica sin ser alucinógeno, y el supuesto contrario dice más de nuestra incapacidad de concebir la epifanía sin psicoactivos

«There are no sure grounds upon which to decide the correct reading. “Soma could have been hallucinogenic, or a stimulant of the mind, or inert but imbued with symbolic force. It could have been a single plant, or a combination of different plants that varied through time according to availability. It could have been extremely rare, a plant as yet unknown to Western science, or even driven to extinction through the voracious appetites of the Vedic priests. Then again, it could have been a metaphor for something else entirely.» — la abstención que Letcher declara sobre el soma: pudo ser alucinógeno, estimulante, inerte con fuerza simbólica, una planta o varias, rarísima, extinta, o metáfora de otra cosa

«In the absence of decisive archaeological or textual evidence, there is no way of evaluating the relative merits of the various possibilities to determine which, if any, is the right answer.» — el límite que Letcher fija: sin evidencia arqueológica o textual decisiva no hay modo de evaluar los méritos relativos de las posibilidades

«The plethora of plausible candidates merely demon-Strates the elasticity of interpretation that a text like the Rig Veda affords, or indeed demands, and should alert prospective scholars to the improbability of their putting the matter beyond doubt.» — lo que la lista de candidatos señala según Letcher: la elasticidad de interpretación que un texto como el Rig Veda permite o exige

«Like a magic mirror, the Rig Veda has allowed people to see, within its E signs and Poetic metaphors, whatever it was that they set out ind. The hard truth is that, while the search for Soma is diverting, €Xciting even, it is ultimately futile.» — la imagen con que Letcher cierra el capítulo del soma: el Rig Veda como espejo mágico donde cada quien ve lo que fue a buscar, y la busca del soma como algo divertido y en último término inútil

«Interestingly, then, Wasson’s interpretation of tht unintentional effect of transforming it into a holy, for the psychedelic movement.» — el efecto no buscado que Letcher atribuye a la lectura de Wasson: convirtió al Rig Veda en escritura santa del movimiento psicodélico

«Ironically, the baby-b who took psychedelics with such glee in the 1960s, a disparaging of received wisdom that they questioned scientific and religious orthodoxy alike, still felt then beliefs and practices upon holy writ.» — la ironía que Letcher señala: la generación que cuestionaba toda ortodoxia sentía a la vez la necesidad de fundar sus creencias en escritura sagrada

«Distance of spas dered the Rig Veda quite amenable to the purpose: enough for a psychedelic reading to be plausible, removed as to be unintelligible or irrelevant.» — la explicación de Letcher de por qué sirvió el Rig Veda: bastante extraño para admitir lectura psicodélica y no tanto como para resultar ininteligible

«great religious systems of India had their beginnings in the cups of the priests, it no longer seemed unreasonable to assume that their Hebrew iterparts and contemporaries may have been doing the same thing . . . Clark Heinrich» — el primero de los dos epígrafes del capítulo noveno, de Clark Heinrich, sobre suponer que los hebreos hacían lo mismo que los sacerdotes védicos

«when you start to look, there is mushroom imagery everywhere . . James Arthur» — el segundo epígrafe del capítulo noveno, de James Arthur, sobre la iconografía del hongo que aparece en todas partes cuando se la busca

«But history is unforgiving, and forgets or little notice of the small minority who, peering into the eddies pools of culture, sense that all is not as it seems, that there are nger and more sinister forces at work within its murky depths. EL x conspiracy theorists, the amateur (and occasionally Es 4 sl usd who reach startling conclusions about the way the in. ‘ually ‘is’ on the basis of hitherto unappreciated connections.» — la figura que Letcher va a tratar en el capítulo: el teórico de la conspiración, aficionado que saca conclusiones sorprendentes de conexiones hasta entonces inadvertidas

«The first cup moistens my lips and throat, the second | E [ * of inevitable moral backlash was starting to break. LSD, the loneliness, the third cup searches my barren entrails» — el poema chino anónimo que Letcher cita como recordatorio de que el éxtasis no necesita alucinógeno; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas y el tramo corta ahí

«such abstruse debates have done little to shake m D fly-agaric thesis from its position of near-universal accepético enthusiasts and other psychedelic subcultures» — el contraste que Letcher registra: fuera de la academia la tesis de la amanita sigue casi universalmente aceptada entre entusiastas y subculturas psicodélicas

«SOMA was published at the Psychedelia, a year after the summer of love» — la coyuntura con que Letcher explica el impacto del libro de Wasson: publicado en la cima de la psicodelia, un año después del verano del amor

«Puharich (1918-1995) was born in the US, the son of po immigrants, but trained as a physician, graduating from University Medical School in 1947. He chose, however, t of his life not to medicine but to his first love, parapsych» — la ficha de Puharich que da Letcher: médico formado en Northwestern que dedicó su vida a la parapsicología

«And when his utterances were profession Puharich found that they described the ancient Egyptian the fly-agaric.» — lo que Puharich dijo hallar en esas transcripciones según Letcher: la descripción egipcia antigua de la amanita

«The Sacred Mushroom was widely read on both s Atlantic, especially during the 1970s, and many were. Puharich's assertion that the ancient Egyptians had mushrooms. However, in order to believe this remarkab» — la recepción del libro de Puharich según Letcher, muy leído a ambos lados del Atlántico en los años setenta

«For one thing, in the above scenario, Stone never ally consumed the mushroom but merely rubbed it briefly on his mie. This would not have allowed significant quantities of the ashroom's active ingredients to enter his bloodstream (the Siberians that the mushroom had at least to be chewed), and the fact that effects came on almost immediately suggests that his reeling intoxon was, if not pretence, then certainly psychosomatic.» — la primera anomalía que Letcher señala: Stone se frotó el hongo en vez de comerlo, y el efecto inmediato apunta a algo psicosomático si no a fingimiento

«To be fair, Puharich’s interest in telepathy did not mark him out as Particularly exceptional for the time. Cold War anxieties led to a flurty of parapsychological research in the late 1950s, with both the US a y and the Westinghouse Electric company seriously pursuing the a potential of ESP.» — la equidad que Letcher guarda con Puharich: en el clima de la Guerra Fría, el ejército y Westinghouse investigaban en serio la percepción extrasensorial

«acy theories, all of which shared two defining fea assumed that anything resembling, however remotely, a: art, mythology, literature or material remains — that round, domed or umbrella-shaped, coloured red and matter simply unusual enough to have caught their att indeed have been a mushroom and, moreover, ‘evii fly-agaric cult.» — el primer rasgo común que Letcher atribuye a esas teorías: cualquier cosa redonda, abovedada o roja y blanca en el arte o el mito se toma por hongo y por prueba de un culto

«For example, Carl Ruck, a classicist at Boston Uni fired up after reading Wasson that he embarked on a quest to hitherto unappreciated references to the fly-agaric in anci erature. Thus, he ‘found’ the fly-agaric in Euripides’ play (the intoxicated revels of the god Dionysus’ devotees s lowed fly-agaric feasting); the story of Jason and the A Golden Fleece was actually a mushroom, no less); and 1 Hercules (as also were those suspicious ‘apples’ of the Hes» — el caso de Carl Ruck que Letcher reporta: tras leer a Wasson halló amanitas en las Bacantes de Eurípides, en el vellocino de oro y en los trabajos de Hércules

«This sensabook rocked both the British intelligentsia and the Church of d, and triggered a moral outcry within the press by alleging that anity was a sham, nothing less than the remains of a fertility |t centred on the consumption of the real sacrament, the fly-agaric.» — la tesis de Allegro según Letcher: el cristianismo como resto de un culto de fertilidad centrado en el sacramento real, la amanita

«Some plants, howwere thought to contain more of this holy essence, for when eaten they elevated Man to the level of God, and so enabled him to shape his own destiny. The fly-agaric was one such plant, and had been used throughout the Middle East in biblical times; but the knowl- ‘edge was jealously guarded, lest the secret fall into profane hands.» — la continuación de la tesis de Allegro según Letcher: ciertas plantas contendrían más de esa esencia santa, la amanita entre ellas, y el saber se guardaba con celo

«When Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans in» — el relato de Allegro que Letcher resume: tras el saqueo de Jerusalén el culto codificó sus prácticas en relatos sobre una figura llamada Jesús, entendidos por los iniciados como metáfora; el tramo corta antes del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«Tragically for the true believers, the actual meaning of the New Testament became lost and the stories were everywhere taken at face value. The entire edifice of the Christian religion Was a terrible mistake, the original atavistic fertility cult it stood for forgotten and buried like some mausoleum in the desert sands. That is, until Allegro uncovered it.» — el desenlace del relato de Allegro según Letcher: el sentido del Nuevo Testamento se perdió y el edificio cristiano entero sería un error, hasta que él lo descubrió

«Allegro reached this conclusion on the basis of philology, the study language in its historical and comparative aspects. He argued that E Sumerian had formed a linguistic bridge between the Indom Eran and Semitic language groups. To decode the Hebrew Bible, M aw had to find the cognate Sumerian word and translate it, on one took the trouble to do so, one would find that the Bible was Te with references to the fly-agaric mushroom.» — el método de Allegro según Letcher: el sumerio como puente entre las lenguas indoeuropeas y semíticas, de modo que tras cada palabra hebrea habría un cognado sumerio con el hongo dentro

«King's patient and lengthy rebuttal of the book eventually TAB BA-R/LI, meaning mushroom: the fly-agaric. J ed, and while his belief in the literal truth of the orthodox miraculous birth recalled the mysterious and sudden jan message may now jar with some contemporary sensibilities, mushrooms, while his name came from the Sumerian S| 3 painstaking and elegant demolition of Allegro’s edifice remains that saves’. ‘Christ-crucified’ actually meant ‘semen: ential reading for anyone still convinced of the role of the fly-agarmushroom’. ushroom in world religions.» — la réplica que Letcher declara aún vigente: la de King contra el libro de Allegro, cuidadosa y elegante, aunque su creencia literal en la ortodoxia choque con sensibilidades de hoy; el troceo entrevera las dos columnas

«He pointed out that the Sumerian link Had this been proposed by anyone else, it would n the Indo-European and Semitic language groups, the foundabeen swiftly discarded as moonshine. But Allegro was a of Allegro's thesis, was far from proven, and that many of the turer in Old Testament Studies at Manchester Universi sed Sumerian root words were Allegro’s own hypothetical fabri» — la primera objeción de esa réplica según Letcher: el puente sumerio entre las lenguas indoeuropeas y semíticas, base de la tesis de Allegro, distaba de estar probado, y muchas raíces propuestas eran invención propia

«He noted that the fly-agaric and its host-tree species are unversed as its members were in the finer details of p 'exirely absent from the flora of the Middle East.» — la segunda objeción: la amanita y sus árboles huésped faltan por completo en la flora de Medio Oriente

«And he pointed out Church simply could not afford to stand by and ignore the absurdity of the notion that such a revolutionary idea could have ed threat to its integrity. Prior to publication, the book was “heen kept hidden so effectively for so long» — la tercera objeción que Letcher recoge: el absurdo de que una idea tan revolucionaria se mantuviera oculta tanto tiempo

«Interestingly, ibotenic acid readily transforms itself through a process known as decarboxylation.” Drying, even the digestion process itself will, to varying degrees, | process. The Siberian practice of drying the mushroom - toxic effects turns out, therefore, to have a sound bioch for it maximises the concentration of the more desirable: within any particular mushroom.» — la base bioquímica que Letcher concede al saber siberiano: secar el hongo descarboxila el ácido iboténico y aumenta la proporción del componente deseable

«ibotenic acid has been found to be excreted in large q urine, which explains why the Siberians were able to re room's properties so effectively.» — la explicación que Letcher da del reciclado por la orina: el ácido iboténico se excreta en cantidad por esa vía

«Experimental evidence has shown that the proportio related ingredients vary according to the age ofam anecdotal evidence suggests that there may be seasonal well, with mushrooms picked later in the year proving. Greater concentrations of isoxazoles are found in the and the cap than in the stem.» — la variabilidad química que Letcher documenta: proporciones según edad del ejemplar, indicios de variación estacional y más isoxazoles en la piel y el sombrero que en el pie

«Other psychoactive ing also be present, but scientists have been unable to agree which chemicals and in what concentrations. Up to tv alkaloids are suspected — with ever more arcane names — ence and significance of muscazone, muscaridin, choline, | cynin and f-D-n-butylglycopyranoside, to name a few,» — la incertidumbre química que Letcher declara: hasta una docena de alcaloides sospechados, con nombres cada vez más arcanos y presencia y peso todavía discutidos

«In New Zealand, for example, fly-agaric mushrooms are ly avoided by mushroom aficionados, because they induce a violent sickness with no pleasurable effects whatsoever.” Presumably, “Siberian fly-agaric mushrooms have a more favourable constitution.» — el caso neozelandés que Letcher aporta: allí los aficionados evitan la amanita porque produce vómito violento sin placer alguno

«Compared to say the Liberty Cap, in which psilocybin content averages at a steady 1 per cent wherever it is found in the world, the fly-agaric is like a chemical cocktail shaker into which a blindfolded bartender has poured whatever ingredients come to hand — vodka, juice or carpet cleaner. It is this huge variability in its relative chemical composition that makes the fly-agaric so capriciously psychoactive, so unpredictable in its effects — and so shaky, and hence unlikely, a foundation upon which to build a religion.» — la imagen con que Letcher remata su objeción química: frente al sombrerete de la libertad, de contenido estable, la amanita es una coctelera cargada a ciegas, y eso la vuelve base poco firme para una religión

«There is, of course, one other overarching objection to all the fly-agaric conspiracies, which is that if the effects of the mushroom are so desirable, so inspiring, and so religiously elevating, why haven’t we seen the emergence of modern fly-agaric sects? Why hasn’t the habit become more than a little widespread or acceptable?» — la objeción de hecho que Letcher plantea a todas las conspiraciones: si el efecto fuera tan elevado y deseable, tendría que haber sectas modernas de la amanita

«In the three hundred years that we have known about its properties, it is a struggle to find anyone in the West who has ever intentionally sought the mushfoom out. There are a few, but compared to psilocybin mushrooms, Which have gone global in a mere fifty years, the fly-agaric is consistently seen as a poor way to get high.» — el dato con que Letcher sostiene esa objeción: en trescientos años cuesta hallar en Occidente a alguien que buscara la amanita a propósito, y frente al psilocibio se la tiene por mal camino al viaje

«Dutch smart shops have recently put dried fly-agaric on the market, riding on the back of the Psilocybin mushroom trade, but sales are poor, and the market has by and large decided against this substitute.» — el dato comercial que Letcher aporta: los smart shops holandeses la pusieron a la venta y el mercado la rechazó

«The earliest recorded Western encounter with the mi place in London, towards the end of the eighteenth cer before Everard Brande was called out to administer to th ly poisoned by Liberty Caps. William Curtis (1746-1799) the early pioneers of botany, the director of London’s Che Garden from 1773 to 1777, who helped popularise the ornamental flower cultivation through his Botanical Mag while working on his magnum opus, the Flora Londine: to all the plants and fungi growing within ten miles of t which took him eleven years to complete — that he encou stories about the mushroom emanating from Kamchatka.» — el primer encuentro occidental registrado que Letcher fecha a fines del XVIII: el botánico William Curtis leyendo los relatos de Kamchatka mientras hacía su Flora Londinensis

«On chewing the mushroom, though, he found that it pro ble burning sensation in his mouth and stomach. Just to b he hadn’t been mistaken, he prevailed upon his reluctant sumes, long-suffering gardener to repeat the experim man gingerly broke off a piece, placed it in his mouth, ai ately complained of similar symptoms. They both con mushroom was very probably poisonous, and that they have escaped unharmed.» — el experimento de Curtis según Letcher: mascó el hongo, sintió ardor, hizo repetir la prueba a su jardinero y ambos concluyeron que era venenoso y que habían escapado ilesos

«In truth, they probably ate such small amounts that th were psychosomatic. The same cannot be said for Dr B. young doctor from the small village of Rovellasca, in t Italy, not far from Milan, who in 1880 published an en on the effects of the fly-agaric.» — la enmienda de Letcher a ese caso: comieron tan poco que el efecto fue probablemente psicosomático, a diferencia del médico italiano Grassi

«Grassi had been inspired the matter after treating a peasant who had wittingly or we cannot be certain — eaten a meal of the red-and-whi and had had a rather splendid time of it.» — el origen del experimento de Grassi según Letcher: había atendido a un campesino que comió amanitas y la pasó espléndidamente

«Worried about the effect this would have on the ant population, who after all needed a glass of wine as much as "he next man, Grassi started to wonder whether the fly-agaric might “pot prove à useful substitute for alcohol during the lean months» — el motivo económico que Letcher atribuye a Grassi: con la filoxera encareciendo el vino, se preguntó si la amanita podría sustituir al alcohol

«First he tested the mushroom himself by eating dried portions of it in small doses, repeated at regular intervals throughout the day. Having found its toxicity to be negligible, and the inebriating effects rather pleasant, he offered the mushroom to a series of healthy volunteers, most of whom, it must be said, were young and pretty women.» — el protocolo de Grassi según Letcher: se probó a sí mismo en dosis pequeñas y luego ofreció el hongo a voluntarios sanos, casi todas jóvenes y bonitas

«While the single male experimental subject experienced nothing at all, even after consuming massive doses, the women responded much more favourably. In almost all cases they became flushed, agitated, twitchy and talkative. Experiencing the usual macropsia, they rushed about maniacally, expressing delight at their feelings of euphoria and melancholy; indecorous flirtation and the incautious babbling of secrets preceded a deep slumber. The following day, some expressed guilt at their immodest behaviour, but most thought the experience pleasurable and worth repeating.» — el resultado que Letcher reporta de Grassi: el único varón no sintió nada y las mujeres se agitaron, coquetearon, soltaron secretos y al día siguiente casi todas juzgaron la experiencia grata

«The handsome Grassi was, unsurprisingly, delighted with the results, and arranged to have the mushroom sold at the local apothecary so that all could avail themselves of its pleasures. To what extent the local townsfolk took up his seductive offer has yet to be discovered.» — el desenlace del caso Grassi según Letcher: arregló que el hongo se vendiera en la botica local, y no se sabe cuánto lo aprovechó el vecindario

«Grassi’s medical endorsement of fly-agaric intoxication marks him as exceptional. More typically, episodes of amanita insobriety, where E have occurred, have emerged following serendipitous discovery a have been met with medical disapproval.» — el contraste que Letcher marca: el aval médico de Grassi es excepcional, y lo común fue el hallazgo casual seguido de desaprobación médica

«Take the following, from — cui of two Scottish doctors, C. H. W. Horne and J. A. W. E le of Glasgow's Western Infirmary, who were taken aback in itumn of 1962 when two 'professional salmon poachers', one of om was distressingly confused, reeled into the waiting room» — el caso escocés de 1962 que Letcher reporta: dos pescadores furtivos de salmón llegaron trastornados a la sala de espera del Western Infirmary de Glasgow

«In the Pacific Northwest, Hawk and Venus, the so-Angels or Soma Shamans, have dedicated their lives to the us fly-agaric.* Taking Wasson's identification of Soma at face VA regard the Rig Veda as an instruction manual for the use O» — el caso contemporáneo que Letcher reporta: Hawk y Venus, que toman al pie de la letra la identificación del soma por Wasson y leen el Rig Veda como manual de instrucciones del hongo

«They have eaten it every day for nigh on twenty-sev their spiritual betterment, they maintain. Through books, websites, they promote the mushroom, teach the ‘co» — la práctica de esos dos según Letcher: comer amanita a diario durante casi veintisiete años por su mejora espiritual, y promoverla en libros y sitios de internet

«That they have been able to use he mushroom safely for so long seems beyond question, but the reve-Jations they attribute to the mushroom — which they say has not only revealed to Hawk the exact time and manner of his death, but also the moment when the inevitably approaching day of Armageddon will ‘come - may prove not to be its greatest selling point.» — el fallo irónico de Letcher sobre ellos: el uso seguro del hongo está fuera de duda, y las revelaciones que le atribuyen, como la hora exacta de una muerte y la fecha del Armagedón, no son su mejor argumento de venta

«We have already encountered Clark Heinrich, who has attempted to resurrect and elaborate upon Allegro’s theory, in part by attempting to promote the mushroom. His experiences with it are, perhaps, absolutely typical, and quite explain why it is treated with such ambiva» — el segundo caso que Letcher trae: Clark Heinrich, que quiso resucitar la teoría de Allegro y cuya experiencia explica la ambivalencia hacia el hongo

«He records that, during the 1970s, he determined with a friend to take the mushroom every day for thirty-one days (with not a little inconvenience to their respective partners). Saving the biggest mushroom till last, they enhanced the trip by recycling their own urine, which seems to have been the catalyst for what followed. Heinrich found himself ascending through ever-increasing levels of bliss, each more magnificent than the last, until he achieved union with the clear white light, the source, the Godhead.» — la primera mitad del relato de Heinrich según Letcher: treinta y un días seguidos de hongo, el reciclado por orina y el ascenso a la unión con la luz blanca

«Understandably excited, he attempted to repeat this experience a few days later, but this time the experience was hellish. Losing all sense of time, space and identity, he struggled to remember who he was. Coming to, and remembering his name (at last!), he saw grotesque rope-like columns stretching upwards to sky — which turned out to be threads on the handkerchief upon E = nee - ies promptly vomited. The whole cycle, loss a po : E o, and being sick, was repeated again and again Ed e n dd the effects eventually wore off.» — la segunda mitad del relato de Heinrich según Letcher: el intento de repetirlo acabó en infierno, con pérdida del tiempo, el espacio y la identidad, vómito y el ciclo repetido

«It is not too problematic to see why some people find hunting per se so appealing and all-consuming. The co you have, say, unmasked the ‘secret truth’ behind Chri doxically, and in spite of its implicit paranoia, bizarre way, one feels elevated from the ranks of mediocri uncovered the liberating truth. It turns one into a movie h an outsider able to spot the hidden connections that those mological authority refuse to entertain.» — la psicología del conspirador que Letcher describe: desenmascarar la verdad secreta eleva a quien lo hace por encima de la mediocridad y lo vuelve el forastero que ve las conexiones ocultas

«Rather than look for the es any inherent biochemical qualities the mushroom p conspiracy theorists usually do, I prefer to seek it in the mushroom’s extraordinary form has engaged the human» — el método que Letcher prefiere: buscar la explicación no en la bioquímica del hongo sino en el modo en que su forma extraordinaria ha ocupado la imaginación humana

«The one psychoactive property for which it is ju the way it alters perception of scale, rendering straws int and cracks into chasms. Yet merely bringing the mushi seems catalyst enough to magnify our thoughts and ide: and stretch them way beyond the elastic limits of evidenc» — la analogía con que Letcher explica la fascinación: el hongo altera la escala perceptiva, y con solo traerlo a la mente magnifica las ideas más allá del límite elástico de la evidencia

«Nothing in the natural world looks quite like the flyare other red mushrooms, red-leaved plants, red in mammals and birds with flashes and dashes of red, butn least on dry land) is red with white spots.» — el argumento de Letcher sobre la forma: nada en el mundo natural, al menos en tierra firme, es rojo con puntos blancos

«Furthermore, red is a colour that excites us. Culturally, it is the colour of anger, lust, passion, energy and heat, while naturally it is the "colour of blood. In the animal kingdom, it is a universal sign of poison " and danger, a common language reached after millennia of convergent ‘evolution that warns potential predators to stay clear.» — el segundo factor que Letcher aduce: el rojo como color de la ira, la pasión y la sangre, y señal universal de veneno y peligro en el reino animal

«As we have made the transition from agricultur_ ists to industrialists to consumerists, we have retained a body of folklore, legend and urban myth about certain plants, certain animals: the powerful, colourful and distinctive species that linger in the imagination as easy markers or symbols for the human qualities we admire, and project. We speak of being as brave as a lion, as wise as an owl, as cunning as a fox, as noble as an eagle.» — el mecanismo que Letcher describe: conservamos un folclor de especies llamativas que sirven de símbolo de las cualidades humanas que admiramos

«The discovery that the fly-agaric is psy-EV merely confirmed what we knew already: that it is dangerleo, ES mysterious and odd.» — la consecuencia que Letcher saca: el hallazgo de que es psicoactiva solo confirmó lo que ya se creía, que es peligrosa, misteriosa y rara

«As the one mushroom we all a E es become the representative of all of its kind. From the E. ke that urban living affords, we have endowed the fly-agar-E chetypal mushroom, with all the peculiar qualities that the E. denen have come to represent for us. Like them, it seems to i Pss and wonder in equal measure.» — el cierre del argumento de Letcher: la amanita se volvió representante de todos los hongos, y como ellos inspira asco y asombro a partes iguales

«Psilocybe! Makes you high-be! Psilocybe makes you fly! Boris and his Bolshy Balalaika» — el epígrafe de la tercera parte del libro, otra vez de la canción de Boris and his Bolshy Balalaika

«Experiment 1 (ro mg Psilocybin on 6 April, 10.20) 10.50 — ‘strong! Dizziness, can no longer concentrate . . .* 10.55 — ‘excited; intensity of colours: everything pink to red...” / rog - ‘The world concentrates itself there on the centre of the table. Colours very intense.” Rudolf Gelpke» — el epígrafe del capítulo décimo, el protocolo horario de un experimento con psilocibina firmado por Rudolf Gelpke; el troceo imprime *ro* por *10*

«The implications of Gordon Wasson's Mexican discoveries - María - Sabina, the magic mushrooms, the myco-gnostic revelations to be had outh of the border — took time to be felt by the wider culture in America and beyond. But they were immediately seized upon by a number of scientists who were not only keen to find answers to the -many questions thrown up by Wasson's researches — legitimate aca- - demic questions about chemistry, biology, anthropology and psychol- -9gy — but were also impatient to try the mushrooms themselves.» — el arranque de la tercera parte según Letcher: los hallazgos mexicanos tardaron en calar en la cultura y los científicos los tomaron de inmediato, con ganas de probar los hongos

«From the perspective of our time — in which prohibition reigns, the on drugs’ lumbers on, and any open academic self-experimentawith psychedelics would amount to career suicide — this does seem rather strange. However, the political situation was very differ- ‘nt in the late 1950s.» — el contraste de época que Letcher marca: hoy la autoexperimentación académica con psicodélicos sería suicidio profesional, y a fines de los años cincuenta la situación política era muy otra

«Although cannabis, heroin and cocaine were all | illegal throughout the Western world, what we would call the hallufinogenic or psychedelic drugs were not. The latter, including LSD and mescaline (the active chemical ingredient of the Central American pey- ‘te cactus), were being eagerly employed on both sides of the Atlantic inthe rapidly expanding discipline of psychology.» — el dato legal que Letcher aporta: los alucinógenos no eran ilegales y se usaban con entusiasmo en psicología a ambos lados del Atlántico

«Perhaps the most cogent advocate for the prescribed t psychedelics at this time was a young English psychiatrist Canada, Humphrey Osmond (1917-2004). It was Osmond spring morning in 1953, administered mescaline to Aldous the experiment that formed the basis of The Doors of Percept indeed it was Osmond who, in a poetic sparring match coined the term ‘psychedelic’, meaning ‘mind-manifesting’.» — el defensor que Letcher declara más lúcido: Humphrey Osmond, que dio mescalina a Huxley en 1953 y acuñó el término psicodélico

«These are not escapes from but enla: geonings, of reality.» — la fórmula de Osmond que Letcher cita: no fugas de la realidad sino ensanchamientos suyos; el troceo pierde el final del renglón

«Although some of the psychedelics Osmond was using v atively new, his attitudes were not, for the history of replete with scientists exploring their own minds thro sciousness-altering effects of drugs.» — la tradición en que Letcher inscribe a Osmond: una historia de científicos explorando su propia mente con drogas

«Nevertheless, that a respected scientist like Osmond could publish his pro-psychedelic opinions in a peer-reviewed American scientific journal without fear of censure or castigation says much about the climate into which Gordon Wasson announced his discoveries.» — el indicio de clima que Letcher aporta: que Osmond publicara opiniones pro psicodélicas en una revista científica arbitrada sin temor a la censura

«For one, at least, self-experimentation was simply a matter of logic and expediency. The Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was approached by Roger Heim in the late 1950s with a request to identify the active chemical ingredients of the newly identified Mexican mushrooms.» — el encargo que Letcher reconstruye: Roger Heim pidió a Albert Hofmann identificar los principios activos de los hongos mexicanos

«Attempts made by his own laboratory at the Muséum, and by various American pharmaceutical companies (Merck; Smith, Kline & French), had failed in the task, so Heim approached Albert Hofmann as the leading authority in the field of Plant alkaloids: Hofmann, after all, had discovered LSD some fourteen years earlier.» — la cadena de fracasos que precedió según Letcher: el propio museo y dos farmacéuticas estadounidenses no lo lograron, y Heim acudió a Hofmann como autoridad en alcaloides vegetales

«Thinking the problem through logically, he began: whether the dried mushrooms provided by Heim — wh person ever to have cultured them in the lab — were still ac the drying process rendered them impotent?» — la duda metódica de Hofmann según Letcher: si los hongos secos que Heim le mandaba seguían activos o si el secado los había inutilizado

«He had isolated | diethylamide-25, to give it its full name, in 1938 while analeptic drugs that might alleviate migraine, deriving cocktail of alkaloids that make up the ergot fungus (the sc which, as we have seen, have been used in folk medicine: for their vasoconstricting effects).» — el origen del LSD según Letcher: aislado en 1938 al buscar analépticos contra la migraña, a partir del coctel de alcaloides del cornezuelo

«What he could not have known in advance ¥ is many thousands of times more potent than any of the cinogens, and that, by the standards of the later psychedel had taken a massive dose (today, a standard dose on. between 0.06 mg and 0.08 mg).» — la enmienda de dosis que Letcher aporta: lo que Hofmann tomó por dosis microscópica era masiva para los estándares psicodélicos posteriores

«As luck would have it, this expert mycologist, chosen b Wasson because of his glittering academic credentials, with the fly-agaric as a young man way back in 1923.» — el dato que Letcher aporta sobre Heim: el micólogo elegido por sus credenciales ya se había encontrado con la amanita de joven, en 1923

«consumed fresh and in ties, [the fly-agaric] can produce an agreeable sensation itself to a feeling of contemplative well-being» — la frase de Heim que Letcher cita sobre la amanita comida fresca y en cantidad: sensación agradable que se resuelve en bienestar contemplativo

«Heim’s meticulous writing style and his mastery of prose, for which he was justly recognised, have the unfo1 of rendering his mushroom trips somewhat dull, esp i pared to Wasson's purple rhapsodising. No detail is tri icant enough to go unreported.» — el contraste de estilo que Letcher marca: la prosa meticulosa de Heim vuelve aburridos sus viajes frente al rapsodismo de Wasson, y ningún detalle queda sin reportar

«In none of his experiments did he allow himself to whelmed by sensation, as Wasson and Hofmann had, record and analyse what was happening to him in re experience unfolded, and as accurately as possible.» — el método de Heim según Letcher: nunca se dejó arrastrar por la sensación y registró y analizó lo que le pasaba mientras pasaba

«In spite of his analytic approach, however, and anticipating one of the ‘effects that would eventually make the magic mushroom so popular, this dry and serious man found that he always got the giggles, and that he would laugh and joke hysterically until the tears rolled down his face.» — el detalle que Letcher rescata de Heim: pese a su método analítico, siempre le daba el ataque de risa, efecto que anticipaba lo que volvería popular al hongo

«One by one, members of Heim’s and Hofmann’s research teams in France and Switzerland made their own voyages of discovery into the strange realm of the mushroom, recording every visual mote, every eptual nuance and every physical sensation as diligently and as faithfully as their superiors. Mushrooms were eaten fresh or dried, in low or high doses, in the clinic or at home, during the day or at night, supervised or alone: every combination was attempted, every difference noted.» — el programa de autoexperimentación que Letcher describe en los equipos de Francia y Suiza: fresco o seco, dosis alta o baja, en clínica o en casa, de día o de noche

«One is reminded of the pioneering mountain climbers, hurling themselves up the unscaled Alps with nothing more substantial than tweed jackets, stout boots and rucksacks-full of enthusiasm to serve in place of expertise and technical know-how. In both cases, mishaps were prevented only by luck, not judgement.» — el símil con que Letcher los describe: alpinistas pioneros con chaqueta de tweed y entusiasmo en lugar de técnica, salvados por la suerte y no por el juicio

«Take, for instance, Heim's laboratory assistant, Roger Cailleux, Who seems to have been unusually sensitive to the effects of the mush-Tooms. Even on barely active doses he saw visions of oriental-style Writing and great threshing tapestries upon which strange motionless People had been embroidered in exotic tableaux.» — el caso del asistente de laboratorio Roger Cailleux que Letcher reporta: muy sensible al hongo, veía escrituras orientales y tapices con figuras inmóviles bordadas

«Intrepidly, he took a E dose of Psilocybe semperviva mushrooms very early one A E- morning in 19 58. In the darkness before dawn, he watched a ‘thes of colours drifted across his room, arranging themselves a cone of light standing freely before him and engraved with» — la sesión de Cailleux de 1958 que Letcher narra: dosis alta antes del alba, con manchas de color que se ordenaban en un cono de luz grabado con dibujos

«Never experiencing Heim’s ‘hap spirit and exceptional well-being’, Cailleux was left with a aftertaste, like the remembered presence of a bad dream, t through the day and beyond.» — el saldo de esa sesión según Letcher: Cailleux no tuvo el buen ánimo de Heim y quedó con un regusto amargo, como el recuerdo de una pesadilla

«Others, intellectuals and artists not immediately Hofmann-Heim scientific circle, volunteered to try this room-derived drug and to reflect their experiences throu considered lens of their literary prose: most famously, Islamic scholar Rudolf Gelpke (1928-1972), and the Fren writer Henri Michaux (1899-1984).» — los dos intelectuales ajenos al círculo científico que Letcher nombra como voluntarios: el islamólogo Rudolf Gelpke y el poeta Henri Michaux

«In other words, scientists on the continent stopped i themselves and began the more usual empirical process o new drug upon others.» — el giro metodológico que Letcher describe: los científicos del continente dejaron de probarse a sí mismos y pasaron a ensayar la droga en otros

«Much of the early, unsung research into the pharmacok bin was conducted by the psychiatrist Professor (1907-1987) and his team at the Sainte-Anne Hospital addition to performing tests on rabbits and mice, Dela: psilocybin to healthy volunteers and, less ethically perhap means unusually for the time), to patients sectioned in a ed with a variety of mental illnesses.» — la investigación temprana que Letcher rescata: la del psiquiatra Delay y su equipo en el hospital Sainte-Anne de París, con voluntarios sanos y también con pacientes internados

«He investigated psi effects upon the body and mind, and defined no fewer thant ‘psychic’ effects. The most commonly experienced were, attention difÏculties, euphoria (and/or disphoria) and but the list also included auditory hallucinations and th» — los efectos psíquicos que Delay definió según Letcher, con las dificultades de atención, la euforia y las alucinaciones auditivas entre los más comunes; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«But perhaps the most interesting research conducted in Paris throughout the 1960s — by and large unreported — was that investigating the effects of psilocybin upon creativity.» — la línea que Letcher declara más interesante y menos reportada: los experimentos parisinos sobre psilocibina y creatividad

«But for every ‘Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) - the French novelist who claimed, in 1845, that hashish induced in him an irresistible urge to write" — there has been a Charles Baudelaire (1821—1867), whose creative powers were quite clearly stymied by drugs (in this case his opium addic» — el contraste que Letcher usa para complicar la cuestión: Gautier diciendo que el hachís le daba urgencia de escribir, y Baudelaire con su creatividad frenada por el opio

«I don’t think one can sit down and say, “I want to write a magnificent poem, and so I’m going to take lysergic acid.” I don't think it's by any means certain that you would get the result you wanted — you might get almost any result.» — la respuesta de Aldous Huxley que Letcher cita: no se puede sentarse a tomar ácido lisérgico para escribir un poema magnífico, porque el resultado puede ser cualquiera

«In the 1940s, the London psychiatrists Walter Maclay and Erich Guttman, who were interested in understanding the hallucinations of their mentally ill patients, gave mescaline to artists and asked them to paint what they saw.» — el experimento londinense de los años cuarenta que Letcher reporta: Maclay y Guttman dando mescalina a artistas para que pintaran lo que veían

«Later, Roger Heim, of all people, together with Pierre 7 took an interest in this line of research and, in particular, of whether mushrooms could unlock any latent artistic den in the depths of the mind. Throughout the 1960s, they a series of similar experiments, giving mushrooms (Psilocyl to volunteers. They not only published their findings b the experiments, recording the reactions of their subjects cess of artistic creation as it occurred. Every nuance of ey produced during the experiments was rigorously analy for ‘artistic merit’, but also for what it revealed about the ii ings of the artist’s mind.» — el experimento de Heim y Thévenard que Letcher reporta: dar hongos a voluntarios y filmar la creación artística mientras ocurría, analizando cada rasgo por su mérito y por lo que revelaba de la mente

«Take Maitre Breitling, for example, who, unusually for unteers, had a disphoric encounter with the mushrooms. entirety of the trip drawing an apocalyptic dragon, its mou h with ivory fangs, its head covered in crenulated scales and re eyes. Obsessed with analysing this creation, he addressed i j tinctly Freudian overtones: ‘filthy beast! dirty beast!» — el caso del voluntario Breitling según Letcher: pasó el viaje entero dibujando un dragón apocalíptico y se dirigía a él con tono freudiano

«When he declared that the dragon stood in the m between the eagle and the lion — a structuralist statement if was one — surely he had stumbled into some dark but region of the unconscious from which the Western myth stream had sprung? And when he drew a plumed serpent, was the figure that appeared throughout Central American indig mythology, and surely this meant that much of Aztec art a ogy was derived ultimately from mushroom visions? So thoi and Thévenard, at least.» — la lectura que Letcher atribuye a Heim y Thévenard: el dragón entre el águila y el león como región oscura del inconsciente, y la serpiente emplumada como prueba de que el arte azteca vendría de visiones de hongo

«The mushrooms had a profound effect upon another vol young Mademoiselle Michaux, who was by profession designer. Heim had no qualms about rather patronisingly p the inadequacies of her previous artistic endeavours, were mediocre, kitsch and without merit.» — el segundo caso que Letcher reporta y el tono de Heim al describirlo: una diseñadora joven cuyas obras previas él calificó de mediocres y cursis

«Thinking that she had som stated the case, Heim nevertheless wrote of one of her porti is without doubt unconscious, but it is self-explanatory, comprehensible. We are far from the abstract, and perhaps 190 “ition in w' ACADEMIC EXERCISE the totemic origins of magic.» — el juicio de Heim sobre uno de esos retratos según Letcher: inconsciente sin duda y a la vez comprensible, cerca de los orígenes totémicos de la magia

«And indeed Mlle Michaux maintained that after the experiment she had had several flashes of precoghich she accurately predicted the future.» — lo que la voluntaria sostuvo después según Letcher: varios destellos de precognición con los que predijo el futuro

«Heim declined to ‘pas judgement upon this, but behind the Gallic insouciance he was dearly excited by this encounter with what he saw as the buried unconscious wellspring of shamanism, mythology and the creative impulse itself.» — la posición de Heim según Letcher: se abstuvo de juzgar ese punto y quedó entusiasmado con lo que veía como el manantial inconsciente del chamanismo, la mitología y el impulso creador

«Did the mushrooms really reveal the workings of the artists’ unconscious minds? Such a view is now unfashionable, Freud and ‘the unconscious’ having fallen from favour within the academy (except, perhaps, within the discipline of literary criticism). Nor is art — especially modern art — thought to be an unmediated expression of the unconscious: it is far too self-consciously done.» — la objeción de Letcher a esa lectura: la idea del inconsciente ha caído en desgracia académica y el arte moderno no se tiene por expresión inmediata suya

«A more current view would be that this mushroomic art was simply the product of a distorted perception, no more or less revealing than if the artists had been given spectacles of frosted glass to wear.» — la lectura que Letcher propone en su lugar: el arte enhongado como producto de una percepción distorsionada, ni más ni menos revelador que unas gafas esmeriladas

«Those conducted in Germany using LSD, for example, had the opposite effect: artists felt inhibited and impaired by the experience, and were terrified that the very qualities that made their art unique would be stripped away.» — el contraejemplo alemán que Letcher aporta: con LSD los artistas se sintieron inhibidos y temieron perder lo que hacía única su obra

«The determining factor seems to have been not the different drugs, but the way in which the experiments were conducted. The French seem to have been able to create a particularly safe atmosphere and a conducive environment for artistic experimentation, in a way that the Germans were not.» — el factor decisivo según Letcher: no la droga sino el modo de conducir el experimento, con los franceses creando un ambiente seguro que los alemanes no lograron

«What none of them knew, until many years lz that Moore was working for the CIA, and that the Geschicl was a government front for a secret project called ARTI (later MK-ULTRA), the aim of which was to find “min drugs for use in the Cold War.» — el hallazgo que Letcher reporta: Moore trabajaba para la CIA y el fondo era pantalla de un proyecto secreto de drogas para el control mental en la Guerra Fría

«Throughout the 1950s the CIA tested a variety of psyt including cannabis and LSD, in the hope of finding the elu drug’, or at least a chemical that might weaken an oppo! They did this through a series of highly questionable expel i ing LSD to unwitting soldiers; running a brothel and sec LSD into clients” faces; paying psychologists around the» — los experimentos de la CIA que Letcher enumera: LSD a soldados sin aviso, un burdel donde se rociaba a los clientes, y psicólogos pagados para reclutar estudiantes; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«No story about a! n unusual plant or drug was left unexplored, and the CIA were ewhat ahead of the game when they sent an agent to Mexico in ch of the reputed mushrooms, long before Wasson had heard of them. Their heavy-handed tactics, however, had failed to get past the reticence of the indigenous locals, and their agent — whose name we do not know — returned empty-handed.» — el antecedente que Letcher aporta: la CIA mandó un agente a México por los hongos antes de que Wasson supiera de ellos, y volvió con las manos vacías

«Somewhat piqued that a middleed banker had succeeded where they had so spectacularly failed, the CIA attempted to bring Wasson on board, approaching him in 1955- After some consideration, Wasson politely demurred, believing that intelligence work would compromise his own researches.» — el acercamiento de la CIA a Wasson en 1955 que Letcher reporta, y su negativa cortés por temor a comprometer su investigación

«Moore was a disaster from the start. He very quickly managed to get himself ostracised by the rest of the group for his continual whingeing and complaining, for whereas the others revelled in the challenges of travelling in a developing country, Moore detested it.» — el retrato de Moore en la expedición según Letcher: quejumbroso y aborrecido por el grupo, detestaba el viaje que los demás disfrutaban

«Almost certainly, these reactions were the result of the inner distress caused by his own duplicity: a chemist, not a spy, Moore was ill equipped to handle the conflicting demands of subterfuge.» — la explicación que Letcher propone para el malestar de Moore: la angustia de su propia duplicidad, siendo químico y no espía

«Despite his inept handling of the situation, Moore returned, albeit nearly a stone lighter, with a bagful of mushrooms. But before he could extract the active ingredients (animal tests having once again Proved ineffectual), Heim’s team managed to cultivate the mushrooms and Hofmann’s to isolate psilocybin.» — el desenlace del episodio Moore según Letcher: volvió con hongos y antes de que extrajera nada, el equipo de Heim los cultivó y el de Hofmann aisló la psilocibina

«The CIA were thwarted for a sec-Ond time, and were obliged to obtain their supplies of psilocybin from Sandoz, just as they had their LSD. In the end, neither drug proved to ve any potential for military use.» — el saldo final según Letcher: la CIA tuvo que comprar la psilocibina a Sandoz como había hecho con el LSD, y ninguna de las dos drogas resultó de uso militar

«The rivalry between the Wasson and the Singer group w and came to a head when Singer published his treatise on the mushrooms just months ahead of Heim.» — la rivalidad que Letcher documenta, llevada al punto en que Singer publicó su tratado meses antes que Heim

«Singer, by his own confession, was nervous about the effe. mushrooms, and avoided eating them, but his boss Sam Stein. ing to try them: he had once suffered an accidental intoxicat eating mushrooms, and he wanted to know whether the» — el contraste personal que Letcher registra: Singer evitaba comer los hongos por nerviosismo y su patrocinador Sam Stein sí quería probarlos

«Then God spoke to me . . . I saw in a quick glimpse the design of the universe. The blueprint of evolution. The impersonal, staggering grandeur of the game... Timothy Leary, recalling his first LSD trip» — el primero de los dos epígrafes del capítulo once, de Timothy Leary recordando su primer viaje de LSD: el diseño del universo y el plano de la evolución vistos de golpe

«You take the blue pill and the story ends . . . You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. ‘Morpheus’, The Matrix» — el segundo epígrafe del capítulo once, la frase de Morfeo en The Matrix sobre la madriguera del conejo

«The plot wheels were set In motion as soon as Albert Hofmann mounted his bicycle way back 111945, were propelled forward when Sandoz put LSD on the market, a Were unstoppable once the drug was taken up by research psyologists across the Western world.» — la cadena causal que Letcher traza para el LSD: la bicicleta de Hofmann, la salida al mercado por Sandoz y la adopción por los psicólogos de investigación

«Married with kids, a model tenu demic at Harvard, and a brilliant clinical psychologist who ha lutionised the field of personality testing, Dr Timothy Leary n unlikely candidate for the position of Acid guru.» — el retrato de Timothy Leary antes del giro según Letcher: casado, académico modélico en Harvard y psicólogo clínico brillante, candidato improbable a gurú del ácido

«He first heard about mushrooms from his friend : league Frank Barron — who naturally had read Wasson's Life:» — la cadena de transmisión que Letcher reconstruye: Leary supo de los hongos por su colega Frank Barron, que había leído el artículo de Wasson en Life, y al principio dudó; el tramo corta antes del folio y del encabezado corrido, que en esta plana de pliego caen a media plana

«Judicious inquiries by another colleague, anthropologist Gerhart Braun, led him to Señora Juana, an elderly Mexican woman who willingly parted with a bundle of freshly picked mushrooms for just a few pesos.» — la vía de suministro que Letcher reporta: las averiguaciones del antropólogo Gerhart Braun llevaron a una señora mexicana que vendió un manojo por unos pesos

«But whereas Wasson had tramped through the hinterlands in search of a primitive encounter with Sabina and her holy mushroom veladas, Leary, rather tellingly, took his mushrooms by the pool, with cold beers and dry martinis close at hand.» — el contraste que Letcher marca entre Wasson caminando a la sierra en busca del encuentro primitivo y Leary tomando hongos junto a la alberca con cerveza fría y martinis

«The playboy environment did not make the experience any less profound, however, for Leary oscillated between having intense sensual encounters with the women folk, and the feeling that he was being dragged backwards through his own evolutionary history: he regressed until he was no more than a single amoebic cell.» — lo que Letcher concede del viaje de Leary: pese al escenario, fue hondo, con encuentros sensuales y la sensación de retroceder por la propia historia evolutiva hasta ser una célula

«It was the classic visionary voyage and I came back a changed man,’ he later wrote. “You are never the same after you've had that one flash glimpse down the cellular time tunnel. You are never the same after you've had the veil drawn.» — la frase de Leary que Letcher cita: el viaje visionario clásico del que se vuelve cambiado, y del que nadie sale igual tras haber mirado por el túnel celular del tiempo

«Later, he wrote that until that moment he had been “a middle-aged man involved in the middle-aged process of dying» — la fórmula con que Leary describió su vida anterior según Letcher: un hombre de mediana edad metido en el proceso de mediana edad de morirse

«He quickly learned, following a judicious meeting with Aldous Huxley, that the mushrooms’ chemical ingredients were readily available from Sandoz — thus solving problems of supply — and so he initiated what must surely rank as one of the most unusual episodes in American intellectual history: the Harvard Psilocybin Project.» — el origen del proyecto que Letcher narra: tras hablar con Huxley, Leary supo que los principios activos se compraban en Sandoz, y con eso resuelto abrió el proyecto de psilocibina en Harvard

«Still at this point a rationalist, atheistic psychologist, Leary’s princi-E! concern in initiating the project was to see how people might be S — changed through psychedelic experiences: personality em PS was, after all, his speciality.» — el propósito declarado con que Leary abrió el proyecto según Letcher: ver cómo cambia la personalidad por la experiencia psicodélica, su propia especialidad

«But in what was to prove a crua all Leary rejected the clinical, quantitative approach — that aa ical pi comparing personality traits before and after the expe- - in favour of one that was subjective and qualitative. “Our ud would not follow the medical model of giving drugs to Ead s then observing only external results» — la decisión de método que Letcher declara crucial: Leary rechazó el enfoque clínico y cuantitativo por uno subjetivo y cualitativo, rehusando el modelo médico

«This typically meant a home setting where volunteers could listen to music, browse books on art, or make love even.» — el ambiente de apoyo que Letcher describe: casa, música, libros de arte y hasta hacer el amor

«In other words, Leary exactly the opposite direction to the Parisian researchers, v abandoned subjective accounts as too woolly, too imprecise, to on crucial details.» — la simetría que Letcher marca: Leary iba en dirección exactamente contraria a los investigadores parisinos, que habían abandonado los relatos subjetivos por imprecisos

«the project began to look less like a scientific ment and more like a psychedelic tea party, or worse, like a cult with Leary its ebullient leader.» — el juicio de Letcher sobre la deriva del proyecto: menos experimento científico y más fiesta psicodélica, o culto religioso con Leary de líder

«Take infamous Beat poet Allen for example, who, halfway through his first psilocybin | descended naked from his bedroom, declaring that he Messiah, He intended to walk the streets of Cambridge i people to stop hating one another.» — el episodio que Letcher reporta del proyecto: Allen Ginsberg bajando desnudo y declarándose el Mesías, dispuesto a recorrer Cambridge exhortando a dejar de odiarse

«The project became cliquey, with furtive nods and those that ‘had’ from those that ‘hadn’t’.» — la dinámica de secta que Letcher describe: guiños furtivos que separaban a los que habían tomado de los que no

«I became initiated into an ancient company of illumined seers,’ he later wrote of his first Acid trip. ‘I had taken the God-step.» — la frase de Leary sobre su primer viaje de LSD que Letcher cita: iniciado en una compañía antigua de videntes iluminados, había dado el paso de Dios

«Together with Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner, two other Harvard colleagues fired during the psilocybin furore, he founded IFIF, the International Foundation for Internal Freedom, and then the Castalian Foundation, both with the aim of promoting cultural revolution and spiritual enlightenment through mass consumption of LSD.» — las dos fundaciones que Leary abrió con Alpert y Metzner según Letcher, con el fin declarado de revolución cultural e iluminación espiritual por consumo masivo de LSD

«The trio authored The Psychedelic Experience, a tripper’s manual loosely based on the Tibetan Buddhist text The Book of the Dead, and designed to steer Acid initiates towards a peak ecstatic pitis (it was this book that inspired John Lennon to write ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, referred to above).» — el manual que Letcher describe: basado libremente en el libro tibetano de los muertos y destinado a guiar al iniciado del ácido, y que según él inspiró una canción de John Lennon

«Possession of LSD was made a federal off America in 1966, and overnight many hundreds of research across the States were shut down. Thereafter, research into the of psychedelics became impossible and unthinkable, a situation only now, forty years later, is beginning to change.» — el corte legal que Letcher fecha en 1966: la posesión de LSD como delito federal, con cientos de proyectos cerrados de golpe y la investigación vuelta impensable por cuarenta años

«He died in 1996, and at his bequest his ash fired into space: in death he orbits the earth, just as, one presum did so often in life. He managed the last laugh in the end.» — el final de Leary que Letcher registra: sus cenizas lanzadas al espacio por voluntad suya

«That the same drugs could be considered so different teams working in different countries rather suggests tha trasting ideas were the products of their time and place, a Leary maintained, of some inherent or essential quali psychedelic experience.» — la inferencia que Letcher saca de esa divergencia: las ideas contrastantes eran productos de su tiempo y su lugar, y no de una cualidad esencial de la experiencia psicodélica

«The psychological school of thought to which Leary remained wedded all his life, and which indeed dominated psychological thinking in post-war America, was called behaviourism. As we have seen, the Parisians adhered to a Freudian-influenced structuralist model that prioritised the role of unconscious elements and forces in determining personality. Behaviourism, on the other hand, regarded external, environmental factors as the principal factor influencing character and behaviour.» — la escuela en que Letcher inscribe a Leary: el conductismo dominante en la posguerra estadounidense, que ponía el ambiente como factor principal del carácter

«Skinner’s belief in behaviourism was so extreme that once, when asked about the significance of a student’s mushroom trip, he replied that manipulation of the correct environmental stimuli would produce identical effects, and that mushrooms, in themselves, were irrelevant.» — la anécdota de Skinner que Letcher reporta: preguntado por el viaje de un estudiante, contestó que manipular los estímulos correctos daría el mismo efecto y que los hongos eran irrelevantes

«For Leary, behaviourism meant simply that we come into the world as blank canvases, and that the way in which our personalities subsequently develop is determined primarily by our physical and social environment.» — el conductismo de Leary según Letcher: llegamos al mundo como lienzos en blanco y la personalidad la determina el entorno físico y social

«From then on, we are compelled into acting out socially sanc-E bed E — idea popular in America in the 19508 and a aa as usband, father, breadwinner, housewife, mother, ae so on. Society was, in other words, one giant, human-sized» — la consecuencia que Leary sacaba según Letcher: quedamos obligados a representar papeles sancionados socialmente, y la sociedad entera sería una caja de Skinner de tamaño humano

«With psychedelics, then, he felt that he had found grail of psychology: an agent that would deliver permanent demonstrable personality change.» — lo que Leary creyó haber hallado según Letcher: el santo grial de la psicología, un agente de cambio de personalidad permanente y demostrable

«This is why Leary rejected what he called the ‘psychology tests and measurements. What mattered to him was whether son had had that transcendent moment, whether they had stood o: l their conditioning to glimpse the essential nature of selfhood. He ca to believe this was something that could never be measured, but only be recognised by a look or a glint in the eye, by a turn of p a lightness of step.» — la razón que Letcher da del rechazo de Leary a los tests: lo que importaba era el momento trascendente, que a su juicio no se mide y solo se reconoce por la mirada o el paso

«By contrast, in France, the psychoanalytic tradition meant was regarded less as a sudden transformation and more as an. and continually unfolding process. Through therapy, psych otherwise, the various repressed elements of the unconscious } slowly and steadfastly rise up from the depths to be integrated psyche: but there was always more work to be done.» — el contraste francés que Letcher traza: en la tradición psicoanalítica el cambio es proceso lento y continuo, nunca transformación súbita

«The Left was still a vital force in politics, the barricades wet very far away, and students were still able to rock the govern they did in May 1968.» — la explicación social que Letcher da del contraste: en Francia la izquierda seguía siendo fuerza viva y los estudiantes aún podían sacudir al gobierno

«Political dissent and the struggle for Civil Rights were, o! crucially important in sixties America too, but many in the» — el giro estadounidense que Letcher describe: mucha contracultura dejó la política por la revolución espiritual de Leary, que sostenía que aun con el poder la izquierda seguiría en un hormiguero si no se abría primero; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«The idea, then, of the “Acid flash” as causing an instant and irreversible personality change was a particularly American one. The CIA hoped fervently that LSD would turn people into compliant zombies, while politicians worried that it already had. Leary insisted that we were compliant zombies already, and that Acid would set us free, while on the West Coast, Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters made the flash a trial by fire with their provocative challenge: “Have you passed the Acid Test?» — la tesis de Letcher sobre el destello del ácido: la idea del cambio instantáneo e irreversible fue particularmente estadounidense, compartida por la CIA, los políticos, Leary y los Merry Pranksters con signos opuestos

«There is nothing intrinsic to an Acid or mushroom trip that makes someone, say, decide to grow their hair, wear beads and kaftans, experiment with non-nuclear living arrangements, or listen to The Grateful Dead. These are cultural choices, matters of lifestyle and identity, determined through the interplay of peer pressure and personal choice.» — la objeción central de Letcher: nada intrínseco al viaje lleva a dejarse el pelo largo o a oír a los Grateful Dead, porque son elecciones culturales de estilo e identidad

«There are countless examples of Leary's contemporaries who, having “turned on’, most certainly did not ‘drop out’. Gordon Wasson provides an obvious example» — el contraejemplo que Letcher opone: muchos contemporáneos de Leary se encendieron sin desertar, empezando por Gordon Wasson

«Chemically induced raptures may be frightening or wonderfully gratifying,” he later wrote in an article for the Sunday Telegraph, but ‘in either case they are in the nature of confidence tricks played on ‘one’s own nervous system.» — la frase de Arthur Koestler que Letcher cita: los arrobos inducidos químicamente serían en cualquier caso trucos de confianza jugados al propio sistema nervioso

«But the best example of all must be Leary himself, who possessed an i rebellious streak — bound up with his somewhat self-fulfilling entity as a downtrodden Irish-American — that surfaced time and En throughout his life." In spite of his many hundreds of trips, the nnd Leary game” stayed remarkably constant.» — el mejor contraejemplo según Letcher: el propio Leary, cuya veta rebelde y cuyo juego siguieron notablemente constantes pese a centenares de viajes

«Contrary to the E d is not turned instantly and magically from a stuffy aca-E oa aid-back hippy messiah by a single touch of the Mexican Sum de Rather, his transformation wasa gradual process of mes-E sud > occurring across a period of years (during which time he a ed to perform scientific research), which was also the product» — la enmienda de Letcher al mito: Leary no pasó de académico a mesías hippy por un solo toque del hongo mexicano, sino por un proceso gradual de años y por fuerzas sociales y culturales

«The prison volunteers seemed almost universally enthusiastic about the drug and their experiences. One was overcome with remorse when he was confronted with the stark reality of a life of crime. ‘I saw what a life of crime was, hated it, fought it . . . I saw that crime was foolish. a coward's way out, a ridiculous flaunt in a child's game.» — el experimento carcelario de Leary que Letcher reporta con la voz del preso citada: crimen visto como necedad y salida de cobardes

«In a brilliant long-term follow-up study conducted by Dr Rick Doblin and his team from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), however, in which Leary’s original data» — el seguimiento que Letcher declara brillante: el de Rick Doblin y su equipo de MAPS sobre los datos originales de Leary

«Pahnke found that volunteers were statistically more have had mystical experiences (such as feelings of unity, o1 scending time and space) if they had taken psilocybin.» — el resultado del experimento de Pahnke según Letcher: los voluntarios reportaban con más frecuencia experiencias místicas de unidad y de trascender el tiempo y el espacio

«while they found significant flaws with the experimental results held, and thirty years after the experiment, when Pahn inal questionnaires were given to as many of the volunteers as c found, time had done little to alter the statistics.» — lo que el seguimiento de Doblin halló según Letcher: fallas notables en el diseño y resultados que treinta años después seguían en pie

«Even so, the experiment was at times chaotic. One volunt: something of a psychotic reaction and forced his way out of ing, where his erratic behaviour proved problematic. He app felt that he had been told by God to go forth and proclaim the ing messianic age, and was intent on doing just that — beginn confronting the Dean of the University. He had to be rest injected with thorazine to sedate him, a fact that Pahnke omitted to include in his thesis.» — el episodio que Letcher reporta del experimento del Viernes Santo: un voluntario con reacción psicótica, sedado con torazina, dato que Pahnke omitió de su tesis

«Another problem was that it very quickly became clear to sent exactly who had received the psilocybin and who one half of the congregation were enraptured and mutteri cal pronouncements, while the other half, understandably left out, were bored, frustrated, and somewhat disruptive.» — la segunda falla que Letcher señala: el doble ciego se rompía solo, con media congregación arrobada y la otra media aburrida y molesta

«while the majority of the volunteers never tried psyched many went into the priesthood where their participation in iment remained a lasting influence on their outlook and» — lo que el seguimiento halló entre los voluntarios según Letcher: casi ninguno volvió a los psicodélicos y muchos se ordenaron sacerdotes, con la experiencia como influencia duradera

«Though Leary was wrong about the power of psychedelics to change personality, LSD nevertheless gave birth to a cultural movement. The great swirling outpouring of fashion, art and especially music that characterised the era all attempted in some way to reflect the psychedelic LSD experience and, of course, to advertise membership of that elect club.» — el fallo doble de Letcher: Leary se equivocaba sobre el cambio de personalidad y el LSD sí dio a luz un movimiento cultural que reflejaba y anunciaba la pertenencia al club

«Interestingly, however, the number of people actually using psychedelics in the 1960s was a fraction of those doing so today.» — el dato con que Letcher relativiza la década: los consumidores reales de psicodélicos en los sesenta eran una fracción de los de hoy

«Psychedelia was as much a fashion or a craze as it was a direct response to personal drug experiences. You didn’t have to take the drug to pick up what would have been termed “the vibes”,’ reminisced the writer Jonathan Green, ‘and the LSD culture spread far wider and faster than the drug itself.» — la frase de Jonathan Green que Letcher cita: no hacía falta tomar la droga para captar las vibras, y la cultura del LSD se propagó más rápido que la droga

«But what psychedelia, the cultural phenomenon, did was open up and broadcast a new and favourable way of understanding the strange effects produced by magic mushrooms, and so it was only a matter of time before the freaks and hippies started seeking out the strange hallucinogenic fungi for themselves.» — la tesis de Letcher: lo que hizo la psicodelia como fenómeno cultural fue abrir un marco favorable para leer los efectos del hongo, y de ahí a que se lo buscara había solo cuestión de tiempo

«Mushrooming sounds to me like a risky proposition." “A bit like life itself,’ said Amanda. Tom Robbins» — el primero de los dos epígrafes del capítulo doce, de la novela de Tom Robbins

«The magic mushroom ‘tipped’ on both sides of the the 1970s, having arrived in the wake of LSD. Psychedelia for the first time in Western history the effects of magic mu the colours and hallucinations, the bodily perturbations, # excitation — had become desirable. Consequently, as the out in waves, mushrooms very quickly went from shi academic curiosity, to popular bohemian drug choice.» — el punto de inflexión que Letcher fecha en los años setenta a ambos lados del Atlántico: el hongo pasó de curiosidad académica a droga bohemia popular porque por primera vez sus efectos eran deseables

«The headlong expansion of what, at the time, was called “psilocybian consciousness” in the States can be attributed to several factors. It was passed on as a form of “folk knowledge’ by intrepid experimenters who had returned from the Mexican mushroom pilgrimage and discovered hallucinogenic species at home.» — el primer factor de expansión que Letcher enumera: el saber popular transmitido por quienes volvían de la peregrinación mexicana y hallaban especies en casa

«Hostile press attention surrounding this newfound habit — which largely bemoaned the unwelcome influx of mushroom pickers onto farmers’ land — succeeded in bringing it to even wider attention (as moral panics are so often wont to do» — el segundo factor que Letcher enumera: la prensa hostil, que al lamentar la invasión de recolectores dio al asunto publicidad mayor, como suelen hacer los pánicos morales

«But mainly, continued academic interest in the matter of mushrooms ensured that the latest information concerning taxonomy, identification, pharmacology and dosage filtered down into, and circulated freely within, popular culture.» — el tercer factor y el que Letcher declara principal: el interés académico sostenido, que filtró a la cultura popular la taxonomía, la identificación, la farmacología y la dosis

«This last point should, at the very least, raise an eyebrow, for it reveals that, although clinical psychedelic research had become impossible after the Leary debacle, other disciplines were able to carry on investigating these drugs quietly and away from view.» — el hallazgo que Letcher subraya: tras el escándalo de Leary la investigación clínica se volvió imposible y otras disciplinas siguieron estudiando esas drogas sin ruido

«There was nothing to stop mycologists, for example, describing and identifying new psilocybin-containing species as and when they were discovered. Nor was there an injunction preventing anthropologists, ethnobotanists and pharmacologists from studying the indigenous use of plant hallucinogens in other, distant cultures.» — el resquicio que Letcher describe: nada impedía a micólogos describir especies nuevas ni a antropólogos y etnobotánicos estudiar el uso indígena de alucinógenos

«Remarkably, though papers published in serious-minded journals like the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, the Journal of Altered States of Consciousness and the Journal of Ethnopharmacology at the time read like extended global drugs jaunts, this type of research flourished without censure.» — la ironía que Letcher registra: artículos que se leen como giras mundiales de drogas florecieron sin censura en revistas serias

«Just two weeks prior t conference, twenty thousand hippies, or ‘freaks’ as they pret attended the *Human Be-In' in San Francisco's Golden Gate great, free LSD festival, attended by Leary, Ginsberg and th important figures of the Acid underground. No wonder, then, chapter was included in the book about the modern prob psychedelic consumption: it distanced the work from psychedelic cultures that were blossoming all around it.» — el contraste de fechas que Letcher señala: dos semanas antes veinte mil freaks se habían reunido en el Human Be-In, y el libro incluyó un capítulo sobre los problemas modernos del consumo para marcar distancia

«A public lecture series about indigenous hallucinogens, gi years later at the University of California, was attended by h gave rise to a more popular book, Flesh of the Gods, edi young anthropologist Peter Furst.» — el segundo hito de difusión que Letcher reporta: un ciclo de conferencias en California que dio lugar a un libro más accesible editado por Peter Furst

«In 1973, however, a more provocative volume was edited. er young anthropologist, Michael Harner, Hallucit Sbamanism, published by Oxford University Press. If this. tinctly countercultural attitude then that was because fresh from the jungles of Ecuador, with the taste of aj upon his lips.» — el tercer hito que Letcher fecha en 1973: el volumen más provocador editado por el antropólogo Michael Harner, con su actitud contracultural explicada por su regreso reciente de la selva ecuatoriana

«Harner berated an older genera pologists for failing to apprehend the importance of | plants within their studied cultures. More controversia strongly that Western scholars would never grasp the nuts ar indigenous world views without partaking of these drug» — lo que Harner sostenía según Letcher: reprochó a la generación anterior no haber captado la importancia de esas plantas, y afirmó que el erudito occidental no entendería la visión indígena sin tomarlas

«He began teaching what ‘core-shamanism’, a set of techniques that he abstracted many different “shamanisms” of the world. In truth, this stripped-down shamanism compared to the one he had enco the Amazon. But if it is a shamanism-lite, a shamanism det drugs and sorcery, the terror and magic, then it is arguably perfectly tailored to Western needs and expectations.» — el chamanismo nuclear de Michael Harner según Letcher: un juego de técnicas abstraídas de muchos chamanismos, desnudo de drogas, hechicería, terror y magia, y ajustado a las expectativas occidentales

«It told the supp y of a young, rationalist anthropology student having his ont foundations shaken by a hallucinogen-wielding, tri Mexican shaman. Espousing exactly the kind of tales that of Acid-heads wanted to hear, it very quickly became a was called The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of and its author was Carlos Castaneda.» — el libro que Letcher declara decisivo para mantener el hongo en la imaginación pública: la historia del estudiante racionalista sacudido por un chamán mexicano, de Carlos Castaneda

«According to the story, which continued through m Castaneda met the shaman Don Juan Matus during the while researching the indigenous use of peyote for his : Masters at UCLA.» — el marco del relato de Castaneda según Letcher: el encuentro con el chamán Don Juan Matus mientras investigaba el uso del peyote para su maestría

«Castaneda entered an alien world of witches and sorcery, could talk, lizards that could prognosticate, and spirits th you in an instant if you transgressed their complex and» — el mundo que Castaneda decía haber entrado según Letcher: brujas y hechicería, coyotes que hablan, lagartijas que vaticinan y espíritus que matan al transgresor

«Castaneda played the ignorant fool to Don Ju man, always asking silly questions, never fully underst was happening. Don Juan berated, cajoled and generally dittle Carlos’ in varyingly successful attempts to get him his shackled, rational, way of thinking so as to “see entirely new way and to become “a man of knowledge» — el reparto de papeles en los libros de Castaneda según Letcher: el tonto ignorante frente al maestro que lo empuja a soltar su razón y a ver de otro modo

«Understandably, Castaneda found much of this belief system, and so Don Juan employed a variety o! plants in a desperate attempt to shake him loose of his | ical world view. Castaneda chewed peyote buttons, took» — las plantas que según el relato le dio Don Juan: peyote, datura y una mezcla desmenuzada de hongos que llamaba humito; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«The experiences Castaneda went through were usually terrifying, occasionally beautiful, but always remarkable.» — el tono de esas experiencias según el resumen de Letcher: casi siempre aterradoras, a veces hermosas y siempre notables

«In fact, it now seems likely — cmn us B = adventure in the library at UCLA.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre Castaneda: lo más probable es que la aventura entera se compusiera en la biblioteca de la universidad

«That it was so widely counem a 2 the spirit of the times. It was, at its core, a 35 Harry a apprenticeship’ story, as relevant to people E vs is today, for it appealed to the same longing for at raised it above the ranks of Tolkienesque fantasy» — la lectura de recepción que Letcher hace de Castaneda: el relato del aprendizaje de un mago apeló al mismo anhelo de siempre, y lo que lo levantó sobre la fantasía fue el uso supuesto de plantas alucinógenas

«But when a glut of would: journeyed south to find their own Don Juan in the Sonora d were met by bemused disdain, for the locals had never hi person nor of his preposterous doings.» — la prueba de campo que Letcher aporta: los aspirantes que fueron al desierto de Sonora a buscar su propio Don Juan encontraron desdén y locales que nunca habían oído de él

«In very different ways, both Harner and Castaneda rej demic life to pursue their own ideas of shamanism. Buta of their contemporaries, likewise turned on to psyched ing for legitimate ways to pursue their hallucinogenic inte: to take the “Great White Shamans’ — Schultes, Hofmann, — as their role-models.» — la bifurcación que Letcher traza: Harner y Castaneda dejaron la academia, y otros contemporáneos buscaron vías legítimas tomando por modelo a los grandes chamanes blancos

«The luxuriantly bearded Andrew Weil is now known most vocal advocate of complementary medicine and $ ing, but he began his career promoting other more plants and substances. It was while he was studying Harvard that he encountered both LSD and the T course run by Schultes at the Botanical Museum. En; formed by both, he thereafter became one of the leadin thinkers of the psychedelic underground. His articles long-running American dope-mag High Times, and h The Natural Mind — an impassioned defence of the j natural (that is, plant-based) psychedelics — published in 3 best-seller.» — la trayectoria de Andrew Weil según Letcher: del LSD y el curso de Schultes en Harvard a la defensa de los psicodélicos naturales y a un éxito de ventas

«Jeremy Bigwood is now a journalist, but during ther 1986s he worked as a research chemist at Evergreen S Olympia, Washington. He conducted important» — la aportación de Jeremy Bigwood según Letcher: química de la biosíntesis de la psilocibina y perfeccionamiento de los métodos de cultivo; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«Paul Stamets is now America’s leading expert on mushroom cultiva- ‘tion, and devotes his energies to growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms, and developing ways to use fungi in ecological restoration. He did not go to university, spending his formative years working as a logger, but as a self-taught mycologist he brought out his reliable magic mushroom guide, Psilocybe Mushrooms and Their Allies, in 1976.» — la trayectoria de Paul Stamets según Letcher: micólogo autodidacta, sin universidad, autor de una guía fiable del hongo mágico en 1976

«Jonathan Ott began life as a chemist, but transferred across to Ethnobotany when he realised that there was a way to combine his Jove of chemistry with psychedelics. It was while he was a research fellow in Mexico City that he met Schultes, who introduced him to Wasson. The two got on well, and thereafter Ott became something of ‘a protégé of Wasson's.» — la trayectoria de Jonathan Ott según Letcher: de la química a la etnobotánica, presentado a Wasson por Schultes y vuelto protegido suyo

«Ott subsequently wrote a number of expository reference books about the history, chemistry, pharmacology, biology; availability and preparation of old and novel plant hallucinogens, marked by his trademark laconic, and occasionally pedantic, style.» — la obra de Ott según Letcher: libros de referencia sobre historia, química, farmacología, biología y preparación de alucinógenos vegetales, con su estilo lacónico y a veces pedante

«His continuing opposition to America’s drug laws has made him a hero of the psychedelic underground, which he still regularly addresses at con- " y ferences, seminars and other similar events.» — la posición pública de Ott según Letcher: su oposición sostenida a las leyes antidrogas lo volvió héroe del underground psicodélico

«A physician at the University of Texas Health Centre in San E Pollock devoted much of his energy to identifying new psilo- €ybin species, and tracing the spread of what he called “psilocybian Ond throughout the world.» — la obra de Stephen Pollock según Letcher: identificar especies nuevas y rastrear la difusión de lo que llamaba la consciencia psilocibiana

«He sailed close to the S 4 Ere and his liberal attitude towards selling prescriptions to E is probably what led to his early and tragic demise.» — la deriva de Pollock según Letcher: navegó cerca del filo legal y su actitud liberal con las recetas probablemente le costó la vida

«Anecdotal accounts, recorded at the time, “ating that people had been using the mushrooms for twenty years or almost certainly untrue.» — la enmienda de Letcher a la memoria de los recolectores de Oregón: los relatos de un uso de veinte años atrás son casi con seguridad falsos

«Local farmers, like their fels everywhere, were typically hostile to this seasonal inundation of room hunters in their fields, and some complained vociferously press." Sensing a marketing opportunity, however, others startcharged tale centres around the activities ofa bohem ing for access, with prices ranging from $1 to $25 for a day’s couple who accidentally find themselves in possession: I One enterprising farmer issued pickers with ofÏcial blue body of Christ. The gypsy-like heroine, Amanda, foi buckets to show that they had registered.» — la reacción de los granjeros que Letcher registra: unos se quejaron en la prensa y otros cobraron acceso y dieron cubetas azules a los recolectores registrados

«That said, mushrooming remained very much : le indicator of edibility). Luckily for them, the mushroom activity during the first half of the 1970s. For examp! out to be both non-poisonous (though it is extremely similar to rumours that Liberty Caps were being used in Oi el y Poisonous Galerina autumnalis), and replete with psilocytook upon himself the arduous task of reporting indeed the case, setting out in the autumn of 1973 ceeded in obtaining a bag of dodgy chopped-up m princely sum of $15, and these later turned out to” mushrooms laced with both LSD and another com nary anaesthetic PCP.» — el estado del asunto a principios de los setenta según Letcher: actividad minoritaria, con un reportero que pagó quince dólares por hongos comunes adulterados con LSD y PCP

«It was another region, though, that could have mo laid claim to this title, for the Pacific Northwest prov lutely replete with psilocybin-containing species.» — la región que Letcher declara verdadera capital del hongo: el noroeste del Pacífico, repleto de especies con psilocibina

«Psilocybin and psilocin had been classified as controlled under Federal Law in 1970. The Comprehensive D Prevention and Control Act (Public Law 91-513) made th rised possession, sale or use of a psilocybin mushroom a ishable by fine or imprisonment.» — el marco legal estadounidense que Letcher fecha en 1970: la posesión, venta o uso no autorizados de un hongo con psilocibina como delito

«But the fact that all th were illegal did little to halt their spread. Arrests were between, and were more often for trespassing than for prohibited substance.» — el efecto real de esa ley según Letcher: poco frenó la difusión, y los arrestos eran más por allanamiento que por la sustancia

«A combination of word of mouth, academic diss press scare stories meant that the magic mushroom finally America in 1976. The Oregonian newspaper called th months of that year ‘mushroom madness time» — el punto de inflexión que Letcher fecha en 1976 para América, con el diario de Oregón llamando a esos meses la temporada de la locura del hongo

«And apparently, while the growing use of wood chips in scaping contributed to the natural spread of psilocybin through suburbia, members of the mushrooming what they could to help the process with “guerrilla in Spawning blocks — wood chips imbued with mycelium : hands and were freely shared, most notably at Grateful Di thereafter psilocybin mushrooms started appearing in P arboretums and nurseries across the Northwest. It was, Stan one “continually unfolding, exponential wave of mycelial m» — la siembra deliberada que Letcher reporta: bloques de mantillo con micelio repartidos de mano en mano, sobre todo en conciertos, hasta que los hongos brotaron en parques y viveros del noroeste

«The spreading waves of mushroom consciousness were n to North America. Magic mushrooms were found and» — la expansión continental que Letcher registra: hongos hallados y consumidos por primera vez en Jamaica, Hawái, Guatemala, Venezuela, Argentina y Perú; el tramo corta antes del folio impreso, que en esta plana de pliego cae a media plana

«It was more orthodox waves, however, that carried psilocybian consciousness beyond the Americas, for it seems that it was a surfer who took the knowledge from Hawaii to Australia.» — la vía que Letcher traza para la salida de América: un surfista llevó el saber de Hawái a Australia

«Perhaps hoping to emulate Wasson, he travelled to Hawaii in 1961 to try to ‘uncover’ evidence for an ancient mushroom cult there. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that he had yet to find the conclusive proof he needed to support his theory» — el viaje de Puharich a Hawái en 1961 que Letcher reporta: fue a buscar pruebas de un culto antiguo del hongo y no las halló

«However the news reached Hawaii, the unknown surfer carried it to Australia in 1969, where he or she recognised the distinctive form of Psilocybe cubensis sprouting plentifully from cowpats.» — el hito australiano que Letcher fecha en 1969: un surfista desconocido reconoció el cubensis brotando de las boñigas

«That summer proved to be a bumper year for the mushroom in Queensland, which resulted in a craze amongst the young, and a corresponding moral Panic amongst the older generation. Psilocybe mushrooms were made illegal in Queensland in 1971.» — la secuencia australiana según Letcher: cosecha abundante, moda entre los jóvenes, pánico moral entre los mayores y prohibición en Queensland en 1971

«Underground supply 3 pened up to meet the demand in the cities, so that in Hobart in ES sales of LSD dropped away almost to nothing because of the E. n availability of mushrooms. The habit amongst surfers was a a y to consume these Golden Tops or Golden Caps in ‘smooth-E. de heading out to sea to ride the waves.» — el mercado y la costumbre australianos que Letcher describe: en Hobart las ventas de LSD casi cesaron por la abundancia de hongos, y los surfistas los tomaban en licuados antes de salir al mar; el troceo pierde el margen interior de la plana y deja renglones mochos (*3 pened*, *in ES*, *E. n*), que se transcriben como salen

«It took longer for indigenous magic mushrooms to be dis New Zealand. The phenomenon was thought to be Australian one, and until the early 1980s the only m sumed in New Zealand were those posted across the» — el rezago neozelandés que Letcher registra: se creía fenómeno australiano y hasta los ochenta solo se consumían hongos enviados por correo

«They looked like a couple of dry seeds, but they were the tiny mi that grow so rarely near Avalon . . . this was a gift more precious Marion Bradley» — el primero de los dos epígrafes del capítulo trece, de Las nieblas de Avalón de Marion Bradley; el troceo imprime el nombre sin el Zimmer

«The key to the door of fairyland is now within anyone’s George Andrews» — el segundo epígrafe del capítulo trece, de George Andrews, sobre la llave del país de las hadas al alcance de cualquiera

«For instance, during the years stretching 1965 to 1972, London was home to another unde: Though never mapped out in any formal sense, this movement had its own cartography, its own mycelium of con junctions and nodes that briefly intersected with the ca familiar superstructure. This underground had clubs and. leries and theatres, squats and crash-pads. It had clothes shops, cafés and dope dens. It had advice centres, al schools and even a university.» — el underground londinense que Letcher describe entre 1965 y 1972, con su propia cartografía de clubes, galerías, teatros, escuelas y hasta una universidad

«For those few short years this young, radical, disparate, mostly ite and male-dominated movement was united by the utopian belief that the establishment was in its death throes. The old way of doing things, choked and stifled as it was by class, propriety, hypocrisy and the other vestiges of empire, was at an end.» — la creencia utópica que Letcher atribuye a ese movimiento, joven, radical y dominado por varones blancos: que el orden establecido agonizaba

«As far as it is possible to tell, the first ever intentional psilocybin mushroom trip in Britain took place in or around 1970.» — el hito británico que Letcher fecha hacia 1970: el primer viaje intencional de psilocibio del que hay noticia

«Appropriately, it was recorded in Oz, the magazine that, along with the fortnightly newspaper the International Times (or IT), was the most vocal champion of the radical political values and psychedelic aesthetics of the day.» — la fuente de ese hito según Letcher: la revista Oz, portavoz junto con International Times de los valores radicales y la estética psicodélica

«As we shall see, it is not entirely clear how the momentous discovery was made, but what is striking is that it took someone such a long time.» — el enigma que Letcher plantea: no se sabe bien cómo se hizo el hallazgo y lo llamativo es cuánto tardó

«All the pieces of the puzzle were in place, in other words, and by rights, the Liberty Cap Should have been discovered a decade earlier than it was.» — la tesis de Letcher sobre ese retraso: con el LSD circulando desde los sesenta y las noticias de Siberia y México, el sombrerete de la libertad debió hallarse diez años antes

«In March 1961, for example, Arthur Koestler published his essay oo Trip to Nirvana’, detailing his psilocybin experience with Eur Leary. Though hardly a ringing endorsement of psychedelia — a ler lambasted Leary’s ‘pressure cooker mysticism" — it nevertheappeared in the Sunday Telegraph and brought the concept of OR to a wide readership.» — la primera pieza del rompecabezas que Letcher fecha en 1961: el ensayo de Koestler sobre su sesión con Leary, publicado en un diario de amplia difusión pese a su tono crítico

«The tone of the documentary was, in ke with the times, stuffy. The Mazatecs were portrayed as primit addicts, while the scientists appeared as white-coated and: using purified psilocybin to cure “previously hopeless mental c» — el tono de ese documental según Letcher: los mazatecos retratados como primitivos y los científicos de bata blanca curando casos mentales desahuciados

«Perhaps this explains why a striking picture of a Mexican mus Psilocybe mexicana — the species most similar in appearal Liberty Cap — sprouting from a Petri dish seems not to h anyone to consider the psychedelic possibilities of our own Though the image was reprinted in the British TV guide Radic and delivered straight into the homes of Middle England, seems to have grasped its significance.» — la explicación que Letcher propone del retraso británico: la foto del hongo mexicano llegó a las casas en la revista de programación y nadie captó su alcance

«Robert Graves (1895-1985) occupies an idiosyncratic position within twentieth-century English literature.» — la presentación de Robert Graves que da Letcher: posición idiosincrásica en la literatura inglesa del siglo XX

«For Graves, poetic inspiration was a gift from the Muse, a once ubiquitous, matriarchal moon goddess long abandoned by patriarchy because of its deification of reason.» — la mitología personal de Graves según Letcher: la inspiración poética como don de la Musa, diosa lunar matriarcal abandonada por el patriarcado

«When he encountered Gordon Wasson's speculative notions about the role of mushrooms in ancient religion he was delighted, for they chimed absolutely with his own way of thinking.» — la afinidad que Letcher señala: las especulaciones de Wasson sobre el papel de los hongos en la religión antigua encajaban con el modo de pensar de Graves

«But they were both amateurs, operating outside the confines of academia, and were equally enthused by the enigmas of the ancient past.» — lo que Letcher declara común a Wasson y a Graves: aficionados fuera de la academia y entusiasmados por los enigmas del pasado antiguo

«They shared the belief that myths were attenuated memories of actual historical events, not psychological processes, and agreed that the Comparative method was the means by which to reconstitute these origins.» — la creencia compartida que Letcher aísla: los mitos como memorias atenuadas de hechos históricos y no procesos psicológicos, y el método comparativo como vía de reconstrucción

«Nevertheless, back in the early, halcyon days of their friendship, Graves had played his part in the Wasson saga and the rediscovery of the Mexican mushrooms.» — el papel de Graves en la saga que Letcher documenta: tuvo parte en el redescubrimiento de los hongos mexicanos

«But even more importantly, it was Graves who alerted Wasson to the existence of the Mexican mushroom rituals.» — el dato que Letcher declara más importante: fue Graves quien avisó a Wasson de la existencia de los rituales mexicanos

«In September 1952, he forwarded Wasson an article from a pharmaceutical journal, Ciba Symposia, detailing Schultes’s identification of teonanacatl,* with the result that the delighted ethnomycologist immediately set about organising his first trip to Oaxaca.» — la fecha y la pieza concretas que Letcher aporta: en septiembre de 1952 Graves remitió a Wasson un artículo con la identificación del teonanácatl por Schultes, y de ahí salió el primer viaje a Oaxaca

«Though he has received little recognition for his part in the story, Graves did at least get to try the mushrooms himself in January 1960, while a guest at Wasson’s New York apartment (Wasson had previously visited Graves in Mallorca in October 1953, and received him in New York in 1957).» — la deuda no reconocida que Letcher señala: Graves apenas ha recibido crédito por su parte, y probó los hongos en enero de 1960 en el departamento de Wasson

«he put forward wildly inaccurate speculations as fact, stating, rexample, that the fly-agaric, together with Panaeolus papilionaceus best, a capriciously active species), had been employed in classical» — el reproche de Letcher a Graves: presentaba como hecho especulaciones muy inexactas, entre ellas el uso clásico de la amanita y de una especie de actividad caprichosa

«Happily and erroneously, he declared that his own experiences psilocybe mushrooms had mirrored the “ancient toadstool mysof the Celtic bards.» — otra afirmación de Graves que Letcher declara errónea: que sus propias experiencias con psilocibios espejeaban los misterios antiguos de los bardos celtas

«His visions were vivid, for he found through a marble grotto replete with jewels, grimacing nakedly dancing caryatids. At one point, he grasped the good and evil: ‘my mind suddenly became so agile and I felt capable of solving any problem in the world; it w immediate access to all knowledge everywhere. But the wisdom sufÏced - why should I trouble to exploit it?» — la visión de Graves bajo hongos según Letcher: la gruta de mármol con joyas y cariátides, el acceso inmediato a todo el saber, y su renuncia declarada a explotarlo

«He only ever took ‘mushrooms’, or rather pills, one further time at a Wasson soirée, but the e ant and anticlimactic. None of those present” enjoyed and, perhaps tellingly, Graves watched as his wife B ‘grotesquely distorted’: she swore never to repeat» — el segundo y último intento de Graves según Letcher: píldoras en una velada de Wasson, experiencia desabrida, con su esposa distorsionada grotescamente y jurando no repetir

«Nevertheless, he went on to argue, and in all serio mushroom should be restored to its “original (pi religion," administered at puberty by way of initiati deepen the lovers' bond, and in old age to prepare» — la propuesta que Graves sostuvo en serio según Letcher: restituir el hongo a su religión original, administrado en la pubertad como iniciación, para hondar el vínculo de los amantes y para preparar a los viejos; el troceo pierde el arranque de los renglones

«Not that I should care to enrol myself in any such haughtily, *which would imply ecclesiastical discipline dogma, and force me into friendship with co-religioni» — la reserva con que Graves acotó su propia propuesta según Letcher: no querría inscribirse en tal cosa, porque implicaría disciplina eclesiástica, dogma y amistad forzosa con correligionarios

«Both these books were widely read, and m Viii eos ie bn Goddess was regarded as somed : there! = seems probable that Graves did pin s a either directly or through these print» — la cadena de influencia que Letcher traza: los libros de Graves circularon mucho y probablemente por ahí llegó el saber del hongo a Britania

«The decision opened the first chink of the legal loophole David Bowie was arrested for possessing cannabis in ‘that would eventually allow magic mushrooms to be sold openly and» — el resquicio legal británico que Letcher fecha en esa sentencia: la primera grieta que acabaría permitiendo la venta abierta de hongos mágicos; el troceo entrevera dos columnas y mete la línea de otra noticia

«In April 1976, a young couple from Reading — Mi ly mushrooms one would have to consume for them to have an civil servant, aged nineteen, and his landlady, Mrs lect: twenty-five to thirty, it advised. The year 1976 was famously one twenty-one — became the first people ever to appear i ght in Britain and beyond, so mushrooms of all kinds would charged with possessing hallucinogenic fungi.» — el primer proceso británico que Letcher fecha en abril de 1976; el OCR de esta plana entrevera las dos columnas renglón a renglón y el tramo sale reordenado, con frases de otra columna dentro

«It was widely held that the species themselves. After two days of deliberation, the Judge, efforts of police and customs ofÏcers would eradicate it grine Blomefield, directed the jury to find the pair not guilty.» — el desenlace de ese proceso según Letcher: tras dos días de deliberación el juez instruyó al jurado para declararlos inocentes; el tramo sale entreverado con la otra columna de la plana

«The authorities, meanwhile, could do little but on the sidelines and watch.» — la impotencia de las autoridades británicas que Letcher registra: poco podían hacer salvo mirar desde la banda

«Stonehenge became the symbolic centrentece ofa free-festival movement, the hub around which the rainbow cal- + of festivals revolved.» — el papel de Stonehenge según Letcher: centro simbólico del movimiento de festivales libres; el troceo imprime *centrentece* y entrevera las columnas

«Within a few short ys Lady's rise to power, the country was in recession, industry was being dismantled, and the disgruntled uni tackled head-on.» — el marco económico que Letcher pone al auge del hongo: recesión, desmantelamiento industrial y descontento, en los primeros años de Thatcher; el tramo sale entreverado por el OCR

«For an increasingly disaffected youth, magic m a convenient, illicit and exciting way of making life more tolerable, no better or worse than snif» — la lectura social que Letcher propone: para una juventud descontenta el hongo era un modo ilícito y emocionante de hacer la vida más tolerable

«The law was tightened with the Public Order and then the Criminal Justice Act of 1994, which el» — el endurecimiento legal que Letcher fecha en las leyes de orden público y de justicia penal de 1994

«Of course, the government did everything it could to s festivals and the emerging traveller lifestyle. Local oppos Psilly Fairs, for example, was intense, and succeeded in prev festival from happening in 1981 and again in 1982.» — la represión de los festivales que Letcher documenta, con las ferias de hongos impedidas en 1981 y 1982

«The magic mushroom slotted M 25 romantic mythology, for hadn't the witches, the Oppressed i ne-circle builders all used it, and hadn't they all been turn by Roman invaders and then Christian missionar» — el encaje mitológico que Letcher describe: el hongo entraba en esa mitología romántica porque brujas, druidas y constructores de círculos lo habrían usado y todos habrían sido oprimidos

«key to fairyland, stated George Andrews, was now reach,’ and so no wonder the government wanted the shut.» — la fórmula de George Andrews que Letcher recoge en ese contexto: la llave del país de las hadas al alcance de cualquiera, y de ahí las ganas del gobierno de cerrarla

«Defiantly, it proclaimed that those who knew and used the hroom were an elect pagan few, pitted against the rising tide of nsumerism and, like the mushrooms themselves, living on the mar» — la autoimagen que Letcher atribuye a esa contracultura: unos pocos paganos elegidos contra la marea del consumismo, viviendo en los márgenes como los hongos

«That drug was Ecstasy, or MDMA, millions of doses of which d soon be consumed every weekend across the globe.» — la droga que según Letcher desplazó al hongo en la década siguiente: el éxtasis, con millones de dosis semanales en todo el mundo

«The rediscovery of the mushroom in Britain, there! in hand with a supposed history that placed its use in countercultural tradition stretching back to the dawn of bemushroomed festival-goer watching the rays of the past the lintels of Stonehenge, it was a history that made» — la tesis de Letcher sobre el redescubrimiento británico: fue de la mano de una historia supuesta que situaba su uso en una tradición contracultural remontada al alba de los tiempos; el tramo sale entreverado por el OCR de dos columnas

«A geeky American armed with i losyncratic nasal drawl, a suitcase full of bizarre theories, and a "kissed ability to hold audiences spellbound, he did min than le since Gordon Wasson to pave the way for the current mushboom. His name was Terence McKenna.» — la presentación de Terence McKenna que da Letcher: un estadounidense de voz nasal, con una maleta de teorías extrañas y la habilidad de tener al público en vilo, y a quien atribuye el mayor empuje al hongo desde Wasson

«Within a day, the fences had been torn down, declared free, and the landowner was nowhere to absconded until the resulting furore abated.» — el episodio del festival de Treworgey que Letcher narra: en un día tiraron las vallas, lo declararon libre y el dueño del terreno desapareció

«The usual array of drugs were on sale — hash, Special Brew — with stalls openly offering chillums and and grungy entrepreneurs happy to deliver hash fudge tá door, morning, noon and night.» — el mercado de drogas del festival que Letcher describe, con puestos que ofrecían abiertamente chilums y entrega a domicilio de dulces de hachís

«The arrival a Acid House into the festival scene was not, as I recall, m enthusiasm. The staunch hippies amongst us thought Hoi the product of the metropolitan south-east, of afÒuent yu; not 2CV, drivers. "It'll never catch on,’ we said dismi synthetic, too repetitive, too cool.» — el recuerdo en primera persona con que Letcher registra la llegada del acid house a los festivales: los hippies lo despacharon por sintético, repetitivo y frío, y él admite que se equivocaron

«If Rave brought together fashion-conscious urban metrophobic be-dreadlocked travellers, then the cat unlikely alliance was a new drug: Ecstasy.» — el catalizador que Letcher identifica de esa alianza improbable entre urbanos y viajeros: el éxtasis

«By the mid 1990s, millions of doses of Ecstasy were being cond every weekend, with the result that interest in psychedelics of. ds was significantly revived.» — el dato con que Letcher liga el éxtasis al retorno del hongo: millones de dosis semanales a mediados de los noventa y un interés renovado en los psicodélicos

«For Terence McKenna, mushms were not just a ‘drug’ but a portal to a shamanic realm where mic spirits strained to impart information of quite possibly earthimportance. He built his career by spreading the news that Fclowns of hyperspace were really out there, just a few mush» — lo que el hongo era para McKenna según Letcher: no una droga sino un portal a un reino chamánico donde entidades pugnan por comunicar algo de importancia planetaria, y de ahí los elfos payasos del hiperespacio

«Paradoxically, the drug occurs naturally in brain; its ordinary presence there is little understood but, like locybin, it is structurally similar to serotonin.» — la paradoja que Letcher señala: el DMT ocurre naturalmente en el cerebro humano y su presencia allí se entiende poco

«On its own, it is not orally active, for it is troyed by enzymes in the stomach, but the synthetically produced ract can be smoked through a glass pipe. Taken thus, its effects, h are characterised by overwhelmingly intense three-dimensional nations, come on rapidly within the space of a minute or so and nin sh almost as quickly. The entire trip is over in about ten or fif» — la farmacología del DMT que Letcher expone: inactivo por vía oral, fumado da alucinaciones tridimensionales intensísimas que llegan y se van en minutos

«His hope was that by setting his ideas in the concrete lan2 of the Western intellectual tradition, within the interstices of sci- ‘ence and philosophy, he might at least get a fair hearing.» — la estrategia de McKenna según Letcher: enmarcar sus ideas en el lenguaje de la tradición intelectual occidental, entre ciencia y filosofía, para que se le oyera; el troceo pierde el margen interior y deja *lan2* y *sci- ‘ence* por las formas impresas, que se transcriben como salen

«His prodigious recorded output means that there are literally hundreds of hours of material to compare and contrast, and given that such a vast range of subjects interested him, and fell under his musings, it is hard to know exactly where to start.» — el problema de abordaje que Letcher declara: cientos de horas grabadas y una gama de temas tan vasta que cuesta saber por dónde empezar

«I freely admit that in my early twenties I was a fan, wo entirely by his ideas,» — la declaración personal de Letcher: admite haber sido fan de McKenna en sus veintes, ganado del todo por sus ideas

«He regularly lambasted the New Age movement: tion of rationalism, and ridiculed the American U community as ‘a magnet for screwballs.» — lo que McKenna despreciaba según Letcher: el movimiento New Age y la comunidad ovni estadounidense, a la que llamó imán de chiflados

«But for McKenna, the point of taking mus solely and simply a shamanic quest for visions.» — el propósito único que McKenna daba al hongo según Letcher: la busca chamánica de visiones, sin música, arte ni sexo

«McKenna was as surprised by this as anyone, but rather important issue of the provenance of this voice.» — la voz que McKenna decía oír del hongo y la cuestión de su procedencia, que Letcher declara importante

«Strange as it seems, there is some clinical evidence that: ly significant number of people do “hear” voices under tl high doses of psilocybin.» — el dato clínico que Letcher concede: hay evidencia de que un número significativo de personas oye voces con dosis altas de psilocibina

«But is not how it feels, said McKenna. It feels as if one is in the presof some autonomous, external, overbearing, alien entity with h it is possible to have an 1/Thou relationship.» — la fenomenología que McKenna oponía según Letcher: la sensación de estar ante una entidad autónoma, externa y ajena con la que cabe un trato de yo y tú

«For McKenna, then, what made the tryptamines (and mushrooms DMT in particular“) superior to all other drugs was not only the th of the visions they occasioned, but also the overwhelming force with which they brought about this encounter with the Other." Even E A .— to think of them as drugs was wrong. They were rather independent agentic souls, plant-allies or spirit-teachers, with whom a symbiotic relationship would yield ecstasy and gnosis.» — la tesis de McKenna que Letcher expone: llamarlas drogas era un error, porque serían almas agentes, aliados vegetales o maestros espirituales con quienes cabe simbiosis

«The shamanic world view,^ in other words, was right all along.» — la conclusión que McKenna sacaba según Letcher: la visión chamánica del mundo tenía razón desde siempre

«These ideas are spelled out in his Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge, published in 1992.» — el libro donde McKenna expone esas ideas, que Letcher fecha en 1992

«By now it should be clear, from our consideration of Wa posed prehistoric mushroom cult and the various mus! acy theories, that there is scant evidence for any of this prehistory.» — el fallo de Letcher sobre la prehistoria de McKenna: tras revisar el culto supuesto de Wasson y las conspiraciones del hongo, la evidencia es escasísima

«McKenna was no archaeologist and, like the theorists, he took scraps of evidence, denuded them of and shoehorned them into his preferred justificatory little thought for alternative interpretations.» — el reproche de método que Letcher dirige a McKenna: tomaba jirones de evidencia, los despojaba de contexto y los calzaba en su marco sin pensar en lecturas alternativas

«Thus, he borrowed the terms “partnership” and ‘ societies from the writer Riane Eisler, and the idea of a matriarchy overturned by male-dominated Indo-Europ from Lithuanian archaeologist Maria Gimbutas.» — los préstamos que Letcher identifica en McKenna: los términos de sociedad de Riane Eisler y el matriarcado derrocado por indoeuropeos de Marija Gimbutas

«The problem with McKenna’s materialism is that indigenous societies with institutionalised psychedelic drug use are very often far from har» — la objeción empírica de Letcher a McKenna: las sociedades indígenas con uso institucionalizado de psicodélicos suelen estar lejos de ser armoniosas

«Amazonian tribes take ayahuasca as often to curse as to cure,» — el dato con que Letcher sostiene esa objeción: en la Amazonia la ayahuasca se toma tanto para maldecir como para curar

«mushrooms failed to prevent the petty Mazatec vendettas, and en McKenna noted ruefully that, for all his bemushroomed revelations, he had been unable to save his marriage.» — los dos contraejemplos que Letcher aporta: los hongos no evitaron las venganzas mazatecas, y McKenna admitió que con todas sus revelaciones no pudo salvar su matrimonio

«As we saw when Loridédup Timothy Leary, the idea of a psychedelic golden age, and of psychedelics asa panacea or magic pill, must remain a gloriously beguiling chimera; but without it, McKenna's thesis starts to look very shaky.» — el fallo de Letcher: la edad de oro psicodélica y la droga como panacea quedan en quimera seductora, y sin ella la tesis de McKenna se tambalea

«As for his notion about mushrooms propelling human development by conferring evolutionary advantages and instilling in us our most elevated qualities, this is the same category of reasoning as is employed by evolutionary psychologists.» — la clasificación que Letcher hace de la tesis de la ventaja evolutiva del hongo: el mismo tipo de razonamiento de la psicología evolucionista

«This popular school of thought, very much on the ascendant, argues that selective pressures acting upon human ancestors in some imagined African past determine the way we behave today.» — la definición que Letcher da de esa escuela: presiones selectivas en un pasado africano imaginado que determinarían la conducta de hoy