María Sabina, ruega por nosotros...

A formidable Mazatec healer and now folk-saint of Psilocibina, María Sabina is a complex figure. The deception of Wasson to gain access to the saint-children that would for him be an avenue to the Divine, was for her a corruption of their use as purgative medicine. Reading through her chants in Estrada's María Sabina: Her Life and Chants, I am amazed over and over again at the profound wisdom and soul-wrenching, resonating truth in her and her niece's words. In the session of July 1970 in the house Celerino Cerqueda, María Sabina and her niece, María Aurora, go back and forth, offering a flowing stream of prayer in Mazatec and pidgin Spanish, translated by Eloina Estrada de González and into English by Henry Munn. Consider this passage that occurs when María Aurora is aware if anyone is listening they may mistake what they are doing for witchcraft:

María Sabina

The path of the tracks of your hands, 

and the path of the tracks of your feet, says

María Aurora

It's sap and dew, says

If anyone is pursuing us, says

If anyone is in back of us, says

If anyone is criticizing us, says

If anyone is spying on us, says

It's certain, says

It's true, says

We're going to play music, says

We're going to thunder, says

That is the work of Saint Peter beneath the water, says

We're going to shout, says

We're going to whistle, says

Along the path of your hands, along the path of your wrists, says

Along the path of life, the path of well-being, says

There is no problem, says

There is no difficulty, says

María Sabina

We're not trying to do harm to anybody

María Aurora

Clean Christian, says

Well-prepared Christian, says

...

There is no resentment says

There is no difficulty, says

It's a matter of life and well-being, says

With sap and dew, says

María Sabina

The path of the tracks of the hands, the path of the tracks of the heels, 

the path of the tracks of the hands, the path of the tracks of the feet

María Aurora

If anybody wants to hex us, says

If anybody wants to tell lies, says

It will become garbage, it will become dust, says

It will become whirlwind, it will become wind, says

It's certain, says

It's true, says

It's not a matter of evil, says

It's not a matter of doing harm, says

It's only a matter of well-being and life, says

With sap, with dew, says

María Sabina

I am a sap woman, a dew woman, says

I am a fresh woman, a woman of clarity, says

I am a woman of light, a woman of the day, says

I am a woman who looks into the insides of things, says

I am a woman who investigates, says

Holy Father, says

Holy Father, says

I am a Saint Peter woman, says

I am a Saint Paul woman, says

I am a saint woman, says

I am a spirit woman, says

A woman of good words, of good words, good breath and good saliva, says

It's certain, says

It's true, says

That is your clock, says

That is your communion wafer, says

That is your number, says

One and only Father

Father of sap, Father of the dew, says

Father of freshness, Father of clarity, says

Holy Father, says

I am the child of Mary, the child of Saint Joseph, says

I am a child of the Candelaria, says

It is certain, says

It is true, says

...

For María Sabina, "the path of the tracks of the hands, the paths of the tracks of the feet" is what one does, where one goes. Saint Peter and Saint Paul are strongly represented in the chants - Rothenberg informs they are tobacco, the patrons of medicine itself - and the prayers to them are quite beautiful later in the same session:

María Aurora

Like Saint Peter and Saint Paul

They are the ones who have powerful eyes, powerful is their will, 

powerful their faces, powerful their day

The two women together

As he made it, as he designed it, as he found it

As he made it, as he designed it

María Aurora

Saint Peter, Saint Paul

As he appeared in the night, in the darkness, above the great expanse of the waters, 

above the expanse of the divine sea; He came forth Lord, he came forth sacred

Saint Peter, he is the one with powerful eyes, 

powerful is his will, powerful his face, powerful his day

He is the one whose will shines, he is the one who thunders, 

he is the one who sounds forth

Saint Peter, Saint Paul

And they are also called "Our Ustandi beneath the water, Our Ustandi beneath the sea" in the session of July 21-22, 1956 recorded by Wasson. Rothenberg is not helpful enough here. He says it is a name she gives to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, but what does it mean? She says:

I am an Ustandi woman beneath the waters, says

I am an Ustandi woman beneath the sea, says

which clearly parallels the same structure. I find this mystery and foundation of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the pair, as tobacco truly intriguing.

The sap and dew are referring to the saint-children, the flesh of God ("your communion wafer"), what we know as psilocibina. Commonly referred to by the nahuatl name, teonanacatl ("the flesh of the god[s]"), there is a commonly perceived connection between psilocybin and the Holy Sacrament among Mexican indigenous populations. It is a Mazatec belief that Christ, while carrying his cross, walked through the mountains. Where his blood fell, the saint-children arose; through the blood of Christ, we become the Saints, we become as gods. But in the worldview of María Sabina the saint-children were solely for the purpose of purgative healing. 

"..from the moment the foreigners arrived to search for God, the saint children lost their purity. They lost their force; the foreigners spoiled them. From now on they won't be any good. There's no remedy for it." -María Sabina

Although Wasson was looking for a mystic experience that was counter to María Sabina's use of the saint-children, perhaps there was an illness after all. I bow to María Sabina, and I ponder: perhaps we are ill? Other indigenous beliefs speak of illness as deficit: if you are poor, you have an illness of poverty, for example. Is our disconnect from the Divine-as-immanent not symptomatic of illness? But perhaps it is the framing of the question - Wasson deceived by lying, expressing uncertainty about his son's whereabouts. This was enough for him to receive her help with the 'Little-One-Who-Springs-Forth', but a general search for God was not in Sabina's eyes. If he described his desire to find God not as curiosity but as concern that he felt disconnected, off-centre, and out of alignment with the world he lived in - is it recognition of our symptoms rather than idle-curiousity that changes the quest? Perhaps it is that when we have an illness, we seek to be well - whatever the cure is - and we don't go to the healer knowing what our cure is ahead of time. If knowledge of God is the remedy for your illness, this will come, but we must be open to the possibility that there are other things the mushrooms have to show us... Hmmm. It is said "They always give you what you need"....

Psilocybe mexicana, 

photo taken by Alan Rockefeller.

If the saint-children are now spoiled, I can only imagine their potency under the care and administration of the curandero/as who dedicated their lives to working with them on behalf of healing their community.  Is grace diminished the more it is used? Is the don? Is magic? Is ashé? I know there is no (one) answer - I ask these questions for pondering myself and with others of like-ponderance... 

Sabina was ultimately more than a healer, more than a spirit-worker. Rothenberg names three classes of magicians in Mazatec culture: Sorcerers, who by night are shape-shifters whose works are often malevolent (akin to nagualismo); Curers, who use massage, prepared herbal medicines and spirit invocation; and Wise Ones, who vow no evil and use no potions, but are workers of the saint-children, Psilocybe mexicana.

The assumption of saint, saintess, folk-saint and natural powers - this is the word as pure magic. Citing lineage, citing authority, conjuring your Power, I am simultaneously humbled and lifted-up by her chants. While the mushroom medicine was hers to hold and indeed her focus for these chants, for me, her words speak of an intense relationship with her God in intimate and immanent form; her words are inspiring beyond their original intention and meaning - and for this, I am thankful her words were recorded.

María Sabina

Holy Father

You my Father

And you Mother who art in the house of heaven

You, Christ, my Father

We are going to cure, we are going to cure with herbs

That is what our budding children, our sprouting children are for,

that is the work of our flower with sap, our flower of the dew,

That is the work of the lordly one with the vibrant wings, 

the sacred one with vibrant wings

That is what our hummingbird children are for

That is what our hummingbird is for

That is what the lordly one with the vibrant wings is for

That is what the sacred one with the vibrant wings is for

It is the same as the Mountain of Medicine, the Mountain of Herbs

Fresh herbs

Herbs of clarity

Medicinal herbs

Sacred herbs

I bring with me thirteen doctors beneath the water

I bring with me thirteen doctors beneath the sea

They are children who resound, 

children torn up from the ground,

Holy Father,

You Saint

You Saintess

Ah Jesus Christ

You Saint

Dew woman, says

Fresh woman

Woman of clarity, says

Woman who prays to heaven

Moon woman,

Woman of the day, says

With all the saints, says

With all the saintesses, says

...

With as many saints, as many saintesses as there are

Now we bow ourselves down before you, speaking with humility 

beneath your shadow, speaking with clarity, says

We speak with tenderness, we speak with clarity, says

We speak with humility, we speak with offshoots, says

We speak with freshness, we speak with clarity, says

Fresh are our words, fresh our breath, fresh our saliva

Words are medicine

Medicine is the breath

Clean saliva, well-prepared saliva

Illumination of life, 

Illumination from on high, says

Illumination of the sap

Illumination of the dew

Holy Father

God the Father

God the Holy Spirit

Lord Saint Peter

Lord Saint Paul

....

Mother Patroness

You heart of Jesus

Jesus Christ

I have your staff of support, your staff of the dew

I have your good clean Bishop

I have paper

I have my Book

I am known in the house of Heaven

You know me my Mother,

God, my Father, knows me

Jesus Christ you will always, always reign in the house of heaven

Jesus

Heavenly Mother

I bring your medicinal herbs in my hands,

I always have your sacred herbs in my hands

There is no problem, there is nothing bad in what I have in my hands

It is freshness and clarity

Life and well-being

That is what I ask for, for buds and offshoots, Jesus Christ

Days of life are what I ask you for, Jesus Christ

Mother Patroness

Jesus

My Mother Mary

Jesus

I go along the path of the tracks of your palms, 

I go along the paths of the tracks of your hands

I am going there, I am arriving there

If it is a matter of evil, if it is a matter of anything salted, 

if it is a matter of resentment and rancor

If it is a matter of garbage, if it is a matter of dust, 

if it is a matter of whirlwind, if it is a matter of wind

That is the work of the saint, saint, saint, saint, saint, saint, saints

That is the work of the wain, saintess, saint, saintess, saint, saintess, saint, saint, saintess, saint, saintess...

Maria Sabina, by Rosenfeldtown