Early Art

Hallucinogens have been used throughout many cultures and over many eras. Mushrooms are still seen hanging on German Christmas trees, a reminder of the popularity of the fly agaric before the onset of Christianity (Furst, 1986). Thousands of ancient rock art engravings, statues, and other forms of art have been discovered and marked as psychedelic signatures of different cultures. Many of the form constants appear throughout the various cultures, yet are shaped by cultural influence. Some pieces of art just depict the actual hallucinogens without form constants or the characteristic distortion.

The bushmen of Africa were hunter-gatherers with a rich legacy of psychedelic rock art including paintings and ingravings (Devereux, 1997). This art was thought to be representative of daily life until examined much closer. Some of the art dates back only to 500 years ago while others date to about 26,000 years ago. Much of the art is thought to have been done by the shamans during or after healing dances and trances. Some of the pictures depict distorted bodies, long headdresses that may represent the head tingles hallucinogens produce, and drug-induced bloody noses (picture #1) (Devereux, 1997). The antelope was a very important animal to the Africans and it was often affiliated with psychedelic mushrooms (picture #2)(Pletscher and Ladwig, 1994).

                                       Picture 1                                                                   Picture 2

The Huichol Indians of Mexico often represented the peyote cactus experience in yarn paintings. Many of the psychedelic form constants such as lattices, tunnels and spirals are present. The psychedelic experience may bring these users closer to nature as depicted in many of their paintings. (Picture #3 represents a peyote-induced vision of a peyote flower, #4 hallucination of a tree, #5 hallucination of deer in the early stages of intoxication, #6 eyes closed peyote-induced imagery). (Siegal and West, 1975)

Picture #7 is a representation of a mandala, a primordial image that C.G. Jung believes is part of human collective unconsciousness formed under a cultural context (Siegal and West, 1975). The mandala is usually a circle associated with a square, representing man’s unity with the universe (Krippner, 1972). The mandala shows up frequently throughout many cultures and throughout many different eras, expressing the psychedelic experience. This mandala by Hugo Mujica was created in 1967 (Masters and Houston, 1968).

Picture 7

Many Native American tribes have also expressed their use of psychedelics through the use of art. The Shoshone Indians of California were a hunter-gatherer tribe that left behind over 20,000 petroglyphs dating back to 1200 C.E. Mountain sheep, snake, and weapon drawings are interspersed with entoptic form constants from altered states. It is believed that most of these drawings were made by shamans during vision quests. These shamans were most likely ingesting jimson weed. This culture and many others like it are thought to have used mushroom-eating as a religious practice. Picture #8 is a representation of an inspiration from an Indian religious peyote ritual by Tsa Toke of the Kiowa Indians (Masters and Houston, 1968). Research with the Ojibwa Indians of Minnesota indicates that atropine and Deadly Nightshade were used by the Ojibwa shamans who produced rock art as a result of their experience (Callahan). It is reported that people who take these hallucinogens often see "little people." Sure enough, little people stipple the cave drawings of these Indians.

Picture 8

Mexico and Central American countries have been dappled with psychedelic rock art and sculpture for thousands of years. Many of these pieces of art seem to glorify hallucinogens rather than portray an experience. Picture #9 is a Guatemalan sculpture most likely of a mushroom god (Masters and Houston, 1968). Picture #10 is a pre-conquest mural of a Mexican tribe known to use psychedelic mushroom. It is the depiction of the soul arriving on the playing fields of paradise (1968). Pictures #11-13 are more representations of the Mexican mushroom or psilocybe gods (Furst, 1986).

                               Picture 9                                                                                   Picture 10

                   Picture 11                                       Picture 12                                      Picture 13

Picture #14 is the representation of the entoptic and visual hallucination stages of rock art engravings as observed cross-culturally (Devereux, 1997). These similar stages occur throughout Mexican, Native American, and African bushman art. All start out with the curves and lattices of the form constants and then begin to integrate other forms as the trance continues. This may be a representation of the mind-expanding qualities of hallucinogens.

Picture 15