Mushrooms, Russia and History

Sabina and her Mazatec mushroom velada. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York. Wasson, V.P., and R.G. Wasson. 1957. Mushrooms, Russia, and history. Vol. 11. Pantheon, New York. 

In their monumental book Mushrooms, Russia and History (1957), the Wassons, Robert Gordon and Valentina, draw parallels between the beliefs of the Siberian tribes about the mushrooms and those of the Mexican mushroom-using peoples ... 

R. Gordon Wasson and Valentina P. Wasson, Mushrooms, Russia and History, Pantheon Books, New York, 1957, p. 211. 

The first extensive accounts of the Wassons discovery appeared in May 1957. They published a monumental two-volume work on their investigations, Mushrooms, Russia and History, and a shorter, more accessible report of seventeen pages in Life magazine. Only 512 copies of their magnum opus were issued (going for 125 then, and now selling at more than 2,000 a copy), but the Life article was seen by millions. 

Fascinated for nearly a half century by Siberian use of Amanita muscaria mushrooms, Wasson compared Native American practices and concluded that shamanistic employment of Fly Agaric was "circumpolar in extent and that the rituals were similar. The only important difference he found was in regard to the "reindeer symbolism associated with these mushrooms in Siberia in North America, there is no such symbolism because there are no such animals. Remarkable similarities in practices and beliefs had already been described by the Wassons in Mushrooms, Russia and History (1957) ... 

That is where things stood when Tina Wasson, in the early 1950s, told her friend, the poet Robert Graves, about their research for Mushrooms, Russia and History. Graves called her attention to Schultes paper on teonanacatl, which was referenced in an article he d... 

In Mushrooms, Russia and History, Wasson described what transpired that evening in words of great beauty and piety. Speaking for both Richardson and himself, he reports that they first saw ... 

WASSON, v.p. and r. g. wasson 1957. Mushrooms Russia and History. Two volumes. Ihn-theon Books, New York. 

S son, R.G. 1972c. The death of Claudius or mushrooms for murderers Botanical Museum Leaflets Harvard University 23(3) 101-128. A revised version of Chapter IV. Mushrooms for Murderers from Mushrooms Russia and History, pp. 47—64. See Vhsson Wasson I9J7A. 

Wisson, V.P. and R.G. Wasson 1957A. Mushrooms Russia and History. Two volumes. Pantheon Books, New York. Limited clothbound and boxed edition of 512 copies, and there also exists a brace (pair) of mutilated and defeedve copies, A beautiful book graced by no illustrations, with 82 plates, including 26 watercolors byJean-Henri Fabre executed in color by... 

Whsson, V.P. and R.G. Wksson 1957B. Mushroom Ceremony of the Mazatec Indians of Mexico. Vinyl i-p. record with transcription and translation in an accompanying booklet of a mushroom curing ceremony recorded on 21 July 19 56. Folkway Records, Newark. Translation and commentary by E.V PikeandS.C. Gudschin-sky with excerpts from Mushrooms Russia and History. Still available at U.S. 12,95. Anew translation was presented in Munn s... 

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