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History of Medicine and Ritual Uses of Psychedelic Plants in Aztec | Sacred Plants ||



Published
Sacred Plants in the Americas II
April 23, 24 and 25, 2021

Speakers: Osiris Sinuhé González Romero

The aim of this talk to reflect on the ritual uses of psychedelics in ancient Mesoamerica, especially in the Aztec worldview, based on a decolonial approach. This talk is built on the data provided by archaeological evidence and historical sources, such as codices, manuscripts, and chronicles. My goal is to show the ancestral roots of sacred mushrooms and to go beyond the epistemological extractivism to achieve the recognition of Indigenous rights, especially those related to traditional knowledge. First, I will explain the historical sources and the methodology needed to talk about psychedelics in ancient Mesoamerica and Aztec culture, in order to go beyond misconceptions and cultural appropriation. Next, this talk will explain Xochipilli´s iconography. Xochipilli is the deity of song, flowers, and pleasure, who is associated with different psychedelics plants such as: ololiuhqui (morning glory), sacred mushrooms, and sinicuichi (Heimia salicifolia); then, I will explain, briefly, the ritual uses of psychedelics; especially, sacred mushrooms, because there is a wide array of songs that address this topic. Third, I will display and give an explanation of the iconography and psychedelic plants associated with Tlaloc, the “God of Rain,” such as yauhtli (Tagetes lucida) and ololiuhqui. Then, I will describe a ceremony, compiled in the Florentine Codex, that is perhaps the most ancient written source about a complete ritual with sacred mushrooms in Mesoamerica. Lastly, this talk will address the information provided by the historical sources produced during the early colonial period (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) in the Florentine Codex and the Badian Codex related to the medical uses and divinatory rituals of psychedelic plants, such as peyote, toloatzin (Datura innoxia), and sacred mushrooms.

Osiris Sinuhé González Romero is a PhD candidate at Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology-Heritage of Indigenous Peoples. His dissertation “Tlamatiliztli: the wisdom of the Nahua people. Intercultural philosophy and right to land”, will be published by Leiden University Press. He was awarded the Coimbra Group Scholarship for Young Professors and Researchers from Latin American Universities in 2015. He has been involved in psychedelic research since 2008. He is part of the Chacruna Chronicles editorial team. He is also founder member of Via Synapsis, an academic society focused on the organization of the University Congress of Psychoactive Substances hosted by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Faculty of Philosophy since 2014. Currently he has been working in the book: “New Essays on History and Philosophy of Psychedelics”. González Romero taught undergraduate courses in the Faculty of Philosophy (UNAM). His research interests include: philosophy of psychedelics, history of medicine, indigenous knowledge, decolonial theory, political philosophy, heritage studies, and aesthetics.
Category
Health
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