Magpies, Mushrooms and Messages
Thirty odd years ago I studied Anthropology at the University of Wales in Swansea. For those of you who don’t know, Wales is stereotypically famous for its rain, grassy mountains and sheep. These three important things have led it to becoming the undisputed capital for finding psilocybe semilanceata, or the liberty cap magic mushroom. Gram for gram this is one of the strongest psychedelic mushrooms in the world, so it is not surprising that it has become a Mecca for those seeking out this famous fungi.
And 18-year-old me was no different. My friends and I would walk out of the back of the student village and up into the green hills searching for this sometimes-elusive mushroom. If we weren’t having much luck, as often was the case, I would ask a magpie to show me where they were, and invariably they would. As time went on, I learnt how to call the magpies, who would appear as if by magic, then fly off and circle around a field or area where the mushrooms were growing. This wasn’t a call as in a croak or a whistle or, but more of an energetic beckoning. It felt like a kind of shiver that came up the spine and would seemingly emanate out of the body to seek out a magpie, who would answer its call. I managed to achieve this many times and I became certain that this animal-human communication was a very real phenomenon. Without really knowing what I was doing, I had somehow stumbled into a realm of shamanism.
This relationship between humans, animals and psychoactive plants is as old as history itself. There are cave paintings throughout the ancient world that depict men and women with mushrooms coming out of their heads seemingly connecting with jaguars, snakes, birds and other creatures. This form of communication is probably older than speech itself and we can still see it being practiced in many of the tribes and shamanic cultures that still exist today.
But what of us modern day western humans? How can we explain away such phenomena? We don’t really have a cultural or theoretical framework any more from which we can understand such things. Our ancient Celtic knowledge has been forgotten about or systematically destroyed. Science tells us that plants and animals are not truly conscious in the way that we are, so inter-species communication should be impossible. Any beliefs to the contrary are due to the ‘delusion’ of some mind-altering drug.
However, more and more people are beginning to reject this mechanistic, scientific paradigm in which they were raised. The use of plant medicines and other mind-altering practices are on the rise. Many of the people who partake in such things are saying the same thing as the ancients- plants are conscious and alive and animals can communicate with us. Mother Earth is a living conscious being and imparts information to us through signs, symbols and feelings. We are all one big living organism separated only through illusion.
But these realisations may not come easy. We have been brought up to believe that essentially the planet is an inanimate dead rock floating in space. That the plants and animals are unintelligent and are there for our use and disposal. When this belief is challenged through the use of psychedelics or other similar means, then it can be quite literally world shattering.
How many people have been treated as mentally ill because they thought the voices in their heads were coming from a bird? How many people have been institutionalised because their beliefs were seriously at odds with the narrow Western rational thought paradigm. How many more people are going to encounter seemingly impossible experiences without any one to guide them or to help them understand?
I was one of the lucky experimenters who was strong-willed and bloody-minded enough to disregard what I was being taught by the education system and sought out other ancient ways and knowledge. But not everyone was so fortunate, and sadly we have lost many along the way.
As we collectively move toward a new yang age, phenomena such as telepathy, clairsentience, precognition and inter-species communication will become more common place and accepted. It will certainly help us through this transition more smoothly if we pay heed to what the ancients have said, as they have done it all before and with humility and reverence. It is just us that have forgotten.