Honguitos at the Doctor’s: An Indigenous Perspective on the Medical Use of Psilocybin

The “psychedelic renaissance” has forced questions of cosmology to the foreground in allopathic medicine. Where they would have otherwise been treated as incidental, mystical experiences have suddenly become central to treatment. While providers attempt to build effective protocols for the use of chemical agents like psilocybin, foundational medical literature continues to dismiss the Indigenous practitioners from which these agents were expropriated. This paper will look to Mixteca wisewoman Maria Sabina’s traditional practices as a standard, using a ritual-focused framework of relationality to evaluate current protocols for the allopathic use of psilocybin. By comparing traditional Indigenous and allopathic practices, I will argue that skillful engagement with cosmology is prerequisite for effective work with psilocybin. In line with recent calls to respect Indigenous traditions, I will close by suggesting serious amendment for allopathic medicine’s current mode of engagement with plant entheogens and derivatives such as psilocybin.