Carne de Dios - excerpt translation on Teonanacatl, Maria Sabina, and the mushroom origins behind the 1960s consciousness revolution

Teonanacatl, psilocybin-containing mushrooms called “God meat,” are central to Carne de Dios and are framed as triggering the later 1960s consciousness revolution. The excerpt is translated from Homero Aridjis’s novel and situates the story in the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, centered on Mazatec healer Maria Sabina in Huautla de Jimenez, where she practices veladas using the sacred mushrooms to heal and produce visions. The narrative includes a detailed velada setup and ceremony experience, including songs, ritual preparation, and the presence of foreign visitors whose pilgrimages helped ignite international interest in mushroom culture. It also weaves in a second section about the rumored visit of John Lennon and how local accounts describe an apparent search for Sabina’s ceremonies.