THE COLOMBIAN MUSHROOM MYSTERY

JUAN CAMILO RODRIGUEZ MARTINEZ

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WORLD SOCIETY OF ENTHEOBOTANICAL STUDIES 2017

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INDEX

SOMA AND THE MUISCAS ..... 5

SOMA AND THE TAYRONAS...27

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SOMA AND THE MUISCAS: THE COLOMBIAN MUSHROOM CULTS

DEDICATION To Carl Ruck … I’ve got the blues and of course the red one.

INTRO…

Mushrooms had fascinated humans always. They are present in fairy tales and now you can see
them all around the scenarios generated for the 3D children movies. Poets and painters had fallen
in love with the charm of the mushroom and its iconography it’s present on our wildest dreams
and atomic bombs. The use of the mushroom as an entheogen is one of themes that researchers
from the last times had tried to explain from different points of views. The works from Robert
Gordon Wasson, Robert Graves, Clark Heinrich and many others had set the basis for a question
that seems to open each time more doors and answers that transform themselves in other
questions. It’s like a spiral without an end and the allegory is beautiful. Still in the beginnings of
the XX century people from the western culture where not aware of the use of the mushrooms.
The secret was revealed by Richard Evans Schultes who traveled to Mexico and discovered the
lost identity of the teonanacatl. By those times Robert Gordon Wasson assisted to the velada with
Maria Sabina and what was maintained long time under an underground veil became one of the
most common intoxicants of the hippie culture. It’s very important to state that in the correct
hands a sacred plan acquires its shamanic properties but in the wronghands is just a drug. How a
secret was maintained so much time undiscovered generates lots of questions? The
conquistadores tried to destroy and hide all evidence of a mushroom cult in America but time
eventually revealed the lost secret. Today researchers are aware mushroom cults where celebrated
in the lands of Mexico. Research on the subject has advanced further and last discoveries talk
about mushroom cults that where held in countries such as Siberia, Greece, Japan and the exotic
islands of Hawaii. The Amanita Muscaria cult traced and detected by Robert Gordon Wasson on
the Ojibway tribe in North America is remarkable.

My country Colombia is well known worldwide because of the multiple ancient native
indigenous tribes that still live in the national territory. The variety of entheogens used all around
the country is innumerable. From coca, tobacco, yopo to ayahuasca the list is wide long.
Amazonas jungle keeps a big pharmacopeia waiting to be studied. Anyway the use of the
mushroom has been denied by every Colombian native Indian. They don’t like to talk about the
subject and are very seldom with the theme. Richard Evans Schultes and A. Bright published
back in 1979 what I consider the first document suggesting the presence of a mushroom cult in
Colombia. The name of the article is: Ancient Gold Pectorals from Colombia: Mushroom
Effigies? The authors observe pieces held in the Museo de Oro in Bogota, Colombia. The
goldsmith art from the ancient Colombian native tribes suggest the use of mushrooms. It’s clear.

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 Also a complete study of myths and oral traditions from Colombia gives the evidence of an
ancient use of a fungal sacrament. Maybe the actual Colombian Indians don’t remember the use
of a magic mushroom but the memory is preserved in magic fruits and thunder staffs present in
legends around cultural heroes. For example the Muisca tribe are the indigenous ancestors of the
actual habitants of the city of Bogota and its surroundings. The word for mushroom in muisca is
HUA. Mariana Escribano (An authority in Muisca language) tells us that the meaning or
ethymology for the word HUA is: Window to the invisible. So it’s evident that the ancient
muiscas knew the secret. Probably the first attack from the conquistadores to the Indians was a
religious attack and a prohibition was set up around the entheogen use. Further research must be
done around the theme. It’s important to note the similarities between the mushroom velada
hosted by Maria Sabina and the actual ayahuasca ceremonies celebrated in Colombia. There are
more questions than answers and the mystery is increasing each day. A mysterious piece exposed
in the Museo de Oro in Bogota, Colombia suggest the presence of Mithraism but as it was
written before further research must be done in the subject with the assistance of an specialist.
My last travels and field work had shown more light around the subject. I can assure by now a
fungal sacrament was used by ancient Colombians like Richard Evans Schultes once suggested.
Mushroom cults where dispersed worldwide. It’s important to study these issues for a better
understanding of ourselves in the spiritual clash that is striking the world right now. The
indigenous mushroom cult was transferred from the Indians to the peasants and they managed to
keep the secret and pass it to us. Eleusis was never lost.

1. FEW WORDS

Few words had been written around the subject of mushrooms and south American indigenous
tribes. In Colombia, South America the great number of different tribes opens the question and
the mystery because there are no answers. Colombian authorities from the academy are not
willing to give a try to theme and will deny the possible use of mushrooms by the ancient south
american indians by reducing it to drugs. The descendants of the ancient indigenous tribes do not
want to help at all and would deny instantly the mushroom use even if they are specialist in DMT
brews and Coca leave preparations.

Thats really a problem. No one is willing to give a solution to an ancient mystery so it’s the task
of this Bogota punk rocker to give it a try. As I wrote in the intro new evidence suggest the use of
mushrooms by the ancient Colombians. Gaston Guzman not well known work in my country was
remarkable. He identified lots of psilocybe mushroom species endemic from my country.
One example is the mushroom Psilocybe Bispora. Even more. The new mushroom discovered for
the science in Colombia by Gaston Guzman in the early 2000’s grew over the grounds of the
forests of Nageia rospigliosii . That’s an endemic Colombian and South American pine that grew
all over the country and has been the victim of extermination. In ancient times my country was
full of this lovely pines. Today there are resisting spots like the forests in Antioquia visited by
Gaston Guzman but the endemic pines number had decreased alarmingly. I suggest that there was
not only a mushroom cult practiced by ancient south American tribes but even more that there
was also a pine cult celebrated in the Americas like our brothers in Europe and in other parts of

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the planet.

While time passes the number of endemic Colombian psilocybin species increases and the
sighting of familiar species to the ancient Mexicans also starts to show. In Manizales, Colombia
Psilocybe Zapotecorum had been collected. Myself had spotted the semilanceata or one very
similar in appearance (weird being from Europe), and the beautiful Mexicana.
I had probed the muisca mushroom cult by a complete study done by the aid of Carl Ruck and
Clark Heinrich. New evidence and study of pieces of the Museo de Oro in Bogota suggest the the
mushroom cults not where only practiced by the Muiscas but also by the Tayronas and the
Tolimas.

At this point I would like to thank Clark Heinrich me for helping me understanding the Amanita
Muscaria mushroom. My idea of an Amanita Mushroom Cult in the Muiscas would not have
been developed without the encouragement of this wonderful human being, researcher and
tomato lover.

The tribes in question which I suggest practiced a mushroom cult are the Tayronas, the Muiscas
and the Panches or Tolimas. I will call the last ones Tolimas for the sake of confusion. Its
evidence seeing the pieces of goldsmithing belonging to this particular tribes in the Museo de
Oro being the Tolima ones the most powerful and less stylized of all while the Tayronas show
the artistic progress to the top.

The interest thing is that languages spoken by Tayronas and Muiscas where part of the the
Chibchan family languages originated in todays Costa Rica-Panama border. The language spoken
by the Panches belongs to the Cariban languages but it seems possible some of the cults practiced
by the chibchan people eventually arrived to peoples established in the south of Colombia. So I
suggest the mushroom cult entered Colombia from the north but no final word should be said
around these themes cause the ancient tribes of Peru where mushroom users indeed.
So indeed many mushroom cults indeed spread from one place to another but certainly where
originated also at different spots in different space-times in the history of humanity. In America I
believe the cults entered by Mexico and the Coasts of Peru but that’s not the subject of this
paper. Let’s continue to the next chapter.

2. THE MAN-BATS

Studying the mysterious pieces of the Museo de Oro the fungal enthusiast will instantly get
amazed for the strong resemblance that some pieces take from the mushrooms. It’s a work that
must be done at its many left to be done.

In my personal researchs I had tracked the mushroom cults in the Muisca, Tayrona and Tolima
tribes. An amazing recurrent motive in the Museo de Oro pieces is the one related to the
Man-Bat.

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The most well known Men-Bats are the Tayrona. Studyng the Tayrona pieces the stylized
mushrooms over the heads of the shamans are instantlyrecognized. The shamans also suggests
that are carrying some type of mushrooms in their hands. Anyway the Tayrona are the most
stylized of the Men-Bats. Of course the earlier representations suggest the mushrooms even more
evident that the latter ones. Also the golden hat actually used by the tayrona man-bat shamans
shows mushrooms.

We must aknowledge that the Koguis one of the most well know Colombian indigenous tribes
are descendants of the Tayronas and they will deny any use of the inhebriating mushrooms. Now
looking all over the Muisca Men-Bats their heads strongly suggest the pileus motive. All the
Muisca men-bats are mushroom heads. Reading the researchs of the eminent Jose Rozo Gauta
(authority on the Muisca culture) he suggested that this men-bat where wide users of entheogens
but he did not dare to suggest what type of entheogens this men-bats used.

By the artistic representations in the Museo de Oro one can infere that the entheogen in question
was of a fungal nature. I would dare to suggest we are talking of mushrooms of the psilocybin
type without discarding the possibility that the ancient Muiscas knew the SOMA but I will leave
this theme for another chapter centering in this one around the Men-Bats mystery.

Reading Jose Rozo Gauta one learns that these Men-Bats where Chthonic beings that lived in
caves and moved in the night. Its well known that the Muisca Priesthood was trained in the
nights and that the candidates where prohibited to look to the light and have interaction with
women. They lived in the caves for years and literally where night beings until their preparation
was over. Similarly the Mamos (The actual Kogui priests descendants of the ancient Tayronas)
are prepared before they can attain the title of priests. They cannot see the light and have
interaction with women for many years. By the way, Reichel-Dolmatoff, (The famous colombian
anthropology godfather) on his book Goldwork and Shamanism published in the late 80s, the
author annotated the actual use of magic mushrooms by the Kogui priesthood in their initiation
ceremony.

Now lets move further south to the Panches or Tolimas. The artistic representations of these part
of Colombia are the most evident regarding a mushroom use. The men-bats of the Tolimas also
represent Jaguars. Is a curious motive related to the shamans, totems and the stuff I had been
researching lately. Its amazing how the north Manbat shaman starts to turn into a Jaguar in the
south while retaining its bat properties cause the Tolima artistic representations are Men
Bat-Jaguars. When you turn the Tolima pieces upside down the mushrooms are evident. And the
Tolima mushroom-head shows the mushroom in all its splendor.

My hypothesis in the way of turning itself to a theory is that the mushroom cult was carried away
by the Tayrona Men-Bat Shamans all over my country. It’s a daring supposition to assume the
cult was diffused by the ancient Tayronas to the rest of the Colombian territory but it makes a
little sense when you see that the Muiscas, and Tayronas spoke languages that belonged to the
same Chibchan languages family. Its not crazy to assume this Man-bat shamans arrived to the

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south of Colombia sharing the ancient knowledge. Even if the Muiscas and the Panches where at
war almost all the time this Men-bat shamans could be a group of anarchist also. A secret society.
The Tayrona priesthood.

A remarkable and repetitive artistic detail represented in Tayrona gold pieces custodied in Museo
de Oro is the Fleur de lis. The Fleur-de-lis was a common artistic representation used by the
Tayronas. Carl de Borhegyi researchs around the subject are very interesting and he is the
authority regarding this particular theme. Indeed a Fleur-de-lis, Mushroom, Bat cult was
practiced by the Tayronas. A cult that points to mesoamerica as its origin. More inquiries must be
done. The Fleur-de-lis motive was not used only by the Tayronas in the prehispanic Colombia
but this research belongs to another paper.

Curious? Ahh. The Men-Bat theme should be tracked in further researches on Mexico,
Central-America and why not North America. The presence of the bat in myths and legends all
over America is a work left done that will add new insights to the future research.

For a finish in today’s Colombian state of Tolima ancient dwelling place of the Panches or
Tolimas there is lots of witchcraft still going on these days. I have a friend and very trusty
informant that told me once that a Tolima sorcerer gave him in some kind of witchcraft ceremony
a number of mushroom of the psilocybe genus different from the familiar Cubensis from the
cow.

I had written before that Gaston Guzman indeed identified Psilocybin mushrooms endemic from
Colombia and that in late years Mexican species well know from long time ago had been spotted and
identified in my country.

The evidence out there and points as clearly to an ancient mushroom cult dispersed all over the
Colombian territory. Its evident that the ancient Tolima shamans inherited their mushroom
knowledge to the actual witchcraft peasants that live in Tolima these days. Lots of anthropologic
studies had been done in the late years regarding the witchcraft theme in Tolima and this will
also bring new perspectives for the mushroom mystery studies in my country Colombia.
And indeed the Tolima Museo de Oro pieces are living testimonies of an ancient mushroom cult
practiced in the past.

A new field of operations is opening in the entheobotanic studies. I cant stop thinking of how the
ancient greek kids grew up listening the stories of Hercules and Perseus and I grew up listening
the stories of Batman and Superman. How entheogens, superpower, superheroes and shamans
relate to each other. The relations of ancient myths with comic books and how comic books this
days offer a new mythos for the actual generations. How the shamans and superheroes fight

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against the menaces that defy the peace of the community.

All this themes must be developed in further researchs. Meanwhile its important to remember the
Men-Bats from the past and the importance of Batman for today kids.
How the cultural ancient heroes and myths have influenced the comic books culture of today is a
true fact that has no discussion.

Photos of the Tayrona, Muisca and Tolima Men-Bats are attached to this paper. Lets continue to
the next chapter in which the theme discussed will be the actual Colombian peasants and their
knowledge regarding the ancient mushroom cults.

3. THE ACTUAL PEASANTS AND THE MUSHROOM: THE VILLA DE LEYVA CASE.

More or less from about 3 hours in bus from Bogota and 2 hours in car there is the colonial town
and municipality of Villa de Leyva. It’s located in the Boyacá department in Colombia. Villa de
Leyva is well known in the Bogota underground as the place to go for the mushrooms.
More or less about 20 years ago people started to go to Villa de Leyva for the magic mushrooms.
The peasantry received these travelers that where searchingfor the familiar Psilocybe Cubensis.
The rumor spread and with the passing of time more and more people started to go to Villa de
Leyva for the magic mushrooms. Villa de Leyva is a well known place around the world. Werner
Herzog movie Cobra Negra was shooted in Villa de Leyva. Some parts of it indeed. That’s
another great story. The visit of Kinski and Herzog to Colombia.

The architecture of Villa de Leyva is remarkable and the fresh air that you breath walking its
colonial streets literally transport you through time.

There is a well known lady and habitant of the surroundings of Villa de Leyva. Leaving the
colonial town more or less 2 hours of walking there are the Periquera Falls. Very near the falls
lives Doña Gilma. She is an old lady that is always willing to help the campers and travelers.
In my opinion she is like our Maria Sabina. With time I had become a very close friend of her
and she had told me and assured me that she never had eaten the mushroom but she is in love
with it. She masters the technics of mushroom drying better than any college student and
academic mycologist and in our conversations I always get a spot of knowledge. I remember last
time I bring an Amanita Muscaria to Gilma house and after she saw it looking me to the eyes she
said to me: “Esa es mas brava.” Literally “That’s more ferocious.”

With the pass of time and the spreading of the rumor the use of psilocybin cow mushrooms in
Villa de Leyva and its surroundings its no more a secret. The possession of mushroom now is
punished by the law and of course their traffic. Also the peasants are aware of the great price a
foreigner traveler is willing to pay for the precious mushrooms. Gilma is different. She is just in
love with the mushroom. More of all Gilma is a living testimony of the Muisca myths. The
Muiscas are the ancestors of the actual habitants of Bogota and its surroundings including Villa
de Leyva. Cundinamarca and Boyaca departments.

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The technics of leaving the mushrooms in the roofs on baskets is mastered by Gilma with a
unique talent. When I found my mushrooms I always go to Gilma house and gave her one of my
best mushrooms findings of the day and she celebrates it with a smile and tells me that she has
lots of friends and that she will give it to one of them.
Gilma is a very good informant except when her sons and grandchildrens are near. Instantly she
will fall in a deep silence and will divert the attention of the conversation to anything that has
nothing to do with the mushrooms.

Indeed the peasants familiar and friendly with the mushrooms are many but indeed the
mycophobia is extended in all of its way and you have to be very careful cause theycan call you
the cops and you dont want to be busted by the police on a psilocybin trip.
Stories of suicides, murders and bad use of mushrooms are told often so the camping has been
prohibited in the last years. Im lucky to had made some friends in there and well the kids always
find their ways to make their camping mushroom trips on Christmas seasons and vacations. But
of course travelling to the zone on normal seasons is not that easy as it was years before. Peasants
complain because the kids will damage the fences when picking the mushrooms or even because
the trips sometimes turn into sexual orgies that to the traditional peasant is disrespectful.
Gilma is a very respected person. I can spend hours and hours talking with her about mushrooms
and for me is an authority.

As I had told you Villa de Leyva has tuned to famous and the police is verysuspicious with the
kids that arrive to the bus terminal so there are other towns near Villa de Leyva and the Periquera
Falls that are the new destinies for the mushroom seekers. Arcabuco and Gachantiva are two
towns near the Periqueras and for the traveler is safer to arrive there instead of Villa de Leyva.
Some years before I published a book called LOS PRELUDIOS DE LA SUPERSTICION
MUISCA. It’s a book in which I reconstruct the Muisca cycle suggesting the possibility of a
mushroom cult. Near Periquera falls between the mountain lies the Iguaque Lake. It’s the Muisca
garden of Eden. Legend says that the goddess sprung from the lake waters with a 3 year old kid
on his hands. She constructed the first house and breeded her son until he turned into a man and
become her husband. All the Muiscas where born from this couple and the first Muisca town was
founded Chiquiza also called San Pedro de Iguaque. The goddess teached all the laws to the
Muisca people and returned with ther husband to the lake in which they disappeared in the form
of snakes.

This famous and fundamental myth of the Muisca tribe now theme of anthropologist books and
Oral traditions put to the text by historians and researches(Myself one of them.), is still a living
story in Villa de Leyva. Doña Gilma told me the narration last year when I visited her into her
house. Near Doña Gilma house there are some caves in which the Men’Bats I talked before
where initiated and lived. The caves of the Indian and of the Fetus. Years before you could enter
these caves freely but in the last years they had been sealed for preservation.

There is another important spot. More or less 10 or 20 km from la Periquera Fall reaching Villa

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de Leyva and then walking like more or less 2 hours to the desert zones you find Infiernito. It was
a Muisca Astronomical Observatory in which fertility rites where done. There are lots of stones
that resemble penis and I identify them as Mushroom stones. Its what I like to call the Colombian
Stonehenge.

If my suspicions are right: the caves, the muisca astronomical observatory Infiernito with its
penis’mushroom stones, and the lake with the goddess myth , and even the Periquera falls. Sum
all the parts and you have a result. All this was part of a religious Muisca complex. And even
more. I suggest the use of a fungal entheogen endemic from this lands. The sacrament in the
fertility cults. An endemic mushroom of the type psilocybe was used by the muiscas of course or
probably many the knowledge belonging to the priesthood.

A last word around Doña Gilma. From ancient times the Muiscas had prepared two fermented
drink called Chicha and Guarapo. Fermented beverages derived from the Maize. The south
American Muiscas where acknowledged of the fungal processes in the fermentation of their
alcoholic drinks. Doña Gilma still masters this technic and her Guarapo is the true Chicha from
the Muisca times.

I had talked already of Gaston Guzman, of the endemic species of psilocybin in Colombia. Ive
been travelling Villa de Leyva and Arcabuco surroundings looking for an endemic psilocybin
mushrooms. I had not being successful in it but im pretty sure the answers lies there to be found
or maybe it was solved already by Gaston Guzman. Im not a skilled mycologist. In the process
perhaps. And well today a friend of mine wrote me that talking to some Colombian peasants
today they told him of an endemic psilocybin species growing on the Oaks.
Researchers would be surprised because of the biodiversity of Colombia. In the endemic
Romeron Pine forests Gaston Guzman identified the Psilocybe Bispora. Gaston Guzman was
also responsible for identifiying an endemic psilocybin south American species from the
highland moor. Psilocybe Columbiana.

The surroundings of Villa de Leyva are highland moor.

The goldsmithing evidence is remarkable in the Museo de Oro. Im more than sure that the
Muiscas used the psilocybin mushrooms and that was an extended knowledge of the use of it all
over the territory but a new question opens in my mind.

Was the SOMA used by the Muiscas? In the actual Villa de Leyva and its surroundings lots of
species of mushrooms grow. Different colors, shapes and forms. It’s a real mushroom land. The
seekers of mushrooms where only paying attention to the Psilocybe Cubensis. But in the zone
lots of Amanita Muscaria grow and the Amanita Muscaria season is in Christmas.

In the last years the Amanita Muscaria has gained popularity in the Bogota kids and now
its looked after with enthusiasm even if it has been growing from a very long time. You
wont believe but in my city Bogota surrounded by mountains, they are full of Amanita
Muscaria. I just remember a friend. Trust worthy that told me he saw Semilanceata in the

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Bogota Mountains. Another friend has seen the Zapotecorum in Manizales. Lots of
sightings of psilocybin mushrooms different from the Cubensis had increased by the years
and this is a perfect example that there is lots of work to be done.

Mexico would be a good example to follow regarding the identification of endemic species.
In the next chapter and for the sake of focus I will center my arguments around the Soma use in
the Muisca tribe.

4. SOMA AND THE MUISCAS

There is no mystery that the Ancient indigenous tribes of America used the psilocybin
mushrooms this regarding primarily from the Mexican tribes. Which tribes in America used the
psilocybin mushrooms is not the matter of this paper or of this chapter. Here we are going to
center in the fabulous mushroom of the fairy tales. The read head with the white spots over it.
Amanita Muscaria.

Much has been written about the SOMA. Wasson remarkable book SOMA DIVINE
MUSHROOM OF IMMORTALITY for me is the best research to the date regarding the elusive
identity of the mysterious plant used and celebrated bythe ancient vedic poets.
The years has passed when that book was originally published. An Amanita Mushroom cult has
been detected in North America and in recent years the variety of the North American Amanita
Muscaria has been identified as different than her European sister. The Amanita girls. You get
the pun? Punk.

Any suggestion of an Amanita Muscaria use regarding the Colombian ancient tribes is instantly
dismissed by both Academy and actual Colombian Indians. The first attack consists assuring that
the conquerors bring with them the foreign pines and species of trees and of course the Amanita.
Similar argument was exposed regarding the psilocybin mushrooms and the cows that arrived
with the Spanish and latter European invasion.

There is an endemic tree from Colombia: Quercus Humboldtii. Its called the Colombian Oak.
There is a mushroom of the genus Amanita called the Amanita Flavoconia. Regarding this
Amanita Flavoconia mushrooms two variants where collected from Colombian Oak forests:
Amanita Flavoconia var. Sinapicolor and Amanita Flavoconia var. Inquinata.
Im aware this Amanita Flavoconia is not entheogenic but more research must be done. Anyway its
appearance resembles the Muscaria so at least the South American indigenous tribes had the
iconography of the Fly Agaric.

Im familiarized with the new interpretations of the ancient Mexican writing of the Popol Vuh and
the suggestions in the book of the Amanita Muscaria used by ancient Mexicans.
I had seen Codex from the ancient Mexicans despicting the Amanita Muscaria only to be seen by
the initiated. Let me use the term in these sentence. So tracking the Amanita Muscaria give as a

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clue to follow in Siberia, Usa and Mexico. Add to that all the vedic traditions and European
folklore and fairty tales. This only gives a beautiful charm to the mystery that im not willing to
resolve at all but enjoy in all its delight.

There are lots of stories regarding the Muiscas, Villa de Leyva and its surroundings. Ive heard
stories of the ancient habitants of Atlantis that visited this lands before the Spaniards. Similar
stories ive heard about Vikings and Egyptians. But in my last trip one of my bemushroomed
partnerts and one of the best mushroom hunters ive ever met in my life start talking about the
Hindu people. It’s a curious story. There is also UFO activity reported in these lands.
Anyway the Amanita Muscaria grows a lot in Villa de Leyva and its surroundings the same way
as the Psilocybe Cubensis. Its very easy to find them but the month of December to me is the best
for picking both the Amanitas and the Psilocybes. As I had written before is a mushroom zone in
which lots of work must to be done. I had seen the Psilocybe Mexicana growing in those fields
and im pretty convinced some of the endemic mushrooms encountered by Gaston Guzman are
also to be found by the skilled researcher in the Villa de Leyva-Arcabuco surroundings. In the
summer season you wont find mushrooms.

No record of Amanita use has been recordedor suggested ever in the ancient tribes of Colombia
but I suspect they kept the secret very good. I wont assure such an idea but I had the intuition that
the Amanita Muscaria var. South America is still there to be studied and identified.
There is one curious piece that now is held in a Cleveland museum. It’s a Muisca Gold pendant
that symbolizes a bird but to me is the Colombian goldsmithing piece that resembles more an
Amanita Muscaria. It would be important to note here the fact that the psilocybe Mexicana was
called by the ancient Nize or little birds.

This really opens more questions than answers. I will attach the photo of the Cleveland piece at
the end of this paper along with the Men-Bat from the Colombian goldsmithing.

In my personal experience I think the Amanita Muscaria found in Villa de Leyva is very
powerful. Cooked on a peasants traditional oven it will turn from red to orange and all her magic
properties will start to flow. Doing a little ball of it and swallowing whole was my experience
with a little milk and maryjane.

One of the most potent experiences in my life.

I leave the question open: Did the Muiscas used the Amanita Muscaria? I would dare to answer
the question with a yes and leave to time to give me the reason or indulge me for such a lousy
statement.

Recent communications and acknowledgment with the researcher Carl de Bohergy makes me
think im on the right track.

EPILOGUE

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Some conclusions are put to the paper. Schultes identified the Zinu and Quimbaya cultures as
mushroom users in his famous paper. I added to the picture the Muiscas, the Tayronas and the
Tolimas. Something makes sense in all of this cause the languages spoken by the Tayrona and
Muisca tribes belong to the Chibchan families stock.

As in all societies probably the use of mushrooms become part of the elite priesthood long before
the arrival of the Spaniards but the persecution over the religious practices of the natives turned
the used of the mushroom into a complete mystery.

As I wrote before more research must be done. Talking today of Carl de Borhegyi he sent me a
goldmisthing piece of the Malagana culture recently discovered in 1992 despicting mushroom.
This culture was located in Valle del Cauca. By coincidence I was studying a piece of the Calima
Culture. The mushroom is really evident in this Calima piece. A culture located also In Valle del
Cauca. I traced mushroom use in the figure and it makes sense with the information provided by
de Bohergy and the Malaganas.

Also there is a mysterious archeological site called San Agustin to the south of the department of
Tolima. These people disappeared without trace. It’s a mystery. They left many statues. Some
friends had told me they suspect of these tribe as mushroom users. A hippie that has travelled to
the zone many times told me that he was convinced that one of the statues in San Agustin was
really a mushroom shaman with the entheogen in his hand. Entering the Museo de Oro in Bogota
there is a San Agustin statue that suggest the same.

Its curious but San Agustin is in the department of Huila. Huila is in the south from the Tolimas
and Valle del Cauca is to the west of Huila. Cundinamarca and Boyaca are to the north east of
Tolima. The Tayronas leaved on the north coasts to far away of this zones.

My theory is that the mushroom cult entered Colombia from the north. The Men-Bat dispersed
the mushroom cult all over the territory from the Tayronas to the Zinues, Quimbayas, Muiscas,
Tolimas, to the Valle del Cauca and also Huila disappearing without trace in the jungles of the
south.

Without discarding another mushroom cult that emerged from Peru.

Why not both cults? A research around lunar myths and solar myths around the world must be
done. Could had been a war between the Sungod and the Moongoddess? That’s another story
waiting to be written. Could be the Amanita related to the sun myths and the Psilocybin to the
moon myths? It’s just a supposition. An speculative fiction.

Its just an idea. But this idea covers all the Chibchan language tribes also including the cults
identified by Schultes and the Colombian pine forest of Antioquia in which Gaston Guzman
discovered the Psilocybe Bispora. I have a friend. He is a verypopular indigenous leader. He is a
Muisca. Very trustful person and wonderful human being. He once told me the Muiscas used

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some kind of ointment made from the Amanita Muscaria mushroom. He call the medicine
Manita. Manita sounds like Amanita and a diminutive of a hand: Little hand. Its the only living
testimony of a member of a colombian indigenous tribe regarding the use of Amanita Muscaria.
Ill keep his name in secret for the sake of mystery. No spacetime regarding the use of Muiscas
and Amanita has been ever recorded and he refused to speak more about the theme excusing
himself that he did not knew no more.

THE END. JUAN CAMILO RODRIGUEZ

MARTINEZ April 07 of 2016 Bogota Colombia. South
America.

SOMA AND THE MUISCAS IMAGE GALLERY

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For Chris Casuse, Clark Heinrich, and Charles Hayes... Thanks

“Amarillo, me tienes en los bolsillos Morado, ya me olvidé del pasado En rojo, por que me
sangran los ojos de llorarte Cuando no estás a mi lado Celeste, cuésteme lo que me cueste
Dorado, por que no pienso perderte Tu amor es un arcoiris de colores Y me muero por tenerte.”
Amarillo by Shakira in her album El Dorado.

“Between the Kogui there is a myth that speaks about the fight between two shamans, one of
them is defeated and turned into a skeleton. The victorious shaman “blows” the bones and makes
his adversary resurrect.
In the Sierra Nevada, the shamanic learning lasts eighteen years , distributed in two periods of
nine years that symbolize a slow gestation in which the apprentice lives in solitude, under severe
privations that include food, sleep, sex and some more. The extasis is produced by the ingestions
of certain mushrooms and other hallucinogens; the culminating fase of the esoteric teaching
reaches its point when the neophyte believes he is hearing supernatural voices that speak to him
from an obscure corner of the enclosure”.
From the book by Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
Goldwork and Shamanism: An Iconographic Study of the Gold Museum of the Banco de la
Republica, Colombia

SOMA AND THE TAYRONAS: A MUSHROOM, FLEUR DE LIS, BAT CULT IN A

PREHISPANIC INDIGENOUS TRIBE OF COLOMBIA IN SOUTH AMERICA.

1. THE TAYRONA MUSHROOM STONES.

The Tayronas where a tribe that lived in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and its surroundings
on the actual territory of Colombia. The subject of these paper is to continue what it was
researched on a previous paper published by the name SOMA AND THE MUISCAS: THE
COLOMBIAN MUSHROOM CULTS. In this previous paper I exposed the colombian
mushroom mystery. I´ve recommend to read SOMA AND THE MUISCAS before the reader
continues the reading of these paper.

I will continue the exposition with the analyzis of two curious pieces found in the Museo del Oro
in Bogotá, Colombia. The first figure is very curious. It shows one of the Man-Bat-Shamans
sitting over the top of a mushroom. While his head is also a mushroom and inside his head there
is another mushroom in the middle of two birds. There is a curious and beautiful detail. The
border that is adorning the scene of the birds with the mushroom in the middle and tha also
makes of border of the mushroomhead of the shamans shows what looks like the white spots of
the Amanita Muscaria. Anyway this last observation is just a suggestion but of course we are
looking a to a mushroom bat shaman of the Tayronas.

There had been found a considerable number of mushroomstones in Central America. This
Mushroom stone belongs to the Tayrona tribe in Colombia, South America. In the museum there

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is only another piece similar to this.

Its beautiful also. When you look at it the mushroomhead detail is evident even if it has not so
many details like the previous piece described the border still resembles the Amanita Muscaria
white spots and also there is some kind of circular ornament in the middle of the mushroom head
that suggests a mushroom.

So we have two types of representations of the man-bat mushroom shamans. The golden ones
analyzed in the previous paper tfor the sake of actual research manywhere preserved of the
pillage of the conquistadors. But only two mushroom stones in the whole museum complex that
belong to the Tayrona tribe where preserved for destruction. And also the onlypieces suggesting
mushrooms made from stone in the Museo del Oro are these two Tayrona Man-Bat Shamans..

The two only colombian mushroom stones to my knowledge.

Lets pass to the next chapter where we will discuss the Fleur de Lis representations of the
Tayronas.

2. THE TAYRONA FLEUR DE LIS REPRESENTATIONS

In the previous paper: SOMA AND THE MUISCAS. I mentioned the presence of Fleur de Lis
motives in prehispanic indigenous art of Colombia. The authority in these theme is Carl de
Borhegyi. I think he is the first researcher to point out that mesoamericans hold a traidition
regarding to Fleur de Lis. Citing Borhegyi´s essay THE RETURN OF LORD QUETZALCOATL
i found this passage worthy of quoting: “ In both hemispheres the Fleur de lis symbol is
associated with divine rulership, linked to mythological deities in the guise of a serpent, feline,
and bird, associated with a Tree of Life, it's forbidden fruit, and a trinity of creator gods. In
Mesoamerica, as in the Old World, the royal line of the king was considered to be of divine
origin, linked to the Tree of Life. Descendants of the Mesoamerican god-king Quetzalcoatl, and
thus all Mesoamerican kings or rulers, were also identified with the trefoil, or Fleur de lis
symbol.”

The magic mushroom could possibly be the forbidden fruit Borhegyi is speaking about?
The porpuse of this paper is not to try to decode the symbolisms of Fleur the Lis. For these I
would recommend to consult the wonderful work of Borhegyi that can be found in the website:

http://www.mushroomstone.com/somaintheamericas.htm

I just want to point out the presence of Fleur de Lis motives in the Tayrona art on prehispanic
Colombia. Also, before I continue, its important to clarify a few points. In SOMA AND THE
MUISCAS I talked about the Chibchan family language that migrated from Mesoamerica and
spread to the south reaching the territories of Colombia. There is a version that assures
the Tayrona are of mesoamerican origin and also that they are filiated to the Muiscas.

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So this makes a connection between Mesoamerica, the Tayrona tribe in the north of Colombia
and the Muiscas I spoke in SOMA AND THE MUISCAS.

Last research assures the language that the Muiscas spoke had no relations with the Chibchan
family language. There is a possibility that the Muiscas are the mix of a migration of a Tayrona
invasion that hybridized with another tribe that already inhabited the inlands of Colombia. The
Mesoamerican migration that originated the Tayronas reached the territories of the north of
Colombia and while they established and originated the Tayronas culture some others keep their
migrations to the south founding an old established culture (today called by the researchers
Herrera) and this mix originated the Muiscas.But who knows? This is not the purpose of this
paper.

I would love to also point out I like to use the term SOMA to refer to the Amanita Muscaria
because it was popularized by the great researcher Robert Gordon Wasson. These does not mean
that I think that people of India or Aryans reached America in prehispanic times. There is gossip
and researchers that have theories of egyptians and other cultures that arrived to prehispanic
Colombia aand thats a fact. And last research suggest that probably chinese people arrived to
Colombia long before Colombus but who knows?. I would also don´t know what original SOMA
was but a mushroom is a good candidate.

Lets continue... Anyway. Even if the Muisca language is not chibchan related the Tayrona was
indeed. A posible explanation is that the Muisca language is a language that mixes the Chibchan
language features with the language the Herrera spoke. I will leave this riddle to ethymologists.
What I can assure you is that a Bat cult arrived from Mesoamerica along with a mushroom and a
Fleur de Lis cult.

Next I will expose some curious pieces of the Museo del Oron in Bogota that show Fleur de Lis.
All this belong to the Tayrona culture. Other prehispanic tribes in Colombia also casted the Fleur
de Lis symbol in their goldsmithing but for the sake of focus I will center in the Tayronas.
The first piece shows a bird. For the common people it looks like like a plain bird but if you look
its details it looks like a Fleur de Lis. If we only had this piece there would not be more clues for
identifying this piece with a Fleur de Lis. Colombian researchers assure there a few vegetable
representations if even none regarding colombian prehispanic goldsmithing. So the average
colombian researchers always speak of this piece as a bird. Of course I see a bird but also there is
an encoded Fleur de Lis.

When we take a look to the second piece there is no doubt the Tayronas had a cult or something
related to the Fleur de Lis. This beautiful piece of goldsmithing art of the Tayronas shows a
mushroom head manbat shaman performing some kind of entheogenic ceremony. When you see
the chest of the shaman you can see a Fleur de Lis. There are two strange supernatural lizard
looking beings under the table also (toadstools?). Also 4 round circles that look like mushroom
caps adorn the piece that in the whole looks also like a flying bat. He is holding in his hands
something that looks like two mushrooms of two glasses full of fungal sacraments I suggest.

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Now the third piece is very similar to the second showing a mushroom head manbat shaman in
some kind of trance. The whole piece is a flying bat too. His mushroom head also shows the gills
of the mushrooms. Also it has some decorative dots that suggest the Amanita Muscaria white
spots.
The last piece im analyzing is made of mud or clay. That is not important. It looks like
a gathering of manbat shamans. They are all crowned with mushroom heads.

If Bohergyi is right and the ancient Mesoamericans professed some kind of worship to the Fleur
de Lis symbol is not a risk to assure this cult arrived to prehispanic Colombia with the migration.
I think the origin of the Tayrona Bat, Mushroom, Fleur de Lis cult is in Mesoamerica and this
manbat shamans spread all around the prehispanic colombian territory sharing their entheogenic
knowledge with other tribes that did not even belong to the chibchan family. Research around the
mesoamerican god Camazots will give new insights to the case.

Its also probable that the Herrera people. The original dwellers of the lands that would become
known as the Muisca territories worshipped a lunar goddess and where ruled by a queen. In this
cultural hybridization the Tayronas bring with them a solar deity and all this originated the
Muisca pantheon but more research must be done on the subject.

3. THREE TAYRONA CURIOUS PIECES IN THE MUSEO DEL ORO

There are three curious pieces of the Tayrona goldsmithing art that deserve to be analyzed. In the
present chapter will proceed to do the task.
The first image shows what I think is a gold pendant with two birds and between the space what
it seems to be a mushroom. When we turn upside down this figure it also shows a mushroom
cap. It even looks like an Amanita Muscaria.cap.
The second image its the most intriguing in the whole museum to me. Its beautiful pectoral. Its
an scene that shows two birds and what in the middle seems to be a sun emerging from the
underground. If my suspicions are right this sun looking detail is the sun and the mushroom at
the same time.
The scene also shows some decorative mushrooms that elude to an experience with an
entheogen.
The reader must remember something at this point...
When we analyzed in the first chapter of this paper the first mushroom stone, it shows a
mushroom manbat shaman sitting on a mushroom. His head is a mushroom and inside his head
are two birds that are guarding a mushroom. Three mushrooms. The mushroom stone gives us
the botanical identity of what this circle in the middle of the birds really means. A mushroom.
The raven´s breath.
This Tayrona piece also suggest Freemasons and Mithraism. Of course there where no Mithraism
and Freemasons in the ancient Tayrona times but the Sol Invictus symbolism as the two birds that
remember Castor and Pollux suggest a secret society of some kind... Im not very versed on this
themes so I would leave the question to be solved to futher researcher specialized in the theme.
Anyway Ive heard of a roman sword that was found in the north of America and the Father

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Crespi story. Many mysteries unsolved. Further research must be done.
If you look carefully at the piece it resembles a Father Crespi piece. The father Crespi piece
shows two feline type animals while the Tayrona piece shows two birds. A sun is in the middle.
Something important to mention is while in the mushroom stone and in the pendant the birds are
looking to each other on the pectoral the birds are giving each other their backs.
Could it possibly be the Manbat Shamans origin in a secret society of some type?
Its evident the sun represents the Amanita Muscaria mushroom and that the ancient Tayronas
performed some kind of cult that involved fungal sacraments, bats and the fleur de lis symbol.
There has been suggested a filiation between de Tayronas and the Muiscas. There is Muisca myth
that deserves to be related at this point. In the beggining was total darkness and Tchyminigagua
appeared. From the shoulders of Tchyminigagua two crows where born. They started to fly. One
to the left and the other to the right. While the birds waved their wings light started to flow from
their beacks. Thats how light appeared in the cosmos...
A beautiful myth with lots of versions. This is just a resume. And this gives a lot of clues around
the pieces already analyzed in this text.
Its important to note also this myth resembles the european myth of Odin.
For a finish to the actual chapter the third curious piece shows a pendant that also shows the form
of a mushroom. Just to support the case.

4. FOR A FINISH
In the paper SOMA AND THE MUISCAS was suggested the use of magic mushrooms by
various indigenous prehispanic tribes in Colombia including the Tayronas. The analisys of the
Manbat Shamans of gold can be found in that paper. The mushroom stones and pieces analyzed
in the present paper SOMA AND THE TAYRONAS are very supportive when exposing a
mushroom use by the ancient Tayronas in Colombia.

In my last visit to the Museo del Oro before leaving the place I was checking the Tayrona section
of the museum and two particular pieces caught my attention. The first shows what looks like an
Amanita Muscaria anthropomophized into a Shaman looking dude. The second its beautiful... It
shows two baskets and in the top of the one in the right side from the point of the viewer , what it
seems like a read heart or could possibly be the Amanita Muscaria or maybe the Fleur de Lis?
Why not all of them...

In the last days before publishing this paper a person belonging to the Arhuaco tribe wrote to me
a message regarding the Amanita Muscaria presence in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This trusty
informant told me that he has seen this mushrooms growing in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. As
with my Muisca informant i will live his identity a mystery. This testimony is very valuable.
Since I started this research the members of the Arhuaco tribe when I inquire them about
mushrooms had been very selfish. So this last testimony is very valuable. The Arhuaco are said
to be descendants of the Tayronas.

There is no doubt the mushrooms had been used in la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta since ancient
times.

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The End
JUAN CAMILO RODRIGUEZ MARTINEZ
July 11/ 2017

Recommended Readings:
• Secret Drugs of Buddhism
Mike Crowley
• Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures
Charles Hayes - MHUYSQHUBUN: LENGUA BACULO
Mariana Escribano
• Goldwork and Shamanism: An Iconographic Study of the Gold Museum of the Banco de la
Republica, Colombia Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
• Los Kogi: Una tribu indígena de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff

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SOMA AND THE TAYRONAS IMAGE GALLERY

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ALL PHOTOS OF THIS DOCUMENT TAKEN BY THE AUTHOR EXCEPT

THE CLEVELAND PIECE RETRIEVED FROM:

https://co.pinterest.com/jarisoni/muiscas-character-design
/

FATHER CRESPI PIECE RETRIEVED FROM:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tx9HNmO4duc/Te49jLTSwnI/AAAAAAAAGrw/Zru4-EnwjRU/s640
/crespi+lamina.jpg

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