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History & Pioneers
Discover the rich history of magic mushrooms, from ancient cave paintings to the modern psychedelic renaissance. Meet the pioneers — like María Sabina, R. Gordon Wasson, and Albert Hofmann — who changed the world. Explore the key moments that shaped our understanding of psilocybin.
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John W. Allen: The Ethnomycologist Who Brought the World’s Most Famous Cubensis Strains to the West
Mars 23, 2026
Gabor Maté: The Doctor Who Changed How We Think About Trauma and Psychedelics (2026 Update)
Mars 23, 2026
Gabor Maté: The Doctor Who Changed How We Think About Trauma and Psychedelics (2026 Update)
Psychedelic Profiles · 8 min read
Few voices in modern medicine have been as clear, or as challenging, as Gabor Maté's. As a physician who spent over a decade on the front lines of addiction medicine in Vancouver, he watched thousands of patients struggle — not because they lacked willpower, but because they carried wounds no one had helped them heal. His conclusion was simple but radical: addiction is not a choice. It is a response to pain. That insight brought him eventually to Gabor Maté psychedelics research and advocacy — and to a place at the heart of the modern therapeutic renaissance.
In the 1960s, two Harvard professors changed how the Western world thinks about consciousness. Timothy Leary and Ram Dass — then known as Richard Alpert — started as academic colleagues. They ended up as icons of the psychedelic movement. Their story is one of science, spirituality, and an unshakeable belief that the human mind deserves more exploration than it gets.
Rick Doblin and MAPS: The Man Who Never Gave Up on Psychedelic Therapy (2026 Update)
How one determined scientist spent nearly 40 years building the path to legal psychedelic medicine — and what the FDA setback of 2024 means for the future.
Michael Mosley's Psilocybin Brain Effects on BBC TV
Mars 23, 2026
In 2011, BBC presenter and doctor Michael Mosley volunteered for a clinical trial that measured the psilocybin brain effects in real time. The resulting footage — broadcast as part of the BBC documentary Horizon: The Truth About Personality — remains one of the most vivid on-screen demonstrations of how psilocybin alters brain activity. Below we revisit what happened, what the scans revealed, and why the findings still matter for psilocybin research in 2026.
Portrait — The Man Who Introduced the World to Magic Mushrooms
R. Gordon Wasson was a New York banker. In 1955, he sat in a candlelit hut in the mountains of Mexico and ate magic mushrooms with a Mazatec healer. Two years later, he told the world about it. Nothing in mushroom culture has been quite the same since.
This is the story of who R. Gordon Wasson really was — the curiosity that drove him, the partnerships that shaped him, and the complicated legacy he left behind.
If you have ever heard the words "magic mushroom," you can trace them back to one man: R. Gordon Wasson. He was born in 1898 in Great Falls, Montana. For most of his adult life, Wasson worked as a vice president at J.P. Morgan & Co. — a world of suits, figures, and boardrooms. And yet, beneath that polished exterior, he carried one of the most profound questions a person can ask: why do mushrooms make us feel like we have touched something sacred?
Albert Hofmann — Father of LSD and Pioneer of Psilocybin
Septembre 12, 2023
Albert Hofmann is a name that echoes through the history of science — and through the minds of everyone who has ever felt curious about consciousness. Born on January 11, 1906, in Baden, Switzerland, this quiet, meticulous chemist became the Father of LSD — and, as we now know, so much more. His discoveries didn't just reshape chemistry. They opened a conversation that the world is still having today.
Terence McKenna: The Godfather of Psychedelic Culture
Avril 6, 2023
Writer, lecturer, ethnobotanist, psychonaut, mystic — Terence McKenna remains one of the most influential figures in the history of psychedelic culture. He spent his life advocating for the exploration of altered states of mind, building the foundations of modern shamanism, and giving counterculture an articulate, poetic voice. More than 25 years after his death, Terence McKenna's ideas continue to shape how millions of people think about consciousness, psilocybin, and the human mind.
Carlos Castaneda: Mystic, Anthropologist, and the Most Controversial Figure in Psychedelic History
Décembre 20, 2022
Carlos Castaneda: Mystic, Anthropologist, and the Most Controversial Figure in Psychedelic History (2026 Update)
Psychedelic Profiles | 8 min read
Few names provoke as much debate in psychedelic culture as Carlos Castaneda. His books introduced millions of readers to shamanism and plant medicines — yet most academics consider his fieldwork to have been largely invented. So who was he, really? And why does his influence still matter in 2026?
Some people change the world without ever meaning to. María Sabina was one of them. A Mazatec healer, poet, and spiritual guide from the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, she spent her life working quietly with sacred mushrooms. Then one night in 1955, a visiting American banker sat in on her ceremony. That single evening set off a chain of events that reached every corner of the world. This is her story.
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