The strange, beautiful, and deadly

María Sabina was a Mazatec curandera (shaman) who was the first native shaman to let westerners try the velada, a healing ritual involving the use of hallucinogenic Psilocybin mushrooms held sacred by local practitioners. After a 1957 Life magazine article written about her and her practice, the western world’s eyes were opened to the psychedelic properties of the “holy children.” Some of Sabina’s clients included celebrities such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Mick Jagger.