{"product_id":"road-trip-huautla-the-mushroom-cult-9781644407363","title":"Road Trip: Huautla - The Mushroom Cult","description":"\u003cp\u003eRoad Trip: Huaulta: The Mushroom Cult by Ralph Trout has only one map direction, 'Go south'. The left and right turns across deserts and jungles led to a mysterious, isolated village in the southern Sierra Madre Mountains, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. 1970's America was captivated by the combination of the spirit for adventure and a quest for new experiences. Ralph, with a few friends in an old VW van, rambled south of the border. Visiting intriguing ruins of great pre-Columbian civilizations, a thread of coincidences led the troupe to the remote village of Huautla. Far into the mountains, Ralph met an old weathered Indian woman: a sacerdosita who could channel the true magic of ancient Mexico and unknowingly evolved the modern culture of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHongos\u003c\/em\u003e ─ psilocybin mushrooms ─ opened a gateway of self-discovery at the Mazatec Indian mountain village. The Aztecs referred to the mind-expanding psychedelic fungi as '\u003cem\u003eflesh of the gods'\u003c\/em\u003e and consumed them with chocolate and honey. The Mazatec tribe of the southern Sierra Madres in Oaxaca considered these special mushrooms medicine merely for curing illnesses. They ate the mushrooms only when something was not quite right ─ physically, mentally, or morally and never for pleasure or recreation. In such an isolated area, well into the mid-twentieth century, the mushrooms were medicine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMar a Sabina, the oldest tribal woman trained to expand consciousness, led Ralph on a once-in-a-lifetime journey that would alter him positively all his long life. When she was seven, her father's family inducted her into the mushroom curative culture. Mar a became an expert at diagnosing and treating problems of the mind and body. When Gordon Wasson approached in 1955 and wrote a definitive article, \u003cem\u003eSeeking the Magic Mushroom\u003c\/em\u003e for Life Magazine, Mar a had already been practicing for fifty years \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRalph and friends encountered more than expected and witnessed incredible experiences of ancient cultures and self-discovery. Maria became Ralph's most experienced magic mushroom guide when she was 79. Ralph still tightly grasps the truths of those surprising lessons taught on the unique geometric plain beyond the \u003cem\u003ehongos'\u003c\/em\u003e orange dimensional portal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTrout, Ralph:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - A Western Pennsylvania farm boy, Ralph Trout, decided early in life the stork had brought him to the wrong home. He hated winters and their starving landscapes. At the University of Pittsburgh, Ralph gained a bachelor's in journalism and a master's in communications. Ralph's life could have been the main character of The Celestine Prophecy. Jobs were incredibly difficult to land after the steel mills imploded. Options open, he furthered his construction skills and worked as a general contractor and master diver throughout the Caribbean. Building houses and finding shipwrecks paid the bills. When there finally was money and time available, Ralph decided to write about his adventures.","brand":"Libertad Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50662626754834,"sku":"9781644407363","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f64e1473-6e52-49f5-802b-bcf7906c11e7.jpg?v=1733528866","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/road-trip-huautla-the-mushroom-cult-9781644407363","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}