My name is Carl de Borhegyi, I am the son of the late Maya archaeologist Dr. Stephan F. de Borhegyi who was the first to propose that hallucinogenic mushroom rituals were a central aspect of Maya religion. He based this theory on his identification of a mushroom stone cult that came into existence in the Guatemala Highlands and Pacific coastal area around 1000 B.C. along with a trophy head cult associated with the Mesoamerican ballgame.

As a result of my own study and solid evidence from other scholars, I have been able to expand this subject far beyond my father’s pioneering efforts. I now believe that Mesoamerica, the high cultures of South America, and Easter Island shared, along with many other New World cultures, elements of a Pan American belief system so ancient that many of the ideas may have come from Asia to the New World with the first human settlers. Judging from the wealth of mushroom imagery revealed in the art of the New World, I believe the key to this entire belief system lies, as proposed by R. Gordon Wasson, in early man’s discovery of the mind-altering effects of various hallucinatory substances. The accidental ingestion of these entheogenic substances could very well have provided the spark that lifted the mind and imagination of these early humans above and beyond the mundane level of daily existence to contemplation of another reality.

This fascinating study will interest many of your readers.

Thank you,

Carl de Borhegyi