Illustration Friday: Fruit of the Earth

Inks on Paper / 2005

"Cultivate" is the theme for Illustration Friday this week.  Being one of the breadbaskets of the world, we work our land to produce a variety of different foods in our country to supply not only our own needs but other areas of the world as well.  Of all the works I have involving food, I found the most interesting to be that of the magic mushroom in this early illustration from 2005 which is included in my book, Dip and Trip .45.

Dating back as far as we know of human history, man has ingested certain natural plants for a deeper purpose than their nutritional value.  Plants we label with stigmatic names like narcotics and drugs, early cultures used  in religious ceremonies and spiritual quests.  Such substances include coca leaves, peyote, marijuana, and psilocybin mushrooms. There are over 190 species of mushrooms on our planet which can be ingested and induce a state of hallucination.  Shamanic uses of mushrooms have been documented to date back as far as a million years (discovered in ancient African cave art.)  The magic mushroom is a unique drug in the facet that it doesn't cause a buzz or intoxication to the user.  Psilocybin lifts the curtain on reality to expose what's been there the entire time and returns it's host to the wonderment of childhood when everything was new and interesting.  This unique drug experience really sobers one up to reality as opposed to drawing them away from it.

Educate yourself before you seek out and experiment with any drug.  Click HERE for a plethora of information on Magic Mushrooms from The Vaults of Erowid.

It is your right to choose to alter your consciousness through substances such as psilocybin.  Visit The Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics for more informational material on drug use and freedom of thought.

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