Modeling the Flesh of God: Semantic Hyperpriming and the Teonancátl Cults of Mexico

The ritualistic use of the ancient psychoactive sacrament teonanacatl, or “The Flesh of God,” was integral to pre-colonial Mesoamerican culture and persists in syncretic forms today. This paper provides a brief history of Mexican tribes, especially the Mazatec people of Oaxaca, who use Psilocibe species in shamanic contexts. It applies contemporary cognitive research on psilocybin, specifically its induction of hyperpriming—an indirect semantic priming state with expansive branched hierarchical associative structures—to explain the psychological, linguistic, and perceptual effects reported in the traditional teonanacatl ceremony.

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Abstract

The ritualistic use of the ancient psychoactive sacrament teonanacatl, or “The Flesh of God,” represents an integral aspect of pre-colonial Mesoamerican culture and continues, in various syncretic forms, to this day. Providing a brief history of various tribes of Mexico known to utilize Psilocibe species within a shamanic context, focusing primarily on the Mazatec people of Oaxaca, this paper attempts to utilize contemporary cognitive research of psilocybin to better understand and contextualize the ancient teonanacatl ceremony; specifically, research into psilocybin’s induction of the hyperpriming state of cognition. Hyperpriming, or indirect semantic priming, is characterized by its expansive branched hierarchical associative structure within the semantic network and presents us with a valid and useful explanatory framework with which to interpret many of the reported psychological, linguistic, and perceptual effects underlying the traditional teonanacatl ceremony.