Psilocybin is the main active ingredient in so-called 'magic mushrooms'. It has hallucinogenic properties, and is closely related to mescaline in structure. Both chemicals have been known for centuries by the Aztecs in Mexico, who used them in tribal rites, believing the vivid, colourful hallucinations had religious significance. The Aztecs even had professional mystics and prophets who achieved their inspiration by eating the mescaline-containing peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii). Indeed, the cactus was so important to the Aztecs that they named it teo-nancacyl, or "God's Flesh". This plant was said to have been distributed to the guests at the coronation of Montezuma to make the ceremony seem even more spectacular. During the 19th Century, the use of peyote cacti in tribal rituals spread north to the natives of North America, such as the Comanches, Kiowas and the Mescalero Apaches, from where mescaline obtained its name. Over the years, the use of these drugs in religious rites became fused with Christianity, and even today some tribes believe that God put some of His power into peyote, and Jesus was the man who gave the plant to the Indians in a time of need.
