This means that each ethnobotanical expedition may not expect to find the same assortment of species employed at one time, even in the same locality and by the same people. The probability that more species will be found in use is far from remote. Chemical studies have indicated that psilocybine and, to a lesser extent, psilocine are present in many of the species of the several genera associated with the Mexican ceremony. In fact, these compounds have been isolated from many species of Psilocybe and other genera in widely separated parts of the world, although the evidence available suggests that only in Mexico are psilocybine-containing mushrooms at present utilized in native ceremonies. The modern mushroom ceremony is an all-night seance which may include a curing ritual.
Chants accompany the main part of the ceremony.
The intoxication is characterized by fantastically colored visions in kaleidoscopic movement and sometimes by auditory hallucinations, and the partaker loses himself in unearthly flights of fancy. The mushrooms are collected in the forests at the time of the new moon by a virgin girl, then taken to a church to remain briefly on the altar. They are never sold in the marketplace. The shaman chants for hours, with frequent clapping or percussive slaps on the thighs in rhythm with the chant. Maria Sabina's chanting, which has been recorded, studied, and translated, in great part proclaims humbly her qualifications to cure and to interpret divine power through the mushrooms.