The term ololiuhqui or xixicamátic, “the thing that makes one turn around, that turns around,” refers to the seeds of the plant known to the ancient Nahuas as coatl xoxouqui, “blue serpent.” Turbina corymbosa is a vine whose seeds contain lysergic acid, a psychoactive compound related to LSD. Colonial sources record the use of both the seeds and the ground root for divinatory purposes, to cause harm to others, and to treat illnesses. Frair Bernardino de Sahagún documented that the treatment for gout, certain stomach ailments, and to cure “disgust in the heart” consisted of drinking an infusion of ololiuhqui on an empty stomach: “Thus it will come out, what was in the chest will go through the anus; it is expelled through diarrhea. It is drunk once. Immediately afterward [the patient] should eat; he should drink yolatolli [atole]” (López Austin, 173).
In the sixteenth century, ololiuhqui was described as a plant that “intoxicates and drives one mad,” and its effects were therefore characterized as terrible and attributed to the deceptions or tricks of Satan. At the same time, however, it was also recognized as possessing the ability to “reveal the path to healing.” This therapeutic and divinatory use persists among present-day communities, such as the Ben 'zaa (Zapotecs) and Ñuu Savi (Mixtecs) of Oaxaca, who interpret hallucinations and altered states of consciousness as means of connecting with the spiritual world. Midwives and healers in particular have preserved this knowledge and administer the seeds ground in water to induce trance states in patients; in this condition, the seed “speaks” and reveals the origin of illnesses.
The power of ololiuhqui also lies in its role as an intermediary plant in cosmic processes, since it allows access to sacred knowledge and enables passage between life and death, health and illness, with the purpose of restoring spiritual and bodily order.