The image of a shaman I had had in my head was heavily romanticised. The one in the tribe who transcends what is ordinary, the one who explores the world of spirits so that others don't have to, the courageous one, the sacrificial one, the ultimate poet, the ultimate cleric.

Not sure if this is specific to mestizo culture, but the shaman that the book describes looks to me much more like a superstitious, opportunistic charlatan than a clerical psychonaut.

Gordon Wasson did not reveal to the west the idea about ethneogens that Maria Sabina represented. He came to her with a preconceived goal of looking for god, which was not what she was using the mushrooms for.

Anyway, my point is that shamanism looks different through the lens of rigorous ethnography than it when conveyed to us by the influencial popcultural figures. I won't be able to explain it well in a comment, but I highly recommend the book, even if you only read fragments.