María Sabina (1894–1985) was a Mazatec shaman, healer, and poet whose life bridged the sacred and the worldly. Known as a curandera, she used psilocybin mushrooms—what she called niños santos or "Holy Children"—in ceremonies to heal the sick and connect with the divine. Her chants, rhythmic and poetic, opened pathways to spiritual realms and marked her as a keeper of Indigenous wisdom.

Though she became an international symbol of the psychedelic movement, the exposure overwhelmed her community and left her relationship with her people, deeply disrupted. María resisted commodifying her traditions, remaining steadfast in her belief that the mushrooms were tools of healing, not merely recreational pastimes. Today, María Sabina is celebrated as a bridge between Indigenous spirituality and modern medicinal practices.