Amanita Muscaria mushrooms are noted because of their psychoactive properties, because of their containing the hallucinogenic chemicals ibotenic acid and muscimol. Also known as toadstools, these mushrooms have been related to magic in literature. The caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland is portrayed as sitting on a single as he smokes his suspicious pipe, and in animated cartoons, Smurfs are seen to reside in Amanita mushrooms. Obviously, circles of mushrooms growing in the forest are frequently referred to as fairy rings.
It’s been reported that as early as 2000 B.C. people in India and Iran were utilizing for religious purposes a seed called Soma or Haoma. Mushroom chocolate A Hindu religious hymn, the Rig Veda also describes the plant, Soma, although it is not specifically identified. It’s believed this plant was the Amanita Muscaria mushroom, a concept popularized in the book “Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality” by R. Gordon Wasson. Other authors have argued that the manna from heaven mentioned in the Bible is really a reference to magic mushrooms. Images of mushrooms have already been identified in cave drawings dated to 3500 B.C.
In the church of Plaincourault Abbey in Indre, France is a fresco painted in 1291 A.D. of Adam and Eve sitting on each side of the tree of familiarity with good and evil. A serpent is entwined round the tree, which looks unmistakably like a bunch of Amanita Muscaria mushrooms. Could it be true that the apple from the Garden of Eden may actually have already been an hallucinogenic mushroom?
Siberian shamans are said to own ingested Amanita Muscaria for the purpose of reaching a situation of ecstasy so they could perform both physical and spiritual healing. Viking warriors reportedly used the mushroom during the heat of battle so they could go into a rage and perform otherwise impossible deeds.
In the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia the medicinal utilization of Amanita Muscaria topically to deal with arthritis has been reported anecdotally. L. Lewin, writer of “Phantastica: Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs: Their Use and Abuse” (Kegan Paul, 1931) wrote that the fly-agaric was in great demand by the Siberian tribes of northeast Asia, and tribes who lived in areas where in fact the mushroom grew would trade them with tribes who lived where it could not be found. In one single occasion one reindeer was traded for starters mushroom.
It’s been theorized that the toxicity of Amanitas Muscaria varies in accordance with location and season, along with how a mushrooms are dried.
Finally, it must be noted that the author of this article doesn’t at all recommend, encourage nor endorse the usage of Amanita Muscaria mushrooms. It’s believed that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists Amanita Muscaria as a poison. Some companies that sell these mushrooms refer to them as “poisonous non-consumables.”
