Amanita Muscaria mushrooms are noted because of their psychoactive properties, due to their containing the hallucinogenic chemicals ibotenic acid and muscimol. Also referred to as toadstools, these mushrooms have been connected with magic in literature. The caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland is portrayed as sitting using one as he smokes his suspicious pipe, and in animated cartoons, Smurfs have emerged to reside in Amanita mushrooms. Of course, circles of mushrooms growing in the forest are frequently called 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 isn’t specifically identified. It’s believed this plant was the Amanita Muscaria mushroom, a theory 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 actually a mention of the magic mushrooms. Images of mushrooms have now been identified in cave drawings dated to 3500 B.C.
In the church of Plaincourault Abbey in Indre, France is really a fresco painted in 1291 A.D. of Adam and Eve standing on either side of the tree of understanding of good and evil. A serpent is entwined around the tree, which looks unmistakably like a group of Amanita Muscaria mushrooms. Could it be true that the apple from the Garden of Eden might actually have now been an hallucinogenic mushroom?
Siberian shamans are said to own ingested Amanita Muscaria for the goal of reaching a situation of ecstasy so they might perform both physical and spiritual healing. Viking warriors reportedly used the mushroom during heat of battle so they might go into a rage and perform otherwise impossible deeds.
In the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia the medicinal use 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 the mushroom grew would trade them with tribes who lived where it could not be found. In one occasion one reindeer was traded for one mushroom.
It’s been theorized that the toxicity of Amanitas Muscaria varies according to location and season, as well as how the mushrooms are dried.
Finally, it should be noted that the author of this informative article does not by any means recommend, encourage nor endorse the usage of Amanita Muscaria mushrooms. It’s thought that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists Amanita Muscaria as a poison. Some firms that sell these mushrooms refer in their mind as “poisonous non-consumables.”
