December 2023

Amanita Muscaria In a nutshell: The cultural impact of the fly agaric

Fungi are all around the world, paving Earth through mycelial networks. Some fungi remain obscure due to their rare nature. Meanwhile, some became nurtured by our society and vividly present in our culture and traditions as well as a representative of the mushroom kingdom. We are talking about the unique and fascinating Amanita Muscaria.

The historical use of Amanita still roams slightly on the mysterious side, as R. Gordon Wasson theorizes that the Soma drink mentioned in the Vedic Sanskrit hymn Rig Veda might be Amanita Muscaria. If this theory is correct, this would mean that the mushroom has been used for around 4000 years.

Unfortunately, we still lack evidence, leaving us with the only historically accurate use of this mushroom amongst the Fino-Ungarians in Siberia.

Amanita Muscaria would soon expand and become engrained in our culture until today, being present in children’s books, playgrounds, cartoons, riddles, and video games.

Amanita’s cultural impact goes even beyond when Jonathan Ott linked this mushroom and Christmas, relating the red and white pattern of Amanita with the clothing pattern of Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) and the flying reindeer with ingesting the reindeer urine after they had eaten the mushroom by tribes in Siberia. Flying reindeer could also represent the reindeer that ate the mushroom.

James Arthur marked these links even further in his book Mushrooms and Mankind, linking the Christmas tree and gifts wrapped in red and white below the tree to the symbiosis between the roots of coniferous trees and the mycelial networks of the Amanita Muscaria shroom.

Regardless of its continuous presence in Children’s tales, don’t be mistaken. This mushroom is no child’s play.

Throughout time, the discussion regarding the toxicity of Amanita Muscaria has been continuous. Some believe that the fungus is poisonous due to containing the neurotoxin ibotenic acid. Meanwhile, others say that the mushroom is safe after being prepared correctly, and some go further and say that eating the mushroom without any preparation is safe.

Contrary to popular belief, Amanita Muscaria has no resemblance to other magic mushrooms and works in a completely different way.

Unlike the psilocybe genus, the fly agaric doesn’t have psilocybin or any serotonergic compound. Instead, the mushroom contains muscarine and muscimol.

Muscimol, also known as agarin or pantherine, works very differently from classic psychedelics. The compound is a potent GABA-A agonist, acting as an oneirogen (sedative/hypnotic), subjectively similar to the hypnotic drug Ambien (Zolpidem).

Amanita Muscaria In a nutshell: The cultural impact of the fly agaric Read More »

Ergot: From Iberian Ergot Markets to LSD renaissance

Since the ’60s, the word LSD has been amongst us quite frequently, especially nowadays, with traditional therapies being replaced by psychedelic retreats and micro-dosing. But where does exactly LSD come from? Is it purely synthetic, or does it come from nature?

Believe it or not, it comes from a fungus widely known since 500 to 1500 CE, Ergot. This fungus works similarly to puffballs and carries ergot alkaloids. Funnily enough, when Albert Hofmann synthesized LSD, he wasn’t trying to synthesize a psychedelic but trying to find more ergot alkaloids that historically have been used to speed up labor and control postpartum hemorrhage and as a treatment for patients with moderate to severe migraine.

Unfortunately, things were much darker during the Medieval era. Ergot would infect rye and various kinds of cereal, and after consumption of the infected cereals, people would become ill with ergotism. Ergotism plagues were known as Saint Anthony’s Fire for their mild effects. Often, people would experience convulsions, seizures, spasms, diarrhea, paresthesia, severe itching and burning sensation (hence, its nickname St. Anthony’s fire), headaches, nausea and vomiting, and mental effects such as hallucinations, mania, and psychosis until their death.

You might think, well, that is all over now. We can’t have ergot contamination nowadays, right?

The answer to this might surprise you negatively. We still have the chance of infection of crops. The infection can expand to the poisoning of farm stocks, causing gangrene in the extremities of animals that feed in contaminated fields. Fortunately, with the control of food sold in markets, it would be nearly impossible for an outbreak similar to those during the medieval era.

But where did Ergot come from? They were using it clinically to speed up labor and control postpartum hemorrhage during a period.

Most of the Ergot would come from Portugal and the Northwest Spain. During that period, the fungus was valuable and impacted the capita of these countries. Peasants would collect the fungus by hand, and the owners of the land would take the items to an Ergot dealer that would ship the product worldwide.

Leaving us with one last question.

With the psychedelic renaissance and the movement towards legalization of psychedelics, will we get to see the cultivation and selling of Ergot available after centuries of prohibition?

Ergot: From Iberian Ergot Markets to LSD renaissance Read More »

Shopping Cart