Warning: The Fly Agaric Mushroom is Poisonous. Fresh Specimens Should Never Be Consumed
Synonymous with psychedelic magick, the Fly Agaric mushroom is recognised throughout the world for providing a (notoriously dangerous) portal into the Faery Realm. Under the influence of its main hallucinogenic compounds - ibotenic acid and muscimol - partakers of this mystical fungi have returned from their "trips" with tales of having talked with gnome folk who guided them into other worlds. Certain Siberian Shamans believed that for each mushroom consumed one gnome would manifest itself and, noting that these squat earth spirits race like the wind itself, would always consume two and a half Fly Agaric mushrooms to enter their trance - two to enable their minds to see the gnomes and the half to conjur a weaker "half-gnome." On their race through the convoluted passage to the Faery Realm, the Shaman would often lose sight of the spritely gnomes and, unable to find the entrance to the Faery World unaided, would return to their material bodies with no gifts of arcane knowledge or sage council from the wise spirits. The conjuration of this third, less abled, gnome would hinder the progress of his comrades, thus allowing the Shaman to follow the gnomes through the labyrinthine route to the Nether World with no fear of losing their way.
An interetsing account of how the physical body reacted whilst the Shaman was "away with the faeries" has been recorded by German ethnologist Enderli. He wrote that the first physical effects of consuming the mushrooms were trembling and sudden twitching. A strange, wild glow in the eyes would soon follow as the muscle spasms reached a crescendo, followed by the Shaman's body falling into a trance. The Shaman would then sing in a low, dull note, gently raising both the pitch and the volume until he started losing control of himself again and started speaking words of no human comprehension. At this stage, the Shaman would usually begin hammering frenzied beats from his ritual drum before building himself into an utter rage and running amok, turning over and kicking out at everything around him. After the intense feeling of strength and energy, the Shaman would then fall to the floor, fast asleep, in a sudden depth of exhaustion. It must be supposed that during these turbulent body reactions, the Shaman's spirit was desperately chasing those gnomes toward the Other World. Whilst the Shaman slept, his spirit was away with the various spirits in that other, magical realm. The Shaman's sleep lasted for only half an hour, however, whereupon followed a recurring, yet diminishing, repeat in the cycle of building frenzy then vision filled sleep.
Fly Agaric mushrooms were so prized amongst Shamans that a typical currency of one reindeer for each specimen was a common rate of exchange. This expense, and the fact that the full psychedelic properties of the fungi are excreted from the user's urine, gave rise to the practice of drinking the water passed by Shamans under the influence of the mushroom. This not only extended the hallucinogenic experience of the fungi but also allowed poorer folk to experience the "high."
The iconography connecting Amanita muscaria, the Fly Agaric (sometimes known as the 'Witch's Mushroom' or the 'Fairy Stool') with the spiritual realm of elves and pixies and gnomes surrounds us all. Even the "straightest" amongst us often choose to bring a little of the Fly Agaric's magick into their lives through the literature they read, the television programmes they watch, the Religious Festivities they follow and even the garden ornaments they may purchase.
For no book of children's fairy stories would be complete without the speckle-topped, crimson headed mushroom making regular appearances amongst its illustrations. That noted piece of Victorian fiction, Alice in Wonderland, also alludes to the mind warping effects of the Fly Agaric when Alice finds a mushroom at the portal between her reality and that of a magical Kingdom. Referring to one of the well known effects of Fly Agaric - that of macro or micropsia, where visual distortions can lead the beholder into believing that both themselves and/or exterior material objects are markedly larger or smaller than they are in reality - Alice either shrinks or grows to humguous degrees depending on which side of the mushroom she ate. The fungi then aids Alice through her journey around Wonderland by allowing her to alter her size to enter various magical locations that would have hitherto been impossible for her to access.
Children's TV shows are similarly wash with references glorifying the Fly Agaric's psychedelic properties. The perrennial favourite Enid Blyton, Noddy, has a gnome as a best friend who lives in a Fly Agaric mushroom and who helps him through his adventues in a magical land. And the classic hippy model animation series, 'The Magic Roundabout,' with its numerous drug allusions, has as its key character, Zebedee, someone who brings magic to his wold, allowing dogs and snails and pink, hat wearing, cows to talk. Take a closer look the next time you watch this show and you'll see that Zebedee is himself, in fact, a talking Fly Agaric mushroom having fun on a spring - check out his head and body shape and notice those numerous white cheek spots on his red, bulbous head.
Enjoyed by adults as much as children, computer video games also use the iconography of the Fly Agaric mushroom, perhaps most memorably in the acclaimed Super Mario Brothers franchise where, upon consuming the fungi, the Mario Brothers gain super powers and strength.
Traditional art is also awash with references to the Fly Agaric's relationship with "Other Worlds." Whilst Victorian illustators filled their canvasses with Fly Agaric Kingdoms adorned with benign, and rather scantily-dressed fairy fol, Medieval Flemish artiss associated such fungi with the eternal damnation of Hell.
Gardens, too, are often given over to replica Fly Agaric mushrooms, along with its mythological partner, the gnome. I can't even imagine the number of tons of concrete and plaster use to create these little psychedelic trip icons.
A thorough study of the origins of Father Christmas, or Santa Claus as he is becoming increasingly more popularly known by, has taken the roots of many of what must be the World's most famous supernatural figure's characterists away from the Christianised St. Nicholas and into the psychedlic rituals of the Fly Agaric consuming Shaman. Siberian Shaman live in a tepee-like construction made from reindeer skins, called a 'yurt.' The roof of this yurt is supported by a large beam of wood which stretches up to an opening known as a "smoke hole" (an essential feature designed as ventilaton for interior yurt fires). During the Mid Winter Festival, the Shaman would dress in a ritualistic outfit, consisting of a Fly Agaric coloured red and white coat with fur trimmings and long black boots (no prizes for guessing the similarity here with ur own familiar image of Father Christmas) and then scour the woods for Fly Agaric mushrooms. Filling his bag with the magical fungi, the Shaman would then enter the yurt through its smoke hole - to the thrilled excitement of those awaiting his arrival. The Shaman would then carry out his Mid Winter rites and then share out his Fly Agaric gifts with those present. At the close of the ceremony, the Shaman woud then leave the yurt by climbing the beam of wood and exiting through the smoke hole.
Even the magical reindeer who guide Father Christmas through the sky and the location of his home originate back to the Fly Agaric's halucinogenic properties. Siberian Reindeer have a particuar prediliction for the fungi in question and can behave very odd under their influence. Certain communities, such as the Sami for instance, even feed the animals the mushrooms themslves and then collect the Reindeer's urine as this not only contains the full hallucinogenic strength of the Fly Agaric but much of the mushroom's toxicity is removed by the Reindeer's digestive processes. With both the Reindeer and the Shaman "off their faces," it genuinely appeared to the Shaman that the Reindeer could fly. It is this side effect of the mushroom, the perceived notion of impossible flight in wingless animals, that gave Fly Agaric its name and not, as is too commonly supposed, the myth that peices of the fungi floated in milk, woud attract and kill flies.
As seems the norm with the Christian religion, when missionaries first entered these regions to spread the words of Jesus and they saw the sacred rites of the Shaman and heard the stories of flying Reindeer, it did not take long before the customs and folklore of its indiginous peope became intertwined with Christian traditons - on this occassion, those pertaining to Christmas. Even Father Christmas's magical home was eventually relocated in the frozen lands of the 'far North.'
Whilst much of these original connections between the Fly Agaric mushroom and Christmas are hardly popularised in Britain, some areas, in Central Europe especially, blatantly celebrate the Fly Agaric at this time of year by featuring the fungi on Christmas cards and decorations.
As can be seen, the Fly Agaric mushroom has been venerated throughout the world and across numerous cultures. The Rig Veda,' for example, an ancient Hindu collection of hymns that is one of the earliest known samples of sacred texts (written over 3,000 years ago) is full of references (over 100 of them) to a plant called Soma, which is now believed by scholars to be the Fly Agaric Mushroom.
In more recent times, especially in Britain and the West, the hallucinogenic properties of the Fly Agaric mushroom have been largely overlooked by the contemporary counter culture in favour of its diminutive fellow entheogenic fungi - the Psilocybin 'Magic Mushroom.' This has much to do with the often unpredictable nature and perceived dangers associated with the consumption of Fly Agaric. Whilst fatalities are, in fact rare (most cases of mushroom deaths seem to be the result of misidentifying other Amanita species such as Amanita Phalloides - The Death Cap -and Amanita virosa - The Destroying Angel), caution is necessary when utilising the mushroom for its entheogenic properties. To reduce much of the Fly Agaric's inherent toxicity, users should always dry the mushroom first. As well as reducing toxicity levels, the act of drying the mushroom actually produces the psychedelic compound Muscinol through the degeneratic effect of the fungi's unstable Ibotenic Acid - effectively increasing the halucinogenic effect of the Fly Agaric manifold. Even with this precaution intact, however, partakers of this mystical fungi can still expect some vomitting to accompany the intense hangover feeling the day after consuming the mushroom. The "trip" experienced by users is in no way as uniform as that delivered by Psilocybin 'Magic Mushrooms' with one quote "some dance and sing whilst others cry out in agony" deftly summing up the volatile nature of Fly Agaric consumption. Nevertheless, with the recent UK legislation outlawing even the picking of Psilocybin mushrooms, the recreational use of Fly agaric is sure to increase.
