Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric
Mushrooms, Amanitas)
Amanita muscaria, the highly visible and strikingly beautiful
mushroom, also known as the Fly Agaric, is yellow to red in color and speckeled
with white. Amanita muscaria is probably humanity's oldest entheogen. Amanita
muscaria's history has it associated with both Shamanic and magical practices.
It was identified as the "Soma" of the ancient (4000 BC) Rig Veda by Gordon
Wasson.
So, Amanita muscaria has historical use as far back as we have
history, and it shouldnt be hard to suppose that prehistoric humans, in their
activities as hunter/gatherer, recognized that there were mushrooms and other
plants that had benefits not related to hunger. Our ancestors must surely have
been intrigued by the Amanita muscaria--they appeared magically from nowhere, in
strange and beautiful shapes and colors and gave magical visions of the beyond
when eaten.
Today Amanita muscaria mushrooms are widely known: the Alice
in Wonderland mushrooms, the fairytale mushrooms regularly seen in fairy
tale books. Yet most people arent aware that they are, in fact, real. A must
have addition to any ethnobotanical collection.
Amanita
pantherina
Amanita pantherina are also known as Panther Caps. This cousin of Amanita
muscaria ranges in color from dark to light brown, tan to dull yellowish. The
Amanita pantherina mushrooms came from new mexico.
Amanita muscaria portrayed as the "tree of the
knowledge of good and evil" with Adam and Eve in a 12th century fresco
at the Abbaye de Plaincourault, Mérigny, France. |
