From high to horror, the twisted tales of Amanita are as trippy as the mushroom itself.

 

The fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) is everywhere. Just this morning, I walked past a bug collection kit in Target fashioned in the image of the unforgettable red and white-speckled mushroom. It appears as garden statues, tea infusers, Halloween costumes, wrapping paper, and cell phone cases. In mass media, it features in the Smurfs, the Johnny Depp version of Alice and Wonderland, Fantasia (without its speckles or “warts”), and, in reverse—where the cap is white, and the warts are red—as the iconic Super Mario mushroom. And while most people use the phrase “magic mushroom” to refer to the far less colorful Psilocybe cubensis, discussions of that well-known psychedelic by text are almost always marked by the Amanita emoji: 🍄.

Despite this ubiquity in representation, A. muscaria is very poorly understood. Mycologist Paul Stamets dubbed Amanita “one of the most dangerous mushrooms anyone can eat.” Indeed, while people do eat this mushroom for its psychoactive effects, it poses unique safety concerns that are uncharacteristic of classical psychedelics—concerns that make having a sitter and a safe environment more important when engaging with this mushroom.

In fairy tales and psychedelic lore, A. muscaria has a coquettish and lackadaisical reputation. Commentary on A. muscaria is littered with unresolved debates, inaccuracies, speculations, and rumors. In fact, almost everything about this fungus is a bone of contention. As Andy Letcher tells us in his highly entertaining Shroom, Gordon Wasson and Terence McKenna, famous for their Psilocybe enthusiasm, lamented their underwhelming encounters with the fly agaric. In Soma, Wasson puts it this way:

“The results were disappointing. […] We felt nauseated and some of us threw up. We felt disposed to sleep, and fell into a deep slumber from which shouts could not rouse us, lying like logs, not snoring, dead to the outside world. When in this state I once had vivid dreams, but nothing like what happened when I took the Psilocybe mushrooms in Mexico.”

On the other hand, Wasson immediately thereafter records the experience of a friend whose Amanita-inspired elation “was nothing like the alcoholic state; it was infinitely better, beyond all comparison.” Other stories are less innocent—the mushroom’s been accused of inspiring the “berserk” behavior of the Berserkers, and people recount injuries sustained during Amanita trips.

The mushroom presents us with a long list of fascinating issues: its pharmacology, its cultural representation and role in folklore, and its ostensible status as an ancient religious catalyst, to name just a few. Yet, my aim here is to provide clarity or at least to show where the lack of clarity lies, concerning the most common questions about this one-of-a-kind fungus. 

Watercolor, 1892 | via Look and Learn

A Brief Amanita muscaria History

The first reference scholars have found to A. muscaria comes from a kind of medieval encyclopedia of plants by St. Albertus Magnus. Writing in the thirteenth century, the theologian, philosopher, scientist, and mentor to St. Thomas Aquinas had this to say about the mushroom:

In the areas where we live, a fungus is found that is broad and dense, having a redness on the surface; and it has on that redness many raised blisters, whereof some are broken, and others are not: and this [fungus] is lethal, and kills on the spot; and it is called muscarum, because when it is crushed up in milk, it kills flies [muscas].”

[Translation graciously provided by medievalist colleague, Dr. William H. Campbell.]

While the fly agaric does not kill humans, its use in exterminating flies is so traditional as to determine its name in several languages: Tue-mouche, muchomor, Мухомор, and matamoscas, all of which mean ‘fly-killer’ in French, Polish, Russian, and Spanish, respectively, as well as the amusingly euphemistic Fliegenschwamm (German for ‘fly sponge’).

Amanita muscaria, Santa, & Siberian Shamans 

Scholars and articles online often tout A. muscaria‘s traditional usage by Siberian shamans. However, what frequently goes unsaid is that Siberia is not a monolith. Currently, more than 30 cultures are indigenous to the Siberian arctic, and at least three have a traditional relationship with A. muscaria.

Some commentators have also suggested that our understanding of Santa Claus derives from shamans in this region. This idea was first proposed by poet Robert Graves, promptly taken up by ethnobotanist and psychedelic pioneer Jonathan Ott, and since developed by other writers. In the most striking versions of the view, Santa is an icon of the mushroom itself. Yet it’s hard to find definitive historiographic evidence for a link between the fly agaric and Father Christmas.

Amanita muscaria & Berserkers 

As a second hypothesis goes, berserkers—medieval Norse warriors famed for ecstatic rhapsodies of violence—were under the Fly Agaric’s spell. In 1784, Samuel Ödman first proposed that fly agaric consumption fueled the “ecstatic” part of these sprees. This hypothesis is contentious, however. Other scholars suggest different catalysts, for example, the nightshade Hyoscyamus niger. In the end, finding truth in the dizzying array of proposals about Amanita’s history is difficult without time travel. 

Photo by Bernard Spragg

Is the Fly Agaric Psychedelic?

Amanita muscaria is different from classical psychedelics: psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and mescaline. There’s no doubt that the mushroom is psychoactive—it’s a deliriant and a hallucinogen—but A. muscaria may not have the “mind-manifesting” qualities that classical psychedelics provide.  More importantly, A. muscaria may pose greater risks than classical psychedelics.

 

The mushroom is considered non-fatal, yet A. muscaria can cause temporary coma, convulsions, and illness, particularly in high doses. A person’s ability to remain in control over their behavior can be limited in a dreamy yet agitated Amanita delirium, making them more prone to accidental harm and injury.

Amanita muscaria Active Compounds

At least three potential active compounds may contribute to A. muscaria’s combined physical effects and altered states of consciousness. In the past, scientists thought that the muscarine in the fungus is the source of its psychotropic effects. The concentration of this toxin varies from mushroom to mushroom. When muscarine concentrations are high, it causes severe illness. The effects of muscarine can include profuse sweating, nausea, diarrhea, salivation, and pupil constriction which can temporarily affect a person’s ability to see. Research suggests that the toxin affects the parasympathetic nervous system and does not cross the blood-brain barrier. As such, it’s not hallucinogenic.

Instead, two other compounds are responsible for A. muscaria’s mind-altering effects: muscimol and ibotenic acid. Muscimol is a central nervous system depressant while ibotenic acid is stimulating. The two compounds have contradictory actions that help explain the mushroom’s unusual effects. Yet, to complicate matters further, Ibotenic acid mostly decarboxylates—breaks down—into muscimol upon digestion. A minority lingers in the system undercarboxylated. This residual amount may contribute to the mushroom’s psychoactivity. The role of the fungus’ many other compounds remains insufficiently studied.

It’s worth mentioning that there is some debate as to whether or not muscarine alone explains all of the distressing physical side effects that can occur after ingesting Amanita muscaria. Feeney says there’s some discussion about whether these symptoms are caused by muscarine or by other muscarine-like compounds (to say nothing of the commentators who offer the mushroom’s ibotenic acid as a possible culprit). That’s probably because, although muscarine does cause such effects, its presence in the fly agaric can be minimal.

Unfortunately, scientists also wrongly classified the fungus as a deadly poison due to the presence of these powerful compounds, and this misidentification proves intractable. A perplexingly inaccurate skull and crossbones still sit next to the A. musciaria name in nearly every mushroom field guide (an icon that often accompanies Psilocybes as well). While the chemicals in A. muscaria probably won’t kill you—scientists estimated fifteen caps as a theoretically lethal dose—they can certainly make you feel very sick.

The Amanita muscaria Trip

As a hallucinogen, A. muscaria shares some features with classic psychedelics, yet with key differences. Many of those who ingest the fly agaric report having colorful visions and religious or spiritual insights. Yet, while these results are similarly present in accounts of psychedelic usage, Amanita’s visions and insights commonly—though not exclusively—occur in dreams once the user has fallen asleep. Sleep is a common occurrence after A. muscaria. Such lethargy is rarely associated with classical psychedelics.

Moreover, the A. muscaria experience lacks what scholar and author Kevin Feeney calls the “electrical” quality of psychedelics. The geometric overlays and light shows common with tryptamines and ergolines—the active compounds in psilocybin mushrooms and LSD, respectively—are not the Amanita stock-in-trade. 

Disassociation is a hallmark of the fly agaric experience. In his essay on the subjective effects of Amanita for the Fly Agaric Compendium, Feeney adduces a particularly evocative Erowid account of a user who “thought I was a deer” and ran through a forest, dropping out of awareness. Upon recovering under a tree with little memory of what had taken place, the user had missing shoes, ripped clothes, and a giant scratch, as if from an animal. Retracing the steps the following day revealed the travel distance to be six miles, spanning five barbed wire fences.

For the rest of this article please use source link below