Amanita muscaria: Fly Agaric history, mythology and pharmacology

Abstract

Amanita muscaria is the most iconic mushroom in the world, with an ancient prehistory that can only be glimpsed in the remnants of myth and folklore. This fame of A. muscaria transcends time, with its iconic image still displayed in contemporary movies, video games, children’s books, and holiday art, yet most people are unaware of its true significance. Its reputation ranges from the foundation of an original Ur religion to an insignificant and misunderstood hallucinogenic toxin. Fly Agaric is the most comprehensive compendium of articles on A. muscaria available. It consists of an Introduction and 29 chapters, half authored or co-authored by Feeney. He is joined by more than a dozen researchers, explorers and academics who assemble a multilayered understanding of this exceptional fungus. Fly Agaric covers a range of topics organized into five sections: (I) Mushroom Hunting & Identification; (II) Religion, Culture, & Folklore; (III) Archaeological Evidence; (IV) Diet & Cuisine; and (V) Pharmacology & Physiological Effects. A useful feature of the book involves the basics of mushroom identification, learning common and distinguishing features of various Amanita species. Fly Agaric provides a photo illustrated guide with practical details necessary for identifying many Amanita varieties and distinguishing them from their relatives, including potentially harmful look-alikes. Beginning with the informed strategies of mushroom hunting, Feeney shows us the basics with advice regarding safety orientations, security strategies and needed equipment. Descriptions of all aspects of the mushrooms provide technical guidelines for correct species identifications, enhanced with color photographs. Mycological identification of the various species, phases of growth, psychoactive concentrations and doses provide technical details for more than a dozen species and varieties of psychoactive Amanitas. It includes important details about how to distinguish look-alike species and crucial location and general range distribution and habitat and seasonal features regarding the species that are important for finding and identifying the mushrooms. One chapter describes the pharmacological effects of the primary psychoactive ingredients, muscimol and ibotenic acid and their interrelationship via the body’s metabolic processes, issues that play an important role in interpreting evidence for A. muscaria in the past. Part II of this book delves into culture and folklore, ranging from historical and contemporary Siberian uses to the deep history of Amanita in mythology and religion. Several chapters continue Wasson’s comparative approach to understanding the prehistory of this fungi, combining ethnographic, linguistic and historical information with ecological, pharmacological, and biological data to reveal the circumstantial and substantial evidence that help one thread together the diverse forms of knowledge revealing prehistorical and historical cultural traditions of fly agaric use. Feeney and Austin update Gordon Wasson’s famous theory of the identity of Soma in “Soma’s Third Filter: New Findings Supporting the Identification of A. muscaria as the Ancient Sacrament of the Vedas”. Wasson proposed that the Vedas indicated three different filters used in the preparation of Soma, which correspond to different steps in its preparation. The first two filters are relatively uncontroversial, a filter provided by sunlight or sun-drying and a second using a filter of wool to separate the residual solids from aqueous preparations. Journal of Psychedelic Studies