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Amanita Muscaria mushrooms are noted because of their psychoactive properties, for their containing the hallucinogenic chemicals ibotenic acid and muscimol. Also called toadstools, these mushrooms have been associated with magic in literature. The caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland is portrayed as sitting using one as he smokes his suspicious pipe, and in animated cartoons, Smurfs are noticed to call home in Amanita mushrooms. Needless to say, circles of mushrooms growing in the forest are frequently known as fairy rings.

It’s been reported that as early as 2000 B.C. people in India and Iran were using for religious purposes a plant called Soma or Haoma. Mushroom chocolate  A Hindu religious hymn, the Rig Veda also describes the plant, Soma, though it is not specifically identified. It’s believed this plant was the Amanita Muscaria mushroom, a theory popularized in the book “Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality” by R. Gordon Wasson. Other authors have argued that the manna from heaven mentioned in the Bible is truly a mention of the magic mushrooms. Images of mushrooms have been identified in cave drawings dated to 3500 B.C.

In the church of Plaincourault Abbey in Indre, France is a fresco painted in 1291 A.D. of Adam and Eve looking at each side of the tree of understanding of good and evil. A serpent is entwined around the tree, which looks unmistakably like a cluster of Amanita Muscaria mushrooms. Could it be true that the apple from the Garden of Eden may actually have been an hallucinogenic mushroom?

Siberian shamans are said to have ingested Amanita Muscaria for the objective of reaching a situation of ecstasy so they could perform both physical and spiritual healing. Viking warriors reportedly used the mushroom during heat of battle so they could enter a rage and perform otherwise impossible deeds.

In the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia the medicinal usage of Amanita Muscaria topically to treat arthritis has already been reported anecdotally. L. Lewin, author of “Phantastica: Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs: Their Use and Abuse” (Kegan Paul, 1931) wrote that the fly-agaric was in great demand by the Siberian tribes of northeast Asia, and tribes who lived in areas where the mushroom grew would trade them with tribes who lived where it may not be found. In one occasion one reindeer was traded for starters mushroom.

It’s been theorized that the toxicity of Amanitas Muscaria varies according to location and season, as well as the way the mushrooms are dried.

Finally, it should be noted that the author of this article does not in any way recommend, encourage nor endorse the consumption of Amanita Muscaria mushrooms. It’s thought that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists Amanita Muscaria as a poison. Some companies that sell these mushrooms refer to them as “poisonous non-consumables.”