the magic of Fly Agaric

“Magical thinking is inherently radical, in that it rejects established realities and favors new animates. Amanita muscaria, the archetypal magical mushroom, heightens our receptivity to these animates, not only through its use as a visionary sacrament, but also through its persistence in fairy tales and folklore as a symbol of the otherworld and its unseen inhabitants.”

-Bethany van Rijswijk

Amanita muscaria, commonly known as “Fly Agaric” is a basidiomycete mushroom of the genus Amanita. Found primarily throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern hemisphere, Amanita has been introduced to many countries in the Southern Hemisphere due to their mycorrhizal relationship with pine, spruce, fir, oak and birch trees. Although classified as poisonous, Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with its main psychoactive constituents being ibotenic acid and muscimol. Unlike psilocybin and its effect on seratonin receptors, muscimol acts as a gaba receptor antagonist in the brain, affecting the central nervous system.

Amanita muscaria has been used medicinally for hundreds of years among tribal peoples in Siberia, as well as in parts of Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia. It has been used both topically and internally for its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anxiolytic, and stimulant properties. Recent research on the mushroom’s pharmacology have also demonstrated that certain compounds exhibit anti-tumor and memory-protecting activities.

In the 1990s, ecologist and mycologist Marja Härkönen (1998) discovered that fly agaric was still used by the Karelian people of northwestern Russia as a home remedy. The Karelians would remove the red skin of the cap and soak it in alcohol. This could be used topically to treat bruises or other pains or taken internally in small amounts to treat headache or stomachaches. In parts of Eastern Europe and Russia an infusion of fly agaric has also been used to treat rheumatic pains and there are also reports of its use to treat epilepsy and various nervous disorders (Dunn, 1973; Rolfe & Rolfe, 1974).

Amanita muscaria is one of the most familiar yet mysterious mushrooms. In the folk botany of Eurasia amongst many other cultures, Amanita muscaria is associated with magic, shamanism, chthonic beings, and the season of the longest night: the winter solstice. Growing at the base of the Yule tree, fly agaric is synonymous with European Yule and Christmas celebrations. According to many folklorists, this association with the winter solstice is not solely due to the mushroom’s mycorrhizal relationship with the Yule tree but also do to an array of magical lore surrounding the consumption of fly agaric by the Indigenous peoples of Siberia and Scandinavia.

The first written account of the use of Amanita by the peoples of Siberia is found in a journal written in the eighteenth century by a Swedish prisoner of war and describes the role of mukhomor (a Russian term for Amanita muscaria) in a celebration among the Ostyak of Western Siberia. According to Philip Johan von Strahlenberg, one of several thousand Swedes captured following a invasion of Russia, “Those who are rich among them, lay up large provisions of these mushrooms for the winter. When they make a feast, they pour water upon some of these mushrooms and boil them. Then they drink the liquor, which intoxicates them.” Since mukhomor season coincides with the ripening of wild berries, the mushrooms are often mixed with blueberries and fermented. Often resulting in “lilliputian hallucinations,” or visions in which plants, animals, and people appear much larger or much smaller than they are. The ingestion of Amanita Muscaria is said to aid in communication with chthonic beings such as giants, dwarves, gnomes and fairies.

Among the Koryak and in communities of Siberia, Asia, and the British Isles, Fly Agaric is used in various magical and shamanic practices, such as the recital of epics, divination, and communication with the otherworld. During the Soviet Union, Russian officials strongly opposed shamanism and the visionary use of Amanita muscaria. Many shamans were forced to go into hiding and practicing with discretion.

One of the most compelling mysteries surrounding the ancient use of psychedelics revolves around the ritual concoction known as soma. Celebrated in both Hindu and Zoroastrian traditions and scripture, this beverage, which is widely talked about in spiritual texts like the Vedas, is thought to have been a potent psychedelic and was certainly of immense importance in religious ceremonies. These vivid descriptions paint a picture of a plant extract that was known for increasing awareness, imparting visionary mystical experiences, and helping those who took it to feel strong sensations of bliss, light, poetic inspiration, and immortality. The true origins of the soma beverage have been lost in the millennia, however Robert Gordon Wasson proposed a theory that soma was fly agaric. Robert Graves also suggests that the ancient Greek “mushroom cult” of Dionysus ritually ate “a spotted toadstool called fly-cap, which gave them enormous muscular strength, erotic power, visions and the gift of the prophecy.”

In The Hidden World, a study of shamanic lineages in European fairy tales, Carl A.P. Ruch also positions a number of magical foods and flowers as remnants of “very ancient rituals of shamanism.” Since apples in fairy tales are frequently poisonous, and often merely indicative of an unspecified red fruit, Ruck asserts that they are no other than Amanita muscaria. In many tales, red roses are also surrogates for the magical fungi, for mushrooms are simply roses in the garden of the unseen world.

According to Greg Marley, our image of Santa Claus is likely a combination of early Christian beliefs and Northern European pagan traditions. Among nomadic reindeer herders, such as the Chukchi peoples of Siberia and the Sámi peoples of Sápmi, which today encompasses large parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula, fly agaric is known to be particularly beloved by reindeer. Generally docile, it is said that under the influence of fly agaric mushrooms the reindeer become frisky and are said to “fly” or leap very far. Hence it is tempting to interpret the magical sleigh of Santa Claus, drawn by “flying” reindeer as a remnant of visionary botanical lore. A traditional method of drying Amanita muscaria mushrooms involved hanging them on spruce and fir trees or above the fire, a practice that greatly resembles the annual decoration of the Yule tree and the concept of stockings. Even Santa himself is clothed in scarlet and white, seemingly a reflection of the red-capped white-speckled mushrooms.

The beauty of the Amanita muscaria mushroom has a fascinating and historically pivotal role in the evolution of consciousness. For any who have had the privilege to witness fly agaric can’t seem to deny their alluring nature and magical qualities. Truly a tapestry woven by the profound complexity of nature. Amanita muscaria too often remains shrouded in undeserved demonization. Perhaps, by delving deeper into its multifaceted nature, we can appreciate the delicate balance between reverence and caution that should accompany our exploration of the natural world that surround us. We invite you to reconsider your preconceived notions and embrace the intricacies of nature.

Sources

Feeney, Kevin M. Fly Agaric: A compendium of history, pharmacology, Mythology & Exploration. Fly Agaric Press, 2020.

“The Search for Soma, the Ancient Indian Psychedelic.” Psychedelic Times, 4 Nov. 2015, psychedelictimes.com/the-search-for-soma-the-ancient-indian-psychedelic/.

Bethany Van Rijswijk, and Contemporary Art Tasmania. The Invisible Harvest : A Microhistory of Heretical Herbs. North Hobart, Contemporary Art Tasmania, 2020.

Alan, Featherstone. “Fly Agaric Mythology and Folklore.” Trees for Life, 2023, treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/others/fly-agaric/fly-agaric-mythology-and-folklore/.