Lect 15: Amanita muscaria - Its Role in Religion, and as a Psychoactive Mushroom

Introduction

It can be seen in the pictures below (Figs 1-2) that Amanita muscaria (L.:Fr.) Hook. is a very attractive mushroom. Hikers of wooded forests will likely recognize the mushroom as one that they have seen regularly. It is native to temperate and boreal regions in the northern hemisphere. However, it has a cosmopolitan distribution because it has been introduced throughout the world because it forms symbiotic relationships with the roots of both hardwood and conifer trees. The mycorrhizal relationship is an obligate one and enhances the growth of the trees in which relationships have formed. A. muscaria is a large mushroom, with a cap that can be up to 8" in diameter when fully expanded and can be readily identified because of its distinct and beautiful red cap that is covered in white warts. The underside of the cap, the gills, where the spores are born, are white. The stalk is also white, 5-8" long, 1-1.5" wide, with a collar (annulus). The swollen base of the stalk, the volva. Early in its development, the young mushroom is entirely enclosed in a universal veil, as seen in the left, ovate shape in Fig. 1. As the stalk elongates, it pushes through the top of the universal veil and the unexpanded cap of the mushroom now begins to appear. As the mushroom continues to mature, the stalk will continue to elongate and the cap will expand. It is during the expansion of the cap that the universal veil that is covering the cap will break apart, leaving parts of it over the entire surface of the cap that forms the characteristics warts on the cap of the mushroom. The remainder of the universal veil is what forms the volva at the base of the stalk. The annulus forms from a partial veil that covers the gills when the cap of the mushroom is young and not yet expanded. Once the cap begins to expand, the partial veil detaches from the cap's circumference and its remnant is the annulus of the mushroom.

It is likely that some of you may be city dwellers who do not wander into wooded areas where the mushroom occurs. However, even you are likely to be familiar with the A. muscaria. Because of its beauty, it is a very photogenic mushroom and has become the archetypal representative of mushrooms and its image can be seen in popular culture throughout the world (Letcher 2007). Its image can be seen in various motifs (Figs. 3-10).

Soma

There are a number of stories concerning A. muscaria. One that is often told since Wasson (1968) when he gave evidence that the identity of Soma that is described in one of the oldest sacrificial hymns in Hindu texts, the Rig Veda is A. muscaria. Although the Rig Veda describes Soma as being an intoxicating drink that is derived from a plant that was utilized in religious ceremonies before the beginning of our Christian era, about 4,000 years ago, Wasson discounted the identify of Soma as being a plant and also believed the psychoactive properties of the A. muscaria was the reason for the "ecstasy" described in the Rig Veda when drinking Soma. The ceremonies involving Soma originated by the people who called themselves Aryans.

The Aryans

The Aryans were a warrior and grain-growing people. They had a tribal religion with a hereditary priesthood, with a full complement of gods that included Soma. Their homeland was somewhere in Central Asia. Approximately 4000 years ago, they split into three distinct groups. Two of these were the Indic and Iranian. The Indics settled into what is now Afghanistan and the Valley of the Indus. The other group settled in what is now Iran and became the Iranian People. Both groups, orally, passed on their religious knowledge, which was later written down and has been preserved to the present. Specifically, these religious works are the Rig Veda and the Avesta, of the Indian Hindus and Iranian Zoroasters, respectively. In both religions there is reference to a plant, which is believed to have psychoactive properties and was used in religious ceremonies.The Plant was referred to as Soma in the Rig Veda and Haoma in the Avesta. The descendants of these people would continue to carry out the ceremonies involving their sacred plant, but the knowledge as to the actual identity of Soma/Haoma would eventually be lost and a substitute, non-psychoactive one adopted in order to carry out the ceremony.

Soma

There are a number of stories concerning A. muscaria. One that is often told since Wasson (1968) when he gave evidence that the identity of Soma that is described in one of the oldest sacrificial hymns in Hindu texts, the Rig Veda is A. muscaria. The Rig Veda describes Soma as being an intoxicating drink that is derived from a plant that was utilized in religious ceremonies before the beginning of our Christian era, about 4,000 years ago. The drinking of Soma made communications with the gods possible and was also considered the drink that bestowed immortality is well documented and is mentioned frequently in the Rig Veda. However, even though Soma has long been believed to be a plant, the identity of the plant is never given in the Rig Veda, and over time, the identity of Soma was lost (Wasson 1968). However, Wasson (1968) discounted that a plant was utilized to make Soma and also believed that "ecstasy" described in the Rig Veda after drinking Soma was due to the psychoactive properties of the A. muscaria and that it was the mushroom that was utilized to make Soma. Wasson (1968) also gave evidence to Soma not being derived from a plant because of the description given in the Rig Veda was not describing a plant. The ceremonies involving Soma originated by the people who called themselves Aryans and the history of the migration of these people that would split into different groups. The split into the Indus and Iranian during the migration is given below.

The Aryan Migration

The Aryans were a warrior and grain-growing people. They had a tribal religion with a hereditary priesthood, with a full complement of gods that included Soma. Thus, Soma was not only an intoxicating drink, it was also a god. Their original homeland was believed to be somewhere in Central Asia. Approximately 4000 years ago, they split into at least three distinct groups. Two of these were the Indic and Iranian. The Indic settled into what is now Afghanistan and the Valley of the Indus. The other group settled in what is now Iran and became the Iranian People. Both groups, orally, passed on their religious knowledge, which was later written down and has been preserved and available to modern readers. Specifically, these religious works are the Rig Veda and the Avesta, of the Indian Hindus and Iranian Zoroasters, respectively. In both religions there is reference to a plant, which is believed to have psychoactive properties and was used in religious ceremonies. The Plant was referred to as Soma in the Rig Veda and Haoma in the Avesta. The descendants of these people would continue to carry out the ceremonies involving their sacred plant, but the knowledge as to the actual identity of what was utilized to create Soma/Haoma would eventually be lost and substitute, non-psychoactive plants adopted in order to carry out the ceremony.

It has been assumed that the adoption of a new sacred plant occurred because the original was no longer available, after leaving their original homeland (Wasson 1968). Although western scholars generally agreed that Soma and Haoma are derived from the same plant, there is strong disagreement as to the actual identity of this plant. Numerous plants have been proposed, during the last two centuries. These included, Ephedra, rhubarb, opium, chicory and hashish. For reasons too many to cover here, all of the above plants, and more, have been rejected as being Soma/Haoma. In Wasson’s pursuit of the identity of the sacred plant, he concentrated most of his evidence from translations of the Rig Veda and only made occasional mentions the Avesta.

Evidence Offered by Wasson That Soma is Derived From Amanita muscaria

Wasson (1968) put forward, what would be at that time, a unique suggestion, that the sacred plant utilized to make Soma was a mushroom rather than a plant. Some of the clues that led Wasson to believe this was that the Rig Veda described Soma as a small, leafless plant with a fleshy stalk. No reference was ever made about roots, flowers and seeds. Nor was there a description on propagating this plant. If Soma was indeed a plant, why would the Aryans not have bought it with them, when they migrated and began cultivation once they had settled? The Aryans were, after all, also an agricultural society and would have been able to grow it had it been a plant. The Rig Veda also specifically states that Soma can only be found growing in the mountains, which is where A. muscaria can only be found in the latitude of the Indus Valley. However, these mountains were not accessible to the Aryans. Although they had conquered the valley, the people of the mountains would continue to be held by their enemies, preventing their access to A. muscaria. Thus, necessitating the need for a substitute sacred plant to produce Soma. A unique characteristic of A. muscaria was also given by Wasson that would give credence to it being the sacred plant described in the Rig Veda. That Soma could be consumed in two forms: 1.) Consumed by either drinking the juices of A. muscaria, or 2.) Drinking the urine of an individual who has ingested Soma. The drinking of the urine of an individual that has ingested A. muscaria for recreational purposes was first rediscovered by a Swedish army officer, Filip Johann von Strahlenberg, while a captive of the Russians in Siberia. His observation of this event was published in 1730. According to Wasson (1968), the A. muscaria toxins are the only ones capable of being passed through the digestive system and maintains its psychotropic properties. Wasson also believed that there is a reason for the drinking of urine. In modern experience the A. muscaria causes nausea and other unpleasant side effects, when consumed, due to unidentified toxins that occur in this species. By passing Soma through the digestive tract, the various nausea causing metabolites in the mushroom will be eliminated.

There are a number of plants and mushrooms, other than Soma, that have been utilized in religious ceremonies. However, Soma was the only one that was also considered a god. When During the course of the religious ritual, only the priest consumed Soma and the god would come down and manifesting himself to the priest.

Other Opinions on the Identity of Soma

In 1989, David Flattery and Martin Schartz put forth Peganum harmala (Harmel or Wild Rue) (Fig. 11) as the true Soma in their book: The Botanical Identity of the Indo-Iranian Sacred Hallucinogen "Soma" and Its Legacy in Religion, Language and Middle Eastern Folklore. Unlike Wasson, Flattery and Schartz utilized evidence from the Iranian Avesta rather than the Indian Rig Veda to determine the identity of Soma/Haoma. In the Avesta, Soma is described as a "green plant", which would preclude A. muscaria. Peganum harmala is a weed that occurs locally and is well known for its psychoactive properties, and usage, even today. While their research on the identity of Haoma was very scholarly, well received and took ethnobotanical research to a higher level, there were critics that questioned that P. harmala is the Haoma described in the Avesta. The main criticism of their theory was based on the well-known effects of this plant since it is still presently utilized for "recreational" purposes. The experiences described by their users apparently do not live up to the expectations of ecstatic feelings described in either the Rig Veda or Avesta.

Figure 10: Peganum harmala (Syrian Rue). Flattery and Schartz (1989) proposal of the "true" Soma. https://auntiedogmasgardenspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/peh.jpg

Another hypothetical possibility was advanced by Rudgley (1998), based on new archeological finds in Russian excavations in the Kara Kum desert of Turkmenistan. A number of sites were uncovered, dating to 2000 B.C. Among them, Gonur South, which is bordered by Iran to the south, Kazakhstan to the north and the Caspian Sea to the west, included a large shrine that was divided into two parts: one was used for public worship and other was hidden from public view and used by the priesthood. In one of the rooms of the latter were ceramic bowls containing plant material. Analysis of the remnants were determined to be a mixture of Ephedra and Cannabis and was apparently used in concocting a psychoactive drink. In an adjoining room was found utensils designed to separate the juices from the plant material for the making of the beverage. At a later site, another shrine, at Togoluk, was found to have similar utensils and again Ephedra was identified, but this time in association with the pollen of poppies. In both sites, the psychoactive drinks were believed to be for the worshippers. The artifacts that were discovered allow archeologists to reach certain conclusion concerning these sites in this eastern Iranian cultural regions. One of these conclusions, and the one that is relevant to our discussion is that between 2000 and 1000 B.C., that the Haoma, the Iranian Soma, was a composite psychoactive drink composed of Ephedra and Cannabis in one site and Ephedra and opium in another.

Among those that believed that A. muscaria was not Soma also included Wendy Doniger who translated the text of the Rig Veda for Wasson (1968) and BrianSmith. Smith and Doniger (1989) did suggest that substitution of various plants in place of the Soma plant was carried out because the original Soma plant was unknown or often unavailable, but also suggested the possibility that the Soma plant never really existed, except in the minds of the priest, and that the plants used during the religious ceremonies have always been substitutes for this mythical Soma.

(Wernick, 1979, as cited in Wade, 2016) suggested that the Vikings got very drunk before battle, which would account for not feeling pain. However, being drunk will not help you during a fight (Wade, 2016).

(Shay, 1994 as cited in Geraty, 2015) suggested that the berserk behavior was due to heightened exposure to extreme violence. Much like what American soldiers experience while fighting in the Vietnam War that have led to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, Wade (2016) disagrees with this assessment since a comparison between the different fighting men given the cultural gap and the millennium that separates them. The argument that traumatized veterans of the Vietnam War exhibited, such as persistent hypervigilance and potential explosive violence when no longer in combat cannot be compared to the ubiquitous violence that was occurring during medieval societies where aggressive hypervigilance was appropriate and of selective value for survival, even for the noncombatants.

Fatur (2019) compared the symptoms attributed to berserkers behaviors to individuals that ingested A. muscaria and those that ingested Hyoscyamus niger and concluded that the symptoms produced by the latter are better aligned with those of berserker behaviors than A. muscaria.

Whatever the means by which the berserkers achieved their trance, the era of the berserkers was short-lived. Berserkers were outlawed in the 11th century by Jarl Eiríkr Hákonarson (920s - 1020s) of Norway and by the 12th century they disappeared completely and were never seen again (Farley, 2021).

Amanita muscaria and the Origin of Christianity

In 1970, John Allegro authored the controversial book, The Mushroom and the Cross. The main theme of the book alleges that Judaism and Christianity were based on a secret cult whose god was Amanita muscaria, but was represented in the person of Jesus, the Christ. He believed that the cult was very cryptic in its writings and made interpretations that are often difficult to follow and more difficult to verify since the interpretations were derived from ancient writings that few could read. One interpretation that Allegro made represented A. muscaria as being born from "Mother Earth" after being impregnated by God with rain (=semen). The A. muscaria was interpreted as the Son of God (=Jesus). Of course, this would also mean that Jesus, the man, never existed.

By the time Jerusalem was being taken over by Rome, in 70 BC, the mushroom cult was forced to hide its religious practices by cryptically concealing them into what is now the New Testament. The cult eventually died out and its true practices forgotten, but Christianity and Judaism would remain as religions.

Not unexpectedly, a backlash by the church began. In England, where a serialization of his then unpublished book was released in the Sunday Mirror, with eye catching headlines such as “Christianity is a hoax based ona sex-drug cult” and “Worship by orgy turned these women into witches” (Cited in Letcher, 2006). Outraged clergymen attempted to block the publication of the book, but to no avail. Once the book was published, there would be continuing criticizm from various philologist in London that Allegroʻs The Mushroom and the Cross was of no scholarly value (Letcher, 2006).

Although it became a best seller, there would be few readers that would be able to comprehend what was written in Allegroʻs book (Letcher, 2006). However, it was not difficult to understand the fresco on the back cover the Allegroʻs book. The Fresco at Abbaye de Plaincourault Mérigny, France is interpreted as "The Temptation of Eve" and the "Tree of Knowledge" appears to be a tree that is producing A. muscaria (Fig. 13). Coiled around this tree is a serpent that has been interpreted as tempting Eve with a mushrooms rather than an apple. The fresco is perhaps the most cited evidence of the followers of Allegro that Christianity had its origin from psychotropic experiences after consuming A. muscaria.

However, even before Allegro's book was published, this concept was first suggested at a session of the Societe Mycologique de France in 1910. Wasson also noted how such an interpretation could be made (Wasson, 1968). However, in his communication with art historian, Erwin Panofsky, Panofsky wrote Wasson concerning this interpretation and dismissed it. Below is an excerpt from the letter:

"...the plant in this fresco has nothing whatever to do with mushrooms...and the similarity with Amanita muscaria is purely fortuitious. The Plaincourault fresco is only one example -- and, since the style is provincial, a particularly deceptive one -- of a conventionalized tree type, prevalent in Romanesque and early Gothic art, which art historians actually refer to as a "mushroom tree" or in German, Pilzbaum. It comes about by the gradual schematization of the impressionistically rendered Italian pine tree in Roman and Early Christian painting, and there are hundreds of instances exemplifying this development -- unknown of course to mycologists...What the mycologists have overlooked is that the mediaeval artists hardly ever worked from nature but from classical prototypes which in the course of repeated copying became quite unrecognizable."

Panofsky had already formed this opinion in 1952, long before Allegro reiterated that A. muscaria was the tree of life. Wasson agreed with Panofsky's interpretation and used this explanation in his Soma book to dismiss the notion that A. muscaria was the tree of life.

The story of Adam and Eve in the Abbaye de Plaincourault Mérigny fresco would not even be the most controversial concerning the first two humans on Earth. Arthur (2000) also describes as the oldest version of the Adam and Eve story that originated from Cuneiform clay tablets of Mesopotamia that dated back at least 4,000 BCE. In this story, there were gods that came to our planet in Space/Time Dimension ships from the star Sirius. The gods manipulated the DNA of Neanderthal to give rise to Homo sapiens, i.e., Adam and Eve.

Arguments continue, to this day, as to the merits or lack of, of Allegro's hypothesis concerning the origin of Judaism and Christianity. Irwin (2008) praised Allegro's book to be a well researched, after researching all his references and footnotes and was amazed at the vastness of his work and thought it to be impeccable. Irwin (2008) also included excerpts from various authors in a number publications that support Allegro's hypothesis. However, Letcher (2007) believed Allegro's hypothesis to be highly improbable and were he not a well respected academic with impeccable credential and highly regarded expertise in the field of religion at the time of the publication of The Mushroom and the Cross, his hypothesis would likely have been dismissed. He was once one of a select few individuals that had access to the Dead Sea Scrolls and as translation of the scrolls was in progress, he wanted publication of work in progress, wanting to keep the public informed. However, the Church was cautious about Allegro's suggestion and wanted to wait, lest findings would come about that would undermine the Christian message. This led Allegro to publish in 1956 his own book, The Dead Sea Scrolls, which was also sold well, but was also controversial (Letcher, 2007). With the publication of this earlier book, he was more looked upon as an individual who was marching to his own tune and was eventually barred from working on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Allegro viewed this as a suppression by the Church to prevent the publication of the truth of what was in the scrolls and became embittered and resentful of the Church (Letcher, 2007). By the time that The Mushroom and the Cross was published, critics from various newspapers in England and scholars from Oxford and London University had given his book scathing reviews and the Church had even tried to prevent its publication. Allegro would eventually step down from his position at Manchester University and would also become bitter at now losing the means to pursue his livelihood.

Amanita muscaria and Alice in Wonderland

One of the rumors that came about during the 1960s are the drug use that has been discovered or interpreted as previously hidden in literary works. The one that most often comes to mind is in Alice in Wonderland. Specifically, the part that is most used as an example is when Alice meets the caterpillar who is sitting on a large mushroom smoking a hookah. Alice is told by the caterpillar that eating one side of the mushroom will make you grow taller and eating the other side will make you smaller. It is the controlling her height by eating the mushroom that will allow her to navigate through her adventure in Wonderland. Although there is no mention of what mushroom was being eaten by Alice and no description given, it is the description of growing larger and becoming smaller than has led to the belief that the mushroom could be A. muscaria where one of the symptoms of ingestion is the occurrences of macropsia (Fig. 14), where objects appear to be larger than they actually are, causing the person to feel smaller and micropsia (Fig. 15), where objects appear to be smaller than they actually are, causing the person to feel larger (Blom, 2016; Beer, 2018). The two conditions are commonly referred to is appropriately referred to as Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. This led to the rumor that Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, that he had first hand knowledge of the symptoms through ingestion of the mushroom.

Although rumors continue to persist that Carroll drew his inspiration from first hand knowledge of ingestion of A. muscaria, it is unlikely to be true (Letcher, 2007, Jay, 2003). There is no evidence that Carroll ingested psychedelic mushrooms or other mind altering drugs (Letcher, 2007, Jay, 2003). Instead, according to Jay (2003), Carroll took interest in a book by Mordecai Cooke, The Seven Sisters of Sleep (1860). In the chapter having doing with Siberian usage of A. muscaria and its intoxicating effects that may have inspired Carroll to include in Alice's adventure, i.e., macropsia and micropsia. However, another possibility has also been proposed. It is known that Lewis Carroll suffered from migraines, which in adults may cause distorted perceptions of time and space. It is a rare disorder and was named, appropriately enough, as Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) by John Todd (1955). Lippman (1952) suggested that Carroll was inspired by his own hallucinations during his suffering from migraines in his writing of Alice's adventures in Wonderland.

Amanita muscaria and Religious Art

Although the 1960s was known for its use of recreational psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, it was also when the birth of ethnomycology came to be. Early ethnomycological research often involved reinterpretations of Greek myths, Biblical events, and the discovery of psychedelic mushrooms and A. muscaria hidden in text within the Bible and images in religious art. There is a great deal that can be said about publications in these areas, but only one example will be given to illustrate this area of interest and that will be the topic of the Last Supper. Heinrich (2002) gives a number of interpretations of what is in the Bible. What is written in the Bible is not always readily easily understood and in the example Heinrich has given his interpretation of the following when Jesus is speaking to his disciple and said the following:

I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh...if you do not eat [my] flesh and drink [my] blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life...for my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink...As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from heaven...anyone who eats this bread will live forever.

Heinrich has interpret the above passage to mean that Jesus is asking his disciples to eat A. muscaria when he says to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Otherwise, according to Heinrich, the interpretation can only mean that Jesus is asking them to literally eat his flesh (cannibalism) and drink his blood. Arthur (2000) makes a similar statement. Distinguishing the flesh as being the actual A. muscaria mushroom and the blood as being the juice made from A. muscaria.

There is also a link below that Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper has hidden in the painting, A. muscaria:

https://www.reddit.com/r/trees/comments/ko3ff/i_think_i_may_have_discovered_a_secret_message_in/

The images from the above website has been recreated below utilizing the original da Vinci painting that is housed at the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, in Milan. The image was downloaded from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Leonardo)

Figure 16 is the painting after reduction to a lower resolution, 10" X 5.639", at 72 dpi. White circles have been drawn where parts of the paintings have been enlarged in Figures 17, what has been reported to be a cap of A. muscaria by the right hand of Jesus, and 18, the wall of painting on the right side of Jesus, with white circles around what is reported to be A. muscaria.

I

Are the white circled figures A. muscaria in The Last Supper? If they are, how would Leonard da Vinci have known about use of A. muscaria by Jesus and his Apostles? The website from which the same images that have been recreated here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/trees/comments/ko3ff/i_think_i_may_have_discovered_a_secret_message_in/

da Vinci did know about the A. muscaria ritual, but how? Letcher (2007) indicated paintings used by da Vince as evidence use to verify certain events occurring, such as The Last Supper, could be found in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. However, it must be kept in mind that The Da Vi was a work of fiction.

Literature Cited

Allegro, J.M. 1970. The Mushroom and the Cross. Double Day and Company, Garden City, N.Y.

Arthur, James. (2000). Mushroom and Mankind: A Brief Introduction to Ethnomycology. Etnobotaniczne Herbarium Czarnej Pantery. Retrieved October 9, 2022, from http://herbarium.0-700.pl/biblioteka/Mushrooms%20and%20Mankind.pdf

Beer, Amy-Jane. Country diary: a magic spot ready to be peopled with fays or gruffaloes. The Guardian, Friday, 2 November, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/02/country-diary-fays-or-gruffaloes-fly-agaric-sutton-bank-north-yorkshire. Accessed 6 October 2022.

Blom, J. D. 2016. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, A systematic review. Neurol. Clin. Pract. 6(3): 259-270

Flattery, D.S. & Schwartz, M. 1989. Haoma and Harmaline: The Botanical Identification of the Indo-Iranian Sacred Hallucinogen "Soma" and its Legacy in Religion, Language, and Middle Eastern Folklore. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Heinrich, Clark. 2002. Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press.

Johnson, D.K. (2011, October 17). Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone. Chapter 5. From Whence Santa Comes. retrieved on 2011, October 17, from http://staff.kings.edu/davidjohnson/Sample Chapter_5_From Whence Santa Comes.pdf

Kelemen, L. (2011, October 17). The Real Story of Christmas. retrieved on 2011, October 17, from http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm

Lippmann, C.W. 1952. Certain hallucinations peculiar to migraine. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 116: 341-51.

Rudgley, R. 1998. The encyclopedia of psychoactive substances. Little, Brown and Company, London.

Todd, J. 1955. The Syndrome of Alice In Wonderland. Can. Med. Assoc. J. 73(9): 701-704.

Wasson, R.G. 1968. Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Mycological Terms

Allegro, John: Author of The Mushroom and the Cross. The author presented evidence that Judaism and Christianity were based on a secret cult whose god was Amanita muscaria, but was represented in the person of Jesus, the Christ.

Amanita muscaria: Scientific name for the Fly Agaric, also thought by some to be the Soma and the Haoma.

Aryans: The people whose origin was thought to be from Central Asia. After leaving their homeland, they split into several groups, approximately 4000 years ago. One group settled in the Valley of the Indus, which is now India, and another settled in what is now Iran and became the Iranian Zorasters.

Avesta: The holy book of the Iranian Zorasters.

Haoma: Name given to the mushroom god described in the Avesta, which was used in religious ceremonies and has hallucinogenic properties. Its counter part in the Rig Veda is Soma. It is thought by Wasson and others to be the mushroom Amanita muscaria.

Mycorrhiza: The symbiotic relationship between the roots of plants and a fungus. In the case of A. muscaria, it is an obligate one. If the host trees are not present, usually pines and birch species, the mushrooms will also be absent.

Rig Veda: The holy book of the Hindu.

Soma: Name given to the mushroom god described in the Rig Veda, which was used in religious ceremonies and has hallucinogenic properties. Its counter part in the Avesta is Haoma. It is thought by Wasson and others to be the mushroom Amanita muscaria.

Wasson, R. Gordon: Author of Soma, Divine Mushroom of Immortality where he puts forth the concept that Amanita muscaria was the Soma described in the Rig Veda and was a hallucinogen used for religious ceremonies until the identity of Soma was lost.

Some Questions of Interest

1. What are the psychoactive toxins in Amanita muscaria?

2. What trees can A. muscaria be found associated with?

3. What are some wide spread misconceptions concerning A. muscaria?

4. Who were the Vikings Berserkers and what were they known for?

5. What were some hypotheses as to how the Viking Berserkers induced their trance-like

conditions before going into battle?

6. What is the Rig Veda and what does it say about Soma?

7. Who are the Aryans?

8. What did Gordon Wasson believe Soma to be?

9. What evidence does Wasson offer as to his identification of Soma?

10. What are some other opinions as to the identity of Soma?

11. What does John Allegro have to say about A. muscaria in his book "The Sacred Mushroom and

the Cross?"