What is Amanita Muscaria? 

Amanita muscaria is one of the types of mushrooms that are found almost everywhere in the northern hemisphere. They grow in symbiosis with trees such as spruce, birch and pine. Amanita Muscaria grows both in Europe and America. The mushrooms are known for their striking appearance: bright red and yellow with white dots. Most mycological sources have registered Amanita Muscaria as poisonous and the mushroom is therefore not normally used as a psychoactive means. Namely, early reports show that the effects of Amanita Muscaria are unpredictable: the effects differ each time and from person to person. The mushrooms vary widely in potency. At one time a mushroom can work very effectively, while another time it almost has no effect.

Nevertheless, some cultures use the Amanita traditionally. Amanitas contain the psychoactive substances 'ibotenisch acid 'and' muscimol." The mushroom was also known as Amanita Muscaria. Vermengd with milk was he used to housefly a way to hunt.

History 

+ / - 10,000 (BC) - 0: 

A collection of sacred stories from India with the name 'Rig Veda hymns' describes the magic intoxicating means 'Soma'. R. Gordon Wasson published a controversial book with the title 'Soma, divine or mushroom immortality' in 1968 BC. The book assumed that Soma refered to the Amanita Muscaria. A language analysed pointed out in the year 4000 BC that Amanita Muscaria was known as poisonous.

+/- 1000-2000 BC.: 
In this period, the petroglyfen along the river Pegtymel showed figures of human forms with mushrooms on their heads. Around this time the modern Chukchi culture prevaled in the area. The Amanita was used as a means to get 'drunk' with.

100 AD.: 
In the city Nayarit (Mexico) a 7.5 centimeters high miniature of an Amanita mushroom found in the year 100 AD. This suggests that the Amanita Muscaria was also used along the Mexican coast. The use of other psychoactive plants and fungi were also represented by Central and South American sculptures.

0 - 1800 AD.: 
Some Scandinavian historians say that the Vikings ate the mushrooms before they started the battle.

1658 AD.: 
"They eat a certain mushroom that resembles an fly amanita. They become even more drunk than after taken vodka. For them this is the best feast," ; This is what a the Polish war prisoner Kamienstky Dluzyk wrote about a Western Siberian culture on page 382 of his book " Diary of Muscovite Captivity "(1874).

1730: 
The Swedish colonel, Filip Johann von Strahlenberg, spent twelve years in Siberia as a war prisoner and wrote a book entitled "An Historico-Geographical Description of the North and Eastern Parts of Europe and Asia". In this book he describes in detail how Amanita is being drunk as tea. He then describes that the urine of those who had consumed Amanitatea, was also drunk, in order to recycle the psychoactive ingredients. 

1960-1965: 
During this period  the use of Amanita in the urban subcultures of the United States appeared. Using remains rare, because many users experienced the effects as unpleasant.

Botany

Amanita muscaria grows throughout Europe, North Asia and western Alaska. This type of Amanitas grows most frequently and easiest on imported trees, like pine-trees and plantations of eucalyptus. But also on other types of plants this mushroom grows smoothly .

Amanita is mainly found on birch and conifers, but also on other tree species in forests. In Norway, for example, the mushroom is found in Tilia woods and on the Dutch island Terschelling on Willows. Amanita adapts to its environment and can in Australia and Argentina even coexist with eucalyptus (RE Tulloss).

The diameter of the cap of the mushroom has a length of five to thirty centimeters. The color is red, ranging from sprarkling red to a bloody kind color. The hat is covered with a sheet that covers the heads of young mushrooms entirely. The hat of a grown Amanita has white spots, which eventually will disappear when time goes by. Although the dots can arise in any kind of way, these mostly form concentric circles. As a mushroom grows older, its color blurs drastically. The complexion also blurs after heavy rainfall, or when the mushroom is exposed to direct sunlight.

Effects 

A trip will set in between half an hour or two hours after consuming and lasts up to five to ten hours. The first effects of trips are often nausea and extreme sweating. In most cases people first falls asleep for a few hours and after waking up the hallucinations begin. Many users feel very energetic and ecstatic. However, a dreamy, euphoria-like condition also belongs to the experiences of users.

One of the most remarkable features of this mushroom is its unpredictability. Sometimes eating this mushroom brings you to heaven, while the next time it will bring you to hell. Therefore, be absolutely sure about your case when you decide to eat this mushroom. Preferably you have experience with entheogene resources.

Drying the Amanita ensures that the mushroom has effect. This process, in which ibotenisch acid is being converted into muscimol, multiplies the potential of the mushroom for five to six times and reduces the nasty side effects.

Especially Northern Californians find the Amanita's weaker, or have the opinion that the mushroom charges the human body in a much higher degree, than the 'better' Northern European or Siberian mushrooms.

Medical Use 

Shamans used the holy Amanita's for both spiritual healing and physical healing. According to western users, significant pain relief would be one of the primary effects of taking Amamita. According to the Kamchatkan traditions eating three small pieces of fresh mushroom helps against a sore throat.

Variations 

Amanita extracts are available. An extract is ten times as strong as a normal dried Amanita. The delicate texture of an extract helps to dose carefully, instead of finding out how many dried hats fit in a correct dose.

Usage

Mix the desired dose with a few cups of water and let it simmer on a low flame for one hour. Drink the first half of the dose on an empty stomach and wait two hours until the effect occurs.
If this is not enough, you can take half of the remainings. Eventually after one hour, you can take the other half. Caution: the functioning of Amanita is unpredictable.

The active substances remain in the urine. It is said that these substances are stronger than the substances in the fresh mushroom. To increase and prolong the effect of the mushroom after eating the mushroom you can drink your own urine, if you have the courage. In this case you will have to empty your bladder before eating the mushroom.

Warnings 

The Amanita Muscaria can give you a fantastic and wonderful experience. Stick to the following rules:

1. When you eat the Amanita for the first time, start with a very slight amount (for example, a small to medium-sized hat). The same is true for powder; start with one to five grams. The reaction to Amanita can vary, dependant on the person in case.

2. The Amanita Muscaria can cause a severe nausea. When the psychoactive substances start working, the nausea disappears entirely.

3. Don't use the mushrooms if you are pregnant, when you are breast-feeding, if you're depressed, anxious or if you feel sad. The Amanita muscaria reinforces your feelings.

4. Don't combine the mushrooms with other psychoactive substances, such as alcohol or drugs.

5. Don't participate in the trafic, when you are under the influence of mushrooms.

6. Make sure there is a sober, preferably experienced, person in your environment who can  prevent accidents.

Breeding 

It has never been possible to grow Amanita in a laboratory. Amanita has a symbiotic relationship with trees in its habitat. At the right temperature and if the necessary trees are around, you can  to sow a few fresh or dried hats. In this case the hats needs to be in the period when they produce tracks: they are totally flat, or are completely twisted upwards and have long cracks. Crumble the hats and mix the crumbs with the upper layer of the earth. You don't want to sacrifice the hats? No worries. Cut the stems off of from the tracks on which traces allready fell down and mix it with the ground. According to Erowid, Mycelium grows mainly in the spring and during the summer months. Fruits will only be cultivated in autumn, after rainfall and when a fertile ground is available. In a dry season it is sensible to wet your mushroom garden each few days (Michael S. Smith).

Storage 

Dried Amanita can be preserved for a long time. After a few months it will lose some of  its potential.