Fly Agaric, Dwarves' Wine, and Reindeer Pee
Alien Insect on Drugs Festive Fly Agaric Edition - Part 1
The late poet and ethnobotanist Dale Pendell rightly called Amanita muscaria “the most famous mushroom in the world” and, paired with the cheerful elves and pixies that enjoy frolicking on and around them, this most iconic of fungi has come to occupy an almost archetypal position in our collective cultural consciousness. And, it’s no coincidence that festive images of the brightly coloured Fly Agaric frequently adorn the covers of Christmas cards and children’s advent calendars. According to John Rush, author of Mushrooms in Christian Art:
“Santa is a modern counterpart of a shaman, who consumed mind-altering plants and fungi to commune with the spirit world… these practicing shamans or priests connected to the older traditions would collect Amanita muscaria, dry them, and then give them as gifts on the winter solstice.”
John Allegro, author of Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, goes even further, arguing for the entirety of Christianity being an Amanita muscaria cult, but this certainly strays somewhat from a mainstream position.
R. Gordon Wasson — the first Westerner to participate in a sacred Psilocybe mushroom ritual in Mexico — identified Fly Agaric with the mythical soma, the intoxicating ritual drink of the Rig Veda. Terence McKenna, however, disagreed and argued instead for the comparatively drab but more flagrantly psychedelic Psilocybe mushrooms. Whatever the truth, there can be no doubt that this radiant fungus is uniquely special, and not merely as a colourful Christmas card decoration, but with traditional use as a visionary drug reaching back centuries, most notably in Siberia, as well as in parts of Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia.
In the first part of this festive duo of posts on the Fly Agaric, I will discuss the traditional and modern usage of Amanita muscaria and, in next week’s part 2, I’ll go into the chemistry and pharmacology of its active components in more detail.
Amanita muscaria has been used most notably by a number of animist-shamanistic cultures of Siberia, including the Khanty and Nganasan people of Western Siberia and the Chukchi and Koryak of the East. Reflecting its rather complex pharmacology — which I’ll come to in part 2 — Fly Agaric is something of a multi-purpose visionary fungus, and has found its services being called upon for communicating with the dead and other spirits; naming children; foretelling the future or revisiting the past; interpreting dreams; and visiting “other worlds”.
It also has more prosaic uses: as a mild stimulant for haymaking, running, carrying heavy loads, and even chasing down animals in a canoe! Much like the coca plant, the Fly Agaric seems to make physical exertion not only tolerable but quite enjoyable:
“In harvesting hay I can do the work of three men from morning to nightfall without any trouble”
“Under the influence of the fungus it is a trifle to walk 50 km”
(M. Saar, 1991, J. Ethnopharm. 31, 157)
And, although alcohol has now largely taken over as the party drug of choice, the Fly Agaric has also found a role during those communal times when “people thought it necessary to call forth high spirits” (Saar, 1991), such as weddings, visits from friends, and after particularly successful hunting expeditions — either the fresh mushrooms or a tea would be consumed before a riotous evening of eating, dancing, and singing. Roll out the barrel!
The Siberians have developed at least 15 different ways of consuming the mushroom: fresh and raw, dried or fried, as a fragrant tea or mixed with fruit juice or, according to some sources, eating the meat of an intoxicated reindeer — it doesn’t get any more festive than that!
Dosage depends very much on the intended purpose: up to five young mushrooms would be slowly nibbled and chewed before a bout of physical exertion. For visionary effects, a heavier dose, up to 11 fruiting bodies is required. Despite claims from some sources that larger (and thus older) mushrooms should be consumed after drying, Siberian shamans insist that fresh young mushrooms, at their very reddest, are the most potent.
“The smaller mushrooms, which are bright red and covered with many white warty protuberances, are said to be far stronger in narcotic power than the larger ones, which are pale red and have few white spots”. (Saar, 1991)
The effects of the mushroom usually proceed through three phases, although their ordering sometimes switches depending on whom you ask: an initial period of nausea (and occasionally vomiting) is followed by several hours of sleep and dreaming, with a visionary phase upon waking.
"They are subject to various visions, terrifying or felicitous, depending on differences in temperament: owing to which some jump, some dance, others cry and suffer great terrors, while some might deem a small crack to be as wide as a door, and a tub of water as deep as the sea.” (Krasheninnikov, S. 1755, Description of Kamchatka Land, St. Petersburg)
Contact with spirits and other denizens of the Other Worlds can occur during either the dreaming or waking visionary stages of the trip, when questions can be asked of the beings — such as the cause and cure of an illness or other misfortune befalling the tribe — and their answers reported to those waiting this side of the veil. Intriguingly, the Khanty people employ the services of small magical elf-like beings who appear in their dreams after eating only the caps of the mushroom. Those pesky elves are everywhere…
The characteristic red cap of the mushroom derives from at least 10 different alkaloid pigments — derived from the amino acid tyrosine — known as betalains, which include the red-coloured betaxanthins and yellow betacyanins. None of these are responsible for its psychoactive effects, however.
Amanita muscaria contains three principal active alkaloids of interest: muscarine, muscimol, and ibotenic acid. I’ll discuss the pharmacology in more detail in part 2, but muscimol and ibotenic acid, in particular, deserve a brief discussion. Both molecules are alkaloids derived, as all alkaloids are, from an amino acid precursor — in this case, glutamate, which is also the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. A few chemical steps from glutamate yields tricholomic acid, which is then oxidised to form ibotenic acid. A simple decarboxylation step — removal of a carbon dioxide molecule — leads directly to muscimol.
Muscimol is generally considered to be the desirable psychoactive component of the mushroom, and modern users usually call for between 5 and 10 caps (6-15g) to be dried with a gentle heat before consumption. The idea here is that the facile decarboxylation of ibotenic acid to muscimol will occur under these conditions, which is not unreasonable. Gordon Wasson himself — presumably looking for support for his soma hypothesis — drank the raw juice of the mushroom, but experienced little more than bouts of nausea, before falling asleep and having some particularly vivid dreams. He wasn’t that impressed.
Allegedly, it’s also possible to drink the rainwater collected in Fly Agaric caps at the stage when the caps are turned upward (the goblet stage). This naturally-occurring cold-water extract is known, appositely, as Dwarves’ Wine. Give it a try and you might get to party with the dwarves as well…
OK, so let’s get to the urine. In 1730, a Swedish colonel, von Strahlenburg, who spent 12 years in Siberia as a prisoner of war, described in some detail how the mushrooms were prepared and consumed by the Koryak people and, indeed, how the poorer folks among them had to make do with what emerged from the other end:
“The Russians who trade with them (Koryak), carry thither a Kind of Mushrooms, called in the Russian tongue, Muchumur, which they exchange for Squirrels, Fox, Hermin, Sable and other Furs: 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. They then drink the Liquor, which intoxicates them: The poorer Sort, on these Oc- casions, post themselves round the Huts of the Rich, and watch the Opportunity of the Guests coming down to make Water; And then hold a Wooden Bowl to receive the Urine, which they drink off greedily, as having still some Virtue of the Mushroom in it, and by this Way they also get Drunk." (quoted in E. Crundwell, 1987, The Unnatural History of the Fly Agaric, Mycologist, 1(4), 178)
It’s sometimes claimed that muscimol passes through the body into the urine unchanged, whilst ibotenic acid — the less desirable alkaloid — is more actively metabolised and, for these reasons, the urine is especially prized as an intoxicant. This, however, seems not to be true, nor is it supported by chemical analysis of urine samples. Both ibotenic acid and muscimol are partly metabolised to a similar degree, but indeed much is filtered through unchanged by the kidneys. So, whilst it’s certainly possible to become intoxicated by drinking urine, from either a human or a reindeer, there’s really no good reason to do so. Unless that’s your thing, of course…
Aside from their intoxicating effects, the mushrooms can also be consumed for purely culinary purposes. Here in Japan, the closely-related Amanita rubrovolvata, known as beni-tengu-take (literally, red tengu mushroom — “tengu” is a type of supernatural being in Japanese folklore), is enjoyed as a fermented pickle:
"The mushrooms are boiled for 20-30 minutes, then drained and rinsed. Finally they’re packed in 3-5% salt and fermented, for months under refrigeration."
Boiling in water readily extracts the water-soluble alkaloids from the mushroom, leaving behind only the delicious flesh. Chef Alan Bergo provides much more detail and an adapted Amanita muscaria recipe if you’re keen to try pickled Fly Agaric yourself. I’m yet to partake, so I can’t comment on their flavour, but Chef Bergo seemed to enjoy them.
See here for the details and recipe: https://foragerchef.com/muscaria-pickles/
For those wanting to explore the more magical properties of Fly Agaric over the festive season, a few cautionary words is perhaps in order:
“If anyone consumes too much of it, his teeth become clamped together, foam comes out of his mouth, his eyes bulge, and he can be saved only by the forcible administration of milk or salt.”
So, perhaps stick to the eggnog or otherwise proceed with due care. Either way, be merry and joyous over this festive season! Happy Yuletide to all! Andrew xxx
You’re awesome brother.
I had some yesterday for christmas day, just 0.1g dried, was great. Like alcohol but clear head and no hangover.