| In comparing mushroom intoxication to alcohol, Adolph Erman [case 11], in his book cited by Wasson, A Journey Around the World, from the mid-1800’s, is quoted as saying: “Mushroom intoxication had a quite different effect from alcoholic drunkenness, since the former put the Kamchatka natives into a peaceful and gentle (skromno in Russian) mood, and they had seen how differently the Russians were affected by spirits.” (24) Von Dittmar describes a similar situation [case 13] “Mukhomor eaters describe the narcosis as most beautiful and splendid. The most wondrous images, such as they never see in their lives otherwise, pass before their eyes and lull them into a state of the most intense enjoyment. Among the numerous persons whom I myself have seen intoxicated this way, I cannot remember a single one who was raving or wild. Outwardly the effect was always thoroughly calming – I might almost say, comforting. For the most part the people sit smiling and friendly, mumbling quietly to themselves, and all their movements are slow and cautious.” (25) In Erman’s book, the author is being told by another fellow about the collecting of the mushrooms by the natives: “the Russians of Klynchevsk, who according to the man from Yelovka pick whole packhorse loads of this valuable plant, prepare an extract by decocting it in water, and try to take away its extremely disgusting taste by mixing the extract with various berry juices.” (26) Adam Kamienski was a polish prisoner of the Tsar in Russia at the time (1658) and kept a diary of the actions of the Ob-Ugrian Ostyaks and witnessed the drunkenness of the men when consuming the A. muscaria mushroom. (27) This is the earliest European record we have concerning the consumption of this mushroom. Wasson writes about these Siberian shamanic mushroom tribes: “the Ostyak of the Irtysh River (tributary of the Ob), are an Ugrian people of the Finno-Ugrian family. Today we know its [fly-agaric] use is common to the Ostyak and their kin the Vogul, the Ket of the Yenisai Valley, the Samoyed peoples (who, together with the Finno-Ugrians make up the Uralic group), and three sister tribes, unrelated linguistically to the others, on the north Pacific Coast, the Chuckchi, the Koryak, and the Kamchadal. Responsible observers have reported that the Yukagir, who survive in Siberia in tiny communities near the Arctic Ocean, and the Inari Lapps in Finland, preserve oral traditions of having consumed the fly-agaric in times past, though they no longer do so.” (28) A. muscaria Gives Strength & Agility One of the primary themes in the Rig Veda regarding Soma is the strength which the hero has been blessed with by the Soma. Heroic strength is also part of the makeup of the myth of Atlas and Hercules, Samson and many of the bull-thunder-lighting gods as well as David of Sassoun, from the Aramean people. In several documented cases from Russia, Wasson brings our attention to this particular |
trait of the amanita mushroom. Von Langsdorf, commenting in a paper regarding the properties of the fly agaric mushroom dated 1809, writes: “In this intense and stimulated state of the nervous system, these persons exert extra-muscular efforts of which they would be completely incapable at other times; for example, they have carried heavy burdens with the greatest of ease, and eye witnesses have confirmed to me the fact that a person in a state of fly-agaric ecstasy carried a 120 lb. sack of flour a distance of ten miles, although at any other time he would scarcely have been able to lift such a load easily.” (29) Another case mentioned by Wasson, Bogoraz, in A Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History, 1904-09, writes: “His agility increases, and he displays more physical strength than normally. Reindeer hunters of the Middle Anadyr told me that before starting in canoes in pursuit of animals, they would chew agaric because that made them more nimble on the hunt. A native fellow-traveler of mine, after taking agaric, would lay aside his snowshoes and walk through the deep snow hour after hour by the side of his dogs for the mere pleasure of exercise, and without any feeling of fatigue.” (30) In yet another instance of increased strength attributed to amanitas, Erman (previously cited) writes: “There is no doubt…about a ‘marvelous increase in physical strength,’ which the man praised as still another effect of the mushroom intoxication. ‘In harvesting hay,’ he said, ‘I can do work of three men from morning to nightfall without any trouble, if I have eaten a mushroom.” The Little People The idea that mushrooms are little people or can be personified as such, is apparent with the Chukotka tribespeople. They maintain the mushroom people play tricks with them and cause them to do foolish things. In an account by Stepan Krasheninnikov [case 4], in a description of the Kamchatka lands, he writes, “Sometimes for their enjoyment they also use the mukhomor [fly-agaric], the well-known mushroom that we ordinarily use for poisoning flies. … It is worth noting that all those who have eaten the mukhomor unanimously affirm that all their extravagant actions at the time are carried out on orders of the mukhomor, which secretly commands them.” (24) ibid, p. 156 (25) ibid, p. 156; Journey and Sojourn in Kamchatka in 1851-1855, St Petersburg, 1900 (26) ibid, p. 158; A Journey Around the World Through Northern Asia and Both Oceans in 1828, 1829, and 1830, Berlin (27) Soma, Wasson, p. 151 (28) ibid, p. 10 (29) Some Remarks Concerning the properties of the Kamchatka Fly-Agaric, 1809 (30) Soma, Wasson, p. 249 |