Amanita muscaria

Fly agaric

This highly visible, coniferous-mychorhyzial mushroom is probably humanity's oldest entheogen. It has been identified as the "Soma" of the ancient Rig Veda.

Finnish Kärpässieni. This mushroom was once thought to contain tropanes and bufotenine, but this has since been proven inaccurate.

Isolated Chemicals:

Preparations:

• Soma
  Sacred drug of the ancient hindus.

Documents:

• Mushroom Identification
  Some dated excerpts on P. semilanceata and A. muscaria. From alt.drugs, 1994.
• Amanita Notes
  A good muscaria primer, by M. S. Smith
• Amanita Muscaria as the Plant/God Soma of the Rigveda
• Mushrooms and Man
  By Paul Stamets, from Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
• Divine Mushroom of Immortality
  Excerpts from an article on A. muscaria from 1809.
• Amanita Muscaria - Mycopharmacological Outline & Personal Experiences by Francesco Festi and Antonio Bianchi
  Critical overview of the mycological, ethnobotanical, chemical and pharmacological data & Personal Experiences
• Amanita Notes by Michael S. Smith
  Harvesting, Preparation and Effects of Amanita muscaria
• Soma of the Aryans: an ancient hallucinogen? by Gordon Wasson
  A Paper based on Gordon Wasson's book, SOMA: The Divine Mushroom of Immortality
• Amanita muscaria as the God/Plant Soma of the RigVeda
  Article discussing the possibility of A. muscaria being the legendary Soma - based mostly on Wasson's research

more...

Contacts and URLs:

• Erowid (homepage, more info)
  "Documenting the Complex Relationship between Humans and Psychoactives"
  • Amanita Vault (related items...)
• Hedonistic Imperative (homepage, more info)
  Entry point for an eclectic group of sites with information and opinions on many things, including drugs.
  • Fungi entry from The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Substances by Richard Rudgley
    Also a nice Amanita muscaria picture (related items...)
• Mushrooms and Mankind (homepage, more info)
  A long, fairly esoteric collection of writings, mostly on Amanita muscaria.
• Tom Volk's Fungi (homepage, more info)
  Mycology resources and images
  • Amanita muscaria
    Fungus of the Month for December 1999 (related items...)
• Xenopharmacophilia (homepage, more info)
  • The Necessary Entheogen Explorer Files (related items...)

more...

Images:

• Amanita muscaria Specimen
  2 specimens. Color picture.
• Amanita muscaria Specimen
  3 specimens. Color picture.
• Amanita muscaria
  Close-up with good detail of warts
• Amanita muscaria
  Dried specimens
• Amanita muscaria Specimen
  Single specimen. Color photograph.
• Amanita muscaria
  Young specimen, in natural habitat
• Amanita muscaria
  Several young specimens
• Amanita muscaria
  Four young specimens

more...

Trip Reports:

• A most rewarding experience: Fully bemushroomed
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• I am a river: An experience with dried mushrooms
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• Smoking Agaric: A report of smoking A. muscaria
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• An encounter with musicmol-weirdness: A succesful fly agaric experiment
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• I get delerious: too much muscaria
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• A. muscaria anecdotes. : Various reports of Amanita use
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• "Distinct muscarinic effects": from Jonathan Ott, "Studies of Amanita", J. Psych Drugs Jan-Mar 1976.
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• High Lights: Experiments in Finland
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• Somewhat Hazy: A delerious encounter
  Substances: Amanita muscaria
• "The taste was something like chicken": from Steven Pollock, J. Psych Drugs Oct-Dec 1975.
  Substances: Amanita muscaria

more...

Children:

• Amanita muscaria var. alba
• Amanita muscaria var. formosa