Author in front of rooftop UFO.
A few days before Memorial Day weekend 2017, I went to the NJ shore. There I visited with a woman friend of many years. We walked the boards and talked about our escapades of previous years, including singing “We German” to the tune of Bob Marley’s “Jammin'” in Upper East Side night spots along with another mutual friend. That, and the UFO model on the roof of a boardwalk business led us into a discussion of psychoactive substances such as ayahuasca. But what did our Northern European ancestors do to commune with the higher realms? Why should we have to travel to South America to partake of this magical substance to become enlightened? Our conversation turned to fly agaric also known as Amanita muscaria.
fly agaric illustration
This mushroom is associated with shamanism, Santa Claus, and reindeer. You can see it on many German and Swedish Christmas cards. It is prevalent in illustrations across Iceland and probably other Nordic countries as well, but I am speaking here from experience only. I actually purchased a delicate glass tree ornament of a fly agaric mushroom at a Christmas shoppe in northern Iceland. Now think about Santa Claus. According to tradition, he lives at the North Pole and flies in a sled pulled by reindeer and he wears a red suit. This description fits that of a Siberian or Lapland shaman. It is known that tribes from the Arctic region, particularly their shamans, ingest fly agaric to go on spiritual journeys. They also herd reindeer and the reindeer also eat the mushrooms which incidentally grow underneath fir trees (Christmas trees).
Santa as shaman. (courtesy of Ancient Time News on Tumblr)
So my friend and I agreed that probably the most culturally appropriate way for us to experience higher realms would be to dose ourselves with fly agaric. This was all said largely in jest and under the influence of a vodka and tonic. No way that either of us intended to go out and find and consume potentially poisonous mushrooms that neither of us had ever seen in the “flesh”. In fact we doubted that it grew in our area of the world.
Shortly thereafter I drove to Northern New Jersey where at a familiar location I found these mushrooms.
Northern NJ fly agaric mushroom
A NOT intrepid explorer and fly agaric mushrooms in a bed of sweet woodruff under fir trees.
I have spent much time at the location in various seasons but NEVER saw this type of mushroom there or anywhere else. I am interested in mushrooms and as a child broke out in a horrible rash from excessive handling of puffball mushrooms. I always stop to look at mushrooms when I see them in the wild. Needless to say I was blown away by this seeming synchronicity, I actually felt like the mushrooms were calling me to have a taste. But I didn’t. I had heard all the stories of professional wild mushroom pickers who died from making a wrong identification.
About a week later I visited Providence Rhode Island and came upon these sweeties on an evening walk.
Providence RI fly agaric?
This was beginning to get uncanny.
Then I received this toy figure as a gift.
Toy fly agaric figurine.
I don’t usually do a photographic essay for a blog post, but this little episode really calls for it. I still haven’t ingested any fly agaric, though I can’t say I’m not tempted. I think that the late Terence McKenna explained this best. He spoke of mushrooms being conscious and their spores traveling through outer space. Could these mushrooms have been speaking to me? I think that they were. I think they were speaking directly to the Neanderthal in me.
Listen to Terence MaKenna on this subject (short) on YouTube.
Fahrusha is a professional intuitive and co-host of Shattered Reality Podcast.
Fahrusha's Weblog 
July 26, 2017 at 4:0 1
you have a great spirit of adventure and enormous energy to take these trips. may God protect your stamina!
July 26, 2017 at 4:0 1
Thank you Nina! And to think I was just saying that I feel tired. Sending you a world of positivity and good health.
July 27, 2017 at 4:0 1
The historical facts around and cultural significance of amanita muscara are amazing and need to be publicized. Thank you for the fine article!
July 27, 2017 at 4:0 1
Thanks, John. The images are certainly ubiquitous in Northern Europe.
July 27, 2017 at 4:0 1
A. muscaria are very unpredictable and sometimes more dissociative in their effects than truly psychedelic. They can also cause unpleasant physical symptoms. The psiolcybes are much more reliable, and are also found across Europe.
July 27, 2017 at 4:0 1
Thanks for your comment. Feel free to elaborate. I was very impressed by what clearly seemed to me like the oversoul of the mushroom attempting to communicate with me. This made me rethink Terence McKenna, who I actually never discounted.
July 27, 2017 at 4:0 1
I recommend reading Clark Heinrich’s work on A. muscaria:
http://amzn.to/2vbld2e
He found that toasting the mushrooms eliminated a lot of the physical negatives (which can include excessive salivating, i.e., foaming at the mouth). I don’t necessarily buy that A. muscaria is the legendary soma, but it’s provocative and fascinating reading nonetheless.
The psilocybes are much more gentle in their physical effects, though some people do experience transient nausea, and subjectively they are classical psychedelics, whereas the mental effects of A. muscaria can vary immensely from person to person.
Far be it from me to suggest you should not listen to the calling! 🙂 But many people lump A. muscaria and psilocybes into “magic mushrooms,” but they are very different. If you’re interested in reports from people who have taken them, Erowid is a terrific resource.
Great story, btw. And I’ve been a fan of Terence since his first book, and miss him greatly.
July 28, 2017 at 4:0 1
Dear Michael,
Thanks for your reply. I have read Erowid, and it is very interesting with loads of information, but alas, I am not that adventurous. But I am very much in favor of not criminalizing Nature and using natural plant substances and extracts for good health practices. However if I started foaming at the mouth I would totally freak out. I will read Clark Heinrich. Thanks. Fahrusha
July 27, 2017 at 4:0 1
Fascinating piece!
July 28, 2017 at 4:0 1
Thanks Alexandra!
October 29, 2017 at 4:0 1
I have belonged to a mycology club and I am still myco-phobic. Unless you are a very advanced mycologist, don’t eat any species of Amanita. They are easy to identify. They grow out of the earth from an egg-shaped cup, which is the single drop dead identifying attribute. You must dig your foraged mushrooms to ensure they are not this species. They are gilled mushrooms, and the gills are detached from the stem. Finally, most have the warts you see on top of the cap, but not all have warts. Some don’t, like the pure white ones that people mistake for edible mushrooms called Destroying Angels. I had a conversation with a woman who as working at a boutique grocery store. She said that she had served Jack ‘O Lantern Mushrooms to her friends, mistaking them for an edible. I said OMG! They spent the day in the hospital. I asked her if she saw them glow in the dark? She said, “They glow in the dark?” I replied that’s where their name comes from. Beware. There are rules for foraging and serving mushrooms to people. Join a mycology society before you pick and eat.
October 29, 2017 at 4:0 1
Thanks. I did not eat.
October 29, 2017 at 4:0 1
North American Mycology Club has chapters all over the US. You can join their walks and classes and learn how to identify mushrooms. There are a few in the NYC area.
October 30, 2017 at 4:0 1
Thank you. 🙂
April 5, 2018 at 4:0 1
I saw them often growing up in Sweden and everyone knew that was the poisonous mushroom 🍄 to avoid – one of the first things taught by day care staff- as children often play in the forest but most others were edible and delicious. I never knew it could be used as a hallucinogenic- do you think it would work on on someone who didn’t have success with peyote or ayahuasca? Seems tricky- in low doses doesn’t work but higher risk more poison… it says was used in Siberia where after the shaman ate it the rest of the people would drink the shamans urine which was thought to be ‘de-poisoned’ after it was cleansed through his system?
I never heard of them being associated with Christmas but did find a Swedish article asking if Santa was a shaman just like in your post. The theory is Santa came from a Siberian tradition where he came into peoples huts with bags of the mushrooms but that the theory is unlikely because a lot of ‘evidence’ sited is circumstantial such as Santa’s suit colors matching the mushrooms. There’s also a myth of Vikings eating the mushrooms at night which led to bad temper and hallucinations where they went berserk- the word berserk is taken from Swedish meaning to be dressed in nightwear- as the Vikings were still in their pajamas(?) when they went on killing sprees. Although a Swedish historian says there is no reference to any mushrooms from Viking texts so may not have any truth to it.
April 5, 2018 at 4:0 1
Dear Cecilia, I think one needs to be extremely careful when dealing with mushrooms. There are a raft of articles about the shamanic origins of Santa and there are also some references to some Siberian shaman wearing red suits, but Santa may have been a Nordic/Germanic pre-Christian era shaman as Brigit was a pre Christian Celtic Goddess co-opted by the Catholic Church to be a saint. I’m not sure we will ever have the definitive answer. Thanks for your interesting comment. Best, Fahrusha
July 20, 2018 at 4:0 1
After a particularly nasty health scare and repeated rounds of anathesia it felt like my brain had been turned to mush. Forming sentences was challenging at times. I became aware of Paul Stamet’s thoughts on using cubensis along with lion’s mane and D3 to repair the brain. One day I was standing out by my mailbox trying to figure out how the hell I was going to accomplish that. I got back in the car and drove up the hill just in time to cross paths with a giant RV covered in enormous photo-realistic mushroom decals and on the side in giant letters it said “Let’s go to Mushroom Camp!” It was all downhill from there. Paul Stamet’s was right and I found that the mushroom had an energy all it’s own. Many weird things happened along my journey that lead me to believe it was communicating with me somehow. It was all just too uncanny.
August 1, 2018 at 4:0 1
Hi Thundernoggin! That is very interesting especially since I have recently spoken to a colleague about the use of lion’s mane in conjunction with certain diseases of mental deterioration. I’d like to hear more about your journey.The synchronicity you had with the mushroom RV is undeniable. Thanks for your comment.Please keep me posted. Fahrusha
August 2, 2018 at 4:0 1
I’ve been meaning to write it all down for my blog but it’s such a giant ball of strange that it’s hard to pick a place to start. To compare my brain to a damaged computer, the processor is working much faster now, hard drive repair is a bit slower and still improving. Much more effective than the various other brain supplements I was trying. I’m using a very small of amount of the cubes every other day and then powdered lions mane, agarikon, turkey tail, along with a blend of a bunch more medicinal mushrooms like reishi and chaga in my oatmeal or coffee every morning. Vitamin supplement for the D3. All of it a byproduct of following the synchronicity of a much larger journey. Talking is much easier now, I still get lost from time to time in memory retrieval, and some things I imagine are lost permanently. But the improvment has been remarkable over the last year. The combination has also been a powerful antidote to a black depression and some really scary hospital visits. I was born without an immune system and received injections of gamma gobulin during childhood and my mother is a rheumatoid patient. Current working theory on what happened to me is talked about here. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/pocd/
August 7, 2018 at 4:0 1
Keep up the good fight and keep us posted. I am enthralled by mushrooms. Have you read Terrance McKenna’s take on them as intelligent spores from space? That is really shorthand for his fascinating theories. He deserves a read.
August 8, 2018 at 4:0 1
I have. He was one of the voices that helped put me back together. It seems like they are an active super intelligence. Not sure how else to describe it but it got weird. Also had problems with electronic scales that I was able to duplicate. But then again I did invite them in and asked for their help. I try to keep the Robert Anton Wilson programmed portion of my brain active, which makes me question everything, but I have yet to come up with a better answer for it. Changed my life completely and there was a powerful resonance with a lifetime of paranormal experiences.