As we already know from part 1 of this blog, the mystical Amanita muscaria was already mentioned in writing - or rather in pictures - 50,000 years ago. It is therefore undeniable that the connection between us humans and this extraordinary mushroom has existed for a very long time. But what happened towards the end of the Middle Ages and especially in the early modern period that caused the fly agaric to fall into such disrepute?
Always popular in the East and North
In their book “Mushrooms, Russia and History”, the Wasson couple distinguish between mycophilic (mushroom-loving) and mycophobic (mushroom-averse) peoples. The authors of this highly interesting book count the Slavic peoples, and the Russians in particular, as people who have been interested in mushrooms since very ancient times - mainly as food.
Russians have often immortalized their love of mushrooms in literature. From Russian literary classics to Russian Soviet literature - we encounter mushrooms everywhere, including the Amanita muscaria! The Russians' great interest in mushrooms is deeply rooted in the history of this nation. We find evidence of this even in ancient Russian literature. The oldest currently known mention of mushrooms comes from a “code of regulations” from 1493, which states: “And in the week of Feodor - on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - people eat bread, cabbage and mushrooms.” Amanita muscaria were also very popular when fried in butter or served with caviar.
As early as the 14th century, countless people in Latvia went into the woods in late summer to collect mushrooms of all kinds. The Amanita muscaria, which was later condemned as poisonous, was by no means abandoned. They collected and dried them, and in winter they began to eat the mushroom caps, which gave them a good mood and a general feeling of well-being.
The Latvians hung their fly agarics to dry in the fir trees. And they regularly watched their reindeer feast on the red and white spotted mushrooms. After eating them, the four-legged creatures sometimes behaved strangely: they jumped around and seemed to run even faster than they already did. In all likelihood, the two traditions combined laid the foundation for the modern Christmas story.
Sad but true - how the Amanita muscaria contributed to witch hunts
Even today, in the year 2024, people who are well versed in herbal medicine and prefer to use it are still viewed with suspicion by some. What might this have been like just a few hundred years ago, when schools and universities were reserved for the wealthy few and extensive knowledge of medicine seemed suspicious to many? It was precisely this suspicion among the population that the Inquisitio exploited in its persecution of witches: people who knew a lot about medicinal plants and how they worked were accused of being in league with the devil. Stories were invented for all they were worth, such as that these witches could fly - which was supposed to serve as proof of their worship of evil.
The so-called flying ointment merely put the herbal women into a trance-like state in which they could make contact with their ancestors. The fact that this ointment often contained fly agaric, among other things, has unfortunately given the mushroom a very bad reputation, which it really doesn't deserve!
Despite all this, there were still plenty of people back then who trusted their clan healers and consumed Amanita muscaria as well as many other herbs to cure a wide variety of illnesses.
The appearance of modern medicine
Around 200 years ago, modern conventional medicine appeared on the scene and made people forget en masse what had helped them for centuries. Aspirin, worming tablets and antidepressants hit the big time - and herbalism temporarily disappeared almost completely from people's minds. Of course, the companies were happy to support this, and so hemp was soon regarded as a drug, camomile as useless and fly agaric as poisonous and even deadly! This probably has less to do with the actual success of the plants in question than with monetary interests - but let's not go there…
Rediscovered and on the rise: The all-rounder Amanita muscaria - a thousands-of-year-old remedy for pain and sleep problems
Fortunately, there are a handful of people, including doctors and researchers, who have been focusing more and more on herbal medicine in recent decades! It can hardly be all bad when it comes to taking small amounts of Amanita muscaria - after all, the all-rounder fly agaric is a remedy for pain and sleeping problems that is thousands of years old! And so the fly agaric is currently experiencing a revival, which we are particularly pleased about. Its healing potential is extremely wide-ranging and it is exceptionally well tolerated - as long as you know about the potential of Amanita muscaria microdosing!
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