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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Welcome again all trek friends,
I've been on my holidays last two weeks and didn't have oportunity to post any picture. This one was taken few days ago near my hometown Mragowo, Poland- nice sunny day after few rainy days was perfect to go for some mushroom hunt.
Well known and very beautiful Fly agaric is poisonous but still picked up by people who are looking for some strong, psychodelic adventures.
Many many more informations about the species You can find on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria
Picture was taken in RAF, then cropped, some contrast and saturation added, picture taken using tripod Velbon DF mini and Matin CPL filter.
TEXT BELOW IS JUST FOR THE INFORMATION, I'M NOT TRYING TO PERSUADE ANYONE TO TRY HOW IT WORKS!
Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly Amanita is a poisonous and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Amanita muscaria has been unintentionally conveyed to many countries in the Southern Hemisphere, generally as a symbiont with pine plantations, and is now a true cosmopolitan species. It associates with various deciduous and coniferous trees. The quintessential toadstool, it is a large imposing white-gilled, white-spotted, usually deep red mushroom, one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture.
Psychoactive use:
Unlike the hallucinogenic mushrooms of the Psilocybe, Amanita muscaria has been rarely consumed recreationally. It is classified as an unscheduled drug in the United States. Any sales of A. muscaria for human ingestion are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Most other countries do not have laws against the use of A. muscaria, as it is currently legal and un-controlled under United Nations international law. However, following the outlawing of psilocybin-containing mushrooms in the United Kingdom, an increased quantity of Amanita mushrooms began to be sold and consumed.
In eastern Siberia, the shaman would consume the mushrooms, and others would drink his urine.[75] This urine, still containing active hallucinogens may actually be more potent than the A. muscaria mushrooms with fewer negative effects, such as sweating and twitching, suggesting that the initial user may act as a screening filter for other components in the mushroom. Among the Koryak, one report held the poor would consume the urine of the wealthy, who could afford to buy the mushrooms. If a fly agaric is eaten, it is usually not fresh, but in its dried or cooked form, where ibotenic acid is converted to the more stable and far less poisonous muscimol.
Siberia
A. muscaria was widely used as a hallucinogenic drug by many of the indigenous peoples of Siberia. Its use was known among almost all of the Uralic-speaking peoples of western Siberia and the Paleosiberian-speaking peoples of eastern Siberia. However, there are only isolated reports of A. muscaria use among the Tungusic and Turkic peoples of central Siberia and it is believed that hallucinogenic use of A. muscaria was largely not a practice of these peoples. In western Siberia, the use of A. muscaria was restricted to shamans, who used it as an alternate method of achieving a trance state. (Normally, Siberian shamans achieve a trance state by prolonged drumming and dancing.) In eastern Siberia, A. muscaria was used by both shamans and laypeople alike, and was used recreationally as well as religiously.
The Koryak of eastern Siberia have a story about the fly agaric (wapaq) which enabled Big Raven to carry a whale to its home. In the story, the deity Vahiyinin ("Existence") spat onto earth, and his spittle became the wapaq, and his saliva becomes the warts. After experiencing the power of the wapaq, Raven was so exhilarated that he told it to grow forever on earth so his children, the people, can learn from it.
Beyond Siberia, there are only isolated and unconfirmed reports of the hallucinogenic use of A. muscaria. One source mentions that it was once used among the Sami people, but no firsthand accounts of this exist. Hartmut Geerken claims to have discovered a tradition of recreational use of this mushroom among a Parachi-speaking group in Afghanistan.[80] There are also unconfirmed reports of religious use of A. muscaria among two Subarctic Native American tribes, the Ojibway and the Dogrib. Authors of Sacred Soma Shamans Hawk and Venus have used A. muscaria as a sacrament and daily medicinal tonic since 1979.
Soma
There are also claims that A. muscaria played in important role in a number of ancient religious rites, though these claims tend to be speculative and highly controversial. The best known of these claims is R. Gordon Wasson's proposition that A. muscaria was the Soma talked about in the Rig Veda of India,[79] and is less often also thought to be the amrita talked about in Buddhist scriptures. (For more details on this topic, see Botanical identity of Soma-Haoma.)
Nordic Vikings
A single source for the notion that Nordic Vikings used A. muscaria to produce their berserker rages was first suggested by the Swedish professor Samuel Ödman in 1784. Ödman based his theories on reports about the use of fly agaric among Siberian shamans. The notion has become widespread since the 19th century, but no contemporary sources mention this use or anything similar in their description of berserkers. Today, it is generally considered an urban legend or at best speculation that cannot be proven. On the whole, muscimol, the psychoactive ingredient, is a mild relaxant, but it is widely known, as with all drugs that it can create a range of reactions within a range of people and it is possible that it could make a person incredibly angry, as well as make them "very jolly or sad, [jump] about, [dance], [sing] or [give] way to great fright".
Catholicism
John Marco Allegro argues in The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross that the Roman Theology is derived from a sex and psychedelic mushroom cult, although his theory has found little support by scholars outside the field of ethnomycology. In Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy (formerly called Strange Fruit) Clark Heinrich interprets A. muscaria usage by Adam and Eve, Moses, Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, Jesus and his disciples, and John of Patmos. In the book Apples of Apollo the mushroom is identified in a wide range of mythological tales such as those involving Perseus, Prometheus, Heracles, Jason and the Argonauts, Jesus and the Holy Grail.
I hope You anjoyed watching and reading.
Thanks for all comments.
Cheers! |
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Witaj Adrian,
Tego roku mamy muchomorow wiele a i borowikow w mojej okolicybylo sporo. Zawsze czerwony muchomor dodaje uroku w lesie i twoja fotka jest tego przykladem.
Pozdrawiam, Pawel