History, 369-374

"Soma" Identified as the Fly Agaric Mushroom, 369

Discovery of Long-Time Use of Fly Agaric in North America, 370

Use of Fly Agaric in Siberia, 372

Botany, 374-377

Poisonous Amanitas, 374

Fly Agaric and Panther Caps, 376

Chemistry, 378

Physical Effects, 379

Mental Effects, 379-383

The Importance of Drying, 379 Dosage, 381

The Importance of Mental Set, 382 The Question of "Soma," 383

CHAPTER NINE

Fly Agaric, Panther Caps and "Soma"

What I noticed in these1 visions and what I passed through are things that I would never imagine even in my thoughts. I can only mention that from the period when / was first aware of the notions of life, all that I had seen in front of me from my fifth or sixth year, all objects and people that I knew as time went on, and with whom I had some relations, all my games, occupations, actions one following the other, day after day, year after year, in one word the picture of my whole past became present in my sight .... // someone can prove that both the effect and the influence of the mushroom are non-existent and erroneous, then I shall stop being defender of the miraculous mushroom of

Kamchatka.

—Joseph Kopec

HISTORY

"Soma" Identified as the Fly Agaric Mushroom

The earliest religious document is a collection of 1,028 hymns called the Rig- Veda, written by Aryans who swept down into India from the North. The first of their four Vedas, it dates back to at least the second millenium B.C. and has been described as "the foundation of modern Hinduism." One hundred and twenty of its verses are devoted to praise of a plant called "Soma," which is characterized as being "rootless," "leafless," "blossomless" and "from the mountains."

R. Gordon Wasson first became acquainted with the Rig- Veda in 1962. He puzzled over the identification of "Soma," which had evaded scholars even though more than a hundred candidates had been proposed. (Most of the suggestions were ruled out by the passages describing it as "rootless," "leafless," etc.) Soon Wasson had a candidate;

As I entered into the extraordinary world of the Rig-Veda, a suspicion gradually came over me, a suspicion that grew into a conviction: I recognised the plane that had enraptured the poets .... As I went on to the end, as I immersed myself ever deeper in the world of Vedic mythology, further evidence seeming to support my idea kept accumulating. By Jove, I said, this is familiar territory!

369

31? F ly Agaric, Panther Caps and "Soma"

Wasson concluded that "Soma" was the bright red mushroom species known as the "Fly Agaric" (Amanita muscaria). This red mushroom speckled with white is familiar to most people from drawings accompanying fairy tales. It has a notorious history as an inebriating agent used by virtually all of the Siberian tribes—until Russian traders introduced vodka to these peoples in the eighteenth century. This mushroom has the peculiar quality of inebriating up to five people who drink the users' urine.

In a 1968 book entitled SOMA: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, Wasson explored the Rig-Veda's evidence. His thesis, that "Soma" is Fly Agaric, has been accepted by many relevant authorities as convincing. Schultes and Hofmann remark that here is "an identification that satisfies all of the many interlocking pieces of direct and indirect evidence—including even a reference in the 'Rig-Veda' to ceremonial urine drinking." Since publication of SOMA, Wasson has presented additional, strengthening arguments in "Rejoinder to Professor Brough" (1972) and in "SOMA Brought Up-to-Date" (published in 1979 in both the Journal of the American Oriental Society and the Harvard Botanical Museum Leaflet).

These writings on "Senna" have been of great interest to many people in the drug subculture, many of whom have come to regard the mushroom as psychedelic.

Discovery of Long-Time Use of Fly Agaric m North America

In 1978, Wasson presented a "surprising new discovery" at a mushroom conference in San Francisco, where he and an associate discussed recent evidence chat the Fly Agaric mushroom had been used extensively by Indian tribes around the Great Lakes and eastward. He also introduced a current practitioner—Keewaydinoquay, a lively Ojibway woman, then in her sixties, who has been ingesting these mushrooms three to five times a year since the age of fourteen. (See the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, January-June 1979, for these proceedings.)

Ancient ceremonial use of mushrooms was being rediscovered again, the chief clue this time being a letter dated 1626 from a Jesuit in Quebec to his brother in France. The Jesuit described the Indian practices a full century before any published references to Siberian mushroom practices, declaring that "they assure you that after death they go to heaven where they eat mushrooms and hold intercourse with each other."

Fascinated for nearly a half century by Siberian use of Amanita muscaria mushrooms, Wasson compared Native American practices and concluded that shamanistic employment of Fly Agaric was "circumpolar in extent" and that the rituals were similar. The only important difference he found was in regard to the "reindeer symbolism" associated with these mushrooms in Siberia; in North America, there is no such symbolism because there are no such animals. Remarkable similarities in practices and beliefs had already been described by the Wassons in Mushrooms, Russia and History (1957)'.

Ancient Ceremonial Usage 371

With our Mexican experiences [ with psilocybian mushrooms ] fresh in mind, we reread what Jochelson and Bogoras had written about the Korjaks and the Chukchees. We discovered startling parallels between the use of the fly amanita (Amanita muscaria) in Siberia and the divine mushrooms in Middle America. In Mexico the mushroom "speaks" to the eater; in Siberia "the spirits of the mushrooms" speak. Just as in Mexico Jochelson says that among the Korjaks "the agaric would tell every man, even if he were not a shaman, what ailed him when he was sick, or explain a dream to him, or show him the upper world or the underground world or foretell what would happen to him." Just as in Mexico on the following day those who have taken the mushrooms compare their experiences, so in Siberia, according to Jochelson, the Korjaks, "when the intoxication has passed, told whither the 'fly-agaric men' had taken them and what they had seen." In Bogoras we discover a link between the lightning bolt and the mushroom. According to a Chukchee myth, lightning is a One-Sided Man who drags his sister along by her foot. As she bumps along the floor of heaven, the noise of her bumping makes the thunder. Her urine is the rain, and she is possessed by the spirits of the fly amanita ....

372 Fl y Agaric, Panther Caps and "Soma"

Use of Fly Agaric in Siberia

The earliest report found by the Wassons about Siberian Amanita muscaria practices came from a Polish prisoner of war, who wrote in 1658 about the "Ob-Ugrian Ostyak of the Irtysh region" in western Siberia. Published in 1874, it says: "They eat certain fungi in the shape of fly-agarics, and thus they get drunk worse than on vodka, and for them that's the very best banquet."

The first published account of Fly Agaric appeared in 1730, the work of a Swedish colonel who spent twelve years as a prisoner in Siberia. He indicated that the Koryak tribe would buy a mushroom "called, in the Russian Tongue, Muchumor," from Russians in exchange for "Squirils, Fox, Hermin, Sable, and other Furs":

Those who are rich among them lay up large Provisions of these Mushrooms, for the Winter. When they make a Feast, they pour Water upon some of these Mushrooms, and boil them. They then drink the Liquor, which intoxicates them .... Of this Liquor, they... drink so immoderately, that they will be quite intoxicated, or drunk with it.

The tribesmen in Siberia did not know about alcohol until after contact with the Russians. Johann Georgi, in a book on Russia published in German in St. Petersburg in 1776, remarked on the differences:

'Numbers of the Siberians have a way of intoxicating themselves by the use of mushrooms, especially the Ostyaks who dwell about Narym. To that end they either eat one of these mushrooms quite fresh, or perhaps drink the decoction of three of them. The effect shows itself immediately by sallies of wit and humour, which by slow degrees arises to such an extravagant height of gaiety, that they begin to sing, dance, jump about, and vociferate: they compose amorous sonnets, heroic verses, and hunting songs. This drunkenness has the peculiar quality of making them uncommonly strong; but no sooner is it over than they remember nothing that has passed. After twelve or sixteen hours of this enjoyment they fall asleep, and, on waking, find themselves very low-spirited from the extraordinary tension of the nerves: however, they feel much less head-ache after this method of intoxication than is produced by spiritous liquors; nor is the use of it followed by any dangerous consequences.

The earliest report from someone who had actually eaten a Fly Agaric mushroom appeared in 1837, in Polish. In 1796 or 1797, ill and running a fever, Joseph Kope\: was given a mushroom by an evangelist, who first told him:

Before I give you the medicine I must tell you something important. You

have lived for two years in Lower Kamchatka but you have known nothing of

the treasures of this land Here are mushrooms that are, I can say, miraculous.

They grow only on a single high mountain close to the volcano and they are

the most precious creations of nature.

Kopec, wishing "to recover my health and above all to steep," overcame his fears and ate half a mushroom. Almost immediately he went into a deep sleep, and dreams came one after the other:

"Supernatural Qualities" 373

I found myself as though magnetized by the most attractive gardens where only pleasure and beauty seemed to rule. Flowers of different colours and shapes and odours appeared before my eyes; a group of most beautiful women dressed in white going to and fro seemed to be occupied with the hospitality of this earthly paradise. As if pleased with my coming, they offered me different fruits, berries, and flowers. This delight lasted during my whole sleep, which was a couple of hours longer than my usual rest ....

As a result, Kopec "starred to have confidence" in the Amanita muscaria's "supernatural qualities (as my evangelist had taught me to do)." He took a second helping:

Having eaten this stronger dose, I fell soundly asleep in a few minutes. For several hours new visions carried me to another world, and it seemed to me that I was ordered to return to earth so that a priest could take my confession. This impression, although in sleep, was so strong that I awoke and asked for my evangelist. It was precisely at the hour of midnight and the priest, ever eager to render spiritual services, at once rook his stale and heard my confession with a joy that he did not hide from me. About an hour after the confession I fell asleep anew and I did not wake up for twenty-four hours. It is difficult, almost impossible, to describe the visions I had in such a long sleep; and besides there are other reasons that make me reluctant to do so. What I noticed in these visions and what I passed through are things that I would never imagine even in my thoughts, lean only mention that from the period when I was first aware of the notions of life, all that I had seen in front of me from my fifth or sixth year, all objects and people that I knew as time went on, and with whom 1 had some relations, all my games, occupations, actions, one following the other, day after day, year after year, in one word the picture of my whole past became present in my sight. Concerning the future, different pictures followed each other which will not occupy a special place here since they are dreams. I should add only that as if inspired by magnetism I came across some blunders of my evangelist and I warned him to improve in those matters, and 1 noticed that he took these warnings almost as the voice of Revelation.

Toward the end Kopec says, "If someone can prove that both the effect and the influence of the mushroom are non-existent and erroneous, than I shall stop being defender of the miraculous mushroom of Kamchatka."

In SOMA there are forty-two "exhibits," comprising 105 pages of reports by explorers, travelers and anthropologists on mushroom use in Siberia. Only two of these are from people who tried mushrooms, Kopec's being one of them. The other says: "These mushrooms contain a very strong poison, and I can say from personal experience that it is highly intoxicating. The natives often use it to get drunk on when they have no alcohol." These remarks were published in Swedish in 1918.

Among the handful of sympathetic observers was Carl von Dittmar, who wrote about the Siberian practices in St. Petersburg in 1900:

Mukhomor eaters describe the narcosis as most beautiful and splendid. The most wonderful 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.

374 Fly -Agaric, Panther Caps and "Soma"

Among the numerous persons whom I myself have seen intoxicated in 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.

The two firsthand accounts and a few secondhand ones are about the only information on the effects of Amanita muscaria on Siberian natives, even though it grew plentifully in Koryak territory. During the off-season a reindeer would often be exchanged for just one of these mushrooms. When questioned, natives who had used Amanita muscaria said repeatedly and emphatically that they liked it better than alcohol Alcohol seems to have supplanted use of this mushroom at present, or its use has gone underground.

BOTANY

Poisonous Amanitas

It should first be emphasized that the Amanita muscaria and the Amanita pantherina (or Panther Cap, a species containing the same psycho-active ingredients, usually in greater concentrations) belong to a genus that is estimated to cause 95 percent of all deaths resulting from mushroom poisoning. Three of their relatives—A. virosa (Destroying Angel), A. verna and

376 Fly Agaric, Panther Caps and "Soma"

especially A. phalloides (Death Cap)—contain lethal substances. People usually do not feel these toxins until about two days after they have eaten the mushrooms, by which time pumping the stomach and other medical measures seldom prove effective. The toxins affect the liver and kidneys. Only lately has there been any success in counteracting the virulent poisons by use of dialysis machines and blood transfusions.

Because Amanita muscaria and Amanita pantherina are similar in appearance to their lethal relatives, it is recommended that one never eat any Amanita that is all white.

Fly Agaric and Panther Caps

Fly Agaric and Panther Caps will grow only in "mycorrhizal" relationship with just a few trees—the birch, larch, fir, pine and oak. A symbiotic association between the root cells of these trees (Jiving or dead) and the fungus' mass of underground filaments is necessary if the mushroom is to sprout. "Where these trees are not," Wasson writes, "neither does fly-agaric grow."

This particularity about conditions under which it will grow helped Wasson explain why the "Soma" of the Rig-Veda got "lost."

Migrating to India, which for the most part lacks forests of birch, fir, pine and oak, the Aryans were able, Wasson thinks, to find this mushroom

Mycorrhizal Relationships 377

growing only in the Himalayas. As they lost their immediate contact with the mushroom, it's not at all surprising, he feels, that the later parts of the Rig-Veda speak of "Soma substitutes." The fact that A. muscaria grows only in a mycorrhizal relationship may also explain, according to Wasson, why the birch is held in such high regard in many northern lands.

Above Big Sur, California, the Fly Agaric appears in the bright red coloration familiar from countless children's books. In other parts of North America, its color varies considerably—from pink and even white to bright canary yellow. Similar variations occur in Europe and Asia.

After Wasson stirred interest in Fly Agaric, it didn't take long for people to notice that its close relative, the Panther Cap, also has psychoactive effects. The cap for this species comes in yellowish to grayish brown. Like the Fly Agaric, it is usually covered by prominent white "warts" (remains of the "veil" that encloses it when young).

The stem of A. pantherina bears a large, lacy ring, or "collar." Appearing at its base is this species' most important distinguishing feature—two or three layers or hoops of tissue attached to the stem (other remnants of the veil, left over from when the stem expands). The Panther Cap, like the Fly Agaric, can be found throughout woodlands—under trees or near stumps. The spores of both are white, so a "spore print" should be taken on dark paper.

378 Ply Agaric. Panther Caps and "Soma"

CHEMISTRY

When Amanita muscaria was first examined to determine its psycho-active components in 1869, a compound called muscarine was isolated. From then until nearly a century later, this compound was believed to be the cause of Fly Agaric's mental effects. More recent studies have shown that muscarine alone raises quite different responses than the mushroom. In fact, this molecule is present in only trace amounts: 0.0002-0.0003 percent of the fresh plant.

Since this mushroom's mental effects are undisputedly strong, other guesses were made, notably atropine and bufotenine. Such ideas have now been discarded. Modern research into this question began in 1967 with the work in Zurich of the chemist CH. Eugster and the pharmacologist P.G. Wasser, They discovered that the main psychoactives are ibotenic acid, muscimol and muscazone, aided possibly by a few other constituents.

Ibotenic acid, considered somewhat toxic, amounts to about 0.03-0.1 percent of the fresh Fly Agaric mushroom. The noticeable differences in the impact of fresh and dried Fly Agaric mushrooms probably results from the transformation of ibotenic acid during the drying process into the more potent and quite stable muscimol.

Taken orally, muscimol displays activity at 10-15 mg.; ibotenic acid is active above 90 mg. The other psychic contributor, muscazone, seems to have considerably less effect.

The psychoactive principles in A. muscaria pass through the human organism in such a way that they are still psychoactive when they emerge in urine. The resulting sequential inebriation quite fascinated the explorers and travelers who first witnessed Fly Agaric use in Siberia. The custom there was described as delicately as anywhere by the English novelist Oliver Goldsmith in 1762:

The poorer sort, who love mushrooms to distraction as well as the rich, but cannot afford it at first hand, post themselves on these occasions around the huts of the rich and watch the ladies and gentlemen as they come down to pass their liquor, and hold a wooden bowl to catch the delicious fluid, very little altered by filtration, being still strongly tinctured with the intoxicating quality. Of this they drink with the utmost satisfaction and thus they get as drunk and as jovial as their betters.

Constituents of A. Muscaria 379

PHYSICAL EFFECTS

Reports on the experience of Fly Agaric and Panther Cap mushrooms are fairly rare but seem to indicate that somatic sensations vary considerably, a -result of dosage differences, the time of year when they are picked (effects seem to decline at the end of the season) and whether they have been dried, The First Book of Sacraments, from the Church of the Tree of Life, summarizes the effects brought about by ingestion of Fly Agaric:

twitching, dizziness and possibly nausea about half an hour after ingestion followed soon by numbness of the feet. At this point a person will frequently go into a half-sleep state for about two hours. He may experience colored visions and be aware of sounds around him but it is usually impossible to rouse him. After this a good-humored euphoria may develop with a light-footed feeling and perhaps an urge to dance. At this time a person often becomes capable of greater than normal feats of strength. Next hallucinations may occur. Objects may appear larger than they are. Sometimes a person may feel compelled to reveal harbored feelings. The post-sleep stage may last three or four hours.

Wasson makes several interesting assertions about the toxicity of Amanita muscaria. Its alternate name—Fly Agaric—is said to come from the belief that flies can be killed by means of this mushroom. When Wasson tried the experiment, the flies became temporarily stupified but recovered. Although half of the references pronounce this species "deadly," Wasson claims that there isn't a single firsthand account of lethal poisoning. In fact, he asserts that "most trustworthy observers" testify that, "properly dried, it has no bad effects."

After witnessing a considerable number of Fly Agaric and Panther Cap experiences, Jonathan Ott agrees, but he urges potential users to start with no more than 1/4-1/2 cup of chopped or saute'ed material. Here are other warnings from Ott:

The genus Amanita possesses at least five species which are potentially lethal. Unless you are very skilled in identification of the Amanita species, do not eat an Amanita that is all white.

Caution should also be exercised with regard to dosage. These mushrooms are powerful. The effective dose range may be narrow. If it is exceeded, even by a small amount, a dissociative experience may result,even a comatose state or an inability to function. Of course, there are many who desire this type of effect; no doubt it would be alarming to others. There are many unanswered questions concerning the toxicity of these mushrooms. It has been suggested, and there is some evidence to support this, that the toxicity may vary according to location and season

MENTAL EFFECTS

The Importance of Drying

Impressed by reports about Siberian use of Fly Agaric and feeling this mushroom was the "Soma" of the Rig- Veda, Wasson tried self-experimentation:

380 Fly Agaric, Panther Caps and "Soma"

In 1965 and again in 1966 we tried out the fly-agarics repeatedly on ourselves The results were disappointing. We ate them raw, on empty stomaches We drank the juice, on empty stomaches. We mixed the juice with milk, and drank the mixture, always on empty stomaches. We felt nauseated and some of us threw up. We felt disposed to sleep, and fell into a deep slumber from which shouts could not rouse us, lying like logs, not snoring, dead to the outside world. When in this state I once had vivid dreams, but nothing like what happened when I took the Psilocybe mushrooms in Mexico, where I did not sleep at all. In our experiments at Sugadaira there was one occasion that differed from the others, one that could be calked successful Rokuya Imazeki took his mushrooms with mizo shiru, the delectable soup that the Japanese usually serve with breakfast, and he toasted his mushrooms caps on a fork before an open fire. When he rose from the sleep that came from the mushrooms, he was in full elation. For three hours he could not help but speak; he was a compulsive speaker. The purport of his remarks was that this was nothing like the alcoholic state; it was infinitely better, beyond all comparison. We did not know at the time why, on this single occasion, our friend Imazeki was affected this way ....

Soon after, Wasson noticed with great interest that the Koryaks at the end of the nineteenth century had told Nikolai Sljunin, who wrote a two-volume "Natural History" published in St. Petersburg in 1900, that they thought fresh Fly Agaric was poisionous and they refrained from eating the mushrooms until they were dried, either by the sun or over a fire. Wasson was also impressed with a comment in an heroic hymn of the Vogul people. The hero, the "two-belted one," addressing his wife, says: "Woman, bring me In my three sun-dried fly-agarics!"

The drying of this mushroom tremendously affects the strength and nature of the mental experience. "Decarboxylation" of ibotenic acid into muscimol multiplies psychoactivity by a factor of five or six and reduces the undesirable side-effects of fresh Amanita muscaria. Those that are fresh may be dangerous or not satisfactorily "bemushrooming." Wasson emphasized how impressively different the results from simple drying can be:

I did not realise this when I went to Japan in the fall of 1965 and 1966, and with Japanese friends tried the fresh fly-agarics. The Rig-Veda had not prepared me for the drying. I had known of course that the Soma plants were mixed with water before being pounded with the pressing stones, but 1 had supposed that this was to freshen up the plants so that they would be capable of yielding juice when pressed. The desiccation, I thought, was an inevitable consequence of bringing the mushrooms from afar and keeping them on hand. There was nothing to tell me that desiccation was a sine qua non of the Soma rite. The reader may think that 1 should have familiarized myself with the Siberian practice before going to Japan. I agree. Imazeki, who by chance toasted his caps on one occasion before eating them, alone had satisfactory results, insistently declaring that this was nothing like alcohol, that this was far superior, in fact in a different world. Alone among us all, he had known amrta, the ambrosia of the Immortals ....

Dosages and Drying 381

Dosage

Proper dosage depends on many variables. Potency is said to decline, for example, at the end of the season; much variation is exhibited as well between specimens grown in different locales. Reid Kaplan, Wasson's chief colleague in the study of native North American practices, illustrates in his own case how variable this mushroom can be. He failed to feel effects after repeated tries on an empty stomach, with lime, as an enema, etc These efforts were without any success until he was guided in its use by Keewaydi-noquay.

Reports on Siberian tribesmen suggest that they usually take three— one large and two small sun-dried mushrooms, often with reindeer milk or bogberry juice (similar to blueberry juice). However, the Church of the Tree of Life literature on Fly Agaric cautions potential users that "Siberian tribesmen have a far more robust constitution than most of us." It suggests that no one take any more than a single, modest-sized mushroom—at least until its effects are clearly demonstrated.

Jonathan Ott points out that all parts of the Fly Agaric are psychoactive, although the skin of the cap may be the most potent part. Here is his generalized description of a trip resulting from taking dried specimens:

After oral ingestion, the full effects will begin in about 90 minutes. For me, these are characterized by wavy motion in the visual field, an "alive" quality to inanimate objects, auditory hallucinations and a sense of great mental stillness and clarity. The effects are distinctly different from psilocybin, LSD or mes-

382 Fl y Agaric, Panther Caps and "Soma"

caline, and may last up to eight hours. Side effects often include nausea, slight loss of balance and coordination and drowsiness. Smoking produces a more rapid effect of shorter duration.

The Importance of Mental Set

Andrew Weil writes in The Marriage of the Sun and Moon that he was interested in tracking down instances of Amanita pantherina ingestion. He pursued some cases reported by Jonathan Ott in the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs #8 (1976), among others.

Weil soon found "that they were of two kinds." Some people, he says,

ate the mushroom by accident. They were foraging for edible species and made a mistake. Thinking the panther was some innocuous edible, they took it home, cooked it and ate it. This mushroom produces an intoxication of rapid onset. Within 15 to 30 minutes, it made all of these people feel very peculiar.... When they began to feel peculiar, all of them decided they had eaten a poisonous species and were about to die. One woman first called her lawyer to change an item in her will, then summoned an ambulance. All of them got sick. All lost consciousness for varying periods of time, from a few minutes to a half hour. All were taken to emergency wards of hospitals, where they uniformly received incorrect medical treatment: large doses of atropine that made their conditions worse. They were admitted to medical wards and discharged in 36 to 48 hours, since it is the nature of the intoxication to subside quickly, usually within 12 hours. Most of these victims said they would never eat mushrooms again. One man said he could not look at mushrooms in the store for months afterward. When told some people ate the mushroom for fun, they shook their heads in disbelief.

Weil found the second kind of Amanita pantherina use among people who had already had extensive experience with Psychedelics and "believed that nature provides us with all sorts of natural highs just waiting to be picked in the woods":

When these people felt the rapid effects of Amanita pantherina, they welcomed them as signs that the mushroom was really working. None of them got sick. (A few mentioned transient nausea but did not regard it as important) None of them felt it necessary to summon help. All of them liked the experience and most said they intended to repeat it. Some had already eaten the panther a number of times,

Weil presented this information to groups of physicians; he says they tried hard to come up with some simple, materialistic explanation for the response-difference in the two cases:

A question they always ask is: "Might there have been a dose difference?" The answer is, yes, there was a dose difference; the people who ate the panther deliberately ate more of it than the people who ate it accidentally.

Role in Religious History 383

The Question of "Soma"

R. Gordon Wasson, right in many of his anthropological conjectures about mushrooms, has applied the question of Fly Agaric and other mushrooms to the origins of religious feeling:

I suggest to you that, as our most primitive ancestors foraged for their food, they must have come upon our psychotropic mushrooms, or perhaps other plants possessing the same property, and eaten them, and known the miracle of awe in the presence of God. This discovery must have been made on many occasions, far apart in time and space. It must have been a mighty springboard for primitive man's imagination.

In the Vedic hymns, wrote Aldous Huxley,

we are told that the drinkers of soma were blessed in many ways. Their bodies were strengthened, their hearts were filled with courage, joy and enthusiasm, their minds were enlightened and in an immediate experience of eternal life they received the assurance of their immortality.

The hymns of this first book of the Vedas undoubtedly vibrate with ecstasy; users are exhalted. "We have drunk the Soma," they say at their height, "we are become Immortals." In Book IX, the god Indra drinks Soma— and it inspires him to create the universe!

Was "Soma," as Wasson repeatedly asserts, the Amanita muscaria mushroom?

There is no definitive answer possible, but no candidate more suitable than Wasson's has yet appeared, A recent Ph.D. thesis at the University of California, Berkeley, entitled "Huoma," renews this query, suggesting on the basis of linguistic factors that the plant contained a harmaline compound (which in botanical terms does not fit with Soma's identification).

Although usage isn't widespread, many people report disappointment with Amanita muscaria, saying that it's not all that nice, perhaps not even psychedelic. One experimenter noted that after his fourth trip on Fly Agaric he had to re-evaluate Wasson's SOMA. His feeling was that ingestion of Amanita muscaria was not better than Cannabis, opium, Datura or betel, all of which were already known in India by the time of the Rig-Veda.

Such objections deserve mention, because results for individual users are variable. Some users may get the exaltation described in a few of the above accounts, like those from Joseph Kopec, Rokuya Imazeki and Johann Georgi. Others have experienced little more than sedative or dissociative effects.

The variable action of this early "psychedelic" in no way denies possible impact. The novelist/essayist Robert Anton Wilson, after examining the conjectures and evidence of Fly Agaric's role in sundry cultures, put the issue squarely: if, as it seems, this mushroom was "the reality behind several of the legendary drugs of early European and Asian mythology," then we might conclude that "this mushroom played a larger role in religious history than any other single factor."