a common spiritual ancestor
we are earth, so all of earth is kin.
the amanita muscaria is a source of deep magic for many human peoples—
scandinavian peoples, russian folk- japanese legends and native alaskan and american lore- celts and Indians too— what do you think they call have in common?
Found and used in practice around the world, amanita muscaria unifies much of our ancestral earth based spirituality and magic source, hidden in plain sight. These mushrooms grow worldwide- and on top of it’s dreamlike qualities it’s been useful for as achy joint washes and trapping flies. 🙂
Amanita muscaria has lined the path of healing and widening and mystery-
It’s been a source of magic- transformation- the underworld- and visions.
The Norse Seeresses in pre-Christian Scandinavia worked with amanita muscaria in transcendence and divination practices. These were powerful and revered beings embodying the divine feminine without repression. these arts of divination were considered the craft of women
the use of plant medicines subsided— this is also the repression of witchcraft, the absence of psychedelic experience. plant and fungi medicines set us free, to heal ourselves and create more holistic, diverse, and biologically sound earth-based-culture.
Many of us feel drawn to this mushroom, this symbol, this medicine, because it is a deep soul memory.
2.I first made amanita muscaria essence in a dream. It was during a time of deep healing and transformation for me.
Dream work has widened my reality.
Once, during a dream quest through the Alaskan forest, I intuitively took a bite out of amanita muscaria. Alaska is not so unlike the forests of Sweden and Norway , where my ancestors have been dwelling longest before their immigration as Mormons in the mid 1800s to the great salt lake of Utah, home of the Ute peoples- and i’ve been seeking: what were my families’ spiritual practices before Mormonism? Before Christianity? Mormons have genealogy on lock down but here’s the thing- I only know my ancestry as far back as when my family converted to Mormonism. These are the ancestors I know: the quilt stitching ocean Crossing handcart pushing experiencing years of trials and tribulation devoted to the words of Joseph Smith…. these pioneers immigrated to the United States in the late 1800s. But who were these people from Sweden and Norway before that? What did they eat ? What were their spiritual practices?
After one of my mushroom classes a woman came up to me and handed me a vintage wide ribbon with an intricate pattern— “it’s from sweden,” she said. It was a precious gift, like a hug from my ancestors saying: “hi— we’re with you. What’s up?” It was a powerful experience.
I sense it deep within me. I am a connected being.
So back to Alaska— what happened when I took a bite of amanita muscaria?
It wasn’t long before I received a message:
-Deep connection cuts away all untruth-
Everything is hidden in plain sight,
Like our interconnection.
Reach out and trust the network.
Connecting with amanita muscaria has been a deeply transformational experience for me — I have seen visions come true— the path and self unfold. Decomposition is a process of surrender. Deep connection cuts away what is not true for you. It allows for authentic living and deconditioning with integration.
The mushroom brought me to my soul mate, and with a vision to spirit weavers.
Alongside it’s deeply inherent mystical abilities the amanita muscaria contains a great deal of interesting compounds that have shown to be helpful in conditions like epilepsy, insomnia, depression, anxiety, and benzo withdrawal. The symbiosis of it’s growth and the intelligence of it’s network manifest themselves through this medicine: the cure for isolation, transformation and healing through togetherness.
Max Dashu, in her essay “Woman Shaman: Uncovering the female estatics” captures the essence of why we trace our ancestral lineage:
“many of us are seeking to recover our own ancestral heritages— whatever those are— and to find an authentic place to stand in our own truth. those heritages may be lost, or survive only in torn fragments. as cultural exiles cut off from initiatory transmission, dealing with stress, trauma, or illness, our greatest remedy is to go back to the root: to seek inspiration directly from nature, from land and sea, from incantation and movement, from drumming and dreaming. this to me is the core of the women’s spirituality movement.
there is a tremendous trove of knowledge to be recovered about women who dive into the ecstatic realm, beyond our personal selves and beyond the bounds of space and time. this rejuvenation of deep cultural memory is crucial to understanding who we are as women, and that our being is not defined by the dominant culture– or by any culture of domination. we need to understand that our access to these realms is not secondary or derivative to what men do. it is primeval, and it is our own. we enter the spirit worlds not in spite of our female bodies, but by fully inhabiting them, being grounded in their awesome capacities, and by expanding our awareness within them. we are rediscovering our original reality in the spirit of distant ancestors who are still present in our blood and bone.
connecting with amanita muscaria has connected me to a more primal and intuitive sense of being—– it has opened many interesting and wonderful doors for me.
Allow expansion; be open to change.
Change is growth change is life
This is a good medicine for those afraid of Change.
Expand your reality-
Connect to the earth’s medicine;
Widen your being, embrace change.
Heal, connect, it’s all around you.
it’s a part of the Folk medicine revival.