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Sunday, 05 November 2006
Toadstool

toadstool

I mentioned the other day that since my recent trip to Wales I have been getting a steady stream of visitors to the site looking for information on magic mushrooms in Wales, despite the fact that I never found (or sought) any there. However the other day I did stumble across a few in Kent.

This is Amanita muscaria:

the original white-spotted red toadstool, it is one of the most recognizable mushrooms and is widely used in popular culture. Though it is generally considered poisonous, Amanita muscaria is otherwise famed for its hallucinogenic properties.

There is quite a bit of information in the wikipedia entry about the psychoactive properties of this mushroom, including that it was sometimes the practice of the shaman to consume the mushroom, and the rest of the tribe to consume his urine. I’m sure this was an uplifting spiritual experience - and nothing like Dirty Sanchez.  Incidentally, wikipedia understates the poisonous qualities of the mushroom in comparison to various other sites I browsed.

While I am in a rare linking mood, why not read Tony on Why Borat is not funny, and a review of the forthcoming book The No Asshole Rule. Unfortunately the book only comes out early next year, so hopefully will not be of much practical use for me. I was interested in sig’s third point (or question) about culture. It’s not a simple US vs European culture thing: one of my best clients was an American company which had an open and colleagial culture which valued and empowered people throughout the organisation.

Posted by bigblue on 05/11/2006 at 02:31 PM
Filed under: EuropeEngland • (2) CommentsPermalink

Toadstools tend to attract flies with their nasty smell. These are useful in then dispersing the spores of the toadstool more widely. One theory about the name toadstool is that toads used to hang around these things, knowing perhaps from the smell that flies would be attracted to it, and then zapping them with their tongues. Another theory is that it derives from the German words tod-stuhl meaning death-chair.

I don’t know about getting pissed on shamen’s urine, but drink a reindeer’s urine and you can fly! (or watch the reindeer fly).  Otherwise you need the shaman to come down the chimney, and to possibly leave him a glass of milk to help him swish the mushroom juice around his bladder.

Posted by mojo  on  05/11/2006  at  10:54 PM

Thanks for the link. That’s quite bizarre, although a colleague told me last week that cow’s urine is drunk in India to treat a range of complaints. However I don’t think they feed mushrooms to the cow first…

Posted by bigblue  on  06/11/2006  at  11:24 PM
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