With an interesting history potentially dating back as early as the Stone Age in Siberia, the Amanita muscaria mushroom is a fascinating fungus. Purportedly, the A. muscaria played an important role in the origins of Santa Claus. In the Arctic Circle, Siberian shamans collected the bright red mushroom with white spots in an outfit that matched. Around the winter solstice, they consumed the mushrooms, along with the reindeer native to the region, and delivered them to tribesmen and women for healing purposes. That certainly paints a very merry picture.
The effects felt after consumption vary greatly between users, likely due to the large variances in potency between each individual mushroom. While you may not experience a ride on flying reindeer, the A. muscaria strain is still quite potent. Their popularity is growing in the modern-day due to them being legal in large parts of the world where other psychedelics are not. Here’s everything you need to know about the red spotted mushroom, including where it grows, how to consume it, and what kind of a ride you might expect.
What Is Amanita Muscaria?
The A. muscaria mushroom belongs to the basidiomycete division of fungi, one of two divisions that create the Dikarya subkingdom, commonly referred to as the “higher fungi.” This subkingdom of fungi forcibly discharges ballistospores into the air from their sterigma to reproduce. Most of them reproduce sexually through their ballistospores, but a smaller number reproduce asexually using this same method.
The A. muscaria reproduces both sexually and asexually, depending on whether or not the spores come into contact with the spores of another mating type. It has a distinguished appearance with a bright red cap, white stem, and white-to-yellow warts covering the cap. The red spotted mushroom is very visually distinct and even used in graphics to denote the iconic identity of what mushrooms look like. One example is Toadstool from the Super Mario Brothers fandom.
A. muscaria contains the psychoactive compounds ibotenic acid and muscimol and is classified as poisonous. Despite this, people throughout the world eat this mushroom. Siberian shamans may have been using it since as early as the Stone Age. The mushroom loses its poisonous compounds when properly cooked. Essentially, parboiling the mushroom twice weakens the mushroom’s toxicity and activates the psychoactive compounds.
Different Names for Amanita Muscaria
Although many people refer to this shroom as simply the red spotted mushroom or red mushroom with white spots, there are plenty of other names. Some common names for the Amanita muscaria mushroom include:
- Fly agaric
- Fly amanita
- Muscaria
- Muhara
- Devil’s Hat
The names fly agaric and fly amanita refer to the traditional use of the mushroom as an insecticide. Some hypothesize the mushroom draws insects toward it from the compound 1,3-diolein, which has intoxicating properties. Another possible derivation of the term fly agaric stems from the medieval belief that insects entering one’s head can cause mental illness. This relates to the psychoactive properties of the mushroom that, during medieval times, would be considered a form of madness.
Is Amanita Muscaria a Magic Mushroom?
Amanita muscaria is unequivocally recognized as a psychedelic mushroom. This assertion is grounded in its composition, which encompasses psychoactive compounds, prominently muscimol and ibotenic acid (noted above). When ingested, these substances are known to induce hallucinogenic effects, thus aligning the red spotted mushroom with the broader category of psychoactive substances.
However, it’s imperative to emphasize that Amanita muscaria does not conform to the conventional archetype of psychedelics, as seen with psilocybin-containing mushrooms like Psilocybe cubensis or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Instead, it boasts a distinctive set of psychoactive characteristics that encompass hallucinations, altered perceptions, and shifts in consciousness.
Common Ways to Use Amanita Muscaria
The safe consumption of A. muscaria involves drying the mushrooms out and then either ingesting them or smoking them. The drying process slightly varies depending on whether the intention is to ingest the mushroom or smoke it.
Ingesting Amanita Muscaria
Once you have a batch of fresh Amanita muscaria mushrooms, they must be dried to ensure poisonous compounds degrade prior to eating them. To safely dry out these mushrooms, place them on a newspaper or cloth, then store them in a dark and dry environment. This process typically takes several weeks. To speed the drying process up, you can chop them into small pieces or heat them in an oven at no more than 75 degrees Celsius.
After completion of the drying process, the mushrooms are safe to eat. They can be consumed as is, baked into any type of food, or even made into tea. To make them into tea, simply grind them into small pieces or a powder, then place them in boiling water. This extracts the psychoactive compounds from the mushroom and into the water. You can jazz up mushroom tea with other medicinal mushrooms, herbs, lemon, and honey to make a superfood drink with multiple benefits.
Many people dislike the bitter taste of dried mushrooms, but with a few great recipes, you can make them downright delicious. Try out mushroom chocolate recipes, or learn how to make culinary cuisines worth a fungi-fueled dinner party. Many people prefer the ease of pre-made treats, which is why we put together a list of the best amanita muscaria gummies.
Smoking Amanita Muscaria
To dry A. muscaria mushrooms with the intention of smoking them, you must first peel the red skin and orange goo from the gills. Once the skin has been removed, place it on a pan with the red skin facing upwards. Place them in an oven at slightly under 75 degrees Celsius, checking frequently. When air bubbles form, simply press them down with a fork or knife to ensure the entire piece dries thoroughly. Once the pieces are dried, you can grind them in a typical herb grinder and smoke them through a pipe or in a cigarette.
The flavor might not be as enjoyable as, say, cannabis or even tobacco, so we suggest making a smoking blend. Think of smokable herbs like lavender, mullein, rose petals, damiana, or mint.
History & Traditional Uses
The first discovery of ancient people using the A. muscaria mushroom occurred in the early 19th century when Russian travelers began exploring eastern Siberia. In this area, shamans and the people used the mushroom together. The shaman consumed the mushroom, and then the tribesmen drank his urine to also ingest the psychoactive compounds. Some believe this process of drinking the urine of someone who just consumed the mushroom effectively filtered out the compounds that produced adverse effects such as sweating and twitching.
Unlike eastern Siberia, western Siberian tribes only allowed shamans to consume the red mushroom as a way to produce a trance-like state.
Commonly Reported Effects of Amanita Muscaria
While the effects of consuming the A. muscaria mushroom typically last between six and eight hours, the duration and effects vary drastically. These huge variances in duration and effects are caused by the differences in potency between individual mushrooms. This also makes determining an appropriate dose extremely difficult. However, in general, the effects of consuming the famous red mushroom with white spots include the following:
- Euphoria
- Pain relief
- The production of a vivid dream state similar to lucid dreaming
- Strong and varied internal dialogue
- Synesthesia
- Clarity of thought
- Heightened internal focus
- Lack of external focus
- Difficulty socializing
- Increased or decreased levels of sexuality depending on the person
- Sedation or highly energetic depending on the person
- Altered perception of the body
- Blurred vision
- Watery eyes
- Running nose
- Loss of balance
- Pupil dilation
- Nausea and discomfort in the stomach
- Muscle twitches and trembles
- Salivation
- Perspiration
- At high doses, strong dissociation, including delirium
Consuming psychedelic mushrooms will produce varying results based on a multitude of factors, including set and setting, physiological conditions, and most of all – dosage.
Amanita Muscaria Dosage
The intensity of Amanita muscaria effects will vary largely depending on the amount you consume. As with all psilocybin mushrooms and psychedelic mushrooms, you must be incredibly cautious about the dosage. Start with a microdose of A. muscaria before increasing to heftier doses. Get familiar with shroom tolerance, and learn how to weigh and measure a dose.
Safety Precautions
As with all mushrooms, misidentification while foraging poses a risk, although the unique appearance of the A. muscaria reduces this. Another risk involves the improper preparation of the mushroom, leaving leftover toxins, most notably ibotenic acid. This risk is minimal, however, with the North American Mycological Association going as far as stating there are “no reliably documented cases of death from toxins in these mushrooms in the past 100 years.”
The other risk comes from the huge variances in potency found between individual mushrooms, particularly when picked during different seasons or in different geographic locations.
How Is Amanita Muscaria For Sale Online?
In the United States, Ukraine, Australia, and Sweden, possessing, selling, cultivating, and consuming Amanita muscaria are legal except in the state of Louisiana. Romania, the Netherlands, and Thailand consider them prohibited substances.
Much like alternative cannabinoids like Delta-8, these clever red mushrooms with white spots are considered “alternative” in the world of magic mushrooms. They are sometimes described as the indica of the mushroom world and offer relaxing benefits instead of full-blown trips.
And so, much like alt noids, A. muscaria is legal for now – but federal regulation may catch up with it eventually. It’s likely that we’ll see this red spotted mushroom pop up more and more in tinctures, edibles, and gummies as knowledge of its power becomes more mainstream.
