Amanita muscaria is a fungus with a bad rap in some circles. It has been with us for millennia and has had a lot to do with our civilisation as an object of mythological importance. I like to think that it has had as much influence on our development as Psilocybe fungi. There is much conflicting information out there about using this fungus and I often get asked about it so, here’s my personal way of using it. It may be different for other people or yourself but this is my take and experiences of it. It’s totally up to you if you try it yourself.
Also, be very specific. There is a number of fungi in the genus Amanita and except for A. muscaria, they are all HIGHLY TOXIC. Amanita muscaria, or Fly Agaric has avoided evolving those toxins but just because a mushroom identifies as an Amanita, it doesn't mean that it has the healing properties of Amanita muscaria. Make sure you are clear on your identification if your are foraging for wild specimens or buy dried material online for safety until you can be sure of identifying a wild specimen.
Amanita muscaria
Let's get on with it -
I’ve written about making a tincture of A. muscaria of it and about eating it but one of the simplest ways t partake of its goodness is in a cup of evening tea.
Amanita muscaria tea affects people differently but guarantees almost everyone a deep sleep. For me, the sleep is full of dreams that are about choice. It’s very restful but a lot of work and I feel solid and focused throughout the next day. I took a cup last night at around 11 pm and didn't hop out of bet until after 2 today. I was awake much of the morning but was totally aware of the healing nature of the rest that I was getting. I'm lucky to be in a place in life where I can take that sort of time to myself.
Decarboxylation
‘Decarbing’ is a word you’ll hear a lot when dealing with some aspects of herbal medicine. Simply put, it’s a way of chemically changing one compound into another using heat or chemicals. In the case of A. muscaria, we just need heat. The compound that we need to change is called Ibotenic Acid and the one we change it into is called Muscimol. Drying the mushroom converts some of the Ibotenic Acid, as will adding hot water or boiling it. To get near total conversion, you need to boil it at a pH of 2.6 which can be done in a home kitchen but it’s a bit of an effort that I usually don't go into.
Preparing Amanita muscaria tea.
I take my Amanita tea light. I’m not after its hallucinogenic properties, just the restful, healing ones. I like about 1 gram of dried cap in a cup of water. You’ll see from the pic above that this isn’t much material at all.
Pour the boiling water directly over the pieces in a French Press, add a bug squirt of lemon juice and let it steep for 20 minutes to half an hour. Ibotenic acid and Muscimol are readily soluble in warm water so this is all you’ll need to do. You’ll know its brewing well when you notice the water in your pot turn a beautiful golden/orange like in the pic below.
A more effective way is to decoct a larger amount that you prepare once and store in your fridge. Use 5 dried caps or about 5 grams of powdered cap in 2 cups of water. Bring this mix to the boil and simmer until the mix has reduced to about half. When it’s boiling, add the juice of 1 lemon to reduce the pH a little. Strain this and refrigerate. Honestly though, for me, the French Press method listed above is enough.
Using your tea
For tea prepared by the first method written about above, just drink the cup of tea. Actually, it's better to start off with a mouthful on the first night, then work your way up to a full cup, just in case.
For the decocted method, drink a tablespoonful in a cup of water before bedtime. You can drink it cold or warm it up, its all good!
Warnings
Amanita muscaria isn’t for everyone and large doses can cause real problems. These range from nausea, to twitching and spasm, super deep sleep (sleeping through disturbance and alarms), blackouts and coma and death can also be issues. The chemistry of how these things happen is well known – don’t believe folks who say that Amanita muscaria hasn’t been studied or that here’s is no evidence – a massive amount of research has been done on it and its effects. After all, the drug companies want to sell it to you, as they are Cannabis and Psilocybin now. It’s totally up to you if you try it.
Remember that, in herbalism, everyone is different and though we and the world are all connected in many ways, we are each a unique manifestation of life and things can affect us differently. Some folks have allergies to Fungi in general and some are particularly sensitive to the constituents of Amanita muscaria.
Some of you may have seen that I've been writing a series of posts about making herbal remedies at home. I want to share what I know of this topic so that, as the world gets crazier, folks will have other avenues of medical care, namely those of themselves and their community. If you look back over this blog, you can see heaps of info on the topic, plus loads and loads of posts on herbs and using Australian bushfoods from a white perspective. If you haven't been around on in the @hivegarden and @naturalmedicine communities for long, you may be interested in looking back. There's w-a-a-a-a-y too much there for me to repost and the Hive system doesn't let you vote on old posts so, if you're happy with what you find, I believe that there is now a tip option...
