Amanita Muscaria - Psychoactive Use

Psychoactive Use

Unlike psilocybin mushrooms, Amanita muscaria has been rarely consumed because of its toxicity and unpredictable psychological effects. However, following the outlawing of psilocybin mushrooms in the United Kingdom, an increased quantity of legal A. muscaria mushrooms began to be sold for recreational and entheogenic use. Professor Marija Gimbutas, a renowned Lithuanian historian, reported to R. Gordon Wasson on the use of this mushroom in Lithuania. In remote areas of Lithuania Amanita muscaria has been taken at wedding feasts, in which mushrooms were mixed with vodka. The professor also reported that the Lithuanians used to export quantities of A. muscaria to the Lapps in the Far North for use in shamanic rituals. The Lithuanian festivities are the only report that Wasson received of ingestion of fly agaric for recreational use in Eastern Europe.