Comments on: Santa Claus, super shaman

Santa Claus, super shaman

homunculus — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 14:47:37 -0800

Psychedelic Santa Claus. "Modern Christmas traditions are based on ancient mushroom-using shamans." [Via J-Walk blog.]

By: badstone

badstone — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 15:29:16 -0800

Instead of perpetuating outdated and confusing holiday myths, it might be more fulfilling to return to the original source of these seasonal celebrations. How about getting back to basics and enjoying some magical mushrooms with your loved ones this solstice? What better gift can a family share than a little piece of love and enlightenment? If only, if only...

By: badstone

badstone — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 15:31:45 -0800

Although my cousin secretly fed my entire extended family brownies one 4th of July recently and that ended up being one of the most pleasant family visits in a looong time.

By: condour75

condour75 — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 16:01:33 -0800

This is just begging for a photoshop contest. If you enjoyed the article, you might also like e-sheep's Saturnalia. Emphasis on If and Might.

By: digaman

digaman — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 17:23:06 -0800

Wow, homunculus. Thanks. I particularly love the images on this secondary link.

By: Asparagirl

Asparagirl — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 17:29:11 -0800

Condour75, you beat me to it.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 18:00:08 -0800

Oh...I want magic mushrooms for Christmas! And a pony.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 18:13:56 -0800

"Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita mushrooms; they will seek them out, then prance about while under their influence. Often the urine of tripped-out reindeer would be consumed for its psychedelic effects." I suppose you could use a pony instead...

By: alms

alms — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 20:14:37 -0800

They considered this "virgin birth" to have been the result of the morning dew, which was seen as the semen of the deity. The silver tinsel we drape onto our modern Christmas tree represents this divine fluid. Yech, thanks for sharing. Tinsel will never be quite the same. The active ingredients of the amanita mushrooms are not metabolized by the body, and so they remain active in the urine. In fact, it is safer to drink the urine of one who has consumed the mushrooms than to eat the mushrooms directly. On second thought, no thanks for sharing.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:58:51 -0800

I had a girlfriend, once, who drank her fresh urine for medicinal purposes. I respected her bravery. ""Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita mushrooms; they will seek them out, then prance about while under their influence." - this quote belongs on a T-shirt or a billboard.

By: spazzm

spazzm — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 22:11:21 -0800

Oh, for crying out loud. The northern european Amanita Muscaria is not something you want to eat to get a buzz. You'll get a bad, bad stomachache, fever, diarrhea, dizziness, unconsciousness and, if you are lucky, some brief hallucinations. There is no evidence to suggest that viking berserkers (or anyone else in Scandinavia) ingested A. Muscaria. The reason A. Muscaria seems to be (wrongfully) associated with hallucinogenic trips and pagan rituals is its distinct appearance, and sources that perpetuate this myth are annoying at best, dangerous at worst. But if you are in northern europe and want to trip on 'shrooms, you should go for the much less spectacular-looking but safer and more potent Psilocybe Semilanceata. Please observe that P. Semilanceata is illegal in some n. european countries. When it comes to the connection between hallucinogens and religion, I would like to say just one word: Revelations.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 22:27:42 -0800

Now you tell me! *stares disappointedly at half-empty glass of reindeer piss*

By: homunculus

homunculus — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 22:51:40 -0800

Here are the Erowid and Lycaeum pages on Amanita. Please observe that P. Semilanceata is illegal in some n. european countries. Apparently Britain is not one of them.

By: spazzm

spazzm — Tue, 23 Dec 2003 06:07:33 -0800

Please observe that P. Semilanceata is illegal in some n. european countries. Apparently Britain is not one of them." Indeed. I would actually like to propose the theory that the global spread of english is partially due to the brits accepting attitude towards intoxication.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Tue, 23 Dec 2003 10:09:23 -0800

Wow, drinking reindeer urine to get the mushroom buzz... that's a little much, ain't it? The few times that, um, a friend of mine has done mushrooms, that friend has complained that they taste like you're eating piss. It would have to be a reeeeeeally great buzz to justify this level of disgusting. Then again this friend never reported the sensation of flying around the world through the sky... Anyway, thanks for pointing us to this, homunculus. A lot of the stuff seems to suffer from the correlation/causation fallacy, with grand jumps to conclusions that this derived from that because they're similar and one came after the other (I guess that's post-hoc/prompter-hoc, eh?), BUT there's a lot of good, provocative nuggets in there. This secondary link really made me start mulling all the interesting connections between SANTA and SATAN, other than the one-letter difference.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Tue, 23 Dec 2003 23:47:23 -0800

soyjoy - fresh piss is sterile, BTW. ...and Santa IS Satan! Black Peter is his henchman....! Homunculus - Calumus root, taken in certain forms and dosages, reportedly has hallucinogenic properties. I had a book once, called "The field guide to recreational drugs", which told me how to obtain this effect from the Calamus root. The advice was a bit off, and I threw up for about 12 hours straight. spazzm - The Yanks are in the game too.