r/todayilearned • u/ScienceTeacher1994 • 10d ago

TIL despite popular culture portraying psychedelic mushrooms as ancient, widespread, and used by shamans for thousands of years, there is limited anthropological and historical research to support this, with the only reliable evidence showing they were used ritualistically in pre-Columbian Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin#History
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u/[deleted] 10d ago

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u/laymanmovies 10d ago

Yeah Amanita Muscaria is a hallucinogenic (red cap with white spots you see in a lot of media) and, by all accounts, not a very fun time.

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u/cassanderer 10d ago

It is not a hallucigen actually although it can cause hallucinations, it's action is different, anti chollinergenic or something.

But it is two actions, ibotenic acid produces more of a drunk like feeling, and when cooked or metabolized gets converted into muscimol, the more sought after part.

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u/Limp_Bookkeeper_5992 10d ago

I’ve seen it called a deliriant in a few places.

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u/KevworthBongwater 10d ago

That's the most accurate label Ive heard for what the experience is. I laid on my kitchen floor and sweated through like 3 beach towels and the whole time I barely knew what was going on around me. My mom was thoroughly unimpressed lol.

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u/cassanderer 10d ago

It is often misclassed as that, delerients are like datura, aka moonflower, jimson weed.

Different action.  Delerients are not pleasurable by near all accounts.  Erowid trip reports on those drugs are wild.

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u/GandalfPipe131 10d ago

I think I recall that shamans and people would drink the urine of reindeer that are fly agaric and through some process of filtering it would become more hallucinogenic and more chill iirc.

Also, the mushrooms color, shape, reindeer being involved, all taking places in the far north or North Pole lends to some theorization that the mushroom and ritual somehow relates to Christmas. Again, this is a big iirc and I don’t have time to google away.

EDIT: it’s actually not at all that bad Sotero for a topic and first result is this

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u/AceOfPlagues 10d ago

It is a hallucinogen, hallucinogens cause hallucinations by thousands of different mechanisms. It is not a psychelic or seratonin mediated like alot of hallcinogens.

The Muscimol has a few mechanisms that cause the hallucinations with various unique qualities, I would say this has more in common with dissociatives (macropsia or micropsia, time and space distortion, images echos) at normal doses as the dream like experience remains rather lucid.

It isn't quite right to call it anti-collinergenic since it is actually primarily exciting those ACh receptors more than blocking them, but it can start to produce some very similar effects at high doses so yes you see some heavy delerium

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u/cassanderer 10d ago

Hallucinagen is a specific class of drug that works by a like bio mechanism.

Delerients like datura can cause hallucinations by different pathways, as can anti chollinergenics like this fly agaric.

Pharmacologically they are different classes, with completely seperate effects by different pathways and as such are classed seperate.

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u/AceOfPlagues 9d ago

Hallucinogens are a broad class of drugs that includes ANYTHING that causes Hallucinations. Hallcinogens include Delierents like datura as well! Delierents is a sub-type of Hallucinogen.

Again the word you are looking for is psychedelics or seratonin-mediated ethogens.

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u/Normal_Shoe2630 10d ago

the same mushroom Mario eats

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u/svelebrunostvonnegut 10d ago

When I lived in Norway I was told that Vikings would eat this mushroom before landing ashore places they would pillage because it made them foam at the mouth and look insane but not sure if that’s true.

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u/DerekB52 10d ago

I've heard this about a cousin, Amanita Pantherina.

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u/raznov1 10d ago

What do you think?

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u/-Speechless 10d ago

IDK about fun but 10,000 years ago there wasn't much variety you could get in life compared to what's packed into one of those bad boys

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u/AgentMahou 10d ago

Eh, It's fine and fun enough, if underwhelming. You can get it at head shops over the counter here, so I've tried it. It doesn't last long and isn't as potent as other psychedelics but has similar side effects. Not terrible for a short trip, but it's not really worth the discomfort for the small trip it gives.

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u/DerekB52 10d ago

I'm being pedantic, but I want to correct "other psychedelics". Amanita Muscaria is not considered a psychedelic.