Amanita Muscaria Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Luke, D. (2020, October). From mycology to transpersonal ecopsychology: The role of ergot, Psilocybe and Amanita in re-enchanting the Western ecology of consciousness. Invited talk for The Mycellium is the Message, Mos-Espa, Geneva,... more

http://www.mosespa.ch/2020/Dr_David_Luke.htm

Animism is the at the root of all shamanic practices, which, as Jeremy Narby notes, involve a communication with the 'spirits' of plant, animal and fungal species, "Shamanism is all about attempting to dialogue with nature" (Narby, 2006, p.16). In shamanism, of course, this communication is frequently achieved through the ingestion of psychedelic fungus. As a nature 'religion' shamanism is ecological to its core, as the shaman is a caretaker of Nature and a negotiator between people and "other-than-human persons", as Graham Harvey calls them in his animist manifesto. For Harvey, it's our fungal friends themselves that get the idea of animism across the best, "Maybe sometimes the mushrooms just want to help us join in the big conversation that's going on all around us" (Harvey, 2005, p.128).

Leading mycologist Paul Stamets also finds that mushrooms have a hidden agenda to bring us into communication with other species. In studying the Psilocybe genus Stamets notes how these psychoactive mushrooms proliferate particularly in the wake of human ecocide, such as through "…chopping down trees, breaking ground to create roads and trails, and domesticating livestock" (Harrison, Straight, Pendell & Stamets, 2007, p. 138). By this means, Stamets believes, the mushrooms become available to those who most need to speak to Nature through them. For Stamets, when this dialogue is engaged the message "..is always that we are part of an 'ecology of consciousness,' that the Earth is in peril, that time is short, and that we're part of a huge, universal bio-system", but Stamets isn't alone because, "many people who have taken these substances report receiving the same message" (Harrison et al., 2007, p. 138).

My research backs up Stamets' assertion. A survey into people's exceptional experiences with psychedelics found that encountering the consciousness of the ingested plant/fungus was the most widely reported of a range of 17 paranormal and transpersonal type experiences occurring with those taking psilocybin-containing mushrooms, and occurred frequently when reported (Luke & Kittenis, 2005). It was also one of most prevalent experience with any one substance, and, in a later survey, Psilocybe was the substance most commonly reported to increase connection to Nature (Luke & Yanakieva, 2016). Additionally, the plant/fungus consciousness encounter was the most widely reported transpersonal event for several other psychedelic species too, such as the Amanita muscaria mushroom (Luke & Kittenis, 2005). If Harvey's Animist manifesto is to be taken seriously then the plants, and especially the mushrooms it seems, are clearly trying to tell us something.

Exploring interspecies interactions arising from the use of psychedelic fungus and its derivatives (i.e., LSD) this talk considers what can be learned from animism and shamanism in informing both psychology and ecology. Fusing extensive personal experience and time spent with indigenous shamanic tribes with research from anthropology, parapsychology, transpersonal psychology, ecopsychology, ethnobotany and the investigation of psychedelics a perspective of transpersonal ecopsychology views fungus-human interactions as meaningful, potentially deeply transformative and vital given the current rate of manmade species extinction on Earth (Harrild & Luke, 2020).

Harrild, F., & Luke, D. (2020). An evaluation of the role of mystical experiences in transpersonal ecopsychology. Transpersonal Psychology Review (in press).

Harrison, K., Straight, J., Pendell, D., & Stamets, P. (2007). Plant spirit. In J. P. Harpignies (Ed.), Visionary plant consciousness: The shamanic teachings of the plant world (pp. 133-145). Rochester, VT: Park Street Press.

Harvey, G. (2005). An Animist manifesto. Strange Attractor Journal, 2, 124-129.

Luke, D. P., & Kittenis, M. (2005). A preliminary survey of paranormal experiences with psychoactive drugs. Journal of Parapsychology, 69 (2), 305-327.

Luke, D., & Yanakieva, S. (2016, June). The transpersonal psychedelic experience and change in ecological attitude and behaviour. Paper presented at the International Conference on Psychedelics Research, Stichting Open, Amsterdam, 3rd-5th June.

Narby, J. (2006). Intelligence in nature: An inquiry into knowledge. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin.