While Wasson discussed the ecstasies that can be produced by hallucinogenic mushrooms, and argued that the Soma cult involved ritual ingestion of Amanita infused urine, he failed to address how preparation, as described in the Rig Veda, affected the pharmacology of Amanita muscaria and also ignored possible indicators of historical knowledge regarding the muscarinic properties of this mushroom. While many of these researchers have offered varying levels of support for their theories, drawing parallels between color schemes, mushroom shapes, and mushroom biology, few have thoroughly investigated historical clues of a pharmacological nature. Due to the evanescent nature of mushroom fruiting bodies there is little chance of finding mushroom specimens in the archaeological record thus research in this area has relied largely upon studies of art, linguistics and mythology. Gordon Wasson’s “Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality” theories have abounded regarding potential historical mushroom cults involving the use of Amanita muscaria.
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