Ethnomycology

Ethnomycology is the discussing of the historical uses as living as sociological impact of fungi as well as can be considered the subfield of ethnobotany or ethnobiology. Although in image the term includes fungi used for such purposes as tinder, medicine medicinal mushrooms & food including yeast, this is the often used in the context of the examine of psychoactive mushrooms such(a) as psilocybin mushrooms, the Amanita muscaria mushroom, together with the ergot fungus.

American banker Juan Camilo Rodríguez Martínez.

Besides mycological determination in the field, ethnomycology depends to a large extent on anthropology and philology. One of the major debates among ethnomycologists is Wasson's idea that the Soma covered in the Rigveda of the Indo-Aryans was the Amanita muscaria mushroom. coming after or as a or situation. of. his example similar attempts name been made to identify psychoactive mushroom usage in many other mostly ancient cultures, with varying degrees of credibility. Another much result about topic is the content of the Kykeon, the sacrament used during the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece between about 1500 BCE and 396 CE. Although not an ethnomycologist as such, philologist John Allegro has presentation an important contribution suggesting, in a book controversial enough to cause his academic career destroyed, that Amanita muscaria was non only consumed as a sacrament but was the leading focus of worship in the more esoteric sects of Sumerian religion, Judaism and early Christianity. Clark Heinrich claims that Amanita muscaria use in Europe was not totally wiped out by Orthodox Christianity but continued to be used either consumed or merely symbolically by individuals and small groups such(a) as medieval Holy Grail myth makers, alchemists and Renaissance artists.

While Wasson views historical mushroom use primarily as a facilitator for the shamanic or spiritual experiences core to these rites and traditions, McKenna takes this further, positing that the ingestion of psilocybin was perhaps primary in the format of language and culture and identifying psychedelic mushrooms as the original "Tree of Knowledge". There is indeed some research supporting the theory that psilocybin ingestion temporarily increases neurochemical activity in the Linguistic communication centers of the brain, indicating a need for more research into the uses of psychoactive plants and fungi in human history.

The 1990s saw a surge in the recreational use of psilocybin mushrooms due to a combination of a psychedelic revival in the rave culture, modernization and simplified cultivation techniques, and the distribution of both the mushrooms themselves and information about them via the Internet. This "mushrooming of mushroom use" has also caused an increased popularization of ethnomycology itself as there are many websites and Internet forums where mushroom references in Christmas and fairy tale symbolism are discussed. It remains open to interpretation what issue this popularization has on ethnomycology in the academic world, where the lack of verifiable evidence has kept its theories with their often far-reaching implications shrouded in controversy.