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Forest

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Some images taken while searching for mushrooms...


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Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Amanita muscaria is hallucinogenic and can also be quite toxic. Don't eat.

This one is edible:

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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This is so tranquil, Jerome!




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This is so idyllic. How is it protected?

Interesting that most of Europe was deforested for castles, cathedrals and furniture well before Columbus set sail to be able to tell the aboriginals in the the new continent that they now were “discovered” and with that the largest resources of mature timber they could ever imagine!

So there are fallen branches and enough leaf debris to create the compost for the mushrooms.

Are there toads, lizards and snakes too?

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
How certain are you as to identification?

For these two mushrooms, pretty certain. Amanita muscaria can be recognised by the white dots on red cap, but also white gills, a ring and the shape of the bottom foot. The second one is neoboletus edulis, is a bit more tricky as it is not quite known whether there is one of several species, none of which is toxic. The large foot with a white nest and fine white tubes are a sure sign of non-toxicity. With a dark nest, it would be to bitter to eat but still non-toxic (Tylopilus felleus).

All of this is valid for western Europe, not necessarily other continents.

The purpose of identification is, however, primarily to be absolutely sure one does not confuse a mushroom with a toxic one. The first one is identified as toxic, so I don't really care if identification is wrong (but it is not, that mushroom is easy to identify). The second one is a delicacy but mushrooms with tubes are rarely toxic and the very few which are toxic are rare and relatively easy to spot (in Europe!).

For some mushrooms, especially in the genres amanita and russula, identification is more tricky and certainly beyond the capabilities of a forum. Besides, one also needs to keep informed as new mushrooms are introduced which can be confused with European species and some species which were long believed to be edible have been found to develop toxicity after years of eating, for example.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks, Jérôme for the helpful answers!

It is not protected.

Likely, the community is pretty sophisticated and naturally respectful.


Few batrachians, as there is no open water nearby. I see blindworms (Anguis fragilis) sometimes.

“Blind worms” I have never seen. Do you mean “earthworms”?

With enough decaying moist leaves, especially in tropical areas, the roads and snakes manage!

Asher
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Likely, the community is pretty sophisticated and naturally respectful.

There are vast areas of forest around Munich. It was planted for the wood. These particular trees would be maybe 30-40 years old and will be harvested in the next decades. The only protection which is needed is that you can't drive there with a car. One does find some rubbish sometimes, but usually closer to the roads.
 

James Lemon

Well-known member
For these two mushrooms, pretty certain. Amanita muscaria can be recognised by the white dots on red cap, but also white gills, a ring and the shape of the bottom foot. The second one is neoboletus edulis, is a bit more tricky as it is not quite known whether there is one of several species, none of which is toxic. The large foot with a white nest and fine white tubes are a sure sign of non-toxicity. With a dark nest, it would be to bitter to eat but still non-toxic (Tylopilus felleus).

All of this is valid for western Europe, not necessarily other continents.

The purpose of identification is, however, primarily to be absolutely sure one does not confuse a mushroom with a toxic one. The first one is identified as toxic, so I don't really care if identification is wrong (but it is not, that mushroom is easy to identify). The second one is a delicacy but mushrooms with tubes are rarely toxic and the very few which are toxic are rare and relatively easy to spot (in Europe!).

For some mushrooms, especially in the genres amanita and russula, identification is more tricky and certainly beyond the capabilities of a forum. Besides, one also needs to keep informed as new mushrooms are introduced which can be confused with European species and some species which were long believed to be edible have been found to develop toxicity after years of eating, for example.

But if you really wanted to get stoned out of your mind and have a new experience of existence you would need to know what ones will not kill you?

ARE MAGIC MUSHROOMS THE TRUE PHILOSOPHERS STONE?
Those who have used magic mushrooms know first-hand the ability they have to disconnect us from ourselves and allow us to see the wider picture, finding wisdom and insights within our souls.
In the Secret Doctrine, it is said that a person who uses the philosophers stone "finds himself both linked to his external body, and yet away from it in his spiritual form. The latter, freed from the former, soars for the time being in the ethereal higher regions, becoming virtually ‘as one of the gods."
Once again, it shows that the interpretation of immortality is more philosophical than literal, and likely obtained through an entheogenic experience. Ancient alchemists claimed that the stone gave the user the ability to leave behind his "own identity [and] become at home with the Gods."
While a light trip skirts around the boundaries of this, a full blown mushroom trip can easily achieve this feeling of oneness with the universe, and for the spiritually inclined, the Gods.
Magic mushrooms, or more specifically psilocybin, fits the bill to be classed as the stone. It is of the plant kingdom, it can be extracted, and its use imparts the interpretation of immortality in the way the old alchemists described it.
Of course, it could be argued that other hallucinogens could also be classified as the philosopher’s stone, and surely they could. The philosophers stone was never defined as one substance, and obtainable through multiple avenues. The old writings that say it must come from a plant may have simply been decided from the knowledge available at the time, as DMT - arguably the most potent hallucinogen known to man - can be obtained from animal sources.
MUSHROOMS OR DMT
Even knowing that there are more potent hallucinogens out there, why is it maintained that mushrooms are the true philosophers stone? It all comes back to the spiritual significance of the material and its connection with Earth, Sol and Luna - something other hallucinogens may lack. In Hitchcock's study Remarks Upon Alchemy it is noted:
“the Secret of our Stone…shall shew itself forth as though it bloomed sweetly upon the dunghill. And if you shall ask me what it resembles – I shall say to you that it lives and is to be found in the likeness and form of many things in Nature. For it can be as the Moon as has been said – If they say the Moon is blue, we must believe that it is true. – But this only if molested, for the colour of the Moon is white in its naturalistic State.”
Conveniently, magic mushrooms, such as Psilocybe cubensis grow in nature, upon dung. They also resemble the moon, having pale round caps, unless "molested" in which they turn blue.
Maybe, just maybe, the suppression of psychedelics like magic mushrooms is a Knights Templar conspiracy, of whom were renowned for searching out the truth of alchemy and the philosopher's stone - if you are into those kinds of theories. Either way, the old interpretations of the philosopher’s stone, and the immortality it imparts, all strongly point to the use of magic mushrooms. There are many more riddled references to the philosopher’s stone as a mushroom - some more obscure than others. But they all suggest that magic mushrooms are the key to immortality. So what are you waiting for?

https://www.zamnesia.com/blog-magic-mushrooms-the-real-philosopher-s-stones-n978





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Jerome Marot

Well-known member
But if you really wanted to get stoned out of your mind and have a new experience of existence you would need to know what ones will not kill you?

As I said, some people use Amanita Muscaria for the hallucinations, but the mushroom is variable and can be quite toxic. There are other mushrooms for hallucinations, which contain psylocybin and are less dangerous. The list can be found on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin_mushroom

You would still need to be sure that they are not confused with a deadly species, obviously.
 

Peter Dexter

Well-known member
Fungus often develop on rotting wood. It may be underground so you don't see it, just the mushroom. Development of fungus also depends on the stage of rot so you might see a certain species one year on a rotting log but not the next on the same log.
 
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