Awesome! Thanks for the confirmation! I'm so glad I found some. I was pretty sure they were right, but was a little wary as the base was not very shaggy. I assume they get shaggier with age.

It's funny, I only found them in abundance before I knew anything about them. Of course they are eye-grabbing, especially the crimson ones, so I remember seeing them. Then, when I wanted some I couldn't find any! I drove all the way to Hammond Oregon, where I had seen patches of 30 or better, and there was nothing. I basically gave up for the year, and right then, there they were growing in short grass right next to where I park every day.

Have they been screwing with me? It's enough to make one wonder.... The note pad from my last trip has a passage "Why is the thing I'm looking for always the hardest to find?" And I guess these shrooms were no different.

I just hope they'll still be there, and mature come Monday morning. There was a couple dozen there just waiting.

immature are more potent..

just leave one shroom per cluster to mature so it can sporulate

Haha I have had the exact same thing happen to me a couple of days ago with the libs I found. Once you stop looking there they are...


Are these to be avoided, or are they just as good as the red ones?

Hehehe I so happy there is an Amanita muscaria thread thank you
now go back and read I am sorry just so excited had to share how happy I am
I love this mushroom finally have a few growing in my yard now new this year

Wow I have noticed that too look and look and look and they are in your own yard or neighbors lol where u park ... I find they will find you or kinda play hide and seek with you Hunting them reminds me of Easter egg hunting very fun

I find the ones that are not growing in grass are growing near ferns deeper in the woods but these probably be a different mushroom than the group we are chating about

I always thought that if the mushroom was not dry enough that is what made me feel sick to my stomach ... maybe there is something else here ... I know drinking anything carbonated has made me feel nauseated

well i have no direct experience, and i have heard conflicting reports to their activity.

some say more potent, some say entirely bunk (though tbh, i could understand why someone could consider even the most potent v.muscaria as 'bunk', some say its weaker, and some say its about the same.

so they might be as good, or slightly less good (or maybe even better).

some correlate the red coloration to high activity of muscimol, though i don't think that is based on anything more than intuition (for example, the veil has huge quantities of muscimol and ibotenic, and that is devoid of color).


that may not be entirely coincidental....

and yes, drying them decarboxylates the ibotenic acid converting it into muscimol, which causes less nausea, and drinking carbonated beverages carboxylates the muscimol, turning it back into ibotenic (making you nauseous).

so avoid carbonated beverages before and during imbibing in this mushroom.

I don't think it is coincidental

I only find the yellow variety s where I live they can have a bit of red in the center but mostly yellow
http://www.amanitaceae.o...+muscaria+var.+guessowii

I havent tried the red variety to compare them to tho but I do find some of the yellow ones to be very active some not so much

rain can wash the goodies away too so it is best to go out hunting b4 or between the rainy days and collect the ones that just pop up

With the yellow ones they can be very white when they pop up all covered in the veil it is important to look just under the veil for yellow skin to make sure u have the proper ones you want I find white Amanitas sometimes in the same spots as the yellows

Just be careful get to really know these when hunting for them and you get used to spotting the differences

Here are the ones I find in my area Ontario Canada

I was browsing through the end-notes of Dale Pendell's Pharmako-Gnosis, and came upon a mention of Fireweed (Epilobium / Chamerion angustifolium) being used in conjunction with Amanita muscaria in Siberia.
It is well known as a medicinal tea, & apparently can produce some kind of 'hypnotic' effect.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, where both of these organisms flourish. Amanita are popping up everywhere now, but it's too late in the season to wildcraft any Fireweed, so I'll have to wait 'til next year.
Regardless, I wanted to share this tidbit of information with friends & lovers of Amanita here at the Nexus.

you just blue my mind!!
there is fireweed everywhere where i harvest my amanita (so much so i usually made fireweed jelly every season).

i am definitely looking into this, thanks for the info, blue lunar night.

Dang! I saw this stuff everywhere this year. I kept thinking it must have a use, but never got around to looking into it.

Very interesting!

fireweed jelly? Sounds very interesting
I would like to hear more about using them together as well

there was an interesting passage in this book that seems to be the root of most people discussing within a shamanic/psychoactive context (also this - scroll down a bit). regrettably it does not specify which part of the plants the "juice" was made from.

i know it is used for food; and it is said that only small seedlings, or just the tops of plants (the new growth, before the plant flowers - though the flowers are edible, used in jelly) are said to be edible. though reading this it seems to be a result of their psychoactive properties.

the hearsay in AK is that mature leaves are poisonous, but they say that about amanita muscaria too, so i don't know if that is worth taking with more than a grain of salt. given a preliminary goojul search, i came up with no indication of its toxicity...

This mushroom is very strong medicine for the people who respect it and use it wisely.

It has basicly changed my life and given me emotional and physical healing like nothing else.

I agree it has been great medicine for me as well and slowed me down to really trust my skills to identify this was very important for me to confirm this skill
The medicinal learning I have experienced with this mushrooms unbelievable


Thanks for the info on fire weed I have heard of the young shoots as food but havent tried them myself ...can never remember to collect them while young ...bitter as they mature ?? I gonna go have a look and see thanks

maybe people that cook and eat this as a veggie get rid of the cooking water in a leaf tea you would be drinking the water and the goodies I have never heard of this plant this way b4 neat thanks

The plants here are all dried up and dead for the winter but this is the best time to gather seeds and plant them in my back yard ....

I found something here
... http://www.botanical.com...cal/mgmh/w/wilher23.html
" ---Uses---The leaves of the Rose Bay Willow herb have been used as a substitute andadulterant of Tea. Though no longer so employed in England, the leaves of both this species and of the Great Hairy Willow-herb (E. hirsutum, Linn.) are largely used in Russia, under the name of Kaporie Tea.

Green (Universal Herbal, 1832) reports:
'The young shoots are said to be eatable, although an infusion of the plant produces a stupifying effect.

'The pith when dried is boiled, and becoming sweet, is by a proper process made into ale, and this into vinegar, by the Kamtschatdales; it is also added to the Cow Parsnip, to enrich the spirit that is prepared from that plant.

'As fodder, goats are said to be extremely fond of it and cows and sheep to eat it.

'The down of the seeds, mixed with cotton or fur, has been manufactured into stockings, etc.'

The young shoots are boiled and eaten like asparagus.

The ale made from the plant in Kamchatka is rendered still more intoxicating with a toadstool, the Fly Agaric, Agaricus muscarius. "...

Yesterday I went for a hike, sipping ~2 dried grams worth of var. formosa, harvested a couple weeks ago.

They were more potent than I was expecting. Rumors of formosa being inherently weak are definitely false.

I reached a +2. The mental effects were very interesting, & had some playful visuals - mossy logs would appear as snapping alligators or grinning troll faces, appearing so real I'd jump back, startled.

However they also must have had a higher muscarine content than I've previously experienced - nausea in the beginning (efficiently dispelled by cannabis), salivation, sweating, and most obnoxiously, blurred vision. Frustrating as I wanted to appreciate the beauty of the forest but for a few hours was unable to as my vision was very poor.

Next time I'll try the Reds, & then go back to the Yellows, & see if I feel like tentatively generalizing about respective muscarine contents.

I would love to hear about the similarity and differences between the yellows and reds
Glad you had a great experience
Every mushroom is technically different tho different spot growing in even if it is inches away ... different stages of growth and weather it is rained and washed any goodies away the variables are huge this all effects your trip
I am glad u had a nice experience with the yellows I have had some great trips and some mild trips and some terrifying times
I usually stay with a low daily dose a small pinch a whole cap lasts me a week or so I believe they are nutritionally great for me at this time coming into winter
I find I have the courage to go outside in the cold weather it could be -30C outside and I do not wanna go work so i eat a small piece of mushroom and within 20 mins I feel warmer i cannot explain the courage but u get guts drive what ever u wanna call it motivation to get up and get at er