Sunday, December 29, 2013

Nature Contemplation



*** Okay, I lied! This really is my last post for 2013!***







Sunday, December 22, 2013

The Art of Jack Frost

The Art of Jack Frost

This is my last post for 2013. 
Thank you for reading my ramblings and for being a huge source of inspiration & comfort.
May all of you wonderful people have a joyous Holiday Season and a very prosperous New Year! See you in 2014!







Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Santa and Magick Mushrooms

We all know about Santa Claus and his flying reindeer. But where did the story really start?
One theory has their origins in the hallucinogenic or "magic" mushrooms which grow in the Siberian and Arctic regions of the World.
Santa is likened to the traveling Shamans of the Northern Regions, who brought bags of 'magic' mushrooms as presents around to the villages at the time of the Winter Solstice. 
This Mushroom is Amanita Muscaria. It is commonly found in the Northern or Boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere. This toadstool can be poisonous and is most definitely psychoactive. It can be found in forests growing under trees, most commonly pine trees. The Shamans of the Tribes found in the Northern Regions used the Amanita Muscaria as a way to commune with the Spirits and it was considered a sacred substance.
The theory goes on to say that reindeer commonly grazed on the fungi. So did the Native Siberian Tribesman who probably had hallucinations of the reindeer flying.
Bringing a pine tree indoors at the time of the Winter Solstice and decorating it in red and white along with placing presents under the tree are all symbols of the Amanita Muscaria.

image source
While images of Santa and red topped mushrooms have been around through the ages, many historians doubt this theory. Perhaps they need a bit of "Holiday Cheer"!