Etnomükoloogiast ja psühhotroopsetest seentest industriaalühiskonnas

• Main Author: Aivar Jürgenson
• Format: Article
• Language: Estonian
• Published: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum 2004-01-01
• Series: Mäetagused
• Online Access: http://www.folklore.ee/tagused/nr27/seened.pdf

The article discusses popular mycology and its impact on the subcultures of drugs in industrial society. The introduction provides an overview of the leading representatives of ethnomycology and their works, such as R.G. Wasson, who has studied hallucinogenic fungi in Mexico and India, and J. M. Allegro, who in his language-centred approach has attempted to introduce evidence on the central role of the red toadstool (Amanita Muscaria) in oriental mysteries. The article provides an overview of the methods he used, indicating the speculative nature of his hypotheses, and describes Allegro's influence on the wider public and on authors from the 1980s onward (e.g. E. Klapp, W. Bauer, T. McKenna). Literature about hallucinogenic mushrooms has partly shaped the ideology of these subcultures - almost as if the ancient cultures had observed a strong tradition of drug ingestion, which has been forgotten and needs to be revived. It is necessary to remember that culture functions as an entity and that the effect and function of a cultural phenomenon ripped out of the original context may constitute something altogether different after revival.