3 ms·

I would agree with you if we were talking about a different psilocybe, but in this specific case: You have to eat fairly substantial amounts (assume 90%ish wat

I would agree with you if we were talking about a different psilocybe, but in this specific case: You have to eat fairly substantial amounts (assume 90%ish water, you probably want at least a gram of dry mushroom) of a mushroom that tastes awful, is tiny, upsets your stomach with indigestible matter, and you'd need to eat them in a fairly short window of time. I don't see it as particularly unlikely that we only realised here after getting it from elsewhere, the Norwegian forests have a pretty substantial list of better options.

mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
As a counterpoint, most or all of that is also true of the majority of entheogens with deep cultural roots, like Ayahuasca. Amanita Muscaria is another abundant mushroom that is even toxic if prepared incorrectly, and yet has a long history of use in shamanistic cultures(though not in viking culture, as is widely misbelieved). I'm not going to speculate much about the extent of psilocybe semilanceata usage in Germanic/Sami cultural history, other than to say that it would likely have become taboo due to Christianity, and therefore went unrecorded.