X-Ftn-To: Gwailoh-9 

Gwailoh-9  wrote:
>>... Soma is in fact a substance produced within the body as a side-effect
>>of higher consciousness. You can even smell it, because people who
>>have it within them radiate a wonderful scent, which is similar to
>>something floral, but not quite. My dirty clothes smell better than
>>the clean ones, because of it. 
>
>One of my brother's friends Jody, she was a bicycle courier downtown
>Vancouver, often riding hard & sweating 9 hours a day.  She'd also
>been a hardcore vegan for some years.  Spiritual person too, though i
>don't know exactly what disciplines she followed.  Brother said she
>never smelled 'off', it was always like strawberries or whatever.  

Yes, that might be it, or something similar. I think that there is a
whole family of similar substances, and if one stops contaminating the
system they might just start surfacing. Spiritual life, life filled
with joy and fun, combined with a pure diet... sounds very likely.

>waited with a bowl to catch the urine of the initial-consumers.  Then
>drink the pee, and get to the same place!  

Yuck :FFF :)

>   It is a pretty unusual characteristic, and unique for A.muscaria.
>Again, just another 'coincidence' that tantric theory says the same
>thing?

Yes, it's just a coincidence; I read the upanishads where this is
mentioned and I assure you that the context has nothing to do with
mushrooms. It has more to do with pranayamas, like kevala kumbhaka
that I already mentioned.

>>The analogy is wrong. In fact, I know exactly what kinds contain what
>>chemicals, and the ones that are unpredictable, like cortinarii or
>>clitocybe some amanitae, I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, let
>>alone eat them. 
>
>i think the analogy is just fine.  All that is changed is the purpose
>you are putting the mushrooms to - either for nutrition or getting
>high.  In both cases you can be perfectly fine if you learn about your
>subject, and beware confusing species.  Perhaps it is just that you
>consider psychoactivity in a mushroom to equate with danger, whereas i
>do not.

Well, psychoactivity never comes alone, at least in the species that I
know of... overdose of the substance is frequently lethal, and the
risk of bodily damage (kidneys, liver, brain...) is unexplored. The
dosage varies from habitat to habitat, and betting your life on it can
be a very dangerous thing, as I mentioned in the example with the
Russians who poisoned themselves with the Croatian variety of AM.

>Take Psilocybe cubensis for instance - If you learn its
>characteristics, it is pretty hard to mess it up.  

Unfortunately I'm unfamiliar with it.

>>But, even the good, kosher species contain substances that, if you
>>drink alcohol with them, can have interesting effects on you. :) Good
>>ol' macrolepiota procera can get you high as a kite laughing at
>>everything if you sip wine with it... not always of course, but it can
>>happen. 
>
>i've heard of this before, from an English mycophile!  It was a really
>funny story, coming from a very very 'straight' & conventional man.  i
>lost my file on it ... i'll have to find it again you'd love it. ...
>is perhaps M.procera commonly known as the 'puffball'?

Well, it looks like a big umbrella, sort of, and its name in Croatian
is "suncanica", or, "sun mushroom". I don't know any English folk
names for mushrooms, so I'll have to stick with Latin. :)
I found the picture:
http://www.dipbot.unict.it/sistematica/Macrolep.html

>>Mushrooms are a very strange territory even if you know them
>>well.
>>
>>>no, you aren't.   you are have educated yourself, you know what you
>>>need to look for, and what you need to beware of.  
>>
>>Yes, I need to beware stuff that kills you, makes you sick or makes
>>you think your TV is God. :)
>
>heh heh, such as our 'modern civilization'  :-)

Agreed. :))

-- 
Homepage: http://www.danijel.org