Mycophilia: Mushrooms + Anything = Magic. Always. (Just Another Bout of Sciento-Reverence)

Hello... Soma?

Sometimes -- especially when not sleeping -- I ask myself how I can possibly make sense of a worldview which seems to be comprised of such disparate "prime movers" & abstruse ideas. Really, what am I thinking with this soup of mycophilia inflamed animism, dreamwork driven polytheism & Lunar obsession? Most of the time, I cannot answer myself. Sometimes, I consider the possibility that I might be a more productive member of society if I just walked away from all this weirdness. Then again, what would be left of me if I did? 

Sometimes when not sleeping -- but generally whilst in a more pre-sleep state -- all of it makes complete sense. Every last fragment of weird coalesces into a comprehensible, nearly describable whole. The dots connect. Like the night I wrote, "It is incredible to me, how the pieces of Everything continue to fit together, despite my inability to articulate the Whole." Oh! If only more nights could be thus!

Then some days I get lucky & I stumble upon some scrap that tells me I am not completely off base. Of course, I never get handed the whole story, but I always seem to gain a lead which keeps me going, keeps me wandering through the morass of sciento-mytho-animistic thoughts. Last week the folks at the Cornell Mushroom Blog threw me a bone. I'm still chewing on it.

I love fungi. They make everything make sense except that they do it in such a way that I absolutely cannot convey all this sense-making in any effective manner. Mention something fungal & I will likely be led to a lightbulb moment, but I will not have the ability to explain it to you. Ever. 

The Cornell article, "ZAP! Lightning, Gods, and Mushrooms" is yet another piece of science-meets-mythos-plus-weirdness which affirms my cosmology. Somehow. I think. I don't recall submitting a personal request, but good grief! It makes so much sense & I can't even explain why!

The crux of the sciento-story is that many fungi are stimulated, in a reproductive manner, by exposure to an electrical charge. That is to say, many mushrooms, after being struck by lightning will produce a "monstrous flush" of fruiting bodies. Weirdness. Seriously, who does this? Oh, wait... They do.

"Tiny Thunderbolts Help Mushrooms Grow"
from Modern Mechanix.

The article contains some fascinating & valuable discussion about the still mysterious mechanics of electricity & mushroom-making, but there is also much more. Weaving connections between Japanese folklore, Vedic deities, experimental agriculture, high voltage generators & polyester leisure suits, the story tickles me everywhere. It even contains colourful, animistic language like, "Lightning is notoriously disobedient..." & crazy tongue-in-cheek statements like, "If you thought mushrooms were magical all on their own, the combination of mushrooms and electricity might knock your socks off." There is also a brief discussion of the ever elusive Soma, "child of the thunderstorm" & the Vedic god's enigmatic identity... Amanita muscaria? (Can we actually ever know?) Plus, the story references another article which tells the story of a man in New York who raised his own fungi with "miniature thunderstorms, artificial fogs, and a drumming kind of 'jazz music'." Jazz music... That makes perfect sense! But I could never, ever tell you why.

/end (more) Thoughts While Not Sleeping.