Description
Join us for our 5th Kindred Spirits event at Walden Arts for a fabulous evening dedicated to the unmistakable Fly Agaric with its dramatic red skin and white spots, a mushroom that conjures wonder and wariness in equal measure.Dr Andy Letcher will talk about the chemistry, effects, history, myth and cultural impact of this strange, eldritch mushroom, and he’ll reveal the truth of the many stories that swirl and circulate about it. Did Siberian shamans drink mushroom-infused reindeer pee to get high? Was Jesus a Fly Agaric mushroom? Had Lewis Carroll been chomping them when he wrote Alice in Wonderland? And is the red and white figure of Santa Claus actually a mushroom shaman bringing gifts from the Upper World with his flying reindeer? No other mushroom has generated so many myths and so much wonderment.
Dr Andy Letcher is a Senior Lecturer at Schumacher College, where he is programme lead for the MA Engaged Ecology. He is the author of Shroom. A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom, as well as many papers on subjects as diverse as fairies, eco-magick, psychedelic experience, mysticism and animism. He is currently researching the use of psychedelics by contemporary Druids, and the use of the Fly Agaric mushroom in contemporary culture.
Come join us for this festive evening where we will be serving a warm mulled apple beverage and mince pies in the interval before finishing with a Q&A session.
We hope to see you there.
Kindred Spirits
X
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.