One of the ethnobotanical problems that has been on our mind lately is the identity of Soma. Soma was a sacred beverage among the early Indo-Iranians. It is mentioned a lot in the Rig Veda and seems to have been highly influential on early Hinduism. Scholars have been debating the possible ingredients of Soma for decades. An early ethnomycologist named R. Gordon Wasson became convinced about 45 years ago that Soma's main ingredient was Amanita Muscaria, also known as the Fly Agaric mushroom. Now a new researcher named Chris Bennett believes that Wasson was mistaken and that the Cannabis plant was the main ingredient. We have ordered his book, The Soma Solution, and will post a review when we finish reading it.
The Amanita Muscaria has also been getting a lot of attention lately as "the Christmas mushroom" or "the Santa Claus mushroom." NPR even posted a story about it: NPR Santa and Shrooms
There is a better article on the subject here:
The Psychedelic Secrets of Santa Claus
Only 100 pages into this 600 page monster of a book and it seems clear that Wasson made many critical errors when assessing the identity of Soma. I think the biggest argument against Amanita Muscaria is the fact that the experience is so often reported as unpleasant, whereas the Soma experience in the Rig Veda is described as blissful. I have never ingested one of these mushrooms so I cannot report from experience.
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