It has already been suggested that this man was possibly a shaman, whose ritual journey to the mountains was interrupted by his untimely death, but the mushroom does not seem to have been cited as evidence for this theory. As it happens, it is in the birch and fir forests of the north that Fly Agaric has its natural habitat. It seems likely that cosmological considerations antedate the use of this hallucinogenic mushroom - but there is more than a suspicion that the mushroom experience may have played a considerable part in moulding beliefs concerning the nature of the Otherworld. An Anthology , p. 122. Divine Mushroom of Immortality .
Some bits still have some scaffolding about.
Rig Veda , pp. Originally published in Mercian Mysteries No.13 November 1992. No changes are made. No charge is made.