BUREAU OF LOST CULTURE - Myths of the Magic Mushroom (29/03/2025)

The evolutionary leap from ape to human was precipitated by primates eating psychoactive fungi, there is an ancient lineage of psychedelic plant use in the West, mushrooms have their own consciousness, drinking Reindeer piss can get you high… There are many myths about magic mushrooms.

Meanwhile we are living through a kind of psychedelic renaissance: psilocybin is often in the press, hailed as a potential treatment, for depression, addiction, psychosis - and a way to be even more productive and well adjusted.

What to make of it all? Has the counterculture gone mainstream? Never mind The Age of Aquarius, is this The Age of the Mushroom?

Andy Letcher is a British scholar, author, activist and musician. His work explores the intersections of psychedelics, culture, paganism and folk traditions, and twenty years ago published *Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom.  
He came to the Bureau to discuss it, how things have changed since he wrote it and the myths behind the magic.