So, yesterday I went to the fungus fair, specifically to hear Paul Stamets speak. I'm so moved by the work that he and his wife Dusty are doing that I had to honor them for their unyielding dedication to restoring the sanctity of the mushroom. Paul and Dusty do extensive work with bioremediation, a process whereby they inoculate biohazardous land--diesel cleanups, oil spills, etc. and the mushrooms magically transmute these toxins to purify the land extremely quickly. And you can even eat the mushrooms afterward! Here is one of his recent uses of mushrooms to clean up the oil spill in the SF bay: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi

Politically, Paul and Dusty work to preserve and restore our most biodiverse forests because these highly robust, alive areas yield the most potent medicinal mushrooms. Paul works closely with the government to ensure the survival of these biogems because they're promising antidotes for bioterrorism! (Who cares why the government is motivated to preserve land?) Without going into the shortcomings of Western medicine, the overuse of antibiotics will also make other forms of medicine (mushrooms) necessary in the future.

Finally, Paul showed a many-millennia-old picture found deep in some labyrinthian caves in Algeria. It shows a seven foot-tall man with a bee head and mushrooms growing all over his body. He explained that scientists and anthropologists had "no idea" what the painting was about, though fermenting psilocyben mushrooms in a mean concoction is a known sacred concoction, probably used in those caves. He then went on to show figurines from South and Central America, small squatty figures holding mushrooms. Again, experts had "no idea" what they were holding. When one of them went up for sale, Paul called the curator and asked, "Do you have any idea what the figure is holding?" The woman said, "No idea." He said, "Have you ever considered it may be a mushroom?" "No." Then he told her to check for gills below the mushroom. If they're there, it's definitely a mushroom. She checked. The gills were there. The piece sold for 1.5 million dollars.

Mushrooms are teachers. Paul would not discuss his spiritual experiences on mushrooms, as they are too personal. We scoff at mushrooms' wisdom today and chalk up their spiritual symbiosis with us to hippie recreation. Without the ritual contexts our ancestors employed to contain ceremonies involving psychoactive mushrooms, many experiences on mushrooms may be mere hippie forays. But I dream these rituals will return to us when we are ready to hear from our ancestors. I dream that the language of the mushrooms, the animals, and the plants will awaken within us. I'm so grateful to see this happening through the work of Paul and Dusty Stamets.