Folklore and myth are filled with stories of the magical Amanita Muscaria mushroom and its connection to the winter season.
Shamans of northern European and Siberian tribes would collect these mushrooms in the fall, dry them, and then deliver these gifts of medicine home by home on the Winter Solstice, sometimes dropping them through the smoke holes or chimneys of the homes if the snowpack was high.
This one mushroom has a myriad of healing capabilities and would have been a valuable medicinal for our early ancestors to keep on hand throughout the year. But over the years, much of the wisdom from this beautiful fungi friend has been lost and it has been waiting for us to rediscover it as a balm for the stress and anxiety of our modern world.
As we move through the last few weeks of the autumn season into the darkness of the winter months, I invite you to explore the frequency of ease with the Amanita Muscaria mushroom.
Its playful nature calls us to connect with a lighter frequency and reminds us through synchronicity and coincidence just how easy and fun life can be.
Amanita Muscaria is a mushroom more myth than memory in our current culture. But our ancient ancestors knew it well.
This one bit of medicine has so many functions: on a physical level it can calm anxious feelings and soothe pain and inflammation, but on an energetic level it can connect us with the ancient wisdom of our ancestors and open our heart chakra to bring us back into resonance with the earth.
While it may not make all your problems disappear, it will gently show you how your life can be full of grace and ease. It’s an age-old salve for modern-day living.
Who Is This For?
The Amanita Experience is for anyone feeling curious about working with the medicine of the Amanita Muscaria mushroom.
We’ll spend the month of December together exploring the different ways to prepare and commune with these ancient and wise fungi beings.
You’ll enjoy this experience if you’re comfortable tuning into your own intuition and guidance but would also like to have a mentor to walk you through the more logistical steps of preparing and working with the medicine.
You are currently using benzodiazapenes or opiate based painkillers, including natural ones
You’re in active alcohol addiction
You are on prescription medication for sleep like Ambien, Lyrica or any other medication that works with the GABA pathways in the brain
What You Can Expect:
Here are just a few of the benefits experienced by participants in the last Amanita Experience:
Deep, restful, rejuvenating sleep
Insightful dreams
Feeling more connected to the Earth / nature
Finding more peace and joy in daily life
Overcoming deep fears and anxieties
Recognition of longtime patterns to heal
More nervous system regulation and control
More confidence and ability to stand in one’s power
Assistance in clearing / purging physical issues
Gentle support to feel long repressed feelings
Focused, productive energy
Join us an Open House and Q&A on November 16th at 5pm Mountain Time on Zoom where I’ll share:
What is Amanita Muscaria and how does it work?
The different ways to consume it and why
What types of effects you might experience
My name is Amy Dempster and I believe in the healing power of the Earth.
What began as openly sharing my spiritual journey on my blog, Following Hawks, has become a resource for others wanting to learn how to communicate with nature and share their own unique healing gifts with the earth.
I’m a portal tender and grid keeper living in the mountains of northwest Montana where I also lead the Earth Tenders Academy, an online journey to help others re-establish their connection with their ancient ancestors, learn to communicate with the seen and unseen forces in our environment and respectfully offer their healing energy to places in need.
The medicine of Amanita Muscaria has been calling to me for many years but I began working with it in its physical form in January of this year. I’m looking forward to continuing to rediscover its magic with you through this month-long experience!
Two pre-recorded videos to help you prepare for our journey together
Three LIVE workshops where we will prepare Amanita Muscaria in a variety of ways together and discuss how to work and why to work with the different preparations
Three LIVE Office Hours chats on Signal to share your experiences and ask questions
Group Signal Chat to connect with others during the month-long experience
LIVE Winter Solstice Drumming & Sound Ceremony with Amanita Muscaria
All live calls will be recorded and emailed to you to keep for future reference or to watch if you’re unable to join the live calls.
Signal chat will be open from November 23rd - February 27th, then archived.
Amanita Muscaria mushrooms
Tools and supplies for making the different preparations
What to expect
Safely working with Amanita Muscaria
Connecting with the frequency / energy of this mushroom
What to do when you receive your mushrooms
Where to get your mushrooms and how much you need
Other items needed
Live Workshop - Smoking Amanita Muscaria
Live Workshop - Drinking Amanita Muscaria Tea
What happens when we smoke this mushroom
How to prepare the mushroom
Instructions on how to smoke
Smoke blends
How does the tea work with us
How to prepare the mushroom
Micro dosing vs macro dosing
Determining your personal dose
December 6th at 1pm Mountain Time
Live Workshop - Smoking Amanita Muscaria
What happens when we smoke this mushroom
How to prepare the mushroom
Instructions on how to smoke
Smoke blends
December 6th at 1pm Mountain Time
Live Workshop - Drinking Amanita Muscaria Tea
How does the tea work with us
How to prepare the mushroom
Micro dosing vs macro dosing
Determining your personal dose
Live Workshop - Soma and Other Preparations
Other ways to work with Amanita Muscaria
Preparing Soma
Oils and tinctures and how to use them
December 20th at 1pm Mountain Time
Live Solstice Drumming & Sound Ceremony
December 20th at 1pm Mountain Time
Live Workshop - Soma and Other Preparations
Live Solstice Drumming & Sound Ceremony
Although Amanita Muscaria (aka the Fly Agaric mushroom) is classified as a psychedelic, it’s more accurately an oneirogen, which is a substance that induces or enhances dreamlike states of consciousness. Expect your journey with this fungi to work even more in your dream time than your waking hours.
Completely. Amanita Muscaria has never been a scheduled drug in the US.
Nope. You’ll want to avoid a large or heavy meal within four hours of our Solstice ceremony, but definitely plan to eat that day. It’s recommended that you abstain from alcohol for 48 hours before the ceremony.
That’s entirely up to you! You’re going to practice tuning into your own inner guidance and wisdom to determine what works best for you. It’s possible to work with this medicine completely energetically and not ingest anything at all if that’s what you prefer. For the most part, you’ll be taking small micro doses throughout the month and can choose to take more during our Winter Solstice ceremony after you have a feeling for how it works for you.
Not exactly. It’s definitely not a deadly mushroom although it does have a toxic component that can be mitigated through preparation and dosing. You would have to eat a significant amount of fresh or dried caps to overdose (which we will definitely not be doing!)
Most of us use a variety of substances that are toxic in our daily lives already including over the counter medicines, pharmaceuticals, other herbal remedies and even alcohol. They’re all toxins that can be considered medicines with the right dose.
This mushroom is made up of Ibotenic Acid and Muscomol and some people can be sensitive to these compounds. I will be walking you through how to titrate your dose to see how your body reacts to small amounts of the mushroom at a time.
Amanita Muscaria was used by people around the world for thousands of years prior to the time of Christianity when it was vilified, likely because of its powerful abilities to connect us to the infinite wisdom of the universe.
Unlikely. In fact, it’s best if you don’t try to compare these mushrooms at all because other than belonging to the fungi kingdom, they’re nothing alike!
I find that Amanita Muscaria works in two main ways - one is very somatic where you’ll feel the need to move your body to move the energy that wants to come up and out of your tissues and bones. You may want to dance or clean your house or work in the garden - something that gets you moving! And then it will slowly take you off to dreamland where more of the deeper work will be done.
Expect to experience more synchronicities, the ability to play with time, sudden insights or revelations, and maybe even some crazy fast manifestations coming together. These little fungi friends have a knack for helping us find our flow in day to day life but don’t tend to give us the trippy visions psilocybin is known for.
For this experience, I have removed the note to detox from cannabis prior to working with Amanita. Although there have been some anecdotal reports that cannabis cancels out the effects of Amanita, there was a group of people in our Fall Experience who experimented with both together and did not find that to be the case. There do not seem to be any adverse effects from combining the two so it will be a personal choice to work with these medicines separately or together.
What’s your refund policy?
Due to the nature of this offering, there are no refunds. Take a moment before you purchase, close your eyes, put your hand over your heart and feel into your decision. You’ll know if this is the right experience for you!
Full terms and conditions can be found here.
What if I have more questions?
Send an email to amy@followinghawks.com.