Andy Letcher is Programme Director of the UK’s first MSc in Psychedelics at the University of Exeter. A scholar of religion, he is the author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom and numerous papers taking a critical approach to psychedelic studies. His research includes the use of psychedelics within contemporary Paganism, especially Druidry, animism, and the uses of the fly agaric mushroom, Amanita muscaria. He is a folk musician.

“When time becomes a loop”: contemporary accounts of fly agaric use

Except for a few vocal enthusiasts, the iconic fly agaric mushroom, Amanita muscaria, has mostly been avoided by psychonauts until recently. Now, a growing number of Amanita eaters are employing this psychoactive mushroom for a variety of recreational and shamanistic ends. Here I present the preliminary results of an ethnographic study of Amanita eaters, to draw attention to the discourses by which they frame their practices and make sense of their experiences, especially those pertaining to the metaphysical nature of time.