Around Trent University

Trent University, I was recently informed, has one of the largest campuses in Ontario.  This is because it is primarily woodland and farmland.  Being a student of Trent and having a fondness for wilderness areas, it was not long before I was arriving at school with a camera instead of my books.

During my first foray, I found a few of these guys in various stages of growth. I believe it is the yellow-orange fly agaric.



I wonder if they are edible.  Not the mushrooms...they might give me a stellar vision and a stomach ache, but these berries look awfully tasty.

A New Fascination

Over the summer I was introduced, quite unexpectedly, to photography. The camera had always been a means of creativity reserved for others, never myself, and I approached it at first with tentative and humble sentiments.

Lake Kennisis in the Haliburton Highlands is a place I am altogether unfamiliar with, living a few hours south and rarely venturing far from home (much to my chagrin). I was staying with a friend and, as we hadn't done our homework beforehand, found ourselves inside staring out at a storm-tossed Lake Kennisis. Our plans of wakeboarding and waterskiing would have to wait. My friend quickly found himself sleeping the weather out, leaving me to entertain myself.

After fishing to no avail I began a tour of the small peninsula which our cottage was situated on. Having just rained and being a very moist environment I found the area to be covered in fungi. The range of species was incredible. I happen to have a certain fondness for mushrooms, and upon entering the cottage I exclaimed, "I wish I had a camera!" My friends father simply looked at me and said, "well use mine." A few moments later he returned with a Nikon DSLR, a contraption wholly unfamiliar to me. I was quite careful receiving it, but within minutes it felt like an extension of myself.

The rest of the day was spent wading through muck and wet underbrush searching for perfect specimen to capture. It was exhilerating and extremely satisfying. I felt closer to my surroundings, somehow afforded the justification for crawling through the wilderness like an animal. There was also a certain sense of adventure; in searching for subjects to shoot I would often find myself in places I wouldn't normally venture, at least not with a warm cottage nearby.

Naturally it was only a few weeks before I picked up a Canon from the local Futureshop. Here are some pictures I've taken thus far.

Entheogens in Maya Ritual

The Ancient Maya practiced certain rituals with the aid of hallucinogenic substances. Psychotropic flora and fauna used in a ritual context are termed entheogens and I wish to speak in particular about mushroom use. While deciphering the codices of the Maya is beyond my humble scholarly expertise, I believe that even a novice could make out the vaguely mushroom like apparatus wielded by the standing individual above.

This is the amanita muscaria, also known as fly agaric. The six bulbous protrusions appearing on the codex 'mushroom' have an uncanny resemblance to the white patches of the Amanita muscaria. The agaric is psychoactive and does indeed grow in the highland regions of Mesoamerica among pine forests.

Today A. muscaria is recognized by the Quiche-Maya as Cakuljd Ikox (lightning mushroom), hinting at it's supernatural qualities. It was termed Xibalba ikox in the Vico dictionary, a colonial account of indigenous words, meaning 'mushroom of the underworld'. In the Dresden codex, the mushroom is associated with the Mayan glyph cimi, the symbol for death. It becomes apparent that the mushroom has a intimate relationship with death, but the nature of that relationship is not so readily apparent.
Predominantly found in Guatemala the agaric is just one of several hallucinogenic fungi found in Central America. Ethnographic accounts reveal another fungus, Stropharia cubensis, that enjoys usage today by at least two Maya groups: the Ch'ol and Lacandon of Southern Mexico. S. cubensis is a dung fungus reliant on ruminant species: grass-eaters like camels, derr, bison, and sheep. In pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, deer were the only ruminant species capable of carrying and germinating the spores. With this in mind it is important to consider the deer and its nature in Maya iconography.

The deer is considered a being of the underworld and associated with hallucinations, trance-like states, and ritual performances. On this Maya vase, the central figure is a deer, performing some form of ritual amongst other anthropomorphic beasts. The figure on the left appears to be vomiting: a standard form of ritual purification. The individual on the right looks to be engaged in an enema. A fermented honey mead is thought to have been administered in this manner. That the deer is associated with these images suggests that it had some fundamental role in the ritual experience.
The mushroom, as seen in page XVIII of the Madrid Codex, held a unique niche in elite rituals. With its strong ties to death, it was a cosmic key, a device used to obtain ancestral authority for elite endeavours.