Sacred Plant Medicine & The Destroying Angel

Only to him who stands where the barley stands and listens well, will it speak and tell, for his sake what man is.

Masanobu Fukuoka, The One Straw Revolution

The other day whilst cycling back over the river home, I passed, as usual, the Science Centre and saw several large phallic-shaped white mushrooms in the little grass lawn to the centre's north. It was only later upon identifying them in my little field guide that I realized their significance: they were 'destroying angels' (Amanita virosa), the deadliest mushrooms on the planet. How appropriate I thought that they should be growing here, right in front of the Science Centre. 

As Stephen Buhner writes in the preface to his wonderful book Sacred Plant Medicine: Explorations in the Practice of Indigenous Herbalism:

You will undoubtedly note I take strong exception with the way scientific opinion is now commonly accepted in the world. This has caused me to question many of its uses, and this perspective comes through in some of my writing. With medical science especially I take exception. The presentation by conventional medical science that herbs are unscientific and a remnant of an earlier more superstitious age is a grave misuse of science when so much data, much of it gathered in other countries, conflicts with this view. In their search for knowledge there is an attitude of superiority that many scientists possess, which, if allowed to be expressed without proper controls, can be dangerous. Further, our culture has come to rely overmuch on scientific experts. Many people no longer reason for themselves when faced with opinions from scientific experts, and it is questionable whether such experts really understand the workings of nature any more than anyone else. The misapplication of technology, based upon the expert opinions of the scientific community, without regard for environmental consequences, has caused a great deal of damage to the Earth. I, and many others, are beginning to question whether or not science can or should play as large a role in determining the safe application of technology... But a more pervasive problem exists in the unquestioned embracing of the scientific model. Though very useful, most scientists feel that methods of information gathering other than the scientific are not valid. Adherents of other forms of learning are generally castigated by the world scientific community. This trend has caused the abandonment of many approaches to understanding the world that, I believe, we as a species need in order to successfully inhabit the Earth.

I speak as a human being who travels in sacred territory, one who travels the Earth-centred path. I speak of the territory I have found, the Earth-centred devotions that have called me, and of the sacred plant relations. It is your birthright as well to enter this sacred territory. I invite youn to hear what I share here, to go beyond the words, and feel the touch of the sacred territory that lies beyond.

Paul Feyerabend in Against Method makes similar claims. Look no further than its final chapter to see what science has really done for us.

Rupert Sheldrake, in his equally enlightening book The Science Delusion, states unequivocally and quite rightly that most scientists are at the beck and call of commercial and military interests.

Be warned, Science is not what it appears to be. It is a destroyer of the human and of the humus. And of con-science.

Hence, the Destroying Angel.... the Earth's voice expressing itself. Fighting back. The planet is a lot more mysterious than science would have it. The emergence of these fruiting bodies is no coincidence, but it takes a keen eye, and an even keener mind, to see it...

'Hmmmph!'   The Earth destroying Science with a single fruiting body. Now that's what I call power.