ANSWERS: 2
  • SHORT, SIMPLISTIC ANSWER: I believe that you would be referring to the Amanita muscaria mushroom. LONG DETAILED ANSWER: According Robert T. Beckstead's August 2007 Sunstone Symposium presentation, "Restoration and the Sacred Mushroom: Did Joseph Smith use Psychedelic Substances to Facilitate Visionary Experiences?" the answer is more complex: James Arthur reports that the Amanita muscaria “mushroom is also a symbiotic with the Birch tree, the trees which were in the Sacred Grove”. (Andoven, James Arthur & Alex. The Golden Mushroom Plates of Mormonism: Did Joseph Smith, the Founder of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Religion, Consume Psychedelic Fungi? Unpublished. Unfinished chapter "The Host". Copy published Jul 3, 2005 by James Arthur found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/egodeath/message/4011) Robert T. Beckstead describes the effect of these mushrooms like this in his article: "The Amanita muscaria mushroom, because of its changing form; its symbiotic relationship with pines, oaks and birch trees; and its profound visionary effect makes itself amenable to mystical personification and simile. A few examples of the Amanita Muscaria mushroom in various stages of life underneath its host trees are shown above. In its newborn state, it takes on the appearance of a small dazzling white stone or particle; then a woolly lamb, a constellation of sun, moon and stars, a brilliantly colored ground fruit; a winged bird adorned with a string of pearls around its neck; a sun disk radiating light in all directions; a gold plate upon which is found strange writing and a serpent hanging on a pole. According to those who have consumed this fruit, the visionary state it produces occasions an endowment of divine knowledge and celestial love." http://www.mormonelixirs.org/index.php Going to James Arthur's source document further details emerge: "Many organisms are parasitic but others, which are associated with a host life form, are not. They are Symbiotic life forms, living in harmony with another life form and thriving off of its energy and substance while also feeding the other with its own energy and substance. Mushrooms do this very thing, and the Amanita is one of the most famous for it. The mushroom grows in a relationship with coniferous trees (Pine, Spruce, Cedar etc.) because the mushroom is only the fruit of a bigger organism, which actually lives underground. This is the mushroom's main body, mycelium, an organism that is symbiotic with the tree because it is attached to the tree's root system and thrives off of the energy and substance of the tree, from its roots. The mycelium is the host for the tree and the tree is the host for the mycelium, and thus the mushroom, and these hosts live in a Mycorhizzal Symbiotic relationships with each other. So the mushroom is a host in the botanical, ethnobotanical, esoteric, magickal, occultic, alchemical senses of the word. The mushroom can also be seen, by a visionary imbiber, as a host for a state of mind, the host to a party in an extra dimensional realm, the host for a visit to another state of consciousness. The lord of hosts in this regard can also be interpreted to mean; of all the hosts that the planet has to offer, in this sense, Peyote, Psilocybe (another species of entheogenic mushrooms), Marijuana, Opium Poppies, Coca leaves etc. The Lord of all hosts is the Amanita muscaria. Certainly it has more religious connections than any other specific entheogen. Its appearance, striking color and majesty (Kings crowns, robes, and scepters are designed after its likeness) make it a brilliant and obvious living presence on our planet. The Lord of Hosts is a perfect euphemism for the mushroom and its esoteric interpretation, in this sense, expounds on the understanding of the meaning of the religion, as a good, deeper, secret revelation should. Of course, as would be expected, another meaning for the term host is the sacramental wafer, or consecrated bread, which is of course the body of jesus, the mushroom, the hidden manna, the host which lives under the Pine tree ('Christmas tree') it's host. It bears mentioning here again that the mushroom is also a symbiotic with the Birch tree, the trees which were in the Sacred Grove." http://groups.yahoo.com/group/egodeath/message/4011 And I have attached the related image which the author describes as follows: "This 13th century Christian fresco from France shows an Amanita muscaria mushroom as the tree of knowledge with Adam on the left and Eve on the right. Notice the tree’s umbrella shaped branches bearing white particles analogous to the veil remnants on the caps of three Amanita muscaria mushrooms shown to its right. Also, in the Christian fresco, the gold plates covering Adam and Eve’s nakedness match the golden color of an aged Amanita muscaria mushroom. Finally, the snake hanging on a pole in the Christian fresco corresponds to a dying Amanita muscaria mushroom that also has an appearance of a snake hanging on a pole." http://www.mormonelixirs.org/index.php
  • Probably magic ones. Lol:)

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