In 1968, Gordon Wasson put forth the concept that this mushroom was the 'plant' that was referred to as Soma, in his now much cited 'Soma, Divine Mushroom of Immortality'. It is a species that is thought to have had tremendous impact on some of today's cultures for at least four thousand years and has been thought by some to be at the root of the origin of some of today's religions. However, it is more than just a 'pretty mushroom'. There has even been a great deal made of its connections with Christmas, but probably too much has been made of this connection and different interpretations of this theory is available. Its image can be seen in Christmas and greeting cards, children's stories, science fiction and fantasy illustrations, and in mushroom models.

In recent time, it is the mushroom that has been adopted as the 'prototype' mushroom in western cultures.

Yet, the picture on the left, of this mushroom, will probably be familiar to the reader. Amanita muscaria or the Fly Agaric is not a well-known mushroom based on its scientific name or common name. Muraresku's book features a brilliant Foreword by Graham Hancock, the New York Times bestselling author of America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization. Muraresku in his best selling book, The Immortality Key: The Secret History Of The Religion With No Name, used Robert Gordon Wassons work: Soma The Divine Mushroom Of Immortality as one of his research tools. A section on the post-Vedic history of Soma is contributed by the Sanskrit scholar Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty. In his presentation he throws fascinating light on the role of mushrooms in religious ritual. Wasson has aroused considerable attention in learned circles and beyond by advancing and documenting the thesis that Soma was a hallucinogenic mushroom - none other than the Amanita muscaria, the fly-agaric that until recent times was the centre of shamanic rites among the Siberian and Uralic tribesmen. One of the key enigmas of cultural history has been the identity of a sacred plant called Soma in the ancient Rig Veda of India.

Soma gordon wasson