Mushrooms, Toadstools and other Assorted Fungi

Yes its mushroom time on the East coast of Australia right now!

It’s the time for gathering mushrooms of all kinds, and I’ve been busily gathering up my fair share of them too, I only sourced mine from the vegetable garden, and felt very blessed for the essence of this wonderful faery magic right there amongst the vegetables and herbs.

So many people really freak out about wild mushrooms as so many are known to be deadly, however this is mainly when you eat them. It doesn’t stop those who love creating potions, like myself as they are a valuable ingredient if you know what you are doing**insert caution right here**.

Mushrooms are a sacred part of the forest floor, earthy, damp and ancient. Here in Australia you will find a huge assortment of mushrooms in any of the pine forests and eucalyptus forests.

I must admit to loving the energy of a pine forest, its silence, its majesty and its earthiness, full of wombat holes, the essence of the Gods, Pan, Cernunnos, Hecate, Hermes, Kali, are all felt here as the mysteries penetrate your senses and are made more vivid by the deep and solemn shadows and the scent of pinion dripping from the trunks as an elixir for the spirits of the forest.

In old Europe myth and stories are told how Lucifer and his angels fell from heaven into the pine forests, where they remained becoming Wood Trolls and Wood Spirits. If you are quiet you can hear the voices on the wind and in the rustle of the leaves, and goodness help the lumberjack who attempts to cut those trees down!

It is my belief that every witch should at least once in their life do a Yule/Winter Solstice ritual deep in one of the Pine forests.

But now getting back to mushrooms

Visit after heatwave days and lots of rain, which are the ingredients you need for mushroom harvesting, take a boline with you for your harvesting, and I’ve found a bucket is the best as its light and keeps your mushrooms intact.

I’m currently drying the ones I picked a couple of days ago, and then I am going to place them in oil and infuse them for adding to ointments and potions that are on my to do list. Mushrooms can be very helpful assistants for any hedgecrossings, dreamings or astral travelling, they have the magic of the faery realm and the spirits of nature to help you on your journeying between the worlds.

They are called magic mushrooms and toad stools for a reason you know!