Gnostic Media

Hawk and Venus: Neo-Shamanism or Megalomania?

A Critical Rejoinder to Raw Amanita is Always Best

By J.R. Irvin

March 31, 2008

Introduction

The following is a rebuttal to the “journal” entry Raw Amanita is Always Best by the ambiguously named “Hawk and Venus,” August 12, 2006. This rebuttal also serves as a critique and review of their book, Sacred Soma Shamans, 2006.

It is essential to the safety those interested in the use of entheogens, and especially Amanita muscaria, to understand the distortions, dangers and misconceptions of Hawk and Venus’s presentation.

Hawk and Venus are the self proclaimed “High Soma Priests” of Amanita muscaria mushrooms and authors of the book Sacred Soma Shamans, 2006.

On August 12, 2006, Hawk and Venus posted comments on their website www.somashamans.com. These comments focused on a footnote from our book, Astrotheology & Shamanism (Irvin and Rutajit, 2006), which briefly discusses disfavor with certain areas of their scholarship.

With the help of others I had originally begun researching and writing this rebuttal at the time Hawk and Venus put their comments on their website in 2006. However, due to a legal complaint to their web host provider from another author, they temporarily took it down:

Although we received a large amount of admiration in our August 12th update (in which I damned myco-urophilia), due to a single complaint to our web host, we've taken it down.

~ Hawk and Venus

I had since laid my rebuttal aside for more than a year thinking it wasn’t worth my time and that I’d let bygones be bygones. But do to regular interest in my thoughts on their work; as well as a slightly updated version of their commentary reappearing on the internet with the offending comments to that one author removed, I couldn’t help but complete this rebuttal and figured it is in the public’s best interest that it be completed.

The updated version of the Hawk and Venus commentary may be found online at:

http://www.somashamans.com/journal-2006.html

To show the breadth and scope of their attack as it was originally intended, one must first read their original (August 12, 2006) diatribe in full. Following their commentary I will provide a step by step breakdown of their remarks with quoted citations.

Raw Amanita is Always Best

By Hawk and Venus

August 12th, 2006

The following footnote from "Astrotheology And Shamanism" was brought to our attention:

Lies.

Hawk and Venus, the authors of "Soma Shamans," recommend eating the Amanita raw. However, their ability to eat the mushroom raw is likely due to tolerance buildup from near daily use over many years. Eating Amanita raw goes against the overall majority of anthropological research and science on Amanita Muscaria. Their technique is NOT something we recommend for beginners, and we caution those who follow their work.

Writers Rutajit and Irvin's research is weak to non existent in their slack representation of shamanism. They begin with the lie that we've eaten raw Amanita everyday for many years. There are so many problems with this one paragraph alone that we had to break our response down into sections:

"Their ability to eat the mushroom raw is likely due to tolerance buildup from near daily use over many years"

There are two problems with this absurd claim:

1) To say that we ate raw Amanita every day for many years is a fool's lie. We've never made that claim. In fact, for the past 4 years we've lived far from our patches and can only collect 4 to 5 times during the annual season, so were lucky to eat fresh picked red Soma at most 4 to 5 times a year. Mr. Irvin and Mr. Rutajit should ask themselves where they got this information. They didn't ask me or contact our webmaster. It's not in our book or documentary, or internet page.

The only way to eat fresh Amanita -- especially muscaria -- year-round is to constantly travel the globe. Amanita muscaria is seasonal, 2-3 months in the Pacific Northwest at best.1 Not even the hardiest Yellows and Browns grow throughout the entire year. This is why we share our tips on how to prepare and store your own supply.

1. Though we do mention finding different varieties of Amanita throughout one particular year, it was obviously the exception to the rule.

2) There is no tolerance "buildup" for Amanita. We would know, don't you think? While such fairytales are fine for movies like "The Princess Bride" (in which a heroic pirate builds up a complete tolerance to fantastic poisons), they are ill-suited for Amanita. If anything, the ability to eat the mushroom raw has more to do with our spiritual connection and skill level, not tolerance. Indeed, because of wear and tear on his liver, Hawk has decreased his dosage to a daily medicinal tonic and only ups this dosage on special occasions. The dosages he originally used when he started would now kill him.

In 6,500 years of Amanita history, the Gathas, Zend Avesta, Rig Veda, as well as all medical research, there is no mention of toleration buildup to Amanita precisely because there is no such thing.2 3

2. When Hawk says in our DVD, "Always start off with moderate doses. Then as the toxics gradually build up in your body and you get higher and higher, take more and more," he is talking about a single experience, in which you start with a single bite and as your body acclimates to the Amanita toxins, if you want to get higher, take more. The next day, you will be no more immune to Amanita's effects than the day before. As a matter of fact you'd be weaker because of the previous strain on your liver.

3. In our book, "Sacred Soma Shamans", we say, "Consume at least a bite, but be moderate. Even if you find you have an extremely high tolerance to Amanita toxins, never eat more than one fresh Soma at a time, in order to freely experience its spirit and assimilate its chemistry with your own." In this case, we are discussing a personal tolerance, based on a person's constitution, one of the many factors that affect the strength of an ecstatic experience.

Our book and documentary, along with the Zend Avesta and Rig Veda, are the greatest sources of information on Soma in the world. Here is what it says in the Rig Veda, book 8, hymn LXXX, Verse 4, about eating Amanita raw:

1. It has the power to unite yourself with God.

2. It unites yourself with God's will.

3. If you eat Amanita raw, God will bring you Earthly wealth.

If eating raw Amanita unites you with God and brings you preordained wealth -- what more could you ask of it?

As for going against the "overall majority of anthropological research and science", there is no science on Amanita. They haven't even been able to determine which of the two poisons kill you. Science offers no antidote to Amanita poisoning. Indeed, my wife and I are the only ones on Earth ever to discover an antidote to Amanita poisoning, which works 75% of the time. This was a result of many years of work, research and experimentation on ourselves. This is well documented in our work, the work that these con-men, these unethical, deceitful, manipulative and ass-kissing liars (see the e-mail below) caution you against following.

"Their technique is NOT something we recommend for beginners."

Here they make it sound as if we suggest only eating raw Amanita for everyone. What they neglect to mention is that we share many techniques; from picking to preparing, how to freeze, dry and even make Amanita tea, and we share the knowledge you need before ever attempting to go near an Amanita. We share how to meet the spirit of Soma safely. It sounds to us like they're trying to scare people away from reading our book and learning from shamans with real experience, instead of amateur writers who are too busy parroting their "hero's" sentiments to bother with the truth.

Besides we are sharing our preference when we say in our book, "Fresh is our favorite way to consume Amanita. At its peak, the fresh Amanita is far superior in spiritual essence. It is alive and filled with mystical power and closet [sic] to God. A truly rewarding experience awaits the Master who can determine the perfection of a willing fresh picked Soma."

[Emphasis added]

"We caution those who follow their work."

Then why would they offer to advertise our work, in exchange for a few pictures?

In March, 2006, two months after they published a dire warning to anyone following our advice, we received the following email:

Hello, my name is Andrew Rutajit - coauthor of Astrotheology & Shamanism. I'm trying to make a video and discuss some amanita symbolism. I was wondering if you could help me. I need a few and I have photo's of the ones I need...meaning, I have some that are copywritten by someone else. I'd like go give all credit in the video to one source - you, if you agree. I can't pay you because this is a zero-dollar-budget video, but I can promise a full screen ad at the end of the video with the credit for the images. I have your video and I can see that you have access to the real deal, so I figured you'd be the best to ask first.

Eagerly waiting your reply.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Emphasis Added]

Cheers?

We certainly wouldn't caution people against an online mushroom vendor, only to later print their advertisements in our book. Why caution readers against our work one minute, then say we have access to the "real deal" and offer to give us a full screen ad the next?

So why tell people to steer clear of our book in the first place? What was their hidden agenda?

On Author Andrew Rutajit's MySpace.com page, two of his heroes listed are Clark Heinrich and James Arthur. Heinrich is a urophile, who extols the virtues of his "rose-colored" urine and became the ultimate nasty-talking badboy when he claimed to obtain union with God's mind directly after he drank a glass of his own piss. The other hero, urophile James Arthur was a convicted pedophile, serial child rapist and psychotic swine who committed suicide in a county jail rather than do the mandatory 15-30 sentence for his second conviction on the multiple rape of children under seven years of age. Arthur raped little girls for his pleasure.

Rutajit's heroes have more in common than being disgusting: They both insist that the only way to take Amanita is by drinking Amanita-laced urine. We maintain this is the absolute worst thing you can do to Amanita -- not to mention yourself! Of course, if more people became aware of our teachings, they might start to question why these grown men are so fixated on each other's urine.

4. News from the San Joaquin Valley . 4-12-2005

5. Inmate's death is ruled a suicide James Dugovic, 47, died in Madera jail cell. The Fresno Bee, April 12, 2005.

Rutajit's hero insists that the only way to take Amanita is by drinking Amanita-laced urine. We maintain this is the absolute worst thing you can do to Amanita--not to mention yourself! Of course, if more people became aware of our teachings, they might start to question why these grown men are so fixated on each other's urine.

Cheers, indeed.

(Every time we hear from one of these urophiles, they sign their email "Cheers". Coincidence? We think not.)

What motivates these liars and fools? Simply, they want to seem authoritative and push their hidden agenda... a recipe for urophilia. So by contradicting me, the world's foremost expert on picking and ceremoniously and shamanistically preparing and dosing Amanita, they hope to seem knowledgeable. Neither author has had the guts to take raw Amanita. They are frauds, and their book is garbage, a worthless read, a waste of paper. This is how they have the nerve to talk about something they know nothing about. They ignore the historical research of Amanita, then try to hide behind "anthropological research." But observation without experience -- in this case -- is worthless. As it says in the Rig Veda, those who've never taken Soma will never understand it. We couldn't agree more.

The entirety of that footnote is an attempt to discredit eating raw Amanita in order to push their hidden agenda, their own recommendation -- urophilia. Their heroes are the perverts who recommend to first buy potency weakened devitalized dried mushrooms (for, whatever drying practice you use, a draining of potency is inevitable.) Then, they kill the Amanita by boiling it for an hour, drinking it, then drinking their recycled urine. A "cowards cocktail" which reduces the potency of Amanita by approximately 93%

This is another lowlife piece of junk, written by obscene deviants posing as Amanita experts. Do you really want a riotous romp through a ridiculous, pretend world of poor almost-educated buffoons who contradict other people's educated work, just to make a name for themselves?

In the second edition of our book, "Sacred Soma Shamans," we cover this gruesome subject of urophiles, profiling James Aurthr's last days before his incarceration, and suicide, including the police reports. We got the scoop during a six hour interview with Jack Herer, Arthur's loyal disciple.

We learned how warped this club of Pee drinkers really is -- how they try to manipulate and bully others into engaging in myco-urophilia, and offend and alienate family and friends with their obsession. They defile the purity and spiritual essence of the mushroom through unclean preparation and disrespect. They lead people astray from the truth of Soma. They wouldn't want people to find out about us, so they lie about our ways to keep people away.

People who write lies about Soma, and contaminate its purity will never be welcome in Somadise.

In our work, we strive to educate, inspire and give others the knowledge for a chance to find conscious ecstasy of the supreme Medicine-Sacrament-SOMA.

Soma Blessings From All

Hawk and Venus

A Critical Rejoinder to Raw Amanita is Always Best

To understand how unfounded Hawk and Venus’ attacks on our research are, we must first analyze the depth of their statements. They write:

The following footnote from "Astrotheology And Shamanism" was brought to our attention:

Lies.

"Their ability to eat the mushroom raw is likely due to tolerance buildup from near daily use over many years"

There are two problems with this absurd claim:

But did we in fact say that they eat “raw Amanita every day”? What we said is: “near daily use over many years,” but our caveated statement, though it could have been written more clearly, was intended to refer to the near daily use of A. muscaria in general, and not only fresh or raw specimens. Hawk and Venus intentionally used the word “raw” as a red herring to steer the reader away from the facts: the daily consumption of Amanita is something Hawk and Venus readily admit in both their book and video!

The information and true life experiences we compiled for this book has been gained through nearly 25 years of our own extreme experimentation and devoted daily use of Soma.

~ Hawk and Venus, Introduction to Sacred Soma Shamans

In their attack on our work, in their book, and video, they claim that their spiritual and vibrational energy abilities come from their “connection and skill level, not tolerance”.

If anything, the ability to eat the mushroom raw has more to do with our spiritual connection and skill level, not tolerance. Indeed, because of wear and tear on his liver, Hawk has decreased his dosage to a daily medicinal tonic and only ups this dosage on special occasions. The dosages he originally used when he started would now kill him.

~ Hawk and Venus

We do acknowledge that clinical research does not show a buildup or tolerance to A. muscaria. But that statement, based on their video, was written in late 2004, two years before I read their book in late 2006. In their book, and contrary to the above comment on their “spiritual connection,” they admit that their ability to eat raw Amanita (and daily consumption of Amanita in general) is actually because of their daily consumption of milk thistle and manganese (more on this later). This may not be tolerance due to daily mushroom usage specifically, but it is still a tolerance buildup via the use of milk thistle and manganese nonetheless. In fact, this is why I used the word “likely” in the footnote they quoted. This was not stated as a fact, but a “likely” possibility. This fact was avoided in their response. However, I should also point out their admission in the above quote:

“Indeed, because of wear and tear on his liver, Hawk has decreased his dosage to a daily medicinal tonic and only ups this dosage on special occasions. The dosages he originally used when he started would now kill him.”

~ Hawk and Venus

Does not this quote give an admission of tolerance buildup? Does not Hawk’s admission of his former ability to consume such large amounts that “[t]he dosages he originally used when he started would now kill him” reveal some sort of past tolerance when consumed in regular large doses? It certainly appears so.

Besides their unsupported narcissistic boast that their book is one of “the greatest sources of information on Soma in the world,” Hawk and Venus don’t seem to even be able to quote the original text of the Rig Veda.

For Book 8, Hymn LXXX of the Rig Veda, Hawk and Venus claim the following:

1. It has the power to unite yourself with God.

2. It unites yourself with God's will.

3. If you eat Amanita raw, God will bring you Earthly wealth.

If eating raw Amanita unites you with God and brings you preordained wealth -- what more could you ask of it?

~ Hawk and Venus

Let’s see exactly what Book 8, Hymn LXXX actually says:

HYMN LXXX. Indra.

1. DOWN to the stream a maiden came, and found the Soma by the way. Bearing it to her home she said, For Indra will I press thee out, for Śakra will I press thee out.

2. Thou roaming yonder, little man, beholding every house in turn, Drink thou this Soma pressed with teeth, accompanied with grain and curds, with cake of meal and song of praise.

3. Fain would we learn to know thee well, nor yet can we attain to thee. Still slowly and in gradual drops, O Indu, unto Indra flow.

4. Will he not help and work for us? Will he not make us wealthier? Shall we not, hostile to our lord, unite ourselves to Indra now?

5. O Indra, cause to sprout again three places, these which I declare,— My father's head, his cultured field, and this the part below my waist.

6. Make all of these grow crops of hair, you cultivated field of ours, My body, and my father's head.

7. Cleansing Apala, Indra! thrice, thou gavest sunlike skin to her, Drawn, Śatakratu! through the hole of car, of wagon, and of yoke.

As we can see, the word Amanita is not even mentioned. The ‘Vedic text’ they provided was their own interpretation, not a quote from the Rig Veda. In fact, it is Gordon Wasson’s interpretation of Soma on which Hawk and Venus base their argument – more on that later. But “Hawk and Venus” make further claims that Amanita will bring them material wealth:

3. If you eat Amanita raw, God will bring you Earthly wealth.

If eating raw Amanita unites you with God and brings you preordained wealth -- what more could you ask of it?

~ Hawk and Venus

Since it is actually earthly, material wealth that Hawk and Venus seek with the consumption of raw Amanita and not spirituality, why exaggerate to others and mislead them about being “High Soma Priests” and “Soma Shamans,” etc? But furthermore, in their book they repeatedly imply that they’re financially broke. If eating raw Amanita brings preordained earthly wealth, then why have Hawk and Venus spent much of their lives living in Northern California campgrounds with none of this preordained earthly wealth?

Camping is a favorite American pastime, but how many families can take even a month off to go? We got to go camping for three years.

~ Hawk and Venus, pg. 85

Followed up with this:

Anyone who's ever gone camping can remember how exhausting it is, and how you crave, the comforts of home. After a weekend camping trip, you just want to go home and sit in front of the tube and relax. Imagine setting up camp and breaking it down again over and over, for three years! We would usually hit our favorite motels a couple of times a month…

~ Hawk and Venus, pg. 102

Could it be, as I’ll further show, that Amanita as Soma is only one possible entheogenic interpretation of the ancient texts? Could it also be that eating a raw mushroom or not has nothing to do with material wealth? It’s just a wild assumption, but I’m willing to bet that eating raw A. muscaria mushrooms has nothing inherent to do with wealth.

I must ask: Did Hawk and Venus actually read our book, or did they only read the single footnote brought to their attention? In fact, as I will show, they have not read our book. If they had, they would know that our book does not discuss how to prepare the mushroom at all, as they imply, other than in historical and anthropological reference. The only place boiling the mushroom is mentioned in our book is on page 111 in discussion of a piece of artwork depicting the process:

On the far left in Figure 104, the rain is falling into what looks like a spoon. Notice inside the spoon is the ouroboros biting its own tail, depicted with wings on top. Next to it, in the middle image, is the homunculus (or little man) urinating into the water and the (living) water is being boiled and recycled up. On the far right is the caduceus , completing the alchemical process of the drugs from beginning to the end. (pg 111)

That’s it. That’s the only reference. No where does our book state to boil the mushroom for an hour. Hawk and Venus are only trying to imply that because someone else wrote something in another book, that we hold that idea too.

On page 60-1 in regards to urine drinking, we say:

Was his [Wasson’s] friend Imazeki the only one who properly prepared the mushroom by roasting? It also appears that Wasson never recycled his urine while conducting personal experiments with the Amanita even though he criticized anthropologists for not doing the same. This is customary of cultures that use the Amanitas…

Soma was one of the most important anthropomorphized deities in the Hindu pantheon. On the surface, Soma can be confusing because it represents so many things. Soma is a plant, Soma is the word or logos (‘vac’) , Soma is a drink, Soma is a drink made from a plant [cited to Wasson and Heinrich], and the psychoactive urine of the priest who had ingested the plant.

The reference to psychoactive urine of priests comes from the well known ethnobotanist Jonathan Ott (Pharmacotheon, pg. 332).

On page 89 we further state:

This is a description of one of the greatest mystical symbols in alchemy : the ouroboros . It needs nothing. It is a symbol of the eternal life. The word ouroboros comes from the Greek “ouron” (to make water) , and is the source of the English word "urine, ” as well as the name of the constellation of Orion [cited to: Apples of Apollo, by Ruck, Heinrich, Staples, pg. 74] on the macrocosm. The ouroboros is symbolized by a snake biting its own tail, and often it is represented as a winged dragon above a serpent , both biting one another’s tails. In Norse mythology, the sea serpent “Jormungand” grew so big that he was able to surround the earth and grasp his own tail. In the heavens, the ouroboros is the Milky Way, appearing to wrap itself around the earth like a serpent. In this respect, the ouroboric serpent it is known as Leviathan.

We provide more research on the ancient custom of mushroom urine drinking on pages 91-93, further explaining our position and backing our claims with citations from well known ethnobotanists:

Koryak, for example, learned empirically that the hallucinogenic effects of the mushroom pass into a man’s urine. As a result, men waited outside a house where the plant was being consumed in order to collect the urine of a user in special wood containers. The process was repeatable for five cycles before the drug began losing its potency. It is possible that the Siberian herdsmen learned about the relationship between the mushroom and its lingering effects in urine from their reindeer…. Every Koryak man carries a vessel made of seal skin, which he suspends from his belt as a container to catch his own urine. This is done as a means of attracting refractory reindeer. Sometimes, a reindeer will run to the camp from faraway pastures to drink urine-saturated snow, which appears to be a delicacy for them…. When reindeer eat the fly agaric mushrooms, which is not an infrequent occurrence, they behave in a drunken fashion, falling into a deep sleep… if a Koryak encountered an intoxicated animal, he would tie its legs and not kill it until the drunkenness wore off. The Koryaks claimed that if one killed an animal while it was intoxicated, the effects of the fungus would be felt by all who ate the meat. [cited to: Hallucinogens: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, by Dobkin de Rios, pg. 32]

~ Marlene Dobkin de Rios

It is well known that the urine of humans who have eaten Fly Agaric [Amanita muscaria] becomes in itself hallucinogenic. Among some Siberian populations it was customary to drink the urine of those who had drugged themselves with the mushroom to attain an even greater degree of intoxication, reputedly more powerful than that achieved by eating the mushroom itself. Even reindeer "go mad" for the urine of other reindeer or human beings who have ingested the hallucinogen. In fact, it would seem that the Siberian peoples discovered its inebriating properties by observing the behavior of the reindeer. [cited to: Animals and Psychedelics, by Giorgio Samorini, pg. 39]

~ Giorgio Samorini

Reindeer , as it happens, have an inordinate fondness for Amanita muscaria and will eat it whenever they find it, either until there is no more or until they fall over in a trance, whichever comes first…Reindeer will also nearly trample one another to eat the golden snow created when, after eating their fill of mushrooms, they urinate. [cited to: Apples of Apollo , by Ruck, Staples, and Heinrich, pg. 51]

~ Ruck, Staples, Heinrich

It is muscimole that holds the pharmacological key to the urine -drinking custom. Muscimole, they [Eugster -1967, Waser 1967 & 71] discovered, is an unsaturated cyclic hydroxamic acid that secrets through the kidneys in basically unaltered form. [cited to: Hallucinogens and Culture, by Peter T. Furst, pg. 93.]

~ Peter T. Furst

However, and besides misquoting us and implying we wrote things not found in our book, we must also point out that Hawk and Venus are completely wrong in their knowledge regarding ancient urine drinking customs. In India the practice of urine therapy is ancient and is known as ‘amaroli’ or ‘shivambu’. Amaroli has been used for healing and spiritual purposes in Ayurveda and Yoga since before recorded history.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/9012/amaroli.htm

In India, urine therapy is called "shivambu": "Had our shivambu rishi (sage), great devotee, propagator and mighty supporter of shivambu movement, centenarian former Prime Minister of India, respected (late) Morarji Desai not boldly and emphatically declared before the world that lie drank his own urine regularly and that was the secret of his longevity and exuberant health, the most valuable and beneficial information that is being given to you through this booklet, which can prove to be a boon to our poor country and which is capable of curing a host of diseases ranging from common cold to cancer and arthritis to AIDS, would have remained hidden in some unknown quarters and the entire mankind would have been deprived of shivambu. Really speaking, late Shri Morarjlbhai by his frank and honest declaration has accorded world recognition, glory and greatness to this free yet priceless therapy otherwise considered to be nauseating. The whole world shall ever remain indebted to him for rendering this great humanitarian service. " G.K.Thakkar

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/urine.htm

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/shivambu.pdf

The following biblical references are also appearing to refer to this tradition.

"Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well." - http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%205:15;&version=9

Proverbs 5:15

"But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?":

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2036:12&version=9

Isaiah 36:12