Mushrooms and the Medical Manual

As a thought exercise, I decided to do what the anonymous author of "Wine and the Bible" did with wine, to mushrooms. I was only able to find 19th-century citations for the first two categories.

I found that all passages where mushrooms are mentioned, fall under three headings: a) where mushrooms are merely mentioned, b) where they are spoken of as a cause of misery and death, c) where they a blessing and source of ethereal enlightenment.

Examples:
a)"Konstantin was out wandering in the woods looking for mushrooms after the rain." The Small Rain by Diana Raymond, 1955
b) "Probably a single one of these is responsible for a vast majority of the fatal accidents resulting from mushroom poisoning. There are however some species in other genera that are capable of causing nausea vomiting and derangement of the digestive organs." The West American Scientist, 1895
c) "The taste of magic mushrooms are far from the best gourmet meals. However, once you get past the taste, they can open you up to sensations you’ve never had. Those who ate magic shrooms always talk of having an out-of-body experience, a feeling of time slowing down, and an openness to their imagination." www.trufflemagic.com, 2019

Now, how does one ensure that his mushrooms are of the heavenly kind and not the hellish kind? It isn't easy, but one can start by overturning cow patties:

"Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms usually grow on patties that have had a little time to soak themselves into the soil - I would guesstimate that 2 week-old patties would be ideal. The mushrooms may be growing either straight out of the patty or very near it. As for picking, cubensis mushrooms are fully mature when the veil has broken and the caps are relatively flat (depending on the strain). The ideal time to pick is 24-36 hours after a good rain (0.5" or more) in 65-85F weather. Be sure to identify them PROPERLY and THOROUGHLY before consuming any mushroom"  answers.yahoo.com, 2019

But don't just go grabbing fruiting bodies off any pile of dung, either:
"Psilocybe cubensis, commonly called the Golden Top, is a prolific dung-inhabiting mushroom found mostly in the spring to early summer. Its striking appearance, size, and fairly exclusive habitat makes identification relatively easy. This is not true of the Psilocybe genus as a whole, however; Many of the hallucinogenic species closely parallel the appearance of some of the most deadly poisonous mushrooms." www.potent.media/magic-mushroom-guide 2019

So, it looks like it boils down to this: Once you've eaten a mushroom and feel nothing, the mushroom being referred to is obviously from category (a). If, however, you begin to vomit and feel your internal organs shutting down, obviously this reference was to a mushroom of category (b). But if you begin to feel at one with the universe, you've connected with a reference of the last category, (c).

Enjoy your mushrooms! And please, consume them responsibly--unfermented and gluten-free.