Atheists & Agnostics

Back to the Amanita mushroom and Christmas, though. In the Pharmacratic Inquisition, Santa Claus is actually found to have originally been a shaman; something that might seem ridiculous until one examines the evidence. In northern European shamanism, the shaman was responsible for harvesting the Amanita muscaria mushroom. There’s evidence that he would dry his amanitas, taken from the base of a conifer tree, in the tree itself. Since the harvest is in the fall and it can take some time to dry the amanitas, this could be the first evidence of a Christmas tree with ornaments of Amanita muscaria on it.

Once the Amanitas were properly dried, the shaman would reportedly gather up his harvest in a sack that looks surprisingly similar to the iconic Santa sack filled with presents for good boys and girls. He (or she) would then visit the yurts within his community in order to bring gifts of these sacred mushrooms to to his people, entering through the smoke hole at the top of the yurts.

Oh, and by the way; these northern Europeans also happened to be reindeer herders. Oddly enough, it wasn’t just the shamans who were privy to the entheogenic value of these sacred mushrooms; their reindeer would actually seek them out in the snow, year after year. Once consumed, there was a noticable effect on the reindeer…some of them would stumble around or fall over, and a few would go into a deep sleep. But, none of the reindeer were ever harmed, and those same reindeer the next day or next year, would seek out those same mushroom patches again.
http://amanitashop.com/amanita-santa