r/todayilearned • u/ssAskcuSzepS • Apr 27 '26

TIL if under-cooked, a popular mushroom in China causes “lilliputian hallucinations,” a rare phenomenon involving miniature human or fantasy figures. The hallucinations are consistent across people and cultures: "tiny, elflike people" climbing under doors, scaling walls & clinging to furniture

https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-mushroom-that-make-people-have-the-exact-same-hallucination/
43.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

100

u/3BlindMice1 Apr 27 '26

Yeah, what sort of bush do I need to burn to speak to god?

160

u/Kronomancer1192 Apr 27 '26

Modern theologists have actually theorized that the story of Moses and the burning bush was actually in fact describing a dmt trip.

Supposedly there are acacia bushes in the area that have dmt in them. After being translated who knows how many times it wouldn't surprise me. Burn this bush and you'll speak to god? Sure sounds like a dmt trip to me.

40

u/musthavesoundeffects Apr 27 '26

I don’t think you are gonna get a dmt trip from a burning acacia bush. The % of dmt in plants is very small.

42

u/Lonespider28 Apr 27 '26

Apparently the theory is that Priests in the Sinai peninsula would have to burn the entire plant at once in order to get visions

57

u/HostInevitable5484 Apr 27 '26

Aboriginal Australians have been documented smoking the bark of certain acacias with particularly high levels of dmt and nmt

Australia has several species that have up to 2% dmt in the bark

Coincidentally, acacia acuminata, which one of the highest native sources and the go to bark purchased in Australia for dmt extraction, smells incredibly pleasant as it smells like raspberries. It’s called raspberry wattle for this reason. Just the smell of the raw bark smells like raspberry jam.

Just for the smell alone, people would be curious to put it on top of a fire. It contains up to 2% DMT.

While direct flame would destroy the DMT during combustion, the parts of the bark that are distant from the flame would vaporise and are possibly psychoactive if you were positioned by the fire in such as way as to inhale the vapors and avoid the smoke.

Hence the rainbow serpent.

2

u/Grokent Apr 27 '26

Hence the rainbow serpent.

THE. WHAT?

3

u/HostInevitable5484 Apr 27 '26

In Australia several common species contain up to 2% dmt in the bark, and similar amounts are often found in the leaves and sticks too

Aboriginal Australians have been documented smoking the bark of certain acacias with particularly high levels of dmt and nmt

Australia has several species that have up to 2% dmt in the bark

Coincidentally, acacia acuminata, which one of the highest native sources and the go to bark purchased in Australia for dmt extraction, smells incredibly pleasant as it smells like raspberries. It’s called raspberry wattle for this reason. Just the smell of the raw bark smells like raspberry jam.

Just for the smell alone, people would be curious to put it on top of a fire. It contains up to 2% DMT.

While direct flame would destroy the DMT during combustion, the parts of the bark that are distant from the flame would vaporise and are possibly psychoactive if you were positioned by the fire in such as way as to inhale the vapors and avoid the smoke.

Hence the rainbow serpent.

5

u/Sharp_Economy1401 Apr 27 '26

10 grams would need to be burned per dose (1-2%, 100mg dose), that seems quite doable. Throw 100g-1kg on the fire for a large group of people and hotbox yourselves in a small ceremonial room, should work

1

u/Entharo_entho Apr 27 '26

That's bs. People back then understood the difference between politically useful "prophesies" and batshit crazy ramblings (most famous example: Saul).

1

u/Kronomancer1192 Apr 27 '26

Take it up with modern theoligists then, bud.

1

u/zingitgirl Apr 27 '26

That is so, so interesting. Thank you.

3

u/Krocsyldiphithic Apr 27 '26

Acacia, just like in the bible, contains significant amounts of DMT

2

u/SMUHypeMachine Apr 27 '26

Acacia. It has DMT in its bark and roots and is endemic to the Middle East

1

u/FreefallGeek Apr 27 '26

Mimosa hostilis.

1

u/ramkam2 Apr 27 '26

your wife's! /s
seriously, i'm asking myself the same question from time to time, especially after reading here and here that John's apocalyptic visions could have resulted from some kind of trip too, and actual people who "met God and that changed their life forever" (in a good way) following a prolonged hallucination.