On typing this out, I’m suddenly concerned about this being offensive or blatantly false. I never applied critical thought to the story before, as I’m pretty sure I was told it as a relatively young, and more relevantly gullible, man.
Is it true that this mold played a role in the “witches ride broomsticks” stereotype?
It sounds like a few different things got mashed together there. Ergot is a hallucinogenic fungus that grows on rye, and is speculated to be the cause of some of the witch panics. It’s not the same fungus found in Roquefort, but it is what they use to make LSD.
Witches flying is hypothesized to be entheogen use, since a common side effect is feelings of floating, flying, or otherwise ‘being high’.
On typing this out, I’m suddenly concerned about this being offensive or blatantly false. I never applied critical thought to the story before, as I’m pretty sure I was told it as a relatively young, and more relevantly gullible, man.
Is it true that this mold played a role in the “witches ride broomsticks” stereotype?
edit: Removed redundant word.
It sounds like a few different things got mashed together there. Ergot is a hallucinogenic fungus that grows on rye, and is speculated to be the cause of some of the witch panics. It’s not the same fungus found in Roquefort, but it is what they use to make LSD.
Witches flying is hypothesized to be entheogen use, since a common side effect is feelings of floating, flying, or otherwise ‘being high’.