Revisiting Wasson’s Soma: Exploring the Effects of Preparation on the Chemistry of Amanita Muscaria

Introduction

In 1968 R. Gordon Wasson proposed that Soma, the sacramental agent of the Vedas, was the mushroom Amanita muscaria. Feeney revisits this proposal by focusing on a frequently voiced gap in Wasson's account: the Rig Veda describes a multi-stage preparation involving pressing and filtering Soma, but Wasson did not explain how those steps would be necessary or meaningful if Soma were a mushroom. Critics have argued that elaborate extraction would be unnecessary for a psychoactive fungus and that no known preparation reliably reduces Amanita muscaria's unpleasant effects. Feeney sets out to test whether preparation style influences Amanita muscaria's effects, particularly nausea and vomiting, which are central to criticisms of its sacramental suitability. To ground that empirical work, the paper summarises the mushroom's basic chemistry as understood: the primary putative active compounds are ibotenic acid and its decarboxylation product muscimol, with muscarine as a cholinergic constituent producing peripheral physiological effects but not believed to cause psychoactivity. Dehydration (drying) promotes decarboxylation of ibotenic acid to muscimol, and differing solubilities and thermal stabilities of these compounds provide a pharmacological rationale for expecting preparation to matter. The study therefore compiles and analyses anecdotal accounts to determine whether preparation methods comparable to the Rig Veda’s “celestial” (drying) and “woollen” (straining) filters are associated with reduced toxic effects.