Ecofeminist theory of the late 1970s began to address the parallels and similarities between both female and environmental oppression and exploitation, and also links between the maternal qualities of women and nature due to their traditional role as nurturers and caregivers.
Not only did these images help weave a rich tapestry of mythical storytelling in the 19th century, but the mushroom also became emblematic of otherworldliness itself through its potentially psychoactive properties, ornate design, and synonymy with magic.īeyond the literary realm, the mushroom has been long linked to femininity, witchcraft, and old magic. Plants, flowers, and fungi were integral to the rich lore of these newly imagined worlds in which forest folk would dart between toadstools and faerie rings. At the core of it all lies the visionary power of nature. Deceptively aimed at children, such novels, under the guise of “innocence”, could explore more adult themes through the reimagining of the countryside, now framed as a site of sensual and erotic exploration and a kind of psychedelic re-enchantment. The emergence of Victorian fairy-centric literature would be embedded with imagery of rusticism, paganism, and the otherworldly, and in these works, the mystique of the mushroom was a recurring motif. And we might have books to thank for its renaissance in popular culture. Seen across platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram, there has been an unequivocal cultural longing for all things whimsical and folkloric. Playing upon the fantasy of rural domesticity and escapism from the monotony of day-to-day life, the mushroom is now evocative of something far more than just whimsical and experimental than we could have ever conceived. The symbol of the mushroom in stories has always been more than just “a food,” and more recently, the mushroom has captured the contemporary imagination through the popularity of aesthetics like goblincore. A Romanesque Fresco in the Abbaye de Plaincourault in Indre, France, appears to depict Eve’s temptation by an Amanita muscaria mushroom instead of an apple, with a sinister serpent coiled around it. Likewise, the mushroom has found a particular synonymy with medieval Christian and religious artworks. In the Vedas, compiled in northern India between 1500-1200 B.C, “soma” was referenced as a potion drunk by deities, blessing them with wonderful powers. In particular, the mushroom has been depicted in some of the oldest religious texts known to man.
It is, rather, a renewed interest in a symbol that has long formed the basis of many of our greatest stories. The sudden popularity of the mushroom as a modern-day magical emblem is hardly new. Or of Prospero in The Tempest, who says of fairies and elves: “ By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make, Where of the ewe not bites and you whose pastime is to make midnight mushrooms.”
Think of the Amanita muscaria from Alice in Wonderland, the magical mushroom that allows Alice to change size. The beauty, practicality, and potential peril of mushrooms have caught the imagination of naturalists and writers for centuries. Throughout literature, the mushroom, mycelia, and fungi have always been a source of great magic and inspiration.
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