Therioshamanism: Working With Black Morel Again →
I’m currently working my way through Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets, in an attempt to learn more about fungi in ways I can’t just by looking at wild mushrooms through layperson’s eyes. I’m only a few chapters in, but already the author has made it quite clear just how intricately entwined fungi are in the very workings of life on Earth itself. It’s not just the fruiting mushrooms that we can see above ground; more important, perhaps, are the vast networks of mycelia, the thread-like filaments of fungal being that may produce the mushrooms themselves. Mushrooms are a temporary state; mycelia are the permanent self of the fungi; or, to use an analogy, mushrooms are to apples as mycelia are to the apple tree.
One of the most fascinating roles of fungi, in my opinion, is that of mycoremediation–the healing and restoration of damaged landscapes. Fungi are the processors of the Land’s “body”; they digest things, and convert them into usable forms for themselves and other beings. They are alchemists. So when a place is damaged, whether through fire or deforestation or disease (often caused by parasitic fungi), it is the native fungi of a place that are often the first to recover. They break down the dead organic material to create healthy soil, and are often the forerunners of the recovery of the place.
-
beingspr0ut likes this
-
chiraykoo likes this
-
welcometothewarren likes this
-
goddess29 reblogged this from thegreenwolf
-
thegreenwolf posted this
