Add Your Xmas Stories Here

[ileso]

hello everyone

even though i am a dedicated anti church rambler and writer, trying to make people wake up to reality and release themselves from the multi million dollar money grubbing sect that is THE VATICAN and everything that comes with it, behind it and beside it sinse the 3rd century AD and the Nicean Creed when christianity made a U-turn and became something it was never meant to be.

this is the season of giving, it has nothing to do with christianity, as its roots are deeply set into european pre-history. its probably one of the last cerimonies where our humanity really surfaces and we truly GIVE. be it gifts friendship or love...
so this thread is for us to give each other ...

XMAS STORIES.

please feel free to add any story you want here.. im going to add my favourite tit bit about XMAS..
and every xmas i try to spread the word about what xmas is REALLY about

[ileso]

The psychedelic secrets of Santa Claus
by Dana Larsen (18 Dec, 2003) Modern Christmas traditions are based on ancient mushroom-using shamans.
Although most people see Christmas as a Christian holiday, most of the symbols and icons we associate with Christmas celebrations are actually derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribal peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe.

The sacred mushroom of these people was the red and white amanita muscaria mushroom, also known as "fly agaric." These mushrooms are now commonly seen in books of fairy tales, and are usually associated with magic and fairies. This is because they contain potent hallucinogenic compounds, and were used by ancient peoples for insight and transcendental experiences.

Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms.

The world tree

These ancient peoples, including the Lapps of modern-day Finland, and the Koyak tribes of the central Russian steppes, believed in the idea of a World Tree. The World Tree was seen as a kind of cosmic axis, onto which the planes of the universe are fixed. The roots of the World Tree stretch down into the underworld, its trunk is the "middle earth" of everyday existence, and its branches reach upwards into the heavenly realm.

The amanita muscaria mushrooms grow only under certain types of trees, mostly firs and evergreens. The mushroom caps are the fruit of the larger mycelium beneath the soil which exists in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the tree. To ancient people, these mushrooms were literally "the fruit of the tree."

The North Star was also considered sacred, since all other stars in the sky revolved around its fixed point. They associated this "Pole Star" with the World Tree and the central axis of the universe. The top of the World Tree touched the North Star, and the spirit of the shaman would climb the metaphorical tree, thereby passing into the realm of the gods. This is the true meaning of the star on top of the modern Christmas tree, and also the reason that the super-shaman Santa makes his home at the North Pole.

Ancient peoples were amazed at how these magical mushrooms sprang from the earth without any visible seed. They considered this "virgin birth" to have been the result of the morning dew, which was seen as the semen of the deity. The silver tinsel we drape onto our modern Christmas tree represents this divine fluid.

Reindeer games

The active ingredients of the amanita mushrooms are not metabolized by the body, and so they remain active in the urine. In fact, it is safer to drink the urine of one who has consumed the mushrooms than to eat the mushrooms directly, as many of the toxic compounds are processed and eliminated on the first pass through the body.

It was common practice among ancient people to recycle the potent effects of the mushroom by drinking each other's urine. The amanita's ingredients can remain potent even after six passes through the human body. Some scholars argue that this is the origin of the phrase "to get pissed," as this urine-drinking activity preceded alcohol by thousands of years.

Reindeer were the sacred animals of these semi-nomadic people, as the reindeer provided food, shelter, clothing and other necessities. Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita mushrooms; they will seek them out, then prance about while under their influence. Often the urine of tripped-out reindeer would be consumed for its psychedelic effects.

This effect goes the other way too, as reindeer also enjoy the urine of a human, especially one who has consumed the mushrooms. In fact, reindeer will seek out human urine to drink, and some tribesmen carry sealskin containers of their own collected piss, which they use to attract stray reindeer back into the herd.

The effects of the amanita mushroom usually include sensations of size distortion and flying. The feeling of flying could account for the legends of flying reindeer, and legends of shamanic journeys included stories of winged reindeer, transporting their riders up to the highest branches of the World Tree.

Santa Claus, super shaman

Although the modern image of Santa Claus was created at least in part by the advertising department of Coca-Cola, in truth his appearance, clothing, mannerisms and companions all mark him as the reincarnation of these ancient mushroom-gathering shamans.

One of the side effects of eating amanita mushrooms is that the skin and facial features take on a flushed, ruddy glow. This is why Santa is always shown with glowing red cheeks and nose. Even Santa's jolly "Ho, ho, ho!" is the euphoric laugh of one who has indulged in the magic fungus.

Santa also dresses like a mushroom gatherer. When it was time to go out and harvest the magical mushrooms, the ancient shamans would dress much like Santa, wearing red and white fur-trimmed coats and long black boots.

These peoples lived in dwellings made of birch and reindeer hide, called "yurts." Somewhat similar to a teepee, the yurt's central smokehole is often also used as an entrance. After gathering the mushrooms from under the sacred trees where they appeared, the shamans would fill their sacks and return home. Climbing down the chimney-entrances, they would share out the mushroom's gifts with those within.

The amanita mushroom needs to be dried before being consumed; the drying process reduces the mushroom's toxicity while increasing its potency. The shaman would guide the group in stringing the mushrooms and hanging them around the hearth-fire to dry. This tradition is echoed in the modern stringing of popcorn and other items.

The psychedelic journeys taken under the influence of the amanita were also symbolized by a stick reaching up through the smokehole in the top of the yurt. The smokehole was the portal where the spirit of the shaman exited the physical plane.

Santa's famous magical journey, where his sleigh takes him around the whole planet in a single night, is developed from the "heavenly chariot," used by the gods from whom Santa and other shamanic figures are descended. The chariot of Odin, Thor and even the Egyptian god Osiris is now known as the Big Dipper, which circles around the North Star in a 24-hour period.

In different versions of the ancient story, the chariot was pulled by reindeer or horses. As the animals grow exhausted, their mingled spit and blood falls to the ground, forming the amanita mushrooms.

St Nicholas and Old Nick

Saint Nicholas is a legendary figure who supposedly lived during the fourth Century. His cult spread quickly and Nicholas became the patron saint of many varied groups, including judges, pawnbrokers, criminals, merchants, sailors, bakers, travelers, the poor, and children.

Most religious historians agree that St Nicholas did not actually exist as a real person, and was instead a Christianized version of earlier Pagan gods. Nicholas' legends were mainly created out of stories about the Teutonic god called Hold Nickar, known as Poseidon to the Greeks. This powerful sea god was known to gallop through the sky during the winter solstice, granting boons to his worshippers below.

When the Catholic Church created the character of St Nicholas, they took his name from "Nickar" and gave him Poseidon's title of "the Sailor." There are thousands of churches named in St Nicholas' honor, most of which were converted from temples to Poseidon and Hold Nickar. (As the ancient pagan deities were demonized by the Christian church, Hold Nickar's name also became associated with Satan, known as "Old Nick!")

Local traditions were incorporated into the new Christian holidays to make them more acceptable to the new converts. To these early Christians, Saint Nicholas became a sort of "super-shaman" who was overlaid upon their own shamanic cultural practices. Many images of Saint Nicholas from these early times show him wearing red and white, or standing in front of a red background with white spots, the design of the amanita mushroom.

St Nicholas also adopted some of the qualities of the legendary "Grandmother Befana" from Italy, who filled children's stockings with gifts. Her shrine at Bari, Italy, became a shrine to St Nicholas.

Modern world, ancient traditions

Some psychologists have discussed the "cognitive dissonance" which occurs when children are encouraged to believe in the literal existence of Santa Claus, only to have their parents' lie revealed when they are older. By so deceiving our children we rob them of a richer heritage, for the actual origin of these ancient rituals is rooted deep in our history and our collective unconscious. By better understanding the truths within these popular celebrations, we can better understand the modern world, and our place in it.

Many people in the modern world have rejected Christmas as being too commercial, claiming that this ritual of giving is actually a celebration of materialism and greed. Yet the true spirit of this winter festival lies not in the exchange of plastic toys, but in celebrating a gift from the earth: the fruiting top of a magical mushroom, and the revelatory experiences it can provide.

Instead of perpetuating outdated and confusing holiday myths, it might be more fulfilling to return to the original source of these seasonal celebrations.


Art by Jimmy Bursenos: solsticestudios.net

FURTHER LINKS AND REFERENCES:

- The Hidden Meanings of Christmas, Mushroms and Mankind, by James Arthur
- Santa Claus & the Amanita Muscaria, by Jimmy Bursenos
- Who put the Fly Agaric into Christmas?, Seventh International Mycological Congress, December 1999, Fungus of the Month
- The Real Story of Santa, The Spore Print, Los Angeles Mycological Society, December 1998
- Santa and those Reindeer: The Hallucinogenic Connection, The Physics of Christmas, by Roger Highfield
- Fungi, Fairy Rings and Father Christmas, North West Fungus Group, 1998 Presidential Address, by Dr Sean Edwards
- Fly Agaric, Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for December 1999
- Father Christmas Flies on Toadstools, New Scientist, December 1986
- Psycho-mycological studies of amanita: From ancient sacrament to modern phobia, by Jonathan Ott, Journal of Psychedelic Drugs; 1976
- Santa is a Wildman, LA Times, Jeffrey Vallance

[CoNtRoVeRsIaL]

I Believe In God!

I Agree that Christmas is more a man made thing.Just like Easter, (What does egg's have to do with JESUS ?) ..lol silly stuff.

But all in all, There is 1 God and 1 devil, It's real!

But i respect your opinion and i hope you respect mine.

[ileso]

of course.
if i didnt id probably go to war with you! hehehe

as for the egg, im not absolutely sure what its got to do with jesus, but its a symbol of rebirth and the cycle of life im many other belief systems. and as we all know, in the early days christianity had a habit of adopting traditions that are foreign to itself so that the transitions from those beliefs to christianity ran smoothly... easter eggs, santa, xmas trees, bonfires on certain saints days, etc etc.. lots of them...
along time ago it was either this or steel...
im not really oposed to christianity in itself, theres lots of good there, and even though the church has attempted to establish itself as THE religion over the centuries, this adaptation i just talked about has actually preserved many pagan traditions, . and that is a good thing.

anyway, thats not the reason i posted this, i just thought id give a bit of insight as to the relationship of xmas, santa and the winter solstice. and where this interesting myth originates from...


happy new year.
ileso

[jangel]

Thank you Ileso. This is fascinating stuff. I often think of the bases in pagen rituals many of our traditions are. Things we take for granted and are part of our society.
Weddings, wakes, and funerals to name just a few. Even going into a store, and how the token system and money evolved. It is all based on our history and beginnings in time. Systems that have been proven again and again to work successfully through time. Just like a whale has exactly the same amount of bones, as a hand, this is where form follows function with a society. I can see this has also happened in our day to day life. If it works and always has, then it does not need to change. So many rituals and ways of doing things, if we care to look at it from a different perspective. It gives us comfort in our humanity I think. And attaches us to our ancestors.

Peace

[ileso]

oh yes, even the wedding RING, hehehe

[justplainbill]

HOLY SHIT ileso quit eating those psychedelics, it ain't good for ya in the long term.LOL

OH Xmas story. It snowed and snowed and snowed and I couldn't get outta here for a week. Nobody could get in either. AHHHH it was great.

[ileso]

Originally Posted by wb456

HOLY SHIT ileso quit eating those psychedelics, it ain't good for ya in the long term.LOL

OH Xmas story. It snowed and snowed and snowed and I couldn't get outta here for a week. Nobody could get in either. AHHHH it was great.

heheheh.

believe it or not im a very responsible person when it comes to such things, even in my early teens. hehehe. the old shaman only slides down my chimney once or twice a year... and anyway my intoxicant of choice is green not blue.

i also spent a white xmas... but well with all the weather being what it is it didnt last... : (
but still, nothing like the extreme cold of snow to sit one down infront of a blazing fire for a few days is there... it was a wonderful xmas for me, having dad cook for me, taking my dog for long hikes through the mountains and wet fields of where he lives. that wonderful smell of lichens and moss, of wet leaves and leftover snow and thousand year old oaks.... relaxing, beautiful and absolutely perfect for searching ones soul. no intoxicants needed other than some homemade wine and a stiff dose of the local distilled spirits after a hearty meal...

i hope everyone came back from their holidays in a similar state of mind

peace all
ileso