Amanita 16: Botticelli
...en de korenbloemen...
Jacques-Louis David, Amor, Sappho and Phaon
George Orwell, who wrote: “The past was changeable. The past had never been changed. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia,” reminds us of the dangers of simplifying the past and reducing it to a mere reflection of our own time. It is a reminder that to truly understand and appreciate the ancient world, we must be willing to embrace its complexities and nuances, and see it for what it truly was: a world of wonder and beauty, populated by creatures and people unlike any we know today.
So let me make a rather strange time jump here to the 12th century, almost 1700 years later. There, one of the greatest painters mankind has ever known, Botticelli, gathered all his knowledge of antiquity and depicted it in one of his most famous works: The Birth of Aphrodite.
According to myth, when the god Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus, drops of his blood fell into the sea and mixed with the foam to create the goddess Aphrodite. The goddess was then bathed in ambrosia and anointed with oil, which gave her beauty and eternal youth.
I have read quite a lot of scholarship on this painting, but the explanations for why the cloak is red and full of stars or dots all seem rather flimsy. For example, one art critic, Edgar Ward, sees it as “nature itself” trying to cover up divine beauty. Others see it as a symbol of royalty, forgetting that it was the kings who later dressed according to the legends, not the other way round.
No, the red cloak with the stars on it is, of course, the Amanita Muscaria, poured on Venus by a figure emerging from the myrtle trees. She was bathed in foam, the legend clearly states. That strongly suggests a drink. Drink, meet Aphrodite. Aphrodite, meet drink.
As we read in the previous chapter, power-hungry dominant males were not very happy with the idea of things rising from the sea with scarlet covers attached to them. The sea, always a symbol of food and love, quickly became a refuge for monsters and chaos.
But look at the painting: someone is reaching out from the forest to the sea to give Aphrodite her red blanket. It is Horae, the goddess of time, after whom we name our hours—Horae emerging from a myrtle forest. The myrtle tree is known to have a symbiotic relationship with certain species of fungi, including some mushrooms. An example of a fungus that forms a symbiotic relationship with myrtle trees
he edible Boletus edulis, also known as the porcini mushroom, forms symbiotic relationships with the roots of myrtle trees in certain Mediterranean regions.
The Pixie’s Parasol
There is a species of mushroom known as Mycena interrupta, or “Pixie’s Parasol”, which grows on and around fallen trees in Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, the Wikipedia article on this mushroom does not mention its edibility, and a quick Google search proves equally unhelpful.
Looking at the mushroom, you’ll immediately notice the abundant blue colouring that covers most of its body, the specific shade of blue being almost identical to the familiar “blue blood” found in other psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
While most Mycena mushrooms are not psychoactive, Mycena cyanorrhyza does contain psilocybin, and has a very similar appearance and colouration to the Pixie’s Parasol.
Why am I even mentioning this mushroom? Because the trees that Mycena interrupta mycorrhizes with are myrrh trees — the same trees depicted in the painting we’ve been discussing.
So we have a Birth of Aphrodite that, taken as a whole, could be a symbol of an aphrodisiac, just as Ambrosia is said to be. And we have a painting that depicts all three major teachers: Amanita, LSD, and psilocybin.
The name anemone comes from the Greek anemos, meaning wind. You could also call it a wind flower. Its petals move with the slightest breeze. The anemone represents devotion, care, and commitment.
Cornflowers – there are blue flowers on Zephyr’s dress in The Birth of Venus, in addition to the red and white anemones. These blue flowers are typically identified as cornflowers, also known as bachelor buttons. Cornflowers are a small, delicate flower native to Europe and have been cultivated for centuries for their bright blue petals, which were often used as a natural dye for textiles.
In Renaissance art, cornflowers were associated with the virtues of love, fidelity and humility, and were often depicted in images of the Virgin Mary and other religious figures. In The Birth of Venus, the inclusion of cornflowers on Zephyr’s dress serves to reinforce the themes of love and devotion that are central to the painting, and to create a sense of harmony and balance between the different elements of the composition.