Father Christmas on acid.

I bet everyone has got some cards with good old Father Christmas in his red and white costume flying through the sky on his sleigh pulled by reindeers delivering presents for everyone. I’ve got a few.

I know I’ve been good this year. I’m expecting a big stack of goodies to come my way.

Santa Claus (Father Christmas) comes from the Scandinavian shamanistic tradition. The shaman would use hallucinogens to travel into the spirit world to gather insight, knowledge and portents. Their favourite hallucinogen (they had a few) was the magic mushroom Amanita muscaria (not to be confused with the deadly Amanita phaloides). This was the traditional toadstool of fairy tales with its bright red cap with white splodges. The shaman would partake of the psychoactive mushroom and go on his trip, travelling through space and time and return with gifts for the tribe.

The red and white suit of Santa’s represents the Amanita mushroom. The shaman flies through the sky with his reindeer to bring you gifts.

I hope you all have a jolly psychedelic Christmas!!