The Mushroom Erotic Calendar was created on the initiative of Csilla Hódi, who invited 3 artists to cooperate with, Dotty Rich, Stark Attila and me - Maria Subczyńska :)
Each of the artists approached the subject in their own way, interpreting the connection between the themes of eroticism and mushrooms.
The result was an erotic, bizarre journey through images and months patronized by various species of mushrooms. It is an experimental calendar because it is divided not into months but periods of fruiting of given mushroom species.
The subject is both catchy and bizarre, the combination of eroticism with mushrooms on the one hand is something surprising, on the other hand the phallic shape of many fruiting bodies can be a bridge
to a Chamber of Erotic Imaginations.
"We may now recognize it in the biblical phrase Yahweh Sabaoth, from SIPA-UD, penis of the storm •19 The Sumerian storm-god, Iskur, has a name with much the same meaning, “mighty penis”" Sacred Mushroom and the Cross John Allegro
In "Sacred Mushroom and a Cross "John Allegro writes about the Thunderstorm Penis. Mushrooms have often been associated with the cult of fertility, and in many legends we encounter the themes of thunderstorms, thunderbolts, spores, and fruiting bodies.
The Egyptian myth about psychoactive mushrooms says that they were created by Set - the god of storms, who throws lightning with spore into the Earth.
This myth is close to the theory that the first life on Earth was fungi, made of large molecules from the oceans that were struck by lightning. We can find similar legends in the Greeks, Roman, Indians and Scythians myths.
Here is link to the book "Sacred Mushroom and the Cross":
"The mushroom has always been a thing of mystery. The ancients were puzzled by its manner of growth without seed, the speed with which it made its appearance after rain, and its as rapid disappearance. Born from a volva or “egg” it appears like a small penis, raising itself like the human organ sexually aroused (..) Every aspect of the mushroom’s existence was fraught with sexual allusions, and in its phallic form the ancients saw a replica of the fertility god himself. It was the “son of God”, its drug was a purer form of the god’s own spermatozoa than that discoverable in any other form of living matter. " Sacred Mushroom and the Cross John Allegro
It's also hard not to notice the ecosexual thread in the mushroom calendar design, the spirit of the movement for ecological awareness and environmental protection.
The calendar heroes - mushrooms have many properties that support the development of human consciousness and improve its health. We also have aphrodisiacs (chaga) among them.
Here You can find the list of the mushrooms species and periods that are dedicated to them in the calendar:
Chaga 11 march - 24 april
Morchella steppicola 25 april - 16 may
Amanita Muscaria - 16 may - 12 june
Ramaria formosa 13 june - 3 july
Astraeus hygrometricus 4 july - 24 July
Puffball - 25 july - 14 august
Clathrus archeri 15 august - 28 august
Boletus 29 august - 18 september
Cortinarius 19 september - 23 october
Geoglossum - 24 october - 6 november
Psylocibe semilanceata 7 november - 21 november
"The penis- mushroom was thus in mythological terms, the “key” of the earth, the way to the underworld, the “Peter”, as it were, against which the gates of Hades would not prevail (Matti6:i8f.; Rev 1:18)." Sacred Mushroom and the Cross John Allegro
I feel so grateful that I could take part in this interesting project. At this point I want to thank Csilla Hodi for inviting me.
I invite you to order the calendar, I have a few copies and I will gladly put them in the right hands :)