Welcome to Aries season and the Astrological New Year.

As we journey with each mushroom, think about the qualities and healing effects they have and how can we integrate them more into our lives. Whether that be through ritual, ingestion or just learning and building more awareness about their incredible capabilities and role they play in our world.

When we time the embodiment of each mushroom with the energies of the sky, this alchemizes a deeper connection and understanding of the earth and our physical vessels.

Mushrooms are nature's alchemists and we get to dive deep into our next fungi below. Also, refer to the Astrological Planner as your navigational tool throughout 2023 where you will find an intro to each and fungi archetype for each zodiac season.

Red Belted Conk (Fomitopsis Pinicola)

Red Belted Conk is a true alchemist turning decay into its own cell walls. It is a perennial polypore that grows in coniferous forests. A red band develops on mature conks which is where its name is inherited.

It is immunomodulatory, anti-tumoral, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-histamine, emetic in high doses, fibrinolytic/thrombolytic and a circulatory stimulant. 

It can regulate blood sugar, support absorption and elimination, reduce menstrual cramping and headaches, reduce digestive inflammation and improve immune function. It moves fire as a purgative and is being considered as blood clot prevention and treatment.

Traditionally it was used to relieve headaches, stop bleeding, as a laxative and emetic. It also served as a nervine relaxant, mild pain relief, treatment for bladder diseases, cancer, hemorrhoids and rheumatism. It is a natural preservative, and was also used as a fire starter. 

Main modern use:

Headaches, inflammation, laxative, anti-microbial, styptic.

PLANET:

MARS - Governs metabolism, adrenals, muscles, inflammation, elimination, sexual function, arousal.

SIGN: 

ARIES - Energy, movement, action, and initiation are all true Aries' traits. It rules the head, skull, brain, upper jaw, eyes, optic nerves, and the muscular system of the face. It is fiery, impulsive, and fast acting. 

Pairing notes:

Blood and fire. Mars governs the blood, inflammations and elimination. Aries as a cardinal fire sign rules the head and brain. This shroom can also be paired with Leo (governs heart/cardiovascular system), Sagittarius (rules arterial circulation/arteries), Aquarius (governs circulation).

If you are interested in medicinal mushrooms to deepen your relationship with Aquarius this season check out Wild Cordyceps and Chaga from Feral Fungi. Use code MAGICOFI for 20% off at check-out!

Alchemist, Ethnobotanist, Mycologist & Spagyricist, Jason Scott, shares his wisdom of Red Belted Conk and Aries below.

Red Belted Conk in Aries

The Spark in the Forest

Common Name: Red Belted Conk/Polypore
Latin Name: Fomitopsis pinicola 
Family: Fomitopsidaceae
Tastes: Bitter & Pungent
Affinities: Muscle, Blood, Digestive
Energetics: Hot and Dry
Planetary Rulership: Mars, Saturn

A Spark of Inspiration

Wherever you wander into the woods, you may stumble across the common bracket fungus, Red Belted Conk – Fomitopsis pinicola. * Its habitat stretches far and wide; for how ubiquitous this mushroom is, it is often overlooked for the voracity of its medicinal potential.

Red Belted Conk (RBC) is a perennial fungus that grows primarily on fallen and decaying conifers, shedding spores in late summer and autumn. Left to their own, these mushrooms can live for many years. I’ve found many specimens that are larger than my head. With how readily available this mushroom is, it was one of the first that I considered and started experimenting with in my journey with medicinal mushrooms.

Red Belted Conks are alchemists in the forest, transmuting decaying matter into its primordial form so that it can be reused in rich forest ecosystems. As prominent as they are, they lend themselves to easy exploration for their medicinal application and extraction experimentation.

Traditionally slices of the fleshy new growth were used as a styptic for wounds and chewed for headaches, digestion, and inflammation. The taste of RBC is complex: bitter and pungent, Bitter generally being aligned with cooling action and pungent with warming, riding an exciting line between two opposites.

This mushroom has been revered as highly antioxidant and one of the best anti-inflammatory mushrooms I have found. It works phenomenally with digestive inflammation but is just as effective in supporting general inflammation. The potent, resinous extract suggests anti-viral and anti-bacterial potential, while the polysaccharide content will also support the immune system.

When I first explored mushrooms through the spagyric method, I put them through rigorous experiments and played with different techniques, menstruums, labware, and application. RBC was one of the first that I put through these tests, and it ultimately led to how I process mushrooms today and how we extract for Feral Fungi.

As part of the spagyric process, one attempts to yield the Sulfur of the mushroom. The Sulfur is not elemental Sulfur but a principle synonymous with the Soul represented by essential oils in the plant realm, for aromatic plants rich in volatile oils are obtained by steam distillation. So I applied this same method to RBC.

While, as with most mushrooms, it didn’t yield any significant essential oil, it produced a compelling hydrosol. Hydrosol is a strong-smelling water rich in subtle volatiles, which indicates that volatiles are driven off in a standard boiling process. I think of the beautiful smell of herbs when making tea or the earthy smell of mushrooms that fills the room. The distillation process allowed me to capture these volatiles. This led to further experimentation with closed-loop extraction systems to capture the whole essence of the mushroom.

Next, I attempted a dual extract. The mushroom yielded a dark alcohol extract and equally dark water extract, each nearly black. There is a way with mushroom extracts to reduce the number of polysaccharides precipitating out of the solution. Alcohol causes the sugars from the mushrooms to crash out of water extracts in a solid form. By adding alcohol extraction to the water extraction, it reduces the amount of polysaccharide precipitation that you get.

When I added the alcohol extract to the water extract of RBC, the near-black solution turned a cream color. It looked like a creamy latte. I thought that I must have messed up my order of operations. I took a separate jar and added the water to the alcohol—the same thing. I tried different ratios, different temperatures, and different volumes. They all yielded the same results.

By the end of the experiment, I was left with a “tincture” that was mostly solid. I soon discovered that the alcohol was extracting a complex of oleo-resins that RBC had metabolized from the host tree (in that case, Hemlocks (Tsuga heterophylla). I would later realize that all of the Fomitopsis spp. Mushrooms do something similar.

Amid these experiments, I explored the doctrine of signatures and correspondences in mushrooms. The thick precipitate settled out and looked like the dirt pictured on the surface of mars. The pungent nature of the mushroom and its use as a styptic also allude to martial qualities.

Mars being the ruler of Aries, the spark and first node in the zodiacal cycle, exemplifies itself in my work with Red Belted Conk and how it has informed how to work with and approach fungi.

The Doctrine of Signatures in Red Belted Conk

Red Belted Conk is a bracket fungus that grows prolifically in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, from the forest floor on fallen trees, climbing up to the top of the canopy. The mushroom grows like a shelf out of the tree, often dark in color, nearly black with a reddish hue and a bright red band right before the white fleshy growth edge.

Red is the signature color of Mars and Aries. This red coloration makes this mushroom unmistakable. Wounds and blood also carry strong correspondence to Aries, being very martial in nature, and RBC is a traditional remedy for healing wounds as a styptic.

The head is ruled by Aries, where RBC has traditionally been chewed for headaches. Inflammation is associated with Mars, and I have found RBC to be one of the best remedies for supporting the inflammation response in the body.

Red Belted Conk has an exciting duality, and just as much as it supports Mars, it has many Saturnic qualities. Bitter and cooling often correspond with Saturn, exactly with styptic as it is cooling and contracting. Saturn and Mars are known as the two malefic, meaning they cause the most disease from a medical astrology perspective.

This underrecognized mushroom is a powerhouse in many spaces and carries many potentials yet to be discovered. Among the potential is how it helps with chronic digestive issues that other mushrooms and herbs have difficulty addressing. I hear amazing stories about RBC relieving chronic digestive conditions that have been unyielding.

RBC is one of the first mushrooms that grabs your awareness when you enter the forest, in the same way, that Aries is the entry point of the western zodiac. They stand prominently as guardians and gatekeepers to the forest and fungal wisdom.

Igniting Aries

My good friend, Tyler Penor from The School of Living Astrology, eloquently describes how each element is expressed in each sign. The fire sign of Aries is the spark, the ignition, the initiation. Aries marks the beginning of the zodiac.

At the end of every cycle, there is darkness. Death. Decay. In the beginning, there is the spark of life, and Red Belted Conk transmutes death into life, literally and figuratively. It helps to break down dead and decaying material in the forest so it can be fodder for other organisms to thrive.

It is only fitting that Red Belted Conk sparked much of my exploration of fungi through the alchemical framework. Signs like that are not taken lightly in consideration of one's life path and meaning.

In the same way that RBC sparked a large piece of my journey, it is the igniting force; it is the tinder that the action of Aries is sparked through. Like some of its relatives, this mushroom is a harbinger of fire and can be used to start a fire.

In that way, Red Belted Conk ignites areas. It is fuel – again, quite literally and figuratively – for movement out into the world. At the same time, it is the remedy for ailments caused by irreverent movement, natural trauma, and inflammation.

Like many other renowned bracket fungi, RBC carries an heir of wisdom and knowledge that informs the journey's beginning. As the trees have witnessed and accumulated the wisdom of life through their growth, they transmit it to the fungi, and the fungi can share it with those willing to listen.

Red Belted Conk stands between death and new life, bringing life to the spark of Aries at the beginning of the zodiac.

Other Aries-Supporting Fungi

Chaga, Wild Cordyceps, Indian Paint Conk

*What has commonly been thought to be Fomitopsis pinicola in the Pacific Northwest has been reclassified as Fomitopsis mounceae. It is thought that pinicola is a European species, and the mushroom found in North America is different enough to require another species. This article will primarily refer to the traditional pinicola name for clarity.

If you are interested in medicinal mushrooms to deepen your relationship with Aquarius this season check out Wild Cordyceps and Chaga from Feral Fungi. Use code MAGICOFI for 20% off at check-out!