Cancer Mushroom: Turkey Tail
Welcome to Cancer season.
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.
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)
Main modern use:
Immune system support, gut health, cancer treatment support, blood sugar lowering.
PLANET:
MOON - Governs fluid rise and fall, blood, lymph, lactation, digestion, body cycles and rhythms.
SIGN:
CANCER - Nurturing, soft, unwavering. Cancer is nourishing, deeply receptive, the mothering womb. It governs the stomach, mucous membranes, breasts, lower lung lobes, upper liver lobes and the uterus.
Pairing notes:
Fluid, soft and nourishing. Moon governs fluid. Cancer as a cardinal water sign rules the fluids of the body, the stomach, breasts, nourishment. This shroom can also be paired with Gemini (rules lung lobes), Virgo (rules liver), Scorpio (governs reproductive system).
If you are interested in medicinal mushrooms to deepen your relationship with Taurus this season check out Lion's Mane, Oyster and Split Gill from Feral Fungi. Use code MAGICOFI for 20% off at check-out!
Alchemist, Ethnobotanist, Mycologist & Spagyricist, Jason Scott, shares his wisdom of Shiitake and Taurus below.
Turkey Tail in Cancer
The Beauty of Intuition
Common Name: Turkey Tail, Trametes, Coriolus
Latin Name: Trametes versicolor
Family: Polyporaceae
Tastes: Sweet
Affinities: Immune System, Digestion
Energetics: Cool & Moist
Planetary Rulership: Venus, Moon
Flowing Beauty
Traversing through the woods or along any beaten path, if you pay close attention, you may notice a little flowing fungus dressed in dazzling colors of cream, rust brown, green, and faded periwinkle. Its beauty may be subdued to the uninitiated, but a closer look reveals a fungal powerhouse.
Turkey Tail mushrooms, also referred to as Trametes or its previous Latin nomenclature Coriolus, are prominent white rot fungi that are primary decomposers, meaning that it helps to break down lignin. Growing primarily on hardwoods like Oak, Ash, Walnut, and more, its role in the ecosystem is to take dead and decaying material and converts it to food for the life around it.
This chemical process that helps with decomposition also makes this mushroom a powerhouse of bio-chemical synthetization. Many compounds found in Turkey Tail mushrooms have been routinely studied and utilized in cancer treatments. The story of one of those compounds speaks to the nature of this mushroom.
A man living in the hills in Japan in the middle of the 20th Century was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Unyielding to his diagnosis, this man turned to nature. Outside of his home, he found a simple mushroom growing on the Oaks around his home. Daily he would harvest the mushrooms and make a strong tea.
After routinely consuming Turkey Tail Tea, this man returned to the doctor and found his cancer had been eradicated. It was thought to be a miracle, so naturally, Trametes was dissected for its biological composition. They discovered two prominent protein-bound polysaccharides: Polysaccharidepeptin (PSP) and Polysaccharide-Kureha (PSK), also known as Krestin, named after the pharmaceutical company that isolated it.
PSP and PSK have shown promising anti-cancer results in vivo and in vitro. Krestin, the pharmaceutical from Turkey Tail, is actively used as an adjunct to conventional cancer treatments in Asia. PSK was initially isolated in Japan in the late 1960s and in China in the mid-1980s. Before the pharmaceutical industry realized its capacity, this white rot fungus was used medicinally for thousands of years, notably mentioned in the Shennong Emperor’s Classic of Materia Medica.
Whether this man’s family had a tradition of using Turkey Tail for health or his intuition guided him to this magical mushroom is uncertain. There is a thought in natural medicine, echoed in many traditional cultures, that the medicine you need grows right outside your front door. Either way, his feeling about this humble mushroom led to fantastic discoveries, making it one of the most popular medicinal mushrooms today.
While this fungus is highly regarded for its efficacy in Cancer and Immuno-Therapy, Turkey Tail has been shown to support health in many other ways. Another primary benefit of this mushroom is its effect on digestive health. I use this mushroom topically for skin care and genito-urinary tract support. Trametes versicolor has also been shown to be hepatoprotective, supporting heart health and arrhythmia, supporting the adrenals, regulating healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial.
This mushroom is a beacon of flowing beauty, the way that it grows in beautiful concentric waves that weave into each other and dazzle with subtle yet illustrious color. A white-to-cream underside contrasts the color on top, and when you look closely at a large specimen, what looks like many mushrooms are intricately connected.
Turkey Tail has been one of the most intuitive mushrooms, eliciting fanciful images and visions about its nature, how its spirit moves, and how it works within and without the body, tapping into the intuitive language of plants and fungi. Embodied in an overtly feminine presentation, Turkey Tail is a powerhouse wrapped in its subtle beauty.
The Doctrine of Signatures in Turkey Tail
Trametes versicolor translates to “thin and many-colored,” growing in a shelving fashion from hardwood. Like other polypores, this mushroom is not edible without some form of processing, primarily as a tea or a tincture.
The tincture of this mushroom always starts as a soft pink color that is somewhat counterintuitive to its coloration. As it progresses, it becomes darker brown and almost black when appropriately processed.
Most notable to this mushroom are the concentric rings of color on top of the soft cream-colored pore surface. Colors can vary from patch to patch but always elicit a sense of beauty. The mushrooms flow into each other where what looks like a clump of many mushrooms is generally connected.
The colors painted on this fanciful mushroom illicit the beauty inherent in nature, the dreamlike visions of the wonder that moves through the forests and valleys in the nooks seldom touched by human hands. Beauty and vision in this way are ruled similarly by the Moon and Venus.
For the Moon, we consider the intuitive nature of Turkey Tail, the way they grow, they flow into each other, the intuition of discovery for its use and benefit, and the wisdom that it carries is a medicine of the earth. Through its lunar connection, it holds and it nurtures; it feels deeply the cadence of the planet and those who wander it.
With its connection to Venus, Turkey Tail embodies visceral beauty, wrapped in its colorful dress, and weaves fanciful visions. It is strongly connected to the reproductive system in men and women but is strongly associated with the female reproductive system and breasts. It is one of the premier natural treatments for breast cancer.
Turkey Tail also has a strong affinity for the skin and for imparting beauty and lushness, which can be attributed to both Venus and the Moon. Turkey Tail urges self-care and nourishment, an appreciation of the finer things in life. It nurtures all beings, but primarily the feminine, the mother.
Guiding Cancer
The Zodiac of Cancer is represented by the Crab, which traverses between the sea and the shore, living in two worlds. This means Cancer's ability to live in both emotional and material realms. Yet when one feels deeply, one can become lost or overwhelmed by that feeling.
Cancer is deeply intuitive and sensitive to the subtle energies present as they move through their lives. If those sensitivities and how to navigate them are thoughtfully explored, they can become manageable and beneficial.
Turkey Tail can be a guiding force for the Cancer, helping them tap into their innate intuitive nature and illuminating the beauty in the material surrounding them. Turkey Tail can generate the need Cancer feels for nourishment and self-care.
The moon lords over intuition, and when Cancer is not in tune with its intuition, it is out of alignment with what is happening. Out of balance, overwhelmed feelings override reality.
Cancer can reconcile and understand the influx of energy through Turkey Tail and the influence of the Moon and interpret it intelligently and thoughtfully. Trametes can help to be that guiding light to a Cancer overcome by feeling and lost to their emotion.
Trametes versicolor exudes an intuitive beauty that can be a guiding force for the Cancer that has become lost or overwhelmed by the world around them. It can remind them who they are and, through planetary influences, align the Cancer with their highest self.
Other Gemini-Supporting Fungi
Lion’s Mane, Oyster, Split Gill.
If you are interested in medicinal mushrooms to deepen your relationship with Taurus this season check out Lion's Mane, Oyster and Split Gill from Feral Fungi. Use code MAGICOFI for 20% off at check-out!
Resources:
1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/krestin
2. Fisher M, Yang LX. Anticancer effects and mechanisms of polysaccharide-K (PSK): implications of cancer immunotherapy. Anticancer Res. 2002 May-Jun;22(3):1737-54. PMID: 12168863.
3. Habtemariam, S (25 May 2020). "Trametes versicolor (Synn. Coriolus versicolor). Polysaccharides in cancer therapy: targets and efficacy". Biomedicines. 8 (5): 135. doi:10.3390/biomedicines8050135. ISSN 2227-9059. PMC 7277906. PMID 32466253.
4. S., Pointing (1 October 2001). ." Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 57 (1–2): 20–33. doi:10.1007/s002530100745. ISSN 0175-7598. PMID 11693920. S2CID 33607687.
