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You have been taking a walk in the woods. For some of you, it feels like you have been running through them on a beaten path or, for others, struggling to get through the thicket. Legs burning from the stress. Scratches on your skin from branches. Ripped clothes. You thought it would never end. Finally, you reach a clearing with silky grass and consistent warm sunlight falls on your face. Exhausted, you also might just fall on your face. You drop to your knees and thank the gods that you have a moment of rest, even though all of the forest encircles you still. The eye of the storm, perhaps? Even though that old stump with brilliantly red colored mushrooms sprouting from it is in the dead center of this space... you had nearly missed it.

There is fungi that only feast on the deceased. Which, without them, we would have a large lack of decomposition. Branches, leaves, dead animals, etc. on our forest floors would just continue to pile up. The decomposition of wood is done primarily by this type of fungus. Saprotrophic fungus consumes so many materials the list would go on for forever, so best say “dead stuff,” eh? The mushrooms are telling you that right now things may seem bleak---perhaps you lost your job, had a falling out with a loved one, or maybe someone dear to you has had passed on in this life… whatever be ailing you, the mushrooms insist that just like them you too can grow from this dark situation. You too can produce something wonderful. Reishi mushrooms are known for their amazing medicinal properties and they only grow from nonliving wood. You too can heal others with what you’ve learned from your despair. You too can turn a negative situation into your fuel to create something new, and wonderful.

You approach an abandoned church that has seen better days. Trees seem to be threatening to cave the roof in. Broken, yet beautiful still, stained glass windows. Slowly but surely, it seems mother earth is reclaiming this once holy place. You can’t help but wonder what is left on the inside. You manage to open the termite-eaten doors and are greeted with a foul smell and a horrifying, yet spectacular, sight.

Clathrus ruber, otherwise known as The Latticed Stinkhorn, red cage, devil’s eggs, or, according to my dad, white soccer ball mushroom. This mushroom does not look like your typical toadstool in the slightest. It’s equally fascinating as it is nasty. When young, it looks like a white ball with octagonal shapes on it. As it matures, the white skin cracks and a red cage emerges. It grows vertical, and splits to look like octopus tentacles when close to its end of life. By the way, when it emerges to mature status, it releases a putrid odor that quite literally smells like rotting flesh or poop. This nasty smell attracts insects and other living creatures that love dead stuff! This allows the spores to attach themselves onto the organisms to be brushed off and grow in new areas.

What ever could the mushrooms be telling you here? For some of you, the mushrooms have noticed you are bottling up your emotions. So badly so that when you finally do release them you explode--and it’s not a pretty sight. Enraged at people that didn’t, or did, deserve it. In some cases, yelling for the sake of yelling. You might think your emotions or occurrences in your life are under control--or you’re just telling yourself that… when they really are not. You’re one match away from exploding like a bomb. Assess what you have been avoiding before they blow up in your face… and make everything stinky.

In another light, perhaps the mushrooms are telling you that you have finally emerged! You have grown and made a breakthrough, or just about to. Epiphanies. Change for the better, or the worse. Some people might think this “new you” is awful. Are they right? Or, do they just not like seeing the real you? Not everybody likes it when people confidently, and uniquely, are themselves. Don’t let them force you into being a cute button mushroom forever. Emerge… and chase them away if you need!

The fairies dance. Oh gosh, do they dance! You hide behind the shrubbery and have had to rub your eyes a few times to believe that your eyes are not deceiving you. At least, you think they are fairies? It’s unclear what you’re looking at, these waves of whitish light in a circle, but you surely feel the joy that comes from dancing bubbling up inside of you. You can’t help it but unconsciously shift on your feet beneath you and hear a twig SNAP! You look away and look back to find that the fairies are gone and a ring of whitish mushrooms only remains.

Fairy rings are said to be a gateway or portal to the Other World. Some of the mushrooms that produce the rings are edible while others are toxic. Rightfully so, the lore surrounding these circles is rich with good and bad tales, depending on who you ask. Today, the mushrooms are asking you to wonder like a child. Allow yourself to be carefree and curious simultaneously. Open your mind to other possibilities. Allow creativity to flow in from unexpected sources. Perhaps for a time consider the Unseen--fairies, goblins, spirits of all kinds. Has your house elf been cleaning? Did the fae hide your car keys? Has another god or goddess sparked curiosity in your heart to worship or learn their mythologies? Contemplate all that the unseen in life has offered you through folktales, religion, and stories. The mushrooms, or fairies, have created the portal--it’s up to you if you’ll step into it.

The air is thick with humidity on this summer’s night. You could cut that humidity with a knife, just like the darkness that is threatening to engulf you. You hold your flashlight as steady as you can, and readjust your backpack straps on your shoulders, causing things to quietly clank around in it, but gosh, does it sound so loud against the night’s silence. Unsure where your destination is, but you keep following this beaten path you found. The moon is nowhere to be in sight, and you rely solely on your poorly lit flashlight to navigate this darkness…

Bioluminescent mushrooms are a beautifully eerie natural phenomenon. Foxfire is the name “bioluminescence” that was used to describe things (in this case, mushrooms) that glow in the dark. It’s also been called “fairy fire” or even “chimpanzee fire.” The oldest record that has been found from humans trying to scientifically document foxfire was from Aristotle. He wrote that the light, unlike fire, was cold to the touch. To this day, understanding why some fungus glows has been uncertain. It was only until around the year 2015 that researchers found out that “luciferins” are what causes the glow. There are some studies that seem to explain why they glow--to attract insects to help the mushrooms have their spores spread, but there’s some who argue that that’s not a good enough reason. Even with all of the advancements we have made as the human species we are still finding things that we don’t understand, no matter how simple or small it may be, there is always something to discover. The mushrooms may be trying to tell you… well, they may be not telling you anything at all. Some things may be better left unknown at this time. Or maybe, they are telling you that you don’t know enough of the story about what you’re inquiring for--there may be secrets hidden from you--good or bad.