It is found in a wide variety of plant and psychoactive toad species and, like its close relatives DMT and bufotenin (5-HO-DMT), it has been used as an entheogen by South American shamans for thousands of years.
The book The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist deals with possible occurrences of entheogens in general, and Amanita muscaria in particular, in Greek and biblical mythology and later on in Renaissance painting, most notably in the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald.
It has a long continuing tradition of use as an entheogen by indigenous Mazatec shamans, who use it to facilitate visionary states of consciousness during spiritual healing sessions.
In ancient Greece, mint was used in funerary rites, together with rosemary and myrtle, and not simply to offset the smell of decay; mint was an element in the fermented barley drink called the kykeon that was an essential preparatory entheogen for participants in the Eleusinian mysteries, which offered hope in the afterlife for initiates.
Operated as a partnership between author Jonathan Ott, botanist Rob Montgomery, businessman Ken Symington, and author Terence McKenna, the series brought together some of the most noted experts in entheogenic research, including Dr. Alexander and Ann Shulgin, Bret Blosser, Dr. Deborah Mash, Manuel and Donna Torres, Giorgio Samorini, Christian Rätsch, Dr. Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Dale Pendell, and others.