The word chthaeus was created by Peter to encompass the dual nature of fungi, as he perceives them. Taking the prefix of chthonic (belonging to the underground) and the suffix of archaeus (the highest state of matter that is just shy of etheric, as believed by alchemists of old), our name reflects the notion that though fungi are of the physical realm, they also offer timeless perspectives on the world's most inspiring and unresolvable mysteries.

In both our name and publications we seek to raise up the fungi – to bring the under above – to not only shed new perspectives on the fungi themselves, but on the ways humans engage with these unique organisms and Earth as a whole.