THE PSILOCYBE MUSHROOM FAQ VERSION 1.1 Last update: 27.11.1994 By nipo@brahman.nullnet.fi (most of the writing) & gnosis@brahman.nullnet.fi (layout, additions) Thanks to ppennane@cc.helsinki.fi (for the Tryptamine FAQ) & our fellow innerspace astronauts .oOo. Notes .oOo. This FAQ is far from complete, and we ask those with information to add or fix to contact us. All comments and thoughts welcome. Schizophrenic alternation between "I" and "we" is due to the file being written by two people, not permanent brain damage from mushrooms. =) This file is purposely not in the usual question-answer, clearly-divided subsections, everything-referenced, no-cute-ASCII-pics format usually used for FAQs. Instead, it's more relaxed and loose, which in our opinion makes for a much better read. Enjoy! .oOo. Index .oOo. Disclaimer * Foreword * Viewpoint * History * Etymology * Chemistry * Psychology * Botany * Mushroom Guide * Picking Mushrooms * Drying Mushrooms * * Consumption * Preparation For The Voyage * During The Voyage * Warning * Miscellaneous Questions * Further Reading * Endnotes .oOo. Disclaimer .oOo. For info only. I hope someday humanity reaches the point where there are no restrictions, laws or censorship. Just read the foreword and get an attitude & altitude. .oOo. Foreword .oOo. FOREWORD: THINK! ><><>>><><>><><<<><><<<>>><<>><<>>><<<>><<<><<>>><<<> What is it? viewpoint the Ps(i)kedelia^^enTHEOgens(genia) vokal.BO.lary/nx |BODY| [greek]-PSYCHE-DELEIN *humphry OSMOND 1956 (soul) (show) in his letter to Aldous Huxley "To fathom hell or soar angelic, Just take a pinch of psychedelic." ion ____IN tokzikat(-/+) EBRIATION ....... psychotomimetik ... psycholytik -__--IN- . peak experience alteredstate EN THE O GEN "gOd within" ekstasis (theos) pharma "be_koming" psyk (gen) physi => {god is love} biol soci theworld /\/\/ conciousness OLOKI[greekLOGOS:knowledge] physio.GNOMY of (SIKe:DELIA) crispvague im/possibility spaceufouniverse 2.birth Iindividualme eyeopening visionsinsights otherworldly heaven&hell planetmotherearth beyondwords DRUGS?ENTHEOGENS?PSIKEDELIX?SUBSTANCES? LSD Psilocin harmaline what MDMA Mescaline ibogaine ever CANNABIS Psilocybin DMT ... entheogens.psychedelics.hallucinogens@non.addictive.non.harmful "...a psychedelic drug is one which, without causing physical addiction, craving, major physiological disturbances, delirium, disorientation, or amnesia, more or less reliably produces thought, mood, and perceptual changes otherwise rarely experienced exept in dreams, contemplarive and religious exaltation, flashes of vivid involuntary memory, and acute psychoses." PsychedelicDrugsReconsidered Lester Grinspoon James B Bakalar ? n o[t]i t a n n i c . u l l a . h ! . h a l l u c i n a t i o n . sPIRITUAL Philo.sophic rETINA apertures "...ie. the product of "the phleghms of thought perceptual processes." IN THE BRAIN . colors magnified feelings of strange feelings . strange feelings . wavy motion of objects strange thoughts : visions/insights : 2-D visuals : objects differ absence of normal thought ; color/switches ; 3-D objects mutate | Perceptions not connected absence of reality | to the ,real, world *invisiblelandscapetheothersidedirectaxessunconsciousgodspacelifedeathuf [Gnosis sez: That's probably the best representation of the psilocybin experience put into words, or lack thereof, I've seen yet... If it fails to make sense, read it again until it does. Which may take a while.] .oOo. History .oOo. Hallucinogenic mushrooms have probably been in existence exactly as long as humanity. Ancient pictures of mushroom-headed humanoids have been found in caves in the Sahara. Siberian shamans use[d] fly agarics to enlighten the path to the spiritworld. In Central and Southern America use of psilocybian mushrooms (and other hallucinogens) was common until the arrival of Spaniards who spread the Catholic faith with sword and fire and forbade the use. Spanish priest Bernardino de Sahagun (ca. 1500 AD) on the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms by the Aztecs: "The first thing to be eaten at the feast were small black mushrooms that they called nanacatl and bring on drunkenness, hallucinations and even lechery; they ate these before the dawn...with honey; and when they began to feel the effects, they began to dance, some sang and others wept... ... When the drunkenness of the mushrooms had passed, they spoke with one another of the visions they had seen." On use of alcohol: "If a youth appeared intoxicated in public... he was punished by being beaten to death with stick or garrotte before all other youths assembled there...to serve as an example." Only old people were allowed to drink the alcoholic beverage pulque. Sahagun has an error in his writings, the mushrooms were not ingested with food: "It is an ancient custom for people to eat mushrooms and these they ate in a trice, as is said. They had had no food exept some cacao drunk the night before. They ate these mushrooms with honey." The Aztecs (1400-1521) took other hallucinogenic drugs such as tlapatl, mixitl grain and peyotl or peyote, use of which originated from the north of Mexico, where it had been in use since 300 B.C. "Mushroom stones" in which figures under the cap of a mushroom are depicted have been found even from an earlier era (1000-500 B.C.) The purpose of these sculptures is not certain, but these stones may have been religious objects. The Codex Vienna Mixtec manuscript (ca 13th-15th century) depicts the ritual use of the teonanacatl by the Mixtec gods. The god known as 7 Flower (his name presented in the pictoral language as seven circles and a flower) was the Mixtec god for hallucinatory plants, especially the divine mushroom, and is depicted with a pair of mushrooms in his hand. The Aztec also had their god for the entheogens, Xochipilli, Prince of Flowers. He was the divine patron of "the flowery dream" as the Aztecs called the ritual hallucinatory trance. Mushrooms ingested by the indians were supposedly Psilocybe mexicana or caerulescens and Panaolus sphinctrinus. Stropharia cubensis, which is currently quite popular as it is easy to locate and cultivate, was not introduced to America until the arrival of the Europeans and their cattle. Today indians regard Stropharia cubensis inferior to Ps. mexicana for it grows in dung. In the beginning of twentieth century interest in psychoactive mushrooms stirred. The teonanacatl was first identified as Lophophora williamsii or peyote, and it was thought that Sahagun had mistaken the cactus for mushrooms. Finally ethnobotanist Richard Evan Schultes and physician Plasius Paul Reko traveled for the mushrooms to Oaxaca, and collected specimens of Panaeolus sphinctrinus. They found out that mushroom ceremonies - veladas - were still being held in the area. A decade after World War II, after long search the mycophile-family of R. Gordon Wasson came to little Village of Huatla de Jimenez, and Wasson and his friend Allan Richardson attended a velada held by curandera Maria Sabina. Information about the mushrooms soon spread. psilocybin and psilocin were found and their analogues were synthesized. Experimentation with the mushrooms and the synthesized substances began and magic mushrooms were soon part of the 60's 'psychedelic' movement, ie. every second middle class kid was opening the doors of perception and [ab]using hallucinogenic drugs. .oOo. Etymology .oOo. _ _ _ / et'e-mol'e-je / 1. the origin and history of words The name of the genus "Psilocybe" comes from the Greek words "psilos" (bare) and "kube" (head), warped into New Latin to form "psilocybe". Literally translated, this means "bald head", which I suppose comes from their appearance. A rather inaccurate comparison if you ask me, most bald people don't have big pointy nipples on top of cone-shaped heads, even if they're from Remulok, but I digress... The best known hallucinogens in Psilocybe mushrooms are the chemicals psilocybin and psilocin, which are discussed at length in the next part. There remains a minor controversy about the spelling of their names. Psilocybin and psilocin are both alkaloids (nitrogen-containing substances found in nature), and an effort in the 70's aimed to convert all alkaloid names so that they end in -ine, like cocaine, caffeine, morphine, etc. The names should thus be "psilocybine" and "psilocine"; yet "psilocybine" is used very rarely even in modern authorative works, and I have never seen "psilocine" in print. If anybody has some idea about the current situation and the Korrekt(tm) spelling, please inform me. .oOo. Chemistry .oOo. The primary active ingredients of Psilocybe mushrooms are (surprise!) psilocybin and psilocin, and to a lesser extent baeocystin and norbaeocystin. The ratio of psilocybin to psilocin varies but it's roughly 1:1. The primary difference is that psilocin is unstable and it breaks down when the mushroom is dried, while psilocybin lasts much longer. Here's the structural diagram for psilocybin: O OH \\ / PSILOCYBIN P / \ 4-OPO -DMT O O(-) 3 | (+) //\ _____CH CH NH(CH ) 4-PHOSPHORYLOXY-N, N-DIMETHYLTRYPTAMINE | || || 2 2 3 2 \\/ \N/ In the body, the phosphorus part is chopped off ("dephosphorylated") by the enzyme alkaline phosphatase, turning it into our other friend: OH PSILOCIN | //\ _____CH CH N(CH ) 4-OH-DMT | || || 2 2 3 2 \\/ \N/ 4-HYDROXY-N, N-DIMETHYLTRYPTAMINE Psilocybin and psilocin are part of the tryptamine family (indole C8H7N & ethylamine side chain). They bear close resemblance to the neurotransmitter serotonin. How these substances work is, I have come to believe, still quite obscure. Primary effect seems to be the inhibition of neurotransmitter serotonin, action similar to that of LSD-25. These substances also present some cross-tolerance. And as good psychedelic should, psilocybin, psilocin and psilocybian mushrooms have low toxicity - in tests with mice, doses up to 200 mg of psilocybin/kg of body (in average human terms (65 kg) 13 grams) have been injected intravenously without lethal effects. The ED50:LD50 ratio is 641 according to the NIOSH Registry of Toxic Effects; compare this with 9637 for vitamin A, 4816 for LSD, 199 for aspirin and 21 for nicotine. Poisoning, at least physically, is thus not a problem. [Any contributions to this chapter also welcome] .oOo Psychology .oOo. "Nature's Perfect Hallucinogen(TM)" Psilocybin is juuust fine. I've tried several psychoactive drugs, including hash, LSD-25 and psilocybin. Hash usually doesn't do much - sends me into a half sleep with silly thoughts and spacey soundscape added to music... LSD doesn't do it to me either. It's probably OK if you are after low dose recreation - partying and such... High doses - too blunt, like a mental power tool. It cracks up open your head; Starring You and Your Brain for 12 hours. Every perception magnified thousandfold - it's.. it's a bit too intense. __!INTENSE!__ is the keyword. It doesn't accept any apologies or mistakes.. too harsh. I often felt like I had been immersed in some chemical, into a substance so pure and efficient it has no place in nature. Too pure. 12 hours of LSD-25 acid-bath makes you really tired... physically and mentally. But psilocybin, mm-mm, it's juuuuust fiiiine. Voyage to the spiritworld... visions and travels, awesome mental hallucinations. It's a direct ISDN-link to the mother earth, forgiving, gentle substance. You hear the chanting of the planet and the spirit of the mushroom. It's a product of the nature, untied to the actions of men and women roaming this planet. Your body disconnected from the circuit, you may often forget it exists. Six hours - not too short, not too long. Perfect. It should be noted that like all 'major' hallucinogens, psilocybin can precipitate psychotic episodes and uncover or aggravate previous mental illness. If you're stressed out or depressed, don't take mushrooms; if you have schizophrenia or something, _DO NOT_ take mushrooms. .oOo. Botany .oOo. .-'~~~-. .'o oOOOo`. "I am ... a mushroom :~~~-.oOo o`. On whom the dew of heaven drops now and then." `. \ ~-. oOOo. - John Ford `.; / ~. OO: .' ;-- `.o.' ,' ; ~~--'~ ; ; [ASCII stolen from Mescalito Ted] _\\;_\\//_ Psilocybe mushrooms are: == basidiomycotina or -mycetes - Fungi that produce spores on stalks outside the terminal cells. == agaricales - mushrooms with cap & gills; Commonly used species: == Panaeolus sphinctrinus, subbalteatus (benanosis) == Psilocybe baeocystis, caerulescens, cyanescens, mexicana, pelliculosa, semilanceata, stuntzii == Stropharia (Psilocybe) cubensis Uncommonly used species [mostly stolen from the Tryptamine FAQ]: == Agrocybe farinacea == Conocybe cyanopus, kuehneriana (*), siligineoides (?), smithii == Copelandia anomala, bispora, cambodginiensis, cyanescens, tropicalis == Galerina steglichii == Gymnopilus aeruginosus, liquiritiae, luteus, purpuratus, spectabilis, validipes, viridans == Inocybe aeruginascens, coelestium, corydalna, haemacta, tricolor == Lepiota peele == Panaeolina foenisecii (%) == Panaeolus antillarum, ater, campanulatus, firmicola, olivacens, papilionaceus, retirugis, separatus == Pluteus atricapillus (%), nigroviridis, salicinus == Psathyrella candollenana == All Psilocybe mushrooms (?) Contains unidentified tryptamines (probably psilocin/psilocybin) (*) Contains only psilocin (%) Contains only psilocybin Inclusion on this list does not mean the psilocin/psilocybin content is sufficient for psychotropic activity in practical amounts. .oOo. Finding Mushrooms .oOo. I: FORMAT OF INFO (A)WHERE does it grow? region - habitat / WHEN does it grow? time of the year (B)WHAT does it look like? - CAP..diameter..color..appearance - STEM..diameter..length..color..appearance - GILLS..form..color/color of spores - SPORES..color..size..appearance - OTHER - DOSAGE..low..medium..high (And high means *HIGH* here. Experienced users only!) II: DEVOTION To search for mushroom until it is found - or until the end of time. Finding them may take quite a while... III: MUSHROOMS .oO Note A printout of this part of the text should provide an adequate check-list for mushrooms in the field, but a good mushroom book with color pictures of the mushrooms, preferably at all 4 stages of growth, is invaluable. The set of GIFs at hemp.uwec.edu may be used as a crude substitute, but a book is easier to carry around... =) Also consult the file/book "Field Guide to the Psilocybin Mushroom" for more detailed descriptions of Ps. caerulescens, Ps. cubensis and Pa. subbalteatus; our descriptions are condensed from theirs. .oO Psilocybe caerulescens (A) Found throughout the southern United States, from California to Louisiana and South Carolina to Florida. Evidently unknown elsewhere. (?) Grows on the banks of rivers and streams. (B) CAP: 2-7 cm .. deep green to black, fades with age .. cone-shaped when young, expands to convex-to-flat (never bowl-shaped), smooth and sticky, no nipple, margin of the cap will be lighter or darker than the center STEM: up to 1 cm .. 3-9 cm ... very even, hollow, smooth, tough, covered with thick fibrous hairs GILLS: closely spaced .. light-brown to dark-brown/black as it ages SPORES: ? .. ? .. ? DOSAGE: ? .. ? .. ? NOTE: this is third-hand info, corrections welcome .oO Psilocybe cubensis (aka Stropharia cubensis) (A) Found throughout the southern United States, from California to Louisiana and South Carolina to Florida. Evidently unknown elsewhere. (?) Grows on manure or manure-fertilized soil, especially cow manure. (B) CAP: 1-8 cm .. pure white to light brown, translucent when wet .. starts out conical, gradually inverts to convex, then to flat, then finally to bowl-shaped, has a gold center-spot, covered by a sticky protective film STEM: up to 1 cm .. 4-14 cm .. paler than cap .. hollow and tough GILLS: closely-spaced, initially connected to stem but may separate .. light brown to deep purple/black SPORES: dark brown .. ? .. ? DOSAGE: 2-4 .. 6-10 .. 20-40 NOTE: this is third-hand info, corrections welcome .oO Psilocybe semilanceata ("Liberty Cap") (A) Found in northern temperate zone throughout the world. Grows inland up to a thousand miles (1500 km) from the ocean. Northwestern U.S, Scandinavia, the British Isles and western Europe. Fruits in grasses and cowfields, parks and roadsides in the fall. (B) CAP: 5-10 mm .. brown drying to yellowish brown .. sharply conical, small "nipple" on top, never expanding, with incurved, striated margin, sticky when wet STEM: 2 to 3 mm .. 6-10 cm .. slightly paler than cap .. wavy and tough GILLS: slanting upwards to almost vertical .. purplish brown (white edge) SPORES: brown .. 11-15 * 7-9 microm. .. ellipsoid, with germ pore DOSAGE: 10-20 .. 40-50 .. 60-90 .oO Other Psilocybe species I haven't got much of knowledge concerning other mushrooms in the Psilocybe/ Stropharia genus, so I won't attempt to write descriptions of other mushrooms. Any informational contributions warmly welcome. .oO Panaeolus subbalteatus (aka Panaeolus benanosis) (A) Widespread, temperate zone - on grasses, lawns, pastures, roadsides, prefers fertilized or manured soil. Grows in spring and fall. (B) CAP: 2-4 cm .. dark brown, drying paler from the center .. broadly curved, expanding when mature STEM: 3-5 mm .. 5-10 cm .. paler than cap .. cylindric, hollow GILLS: narrowly attached to stem, mottled, crowded .. dark brown SPORES: dark brown .. 11-14*7-9*6-8 microm. .. lens shaped, with germ-pore DOSAGE: ? .. ? .. ? OTHER: often forms tufts of 2-4 fruitbodies. .oOo. Growing Mushrooms .oOo. This is about the only aspect of mushrooms that _has_ been thoroughly covered in text files, so we advise you to consult them. Here are few of the better known and more complete files: The Psilocybin Producer's Guide Psilly Simon's Mushroom Growin' Guide II How To Grow Psychedelic Mushrooms All available at a local friendly FTP site such as hyperreal.com. And of course a bit of research at your local library won't hurt one bit. While we're at it, here are the addresses of some known Psilocybe spore suppliers (legal everywhere except California since they contain no psilocybin). Some of these are probably fly-by-night companies that may already have disappeared, so be careful. All addresses are in the USA. The DoorWay Sells lots of books and a shroom kit. P.O. Box 12553 Send $1 for catalog. Ogden, UT 84412-2553 (E-Mail: MELBARBARI@cc.weber.edu) ** FMRC Florida Mycology Research Center, has had ** P.O. Box 8104 some problems with the law, reportedly ** Pensacola, FL 32505 sells only to mycologists now. FS Book Company Does not sell spores, but sells a "Mushroom P.O. Box 417457 Resource Catalog" for $15. Sacramento, CA 95841-7457 (Phone: +1-916-771-4203) Lux Natura No spores, but McKenna stuff and a new, P.O. Box 2196 extended version of "Psilocybin: Magic Berkeley, CA 94704 Mushroom Grower's Guide." Free catalog. Nevada Mycology Send $1 & SASE for information about their P.O. Box 1531 "Complete Mushroom Growing Kit". Reno, NV 89504 (E-Mail: Roland@connectus.com) ** Psylocybe Fanaticus Send $2 & SASE for ad (electronic version ** 1202 E. Pike St. #783 on hyperreal.com). Spores come in syringes ** Seattle, WA 98122 making them considerably easier to use. The Shroom King Ps. cubensis print and a book for $25, above P.O. Box 17444 above plus compost and agar for $35. Seattle, WA 98107 (Phone: +1-206-784-9328) SYZYGY $15 + $1 (S&H) for a Ps. Cubensis print P.O. Box 619 on a slide. Honaunau, HI 96726 Asterisks on the side means the company has been around for a while and is known to be reasonably reliable. Updates to the list are welcome, of course. .oOo. Picking Mushrooms .oOo. ## Before you leave for the site, remember a few things; clothing, container and energy. So respectively: -- Take clothing that keeps you warm and dry. Fever is not a funny thing during your experience. If your clothing is inadequate, a day out picking mushrooms can be a real pain. -- Take a container that breathes, preferably two to four different containers. And one set for each picker. Take lots of containers with you, especially if you are unsure or have not found the species - it is easy to put each sort into each container. A basket with a few paper cups or tins is just fine. Paper and cloth bags will do fine, but be wary of crushing the mushrooms during transport. -- Energy. Mushroom hunting can be really tiresome at times. Take your happiness and food rations with you - you'll probably need both. ## Once you have located the site keep it clean. If it is a cowfield, don't leave any gates open or either the owner of the field or the bull of the herd will get you. Try to just do your thing and then get out of there. Don't scream and shout. I wouldn't recommend telling about a site to anyone - it instantaneously creates an "anonymous mmp-site" - and suddenly everyone is there, sooner or later including the cops too. ## OK, run around the field... do you find any mushrooms? If none found, you are not looking hard enough. No matter where you go in the fall, there's some sort of mushroom there. You'd be surprised at how well the things can hide themselves. Found - what is it? Whether you identify it or not, put each species into different container - if in doubt - different container or throw it away. There are always two phases in identifying - when picking and when cleaning (or should be). Always check carefully - saves you lot of trouble. .oOo. Drying Mushrooms .oOo. >>> Fresh Mushrooms are best when fresh, both tasting better and working better. The freshness affects experiences a lot. The "divinity factor" is enhanced. >>> Drying Drying mushrooms is easy. There are many ways to do it: * The drawer. Put the mushrooms into a drawer on few sheets of paper. Wait 24 hours. Works well on smaller mushrooms such as Ps. semilanceata. If you have silica gel or something similar (captures humidity) I'd recommend using it. * The oven. Put the mushrooms into an oven (with the fan on if there is one) with the heat set to 35 C (90 F?). Wait 2 to 6 hours. Higher temperatures, even 40 C, destroy psilocybin and psilocin. * The mushroom dryer. Just follow the instructions. Also easy to build. * The freeze dryer. A psilophile's dream come true, the gadget that stops the time on your mushrooms. Read the instructions. Once the mushrooms are dry, place them into *airtight* containers and protect from light. Some psilophiles grind the mushrooms, if you do so, weight the outcome. It is very hard to tell how much of a dose is there if the mushrooms are dried and ground. Some mix the dried and chopped or ground mushrooms with honey. Be sure to use a brand that hardens once cooled. Place in refrigerator. Note that mushrooms containing only psilocybin keep their psychoactivity much longer than those containing psilocybin and psilocin or only the latter. Evidently the psilocin breaks up easily and needs refrigeration to be preserved. I have never had to preserve mushrooms over a year so I wouldn't know exactly, but if stored properly the mushrooms stay psychoactive for *at least* a year. Especially with strong, large mushrooms like Ps. cubensis, grinding is the only way of calibrating doses. With for example Ps. semilanceata, statistics ensure that the sum of 40 mushrooms from a batch will be more or less the same no matter which 40 you pick, but if you're eating only two Ps. cubensis caps things are different. Thus, dry, grind, mix and weigh the resulting powder. After a carefully weighed initial dose (which you'll have to guess, aim low), it's easy to measure out smaller or larger doses in the future. .oOo. Consumption .oOo. Once ready for a trip after a yearlong meditation in the wilderness, one is confronted with a problem - how to get that dry and unpleasant tasting stuff down? o Honey & spices & water & mushrooms This one is a bit sweet but does a good job of covering the taste. Take a half glass of warm or cold water, three or more spoonfuls of honey, and according to taste, spices such as nutmeg, ginger and others. Grind the mushrooms with spices into fine powder, mix everything carefully and gulp down. o Mushroom cacao Get some cacao beans/powder for this one. Warm some _water_ to 40-60 C. Let the mushrooms steep in this water for about five minutes, fish 'em out and add cacao powder and mix well. Or you can grind mushrooms into fine powder. Sweeten with honey, and drink. Another variation is hot chocolate - melt some chocolate in water instead of cacao. o Mushroom tea Drown some dried mushrooms in warm/hot water, wait five minutes, and drink. o Pizzas Just add fresh or dried mushrooms on top. Note that eating a lot adds to physical interference. o Chew & grind For this one, toss mushrooms into your mouth, chew well and swallow. The most efficient and simple method of mushroom ingestion. Dried mushrooms taste quite a bit more unpleasant than fresh ones. I have heard about people making mushroom wine or mushroom chili. There are lots of foods you can put mushrooms into, but I'd recommend indulging in culinary pleasures after the trip. As you may have noted, except for the cheese on the pizza, none the recipes contain any milk or milk products. This is because several files and/or books have stated that calcium and/or fermented milk products interfere with psilocybin. Mind you, this is far from sure, if anybody can dig up a reference for (or against) this we'd appreciate it. But scientific proofs aside, the Aztec tradition of not eating much before tripping is probably grounded in knowledge of possible adverse consequences, so don't eat too much, just enough to get the shrooms down. .oOo. Preparation For The Voyage .oOo. There is a lot one can do to ensure a enjoyable voyage. People often talk about the "set and setting", squaking the three words like bunch of parrots and hardly giving much thought into their meaning. It's probably all the same whether you've ingested super-pure & fresh LSD-25 or nail-polishing fluid if the set and the setting aren't in condition. - Packing: Get into packing a couple of days before the voyage. Load your gear (brain) with everything you think will be useful. Personally I like documents about nature as they are easy to pack (video or TV). Books are fine but bit slower to load. Walking in nature, quiet and peaceful, and meditating ensures I get enough mental energy and happiness along. Try to break the normal circles of work, and if you are stressed, take few more days away from everything before leaving on the expedition. Go easy on your diet. Some fast for the previous week, others don't pay any attention to what and how much they eat. I eat normally until the day before, after which I eat mostly vegetables and fruits. - Place: Clean it up. Get some fresh air into it. Tell all your friends/relatives not to visit, and disconnect the doorbell and take the phone off the wall. Make everything as comfortable as possible. Fresh flowers will blow your mind with their beautiful looks and odors. A stroboscope is also worth a try, especially at 20 to 30 Hz. Also - don't try red lights (during the trip your vision will often be warped towards red already, which is unsettling enough). Lights are probably best low or off (and of white color). Music is also very important, especially in urban surroundings, in creating a proper ambience. For a mushroom-voyage, I'd recommend something calm and slow. Preferably with no or low percussion. Some favorites: Artist Album Type Brian Eno Ambient Peter Gabriel Passion ? The Orb Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld Ambient dub (available on video as "Patterns & Textures") The Orb U.F.Orb Ambient dub In general, ambient and/or minimalist music is the way to go. Classical music can also be a totally new world. Something soothing and _normal_ also recommended (if things get too weird). Keep the volume down low, other you may find that it "gets in the way", especially if you're not already very familiar with the music. - Flight: Loose clothing and something to put on/take off; you'll be lying down most of the time, so pick something you could sleep in. Something to drink - see if your drinks include caffeine or other chemicals. Water is always the best. Some light snacks to eat during the trip, and something to fill your stomach after the trip (I've never met anyone who wouldn't be hungry after a trip). [Gnosis sez: Well, I'm not, but I seem to be a rare exception...] Drawing during take-off can be fun, also psychedelic videos. Anyway, for a real "trip" I say: after the takeoff, turn the lights off, turn the volume to the edge of subliminal, and relax & tune into the vibe of the Earth. .oOo. During The Voyage .oOo. Once you are in the air it is relatively easy to forget that you can alter the course of trip. Visuals and thoughts come and go, and everything follows some strangely familiar yet divine and unknown path. So one is left gawking at all this jaw open, as if watching TV. But changing pathways is easy - provided you don't forget it is possible =) Always decide and ponder what you want to see and where you want to go before the experience. A shamanic voyage to the underworld is a snack, as is seeing the future. Usually every tripper forms his own way, follows his own paths, be it for good or evil. _Anything_is_possible_! And remember the immortal words of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: _____ _ _ . . ___ __ . . . . _ ___ _____ / \ | \ / \ |\ | / | | | /| |\ | | / \ \ / / \ | | | | | )( )| \| | |--' /-| | \| | ( V | | | | | \___/ | | / \_/ | | | | / | | | | \_/ o | \___/ | \_____/ ******************* ******************** *** \_____/ >>> A general topological examination of the scenery <<< Minutes after ingestion: 0 Ignition Usually the first effects of psiloc[ybin/in] are perceivable after ten or twenty minutes. Funny or strange things may pop into your mind. One may feel very relaxed or like jumping all over the place. Next you may feel like you were blasting off, up towards the stars, rising high. Chewing the mushrooms for about ten minutes in your mouth enables the psilocybin and its analogues to enter the brain faster - if the mushrooms are immediately swallowed, it may take as long as 1 hour for the first effects to set in. 20 Acceleration If you get any physical symptoms, this is when they will hit. You can avoid or at least reduce nausea by not eating very much before the trip and not moving around too much during this phase. Throwing up is uncommon but not unheard of; having a barf bag around, especially on the first few trips, is a good idea. If you find that your body *really* doesn't like shrooms, a motion sickness pill (Dramamine and similar anti-histamines) beforehand may help. But don't worry about it too much, even if you feel queasy the nausea will end quite quickly. 40 Leaving the atmosphere One will begin entering the realms of the experience; often the first real signs are simple hallucinations with the eyes closed or in darkness. If one is going to go to the toilet, it should be done now. 70 Flight 1 hour is usually sufficient for the more powerful effects to set in. The body will feel heavy and drowsy. 130 Peak After two hours the peak of the experience. Often quite awesome. 300 Deceleration By now one will again start to remember the concepts of normal reality and may feel like getting something to drink and eat, or talk and do some moving about. 360 Touchdown After about six hours most of the effects have disappeared and sleeping becomes possible. 12h Reality If you trip at night and fall asleep when the trip is ending, this is when you'll wake up... and the odds are you'll feel GRRRRRREAT! 7d Jet lag Afterglow of the experience will persist anywhere from few days to several weeks; what you've learned may change your life. Occasionally this learning will be negative and you'll be depressed for a while as you assimilate the fact that you've been wrong about something for all your life, but the depression is never extreme and you will be a much better person afterwards. >>> Notes on physical interference <<< In addition to the possible nausea in the beginning, which invariably wears off by the time the hallucinations start, the mushrooms can cause physical or psychosomatic interference. You will feel odd, weird and maybe scary physical sensations like liquid skin or distorted body-proportions. You may feel that you have trouble breathing; you may feel that you've just pissed or shit in your pants; you may feel that you're sinking into the ground or into yourself. If you really start worrying about this, you may start to feel like there are worms crawling inside your stomach, that the roof is about to collapse on you, that the sheet you are lying under is trying to eat you... Don't panic! This is normal, and nothing has really happened or is really happening, it's just your mind exaggerating and creating things. Learn to distract your thoughts on other tangents at moments like this. A simple exercise you can try to practice thought diversion, no drugs needed: Lie on your bed in complete darkness, listening to suitable evil/freaky music with headphones. Skinny Puppy and ambient industrial are the classic choices. Meditate or just relax for a while. Then, think about something you have a phobia about: snakes, spiders, skeletons, rats, tornados, earthquakes, even mushrooms. Everybody has something they're irrationally afraid of. Staring at a picture of such a thing beforehand may help. At any rate, you will, in all likelihood, feel yourself to be tipping over and falling uncontrollably. Imagine that you're falling into a bottomless pit filled with the nasty thing. Visualize it. Now attempt to wrench your thoughts to something else. If you can take half an hour of this without ripping off the headphones, you're in good shape. .oOo. Warning .oOo. The Eraserhead Syndrome: The mushrooms can be fun. One may feel like eating them every day. A - not cool, B - not good. A mental/physical tolerance builds up quite fast: usually three or four times with 7 day intervals cause diminished effect and notably less divine trip. I'd recommend visiting the spiritworld 4 to 10 times a year, for the freshness and divinity of it. Most of us know an acid- or pot-head - a drug abuser. I call acid/ mushroomheads Eraserheads (seen the movie?), as they are often bit paranoid and manic-depressive and dullheaded. It's easy to get bad vibes off the psilos - just do the mushrooms like you'd do alcohol - without respect or any care. So - remember what the foreword says, and use the consciousness of turbocharged-monkeybrain we all have. And if you only want to get your brain fucked up there are better substances for that in the world. Bad trip? What... hey waitaminute, I know - it's that oriental food with rice and peaches and raw tuna innards - No??? Everyone gets anxious or bad feelings during their dives to the seas of collective unconciousness. It's normal, but the magnitude of baddies can be decreased by paying attention to "set and setting." A friend or guide can distract the attention of an tripper to a wholly different direction. A change of room, place, music or lights often helps. Possible bodily discomfort can be eliminated by learning relaxational techniques and breathing exercises. Keeping your body in good condition is not only good for your trip, but also for your life. Generally, it's good to try to trip for living, not to live for tripping. .oOo. Miscellaneous Questions .oOo. Q: Can black market 'shrooms be laced with LSD? A: Yes, very possibly, if the local market price for mushrooms is higher than that of LSD (as it usually is). If the mushroom looks nothing like any of the common psychoactive species, or you are told that one or two small ones are enough to trip hard, odds are it's laced. Note that at least one dealer, fooled by the urban legend of LSD needing strychnine for binding on the paper, laced his LSD-shrooms with strychnine as well! (PharmChem 1972, vol 1, #7) Thus, either get your shrooms fresh from the fields (cheaper as well) or know what they look like and what the dosage is before buying. Q: Are mushrooms illegal? A: In the US, yes, entirely, excluding possible weird state regulations. Elsewhere, it depends. Often, possession of fresh mushrooms is not (since it's impossible to prove they were not picked by accident). In England, possession of -naturally- dried mushrooms is also not a crime ("Officer, I left them on the windowsill by accident, honest!"). But preparation or possession of mushroom products (dried mushroom powder, shroom pizza, etc), cultivation of psilocybe mushrooms and sale of psilocybe mushrooms is illegal just about everywhere. Q: Are mushroom spores illegal? A: No, unless you're in California. They contain no psilocybin. Q: Is mushroom hunting illegal? A: Depends. On public property, no, but you're not likely to run into cows in national parks either. =) Some countries like Finland have the legal concept of "everyman's right" which allows, among other things, picking mushrooms on private property, except on fields which once again makes things tricky. But unless you live in a notorious shroom zone - some areas of Florida and South Wales come to mind - the odds of getting hassled by farmers, much less getting caught by the police, are practically zero. Q: What about Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric)? A: A. muscaria, the classic red toadstool with white warts on top, does not contain psilocybin, but a series of muscarinic deleriants. It's also poisonous (not very, but deaths are known) and in general rather nasty. Avoid. Q: What happens if I combine 'shrooms and other drugs? A: Alcohol: Variable, usually takes the edge off since it helps you relax. Note that if you're drunk before you eat the shrooms, the mental effects of your drunkenness will disappear as the trip starts. Cannabis: Nearly always the experience is intensified/lengthened, but a few people claim it actually ends the trip. Smoking is handy during the last few hours to extend the experience. MDMA/MDA: Experience is -highly- intensified, similar to LSD & MDMA ("candyflipping"). Nicotine: Smoking feels good. Nitrous: Experience is intensified. Psychedelics: Cross-tolerance usually present, not much point in taking other psychedelics at the same time. Other: Unknown. .oOo. Further Reading .oOo. I will not attempt a complete bibliography on the subject, but more of a 'further reading'-sort of list. Carlos Castaneda, Philip K. Dick, Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna, Andrew Weil and Robert Anton Wilson all make fine reading. Peter Stafford's "Psychedelic Encyclopedia" is a classic, as is "Plants of the Gods" by Richard Schultes and Albert Hoffmann. Umberto Eco has always been very good when talking about the mind, almost as good as Herman Hesse. And for some attitude - read Byron. .oOo. Endnotes .oOo. (K) Kopyleft Brahman Industries 1994. All rites reversed. Please note that 'Nature's Perfect Hallucinogen' is a trademark of Mother Nature incorporated.