Your First Magic Mushroom Trip A Step-by-Step Traveler’s Guid Page 1 e By David Hobby This rst-timer’s guide is based on rst-hand experiences and the observed experiences of the people I have introduced to mushrooms. It’s designed to give you a roadmap, answer questions you may have, and ensure that you have the best possible initial experience with psilocybin. Pictured on cover: dried psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, Golden Teacher varian t fi fi Page 2 What You Will Need • A comfortable setting where you can rest undisturbed for 4-6 hour • Dehydrated psilocybe cubensis mushrooms (pre-ground in capsules, or dried whole mushrooms • A scale that will accurately measure tenths of a gra • Lemon juice to cover — maybe a 1/4 cup. It doesn’t need to be freshly squeezed • Fruit juice (or something similarly light) to get the initial taste out of your mout • Comfy clothes — sweats, cotton pajamas something similar. Your sensory perceptions will be heightened • Blanket and pillows (comfy, familiar • Headphones, freshly charged if cordless, as you’ll be using them for several hours. • Smartphone, charged, and/or with an external battery pack if your phone battery is old • Eye shades of you have them, a hand towel if not, to block out room light • Light snacks (I like fruit, cheese, crackers, etc.) This will be your as-you-go dinner after you come up. m . ) ) . . ) h s Page 3 • Plenty of uids. You’ll need to hydrate throughout the process, as the mushrooms are a diuretic. Gatorade, or some similar electrolyte-replacement drink, will work better than water to minimize any next day dehydration • Ideally, you’ll want the next day after your trip to be either free or light-duty. First, you may yet be dehydrated, which for some people can cause headaches. But it also is helpful to have a day set aside to intellectually and emotionally absorb your experience. (More on that in a minute. Safety and Dosage Psilocybin is non-addictive. If you try to take it too often, it simply doesn’t work. In terms of toxicity, psilocybin is safer than many widely used substances. Alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, and even aspirin can kill you in smaller multiples of a typical dose. Caffeine, for example, takes only 100X the typical 95mg-dose of a cup of coffee to kill you. Whereas a fatal dose of psilocybin would be about 1000X that of what you’ll be taking A low-end moderate dose of magic mushrooms is about 1.75-2.0g per 140 lbs of bodyweight. This assumes a homogenized batch of ground-up, dried psilocybe cubensis “Golden Teachers.” Dosage is related to bodyweight, but not directly proportional. For those between 140 and 200 lbs, 2.0g is an appropriate rst-time dose. For those under 140 lbs, 1.5-2.0g. And for those over 200 lbs, 2.0-2.5g. These dosages refer to the entire body of fully dehydrated mushrooms. The amount of actual psilocybin and psilocin (a metabolite of psilocybin) present in this variety and amount of mushrooms will be about 18-24 milligrams . . . ) fi fl Page 4 Setting It is important to have a safe and comfortable physical setting that is also free from any potential outside interruption. There are two schools of thought for your rst mushroom trip. It can be indoors, and concentrate on internal exploration. Or it can be outdoors, with a focus on connecting with the natural outside world. My suggestion is choose the indoor/internal route for your rst trip: safe, comfy, and with easy access to a bathroom for convenient bio breaks. Because you’ll probably need to pee several times over the course of your trip. Being in nature is a nice experience to leave for a later trip, should you decide to do so. Nature adds another layer, where the focus is more on dissolving the separation between you and the rest of the universe. Indoors vs outdoors are two very different experiences. And where a natural setting is often considered to be an additive factor for a mushroom trip, it also means you would be dealing with two variables at once on your rst trip Ideally, an experienced “sitter” is recommended for your rst experience. That person is there to make sure you always feel completely safe, and to help guide you through your experience fi fi . fi Page 5 . fi While you certainly don’t want to overshoot your desired dose, you also want to consume enough to ensure you get a meaningful experience. Don’t Do What I Did My rst trip was in 2014. It was a very pleasant, if a bit confusing, day. I was outdoors, had no sitter, and took too low a dose. I went with a friend, a fellow rst-timer. We had mushroominfused caramels, each of which in theory contained about 1.75g of ground, dried mushrooms But in practice, psilocybin mushrooms start losing their potency at an accelerated rate once they are ground up and exposed to oxygen. This is because of the greatly increased surface area to volume due to the grinding. So our dose, containing mushrooms which had been ground weeks before, was likely effectively somewhere around a 0.5g-1g equivalent We were outdoors, tripping (very mildly) together, and without a sitter. We were basically sitting in the grass, experiencing borderline effects and sensing incredible possibilities that for the most part seemed just outside of our grasp It wasn’t a bad experience. It just wasn’t a signi cant experience. It was like, “What was that? Was that what we were supposed to feel? I de nitely felt… something? We were stumbling around the edges of a real experience, as novices, outdoors, in public, with no guide And to be clear: it was still great! But in retrospect, we would have gotten a much fuller and far more rewarding experience had we gone indoors, with a sitter, and with a more appropriate dose. It would have been safer, less confusing, and there would have been no doubt as to the signi cance of our experience ” fi . . . fi fi . . fi fi Page 6 At this point, after 15 trips’ worth of experience, my advice for beginners is to have your initial trip indoors, with a sitter, to not be too timid (or reckless) when choosing a dose, and to be well-prepared before you go Advance Prep In the days prior to your rst trip, try to keep an open and positive mindset toward your upcoming experience. Most regular travelers nd that it is bene cial to be kind to your body during this period. Eat clean; focus on healthy, whole foods as opposed to highly processed/junk foods. In general, you’re simply taking some time to consciously practice self-care. You’ll nd this is a theme with mushrooms. In fact, I have come to think of the mushrooms themselves as a particularly powerful and effective form self-care For that reason, there is no need to be anxious. You are working your way towards what can be thought of as a spa day for your soul. Consciously practicing a few days’ worth of self-care will pay dividends on your trip The day of your trip, assuming an afternoon/evening departure, eat a good lunch. Try to nish by 1:00pm or so. This will leave time for your stomach to digest the food, which will help you later to get a quicker and more predictable intake of psilocybin into your system. Enjoy a relaxing and uncluttered afternoon. Take a long walk, in nature if you can. Let your mind drift. Be open . . . fi fi . fi fi fi Page 7 Preparing Your Mushrooms At about 3:30-4:00pm, place your weight-measured amount of ground, completely dried mushrooms into a glass. (If I am sitting for you, I’ll be happy to do all of the prep as well. If you are using whole dried mushrooms, grind them nely in a coffee or spice grinder. If you don’t have a grinder, use a mortar and pestle. I use the coffee grinder container (or the bowl of the mortar and pestle) as my glass, so as not to waste any of the ground mushrooms. If you are using pre-ground, pre-measured capsules, open the capsules and empty the contents into your glass. Because we’re going to “pre-treat” the ground mushrooms with lemon juice, as you’ll see in a moment. Use a toothpick or similar object to ensure the capsule halves are completely empty Cover your ground mushrooms with lemon juice, using about 1/4 cup, stirring the (frankly, gross) slurry occasionally. The acidic quality of the lemon juice (pH= ~2.0) mirrors the acidity of your stomach. Notice the rather unpleasant smell. This stuff is not going to taste good. But there’s a helpful trick to it, as you’ll see in a moment Over the next 25 mins, this soaking-and-occasional-stirring process will “pre-digest” the mushrooms, which have cell walls that are made of chitin. Our stomachs very much prefer cellulose cell walls, and don’t do very well digesting raw chitin. And it is the chitin, not psilocybin, that is the culprit behind the nausea some people feel after ingesting mushrooms. The lemon juice really helps. It will minimize, if not eliminate, any feelings of nausea on the come-up. ) fi . . Page 8 I’ve never felt any nausea when using this method. Some people feel a twinge, but nothing really signi cant. Ingesting the Mushrooms After the dried mushroom powder has soaked in the lemon juice for 25-30 mins, the slurry is ready. You’re going to down the juice and mushroom pulp together in one quick chug. The powdered mushrooms taste like compost. And to that, the lemon juice adds a shot of sour acidity. It does not taste good Tip: suck on an ice cube for a minute or so beforehand. Then hold your nose (or just don’t breathe through it) as you chug the mixture down. The ice will dull your taste buds, and not breathing through your nose will eliminate the smell-based component of your sense of taste. As a result, you’ll taste almost nothing Right after you chug it, pour some light/tasty liquid (maybe get started on that Gatorade) into the same cup to capture any tiny remaining bits of mushroom as well to get the earthy mushroom taste out of your mouth At this point, you’ll probably experience a momentary feeling of “OMG, WTF DID I JUST DO?” No worries. You’re safe. This level of dosage is not going to blast you off to the moon. As you’ll soon see, you’ll still be driving the bus. It’s just that you’ll have one hell of an interesting copilot fi . . . . Page 9 And We’re Off You’ll have about 15 minutes or so before you’ll feel any noticeable rst effects at all. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb. And choose the DND setting that does not notify you even when you are listening to music. If your music is all downloaded onto your phone, you can simply choose Airplane mode. But if you are streaming anything, that won’t be an option Take a moment to double check that you are free from any potential disturbances or distractions. When I am home alone, I even put a note on the front door that says please do not knock or ring the doorbell Take a few minutes to gather your snacks, drinks, phone, headphones, pillow, etc. and get settled into the couch or bed, which will be your nest for the evening. Everything you can do to make yourself more comfortable – temperature, pajamas, favorite blanket, pillows, whatever — will be all the more appreciated later You should begin to feel the rst effects after 15-20 mins. It’ll feel a little tingly; a body high, sort of like a quick hit of caffeine. That’s your signal to settle into the couch. Your trip is beginning From this point, you’ll have about an hour for your gentle “come-up” process. You’ll want to be lying down on the couch or bed, eyes closed, with something shading your eyes if there is light in the room. The gentle gradient of transitioning from a normal consciousness to an expanded consciousness is fragile, and delicate. And it requires your cooperation. Just rest quietly . fi . . fi . Page 10 and drift. Don’t look around, don’t check in with how you’re feeling, don’t even think about anything. To help to avoid distractions, I suggest some gentle music that is not dominated by vocals to facilitate a good come-up. Nature sounds are good. Even better, I think, are the “psychedelic waves” genre of music. In the past, my go-to come-up music has been a 57-minute track on YouTube that is entitled: “Calming 8D Music with Psychedelic Visuals || Watch on LSD. Don’t worry about the video component (or the LSD reference). We’re just in it for the sounds If you listen to it now, ie., while not under the in uence, it will sound very saccharin and schmaltzy. But when experienced along with the mushrooms, it will help to guide you to the place you will want to be (Note: I have since found a very effective, designed-formushrooms 5-hour soundscape that we’ll talk about in detail in the music second, in a moment. Now, just relax, quiet your mind and meditate into the soundtrack. You: “But I don’t really know how to meditate. 🍄 : “WE GOT YOU, BRO Once the come-up process has begun, it’s like any barriers to your effectively meditating just seem to vanish. This afternoon, you are an expert-level meditator. It’s pretty cool. And again, to help ease any worries: psilocybin, especially at low-to-moderate dosages, requires your permission and consent to effectively do its magic. It’s not a full “mushroom fl ” . ) ” . ” Page 11 takeover” of your mind. You are collaborating with the mushrooms, and they are here to guide you. Which is to say, your contribution absolutely matters. If both of those thoughts sound crazy now, they won’t afterwards To help make this happen, concentrate on not concentrating. Focus on not being focused. The more you let go, the more rewarding your experience will be. Be a leaf oating downstream on a river of calming music For instance, just 30 mins (i.e., half-way) into her come-up, S[F,56] opened her eyes ad announced, “I know I’m not supposed to disturb myself or whatever. But I know where all of the art came from. Oh my gosh! That’s great, [S]. Recognize the thought. Let it wash over you. Then move on. Don’t express it. And don’t open your eyes Over the next hour, at your weight-adjusted moderate dose, you will gently transition from your normal state of mind into a state of expanded consciousness. You won’t notice it happening until you arrive. In retrospect, the whole hour will have seemed to just vanish You won’t be out of your mind or out of control or anything like that. Quite the opposite: you’ll be more into your mind. The new feelings and sensations that will start to open up for you will feel at once both gentle and profound. You have no work to do today. No “hit list” of stuff you need to think about or problems to address. No notes to take. Your goal for today is simply to experience a gentle, initial peek behind a magical curtain . fl . ” . . . Page 12 And Now You’re Here What will it feel like? It’s dif cult to say. And I mean that literally There is a word, “ineffable,” that is used to describe something that is dif cult if not impossible to put into words. A mushroom experience is exactly that. We can try to describe it, and we will. But you won’t be able to fully convey it to someone who has never experienced it. To further complicate things, the experience is a little bit different for each person If you meditate regularly, you might already have a preview of what to expect. One person I sat for on his rst psilocybin trip was at the time a 24/M/recent college grad. His mother, over his reluctance, insisted he take a 10-day meditation retreat after completing his degree. Ten days. Complete silence. Simple food. Full-time meditation. Not exactly beach week after graduation. But he recalled the nal couple days of his meditation retreat as having been a breakthrough experience. Then after his mushroom trip, he said that his psilocybin experience was in some ways similar to the last days of his meditation retreat. Except that he went from zero to about day eight within an hour of ingesting the mushrooms, and all while lying down on the couch. If that sounds like a jarring transition, it’s not. The gradient is suf ciently gentle that you probably won’t even realize it is happening until you arrive. In addition to helping to protect your stomach, the lemon juice “predigestion process” both speeds up and makes fi fi fi fi . . fi Page 13 more uniform the absorption of the psilocybin into your system, and thus aids in your transition. You’ll be fully “up” about an hour after you feel your rst tingles, or 75-90 mins after you drink the lemon mush. At this time, your sitter should prompt you to sit up, get your physical bearings and take notice of your new internal and external environments. On a rst trip with a low-end moderate dosage, you’ll likely experience some minor visual hallucinations. These may include more saturated colors, wavy lines, “breathing” walls — stuff like that. Your hand might now be the most interesting thing you’ve ever seen. These effects may or may not happen. If you do experience them, they won’t be scary. More like, wondrous But remember, the visuals aren’t the main course. They are the appetizer. That’s your brain con rming that, “Yeah, you are in a different place right now. Take a moment to observe nature, if any is visible through window. It may feel as if nature is visibly communicating with you. This is because the internal barrier that separates you from the rest of the universe will have been gently, partially dissolved. This can sound a little scary, until you realize that the observation, from your point of view will, be a heightened sense of oneness with the rest of the universe. And that is not scary at all. It is supremely comforting and reassuring That tree, those leaves, that ant, even that little stone: they are you. And you are them. And this new permeability/ oneness between you and everything in the universe also translates to you internally. You should be starting to sense . fi fi ” . fi Page 14 that the barrier between your conscious and subconscious mind is becoming more porous. Your consciousness is now expanded, and able to freely access some previously inaccessible areas of your mind. You’ll experience it as a broadening of your perspective. For the rst time, you will now start to understand what people mean when they describe psychedelics as being mindexpanding. (The word psychedelic literally means “mind manifesting.” You may not get any visuals at all. I have had them in spades at a dose of 2.3g, and then not had them at all at 4.2g. It’s hit or miss. And after several years, I have gradually trained myself not to have them. That may sound a little strange. First, visuals aren’t the important thing for me. And second, I am steadily gaining more control over the way my mind operates, both while tripping and in my normal day-to-day life. And this is not an atypical progression for people who work with mushrooms over an extended period of time. If you do experience visuals, take a few minutes to enjoy them. But don’t get sidetracked by this eye candy, for lack of a better term. Visuals are a pleasant side effect, but the more rewarding journey is on the inside. And the visuals can distract you from the insight and growth that awaits when you instead close your eyes and explore inward Exploring Your Expanded Mind For the next three to four hours, you’ll be experiencing the effects of your moderate dose. Get as physically comfortable as you can be, settle in, and enjoy your temporarily expanded mind. . ) fi Page 15 This is where the ineffable part comes in. It is dif cult to convey how this feels. The best analogy I have found is to think of your mind as having concentric layers. You have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind. You mostly only experience your conscious mind, because there is a barrier between the two sections. It is mostly intact, but sometimes it’s a little bit permeable. Like when you are lucid dreaming, for instance. Mushrooms increase the permeability in the barrier between your conscious and unconscious mind. They literally create new neural pathways in your brain, and a portion of those new pathways will persist long after your trip is over. For a few hours you’ll get to inhabit a larger portion of your mind than normal. You won’t be very good at it yet, because you’re a beginner and this is an acquired skill. The goal today will be to just explore that new space a little bit I have begun to think of this boundary layer as sort of like, but not exactly, my ego. It is the soft boundary that “protects” (air quotes) me, or helps me to automatically categorize information, etc. This boundary also lters out the external stimulations I might be receiving, but do not need to be concentrating on. It facilitates the internal “prediction machine” that regulates the way in which I interact with my environment. But this ego/barrier also is a rigid and controlling boss. Its main job, really, is to protect itself; to maintain its own turf. And your mushroom experience is one of letting your conscious mind quietly sneak out of the dorm for a night To be clear, you could eat 7g of dried mushrooms and blast right through your ego/wall. Total dissolution of your ego, with no control over the process. AKA ego-death. Maybe not . . fi fi Page 16 the best idea on the rst go-round. Even after eight years, a full ego death experience is something I am still reserving for later. There is way too much exploration and personal growth to be had rst in the moderate dosages. This is all going to be a new sensation. Just oat. Go with it as best you can There is no reason to be anxious or frightened. Take short breaks periodically. Get up to go pee or perhaps grab some snacks. And keep hydrating. The mushrooms are a diuretic It’s important to con rm that you can temporarily take yourself out of the experience. This is the beauty of a moderate dose. Then afterwards, you can just as easily simply drop back into your expanded state of mind. Even as a rst-timer, you’ll immediately get it. Almost every person for whom I’ve been a sitter for their rst experience will have some version of this: They’ll “wake up” for a moment, check in, report on how they’re feeling, pass along something new that they’ve just learned, and then say, “Okay, I’m going back in.” It’s like a dreamscape that you can control. And the ability to temporarily step out and then drop back in again will af rm to you that you that you are the one who is driving. Even though you can “step out” of the experience, you’ll de nitely want to quickly fall back into your relaxed/ enhanced state after your pee/snack/drink breaks. 3-4 hours is not a lot of time to be in such a wonderful place. Taking short breaks and coming back up to touch base with reality will keep you well grounded during your trip, and help to train your mind to partially access this state later. You get up, pee, grab a drink of water, and consciously settle back into the same dream. . fi fi fl fi fi . fi fi fi Page 17 Or, just “change the channel,” which you can also do. You can do this by switching up the music Music as a Road Ma Music is going to be a very useful tool while in your expanded state. As you let go, you’ll travel inward in cycles, or waves. You de nitely want to be in headphones with music while you’re traveling. You want a loose framework that feels warm and safe, In general, instrumental music tends to work better than music with lyrics. It helps to create a framework that will guide you, but does not constrain your thoughts to the subject matter of the lyrics Have a selection of options queued up. Try different songs. After you are fully up, you’ll likely nd a song you emotionally connect with, and/or imprint on. For example, on her rst trip, “E” [22/F] connected to “The Shire,” from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. On one trip in 2020, I imprinted on “All I Need,” by Air, from the album Moon Safari. I listened to it maybe 30 times in a row during a trip taken during the depths of the pandemic. Each round-trip through the 4-minute song felt like an hour. Or a moment. It was hard to tell. And each time I went around again, I realized I was shedding another layer of the existential Covid dread I had been carrying around By the time the afternoon was over, I felt as if I had lost all of the Covid-related psychological baggage. For the last few song cycles, I just was an unborn baby safely oating in fi fl . fi p . fi . Page 18 amniotic uid. And I’m not saying that as an analogy. That’s what I speci cally felt like. The feeling of relief was profoundly liberating. And the fear and dread I had been carrying around has not returned. I have also periodically enjoyed the track, “Strung Out,” which is a sort of thematic compendium at the end of Jakatta’s Visions album. In an expanded state, it feels like a trip through the entirety of the human experience in about 10 minutes. And each repeated go-round of the song can feel like hours. Simple classical music, such as Bach’s Suites for Cello are also great. I listened at dusk one night, with the cellist being accompanied by crickets and a nearby leopard frog. If you were to pin me down for one recommendation for beginners, I’d have to go with the album, “Music for Mushrooms” by East Forest, AKA Trevor Oswalt. It’s available to buy on iTunes, or to stream on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/album/2LFyfGcBrrsvF8tECUs5gK If you are looking for a soundscape to help to guide you through a pleasant — or even healing — experience, this is a wonderful choice. I think it is especially great for rsttimers The “album” is ve hours long, and designed to accompany your entire trip. It includes thematic music for your come-up, and then various journeys and themes for the entirety of your trip If you listen to the soundscape before your trip, you probably won’t nd it very interesting. But in a state of expansion, your . fi fi fi fl . fi . Page 19 mind will latch on to these sounds as a vehicle to carry you to some wonderful places The compositions use long arcs to slowly build, and then release, different laters of tension. The result is an extended, ecstatic and even primal experience that can take you thousands of miles away, and thousands of years into the past The chimes, forest sounds, migrating geese, wind instruments, and soft vocals in an unfamiliar language combine to tap into a core human experience This sounds a little weird, maybe. But remember, the music is speci cally designed to connect with you while you are in an expanded state Whether you choose the Music for Mushrooms soundscape or not, understand that music will present itself to you as being three-dimensional. And you will be inside that 3-D structure. It’s hard to explain. If listening to cello music, for instance, you might sense the bow being physically being drawn across your skin. It’s pretty amazing. You will merge with the music. It will be part of you, and you of it. One of the above songs might work for you, or you may nd something different. But when something really clicks for you (trust me, you’ll know) maybe put it on repeat for a bit. Because it’s gonna be your new spirit animal for awhile. Long after the pharmacological effects have worn off, listening to your song will bring you partially back to this expanded state of mind I have listened to the Music for Mushrooms soundscape while my mind was expanded. As a result, I can now use the fi . . . . fi . Page 20 26-minute track, “Passage,” from the album to reliably induce a state of effortless concentration and creativity, more commonly known as a ow state If I need to write, or to retreat inward to critically think about something, that musical track will bring me right to where I need to be. It centers me, both mentally and emotionally, while helping me to block out potential distractions Writer’s block? Not a problem. My problem in that state is that I generally cannot type fast enough That musical “circle-back” process helps to unlock one of the really cool things you’ll still be able to sense long after your trip is over. You have experienced a few hours with an expanded mind. But afterwards, you settle back into a baseline mental state with a consciousness that remains slightly more expanded. Because a psilocybin experience creates new and persistent neural pathways in your brain Okay, cool. Sounds like I should show up for my trip with notebook in hand, ready for the epiphanies to drop? It’s easy to understand the motivation for wanting to do transcribe an experience. But I suggest not taking extensive notes during the actual experience. Maybe just a few key words or ideas if something really important hits you. But there will be plenty of time later to re ect and integrate what you learned about yourself while expanded. You’ll remember a lot of it. But taking time to make detailed notes while your trip is ongoing can easily take you out of your expanded state of mind. That’s your ego/conscious mind grabbing the wheel (aha! I’m back in control of us!”) . . . fl . fl Page 21 You don’t want that. In fact, your goal is the opposite: you want to gently nurture and coax that delicately enhanced state of mind as you explore the new space. Then unpack/ discuss it with your sitter, or partner, or a trusted friend, after you return Mind the Potholes In the event you experience negative emotions, the standard advice is to not ght them. Just acknowledge them and let them wash over you. Your brain might be showing you something that was previously tucked away in your subconscious that it would like you to notice. (“Oh, hey! I haven’t seen you in this part of your mind before. Welcome. While I have you here, let me show you some stuff…”) Don’t ght it. Just let it wash over you and accept it, then move on. The “ ghting it” part (generally in combination with higher doses than you are taking) is where people can sometimes create bad experiences. But at this dosage, you’ll be in the driver’s seat. So let just let any negative emotions wash over you. And to be clear, this is a just-in-case kind of thing. Be accepting of what your mind is revealing to you. View each new revelation or feeling as a gift from you, to you Also, know that you might get surprised if you look in a mirror. Your re ected face may look strange because of visual distortions. And then you run that through your internal hyper-observant state of mind and it can set up a little feedback loop that can bring you out of a good experience. (Not that you’d freak out; more like it could just interrupt your groove.) . fi fi fl . fi Page 22 Some people prefer to cover any nearby mirrors with a towel or sheet. That said, it’s not strictly necessary to avoid mirrors. Just be aware of the possibility that you might get a little surprise A couple of speci c mirror examples: on a dose of 2.3g that came with some lovely visuals, I saw looking back at me in the mirror the very high de nition re ection of myself as a roughly 90-yr-old man. It wasn’t just realistic. It was real. In some ways, more real than normal reality. It was fascinating, but also somewhat distracting. I snapped a mental picture, and then let it go. “E” [22/F], on 2.0g, saw her re ection in the mirror as half her dad, and half her mom. Which was pretty freaking cool, she noted. But again, you may not experience any visuals at all Regarding the above caveats, I don’t anticipate any problems. But you should be well-informed of any potential distractions. If I am sitting for you (in person, or via FaceTime) I’ll be available the whole time. But I don’t think you’ll need me. I’ll be the one quietly watching, jealous of where you are You Might Also Experience On the other hand, here is something that is more likely to happen. You might be prone to occasional ts of joyous laughter. That’s because you may be experiencing for the very rst time a persistent ecstatic state. Like a feeling deep in the core of your inner being that everything is, and will be, okay . fi fl fl fi fi . . . fi Page 23 On subsequent trips, I have begun to associate this experience with the distinct feeling of stepping outside of the bounds of my familiar human consciousness. If that sounds scary, I promise you that it is not. It is the exact opposite of scary. The best way I can describe it is the “where do our souls go” sequences in the Pixar movie, Soul. I would be willing to bet a large amount of money that some of the folks involved in creating that movie have had signi cant mushroom experiences Further, any time I see someone displaying a jaw-dropping level of imaginative creativity, whether contemporary or historic, I am now immediately at least a little bit suspicious as to where that creativity may have come from. It’s almost too on-the-nose Oh, and one more thing: I’m just going to drop a term for you to put a pin in to circle back to later to see if it resonates: orgasmic yawn. That’s all I’m gonna say The Come-Down Assuming a 4:30pm start, at about 8:00-8:30pm or so, you’ll be experiencing the gentle downslope back to normal. Maybe a little earlier, maybe later. You might feel a little bummed that your hourglass timer is running out. That’s okay. Keep dipping back in if you like. Each time around, the pool will get a little shallower. But it’s still pretty nice through the downslope As you realize your trip is ending, you might be left with a sense of euphoria and wonder at where you have just been. I’m happy to chat if you want. Or not . . . fi . . Page 24 It’s a bit like being sore in your muscles a day after lifting weights after a long absence. You know what you just did was good for you. But holy crap, you can feel that you got a workout. Kinda like that, but for your emotions instead of your muscles. Afterwards Psilocybin (more accurately, psilocin, its metabolite) has a half-life in our body of 2-3 hours. Chemically speaking, it goes away quickly. Which is what makes the lasting effects all the more remarkable Some predictions for the days and weeks following your rst experience 1. You will long remember what it felt like to have an expanded consciousness 2. Going forward, you will process information differently 3. If you imprinted on a song, hearing it again will help you to partially revisit your expanded state of mind. This is a fi . fi . . fi . : Page 25 fi Make sure to continue to hydrate. Dehydration can wear you out a little the next morning, or leave you with a headache. Any physiological “hangover” you might associate with the trip is probably just dehydration. So make sure to drink during, and after Speaking of the next day, you might feel emotionally tired. If that doesn’t make sense yet, it will. Think being emotionally drained after having a ght with your signi cant other. But not emotionally drained in a negative way. Because the direction of your emotional experience will likely have been very positive. But the magnitude might be as big as that of a ght. useful tool for revisiting your trip, and to help you with integration after the fact You will experience more mental bandwidth. For example, seeing connections between seemingly disparate things You’ll experience a reduced level of internal mental noise Your belief system will have been expanded You likely will sense a reduced fear of death Some of your previously held “absolutes” will have been replaced by questions 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Moving Forwar Your rst trip is likely to be one of the most amazing and profound experiences of your life. Many people put it at a level of signi cance similar to the birth of your rst child. Which makes sense if you view your rst trip as being analogous as a new part of “you” being born But your rst trip, while both special and unrepeatable, is not necessarily indicative of future experiences you may have with mushrooms Because on your rst trip, you’ll be both amazed and distracted by the novelty of having had your mind expanded for the rst time To be clear, the novelty part is wonderful, blissful and ecstatic. But the novelty component also displaces the depth of the experience itself. Your mind can only absorb so much at one time. So the novelty part is likely going to get top billing. But that changes. In some ways, your second trip is your rst “real” trip. Because you already will have experienced the novelty part. . fi . . . fi fi . . fi . d . . fi fi fi fi Page 26 So you’ll be freed up to focus more on the expansion itself rather than the novelty of the expansion Your second trip will be quieter, and likely will result in a much deeper internal experience. You’ll be focused less on the eye candy and other external distractions, and more on exploring your new internal environment. If you’re lucky, your second trip also will bring hints of the discoveries and revelations that await as you learn how to better navigate and control your expanded state Other Resource I hope this booklet will be helpful as an introduction to the world of psilocybin mushrooms. There are many other resources available to help you to educate yourself as you continue your exploration In particular, two recommended entry level resources are • Fantastic Fungi, a beautifully lmed documentary about the Fungi kingdom, from which the Animal kingdom branched off about 600,000,000 years ago. It explores the unseen world of fungi and mushrooms, and includes a signi cant section on psilocybin mushrooms and the ongoing research of their healing properties. • How to Change Your Mind, by Michael Pollan. This 2018 book chronicles the renaissance in research across a range of psychedelics, including psilocybin. (This book has since been released as a documentary miniseries of the same name on Net ix. : . fi . fi . s ) fl Page 27