Ayahuasca vs mushrooms

[Sacred Journey]

these responses are all so silly. Picking at someones intentions because they associate the words "tripping" and "healing" with one another is petty and cheap, and makes you sound like you want to show off your higher understanding to the rest of us present. Get over yourself.

I meant talking about tripping sounded like SJ wasn't serious enough about the matter. There was no 'higher understanding' involved as you so cringeworthily said so yourself Jamie. Why did you even conclude so? Guess what; They say 'it takes one to know one'!

I find your attitude slightly offensive. Please tell me what the basics are then.

Everyone here has ALREADY given you all the information you need, and now it's being repeated so we've concluded that some like x, some y, some z, some suggest this, some suggest that, plenty different opinions, and enough stuff to further confuse rather than serve to clarify!
There isn't any need to go on and on about it because now that you have the information/ confusion, the rest is in your corner and up to you. This is what i mean with no more spoonfeeding. Only YOU can find out what works for you. What works for x, y, z, may not work for you, cos you are DIFFERENT. No rocket science here.

There's plenty information in the wiki. Have you considered reading other forums like Reset.me or Ayahuasca.com? Those sites are more specifically attuned to healing than this one, imho. Consider working on a positive framework, get your shit in order, really get to understand the importance of SET, SETTING, DOSE, and of course the very important thing called INTEGRATION. That can take ages, and that's where the real fruition and possibility to make long lasting positive changes lies. Find one teacher and stick to it, actually the framework is probably the most important factor in healing that the teacher. If you lack framework, it may lose great effectiveness.

Only you can find ways to work out your issues yourself. Maybe speak to a psychiatrist as well? Get some positive friends, get a better job, better flat, better clothes, eat better, exercise better. Go on holidays, make plans and do them.

Put your worries in a worry book, and take time to work on them by taking positive action. Write lists about your good points, you know, find what works best for you. We're all different and you're man enough to re read this entire thread and understand that you have already had enough information given unto you to get to work with. That was my point.

I'm not suggesting you do anything, but consider things carefully. Be safe.

I apologise if i offended you.

You are forgiven. I appreciate your comments, even the negative ones. that is exactly the information I was looking for. I am already doing some of the things you suggested and I will try to work on doing the rest. I understand what you mean about the integration. In many ways I feel as though I am still integrating some of my prior experiences. At first, I didnt understand this I remember tripping cactus and having the most wonderful experience with the most amazing revelations and healing. When I came down, I returned to being more or less my old self (although parts of me remained healed). Then, I could not understand why this had happened. I felt like I had done something wrong. But in the weeks and months following that trip, little bits and pieces would come back to me and begin to become integrated.

 

[ganesh]

I am already doing some of the things you suggested and I will try to work on doing the rest. I understand what you mean about the integration. In many ways I feel as though I am still integrating some of my prior experiences

It's good to hear that SJ. Actually you'll probably be amazed to know that most Mainstream Therapies also work on set, setting, whereas instead of 'dose', they have talking, or whatever treatment on offer in 'intensity'. Whereas mainstream therapies may be 'stumbling in the dark', Plant teachers like for example Ayahuasca, work on a much deeper and more personal attuned manner to your individual needs, and give you everything you exactly require. They work through you and bring awareness to parts of your life that need change. It's really pretty obvious what needs changing, and all you have to do during intergration is make small steps with say, a diary to move out of bad habits and into good ones.

All the best.

 

[Sacred Journey]

Thank you.

Just wanted to update by saying based on this thread I decided to forget about ayahuasca and DMT and work with mushrooms and cactus and by mushrooms I mean both psilocybin and aminita muscaria which I feel is the most overlooked entheogen in the current entheogenic community, which I consider very unfortunate because I consider it to be among the best. It has taken me to places which no amount of any other drug has even touched upon. I really don't understand why everyone seems to think DMT is so great but overlook this gem.

Anyway, I ate five grams of homegrown psilocybin mushrooms in a park near where I live and I think maybe because they were small ones (whereas my last trip was on big ones) they were much stronger than I expected and I tripped far far harder than my last trip which was on 4 grams.

I was resisting the trip much of the way until I smoked some hash, which took me to another level. As soon as I smoked the hash, i realized the mushrooms had been attempting to communicate with me the entire trip and I had been resisting them. It was like the cannabis spirits were translated what the mushrooms were saying into a language I could understand.

I then understood what the mushrooms were wanting me to do, which was to go headfirst into my most severe repressed psychological pain, so that is what I did as best I could. For the next hour or so, I explored this pain with as little resistance as possible. It felt like someone had taken a power drill and started drilling into my face and the more I let go of my resistance the worse the pain became, yet I had faith this was the way to go. It was like I could feel the healing taking place even in this place of complete agony.

After this trip I have been a different person. I feel as though so much of my pain has fallen away and I remembering how to be happy again. Spending time in nature and in prayer and meditation are my biggest priorities right now. I can't believe how much the trip changed me and I am just hoping the changes stay with me and don't fade away over time. Mushrooms are amazing.

I feel like with mushrooms vs DMT, it seems like DMT takes me to a place where healing can take place but I have to do it whereas with mushrooms it felt like the mushrooms themselves were healing me and all I had to do was stop resisting.

 

[archaic_revival_]

For me personally, the opposite is true.

The mushrooms have healed me immensely in a kind, mystical, loving, angelic kind of way. I've received the most amazing emotional downloads with the mushrooms.

With Aya, I must go to Hell and face my fears. With smoked DMT, I must deal with the terror of being flung into Hyperspace and encounters with entities. Both are profound experiences, but always terrifying.

After a high-dose mushroom trip...I go and hug homeless people...

 

[TheCaterpillar]

I find mushrooms to be the exact opposite of helpful as a medicine. I almost always end up thinking some bizarre thing like my phone is a spy or that facebook knows all. Plus I have never had any healing from shrooms just 6 hours of random trippy fun with next to no meaning. I find mushrooms to be like a movie its just cool. I love mushrooms as a drug but not to help me they don't hurt but their 100% recreational in my book.

However I find oral DMT to be much more spiritual and meaningful and its full body. Mushrooms tend to mess with my head and make me paranoid and make up stories I think are real oral DMT doesn't do that it surrounds me and almost completely absorbed me. From my experience (Which is lots with mushrooms and one good formosahuasca journey) I find the oral DMT to be much more of a healing medicine for the mind than mushrooms.

Mushrooms are fun and are some what helpful for cheering you up (the same way cannabis can be) but that's about it. Oral DMT done right is a complete surrounding of spirits and animals all trying to work with you and help get you on a good path in life.

I have gone farther on mushrooms than DMT and it was devastating for me I haven't eating a good dose in years. I ended up in a mental hospital from them the halctionations were utterly terrifying and the mentality of it was not helping. DMT never really messed with my head I like that about it mushrooms can make you think some crazy things and its terrifying because it seems so real. DMT is more like a dream than real life.

 

[travsha]

Sacred Journey - what a beautiful report! Sounds amazing! I have noticed the same thing - the trick is really to not resist. Resistance to yourself and your process makes everything so much harder, and sometimes can cancel out the benefits entirely.... This is part of why the larger doses of mushrooms can sometimes be more effective then the lighter ones - its harder to resist the larger dose, so you just commit to it and let go.... With smaller doses, sometimes you try to control things more because you can and that leads to some dark thoughts in my experience....

I also find the amanitas to be severely under-appreciated.... So far all my experiments with them have been extremely enjoyable and insightful.... I kinda understand though, because for a long time I was put off by horror stories I read online, but eventually found that those were mostly from people who just didnt know the right way to work with amanita.... If you take the time to properly prepare the amanitas then they are so easy to work with, maybe the easiest out of any entheogen I have tried so far.

 

[maranello551]

Can we larger this thread to "Ayahuasca vs Psilohuasca" or "Ayahuasca vs Psilohuasca vs Mushrooms"?

 

[jamie]

I don't know what it is, because I love both the DMT plants, and the mushrooms, and find the experiences almost the same. There is just something in the mushrooms though. Mushrooms have this richness to them..there is so much content there and they provoke the deepest mystical and spiritual experiences for myself.

When I know I really need a deep thorough healing, I turn to the mushrooms usually. Ayahuasca and DMT can do it sometimes, but the mushrooms seem to be a more consistent reset. Could just be me and the mushrooms. We gots this thing going on...

 

[maranello551]

I don't know what it is, because I love both the DMT plants, and the mushrooms, and find the experiences almost the same. There is just something in the mushrooms though. Mushrooms have this richness to them..there is so much content there and they provoke the deepest mystical and spiritual experiences for myself.

When I know I really need a deep thorough healing, I turn to the mushrooms usually. Ayahuasca and DMT can do it sometimes, but the mushrooms seem to be a more consistent reset. Could just be me and the mushrooms. We gots this thing going on...

How do you feel about Psilohuasca?

 

[Bancopuma]

Just to chime in here, I've had a fair bit of experience with both mushrooms and ayahuasca over the years, and I personally resonate with the mushroom more (at least in my experience thus far). They are my number one thing in fact; I hold them in very high regard. While there is a fair degree of overlap between aya and mushrooms, I find mushrooms more playful in tone, and aya more serious. Mushrooms I find smoother on the body and more user friendly, it is easier to do stuff on them which I like. I also find mushrooms reliably much more blissful and ecstatic than aya. In a visionary sense, I've gone much deeper with mushrooms than I have with aya so far, and I also find mushrooms more reliable in effect for me. I find now mushrooms are also a little more aya like in character in some way.

I've combined ayahuasca vine and Syrian rue with mushrooms on a number of occasions...harmalas in combination with mushrooms is not something to be taken lightly, but I've had some very deep and immersive experiences with such combinations. One of my deepest and most profound trips was with 30g of brewed ayahuasca vine, 1g of dried Hawaiian Pan cyans, and 250mg mimosa DMT extract. The trip started of Hellish to near Biblical proportions, but after an incredible purge in which I roared, I was bathed in this incredible bliss and ocean of white light, I came out of the bathroom and said to my friend and tripping partner I felt like I was in the presence of "God", and I don't throw around that ol' G word lightly. Definitely a peak experience for me and one I can't ever hope to put into words so I'll stop trying now.

Later next year, I'm hoping to grow my own Psilocybe mexicana mushrooms and journey with them...I think the Aztects, Mazatecs and Zapotecs were/are onto something with their reverence for this particular mushroom and I intend to investigate this personally. I have future plans of building a floatation tank and am intrigued about ingesting some of these before getting into the tank for the long haul...both the Mazatec Indians and Terrence McKenna emphasised taking the mushrooms in silent darkness, so I have a feeling this could synergise with the experience really well.

 

[jamie]

I don't know what it is, because I love both the DMT plants, and the mushrooms, and find the experiences almost the same. There is just something in the mushrooms though. Mushrooms have this richness to them..there is so much content there and they provoke the deepest mystical and spiritual experiences for myself.

When I know I really need a deep thorough healing, I turn to the mushrooms usually. Ayahuasca and DMT can do it sometimes, but the mushrooms seem to be a more consistent reset. Could just be me and the mushrooms. We gots this thing going on...

How do you feel about Psilohuasca?

I prefer it to vine or rue with DMT. Psilocybin with harmalas makes a more intense brew for me as well, so it's not to be taken lightly.

 

[maranello551]

I don't know what it is, because I love both the DMT plants, and the mushrooms, and find the experiences almost the same. There is just something in the mushrooms though. Mushrooms have this richness to them..there is so much content there and they provoke the deepest mystical and spiritual experiences for myself.

When I know I really need a deep thorough healing, I turn to the mushrooms usually. Ayahuasca and DMT can do it sometimes, but the mushrooms seem to be a more consistent reset. Could just be me and the mushrooms. We gots this thing going on...

How do you feel about Psilohuasca?

I prefer it to vine or rue with DMT. Psilocybin with harmalas makes a more intense brew for me as well, so it's not to be taken lightly.

Have you had the blessing of being able to try mushrooms and rue as well as mushrooms with vine?

I've yet to try the latter....but I would love to, as I feel far safer taking large amounts of caapi than I am doing so with rue.....

 

[Pile of cats]

I only have a few mushrooms experiences which have been amazing in their own right and I see huge potential in them which I'd like to explore deeper at some point but I have a lot of experience with Rue + Mimosa and also vaped dmt with and without a rue brew to accompany it and I've had a huge amount of valuable insight from them and a great amount of healing too, my life has changed in many ways for the better since I started working with dmt and harmalas.

They've taken me to the source they've taken me deep into the inner workings of my soul there's often an interactive experience going on where some outside intelligence is gently nudging me towards insight and then applauding when I achieve insight, it doesn't hesitate to take me deep into where I don't want to go with the intent of healing but ultimately I always am happy it does as I feel so relieved after having faced things in that space as it feels it no longer has a hold on my soul as I was able to face it for what it was and in turn let go.

Ultimately I think it's very personal as to what medicine works best and it also might have a lot to do with the nature of our individual baggage we carry. ayahuasca might be the medicine for me now but mushrooms might be better for my work further down my path and the opposite might be true for others. I think it's best just to give both a good go and see for yourself.

 

[tregar]

If you want to know what Ayahuasca is like, just read the 500 page book by Benny Shannon entitled "Antipodes of the Mind". He took Ayahuasca over 180 times over 7 years and describes all the visions and experience in incredible detail. As you can see below, Ayahuasca components will hit different receptor sites as compared to psilocin with greater strength, esp when you incorporate Caapi, which fills in for the missing 5-ht1a receptors that dmt does not hit, caapi also elevates adrenal and 5-ht2a receptor strength, bringing them up in over-all target strength: caapi + admixture = teamwork for overall full spectrum elevated receptor targeting.

Thomas S. Ray, Psychedelics and the Human Receptorome (2010):

Psychedelics and the Human Receptorome

We currently understand the mental effects of psychedelics to be caused by agonism or partial agonism of 5-HT2A (and possibly 5-HT2C) receptors, and we understand that psychedelic drugs, especially phenylalkylamines, are fairly selective for these two receptors. This manuscript is a reference...

journals.plos.org

hxxp://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0009019

Breadth of Receptor Binding, 4.00=max, 0.00=min

LSD: 5ht1a = 3.73, DMT: = 0.00, psilocin = 2.88, mescaline = 3.61, 5-meo-DMT: = 4.00 (make up >80% of brain 5-ht)
LSD: 5ht1b = 4.00, DMT: = 0.00, psilocin = 2.19, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 2.41
LSD: 5ht1d = 3.70, DMT: = 3.91, psilocin = 3.40, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 3.48
LSD: 5ht1e = 2.62, DMT: = 3.28, psilocin = 3.03, mescaline = 3.16, 5-meo-DMT: = 1.72
LSD: 5ht2a = 3.54, DMT: = 2.58, psilocin = 2.14, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 0.98
LSD: 5ht2b = 3.11, DMT: = 3.91, psilocin = 4.00, mescaline = 3.97, 5-meo-DMT: = 0.69
LSD: 5ht2c = 3.11, DMT: = 3.42, psilocin = 2.52, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 1.55
LSD: 5ht5a = 3.64, DMT: = 3.16, psilocin = 2.83, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 1.84
LSD: -5ht6 = 3.75, DMT: = 3.35, psilocin = 2.82, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 2.73
LSD: -5ht7 = 3.77, DMT: = 4.00, psilocin = 2.82, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 3.69
LSD: ---D1 = 2.34, DMT: = 3.51, psilocin = 3.37, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 2.38
LSD: -A-2A = 2.93, DMT: = 2.75, psilocin = 1.36, mescaline = 2.92, 5-meo-DMT: = 0.00
LSD: -A-2B = 0.00, DMT: = 3.53, psilocin = 1.57, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 0.86
LSD: -A-2C = 0.00, DMT: = 3.53, psilocin = 1.03, mescaline = 4.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 1.59

 

[locojuiceman]

I think the two or very similar depending on dose ...
Whereas extracted DMT with an MAOI can be very very intense, so can't drinking a tea made from a fresh quarter of shrooms ....
They are almost the same chemically, DMT and Psilocybin, just an atom apart ....
But the BEST experience I've had with either was by combining them ... I ate 3 grams of fresh shrooms and when peaking ,took two hits of DMT [[ I could not go any further than that, I wanted to but I got caught up in the visual intensity of it ]] ...
Thats when a being of Light walked through the door, the living room and into the dining room , turned and looked at me while reaching out his [ her? ] hand and said " It can be like this FOREVER, you coming? " and the Teddy Bear on the table next to the phone turned to look at me as if to say " Well ? " and I was soo astonished ...Sooo perplexed because it actually FELT like it COULD be that way, forever, but, me being 'Human' and all I just HAD to try and figure out HOW ... thats when it faded real quick and I was back to tripping just on the shrooms but... WOW !
So "VS"? I'd say they're better off not suited against one another but either used apart from or together with each other.

 

[jamie]

If you want to know what Ayahuasca is like, just read the 500 page book by Benny Shannon entitled "Antipodes of the Mind". He took Ayahuasca over 180 times over 7 years and describes all the visions and experience in incredible detail. As you can see below, Ayahuasca components will hit different receptor sites as compared to psilocin with greater strength, esp when you incorporate Caapi, which fills in for the missing 5-ht1a receptors that dmt does not hit, caapi also elevates adrenal and 5-ht2a receptor strength, bringing them up in over-all target strength: caapi + admixture = teamwork for overall full spectrum elevated receptor targeting.

Thomas S. Ray, Psychedelics and the Human Receptorome (2010):

Psychedelics and the Human Receptorome

We currently understand the mental effects of psychedelics to be caused by agonism or partial agonism of 5-HT2A (and possibly 5-HT2C) receptors, and we understand that psychedelic drugs, especially phenylalkylamines, are fairly selective for these two receptors. This manuscript is a reference...

journals.plos.org

hxxp://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0009019

Breadth of Receptor Binding, 4.00=max, 0.00=min

LSD: 5ht1a = 3.73, DMT: = 0.00, psilocin = 2.88, mescaline = 3.61, 5-meo-DMT: = 4.00 (make up >80% of brain 5-ht)
LSD: 5ht1b = 4.00, DMT: = 0.00, psilocin = 2.19, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 2.41
LSD: 5ht1d = 3.70, DMT: = 3.91, psilocin = 3.40, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 3.48
LSD: 5ht1e = 2.62, DMT: = 3.28, psilocin = 3.03, mescaline = 3.16, 5-meo-DMT: = 1.72
LSD: 5ht2a = 3.54, DMT: = 2.58, psilocin = 2.14, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 0.98
LSD: 5ht2b = 3.11, DMT: = 3.91, psilocin = 4.00, mescaline = 3.97, 5-meo-DMT: = 0.69
LSD: 5ht2c = 3.11, DMT: = 3.42, psilocin = 2.52, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 1.55
LSD: 5ht5a = 3.64, DMT: = 3.16, psilocin = 2.83, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 1.84
LSD: -5ht6 = 3.75, DMT: = 3.35, psilocin = 2.82, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 2.73
LSD: -5ht7 = 3.77, DMT: = 4.00, psilocin = 2.82, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 3.69
LSD: ---D1 = 2.34, DMT: = 3.51, psilocin = 3.37, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 2.38
LSD: -A-2A = 2.93, DMT: = 2.75, psilocin = 1.36, mescaline = 2.92, 5-meo-DMT: = 0.00
LSD: -A-2B = 0.00, DMT: = 3.53, psilocin = 1.57, mescaline = 0.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 0.86
LSD: -A-2C = 0.00, DMT: = 3.53, psilocin = 1.03, mescaline = 4.00, 5-meo-DMT: = 1.59

There is psilocybin, baeocystin and norbaeocystin to account for in mushrooms, as well as psilocin.

 

[jamie]

I don't know what it is, because I love both the DMT plants, and the mushrooms, and find the experiences almost the same. There is just something in the mushrooms though. Mushrooms have this richness to them..there is so much content there and they provoke the deepest mystical and spiritual experiences for myself.

When I know I really need a deep thorough healing, I turn to the mushrooms usually. Ayahuasca and DMT can do it sometimes, but the mushrooms seem to be a more consistent reset. Could just be me and the mushrooms. We gots this thing going on...

How do you feel about Psilohuasca?

I prefer it to vine or rue with DMT. Psilocybin with harmalas makes a more intense brew for me as well, so it's not to be taken lightly.

Have you had the blessing of being able to try mushrooms and rue as well as mushrooms with vine?

I've yet to try the latter....but I would love to, as I feel far safer taking large amounts of caapi than I am doing so with rue.....

I have used mushrooms with rue and with vine. It is not uncommon for me to brew rue, vine, mimosa, acacia phyllodes, grasses and mushrooms all together. I don't see much reason to fear rue, unless you do not like harmaline. Harmaline can be a bit heavier, both on the visions and nausea.

 

[maranello551]

I don't know what it is, because I love both the DMT plants, and the mushrooms, and find the experiences almost the same. There is just something in the mushrooms though. Mushrooms have this richness to them..there is so much content there and they provoke the deepest mystical and spiritual experiences for myself.

When I know I really need a deep thorough healing, I turn to the mushrooms usually. Ayahuasca and DMT can do it sometimes, but the mushrooms seem to be a more consistent reset. Could just be me and the mushrooms. We gots this thing going on...

How do you feel about Psilohuasca?

I prefer it to vine or rue with DMT. Psilocybin with harmalas makes a more intense brew for me as well, so it's not to be taken lightly.

Have you had the blessing of being able to try mushrooms and rue as well as mushrooms with vine?

I've yet to try the latter....but I would love to, as I feel far safer taking large amounts of caapi than I am doing so with rue.....

I have used mushrooms with rue and with vine. It is not uncommon for me to brew rue, vine, mimosa, acacia phyllodes, grasses and mushrooms all together. I don't see much reason to fear rue, unless you do not like harmaline. Harmaline can be a bit heavier, both on the visions and nausea.

So from the standpoint of one with relatively deep experience, how would you differentiate mushrooms from other "light plants"? Do you see them as being in a different league, or simply just another light plant as different from acacia as chaliponga is?

When used separately, how do you personally feel about the ayahuasca vs psilohuasca - if you'd care to share?

 

[ManicMongrel]

There is psilocybin, baeocystin and norbaeocystin to account for in mushrooms, as well as psilocin.

In my experience baeocystin adds a staggering potency lift to the table when its combined with rue extract. It can add/amplify potent body effects and synesthesia.

I have tried both dry liberty caps and fresh Panaeolus cyanescens with rue extract on several occasions each and there can be a significant difference in experience between the two mushrooms. The visual side is very sharp and immensely colorful like dmt, though breakthrough experiences are different. (I can't stress this enough, panaeolus is something completely different when they are fresh, treat yourself fresh or frozen P. cyanescens when you get the chance)

P. Cyanescens starts very chaotic before it levels out and tends to give visions where you see previous episodes in your life through the eyes of the other people, whether you know them or not. At the same time you are made deeply aware of the differences in your own psychological state then and now. I imagine this is a hallmark trait of ayahausca as well. This variation of "psilo-huasca" gives a lot of insights into chaotic dynamics, randomness and why we are fed the illusion of control from a young age.

Liberty caps work on your whole body from the beginning, if you take this when you are tired you risk getting a staggering body load and disorientation, where the best thing to do is to lie down for a bit. It sometimes feels like your whole nervous system gets some much needed maintenance and tuning. After an hour or so the bodyload fades quickly. Tensions are suddenly gone and you often feel healthier than in a long while. "Feeling music" gives a new meaning with this experience. Also listening to music or especially watching music videos give a steady stream of strange visions.

 

[PsyDuckmonkey]

Wow people, thanks for posting all the awesome insight and experiences! You're all incredible!

It's interesting how different each drug experience is person by person... and even so, so many of you prefer shrooms over DMT or Aya that I guess it can be called a trend. I too can corroborate that shrooms "come with a built-in shaman" - to me the shroom trip is usually familiar, loving and guiding. And yes, Sacred Journey, cannabis does indeed enhance a shroom trip to an incredible degree for me too. I love the way you put it...

I wonder what DMT will be like in comparison.

Let me address the religion and New Age debate briefly.

The New Age teachewrs I was following were very adamently against plant teachers and they said that they could cause damage that would take lifetimes to recover from and how they damaged the spiritual circuits of the brain and how dangerous they were and how there were so many safer and much more effective means of attaining spiritual growth.
...
Finally after years of depression, misery, confusion and suicidal thoughts I said fuck the New Age movement. I joined a traditional Christian church and ate some psychedelic mushrooms.
...
However I must confess that somewhere deep in my psyche resides the fear that New Age teachings are right and I am somehow hurting myself in unknown ways by using plant teachers (even though they have helped me and healed me so much).

Well, having had a sample of both Christianity and New Age, I definitely understand you. My personal history with Christianity (and my personal understanding of what the Bible says) doesn't permit me to accept it as my path. I respect honest Christians and their faith, I do believe in God, I just don't believe in the Bible.

The Christian preachers I've come across were all frothing conservatives, and the sort of thing you mention here from the New Agers was probably the most liberal thing I've ever heard from them about plant teachers. I'm really happy for you that you could find a priest and a congregation where your path is accepted, or at least not violently attacked.

About New Age, one needs to understand that New Age itself arguably grew out of the LSD subculture. Before the 60s, "spirituality" in the West pretty much meant theatrical, phoney mediums who vomited up "ectoplasm" and made tables dance. The LSD subculture brought in Eastern wisdom, affluent people went to India to learn from yogis and smoke hash.

As the war on drugs kicked into high gear, and also the "satanic ritual murder" moral panic was all the rage in America, New Age teachers were desperate to dissociate their movement from drugs, and so made up a lot of bullshit on the topic. Their students, then, obviously believed it, and it pretty much became the status quo of the movement.

(I personally was once part of a Wiccan church, which literally began 10 years earlier with a bunch of friends who liked to drop acid in the woods... and by the time I joined, their code of conduct expressly prohibited the use of all illegal drugs, on pain of excommunication - when I pointed out the inconsistency, the high priest said it's so people won't call them a drug cult.)

Anyway, the approach to drugs is probably the least of the issues I have with New Age, but going into a detailed and probably controversial theological and philosophical argument here is far beyond the scope of the thread.