Mushrooms as Teachers

[Eternity]

Dear Nexus members,

It has been quite some time since I have posted on this forum, as some major changes in my life have preoccupied me up until now and kept me from participating in discussions in the Nexus. It is with great pleasure that I return once again to seek your vast knowledge and wisdom, and hope to receive some great replies to help my understanding of the Sacred Mushroom, and to help others which may ask themselves similar questions.

I write to day to seek advice on working with the Sacred Mushroom as a teacher (to the effect of Ayahuasca).

A close friend of mine has been slowly expanding his very limited experience with Psilocybe Cubensis at low doses and would like to know what the potential is of using this mushroom on a regular basis (ex. 1-4 times a month, then 1 month abstinence) as a tool to further his understanding of himself and his environment, and as a medicine for healing. His principal concerns arise when he considers the possibility of becoming delusional through long term exposure to the Mushroom's world. His concerns come from his long searches through the Shroomery Community Discussion Forum, reading experience reports and replies from a majority of individuals who are less that serious, to say the least.

My friend has a deep respect for the Mushroom, though has dosed only 3 times, never more than 1 gram. However, he would like to continue working with the Mushroom at low doses i.e. 0.5g-1.0g regularly and then slowly work up to higher doses over time as his comfort and relationship with the Mushroom builds. He is currently growing his own Golden Teachers with great care, and is witnessing the growth of his first pins.

I would like to hear about your experiences using the Sacred Mushroom as a teacher, whether you feel any harm has come to you through prolonged use (in the form of deluding yourself rather than deepening understanding). I would be especially privileged to receive replies from members who have experience with both Ayahuasca and the Sacred Mushroom as I would be interested in working with the brew in the (very) distant future.

With much respect,

Eternity

 

[KwisatzHaderach]

The mushroom definitely has the power to heal, but one must be very patient when working with him. And it is all about intentions, set and setting and all that. Cubensis especially has the power to be abused due to its accessibility, so your heart settings will be very important from what you'll take away from the trip.

Like the mycelium these fungi grow from, their healing process can be slow and even somewhat callous at times. These mushrooms have been around for thousands of years slowly watching the world form around them while their tentacle like mycelium have infiltrated the very ground we walk on. Sometimes they do not have patience for pupils who do not readily adhere to its teachings. Because of the mushrooms' slower, meditative teaching style be prepared to hang on till the very end. Most of my mushroom trip epiphanies start to occur after the peak when I allow the mushroom slowly reprogram me.

But it took me about a year of use and integration before I really could call the mushrooms an ally. They were very rough on me at first because I was expecting so much knowledge so quickly, but they made me slow down and appreciate the smaller details in my life. This consequently contributed to a lot of my healing, as the smaller details would help clarify larger problems. But after I finally "broke through" and had my first "waking up" experience from them (kundalini energy rise if you will), I have to take A LOT more to get effects. And it seems that more always evens out my plateau. As if there is no "higher" place to reach, there is and always was myself. I found for me its like eating consciousness now; I just expand more and more into the universe instead of more into myself (as many of my first trips did). But I think that was because I needed to learn to love myself first, before I could expand outward.

Now I have not had a chance to try shrooma-huasca (adding an MAOI to the ingestion process) but that could kick start the whole experience into something more akin to ayahuasca. But if you're going into this with healing in mind, perhaps you may want to go about it this way.

Also it's great that your friend is growing his own crop. There is so much love and attention that goes into the mushrooms this way; it definitely contributed to my success in my alliance with mushrooms and it should for you as well.

As for harm, I would say nill. The mushroom is great not only because of how it works in your digestive process (its basically food poisoning) but after you liver breaks down pscilocin, it turns into a DMT analogous molecule, acting on the exact same receptor sites as DMT.

Good luck my friend and safe journeys. The mushroom is waiting for you!

 

[DMTripper]

Keep this attitude and you will be rewarded. Showing shrooms respect is key to a lot of healing. I would not be alive if it wasn't for shrooms.
I've had I think 4-5 trips this year and the last one was actually last monday and all my trips are absolutely fantastic Well I had one a bit difficult in august but that was because the person with me went through a very hard lesson. Well the bloke eats only hamburgers, fries and candy so I wasn't surprised he got very sick and went on a very bad trip.

Psilocybe semilanceata grow wild where I live so I've actually never tried any other but I have 16 years of experience whit these little fellas and I love them. We are very good friends I usually dose around 2 - 2.5 grams and that's quite mellow for me now days. These are more potent than the golden teachers so I think it might be around 4 grams maybe of the cubes.

I think I read somewhere that psylocibin is less toxic than caffeine so they're very safe if you know what you're doing.

Keep up the good work and good luck with future travels

 

[Eternity]

Thank you for the great replies my friends,

Cubensis especially has the power to be abused due to its accessibility, so your heart settings will be very important from what you'll take away from the trip.

Thank you for bringing up this point, it strikes me as being very important. A colleague of mine at work caught himself on a couple of occasions thinking about using regular low doses to improve his overall zest for life and as an anti-depressant, but upon further examination he regrettably admitted that this might stem from some deep, hidden desire for escapism. So I can see how it is very easy to slip into a pattern of abuse (albeit with a very good excuse or "lying to yourself" ). I would like to ask you what how you keep such desires at bay, as they will obviously pop up from time to time - we are human after all! I assume that, as you mentioned, having a good set or ritual is a good start.

But it took me about a year of use and integration before I really could call the mushrooms an ally. They were very rough on me at first because I was expecting so much knowledge so quickly, but they made me slow down and appreciate the smaller details in my life.

I would be curious to know how many times per month/year you were dosing yourself. Also, I would kindly like to ask that you expand on what you mean by the mushrooms being "rough" on you at first. Was this in terms of intense experiences, difficulty dealing with daily social existence, or something else altogether?

I would not be alive if it wasn't for shrooms.

Thank you for the encouragement DMTripper, it is very motivating to hear from time to time! I would be very interested to know (if you are comfortable recounting) what you mean when you say that you would not be alive if it wasn't from shrooms. It must be nice to have wild shrooms growing around where you live

 

[camdemonium]

Mushrooms MADE me become a vegetarian, and this was only on a low dose (1 gram) experience.

I feel that microdosing with cubensis will really put you on the right path, i have yet to have a bad experience with mushrooms, i LOVE them and they LOVE me.

They are the best teacher IMO (although i have yet to brew ayahuasca, i am growing chacruna and caapi right now), and if you truly listen to them, they will show you how to walk the path to enlightenment.

 

[KwisatzHaderach]

Thank you for bringing up this point, it strikes me as being very important. A colleague of mine at work caught himself on a couple of occasions thinking about using regular low doses to improve his overall zest for life and as an anti-depressant, but upon further examination he regrettably admitted that this might stem from some deep, hidden desire for escapism. So I can see how it is very easy to slip into a pattern of abuse (albeit with a very good excuse or "lying to yourself" ). I would like to ask you what how you keep such desires at bay, as they will obviously pop up from time to time - we are human after all! I assume that, as you mentioned, having a good set or ritual is a good start.

As you said we are definitely human and sometimes its easy to get tempted when we are curious, or think we have mastered something. As I had my own crop and hang out with a lot of psychedelic awareness, I found myself sometimes wanted to push the limit and take some mushrooms to go out and party. But after a really intense experience at a concert, I found that I would rather enjoy the mushroom solo or with a few journeymen. I try to save my social mushroom use to settings where it is acceptable and other's are participating (burning man or small group settings). But as I said, it's just placing the mushroom into part of your life and like it's mycelium, it will slowly find a niche of when and when not to use them.

I would be curious to know how many times per month/year you were dosing yourself. Also, I would kindly like to ask that you expand on what you mean by the mushrooms being "rough" on you at first. Was this in terms of intense experiences, difficulty dealing with daily social existence, or something else altogether?

I was taking ~2g trips at least once a month if not more. The reason I say it was rough at first, because I completely did not respect the substance at first. I remember my first trip, we all went out to the desert Doors style, and I was expecting to see colors and cartoons and stuff. But the mushrooms were like "you wanna see things, how about your own death?" And I really experienced the death process for the first time. After that, I slowed my pace down a lot and started with lower doses working my way up. I never had any real problems integrating, but the experience itself would have a huge range of emotion from terrifying to complete bliss.

Good luck my friend, I hope that helps

 

[PsilocybeChild]

Psilocybin, psilocin and psilocybian mushrooms have very low toxicity - in tests with mice, doses up to 200 mg of pure psilocybin/kg of body weight have been injected intravenously without lethal effects (that would be 13 grams of pure psilocybin per average human (65 kg / 140 lbs). The LD50:ED50 ratio (dose lethal to 50% of animals divided by the dose effective for 50% of animals) 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. According to Leo Hollister, Jonathon Ott, and John W. Allen, one would have to consume their body weight in fresh mushrooms or eat approximately 19 grams of the pure chemical substance to bring on death. As long as Psilocybin mushrooms are properly identified, poisoning is not a problem.

http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_faq.shtml