endlessness said:
Bancopuma, i know you weren't saying that, im just using your post to ask questions as food for thought (and having a little fun in the process), since the thread title is about spirits.
Can other minor compounds in these plants/fungus affect the experience? Possibly in some cases, possibly not in other cases. Can it be that self suggestion plays a major part in people's experience regarding these experiences ? Possibly in some cases and in others possibly not.
Can we relatively easily answer this question? Yes, with double blind tests.
Got you dude! :thumb_up:
My own personal view is that the modulatory role of secondary metabolites in mushrooms is overlooked and/or downplayed. All the species I have sampled so far...Psilocybe cubensis, P. semilanceata, P. cyanescens and Panaeolus cyanescens all seem to have quite distinct characters and experiential signatures to me, and this appears to be consistent and reliable between different sessions, so suggestive it is something that transcends the effects of set and setting. As well as psilocin and psilocybin, baeocystin and norbaeocystin and a few other alkaloids are also present at proportions that vary between different species. Other secondary compounds such as phenylethylamine may also modulate the effects (the latter having being detected in high levels in some samples of P. semilanceata, see linked study below). Coupled with this, species vary in their proportions of their tryptophan derivatives, the latter forming the precursors for psilocybin.
Check out this study (linked below), focussing on Panaeolus cyanescens:
All 70 collections contained psilocin, serotonin and urea. Those [mushroom samples] from Hawaii were also relatively rich in psilocybin, whereas the species from Australia and Thailand were virtually exempt from this compound. Many collections also contained detectable amounts of precursors as tryptophan, tryptamine and baeocystin, but 5-hydroxytryptophan - widely encountered in many other Panaeoloideae - was found to be absent in all samples.
...my own feeling is that the varying proportions of secondary precursor compounds (which are going to vary between species, as stated above) like tryptophan, tryptamine and baeocystin/norbaeocystin exerts a modulating effect on the experience, and gives rise to the perceived differences in experiential qualities commonly reported. Such differences become more distinct with higher dosages.
I find that Hawaiian Panaeolus cyanescens consistntly produce a much higher order experience than P. cubensis...the experience with the former is much more colourful, and qualitatively more visual, or rather more visually detailed (i.e. I notice there is a greater density of visuals than P. cubensis). P. cubensis can have a tendency to be a bit heavy, foggy and muddy...Panaeolus cyanescens I find in contrast to produce a highly clear, lucid, crystalline state of consciousness. The anxious come that can be encountered with P. cubensis, especially at larger dosages, is for me consistently muted with Panaeolus cyanescens, and they generally seem easier on the system and the body. I'm definitely not alone in these views, and there are many threads on here, the Shroomery and other forums attesting to these experiential differences. I do think some mushroom species vary more in character than others, but for me the difference in experiential quality between P. cubensis and Panaeolus cyanescens is profound, and I would welcome a blind test. My hunch is ingesting one's mushrooms in the form of tea and not consuming the mushroom matter may mute the differences to some degree, as you're going to ingest a good portion of the psilocybin in all cases but maybe leave some of the other secondary compounds behind in the mushroom matter. Part of the issue I think is potency, with P. cubensis you need to eat more to get to the equivalent level of experiential depth compared to more potent species such as Panaeolus cyanescens, so secondary compounds may be more prone to dilute the experience to some degree, which results in the more muddy, foggy effects associated with P. cubensis at times, and they are more prone to induce lethargy, likely a result of that extra fungal matter weighing one down to some degree, as it isn't easy to digest.
For what it's worth, the Mazatec and other indigenous Mexican Psilocybe using groups...who have more direct experiential knowledge of mushroom use than anyone else...take the view that the various species do have different characters and they employ them for different purposes in different situations. Certainly, I would encourage any passionate psilonauts to experiment with a range of species, there is definitely more to the mushroom world than P. cubensis, IMO.
Beck O., Helander, A., Karlson-Stiber, C. & Stephansson, N. (1999) Presence of phenylethylamine in hallucinogenic Psilocybe mushroom: possible role in adverse reactions.
Journal of Analytical Toxicology, 22, 1, 45-49.
Stijve, T. (1992) Psilocin, Psilocybin, Serotonin and Urea in Panaeolus cyanescens from various origin.
PERSOONIA, 15, (1), 117-121.