DOSE:	2 g	oral	Mushrooms	(tea)
		oral	Ginger	(tea)
		smoked	Cannabis

BODY WEIGHT:

160 lb

Mushroom Ceremony - First Time User

Let me start this report by saying that I am not a heavy drug user. In fact the only substance I tried before this one was marijuana. Marijuana made me paranoid and anxious at one point, but I believe having the right mindset and being with the right people has changed that over the years (Just breath! I realized I used to stop breathing right before I had a panic attack). That being said, environment played a very important role in my mushroom trip. The whole thing was rather spur of the moment actually, and happened after my hippie friends asked me if I wanted to take part in a “healing ceremony”. I had one day to mull it all over, and I decided I wanted to take part in the experience.

The day of I had sushi around 6 o'clock after work (12 pieces) and went to my friend's house, so I didn't do it on an empty stomach like some recommend. My friend boiled the shrooms into a tea with a thumb of ginger, and a few tablespoons of chagga (Just for flavour I think). He turned the whole thing into a ceremony which was really comforting, and interesting too. He burned Sage and wafted it into the corners of every room in the apartment which calmed some of my nerves. There were 5 people present, I was the only non experienced one. My friend's wife led the ceremony calling in her guides, spirits and protectors into the room. Then we did a sea of Om's as a group (where everyone starts Om-ing and then starts a new one so they all blend together until you reach a natural conclusion) which really calmed me down. My friends explained to me that it was really important to honour the plant, and respect it as a mind expanding medicine instead of a drug, and to thank the earth. I viewed the whole thing like I was saying grace before dinner.

We poured ourself our first cup of tea and drank it. Then we sang some improvised songs about mushrooms and lit a joint to pass around. I was worried that the marijuana would affect the experience, but they told me that marijuana affects a different part of your brain, and reflecting on it that's how I feel too (I would be curious to try the experience “clean” though without weed). After about 20 minutes we had our second cup of tea from the same batch (10 grams total between 5 people - 2G each). After the tea we ate the mushrooms left over. It may have been in my head because of excitement but the first bite sent tingles through my mouth. Both the tea and the mushrooms tasted totally fine to me, and didn't upset my stomach.

After about 45 minutes I started to feel something. The trip came in waves for me. I wasn't sure if I was high or not at first, but things seemed strange. We left the house and went on a walk to the forest nearby. The 4 blocks there were really interesting. If I could describe the experience I would say that everything looked important. Like all the flowers in gardens looked special, and the trees looked like they were markers on some important quest. When we got to the forest the path was like a giant tunnel leading you in. We walked for a ways until we came to a bench and sat in the forest. I took my shoes off and looked off into the woods. Everything seemed to have life to it and be moving and responding to us being there. I felt like the woods could spit something out at us like a bear or a man or an animal out of the ferns, and if I went too deep that it would swallow me up. Looking up at the canopy above I would notice a pattern and the whole thing would stick out and shock me for a minute, then fade away. We walked out of the forest and back to the house. All the houses in a row jumped out to me like a crazy pattern and I found it strange that we organize ourselves in grids.

At 2 grams of mushrooms for me, I felt like I had a fair degree of control over the experience - like I could have a normal conversation if my parents phoned me, but then a minute later be tripping out staring at the ceiling if I wanted to. Which I wanted to. I lay down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling where I got the most intense visuals 2 or 3 hours in (the stucco looked like growing towers). The whole experience lasted maybe 4 or 5 hours, but I was still a little cut by the time I went to bed. My friends said that food would break the high, eating something, which wasn't true for me (I was staring at my soup entranced by the vegetables floating around in it). We listened to music and that was important for me. Listening to good music set the theme of the room – I felt like it was about what was happening in the room! It vibrated through me, and altered my mood and experience in a powerful way. If I were listening to bad music, or something too intense it might have freaked me out or put me in a bad headspace.

During and after the trip I wished that I had taken a few more grams of mushrooms. It wasn't intense enough for me personally and I felt like I could handle more. If I were to do them again I might try ingesting 3 - 4 grams, without Marijuana (so I would know what was affecting me). Over all I had a lot of enlightening realizations during the experience – I realized I have a choice over my perspective, state of mind and experience with anything in life (Point of view affects a lot), and also that we are all interconnected in a latticework.This melted a lot of fear and stigma I have in general and towards plant medicines, and in the weeks since I have felt more upbeat about life in general.

Also on a side note – some side effects I have been experiencing in the weeks since (while totally sober): Occasionally I will catch a glimpse of something at the edge of my peripheral vision like an aura, or something moving like a shadow or light. LED lights look brighter than normal. I occasionally get subtle flashes across my vision like a spark of electricity. All of these things don't really bother me at all and I am a fairly big hypochondriac most of the time. Also I thought mushrooms might affect my brain power, creativity or ability to perform, but I felt totally back to normal after 24 hours (just a little tired :))

I would DEFINITELY repeat this experience at some point in the future! With more mushrooms next time!

Exp Year: 2014	ExpID: 104068
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 23
Published: Jan 29, 2021	Views: 1,178
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Mushrooms (39) : Combinations (3), First Times (2), Group Ceremony (21)