DOSE:

2 caps

oral

Amanitas - A. muscaria

(dried)

BODY WEIGHT:

175 lb

The following report is a first-time recollection of my experience with Amanitas Muscaria, or the Fly Agaric mushroom. My past drug experience at the time was mostly, and still is, in its infancy: alcohol (daily), cannabis (a handful of times), Adderall (once or twice) and legal substances like Kratom and nootropics.

I had been going through a spiritual awakening at the time. Being raised in an every-Sunday church household, I had slowly become less and less religious in my adult life to a point where I would at times state that I was a full atheist. However, I still searched for answers to my existence. I started studying multiple traditions in Hinduism, Buddhism, Shamanism, you name it. I still read Biblical scriptures from time to time to attempt to make sure something wasn't coming back to me that I had missed before. I mostly agreed with a lot of the points being made in my non-religious/atheist readings, but I felt that much of the experience of spirituality and consciousness was being ignored. I started to expand my reading to no assumptions or conclusions and eventually landed on an interesting theory from James Arthur about the Amanitas Muscaria being the basis of the Christian religion, as well as Christmas and other traditions. I had to learn from this mushroom myself.

I ordered 1 oz (28g) of Washington State caps from an ethnobotanical site that I had ordered from before. I planned to shoot between 5-10g with a friend who had a lot of experience with psilocybin, but not Amanitas. We didn't have a scale, but there were about 7-8 caps of medium size within the ounce, so we each ate one of the largest caps and also a smaller one. My friend had smoked cannabis daily and I had read that it could aid with the nausea, but he was not able to hold it down within the first half hour. I felt the nausea and mouth-salivating come on strong, but I was more prepared for it as I had read to expect it. I also tried to keep a mostly empty stomach most of the day to help absorb the mushrooms quicker. The taste wasn't far from most mushrooms, but the texture and nausea are rather hard to forget, even weeks or months later.

I can't exactly record the times of each occurrence after about an hour, when the effects started to kick in. Sense of time seems to melt away with the oncoming effects. I remember starting to feel very intoxicated, like at the end of a long night of drinking. I decided to lay on my back on the ground and close my eyes. I may have fallen asleep for a moment, but next thing I knew, I was in a full psychedelic breakthrough of bliss.

My friend had decided to play some old tunes he had written on his guitar. I am also a musician, playing almost daily and performing 2-3 times a month. As he played the songs, I felt more a part of my friend's music and his body than my own. I knew my body was lying down, but I had a total disregard for it. My friend had turned the air conditioner up and it was ice cold, but it didn't bother me. I knew my body was too cold to be lying there, but it wasn't a part of me. I felt a feeling of déjà vu, as if I had wrote the songs and I was playing the chords to myself. I was my friend. I realized I was him and he was me. After each song, I told him how much I loved each song, how good they sounded, and told him to play more. All boundaries of my ego were being ripped apart. I also recall an intense pulsing in my head, similar to a heartbeat. I was able to come back into my own after he had stopped playing, but there was something about the music that bonded a feeling of oneness. We later put in a DVD of old Les Paul footage and, once again, I felt the feeling that I was one with the music and Les, even though I had never heard anything from him. As I came down, I experienced intense muscle twitching and attempting to text my wife to tell her I was ok was near impossible. Motor skills are greatly reduced. I fell into one of the deepest sleeps of my life afterwards.

My experience with Amanita Muscaria is easily one of the most important experiences of my life. Every day I live by the example of love and oneness that it taught me - to view every human being as a part of you. I've found my experience somewhat unique from what I've read throughout other experiences. I believe there is some relation with music and possibly the cold air. I had later read about Shamans preferring their students to use certain psychedelics in the cold to enhance their experiences. These two factors were completely coincidental, which makes me wonder if the Amanita finds you. This is a mushroom that should be respected and treated with care.

Exp Year: 2014	ExpID: 105157
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 29
Published: Jun 2, 2020	Views: 947
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Amanitas - A. muscaria (70) : Glowing Experiences (4), Music Discussion (22), First Times (2), Small Group (2-9) (17)