DOSE:	3.0 g	oral	Mushrooms - P. cubensis	(dried)
		smoked	Cannabis	(plant material)

BODY WEIGHT:

160 lb

I had been obsessed with the possibilities of hallucinogenic and dissociating substances from a young age. When I was very young I had an unexpected psychoactive experience… not from intentionally taking a drug but from a twist of fate, an accident. While I was being sedated under the supervision of a doctor I found myself launched into an alternate world for reasons that would never become clear. A half an hour later, when I returned to reality, I began wondering if I would ever find a way to return once again to a private mirror universe.

Now I had finally decided to conduct an entheogenic experiment. After years of interest in altered states of the mind, hindered by an upbringing that made chemical self-exploration most impractical, I had come upon sacred mushrooms and was ready. Why did I want to do this? Why take this legal risk and enter this unknown situation? I’m not a very spiritual person, though I’d like to become one. But I am an artist, and my intellectual curiosity for the possibilities of the senses and of the mind drove me to explore. Maybe there’s a better possible “me” that I could see from a distance and learn to be. Maybe there are other worlds besides this one. Maybe there are better ways to see this world. There were things I simply had to know.

My research told me Psilocybin would be a relatively safe starting point for hallucinogenic adventure. Two friends of mine, who I will call J and W, helped me obtain an eighth ounce of mushrooms for myself, as well as an equal amount for each of them. They were large, dried mushrooms of the cubensis variety, carefully raised and high quality. We set aside a day for the experience without having any other obligations, and we prepared our environment with appropriate movies, music, and ideas.

The mushrooms were taken on peanut butter sandwiches, which J told me was one of the better ways to consume it. It must have been, I was expecting difficulty eating them and keeping them down, but I didn't even taste them. I felt the texture of the mushrooms crunching in my mouth, but the taste was completely masked by the peanut butter. It went down easily, and it stayed down, no nausea whatsoever. I ate half of the dose, then waited twenty minutes or so to ensure I felt alright and to reduce possible nausea. Then I finished the rest of the three grams. Shortly after finishing my dose, I felt the entheogens beginning to go to work.

I felt a warmth under my skin, an almost tangible presence which started in my fingertips, the tips of my toes, and especially in my stomach where the mushrooms now were. I felt the warmth slowly creeping up my arms from my fingers, up my legs from my toes, and up my torso from my stomach towards my head. I realized this was the essence or consciousness of the mushroom spores spreading throughout my body. I found it warming, exciting and comforting as it slowly creeped by. It was precisely localized, I could have pointed with my finger to indicate how far it had crept and how fast it was moving. When it finally passed into my head and washed over my face, the experience started.

At first when it entered my head and eyes, the intensity was a little uncomfortable. My face became very flushed and my eyes watered badly. I rubbed my eyes, unable to see much of anything. W reported no ill effects whatsoever. J, on the other hand, similarly had a brief struggle to deal with as the mycelium took hold, but in his case it was nausea, one out of the three of us got sick. But his sickness was over within five to ten minutes, and my eye watering ended after the same short interval. I kept my cool through it and after struggling through that initial resistance, I felt the substance merging with me and becoming accepted. My eyes abruptly cleared up, just as quickly as they had gotten watery.

When my vision had returned and I looked over at J, who had just returned to the room, his face appeared to be covered by swirls. It was as if dozens of invisible suction points were moving across his face, and around those points the colors and lines of his face were twisted into spirals. Everything was run through this spiral filter, but still identifiable nonetheless. I could interact with my surroundings with surprising ease in spite of this. I could walk and talk without difficulty, felt like I was unhurt and in control. The forms of sensory distortion changed continuously, distortion patterns emphasizing spiral shapes would blend and reshape, forming triangles, circles, or diamonds for a few minutes before returning to spirals. All objects seemed continually to be moving, breathing, or shimmering as if made of liquid. Depth perception was effected too, objects in the foreground of the room would appear to pop out cartoonishly. Walls sunk back and looked fake. Music sounded absolutely wonderful, with borderline synaesthetic effects.

These ever changing and pleasant distortions continued for a few hours, and we found in that period of time that Psilocybin is an extremely social and emotional substance. We took turns talking impassionedly about fascinating subjects, or subjects that seemed fascinating to us at the moment. We discussed everything from the things we were seeing, to the fact that millions upon millions of spores had just sacrificed themselves to the whims of three larger organisms. We talked about ourselves, our careers, our friendships, and our relationships to the world and to other organisms. I went into the bathroom at one point and made a point of looking at my eyes and my face in the mirror. It seemed that the psychedelic state was visible in my eyes, giving them a radical appearance. My face was softened into a childlike expression of awed wonder, most people who saw me at that time would say I looked “high”. As far as I was concerned, I just looked perfect and beautiful.

When the experience began to enter a decline, we smoked a little cannabis, and it seemed to re-energize and extend the experience somewhat. When it finally faded, all I could think was that I loved this state of consciousness for what it was, and I was glad I had gone with a full dose.

Aside from a five minute struggle with minor discomfort at the beginning of the experience, there were no distressing effects and no negative after effects. I consider the experience to have been a great success, and almost exactly what I had been aiming for. I felt closer to my friends and told them I'd love to do this again. I'd recommend psilocybin cubensis as a starting point to other able-minded explorers looking for a deep and beautiful first psychedelic experience. Wonderful little organisms, these Psilocybins!

Exp Year: 2006	ExpID: 66152
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Oct 27, 2007	Views: 17,428
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Mushrooms - P. cubensis (66) : Small Group (2-9) (17), First Times (2)