DOSE:	1.1 g	oral	Mushrooms - P. cubensis	(dried)
		smoked	Cannabis

BODY WEIGHT:

60 kg

As of April 2021, it’s been almost two years since my last experience report, and now psilocin has finally given me the opportunity to write again.

In December 2020, after a stressful pandemic year mostly devoid of social meetings, my boyfriend D and I spent a couple of days at a seaside location with a group of friends. One afternoon, we had approximately 2.0 g dried Psilocybe Cubensis each and stayed in the house and yard. I had a little less. For D and I, this was the first experience with mushrooms, and it was really nice all in all. I did not feel particularly high but we laughed a lot and had fun.

After this experience, D became interested in growing his own mushrooms. He got in touch with someone who sold him all the necessary equipment and spores, and he gave it a try. Approximately two months after starting the process, he began harvesting a few beautiful specimens each day for a couple of weeks. He dried and stored the first batch in a bag in the fridge, and he suggested we tried them the following Saturday.

The day came and so we weighed the stuff out: we just wanted to try them out and have a mellow, controlled, low-dose experience. The mushrooms were not nearly as dry as those we’d taken at the seaside, and so we figured their psilocin mass content was going to be lower. I only took 1.1 grams, and D took 3.3 grams. He wanted to take 4.5 g but I thought it might be too much, and so he lowered his dose. The texture was not very pleasant but not unbearable either. They did not have much of a taste, maybe some bitter and salty notes but not unpleasant at all. It was a little before 2 pm.

After this, we sat on the couch and smoked the remainder of a joint while we watched Dexter’s Laboratory. Less than fifteen minutes had passed and we began feeling effects: restlessness, slight color enhancement, and some discomfort. I was feeling a little anxious. We went to the bedroom to lay down for a while, and the effects became more profound. We started yawning almost incessantly, and it felt very strange. In retrospect, the feeling was similar to an Ayahuasca purge, in which the physical acts are conceived as a consequence of the flow of different “energies” and emotions. I didn’t want to move and felt very relaxed, I almost became worried I’d simply forget to breathe if I gave in completely to the experience. I was not going to do that, however, because I was only testing the mushrooms and so I wanted to observe as much as possible.

I noticed that I was feeling much more affected than I intended to: I was seeing clear moving kaleidoscopic patterns in all surfaces, which I could not voluntarily get rid of. We were about to reach the peak, a little less than 1.5h after ingestion. At this point, of course, I did not know that, and wondered how much higher we would get. I also worried about D’s dose, which was three times higher than mine, but he said he was OK. I felt simultaneously hot and cold, I could not stand still, and thoughts rushed through my head if I closed my eyes – again, all very reminiscent of Ayahuasca. I thought of my family and things that I had to do and for a while felt guilty about “wasting” an afternoon in this. Deep down, however, I knew I was unlikely to regret the experience afterwards. D and I were each in their own world, and although we both felt some degree of physical discomfort, we were not nauseous at any point. Later D told me that I one point I was kneeling on the bed and resting my face on the pillow, but I don’t remember that moment at all.

The uneasiness eventually faded, and we started to relax as we listened to music. The bodily sensations became like those under the effects of MDMA, touching one’s body felt warm and nice. The visuals were still strong and I could not focus for much. Though D and I cuddled and held each other, we did not have the mental or physical ability for taking it further at that moment. We listened to the music with our eyes closed. I felt like all my attention was on the music, being completely wrapped by it. The physical part of the trip was over after a pretty steep onset, and we were beginning to come down: my favourite part of psychedelic experiences. One of our cats came to the bed with us, and we spent some minutes observing his fluctuating fur pattern and caressing him, which felt incredibly soft and satisfying. There were some stuffed animal toys in the room, and their “fur” also appeared to be flaming, breathing. We got some fruit to eat, which gave us a shot of energy and made us sit up. Then we started talking about our university days, got carried away and started laughing at many of the things we remembered. I cried as I laughed, feeling very euphoric and happy. I was still experiencing “waves” of visuals, but now they were under control. We got out of bed and to the living room and D rolled a joint while I laid on the floor. We listened to more music, dancey in this case, and we watched space experiment videos and bloopers. We also observed our cats, which got into ridiculous fights and played with each other, making us laugh.

When sunset came, at around 6.30 pm, we put some stoner rock on and watched the beautiful colors from our balcony. It was relaxing and cozy. We went to bed, and this time we did have sex, which was smooth and special. Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd and finally The Doors played in the background. We cuddled in the dark for a long time until the music was over, at about 9 pm.
We got up and made some soup, now feeling a very pleasant lightness in our bodies. We were in a great mood too. My mind felt clear, as if it had been rebooted, and I did not longer feel anxious. I had a feeling of acknowledging my current expectations and responsibilities without feeling overwhelmed by them, no less in the global context of a pandemic. We relaxed for the rest of the night, and fell into a deep sleep at around 1 am. D told me he had specially vivid dreams, full of color.

The following day no abrupt comedown took place (as some report to be the case with MDMA), but quite the contrary, a pleasant afterglow feeling was evident. I started my Sunday with a Yoga session, and carried out many activities during the day, like preparing a class, reading and cooking. I even rehearsed for a talk I had to give the following week and was surprised to discover that it came out much better than in previous attempts. I felt more focused, motivated and confident.

On Monday I gave two virtual lectures, which I enjoyed very much, as I was particularly motivated. I felt like I was getting my points across and that the students were engaged. Later, I did some Yoga and also felt more flexible and balanced than usual. D and I cooked new meals for dinner, which were a success.

Still on Tuesday I could feel euphoric effects as I drove to work singing and enjoying the sound of music and the sunny weather with a special sensibility. My talk went great and, although it ended up being a tough week for unrelated reasons, I felt reasonably productive and satisfied with my mood and activities. I felt like this mushroom experience helped me find some peace in very troubled times. The feeling of renewal that came with it was refreshing and allowed me to see things from a different perspective, taking one thing at a time and not worrying about what’s not really under my control. If I feel burnout again in a couple of months, I will certainly repeat this experience, always in a controlled setting.

The mushrooms were much more potent than we had estimated. Although they indeed were not as dry as the ones we had eaten before, they were also very recently harvested, and so we think that the psilocin/psilocybin level was relatively high. This makes dose guessing not really reliable. In the future, I’d definitely like to try lower amounts to explore the effect threshold.

Exp Year: 2021	ExpID: 115432
Gender: Female
Age at time of experience: 29
Published: May 13, 2021	Views: 1,856
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Mushrooms - P. cubensis (66) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), General (1)