DOSE:	3 g	oral	Mushrooms
		smoked	Cannabis	(plant material)

BODY WEIGHT:

140 lb

Journey from Reality
I am always eager to try new things, sort of. Anything drug related I’m willing to give a shot on the condition the positives are better than the negatives. I had been reading up on mushrooms and psychedelics for quite a while, eager to try them. My friend H had gotten a 10g sack of shrooms he was planning on taking during Marley Fest 2009. I and four other of my friends decided to do the same.

We all convened at one of my friend’s house to take the shrooms. They were dried, withered looking, and small. The plan was to eat them and come up when we reached Marley Fest. H started to boil some water to make a tea. We tried, unsuccessfully, to use a coffee filter as a tea bag when we poured the water over the mushrooms. Eventually all the mushrooms ended up in a glass being stirred by H. The tea mixture looked rather disgusting. It was dark grey, rather opaque, and chunky. After passing through another coffee filter with a tea bag added, we declared it drinkable. The drink was warm, red, tea-smelling. I took two huge gulps right away and thought to myself “this isn’t bad”; it tasted just like warm tea. The subsequent sip I had was worse, almost nauseous. We had fished out all the actual mushrooms and placed them on a napkin for eating. H tried to eat them raw but had a difficult time chewing and swallowing. I put mine between some bread and peanut butter as did everyone else. It could have used some jelly.

[Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it!]
About 15 minutes later we were pushed outside after someone’s mom came home. I was sitting in the seat of a truck, doors open, talking to my friend when I noticed something felt odd. I couldn’t tell if I was still high or if the shrooms had kicked in. Make a quick note here, any substance taken as a liquid gets absorbed into the body twice as fast since the stomach has no solids to break down. We eventually started driving downtown. About five minutes in my friend commented that she had lost her phone and wanted to drive back and get it, we didn’t.

I remember reading online of a mushroom trip being described as “THE COLORS!”, much as an mdma trip being described as “THESE CLOTHES!” I could understand what they meant. Riding down the highway I had noticed everything seemed brighter, colors more vibrant. Everything, when examined carefully, had an aura of rainbow over it - a highlighting of the edges. I even made a comment one time “it’s really bright for a sun,” regarding the brightness of everything. The clouds took on shapes of “cloud birds” whose movement resembled that of those small 3d books you looked at as kids. Looking at different angles seemed to move the 3d object, but not much. There was also a train we passed which seemed to go on forever. All the train cars were blue and they stretched to infinity.

We eventually made it downtown into a parking garage. Getting out of the truck, my entire body felt like a jelly. I was very wavy although I had no trouble standing. I had read other reports of people experiencing patterning in objects. Frankly, I had no idea what this meant until I started walking out of the garage. In my peripherals it seemed everything turned into fractals, small patterns repeating everywhere. I saw a lot of lights being criss-crossed even though I couldn’t directly look at them. My vision, too, seemed to be improved. Movement in my peripheral vision was increased. I felt like I could see around my entire head, 360°. It was as if someone had cleaned my eyes.

I couldn’t have made it to the actual stage without my friends leading me. I was taken aback by all the new sights and sounds even though I had seen most of it before.

We had to cross this bridge to get to the festival. Standing at one side, it seemed to stretch forever, much like the train cars from earlier. By now I was very hot, like I was being baked by a desert sun. I was carrying the blanket we were going to sit on and while we were walking it felt as if I was dropping it. I must have readjusted it 20 times throughout our walk even though nothing was wrong in the first place. We also managed to lose H a few times; he kept walking slower and stopping. Many people passed us on our way there. It looked like we were travelers coming across other travelers, each going to their own destination. I was thinking that each glance I had at a traveler would probably be my last. We saw part of the festival from the bridge; there were clouds of smoke over it.

At the gates of the festival I managed to fish out $20 from my wallet, getting $5 in change. We walked a few feet in and found a spot to plant ourselves. I was really tired and unmotivated to do anything so I simply threw the blanket down for myself. I almost sat on it until someone took it from me and proceeded to unfold it for everyone else. I was glad that I didn’t have to do anything because frankly, I was incapable. We sat down and began to listen to the music, someone commented on our location as a dead spot and how the music couldn’t be heard very well. I didn’t care.

By now I was an hour into my trip. I was getting increasingly complex visuals. Every line in my peripheral seemed to curve off into a fractal. I began to think about fractals in math and how they’re found in nature. I thought that mushrooms made my brain think in fractals: pure math. Ideas in my head would spiral. I would get an idea or emotion and it would spiral into the extreme. I had too many to recall specifically.

One thing all of us trippers had in common was that we liked looking at people. We camped next to a people highway of sorts. All the people coming and going would walk past us on this path. People’s facial features were exaggerated. I recall seeing many people with stretched stomachs, legs, and arms. Eventually so many people were moving past me it seemed as if they were a river. The river’s source was in the direction of the stage and it branched right at our spot. A small stream of people went to my left while the majority went to my right, towards the exit. I stared at this river for a while until I realized the blanket we were sitting on was a raft and we too, were in this river.

The skylines I remember seeing of the festival were these two large buildings, one with a construction crane on it. The buildings, along with the sky, seemed grainy and two dimensional. It’s as if the sky was merely a giant mural someone had painted. By now it had gotten dark. I stared at the stars and few clouds but don’t remember much. A few of my friends were trying to talk to me, but I felt scared each time they did, I wanted to be left alone.

One of my elementary school friends had traveled past us and stopped by to say hello. He looked very different than when I last saw him 7 years ago (who wouldn’t). I knew that I was supposed to know him but I had no idea who he was at the time. After he had left I asked my friend who he was. His reply was “are you serious you don’t remember”? I felt as if I was put on the spotlight and everyone was looking at me (they weren’t). This fear of being stared at spiraled and I started to get scared. After the talking stopped I reminded myself I was just tripping and I was still tethered to reality.

At some point my friend noted we were supposed to go back for a cell phone but didn’t. I remembered that we were supposed to do that, just not when it occurred.

One of the deep insights I had while on this experience was that I could visualize peoples souls based on their behaviors and actions. But before I explain this I must explain the science I had behind it.

Imagine if you will a two dimensional world. Its inhabitants know two things, left (width) and right (height). They know nothing of the words up or down for they have absolutely no meaning. If a normal 3D person was to pass through this two dimensional world it would seem quite strange to these 2D inhabitants. They would see a cross-section of our bodies as we skimmed through this world. Starting with a very small circle (the top of our head), getting wider until it reached our chest where it would form two circles around an oval (our two arms aside our chest). Eventually it would reach two circles for our legs, then our footprints, and finally nothing as we passed through their world. A four dimensional object would exhibit the same display as it passed through our world. It would appear as a blob of matter with different colors and shapes until it eventually disappeared. Now here’s how it ties into my visualization.

People in their normal behaviors are two dimensional. They perform all these actions that society deems normal. When visiting another world on a psychedelic, their actions take on a new shape. To normal people, these actions look quite odd. They would see a person staring into space, making strange movements, and describing objects that didn't exist. These actions make no sense to normal people; much like a 3D object makes no sense to a 2D individual. I imagined psychedelics as starter kits for people wishing to journey into another spiritual dimension. I thought that maybe there was some wise individual who could make this journey by his own accord, without any outside substance. He truly must be a god.

The music of the festival also brought an inspiration to me. The group playing was the Skatalites. They consisted of about 10 people playing different instruments ranging from keyboard to saxophone. Individually, they all played their part in producing music. Their collaborative efforts produced a song, a whole. To a normal person this song is merely one object. To the trained ear one can pick out individual parts of an object, the keyboard, the saxophone, the trombone, and listen to each one individually. Therefore this “one” song is actually many pieces put together, much like a puzzle, to form “one.” I began to think about life, humans, nature. When viewing earth, nature can be seen as this one object. But with closer scrutiny, there are millions of parts to it. Everyone and everything on earth had its own job to do. Much like the musicians on the stage, each had their own part to play. Each one had their own thing to do. For example, the drummer was meant to keep time and rhythm; it’s what the drummer was meant to do – drum and nothing else. It had a purpose, much like everything else had a purpose. I tried to think of what mine was but I couldn’t think of one (lol). Once I had finished thinking about everything, I felt an overwhelming sense of what I can only describe as “oneness”. I felt connected to everyone and everything at the festival and I was happy

Since this was Marley fest, weed had to be consumed. I tried a few times to try and smoke out of a handcrafted Bawls pipe my friend made, I’m not quite sure if I had taken in any smoke. I was quick to pass it since I had no idea what I was doing.

I had also brought the camera but couldn’t think of anything worth recording. It was all happening inside my head, and I couldn’t record that. I remember turning the camera on, and opening up the screen. I had stared at the screen for a while when I realized that it wasn’t actually “real.” I had taken my attention of the screen back into the real world. The screen was merely a projection of what was actually going on. I turned it off promptly.

For a while I had gotten quite scared of where I was. I kept thinking how I was going to get home and how everything was going to work. I kept telling myself to trust my past self, who was sober, because he had laid this whole plan out and knew it was going to work. I debated this inside my head for about an hour when I noticed only 5 minutes had passed on my watch.

Towards the end of the festival I was growing quite hungry. My friend and I managed to get the motivation to stand up and journey towards the corndog stand. Ordering was the hardest part. I ended up getting four corndogs and three drinks. I assumed water would be free like it is at any other restaurant but it wasn’t. The total cost came to about $23 but I didn’t mind at the time. I was focused on the cashier, who told me “you need three more dollars” about 20 times. I was quick to get out of the way, the line seemed to stretch on 30 deep and I was afraid I was holding it up. On the way back to our site my friend had discussed the exact same thing.

The festival came to an end and most of the people had left. We had about three false starts when leaving but eventually everyone mustered up the energy to stand up and go. We bought a blunt as we left and smoked it on the way back. A few people questioned how to get to our vehicle but I somehow knew the exact way. It’s as if my subconscious was quietly paying attention during my entire trip, taking notes on where I was, saving them for when I actually needed them. A sort of tether to reality. By now I was simply high from the blunt. The ride home was quiet, as was my journey upstairs. Minutes still felt like forever as I listened to Metal Fingers before I knocked out.

I didn’t realize how much of an effect environment can have on a trip. Constantly thinking about bad things will take my trip in a downwards spiral while happy thoughts uplift me into the clouds. I’m not sure I’ll trip in a public place again. I am however looking forward to a combination of mushrooms + mdma, maybe eventually acid if I can find it. This trip has again opened my eyes and expanded my brain. I’ll definitely do it again.

Exp Year: 2009	ExpID: 78443
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 14, 2018	Views: 957
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Mushrooms - P. cubensis (66) : Festival / Lg. Crowd (24), Glowing Experiences (4), First Times (2), General (1)