How to Shroom · The Amazing Power of Magic Mushrooms for Personal Development, Mental Health And Emotional Healing
Author: Cullen, David P.
Date: 2017-09-16T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Psychedelic Library
Description: "I felt like getting a 20-year psychotherapy in 4 hours!" **Did You Know That Psilocybin Mushrooms Are Used In Treating Psychological And Mental Disorders? Are You Curious About The Huge Potential Magic Mushrooms Can Have on Personal Growth?** Psychedelics have managed to help people open up on an emotional level, relieve stress, deal with symptoms of depression and trauma, and also connect more with their creativity. There are people who have testified to the powerful spiritual experiences that they have gone through during a trip. If this is your first time reading about psychedelic mushroom
Publisher: UNKNOWN

Table of Contents

- How to Shroom
- Table of Contents
- Chapter One: Introduction
- Chapter Two: What are Psilocybin Mushrooms?

- Chapter Three: How Can Shrooms Improve Your Life?

- Therapeutic Use
- Personal Growth
- Chapter Four: Risks and Dangers
- Chapter Five: What to Expect From the Trip

- Chapter Six: How to Take Psilocybin Mushrooms

- Chapter Seven: What to Do During the Trip
- Chapter Eight: How to Handle a Bad Trip
- Chapter Nine: FAQ
- Conclusion

How to Shroom

The Amazing Power of Magic Mushrooms for Personal Development and Mental Health
by

David P. Cullen

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: What are Psilocybin Mushrooms?

Chapter Three: How Can Shrooms Improve Your Life?

Chapter Four: Risks and Dangers
Chapter Five: What to Expect From the Trip
Chapter Six: How to Take Psilocybin Mushrooms
Chapter Seven: What to Do During the Trip
Chapter Eight: How to Handle a Bad Trip
Chapter Nine: FAQ
Conclusion

Chapter One: Introduction

Yes, you read correctly. No, this is not a joke. This book really is about “magic mushrooms” and their ability to promote personal growth, and assist with the treatment of mental health issues.

Mental health is something that is extremely relevant to the generation that we live in. In the last few years we have seen more active conversations on depression, anxiety, and other conditions that affect one’s mental health. The stigma around these topics are dropping as people become more accepting of the fact that people have issues that they are struggling with and simply telling them to “get over it” will not help them recover. The world is starting to accept that there are systems that need to be put in place in order for people to easily access the help they need in order to overcome their mental conditions.

Professionals are encouraging people to reach out and seek the help they need in order to become better, and people are responding to this encouragement. We have seen a boost in the number of people who are seeking professional help, for their mental battles, across the world. There is, of course, room for improvement but the small victories will be celebrated for the meanwhile. More people are starting to understand the importance of seeking the counsel of psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. instead of trying to figure everything out on their own. The ideal situation would be for everyone in the world to be able to seek help wherever they are – regardless of their social and financial standing. For the meanwhile, the battle continues to be fought whilst more awareness on mental health is spread across the globe.

One of the problems, however, that we are seeing in this day when it comes to the treatment of mental health is the way professionals rush to prescribe harmful medication to patients. Antidepressants, relief tablets, sleeping tablets, and other forms of medicinal treatments may seem like the solution on the surface, but research has shown that these products are known to build an unhealthy dependency in patients. The side effects of this medication are known to cause a great deal of harm to these patients than good. Yes, there are instances where medication has helped patients deal with the effects of their mental illnesses. But I believe that the bad outweighs the good when it comes to pharmaceutical medication. I’m not saying that I am entirely against pharmaceutical medication, but from what I’ve seen, I believe that there are other alternatives that mental health patients can try instead.

The problem with medication is that the calming and relieving effects that they dispense only last for a while. If a person wants to feel better all the time, they end up becoming dependent on their medication. Most mental illnesses are a result of a chemical imbalance inside an individual’s brain. When you pump a person with more chemicals, they interfere with the brain’s functioning – hence the extreme side effects that some patients tend to experience.

There is no set cure for mental illness. Every patient responds differently to treatment but there is one thing that I know for sure. Natural and alternative medication tends to have a less harmful effect on the human body, in comparison to the synthetic chemicals that patients are required to ingest.

When people think about “magic mushrooms”, their minds tend to go to the worst-case scenarios. “Magic mushrooms” are viewed in the same light as harmful substances such as ecstasy, cocaine, etc. But this is not the case here. Psilocybin mushrooms, also known as shrooms , are capable of being a therapeutic remedy for anxiety and depression – as well as other clinical diseases.

I want to encourage you to read this book with an open mind. If you have any preconceived notions on the concept of using psilocybin mushrooms, I’d like you to hang them up while you read this book. The media has put in a great deal of effort to make the use of shrooms sound like one of the worst things a person can do. There have been multiple campaigns speaking against the use of psychedelic herbs. This is understandable, considering the risks and dangers of these things, but it is not accurate. To only offer one perspective on a subject is not the right way to go about things.

The purpose of this book is to take you through the benefits that psilocybin mushrooms will have on your health. This book, however, is not a form of propaganda that aims to get you to only believe in what I believe. I understand that the usage of psilocybin mushrooms comes with its own set of risks and dangers, and this book will speak about those too. This book was not written to promote reckless usage of psilocybin mushrooms. You will find that this book is well-informed and fairly written.

All I ask is that you receive this topic with an open mind before you make any harsh judgement. If there wasn’t solid information to back up the usage of shrooms to recover, I would not be writing this book.

Psychedelics have managed to help people open up on an emotional level, relieve stress, deal with symptoms of depression and trauma, and also connect more with their creativity.

There are people who have testified to the powerful spiritual experiences that they have gone through during a trip.

If this is your first time reading about psychedelic mushrooms and their usage, you have found the right material to study. Think of this book as a safe and friendly way for you to learn more about this alternative form of healing. Your mind will be opened to a different kind of recovery.

Hopefully, by the end of this book, you will have a more open understanding of the benefits of using shrooms to aid your personal development

Chapter Two: What are Psilocybin Mushrooms?

Psilocybin mushrooms are known by a couple of other names – magic mushrooms, shrooms, etc. Heads up: I will be using these names interchangeably.

A Brief History on Shrooms

According to archaeological evidence from various locations – the Sahara desert being one of them – human beings have been using shrooms (hallucinogenic mushrooms) for at least seven thousand years or more.

Mushrooms have been depicted in prehistoric art from a number of geographic regions. It is believed that they were used in various religious ceremonies.

According to Terence McKenna, an American ethnobotanist, there is evidence that suggests that humans from prehistoric times (pre-human hominids, early humans, etc.) used to ingest hallucinogenic mushrooms, crediting their advancements in intelligence and creativity to their diet. I will note that his hypothesis was met with a lot of doubt within the scientific community, but this is definitely something worth considering.

Think about it for a second. Prehistoric humans were known for making great innovations that went beyond their times. Though the evidence to McKenna’s hypothesis might be lacking gravitas, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to discover that the early man used to get a trip from shrooms.

There is solid evidence of the extensive use of psilocybin in South American history – mainly coming from the culture of the Mayans and the Aztecs (these regions are known as Mexico and Guatemala today).

Types of Mushrooms

“Psilocybin mushroom” is the name given to the fungus that contains psilocybin. Psilocybin is a naturally occurring compound that is known to possess a psychedelic effect – it is capable of causing hallucinations and a deeper expansion of one’s consciousness. There isn’t just one type of psilocybin mushrooms – on the contrary. There are over 180 species of mushrooms that are known to contain psilocybin or psilocin (a derivative of psilocybin).

Psilocybe cubensis (also known as golden tops, cubes, and/or golden caps)

This form of mushroom is known to contain large amounts of psilocybin and psilocin. This type of mushroom is one of the most well-known magic mushrooms because of its wide availability. Golden tops are also easy to cultivate. The mushroom’s cap is typically a reddish brown, attached to a stem that is either white or yellow in color. Its flesh turns a bluish color when it is trampled, crushed, or bruised. When it comes to size you will find golden tops on the larger side. Some people use this bruising as a way to identify the mushroom but this isn’t the safest way to identify them. There are a poisonous types of mushrooms that are known to bruise the same way golden tops bruise. Psilocybe cubensis is commonly found in climates that are moist and humid, growing on the fecal matter (dung) of grazing animals (e.g. cows).

Psilocybe semilanceata (also known as the liberty cap)

This magic mushroom is known to contain psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin. The liberty cap is known to be one of the most widely spread shrooms. One should also care to know that liberty caps are among one of the most potent types of shrooms, known to take users on very powerful trips. Liberty caps are known for their conical or bell-shaped cap that has a nipple-like projection on the top. The color of liberty caps often range from yellow to a dingy brown color. When these mushrooms mature, their color fades to a lighter shade. The stems of liberty caps are known to be long and slender; they are also the same color (or a little bit lighter) as the cap of the mushroom. Liberty cap spores are known to go from a cream color to a dark purple-brown when they mature.

Liberty caps are found in damp, grassland areas – the wetter the better. But unlike golden tops ( psilocybin cubensis ), liberty caps do not grow on animal dung. They are found in the ground, where they feed off of the decaying roots of surrounding grass. Liberty caps are often mistaken for another type of mushroom – Psilocybe pelliculosa. Psilocybe pelliculosa , however, has a much weaker effect than liberty caps.

Psilocybe baeocystis (also known as bottle caps, knobby tops, blue bells, or olive caps)

Like liberty caps, this magic mushroom is known to possess psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin. The cap of this shrooms ranges from 1.5 to 5.5 centimeters in diameter. The cap is conic in shape – some tend to take on a more convex shape. The rim of the cap turns inwards when the mushroom is young, known to become rippled and translucent as the mushroom matures. The rim of the cap bruises and ages, becoming a green-blue color. The mushroom, itself, is known to be a dark olive to a beige brown color – occasionally taking a steel blue appearance (hence the name ‘blue bells’).

The flesh of the mushroom is very thin and it bruises easily, taking on a blue color – just like the psilocybin cubensis. The mushroom’s stem is often usually five to seven centimeters long and a couple of millimeters thick. The color of the stem is usually a pale brown color, with bits of white. The stem is very brittle, filled with fibers that are loose. When the mushroom is damaged (crushed, trampled, etc.) it becomes blue very easily. Bottle caps are known to have a similar smell and taste to flour.

This mushroom can be found in fields, green pastures, and also on top of rotting wood – logs – and peat.

The Usage of Shrooms today

According to statistics, magic mushrooms are commonly used by people from the age of thirty-four and younger. University students are known to make up the majority of this group.

Some people tend to view the usage of shrooms as a rite of passage for an adolescent as they move from being a teenager to being an adult. Over 300 000 people were recorded to have used magic mushrooms in the United Kingdom, in the 2004 – 2005 period, before they were made completely illegal.

Legality of Shrooms

Psilocybin is illegal in most countries across the globe, but as the times change this is slowly changing.

In the Netherlands, there is a legal loophole that allows people to legally buy “magic truffles” which contain psilocybin. Shrooms are legal in Brazil, the British Virgin Islands, Jamaica and the Netherlands – depending on the form in which they are produced. They are usually found in the form of desserts – cakes, cookies, etc.

In 2005, the growing and possession of psilocybin was deemed legal in New Mexico. Except for three states, the possession of psilocybin mushroom spores is legal since they do not contain psilocin or psilocybin.

I do not recommend that you use shrooms in any region that deems them illegal. Save up money and travel to the regions where they are legal to possess and ingest.

Chapter Three: How Can Shrooms Improve Your Life?

The two major ways in which shrooms can benefit your life are via therapeutic use and in personal growth. There have been small studies that have observed the link between psilocybin mushrooms and their effect on a person’s wellbeing. Due to numerous governmental bans, the official studies of magic mushrooms and their benefits came to a halt for many decades. But in recent times, medical professionals have returned to these studies, citing beliefs that psilocybin may have a place in the medical and psychological field after all.

Therapeutic Use A number of preclinical trials took place during the middle of the 20 th Century (the 1960s and 1970s) to determine whether psilocybin and other forms of psychedelics would be able to assist with treating certain disorders. The trials focused on the treatment of mood disorders, addiction, and cluster headaches.

In recent times we have seen medical research increase regarding the usage of psychedelics to treat the aforementioned conditions and more. Funding has been assigned to several research facilities to validate the benefits of psychedelic mushrooms.

· Cluster Headaches Cluster headaches are known to be worst kind of headaches a person can have. They are immensely painful and when they arrive, they affect any task a person was focusing on. Cluster headaches tend to be far more intense than migraines, but they don’t last for long. Whether they happen during the day or at night, these headaches are known to interrupt a person’s daily life in a very significant way.

In recent years, medical professionals noticed that psilocybin and LSD substances could serve as possible forms of treatment for cluster headaches. This occurred when patients spoke of their healing after recreationally using psychedelics (this was done as a form of self-medicating).

· Mood and Anxiety Disorders There is informal evidences that has also pointed to the possibility of psilocybin and a few other psychedelics being used to treat mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. It is well known that the conventional medication used to treat such disorders tend to cause more harm than good on those who have to take them. Some side effects from medication that is meant to treat mood and anxiety disorders are loss of appetite, sleeplessness, renal failure (in the long term), a lack of focus, nausea, etc. It’s a little bit difficult to identify where the benefits of pharmaceutical treatment fits in here.

Recently, the federal American government gave permission for a few highly controlled studies to be conducted on the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin on mental health disorders.

A small leading study was conducted in 2011 to test the effects of psilocybin on the symptoms of depression and anxiety in terminally ill cancer patients. The patients who were used for this study were in the advanced stages of their cancer and the diagnosis of their stress/anxiety was directly related to their disease.

The researchers observed that there were notable improvements in the patients after the psilocybin treatment. The symptoms of their anxiety and depression had been relieved effectively.

There are small studies that have also shown that there is a possible link between psilocybin treatment and the reduction of symptoms of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). The patients who participated in this study did so in hopes of finding an alternative to the typical SRI (serotonin reuptake inhibitor) drug therapy.

· Treating Addiction The use of hallucinogens (psilocybin, LSD, etc.) in preclinical trials in search of effective treatments for addiction, took place in the 1950s and the 1960s. The results looked to be promising before the use of most psychedelics were barred in the United States and many parts of Europe. The research of the therapeutic use of psychedelics came to a halt because of the global ban.

In the past few years, we have seen a revival of the use of psilocybin and other psychedelic substances as means of therapy for those who are struggling with addiction.

It may sound a little strange to you, considering the fact that drug addiction is one of the major forms of addiction that people are struggling with across the world. But the treatments with the use of psilocybin were done in such a way to prevent addiction or high dependence from occurring.

Psilocybin was used as a part of a supplementary treatment plan and it showed a lot of promise in assisting with the treatment of alcoholism in non-clinical trials. These trials took place in 2015. A significant reduction in drinking – and abstinence from ingesting alcohol – was observed after patients partook in the treatment program. The administering of psilocybin was used as a part of this treatment program.

Studies have also shown that there may be a potential for psilocybin to be used to assist people with quitting tobacco.

Personal Growth There have been early trials that have made use of hallucinogens. These hallucinogens were given to healthy, able adults, under supportive and safe conditions. After the trials were conducted, a majority of the participants shared that they experienced lasting positive changes in their personality, their behavior and their personal attitudes and values.

There are also unofficial reports that have identified evidence that people who make use of hallucinogens tend to have a greater affinity for the arts – music, fine art, etc. and nature; a greater tolerance for the people around them; and heightened levels of creativity for a considerable amount of time after their trip from the mushrooms.

There have been more studies over the time that have backed up these findings.

A study in 2011 discovered that some people who had ingested psilocybin mushrooms had experienced positive changes to their personalities over a year after the trip. They spoke of an openness and deeper connection with their internal beings. Some have testified of feeling a deeper sense of unity and connection with other human beings as a result of a trip they experienced.

There are users who have testified of a growth in their positive outlook on their lives as a result of using psilocybin mushrooms. Others have spoken of the way these mushrooms have managed to assist them with their anxiety and depression in ways that conventional medicine could not help them.

From reading this chapter, you should see that psilocybin mushrooms are not the dangerous elements that people have led you to believe they are. There is a great amount of potential for them to assist your personal growth in a positive way.

If you have struggled with mental disorders and you don’t know what to do, I would recommend that you try psilocybin mushrooms – in regions where their usage is permitted.

There are, of course, certain risks and dangers that you need to be aware of. This will be dealt with in the next chapter.

Chapter Four: Risks and Dangers

Contrary to a lot of the uninformed propaganda that you may have heard about shrooms, psilocybin mushrooms are not known for posing a serious health risk on the human body. The psychedelic experiences are always temporary and a person usually returns to their normal state of being after several hours have elapsed.

People tend to worry about the addictive nature of psilocybin mushrooms. But it has been formally established that most hallucinogenic drugs are not addictive. There is a risk of one’s body becoming overly-accustomed to the drug if they use it frequently. This is no different to the risks that come with alcohol or tobacco, for example. If you plan on using shrooms, you need to make sure that you use them responsibly.

Overdosing

There is a risk of toxicity if a person ingests more than the recommended amount of shrooms. The lethal dosage for magic mushrooms is relatively higher than that of caffeine. But if a person consumes too many shrooms, they are putting their body at risk.

One would have to consume a very large dosage of mushrooms in order for it to become lethal. In order for a person to experience a toxic shock from shrooms, they need to consume approximately 37 pounds or more of shrooms. Try and calculate that in your mind. Ask yourself this: why on earth would someone want to recreationally ingest up to 40 pounds of magic mushrooms? That far exceeds being irresponsible. It’s a death wish.

When a person is hospitalized as a result of magic mushrooms, it is usually because of a panic attack or a bad trip that occurred. The reason why a person would need to be hospitalized is to prevent them from inflicting any harm on themselves or anyone around them.

Side Effects when taken with other medication It is never advisable for a person to mix shrooms with medication – no matter what that medication is. Most pharmaceuticals are known to affect a person’s focus, alertness and digestive functioning. Shrooms could heighten the side effects of other medication, or it could lead to serious cases of injury.

The same way you should not mix pharmaceutical medication with alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine – in some instances – is the same way you should make sure that you do not mix pharmaceutical medication with shrooms. The results will be disastrous.

Debunked Myths

· Magic mushrooms will lead to brain hemorrhaging, gastric bleeding, and renal failure There is no validated evidence that has shown that there is a direct link between psilocybin mushrooms and strokes, neural hemorrhaging, or an aneurysm. There is also no clear evidence that states that ingesting magic mushrooms can cause stomach bleeding.

A report from 1981 stated that the only complications that can be caused by mushrooms are dilated pupils and over-sensitive reflexes. There are no other forms of severe complications that can be caused by magic mushrooms.

As for renal problems (kidney problems), the issue comes in when people fail to identify mushrooms correctly. Liberty tops ( Psilocybe semilanceata) are known for their safety. They do not cause kidney issues. But there is a mushroom from an unrelated family that is often mistake for liberty tops, which is capable of being harmful to the kidneys. You need to be clear on the types of mushrooms you have before you ingest them, in order to prevent kidney damage from occurring.

· All magic mushrooms are poisonous The validity of this myth is dependent on what you define as “poisonous”.

If you believe that a chemical substance is poisonous because it is able to induce intoxication, alter your mental consciousness, and makes a few changes to your psychological state – then, within that context, magic mushrooms are “poisonous”. You might as well classify every substance – tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, etc. – as “poisonous”.

There is a clear difference between the intoxication that comes with using hallucinogenic mushrooms, and mushroom poisoning. Magic mushrooms are not toxic in nature and they are not known for causing any major health issues. There are, however, non-hallucinogenic mushroom species that are capable of making you ill. Some are toxic enough to severely affect your body or, in rare instances, cause death.

This is why you need to properly identify the mushroom species before ingesting them.

· Magic mushrooms will make you go insane.

There has been a lot of talk about magic mushrooms having the ability to make a person go insane, permanently. While researchers have managed to draw a link between shrooms trips and psychotic episodes – ones similar to a schizophrenic episode – it has always been found that these episodes are temporary. This is why they are called “trips” – they do not last.

People who have been admitted into the emergency room after a shrooms trip return to their normal state – physically and mentally – after a number of hours.

Recent, wide-scale studies have actually shown that there is a reduced likelihood of psychological abnormalities being caused by the use of psychedelic substances.

There is no concrete evidence that suggests that dormant mental health issues can be worsened or exasperated by the use of psychedelic substances. However, if you do have a history with severe mental health disorders – schizophrenia, for example – do not use psychedelic drugs.

Chapter Five: What to Expect From the Trip

When it comes to taking shrooms and other psychedelic drugs, it is all about the trip. The trip is the climax of the entire process – it is what you have been looking forward to. This chapter is dedicated to taking you through a mental journey on what to expect when you are on a shroom trip. I would like to let you know that this is only a general view of the trip. Shroom trips are different with every person. This is because every person is different from one another – we all have different lived experiences, struggles, hopes, dreams, and ambitions. These differences will color our shroom experiences in different ways.

Prepare Yourself

You need to prepare yourself for the effect that is about to come your way. You may feel as if someone has stepped right into your head and moved everything around, taken a few things out, and added a few things too – all at the same time.

There is no mental preparation in the world that can actually prepare you for the experience. It’s one thing to tell yourself and believe that you are ready for the trip – before the trip actually occurs. But once you’ve ingested those shrooms and the trip makes its way in, the playing field changes completely.

Acknowledging that anything is possible during a trip will help you feel more comfortable before your experience begins. If you happen to find yourself feeling uncomfortable, remind yourself that the whole experience is temporary and it will be over soon. The sense of helplessness that comes will subside and you will calm down. Paying attention to the transitions within your trip will actually relieve any anxiety you may be experiencing.

Your Surroundings

You need to understand that the company you will be with and the rest of your surroundings will have an impact on your trip. You need to make sure that you are surrounded by people and a place that makes you feel as safe as possible. The last thing that you want to do is bring any feelings of fear or paranoia into a trip. It also helps to be in a safe environment, with people you trust, so that in the event anything out of the ordinary happens you will be in safe hands.

One of the best places to experience a trip is in the presence of nature. Quiet, open spaces that are far away from strange people and any form of authorities will do wonders for your relaxation. The best way to enter a trip is without any inhibitions. You need to feel comfortable enough to act out of the ordinary. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Allow yourself to be free.

It also helps to surround yourself with great people – people you genuinely get along with. Experiencing a trip on your own, for the first time, is a very risky thing to do. It is advisable that you experience your first trip with someone far more experienced than you. They will be able to make sure that the shrooms you’re about to ingest are safe, and they will also help you remain calm.

It would also help if you are with someone you can trust. There is a high chance that you will start to speak about very personal things whilst you are under the influence. It would be better if you are in the presence of someone you can trust so that you feel free to express yourself completely.

Ingestion

After you have managed to prepare yourself, the next step is for you to actually eat the magic mushrooms. Magic mushrooms can be baked in various pastries, or taken as they are. I would recommend that you take them in food form – it makes the experience more enjoyable.

People respond to the taste of shrooms differently. Some people complain of the taste, while others enjoy taking them as they are.

An hour after ingestion, you might start to feel queasy or nauseous. Your hands will become sweaty and you may feel a tingling sensation. This is a result of the chemicals reaction in your body. The substances in shrooms are powerful, your body is going to react. But all of it is normal. You have no reason to panic.

The prelude to the Trip

For any random reason, there comes a point where a person might start to become anxious about whether they are tripping or not. They will make frequent comments about not feeling it. In the same breath, they might start talking about the effects they could be feeling.

Do not allow yourself to be one of these people. Take the process lightly. Eat the mushrooms and allow them to work in their own time.

The initial nausea and discomfort will subside. There will come a time where you may feel the start of the effects. Since mental changes tend to be harder to discover, you’ll probably only become aware of your trip when you look around your environment.

The colors around you will be more saturated and vibrant. Objects will start glowing. You may find yourself identifying the glitter or aesthetically-pleasing texture of objects around you.

After a while, you will start to smile uncontrollably. The smiles will become endless giggling.

And, suddenly, the trip will arrive.

The Trip

This is when you sit tight and enjoy the ride.

Trips are different for everyone. You might find that you are totally in control of everything during your trip. Despite being blown away by a new mindset, you will find that you will be able to navigate through it very well.

This would be a good time to confront the things you’ve been hiding from while you were in a more positive state. One of the best times to explore yourself is during a trip. Allow yourself to confront your personal struggles, relationships, ambitions, beliefs and even your fears.

You might process these things in silence or you will become talkative. This is why I mentioned that you need to make sure that you are as comfortable as possible. This will help you speak freely and hash through the things you needed to get through.

Your sense of time and the way you perceive space will become significantly warped during the trip. This distortion often manifests in the most stunning ways. One can almost compare it to staring at flowers or beautiful creatures for forty minutes, without moving.

If you are feeling any form of distress, though, it would be good if you focus on positive things. During a trip, thirty seconds of dwelling on negative thoughts, can be the equivalent of a lifetime.

Put your control to practice and allow yourself to focus on something else.

Descending from a Trip

The ending of a trip is often the favorite part for most users. There is a chance that you could experience some disorientation or sickness but this is not common. Compared to other hardcore drugs and even alcohol, the comedown from a psychedelic trip is rather calm.

After a hectic night of drinking, a person often experiences a deep sense of regret. But after a shrooms trip, a person tends to be mellow, reflective and much lighter.

You can experience anything during a mushroom trip. During one trip, you could find yourself questioning societal structures. During another trip you might find yourself thinking about whether animals have souls or not.

Descending from a trip can be very therapeutic in nature. A sense of relief and a deep feeling of gratitude is often felt as one regains their normal reasoning back.

During a trip, you will be faced with the voice you usually keep at the back of your head. You will be in a realm of very real and very raw existence. Once you return, you will become conscious of the fact that the voice was just that – a voice.

After the Trip

The physical effects of a shrooms trip dwindle away within hours. But one trip is also capable of affecting your mental reasoning for a long period of time. This usually works out for the better.

One should take note that trips are not a quick way to have a spiritual experience. What you experience during a trip is a result of your subconscious mind and stimulation from the shrooms. If you are seeking spiritual enlightenment, there are different methods to go about it. If you are looking for relief and a new experience, shrooms are the way to go.

Chapter Six: How to Take Psilocybin Mushrooms Now that you have read up on all the information on shrooms, the risks and dangers, and the trip, you know what to expect. You should have enough knowledge on how to mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for the experience. In this chapter, I will be taking you through the actual process of taking shrooms.

One does not just pick up a couple of mushrooms and pop them into their mouth. That is a big no. There are technical things you need to be aware of – the dosage for example and the ways in which you can ingest the shrooms. You need to pay extra attention to the process – especially if this is your first time. Mistakes could lead to a chemical imbalance which may result in a bad trip.

The steps have been explained as clearly as possible: Dosage

The strength of the mushrooms you take can vary. Different species and strains of mushrooms have different levels of potency.

As I mentioned in the earlier chapter, the most common species of shrooms is the golden tops (Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms). A normal dose of recently dried golden top shrooms is 3.5g (1/8 th of an ounce).

If you took note in the previous chapters, you will know that it is very hard to overdose on shrooms. You’d need to overload on a large number of them in order for you to overdose effectively.

Taking a higher than recommended dosage of shrooms can lead to heightened effects, though. Anxiety is known to spike when you take an amount of shrooms that is contrary to the expected dosage. Funny enough, this can also occur if the dosage is smaller than the regular dosage – this could be more of a mental effect, though.

Some experienced users will encourage you to take mushrooms in rather strong doses because they will help you navigate through your psychological state without much difficulty. Heightened doses are also known to lead you into a more “spiritual” experience, thus assisting you with avoiding the anxiety and queasiness that is known to come at the beginning of a trip.

Another method that you could use, is taking a small dose the first time and increasing it in intervals. This will ease you into the experience. If you are the type of person to suffer from anxiety, then I would recommend that you use this method to prevent your anxiety from being heightened.

The one thing I will strongly advise is that you refrain from trying to be a hero – especially during your first few experiences. Usually, when a first-timer is in the presence of more experienced users, they tend to feel like they need to match up to them. This is how first-timers end up taking twice the recommended amount in order to impress people. Taking shrooms has nothing to do with impressing other people. You need to remember this anytime you find yourself feeling tempted to be a hero.

How to take shrooms: 1. You need to make sure that you have allocated enough time for you to experience your trip comfortably. A trip is known to last for four to five hours, with it peaking for half of the trip. Expect your trip to occur 30 to 60 minutes after you have consumed the mushrooms. I’d also recommend that you eat solid food before taking the mushrooms to prevent your hunger from spiking during the trip. But if you take the mushrooms on an empty stomach, the trip will come faster and will be more intense. Try this if you feel comfortable after your first experiences.

2. Ensure that you have the correct dosage for your shrooms. People tend to complain of an upset stomach during the first hour or hour and a half of the experience – this can be very distracting.

One of the best ways to take the mushrooms is in tea. Here is a quick recipe that you can try out: o Chop the mushrooms o Boil the mushrooms for fifteen to twenty minutes o Drink the liquid. You can mix it with flavored tea if you aren’t a fan of the way the shrooms taste If you choose to ingest your mushrooms through drinking tea, the effects will come on more quickly but so will the comedown.

3. Eat or drink the shrooms. You can mix your shrooms into pastries, put them on top of your pizza, or mix them with peanut butter if you can’t eat them as they are.

4. Once you have eaten the mushrooms, you will have thirty minutes to an hour before the trip is in full effect. You can use this time to get comfortable and prepare yourself for the trip. Some people like to get creative during the high, you could do that too if that’s what you’d like to do.

If you are planning on dealing with personal issues, then I would suggest that you write them down and refer back to them when you are experiencing your trip.

5. Experience the trip for the next couple of hours. The effects of a trip vary from person to person. You might experience an immense amount of euphoria. On the flipside, you could become pensive as you reflect on your life.

Shrooms are known to take down mental boundaries and assist a person with navigating through the various regions in their mind. The feelings that you experience during a trip will be immense. You might laugh. You might cry. You might question your existence. The best thing you could do for yourself is allow yourself to feel. Walk through the trip and remember to remain as calm as possible.

6. Process your feelings and take note of the impact of your thoughts on your emotional wellbeing. This would be a good time to reflect on the difficulties that you are experiencing in your life. You will find that it may be easier for you to process these thoughts and deal with any deep-rooted issues while you are under the trip.

7. After two or three hours have elapsed, you will start to feel the comedown. Don’t do anything rash during the comedown. Relax and let the transition happen on its own.

Safety Precautions: Do not use shrooms if you are using any antibiotics or pharmaceuticals for mental disorders. If you are on anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication, etc. then I suggest that you give the shrooms a miss.

Chapter Seven: What to Do During the Trip

Reflect

During a trip, a person tends to experience a deeper openness to their thoughts and their feelings. They experience a freedom to feel and to express that they do not feel when they are within their conscious mind. A sense of peace is also known to come over a person during their shrooms trip. Since shrooms are good at breaking down mental barriers and leading you to emotional wounds without triggering you, this is why one of the best times to reflect is during a trip. The sense of peace allows you to confront the tension within you in a healthy and lighter way.

One also tends to gain a sense of curiosity during a trip. You can take advantage of this curiosity and ask yourself the hard questions you have been meaning to ask yourself. The broken mental barriers in your mind open you up to a greater way to observe your feelings and emotions. You can use this freedom to fully submerge yourself in several ideas or feelings.

If you have questions about your past, your personality, your family, or your future, this would be one of the best times to ask your questions.

Explore your mind

Take advantage of the openness that you are experiencing and use it to explore the depths of the mind. You will be astounded to find the thoughts that you harbor in your mind. Use this time to mull over concepts and beliefs that you’ve wanted to question for a long time. You could also use your thoughts as material for conversations with the people around you. The conversations that are generated by shroom trips are known to be next-level genius. Imagine a room filled with people who are experiencing the same mental openness that you are experiencing. The creative and intellectual possibilities will be endless. I would recommend that you use that time to engage on difficult topics like politics, gender roles, education etc. Shroom trips allow people to talk about things without becoming emotionally resentful or harmful.

Don’t follow any triggers

Your mind can become very impressionable while you are experiencing a shroom trip. While trips can be deeply rewarding emotional experiences, they can also be very strange. You might find yourself discovering strange creatures and beings during your trips. If you are experiencing any paranoia or tension, these could end up influencing your hallucinations. Do not fall for anything you hear. I did mention that shrooms trips tend to bring you face-to-face with the voice that is located at the back of your head. This can be a daunting experience for even the most experienced shrooms users. You need to maintain the consciousness that everything you are experiencing is temporary – no matter how high you become. This will prevent you from panicking if you find yourself in a stressful moment. Instead of rising to the trigger, try and find ways to remind yourself that it is just a trip.

One thing that could help is making use of a pen and paper to write down messages that will remind you that you are simply experiencing a trip. Keep the paper close to you so that your eyes will come across it regularly.

This will also assist you with resisting any manipulation from anyone around you. This is why I continue to emphasize the fact that you need to make sure that you are surrounded by people who will have your best interest at hearts. Taking shrooms with the wrong crowd could lead to damaging experiences. In the event that you do find yourself in the company with people who have manipulative intentions, make sure that you keep a sense of control within you so that you are able stop them from having power over you. You could write a message on your hand to remind you to do so.

Get Creative

Shrooms are also known to increase one’s ability to solve problems effectively. The fact that a trip allows you to dive into different ideas and concepts you wouldn’t usually confront in your conscious mind will work wonders for your imagination. Shrooms will open your mind to a vast variety of possibilities. This is one of the best times to tap into this and get creative. Art requires a vivid imagination that is willing to travel and explore. When you are under the influence of shrooms, it is much easier for you to adopt a newer perception on old concepts. If you are a musician, you may discover a bank of lyrics you didn’t know you had in you. Due to a heightened visual perception, the vibrant colors and vivid imagery that you will witness during a high will be more than enough to provide you with authentic material for future projects.

You can also use your heightened emotional experiences to influence your creativity. People are often attracted to art that evokes emotions. Shroom trips can be the best time to experience deep-level emotional encounters that will be able to take your art to the next level. Writers are always looking for new material that will help them take readers to new realms. Shroom trips will take you to those realms.

Chapter Eight: How to Handle a Bad Trip

Sometimes, shroom trips aren’t a calm experience. Bad trips are not common but they are capable of happening. The risk of fear and anxiety interfering with a shroom trip always has a chance of occurring. The problem is that there is no way to tell when one is going to have a bad trip – they come when you least expect them to. Psychedelics, as calming and relieving as they are, have the potential to completely hijack a person’s state of being while they are under the influence. Some people are able to gain a grip on their anxiety and ride out the trip. Some people – especially newbies – are not as well-equipped to do so.

Bad trips are characterized as shroom experiences where the person feels a great amount of stress, anxiety, or panic. This is often triggered by their heightened senses and their altered states of mind.

When you are in the middle of experiencing a trip, you are vulnerable. This is why I strongly recommend that you pay attention to your surroundings and the people with whom you choose to take shrooms. When your trip kicks in everything changes. The things you see, smell, hear and touch become warped and take on an unrealistic appearance. Your mind becomes susceptible to any influence while it tries to process the shift in perception. If you are taking shrooms in a potentially stressful environment – a concert, a festival, or any other loud area – then you need to put in extra effort when it comes to remaining calm.

It is not advisable for you to attempt to deal with personal struggles when you are in a stressful environment. Your surroundings will heighten your anxiety and you might lose the ability to remain calm. If you lose grip of your control on your anxiety, you will start to panic. When you don’t have anything to alleviate your panic, your trip might take a turn for the bad. There should be people around you who will be able to assist you in the event that you experience a panic attack. If you are taking shrooms on your own, try to get yourself in a comfortable position in order to prevent your panic attack from escalating. Keep a written reminder close by that will help you remember that what you are experiencing is temporary.

Safe positions to put yourself in are seated positions and the fetal position. Do not lie on your back. If you lose consciousness, you could end up throwing up and choking on your own vomit. There have been cases where this has happened before – they are rare but they have happened.

Bad trips could cause you to act in very strange ways. You might find yourself staring at people whilst muttering under your breath. In another instance, you might find yourself trying to eat the strangest food combinations. If your anxiety gets the better of you, you might end up becoming a little – or very unruly. This is why you need to have people around you – so that they can restrain you in the event that you become difficult to handle. The last thing you want to do is cause a scene and have no one to help you. People have spoken of feeling as if they have no control over themselves during a bad trip. They describe the experience as being able to watch what is going on, but having no ability to control the situation.

Bad trips are not wasted trips

But there is a lot to be learned from bad trips.

While they may be unpleasant to experience, people have often spoken of valuable lessons that they have gained from the trips that took unexpected turns.

Psychedelic drugs, shrooms included, have the ability to remove a person from their regular, default way of thinking and reasoning. It is this default way of thinking that tends to hold a person back from exploring deeper insights and a greater level of transformation. Shrooms remove the barriers from the way a person thinks.

A bad trip can teach you valuable lessons.

1. You come to a point of realizing that despite all the precautions you may have taken, and your hope for a good trip, for some reason the trip went a different way and there was nothing you could do about it. You were faced with two options – ride it out or cave in to the experience. This is a vital lesson that we can apply to our lives – no matter how many times we try to appease our fears and make things work out for us, situations can still spin out of control and we will be left with two choices – ride it out or fall apart. When you come out of a bad trip and you realize that you are unscathed, it also helps you realize that the overturned situation was unable to hurt you. You came out of it in one piece – the same way you are able to survive all the curved balls life tends to throw in your direction.

2. A bad trip will also make you appreciate your sanity. During a bad trip, you lose the ability to be reasonable. You are unable to grasp your sanity. It slips out of your hands and there is nothing you can do about it. When the trip ends and your sanity is restored, you develop a deeper appreciation for the privilege you have in possessing a sound mind. There are many people who are struggling with severe mental illnesses and they are unable to think reasonably. They are victims of their minds and there is nothing they can do about it. People tend to look down on mental health patients. You should not be one of them. Especially when you have had the chance to experience a small part of what they go through every day of their lives.

3. A bad trip also teaches you to get a grip of your panic when things don’t go the way you would like them to go. Whether you panic or whether you choose to remain calm, that bad trip will go away when it decides to. It would be much better for you to save your energy, and remain calm. You might not be able to do it the first time, but the next time another bad trip occurs you will be much wiser. You will be calmer.

Bad trips should not discourage you from giving shrooms another try. The shroom experience is a lot like life: you have to prepare yourself for it but even when it doesn’t go your way, it does not mean that all is lost. You pick yourself up and you try again.

Chapter Nine: FAQ

This chapter covers a few of the frequently asked questions people tend to have about the usage of shrooms. If you have any other questions that you do not see here, you can find reliable shroom forums on the Internet that will be able to guide you through any uncertainties you may have.

· Will Psilocybin mushrooms make me go crazy?

The “crazy effect” that you get from psilocybin mushrooms is temporary. Acute psychosis, which is known as a bad trip, will occur if you fail to adhere to what is known as the “6S’s of Psychedelic Use”. The 6S’s being: o Set Set is a shorter term for the mindset or mentality a person experiences during a trip. A set includes the preparation process as well as the expectations a person may have when they are about to go on a psychedelic experience.

Before the person takes the shrooms and embarks on their psychedelic experience, they should take time to prepare. The experience should be seen as a three-day experience and not just a trip that happens in one day. On day one, the person should try to remain quiet and calm, using this day to reflect. The second day is when shroom consumption takes place and the person experiences the trip. On the last day (the third day) the person reflects on the experience and reflects on the discoveries they made during their trip.

o Setting You should have a clear knowledge by now that the setting plays a major role in your experience. If you choose to take shrooms indoors, make sure that the environment is clean, free from harmful objects, and comfortable. You also need to make sure that there is a toilet nearby. Play calming music and get comfortable – you can add blankets and pillows for added comfort.

If you are taking the shroom outdoors, try and find a serene, natural environment that will boost the experience. Avoid loud and stressful settings in order to prevent your anxiety from peaking.

o Substance Be wary of the dosage. In previous chapters, I provided you with advice on taking the right dosages. High doses of shrooms will heighten the risk of losing your mental stability – which can lead to a bad trip.

o Sitter Try and plan your shroom session. If you plan to use the experience for reflective and therapeutic purposes, write down the things that you would like to deal with. If you feel that you might become hungry during the session, make snacks that will be easy to snack on – avoid tough, chewy foods that could make you choke.

Be wary of the company that you have invited. You need to make sure that there are people whom you can trust. This will provide you with the reassurance you need in order to remain calm during a trip. If you can find someone more experienced than you are, that would also help you.

o Session This is the general time of the experience (it can range anywhere from three to twelve hours).

There are six stages to a session 1. Ingesting the Shrooms 2. The first onset 3. Letting go off your inhibitions 4. The trip 5. The beginning of the comedown 6. The end of the session o Situation This refers to how the user will choose to apply the experience into his or her life.

If you follow the 6S’s with the care that you need to, you will not experience any acute psychosis.

· How do I know if I have the right mushrooms?

There are hundreds of mushrooms that are known to contain psilocybin and a number of these mushrooms have toxic doppelgangers (lookalikes). It is imperative that you identify your mushrooms. In the second chapter of this book, I gave you examples of common shrooms that should be tried out, what they look like, and where they can be found. If you are uncertain about your shrooms you can look them up on the Internet (like using the Google Images Search) to make sure that you have the right ones, or you can enlist the assistance of a more experienced shroom users.

· Is it legal to grow shrooms?

In most countries, it is not legal to grow, possess, sell or buy shrooms. But there are legal loopholes that allow you to possess the spores – as long as you don’t grow them into shrooms. In Brazil, it is not illegal to possess, consume or sell psilocybin mushrooms. In the British Virgin Islands, one can possess and consume them, but they are not to be sold. In Jamaica, the use of shrooms appears to be legal – as long as you behave responsibly. There are guides online that can offer you more information on countries and their legal standing when it comes to the use of shrooms.

· Can psilocybin be traced in a drug test?

Shrooms and their metabolites are not included in the results of most standard drug tests. In extended drug screens, however, it is possible for the presence of psilocybin to be detected.

· What is the micro dosage for psilocybin mushrooms?

The micro dosage for shrooms ranges from 0.2 to 0.5 grams. People’s tolerance differs, though. If you plan on microdosing, you should only re-dose every four days. I would strongly recommend that you research microdosing before trying it out.

· Can I mix psilocybin with other drugs?

While there may be charts that can assist you with knowing safe drug combinations, I would strongly recommend that you refrain from mixing psilocybin with any pharmaceutical medication. I would also strongly advise against mixing psilocybin with other narcotics like cannabis (weed), cocaine, or any form of amphetamines. There is no saying in how bad the trip could be. Keep it safe and stick to shrooms.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have reached the end of the book. I hope that you were able to receive valuable information on the world of psilocybin mushrooms and the potential ways in which they could assist people struggling with their mental health as well as people seeking to improve their personal development.

Magic mushrooms are not the harmful drugs many people have made them out to be. I admit that there are narcotics like cocaine, heroin, and MDMA that pose serious health risks to the people who take them. But psilocybin mushrooms do not fall within this range.

There are many people who can testify to the improvements they experienced after experiencing a shroom trip.

As I mentioned earlier, this book was not written as a form of propaganda in favor of the use of psilocybin mushrooms. Facts have been presented that have debunked many myths about the risks and dangers of shrooms. Shrooms do not possess any life-threatening risk to the wellbeing of most people. If you have psychological illnesses such as schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, etc. then I would strongly advise that you stay away from shrooms because of the effect they have on your mind during a trip.

The effects that you experience during a magic mushroom trip are all temporary. Bad trips, which often include minor psychotic breaks, are temporary and their effects never go beyond those few hours. Bad trips are not meant to be common. They happen in rare instances – the same way anything could happen when you are drinking or smoking.

Life is full of risks, but does that stop you from living? It does not. The few rare instances where the use of magic mushrooms has gone wrong should not stop you from trying them out.

As long as you are in a safe environment with the right people and you stick to the recommended dosages, you will be okay. You will actually discover the rewarding mental and emotional experiences I have tried to explain in this book. The feelings one experiences during a trip cannot be described in words. You have to experience it for yourself.

If you are open to trying them out, then I would encourage you to do so – within a legal setting. Be responsible with the way you use the shrooms and avoid developing a dependency on them. Magic mushrooms are similar to alcohol – if you take them on a frequent basis then you will become dependent on them. Space out the amount of time you dedicate to taking shrooms. Once a month can be more than enough if you don’t intend on being a frequent user.

Most importantly, I want you to remember to embrace the experience. The point of taking shrooms is to have a mental experience in a way that you have never done so before. Ride out the trips and enjoy the moment. Try not to stress yourself and remember to capture the valuable lessons.