You are very welcome my friend! I’m glad that you had a powerful experience! All from one small cap and stem? I’m curious, was this the “penis envy” variety? Seems like a very strong experience from a small amount. Good that you started small and didn’t overdo it. And the Lion’s Gaze meditation sounds powerful! Thanks for sharing about it. Sounds like you received some inner guidance to use it on this journey.
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Amen
Yes. It packs a punch, but the negative side effects are not fun. It wasnt enough to get crazy trippy, but enough to add evidence to the belief that Consciousness/(Awareness) is not soley housed in the body.
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What side effects did you exerience?
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&
Penis envy (Like reverse puberty, my 
& 
defied gravity and were nearly sucked into my body 
)
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@NightHawk999 Wow, in all my years of using that medicine, I never experienced much of that. I did have the chills, heat and sweating and increased heart rate. I never noticed much in terms of tremors, joint or muscle tension or genitalia “sucked into the body.” I usually was just not focused on that part of my body.
It definitely activates the sympathetic nervous system in terms of fight/flight/freeze response. Old traumas may get activated as part of the healing process. It’s good to just work on breathing through the rough patches. Playing calming music with a spiritual vibe is good. Good to use music without English words that take the mind in any particular direction. Mantra music is very good for this, or instrumental music that has a spiritual vibe or classical music. There are psychedelic playlists on spotify. At higher doses ego death can occur - i.e. the sense of your normal identity disappears. You may become pure awareness with no sense of your normal identity. The ego death experiences can be preceded by anxiety or panic or fear that you are physically dying. One should have an experienced sitter, especially if you start to go into higher dose ranges. Sounds like your current dose is enough for now.
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I drink a lot of water, too much probably for the ceremony, but the dry mouth is also an issue, so when the penis envy symptom happens, it can make peeing a little difficult.
The product used may have been expired, not sure how long of a self life it has.
Great advice, I think best to have a playlist ready beforehand, so you dont have to mess with a screen when the ride gets bumpy.
Equally as good if not better would be no sound, and darkness. Clearing as much stimuli from the enviornment as possible.
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Yes, some folks prefer silence and darkness. That’s what Terence McKenna liked to do. Sometimes I did that as well, but I’m a big music lover and good music with a spiritual vibe (and no English words) often helps the trip flow in a good direction for me. Most psychedelic therapists use headphones and play lists. The use of music in psychedelic therapy goes back to the 50’s and 60’s. Before computerized playlists, I had some favorite CD’s that I’d line up in the CD player.
I never had problems with dry mouth or trouble peeing on psilocybin. I did have the dry mouth with MDMA and also with cannabis. Yeah don’t drink too much water, just enough to keep thirst at bay. It doesn’t sound like your mushrooms lost strength from sitting around for a while. Sounds like they were plenty strong. But good to keep them in a freezer if you want to store them for a while.
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The strength wasnt the problem, I am just wondering if they go ‘bad’ after x # of days, or if their shelf life is indefinite.
The multiple cds is a good idea, as well as creating a playlist. The more calming the better, like ocean sounds or rain.
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If they are dried, they don’t “go bad” in the sense of getting spoiled or make you sick. They may just loose their potency over time unless you freeze them.
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True. But with psychedelics there are also moments of major ego blow-outs and Oneness with the All. But these are just glimpses of where we are headed. One metaphor that I heard is that taking a psychedelic is like taking a helicopter ride to the top of the mountain. But later on, you still have to climb the mountain. But having been helicoptered to the top may provide some inspiration for learning to climb.
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p.s. Jung was the guy who originally got me onto the dreaming path, back in my early 20’s. And then in my late 30’s, dreams led me to psychedelics.
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On the other hand, tourists . . . .
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Indeed. Those who use psychedelics to party, in my opinion, are misusing sacred medicine. Traditionally these medicines were always used in sacred healing ceremonies and respected as sacred,
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found this very interesting video, thanks to you Barry 
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@BlessingsDeers
As someone with a lot of experience in this area, here’s my response:
Do you need psychedelics to wake up? Absolutely not! Can they be helpful tools on the journey? For many folks, yes!
I don’t know anyone who has attained a stable ongoing enlightened state through psychedelics alone. Here are a few of the benefits that I experienced:
Lots of healing of my past trauma and processing of difficult life experiences, lots of clearing out of mental crap, lots of “downloads” of higher wisdom including much practical guidance about living my life, inspirations about how to heal my own life, how to work with clients including new and effective healing methods, guidance about my marriage (including an MDMA session with my wife that saved our marriage), glimpses into the essence of who I am as an eternal soul who has travelled through many lifetimes and . . . (drum roll). . . some powerful ego death experiences in which I glimpsed what the enlightened state is like, i.e. who I AM as in “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Experiences in which my egoic identity exploded into the All and was completely gone. States when I was walking around in nature completely at One with everything around me. Was this enlightened state a permanent and stable enlightenment? No. It was another passing experience. But these temporary glimpses into enlightenment were important in showing me what enlightenment is about and what kinds of states that spiritual practices are aiming for. And my last big psychedelic trip kicked my egoic ass to the curb and told me to stop doing psychedelics and get more serious about meditation. So that is what I’ve been working on doing. Also, I did not begin doing psychedelics until my late 30’s after dreams guided me to them and only after many years of meditation practice and dreamwork. And I also know people who began using psychedelics as teens and also found them healing and helpful. But generally I think they are best if used by mature people who are on a spiritual path and used in conjunction with other spiritual practices and disciplines. That’s my 2 cents for whatever it’s worth.
p.s. the only psychedelic that I’ve used since the trip that kicked me to the curb is cannabis. I have found that if used mindfully (and not habitually) as a sacred plant medicine, that it can give important downloads of guidance and inspiration. And yes, cannabis can interfere with REM and with dreaming, if too high of a dose is used close to bedtime. However, I have found that if used moderately and mindfully, that the dreaming is still happening.
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AH gave a delightful example about this in the Pure Lands Pilgrimage - you are in a dark room and you sense that a snake is there. You become afraid. Suddenly, there is light and you see its only a rope. The light goes off again but you are no longer afraid because you know it’s a rope there, not a snake.
wonderful.
Yes, Ah also gave a really example on this "If someone is really stuck, psychedelics can help. I’m just wondering what would happen if the person would not chose to go for psychedelics and allow the universe to do its’ job… I myself receive shamanic healing sessions (from the Lakota lineage i mentioned before) who put me in contact with my feelings and intuition at a very deep level, reminding me of my profound human essence, activating a bomb of inner light.
this is so much my path: knowing myself and taking care of what I need… experimenting and seeing results.
Thank you for your passionate words.
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There are many paths and methods and tools that can help psycho-spiritual development and healing. Psychedelics are a tool, as is meditation practice, dreamwork, fasting, vision questing, sweat lodges, sun dances, yoga, qigong, etc. If we pay attention, we will each be guided in those paths and methods that are right for us.
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An interesting interview with Rick Doblin, the founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, the main organization promoting psychedelic research. Their main focus has been on researching MDMA as a treatment for PTSD and getting this approved by the FDA.
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Ryan Sprague has some good videos on how to use cannabis consciously as a psychedelic plant medicine, rather than unconscious addictive use.
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