Introduction

            Psilocybin, otherwise known as magic mushrooms, “Bammers”, psychedelic shrooms, and even a plant of the Gods. I am sure there are all different kinds of names for these on the streets since they were considered a schedule 1 drug back during Nixon’s presidency and the War on drugs. Schedule 1 drugs in the United States are those that are purported to have the following traits: 1) The drug or other substance has a high potential risk of abuse 2) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment within the United States. I don’t know if you have tried them, but you won’t want to do them twice in one day, or every day at that! So, the probability of abuse is nearly non-existent! Furthermore, there are so many more medicinal properties than almost all “Big Pharma” medicines, without any side effects.

In June of 1971, Nixon established that drug abuse was “Public Enemy Number One”, with psilocybin mushrooms being among that list. However, the thing about mycology (which is the study of all fungi) began making some progress towards positive effects of almost all safe mushrooms, and psychedelic mushrooms. Magic Mushrooms and other mushrooms such as Lion’s Mane, Red Reishi, Oyster, and so much more have shown proof of enhancing all kinds of human qualities. Mental clarity, immunological enhancement, neurogenesis, neuro-generation, neuro-regeneration, and even neuroplasticity has all been shown to enhance our minds. Reishi is even called natures Xanax since it helps lower anxiety. Neurogenesis is the origination of newborn nerve cells from stem cells within our body. The more active cells we have the better we will be in almost all aspects of life. Now Neuro-generation and Neuro Regeneration, does exactly as it sounds, generating new neurons, while regenerating helps atrophied neurons. And finally, to top it all off, neuroplasticity which consists of synaptogenesis where more nerves begin branching out more conduits for more connections (JRE, 2019). Neuroplasticity, in other words, is the brain’s ability to adapt to new situations or changes in their environment. Psychedelic Mushrooms just make you feel like a happy person, in almost everything you do.

How Do They Work?

            The way these mushrooms work is quite exceptional actually. People used to think that you were just basically getting food poisoning, which in too high of a dose, you would just raulf it up. But even then, the effects will still last. We will touch base on Micro-dosing, moderate dosing, and even heroic dosing which all have their own benefits within themselves. But first, the chemical response that is happening in our bodies. There are over 200 mushrooms that contain psilocybin which is the naturally occurring chemical compound that makes you experience a psychedelic spectacle. Psilocybin is considered a pro-drug, which is a compound that is inactive by itself, but when metabolized, it can turn into a pharmacological compound in the body (Psilocin). When we consume psilocybin-containing mushrooms (which is the most terrible tasting experience, if it isn’t boiled into a tea, or put in chocolates or capsules), our bodies begin metabolizing the psilocybin into psilocin, which is actually able to bind to our serotonin receptors. Serotonin’s chemical structure is fairly similar to that of psilocin, but it is a monoamine neurotransmitter, which is the source of all those wonderful happy feelings we get from something we enjoy doing, or around people we love being around. It can also be boosted through chemical assistance, where we can establish a new sense of well-being in this life we live. Psilocin is actually considered an agonist, meaning it can initiate a physiological response for our serotonin receptors (Haze and Mandrake, 2016). The following picture will show how closely related the chemical molecule structures are to one another.

So closely related, don’t ya think! (Science Direct, n.d.)

As a neurotransmitter it can assist in relaying messages from one part or section of the brain, to the other. Research from back in 2016, states that there is a sensory overload that happens when someone “trips”, which is caused from the psilocin. This makes the brain become more hyperconnected; that is, it allows for greater communication between parts of the brain that otherwise wouldn’t talk to each other. The process is called Synesthesia phenomena which is said to reorganize connections and strengthen weaker ones, enhancing our mental acuity. It is also something that may make your senses interact with one another. Such as, if you hear music, you may see shapes, or if you hear the name Jake, you may see the color green. It is something that brings all your senses in line with one another, creating a higher acuity of your senses (Haze and Mandrake, 2016). You will see me constantly go back to primal times, comparing what these mushrooms may have done, and how they potentially corelate with our existence today (Stoned Ape Theory), but we will get back to that. This Synesthesia may have helped our primal ancestors to hunt and kill food, pick other certain plants, and even stay alive amidst so many predators.

Our minds have evolved to constantly filtering out any non-useful stimuli in our new world, enabling us to focus on the important task of living our lives, or simply being a human being. It saves our minds resources, and extracts things that can be considered trivialities. Not everyone counts how many cars are being tugged behind a train when stopped at a train crossing. Certain areas of the brain that inhibit distracting stimuli and help maintain our attention, such as the hypothalamus, have been proven to show decreased activity when under the effects of psilocin. Another area is called the claustrum (derived from the Latin word for “hidden or shut away”), which is an extremely thin sheet of neurons deep within the cortex, yet it reaches out to every other region in the brain. The true purpose is also “hidden away”, however there are a few speculations of why it’s there, and what its true purpose is. One is from Francis Crick of DNA-discovery, which he believed the claustrum is responsible for our awareness and sense of self, or the seat of our consciousness (John Hopkins, 2020). With this in mind, Johns Hopkins tested 15 people, whom some took psilocybin, while the others received a placebo. They found that the ones that took the psilocybin, showed a reduced neuronal activity in the claustrum by 15% to even 30%. The lowered activity seemed to be associated with stronger subjective effects of the drug, such as emotional and mystical experiences. The researchers also found that the drug changed the correspondence between the claustrum and brain regions that involve hearing, attention, decision-making, and remembrance (John Hopkins, 2020). This is what ties in with what people claim as typical effects of psychedelics, including feelings of being connected to everything, and more importantly, reduced senses of self or egotistical behavior. New technology, such as the fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) have given researchers the ability to track certain brain activity. Thus, making more breakthroughs on certain effects of mind-altering drugs, such as psilocybin mushrooms, and many more. There has been proven research that shows that they can help manage, or even cure people with PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, and even substance abuse disorder. And to think these are still in the “Schedule One” drug category.

            These regions of the brain are usually some of the most active, which play important roles of our sense of self, organizing incoming sensory information, and regulating internal impulses. Aldous Huxley claims that each person is capable at any moment to remember everything that has ever happen to him/her and can even perceive everything that is happening everywhere in the universe at that certain moment. He also believes that the central nervous system and the brain is to protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant information that we don’t currently have any use for (Haze and Mandrake, 2016). Usually after the effects wear off, these connections go back to normal, and we won’t experience synesthesia anymore. Most people claim that they feel dulled out after experiencing something so marvelous, and even eye opening, when it comes to sense of ego. There are other ways of reaching this feeling that is being tested currently too. These are pharmacologically similar to psilocybin, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and phenethylamine-containing alkaloids (mescaline).

Different Types of our Mushie Friends

            Enough about the anatomy of the human body, and words that are extremely hard to say at first. That stuff can continue to drag on, and on, and on……… and on. To start this off, we will touch base on what mushrooms start off as. If you are familiar, you will see most mushrooms have a long stipes (stalks/stems), and convex heads or “caps”. Typically, you will see gills up underneath these caps, and this is where the mushroom stores, these tiny microscopic spores (poet and didn’t know it!). When the mushroom matures fully, thousands of these tiny spores will fall to the earth, causing more mushroom growth. That is why you will see mushroom cultivators, smack the cap before taking the mushroom from its base. However, instead of acting like seeds, and gather energy through photosynthesis–they germinate to produce a mass of interwoven, single-cell wide structures known as hyphae, which is also considered as Shiro. A collective mass of hyphae is known as mycelium.

Mycelium is the plural form of the word Mycelia, which has New Latin and Greek origins, literally meaning more than one. In order to understand the greatness of mycelium, we have to get a little more technical. Fungi absorbs nutrients from the environment such as a substrate (certain conditions of soil), a log, etc., through its mycelium in a two-stage process. First off, those little hyphae (which reminds me of Hefe) secrete enzymes into the decaying wood or other substrate. They break down biological polymers into smaller units called monomers. The mycelium then uses a combination of facilitated diffusion and active transport to absorb these monomers (The Conscious Club, 2017). There is so much more that goes into mycelium, that you can look up for yourself. Some people believe mycelium to be the way that all fungi life communicate in the forest. Fun Fact: The largest single fungal organism is found in the Malheur National Forest, and it belongs to the species called Armillaria Ostoyee. It covers a whopping three and a half square miles or 9 square kilometers in the state of Oregon! Paul Stamets has even found that mycelium can help retain our bee population, to continue pollinating the earth. By protecting them from detrimental diseases that hinder their wing growth. Really interesting stuff if you ask me!

The following is a progression of a mushroom, from the beginning mushroom spore, all the way to the developing fruiting body that you typically will see above ground. Even though the larger, more branched out aspect of the mushroom is below ground.

                        Quite the Cycle (Mycologic, n.d.)

Though there are many different species of psilocybin containing mushrooms, we will only touch base on the main species that hold the most affect. The most potent types of psilocybin containing mushrooms belong to the genus Psilocybe. You can find all kinds of information of the different types of mushrooms, and their poisonous look alikes, in Paul Stamets book: Psilocybin Mushrooms of The World: An Identification Guide (1996). All of these different species carry three different “ingredients”, Psilocybin, Psilocin, and Baeocystin. There are 12 species but there are only 7 that have high enough percentages to account for: Psilocybe Azurescens, Psilocybe Bohemica, Psilocybe Semilanceata, Psilocybe Baeocystis, Psilocybe Cyanescens, Psilocybe Tampanensis, and the most common Psilocybe Cubensis. We won’t go into the description of each, however, they are in order from the most potent, to the least potent in all three “ingredients”. Go take a look at the full descriptions if you have time.

Dosing Types: Micro, Moderate, and Heroic Dosages

            The thing about mushrooms being blacklisted all those years ago, they weren’t able to be assessed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to find the proper dosing for an actual supplement. It isn’t like your traditional dietary or nutritional supplement that you will find at the local drug store, where recommended daily allowance has been arduously tested. So, the following dosages aren’t proven, and should be taken lightly, especially since there are numerous factors that must come into play. What is the species? What is the potency of that specific mushroom? Is it consumed wet or dry? How much do you personally weigh? Of course, there are all kinds of unknowns out there, and skepticism makes people think it is all just for the “hippies”. In some of the pioneering psilocybin studies done at Johns Hopkins University, controlled doses of psilocybin were administered to patients.

***Let it be known, I do not perform any illegal activity, and I do not suggest that anyone does anything illegal. This is just information that I have gathered for the purpose of education. NONE of this information has been tested by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be used as a remedy for any mental illnesses. Please consult with you physician, therapist, or psychiatrist for any means possible to help with your specific illness. I need to notify you of this before you proceed. This disclosure is here for your safety and understanding (and mine of course)***  

Micro-Dosing

            Micro-dosing is exactly as it sounds, where you take just enough to have the mental effects, without the full body high and altered visual perception. It just enacts the happy feeling that you get from taking a larger dose. According to Curative Mushrooms (2020), A proper dosage for micro dosing would be 1/10^th of a gram, which may change to your certain body type. So, remember, there are 1000 milligrams in one gram, so you would take 100 mgs for the traditional micro dose. There is also the body weight method, which you take .25 mg per kilogram of bodyweight.

I will also bring in the infamous Paul Stamets, and his patented micro dose formula, where he stacks psilocybin with Lion’s Mane and niacin. Lions’ mane is another delicacy mushroom that is legal and has shown proof of helping with nerve regenerative properties. Other benefits of Lions Mane are as follows:  Increases memory, increases focus, increases concentration, Anti-inflammatory, supports gut health, improves mood, increases energy levels, and Supports insulin sensitivity (Microdosing Institute, n.d.). So, this mushroom alone, can give anyone a lot of supporting health benefits. His stack is as follows:

DAYS 1-4: Micro dosing days

• 0.1 to 0.2 grams of dried magic (psilocybin) mushrooms or 0.5 to 1.5 grams of fresh magic truffles
•  500mg to 1000mg of high-quality Lion’s Mane extract powder (or manufacturer’s recommended dose)
• 50 –200 mg of niacin Vit B3 ‘Flush’

DAY 5-7: Non-micro dosing days

• No micro dose
• Optional: Niacin
• Optional: Continue implementing Lion’s Mane

 CYCLE: continue for four weeks

RESET: Stop micro dosing with psilocybin for two to four weeks. You may continue supplementing with Lion’s Mane during this reset (Microdosing Institute, n.d.)

Moderate Dosing

 Again, it is exactly how it sounds, a moderate dose. You will find all different kinds of numbers when it comes to a moderate dose. Curative Mushrooms (2020) states that a typical moderate dose would be 1-4 grams. While others say anywhere from one gram to 3.5 grams. That is where the traditional eighth that most people enjoy taking comes from. This is a practice that can be conducted every so often, such as every month or two. All depending on your schedule and ability. You won’t have the full dissolution of self that you would a heroic dose, but you will feel the effects, both physically, visually, and emotionally. That nice word, synesthesia comes back into play at this dose, where your senses begin to cross. Of course, there isn’t many studies conducted on this dosage practice, since again, they are illegal…. But I am positive that there will be more as the days pass. This helps keep your empathy levels higher throughout the time span in between dosages.

Heroic Dosing-Lets Get Ready to Rumble!!

Now for the large dosage, that completely dissolves your sense of self. The dissolution of self sounds intimidating; however, it is only for the duration of the trip, and there may be some lingering feelings for a few days after. This feeling is something that is thought of coming from the claustrum (as stated earlier) where it is thought of being our seat of consciousness. It can be more looked at as, the dissolution of our ego, instead of our self. Because, well, everyone always remembers their name, and who they are after the fact. Sometimes you may begin questioning who you are, and what your purpose is in this finite life. But more often than not, it always pushes you towards something more positive. You may learn that you must quit putting so much effort in finding the negative aspects of life and begin focusing more on the positive aspects of it. Or maybe even quit taking yourself so seriously and start having a little more fun in life. Another trait that people have found they experience after a heroic dose, is they become more empathetic with the people around them. When we can start feeling other people’s pains, then we may even be able to stop being the root cause of their pain. It is sort of like an eye-opening experience, helping us to be a bit more introspective in our actions. When you begin looking more inwards, you may be able to find that you are at fault for your own tribulations. Thus, creating an avenue to changing for the better.

I will bring up good ole curative mushrooms, yet again. According to Oliver, a heroic dose would be 5-7 grams (2020). However, there are also others claims of it being anything above seven dry grams of psilocybin. It is kind of like the old saying with beans: “Beans, Beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot”. So, besides the tooting part… it is a lot the same. Taking anything above six dry grams, you will find yourself in an altered dimension almost. Again, this sounds scary, but it really isn’t that bad. You will see the whole world waving in a sense, which is really neat when you look at the horizon, or even some cool art. Synesthesia begins to set in, where you think you are hearing colors, and seeing sounds.

Johns Hopkins has found that one heroic dose has shown to have long lasting effects, where people claimed to have a personality change. They claimed to have a more openness feeling when it came to life, looking at life in a whole new lens almost. Openness includes traits such as imagination, aesthetics, feelings, abstract ideas, and general broad-mindedness. They also claimed to have more of a spiritual side after the experience. Most of the individuals were over the age of 30, which it is thought that we don’t really make any drastic personality changes after 30 years old. These lasting affects lasted anywhere from 12 months to 15 months in the 51 people that they tested. Reduction of anxiety, fear, and sad thoughts was also found throughout this study. So, I mean, why wouldn’t you want to do this every six months to a year? Of course, it needs to be in a comfortable environment, where you have someone that is sober (and knows what the experience is like) to be able to keep everyone and everything in line. People have even tried conducting therapy sessions during these experiences, to help guide people into changing certain traits of their lives.

If this stuff interests you, then I know you have heard of the word (or person), Shaman. A Shaman is someone that is believed to have a connection with good and evil spirits or is influenced by the afterlife/before life. They typically enter a trance state during a ritual to practice divination and healing for the people participating in the ritual. You may also look at them as your guide into your psychedelic experience, where when you begin to venture off, they can center you back into your purpose. They believe that they can obtain healing powers whilst in the ritual, for almost all of the people around them. They are admired as one of the more powerful human beings in this present life. You can find the biggest influence in these people in remote areas of the Amazonian Forest. Where nature is more important than the smart phone or computer you are currently using. They are these peoples Google in a sense, where they can give them answers to the most important questions about life. These people are found to have almost nothing in their possessions but are some of the happiest people on the face of the earth. There must be a connection to the psychedelic experiences they endure.

Stoned Ape Theory

First proposed by a main stream ethnobotanist Terence McKenna (1946-2000) in his early 90’s book “Food of the Gods,” the basic concept is that the consumption of psychedelic fungi may have played a crucial role in the development of human mind and culture (Lamb, 2021). Of course, he believed that the “Stoned Ape Hypothesis” misrepresented his theory, but it is still the name that stuck. Terrance and his brother Dennis McKenna (who is an ethnopharmacologist) must have had some DEEP, late-night conversations when it comes to something as intense as this theory. Dennis claims that they put forth the evidence during their conversations to come up with this theory. Long story short, the hypothesis suggests we owe the emergence of language and self-reflection to ancient, sustained consumption of psilocybin mushrooms all those years ago. They know that the human brain doubled in size about two million years ago, which is of course evidence that would need to be dug into more, but we will just roll with it for the sake of description. It is also thought to have been apart of the “Creative Explosion” that happened around 40,000 years ago. Where homo sapiens began living in their own creations, making tools, and hunting in a more innovative way. This again made the development even faster all the way up to where we are today.

With the effects of psilocybin making our mental acuity higher, and deeper visual perception, they may have been able to think and react faster. This would make them be less susceptible of getting attacked by larger predators, or even finding, and killing their food for daily rations. The long tale of Vikings drinking ale and eating mushrooms before battle runs congruent with his hypothesis. Where it is thought that they fought harder, moved faster, seen incoming attacks, and even weren’t afraid of death. Of course, none of us lived in this era, and the probability of finding more documentation is slim, so it will remain that… a theory. If we could travel back in time and find that we adapted to our surroundings because of mushrooms, then I bet they would get legalized that same time. But I guess, if we had the technology to time travel, then our superficial problems wouldn’t exist anymore… or we would create even more problems!

Summary

So, I know that if you are reading this, then you are obviously interested in this topic. And honestly, throughout the duration of this article, I told myself that I wouldn’t take a stab at big pharma. But in my opinion, I think marijuana, and psilocybin mushrooms were both outlawed so that “man-made” remedies could begin to corner the market. I feel like they already knew about the medicinal properties of both these NATURAL remedies, but they knew they couldn’t regulate it, since they could easily be grown at home. Sometimes I feel like money turns most people into greedy individuals. Most man-made products have been proven to lead to more side effects than the initial illness that is trying to be healed. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love innovation, and it is one of the best times to be alive, however, I feel like we are all being controlled by the elites of our world. They may not think they are, because that is what they were taught as they were coming up. But it all started somewhere. It only takes 30 years to completely change the outlook of an entire generation, and I believe we are beginning to yet again, change the outlook, of an entire generation. If mushrooms didn’t get blacklisted all those years ago, just think about the amount of research that could have been done by now. I don’t know about you, but I truly believe that if it worked all those years ago, why ON EARTH wouldn’t it work now!? I think if every person on earth took a heroic dose once a year, our world could potentially be a better place. The absence of ego would bring more people together. The increase in empathy would make people think before they acted in a negative way. And finally, the closeness that we could all experience with our fellow humanoid, would rid us all of division. We wouldn’t all resort to tribalism, where it is thought that we all MUST reside on one side or the other, or one country or the other. Instead, we could all reside in one harmonious connection of fellow humans, who are all on the same, good ole’ Pursuit of Happiness.

I hope you enjoyed my article, and I look forward to hearing any feedback you may have. Please stay tuned to more information on mushrooms, not only Psilocybin mushrooms, but all medicinal mushrooms. If you know of any new research pertaining to this topic, please feel free to reach out to me at any time via email, socials or anywhere else. Just search the unique name, you will find it.  

Have an excellent day, and remember, “Every situation you are in, is a test of who YOU truly are”

-Cyral I Callender III

Post-Script: The world is just a reflection of yourself. Whatever you put out into the world, it will get reflected onto you. If you stare into a mirror, and you hate what you see, you cannot attack the image, but you can change it. Whenever you transform, the world will transform around you. In a state of non-acceptance, you will attack the image. But if you accept yourself as is, then your image won’t attack you. Mental illness is not the problem, you are the problem. As long as your Ego mind thinks of it that way, you will never get better. DO NOT blame life for treating you unfairly, but do not blame yourself either, all that is, is resistance.

Much love people.   

References

Curative Mushrooms. (May 3, 2020). Magic Mushroom Dosage-Heroic Dose & Microdosing Correctly. Retrieved from: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6TDMK3IUc2LqgyJBIMtBhZ?si=ATBrfxn3RhWMo69Eu-IFIQ&utm_source=copy-link

Conscious Club, The. (Oct. 31, 2017). Mycelium-The Future is Fungi. Retrieved from: https://thegreentemple.net/articles/mycelium-the-future-is-fungi

Haze, V., Mandrake, K. PhD. (2016) The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible. 1^st Edition. Green Candy Press.

Joe Rogan Experience. (Nov. 14, 2019). Episode #1385-Paul Stamets. Retrieved from: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2VdrsKSyOmm5iNr8eCUy0y?si=17gVkv1vRq2yVpQnivxUMw&utm_source=copy-link

Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2020, June 5). How psychedelic drug psilocybin works on brain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 23, 2022 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200605121512.htm

Lamb, R. (Jan. 27, 2021). The Stoned Ape Hypothesis: Did Magic Mushrooms Influence Human Evolution? Retrieved from: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/evolution/stoned-ape-hypothesis.htm

Microdosing Institute. (n.d.) Stamets Stack (Stacking Lion’s Mane and Psilocybin Mushrooms). Retrieved from: https://microdosinginstitute.com/microdosing-101/substances/lions-mane-stacking/

Mycologic. (n.d.). Biology and Life Cycle of a Mushroom. Retrieved from: https://www.mycologic.nz/life-cycle Science Direct. (n.d.). Psilocybe. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/psilocybe