You may know the chemical 4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine by its more common name, psilocybin. Long used as a sacrament among indigenous peoples in the Americas — and more recently branded as an illicit party drug — in recent years, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms has received a lot of attention from scientists for potential to treat […]
Three different psychedelic drugs that are known to produce altered states of consciousness and that have been used illegally for recreation are the subject of a new study. Psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound that is produced by magic mushrooms, Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and ketamine are the subjects of the new study. Researchers set […]
Magic mushrooms have been used by indigenous peoples around the world for healing, prayer, and divination for at least 10,000 years. In the 1960s, psilocybin mushrooms were popularized as a recreational drug after R. Gordon Wasson, a vice president of JP Morgan, traveled to Mexico with a photographer to the mud hut of the Mazatec […]
Results raise hopes that active substance in class 1 drug could be used to treat mental health conditions in future. Magic mushrooms have lifted severe depression in a dozen volunteers in a clinical trial, raising scientists’ hopes that the psychedelic experiences beloved of the Aztecs and the hippy counter-culture of the 1970s could one day […]
Dinah Bazer was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the spring of 2010. The Brooklyn resident, an ice skating teacher and former bank IT programmer in her 60s, was devastated. Luckily, doctors were able to successfully treat her disease with chemotherapy, but the dread of a reoccurrence just wouldn’t go away. It was like waiting for […]
Psilocybin is one of the great unknown medicines of modern society. It has been used for millennia by tribes and societies around the world for spiritual practice; in fact, there are 6,000 year old cave paintings of mushrooms found in the Selva Pascuala cave, Spain, as well as Saharan cave paintings dated back to 7,000 […]
Psychedelic substances like LSD and psilocybin — the active ingredient in magic mushrooms — are powerful, able to transform the way that people who use them perceive the world. Because of that, after years of prohibition, psychiatric researchers in the US are hoping to take advantage of that power to transform mental health treatment. And as […]
Psilocybin. It’s the psychoactive substance in those “sacred mushrooms” that causes hallucinations and other novel mental experiences. The effects of those mushrooms have been explored and appreciated by members of the ancient Capsian culture in North Africa, Aztec shamans, and modern college students. But they’re now the subject of serious study by scientists. A team […]
We’ve come a long way from doctors endorsing cigarettes and authority figures saying that nicotine is perfectly safe, but even in this day and age when we know that tobacco is the single leading cause of preventable death,1 millions of people still smoke and many of them are struggling to quit. Finding ways to help […]
For most of the 1950s and 1960s, researchers enthusiastically studied the psychological properties — and potential — of hallucinogens like LSD and psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic” mushrooms. “Psychedelics were tested on alcoholics, people struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder, depressives, autistic children, schizophrenics, terminal cancer patients, and convicts, as well as on perfectly healthy artists […]
As you lie back and feel your trip beginning, your excitement becomes colored by doubt. Did you take too much? How can you be sure it’s not more than you can handle? As you worry, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and your anxiety takes over. You can tell the next few hours are going to […]
Theobroma cacao, the main ingredient in chocolate, isn’t called „food of the gods“ for no reason – it has beautifully elevating effects, specially when mixed with a pinch of magic. Intuitively we know it: Chocolate makes us feel good. We naturally associate chocolate with sensual pleasure, love, and pleasure, which couldn’t be better represented by […]
The profound impact of LSD on the brain has been laid bare by the first modern scans of people high on the drug. The images, taken from volunteers who agreed to take a trip in the name of science, have given researchers an unprecedented insight into the neural basis for effects produced by one of […]
The Truest Sentences I’ve Ever Written: I am a popular, well-respected Drug and Alcohol Counselor. I was in Boston, dealing with the good people from Southie, Dorchester, and Charlestown. I am now in Malibu, and deal with people from all over the country with various forms of addictions and mental health issues. I am eternally […]
Levels are a way to describe the intensity of your trip. Level 1 is a low level trip… level 5 is a high level (full ego death) trip. Using the level system is an attempt to define the trip strength, as there is no way to objectively rate a subjective experience, but it is a […]
The Elders tell us that all ceremonies, be they tribal or personal, must be entered into with a good heart, so that we can pray, sing, and walk in a sacred manner, and be helped by the spirits to enter the sacred realm. For this reason, we will now perform a smudging ceremony, where we […]
In our ever-shrinking world, music listening of the future may of necessity be less a matter of personal choice than of predetermined selection. What, then, should our music be? What knowledge has man acquired on the efficacy of certain sounds for certain human conditions? Is this knowledge adequate for the man of the future […]
The Lingzhi mushroom, also known as Ganoderma lucidum or Reishi, has been used for ages in traditional Asian medicine to treat a host of health conditions and promote longevity. Often referred to as the “king of mushrooms,” this edible medicinal fungus is well known to boost anti-inflammatory properties, immune function, liver health and mental clarity. […]
One of the most powerful ways of working with sacred plants is through medicine ceremonies. A medicine ceremony is a spiritual ceremony during which a power plant or healer plant is being imbibed or smoked. The participants will pray for healing or spiritual growth, then sit quietly and meditate. The ultimate purpose of the medicine […]
What is crucial is to develop a sense of The Witness. The Witness is a state of consciousness where one can observe the contents of one’s experience in a detached manner. In this state, mushroom eaters can observe their emotions, thoughts, and experiences without being attached to them. Only when one is in this state […]
Preparation: Cleaning up your body, no booze, no weed, no red meat, lots of raw food and exercise. Clean the ceremony space and surrounding areas, do all dishes, vacuum, wash bedding and blankets. Be caught up to work commitments and take the following day off. Ceremony should begin at 10:30pm with pre-smudge meditation. Shower, shave […]
In my last article I discussed the role animal totems play in Native American culture and methods you may use to discover your totems. Among other topics, I examined the Medicine Wheel (earth-based astrology, Sun Bear Publications) and how it reveals each person’s two-animal totems. In summary, based on your birth date, each person has […]
The practice of such individuals is an art of the highest degree and makes use of intentions, thoughts, sounds, symbols, ritual, and countless other factors to generate the sought after experiences and realizations. If one is seeking to learn from mushrooms, it is actually easier to understand what is happening with somewhat larger or stronger […]
While mushroom states of consciousness are highly refined and often transcendent and profound, the ultimate goal is to bring these insights into everyday life. That is the goal of any form of spiritually transformative work. Mushrooms can bring the spiritual seeker right to the heart and root of his personal issues, especially if used consciously […]
Eating entheogenic mushrooms is not for everyone. While many people enjoy these sacred sacraments as recreational entertainments and use them as a means to have fun and magical experiences, they can easily launch a person on a difficult, frightening, and often harrowing experience. While the experiences generated by entheogens are not necessarily spiritual or religiously […]