Psilocybin Mushroom

Parts Usually Used

Entire mushroom

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Psilocybin mushrooms, fungi that contain the hallucinogens psilocybin and psilocin

Where Found

Present in varying concentrations in about 200 species of Basidiomycota mushrooms, psilocybin evolved from its ancestor, muscarine, some 10 to 20 million years ago. In a 2000 review on the worldwide distribution of psilocybin mushrooms, these were considered distributed among the following genera: Psilocybe (116 species), Gymnopilus (14), Panaeolus (13), Copelandia (12), Pluteus (6) Inocybe (6), Pholiotina (4) and Galerina (1).

Many of them are found in Mexico (53 species), with the remainder distributed throughout Canada and the US (22), Europe (16), Asia (15), Africa (4), and Australia and associated islands (19). Generally, psilocybin-containing species are dark-spored, gilled mushrooms that grow in meadows and woods in the subtropics and tropics, usually in soils rich in humus and plant debris. Psilocybin mushrooms occur on all continents, but the majority of species are found in subtropical humid forests.

Medicinal Properties

Due partly to restrictions of the Controlled Substances Act in the United States, research had been frozen until the early 21st century when psilocybin mushrooms were tested for their potential to treat drug dependence, anxiety or mood disorders. In 2018-19, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for studies of psilocybin in depression disorders.

Shrooms can change your sense perception, warping surfaces, overlaying visual perception with repetitive geometric shapes, altering colors and changing how sounds are perceived. ” They can cause synesthesia, distort cognizance of time and space, and give the user a sense of melding with the environment. More complex open or closed-eyes visual hallucinations are also possible, but are rarely confused for reality.

Using shrooms also produces subjective emotional effects, which can range from hilarity to heightened anxiety. Magic mushrooms also dilate pupils. Psilocybin in magic mushrooms becomes psilocin in the human body, which binds with serotonin receptors in the brain, particularly receptor 5-HT2C, which regulates the release of neurotransmitter chemicals related to appetite, cognition, anxiety, imagination, learning, memory, mood and perception.

Psilocin increases activity in the visual cortex, while decreasing the part of the brain responsible for your ego, or individual sense of self.

Biochemical Information

Present in varying concentrations in about 200 species of Basidiomycota mushrooms, psilocybin evolved from its ancestor, muscarine, some 10 to 20 million years ago. The effects of psilocybin mushrooms come from psilocybin and psilocin. When psilocybin is ingested, it is broken down by the liver in a process called dephosphorylation. The resulting compound is called psilocin, which is responsible for the psychedelic effects.

Psilocybin and psilocin create short-term increases in tolerance of users, thus making it difficult to misuse them because the more often they are taken within a short period of time, the weaker the resultant effects are. Psilocybin mushrooms have not been known to cause physical or psychological dependence (addiction). The psychedelic effects tend to appear around 20 minutes after ingestion and can last up to 6 hours.

Physical effects including nausea, vomiting, euphoria, muscle weakness or relaxation, drowsiness, and lack of coordination may occur. As with many psychedelic substances, the effects of psychedelic mushrooms are subjective and can vary considerably among individual users. The mind-altering effects of psilocybin-containing mushrooms typically last from three to eight hours depending on personal metabolism.

The first 3–4 hours after ingestion are typically referred to as the ‘peak’—in which the user experiences more vivid visuals and distortions in reality. The effects can seem to last much longer to the user because of psilocybin’s ability to alter time perception.

Legends, Myths and Stories

The use of hallucinogenic mushrooms in America was partially stamped out by Catholic missionaries during the Spanish conquest, but continued to be used in indigenous ceremonies in Mexico. In 1957, Life magazine published the account of two ethnomycologists, who participated in just such a ceremony (it was revealed in 2016 that their expedition was funded by the CIA’s Project MKUltra).

A year later, Albert Hoffman, the Swiss chemist who first synthesized LSD, isolated the psychedelic compound psilocybin. Magic mushroom was popularized through the 1960s by researchers and psychedelic gurus, including Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna and Robert Anton Wilson. Prehistoric rock art near Villar del Humo in Spain, suggests that Psilocybe hispanica was used in religious rituals 6,000 years ago.

Mushroom stones and motifs have been found in Guatemala. A statuette dating from ca. 200 CE depicting a mushroom strongly resembling Psilocybe mexicana was found in the west Mexican state of Colima in a shaft and chamber tomb. A Psilocybe species known to the Aztecs as teōnanācatl (literally “divine mushroom”: agglutinative form of teōtl (god, sacred) and nanācatl (mushroom) in Náhuatl) was reportedly served at the coronation of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II in 1502.

Aztecs and Mazatecs referred to psilocybin mushrooms as genius mushrooms, divinatory mushrooms, and wondrous mushrooms, when translated into English. Bernardino de Sahagún reported the ritualistic use of teonanácatl by the Aztecs when he traveled to Central America after the expedition of Hernán Cortés. After the Spanish conquest, Catholic missionaries campaigned against the cultural tradition of the Aztecs, dismissing the Aztecs as idolaters, and the use of hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, together with other pre-Christian traditions, was quickly suppressed.

The Spanish believed the mushroom allowed the Aztecs and others to communicate with demons. Despite this history the use of teonanácatl has persisted in some remote areas. The first mention of hallucinogenic mushrooms in European medicinal literature was in the London Medical and Physical Journal in 1799: a man served Psilocybe semilanceata mushrooms he had picked for breakfast in London’s Green Park to his family.

” Timothy Leary traveled to Mexico to experience psilocybin mushrooms himself. When he returned to Harvard in 1960, he and Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass) started the Harvard Psilocybin Project, promoting psychological and religious study of psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs. Alpert and Leary sought out to conduct research with psilocybin on prisoners in the 1960s, testing its effects on recidivism.

This experiment reviewed the subjects six months later, and found that the recidivism rate had decreased beyond their expectation, below 40%. This, and another experiment administering psilocybin to graduate divinity students, showed controversy. Shortly after Leary and Alpert were dismissed from their jobs by Harvard in 1963, they turned their attention toward promoting the psychedelic experience to the nascent hippie counterculture.

Uses

Historically, researchers and traditional practitioners explored psilocybin-containing mushrooms in therapeutic and spiritual contexts, often alongside psychotherapy or practices such as meditation. Investigators examined the fungi for their potential influence on substance use disorders and eating disorders. In experimental settings, participants frequently reported subjective spiritual and mystical experiences, noting feelings of sacredness, joy, transcendence of time and space, and changes in personal perspectives regarding gratitude, openness, and life satisfaction.

Research into these applications was historically conducted at institutions such as Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London, and the Beckley Foundation.

Bibliography

Psilocybin Mushrooms: Psychedelic Mushroom Types and Their Safe Use – Psilocybin Identification Book (Entheogens 2) , by Hank Bryant The Psilocybin Mushroom Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing and Using Magic Mushrooms , by Dr. K Mandrake PhD Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide: A Handbook for Psilocybin Enthusiasts , by O. T. Oss (Author), O. N. Oeric (Author), Terence McKenna (Introduction)