Of mushrooms, Stamets has said, “[Mushrooms] They are miniature pharmaceutical factories, and of the thousands of mushroom species in nature, our ancestors, our ancestors, and modern scientists have identified several dozen that have a unique combination of talents that improve our health.”

He infers that they are not all created equal, and for Vosges’ use, taste does matter, so when weighing our options against our Superior Source criteria, our quest to include wellness benefits in our chocolates without compromising delicious haut-chocolat, we settled on three types of mushrooms that ticked all the boxes. They add different parfums to recipes with varying taste profiles, some mild and tender, others pungent and earthy.

What do all the mushrooms that we chose to include in our confections have in common? They are all high-vibrational food. Consuming mushrooms give you a concentrated bump of energy, focus, and overall vitality. They have all been used in eastern medicine for far longer than they have been recognized in western medicine, and they all have a myriad of health benefits that is very concentrated in a small-sized fungus.

First, meet the Chaga mushroom. Also called the “True Tinder” because of its charcoal-looking exterior, one of this mushroom’s distinguishing characteristics is that it grows on the tops of trees, like the birch, rather than at the base of the tree. For centuries Japanese, Chinese, and Siberian growers have taken advantage of this mushroom’s medicinal and culinary uses.

It’s a gnarly and rough textured mushroom, with a soft, even squishy, interior used in chunks or ground to make teas or blended into chocolate. When used in tea, it is harvested live and ground with a hand grinder or mortar and pestle, releasing one of the highest levels of antioxidants, essential vitamins, and nutrients found in nature.

Chaga also aids in lowering cholesterol, preventing, and slowing the increase of bad cholesterol. It supports the immune system, reducing inflammation throughout the body’s main organs.

Chaga’s mild, aromatic, earthy taste is smooth and slightly bitter, but sweet with a hint of vanilla. It has a very pleasant scent that carries the bark of the tree, leaving a trace of incense on the palette.

Enchanted Mushroom Extraordinaire

Made and decorated by hand, each Mushroom Extraordinaire stands nearly 6 inches tall, weighs 1.25 pounds, and is filled with soft dark chocolate hazelnut and Chaga mushroom ganache. The centerpiece of any Easter fête or celebration of Spring. 

Lion’s Mane is also a special fungus that Stamets suggests is our “first smart mushroom”. It’s an edible mushroom that has cognitive benefits as we age, protecting against dementia and aiding in the treatment of mild depression and anxiety. It has been proven to stimulate brain cells, attributing to its use in the field of brain and mental health.

Buddhist monks used these mushrooms in their meditation practices to enhance their concentration, and memory and to better tap into the life force of Qi.

Its strengths do not stop there. It has been used in the treatment of nervous system injury recovery, for the regulation of blood sugar in diabetic patients, to support the immune system, and to help prevent ulcers. It is rich in thiamine, riboflavin and niacin .

You can recognize the Lion’s Mane mushroom by its pom-pom shape. It is a white mushroom that has icicle-like, shaggy spines which have a stringy texture that resembles the fur of a lion. This mushroom has a mildly sweet flavor. It is delicate and juicy, tender and a bit chewy much like a scallop or lobster. It is sometimes used as an alternative to these kinds of seafood and crab, due to matching textures and taste profiles. 

It is not, however, the lion’s mane that is the king of the forest. That honor belongs to the Reishi mushroom, and specifically, to the most rarified and potent of them, the antler Reishi. Considered the panacea of the mushrooms, with multiple uses and abilities for improving our health, Stamets says of the antler Reishi mushroom that it “stands out as one of the most valuable mushrooms in nature of for the overall benefit of our health”.

The colorful display of one of the most beautiful fruits produced by a mycelium, these mushrooms have been used for over 4000 years since they first appear in the documentation of Chinese medicine, considered the “king of herbs” and the “mushroom of immortality”. 

This elixir of life is the most divine of the mushrooms, which from a spiritual perspective, harmonizes life force and energy. It symbolized success, well-being, divine power, and longevity.

Reishi  s considered so special it was kept secret and was reserved for the royal court and emperors. This was also due to its rarity, with sometimes only a yield of one of every 100,000 Reishi being an antler.

What makes the antler so sacred? Harvested young, this mushroom has the highest concentration of its most potent benefits. It contains germanium to protect against cancer cells and reduce the risk of tumor cells. It targets cholesterol and excess fat, improves oxygen absorption, and balances the blood by ridding it of toxins.

The Reishi contains Adenosine which also cleanses the blood and aids in circulation. Triterpenoids inhibit histamines which relieve allergies and pain, protect against liver damage, and inhibit inflammation. Amino acids, found in the Reishi repair muscle tissue, organs, and skin. Reishi when ingested also protects against pollutants in the environment.

While it takes time for Reishi to build up in the system, once it does, it can reduce fatigue and improve sleep.

All of these contribute to the mushroom’s ability to improve the health of the body from the inside out. It is not a cover-up for symptoms, but a way to work to solve them.

Reishi mushrooms have a woody flavor that is slightly bitter and often noted as being less appealing in taste than other varietals of mushrooms. It is sometimes compared to the bitterness of dark chocolate, though, and so it makes sense then, that it is made more palatable with chocolate, which balances out its less favorable qualities.

The Persephone Collection

The winter slumber is over, and the return of Persephone is imminent. Though the ground may still be covered in frost, she reminds you to push through. Our spring collection celebrates her tenacity and the abundance the earth provides during the season of rebirth. This collection offers limited edition truffles and our mini enchanted mushrooms in an array of superior sourced spices, nuts, and fruits that fete the season of renewal. The centerpiece of the Persephone is a bombe of the same name made with Reishi and Chaga Mushroom + 62% cacao dark chocolate + hand topped with fresh edible flowers from Chef’s Garden.

All these mushrooms contribute to our recipes in healthful and flavorful ways. They offer high vibrational elements, and adaptogens, and delight the tastebuds while they feed the mind and body.

What if you could open your mind and unlock the untapped potential of your imagination, unleashing a world of boundless inspiration? What if there are profound materials that strengthen our connection to something greater? 

No matter how you refer to them—consciousness-expanding, mind-altering, ceiling-shattering, or ground-breaking—creatives and intellectuals throughout history have been enamored by the enigmatic, striking effects of psychedelics. 

From ancient historical uses to the counterculture movement of the 1960s, a wide variety of renowned personalities have used them for their purported benefits for improving ingenuity and mental health issues like depression and PTSD. 

The impact of entheogens on creativity is a subject that extends beyond even discussions of their role in mental health treatment, as their potential uses may surpass healing and enter the realm of transcendence.

This article offers a more in-depth look at one of our key points in The Benefits of Combining Psychedelic Therapy and Talk Therapy. Let’s venture into the scientific research regarding creativity and what exact measures and methods are used to quantify such an intangible quality in relation to psychedelic usage.

Types of Creativity & The Cognitive Tests Associated

Creativity is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that can manifest in various forms, but it is typically discussed in terms of divergent and convergent thinking in psychology and other related fields.

Divergent thinking is associated with generating multiple potential solutions to an open-ended problem with no “right” answer, while convergent thinking involves finding a single, correct solution.

First proposed in the 1950s by J.P. Guilford, president of the American Psychological Association, Guilford postulated that creativity is a “natural resource” and can be heightened through creativity-training activities (Runco, 2014).

Divergent thinking is more classically associated with “creativity” because it involves generating a broad range of ideas, and convergent thinking is actually synonymous with deductive reasoning.

Guilford also postulated that creative thinking is a more complex neurological process of pattern identification and solution potential analysis, which echoes a quote from the ingenious designer and inventor, Steve Jobs:

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” — (The Guardian, 2011)

In a 2011 review by O. Vartanian, greater variation in EEG alpha wave activity was found in those ranking as highly creative on certain markers of creativity testing. The confirmation that creativity is linked to “task-related variation in cortical function” is interesting given that alpha brain wave activity is associated with wakeful relaxation states and mindfulness meditation practice.

It was also found that divergent thinking is responsible for problem identification as well as solution, and is “involved in leadership, managerial creativity, and entrepreneurship” (Acar and Runco, 2012).

Carl Jung did say, “To ask the right question is already half the solution of a problem” (The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, 1981), suggesting that creativity being able to identify a problem is as important as being able to solve one.

Furthermore, creative individuals often employ a combination of both divergent and convergent thinking in their work. In fact, many creative endeavors involve a back-and-forth action between the two.

Creativity according to this definition is not limited to any one field or domain and can be found in a variety of contexts, including art, science, business, and beyond. Overall, this form of imagination and originality plays a crucial role in complex problem-solving, idea generation, and innovation.

Scientific Research on Psychedelic-Induced Creativity 

In a previous article, we dove into how psychedelics affect the brain, but specifically when referring to their effects on creativity, the efficacy of psychedelics lies in their ability to alter the activity of certain neural networks. 

One primary example is the default mode network (DMN), which is active when the brain is at rest and not engaged in perceiving external stimuli. The DMN is involved in self-referential thinking, introspection, and daydreaming.

Psychedelics have been shown to decrease the activity of the DMN, in other words shutting off egoic thinking and rumination, which has also been shown to be associated with certain mental health conditions like depression.

Hallucinogens have also been shown to increase neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to form new connections and reorganize itself in response to new experiences, as well as induce changes in personality and spirituality. 

What does this have to do with creativity? Well, the default mode network is a neural habitual patterning of activity across various regions of the brain that seems to be “re-opened” or dissolved by psychedelics. Simply put, being able to open up to new patterns of thinking could obviously lend itself to the idea of unique and novel creative ideas and problem solutions.  

Furthermore, a 2021 study published by Mason and colleagues showed that the consumption of psilocybin can enhance creative thinking. Researchers found that acute and persisting effects were associated with altered activity in the DMN. 

As the study notes, “Psilocybin increased ratings of (spontaneous) creative insights, while decreasing (deliberate) task-based creativity. Seven days after psilocybin, the number of novel ideas increased.”

This study only measured acute effects up to seven days which could potentially be attributed to the afterglow effect, so more testing is needed to understand lasting effects and take into account more prolonged usage.

A 2022 study by Wiebner and colleagues investigated the effects of LSD on creativity using various tasks and approaches on 24 healthy volunteers. Participants received either LSD or a placebo and completed a “creativity task battery.” Results showed that LSD led to increased originality and symbolic thinking but decreased organization. 

These findings suggest that LSD encourages “a shift of cognitive resources ‘away from normal’ and ‘towards the new,’” which could be useful not only in creative tasks and roles but also in psychedelic-assisted therapy.

The study does raise a valuable distinction between spontaneous and deliberate creative thinking and posits the need for more research that distinguishes between acute and prolonged effects of LSD on creativity.

Because psychedelics are currently being investigated in research as a potential treatment for mental health disorders—which are often characterized by inflexible and rigid thought patterns—these results have clinical significance.

A 2016 publication by Kuypers and colleagues echoed these exact same results for ayahuasca, showing that measures of creative divergent thinking increased in users while convergent thinking decreased.

This reduction in “judgmental processing,” according to the study, exhibits “classic goals of mindfulness psychotherapy,” with potential uses for generating “new and effective cognitive, emotional, and behavioral strategies.”

In conclusion, research results are steadily showing increased creative thinking patterns in psychedelic users with a decrease in the types of thinking which are, in excess, associated with a wide variety of mental health conditions.

Microdosing For Heightened Creativity

The last study we will cover is a randomized, double-blind study conducted in 2018, which found that microdosing psychedelic truffles had a significant impact on standardized measures of creativity.

Participants on microdoses of psychedelic truffles displayed increased levels of both divergent thinking and convergent thinking. The researchers expressed particular interest in divergent, symbolic thinking, which has been associated with mental fortitude and resilience via faculties of openness, receptivity, and pattern (meaning) formulation.

For many, microdosing can be a more accessible and manageable way of experiencing the diverse, transcending benefits of psychedelics, whether for performance optimization, creativity enhancement, or anxiety reduction. 

The potential risks of microdosing have not been adequately studied in clinical trials, but many studies have suggested that psychedelics in general are widely safe and beneficial when taken in the right setting (Rootman et al., 2021).

Closing Thoughts

Through the alteration of perception and the breaking down of cognitive barriers, psychedelics can provide new perspectives and connections in the mind. By providing a temporary shift in consciousness and a new way of thinking, these substances may be able to help us break through creative blocks and reach new heights of productivity and inspiration.

However, it is important to approach the use of psychedelics for creative purposes with caution and responsibility, considering the potential risks and legal implications associated with psychedelic use.

The best way to mitigate risk is to have an intentional psychedelic experience, with special consideration for set and setting. The presence of a psychedelic guide can help increase the likelihood of having a safe and transformative trip.

This brings us to our offerings here at Psychedelic Passage where we connect clients with a network of pre-vetted psychedelic facilitators who specialize in preparation, integration, and harm reduction.

Each facilitator in our network is experienced in navigating the realm of psychedelics and managing stress during the journey as well as techniques for optimizing your experience such as setting powerful intentions. 

If you are interested in having a guided psychedelic experience, we encourage you to book a consultation with our call takers to get connected with facilitators in your area. We also offer additional articles and information, which you can check out on our resources page. We hope you enjoyed learning about the optimistic scientific research surrounding creativity and psychedelia. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Psychedelic Impact on Creativity

How long do the effects of psychedelics on creativity last?

While the lasting effects of psychedelics in general vary based on a wide array of factors, studies have tested the acute effects of psychedelics on creativity up to 7 days post-trip. 

More research is needed to conclude if there are lasting, life-long changes. However, considering that creativity and divergent thinking is believed to be developable skill, long-lasting effects are within the realm of possibility.

What famous artists or creatives have credited their work to the use of psychedelics?

Many well-known creatives and intellectuals have credited the inspiration behind their work to the use of psychedelics, such as Steve Jobs and John C. Lilly. Musicians like The Beatles and Sting, writers like Aldous Huxley and William James, and visual artists like Alex Grey and Robert Venosa have also been known to incorporate their psychedelic experiences into their art.

Can microdosing psychedelics improve creativity without taking larger doses?

Microdosing involves taking very small amounts of a psychedelic substance, with advocates suggesting that it can enhance focus, creativity, and mood without producing hallucinations and other intense effects. 

The allure of microdosing is that it can potentially provide therapeutic and desired benefits while remaining more functional and practical for day-to-day use. Research studies have been conducted with results indicating that microdosing psychedelics can have positive effects on creativity without the intensity of taking a macrodose.

Alex Jones says a trip in Jamaica saved her life. Not a trip to Jamaica: a hallucinogenic trip in Jamaica.

Severe depression had descended on her at age 10, and stayed there, relentlessly, for the next two decades. She couldn’t work, couldn’t bear the sight of herself in the mirror, and for days on end could barely lift herself off her couch. The temptation to end it all was always at the periphery.

“I felt like I was the walking dead,” said Jones, who is now 34.

She endured hours of talk therapy and rotated through 30 different drug regimens. She did light therapy and then dark therapy. She tried an experimental ketamine nasal spray and then a ketamine infusion. She underwent rounds of electroconvulsive therapy and sleep deprivation. She submitted to transcranial magnetic stimulation, where she wore a big helmet equipped with magnets.

None of it worked, or at least not for long, and some brought severe side effects. Doctors told her she was “treatment resistant,” meaning seemingly beyond help.

But in 2019, she happened upon a “60 Minutes” report on clinical studies showing strongly encouraging results in using psilocybin, a psychedelic agent derived from mushrooms, to treat patients with depression, anxiety and addiction. Outside of the trials, the treatment was not available in the United States, where psilocybin remains illegal under federal law.

Jones booked a one-week stay at a Jamaican retreat. There, under supervision, she underwent three psychedelic mushroom sessions, followed by sessions with “facilitators” on the island and on her own for months back home in Tacoma, Washington, unravelling the psychedelic trips she had experienced.

What she discovered was that she felt better. Much better.

“It woke me up,” she said. “I was alive, I was me again. I could see the beauty in the world. Even the physical changes were surprising. The next day after my first dose, I was charging up sand dunes. Before that, I had a hard time going up the stairs.”

Five months ago, she told Washington legislators considering a bill that would legalize the use of psilocybin that the trips she experienced in Jamaica “had saved my life.”

With research showing promising results for patients, lawmakers in other states and cities also are considering loosening psilocybin restrictions. A few states want to legalize psilocybin treatment for all adult patients, while others want to limit it to veterans or others with PTSD. Other states have formed task forces to study the issue.

Studies in recent years have found that psilocybin and other psychedelics can have beneficial effects for a variety of mental health and other conditions such as PTSD, anorexia, chronic pain, fibromyalgia and addiction. Indigenous populations around the world have recognized the beneficial effects of psychedelics for hundreds of years and incorporated them in spiritual rituals.

In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration named psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” in treatment for severe depression, a designation the agency applies to drugs that in early trials demonstrate substantial improvement over existing treatments.

Not everyone is ready to give mushrooms the go-ahead. In written testimony in February to the Maine joint legislative committee overseeing health and human services, which was considering a psilocybin legalization measure, Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the state Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cautioned that there are not yet enough recognized medical standards to ensure the safe use of psilocybin.

“While there may be early evidence for the use of psilocybin to assist in treatment of refractory depression and PTSD, this research is ongoing and there are not currently clinical practice guidelines or FDA-approved treatments to ensure safe and appropriate use of the therapy,” he said.

‘50 Times the Interest’

In 2020, Oregon voters approved a ballot measure that puts the state on a path to a regulatory and licensing framework that, starting in 2023, will enable patients to take psilocybin under supervision. Oregon is the first state to legalize psilocybin.

In its budget bill this year, the Connecticut legislature started the process toward legalizing centers in which veterans and first responders could be administered psilocybin and MDMA, a synthetic psychedelic. Some veterans groups have long pushed for making psychedelic treatments available for veterans, particularly those with PTSD.

Texas, Utah and Washington state have set up task forces or funded research into the medical use of psilocybin. Maryland has created a million fund to study alternative treatments, including psychedelics, for PTSD or traumatic brain injury, and to pay for such treatments for veterans.

Ballot initiatives that would legalize psilocybin are underway in Colorado and California. Last month, the president of the New Jersey Senate introduced a bill that would legalize psilocybin to treat certain disorders.

Cities including Ann Arbor, Michigan; Denver; Oakland, California; and Seattle, have passed measures that essentially decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms and sometimes other psychedelics derived from plants or fungi. The cities make no distinction between medical and recreational uses.

But even those states that might put a regulatory system in place would not do so in a medical setting, a concern raised by Maine’s Shah. The Maine bill, which didn’t pass, contemplated psilocybin centers, that, Shah testified, “would function like recreational use facilities rather than medical treatment facilities, puts limitations on the Department’s ability to regulate safe use, and does not incorporate sufficient behavioral and public health input to the structure.”

Proponents say they are comfortable with psilocybin use outside the medical system but with regulation and licensing in place.

Washington state Sen. Jesse Salomon, a Democrat, sponsored a bill this year that would have set up a regulatory system like Oregon’s. It would have adopted standards for cultivating mushrooms and processing psilocybin as well as licensing centers and providers who would administer the drugs to patients.

The bill did not move out of committee, but lawmakers appropriated ,000 for a task force to study the issue. Salomon said the original bill generated keen interest, particularly during a two-hour hearing in February, during which several veterans testified.

“I got 50 times the interest in this bill than any bill I’ve ever done,” Salomon said. “I had no idea that would happen. I just threw it out there.”

Although psilocybin remains a federally prohibited drug, Salomon and other proponents of legalization say they are confident U.S. law enforcement will take the same hands-off approach they use in states that have legalized marijuana.

Possible Remission

The legislative efforts around the country have been propelled by positive clinical studies on the effects of psilocybin.

One influential 2020 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry found that 71% of the patients with severe, previously treatment-resistant depression, showed “clinically significant improvement” that lasted at least four weeks and with “low potential” for addiction. More than half were considered in remission at four weeks.

“I would say at this stage the research is showing that in safe settings, this provides relief from debilitating mental health problems for some people,” said Alan Davis, one of the study’s co-authors, a neuroscience researcher at Ohio State University and adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

Davis said imaging conducted on patients shows that the psilocybin causes changes in the brain, although it will take further study to determine the meaning of those changes. What’s clear is that patients felt they had a mystical or spiritual experience during their trips, one that profoundly altered their perspective.

“They have spiritually significant experiences, not just in the short term but the long term as well.”

And it’s apparent, he said, that psilocybin works on the brain differently than other medicines used to treat psychiatric conditions.

“Regular [psychiatric] medicines don’t cure anything,” he said. “But with psilocybin, with two or three doses, some people are in complete remission.”

‘Most Pivotal Experiences’

Some veterans organizations, convinced of the benefits of psychedelics to treat PTSD and other mental health conditions, finance trips overseas where those substances are legal.

That’s how Matthew Griffin, a former captain in the Army Rangers with four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, ended up in Costa Rica in 2017, where he used ayahuasca, another plant-based psychedelic. Diagnosed with PTSD and traumatic brain injury at the time, he was struggling with memory loss. His short temper and drinking were making life miserable for everyone around him.

That hallucinogenic trip and how he later unpacked it, he said, “was one of the most pivotal experiences of my life,” he said. Since then, he has traveled overseas four or five times for hallucinogenic trips, most recently using mushrooms.

“Emotionally, energetically, financially, sexually, everything in my life has been better since taking this alternative path to healing,” he said.

Other users describe similar experiences. “I learned how to love, not only myself, but others,” said Corey Champagne, a Marine Corps veteran in Redmond, Washington, who used ayahuasca in Peru last year.

For Jones, the benefits of the drug have continued since Jamaica. “After you spend 20 years hating yourself and having deep depression and having bad urges and believing bad things to be true, I could never get away from those thoughts. But now I feel like me again. It has changed the way I look at myself and possibilities for the future.”

So much so, that this month, she left her lifelong home in Washington for a new life on the East Coast. (She didn’t want her new location disclosed.)

“This is something that wasn’t even in the realm of thought two years ago.”

We’d like you to be aware for a moment of the associations you have with the word ‘mushroom’. Does it spark feelings of intrigue or curiosity? Hunger and excitement? Hesitation? Caution or disgust? Maybe you somehow feel all these all at once. 

The fungal kingdom is incredibly diverse, with some mushrooms being perfectly edible, tasting deliciously savory and possessing healing effects, whilst others may potentially poison you. 

Then, there are some that have the capability to produce blissful journeys to other worlds. Mushrooms truly are quite magical. Perhaps it is the infinite possibilities that lie within the word ‘mushroom’ that allow the term alone to elicit so many feelings at once. 

Here at Psychedelic Passage, many of us are mushroom fanatics who enjoy learning about the complex nature within the mycelium networks that connect us all in nature and spirit. 

In this article, we’ll dive into the most popular ways to consume psychedelic mushrooms for an intentional and therapeutic experience. How can you tell what type of mushrooms you have, determine accurate dosage, and prepare your psilocybin medicine? 

How to Identify What Mushrooms You Have

Accessing quality psilocybin mushrooms can seem challenging at times, especially when you’re unsure how to choose a reputable vendor or navigate the evolving psychedelic legalities. It’s important that before we even discuss how to prepare mushrooms, you ensure that you source psychedelic medicine safely, and know whether psychedelics are right for you. 

After safely acquiring the mushrooms, it’s time to determine how much psilocybin (the active compound that makes magic mushrooms magic) is actually in your possession. 

Knowing what species you have and in what form, is vital, as psilocybin content can vary with the form presented (whether that be fresh, dried, or in capsules), can differ between strains, and different parts of the mushroom (cap vs. stem) contain different amounts of psilocybin.  

For example, dried psilocybin truffles often contain less psilocybin than dried mushrooms, the penis envy strain can be stronger than golden teachers, and psilocybin content can also change in the different stages of development of a mushroom. 

For instance, miniature pinheads that just didn’t grow bigger can be more potent than larger mushrooms per gram of weight. So if you’re unsure what exact mushroom you have and how large it typically grows to, it may pose a challenge to determine the exact amount of psilocybin you’re ingesting. 

Luckily, there exists the option to grow your own mushrooms at home, which allows you to ensure the purity of your supply. If you’re interested in journeying down this route, explore the best mushroom grow kits for psychedelic therapy!

How Much ‘Shrooms Should You Take? 

It’s important to do some research about proper dosing in order to ensure you have a psychedelic experience that is right for you. The recommended dosage for a psychedelic trip is 20 to 30 mg of psilocybin/70 kg of body mass (typically equates to about 3 to 5 grams of dried mushroom). 

It’s important to note that much of the research involving psilocybin has involved the active chemical compound itself—not the entire mushroom, whereas recreational psilocybin use typically involves the mushroom as a whole. 

There are a few calculators that can help with determining an estimated dose. This calculator allows you to choose from fresh or dried mushrooms or truffles, and this one breaks it down into different strains of mushroom and considers if you’re taking a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) or not.

While knowing the amount of psilocybin you’re taking is important, the dosage of this medicine isn’t as simple as a math equation.  These calculators can provide an estimate, but there are many other factors that can affect one’s experience. 

The amount of psilocybin varies within the type of mushroom (as mentioned previously), as well as factors completely outside of the mushroom itself, like intention, how often you take shrooms, your age, and set and setting, can all have an impact.

Whether one has had previous experience with psychedelics, is taking antidepressant medications, and your intention for use, can all impact how much psilocybin will be beneficial. One’s relationship with control, openness to the experience, and willingness to surrender will also have a great impact on dosage. These are factors that only you can honestly answer for yourself.

If you’re experimenting with psilocybin for the first time, it’s essential to start low. Every individual is different. Everyone has a unique sensitivity and tolerance for every substance. Every individual reacts differently to every chemical.

Luckily, at Psychedelic Passage, we’re experts on psychedelics, and our network of facilitators can help you honor your individuality by guiding your decisions on dosage. All in all, know your body, know your mind, know your substance, and know your Source.

Differences Between Fresh, Dried, and Stored Mushrooms

Whether you’re working with fresh or dried mushrooms will affect their potency, with fresh mushrooms being said to be more potent. The challenge when it comes to fresh mushrooms though is storage, as they can only last in the fridge for 5–10 days. 

After this short time period, you increase the risk of your mushrooms decaying, which would be an unfortunate waste of a fine medicine and financial investment down the drain. So if you plan on holding onto your shrooms for more than a few days, drying them is highly recommended. 

You can dry your shrooms using a simple air drying method, placing the shrooms on a thick paper towel for 72 hours or so. If you have a food dehydrator, you could also use this as well. Once you have your dried shrooms, it’s crucial that you store them properly, ideally in an airtight container, like a mason jar or ziploc bag. 

If you are starting out with already dried mushrooms, we’d like you to give them a quick inspection before you embark on your journey, just to make sure they haven’t gone bad. 

Just like regular mushrooms, psilocybin mushrooms have an expiration date. If they show any indications of decomposition or contamination (for example mold, black or white spots, slime), or smell off, don’t consume them. 

The main concern is due to spoiled mushrooms’ ability to cause vomiting, diarrhea, or food poisoning, but there is no evidence to suggest that they would have adverse psychological effects, as mushrooms actually tend to lose potency over time, especially if they haven’t been properly stored. 

Cleaning Your Shrooms 

Unless you’re certain that your mushies came from a home grown sterilized setting, it’s important to make sure there is no potential harmful debris (such as dirt or dung) that is still on your mushrooms. 

With this you have a few options: running them under cold water, wiping off any dirt, then setting them on a paper towel to dry, or simply wiping your shrooms off with a damp paper towel. Note that you should only do this directly prior to consuming the shrooms, as they will quickly absorb water.

Top 5 Ways to Consume Your Therapeutic Shrooms 

Alrighty, now that you’ve properly sourced your mushrooms, determined how much psilocybin you’d like to ingest, checked that your shrooms haven’t gone bad, cleaned them, and most importantly, determined that you are ready for this experience, you’re now ready to ingest the magical mushrooms. 

1. Eating Raw Mushrooms

The most simple and ancient practice of ingesting mushrooms is simply eating them. Some claim that consuming the mushrooms in this form helps them connect more with the medicine, as they are already accepting the fungi exactly as is in its natural form. 

Depending on the type of mushroom, as well as individual sensitivity, this may be easier said than done, as some can taste quite unpleasant. With eating mushrooms, it is important not to simply choke them down, but to take the time to thoroughly chew each bite to allow all the juices to come out, as well as to help with better digestion. 

If you’re not a fan of the chewing, you can also opt for a truffle grinder to make a mushroom paste for yourself. Once consumed, the psilocybin is converted to psilocin (the active psychoactive compound), so that your body may use this medicine, sending the mushrooms metabolites throughout your body. 

The shrooms will take around 45 minutes (give or take roughly 15 minutes) to begin taking effect, and will last around six to eight hours. The less you have in your stomach, the more of the medicine you can absorb, so it is recommended to avoid food for a few hours prior to your experience. 

2. Adding Mushrooms to Your Food 

If you’d rather not eat your shrooms raw, there’s plenty of other options to choose from, so you can embark on your experience with culinary pleasure. Most simply, you can combine the mushrooms with a food of your choice. We recommended that you break up the mushrooms by grinding them into a fine powder (using a cannabis grinder or coffee grinder).

Grinding the mushrooms evenly distributes the psilocybin, as well as increases their surface area, enabling the gastrointestinal system to absorb more of the substance more quickly. It’s also best to grind your shrooms 15-30 minutes before you plan to ingest them, so the powder doesn’t float into the air when you open the grinder.

If you don’t have a grinder, you can also simply chop them with a knife. Then, once the mushrooms are broken down, they’re ready to be combined with your tasty trippy treat. The real question now is what food you’re going to combine them with. This is really a personal preference, but here are some popular options:

• • Nut butter toast (Variations: jam, chocolate, nutella, or all of the above) 

• • On a veggie taco

• • In a smoothie

Now, if you’re using mushrooms to create a culinary masterpiece of your own, it is important to note that psilocybin starts to break down under excessive heat (around a temperature of 190°F) so any exposure to heat for extended periods will affect potency. 

This is why we recommend adding them to sauces or toppings only after the cooking stage. If you are feeling a bit fancier and want to do more than simply sprinkle the shrooms on top of your treat, you can also opt to infuse sweets. Some like to grind up their mushrooms and infuse them in chocolate or honey, and even use this as a storing method. 

3. Making Mushroom Tea

Perhaps, for one reason or another, physically eating the mushrooms may not be too up your alley, and that’s totally okay. Lucky for you there’s a multitude of ways to consume your shrooms.

Steeping them into a tea is known to be one of the best ways, and for good reason. By preparing mushrooms in a tea form, the bitter ‘mushroom flavor’ often lessens, leaving you with a more pleasant taste. 

Tea can also be gentler on your digestive system, as well as making nausea less likely. So if you have a more sensitive stomach, or tend to get nauseous, tea may be a better option for you. 

Mushroom tea also tends to act faster and subside quicker, as your body isn’t taking as long to digest the physical mushroom. We could go on and on about the benefits of this magical brew, so let’s just jump right into how to make it. 

1. 1. Choose any herbal tea or spices (that you have already had before and know your body reacts well to) and set them aside. 

The possibilities with this are endless, but some potential options are chamomile, green tea, cinnamon, peppermint or ginger (both of which help reduce nausea), adding in vanilla, or coconut milk, etc. 

Note that herbs are plant medicines as well, with their own effects on the body, so it is important to know how you react to these, and if you would like said effects to be part of your trip. 

For example, if you would like a calming effect, chamomile could be nice, but could also make you sleepy. If you would like to be more alert and energized, jasmine green may be more suitable, but could also have the potential to cause anxiety since it is caffeinated. 

If it is your first time experimenting with mushrooms, it may be best to isolate one variable at a time and have a simple mushroom tea, to see how your body reacts to that compound alone.

1. Grind your preferred dose of dried mushrooms into a fine powder using a coffee grinder or finely chopping with a sharp knife.
2. Heat your water (approximately one cup of water per serving) in a teapot to about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, just below boiling. Then reduce heat to low.
3. Add your mushrooms (and any herbs or spices you may want to add) into the teapot, and let the brew simmer for about 15 minutes. You can increase this to 30 minutes if you’d like to strengthen the effects.
4. Now you can either strain the liquid, or leave as is. Give it a good taste and if you’d like, add a sweetener like honey. 
5. Sip and enjoy!

Mushrooms have been used traditionally as medicine for thousands of years by cultures across the globe. Medicinal mushrooms like Shiitake, Lion’s Mane, and Cordyceps have been used in Chinese herbal medicine to provide immune support, improve digestive function, and increase energy or libido. In fact, in Tibet entire villages venture into the hills at certain times of year to seek out the elusive Cordyceps sinensis, revered by locals to support vitality and increase energy. The Red Reishi, Ganoderma lucidum, is known as Ling Zhi in Chinese, translating to “spirit plant” or “tree of life mushroom.” (Rogers 2011). The Red Reishi has been revered for centuries for its ability to increase clarity and focus, earning a reputation among sages and spiritual seekers to improve the quality of meditation. (Sun-dried Shiitake mushrooms even absorb nutrients from the sun’s rays and can be used as a vitamin-D supplement!)

There are so many accounts of the wonders of mushrooms from ancient lore, and modern scientists are also verifying these claims with robust research. For example, researchers have identified two important polysaccharide compounds from the beautiful gourmet Turkey Tail mushroom, Trametes versicolor, which are responsible for their tumor-fighting capabilities. These compounds, known as polysaccharide krestin (PSK) and polysaccharide peptide (PSP) have been the subject of numerous cancer treatment studies. More than 400 clinical studies have been published in Japan regarding these compounds, and in 1987 more than 25 percent of money spent on natural anti-cancer agents in Japan were for PSK. The cancer treatment drug Krestin, derived from PSK, is approved by both the Chinese and Japanese governments. (Rogers 2011). 

Another culinary mushroom which has seen an abundance of research emerge regarding its medicinal properties is Lion’s Mane, Hericium erinaceus. Lion’s Mane has worked its way to the forefront of natural medicine, increasingly recognized as a powerful ally for the nervous system. Hericenones C-H derived from Lion’s Mane mushrooms have been found to induce synthesis of nerve growth factor (NGF), required by the brain for developing important sensory neurons. In one Japanese study, elderly patients incorporated 5 grams of Lion’s Mane into soup for six months. After 6 months, 6 out of 7 patients who had taken the mushroom displayed improvement in perceptual capabilities. (Rogers 2011).

Chaga, Inonotus obliquus, a mushroom found growing on birch trees around the world, has been a subject of major study as well. It has been researched widely for anti-tumor activity, especially in Eastern Europe – an area where the fungus has been used traditionally (Kahlos et al. 1996), and due to the abundance of birch. Studies by Kahlos et al. (1996) also indicate the black skin of the fungus exhibits 100 percent inhibition of human influenza viruses A and B. Antiviral activity of Chaga is believed to be due to content of betulin, hispolon, hispidin, lupeol, and mycosterols. (Rogers 2011).

Lion’s Mane: Rich in vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. It’s also a good source of essential minerals such as manganese, zinc, and potassium. Research has shown Lion’s Mane may protect against dementia, reduce mild symptoms of anxiety and depression and help repair nerve damage. It also has strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and immune-boosting abilities and been shown to lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, ulcers and diabetes in some clinical trials.

Cordyceps: Cordyceps has beneficial effects on the human body, which include immune, anti-tumor, anti-metastatic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal, antimicrobial, hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, anti-aging, neuroprotective, and renoprotective effects. In traditional Chinese medicine, it has been hand-picked and dried for centuries to treat fatigue, kidney disease, low sex drive and many more illnesses. In addition, it is appreciated for its anti-aging and physical enhancement properties.

Chaga: High in fiber and loaded with antioxidants which may potentially prevent or slow tumor growth. Other possible chaga benefits include lowering cholesterol and fighting heart disease, reducing inflammation, regulating blood sugar, reducing oxidative stress, boosting the immune system, enhancing gut health, and improving

Maitake: One of the world’s most beneficial functional mushrooms. Maitake has been shown to regulate blood sugar and drop cholesterol levels and are the most widely chosen mushroom for cancer fighting benefits. They are also considered adaptogens, meaning that they contain powerful properties that can help naturally restore and balance the body to promote better health.

Turkey Tail: Turkey Tail is thought to create optimal gut health. It is rich in antioxidants and is known to support immune system balance and help with digestion. It is being used in clinical trials to improve immune function in people with certain cancers.

Reishi: Full of antioxidants, the Reishi mushroom has been shown to boost the immune system, have cancer fighting properties, help fight fatigue and depression, help control blood sugar, and have beneficial heart health effects. It has also been shown to improve sleep and lessen fatigue.