DOSE:		oral	Mushrooms
		smoked	Cannabis

BODY WEIGHT:

70 kg

I am a long time hashish smoker who has always had an interest in psychedelics but they are rarely found in Pakistan. Last year I got a contact of someone who imports magic mushrooms, or shrooms. I am afraid I am not aware of the particular type.

So far, I have taken three doses. The first time I did it was in June ‘14. The second trip was in August ‘14. The third one happened in April ‘15. I have not weighed each dosage myself, but I expect it to be close to the commonly prescribed 4 grams.

The weather was very hot the first time I did it but it seemed to make no difference to me. Either I was so completely lost in my trip to notice the temperature, or it actually does something to make one feel cooler. I am guessing that the latter may be true, as I experienced on my third trip. I will describe it when I get there.

The first time I boiled my shrooms, drank the water they were boiled in and ate the shrooms as well. I took them around 7 pm. I was home alone as my family had gone out. I sat in front of the TV, waiting for the trip to start. In about half an hour, I started feeling lethargic and closed my eyes… and then it hit me. There was music playing on TV and I started seeing the music with my eyes closed. I could discern between each instrument and its sound, and each sound wave had its own shape and color. Soon, some people started talking to each other on TV. One of them said something negative, I do not exactly remember what, but it negatively influenced my visions. I realized at once that it was the thing that had been said. So I turned the TV off, played some Jazz on the computer and started listening to that.

By this time I was getting to the peak. I started seeing amazing patterns and fractals and colors, all with my eyes closed. I am an avid nature photographer and do a lot of insect photography in the height of summer. All of a sudden, a plethora of the prettiest, never-seen-before insects invaded my mind. I still remember one image, where I saw a tiny green bug with eyes that were perfectly spherical and bright red. Suddenly its eyes popped out and landed on a velvety green leaf. And then those spheres multiplied and spread all over the surface of the leaf. It was a strange and beautiful sight. During those visions, I started understanding what all the psychedelic art of the sixties and seventies was about. By the time I was a couple of hours into my trip, my wife and child returned. My wife noticed my state and asked me about it. I told her I was tripping on shrooms. She, being the eternal conformist, said something judgmental at once. And I could see the negativity in her voice and told her so. She left me alone after a few minutes, but not without lessening the intensity of my trip. Another hour or so passed with lessening intensity and I came back to my normal state.

A couple of months later I took a much-anticipated trip to the mountains. I had been saving one dose for that trip. The last leg of my journey took me to an altitude of 14000 feet. I was on the roof of the world and I was going to get even higher. For the benefit of the readers, the place is known as Deosai. It has a beautiful lake and millions of wild flowers grow there at the time I was visiting. I was very excited to have finally gotten there and ingested the shrooms as soon as I reached. I was not really prepared for the altitude sickness. Add shrooms to the mix and suddenly the lethargy became much more intense. I just went and sat by the lake. It was early afternoon and the light kept changing continuously because of the moving clouds. The whole scene appeared to me the way beautiful landscapes look in fantasy movies. It was like the whole post-production process for that landscape was taking place inside my eyes. Imagine the scenes of the elven world from LOTR. The colors were that rich… the sunlight that golden.

And then I had a spiritual experience. The perfection of the world suddenly dawned upon me. And I realized that I too was a part of that perfection. It was an overwhelming feeling that made me burst into tears. I just sat there for a while alone, crying. When the effect had worn off a little, I returned to my traveling companions and asked for some food. Someone handed me a glass of milk and a piece of bread. That simple fare tasted better than anything else I’ve ever had.

The last trip took place a few weeks ago. I took the shrooms around 9 pm. The weather has been quite pleasant lately. Yet I started feeling very cold, even a little shivery, after the lethargy set in. I was feeling cold enough to take a blanket on. Coupled with my first experience, this makes me think that the mushrooms probably cause one to feel a little cooler. This time, the mushrooms I got seemed a little different. There had not been much nausea on the first two trips. This time it was quite intense, but so was the high. It also took me much longer to get to the peak. The first two times, it had taken me thirty to forty minutes to get there. This time it took more than hour. I tried listening to music but did not enjoy it much. So I just came to bed and lied down.

Soon, the visions started. I photograph a lot of flowers during spring. So on this trip, I saw millions of flowers of a thousand different colors and shapes. I saw birds carrying flowers. I knew that they were taking those flowers to decorate the setting of a grand ceremony that was about to take place somewhere. I saw neon rivers and rainbow trees. I had some epiphanies about my personal life and one about life in general. I would take the opportunity to share it with you here… and it is this… “Awareness is a power”. I do not mean knowledge. Just being aware of all that is within us… and the awareness of our surroundings. I realized that just being aware can give us a much deeper understanding of everything and thus empower us. This trip lasted about four hours and my descent to the normal world was much slower. The after-effects i.e. the lassitude and the enhanced sensory perception also lingered on for another two to three hours. During that stage, I watched Samsara by Ron Fricke. It is a mind-boggling film that would affect anyone, and in the state that I was in, it had a great impact on me. On my final trip, I also felt a strong craving for female company. It was not a desire for sex but just the need to feel the feminine energy to complement mine. Sadly, there was none to be had. During all three trips I also smoked a joint or two. It helps control the nausea somewhat. The smoke feels much lighter than it actually is.

During my trips I have realized that it is possible to control my visions. I cannot induce them myself and I will see whatever I will see. But it is critical to stay positive in my thoughts. A single negative thought can ruin the vision. But then, if I am aware of my thoughts I can stop the negative ones and replace them with something positive and the vision gets back to being pleasant. I think this is the law of attraction at work. It probably works the same way in life. Another great thing I discovered was that my mental acuity was not compromised. I was completely cognizant of my environment and whatever I was feeling. I just had to open my eyes to come back to the real world. I even spoke to some friends over the phone and had a perfectly rational conversation. But the lethargy was so great that I could not speak very loud. Any action took a great strength of will.

Each time, the trip has left me feeling rejuvenated and very positive. I still have one dose on me. I intend to take it in another couple of months or so. So far, I have enjoyed my trips so much that I intend to keep doing it once or twice a year. I have also realized that shrooms are better done alone as they put me in contact with my subconscious. One’s own company is plenty when one is able to unlock those hidden doors inside oneself.

Exp Year: 2014	ExpID: 106040
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 37
Published: Feb 11, 2020	Views: 694
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Mushrooms (39) : First Times (2), Combinations (3), General (1), Alone (16)