DOSE:

2 caps

oral

Mushrooms - P. cubensis

(fresh)

BODY WEIGHT:

200 lb

At the time of this experience I viewed mushrooms with a similar reverence Carlos Castenada's descriptions portrayed of peyote. Just going out to the mushroom field was a spirtual experience for me. For a short time I seemed to be able to detect the mushrooms by a small beep like tone in one ear or the other. Sometimes I would just know where the mushrooms were. On this particular hot and muggy Florida summer day, my friend and I had covered several acres to no avail and were on our way out when I sensed the presence of a mushroom to my right. I looked over about twenty yards and could see a cap peeking out from the grass.

Weary from travel and not even caring anymore, I revealed the mushroom to my friend. When he picked it he exlaimed, 'Holy shit Jim, it's Papa Smurfs house!'. Needless to say this was a very large specimen of the common psilocybe species which we referred to as purple ringers, for thier purple skirt on the stalk. It was about five inches across and about an inch thick. I also found another mushroom approximately half the size. At this point I was not even interested in taking a trip so we went to our seperate homes.

Later that evening two other friends of ours, Joe and Rodger were wanting to trip and talked me into it. So we went to Lou's house and got them some mushrooms and I reclaimed the two I had found earlier. Eating that huge mushroom was like eating a sandwich. I had to stop and drink some water several times. Myself, Joe, and Rodger went back to my mom's house who was on vacation. The trip started off normal enough. The world started to look wierd, I was yawning alot, then my stomache started to feel sick, which basically never happens.

Joe and Rodger appeared fine so I explained how sick I was feeling and Joe said,'Oh yeah, when that happens you just have to lay down and not move at all'. Which sounds normal enough but, I felt an overwhelming feeling of doom from his statement as though he were trying to lead me 'astray'. But from what I asked myself and had to get up move around. I started feeling better right away. Every time I tied to sit down I would get the feeling that I was not where I was supposed to be and that I was going to die if I did not move.

Now we had run out of cigarettes and the two of them were wanting to walk to the store and get some more, which I would normally be totally against but on this trip I felt that following them was absolutely essential to my survival. As we are walking down the street I am wearing only cut off jean shorts and absent mindedly listening to their conversation I felt what I can only describe as a vortex on my hand. It was colder and cleaner than the rest of the world.

As I was playing with one of many rips in my shorts It felt like exactly the right thing to rip them off my body and start spinning them around similar to pizza dough. The strange part to me during this was only the fact that I could feel this energy vortex thing at my hand and it started to encompass the cloth as well. Spinning the shorts faster I became aware of my inate ability to control their motion and began tossing and whirling them like a martial arts weapon. Soon the vortex feeling was all over me and I felt more focused and aware of the universe than I ever had in my life.

As we neared the store I started mimicking the motions by spinning and frolicking about. The parking lot was empty and while Joe and Rodger were discussing wether the store was even open I was discovering acrobatic abilities I didnt know I had. I don't know what moves I was actually pulling off but I do remember specifically landing flat on my back and head which of course did not hurt. The final verdict was that this store was closed and that we should walk the opposite direction to a Shell gas station.

These two stores are about a fifteen minute walk from each other on a rural route here in Florida. I felt like I had super human abilities and ran past my friends a couple of times to see if they thought I was moving very fast. Maybe not superhuman but they did agree I was running quite fast. Then I felt this vortex thing pull me in such a manner that I started spinnig faster and faster untill it appeared that I was seperate from reality which I was standing on while it spun like a record.

I was spinning so fast that I had to hop so as not to trip on my own feet. I could see cars coming at me but they kept dissapearing and reappearing farther down the road. All the while traveling to the store I was doing this and running through water filled ditches in only my boxers. When we came upon the plaza next to Shell I jumped a picnic table long ways just for fun. When we got to shell there was no one ther except the cashier and I was surely a site to see. Unshaven, half naked, coverd in water and bits of grass with the look only someone on lots of mushrooms could have.

So I waited patiently by observing this vortex which at this point appeared to have gained visual existence as a more clear than clear more real than real spot that floated about hither and tither with seemingly no reason. Rodger asked the lady for a carton of marlboro reds. She replied can I see your ID. She did not belive that it was his real ID so Joe came forward and offered his ID. We were all 18 and Joe had just gotten his liscense so he knew the picture was current. This was not valid for the lady either.

Now the vortex came upon me and I realized that I was being tested. I had no ID I had only myself to prove who I was and the vortex pulled me behind the counter where I waited patiently for its next cue. Now one must remember that while I did not follow this pull My trip would go extremely sour and I was sure that I would die if I did not follow this 'path' as it seemed to be. So the lady asked me ' what are you doing?', and I answered with full honesty,'I don't know'. Then I felt the pull of the vortex take me out from behind the counter and to dig into the drink tub next to it and grab a huge chunk of ice and chew on it my friends were now able to purchase the carton and we left peacefully.

Walking back to the house I felt the pull of this path/ vortex to take the back way through a golf course. I ran off leaving my friends to take the beaten path. I lay down on the earth spread out like Jesus or so it seemed to me and contemplated the sky. I became aware of ants crawling all over me yet was sure they would not bite. As they covered my legs I became fearful and jumped up and wiped them off and continued on my way.

I came to a lake and just continued walking then swam untill I was right in the middle of the lake where I felt the vortex on my feet swirling all about my body and start to pull me down. It seemed to me that the spirit of that lake was trying to tell me something. Could I breathe under water? As I breathed the water into my throat survival mechanisms kicked in and I splashed to the surface coughing. I looked to the shore and saw a light. Follow the light I thought how perfect because the distance across the lake seemed insurmountable.

When I reached the shore I confronted the largest cliff I have ever seen in my life. While I stood there trying to decide how to get past this huge obstacle I felt what seemed to be a skeleton in the mud under my feet. Confronting my fears I grabbed the wreck and pulled it up to find only a hunk metal bars. When I looked up the cliff was only about a foot high and I could easily step right over it. As I was standing there contemplating my journey thus far I decided to let out an animal call and recieved a reply!

My friends who had been searching for me worried now knew where I was and were soon by my side. As they playfully wrote their names in the dew on the grass the vortex called me to start doing flips and sommersalts. As we started to return home I looked where I was flailing about and saw my name written in cursive! Well that is the main part of the night, I didn't come down for many hours after that and spent most of the time trying to make sense of this strange path/vortex I had experienced. Four years later I still don't know what it is but have gained the ability to spin nunchaku on fire without any training only my own random practice and have never been burnt. I could never prove what if any of that night was truly real and what was only my own stupidity but I still feel this vortex/path on a daily basis sober or otherwise and have made it one of my lifes goals to understand that mistical feeling that made me feel more real than anything.

Exp Year: 1999	ExpID: 34274
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Dec 11, 2006	Views: 13,252
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Mushrooms - P. cubensis (66) : Mystical Experiences (9), Small Group (2-9) (17)