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Mushroom Effects
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These mushrooms are usually eaten (and are said to taste fine), but
people have for some reason tried to smoke them. This is minimally
effective. If you want to try, use the skin, which is the most active
portion. If you boil them, you may have to drink a lot of broth into
which the active principles have leached. They are said to be of
slightly decreased effectiveness when dried, particularly after more
than a few months. As smoking presumably pyrolyzes the stuff, don't
dry it at outrageous temperatures, or pan-blacken it. :-)
The dosage has been variously recommended as "one to four caps", "one
or two mushrooms", and "30 grams of dried caps" for A. muscaria. A
cap, of course, can vary in size from a half-inch sphere to an
eight-inch platter. I have no idea. Start way low. The red variety
is said to be more potent than the yellow.
For A. pantherina, the one reference I have involves half a cup of
fresh mushroom per person. This may be high; see "Effects" below.
- Effects
Reports of effects vary widely, as is to be expected from a natural
psychoactive. The mental effects may become apparent within half an
hour, but more usually take an hour. The duration seems to be
anywhere from four to ten hours. Euphoria, ataxia, and sensory
alterations are characteristic, particularly alterations of hearing
and taste. Visual effects have also been reported, as has nausea. A.
muscaria may also produce cholinergic symptoms such as "profuse
salivation and mild perspiration" [Ott].
A. muscaria anecdotes.
Steven Pollock, J. Psych Drugs Oct-Dec 1975.
"When we returned to a friend's residence, we boiled six caps
of various dimensions. Frank consumed two in his mushroom soup and I
ate four (the usual dose being one to four caps). The taste was
something like chicken. Curiously, I became nauseated within minutes
but the feeling was fleeting. Within a half hour I noticed many
peculiar effects. Audition became enhanced and synesthesias became
prominent with multi-modality overflow. I began to taste odors, to
small tastes, and even to hear odors and tastes. Visual disturbances
were almost non-existent, but I noticed frequent recurrent gustatory,
olfactory and auditory flashes. Tactile sensation became markedly
enhanced. Occasional moments of nausea occurred during the first two
hourse of the experience, but then the pseudo-delirium settled into a
profound euphoric state of consciousness. Equilibrium was affected as
by ethyl alcohol throughout the intoxication, but mentation in
contrast remained unimpaired. After six hours, though still under the
Amanita influence, I retired for a night of sound sleep. Frank
experienced a state of wellbeing and restfulness without any nausea.
He felt a sharpening of auditory, gustatory, and tactile sensations.
While taking a shower during the evening, Frank seemed to taste
cleanliness and he later slept well.
"A few days later we again tempted our fate but with dried
Amanitas. I ate four caps and Frank consumed three. Each of us
experienced a pleasant intoxication with only mild sensory alterations
including subtle echo patterns. Frank did feel nauseated, however,
for the first half hour, but the predominant effect afterwards was
induction of euphoria. A nonintoxicated observer noticed no
distinctive changes in our behavior."
Jonathan Ott, "Studies of Amanita" J. Psych Drugs Jan-Mar 1976.
"On two occasions in the fall of 1975, I ingested dried caps
of A. muscaria from Washington. The mushroom caps were eaten as
`Amanita chips,' and were tasty. On the first occasion, I ingested
the chips along with several grams of Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield
from Washington which had been estimated to contain at least 1 percent
psilocin dry weight. The effect experienced therefore have no bearing
on Amanita toxicity. On the second occasion, I ingested about 30
grams of the dried caps, and after an hour began to experience a very
pleasant opium-like sedation with slight visual phenomena, similar to
those described for A. pantherina intoxication, although of lesser
intensity. I experienced distinct muscarinic effects, characterized
by profuse salivation and mild perspiration. Three friends who
ingested the mushrooms with me reported similar effects. The
muscarinic symptoms were not at all unpleasant. Either these effect
were due to muscarine in the carpophores (in which case A. muscaria
from Washington must contain a much higher concentration of muscarine
than is reported for European specimens), or they were produced by
some yet-unidentified compound with muscarinic activity.
"Again, I experienced no nausea or other adverse effects. The
intoxication was experienced for about five hours, after which I went
to sleep and awoke the next morning with no after-effects. During the
experience I noticed a rather profound diminution of coordination and
balance, effects similar to advanced stages of ethanol intoxication.
There were, however, no effects of clouding of consciousness or
slurring of speech. One of the friends who ingested the mushrooms
with me experienced slight nausea, but no other adverse effects were
reported."
A. pantherina anecdote.
Jonathan Ott again.
"In the spring of 1975, after completing the above survey, I
collected some early specimens of A. pantherina near Tenino,
Washington. I sliced and sauteed the mushrooms, and divided them into
six portions, consisting of about one half cup of material each. The
six portions were ingested by myself and five friends, one of whom
ingested only half of a dose, the remaining half being ingested, along
with a full portion, by another of my friends. All of us enjoyed the
taste of the mushrooms.
"After an hour had elapsed, I had concluded that the dosage
level was too low, and had retired to my home to build a fire and
study. About 90 minutes after ingestion, however, while
hyperventilating into my wood stove in an attempt to start the fire, I
noticed that I was experiencing changes in visual perception. These
effects became stronger over the next hour or some, and were
characterized by sensing an `alive quality' in inanimate objects, wavy
motion in the visual field like a Van Gogh canvas (no color perception
was associated with the motion, however, as is so commonly encountered
following ingestion of LSD, psilocybin, or mescaline), and mild
distortion of size, distance and depth perception. Auditory
hallucination were also prominent -- especially the effect, called
`anahata sounds' of yoga, of hearing fine high-pitched sounds like
bells and violin strings. I experienced only slight impairment of
motor coordination and balance, such as would be produced by a small
amount of ethanol, equivalent to two or three bottles of beer. In
contrast to the effect of ethanol, however, there was no slurring of
speech or clouding of consciousness. While I felt as though my
conciousness was somehow removed and distant from the surroundings, I
experienced a sense of great clarity, as I often experience following
ingestion of psilocybin-containing mushrooms. It seemed to me that
the psychic effect were emanating from the `ajna chakra', the
so-called `third eye' -- a locus above and between the eyes. I
experienced no muscular spasms, cramps, vomiting, or nausea of any
kind. The experience was totally pleasurable, and lasted about seven
hours. I was struck by the unique quality of the effect whereas I
find the psychic effects of LSD, psilocybin-containing mushrooms, and
peyote to be similar, to be, as it were, on a continuum of related
experience, I felt the A. pantherina was distinctly different.
"Of my five friends, two experienced slight nausea, and only
one felt drowsy. This person slept for about an hour, and awoke
feeling refreshed. Two of my friends alleged that they had never been
so high on hallucinogenic drugs before. One of these friends, the
person who ingested half again as much of the fried mushrooms as I,
experienced a complete dissociative reaction, and was unable to
communicate with the rest of the group for about five hours. While in
this state, he was periodically attempting to articulate his thoughts,
but was totally incapable of communication. During this phase of his
intoxication, we were talking about this history of A. muscaria and
urine ingestion in Siberia. The subject in the dissociated state
later reported the experience of vivid waking dreams which were
related, through bizarre imagery, to the topics of the conversations
we had been conducting around him. After about five hours of
dissociative experience, the subject began to reestablish contact with
the rest of us and within 90 minutes was fully rational, though shaken
and frightened. None of us experienced any after-effects."
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