Psilocybes

 

Psilocybe cubensis field,1996. Thermoset polymer, lacquer, oil, and steel

About 40 species are found in the genus Psilocybe. Psilocybe cubensis is the most common psilocybin mushroom in subtropical areas and the black market. 

Psilocybe cubensis

Psilocybin mushrooms have likely been used since prehistoric times and may have been depicted in rock art. Many cultures have used these mushrooms in religious rites. In modern Western society, they they are used recreationally for their psychedelic effects Psilocybin mushrooms, also known as  psychedelic mushrooms, are mushrooms that contain the psychedelic drugs psilocybin and psilocin. 

Magic mushroom effect

Hallucinogenic species of Psilocybe have a history of use among the native peoples of Mesoamerica for religious communion, divination, and healing, from preColumbian times to the present day. 

Mushroom stones and motifs have been found in Mayan temple ruins in Guatemala.
 

Maya- Mushroom stones

Hallucinogenic Psilocybe were known to the Aztecs as teonanácatl (literally "divine mushroom" agglutinative form of teó (god, sacred) and nanácatl (mushroom) in Náhuatl)

 and were 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 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 "pagan idolatry", and as a result, the use of hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, like other preChristian traditions, were quickly suppressed. 
  

The Spanish believed the mushroom allowed the Aztecs and others to communicate with "devils". In converting people to Catholicism, the Spanish pushed for a switch from teonanácatl  to the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist.  Despite this history, in some remote areas, the use of teonanácatl has remained.

InIn 1955, Valentina and R. Gordon Wasson became the first known Westerners to actively participate in an indigenous mushroom ceremony. The Wassons did much to publicize their discovery, even publishing an article on their experiences in Life in 1957. 

Valentina and R. Gordon Wasson with Maria Sabina, Mexican world known shaman 

 In 1956 Roger Heim identified the psychoactive mushroom that the Wassons had brought back from Mexico as Psilocybe, and in 1958, Albert  Hofmann first identified psilocybin and psilocin as the active compounds in these mushrooms.

Albert  Hofmann 

Inspired by the Wassons' Life article, Timothy Leary traveled to

Mexico to experience psilocybin mushrooms firsthand. Upon

returning to Harvard in 1960, he and Richard Alpert started the Harvard Psilocybin Project, promoting psychological and religious study of psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs. 

After Leary and Alpert were dismissed by Harvard in 1963, they turned their attention toward promoting the psychedelic experience to the nascent hippie counterculture.

The popularization of entheogens by Wasson, Leary, authorsTerence McKenna and Robert Anton Wilson, and others has led to an explosion in the use of psilocybin mushrooms throughout the world. 

Terence McKenna

By the early 1970s, many psilocybin mushroom species were described from temperate North America, Europe, and Asia

and were widely collected. Books describing methods of  cultivating Psilocybe cubensis in large quantities were also published. 

The availability of psilocybin mushrooms from wild and cultivated sources has made it among the most widely used of the sychedelic drugs.

At present, psilocybin mushroom use has been reported among some groups spanning from central Mexico to Oaxaca, including groups of Nahua, Mixtecs, Mixe, Mazatecs, Zapotecs, and others. An important figure of mushroom usage in Mexico was María Sabina.

  

María Sabina

Psilocybin is present in varying concentrations in over 200 species of Basidiomycota mushrooms. In a 2000 review on the worldwide

distribution of psilocybin mushrooms, Gastón Guzmán and  colleagues considered these to be distributed amongst the

following genera:

Psilocybe (116 species), Gymnopilus (14), Panaeolus (13), Copelandia (12), Hypholoma (6), Pluteus (6)

Inocybe (6), Conocybe (4), Panaeolina (4), Gerronema (2), Agrocybe (1), Galerina (1) and Mycena (1).

Guzmán increased his estimate of the number of  psilocybin containing Psilocybe to 144 species in a 2005 review.

The majority of these are found in Mexico (53 species), with the remainder distributed in the US and Canada (22), Europe (16), Asia (15), Africa (4), and Australia and associated islands (19).
  

Psilocybe.villarrealiae

In general, psilocybin containing species are dark spored, gilled mushrooms that grow in meadows and woods of 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. Psilocybe species commonly found in the tropics include Psilocybe cubensis and Psilocybe subcubensis. Psilocybe 
 semilanceata—considered by Guzmán to be the world's

Psilocybe  semilanceata

most widely distributed psilocybin mushroom—is found in Europe, North America, Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand, but is entirely absent from Mexico.

The effects of psilocybin mushrooms come from psilocybin and psilocin. When psilocybin is ingested, it is broken down to produce psilocin, which is responsible for the psychedelic  effects.Psilocybin and psilocin  create short term increases in tolerance of users, thus making it difficult to abuse them because the more often they are taken within a short period of time, the weaker the resultant effects are.  
  

Psilocybe cyanofriscosa

Psilocybin mushrooms do not cause physical or psychological dependence (addiction). Poisonous (sometimes lethal) wild picked mushrooms can be mistaken for psilocybin mushrooms. 

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 dosage, preparation method, and personal metabolism.

However, the effects can seem to last much longer to the user because of psilocybin's ability to alter time perception.

In internet surveys, some psilocybin users have reported symptoms of hallucinogen persisting perception disorder, although this is uncommon and a causal connection with psilocybin use is unclear.

There is a case report of perceptual disturbances and panic disorder beginning after using psilocybin mushrooms in a frequent cannabis user with a preexisting history of derealization and anxiety.
 

Psilocybe subaeruginascens

One study found the most desirable results may come from starting

with very low doses first, and trying slightly higher doses over

months. The researchers explain the peak experiences occur at

quantities only slightly lower than a sort of anxiety threshold.

Although risks of experiencing fear and anxiety increased somewhat consistently along with dosage and overall quality of experience, at dosages exceeding the individual's threshold, there was suddenly greater increases in anxiety than before.
 In other words, after finding the optimum dose, returns diminish for using more (since risks of anxiety now increase at a greater rate).

 

Psilocybe mexicana

Noticeable changes to the audio, visual, and tactile senses may become apparent around 30 minutes to an hour after ingestion. These shifts in perception visually include enhancement and contrasting of colors, strange light phenomena (such as auras or "halos" around light sources), increased visual acuity, surfaces that seem to ripple, shimmer, or breathe; complex open and closed eye visuals of form constants or images, objects that warp, morph, or change solid colours; a sense of melting into the environment, and trails behind moving objects. Sounds seem to be heard with increased clarity; music, for example, can often take on a profound

sense of cadence and depth. Some users experience synesthesia, wherein they perceive, for example, a visualization of color upon hearing a particular sound.

 

Psilocybe cyanescens

As with other psychedelics such as LSD, the experience, or "trip", is strongly dependent upon set and setting. A negative environment could induce a bad trip, whereas a comfortable and familiar environment would allow for a pleasant experience. Many users find it preferable to ingest the mushrooms with friends, people with whom they are familiar, or people who are also 'tripping'.

  

Psilocybe azurescens

In 2006, the United States government funded a randomized and double blinded study by Johns Hopkins University which studied the spiritual effects of psilocybin in particular. That is, they did not use mushrooms specifically (in fact, each individual mushroom piece can vary widely in psilocybin and psilocin content).

   

Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata

The study involved 36 college educated adults (average age of 46) who had never tried psilocybin nor had a history of drug use, and who had religious or spiritual interests. The participants were closely observed for eight hour intervals in a laboratory while under the influence of psilocybin.

One third of the participants reported the experience was the single most spiritually significant moment of their lives, and more than two thirds reported it was among the top five most spiritually significant experiences. 

Two months after the study, 79% of the participants reported increased wellbeing or satisfaction; friends, relatives, and associates confirmed this. They also reported anxiety and  depression symptoms to be decreased or completely gone. Fourteen months after the study, 64% of participants said they still experienced an increase in wellbeing or life satisfaction.

Despite highly controlled conditions to minimize adverse effects, 22% of subjects (8 of 36) had notable experiences of fear, some with paranoia. The authors, however, reported that all these instances were "readily managed with reassurance."

Psilocybes pelliculosa

Some people have been asking for medical investigation of the use of synthetic and mushroom derived psilocybin for the development of improved treatments of various mental conditions, including chronic cluster headaches, following numerous anecdotal reports of benefits. There are also studies which include reports of psilocybin mushrooms sending both obsessive compulsive

disorders (OCD) and OCD related clinical depression (both being widespread and debilitating mental health conditions) into complete remission immediately and for up to months at a time, compared to current medications which often have both limited efficacy and frequent undesirable side effects.

Recent studies done at Imperial College London and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine conclude, when used properly, psilocybin acts as an antidepressant.

Psilocybe stuntzii