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Joshua D Page 1 Magic Mushrooms is a topic that can be widely ranged from many aspects and can only be explained in so many other ways. Mushrooms have opened a door for many people who have an expandable imagination and a will to go further into what they never thought existed. Mushrooms is a toxic drug that can puts you under an influence, a body trip or high, but can also take you much further than that. It has a history of influence on many cultures whether it is in a good way or bad. Shrooms is a drug that has been in our world for a long time and yet scientists still don’t know the full effects of what it does and how to explain it. Magic Mushrooms contains a drug known as Psilocybin, which is a hallucinogen that affects the brain with visuals and a body trip. The mind-altering effects of psilocybin are described as a voyage to the spirit world. These hallucinogenic effects are similar to those of LSD; however, psilocybin is two hundred times less potent and also has a shorter duration time The effects of this drug at low doses, psilocybin causes simple feelings of relaxation, physical heaviness or lightness, and some perceptual distortions (especially visual). At higher doses, more physical sensations occur, including lightheadedness, numbness of the tongue, lips, or mouth, shivering, or sweating nausea, and anxiety. The symptoms may appear thirty to sixty minutes after the mushrooms are eaten and can last about four to six hours what is known as an afterglow. The chemical structure of Psilocybin is similar to the neurotransmitter called serotonin. The primary effect of Psilocybin is on the receptors for serotonin. Joshua DuBuque Page 2 There is also proof that psilocybin reduces the reuptake of serotonin by neurons in the brain allowing the neurotransmitter more time to act in the synapse. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that cell in the brain (neurons) use to communicate with each other. Varying levels of serotonin will affect sleep, appetite, sensory perception, temperature regulation, pain suppression and mood. The brain has uncountable neurons that would have little spaces in between them, and when taking this drug, it fills in the space between the brain and sends strange messages to it. Scientists have done much research on Shrooms and have still not yet discovered all of the effects that it causes. Magic Mushrooms is looked at by the American culture of the ones who don’t do them as a bad drug and are afraid of it. Others who tried it or are still continual users of the drug find it to be most vitalizing. So far there have been no reports of these magical mushrooms to cause any long term effect and a few short term effects that are easily rid of, non of which are in any way death related. The few short-term effects are the first thirty minutes - Slight nausea, giddiness (light-headed), abdominal discomfort, weakness, muscle aches and twitches, shivering, anxiety, restlessness, and a numbness of lips. Thirty to sixty minutes - Visual effects (blurring, brighter colors, sharper outlines, longer after-images, visual patterns with closed eyes). Increased hearing, yawning, sweating, facial flushing. Decreased concentration and attention, slow thinking, feelings of unreality, depersonalization, dreamy state. Inco-ordination, Joshua DuBuque Page 3 tremulous speech. Between an hour and hour and a half minutes - Increased visual effects (colored patterns and shapes, mostly with eyes closed). Wave-motion of viewed surfaces, Impaired distant perception, euphoria, increased perception, and a slowed passage of time. Two to three hours - Waning and nearly complete resolution of above effects. Returning to normal within four to twelve hours. Other effects often include: Decreased salivation and appetite; uncontrollable laughter; transient sexual feelings and synesthesias (e.g., `seeing' sounds). There are a few bad things that do come from wanting do eat these magical mushrooms. Many people vomit from taking them or have uncontrollable abdominal stomach pains. People can have what is called as a “bad trip” which could lead to some psychological problems with nightmares or uncontrollable hallucinations which could wind up hurting someone other then themselves. A ‘bad’ trip is more likely if the user is feeling anxious, nervous or uncomfortable. Anxiety or panic state, depressive or paranoid reactions, mood changes, disorientation and an inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy may occur when undergoing a bad trip. While under the influence of the drug, users have dilated pupils and a faster heart beat. Magic mushrooms can make the user feel different at different times. The effects can be unpredictable. At a high dose can cause significantly more uncomfortable Coming Up, more pronounced nausea sometimes resulting in vomiting, sometimes significant Joshua D. DuBuque Page 4 mental discomfort associated with feelings of fear, the unpleasant Coming Up effects usually lessen with familiarity and more knowledge about the safety and character of mushroom effects. High Dose Effects are usually characterized by the closed eye visualizations being significantly more elaborate and enfolding, religious revelation, spiritual awakening, near death experiences, loss of self, talking to seemingly external, autonomous entities, extreme emotional responses, repressed memories coming to life, latent psychological crises can come to the surface, intense feelings of wonder, connection, joy, fear. High Dose Effects can also include extreme time-dilation, with experiences of wall-clock minutes taking an experientially large amount of time, watching clocks or digital counters where the seconds seem to take minutes to count off. One of the most interesting effects is the feeling of awakening for the first time ever from a previous state of sleep, of liberation from what is now seen as a life-long state of bondage. It is this new awareness which feels normal and natural and the previous fog which is seen to have been unreal all along. The bemushroomed seeker is convinced that, once gained, this awareness is impossible to lose, but inexplicably by the next day it is just a memory. Some can also say that they find something a little deeper then just the drug itself. You will likely find yourself in better tune with the natural world, more spiritually aware, and generally better for it. Depending on how you personally believe things to be, it can range from Joshua D. DuBuque Page 5 slightly exagerating your deepest beliefs to simply launching your perspectives light years ahead of anyone living within several miles. People may notice when high, things wrong with the world, probably much more often than you had before. When under the influence, the experience may lead someone to believe that the world is one with them, and that many ideas are opened up to them. The percent of brain we actually use is very small but magic mushrooms are believed to expand the brain and open up the rest of it which we have kept locked away. Shrooms slip a person into a state of much thought of overwhelming proportions. There is a history with the magical mushrooms that can date back well over 7000 years ago from old rituals from tribes to ancient Greece. The appeal of mushrooms in the "modern world" originated when Gordon Wasson came to the Mazatec village of Huatla de Jimenez, and experienced a session of "velada" held by curandera Maria Sabina. Velada included a religious ritual under a heavy influence of magical mushrooms. Information about the mushrooms spread and experimentation began. In 1958 the active ingredients of the mushroom, Psilocybin and psilocin, were found and their analogues were synthesized by Dr. Albert Hoffman. Experimentation with the mushrooms historically increased, leading to their significant influence in the part of the "60's psychedelic movement". Even these days, psilocybin mushrooms are one of the most common hallucinogenic substances for recreational use. Joshua D. DuBuque Page 6 There are many cultures that have shared either a love for the magical mushrooms for recreational use or spiritual and then there are others who have a mycophobia, a fear and loathing of mushrooms. Fear of mushroom poisoning pervades every culture, sometimes reaching phobic extremes. Mycophobic cultures are epitomized by the English and Irish. In contrast, mycophilic societies can be found throughout Asia and eastern Europe, especially amongst Polish, Russian and Italian peoples. These societies have enjoyed a long history of mushroom use, with as many as a hundred common names to describe the mushroom varieties they loved. Humanity's use of mushrooms extends back to Paleolithic times. Few people even anthropologists comprehend how influential mushrooms have been in affecting the course of human evolution. Mushrooms have played pivotal roles in ancient Greece, India and Mesoamerica. Fungi have always elicited deep emotional responses: from adulation by those who understand them to outright fear by those who do not. Historical record reveals that mushrooms have been used for less than benign purposes. Magical mushrooms or hallucinogenic mushrooms have probably existed longer than humanity. Throughout history, ancient pictures of mushroom-like humans have been prevalently reported. In Central and Southern America, use of psilocybian mushrooms was a common religious practice until the arrival of Spaniards who spread the Catholic faith with sword and fire and forbade the use. For Indians the Joshua D. DuBuque Page 7 mushroom is known as a sacred mushroom and historically, it is considered a religious path to the spirit world. Aristotle, Plato, and Sophocles all participated in religious ceremonies at Eleusis where an unusual temple honored Demeter, the Goddess of Earth. For over two milennia, thousands of pilgrims journeyed fourteen miles from Athens to Eleusis, paying the amount of a month's wage for the privilege of attending the annual ceremony. The pilgrims were ritually harassed on their journey to the temple, apparently in good humor. Upon arriving at the temple, they gathered in the initiation hall, a great telestrion. Inside the temple, pilgrims sat in rows that descended down to a hidden, central chamber from which fungal concoction was served. An odd feature was an array of columns, beyond any apparent structural need, whose designed purpose escaped archaeologists. The pilgrims spend the night together and reportedly came away forever changed. In this pavilion crowded with pillars, ceremonies occurred, known by historians as the Eleusian Mysteris. No revelation of the ceremony's secrets could be mentioned under the punishment of imprisonment or death. These ceremonies continued until repressed in the early centuries of the Christian era. The God known as Seven Flowers was the Mixtec God for hallucinatory plants, especially the secret mushroom, and he was depicted carrying a pair of mushrooms in his hands. Also, the Aztecs believed that they were capable of moving back and forth between the earthly and supernatural Joshua D. DuBuque Page 8 realms. This travel between realms was often associated with hallucinatory trances guided by their god for the entheogens-the Prince of Flowers. The Aztecs called this ritual "the flowery dream;" this was induced by sacred mushrooms. These magical mushrooms can be found right next to your nearest farms out in the pasture. Cow pies are what the Shrooms grow in. Hallucinogenic mushrooms grow naturally in fields and in cow pastures mainly in northwest and southeast of the United States. The most common psilocybin mushroom in the United States is Psilocybe cubenis. The primary active ingredients of Psilocybe mushrooms are psilocybin and psilocin. Individual mushrooms contain approximately up to two percent of the psychoactive ingredient psilocybin, while psilocin is only found in trace amounts. In conclusion, magical mushrooms have been around for many centuries which have shaped and changed human evolution. Many have used it for recreational uses and others for spiritual guidance. These mushrooms are a drug that is sometimes abused by many but still lead on to be a great finding and to what could lead to greater discoveries. Grown from nature, lead by nature, only for human kind to discover its real purpose of being here and to what new technologies that could be advanced. There are many effects, some in which Joshua D. DuBuque Page 9 could be good, and some not so good, but has been a part of all of our culture in one form or another. Magical mushrooms have opened a door, and it is up to us to discover the meaning. Outline Introduction – Magical mushrooms have been is a topic that is explained in many ways that has been around for as long as mankind has been around. It has influenced and shaped the lives that we live today and the ideas that we live for tomorrow. I. Magical Mushrooms A. Psilocybin B. The effects of the drug II. The history of Magical mushrooms III. The culture behind it A. The cultures that grew with it B. The spirituality that came with it IV. The way it grows and where Conclusion – Magical mushrooms is a drug that contains hallucingens that cause some short term effects. It was founded and culture enwrapped itself around it. It brought new ideas and more concept along with a feeling of spirituality. It can be easily grown and shared with many. Magical mushrooms has opened a door, and it is up to us to discover the meaning. Magical Mushrooms Joshua D. DuBuque AP English IV Mrs. Casey May 22nd, 2004
