Throughout human history, psychedelics have had tremendous ceremonial and medicinal importance. Clinical studies of recent years only support what our predecessors understood about psilocybin mushrooms: they have the power to help people heal, as well as provide neurological benefits. These psilocybin medicines allow for huge perspective shifts by lifting the veil on our current perception of reality and inviting us to reconsider our whole human experience.
While there are different species of psychoactive mushrooms, Psilocybe cubensis is the main type of fungi that (when consumed) can help elevate our consciousness. Although used for millennia in ceremonial settings, and enjoyed recreationally, psilocybin is now considered to be an effective modern medicine.
- Experiences of intense love and bliss
- Releasing suppressed emotions
- Deep, profound forgiveness of self and others
- Revisiting beautiful memories
- Embodied states of connection
- Releasing old patterns and destructive thoughts
- Confronting areas of rumination and fear with confidence.
- Processing traumatic experiences with a new perspective.
The Magic of the Mushroom
Psilocybin mushrooms are the above-ground, fruiting body produced from the larger mycelium, a complex underground web that looks very much like the neural network in the brain. Fungi occupy a special place in nature which has a direct bearing upon how they work in your mind/body/spirit complex during healing work. In nature, fungi function in three important ways to compost, filter, and to connect.
COMPOST: As composters of the natural world, fungi surround dead and decaying matter with their mycelial bodies and break it down and into something new and usable. You will find them growing in the forest on fallen trees, in grasslands from decaying plant matter or from the waste material from grazing herbivores ranging from cows to elephants. They clean up the natural environment to keep it healthy by dispatching the detritus that threaten its health.
When ingested, entheogenic mushrooms act in very much the same way. Sacred mushrooms have an innate intelligence that guide them to wherever they are most needed. If you are holding on to emotional baggage or toxicity, sacred mushrooms seek it out, and compel you to observe the presence of what is no longer necessary in your life. When we hold on to what no longer serves us, we are unable to proceed along our path to personal fulfillment and happiness. When this happens we may feel stuck in the past, or experience prolonged depression. The composting nature of fungi uses the fertile soil of toxic memories, negative emotions, and trauma and transforms them into renewed energy to reclaim wellness.
FILTER: Fungi are part of nature’s filtration system. Pockets of fungal filaments called hyphae, provide the aeration essential to rich, fertile soil. By attaching themselves to the roots of plants, they capture excess carbon before it can be released into the atmosphere a contributing factor in climate change. Certain varieties of fungi can even be used to clean up water affected by pollutants, or petrochemical spills.
Psychedelic mushrooms function similarly when taken as a healing medicine. When people experience trauma, many find that they begin to see their lives through the lens, or filter, of trauma long after the conclusion of the event or events. Sacred mushrooms help us to clean the filter our inner systems so that we may return to the purity of the essential un-wounded self.
CONNECT: Just under our feet exists a vast tapestry of fine, interwoven fungal strands that act as the information superhighway of nature. This mycelial network creates healthy symbiotic relationships between themselves, plants and animals (including the human ones!)
In healthy forests, mycelium connects trees to one another allowing them to share resources, transferring essential nutrients and water to those that need it most. New saplings rely on nutrient sharing from older, more established trees in order to survive.
Interestingly, one of the number one reasons that people cite for deciding to heal with psilocybin, is that they feel disconnected, lonely and under-resourced in their lives. This disconnection has enormous consequences on the health of our mind, our bodies, and our communities. Psilocybin mushrooms help us to reconnect the mind to the body, the past to the present, they remind us how important it is to heal connections to friends and family. They show you, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are deeply connected as an essential part of nature itself. Whether the journey takes place in a clinical setting, in ceremony, in a wellness retreat, or with friends around the campfire, people working with psilocybin mushrooms report feeling part of something greater than themselves.
New Energy for a New Era
Each plant medicine has its own unique character and healing strengths. Ayahuasca is known as the wise, and strong grandmother teacher, San Pedro cactus is known as the grandfather who opens your heart, while the Mazatec people of Southern Mexico refer to mushrooms as los ninos santos or the sainted children. There are many theories for this moniker, but the adaptogenic nature of fungi embodies a creative, spontaneous energy.
Mushroom medicine helps to illuminate new perspectives and pathways forward in life. Mushrooms have a distinct intelligence of their own that guides your experience towards what it perceives to be the most pressing priority, targeting what needs to be healed in the moment. While it is important to have an intention in mind before healing with mushrooms, don’t be surprised if your journey takes a turn of its own. The power of mushrooms is to heal and reveal. Always remember to let go and trust the healing intelligence of the medicine.
GENTLE & SAFE ADAPTOGEN: Although working with plant medicines is not something to be taken lightly, psilocybin is arguably the most safe of all the plant medicine teachers. Unlike many naturally occurring plant medicines they are incredibly gentle and non-toxic in the body and actually encourage the new growth of neurons in the brain.
As adaptogens, they also help the body repair from the damaging effects of stress and work to restore physiological function. Furthermore, psilocybin has therapeutic benefits in many different dosages ranging from the sub-perceptual “micro” dose to improve quality of life, to Terrance McKenna’s so-called “heroic” dose, an experience of healing deep seeded issues and trauma.
