Basic records
Teonanácatl became the name in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, who acquired psilocybin mushrooms. This period has been translated as “the flesh of the gods.” There are more than one hundred eighty styles of mushrooms that comprise psilocybin and psilocin, the alkaloids responsible for the psychoactive results. Popularly, they are referred to as “magic mushrooms”, and are possibly the most exceptionally acknowledged fungal psychoactive range, with the finest affecting the collective cultural imaginary.
The one-of-a-kind varieties of psychoactive mushrooms, also referred to as magic mushrooms, which contain psychoactive alkaloids that include psilocin, psilocybin, and biocytin, belong to the households Strophariaceae and Hymenogastraceae of basidiomycete mushrooms of the order Agaricales. The most common and famous genera that produce species containing these alkaloids are Psilocybe and Panaeolus.
Some of the best-recognized species are Psilocybe semilanceata, Psilocybe cyanescens, Psilocybe azurescens, and, principally, Psilocybe cubensis, of which there are dozens of varieties along with B +, Ecuador, Mazatapec, and protracted etcetera.
Psilocybin mushrooms have been used by distinctive cultures for their intoxicating effects, especially within the Mesoamerican Aztec peoples of pre-Columbian instances and later the various Mazatecs and Zapotecs.
Origin/History
There are more than 180 species of mushrooms that include tryptamine alkaloids along with psilocybin and psilocin. They include the genera Psilocybe (117 species), Gymnopilus (13 species), Panaeolus (7 species), Copelandia (12 species), Hypholoma (6 species), Pluteus (6 species), Inocybe (6 species), Conocybe (four species), Agrocybe, Galerina, and Mycena.
The genus Psilocybe is the most common, and the majority of its species are observed in subtropical humid forests. Mexico is the U.S., wherein greater sorts of psychoactive mushrooms are determined.
Although psychoactive mushrooms are found from Alaska to southern Chile, Australia and New Zealand, Hawaii, Europe, Siberia, Japan, and Southeast Asia, specific expertise regarding their geographical distribution isn’t very developed.
The exceptional styles of magic mushrooms have been used by exceptional people in historic instances. Indigenous businesses have revered the visions induced by mushrooms and used them in their magical-religious rituals to talk with the religious international, the spirits of the deceased, and to benefit from knowledge and restoration.
The oldest samples of, in all likelihood, the use of mushrooms, even though not conclusive, can be found in a mural in Tassili, in the Sahara wilderness, southeast of Algeria. That mural dates from between 7000 and 9000 BC. Magic mushrooms are depicted, as are anthropomorphic figures sporting mushrooms. It is speculated what sort of magic mushrooms are depicted, and a few authors have diagnosed them as Psilocybe mairei, a species acknowledged from Algeria and Morocco. Some authors, however, doubt the authenticity of such art.
In a mural of Selva Pascuala, in Cuenca (Spain), dating from the Upper Palaeolithic (6000 BC.C.) to the Middle Neolithic (4000 BC.C.), you may locate representations of fungi that have been diagnosed as Psilocybe hispanica and additionally as Psilocybe semilanceata. Those works of art are represented by figures of bulls, so a few authors set up the connection of the increase of fungi with the habitat, seeing that these species develop inside the bovine feces.
We additionally observed the use of psychoactive mushrooms in Asia. In Japan grows Gymnopilus spectabilis, known as maitake (“dancing mushroom”), whose use was compiled with the aid of Minamoto Takakuni in an ebook of testimonies, the Konjaku Monogatari, dating from the late 9th century AD.C. This mushroom has also been referred to as owaraitake (“the giggling mushroom”). Parietal pictorial representations have also been discovered in caves and shelters in South Africa and Australia, among other places.
In the New World, extraordinary groups have used psilocybin mushrooms. In specific, one-of-a-kind Mexican ethnic businesses, include the Mazatecs, the Mixtecs, and the Zapotecs, among others. Mushroom-fashioned vessels associated with the Classic and Classic Mayan periods had been discovered in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, dating from between 500 BC and 900 AD. And that indicates the ancestral expertise in the usage of psilocybin mushrooms. The first documented reports of mushroom use are from an Indian named Tezozómoc, who wrote in Spanish in 1598 about the use of intoxicating mushrooms at the coronation birthday celebration of Montezuma II in 1502, within the Aztec civilization.
There are representations of mushrooms in Mexican art that survived the conquest. Good examples of this are the Codex Vindobonensis Mixteca, the Codex Magliabechiano, and the famous frescoes of Tepantitla in the metropolis of Teotihuacan.
Reports from the Spanish colonizers, including that of Fray Bernardino de Sahagn, known as Historia Popular de las Cosas de Nueva Espana, described the usage of mushrooms now not only in celebrations but also in religious, scientific, and divinatory ceremonies. Sahagn’s writings describe the use of the name teunamacatlh (teonanácatl) to designate psilocybin mushrooms. Teonanácatl has been translated as “the flesh of the gods”, although different authors recommend that “sacred mushrooms” or “superb mushrooms” could be more literal translations.
The Spaniards considered that using the mushroom was contrary to Christian morality, and in 1620, the court of the Inquisition declared its use heretical, as well as that of any other intoxicating plant, and harshly repressed healers and people who ingested the fungus. Therefore, the traditional use of psilocybin mushrooms went underground and became a mystery.
The rediscovery of the conventional use of psilocybin mushrooms in the New World took place thanks to the work of Reko and Schultes, who acquired and recognized three distinct varieties of visionary mushrooms in Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, in 1938. In those 12 months, Irmgard Weitlaner and Jean Bassett Johnson attended a rite with mushrooms, even though they did not participate in the ingestion and consequently could not experience its effects.
In 1952, Gordon Wasson and his wife Valentina Pavlovna became interested in the cult of psilocybin mushrooms, and after a review of the to-be-had documents and after contacting Schultes, Reko, Johnson, and Weitlaner, they commenced their journeys to Huautla de Jiménez. During the summer of 1955, Gordon Wasson and his photographer Allan Richardson attended an evening with psilocybin mushrooms with Maria Sabina—a Mazatec shaman—and were the first Westerners to experience and document the effects of mushrooms and the conventional uses of some of the Mazatecs.
Chemical composition and dosage
The active substances present in psilocybin mushrooms are psilocybin (4-PO-DMT), psilocin (4-HO-DMT), and biocytin (4-HO-NMT). Psilocybin is the main issue of maximum sorting and the most stable alkaloid of the 3.
Psilocybin was isolated by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1957 from Mexican Psilocybe mushrooms grown in Paris with the aid of mycologist Roger Heim from mushrooms accrued in Mexico all through Heim and Wasson’s excursion. Hofmann is known to have synthesized LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and was also the first to synthesize psilocybin in 1958.
Studies on the pharmacology of psilocybin suggest that psilocybin is transformed into psilocin as soon as it is absorbed and that equivalent quantities of psilocin produce the same subjective consequences as psilocybin. Therefore, psilocybin is sometimes taken into consideration as a strong precursor (a prodrug), but the psychoactive alkaloid responsible for the consequences of mushrooms is psilocin.
There aren’t any specific studies, and there may be little or no records about the consequences and pharmacology of biocytin.
The efficiency of psilocybin mushrooms varies substantially depending on the species and range, as well as the conditions in which they’ve grown and the age of the mushrooms.
Common varieties, which include Psilocybe cubensis and Psilocybe semilanceata, comprise approximately 6–10 mg of psilocybin per gram of dried mushrooms. Other types, including Psilocybe azurescens and Psilocybe bohemica, include greater psilocybin, approximately 1.78%, and 1.74 percent, respectively. There are varieties of intermediate powers, which include Panaeolus cyanescens, also called Copelandia cyanescens, which contains 0.85% psilocybin.
The doses of natural psilocybin mushrooms are as follows:
The doses of mushrooms vary depending on the species, their kingdom of conservation, whether they are clean or dried mushrooms, and other factors, so adjusting the doses of fungi is always obscure. Usually, the doses for not unusual varieties (P. cubensis and similar) of dried mushrooms are as follows:
Psilocybin mushrooms are a topic of growing interest for many people. These mushrooms contain a psychoactive compound that can produce a range of effects, including altered perceptions and feelings of euphoria. It’s important to note that psilocybin mushrooms are illegal in many places, and using them can come with risks.
If you are considering using psilocybin mushrooms, it’s important to do your research and understand the potential risks and benefits. Some people report positive experiences with psilocybin mushrooms, including increased creativity and a sense of spiritual connection. However, others may experience negative side effects, such as anxiety or paranoia.
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Effects
Psilocybin mushrooms produce psychoactive consequences in people very much like the rest of traditional psychedelics such as LSD and mescaline. Most users describe the experience as an internal adventure in which distinct phases are crossed with one-of-a-kind consequences. The first consequences commonly begin to be perceived earlier than with LSD or mescaline, and approximately 30 minutes after ingestion, they may be preferred. The maximum effects generally establish between 60 and 90 minutes after consumption and last for about an hour before beginning to lower. The general duration of the effect is around 4 to 6 hours, depending on the dose.
Physical effects
On the physical plane, the principal effects of psilocybin consist of pupil dilation, a slight increase in blood strain, and heart charge (especially with excessive doses). The version in blood strain seems more related to subjective enjoyment than to the physiological results of psilocybin, mainly anxiety. Nausea might also on occasion arise (in particular when mushrooms are ingested instead of natural psilocybin), and vomiting or diarrhea is rare. Tremors, muscle pain, and dizziness may appear.
The physical outcomes in the standard are generally mild and insignificant.
Psychological results
Psychological outcomes are characterized by marked alterations in sensory perceptions in addition to profound adjustments in focus and cognition.
In the sensory area, visual alterations can also arise in the form of colorful kaleidoscopic visions with eyes closed, intensification of colors, and distortion in the shapes of objects (surfaces that undulate or pass). Auditory disturbances may additionally appear, which include an accelerated appreciation of tunes and sounds. Synesthetic stories can arise wherein stimuli similar to a positive sensory area are perceived and processed by using any other experience (as an example, sounds that might be perceived as visions). The experience of touch can also be altered, resulting in a boom in tactile sensitivity, sensations of cold or heat, tingling, or a feeling of energy going for walks through the frame, as well as paresthesias.
From a cognitive and conscious point of view, the changes may be very excessive, and both tremendous and frightening reviews seem Recent studies have located psilocybin’s capability to result in mystical stories in controlled settings and at excessive doses. Such mystical reviews include emotions of numinosity, a deeply superb emotional kingdom, internal unity, transcendence of time and area, ineffability, and a sense of harmony and interconnectedness with all things.
Frightening studies can consist of feelings of atrocious fear, paranoia, emotions of loss of life or going crazy, feelings of melancholy or anger, expanded tension, agitation, confusion, and disorientation, both spatial-temporal and internal. This phenomenon has once in a while been known as a “horrific journey”. Reactions with psychotic signs and symptoms rarely occur and typically disappear while the consequences diminish.
In most instances, mushroom-prompted experiences include both effective and fine elements, as well as much less satisfactory factors that can be experienced as a mental mission. Experiences wherein personal biographical content seems to exist and about relationships with massive people are commonplace. In addition, there may be a dissolution of personal obstacles, or dissolution of the ego, with sensations defined as “oceanic”, which may be lived as a transcendent experience but can also be lived with anxiety.
Some studies display that psilocybin produces a tremendous increase in mood and a positive bias inside the notion of stimuli, related to a likely decrease in the activity of the amygdala (a mind structure charged with processing potentially threatening feelings).
Effects in controlled settings In addition to psilocybin’s capacity to result in mystical studies, other likely therapeutic consequences were discovered in clinical trials.
The use of psilocybin in the treatment of anxiety and the boom in satisfaction of life in humans with advanced cancer diagnoses have been investigated. Psilocybin has also been used in research into the treatment of cluster headaches in addition to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Studies have additionally been conducted on the use of psilocybin in tobacco and alcohol addiction. Research is currently underway on the therapeutic capability of psilocybin for traditional remedy-resistant depressive issues, with promising outcomes.
Legal Reputation
The energetic substances psilocybin mushrooms, psilocybin, and psilocin are managed substances in Schedule I of the 1971 United Nations Convention. That is why the sale of those materials is unlawful.
However, fungi containing those substances are controlled in another way in special international locations, in keeping with every country’s interpretation of Schedule I. In Schedule, I of the 1971 Convention, only energetic substances, no longer herbal substances containing them (consisting of fungi or flora), seem to be prohibited, which leaves open to the unique laws of every United States the interpretation of the prohibition of botanical fabric. In addition, in many nations, those fungi grow wild.
In most European nations, psilocybin mushrooms are illegal and can’t be offered or bought. The format in which mushrooms were sold in the past many years changed into being considered a “product” or “practice” of psilocybin, so any presentation of such mushrooms became considered unlawful.
For numerous years, the mushrooms were available for purchase and sale inside the Netherlands, in clever stores. Fresh mushrooms in addition to dried mushrooms can be legally bought, as they were in prison until 2002. From that point on, dried mushrooms were declared illegal, even though clean mushrooms could still be sold. That scenario was modified, and the sale of clean mushrooms has been illegal since 2008 because an exception is a variety of Sclerotia, additionally referred to as “cakes” or “philosopher’s stones”, that may nevertheless be obtained, as it isn’t always a fungus but mycelium.
The spores, in addition to culture kits that do not contain fungi nor, consequently, their lively components, are sold in smart shops in some international locations.
Prevalence of use
The occurrence of mushroom use in the EU is considerably lower than that of cannabis and looks to be identical to the superiority of ecstasy use (MDMA) in some countries among college students aged 15–16 years. Surveys in twelve international locations of the European Union indicate that between the ages of 15 and 24, the use of psilocybin mushrooms at some point in life is between 1% and 8%. According to published outcomes from the 2017 Global Drug Survey, psilocybin mushrooms are the eighth-most broadly used substance ever in life for most of the surveyed population, behind alcohol, hashish, tobacco, high-caffeine liquids, pipe tobacco (shisha), MDMA, and cocaine. According to this survey, 24.4% of respondents had eaten mushrooms at some point in their lives.
In this same survey, psilocybin mushrooms were the substance that generated the fewest requests for emergency medical remedies, with 0.2% of the people who used them requesting clinical interest. In this sense, fungi have been taken into consideration as the most secure substance. As for the incidence of difficult stories, mushrooms are the substance that induced the least difficult episodes of all the psychedelic materials investigated, both from vegetable starting places (ayahuasca and peyote) and synthetic ones (LSD, NBOMe, 2C-x, and smoked DMT).
In a few EU international locations, it’s far more commonplace to eat mushrooms accumulated in their herbal habitat, while in different international locations, customers typically develop their very own mushrooms. In Norway, Scotland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, the collection of mushrooms predominates, whereas, in Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Finland, self-cultivation is more common.
Health and Chance discount
Studies performed in 2011 concluded that using psilocybin mushrooms is surprisingly safe and that there are few reports of detrimental consequences, qualified as “light unfavorable effects”. The same studies imply the importance of controlling both the quality and the context in which psilocybin mushrooms are used.
Physical health
Due to the possibility of intense reviews that generate anxiety, humans with records of cardiovascular diseases, especially individuals who are taking remedies to control these pathologies or who, via medical indication, have to lessen their bodily activity, should refrain from the use of mushrooms.
As for the pleasantness of the mushrooms, in the case of gathering them from their herbal environment, it’s far more critical to know how to become aware of the fungi correctly and not confuse them with any variety that can be toxic. In preference, just a few forms of the genera Galerina and Pholiota have poisonous or lethal results and can be pressured with psilocybin mushrooms.
While mushrooms pose few risks to physical health as psilocybin is a pharmacologically very safe substance with no addictive capacity, there are mental fitness dangers that have to be taken into consideration. Some of those dangers may also occur at some point in the experience, and others later, in the medium period.
The principal threat of psilocybin mushrooms is that they trigger a difficult reveal, in which there are unpleasant signs inclusive of worry, anxiety, paranoid thoughts, worry of loss of life or going loopy, signs and symptoms of a psychotic nature, or the sensation that the journey will by no means stop. This kind of experience can occur with any dose, even though its manifestations in such cases are extraordinary.
At low and medium doses, ugly psychological contents may appear, and the individual may try to withstand them; this resistance usually generates extra tension. In such cases, an exchange in context can help lower anxiety. A calm environment and a willingness to indulge in non-judgmental revelry often assist in maintaining the adventure and resolving these hard times.
At excessive doses, resistances are lower due to the depth of the revelry, and those are normally absolutely immersed in the adventure. In such instances, hard reports can also arise in which there may be excessive emotional intensity, cathartic expressions, and unusual mental manifestations of a psychotic nature, which commonly disappear while the pharmacological effect decreases. In those conditions, bodily and emotional restraint and support for the duration of the experience using a carer, preferably sober, are needed.
After hard experiences, mental difficulties of different kinds might also arise, which affect the fitness of the individual beyond the experience itself. Symptoms of acute strain can also appear after a worrying experience with fungi, which persist over time and require specialized psychological attention. The incidence of severe and continual psychiatric problems following the use of psilocybin mushrooms, although it may occur, may be very rare. In the case of experiencing mental problems after a psychedelic experience, integration of psychotherapy classes can help reduce symptoms and technique the intellectual contents of the session.
Most hard situations can be averted by taking into consideration the context in which the experience takes place: the location, the dose, the organization, and the crucial moment wherein it’s decided to apply the mushrooms.
Regarding the context, the same old recommendations regarding setting and putting are especially vital when using psilocybin mushrooms. A quiet, safe environment, free from interruptions and unexpected interference, aesthetically cared for, with pre-selected tracks, and above all, with the business enterprise of trusted human beings, is appropriate for the form of enjoyment that mushrooms induce. Less controlled and secure environments can mean an extra opportunity for surprising events that could generate tension. Therefore, it is vital to take into account in what context the mushrooms are going to be used and decide on the factors that might be part of it.
It is also important to have positive psychological preparation while taking mushrooms. Good theoretical knowledge of the capability consequences that could appear with each dose may be of amazing assistance in entering the revelry with extra self-assurance.
Mushrooms, like some other psychedelic substances, have the opportunity to make unconscious contents emerge. Therefore, it’s essential not to forget the psychological state at the time of taking the mushrooms. Psilocybin mushrooms eaten up in times of strain, fear, despair, or existence difficulties can increase the depth of such signs for the duration of the experience.
Although, from a therapeutic angle, it is considered that exactly that is the mechanism by which psychedelic substances can be beneficial in psychotherapy, it has to be borne in mind that the studies caused by mushrooms can be severe and contain hard feelings without problems if one is going through a complex and crucial second.
A top critical and emotional balance, as well as great instruction, a cautious context in the organization of trusted humans, and a willingness to enter the enjoy where anything takes place are elements that can contribute to making the enjoy with mushrooms quality and fruitful.