After all, Psilocybe has been studied in the United States since 1872, and more than a century of mycological research has revealed hundreds of species, including dozens of psychedelic ones.

But apparently, there are still some lurking in the shadows.

Because we’re still discovering new psychoactive species, and today’s mushroom, Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata, is a prime example.

It wasn’t formally described until 2007.

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The River Teacher Mushroom: Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata

Shroom Snapshot

• Family: Hymenogastraceae

• Genus: Psilocybe

• Species: P. ovoideocystidiata

• Common Names: River Teacher, Ovoid

• Distribution: Northeastern United States and Pacific Northwest

• Habitat: Near rivers, streams, and floodplains; woody material (wood chips, bark, mulch)

• Cultivation: Moderate, outdoors

• Active Compounds: Psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin

• Potency: Moderate to high

History

The history of Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata is really a story of misidentification and eventual recognition.

Although the species was only formally described in the early 2000s, collections had likely been made for decades and were repeatedly identified as the similar-looking Psilocybe caerulipes, which was first described in 1892 by American mycologist Charles Horton Peck (albeit without knowing the psychedelic properties of Psilocybe mushrooms) [1].

The limited photographic documentation of P. caerulipes available in field guides compounded the confusion.

In 2003, an unusual Psilocybe growing in a wood-chip mulch bed in Cleveland, Ohio, caught the attention of mycologists. Its appearance resembled both P. caerulipes and the Pacific Northwest species P. cyanescens, but its spring and summer fruiting season didn’t quite fit either picture.

Further collections from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia eventually helped establish that these mushrooms represented a distinct species, leading to the formal description of P. ovoideocystidiata in 2007. [2,1]

Appearance

Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata has a 1.5—5 cm cap, typically rounded and dark brown to nearly black when young. As it matures, it lightens from a cinnamon-brown when moist to pale tan when dry, sometimes becoming wavy. The cap and stem often bruise blue to blue-green when damaged.

Its gills pale and darken with age, becoming rusty to dark purplish-brown, with a dark purple-brown spore print.

The 3—9 cm long stem is usually hollow and whitish, sometimes with yellowish, brownish, or bluish tones. A partial veil may leave a faint ring or band around the middle of the stem, rather than directly beneath the cap.

It has a flour- or grain-like smell, sometimes described as slightly spicy.

Under the microscope, its namesake feature becomes apparent: ovoideocystidiata refers to its abundant, ovoid, or egg-shaped, cystidia (specialized cells found on the surfaces of mushroom structures). [3,4]

Distribution, Habitat & Season

Native to the eastern United States, Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata is found from Rhode Island west to Missouri and from Michigan south to Georgia. It has been recently documented across western North America and the Pacific Northwest, from southern California north to British Columbia. [4]

What’s especially interesting is that this mushroom was only first recognized in Pennsylvania in 2003 and formally described in 2007, yet it’s now known to occur across a huge swath of North America.

So I have to wonder: are we simply getting better at recognizing a mushroom that was already widespread, or is P. ovoideocystidiata actually expanding its range?

Perhaps it’s a little bit of both. Much like discovering a new disease doesn’t necessarily mean the disease itself is new, formally describing a mushroom doesn’t mean it suddenly appeared in those places. We may simply have overlooked it for years.

But ovoids also have an affinity for growing in wood chips, mulch, and other woody debris. And that raises an interesting parallel with another potent wood-loving species: Psilocybe cyanescens, which, as we discovered in a previous article, has demonstrated an impressive ability to hitch a ride with humans and colonize new environments. [5]

Habitat

Unlike dung-loving species such as Psilocybe cubensis, ovoids are wood-loving, like P. azurescens and P. cyanescens, feeding on decaying wood and plant material. Fittingly nicknamed the “River Teacher,” P. ovoideocystidiata is strongly associated with moist, disturbed habitats, particularly floodplains, riverbanks, streams, and overflow areas where woody debris accumulates. [1,6]

They often fruit gregariously, sometimes appearing in large clusters, and readily colonize wood chips and bark mulch, making outdoor cultivation possible. [7]

Season

The season for P. ovoideocystidiata is unusual in the fact that it tends to fruit in the spring and early summer, unlike the late summer through the fall and even early winter months for many other Psilocybe species.

In the northeastern United States, it typically pops up from April through June, often reaching its peak around late May. [6]

Potency & Dosage

Ovoids are considered moderately to highly potent; a 2022 analysis found a peak of 0.71% psilocybin and 0.54% psilocin for a combined total tryptamine level of 1.25% by dry weight, along with small amounts of baeocystin, norbaeocystin, and trace amounts of aeruginascin. [8]

The researchers found that the alkaloid concentrations were broadly similar to those reported for Psilocybe cubensis, but substantially lower than some particularly potent P. cyanescens specimens.

So while Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata can certainly pack a punch, remember their potency isn’t uniform, and individual mushrooms can differ considerably in their alkaloid content.

Dosage

Given that the 2022 study found alkaloid concentrations in P. ovoideocystidiata broadly similar to those reported for P. cubensis, similar dry-mushroom dosage ranges may serve as a rough reference point.

1. Microdose: 100–500 mg

2. Threshold: 500–1,000 mg (1 g)

3. Museum Dose: 1–2 g

4. Standard Dose: 2–5 g

5. Heroic Dose: 5+ g

As always, start at the lower end to gauge the potency of the particular mushrooms you’re working with rather than assuming every batch will have the same alkaloid content.

The River Teacher

Considering Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata only entered our scientific understanding less than two decades ago, I can’t help but wonder:

How many other psychedelic mushrooms are still out there, growing unnoticed—or sitting in herbarium collections under the wrong name?

We’ve barely scratched the surface of the fungal kingdom.

And if a mushroom like the River Teacher could grow, spread, and even be collected for decades before we realized it was a species of its own, who knows what else is hiding in plain sight…

Stay safe and have a good trip!

Onjae

You can find out why ganja and I don’t get along in my latest article, “The Best Cannabis Alternative,” and how the herb I’ll be reviewing today—wild dagga—helped me along my path to becoming cannabis-free.

If you have a healthy relationship with Mary Jane, more power to you. But if you don’t, and you’re looking to cut back or step away, this may be a helpful ally.

Hell, or if you want to switch things up a little bit, wild dagga can be a nice plant medicine to explore. The plant’s common name, “dagga,” comes from the Khoikhoi word dacha, which used to refer to Cannabis indica. So, “wild dagga” literally translates to wild weed. Basically, it’s Mary Jane’s feral cousin.

I came across this specific wild dagga product and company just recently, and I was thoroughly impressed.

One, because it has been surprisingly hard to find actual wild dagga (Leonotis leonurus); its close relative klip dagga (Leonotis nepetifolia) seems to be more common.

And two, because they make clean, mean, and straight-up herbal products. No fluff, no fillers. Plus, with so many whole-herb products in their lineup, they’re incredibly versatile.

I even tossed it into an herbal smoke blend the other week and took it out camping; the effects and flavor really hit the spot. And even the people around me couldn’t get over how good it smelled.

So, without further ado, let’s get into this month’s product review.

Read more

It was just the thing the homies and I did. It made everything more enjoyable and interesting: eating, drinking, music, walking, talking, schoolwork, skateboarding (albeit more dangerously), hiking, hanging out… everything.

But eventually, I woke up one day, an adult, and realized that Maryjane really wasn’t helping me anymore.

In fact, she was hindering me.

Looking back, I could see how being chronically stoned throughout some of my most formative years had stymied important development across many areas of my life.

My cognition, memory, emotional regulation, motivation, drive—and hell, the fact that I was spending more of my waking life high than sober.

Really… who was I without THC constantly flooding through my brain?

• What might my life have looked like without it?

• What potential was I leaving untapped?

• What paths might I have taken if I hadn’t spent so many of those years operating at half my capacity simply because I was stoned?

Because when your mind is constantly clouded, it’s pretty damn hard to show up as the best version of yourself.

And the more I learned about the potential health consequences of chronic cannabis use, as more research started coming to light, the more I realized that Maryjane was something I needed to leave behind.

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But going cold turkey was harrrrrdddd.

Because it wasn’t just about the substance or the high. It was the ritual. The culture. The community. The whole damn lifestyle surrounding it. No matter what we were doing as teens, we were getting stoney-bologna to boost it.

And I’ve always had an all-or-nothing mentality. If I told myself I was going to cut back, I couldn’t seem to do it. Before long, I’d find myself pulled back into my old cycle of blazing up all day.

Being that deep into my love affair with Maryjane also made it difficult to switch over to hemp flower—little to no THC, but high in CBD, which isn’t intoxicating.

In hindsight, I probably could’ve used hemp to gradually taper off by mixing it with cannabis and slowly shifting the ratio. Honestly, that’s probably not a bad idea. But it never occurred to me back then.

There was, however, one herb that was an absolute godsend throughout this process, one that produces a mild psychoactive effect reminiscent of cannabis. Just enough to get you a little something without the full-blown weed high.

A botanical I still enjoy from time to time.

Actually, this herbal smoke has been standing in for Maryjane for centuries.

You see, long before marijuana took over, cultures around the world were smoking all sorts of botanicals for ritual, contemplation, recreation, or simply as cannabis substitutes.

And when the reefer wasn’t flowing, there was another herb that people in South Africa were toking. A plant ally that I used along my path to being weed-free.

That herb, my friend, was wild dagga.

Wild Dagga: The Best Cannabis Substitute

Wild dagga (Leonotis leonorus), also commonly called lion’s tail, is a South African shrub in the mint (Lamiaceae) family that produces vibrant orange, red, or yellow tubular flowers.

In folk medicine, decoctions of wild dagga were used internally to treat fever, coughs, headaches, and hypertension, and externally for skin conditions like rashes and boils [1].

Traditionally, the Bushmen and Hottentots smoked these buds and leaves, either on their own or mixed with tobacco [2].

The plant’s common name, “dagga,” comes from the Khoikhoi word dacha, which used to refer to Cannabis indica. So, “wild dagga” essentially translates to wild weed.

What’re the effects of wild dagga?

The effects of smoked wild dagga are generally much less pronounced than cannabis.

The reported and traditional effects include:

• Mild euphoria or a pleasant, relaxed feeling

• Calming/sedating (soporific) effects

• Dreaminess or subtle changes in perception

You might be wondering: if this plant is completely unrelated to cannabis and from the mint family, what is it responsible for its psychoactivity?

Well, that’s a good question—and the science is still a little murky.

You’ll frequently see wild dagga described as containing leonurine, with the compound often presented as the explanation for its psychoactive effects. But the evidence for that claim is lacking, with leonurine never actually being reported in scientific analyses of Leonotis leonurus extracts [3] (although its presence has been found in related species [4]).

So, the chemistry is considerably more complicated.

For example, the plant contains a variety of compounds, including the labdane diterpene marrubiin [3].

And there’s some newer research that sheds more light on this herb’s active constituents.

A 2024 study analyzing L. leonurus smoke identified compounds including leoleorin A and B. The resulting smoke extract showed anxiolytic and anticonvulsant activity in zebrafish, potentially lending some scientific support to traditional reports of its calming and entheogenic effects. [5]

However, when it comes to understanding what makes wild dagga psychoactive in humans, we still have more questions than answers; this is the case with so many botanicals, especially since the funding really isn’t there.

For now, the deepest knowledge we have comes not from modern pharmacology, but from the ethnobotanical records, observations, traditions, and experiments with plants accumulated by humans over hundreds or thousands of years.

And hopefully, my own little anecdote about wild dagga’s mild effects—and how it helped me step away from cannabis—adds another small piece to the growing body of knowledge around this fascinating herb.

How do I prepare and dose wild dagga?

Really, preparing wild dagga is about as simple as it gets: pack the dried flowers into a pipe and smoke ‘em.

There isn’t really an established “dose” for it because the research and traditional documentation is, again, pretty thin. So unlike something like cannabis, where we have a much better understanding of dose and potency, using wild dagga is more of an exercise in personal experimentation.

I’ll toke it by itself, but also enjoy incorporating it into herbal smoke blends.

One blend I just whipped together the other day consisted of:

• Wild dagga (Leonotis leonurus)

• Blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea)

• Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum)

• Coyote tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata)

• Damiana (Turnera diffusa)

• Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

The nice thing about making your own herbal blends is that you can experiment with different plants and their individual aromas, flavors, and effects to craft a combination to achieve your desired experience.

If you want to learn more about making herbal smoke blends that can serve as cannabis alternatives, you can take a deep dive into my article here.

You’ll also come across wild dagga extracts and resins. These are a different beast from dried flowers because the constituents are concentrated in a way that you’d never be able to achieve with the whole herb.

So if you’re exploring wild dagga for the first time, I’d stick with the whole dried flower rather than jumping straight to concentrated extracts.

With such limited information on its pharmacology and human dosing, there’s something to be said for keeping things simple (and traditional).

Where can I source it?

Since wild dagga is legal in many places and doesn’t contain THC or other cannabis cannabinoids, it’s generally pretty easy and safe to source… when you can actually find the right plant.

That’s the catch.

Wild dagga can be easily confused with a close relative called klip dagga (Leonotis nepetifolia), also known as lion’s ear. For whatever reason, klip dagga seems to be much more available online, although it’s generally believed to be less potent than wild dagga.

The two can be distinguished by their appearance. Wild dagga (L. leonurus) has longer, narrower leaves, while klip dagga has broader, more heart-shaped leaves with pronounced serrated edges.

Another clue is what part of the plant you’re buying. Wild dagga is commonly sold as dried flowers (which are bright orange), while products labeled klip dagga are often primarily leaf and aerial material.

But you never know; klip dagga can still have similar colored flowers mixed in.

So when in doubt, the species name is your best friend. Look for Leonotis leonurus.

A few sources I know and trust

The two places I’ve personally come across L. leonurus from are:

1. Astral Herbal — this is where I sourced my most recent batch, and it’s been a winner.

2. Professor Seagull’s Smart Shop — carries a wild dagga double-strength tincture.

3. Shaman’s Garden — although it’s commonly out of stock and, from the looks of it, they confuse wild dagga and klip dagga.

One other thing I must note—and something I only became aware of recently—is that adulteration of products marketed as wild dagga is a legitimate concern.

There have been reports of L. leonurus being deliberately adulterated with synthetic cannabinoids in an attempt to market these illegal substances under the guise of legal herbal products [3].

Obviously, that makes sourcing from a reputable supplier especially important.

And that’s ultimately why I share the sources I personally know: not because I can guarantee every product they sell, but because transparency around sourcing is an important part of harm reduction.

The biggest shift for me choosing wild dagga over cannabis

As I mentioned, I made an herbal blend with wild dagga a few days ago and had a bowl or two of it out of my wife’s grandfather’s pipe, just puffing on it in contemplation while watching the flames of a campfire. We were out camping for my twin brother’s and my 31st birthday, and it was one of those simple moments where a little herbal smoke just felt right.

These days, I’ll enjoy a toke every once in a while.

But it’s not something I consume chronically or mindlessly as I did with cannabis years ago.

That stuff is just so damn potent these days too. Not to mention, grown indoors under artificial light, blasted with chemicals, and, as my homie Jaret puts it, “pimped out for profit.”

Wild dagga is different for me. It’s something I can consume mindfully, with just a little effect; something subtle, relaxing, and almost meditative.

And as someone who broke up with Maryjane almost a decade ago, it’s nice puffing on something that isn’t 30% THC and doesn’t leave me crippled with anxiety, but instead leaves me feeling chill, regulated, and grounded.

I’m curious: have you explored wild dagga?

But did you know that Mexico is home to a whole pharmacopeia of psychoactive cacti that may have been used as medicines, entheogens, and also feared as plants of sorcery for generations?

One was even believed to cause permanent insanity, driving those who consumed it to throw themselves off the desert canyon cliffs.

While not all are quite as gnarly or sinister as that, many have been described as “false peyotes,” said to produce vision and other altered states, and used as substitutes when peyote was scarce.

And what’s particularly fascinating is that many of these cacti contain their own unusual cocktails of psychoactive phenethylamine alkaloids. The majority don’t actually contain mescaline like San Pedro or peyote, and some of these compounds have barely been studied at all (hey, there’s still a psychedelic science frontier out there to explore).

So let’s venture beyond the well-known mind-bending succulents and explore some of the little-known psychoactive cacti of Mexico.

So that you know, this is an entirely reader-supported publication. This newsletter is free, but if you can support, please consider a paid subscription. It helps me enormously, and you’ll get:

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Bakana

Coryphantha compacta (syn. C. cornifera), C. macromeris, C. palmerii, C. ramillosa (sometimes taxonomically categorized under Pelecyphora)

Besides Bakana, other common names for this cactus include hikuli, mulato, wichuri, and nipple beehive cactus. It’s a small, heavily thorned, globular cactus found throughout northern Mexico and southern Texas, growing in sandy desert soils and dry scrub in high-elevation, mountainous regions.

Bakana has been used by the Tarahumara (also known as Rarámuri) of northern Mexico in shamanic ceremonies [1] and medicinally for urinary conditions and rheumatism. [2]

It contains the β-phenethylamines hordenine [3], calipamine, macromerine [4], and methyltyramine. [5]

Once the thorns are removed, 8 to 12 Bakana tops, or heads—the above-ground portion known as the teuile, or “meat” of the cactus—are eaten fresh or dried as a standard dose. [6]

Its effects are poorly documented, but it’s said to be a potent medicine, one greatly feared and respected by shamans in the region that it is endemic to.

Cawe

Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum

Commonly known as Indian comb or hairbrush cactus because the fruits of this columnar cactus were traditionally fashioned into hair brushes by Indigenous peoples.

Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum can grow into a towering tree, reaching up to 15 meters tall with numerous branching arms. It’s native to western Mexico, where it grows throughout the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.

The Tarahumara have used cawe in secret ceremonies, calling the cactus Wichowaka, meaning “insanity.” A drink prepared from its young stems was traditionally consumed to induce dizziness and visions, and as a purgative [8].

It was used medicinally to treat wounds, stomach ulcers, and sore throats, while its fruits were valued as a versatile food source. [9]

The cactus has been found to contain the phenethylamine carnegine, 3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenethylamine, salsolidine, arizonine, heliamine, 3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine [10,8].

Chautle

Ariocarpus fissuratus, A. retusus

Known as the Living Rock cactus, Chautle is incredibly well camouflaged against the rocky soil of its desert habitat throughout northern and central Mexico. It’s a small, flattened, solitary spineless cactus with a grey-green body made up of spiraling triangular tubercles.

Consumed fresh or crushed in water, Chautle has been regarded by some Indigenous groups as even more powerful than peyote. However, no mescaline has been discovered in the cactus, and it has instead been closely associated with witchcraft and sorcery. [11]

Likely because traditional folklore claimed it could summon supernatural protectors against thieves, while the Huichol considered it dangerous enough to cause permanent madness. [9]

Ariocarpus fissuratus and A. retusus have been found to contain several psychoactive phenethylamine alkaloids, including **hordenine, N-methyltyramine [12], and N-methyl-3,4-dimethoxy-phenethylamine. [13,14]

Hikuli Mulato

Epithelantha micromeris

The Tarahumara have called Epithelantha micromeris Hikuli Mulato, meaning “the dark-skinned peyote,” which is almost misleading because this tiny, globular cactus is covered so densely by white-grey spines that its dark green body beneath is almost completely hidden.

Found throughout northeast Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, it produces bright-red, cylindrical, acidic fruits called chilitos, which have been eaten as a traditional food.

This tiny “false peyote” cactus was eaten fresh or dried by the Tarahumara and Huichol, whose shamans believed it sharpened spiritual vision, aided communication with supernatural beings, protected travelers, and prolonged life. The legendary ultra-runners of the Tarahumara reportedly used it as a stimulant. [9,15]

But, like Chautle, there’s a more sinister undercurrent, with reports claiming it could drive someone into insanity, even throwing them off a cliff…

The active constituents responsible for its effects remain a mystery.

Peyotillo

Pelecyphora aselliformis

Pelecyphora aselliformis is a small, round to flattened grey-green cactus covered in tiny, hatchet-shaped bumps and dense rows of whitish spines that give it a comb-like appearance. It grows incredibly slowly and is most commonly found in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.

Peyotillo means “little peyote,” and has been used ceremonially by Indigenous peoples of northern Mexico as a substitute for peyote, eaten either fresh or dried. [16]

The cactus has been found to contain mescaline, N-methylmescaline, hordenine, anhalidine, pellotine, and 3-dimethyltrichocerine. Although its mescaline content is reportedly lower than that of peyote (Lophophora williamsii), it is said to produce the same psychedelic effects, albeit less pronounced. [17,18]

Pitallita

Echinocereus salm-dyckianus, E. triglochidiatus

This is a mound-forming cactus made up of clusters of blue-green, cylindrical stems covered in dense, long spines. It can form enormous cushions over a meter wide and produces striking scarlet-red to red-orange flowers.

Native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, it’s called claret cup in Colorado, where it is the state’s official cactus. It grows from low to high desert regions, as well as scrub and mountain woodlands.

These two species (among many) are the only two known cacti to be considered “false peyotes” by the Tarahumara, who have eaten them fresh or dried as an entheogen and said they possessed “high mental qualities.” [19,20]

The phenethylamine alkaloid 3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenethylamine, among others, has been isolated from these species. [16]

Saguaro

Carnegiea gigantea

You’ll likely recognize this cactus.

Although not traditionally used as a psychedelic, this iconic, long-lived (150 to 175 years), massive (can achieve a height of 36 ft and weigh up to 10 tons), tree-like cactus species contains several psychoactive β-phenethylamine alkaloids, including carnegine, gigantine, salsolidine, 3-methoxytyramine, 3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine, and more [21,22].

Native to the Sonoran Desert, Saguaro was valued medicinally by the Seri people, who applied the plant topically to rheumatic areas and wounds [23]. Its fruit remains an important Indigenous food and has also traditionally been fermented into ceremonial wine. [24,20]

Wichuriki

Mammillaria craigii, M. grahamii, M. senilis

Lastly, we have Wichuriki, a small, globular, heavily thorned cactus with a dense, almost woolly appearance, variously colored flowers, and tiny red fruit pods (called chilitos like Hikuli Mulato). These few species—Mammillaria craigii, M. grahamii, M. senilis—are among the most important “false peyotes” of the Tarahumara, who also called them peyote de San Pedro. [1]

Out of the nearly 200 species in the genus Mammillaria, these few have been consumed during shamanic ceremonies as hallucinogens; said to produce deep, lucid-sleep states with brilliant colors and experiences described as journeys across vast distances. [1]

All parts of the cactus have been used, including the inner tissue, which is sometimes roasted. The de-thorned tops and fruits are considered the most potent parts, while the inner flesh has also been dried, powdered, and mixed into chicha, a traditional maize beer. [2]

Modern chemical analyses have found the presence of the psychoactive alkaloids hordenine and N-methyl-3, 4-di-methoxyphenylethylamine. [21,25,26]

Little-Known Psychoactive Cacti

While these cacti may not be as powerful, psychedelic, or famous as peyote of the San Pedro group, they have nonetheless found their way into traditional ethnobotanical use among various Indigenous peoples of central and northern Mexico—used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years in shamanic, ceremonial, and folk medicine practices.

In my opinion, Mexico is one of the most fascinating places on Earth when it comes to psychoactive plants and fungi.

It has one of the highest diversities of psychoactive species we know of, with more than 50 of the roughly 150 known Psilocybe species found here. Not to mention the entheogenic wisdom traditions that span countless generations.

While many of us might picture the harsh desert regions of Mexico as barren landscapes devoid of life, they’re incredibly biologically and ecologically diverse.

And perhaps it’s precisely because these plants have to survive such challenging conditions that some have evolved to produce these bizarre, mind-bending alkaloids.

Have a good trip,

Onjae

P.S. If you’re looking to get loosey-goosey this summer without reaching for the booze, I’ve been sipping on some Kava Haven to get the job done (minus the hangover and side effects).

Psilocybin is more like a delivery system.

It gets all the glory, while its close chemical cousin, psilocin, humbly does all the work.

So let’s dig a little deeper into these funky fungal compounds and see what’s really going on under the hood when you take a psychedelic trip with magic mushrooms.

So that you know, this is an entirely reader-supported publication. This newsletter is free, but if you can support, please consider a paid subscription. It helps me enormously, and you’ll get:

1. Subscriber-only posts, full archive & join the community (the Plant Medicine Guild)

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Psilocybin and Psilocin

What makes magic mushrooms, well… magic?

The answer lies in two closely related compounds:

1. Psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine) — the most abundant psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms.

2. Psilocin (4-hydroxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine) — usually present in much smaller amounts, but the compound actually responsible for the psychedelic effects. [1]

These two compounds are built on the same chemical backbone as the neurotransmitter serotonin: tryptamine [2]. Tryptamine itself is derived from the essential amino acid tryptophan (you know what people say makes you feel lethargic after a large serving of turkey?), the foundation for a family of biologically active compounds (known as “tryptamines”).

Psilocybin and psilocin were first isolated from Psilocybe mexicana by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann (the godfather of LSD) in 1958 [3] after R. Gordon Wasson introduced the Western world to traditional mushroom ceremonies of the Mazatec curandera María Sabina [4].

Hofmann’s employer, Sandoz, later supplied pharmaceutical-grade psilocybin (under the trade name “Indocybin”) to researchers and clinicians around the world for use in psychedelic therapy [5] before research was largely halted by drug prohibition in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

What’s the Difference Between Psilocybin and Psilocin?

It all comes down to a chemical attachment called a phosphate group. Psilocybin has one while psilocin doesn’t.

That single phosphate group makes a surprisingly big difference. It makes psilocybin more chemically stable, allowing mushrooms to store it. Without that protective phosphate group, psilocin is far more fragile and readily breaks down when exposed to oxygen.

That’s also why magic mushrooms turn blue when they’re bruised. Damaging the mushroom triggers a series of chemical reactions that convert psilocybin into psilocin, which then oxidizes and forms the characteristic blue pigmentation.

Inside your body, something similar happens. After you eat a magic mushroom, enzymes quickly remove the phosphate group from psilocybin, converting it into psilocin [6]. Unlike psilocybin, psilocin can readily cross the blood-brain barrier, and due to its chemical structure, similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin [2], responsible for mood, cognition, and physiological processes, it binds to serotonin receptors and produces psychedelic effects.

In simpler terms, or TLDR:

• Psilocybin is the mushroom’s stable storage form.

• Psilocin is the active form that produces the psychedelic effects.

• Psilocybin is a prodrug, meaning your body converts it into the active compound psilocin.

• The phosphate group is the key difference between the two molecules.

While psilocybin and psilocin are the main players, they aren’t the only compounds these mushrooms produce. Researchers have also identified related alkaloids such as baeocystin and norbaeocystin (as we went over in Psilocybe baeocystis) and aeruginascin in various species. [7]

Whether these compounds contribute meaningfully to the psychedelic experience remains an open question. Some appear to have biological activity, while others may offer therapeutic potential without producing hallucinations. [7]

What Happens After You Eat a Magic Mushroom?

This is where we go under the hood, into the inner workings of your mind and body to understand what happens to a magic mushroom once it crosses your lips.

Alright, open up the tunnel… here comes the magic mushroom train.

Chomp, chomp, chomp (10x)… gulp.

The mushroom makes its way down into your stomach, where it begins to break apart and release its chemical cargo. The star of the show—for now—is psilocybin. But psilocybin’s job is only just beginning.

It moves through your digestive tract, is absorbed in the small intestine, and is carried to the liver. Along the way, enzymes called alkaline phosphatases snip off the tiny phosphate group (enzymatic dephosphorylation) attached to the molecule. This chemical change transforms psilocybin into psilocin [8].

This is the moment the baton is passed.

As I said, psilocybin can’t cross the blood-brain barrier, but psilocin can (and does… thank God) [9]. Within about 20 to 60 minutes of eating the mushroom, psilocin crosses that barrier, entering the brain, where it binds to multiple serotonin receptors [10], especially the 5-HT2A [11,12].

From there, a cascade of changes unfolds. Brain regions that don’t normally communicate begin talking to one another (brain interconnectivity) [13], familiar thought patterns loosen their grip (reduced Default Mode Network activity) [14], and perception, emotion, and consciousness start shifting in ways that can range from subtle to utterly reality-bending.

By the time you begin experiencing the effects, most of psilocybin has already completed its mission. It has been converted into psilocin; once in the brain, its fate has been sealed, and it carries the psychedelic experience across the finish line.

Hands and feet in the tram, my friend, next stop: the Psychedelic Transformation Station.

The Blue Bruising Phenomenon of Magic Mushrooms

My teenage homies and I always thought the blue bruising of magic mushrooms was psilocybin. Whenever we’d score a big bag of boomers covered in blue, we’d say, “Look at those fuckers ooozing psilocybin.”

Turns out, we were wrong.

Remember back to the beginning of this newsletter? Psilocin is chemically unstable. Expose it to oxygen, and it readily begins to break down. Psilocybin, with its extra phosphate group, acts almost like a protective cap, making psilocybin far more chemically stable and therefore a much better long-term storage molecule than psilocin. [15]

Which, side note: Why do mushrooms make psilocybin and psilocin in the first place? The truth is, we don’t know for sure. Perhaps we never will because, why does Momma Earth do anything, really? She has her reasons… and I respect that.

Scientists have proposed several ideas. They may function as chemical defenses against insects or other predators, help mediate ecological interactions with other organisms, or serve a purpose we haven’t uncovered yet. [16,17]

But regardless of whether it’s picked, pinched, cut, or chewed on by a hungry slug, damage to the mushroom ruptures its cells. This allows enzymes, alkaloids, and oxygen that were previously kept apart to mix. One enzyme, PsiP, removes the phosphate group from psilocybin, converting it into psilocin. Another enzyme, PsiL, then catalyzes the oxidation of psilocin into larger blue-colored compounds called oligomers. [18]

Fortunately, for us, that phenomenon, and the beautiful blue bruising that ensues, is one of the best clues to identify psilocybin mushrooms when foraging in the wild. [19]

Which Mushrooms Contain Which?

Speaking of mushrooms in the wild, while most people are familiar with Psilocybe cubensis, did you know there are over 200 known mushroom species that contain psilocybin, psilocin, and other related tryptamine alkaloids? [20,21]

The overwhelming majority of these “magic mushrooms” species belong to two major genera:

1. Psilocybe — home to roughly ~150–180+ known active species. [22]

2. Panaeolus — containing another ~18–22 species. [23]

Several smaller genera also produce these compounds, although they contain far fewer psychoactive species:

1. Gymnopilus — ~17 [24]

2. Inocybe — ~9 [25]

3. Conocybe — ~8 [26,27]

4. Pluteus — ~2–4 [27]

But no two species share the same chemical profile. Some naturally contain higher concentrations of psilocybin, others comparatively more psilocin, and many produce varying amounts of other biologically active constituents such as baeocystin, norbaeocystin, and aeruginascin. [28,29]

On top of that, alkaloid concentrations can vary dramatically within the same species depending on genetics, phenotype, growing conditions, substrate, harvest timing, drying methods, storage (heat, light, oxygen, time, etc.), the part of the mushroom being tested (cap or stem), as well as the age of the mushroom. [30,31]

There isn’t just one chemical blueprint for a magic mushroom. Each species—and often each mushroom—has its own unique alkaloid fingerprint shaped by genetics, development, and the environment in which it grew.

Psilocybin Gets All the Credit, But Psilocin Does All the Work

You might have noticed that I’ve been calling them magic mushrooms throughout this newsletter instead of psilocybin mushrooms. That was intentional.

As we’ve discovered, psilocybin isn’t actually the compound that produces the psychedelic effects. It’s the most abundant alkaloid in the mushroom, but once inside your body it’s quickly converted into psilocin, the compound that does the heavy lifting and produces the trippy effects.

Of course, we’ll all keep calling them psilocybin mushrooms, and that’s perfectly fine. It has a much nicer ring to it than psilocin mushrooms. But for this piece, I wanted to get a little more technical and explore the fascinating chemistry happening beneath the surface.

When you really stop and think about it, it’s astonishing. Somewhere along the evolutionary timeline, mushrooms developed the ability to produce molecules that just so happen to interact with the serotonin receptors in the human brain.

Perhaps it will remain a mystery why these compounds evolved, but they have become some of the most profound tools for exploring the human psyche and consciousness itself…

And finally, I’d like to honor the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded relationships with these mushrooms for countless generations—especially the Mazatec, whose ceremonial traditions helped introduce the wider world to their sacred use through the curandera María Sabina.

Long before modern science identified psilocybin and psilocin, Indigenous communities had already cultivated a deep understanding of these fungi through lived experience.

Mush love,

Onjae

Only to have your initiation continue with dozens of fire ants biting the shit out of you.

That was my introduction to Yopo. Not firsthand by any means—oh God, no.

Years ago, I watched footage of a traditional initiation ceremony deep in the Amazon. A shaman-in-training inhaled Yopo, and as the effects intensified, the elder shamans pressed a bundle of fire ants against his body, allowing them to sting him during the peak of the experience.

I remember sitting there in my temperature-controlled, cozy teenage bedroom in a lower-middle-class neighborhood, thinking, “These people were on another level. We’ve gone soft in the West”.

Now, does that mean we should all start getting stung by fire ants during a psychedelic journey? Hell no.

The Yopo experience is an initiation in and of itself.

But it does remind us that psychedelics weren’t simply taken for fun. More often than not, they were woven into demanding rituals that required astonishing levels of discipline, preparation, guidance, and reverence.

Yopo is one of those medicines. In many ways, it’s the ancient equivalent of free-base DMT or a Changa experience; the effects hit hard and fast.

But unlike the modern psychonaut creations, Yopo has one of the longest, richest, and most fascinating histories of psychedelic use in the Americas.

It’s also one of the best botanical sources of both DMT and 5-MeO-DMT—the very plant I briefly mentioned in my Bufo newsletter as a natural alternative to the Colorado River toad.

Let’s dig in.

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What Is Yopo?

Yopo, also called Cohoba, is a powerful psychedelic snuff prepared from the beans of the Anadenanthera peregrina tree [1], a member of the legume family (Fabaceae), home to many of the world’s DMT-containing plants.

The beans are first toasted, then pulverized into a fine powder and mixed with lime made from calcined snail shells or the ash of certain plants. Sometimes tobacco is added as well [2]. The finished snuff is traditionally blown deep into the nostrils through a long bamboo tube or a Y-shaped applicator fashioned from the leg bones of herons or other long-legged birds, often by another person.

What follows is an intense but relatively short (to the sober observer, muahaha) psychedelic experience, typically lasting 10–20 minutes. People describe multidimensional visions, ego dissolution, death-and-rebirth experiences, transformations into animals, encounters with spirits, and the sensation of flying through other worlds, or even the universe itself. [3]

What Makes It Psychedelic?

Okay... so what’s inside these “magic beans” that makes them so intensely mind-bending and hallucinogenic?

Both the beans and bark of Anadenanthera peregrina have been found to contain three primary psychoactive compounds:

• DMT (N, N-dimethyltryptamine)

• 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,Ndimethyltryptamine)

• Bufotenin or 5-HO-DMT (5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) [4]

If those names sound familiar, they should. These are some of the most powerful naturally occurring psychedelic compounds humans have discovered. And I’ve covered them in great length in various articles.

Now you might be thinking, “Doesn’t DMT require a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) to work?”

Yes, if you swallow it. When taken orally, DMT is rapidly broken down by the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO) in the digestive tract and liver before it ever reaches the brain. That’s why traditional ayahuasca combines DMT-containing plants with the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, or other plants (known as ayahuasca analogs) that contain natural MAO inhibitors.

Yopo works differently. Because it’s taken as a snuff, the compounds are absorbed through the nasal tissues directly into the bloodstream, bypassing the digestive system altogether.

That allows DMT to reach the brain without the need for an MAOI, producing a rapid, powerful, and short-lived—especially when compared to ayahuasca’s 6-hour-long journey—psychedelic experience.

Four Thousand Years of Yopo

Let’s take a step back in time. Actually... we have to go waaaayyy back. This isn’t some modern psychedelic snuff cooked up in the closet of neoshamans (I’m thinking Bufo here). No way, José. Turn the clock back more than 4,000 years, and we find some of the oldest archaeological evidence for psychedelic use anywhere in the Americas.

From the findings, the use of this entheogen begins around 2130 BC at Inca Cueva in what is now Argentina. Archaeologists uncovered puma bone snuff pipes containing residues from Anadenanthera beans—likely the closely related species Anadenanthera colubrina (known as Cebíl or Vilca)—providing the oldest direct evidence of Anadenanthera being used as a hallucinogen [5,6,7]. And that’s only the beginning.

By 1200 BC, located at the Huaca Prieta site, along the central Peruvian coast, elaborate snuff trays and inhalation tubes show that insufflating Anadenanthera had already become a well-established tradition. [5]

Between A.D. 500 and 1000, archaeological discoveries from northern Chile, in the San Pedro de Atacama region, reveal that ceremonial use of Anadenanthera snuff was still going strong. [8]

Then, between A.D. 1150 and 1250, evidence appears thousands of miles away in eastern Puerto Rico, where coral milling tools bearing traces of ground Anadenanthera peregrina (our Yopo that we are covering today) provide the first direct evidence of its preparation in the West Indies [9], where its indigenous use was first encountered by Europeans (actually Christopher Columbus of all people).

Archaeology isn’t the only line of evidence either. Throughout the first millennium A.D., Anadenanthera also appears repeatedly in South American art. Researchers have identified representations of its distinctive seed pods and trees in the ceramics and iconography of the Moche, Tiwanaku, Wari, and Aguada cultures [10], suggesting the plant held enduring ceremonial importance across much of the continent.

For at least four millennia, there’s strong physical and cultural evidence to suggest that Indigenous peoples across South America and the Caribbean experimented with Anadenanthera, carefully preparing it, refining its use, and weaving it into ceremonial traditions that endured for thousands of years.

Who Used Yopo?

Early Historical Accounts

Because the Indigenous peoples of the Americas didn’t leave behind written historical records, the first documented account of Yopo comes from the earliest Spanish encounters with the Taíno.

During Columbus’ second voyage to the Americas (1493–1496), the commissioned Friar Ramón Pané observed Taíno chiefs (caciques) of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic) inhaling a mysterious snuff called Cohoba. He reported that after “snuffing it up,” they would “lose consciousness and become like drunken men.“ [11]

Traditional & Shamanic Use

Yopo wasn’t unique to the Taíno, as we’ve seen with the overwhelming archaeological evidence from South America. By the time Europeans first encountered it, Anadenanthera peregrina and A. colubrina had been woven into Indigenous ceremonial life across much of South America for thousands of years.

The strongest known traditions are believed to have developed throughout the Orinoco Basin—Venezuela and Colombia—where shamans used the snuff as a ritual medicine to:

• Enter visionary trance states

• Communicate with spirits, such as the Hekula spirits among the Yanomami

• Perform divination and prophecy

• Protect communities from illness and misfortune

• Sharpen the prowess of hunters (and even their dogs)

Across cultures, Yopo, like ayahuasca, was essentially seen as a bridge between the human and spirit worlds.

Contemporary Use

Today, entheogenic use has largely disappeared throughout the Caribbean and the West Indies following centuries of colonization and cultural disruption.

But Yopo continues to be used by several Indigenous peoples of the Orinoco Basin and surrounding regions, where these traditions have endured for countless generations.

Outside those original settings, Anadenanthera has attracted modern psychonauts, partly because the tree and beans themselves often occupy a legal gray area, even though its primary psychoactive compounds, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and bufotenin, remain controlled substances in many countries (more on that to come).

What Is the Yopo Experience Like?

Now for the question you’ve probably been waiting for… what’s Yopo actually like?

I have to preface this with the fact that I haven’t experienced Yopo myself (yet).

Honestly, it’s been sitting on my apothecary shelf for quite some time now, and every so often I catch myself admiring these strange little magic beans between bouts of typing away at my keyboard.

From everything I’ve read—and the chemistry—I suspect the experience has similarities with freebase DMT or Changa. But because Yopo contains not just DMT, but also 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin, I imagine the overall effects profile is likely more complex than any one of those compounds alone.

Ethnobotanical accounts and modern reports consistently describe Yopo as producing an intensely immersive, trance-like state accompanied by profound closed- and open-eyed hallucinations, dramatic time distortion, ego dissolution, out-of-body experiences, encounters with spirits or entities, and mystical states of consciousness. [12]

All of this unfolds within seconds after the inhaled snuff reaches the nostrils, with the experience typically lasting 10 to 15 minutes, followed by an afterglow that can linger for an hour or so [3], often described as peaceful, calm, and deeply restorative as the effects gradually fade.

That said, Yopo isn’t exactly known for being gentle. Reports also commonly mention intense nasal burning, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and considerable physical discomfort during the experience [13]. Hey, what can you say… psychedelics aren’t always a walk in the park.

How Is Yopo Prepared and What Is the Dose?

The first scientific description of Yopo preparation comes from Baron Alexander von Humboldt, who documented the practice among the Maypure peoples of the Orinoco during his South American expedition in 1801. [14]

According to Humboldt, the long seed pods of Anadenanthera peregrina were first moistened and allowed to ferment until they turned black. The softened seeds were then removed, kneaded into cakes with cassava flour and lime made from snail shells, toasted, and finally crushed into the ceremonial snuff we know as Yopo. [15]

The alkaline ingredients—traditionally lime from calcined shells or the ash of certain plants—are an important part of the preparation. Humboldt himself believed the effects of the snuff came exclusively from that ingredient. While we know this isn’t true, it does help convert the alkaloids into a form that’s more readily absorbed through the nasal membranes, making the snuff more effective.

While Humboldt’s report reflects one indigenous preparation, I came across a more modern method that’s a bit easier to replicate and follows the same underlying principles:

What You Will Need

• 1-4 Yopo (Anadenanthera peregrina) seeds

• Food-grade lime (Calcium hydroxide)

• Baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate)

• Mortar and pestle or coffee grinder

• Small pan or pot

• Water

Step-By-Step Yopo Preparation

1. Lightly toast the seeds over low heat until they puff and split open (like popping popcorn).

2. Remove and discard the outer seed hull, keeping only the inner kernel.

3. Toast the inner kernels over low heat until they’re dry, hard, and crunchy.

4. Grind the kernels into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder.

5. Mix:

   1. 2 parts ground Yopo seed kernel

   2. 1 part food-grade lime

   3. 1 part baking soda

6. Add a few drops of water and stir until a smooth paste forms.

7. Gently heat the paste over low heat until all the water has evaporated and the mixture is completely dry.

8. Grind the dried material again into an extremely fine snuff powder.

This one will certainly do the trick, but here is another preparation method to give you options.

Dosing Yopo

Dosing Yopo is surprisingly difficult; not only can the alkaloid content of the seeds vary considerably, but many dosage recommendations don’t specify what they're referring to when it comes to the weighted measurement.

For example, Tripsitter provides the following dosage ranges:

• Threshold: ~30 mg

• Light: 65–300 mg

• Regular: 300–540 mg

• Strong: 540–800 mg

• Heroic: >800 mg [16]

The problem I find is that this source doesn’t clearly explain whether they’re referring to the whole bean, the inner kernel, or the finished Yopo preparation.

Meanwhile, Christian Rätsch, in The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants, notes that the minimum effective dose is approximately 1 gram of seeds when taken intranasally [3].

Other sources skip weights altogether and dose by seed count instead [13]:

“Small doses of Yopo (2-3 seeds) will generate light euphoria and minor (with eyes closed) hallucinations. Larger doses (4-5 seeds) will generate euphoria, stronger hallucinations, and loss of bodily control.”

Personally, I’d take all of these recommendations with a grain of salt. If approaching this, I’d prepare a larger batch, determine the average weight of a single seed, and begin with the equivalent of one seed’s worth of the finished preparation to get a feel for its potency before considering anything more.

With a psychedelic this powerful—and this variable— there’s simply no reason to rush.

Is Yopo Legal?

As I said, Yopo occupies a legal gray area (kind of like the San Pedro cactus). In the United States, the Anadenanthera peregrina tree itself—including its seeds—is generally legal to buy, sell, possess, and cultivate (with some state-level exceptions, such as Louisiana) [17].

Where things get more complicated is with intent and preparation.

The seeds naturally contain the Schedule I substances DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and bufotenin. While the plant isn’t scheduled under federal law, preparing or processing the seeds with the intent of producing a psychoactive substance for consumption is where it crosses the line.

As always, laws surrounding psychoactive plants are constantly evolving and vary, so it’s worth researching the regulations in your own jurisdiction before purchasing, cultivating, or experimenting with Yopo.

Yopo: The POTENT Psychedelic Snuff of the Amazon

This isn’t a psychedelic to take lightly. Even holding these little magic beans in my hand, it’s difficult not to feel a deep sense of respect for what they truly contain.

Four thousand years of archaeological evidence. Ceremonial traditions that have endured across countless generations. Some of the most demanding and grueling initiatory rites imaginable.

This medicine has never really been “just another psychedelic.” That may also explain why I haven’t communed with it yet.

I recognize that chemistry is only one part of the equation. Context matters too. The stewards of this medicine developed ceremonies, preparation methods, and cultural containers that taught people how to approach a medicine this powerful, wisdom refined across millennia.

Something you can’t simply pick up from a book, website, or newsletter.

I feel like this medicine first asks for something much rarer in our modern world: humility.

The humility to admit that not every medicine needs to be experienced immediately. That sometimes the greatest act of respect is to slow down, continue learning, and wait until the time—and perhaps the teacher—is right.

Until then, I’m content simply being a student.

Onjae

It’s hands down my favorite way to consume mushrooms. I stumbled across it years ago, and it completely changed the experience for me. Less gastrointestinal distress and nausea, no forcing down dry, chewy mushrooms, and, perhaps most importantly... no mushroom taste. Because let’s be honest, I’ve never exactly looked forward to that part.

With tea, it just goes down easy.

You don’t even have to consume the soggy mushroom bits because the active compounds, like psilocybin and psilocin, are extracted into the water!

Better yet, you can build an entire herbal formula around it. Digestive herbs to support the gut, calming nervines to settle the mind and nervous system, medicinal mushrooms, warming spices, and botanicals that actually make it enjoyable to drink.

So when I came across this psilocybin mushroom tea product—or rather, when it found me—I was immediately intrigued. And after getting to know the people behind the company, I found a thoughtful team that clearly cared about what they were creating.

Needless to say, I was excited to put it to the test. And all I can say here is... it delivered (and then some).

Without further ado, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this review.

If you’re a paid subscriber, you can dive into the full review below; if not, you can join to get the goods.

And if you’re curious what happened after I drank it, you can also read my complete trip report, which was far too long (and far too wild) to include here. Come down the psychedelic rabbit hole with me.

Read more

During the trip, the “testing notes” somehow ballooned into thousands of words. At that point, I figured... why not feed two birds with one scone?

Why not share my trip reports and bring you along inside my head and experience during these psychedelic journeys?

So, I think this is going to become its own little series, and I’m stoked to share it with you.

This particular report comes from my Monthly Product Reviews, where I test products from companies featured in my Plant Medicine Sourcing Master List.

If you’re interested in the full review of this mushroom tea, you can find it in this section of my Substack (where the latest review will be published in the next couple of days).

Below are my musings as they unfolded in real time.

Even though the tea contained just 1.25 grams of mushrooms, it absolutely slapped. At a certain point, it became impossible to keep my writing focused solely on the effects. Instead, the experience opened into something bigger.

My notes drifted toward the philosophical questions, insights, and strange little observations that surfaced along the way, things I felt compelled to capture before they disappeared.

So, rather than polish them into something neat, I thought I’d leave them largely as they were.

Anyway, let’s dive down the psychedelic rabbit hole together.

Psilocybin Mushroom Tea — Trip Report

• Date: July 18, 2026

• Time: 10:35 AM

• Sex: Male

• Weight: 175 lb (80 kg)

• Age: 30

• Last meal: ~15 hours before dosing. Had a Bulletproof Coffee (butter and MCT oil) approximately 1.5 hours before consumption.

• Dose: 1 sachet (equivalent to 1.25 g dried mushrooms)

• Preparation: Brought water to a boil, allowed it to cool for 5 minutes, then poured it over the sachet contents in a stainless steel mesh strainer. Steeped for 20 minutes, strained, and drank (as directed on the package).

• Set: Recently settled into a new home after moving to a new state. Feeling grounded, balanced, optimistic, and excited for the journey ahead.

• Setting: A peaceful backyard surrounded by grass and mature trees. Birdsong filled the air, a creek flowed along the edge of the property, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves. It felt safe, serene, and deeply restorative.

• Support: My Sheepadoodle, Sybil, stayed by my side for nearly the entire experience.

T+0:00 — Dose administered

Started sipping slowly in between deep breathing and orienting my mind. Feeling present, grounded, aware, and mindful of the whole experience. The flavor of the tea is amazing and could barely taste any kind of mushrooms.

T+0:15 — First alerts

Finished tea. It went down sooo smooth. Just sitting back now in enjoyment and satisfaction. Now, we wait… oh, woah, can already slightly sense a shift in my headspace. A wave of energy moving through my body, a lightness and floatiness in my limbs, and a fluttering in my chest as I breathe.

T+0:20 — Noticeable perceptual changes

Everything is looking so vibrant and alive. The trees, grass, and sky. I almost have a fish-eye lens thing going on as things start to move and breathe in my peripheral vision. Holy crap, I’m frickin’ surprised on how fast this is coming on. My skin feels clammy (as if usually does with mushrooms) and it looks reddish in a way. The breeze blowing through is amazing and I feel the wind flow over my body, cooling me down on this hot summer day.

T+0:25

A buzzing in my chest and throughout my whole body has become quite apparent. everything around me is more animate, more alive, like it’’s moving/wiggling. Shimmering, dancing, and flowing. Damn, I’m impressed by the rapid and intense onset of effects. WOW. It feels like I’m slowly drifting off into a dream realm or being put under a spell. It’s magical but kind of taking me off guard.

T+0:31

Holy shit. The mushroom is moving through me hard and fast. My field of sight seems to be moving away from me, almost like tunnel vision.

Honestly can’t believe it’s only been 30 minutes since I put the tea to my lips… I’m already seeing a lot of colors as I write this (free-hand, pen and paper, mind you). The words are almost jumping off the page.

T+0:36

Trying to focus my sight on something at the moment is really hard, even writing this, it feels as if the more I zero in on the page the more it feels like I’ll get sucked into the journal (almost like Harry Potter with Tom Riddle’s diary lol). Like a vortex. Everything in my line of vision, like the fir tree in front of me, is becoming geometric, almost cubic in a way. There’s intense tingling in my feet and the yawns are kicking it. Damn, man, life is a trip in and of itself.

T+0:47

I’m seeing geometric fractals on everything with an eye at the center, EVERYTHING HAS EYES. They are watching me. The fractals are like diamonds shimmering. You just can’t ask for a more beautiful setting than where I’m at sitting on the grass under the shade of a plumb tree. I notice: everything in my sight has the same hue/colors of the very package of the tea that I consumed to go on this journey. WTF? I don’t know if that was intentional, or just my mind conjuring this, but if it was, goooood product/packaging/branding and attention to detail.

T+0:54

I find “myself” (but who is this I that is talking???) for a brief moment—like I came up for a deep breath—before plunging deep down the psychedelia rabbit hole. How wild is it that a mushroom can do this?!

T+1:00

Time makes no sense in this place. An hour has passed since I started putting back the tea… Everything is overlaid with a kaleidoscopic pattern with fractals of energy waving through. This is a solid “museum” dose through and through, maybe higher because I can’t write within the lines of the page at this point. hahaha The fractals are morphing and flowing. It’s all flow. Everything. And love energy. Fuck, I sound like a hippy… far out, man.

T+1:10

Honestly, this is such a perfect dose for me right now. A happy medium between worlds. God, I’ve found a little slice of psychic (and physical) paradise. This is what it’s all about. The few clouds in the sky are diamonds, maybe that’s what the Beatles were on about when they said “Lucy in the sky with diamonds”.

T+1:15

Sitting in the shade cast from a little plum tree. So good, so nurtured, so held, so satiated with connection. This isn’t a substance to get fucked up or something, this is medicine for the soul. To remind us to truly live. To get out of our own way. Duuuuuude, setting is everything. Plus, I got my little support dog Sybil, looking out for me.

When was the last time you laid back and watched the clouds go by? Why does that seem so foreign now? Busy, busy. Go, go. Hustle, hustle, HUSTLE… when can we slow down? When is it okay? When will we allow ourselves? When have we done enough??? Just slow the fuck down, Onjae.

T+1:31

Slow down, be present. I’m doing just that and damn does it feel good. What day is it? Don’t matter. What time? Don’t matter.

T+1:35

I know what Malcom Guite was getting on about in his poem “Smoke Rings From My Pipe”. I just don’t care to leave this spot, you couldn’t make me. It’s so nice, resting in nature and residing in a rural place. It makes you appreciate the quiet. We should be able to enjoy the shade cast by a tree and revel in it.

This medicine offers me stillness. Rest. Regeneration from a “tired” that no sleep can cure. It’s offering my soul rest.

T+1:46

I feel like, in the West, or perhaps just the United States, we lost the plot… We forgot about the siesta and gaslight ourselves into believing that it was a “waste of time”. Because you know what they say? All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, HERE COMES JOHNNY!

T+1:51

Effects hitting strong but yet, I feel as if I am more used to them and they are not as jarring to my sober mind, like they have integrated deep into my psyche.

T+1:55

We lost the art of contemplation and allowed rumination to hijack it’s place. To just be still, lie in the grass, and just allow life to move through us, rather than forcing. Why always forcing? To allow earth to envelop us, nature to wash over us. To be present with God in the garden.

T+2:10

People give me crap for this on social media but I don’t think you need super high doses to have a profoundly insightful experience. Hell, this 1.25g is exactly what I needed in this moment. Could I have gone higher? Yep. But didn’t need to.

T+2:18

Time is mooooooovvvvvvinnnnggg slooowwww right nowwww. A reminder to yourself to invite more stillness and presence into your life. Life flashes by, the more you attend to the present, the more life stretches. Invite more contemplation. Contemplation for revelation, for clarity, for perspective. In turn, for peace and liberation.

T+2:33 — Plateau

Effects have hit a ceiling but steady. Where they were once at the forefront of my mind, they have quietly moved to a deeper layer of my mind. It’s been a pretty epic journey in such a short amount of time. Hey, mileage may vary depending on the person. I understand that’s somewhat of the challenge when approaching a review or something of the sort.

T+2:52

So calm, mellow, and peaceful I feel. Like the calm AFTER a storm. Bro, I’m just kicking back on the grass, looking up in the limbs of the cottonwood tree above me and a hawk just landed and was facing the opposite way from me but then turned back my way. It literally—and I’m not shitting you—looked down, spotted me, and locked eyes with me for 30 seconds. This is no hallucination. We had a stare off and it’s gaze was piercing into my soul. I’ve never felt so absolutely connected to a wild animal before… is that… my spirit animal?

T+3:05 — Effects beginning to subside

Over 3 hours since I had my first sip and effects are still present. The safety that I have felt in this setting has been so invaluable [and I suggest that for you too reader] when going into an altered state. One thing I will also mention is that I’ve had no GI issues or GI side effects whatsoever. Felt very “clean”.

T+4:04 — Returned close to baseline

Basically back to baseline (4 hours from consumption) but definite afterglow and some lingering effects. But damn… it’s been such an incredible experience. A testament, for me at least, that high/heroic doses aren’t everything. I still like to be able to capture (write) and harness the insights in real time when my mind is so permeable. That’s not usually an option at the super high dose—perhaps with voice recording—but I digress…

Again, if this piqued your curiosity about the product I was experimenting with, my full review will be published shortly.

That’s where I break down the exact tea I used, how it performed, my complete assessment, and the brand behind the product.

Otherwise, thanks for taking this journey with me!

I’ve got a feeling these trip reports are going to become one of my favorite things to write, and I hope they’re just as enjoyable for you to read.

Until the next one…

Onjae

But one humble mushroom from the Pacific Northwest helped scientists discover that magic mushrooms are chemically more complex than we once thought.

So today’s mushroom—number seven of twelve in my dozen psilocybin mushroom species series—is Psilocybe baeocystis.

First described in the 1950s, this species is best known NOT for being the most potent mushroom or the most widespread, but for leading to the discovery of baeocystin and later norbaeocystin.

These are two closely related alkaloids that have since been identified in dozens of psilocybin-producing mushrooms across multiple genera. [1,2,3,4]

More than sixty years later, scientists are still trying to answer the questions:

What does baeocystin and norbaeocystin do? And are they psychoactive in their own right?

In this newsletter, we’ll get to know Psilocybe baeocystis: where it grows, how to identify it, and the fascinating scientific legacy it left behind.

Along the way, we’ll explore what we know (and what we still don’t know) about baeocystin and norbaeocystin, why they continue to intrigue researchers, and what their discovery has taught us about the hidden chemistry of magic mushrooms.

So that you know, this is an entirely reader-supported publication. This newsletter is free, but if you can support, please consider a paid subscription. It helps me enormously, and you’ll get:

1. Subscriber-only posts, full archive & join the community (the Plant Medicine Guild)

2. Monthly Product Reviews from inside my Psychedelic Sourcing Master List

3. FULL access to all current & future psychedelic guides, courses/workshops (the Mescaline & San Pedro workshop is coming soon)

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Psilocybe baeocystis & The Deeper Chemical Complexity of Magic Mushrooms

Shroom Snapshot

• Family: Hymenogastraceae

• Genus: Psilocybe

• Species: baeocystis

• Common Names: Bottle Caps, Blue Bells, Knobby Tops

• Distribution: Primarily Pacific Northwest but also found in Northeastern United States

• Habitat: Grows in wood chips and peat moss, decaying conifer mulch, lawns, and pastures

• Season: Late summer to early winter (August through December in the Northern Hemisphere)

• Cultivation: Difficult

• Active Compounds: Psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin

• Potency: Moderate (~1% total alkaloids)

What does Psilocybe baeocystis look like?

Psilocybe baeocystis is about as far from the stereotypical “magic mushroom” as you can get. Forget the stout stem and caramel-colored cap of Psilocybe cubensis. This species is slender, darker, with a sharply conical cap coated in a sticky, gelatinous skin that glistens after rain.

Here are the key characteristics to help identify this mushroom in the wild [5,6,7]:

Cap (pileus): The cap is relatively small, measuring 1.5–5.5 cm (0.6–2.2 in) across. It begins bell-shaped or conical before gradually flattening with age, often developing a distinctly wavy margin. When moist, the cap is dark olive to buff brown—sometimes even taking on steely blue tones—and has a sticky, almost gelatinous surface. As it dries, it fades to a pale tan or whitish color, often with a coppery center. Like most psilocybin mushrooms, it bruises blue where handled or damaged.

Gills (lamellae): The gills are closely spaced and begin pale gray before maturing to a rich cinnamon- or purplish-brown as the spores develop. The edges of the gills usually remain noticeably lighter than the faces.

Stem (stipe): The stem is long, slender, and brittle, typically 5–7 cm (2–2.8 in) tall but only 2–3 mm thick. It ranges from whitish to pale brown, often becoming more yellow near the top, with fine white fibers running along its surface. At the base, it frequently produces white rope-like strands of mycelium known as rhizomorphs. Like the cap, the stem bruises blue with age or handling.

Spore Print: Dark purplish-brown.

Taste & Smell: Both are farinaceous (a mycological term meaning they resemble the smell and taste of fresh flour).

Similar Species

Psilocybe baeocystis belongs to section Aztecorum, a group established by the renowned mycologist Gastón Guzmán based on shared morphological characteristics with Psilocybe aztecorum, a subtropical species from Mexico [8].

Both mushrooms fade dramatically as they dry, often becoming pale or even bleached after prolonged sun exposure, which can make identification more challenging. [5]

Where is this mushroom found?

Psilocybe baeocystis is endemic to the Pacific Northwest of North America [5]. It was first collected near Eugene, Oregon in 1945 before being formally described by Singer and Smith in 1958 [9].

Today, it has been documented from northern California through Oregon and Washington into British Columbia, with scattered reports also emerging from parts of the northeastern United States and Canada [10,11].

P. baeocystis thrives on decaying woody debris rather than directly on soil or dung. It can be found growing singly or in small clusters on wood chips, conifer mulch (especially Douglas fir), peat moss, and other lignin-rich organic matter. It occasionally appears in lawns and grassy areas where woody material has been incorporated into the soil. [5]

One of its favorite places to hide is in mulched garden beds, particularly beneath rhododendrons and rose bushes. It’s also not uncommon to find it fruiting alongside other wood-loving psilocybin mushrooms, including Psilocybe cyanescens, Psilocybe stuntzii, and Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa. [7]

History & scientific discoveries

While Psilocybe baeocystis doesn’t have any confirmed history of traditional ceremonial use in the Americas, it has played an important role in modern psychedelic research and mycology.

The story begins on November 1, 1945, when F. P. Sipe collected an unusual mushroom near Eugene, Oregon [9]. Thirteen years later, in 1958, mycologists Rolf Singer and Alexander H. Smith formally described it as Psilocybe baeocystis. [9]

In 1962, researchers confirmed that P. baeocystis contained psilocin [12], adding another psychoactive species to the growing list of known psilocybin mushrooms.

But the real breakthrough came a few years later.

While analyzing its chemistry, A. Y. Leung and colleagues isolated two previously unknown alkaloids. In 1967, they described baeocystin [13], and in 1968, they identified norbaeocystin—both structural relatives of psilocybin [14].

These discoveries fundamentally expanded our understanding of the chemistry of psychedelic mushrooms and revealed that psilocybin wasn’t the only naturally occurring tryptamine they produced.

Potency & dosage

Psilocybe baeocystis is generally considered a moderately to highly potent psilocybin mushroom, although the limited chemical analyses show just how variable it can be.

One of the earliest alkaloid analyses reported approximately 1% combined psilocybin and psilocin, along with 0.1% baeocystin [15], placing it squarely in the moderate-potency category.

Another analysis found substantially higher concentrations—0.85% psilocybin, 0.59% psilocin, and 0.1% baeocystin—bringing the total alkaloid content to well over 1.5% [16] and placing it among the more potent Psilocybe species.

As always, though, take these numbers with a grain of salt. Alkaloid levels can vary dramatically between collections depending on genetics, growing conditions, maturity, and post-harvest handling.

For the sake of providing practical guidelines, let’s assume an average potency of 1% combined psilocybin and psilocin by dry weight. That means:

• 1 g ≈ 10 mg combined psilocybin + psilocin

• 0.5 g ≈ 5 mg

• 2 g ≈ 20 mg

• 3 g ≈ 30 mg

Using that estimate, a reasonable dosing guide, built off the 5 levels of a magic mushroom experience, would look something like this:

• Microdose: 0.05–0.30 g

• Threshold: 0.30–0.75 g

• Museum: 0.75–1.5 g

• Standard: 1.5–3 g

• Heroic: 3–5 g+

As always, start low, go slow, get to know your own constitution, and build a relationship with the mushroom rather than chasing a particular number.

A note on potency

One interesting quirk of P. baeocystis is that it doesn’t appear to preserve its potency as well as some other psilocybin mushrooms.

Species like Psilocybe semilanceata tend to retain much of their alkaloid content when properly dried and stored. P. baeocystis, on the other hand—and many of the strongly bluing woodland Psilocybe species—appears to lose a greater proportion of its psilocin during bruising, drying, and storage [17].

As a result, older specimens may be noticeably less potent than fresh ones.

What do we know about baeocystin and norbaeocystin?

One of the reasons Psilocybe baeocystis is so scientifically important is that it led to the discovery of two closely related alkaloids:

1. baeocystin (4-phosphoryloxy-N-methyltryptamine)

2. norbaeocystin (4-phosphoryloxytryptamine)

More than sixty years later, they remain among the most mysterious compounds found in psychedelic mushrooms.

Is baeocystin psychoactive?

The honest answer is: we don’t know yet.

Chemically, baeocystin is almost identical to psilocybin, differing by only a single methyl group. Once ingested, it follows a similar metabolic pathway: just as psilocybin is converted into psilocin, baeocystin is converted into norpsilocin. [18]

Interestingly, laboratory studies have shown that norpsilocin strongly activates the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor [18], the same receptor primarily responsible for the psychedelic effects of psilocybin [19], LSD [20], DMT [21], and mescaline [22].

But here’s where things become complicated.

Although norpsilocin strongly activates the same serotonin receptor responsible for psilocybin’s effects, neither norpsilocin nor baeocystin has consistently produced psychedelic-like effects in modern animal studies. [23]

Rather than concluding that the compounds are inactive, researchers suspect norpsilocin may simply struggle to cross the blood-brain barrier, limiting how much reaches the brain. Supporting this idea, tiny chemical modifications that improve brain penetration restore psilocin-like activity in animals [23]. To date, there are also no controlled human studies showing that purified baeocystin produces a psychedelic experience in humans. [24,25]

Older reports from the 1960s and 1970s suggested that purified baeocystin might produce psychedelic effects at certain doses. Still, these early experiments lacked the rigorous controls expected today and have never been convincingly replicated.

So, for now, the evidence is mixed. Like many others, I’ve previously included baeocystin when discussing the total potency of various psilocybin mushrooms. But the more I’ve read, the less confident I am that this is the right approach. Until we have clearer evidence that baeocystin meaningfully contributes to the psychedelic effects in humans, I think it’s more honest to list it separately rather than assume it adds to a mushroom’s potency.

What about norbaeocystin?

Norbaeocystin is even less understood.

Recent research suggests it may interact with some of the same serotonin receptors (5-HT2A) involved in psychedelic activity, yet failed to produce the classic psychedelic-like behavioral response in animal models. [25]

Intriguingly, some preclinical studies have hinted that norbaeocystin may retain antidepressant-like effects without producing hallucinogenic effects [25], though these findings are preliminary and far from being demonstrated in humans.

Why does any of this matter?

Even if baeocystin and norbaeocystin ultimately prove to have only subtle effects—or none at all—they’ve fundamentally changed how scientists think about magic mushrooms.

Rather than containing a single “active ingredient” (which is so pervasive in the predominant, reductive scientific and medical paradigm), mushrooms are increasingly viewed as complex chemical systems, producing an entire family of related alkaloids whose individual roles are only beginning to be understood.

Modern clinical research has focused almost exclusively on purified psilocybin, and for good reason. Studying a single molecule makes it far easier to control variables and has led to remarkable discoveries about its therapeutic potential.

But mushrooms aren’t just psilocybin.

They’re living organisms that produce psilocybin alongside psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin, aeruginascin, β-carbolines [26], and numerous other compounds that we’re only beginning to identify, let alone understand.

Whether these compounds work synergistically—what many call the entourage effect—is still an open question. We don’t have the evidence yet.

Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more to the story.

Time and again, nature has proven itself to be far more sophisticated than our first explanations. I have a deep suspicion that there are intelligences within nature that we don’t yet understand… and perhaps never fully will.

Stay curious,

Onjae

And honestly, the “Bufo shaman” has become something of a joke in my eyes.

Because somewhere along the way, the modern practice of smoking the dried venom of the Colorado River toad became wrapped in the language of ancient medicine traditions, even though there isn’t any evidence to support it.

Beyond that, I must say that I’ve been offered Bufo several times over the years, but I’ve always chosen to pass.

Partly, it’s personal. Smoking anything from what looks like a meth pipe has never really resonated with me. Perhaps that’s my own bias speaking, but it has never felt like the path I wanted to take.

But the bigger reason is ethical. Even if the venom can be collected without physically harming the toad (so they say), I struggle with the idea of repeatedly capturing a wild animal to harvest its chemical defenses when other natural sources of the primary psychedelic compound—5-MeO-DMT—exist.

So that you know, this is an entirely reader-supported publication. This newsletter is free, but if you can support, please consider a paid subscription. It helps me enormously, and you’ll get:

1. Subscriber-only posts, full archive & join the community (the Plant Medicine Guild)

2. Monthly Product Reviews from inside my Psychedelic Sourcing Master List

3. FULL access to all current & future psychedelic guides, courses/workshops (the Mescaline & San Pedro workshop is coming soon)

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I appreciate you!

So, let’s separate history from mythology. We’ll explore what Bufo is, what makes its venom psychedelic, why the “ancient tradition” narrative doesn’t hold weight, the fascinating science behind 5-MeO-DMT, the serious ethical questions surrounding toad venom, and the botanical alternatives that contain this remarkable compound.

What exactly is “Bufo”?

Bufo has become one of the hottest topics in the psychedelic world. But what exactly is it?

First, “Bufo” isn’t actually the name of the psychedelic.

It’s the nickname given to the dried venom secretions of the Colorado River toad, also known as the Sonoran Desert toad.

The name comes from the toad’s former scientific name, Bufo alvarius. Today, however, the species has been reclassified as Incilius alvarius, making the term “Bufo” something of a historical leftover.

The Colorado River toad is native to a relatively small region spanning southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and parts of northern Mexico, where it inhabits desert and semi-arid environments. Although it lives in the desert, it is surprisingly dependent on water and is commonly found near streams, springs, irrigation canals, and seasonal pools.

Like many toads, it relies on chemical defenses to deter predators. Large glands behind its eyes, known as parotid glands, produce a milky venom containing a cocktail of biologically active compounds.

It’s this venom that has become the focus of modern psychedelic use.

To collect it, the toad is temporarily captured, and its parotoid glands are gently squeezed, causing the venom to be released. The secretion is then collected, dried into yellowish flakes, and later vaporized, producing an intense psychedelic experience that typically lasts 15–30 minutes.

What is inside the venom that makes it psychedelic?

Like most naturally occurring psychedelics, Bufo isn’t just one compound.

Whether it comes from a mushroom, a cactus, a plant—or even an animal—nature rarely works in isolation. Instead, it produces a complex mixture of chemicals, some active or innocuous, others dangerous.

That’s especially true with Bufo. Many people think they’re smoking pure 5-MeO-DMT. In reality, they’re vaporizing the dried venom of the toad, which is a complex chemical cocktail that evolved as a defense against predators.

The venom contains several biologically active compounds, including:

• 5-MeO-DMT — the primary psychedelic compound. [1,2]

• Bufotenin (5-HO-DMT) — a closely related tryptamine. [3]

• Bufadienolides (cardiac steroids) — defensive compounds that can be toxic when consumed orally.

• Various other indole alkaloids and steroidal compounds. [4]

This distinction matters because the venom itself is toxic to some degree. Simply ingesting orally can result in serious poisoning, largely due to the cardiotoxic compounds it contains [5,6].

Similar poisonings have occurred with other toad species, such as the cane toad (Rhinella marina), where people have attempted to “lick toads” in search of a psychedelic experience. [7,8]

When the dried venom of the Colorado River toad is smoked, however, it’s believed many of these larger cardiotoxic compounds are degraded by heat [9]. At the same time, the far more volatile 5-MeO-DMT is carried in the smoke and becomes the primary psychoactive compound inhaled.

Ultimately, the primary active compound is 5-MeO-DMT, but those other compounds are worth being aware of (especially regarding safe consumption).

What is 5-MeO-DMT, and why is it called the “God Molecule?”

I covered 5-MeO-DMT in depth in a previous article, where I compared it to its close psychedelic cousin, DMT. While they’re chemically related, the experiences they produce are often remarkably different.

Like DMT, 5-MeO-DMT is a naturally occurring tryptamine. But whereas DMT is famous for its vivid geometric visuals and seemingly inhabited worlds, 5-MeO-DMT is often described as being far less visual and far more immersive [10].

Many people report profound states of ego dissolution, unity, and transcendence—so much so that it has earned the nickname “the God Molecule.”

The myth of the ancient tradition

One of the reasons Bufo has become so captivating is the story that’s often told alongside it.

You’ll often hear that smoking the dried venom of the Colorado River toad is an ancient Indigenous ceremony that has simply been rediscovered. But, at present, there is no convincing historical evidence that Indigenous peoples traditionally dried and smoked the venom of Incilius alvarius for its 5-MeO-DMT content [11].

The modern practice appears to have emerged in the 1980s, when Ken Nelson—writing under the pseudonym Albert Most—published Bufo Alvarius: The Psychedelic Toad of the Sonoran Desert, describing how the venom could be collected, dried, and vaporized [12].

From there, the practice spread rapidly through underground psychedelic communities (like the “Church of the Toad of Light”) before eventually becoming part of today’s global retreat culture.

So why has the myth persisted?

Partly because it’s a great story and partly because… It’s more marketable.

“Ancient medicine” carries a certain allure, and psychedelic culture tends to romanticize ancient origins. I know I’ve been guilty of this myself.

However, there’s also a kernel of truth at its center. Toads have been used medicinally and ritually for centuries. But over time, those genuine historical traditions have become blurred with the much more recent practice of smoking the 5-MeO-DMT-rich venom of Incilius alvarius.

They’re related stories, but they’re not the same story.

If the Colorado River toad wasn’t traditionally used, were any toads?

As I said, there’s no convincing historical evidence that the Colorado River toad (Incilius alvarius) was traditionally used, but that doesn’t mean toads—and their venom—were absent from traditional medicine altogether.

Quite the opposite.

Several toad species, many of which were historically classified within the Bufo genus, have long histories of medicinal, magical, and symbolic use. Just not for the reasons many people assume. [13]

The common toad (Bufo bufo)

Formerly known as Bufo vulgaris, the common toad has been used medicinally across Europe and Asia for centuries. [11]

Its venom contains bufotenin (5-HO-DMT) [13], a naturally occurring tryptamine closely related to both DMT and 5-MeO-DMT [14]. Despite the similar names, bufotenin behaves quite differently. It’s considerably less psychoactive in humans, is not classified as a “psychedelic,” and is accompanied by other compounds in the venom that can produce significant toxic effects, particularly on the cardiovascular system [15].

Closely related Asian toad species were also used to produce Chan Su, a traditional Chinese medicine prepared from dried toad venom to treat pain, inflammation, infections, and heart conditions. [16]

Beyond medicine, the common toad occupied a unique place in European folklore. It appears throughout medieval pharmacopoeias, was associated with protective magic, poisons, and witchcraft [17], and even found its way into Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where “toad” is one of the infamous ingredients tossed into the witches’ cauldron.

Round about the cauldron go;

In the poison’d entrails throw.

Toad, that under cold stone

Days and nights has thirty-one

Swelter’d venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.

The cane toad (Rhinella marina, formerly Bufo marinus)

The cane toad also contains bufotenin and other biologically active compounds and has a long history of medicinal and ritual significance throughout parts of Central and South America.

Toads appear frequently in the art and cosmology of the Olmec, Maya, and later Aztec cultures, suggesting they held important symbolic or spiritual significance [18,19,20]. But symbolism isn’t the same as evidence of psychoactive use, and the archaeological record can’t tell us exactly how these animals were used.

One of the few ethnographic accounts comes from the anthropologist and ethnobotanist Thomas Knab, who described a preparation made from Rhinella marina by a small number of curanderos in southern Veracruz. His unpublished manuscript, Narcotic Use of Toad Toxins in Southern Veracruz, reports that the preparation was used to induce altered states of consciousness during shamanic practices [9].

It’s a fascinating account, but one that should be interpreted cautiously, or else it may fall into the same camp as Bufo. It documents a relatively recent folk practice rather than demonstrating a continuous tradition stretching back to pre-Columbian times.

Ethical issues with Bufo

Normally, this is where I’d talk about dosing, preparation, and harm reduction. But honestly, I don’t feel comfortable doing that with Bufo. That’s a personal choice, one I’ve arrived at after thinking about the ethics more than the pharmacology.

As demand for Bufo ceremonies and retreats has grown, so too have concerns over-harvesting, repeated handling of wild toads, and increasing pressure on their fragile desert habitat. Even when the animals are released, repeated capture and venom collection may cause significant stress and could interfere with one of their primary defenses against predators.

For me, that’s enough to give pause.

We’ve already seen what growing demand can do to other sacred medicines like peyote and the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi). I’d rather not watch history repeat itself when alternatives already exist.

Today, many people choose either synthetic 5-MeO-DMT, which is chemically identical to the naturally occurring molecule, or botanical sources that contain 5-MeO-DMT, avoiding the need to harvest venom from a threatened species.

But, again, that’s just me; you do you.

Nature already makes 5-MeO-DMT elsewhere

If you’ve been reading my work for a while, you’ll know I’m an herbalist… or something of a botanical Lorax. I tend to speak for the plants (and mushrooms).

And that’s one of the reasons Bufo has never fully resonated with me.

But 5-MeO-DMT isn’t unique to the Colorado River toad. It isn’t “the toad molecule.” Nature has evolved this remarkable compound in multiple organisms, including several plants that can be cultivated and stewarded.

Some of the best-known examples include:

• Anadenanthera peregrina

• Virola species

• Phyllodium pulchellum

• And a handful of others

It’s simply another naturally occurring tryptamine—like DMT and often found alongside it—one that happens to show up in more places than many people realize.

So, in one of my upcoming newsletters, we’ll explore number one on that list, Yopo (Anadenanthera peregrina).

Yopo is one of the oldest documented entheogenic snuffs in the world, with archaeological evidence and historical accounts spanning centuries. While it’s best known for its bufotenin content, its chemistry is surprisingly complex and includes reported amounts of both 5-MeO-DMT and DMT.

Closing thoughts

Some people feel called to work with Bufo. Personally, I don’t.

Not because I don’t find 5-MeO-DMT fascinating, I do. I think it’s one of the most extraordinary naturally occurring psychedelic compounds we’ve discovered. But for me, the ethics matter just as much as the chemistry.

When synthetic and botanical alternatives exist, I struggle to justify harvesting the defensive venom of a wild animal.

That’s simply where I’ve landed.

But more than anything, I hope this article encourages you to look beyond the stories we so often inherit in the psychedelic world. Ancient doesn’t automatically mean better. Modern doesn’t automatically mean worse. And not every compelling narrative stands up to historical scrutiny.

See you in the next one,

Onjae

P.S. Have you tried Bufo? What are your thoughts on the ethical considerations of using this psychedelic?

For centuries, it has been buried beneath layers of fear (mycophobia) and misinformation. Yet despite its notorious reputation, it has remained one of the world’s most iconic mushrooms, appearing everywhere from ancient folklore and fairy tales to modern pop culture.

Few fungi have captured the human imagination quite like this one.

While most people are familiar with psilocybin mushrooms, like Psilocybe cubensis, Amanita muscaria remains something of an enigma.

After years of diving deep into its history, chemistry, traditional use, and personal experimentation, I’ve come to realize that much of what we’re taught about Amanita muscaria is incomplete or downright wrong.

So that you know, this is an entirely reader-supported publication. This newsletter is free, but if you can support, please consider a paid subscription. It helps me enormously, and you’ll get:

1. Subscriber-only posts, full archive & join the community (the Plant Medicine Guild)

2. Monthly Product Reviews from inside my Psychedelic Sourcing Master List

3. FULL access to all current & future psychedelic guides, courses/workshops (the Mescaline & San Pedro workshop is coming soon)

Subscribe now

I appreciate you!

It’s often dismissed as simply “poisonous,” yet it has one of the longest documented histories of psychoactive mushroom use, spanning cultures across the Northern Hemisphere. Today, it’s attracting renewed scientific interest for its unique chemistry and therapeutic potential.

So what’s really going on here?

• Why has this mushroom become something we’re taught to fear, while cultures across millennia have intentionally harvested, prepared, and revered it?

• What exactly is Amanita muscaria?

• How does it work?

• What does the experience actually feel like?

• And why is it so different from psilocybin?

In this guide, we’ll separate fact from fiction, explore the mushroom’s history, chemistry, effects, preparation, and sourcing, and explain why this legendary fungus may be one of the most unique psychoactive medicines around.

Meet the Fly Agaric

A Brief Introduction

Okay, I’ve probably mentioned Amanita muscaria a dozen times already, but here’s a quick refresher:

Amanita muscaria is the iconic red-capped, white-spotted mushroom that most people recognize as the “Fly Agaric,” a name it earned from its historical use as a natural insecticide in parts of central and eastern Europe [1].

Unlike many mushrooms, Amanita doesn’t grow on dead wood or rich soil. Instead, it forms a remarkable symbiotic relationship with the roots of trees like pine, birch, spruce, fir, beech, and others [2]. Wherever these forests thrive, there’s a good chance you’ll find Fly Agaric growing alongside them from early summer to late fall in the northern and southern hemispheres.

As a result, Amanita muscaria has an enormous natural range, occurring throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere [3] and in habitats spanning arctic, alpine, temperate, subtropical, and even tropical regions where suitable host trees are present (or where they have been introduced). [4]

From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and European folktales to Super Mario Bros. and even the mushroom emoji (🍄) on your smartphone, few fungi have left a larger imprint on human culture (and perhaps the human psyche).

Traditional Use

The first written account of Amanita muscaria being used as an entheogen comes from 1730, when the Swedish colonel and geographer Philip Johan von Strahlenberg documented its ceremonial and shamanic use among the Indigenous Koryak people while living in Siberia for over a decade as a prisoner of war [5], documenting:

“During feasts, the Koryak poured water over dried mushrooms [Amanita muscaria] and drank the resulting liquid, which intoxicated them.”

A little fun fact: the word “shaman” itself traces back to nearby Tungusic regions of Siberia, often translated as “the one who knows.”

Although Strahlenberg’s account is one of the earliest European documentations, the Koryak Amanita traditions were already deeply established, suggesting they had been practiced for many generations before they were ever written down.

Myth vs Reality

Is Fly Agaric Dangerous?

Compared to psilocybin mushrooms, Amanita muscaria warrants greater caution. Not because it’s the deadly poison it’s often made out to be, but because it presents a different set of risks.

1. The first is identification.

Unlike psilocybin mushrooms, Amanita muscaria has never been successfully cultivated on a commercial scale, so nearly all material is wild-foraged. That means correct identification is absolutely critical.

The Amanita genus also contains some of the deadliest mushrooms on Earth, including:

• The Death Cap (Amanita phalloides)

• The Destroying Angels (Amanita virosa and Amanita ocreata).

Mistaking one species for another can have devastating consequences.

Thankfully, the most notorious deadly Amanitas look quite different. Amanita muscaria is famous for its bright red-to-yellow cap with white warts, while species like the Death Cap and Destroying Angels are typically olive-green or entirely white.

But don’t rely on cap color alone, always learn the full set of identifying characteristics, consult a reputable field guide, and, if you’re ever uncertain, seek confirmation from an experienced forager or mycologist.

1. The second consideration is the mushroom’s chemistry.

Fresh Amanita muscaria contains relatively high amounts of ibotenic acid, a compound associated with many of the mushroom’s more unpleasant physical effects, including nausea and neurological excitation.

Traditional preparation methods—and many modern ones—aim to convert much of this ibotenic acid into muscimol, the primary psychoactive compound responsible for Amanita’s characteristic dreamlike effects. I’ll cover these preparation methods later in the guide.

But is Amanita muscaria Poisonous?

Technically, yes, but poisonous doesn’t necessarily mean lethal.

Historically, the word poisonous was often used much more broadly than it is today. Many older mushroom field guides even classified psilocybin mushrooms as “poisonous,” not because they were highly toxic, but because they produced profound alterations in consciousness that were viewed as undesirable or potentially harmful.

Despite its reputation, there are remarkably few well-documented fatalities directly attributed to Amanita muscaria alone in the medical literature [6]. While consuming excessive amounts can lead to severe intoxication requiring medical attention, the vast majority of people recover with supportive care [7].

Why Did Fly Agaric Develop Such a Bad Reputation?

Amanita muscaria’s bad reputation didn’t appear overnight. It was shaped by centuries of European writings and oral myths that emphasized its dangers while largely overlooking (or not knowing) its ceremonial and psychoactive use.

One of the earliest references comes from the Roman author Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD [8]. Believing the mushroom to be highly poisonous, he wrote that its reddish color and unpleasant appearance could supposedly recognize its toxicity.

And by the 15th century, the German physician Johannes Hartlieb described that when mixed with milk, it could be used to kill flies [9], giving rise to the common name Fly Agaric. Like many herbalists and physicians of the time, his interest centered on the mushroom’s practical and insecticidal properties rather than any psychoactive effects.

While these observations weren’t based on modern toxicology, they helped reinforce the idea that Fly Agaric was a mushroom to avoid.

What Makes It Psychoactive?

Amanita muscaria does not contain psilocybin or psilocin, the compounds responsible for the classic psychedelic effects of “magic mushrooms.” [10]

You know, all the Psilocybe, Panaeolus, and the many other psychedelic mushroom species we’ve explored throughout this year?

Instead, Fly Agaric contains an entirely different class of psychoactive compounds.

The two primary bioactive constituents are ibotenic acid and muscimol [11,12].

• Ibotenic acid is the mushroom’s precursor compound. Fresh mushrooms contain relatively high amounts of it; as I said, it’s responsible for many of the more stimulating and physically uncomfortable effects, such as nausea, dizziness, and neurological excitation.

• Muscimol is the primary psychoactive compound. It’s responsible for Amanita’s characteristic dreamlike, sedative, dissociative, and reality-bending effects.

As the mushroom dries—or is prepared using traditional methods—some of the ibotenic acid is converted into muscimol through decarboxylation. This shifts the mushroom’s chemistry away from the more undesirable effects of ibotenic acid and toward the more desirable psychoactive effects of muscimol.

That’s why proper preparation isn’t just a matter of tradition but of chemistry. Traditional peoples discovered what worked through generations of practice; modern science has explained why.

And speaking of tradition, unlike many other psychoactive plants and fungi, muscimol passes through the body unchanged [12].

Interestingly, some Indigenous Siberian traditions reportedly drank the urine of someone who had already consumed Amanita muscaria to recycle its psychoactive effects (and possibly even more potent!).

The Swedish explorer Philip Johan von Strahlenberg, writing about the Koryak people in the early 18th century, recorded:

“The poorer sort, who cannot afford to lay in a store of these mushrooms... hold a wooden bowl to receive the urine, which they drink off greedily, as having still some virtue of the mushroom in it; and by this way they also get drunk.” [5]

As unusual as this practice may sound today, modern pharmacology has shown that muscimol is indeed excreted in large amounts without endogenous chemical alteration, helping explain why this method was effective.

How It Works in the Brain

Here’s another major way Fly Agaric differs from psilocybin mushrooms.

Classic psychedelics like psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and mescaline primarily activate the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor [13], producing the visual distortions, altered thinking, and expanded states of consciousness they’re famous for. Amanita muscaria doesn’t.

Instead, ibotenic acid primarily acts on NMDA and other glutamate receptors, while muscimol is a potent GABA-A receptor agonist [14].

GABA is the brain’s primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, responsible for slowing neural activity and promoting relaxation. This is one of the neurotransmitter systems influenced by alcohol [15] and kava [16], although muscimol binds differently and produces a unique state of consciousness.

Rather than colorful visuals and deeply introspective journeys, Amanita is more likely to produce profound relaxation, dreamlike states, altered body awareness, vivid internal imagery, and, at higher doses, dissociation and dramatic distortions of reality.

Classification

Because of this unique chemistry and pharmacology, Fly Agaric doesn’t fit neatly into the “classic psychedelic” category.

Instead, it’s often described as an atypical hallucinogen with sedative, hypnotic, oneirogenic (dream-inducing), and, at higher doses, deliriant-like effects.

I know… that’s a mouthful.

But that’s exactly what makes Amanita so unique. Its primary psychoactive compounds are found almost exclusively in a handful of Amanita species and nowhere else in the plant kingdom.

There really isn’t another psychoactive mushroom quite like it.

What Does Amanita Muscaria Feel Like?

Since Amanita muscaria works completely differently in the brain than psilocybin mushrooms, many people naturally wonder what the experience actually feels like.

One of the earliest detailed descriptions comes from the ethnographer and anthropologist Waldemar Jochelson [17], who lived among the Koryak people in the early 1900s.

As I mentioned earlier, the Koryaks were among the first documented peoples known to use Amanita muscaria ceremonially, and Jochelson described the experience like this:

“Fly Agaric produces intoxication, hallucinations, and delirium… Light forms of intoxication are accompanied by animation and spontaneity of movement… Many shamans, before their ceremonies, eat Fly Agaric to enter ecstatic states.”

At higher doses, however, the experience became far stranger.

He continued:

“The senses become deranged, surrounding objects appear very large or very small, hallucinations set in… attacks of great animation alternate with moments of deep depression.”

Over a century later, many of these descriptions still sound surprisingly familiar.

The Experience

No two Amanita experiences are exactly alike. Effects vary depending on preparation, dose, the mushroom itself, and individual physiology.

But many people describe the experience as unfolding in three general stages [18]:

1. An initial physical phase, often characterized by nausea, dizziness, warmth, or changes in body sensation.

2. A deeply relaxed, dreamlike phase, with increasing sedation and vivid internal imagery.

3. The peak psychoactive phase is where the characteristic alterations in perception, body awareness, and consciousness become most pronounced.

Common Effects [19]

• Deep relaxation and sedation

• Dreamlike states and vivid internal imagery

• Euphoria and feelings of peace or well-being

• Reduced internal chatter and a sense of mental stillness

• Increased introspection and imagination

• Altered body perception, including changes in balance, movement, and proprioception

• Analgesia (pain relief)

• Macropsia and micropsia, or perceiving objects as much larger or smaller than they really are (often associated with Alice in Wonderland syndrome).

Possible Side Effects

• Nausea or stomach discomfort

• Dizziness and impaired coordination (ataxia)

• Confusion, particularly at higher doses

• Muscle twitching or tremors

• Delirium at very high doses

One important point that’s often overlooked is that many historical reports of “Amanita poisonings” involved people who accidentally consumed the mushroom, believing they had eaten something deadly [20]. Unsurprisingly, panic, emergency medical treatment, and the expectation of severe poisoning can profoundly shape the overall experience (far from the makings of a “good trip”).

By contrast, people who intentionally work with Amanita muscaria—using proper identification, preparation, dosing, and a supportive set and setting—often describe a markedly different experience. [8,20]

As with any psychoactive substance, set, setting, and preparation matter just as much as the mushroom itself.

Trip Timeline

One characteristic of Amanita muscaria is its slow onset.

Effects may not begin for up to 2–3 hours after ingestion [21].

Once the full effects are felt, the experience generally lasts 6–8 hours, though higher doses can persist for 10 hours or longer [22]. It’s also common to experience lingering aftereffects—such as drowsiness, mental calm, or an “afterglow”—well into the following day.

Dosage

Unfortunately, Amanita muscaria doesn’t lend itself to precise dosing.

Potency can vary dramatically depending on the growing conditions, location, season, and even between individual mushrooms collected from the same area.

The ratio of ibotenic acid to muscimol also differs from mushroom to mushroom, influencing both the intensity of the psychoactive effects and the likelihood of physical side effects.

On top of that, everyone responds differently. Individual differences in metabolism may affect how efficiently ibotenic acid is converted into muscimol, making the experience even more variable.

With that in mind, the following ranges should be viewed as general guidelines rather than exact doses:

• Microdose: Less than 1 g dried Amanita muscaria [23]

• Threshold to Light: 1–5 g

• Common: 5–10 g

• Heavy: 10–30+ g [24]

Whenever working with a new batch, start low and work your way up. Even mushrooms collected from the same location can vary considerably in potency, so it’s always wise to gauge their strength before exploring higher doses.

Amanita Muscaria Preparation

When you look through the literature, one question inevitably pops into my head:

If this mushroom was nothing more than a poison... why did so many cultures keep returning to it?

As you’ve probably guessed by now, the answer lies in how it was prepared.

Actually, there are a few ways to prepare Fly Agaric. Some are well documented, others are more speculative. Let’s take a look at a few before diving into what I consider the most effective and reliable preparation method.

Fresh Mushrooms

Fresh Amanitas have even been used as food.

By soaking the mushrooms in water followed by repeated boiling and discarding the cooking water, water-soluble compounds can be largely removed, rendering the mushroom non-psychoactive.

While it’s not exactly considered a “choice” edible, those who’ve tried it often compare the taste and texture to chicken. Sautéed in butter with herbs and spices? Apparently, it goes pretty hard.

Fresh mushrooms have also been infused into spirits. One traditional preparation involves steeping one to three whole mushrooms (or just the caps) in vodka for about a week, producing a Fly Agaric schnapps said to retain the mushroom’s psychoactive effects.

Dried Mushrooms

Perhaps the most common way of working with Amanita muscaria is in its dried form.

Traditionally, Indigenous Siberian peoples dried the mushrooms in the sun before consuming them whole or preparing them in water, reindeer milk, or the juices of local plants and berries such as Bog Bilberry (Vaccinium uliginosum) and Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) [8].

Today, dried Amanita can be eaten as is, brewed into teas or decoctions, made into tinctures, infused into drinks, or even smoked, particularly the cap skin, known as the pellicle.

But for this guide, let’s dive into what I consider the tried-and-true method of preparing Fly Agaric: a decoction.

How to Prepare Amanita Mushroom Tea (Decoction)

What You’ll Need

This is a surprisingly simple preparation. The quality of your mushrooms matters far more than fancy equipment.

You’ll need:

• 5–10 grams of dried Fly Agaric caps, chopped/crumbled (not powdered)

• 2 cups (500 mL) of filtered or spring water

• A small stainless steel cooking pot with a lid

• A fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth

• A mug to drink from

That’s it.

Step 1: Simmer the Mushrooms

Bring the water to a boil, then reduce it to a gentle simmer.

Add the dried mushroom caps directly to the water and let them simmer for 30–40 minutes. As they cook, the water will gradually turn a rich golden amber as the active compounds are extracted and converted.

Step 2: Let It Steep

Remove the pot from the heat, cover it with a lid, and allow the mushrooms to steep for another 20 minutes. This gives the remaining compounds a little more time to extract into the water and things to settle.

Step 3: Strain and Enjoy

Strain the mushroom material through a strainer or cheesecloth, leaving behind a clean amber-colored decoction.

From here, all that’s left to do is pour yourself a cup, sit back, sip slowly...

...and have a good trip.

Sourcing Fly Agaric

The last thing I want to leave you with is a few sourcing recommendations because:

• Foraging Amanita muscaria carries inherent risks due to its deadly Amanita relatives.

• It can’t (yet) be cultivated commercially and is only available during a relatively short growing season.

• Fortunately, Fly Agaric and its active compounds are legal throughout the United States and many other parts of the world, so some fantastic suppliers are harvesting high-quality mushrooms.

Here are my top recommendations:

1. Wild Forest Herbs — Wild-harvested in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, offering whole dried caps of Amanita muscaria and Amanita pantherina (the Panther Cap), Fly Agaric’s more potent cousin.

2. Amanita Warrior — Someone I discovered on Instagram. He wildcrafts Amanitas and produces a variety of products. He’s incredibly knowledgeable, clearly intentional about his work, and, after seeing Instagram remove some of his content (something I can unfortunately relate to), I’m more than happy to support what he’s doing.

3. Highland Shrooms — A fantastic option for my readers in the United Kingdom. Considering how restrictive the UK can be around entheogenic plants and fungi, it’s great to see a quality supplier over there.

4. Natural Ether — One of my go-to shops for psychoactive plants and fungi. They stock both dried Amanita muscaria and Amanita pantherina.

5. Psyched Wellness — A solid option for those interested in microdosing Fly Agaric. Their products are on the pricier side, but they offer the convenience of a standardized Amanita extract that’s easy to dose and travel with.

Well... this guide ended up being much longer than I expected, so we’ll leave it there instead of turning into a full-blown book.

I hope that this helped separate myth from reality.

For far too long, Fly Agaric has been lurking in the shadows of misinformation.

My goal wasn’t to convince you to use it, but to help you understand it, appreciate its history, chemistry, and traditions, while showing how it can be approached safely and respectfully.

Like any powerful mind-bending medicine, it deserves respect.

Thank you for taking the time to read my work. It genuinely means the world to me, and I’m grateful to have you along for the journey.

Until next week’s trip,

Onjae

Just different medicines that teach you different things.

Sometimes you have to find your medicine. Sometimes it finds you, showing up at just the right moment and presenting an opportunity to gather exactly the insight you need.

Or maybe you’re drawn to different medicines at different chapters of your life.

While I enjoyed mushrooms, LSD was the medicine that shaped my teenage years. It was a powerful catalyst, leading to countless profound experiences.

But as time went on, something shifted.

I found myself reaching for mushrooms more often. Then another shift happened.

I stopped reaching for anything synthetic altogether and found myself drawn almost exclusively to the entheogenic plants and fungi so graciously given by Mother Nature.

That’s what eventually led me to cactus and mescaline, which feels like the medicine for this chapter of my life of cultivating wisdom.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is that experimentation is the name of the game.

So to help you along your own psychedelic journey and healing path, and find your medicine, let’s explore three of the most common psychedelics: mescaline, psilocybin, and LSD (all of which hold a special place in my heart).

We’ll cover their origins, chemistry, pharmacology, dosage, effects, and the unique “vibe” of each.

I know, I know… DMT probably deserves a place on this list. But for the sake of brevity, and because these are the medicines many people are most likely to encounter first, these are the best places to begin.

Without further ado, let’s take a trip together.

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Finding Your Medicine: Mescaline vs Psilocybin vs LSD

Before we compare them, let’s get acquainted with each one: what it is, where it comes from, how it’s been used throughout history, and what modern science has to say.

Mescaline

Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in several cacti, most notably peyote (Lophophora williamsii) [1] and the San Pedro cactus group (Echinopsis pachanoi, E. peruviana, E. lageniformis, and relatives) [2]. However, it also occurs in dozens of species at lower concentrations.

Archaeological evidence suggests mescaline is one of humanity’s oldest known psychedelics, with ceremonial use of San Pedro dating back at least 10,600 years [3] in the Andes and peyote use reaching 5,700 years [4] in North America.

Thousands of years later, mescaline became the first psychedelic to be extensively studied by Western scientists, laying much of the groundwork for psychedelic research from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s [5].

Psilocybin

Psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine) is the primary psychedelic chemical found in several genera of mushrooms, most notably Psilocybe, which alone contains more than 150 psychoactive species [6].

But remember, even though psilocybin is the main alkaloid, once ingested, it is converted into psilocin (4-hydroxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine), which is primarily responsible for its psychedelic effects [7]. Yet, they are still called “psilocybin mushrooms,” so just go with it.

Archaeological evidence suggests psilocybin mushrooms have been used ceremonially by Indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica for at least 3,000 years [8], with traditions likely stretching back even further.

Following the Spanish conquest, friar Francisco de Sahagún documented their continued ceremonial use among the Aztecs, who referred to them as teōnanācatl, or “flesh of the gods.” [9]

Today, psilocybin is the most extensively studied classic psychedelic and has shown promising results in clinical research for depression, anxiety, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and end-of-life distress [10].

LSD

LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), also known as LSD-25, is a semi-synthetic psychedelic first synthesized in 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann from lysergic acid, an ergot alkaloid produced by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. [11]

The “25” denotes that it was the 25th compound in Hofmann’s series of experiments while searching for new circulatory and respiratory stimulants.

Although initially shelved, Hofmann rediscovered LSD’s extraordinary psychedelic effects in 1943 following an accidental exposure, later embarking on the world’s first intentional LSD experience, an event now commemorated as Bicycle Day.

LSD quickly became the most influential psychedelic of the 20th century, shaping neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, spirituality, and the counterculture of the 1960s.

Today, a new wave of clinical research is once again exploring its potential for conditions such as anxiety, depression, addiction, and more [12].

Chemistry and Pharmacology

Now that we’ve met each medicine, let’s look under the hood.

• How do they work in the brain?

• Why do they feel different?

• And why does one require micrograms while another takes hundreds of milligrams?

Although mescaline, psilocybin, and LSD come from different sources and belong to different chemical families, they all produce their psychedelic effects in remarkably similar ways.

All three are classic serotonergic psychedelics [13], meaning they produce their effects primarily by activating the 5-HT₂A serotonin receptor [14,15].

This activation allows normally distinct brain networks to communicate more freely, giving rise to the changes in perception, emotion, cognition, and sense of self that characterize the psychedelic experience.

Where they differ is in their chemistry.

• Psilocybin is a tryptamine that closely resembles serotonin. After ingestion, it acts as a prodrug and is rapidly converted into psilocin, the compound that crosses the blood-brain barrier and activates serotonin receptors. [16]

• LSD is an ergoline. Alongside its powerful activity at serotonin receptors, it also interacts with dopamine and adrenergic receptors [17]. This broader receptor profile likely contributes to its extraordinary potency, long duration, and stimulating, analytical character.

• Mescaline is a phenethylamine, making it structurally more similar to norepinephrine than serotonin. Despite this, it still produces its psychedelic effects primarily through the same 5-HT₂A serotonin receptor as LSD and psilocybin. It also shows modest activity at adrenergic receptors [1], which may contribute to the gentle physical energy many people report.

So even though these compounds belong to three entirely different chemical families—phenethylamines, tryptamines, and ergolines—their primary mechanism is remarkably similar.

Their biggest differences aren’t how they work, but how strongly they bind to those receptors, along with their potency, dosage, onset, duration, effects, and overall character.

That’s where these medicines begin to diverge.

Potency and Dose

Remember that every classic psychedelic has a spectrum of doses. The ranges below represent a typical psychedelic experience, not a threshold, museum, or heroic dose.

Mescaline is the least potent of the three, largely because it binds less strongly to the brain’s 5-HT₂A serotonin receptors.

As a result, a standard experience typically requires 200–400 mg of pure mescaline [14], equivalent to roughly 7–13 grams of dried peyote (assuming ~3% mescaline) or 20–40 grams of dried San Pedro (assuming ~1% mescaline).

By comparison, a typical psilocybin experience contains around 20–40 mg of psilocybin [18], or about 2–4 grams of dried Psilocybe cubensis, assuming an average concentration of approximately 1%.

LSD is in a league of its own. A standard experience requires just 50–200 micrograms (μg) [19], roughly half to two blotters (the absorbent square paper LSD is commonly applied to).

To put that into perspective, 1 milligram contains 1,000 micrograms, meaning LSD is active in mere millionths of a gram.

On average:

• Psilocybin is about 20 times more potent than mescaline

• While LSD is approximately 2,000 times more potent [14]

Yet despite these enormous differences in dose, all three are capable of producing experiences of comparable intensity.

Effects and Overall Character or “Vibe”

So far, we’ve explored what these medicines are, where they come from, and how they work in the brain. But there’s one thing that’s much harder to capture with receptor diagrams and clinical trials, their overall character.

Science can explain how these medicines work and the effects they tend to produce.

Across controlled studies, mescaline [14], psilocybin [15], and LSD [20] produce remarkably similar experiences because they all primarily activate the same 5-HT₂A serotonin receptor.

As a result, they share many of the hallmark features of the classic psychedelic experience:

• Visual distortions and geometric patterns

• Intensified colors and sensory perception

• Altered sense of time

• Changes in thinking and perception

• Mystical or spiritual experiences

• Feelings of unity and interconnectedness

• Emotional openness and positive mood

• A heightened appreciation for music and nature [21,22,23]

Yet ask almost anyone who has spent meaningful time with these medicines, and a more nuanced picture begins to emerge.

Across thousands of trip reports, Indigenous traditions, and my own experiences, each medicine seems to have its own distinct personality.

Of course, every journey is shaped by the dose, your mindset, your environment, and countless other variables, so no two experiences are ever identical. But certain themes appear often enough that they’re worth exploring.

Mescaline

Mescaline and the cacti that contain it have often been described as the “grandfather” of the classic psychedelics, gentle, patient, but deeply wise.

Compared with psilocybin or LSD, mescaline often feels less confusing and less cognitively disorienting. Thoughts tend to remain coherent, making it easier to reflect, communicate, and connect with others while still entering profoundly altered states of consciousness.

Its effects also feel distinctly embodied. Many people report a gentle physical energy, enhanced appreciation for nature, and a deep sense of gratitude, compassion, and interconnectedness.

Modern research has echoed these themes, with participants frequently describing experiences characterized by love, awe, connection, forgiveness, and enduring personal meaning [14].

• Vibe: Warm, heart-opening, clear, energetic

• Onset: 1–3 hours

• Duration: >10–12 hours [24]

Psilocybin Mushrooms

Psilocybin often feels less like directing the experience and more like surrendering to it.

Rather than taking the wheel, mushrooms have a way of gently leading the journey, often bringing buried emotions, forgotten memories, and symbolic imagery to the surface.

The experience tends to feel organic and dreamlike. Visuals are often wavy, fluid, and fractal-like, with earthy tones and patterns that seem to breathe and come alive.

Thoughts unfold less like logical analysis and more like stories, metaphors, symbolism, and archetypes, creating the feeling that you’re wandering through the landscape of your own subconscious.

Compared with LSD and mescaline, mushrooms also tend to carry a heavier body load and are more sedating (at least for me). Common sensations include yawning, tingling, body temperature fluctuations, and occasional nausea during the come-up.

Yet this physical grounding often becomes part of the experience itself, encouraging stillness, introspection, and a deep connection with nature, self, and the present moment.

• Vibe: Earthy, emotional, introspective, symbolic

• Onset: 20–30 minutes

• Duration: 4–6 hours [25]

LSD

If mushrooms feel like wandering through the landscape of your own subconscious, LSD often feels like turning on every light in the mind.

Compared with psilocybin, LSD is generally more stimulating, mentally lucid, and cognitively expansive. Thoughts can become extraordinarily detailed, making it feel as though the mind is operating at full resolution.

This heightened state often lends itself to exploring ideas, creativity, philosophy, music, and the intricate patterns underlying both the inner and outer world—although at higher doses it can also give rise to repetitive or looping thought patterns (not fun when you get stuck in a loop).

Visually, LSD is renowned for its crisp geometric patterns, kaleidoscopic imagery, vibrant colors, and heightened perception of detail.

Physically, it tends to feel lighter than mushrooms and noticeably more energizing, often accompanied by a subtle buzz, restlessness, or sense of electricity moving through the body.

Many people also describe LSD as having a distinctly cosmic quality, evoking a profound sense of wonder and fascination with the nature of consciousness itself.

• Vibe: Bright, electric, analytical, cosmic

• Onset: 1–3 hours

• Duration: 9–12 hours [26]

Different Medicines, Different Chapters

These descriptions are, of course, broad generalizations. Every psychedelic experience is unique, shaped by the dose, your mindset, your environment, and where you are in life.

But if I had to summarize them in a sentence:

• Mescaline feels like sitting beside a wise elder as the desert teaches you patience.

• Psilocybin feels like taking a mystical walk through the forest of your own soul.

• LSD feels like shining a laser pointer through the architecture of your mind.

None is inherently better than the others. They’re simply different teachers, each with their own lessons to offer.

And perhaps that’s the biggest lesson of all.

There isn’t a “best” psychedelic. There’s only the medicine that’s right for the chapter of life you’re in.

Or, depending on what you’re vibing with, and as I like to say, “different tokes for different folks.”

Sometimes you need something that helps you think differently. Sometimes you need something that helps you feel more deeply. Sometimes you need something that reminds you how beautiful it is to be alive.

Part of the journey is learning to recognize which teacher is calling you. Or perhaps, as I’ve come to believe, sometimes the teacher finds you first.

For me, LSD was the medicine of my youth. It shattered assumptions, sparked curiosity, and showed me there was far more to reality than I had ever imagined.

Later, mushrooms became the medicine of deep inner work. They helped me confront myself, heal old wounds, move through a complex chronic illness, and reconnect with nature in a way I never expected.

And lately, it’s been mescaline.

It feels like the medicine for this chapter of my life. Less about seeking answers and more about cultivating wisdom. Less about chasing extraordinary experiences and more about learning how to live an ordinary life extraordinarily well.

It’s like the grandfather I never had.

I’m curious...

What psychedelic is your medicine right now? Or has there been one that’s shown up at exactly the right time in your life?

Hit reply and let me know.

I’d genuinely love to hear your story.

Onjae

P.S. And to my fellow American readers, have a happy Independence Day!

And this isn’t one of your mildly active mushrooms either. No way, José.

Psilocybe cyanescens, aka Wavy Cap, has earned its stripes, with alkaloid analyses exceeding 2% total tryptamines, placing it among the most potent wild-growing Psilocybe species known.

You don’t have to venture deep into the wilderness to find it either. This mushroom thrives in human-disturbed environments, such as in wood chips, mulched garden beds, parks, landscaping projects, and urban green spaces.

Sometimes it appears in truly absurd numbers. At a racetrack in the United Kingdom, an estimated 100,000 fruiting bodies were discovered. Holy shit—that’s enough mushrooms to send an entire village to the moon!

What I love about this species is that, compared to many other Psilocybes, it’s relatively easy to recognize. Its distinctive wavy or undulating cap margin gives rise to its common name, the Wavy Cap, and makes it one of the more approachable species for mushroom enthusiasts to learn.

So, depending on where you live, this potent little mushroom may be growing closer than you think.

Here’s everything you need to know about the potent Psilocybe cyanescens mushroom.

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Wavy Cap (Psilocybe cyanescens)

Here’s a quick overview/snapshot of this fantastic fungus:

• Family: Hymenogastraceae

• Genus: Psilocybe

• Species: cyanescens

• Synonyms (older classifications): Hyopholoma cyanescens

• Common Names: Wavy Cap, Blue Halos, Cyans

• Distribution: Temperate regions, mainly the Pacific Northwest of the United States and central Europe (but expanding globally)

• Habitat: Landscaped urban environments, such as mulched garden beds, parks, and pathways

• Cultivation: Challenging, mainly outdoors (or hybrid indoor-outdoor)

• Active Compounds: Psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin

• Potency: Moderate to highly potent (>2% total alkaloids)

History & Traditional Use of Wavy Cap

The first formal scientific description of Psilocybe cyanescens was published in 1946 by mycologist Elsie Wakefield [1], based on specimens collected at Kew Gardens in southwest London. Interestingly, Wakefield had been collecting and observing the species there since at least 1910 [2].

The mushroom didn’t gain widespread attention, however, until the late 1970s, when Andrew Weil collected and reported on the species. His writings helped introduce Wavy Caps to a much broader audience and played a role in putting this potent wood-loving mushroom onto the radar of foragers, psychonauts, and mycologists alike.

Traditional Use

Psilocybe cyanescens has no known history of traditional ceremonial use [3]

This may be because Wavy Caps grow far north of where the best-documented mushroom traditions were recorded, may have been much rarer before modern landscaping spread them, and fruit during the colder months of the year.

That said, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Just because no documented traditional use has been found doesn’t mean none ever existed. It simply means that, so far, no reliable historical record has surfaced.

Wavy Cap Key Characteristics

If you’ve spent any time in the magic mushroom world, you’ve probably come across this species before. And if not, you’ll likely recognize it immediately once you see it.

The giveaway is its beautiful caramel-brown cap with those distinctive rippling, wave-like edges.

Cap (pileus): 1.5–5 cm wide. Begins conical to bell-shaped when young, gradually expanding to broadly convex or nearly flat with age. Caramel to chestnut-brown when moist, fading to pale tan or buff as it dries. Mature specimens develop the characteristic wavy cap margins that give the species its common name, Wavy Cap.

Gills (lamellae): Closely spaced and attached to the stem. They begin light brown to cinnamon-colored before maturing into a deep smoky brown and eventually a dark purple-brown as the spores develop.

Stem (stipe): 20–80 mm long and 2.5–5 mm thick. Whitish to cream-colored, slender, often slightly curved, and typically enlarged near the base. Like many psilocybin mushrooms, it readily bruises blue to blue-green when handled or damaged.

Spores: Produces a dark purple-brown spore print. Individual spores are smooth, elliptical, and only visible under a microscope.

Taste/Smell: Distinctly farinaceous, a fancy mycological way of saying it smells and tastes somewhat like fresh flour, bread dough, or raw grain. [4]

Similar Species

Psilocybe cyanescens belongs to the Psilocybe cyanescens complex [5], a group of closely related wood-loving psilocybin mushrooms that can be difficult to distinguish without microscopic analysis or DNA sequencing.

Some of its closest relatives include:

• Psilocybe azurescens

• Psilocybe bohemica

• Psilocybe cyanofibrillosa

• Psilocybe mairei

• Psilocybe serbica

• Psilocybe subaeruginosa

Many of these species share similar caramel-colored caps, blue bruising, and a preference for woody debris, making them close cousins both genetically and visually.

One point of confusion worth mentioning is the mix-up between Psilocybe cyanescens and Panaeolus cyanescens (often called Blue Meanies). Despite sharing the species name cyanescens, they belong to entirely different genera.

• Psilocybe cyanescens is a wood-loving species that grows on wood chips, mulch, and other woody debris in temperate climates.

• Panaeolus cyanescens is a dung-loving species that grows primarily on manure in tropical and subtropical regions.

Same species name, but completely different mushrooms.

Dangerous Lookalikes

While Psilocybe cyanescens is most often encountered through foraging rather than cultivation, it’s important to be aware of one of its most dangerous lookalikes:

Galerina marginata [6]

Deadly Galerina grows in the same wood-chip and woody debris habitats as Wavy Caps and can sometimes even fruit right alongside them. To an inexperienced eye, the two can appear surprisingly similar.

The good news is there are a few key differences:

• Wavy Caps bruise blue when handled or damaged; Deadly Galerina does not.

• Wavy Caps produce a dark purple-brown spore print; Deadly Galerina produces a rusty-brown spore print.

• Deadly Galerina often has a persistent stem ring (annulus), while Wavy Caps generally do not.

• Wavy Caps develop an undulating, wavy cap margin at maturity, one of their most recognizable features.

Never rely on a single identification feature. A spore print is one of the most important steps for confirming identification.

And this isn’t a mistake you want to make.

Deadly Galerina contains the same amatoxins [7] found in Death Cap (Amanita phalloides) mushrooms and can cause severe liver failure and death. Proper identification is absolutely critical before consuming any wild mushroom.

Where Does Wavy Cap Grow?

Distribution

Thanks largely to the landscaping and mulch industry, this mushroom has expanded far beyond its likely native range and can now be found throughout temperate regions across the globe. [8]

In North America, it is most abundant throughout the Pacific Northwest [9], though its range extends from the San Francisco Bay Area in the south to southern Alaska in the north. In recent decades, it has also begun appearing along parts of the northeastern United States.

Beyond North America, Wavy Caps are now well established throughout the United Kingdom—where the species was first scientifically described—as well as much of temperate Europe, New Zealand, and parts of Asia [10,11].

Many mycologists believe this global expansion occurred through spores and mycelium hitchhiking on commercial wood chip mulch distribution networks. [12]

What’s particularly fascinating is that scientists still aren’t entirely sure where P. cyanescens originally evolved. The leading theories point to the coastal forests and dune ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest, but its true native habitat remains something of a mystery.

Habitat

Unlike many psilocybin mushrooms that grow in grasslands (such as Psilocybe semilanceata and P. mexicana) or on manure (P. cubensis), Psilocybe cyanescens is a saprobic, or wood-loving, species.

It obtains nutrients by breaking down dead organic matter, especially woody debris. As a result, it thrives in humus-rich soils containing wood chips, sawdust, decomposing leaves, twigs, and other plant material [4].

So that gives us a pretty good idea of where to look.

Wavy Caps are most commonly found in landscaped urban environments, including mulched garden beds, pathways, and other wood-chip-rich areas. As I said, depending on where you live, you may not have to venture very far to find this mushroom.

Hell, they could be growing in your local park, tucked into a mulched flower bed, around your kid’s school playground, along a walking path, or popping up from a random pile of wood chips on the side of the sidewalk.

One other thing that makes this species so remarkable is the sheer size of its fruitings.

While solitary mushrooms do occur, P. cyanescens more often appears in dense clusters and sprawling patches that can produce thousands of mushrooms in a single flush. In one particularly mind-boggling example, an estimated 100,000 Wavy Caps were discovered growing around a racetrack in southern England [13].

When scouting habitat, it can also be helpful to pay attention to indicator plants. Rhododendrons, azaleas, lupines, and other species that favor similar climates and soil conditions are often found growing in the same environments as Wavy Caps [4].

As for timing, fruiting is triggered by cooler temperatures, typically between 50–64°F (10–18°C) [14]. Throughout the Pacific Northwest and other temperate regions in the Northern Hemisphere, Wavy Caps usually fruit from October through February following autumn rains and falling temperatures [4]. On the East Coast of the United States, spring fruitings have occasionally been documented as well [15].

Cultivation

I get it if you’re hesitant to forage wild-growing psilocybin mushrooms, especially considering the consequences of misidentification.

The good news is that Psilocybe cyanescens can be cultivated. The bad news? It’s generally considered more challenging to grow than many other psilocybin mushrooms, especially P. cubensis and its countless varieties.

Indoor cultivation is possible, but getting Wavy Caps to actually fruit can be tricky. They require specific environmental conditions that are often difficult to replicate indoors. For that reason, outdoor cultivation is usually the preferred approach, particularly in regions with cool, wet autumn weather similar to the Pacific Northwest.

Many cultivators take a hybrid approach. Since the mycelium is far easier to grow than the mushrooms themselves and aggressively colonizes wood-based substrates, it can be started indoors under controlled conditions. Once established, those colonized wood chips can be transplanted outdoors into a garden bed, mulched landscape, or other suitable habitat where the fungus can finish its life cycle and eventually produce mushrooms when conditions are right [14].

One bonus is that cultivated Wavy Caps appear to produce similar levels of psilocybin and psilocin as their wild counterparts. So even though they’re a bit more demanding to grow, they certainly don’t sacrifice potency. Let’s get into that next.

How Strong is Wavy Cap, and How Do I Dose It?

Before we talk dosage, let’s take a look at what the alkaloid analyses tell us about the potency of Psilocybe cyanescens.

Alkaloid Analyses

A 2022 study found Psilocybe cyanescens contained 0.23–1.38% psilocybin, 0.04–1.00% psilocin, and 0.02–0.29% baeocystin, with some specimens approaching 3% total tryptamine alkaloids [16].

A 2025 review of the scientific literature reported similar ranges, finding 0.10–1.84% psilocybin, 0.06–0.76% psilocin, and 0.004–0.04% baeocystin across published analyses [17].

As with all mushrooms, potency can vary considerably depending on genetics, growing conditions, storage, and the individual specimen being analyzed. Even so, the available evidence suggests that Wavy Caps commonly fall within the 1–2% total alkaloid range, with exceptional collections testing even higher.

For comparison, many Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms average around 0.75% total alkaloids (0.5–1.5%) [18,19], making Wavy Caps roughly twice as potent on a gram-for-gram basis. In other words, a dose that might require 2 grams of average Cubensis could potentially be achieved with closer to 1 gram of Wavy Caps.

Overall Potency Rating: Moderate to highly potent.

Dosing Wavy Cap

Using a rough average potency of 1.5% total alkaloids for Psilocybe cyanescens compared to 0.75% for the average P. cubensis, many people find that approximately half the dose produces a similar level of intensity.

Here’s a good place to start dosing Wavy Caps when approaching the 5 Psilocybin Experience Levels:

1. Microdose: 50–250 mg

2. Threshold: 250–500 mg

3. Museum Dose: 0.5–1 g

4. Standard Dose: 1–2.5 g

5. Heroic Dose: 2.5+ g

As always, potency can vary dramatically from batch to batch and even mushroom to mushroom. Start low, get a feel for the mushrooms you’re working with, and work your way up gradually.

Safety Notes

As always, dot your i’s and cross your t’s before venturing into altered states of consciousness.

That’s exactly why I use my 5-S Psyched System: to stack the odds in favor of meaningful, positive, life-changing experiences and reduce the chances of difficult or destabilizing ones.

One additional consideration is Wood Lover’s Paralysis (WLP). Several wood-loving psilocybin species, including Psilocybe cyanescens, have been associated with this rare but temporary condition, which can cause muscle weakness, loss of coordination, or partial paralysis during or after the experience. While usually not dangerous and typically resolves within 24 hours, it can be alarming if you’re not expecting it [20].

Which brings us back to the first S in the 5-S System: Substance.

Know what you’re taking. Know the dose. Know the effects, duration, and potential side effects.

Because understanding the medicine you’re working with is the foundation of every safe and successful psychedelic journey.

The Mushroom That Wants to Be Found

If there were ever a psilocybin mushroom perfectly adapted to modern human environments, Psilocybe cyanescens might be it.

What was once a relatively obscure wood-loving mushroom has become one of the most widespread potent Psilocybes on the planet, all because humans can’t seem to stop spreading wood chips everywhere.

And, honestly, I’m here for it.

Between its distinctive wavy cap and tendency to pop up in parks, gardens, pathways, and landscaped areas, Wavy Cap feels like a mushroom that almost wants to be found.

Personally, I’m looking forward to trying my hand at cultivating it outdoors this fall on the new property I’m moving to. And if I make it up into the Pacific Northwest during peak season, you can bet I’ll be scanning every wood-chip bed I pass for those unmistakable caramel-colored ripples.

If you see the ripple, you’ve found the Wavy Cap.

Stay safe and have a good trip,

Onjae

P.S. Have you tried Wavy Cap mushrooms?

And sure, it can be fun for a while—until you realize just how blown out it can leave you and how much it can ultimately hamper your good vibes.

Hangovers. Doing stupid shit, you’ll probably regret. Drinking and driving. Consuming a hell of a lot more calories than your body actually needs, from the drinks themselves to the sugary mixers and chasers.

Not to mention what alcohol does to your body: more inflammation, oxidative stress, and added strain on your liver and brain.

I’m not saying don’t drink. I’m saying do it more intelligently.

One way to balance it out is with kava, a ceremonial beverage used for centuries throughout the Pacific Islands by Indigenous peoples. Made from the root of the Piper methysticum plant, it’s a psychoactive botanical that can provide all the buzz you could want without many of the downsides associated with alcohol.

And unlike alcohol, kava may offer benefits beyond the immediate experience, with research suggesting potential support for mood, cognition, and sleep.

I mean, damn, can your White Claw do that? Not a chance.

So in my opinion, kava is the better way to unwind, turn up, or chill out. After years of stepping away from alcohol, it’s what I reach for instead, and it’s become my personal favorite.

Do yourself—and your health—a favor this summer and consider balancing out some of those boozy adventures with a little kava.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of subpar kava products flooding the market these days as more people jump on the kava bandwagon, which is why I was excited to find one that actually stands out from the pack.

Let’s dig into this review.

Read more

Even more than the hilarious irony is that many psilocybin-containing mushrooms grow wild all over the place.

I mean, seriously... how do you declare a mushroom that sprouts from the earth “illegal”?

Sorry, Big Gov. I subscribe to what Robin Greenfield calls Earth Code. Mother Nature provides, and no institution is going to tell me what plants or fungi I can or can’t have a relationship with.

But I digress.

Here’s the other loophole.

So that you know, this is an entirely reader-supported publication. This newsletter is free, but if you can support, please consider a paid subscription. It helps me enormously, and you’ll get:

1. Subscriber-only posts, full archive & join the community (the Plant Medicine Guild)

2. Monthly Product Reviews from inside my Psychedelic Sourcing Master List

3. FULL access to all current & future psychedelic guides, courses/workshops (the Mescaline & San Pedro workshop is coming soon)

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I appreciate you!

Buying and possessing psilocybin mushroom spores—the mushroom equivalent of seeds—is legal throughout most of the United States (for microscopy and research purposes, of course).

That’s why spore vendors can openly sell and ship them to most states.

The reason is that spores themselves don’t contain psilocybin or psilocin. It’s only after they germinate and begin producing mycelium capable of generating those compounds that different legal considerations come into play.

The main exceptions are California, Georgia, and Idaho, where state laws prohibit the possession or sale of psilocybin mushroom spores. Sorry, folks.

But once you’ve got spores, all you need is a grow kit, a little time, a smidge of knowledge, and some tender love and care. Then, you’re in business.

Not “business” business.

I’m talking about having your own supply of safe, high-quality fungi for your personal medicinal needs. You know exactly where they came from. You know the quality. You save a whole lot of buckaroos in the long run. And perhaps most importantly, you build an entirely different relationship with the mushroom.

But not all psilocybin mushrooms are created equal.

Some species are notoriously finicky and demand near-perfect growing conditions. If you’re a beginner cultivator, those can feel like an uphill battle from day one.

So today, I want to show you the species and strains that stack the odds in your favor.

The easiest homegrown psilocybin mushrooms. The beginner-friendly workhorses. The strains that get as close to “set it and forget it” as mushrooms possibly can.

Mushroom Growing Basics

Before we dive into the mushrooms themselves, let’s cover a few fundamentals.

As I mentioned earlier, psilocybin mushroom spores are legal to buy, possess, and distribute throughout most of the United States. But what exactly is a mushroom spore?

Think of spores as the fungal equivalent of seeds. They’re microscopic reproductive cells that allow fungi to spread and reproduce.

To understand cultivation, it helps to understand the mushroom life cycle.

A mature mushroom releases millions—sometimes billions—of spores into the environment. Most never amount to anything, but when a spore lands in the right conditions, it germinates and begins growing into mycelium, the underground fungal network that serves as the true body of the fungus.

Given enough food, moisture, fresh air, and the right environmental conditions, mycelium eventually produces mushrooms. Those mushrooms then release spores of their own, and the cycle begins again.

In its simplest form, the mushroom life cycle looks like this:

• Spore stage → reproductive cells are dispersed

• Germination → spores develop into microscopic threads called hyphae

• Mycelial growth → hyphae weave together to form a larger fungal network called mycelium

• Fruiting → the mycelium produces mushrooms

• Spore release → mature mushrooms release spores, restarting the cycle

That’s the way of the mushroom in a nutshell: spores become mycelium, mycelium becomes mushrooms, and mushrooms make more spores.

Psilocybin Mushroom Spore Forms

Depending on where you source your genetics, you’ll typically encounter three main starting points for cultivation:

1. Spore syringes — Mushroom spores suspended in sterile water, making them one of the simplest and most beginner-friendly ways to start a grow.

2. Liquid cultures — Live mushroom mycelium suspended in a nutrient-rich solution. Because the spores have already germinated, liquid cultures colonize faster and give your grow a head start.

3. Spore prints — Deposits of mushroom spores collected on paper. They require a bit more work and know-how than syringes or liquid cultures, but they store exceptionally well and can be used to create multiple spore syringes, making them a favorite among experienced cultivators.

If you’re a complete beginner, I’d recommend starting with either a spore syringe or, even better, a liquid culture. Since the mycelium is already alive and growing, it removes one more variable from the equation.

Spore Vendors

Alright, now for the practical question: where do you actually get spores?

There are plenty of reputable vendors out there, but to save you the endless rabbit hole of research, here are a handful worth checking out. These aren’t ranked in any particular order, and I’ve included a few options that serve international cultivators too.

1. Sporeworks | Ships to the United States

2. Ralphsters Spores | Ships to the United States and Canada

3. Spores101 | Ships worldwide

4. Spores Lab | Ships throughout Canada

5. Mushroom Prints | Ships worldwide

6. LabLink Supply | Ships to the United States

7. Viking Spores | Ships to the United Kingdom

For more psilocybin spore vendors in various parts of the world, find them inside my Psychedelic Sourcing Master List.

A quick disclaimer: I’m not affiliated with any of these companies, nor am I being paid to recommend them. These are simply vendors I’ve come across through research, community discussions, and my own cultivation experiments.

Again, the vendors who ship throughout the United States, excluding Georgia, Idaho, and California (possibly Florida too, since I believe they cracked down on psilocybin spores).

Ultimately, the best vendor for you will depend on the species and strains you’re looking for, availability, shipping location, and personal preference. My recommendation is to browse a few, compare their catalogs, and choose the one that carries the genetics you’re most excited to work with or the one that is easiest for beginners, which leads us to that next.

Easiest Homegrown Psilocybin Mushrooms

Before we get into the easiest species to cultivate, let’s quickly talk about the ones that tend to humble beginner growers.

If you’re just getting started, I’d recommend holding off on these until you’ve got a few successful grows under your belt.

Difficult Species to Grow

Many spore vendors offer what are often called “exotic” species. While fascinating, these generally aren’t the best choice for a first cultivation project:

• Panaeolus cyanescens

• Panaeolus tropicalis

• Psilocybe azurescens

• Psilocybe cyanescens

• Psilocybe mexicana

• Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata

• Psilocybe semilanceata

• Psilocybe subaeruginosa

• Psilocybe tampanensis

Many of these are wood-loving species that require outdoor beds, seasonal and varied climactic conditions, and considerably more patience than your average mushroom grow. Others demand very specific environmental parameters that can be difficult to replicate indoors.

They’re incredible mushrooms—many are insanely potent—but probably not the place to start if you’re looking for an easy win.

Beginner-Friendly Species and Strains

Now that we've got those out of the way, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the species and strains that would be best suited for a novice to get up and running.

Psilocybe cubensis

First up is Psilocybe cubensis, the undisputed king of home cultivation and by far the most beginner-friendly psilocybin mushroom species. I did a deep dive into this species recently, which you can read here.

Within P. cubensis, you’ll find hundreds of different “strains” or cultivated lineages selected for traits like appearance, growth characteristics, fruiting patterns, or potency. Again, did an exploration into a dozen strains here.

For example, Golden Teacher is a strain of Psilocybe cubensis.

The easiest way to think about it is dog breeds. They’re all the same species, but different varieties within that species. In the same way that Poodles, Pit Bulls, and Australian Shepherds are all dogs, Golden Teacher, B+, and Penis Envy are all Psilocybe cubensis.

While strains can vary in appearance, potency, and growth habits, they’re all part of the same highly cultivatable species, which is exactly why P. cubensis is where most growers start their journey. In fact, it’s the most widely cultivated and consumed psilocybin mushroom species on the planet.

But which P. cubensis strains should you start with?

Because while you’ll often hear cultivators say “a cube is a cube,” that’s only partially true. Some strains are more forgiving, colonize faster, resist contamination better, and generally make life easier for beginner growers. Others can be slower, more temperamental, or require a bit more experience to consistently produce good yields.

So here are my top 10 beginner-friendly P. cubensis strains, along with a quick breakdown of their cultivation characteristics, potency, and what makes each one worth considering:

1. A-Strain — From the developer of the famous B+ strain, Mr. G, this above-average, easy-to-grow variant is recognized by its pale yellow cap and heavy spore production.

2. B+ — A classic for a reason. Contamination-resistant, tolerant of cooler temperatures, and known for producing large mushrooms with reliable, average potency.

3. Blue Meanies — Not to be confused with Panaeolus cyanescens, this P. cubensis strain gets its name from the intense blue bruising that develops on its pale caps and stems. A reliable grower with average potency.

4. Cambodian — Originally collected in Cambodia by renowned mushroom explorer John Allen, this fast-growing Cube is known for its beginner-friendly nature and below-average to average potency.

5. Golden Teacher — The most famous Cube on the planet. With its iconic golden caps, thick stems, reliable potency, rapid growth, contamination resistance, and heavy flushes, it’s easy to see why it’s a cultivator favorite.

6. Huautla — Collected near Huautla de Jiménez, Mexico, where R. Gordon Wasson famously participated in a traditional mushroom ceremony with the curandera María Sabina. While relatively mild in potency, it more than makes up for it with vigorous growth and dependable yields.

7. Koh Samui — Named after the Thai island where John Allen first collected it, this strain is highly resistant to contamination, produces multiple flushes from a single substrate, and thrives even when conditions aren’t perfect.

8. Penis Envy — Perhaps the second most famous Cube in the world, renowned for its exceptional potency, dense fruits, and unmistakably phallic appearance. But the tradeoff is that it produces few spores, and those spores are often sterile, making it notoriously difficult to propagate from your own harvest.

9. PF Classic — A reliable, beginner-friendly strain with below-average to average potency. What it lacks in strength, it makes up for in prolific spore production, making it an excellent option for cultivators who want to save genetics for future grows.

10. Z-Strain — This one starts creeping into intermediate territory. It can be prone to aborts (a mushroom that begins developing but stops growing before reaching maturity) if conditions aren’t dialed in, but once you get the environment right, it rewards growers with rapid growth, aggressive colonization, and impressively large yields.

But hey, take all of this with a grain of salt. These recommendations are based on my own research, cultivation experiments, and countless hours spent researching. I’m not claiming to be a master cultivator or mushroom-growing wizard, just a passionate student of fungi who has learned a thing or two over the years.

Psilocybe ochraceocentrata

Next up is a species that’s been generating a lot of buzz in the psilocybin mushroom world: Psilocybe ochraceocentrata.

If that name doesn’t ring a bell, there’s a good chance you’ve heard its former name, Psilocybe natalensis, often marketed by vendors as Natal Super Strength or simply Natalensis.

What’s particularly interesting about this mushroom is its relationship to Psilocybe cubensis. It’s one of Cubensis’ closest known relatives—a true sister species, if you will. In fact, recent genetic research has revealed that some mushrooms historically identified as P. cubensis actually belong to a separate lineage more closely aligned with P. ochraceocentrata.

So yes, this species was known for years as Psilocybe natalensis, but recent taxonomic work reclassified it as P. ochraceocentrata, a name that references the mushroom’s characteristic ochre-colored cap center.

Growing Benefits of P. ochraceocentrata

The reason so many cultivators are excited about it is that it combines the ease of cultivation of P. cubensis with a reputation for above-average potency (hence the nickname Natal Super Strength), vigorous growth, and impressive resistance to contamination and molds.

But unlike P. cubensis, which boasts hundreds of cultivated strains and variants, P. ochraceocentrata is still relatively new to the cultivation scene. As a result, you’ll usually find it listed simply as P. natalensis or P. ochraceocentrata, rather than under dozens of different strain names.

If you can grow Cubes, you can grow P. ochraceocentrata. It thrives under nearly identical conditions, making it one of the easiest non-Cubensis species for beginners to experiment with.

How to Grow Psilocybin Mushrooms

Now, to truly go from spore to full-blown psilocybin mushroom, we’d need an entire workshop, not a newsletter.

So rather than disappearing down the cultivation rabbit hole today, I’ll give you a bird’s-eye view of the process and then point you toward some excellent resources created by cultivators who are far more knowledgeable and experienced than I am. I’ll let them take it from there.

But just for shrooms and giggles, here’s the basic roadmap:

1. Substrate Preparation — Creating a clean, nutrient-rich growing medium that the mushroom mycelium can colonize and use as its food source.

2. Inoculation — Introducing mushroom spores or mycelium into the substrate. Think of it as planting the seed and giving the fungus a head start before molds and bacteria can move in.

3. Incubation (Colonization) — The mycelium spreads throughout the substrate, establishing its fungal network and preparing for the next stage: producing mushrooms.

4. Fruiting — By introducing fresh air, indirect light, and high humidity, you signal to the fungus that conditions are right to begin producing shrooms.

5. Harvesting & Drying — The payoff. Mature mushrooms are harvested and dried for long-term storage. And the good news is that one harvest is usually just the beginning. Most substrates produce multiple flushes before they’ve exhausted their nutrients.

It’s pretty simple in theory, although a little more involved in practice. But far more achievable than most people realize.

Mushroom Growing Education

If you’d like to learn the nuts and bolts of cultivation, these are some of the best resources I’ve come across:

• How To Grow Magic Mushrooms: The Easy Way by Tripsitter

• How to Grow Magic Mushrooms at Home by Third Wave

• Online Sacred Mushroom Cultivation Course by Fungi Academy

• Psilocybin Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats by Paul Stamets

Between those resources, you’ll have everything you need to go from curious beginner to competent cultivator.

Grow Equipment and Kits

Now that you’ve got the knowledge, let’s talk gear.

There are two main routes you can take:

1. Piece everything together yourself à la carte

2. Or grab an all-in-one grow kit

Personally, I’m a fan of grow kits.

The mushroom cultivation world has exploded over the past few years, and there are now many companies producing high-quality kits that remove much of the guesswork from the process.

Rather than hunting down every individual component, you get everything you need in one package and can focus on what actually matters… growing mushrooms.

Here are a few solid options worth checking out:

1. Boomr Bin

2. Third Wave Grow Kit — Includes their cultivation course; just add spores

3. GROmagic

4. Wholecelium — For the homies in the EU

5. Midwest Grow Kits

Grow kits are kind of like the training wheels of mushroom cultivation. You can always build your own setup later, but if your goal is getting mushrooms growing as quickly and painlessly as possible, they’re hard to beat.

Homegrown is the Best Way to Go

While I’m a big proponent of wild mushroom foraging, hunting for psilocybin mushrooms isn’t something to take lightly. If you don’t know what you’re doing—or don’t have an experienced guide by your side—misidentification can have serious consequences. Plus, wild mushrooms are seasonal and highly dependent on where you live.

Then there’s the underground route. It works... until it doesn’t. Supply comes and goes, quality can be inconsistent, and you’re often placing your trust in someone else’s growing practices.

Buying online is another option, but that can be a minefield of scammers, bots, and questionable products. There are certainly reputable vendors out there, but over the long run, the costs add up.

That’s why I think growing your own mushrooms is one of the best routes available.

You control the supply. You control the quality. You know exactly where your mushrooms came from and what went into producing them. Yes, there are some upfront costs, but over time it’s by far one of the most economical approaches, and the basic materials—spores, substrate, and equipment—are surprisingly accessible.

Along the way, you also develop a valuable skill. And once you’ve learned how to grow magic mushrooms, culinary and medicinal mushrooms become fair game too.

But perhaps the greatest benefit is the relationship you build with the organism itself.

These fantastic fungi have one goal: to grow, fruit, and reproduce. By creating the conditions that allow them to do exactly that, you become part of that process. And call me crazy, but I truly believe the mushroom gives something back in return.

Have you grown your own mushrooms?

Onjae

People? “People” who?

Me, actually.

I’ve had this dream flower of ancient Egypt sitting on my apothecary shelf for years, and I’ve neglected to cultivate a deeper relationship with it.

The problem is that the plant kingdom is overflowing with magic and medicine. There’s an entire psychoactive pharmacopeia out there… so vast that it would take a lifetime to explore all the marvelous botanicals Mother Nature has to offer.

As a result, some inevitably end up collecting dust while others steal the spotlight.

So, as the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

And today, I want to take that step with Blue Lotus (Nymphaea caerulea), one of the most revered plants of ancient Egypt.

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Blue Lotus: The Dream Flower of Ancient Egypt

Let’s start with the basics and get a quick lay of the land. Check the deets below.

• Botanical name: Nymphaea caerulea

• Common names: Blue Lotus, Blue Water Lily, Egyptian Lotus, Utpala (Sanskrit)

• Appearance: Produces striking blue, sky-blue, and violet-tinged flowers that sit 8–12 inches above the water’s surface on long stems. Its round, lily-pad-like leaves float atop the water.

• Distribution: Historically abundant throughout the Nile Delta and surrounding lowlands, but now critically endangered in parts of its native range; many cultivate it in ponds today

• Active ingredients: apomorphine, nuciferine

• Effects: Oneirogenic (dream-enhancing), euphoric (mood-enhancing), and soporific (sleep-promoting)

• Safety Level: Highly safe

Blue Lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) is an aquatic plant most famously associated with the Nile River and ancient Egypt, where it is steeped in mythology, ceremonial significance, and a long history of medicinal use.

Today, Blue Lotus is experiencing a modern resurgence. People are exploring it for its dream-enhancing and relaxing effects, while researchers are investigating some of its active compounds for applications ranging from anxiety and sleep support to neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

History, folklore & mythology

Take a step back in time with me—about 3,000 to 4,000 years—to the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt. You could hardly turn your head without seeing Blue Lotus. Historians believe it was cultivated throughout the Nile and appeared everywhere from gardens and temples to artwork, tombs, and religious ceremonies.

The ancient Egyptians prized the flower for its beauty, fragrance, symbolism, and quite possibly its psychoactive effects. Its buds and blossoms were worn as head adornments, woven into garlands, and placed among the burial offerings of pharaohs—such as the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses II (1290–1223 BCE)—and nobility.

One famous depiction of King Tutankhamun shows the young pharaoh emerging from a lotus flower, a symbol of rebirth. And rebirth is the theme that runs through much of Blue Lotus mythology.

The flower became closely associated with creation, resurrection, and the afterlife, earning connections to some of Egypt’s most important deities.

Nefertem, the god of perfume, healing, and aromatherapy, was traditionally depicted wearing a Blue Lotus upon his head. According to myth, he emerged from a Blue Lotus that blossomed from the primordial waters of chaos known as Nun. [1]

The flower was also linked to Osiris, god of the underworld and resurrection, and Ra, the sun god.

Much of this symbolism likely stemmed from Blue Lotus itself. Each morning it opens with the rising sun, and each evening it closes as darkness falls, a daily cycle that mirrors the Egyptian understanding of death, renewal, and the eternal rhythms of life.

Traditional & medicinal use

All that said, Blue Lotus wasn’t exclusively symbolic. It also had practical applications in ancient Egyptian life.

Historical records suggest the rhizome was consumed as a food source [2], while the flower itself was used medicinally both externally and internally. Blue Lotus was reportedly used to support skin health (a modern application as well), relieve constipation, regulate urination, support liver function, and counteract certain poisons.

But perhaps the most intriguing question is whether the Egyptians also used Blue Lotus for its psychoactive effects. Many researchers and ethnobotanists believe they did [3].

The flower appears throughout Egyptian art and ceremonial imagery, often alongside yellow mandrake fruits and red poppy flowers [4]. Some scholars have speculated that these recurring combinations may represent a kind of “iconographic recipe,” or plants that were potentially combined into ritual beverages capable of producing altered states of consciousness.

Interestingly, researchers recently identified traces of Syrian Rue (Peganum harmala) and Blue Lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) in an Egyptian ritual Bes vase dating to the 2nd century BCE [5], providing some of the strongest evidence yet that these plants may have been intentionally prepared and consumed in ceremonial contexts.

While we can’t know for certain exactly how these preparations were used, the idea isn’t without precedent.

A closely related species, Nymphaea ampla (White Water Lily), has a documented history of ceremonial use among the Maya and continues to be used in parts of Mexico today [6]. The flowers are smoked, brewed into teas, or incorporated into traditional balché preparations (an alcoholic drink similar to mead) for their psychoactive and medicinal properties.

Taken together, the evidence suggests Blue Lotus may have occupied a unique role in ancient Egypt, not merely as a symbol of transcendence, but as a botanical tool for exploring it.

Effects

When it comes to the psychoactive effects of Blue Lotus, three classifications capture the experience quite well:

1. Oneirogenic (dream-inducing)

2. Soporific (sleep-promoting)

3. Euphoric (mood-enhancing)

In practice, Blue Lotus tends to produce a blend of relaxation, contentment, and dreamy introspection rather than the dramatic mind-bending shifts associated with classic psychedelics.

Many plant medicine people report a sense of well-being, talkativeness, relaxation, a calmer mental state, and a mild euphoria that gradually gives way to drowsiness [7]. As the dose increases, the sedative qualities become more pronounced, often making it easier to unwind and drift off to sleep.

The onset of effects has been reported around 15 minutes, and the total duration of effects lasts several hours.

But perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Blue Lotus is its oneirogenic nature.

Interesting word, right?

A oneirogen is a substance that enhances dreams and dream-like states.

Reports commonly include more vivid dreams, improved dream recall, and occasionally lucid dreams—the fascinating state where you become aware that you’re dreaming while the dream is still unfolding, often with the ability to consciously influence the contents of it.

From my own experience, I’d describe Blue Lotus as creating a trance-like bridge between waking consciousness and sleep, making the transition into the dream world feel more conscious, immersive, and fluid.

And that’s what makes this plant so unique, because it isn’t typically used to explore altered states while awake; rather, it’s used to explore them while asleep.

Side effects & safety

A quick note on side effects and safety.

The most commonly reported side effect of Blue Lotus—especially at higher doses—is nausea. Even with what I’d consider a stomach of steel, I’ve noticed a bit of gastrointestinal uneasiness myself. Nothing dramatic, but it’s worth mentioning.

Also, Blue Lotus can be quite sedating. Between its soporific effects and its reputation as a dream-enhancing plant, drowsiness is very much part of the package.

So, in the spirit of a responsible public service announcement:

Don’t take Blue Lotus and operate heavy machinery.

Or drive.

Or do anything that requires your full attention and coordination.

Save it for a cozy evening when your only responsibility is relaxing, dreaming (make sure to have a dream journal nearby), and maybe exploring a few interesting corners of consciousness.

Constituents & pharmacology

As I mentioned earlier, Blue Lotus is gaining renewed attention for both its psychoactive effects and medicinal potential.

But what exactly in the flower is responsible for those effects?

As with many plant medicines, there isn’t a single magic compound doing all the heavy lifting. It’s likely a combination of constituents working together—a phenomenon often referred to as synergy.

That said, two of the most studied compounds in Blue Lotus are the isoquinoline alkaloids:

• Apomorphine

• Nuciferine

Apomorphine is a fascinating compound that primarily interacts with the dopamine system [8]. In modern medicine, a synthetic form is used to treat conditions such as Parkinson’s disease [9] and has also been investigated for alcoholism [10], substance use disorders like heroin [11], and erectile dysfunction [12] under the trade names Apokyn and Kynmobi.

Nuciferine is still being actively researched, but scientists have discovered that it interacts with several neurotransmitter systems, including dopamine and serotonin [13]. Interestingly, some of its pharmacological actions resemble those of atypical antipsychotic medications [13], leading researchers to explore its potential effects on mood, cognition, and mental health.

Nuciferine is also being investigated for a wide range of therapeutic applications, including obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, and even cancer [14].

Beyond its alkaloids, Blue Lotus also contains a variety of antioxidant compounds [15], including flavonoids and polyphenols such as:

• Gallic acid

• Kaempferol

• Myricetin

• Quercetin

While much remains to be learned about this ancient flower, the emerging research suggests that Blue Lotus is far more pharmacologically complex and has a vast array of therapeutic applications than its delicate appearance might suggest.

Preparation & consumption

There are three common ways people prepare Blue Lotus: as a tea (infusion), an alcohol tincture, or a vaporized resin. Some people also incorporate the flower into herbal smoking blends.

One of the more modern approaches that has emerged in recent years is vaporizing concentrated Blue Lotus resin using a specialized device called an RDA (Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer) [16].

Because the active compounds are absorbed through the lungs, the effects tend to come on much faster and more acutely than drinking a tea or taking a tincture.

Making a resin and vaporizing it is a bit beyond the scope of this newsletter, so let’s stick with my favorite and most accessible method: a simple Blue Lotus tea.

Blue Lotus Tea Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp Blue Lotus flower

• 8 - 12 oz (240 - 350 mL) hot water

Instructions

1. Place the Blue Lotus flower into a tea infuser, teapot, or mug.

2. Pour the hot water over the flowers.

3. Allow to steep for 10 minutes.

4. Strain and give the infused buds a good squeeze—you’d be surprised how much goodness is still hiding in them.

5. Sit back, slow down, and enjoy the journey.

Legalities

Considering how mild Blue Lotus’s psychoactive effects are, it is legal in many parts of the world, including most of the United States (with Louisiana being the notable exception), Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe [7].

As a result, it’s relatively easy to find in apothecaries, herbal shops, and online stores, with no shortage of high-quality Blue Lotus products available these days.

That said, the legal landscape isn’t the same everywhere.

For reasons beyond my understanding, a handful of countries have chosen to restrict or prohibit the use of Blue Lotus, including Russia, Poland, and Latvia [7].

As always, laws surrounding psychoactive plants can change, so do yourself a favor and double-check your local regulations before purchasing, possessing, or working with Blue Lotus.

People are sleeping on this plant medicine

Funny, actually. When I opened this article by saying people are sleeping on this plant medicine, I meant it figuratively. As it turns out, it’s also quite literal.

Because of its soporific and oneirogenic effects, Blue Lotus may very well put your ass to sleep. And once you’re there, you might find yourself spending more time in the dream realm—sometimes aware that you’re dreaming and even able to influence the dream itself. Pretty wild.

Figuratively speaking, though, I’ve absolutely been sleeping on this plant medicine.

I’ve had Blue Lotus sitting on my apothecary shelf for years without ever taking the time to cultivate a deeper relationship with it. Part of that was intentional. During my chronic illness journey, I was fiercely protective of my sleep, and lucid dreaming can sometimes leave you feeling like you were conscious all night instead of getting the deep, restorative sleep your body was craving. At that point in my life, I needed every ounce of rest I could get.

But things feel different now.

I’m feeling more settled, and with a new chapter unfolding—including a move to a small homestead property—it feels like the right time to revisit this ancient flower and see what wisdom might be waiting in the dream world. There’s also something fitting about exploring Blue Lotus during a season of transition.

The ancient Egyptians viewed this flower as a symbol of death and rebirth, darkness and light, endings and new beginnings. Cycles that each of us moves through again and again throughout life.

Perhaps that’s why they held it in such high regard. Or perhaps the flower offered not just a symbol of those cycles, but a direct experience of them.

I’m curious... have you worked with Blue Lotus?

Let me know.

Onjae

Skateboarding through the streets of San Francisco amid the city’s relentless chaos. Horns blaring. Drivers flying through crosswalks. Random bums yelling. Sketchy characters lurking around every corner.

Or your high school vice principal calling just as you’re coming up on LSD, asking whether you’ve seen a girl from your Friday detention class who had just been reported missing.

What do all of these have in common?

They are less than ideal—actually, let me rephrase that—absolutely horrific places and circumstances to embark on a high-dose psychedelic journey.

For years, I thought the problem was the dose. The mushrooms were too strong, or the strain was wrong, or the LSD was too intense…

I thought the medicine was the issue.

But looking back, it wasn’t the medicine; it was the wrong place and the wrong headspace to enter such a deep experience. These are psyche-dismantling medicines, and they shouldn’t be taken lightly, especially when venturing into heroic-dose territory.

Those difficult experiences ultimately taught me a lesson that took far longer than it should have.

Because when it comes to psychedelics, two things matter above almost everything else:

Set and setting.

So that you know, this is an entirely reader-supported publication. This newsletter is free, but if you can support, please consider a paid subscription. It helps me enormously, and you’ll get:

1. Subscriber-only posts, full archive & join the community (the Plant Medicine Guild)

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Psychedelic Set and Setting

The importance of set and setting emerged during early psychedelic research in the 1940s and 1950s, when scientists noticed something unusual:

The same psychedelic substance could produce dramatically different experiences depending on a person’s mindset and environment.

Initially, researchers assumed psychedelics would behave like most drugs, producing relatively predictable effects. But studies with LSD and psilocybin quickly challenged that assumption.

Two people could take the same dose, under seemingly similar conditions, and have radically different experiences.

During the Harvard Psilocybin Project, pioneering researchers such as Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), Humphry Osmond, and Al Hubbard observed that factors like expectations, emotions, personality, intentions, physical surroundings, music, and the presence of guides could profoundly shape the psychedelic experience.

Leary eventually coined the term “set and setting”:

• Set = the individual’s mindset, expectations, mood, and psychological state.

• Setting = the physical, social, and cultural environment in which the experience occurs.

In The Psychedelic Experience (1964), Leary wrote:

“The nature of the experience depends almost entirely on set and setting.”

One of the earliest demonstrations of this principle came from Walter Pahnke’s famous Good Friday Experiment in 1962. [1]

Twenty Protestant divinity students received either psilocybin or a placebo during a religious service at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel. Many of those who received psilocybin reported profound mystical experiences, suggesting that the religious setting played a significant role in shaping both the content and interpretation of the journey.

Researchers also observed stark differences between sessions conducted in sterile hospital rooms and those held in comfortable, supportive environments. Participants in welcoming settings generally reported more positive, meaningful, and therapeutic experiences, while cold, clinical environments were more likely to contribute to anxiety, distress, or confusion.

By the mid-1960s, many psychedelic researchers had come to a remarkable conclusion: set and setting were not merely influences on the experience, they were among its primary determinants.

(Unfortunately, my cronies and I hadn’t received the memo…)

This insight became one of the foundational principles of psychedelic science and remains central to modern research with psilocybin, LSD, and other psychedelics today. [2]

However, the notion of set and setting isn’t new. In many ways, it’s as old as psychedelic use itself.

Take traditional shamanic cultures, for example.

Whether it was psilocybin mushrooms and ololiuqui in Mesoamerica, ayahuasca in the Amazon, peyote among Native American peoples, or iboga in Central Africa, these medicines were rarely consumed casually.

Instead, they were used within carefully structured ceremonial frameworks involving intention-setting, prayers, songs, rituals, dietary preparations, trusted guides, sacred spaces, and community support.

They may not have called it “set and setting,” but they understood the fundamental truth that the experience wasn’t determined solely by the medicine itself. It was also shaped by the mind's entering the experience and the surrounding environment.

Modern science gave this principle a name. Traditional cultures had been practicing it for centuries, if not millennia.

Your Set and Setting Checklist

As you can see, these two factors play an outsized role in shaping the quality of your experience—often determining whether a journey becomes profoundly life-changing or devolves into a personal tour of a Hieronymus Bosch hellscape.

At lower doses, in which the effects are more subtle and manageable, you may be able to get away with flying by the seat of your pants. A threshold dose or museum dose, for example, tends to leave you with one foot in ordinary reality.

But as you climb the dosage ladder, the stakes change.

Higher doses can amplify your thoughts, emotions, and surroundings to an extraordinary degree. What might seem like a minor stressor, unresolved worry, or uncomfortable environment before the experience can become impossible to ignore once the medicine takes hold (potentially “hijacking” your trip and turning it south real fast).

This is where set and setting shift from being helpful considerations to absolute nonnegotiables.

The good news is that a little preparation goes a long way.

To help stack the odds in your favor, here’s my simple set and setting checklist to run through before any high-dose psychedelic journey:

Set Checklist

• I know why I’m doing this — I’m clear on my intention, whether it’s healing, self-inquiry, creativity, ceremony, or exploration. I’m not simply trying to get fucked up or run from myself.

• I’ve assessed my mental and emotional state — Mild nerves are normal. But if I’m overwhelmed, unstable, dissociated, or caught in a downward spiral, I wait for a better day.

• I’ve cleared some mental clutter — I’ve taken time to settle my nervous system through meditation, journaling, breathwork, movement, or time in nature.

• I’m not carrying avoidable stress into the experience — I’ve handled what I can beforehand: unresolved conflicts, looming deadlines, pressing obligations, and anything else likely to pull at my attention mid-journey.

• I’m willing to meet whatever arises — I’m not entering with a rigid agenda or trying to control the experience. I’m bringing curiosity, openness, and a willingness to work with discomfort if it shows up.

Now that you’ve taken care of your inner landscape, it’s time to address the outer one: your setting.

Setting Checklist

• I’m in a safe, controlled space — I won’t be interrupted, surprised, pressured, or forced to interact with people who aren’t aligned with the experience.

• I feel physically comfortable and unboxed — The space feels open, calm, and non-threatening—ideally outdoors, in nature, or somewhere I can breathe and move freely.

• The space feels nourishing to my senses — Music is intentional, whether calming, ceremonial, or absent altogether. No chaotic media, jarring noises, or unnecessary stimulation. Fresh air, pleasant scents, comfortable clothing, soft blankets, and anything else that helps the body feel safe and at ease.

• I’ve removed unnecessary chaos — Phones are silenced (or better yet, turned off), notifications are disabled, and there’s no random “let’s see what happens” energy lingering in the background.

Once these boxes are checked, it’s time to borrow a phrase from Timothy Leary and…

“Turn on, tune in, and drop out.”

At first glance, this may seem excessive. But the force you’re inviting into your consciousness (the psychedelic) is far more powerful. That’s why preparation matters.

When you’re navigating the depths of a high-dose journey, an ounce of preparation can feel like a lifeline. Or as the old saying goes:

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

How to Avoid a Bad Trip

Modern psychedelic science has repeatedly confirmed the importance of set and setting. And long before researchers gave these concepts a name, indigenous cultures around the world had already woven them into their ceremonial traditions through ritual, preparation, music, community, and guidance.

Perhaps that’s where we should have been looking all along. Especially for myself during my reckless psychedelic exploration in my youth…

The good news is that you don’t have to learn this lesson the hard way.

By taking the time to prepare your mindset and carefully curate your environment, you dramatically increase the odds of having a safe, meaningful, and beneficial experience.

Not because psychedelics become predictable.

But because you’ve given yourself the best possible foundation from which to navigate whatever unfolds.

Stay safe and have a good trip,

Onjae

And this month, I had the pleasure of testing a really novel psilocybin product.

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you probably know how much I love different mushroom preparations, especially teas. What can I say? I’m an herbalist at heart.

This review felt extra special, too, because I rarely indulge in sweet or sugary things. But this time, I made an exception for some psilocybin-infused honey — or Magic Honey — and honestly, I was pleasantly surprised and had such an enjoyable experience.

So let’s dive in.

Read more

Speaking of fungi, today’s magic mushroom we’re diving into is none other than Psilocybe mexicana, better known as Teonanácatl, Aztec for “Flesh of the Gods.”

Honestly, if it weren’t for this mushroom, we probably wouldn’t have the vast and promising body of scientific research on psilocybin mushrooms that exists today.

This species directly led to the discovery of psilocybin and psilocin, the primary active compounds in these hallucinogenic mushrooms, essentially helping launch modern psychedelic science.

But even more importantly, these mushrooms were used ceremonially by ancient Mesoamerican cultures for thousands of years. And despite colonial suppression and pressure from the Church, the ritual knowledge endured.

Because without those wisdom keepers, I don’t know if I’d be sharing this information with you today.

So let’s take a deep dive into this legendary little mushroom and pay homage to the Indigenous peoples who honored and preserved it across millennia.

So that you know, this is an entirely reader-supported publication. This newsletter is free, but if you can support, please consider a paid subscription. It helps me enormously, and you’ll get:

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Subscribe now

I appreciate you!

Without further ado, let me introduce you to…

Psilocybe mexicana: Teonanáctl (Flesh of the Gods)

Snapshot

Family: Hymenogastraceae

Genus: Psilocybe

Species: mexicana

Synonyms (older classifications): Psilocybe galindoi, Psilocybe armandii, Psilocybe subacutipilea, Psilocybe pileocystidiata

Common Names: Teonanáctl (Aztec), nize (Mazatec), Mexican liberty cap

Distribution: Southern Mexico, Central America, northern South America

Habitat: Well-manured pastures, grassy meadows

Active Compounds: Psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin

Potency: Weak to moderate

History & Traditional Use

This mushroom has truly been around the block. And if we turn back the clock, Psilocybe mexicana, and related Psilocybes, are believed to have been used medicinally and ritually for over 3,500 years among ancient Mesoamerican cultures [1].

The earliest references to the use of sacred mushrooms in Mexico appear in Spanish colonial codices and writings. Between 1569 and 1582, Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún documented the ceremonial use of sacred mushrooms among the Nahuatl (Aztec) peoples [2].

They called these mushrooms teonanácatl, meaning “flesh of the gods,” from the Nahuatl roots:

• teōtl = god, divine spirit, sacred force

• nanācatl = mushroom or fungus

Sahagún even included drawings of blue-bruising mushrooms, believed to depict Psilocybe caerulescens and Psilocybe mexicana.

However, the ritual use of hallucinogenic mushrooms was heavily condemned by Spanish colonizers and the Church, especially during the Spanish Inquisition. Mushroom ceremonies were suppressed, and references to them gradually vanished from the literature.

But despite centuries of attempted eradication, the knowledge survived underground.

These entheogenic traditions were quietly passed down in secrecy through Indigenous lineages, eventually resurfacing in the Western world in the late 1930s. In 1939, anthropologist Jean Bassett Johnson became the first known Western scientist to witness—not partake in—a Mazatec mushroom ceremony [3].

Banker and ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson and his wife Valentina eventually learned of these sacred mushroom traditions and searched for them. In the 1950s, Wasson met Mazatec curandera María Sabina, and in 1955 became the first known Western scientist to consume sacred mushrooms (likely Psilocybe caerulescens) in a ceremonial setting under her guidance [4].

His work would ultimately help bring global attention to Mazatec mushroom traditions.

During one of Wasson’s journeys to Huautla de Jiménez in 1956, he invited French mycologist Roger Heim, who partook in a traditional mushroom ceremony, and collected samples of Psilocybe mexicana and brought them to Switzerland to be analyzed by Albert Hofmann [5], the discoverer of LSD.

In 1958, Hofmann successfully isolated psilocybin and psilocin as the primary active compounds in Psilocybe mexicana [6], essentially helping launch modern psilocybin research and the scientific study of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

And by the late 1950s, following the rediscovery of ceremonial mushroom use among the Indigenous peoples of southern Mexico, Psilocybe mexicana became recognized as one of the most widely used psilocybin mushrooms in the region [7].

It was used among groups including the Mazatec (who called them nize, “little birds”), Chinantec (a-mo-kid), Mixe (pi-tpa), Zapotec (mbey-san), and others.

These mushrooms were, and still are, traditionally used in ways strikingly similar to their pre-colonial ceremonial roles: for divination, uncovering the root causes of illness, predicting the future, communicating with spirits or ancestors, and accessing hidden knowledge.

Appearance

Psilocybe mexicana shares some striking macroscopic similarities with our beloved Liberty Cap (Psilocybe semilanceata) and is sometimes even referred to as the “Mexican Liberty Cap.”

Nonetheless, here are its key identifying characteristics:

• Cap (pileus): Small, usually 1–3 cm wide, starting cone- or bell-shaped before becoming more rounded with age. Often has a small central bump, sometimes reddish. Colors range from pale straw-yellow to orangish-brown or reddish-brown, fading lighter as it dries. When damaged or aging, the mushroom bruises blue.

• Gills (lamella): Attached closely to the stem, sometimes with a slight curve. They start pale gray and darken to purplish-brown as the spores mature, usually with lighter whitish edges.

• Stem (stipe): Thin, hollow, and smooth, usually 4–10 cm (~2–4 in) long. Straw-yellow to brownish or reddish-brown near the base or top, bruising blue where damaged.

• Spores: Dark purplish-brown to blackish purple-brown.

• Taste/Smell: Both farinaceous (like freshly ground wheat flour). [8,9,10]

It’s one of the smallest hallucinogenic Psilocybe species out there, but don’t underestimate it because of its size.

Sometimes size really doesn’t matter (in other cases it does, wink, wink). And in the case of many Psilocybes, the bigger specimens, while glorious to behold, often aren’t all that strong.

Where is Teonanáctl found?

Alright, let’s look at where this mushroom is naturally found in the wild. Despite its legendary status, it’s actually pretty localized compared to a lot of other species. Take Liberty Cap, for example, which is distributed across temperate regions globally (or “cosmopolitan”).

Interestingly, though, Liberty Caps are suspiciously absent from Mexico, leading many to speculate that Psilocybe mexicana and Liberty Caps may be sister species, with P. mexicana essentially filling the Liberty Cap niche.

But hey, that could always change. What’s fascinating is that many psilocybin mushrooms seem to thrive indirectly alongside human activity (agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, etc.), whether humans realize it or not.

Distribution

Psilocybe mexicana is typically found from May through October [10], growing throughout subtropical and southern regions of Mexico, including Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Xalapa, and Veracruz [8].

Its range also extends across much of Central America, including Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama [11,12]. Beyond that, it’s also been spotted in parts of northern South America, particularly Colombia and Ecuador, as well as the Dominican Republic [13].

Habitat

Across these regions, Psilocybe mexicana typically grows alone or in small groups, especially in well-manured pastures (but not on dung) [13], mossy areas along trails and roadsides, and open meadows.

It’s particularly fond of grassy zones bordering deciduous forests filled with trees like alders, oaks, sweetgum, and sycamore [10,8]. This mushroom is most commonly found at moderately high elevations, usually around 3,300–6,000 ft (1,000–1,800 m).

Psilocybe Mexicana Potency & Dosage

Okay, let’s take a look at the various alkaloid analyses of Psilocybe mexicana to get a better sense of this mushroom’s potency, average those numbers out, and build an approximate starting dosage range.

That way, if you ever meet this mushroom, you’ll have a better idea of how to work with it effectively.

Alkaloid Analyses

Albert Hofmann’s first analysis of Psilocybe mexicana — using the specimens brought to him by French mycologist Roger Heim during Heim’s time with R. Gordon Wasson in Huautla de Jiménez — found roughly 0.25% psilocybin and 0.15% psilocin by dry weight, for a combined alkaloid content of around 0.4% [14,15].

Another analysis by Albert Hofmann in 1959 found peak levels of 0.4% psilocybin and 0.05% psilocin, roughly 0.45% tryptamines [16].

One of the more recent analyses I could find, from 2022, reported very similar psilocybin at 0.39% and 0.19% psilocin, for a combined total of 0.58% [17]. And if you include the additional 0.03% baeocystin1, that brings the total alkaloid content closer to 0.61%.

Potency: weak to moderate

Considering the numbers above, along with several other analyses I omitted for the sake of brevity, Psilocybe mexicana falls into the weak-to-moderate potency category.

Now, while those tests were done on dried specimens, fresh mushrooms are often said to be more potent [8], though whether that’s truly the case or not is still a bit up for debate.

But really, lower potency does not mean less profound. At the right dose — which obviously needs to be a bit higher — the effects of this mushroom are known to become deeply mystical, which is exactly why it earned the name Flesh of the Gods.

Dosing Psilocybe mexicana

Considering the generally lower average potency of this species, dosing may look something like this:

• Microdose: 150–750 mg

• Threshold: 0.75–1.5 g

• Museum: 1.5–3 g

• Standard: 3–7.5 g

• Heroic: 7.5+ g

As always, start small before going deep, because there can definitely be outliers. Learn the mushroom you’re working with, and let it guide you.

An Ode to the Aztec and Beyond

How wild is it to think that humans discovered mushrooms capable of bending the mind this profoundly?

It’s honestly incredible that Indigenous peoples of the Americas were able to discover these fungi, consume them — a genuinely dangerous game considering how many mushrooms out there can kill you — and then weave those experiences into their spiritual practices, religions, and ultimately entire cultures.

We owe so much to these people and their oral traditions, which carried this profound esoteric knowledge across generations, despite relentless suppression from Spanish colonizers and the Church. And yet, the knowledge endured, preserved by the original stewards of these entheogenic mushrooms.

Psilocybe mexicana remains one of the most revered among these cultures, aptly named Teonanácatl or “Flesh of the Gods.” Today, it survives as a humble, unassuming little mushroom. Small, delicate, almost easy to overlook, yet powerful enough to profoundly shape minds, souls, and history itself.

What many thought had been lost to time was quietly hiding in plain sight all along.

And of course, gratitude is also owed to the Western researchers who kept digging, questioning, and relentlessly searching for truth, eventually rediscovering these ancient traditions while helping deepen the scientific understanding of these extraordinary fungi.

As I said earlier, without all of this, I probably wouldn’t be sharing this with you today.

And for that, I’m deeply grateful.

Onjae

Hell, I’ve been a huge proponent of the practice myself, not only because of the work of Dr. James Fadiman, but because of my own personal experience with it. During a long and brutal battle with chronic illness caused by mold toxicity and tick-borne infections, microdosing—from my personal data gathering and assessment—was a genuinely beneficial therapeutic tool.

But as microdosing has continued to explode in popularity and move further into the mainstream, the conversation around it has changed.

And honestly, that’s a good thing. Because once fringe health protocols go mainstream, they inevitably face more scrutiny, which also means more legitimate scientific testing to determine whether the claims actually hold up.

Now that we’re starting to see more placebo-controlled clinical trials emerge—not just survey/observational studies filled with anecdotal reports—I’m not entirely sure what to think about microdosing at this moment.

A couple of questions have been lingering in my mind as the newer research comes out:

1. Is microdosing largely placebo?

2. Or is there actually something meaningful happening beneath the hype?

Here’s what the latest research is beginning to reveal.

But first, just a refresher and to set the stage, here’s why people are microdosing in the first place…

Microdosing Motivations: Top Reasons & Reported Benefits

The microdosing boom seemed to erupt out of Silicon Valley—high-performance productivity seekers wondering whether they could “hack” their brains without needing to dedicate an entire day to a full psychedelic trip.

The idea was simple: take a minuscule amount of a psychedelic, but more consistently, and hopefully reap some of the same, or different, benefits that macrodosing has proven.

A 2019 survey study, Motives and Side-Effects of Microdosing With Psychedelics Among Users, looked at 1,116 respondents who either currently microdosed (79.5%) or had microdosed in the past (20.5%).

The top 3 reasons people reported microdosing were:

1. Performance enhancement (energy, concentration, studying, creativity)

2. Symptom alleviation (psychiatric and physiological symptoms)

3. Mood enhancement

The motivations are pretty clear. But what about the reported benefits?

A study published in the Harm Reduction Journal (Psychedelic microdosing benefits and challenges: an empirical codebook) analyzed qualitative reports from 278 real-world microdosers and found the following reported effects:

• Improved mood — 26.6%

• Improved focus — 14.8%

• Creativity — 12.9%

• Self-efficacy — 11.3%

• Improved energy — 10.5%

• Social benefits — 7.6%

• Cognitive benefits — 5.8%

• Reduced anxiety — 4.2%

• Physiological enhancement — 3.0%

• Other perceived benefits — 2.2%

• Reduced symptoms (other) — 1.1%

Sounds great, right? Well… there’s an important catch.

These findings were self-reported associations, not proof that microdosing directly caused the improvements.

And up to this point, much of the excitement around microdosing has been built on anecdotal reports, observational data, and inferences drawn from what we know about full-dose psychedelic experiences.

In other words, we still need stronger evidence before making definitive conclusions.

So with that said, let’s dive into what the current higher-level research shows—randomized controlled trials (RCTs), clinical trials, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews—to see whether microdosing truly lives up to the hype.

Is microdosing just hype?

Given the three main motivations behind microdosing—performance enhancement, symptom alleviation, and mood enhancement—I gathered (not cherry-picked) many of the most relevant studies here to see whether microdosing actually delivers.

My goal here is to stay as unbiased as possible.

I want to lay the current evidence on the table so you can assess it objectively. Here we go.

1) Performance Enhancement

Performance enhancement—especially cognitive enhancement—is the primary reason people are drawn to microdosing in the first place.

You’ve likely heard it marketed as a kind of “productivity hack” by the Silicon Valley tech bros, capable of boosting focus, creativity, mental clarity, and output. Let’s see about that.

• Effects of psychedelic microdosing on cognitive functions: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This meta-analysis of 14 studies found that psychedelic microdosing did not lead to overall improvements in cognition, creativity, or mental performance.

What it did appear to do, however, was slightly reduce “cognitive control,” meaning the brain may become a bit less rigid and more flexible in how it processes information.

The authors suggested this could help explain why some people report more fluid thinking, perspective shifts, or altered states of consciousness while microdosing, but not necessarily improved performance itself.

• Cognitive and subjective effects of psilocybin microdosing: Results from two double-blind placebo-controlled longitudinal trials

This 2026 double-blind, placebo-controlled study tested whether psilocybin microdosing could improve cognition, mood, focus, creativity, and well-being over time.

Across two rigorous clinical trials, researchers found no reliable improvements beyond placebo, challenging the popular idea that microdosing acts as a meaningful cognitive or productivity enhancer.

ADHD

Let’s get even more specific and go another layer deeper into the cognitive-enhancement arena—though this probably overlaps quite a bit with symptom alleviation—and look at what the evidence says about microdosing for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

• Safety and Efficacy of Repeated Low-Dose LSD for ADHD Treatment in Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial

This placebo-controlled clinical trial tested whether twice-weekly 20 μg LSD microdoses could reduce ADHD symptoms over six weeks in adults with moderate to severe ADHD.

While the low-dose LSD was found to be physically safe and psychologically well tolerated, it ultimately did not outperform the placebo. Both groups improved at similar rates, suggesting that many of the perceived benefits of microdosing for ADHD may be driven more by expectancy and placebo effects than by the LSD itself.

Creativity

Now, this is another one of the most hyped-up and commonly touted benefits of microdosing. So, again, scientists are putting it to the test:

• Exploring the effect of microdosing psychedelics on creativity in an open-label natural setting

This 2018 naturalistic study found that psychedelic microdosing (with psilocybin mushroom truffles at 0.22 g, 0.33 g, and 0.44 g, depending on bodyweight) appeared to improve aspects of creativity—particularly divergent thinking, the ability to generate many novel ideas—while also improving problem-solving performance.

However, because the study lacked a placebo control and was conducted in a real-world setting, the researchers cautioned that expectation effects, mood, and participant enthusiasm could have influenced the results.

• Multimodal creativity assessments following acute and sustained microdosing of lysergic acid diethylamide

This randomized placebo-controlled study tested whether repeated LSD microdosing (10 μg every third day for six weeks) could enhance creativity in healthy adults.

And despite participants feeling more creative on dosing days, researchers found no measurable improvements in creativity, problem-solving, or divergent thinking compared to placebo.

2) Mood and Psychiatric & Physiological Symptom Alleviation

Lastly, we have the other major pillar behind microdosing: its use for mental health and holistic health support. But does it actually live up to the buzz?

Down the rabbit hole we go…

• Acute Mood-Elevating Properties of Microdosed Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in Healthy Volunteers: A Home-Administered Randomized Controlled Trial

This placebo-controlled trial included 80 healthy adult men, with 40 participants receiving 10 μg LSD microdoses and 40 receiving a placebo every three days for six weeks.

Researchers found that participants reported short-term boosts in creativity, connectedness, energy, happiness, and overall wellness on dosing days themselves; the effects did not translate into lasting improvements in mood, cognition, or mental performance by the end of the study.

While microdosing appeared relatively safe overall, four participants in the LSD group dropped out of the study due to treatment-related anxiety.

Depression

Out of all the research I’ve been sifting through, outside of creativity, this area of microdosing application might be the most promising. I was fairly impressed by these two studies:

• LSD microdosing for major depressive disorder: Mood and pharmacokinetic outcomes from a Phase 2a trial

This small Phase 2a clinical trial explored whether LSD microdosing (16 sublingual LSD doses of 8 μg) could help people with major depression over eight weeks.

They found that participants reported feeling happier, more creative, and emotionally better on dosing days, with no signs of tolerance building over time.

But the study was open-label (meaning no placebo group), involved only 19 participants, and did not find clear day-to-day reductions in depression symptoms, meaning the results are promising but still highly preliminary and need confirmation in placebo-controlled trials

• Safety and tolerability of multiple sublingual microdoses of 5-MeO-DMT in adults with moderate symptoms of depression and/or anxiety: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

This 2025, first-of-its-kind, Phase I clinical trial found that four weeks of repeated low doses of 5-MeO-DMT (6 mg, 9mg, and 12 mg) were generally safe, well-tolerated, and rapidly absorbed, without causing full psychedelic effects or impairing participants’ daily functioning (so “microdosing”).

Researchers also observed dose-dependent changes in brain activity and emerging improvements in mood-related symptoms, suggesting that microdoses of 5-MeO-DMT may have therapeutic potential and warrant further clinical research.

What is unique about this study is that, up to this point, most of the microdosing research has focused almost entirely on either psilocybin or LSD. Microdosing 5-MeO-DMT is in incredibly novel territory, but also really fascinating and, as we found, potentially promising.

What does all of this actually mean?

I know some of this might sound discouraging. But, at this point, one thing is very clear:

We need more research… and better research because the current state of the evidence is still incredibly messy.

• The emerging science of microdosing: A systematic review of research on low-dose psychedelics (1955–2021) and recommendations for the field

This 2022 systematic review concluded that the microdosing field—despite data assessment over almost 70 years—still lacks the rigor needed to make strong conclusions one way or the other.

The authors specifically called for:

• larger placebo-controlled clinical trials,

• standardized dosing protocols,

• better tracking of expectancy and placebo effects,

• longer-term follow-up studies,

• more objective cognitive and biological measurements,

• and clearer distinctions between acute “on-dose” effects vs. lasting “off-dose” effects.

And honestly, I think that’s the most grounded takeaway right now.

Could the research eventually shift toward a more optimistic therapeutic outlook on microdosing? Absolutely.

We’re not there yet.

Well… is microdosing just placebo?

Here’s where things get interesting.

To answer the first question I posed in the beginning—Is microdosing largely placebo?—I don’t think the evidence only supports the idea that microdosing is just placebo.

Even though many of the long-term benefits fail to consistently outperform placebo in clinical trials, researchers are still observing measurable physiological and neurological changes from low doses of psychedelics.

For example:

• Preliminary Report on the Effects of a Low Dose of LSD on Resting-State Amygdala Functional Connectivity

This study found that even low doses of LSD measurably altered emotional brain networks—particularly circuits involved in fear, rumination, and self-processing—hinting at why psychedelics may hold legitimate therapeutic potential even at low doses.

• Low doses of LSD reduce broadband oscillatory power and modulate event-related potentials in healthy adults

Researchers also found that low doses of LSD produced measurable changes in brain activity similar to those seen with full psychedelic doses, including reduced rigid brain-network synchronization and altered sensory-processing signals.

So, given that researchers are clearly observing measurable effects on the brain and nervous system, I don’t think microdosing can be dismissed as some completely inert practice where absolutely nothing is happening under the surface.

There does appear to be something going on.

Is it also hype?

Potentially, yes. But…

• Keeping the promise: a critique of the current state of microdosing research

This review concluded that it is still far too early to draw firm conclusions about the efficacy or safety of microdosing because the overall quality of the research remains limited and inconsistent.

Even when a lot of people are talking up microdosing to no end (I’ve been guilty of that too).

• Potential safety, benefits, and influence of the placebo effect in microdosing psychedelic drugs: A systematic review

Another review found highly contradictory findings across the literature, with studies showing both benefits and drawbacks related to mood, creativity, cognition, and energy.

And I think that contradiction perfectly captures where the field currently sits.

While I’ve personally been a proponent of microdosing—and experienced benefits myself—I’m also trying to remain as open-minded and intellectually honest about the emerging evidence as possible.

This letter isn’t meant to invalidate your positive experience with microdosing.

Nor is it meant to dismiss the possibility that psychedelics may eventually prove therapeutically useful in low doses. But based on the current evidence, the reality seems far more nuanced than the internet hype cycle often makes it out to be.

Right now, the strongest conclusion we can honestly make is this:

Microdosing appears to produce real, measurable effects on the brain and subjective experience.

But whether those effects reliably translate into meaningful long-term cognitive, psychological, or performance-enhancing benefits beyond placebo?

That question is still very much unresolved.

Gotta stay curious,

Onjae