Erowid Submission

I just attempted to submit an experience report about mushrooms to Erowid and heyah it is!

Over the past 5 years I have taken many opportunities to experiment with hallucinogenic mushrooms. I've grown my own, picked from the wild and bought on the street. Finally I decided it is time to impart some knowledge on the use, effects, and history on this incredible fungi.
The first time I ever experienced mushrooms was 1/2 an 8th of dried stems and caps. It was possibly the only time my mind seemed to collapse in to itself on shrooms. I wasn't where I was anymore at one point. I was in a canyon with dinosaurs running around me, which was in part due to a dinosaur sheet my friend had hanging on the wall. This type of disassociation has never happened to me again on shrooms (but plenty of times on ketamine).
With the first time through with, I was very happy with the experience. Over the next few years I would find myself re-visiting this amazing high but never in excess.
Because of my love for the substance and my botanical interests I decided to attempt some growing a few years back. When Psylocybe Fanaticus was still in business I ordered a few syringed and within 2 months had a 2 ounce yield of mushrooms. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Eating the fresh shrooms was comparable to dried out ones, still disgusting, but at this point I had grown to love it. The high was just as good as any I had ever gotten from other sources, but sadly in the midst of moving all my crop died out and I haven't had the opportunity to grow again since.
With the knowledge of what kind of shrooms were hallucinogenic and my friends past history of picking them in Florida me and some people decided it was time to go on a field trip. I spent two weeks in Florida picking the freshest, largest, most beautiful mushrooms I had ever seen. They tasted similar to the ones I had grown, and definitely made me trip.
So with all of that said, between buying, picking and growing I feel as if I have experienced every type of mushroom high there is. The way I have generally experienced them is as follows. Normally the first hour as I descend in to the mouth of madness I start to feel very uncomfortable in my own skin. I am a little nervous because I never know what is going to happen on any given trip. Even though I have done them so many times it makes no difference, I always experience something new. After the first hour is through and I am fully tripping I then start to experience the world in a more serene and calm manner. My mind feels as if it understands the physical world and sentient beings around it on a deeper level. It comprehends problems and solutions in a much faster manner, without hesitation or doubt. Of course there is the obvious description of colors and waves of light flashing by my vision. However I almost think of that as a simple opening act to the main event.
Towards the end of my trips I stay very calm and flow with my surroundings. I am never regretful of having done mushrooms no matter how bad it starts, by the end I am always happy. With most drugs the come down is the worst part, for me the come down of shrooms is almost the best part. I can collect all the ideas and crazy thoughts I had, figure out what's real and what's not, and put my life back together as I come back to reality as perceived by the masses. When I get back I feel great and ready to go about my life in a new way. This is almost EVERY time I do them, which is why I take such long hiatuses between usage. But overall they are my favorite "narcotic" as labeled by government. They have much to teach, if only the majority of people that use them would use them for that instead of a quick laugh. We wonder why they're illegal, it's because of the misuse and mistreatment of them. Once we can handle our hallucinogens more abundantly as a society that is when they will become legal again.