Well, as I said in my introduction essay the next entheogens on my list are mushrooms and DMT, but as my piracetam is on its way I'm taking a psychedelic tolerance break until it gets here, and as part of my schedule to get myself out of my old addict mindset I'm only allowing myself to take hallucinogens of any kind on Sundays, so as I still wanted some kind of trip yesterday, I decided to give Amanita muscaria a second attempt, my first being over a year ago and not really weilding any results. What I got was not exactly what I was expecting, but I am pleased with the results.

I picked up 15 grams from a local headshop and ate them late last night as they were; I know 15 grams can be a lot for a newcomer to them, but since they're just from a store and not online and I didn't do any preparations, in addition to the fact that I tend to have to take higher doses than most people to trip anyway, I figured it would even out to give me what I was looking for. For the entirety of the experience I was in my bedroom with not very much light, but I didn't need it for the effect they had on me. What I got was the strangest altered perception I've experienced yet that lacked any visual activity. I should add that because I used to trip waaay too often, I have mild HPPD consisting of colorful grainy textures and some pulsating, so that was present, but I'm very familiar with it and can tell that there were no drug-induced visuals added on, although it may have contributed to my mindset. Basically, the best way I've been able to describe it so far is that my thought process no longer consisted of words but very clear, very defined images, and these images were somewhere between dissociative and deliriant visuals in style (including the real perception of depth and abstract themes) and were actually based on what I could see in the real world, like my thoughts would normally be. I could describe the images in full detail and knew exactly what was occuring in them down to every color detail, but they were still thoughts, and only thoughts. The real world never once changed the way it looked, so what I had was a train of thought led by these strange images in my mind's eye that were based on a normal reality. There was also a good deal of euphoria during the peak of the experience, of the kind that went very well with me rolling around in my bed sheets.

It occured to me after this that while I've read a good number of Amanita trip reports, I've only ever seen good descriptions of high dose trips or really strange occurences, and I'm not quite sure what to expect as far as some of the more basic effects go. Is what I experienced common in the trips? Either way, it was definitely an interesting experience being that out of it while still seeing the world in a normal way (at one point I was sure that my hands were alternatingly pulsing in and out of reality while changing size, even though I could see them completely fine - it was so convincing), and I plan to experiment with them again at some point.

sounds like a great time maybe you convinced me to give them a try, probly one of the only mushrooms i have never eaten because of bad reports. thanks for the imput, i cant wait to see them popping up all over, last year there was feilds of them round here and i let most of them rot silly me.

For sure, I enjoyed the experience. I'd have to imagine that a lot of the negative stigma comes from the use of very high doses by those who were unprepared for them, much like many other (especially legal) highs. I can certainly tell how it could get uncomfortable in large amounts, but I think if taken slowly you can work your way up to it alright. I eventually plan to try using small amounts of datura stramonium seeds to offset negative symptoms, similar to amounts used to offset nausea with other psychoactives, since I'd have to imagine it would work even better with this; as the toxic symptoms of A. muscaria are caused by muscarine, a cholinergic, the tropane alkaloids serve as the specific antidotes. (Not to say that I know exactly what I'm talking about, if you try to use this information please be cautious.)

sure enough i was going to say it sounds a little like datura or atleast from what i have encounterd with it, and i have yet to see any negative side effects from those seeds. so you just ate them whole? i heard that the stem to cap ratio should be kept even to reduce unpleasant side effects but i will post how it goes after hunting i think i remeber seeing the most around valintines day so its just a matter of time.

Yep, the ones I got from the store were caps only so I didn't have to worry about stems. It certainly was similar to a deliriant trip in some respects. (I have no experience with datura but am sad to say that I've gotten to know diphenhydramine.) I'd have to say that this trip was much more enjoyable, but as far as mental/visual distortions goes, whereas on a deliriant you'd get a distorted view of the world along with a disconnected thought process, on the amanita I got a much stronger delirium for an equivalent level of "trip" but only based on what I could actually see, not a modified version of it. The feel of it is also a bit more psychedelic-like than deliriants, and I can see how it would move more into out-of-body/dissociative-like territory at higher doses than an anticholinergic-like space. But that's cool that you know where to find some in the wild, I look forward to reading your report!