If you want to drink from the grail, First, it has to be ascertained that you are humble and sincere. Thus you are given a test of endurance. Chances are you will pass this test, Since you do not have a choice. Once you take the elixir, There is no turning back. To enter the world beyond illusion, And connect directly with Source, The prerequisite is to endure ego-death and temporary hell.
- The Requiem of the Psychonaut, by Health Travel Junkie
Contents
The Magic Truffles Trip: An Ordinary Day
I leave my hostel at 11 am. I was advised to not eat 3 hours before the trip. But my last meal was the previous night. Although it is not a requirement, I stuck to vegetarian food the previous 4 or 5 days in pursuit of pristine clarity of mind.
On my way to the smartshop, I stop by the grocery store to get some orange juice, bananas, licorice, green juice and water. There is a theory that you can shorten a bad trip by drinking orange juice, or eating something sweet. Thus I arrive prepared at Kokopelli, in case my trip would go awry.
I choose to take the truffles at Kokopelli since its the only smart shop I could find in Amsterdam with a tripping lounge. It’s not the best place in the world to have a truffles trip, because there are other people coming in and out of the store. Yet, for a traveler in Amsterdam, it may be the best option. The lounge is in a quiet part at the back of the shop. Since I arrive only half an hour after opening time, on a Monday 11h30am, there was no one else (yet). Thus I could explore my mind in relative peace and tranquility, with a stimulating view of the canal outside, and trippy beats playing through the speakers.
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Eating from the Netherworlds
Due to reports of tourists jumping into the Amsterdam Canals while tripping, the sale of Magic Mushrooms was banned a few years ago in Amsterdam. However, it’s still legal to grow at home, and grow kits are legally sold as well.
Truffles are supposed to be a little milder than the mushrooms which is why it’s still legal to buy. Yet it’s so similar that the only real difference is truffles is a type of mushroom that grows underground, while regular mushrooms sprout above the soil. Magic Truffles are also known by the scientific name, Sclerotia (singular: Sclerotium), otherwise, casually referred to as Philosopher’s Stones.
Atlantis is not the mildest strain for beginners to use. But it’s a good choice if you want to experience the “real thing”, without burning yourself as a noob with a very strong strain like Dragons Dynamite (strictly only for advanced psychonauts). If you fear a too intense trip, you could try the two lightest strains: Mexicana or Tampanensis, instead. Yet a large part of your experience will be determined by how much you ingest, along with your body’s sensitivity to the Psilocybin compound (which is the active ingredient of truffles and magic mushrooms). 5 to 10 grams will do for a first magic truffle trip.
After buying 10 grams of Atlantis truffles for 10 Euros, I sit down at the tripping couch. I immediately chew and swallow it all down with water, on an empty stomach. The Sclerotia tastes like peanuts crossed with regular mushrooms – not bad at all.
The Come Up
The come up is the time from which you ingest the substance until the effect fully kicks in. If you’re new to truffles you may feel some anxiety. Which is normal. Questions whirl-pool in your mind like “what if I’m allergic to this stuff?”, “What will I experience?” or “Will I be able to handle the Psilocybin in this plant? (or the effects thereof…)”. The trip commences within 30 minutes to one hour after ingestion. Buckle your seatbelt. There is only one way to find out what it is like exploring the inner realms.
The Effects kick in
After an hour, I can no longer feel my physical presence, in the way that I’m used to… Muscles are twitching. I feel poisoned – like my body is not accommodating well with the truffles. Simply to swallow water feels weird. I could only take a few small sips at a time. I’m not able to eat anything either. My tongue doesn’t have any feeling. The mouth resembles being at the dentist, after a painkilling injection. Somewhat numb. Like my etheric body is dissolving into thin air. But my consciousness remains.
I am both in my body, but also not in my body. My body is there and I could still move my limbs, but at the same time, I’m in my mind, journeying like a psychonaut through the inner worlds and spiritual realms. No hallucinations, but feeling awful. And in a dark place.
The nice thing about Atlantis truffles, is you don’t see any hallucinations when your eyes are open. Needless to say, I was grateful I did not opt for a stronger species of this subterranean plant. Whenever I wanted to, I could escape the intense inner visuals by keeping my eyes open. At this point in time, the experience is vividly uncomfortable. The shop manager, noticing me shifting around in my chair, asks if I am OK. I tell her I’m not feeling great (an understatement). She reassures me that in 30 to 35 minutes the bad trip will be over. I have to wait it out.
Next, I walk to the bathroom downstairs, but since I didn’t eat anything that morning, there was nothing to puke. I walk back up to the chill lounge, wallow through my backpack to see if there is anything that may help. I find the 500ml orange juice. Drink it in one go. This was me raising a white flag to the mushroom gods. I give up. I want out. I don’t like this. And I don’t want this. Yet, I am not feeling better. Vitamin C isn’t going to save me. I have to wait it out. So I sit there uncomfortably, staring at the river outside while listening to trippy music.
During the bad part of your trip, taking shrooms feels like the worst possible thing you could’ve done, at that moment. To describe the feeling: Anything else in the world seems like a better idea, at that point in time, than sitting there tripping. You question all your life decisions, to find out, how it came to this, that I’m having this bad trip. That’s how bad it feels.
Astronaut Psychonaut
Feeling like an astronaut of the inner worlds – the Psilocybin in the magic truffles, like a metaphorical spaceship, is facilitating my voyage in the spiritual realms. Asteroids in some places. My legs were moving… With the feet resembling the postures of breaking and then stepping down on the pedals. While my back was firmly planted against the seat behind me. My hands and feet were trembling. Let’s reframe this as heavy turbulence of the inner worlds.
But after 30 to 40 minutes, I feel better. I pulled through to the other side and slayed the demons from Shroom world. The Initiation, for that day, was over.
Initiation Completed
At some point, I decide to lie down instead of remaining seated. Now, there is peaceful energy flowing through me. Similar to Ayahuasca, you reach a point where positive visuals start appearing while your eyes are closed. Now I’m receiving uplifting messages from my subconscious mind. My legs are shaking and vibrating like I’m tapping into streams of electricity from the Source. Not through any action on my behalf. But more in the sense of spiritual ecstasy. There’s tingling in my muscles. Paired with the positive calming visuals I’m getting. It feels blissful.
While one or two other customers are browsing around the shop, I simply continue lying stretched out on the couch. Journeying within the beautiful, but highly illegal, inner worlds.
The Philosophy of Consciousness
The question arises: Was I feeling any different now than I felt with the bad part of the trip? Or have I simply accepted the bad energy, and the dark “loss of control” feeling within the first half hour? Perhaps I transmuted the experience, and now I’m feeling the same energy, which initially struck me as confusion, as blissful, healing waves of light, instead. I got attuned to the shroom consciousness.
That morning, I arrived with my day-to-day earthly mindset. You cant simply take 10gram truffles, and now you expect to feel bliss and ecstasy. It doesn’t work that way. This is not a drug, it’s a medicine. You first have to be plunked out of whatever mindset you are in. Then you are dumped into some intermediate world where everything is unfamiliar. The bad trip was the magic truffles preparing my body for the new vibration.
A different theory is that the truffles were loosening its worst grip on me after an hour and a half to two hours since ingestion. And thus it was easier to let go, relax and enjoy the experience.
Connecting to Source
So now, there was a direct line of communication between my shaken ego, the inner healer, the Source, and my spirit. Everything perfectly attuned like a Jimi Hendrix six-string guitar.
“Everything is energy. Everything is consciousness.” A higher voice explains while I’m being pumped positive vibrations directly from the source.
The question arises in my mind: What happens when you die.
A response comes: Since everything is consciousness. Nothing dies. Energy simply gets transformed into something new.
At this point, with eyes closed, I saw visuals of someone on a deathbed. The spirit was hovering above the body, high above the building. A spirit too large to be contained in a room. When the body was at its weakest, the spirit was at the strongest. During the last breath, at that exact moment, the spirit, like a huge white space “bird”, instantaneously flew away – like a lightning bolt. The job was done. Earth journey completed. The soul returned back to the source, to another realm, another dimension. In this case, let’s call it “Heaven”.
I was shown how we all have a soul or spirit. Always “flying above us…”. Soaring in the skies. Although we only see the physical face and body. This would symbolize your higher body – what remains of you when your earthly body returns to dust. Consciousness cannot be destroyed even if your brain sleeps or dies.
Similar to my suffering during the first part of this magic truffle trip: I was shown that whenever you suffer in life, the spirit remains stronger than ever. In fact, the spirit grows stronger through suffering (and not weaker).
Leaving the Tripping Room
After 3 hours I leave Kokopelli and go to my hostel, a few hundred meters away in the same street (St. Christopher’s). I clumsily find my way to my room and then crash on the top bed. The curtains of my dorm bed provide some privacy as I come up from the journey within.
Without the trippy beats of Kokopelli, it wasn’t that awesome. It’s not the same sensory stimulating atmosphere as in the shop. Thus, I wouldn’t take truffles in a hotel room. It’s simply a much better experience in the right setting. For example, go into nature with friends, find a tripping lounge, or create the right ambiance in a private residence.
Final Thoughts
If plants like truffles are used in a more spiritual environment, with a shaman (or trip-sitter) leading a ceremony (or keeping an eye on you), it can be very transformative. Like a life turning point, where you decide to e.g. quit alcohol, drugs, bad habits, or address personality defects like dishonesty, or criminal behavior.
It feels tougher than anything you could physically do in the modern age. Probably since its more a mental test, and not physical. Natural psychedelics (not drugs), is about fighting and winning inner battles. These are battles against the plants you ingest, which are only facilitators for the change. The Truffles took me to a dark place where there was no me, with my body melting into the surroundings. But my consciousness survived, I outlasted the bad trip and came out stronger. While directly afterwards feeling immense gratitude for my everyday existence – where things aren’t always perfect, but still much better than on a bad trip. A good trip would potentially not have been as beneficial as the strength you gain from a bad trip.
In the end, maybe the orange juice did make the trip shorter, as I’m writing this report on my laptop five hours after taking the truffles. Normally a trip lasts about 6 hours, with mine almost completely over after 4 and a half.
What is a Psychonaut?
An explorer of altered states of consciousness, and the depths of the human mind. Similar to an Astronaut exploring space, the Psychonaut explores inner space. A real psychonaut would use devices such as meditation or plants to gain wisdom and spiritual knowledge. It is like taking a medicine, in a controlled setting, with due respect for the plant, and its effects.
Warnings about Magic Truffles
Never mix Magic Mushrooms or Truffles with alcohol or marijuana. Also, supplements that interact with brain serotonin levels e.g. St John’s Wort or psychiatric drugs, should not be combined with truffles. Also, avoid if you have some kind of psychiatric condition. I have a 100% clear mental health record, no drug history, and I don’t have an addictive personality. Thus, I’m in a fortunate position where I am able to push my own limits. Make sure that the same applies to you.
If you are illegally sourcing mushrooms, ensure that what you are getting is really Magic Mushrooms, and not some other species of Poisonous Mushroom (1). However tripping in Amsterdam on Magic Truffles is quite safe, since it’s fully legal and thus regulated for quality. This may not be the case in countries where magic mushrooms (or truffles) are illegal.
Generally, there are no serious side-effects to using Magic Truffles or Magic Mushrooms. Plenty of studies are available online to prove this (2). Unless you neglect the safety warnings given above. There have been cases of people dying after eating magic mushrooms, by jumping out of windows, since they didn’t treat the psilocybin with enough respect. For example, by combining it with Cannabis (3). Thus to be as safe as possible, have a sober person around to keep an eye on you while tripping.
Also read my Ayahuasca and San Pedro Report at the Bottom of my Cusco Wellness Guide.
What is your experience with Magic Truffles (or Mushrooms)? Do you have any questions or tips for other travelers? Comment Below!
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