textfiles/drugs/amanita.rpts

A. muscaria anecdotes.

Steven Pollock, J. Psych Drugs Oct-Dec 1975.

	"When we returned to a friend's residence, we boiled six caps
of various dimensions.  Frank consumed two in his mushroom soup and I
ate four (the usual dose being one to four caps).  The taste was
something like chicken.  Curiously, I became nauseated within minutes
but the feeling was fleeting.  Within a half hour I noticed many
peculiar effects.  Audition became enhanced and synesthesias became
prominent with multi-modality overflow.  I began to taste odors, to
small tastes, and even to hear odors and tastes.  Visual disturbances
were almost non-existent, but I noticed frequent recurrent gustatory,
olfactory and auditory flashes.  Tactile sensation became markedly
enhanced.  Occasional moments of nausea occurred during the first two
hourse of the experience, but then the pseudo-delirium settled into a
profound euphoric state of consciousness.  Equilibrium was affected as
by ethyl alcohol throughout the intoxication, but mentation in
contrast remained unimpaired.  After six hours, though still under the
Amanita influence, I retired for a night of sound sleep.  Frank
experienced a state of wellbeing and restfulness without any nausea.
He felt a sharpening of auditory, gustatory, and tactile sensations.
While taking a shower during the evening, Frank seemed to taste
cleanliness and he later slept well.
	"A few days later we again tempted our fate but with dried
Amanitas.  I ate four caps and Frank consumed three.  Each of us
experienced a pleasant intoxication with only mild sensory alterations
including subtle echo patterns.  Frank did feel nauseated, however,
for the first half hour, but the predominant effect afterwards was
induction of euphoria.  A nonintoxicated observer noticed no
distinctive changes in our behavior."

Jonathan Ott, "Studies of Amanita" J. Psych Drugs Jan-Mar 1976.

	"On two occasions in the fall of 1975, I ingested dried caps
of A. muscaria from Washington.  The mushroom caps were eaten as
`Amanita chips,' and were tasty.  On the first occasion, I ingested
the chips along with several grams of Psilocybe cyanescens Wakefield
from Washington which had been estimated to contain at least 1 percent
psilocin dry weight.  The effect experienced therefore have no bearing
on Amanita toxicity.  On the second occasion, I ingested about 30
grams of the dried caps, and after an hour began to experience a very
pleasant opium-like sedation with slight visual phenomena, similar to
those described for A. pantherina intoxication, although of lesser
intensity.  I experienced distinct muscarinic effects, characterized
by profuse salivation and mild perspiration.  Three friends who
ingested the mushrooms with me reported similar effects.  The
muscarinic symptoms were not at all unpleasant.  Either these effect
were due to muscarine in the carpophores (in which case A. muscaria
from Washington must contain a much higher concentration of muscarine
than is reported for European specimens), or they were produced by
some yet-unidentified compound with muscarinic activity.
	"Again, I experienced no nausea or other adverse effects.  The
intoxication was experienced for about five hours, after which I went
to sleep and awoke the next morning with no after-effects.  During the
experience I noticed a rather profound diminution of coordination and
balance, effects similar to advanced stages of ethanol intoxication.
There were, however, no effects of clouding of consciousness or
slurring of speech.  One of the friends who ingested the mushrooms
with me experienced slight nausea, but no other adverse effects were
reported."

A. pantherina anecdote.
Jonathan Ott again.

	"In the spring of 1975, after completing the above survey, I
collected some early specimens of A. pantherina near Tenino,
Washington.  I sliced and sauteed the mushrooms, and divided them into
six portions, consisting of about one half cup of material each.  The
six portions were ingested by myself and five friends, one of whom
ingested only half of a dose, the remaining half being ingested, along
with a full portion, by another of my friends.  All of us enjoyed the
taste of the mushrooms.
	"After an hour had elapsed, I had concluded that the dosage
level was too low, and had retired to my home to build a fire and
study.  About 90 minutes after ingestion, however, while
hyperventilating into my wood stove in an attempt to start the fire, I
noticed that I was experiencing changes in visual perception.  These
effects became stronger over the next hour or some, and were
characterized by sensing an `alive quality' in inanimate objects, wavy
motion in the visual field like a Van Gogh canvas (no color perception
was associated with the motion, however, as is so commonly encountered
following ingestion of LSD, psilocybin, or mescaline), and mild
distortion of size, distance and depth perception.  Auditory
hallucination were also prominent -- especially the effect, called
`anahata sounds' of yoga, of hearing fine high-pitched sounds like
bells and violin strings.  I experienced only slight impairment of
motor coordination and balance, such as would be produced by a small
amount of ethanol, equivalent to two or three bottles of beer.  In
contrast to the effect of ethanol, however, there was no slurring of
speech or clouding of consciousness.  While I felt as though my
conciousness was somehow removed and distant from the surroundings, I
experienced a sense of great clarity, as I often experience following
ingestion of psilocybin-containing mushrooms.  It seemed to me that
the psychic effect were emanating from the `ajna chakra', the
so-called `third eye' -- a locus above and between the eyes.  I
experienced no muscular spasms, cramps, vomiting, or nausea of any
kind.  The experience was totally pleasurable, and lasted about seven
hours.  I was struck by the unique quality of the effect whereas I
find the psychic effects of LSD, psilocybin-containing mushrooms, and
peyote to be similar, to be, as it were, on a continuum of related
experience, I felt the A. pantherina was distinctly different.
	"Of my five friends, two experienced slight nausea, and only
one felt drowsy.  This person slept for about an hour, and awoke
feeling refreshed.  Two of my friends alleged that they had never been
so high on hallucinogenic drugs before.  One of these friends, the
person who ingested half again as much of the fried mushrooms as I,
experienced a complete dissociative reaction, and was unable to
communicate with the rest of the group for about five hours.  While in
this state, he was periodically attempting to articulate his thoughts,
but was totally incapable of communication.  During this phase of his
intoxication, we were talking about this history of A. muscaria and
urine ingestion in Siberia.  The subject in the dissociated state
later reported the experience of vivid waking dreams which were
related, through bizarre imagery, to the topics of the conversations
we had been conducting around him.  After about five hours of
dissociative experience, the subject began to reestablish contact with
the rest of us and within 90 minutes was fully rational, though shaken
and frightened.  None of us experienced any after-effects."

	 PGP 2 key by finger or e-mail
   Eli   ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu

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Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: rcain@netcom.com (Robert Cain)
Subject: Re: Amanita Muscaria
Message-ID: <rcainC4qtvL.E9G@netcom.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 07:52:32 GMT

[quoted text deleted -cak]

Yep, a night in the hospital in the most awful psychic agony I have
ever experienced while they poured ipecac (SP) and charcoal down me
'cause the little bastards refused to let me puke. I was pumped.  I
was then hooked to a heart monitor and had the distinct displeasure of
seeing my heart stop a couple of times.  After one of them and a couple
of firm thumps to my sternum I asked the doctor if I was going to make
it.  He was rather preocupied with saving my life and sorta muttered,
"we don't know."  They would not treat me with anything until the
mushroom was identified which they did by flying it to a poison control
center in Denver, I think it was, by Navy jet from Moffet field.  They
then shot me with something that had me down in 15 minutes after about
six hours of mental horror.  The next morning every damn med student
and intern came by to find out what it was like.  I didn't have good
things to report.  Your mileage may vary.  The view I got of the human
condition and the burried sadness, pain and agony in everyone around
and treating me in the busy emergency facility may have been one very
powerful sort of empathogenic halucination effect but it fucked me up
for a long time.  I have tried nearly every psychoactive even remotely
available and nothing, NOTHING, has had such a negative psychic effect.

Peace,

Bob
-- 
Bob Cain    rcain@netcom.com   408-358-2007

    'The meek shall inherit the earth--the rest of us will move on..'
                                                    Sameer Parekh


               PGP 1.0 or 2.0 public key available on request.

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Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: kfseefel@mtu.edu (KURT F. SEEFELDT)
Subject: Re: Fly agaric? Help request
Message-ID: <1993Apr30.005221.14177@mtu.edu>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 00:52:21 GMT

In article <nat92-6.736006759@math.chalmers.se> nat92-6@math.chalmers.se (Andreas Engstr|m) writes:
>I would be very happy if people could post their experiences with 
>Amanita Muscaria, Fly agaric (Y'know, that red thing with white dots..).

 I was the sober person for a Amanita Muscaria experience with some
friends.  They consumed some fresh mushrooms with peanut butter, as the
taste was horrid. Nothing happened for a while. Then...they all ended
up getting sick (vomitting). The illness was brief but violent and 
unexpected. That passed and the buzz set in. They described it as similar
to a few beers. Nothing special, and certainly not worth the experience.
 They have not done it since and I don't think they will.

 Based on their experience, I would not recommend it. If you do try it, 
be careful.

  - kurt

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From: lazarus@pinn.net (Self-centered SOB)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs,alt.psychoactives
Subject: Re: mushrooms in Russia
Date: 26 Aug 1994 02:46:45 GMT
Message-ID: <33jl2l$hbn@everest.pinn.net>

Daniel Davidson (davidson@mercury.sfsu.edu) wrote:

: Of course y'all are aware of the Wasson's work on this subject...

: I have yet to hear an actual, personal report of anyone having anything 
: other than a fairly hellish experience with A. muscaria... muscarine, ya' 
: know. Not without some intensity mind you, but not at all the enjoyable, 
: enlightening Soma of the religous literature. Perhaps the urine-drinking 
: componant is crucial. No one I've known has done this.

    This is NOT a first hand experience.  When I was staying with some 
hippies at the Point of Arches in Washington State, they invited me to a 
party involving A. Muscara mushrooms, which invitation I declined.  
However, I was curious and what they told me was that the experience for 
them was rather pleasant and was something they indulged in with some 
regularity.  This was in September of 1976.

    Later, in 1988 in Port Jervis, New York, I talked to a friend who had 
tried A. Muscara once.  He told me that the experience was very mild, 
kind of like taking a half a hit of decent acid.  Outside of literature, 
these are the only experiences I have heard about.  I don't really know 
what to make of them.

                        Lazarus Long 


:               It is considered appropriate to sustain conditions which
:                   are against the best interests of almost everyone.

       BTW, I like this tag line.

--
=:|Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.|:=

=:|If people are basically good, you don't NEED a government; if they are |:=
           =:|basically evil, you don't DARE have one!|:=

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From: ayahu@aol.com (Ayahu)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: FLY AGARIC: No Results
Date: 24 Nov 1994 00:05:23 -0500
Message-ID: <3b16uj$fjn@newsbf01.news.aol.com>

A friend recently ordered a quart extract of Fly Agaric from a company in
High Times. He drank a full glass and didn't feel any effects. He paid $40
for apparently nothing. Wasson talks about a great spiritual experience by
a Japanese friend who toasted the actual mushrooms like marshmellows.
Anyone EXPERIENCED please comment.