Psilocybe Mushroom FAQ

Version 1.2, 1995.

Last update: 04 Jul 1995
HTML: 30 Sept 1996

.oOo. Notes .oOo.

---

Schizophrenic alternation between "I" and "we" is due to the file being written by two people, not permanent brain damage from mushrooms. =)

This file is purposely not in the usual question-answer, clearly-divided subsections, everything-referenced, no-cute-ASCII-pics format usually used for FAQs. Instead, it's more relaxed and loose, which in our opinion makes for a much better read. Enjoy!

.oOo. Index .oOo.

---

.oOo. Disclaimer .oOo.

---

.oOo. Updates .oOo.

---

• In "Chemistry"
  • Reorganized and cleaned up
  • Added molecular weight/potency calculation
  • Added molecular formulae
  • Added DEA drug control numbers
  • Minor fix to psilocybin structure [(+) in the wrong place]
  • Comment about serotonin inhibition cleaned up [thanks Lamont!]
• In "Legality"
  • Sorted everything into a big nifty ASCII table
  • Added information about Canada and the Netherlands
• In "Mushroom Guide"
  • Format of entries greatly improved
  • New full-scale entries by Professor Peabody (Baabo) added:
    • Panaeolina foenisecii
    • Panaeolus acuminatus, ater, campanulatus, sphinctrinus
    • Psilocybe montana
  • New full-scale entries from Mycologia/Lloydia/Norw J Botany:
    • Conocybe cyanopus, smithii
    • Psilocybe aztecorum, mexicana, stuntzii, subaeruginascens, zapotecorum
  • Serious revision of the following entries:
    • Psilocybe baeocystis, caerulescens, cyanescens
    • Stropharia cubensis
  • Serious revision of a number of entries, esp. Panaeolus spp., by Tatu
  • Quite a bit of information added here and there, too many minor updates for full listing
• In "Picking Mushrooms"
  • Section from "Field Guide to North American Mushrooms" on identification added
• Some updates and tips added to "Consumption"
• In "During the Voyage"
  • Notes on 'emotional rollercoaster' following the trip
• Added section "Mushroom Resources"
  • Visionary Mushrooms mailing list added
  • hyperreal.com and hemp.uwec.edu added
  • BJ, Conscious Dreams, Fungi Perfecti, HEMP BC and Teonanácatl added to list of companies
• Added section "Music and the Voyage"
• Added (big!) section "References"
• Minor (mostly cosmetic) updates here, there and everywhere.

• Nifty HTML-ized tables, lists, etc.
• Added many hypertext links
• Redrew molecular structures (no more ASCII graphics) to reflect hypothetical neutral structures
• Deleted incorrect comment regarding U.S. Federal law.
• Major revisions to the "Mushroom Resources" section, largely to reflect the presence of the Lycaeum.

.oOo. Foreword .oOo.

---

FOREWORD:                       THINK!


><><>>><><>><><<<><><<<>>><<>><<>>><<<>><<<><<>>><<<>
                                What is it?
    viewpoint
                          the Ps(i)kedelia^^enTHEOgens(genia)

vokal.BO.lary/nx |BODY|

      [greek]-PSYCHE-DELEIN *humphry OSMOND 1956
              (soul) (show) in his letter to Aldous Huxley
                             "To fathom hell or soar angelic,
                              Just take a pinch of psychedelic."
                                   ion
  ____IN  tokzikat(-/+)  EBRIATION .......  psychotomimetik
                                      ...    psycholytik
      -__--IN- . peak experience alteredstate  EN THE O GEN
                                                    "gOd within"
                                        ekstasis  (theos)
         pharma                                  "be_koming"
         psyk                                     (gen)
         physi                                   => {god is love}
         biol
         soci                   theworld  /\/\/  conciousness
 OLOKI[greekLOGOS:knowledge]

                       physio.GNOMY of (SIKe:DELIA)

  crispvague         im/possibility   spaceufouniverse   2.birth
  Iindividualme      eyeopening       visionsinsights    otherworldly
  heaven&hell        planetmotherearth            beyondwords

       DRUGS?ENTHEOGENS?PSIKEDELIX?SUBSTANCES?

 LSD  Psilocin  harmaline what
 MDMA  Mescaline  ibogaine ever
 CANNABIS  Psilocybin  DMT ...

      entheogens.psychedelics.hallucinogens@non.addictive.non.harmful

     "...a psychedelic drug is one which, without causing physical
     addiction, craving, major physiological disturbances,
     delirium, disorientation, or amnesia, more or less reliably
     produces thought, mood, and perceptual changes otherwise
     rarely experienced exept in dreams, contemplarive and religious
     exaltation, flashes of vivid involuntary memory, and acute
     psychoses."
                                 PsychedelicDrugsReconsidered
                                 Lester Grinspoon
                                 James B Bakalar

 ? n   o[t]i   t   a   n   n   i   c . u   l   l   a . h !
 .   h  a   l  l   u  c   i  n   a  t   i  o   n  .

        sPIRITUAL                     Philo.sophic
         rETINA                              apertures
   "...ie. the product of             "the phleghms of thought
   perceptual processes."                          IN THE BRAIN

. colors magnified                    feelings of strange feelings
.                                     strange feelings
. wavy motion of objects              strange thoughts
:                                     visions/insights
: 2-D visuals
: objects differ                      absence of normal thought
; color/switches
; 3-D objects mutate
| Perceptions not connected           absence of reality
| to the ,real, world
*invisiblelandscapetheothersidedirectaxessunconsciousgodspacelifedeathuf

.oOo. History .oOo.

---

Spanish priest Bernardino de Sahagun (ca. 1500 AD) on the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms by the Aztecs:

The first thing to be eaten at the feast were small black mushrooms that they called nanacatl and bring on drunkenness, hallucinations and even lechery; they ate these before the dawn...with honey; and when they began to feel the effects, they began to dance, some sang and others wept.... When the drunkenness of the mushrooms had passed, they spoke with one another of the visions they had seen.

If a youth appeared intoxicated in public... he was punished by being beaten to death with stick or garrotte before all other youths assembled there...to serve as an example.

It is an ancient custom for people to eat mushrooms and these they ate in a trice, as is said. They had had no food exept some cacao drunk the night before. They ate these mushrooms with honey.

The Codex Vienna Mixtec manuscript (ca. 13th-15th century) depicts the ritual use of the teonanácatl by the Mixtec gods. The god known as 7 Flower (his name presented in the pictoral language as seven circles and a flower) was the Mixtec god for hallucinatory plants, especially the divine mushroom, and is depicted with a pair of mushrooms in his hand.

The Aztec also had their god for the entheogens, Xochipilli, Prince of Flowers. He was the divine patron of "the flowery dream" as the Aztecs called the ritual hallucinatory trance.

Mushrooms ingested by the indians were supposedly Psilocybe mexicana or caerulescens and Panaolus sphinctrinus. Stropharia cubensis, which is currently quite popular as it is easy to locate and cultivate, was not introduced to America until the arrival of the Europeans and their cattle. Today indians regard Stropharia cubensis inferior to Ps. mexicana for it grows in dung.

In the beginning of twentieth century interest in psychoactive mushrooms stirred. The teonanácatl was first identified as Lophophora williamsii or peyote, and it was thought that Sahagun had mistaken the cactus for mushrooms. Finally ethnobotanist Richard Evan Schultes and physician Plasius Paul Reko traveled for the mushrooms to Oaxaca, and collected specimens of Panaeolus sphinctrinus. They found out that mushroom ceremonies -- veladas -- were still being held in the area.

A decade after World War II, after long search the mycophile family of R. Gordon Wasson came to little Village of Huatla de Jimenez, and Wasson and his friend Allan Richardson attended a velada held by curandera Maria Sabina.

Information about the mushrooms soon spread. Psilocybin and psilocin were found and their analogues were synthesized. Experimentation with the mushrooms and the synthesized substances began and magic mushrooms were soon part of the 60's 'psychedelic' movement, i.e. every second middle class kid was opening the doors of perception and [ab]using hallucinogenic drugs.

.oOo. Etymology .oOo.

---

     _     _     _
   / et'e-mol'e-je / 1. the origin and history of words 

The best known hallucinogens in Psilocybe mushrooms are the chemicals psilocybin and psilocin, which are discussed at length in the next part. There remains a minor controversy about the spelling of their names. Psilocybin and psilocin are both alkaloids (nitrogen-containing substances found in nature), and an effort in the 70's aimed to convert all alkaloid names so that they end in -ine, like cocaine, caffeine, morphine, etc. The names should thus be "psilocybine" and "psilocine"; yet "psilocybine" is used very rarely even in modern authoritative works, and I have seen "psilocine" in print exactly once. If anybody has some idea about the current situation and the Korrekt(tm) spelling, please inform me.

.oOo. Chemistry .oOo.

---

So by weight psilocin is around 1.4 times more potent. The formula for calculating total potency, ignoring [nor]baeocystin, is thus:

(psilocybin) + (1.4 * psilocin) = total potency in 'psilocybin units'

Now, here's the structural diagram for psilocybin:

Psilocybin C12H17N2O4P 4-OPO4-DMT 4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine 1H-Indol-4-ol, 3-[2-(dimethylamino)-ethyl] dihydrogen phosphate ester CAS #: 520-52-5 DEA #: 7437

In the body, the phosphorus part is chopped off ("dephosphorylated") by the enzyme alkaline phosphatase, turning it into our other friend:

Psilocin C12H16N2O 4-OH-DMT 4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine 1H-Indol-4-ol, 3-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl] CAS #: 520-53-6 DEA #: 7438

Psilocybin and psilocin are part of the tryptamine family (indole (C8H7N) & ethylamine side chain). They bear close resemblance to the neurotransmitter serotonin. How these substances work is, I have come to believe, still quite obscure. Primary effect seems to be the inhibition of neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine aka 5-HT), i.e. a 5-HT2A post-synaptic agonist that mimics the effects to 5-HT to put it in jargon. This is the working hypothesis for LSD-25 at the moment and it's probably true for psilocybin as well. These substances also present some cross-tolerance.

As a good psychedelic should, psilocybin, psilocin and psilocybian mushrooms have low toxicity -- in tests with mice, doses up to 200 mg of psilocybin/kg of body (in average human terms (65 kg) 13 grams) have been injected intravenously without lethal effects. The ED50 : LD50 ratio is 641 according to the NIOSH Registry of Toxic Effects; compare this with 9637 for vitamin A, 4816 for LSD, 199 for aspirin and 21 for nicotine. Poisoning, at least physically, is thus not a problem.

Then we have the two other significant indole alkaloids:

Baeocystin C11H15N2O4P 4-OPO4-MT 4-Phosphoryloxy-N-methyltryptamine 1H-Indol-4-ol, 3-[2-(methylamino)-ethyl] dihydrogen phosphate ester CAS #: 21420-58-6 DEA #: None The monomethyl analogue of psilocybin

Unlike psilocybin, baeocystin is somewhat unstable, and decays noticeably with age. And then we have baeocystin's close chemical cousin:

Norbaeocystin C10H13N2O4P 4-OPO4-T 4-Phosphoryloxytryptamine 1H-Indol-4-ol, 3-[2-aminoethyl] dihydrogen phosphate ester CAS #: 21420-59-7 DEA #: None The demethyl analogue of psilocybin

In other words, baeocystin and norbaeocystin are just psilocybin with one methyl and two methyls respectively lopped off. And unfortunately for all you synthesis experts, while baeocystin and norbaeocystin do not have DEA control numbers they do both come under the Controlled Substance Analogue Act.

When dephosphorylated, they turn into 4-hydroxy-N-methyltryptamine and 4-hydroxytryptamine. All 4 substances are presumed hallucinogenic, but less so than psilocin or psilocybin. Very little work seems to have been done on them (Chemical Abstracts averages a cite a year, with most of them of the variety "baeocystin found in Psilocybe totallyobscuralis"). There has been some speculation on the 'net about them, and a possible correlation between nausea and the amount of baeocystin has been found. We hope to be able to investigate the question further for the next version.

These are just the four "biggies". A whole truckload of other indoles are known to exist in Psilocybe mushrooms. Here's a sample of what was found in a batch of Psilocybe baeocystis, excluding the ones mentioned above:

Yes, Psilocybe mushrooms contain DMT, but in microscopic amounts. DMT is not orally active anyway, so it doesn't do anything.

The effects of psilocybin can be potentiated (made stronger) by taking them with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). The potency is roughly doubled, according to most reports. The best known MAOIs are harmine and harmaline from the plant Peganum harmala (Syrian rue). Combining MAOIs and tryptamines is an unsafe activity; not only are there are number of substances you must avoid during use to prevent a serious hypertensive crisis, but the long-term health effects are unknown. If you wish to know more, consult the Tryptamine FAQ. Personally, I doubt it's worth the risk, if you pick or grow shrooms it's easy to get enough shrooms for a double dose.

.oOo. Psychology .oOo.

---

"Nature's Perfect Entheogen(TM)"

Voyage to the spiritworld ... visions and travels, awesome mental hallucinations. It's a direct ISDN-link to the mother earth, forgiving, gentle substance. You hear the chanting of the planet and the spirit of the mushroom. It's a product of the nature, untied to the actions of men and women roaming this planet. Your body disconnected from the circuit, you may often forget it exists. Six hours -- not too short, not too long. Perfect.

It should be noted that like all 'major' hallucinogens, psilocybin can precipitate psychotic episodes and uncover or aggravate previous mental illness. If you're stressed out or depressed, don't take mushrooms; if you have schizophrenia or something, DO NOT take mushrooms.

ACID IS NOT FOR EVERY BRAIN .... ONLY THE HEALTHY, HAPPY, WHOLESOME, HANDSOME, HOPEFUL, HUMOROUS, HIGH-VELOCITY SHOULD SEEK THESE EXPERIENCES. THIS ELITISM IS TOTALLY SELF- DETERMINED. UNLESS YOU ARE SELF-CONFIDENT, SELF-DIRECTED, SELF-SELECTED, PLEASE ABSTAIN.

--Timothy Leary, Ph.D.

.oOo. Legality .oOo.

---

• Fresh shrooms: The basic idea is that since shrooms grow in nature, it'd be silly to arrest grannies who happen to have a few growing in their backyard, or who pick them by accident. This hasn't stopped most of the US (except Florida) from banning them entirely. Of course, if you are caught with 3000 Str. cubensis, you'll have a hard time claiming you picked them by "accident".
• Dry shrooms: Usually taken as proof of intent to consume, and thus illegal. In Britain, "naturally dried" shrooms are legal, i.e. if you leave them on a windowsill by 'accident' it's OK.
• Shroom spores: Spores contain no psilocybin or psilocin and thus are not covered by regulations -- except in California.
• Cultures before shrooms appear: Same as above, usually. Advanced mycelia do contain psilocybin and psilocin. With the rice cake method you can grow until the mycelia are complete and then eat the cakes; this way you can trip without ever being in possession of shrooms.
• Cultures after shrooms appear: Clear intent to consume, and you'll probably get charged with possession with intent to sell as well. However! In some more liberal countries, such as Finland, you might be able to argue that the mushrooms were grown for decorative (ha!) or research purposes. Do not count on it.

Mushroom hunting is another issue. On public property, hunting itself is not illegal, but you're not likely to run into cows in national parks either. =) Some countries like Finland have the legal concept of "everyman's right" which allows, among other things, picking mushrooms on private property, except on fields which once again makes things tricky. But unless you live in a notorious shroom zone -- some areas of Florida and South Wales come to mind -- the odds of getting hassled by farmers, much less getting caught by the police, are practically zero.

If you are caught by the cops, expect to be charged with trespassing and possession of controlled substances. Unless large quantities are involved, you will probably get by with probation and/or a fine. If caught in Florida, you can cite the state laws and have the possession charge reduced or dropped entirely.

The Entheogen Law Reporter has a publication addressing the legal aspects of Psilocybe mushrooms available by mail for $5.00.

.oOo. Botany .oOo.

---

     .-'~~~-.
   .'o oOOOo`.        "I am ... a mushroom
  :~~~-.oOo   o`.      On whom the dew of heaven drops now and then."
   `. \ ~-.  oOOo.           - John Ford
     `.; / ~.  OO:
     .'  ;-- `.o.'
    ,' ; ~~--'~
    ;  ;               [ASCII stolen from Mescalito Ted]
_\\;_\\//_

Psilocybe mushrooms are:

• kingdom Protista
  • division Fungi
    • class Basidiomycetes
      • order Stropharia
        • families Bolbitiaceae, Coprinaceae, Cortinariaceae, Pluteaceae, and Strophariaceae
• basidiomycotina or -mycetes -- Fungi that produce spores on stalks outside the terminal cells.
• agaricales -- mushrooms with cap & gills;

• Panaeolus sphinctrinus, subbalteatus (benanosis)
• Psilocybe baeocystis, caerulescens, cyanescens, mexicana, pelliculosa, semilanceata, stuntzii
• Stropharia (Psilocybe) cubensis

• Agrocybe farinacea
• Boletus erythropus, manicus, migroviolaceus, niggerimus, kumaeus, reayi [all (@)]
• Conocybe cyanopus, kuehneriana (*), siligineoides (?), smithii
• Copelandia anomala, bispora, cambodginiensis, cyanescens, tropicalis
• Coprinus niveus, patouillardii, narcoticus
• Galerina steglichii
• Gymnopilus aeruginosus, liquiritiae, luteus, purpuratus, spectabilis, validipes, viridans
• Inocybe aeruginascens, coelestium, corydalna, haemacta, tricolor
• Lepiota peele
• Panaeolina foenisecii (%)
• Panaeolus acuminatus, antillarum, ater, cambodginiensis, campanulatus, chlorocystis, foenisecii, firmicola, olivaceus, papilionaceus, retirugis, separatus, tropicalis
• Pholiotina cyanapoda
• Pluteus atricapillus (%), nigroviridis, salicinus
• Psathyrella candolleana, gracilis, sepulchralis
• (Almost) all Psilocybe species

Inclusion on this list does not mean the psilocin/psilocybin content is sufficient for psychotropic activity in practical amounts, for example one would need to eat around a thousand Pluteus atricapillus to get off.

The following hallucinogenic species contain not psilocin/psilocybin but atropine, bufotenine, muscimol and similar nasties:

• Amanita citrine, formosa, mappa, muscaria (*), pantherina, porphyria, regalis, tomentella
• Pholiota squarrosa

Amanita species cause 95% of all deaths from mushroom poisoning. The ones above are (reasonably) safe, the danger lies in correct identification. Death by Amanita poisoning is reportedly an excruciating way to die, since they nuke your liver and the body's own wastes then kill you. Worse yet, the effects only start 3 days after ingestion, and by then it's too late. I would seriously recommend against toying with these; most reports say they're not even fun. If you insist, consult other sources for more information.

.oOo. Mushroom Guide .oOo.

---

.oO Warning Oo.

"Expert shroomers really know their shit."

--cowboy@jax-inter.net

A printout of this part of the text should provide an adequate check-list for mushrooms in the field, but a good mushroom book with color pictures of the mushrooms, preferably at all 4 stages of growth, is invaluable. The set of GIFs at hemp.uwec.edu may be used as a crude substitute, but a book is easier to carry around... =)

For exhaustingly exhaustive and thoroughly technical descriptions of most Psilocybes, the reader is referred to Singer & Smith: Mycologia 58, 263-303 and Høiland: Norw. J. Botany 25(2), 111-122. These two, along with a dozen lesser references, were primary sources in compiling this.

To check the spore color, take two caps, place one on a sheet of white and one on a black paper, or on a glass plate if you plan to use microscope. Place in a draftless place and wait for 6 to 24 hours. The dust-like stuff on the sheet is the spores. Compare the two papers. For size, you'll need a good microscope... =)

The standard identifying mark of most Psilocybes is that they stain blue when touched or cut; unless specifically noted otherwise, assume all mushrooms listed here do. Mind you, this blueing alone is not sufficient for identification as a non-poisonous and hallucinogenic mushroom!

It is strongly recommended that for the first few hunts you go out with a friend who has hunted before and knows what they look like. While there are no poisonous mushrooms that look like the common Psilocybes, there are a whole bunch that certainly will not get you off, and while not lethal they might well be quite unpleasant. So be careful!

.oO Dosage Note Oo.

Whenever possible, dosages in both shrooms and grams of fresh material have been given. As a rule of thumb, for dried shrooms multiply the dosage in SHROOMS by two. There is no reliable way of converting weight in grams from fresh to dry, mushrooms contain approximately 90% water (i.e. 10 grams wet = 1 gram dry) but the figure varies from species to species.

The amount of psilocybin varies very considerably from mushroom to mushroom, depending on factors like age, growing conditions, etc. The variation is up to 4x for mushrooms grown in controlled laboratory conditions, and as much as 10x for ones that are not! With a new batch, always start out low.

When reading the data, remember that psilocybin is almost equal in strength to psilocin. On the other hand, baeocystin does not appear to very hallucinogenic, but it is rumored to account for some of the side effects.

.oO Shroom descriptions in alphabetical order: Oo.

And remember, if you think learning these is too hard, try reading Singer & Smith: "Stipe tubular, more rarely subequal, discolors to reddish cinerous, strongly sulcate at apex, glabrous to fibrillose..."

.oO Other psychoactive species Oo.

.oOo. Mushroom Resources .oOo.

---

Archives on the Internet

Companies in the Real World

.oOo. Growing Mushrooms .oOo.

---

• The Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide
• The Psilocybin Producer's Guide
• Psilly Simon's Mushroom Growin' Guide II
• How To Grow Psychedelic Mushrooms
• Psylocybe Fanaticus Tek

Especially with strong, large mushrooms like Str. cubensis, grinding is the only way of calibrating doses. With for example Ps. semilanceata, statistics ensure that the sum of 40 mushrooms from a batch will be more or less the same no matter which 40 you pick, but if you're eating only two Str. cubensis caps things are different. Thus, dry, grind, mix and weigh the resulting powder. After a carefully weighed initial dose (which you'll have to guess, aim low), it's easy to measure out smaller or larger doses in the future.

.oOo. On the Dosage .oOo.

---

"Me and a friend of mine were in a rave, and both had taken some mushrooms along. Semilanceatas... so at one point we decided to drink some mushroom tea, and both put 20 tiny mushrooms into our teas... I got nearly nowhere.. some funny effects, almost no dilation of pupils, very very light trip. My friend kept saying 'Wow' and 'What a trip', and some friends of ours tried to talk with him. Afterwards he said he didn't understand a word =). He said the trip was so intense it was as if he had consumed 60 semilanceatas."

As you may have noted, except for the cheese on the pizza, none the recipes contain any milk or milk products. This is because several files and/or books have stated that calcium and/or fermented milk products interfere with psilocybin. Mind you, this is far from sure, if anybody can dig up a reference for (or against) this we'd appreciate it. But scientific proofs aside, the Aztec tradition of not eating before tripping is probably grounded in knowledge of possible adverse consequences, so don't eat too much, just enough to get the shrooms down.

.oOo. Preparation For The Voyage .oOo.

---

• Packing
  Get into packing a couple of days before the voyage. Load your gear (brain) with everything you think will be useful. Personally I like documents about nature as they are easy to pack (video or TV). Books are fine but bit slower to load. Walking in nature, quiet and peaceful, and meditating ensures I get enough mental energy and happiness along. Try to break the normal circles of work, and if you are stressed, take few more days away from everything before leaving on the expedition. Go easy on your diet. Some fast for the previous week, others don't pay any attention to what and how much they eat. I eat normally until the day before, after which I eat mostly vegetables and fruits.
• Place
  Clean it up. Get some fresh air into it. Tell all your friends/relatives not to visit, and disconnect the doorbell and take the phone off the wall. Make everything as comfortable as possible. Fresh flowers will blow your mind with their beautiful looks and odors. A stroboscope is also worth a try, especially at 20 to 30 Hz. Lights are probably best low or off (and of white color). Music is so important we've given it its own section, coming up next.
• Flight
  Loose clothing and something to put on/take off; you'll be lying down most of the time, so pick something you could sleep in. Something to drink -- see if your drinks include caffeine or other chemicals. Water is always the best. Some light snacks to eat during the trip, and possibly something to fill your stomach after the trip. Drawing during take-off can be fun, also psychedelic videos. Anyway, for a real "trip" I say: after the takeoff, turn the lights off, turn the volume to the edge of subliminal, and relax & tune into the vibe of the Earth.

     _____     _    _  .  .   ___   __    . .  . .   _   ___    _____
    /     \   | \  / \ |\ | /  |   |  |  /| |\ | |  / \  \ /   /     \
   |  | |  |  |  )(   )| \|    |   |--' /-| | \| | (      V   |  | |  |
   | \___/ |  | /  \_/ |  |    |   |   /  | |  | |  \_/   o   | \___/ |
    \_____/   *******************  ********************  ***   \_____/

Carlos Castaneda, Philip K. Dick, Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna, Andrew Weil, Robert Anton Wilson and Aldous Huxley all make fine reading. Peter Stafford's "Psychedelic Encyclopedia" is a classic, as is "Plants of the Gods" by Richard Schultes and Albert Hofmann. Umberto Eco has always been very good when talking about the mind, almost as good as Herman Hesse. And for some attitude - read Byron.

.oOo. References .oOo.

---

--                                                      __
Jani "Gnosis" Poijîrvi      On the neverending quest   /(o\    BRAHMAN
gnosis@brahman.nullnet.fi  for knowledge by identity.  \o)/ +358-0-498797