Musical journey with Golden Teacher

For many psychonauts, music is an important aspect during a psychedelic experience. Tones seem to float right through you, you feel emotions of the singer on a deeper level and certain instruments stand out more. Cheerful music usually makes you feel uplifted, and songs with a dark edge can easily take you on a trip to the dark corners of your mind. Some songs now have a special meaning for me, because they have led me in a certain direction during a trip.

Often just before a trip there are specific thoughts and feelings that go through my mind that are also (extensively) coming back during the experience. Do I struggle with certain thoughts, am I stuck in a thought loop? Then I try to look at these thoughts differently by distancing myself from them, and look at them without judgement. One of my fellow-trippers puts it very nicely: "Tripping feels as if you just swallow a therapist". In any case, it is always an adventure to experience what comes your way during a trip. This time I felt very mellow and had no specific questions to explore. Just let what needs to be done happen. Together with my three fellow-trippers I know it will always be a special experience.

On the menu today are magic truffles, to be precise the Golden Teachers. The effects of this kind of truffle score a 9 for both visuals and auditory hallucinations, an 8 for funny/smiling and a 7 for energy/body high. We all have experienced magic truffles before and decide to go for a serving of 15 grams (fresh) per person.

Faster come-up thanks to truffle tea

The last time I took magic truffles was a while ago, but not long enough for me to forget the smell and taste. Fortunately, two people of the group have had good experiences with truffle tea and they know a simple recipe to make consuming the sour truffles as pleasant as possible. The idea sounds promising: let the truffles soak in hot water* for 20 minutes and then add some ginger and some honey. This would almost completely mask the taste of the magic truffles. Well, fine! Three people including myself went for the tea, the fourth person decided to eat the truffles in combination with some yoghurt.

*The psilocybin in magic truffles can't withstand heat very well, so make sure the water isn't hotter than 70 degrees Celsius at the time you let the tea brew. We used a meat thermometer for this. Proportionally a bit exaggerated (haha), but it did the trick!

In my opinion, the truffle tea worked pretty quickly. While my cup was half empty after a few minutes, one of the other tea drinkers said they could already feel something. Immediately I look at a spot on the colored carpet to see if it works for me as well. "Hmm, the carpet doesn't work for me yet." But I had to take back my words 5 minutes later. The dancing flames in the fireplace were suddenly very interesting. So it begins...

While the fourth person was still chewing away his bowl of truffles, I feel a wave of warmth all over my body. All the light sources in the room turn green, followed by purple and then yellow again. "Is this the light from the TV, or am I just seeing this?" The house where I am is full of beautiful works of art and interesting things to look at. Meanwhile, two cats are running after each other, which is already entertaining to watch anyway. Soon my whole body feels different, as if it isn't mine anymore. It seems as if my head is being massaged from the inside, in a waving motion. It is difficult to focus my sight on anything and I feel a small wave of discomfort. The solution is easy; I closed my eyes for a moment. This feels very calming and helps me to go along with the feeling and not to resist. The body load is very intense for a moment, but at no time too annoying. I feel cold and warm at the same time and find it weird that this feeling is possible at all. For a moment there is a feeling of nausea, but it’s gone again quickly. My stomach can process the tea much better than if I had eaten the truffles, hurray!

Musical journey with Vikings

As I mentioned before, music is always special during a trip, if not essential. Whatever you're listening to, it will in some way lead your experience. This trip was no different. Today the group chooses the genre folk(rock), something I wouldn't immediately think of for this occasion. But it worked so well!! We watched a concert registration of a German/Danish/Norwegian band that based their music on lyrics from the Viking era. The band members are completely dressed in costumes, which really suits the atmosphere of the music. Later, when I looked up some more information about the band, I discovered that they even use human bones as an instrument. The concert lasts an hour and a half and it feels like we are allowed to sail on the ship alongside the crew, while they play songs on the journey to their next destination. Especially the low sounds of the drums are really intense. The show that takes place on the TV screen has all four of us captivated. Sometimes we say nothing at all for a while. The time didn't seem right; an hour and a half felt more like three hours. And it could have taken even longer! This concert is now on my list of favorites.

I didn't get the chance to drown in my own thoughts, which normally always happens at a certain moment during a trip. A small thought can then trigger a flow of thoughts, about the most diverse things. But as with all mind-expanding substances, every person reacts differently to it. One of my fellow trippers wrote a report herself, from which I would still like to quote some things.

"I was totally sucked into the couch and the music, but also into the memory of one of the last concerts I went to last year and the special experience I had there with certain songs. Soon I had made a short journey within myself, which also felt like a journey around the world. I felt closer to myself. Stubborn as I was I thought "I just learned my lesson", I was wrong. In spite of the fact that the trip through the tea had risen quite quickly and heavy, it became more and more intense. But it was easy to steer. As soon as I thought "It's okay to go a little deeper", the Golden Teacher answered and gave me more. I was completely taken away on a journey within myself, for me it was a very individual trip".

So her experience was very different from mine. If I closed myself off by putting on headphones, for example, my inner monologue would’ve certainly started. But it was not such a type of trip for me, at least not this time. And besides, with headphones I wouldn't hear the funny babbling of my fellow-trippers anymore, that would be a shame!

Laughing therapeutic

The feeling of getting the giggles is very liberating, for me it's really a way of letting go. In daily life I sometimes hold back and especially in new groups I like to blend in the background at first. Before mingling, the thought "what does my comment add to the conversation " goes through my head. But during a trip that thought dissolves completely, as if that filter disappeared. And that sometimes results in funny moments. Especially once you are laughing so hard and can laugh unabashedly for fifteen minutes about the stupidest things.

The Golden Teacher completely owns its 8 on the laughing scale. Especially when the far too silly puns and quotes come along, there’s no stopping. One person in the group always manages to be completely quiet for a long time as if he’s far away in his own mind, and then all of a sudden drops one-liners in the conversation. Tears are rolling down my cheeks, and not just once. This feeling is great!

Note to self: Try to eat them anyway

If I compare my experience with previous times, this time the visuals quickly weared off for me. The psilocybin in the truffle tea is quickly absorbed by the body, which allows the effects to come-up faster, but they also dissolve quicker. After about an hour and a half to two hours I barely noticed any visuals, the peak was definitely over for me. And after 3 hours I felt almost completely sober again, while the one person who had eaten the truffles was still experiencing full-on effects.

I find it important to emphasize once more that every person reacts differently to magic truffles, and that the method of ingestion has a lot of influence on the strength and duration of your journey. So get your advice from an experienced and reliable acquaintance, or by an employee in the smartshop (Sirius' customer service is there for you).

Satisfied and also a bit exhausted, I went back home - after the effects had been gone for an hour - to pop on the couch and evaluate my adventure. Next time I'll try again to eat the truffles to get the most out of the effects. Dipping them in honey also seems to be a good way to mask the taste, I think that's worth a try.

Perhaps you have the golden tip for a delicious truffle recipe? Share it with [email protected].