Magic mushrooms.... oh my hat!
Sooooo, a few weeks ago I was designing and I had a whole day of design ahead of me, so I thought I'd check out some local podcasts to listen to while I work, see what's happening in the neighbourhood. I saw this podcast "Shrooms at 70", and so I listened to it. It's this 70 year old lady who was interviewed telling her story about discovering mushrooms at the age of 64. Her husband died when she was 64, and then she fell into a deep depression. As a last resort, she decided not to wallow in her misery any longer, and throw a massive party for everyone who knows her. Everyone was told not to bring presents, just come and have a good time, and 300 arrived! Her one friend travelled quite some distance, and gave her a little present and told her to only open it when she's was all alone, on some other day. So a few days after the party she opened the present and there were magic mushrooms inside, with a little note to "enjoy it!". And so ate them all, 5 grams, and..... "saw the light".
Ever since then she has been leading the movement for the legalisation of mushrooms here in South Africa. We had a magic mushroom march in Cape Town in September, and the trial is currently underway, with a verdict expected in early 2018.
Now nothing in my life is coincidental, and I thought it was no coincidence that I discovered this podcast, so I decided after my sordid saga with ayahuasca to maybe check out this mushroom business. I searched a little and found a "plant group" on Facebook and joined, and then started chatting to the lady who runs it. I told her about my ayahuasca experience, and she asked who the facilitator was, so I told her, and she said "aaaaah, yeah, we know of him, and he's banned from our group, some people had some really bad experiences with him". So she gave me the number of a Johannesburg mushroom grower and told me to contact him. He asked if it's our first time, and I said yes, so he said he would suggest either "Amazon" "Burma", some other one I can't remember or the "Golden teacher". We opted for Amazon, transferred the money, and he couriered it to us, door-to-door.
So yesterday morning we were sitting on the balcony watching the ocean, it was a beautiful day, and we ate the mushrooms...
I can never convey to someone what I experienced. For a brief moment, or maybe hours I don't know, there's no time in that world, I was what I think enlightenment must be. My eyes were closed and I could see with my eyes closed, that really puzzled me. And the colours! The walls of the apartment fell away, and we were just in the air. I had a conversation with some "essence", that's the only way I can explain it. It said "I have my being in you" many times. At some point we also laughed because I said "that's why Jesus was crucified, because you can't be this happy without people wanting to kill you". Everything was alive, pulsating, moving, breathing, it was like one enormous organism, and everything is this organism. I think it's going to take me quite some time to assimilate this experience. There is no speech in that world either, it's just mind to mind. .....who would have thought that the whole cosmos lies in one little mushroom?
Sooooo, a few weeks ago I was designing and I had a whole day of design ahead of me, so I thought I'd check out some local podcasts to listen to while I work, see what's happening in the neighbourhood. I saw this podcast "Shrooms at 70", and so I listened to it. It's this 70 year old lady who was interviewed telling her story about discovering mushrooms at the age of 64. Her husband died when she was 64, and then she fell into a deep depression. As a last resort, she decided not to wallow in her misery any longer, and throw a massive party for everyone who knows her. Everyone was told not to bring presents, just come and have a good time, and 300 arrived! Her one friend travelled quite some distance, and gave her a little present and told her to only open it when she's was all alone, on some other day. So a few days after the party she opened the present and there were magic mushrooms inside, with a little note to "enjoy it!". And so ate them all, 5 grams, and..... "saw the light".
Ever since then she has been leading the movement for the legalisation of mushrooms here in South Africa. We had a magic mushroom march in Cape Town in September, and the trial is currently underway, with a verdict expected in early 2018.
Now nothing in my life is coincidental, and I thought it was no coincidence that I discovered this podcast, so I decided after my sordid saga with ayahuasca to maybe check out this mushroom business. I searched a little and found a "plant group" on Facebook and joined, and then started chatting to the lady who runs it. I told her about my ayahuasca experience, and she asked who the facilitator was, so I told her, and she said "aaaaah, yeah, we know of him, and he's banned from our group, some people had some really bad experiences with him". So she gave me the number of a Johannesburg mushroom grower and told me to contact him. He asked if it's our first time, and I said yes, so he said he would suggest either "Amazon" "Burma", some other one I can't remember or the "Golden teacher". We opted for Amazon, transferred the money, and he couriered it to us, door-to-door.
So yesterday morning we were sitting on the balcony watching the ocean, it was a beautiful day, and we ate the mushrooms...
I can never convey to someone what I experienced. For a brief moment, or maybe hours I don't know, there's no time in that world, I was what I think enlightenment must be. My eyes were closed and I could see with my eyes closed, that really puzzled me. And the colours! The walls of the apartment fell away, and we were just in the air. I had a conversation with some "essence", that's the only way I can explain it. It said "I have my being in you" many times. At some point we also laughed because I said "that's why Jesus was crucified, because you can't be this happy without people wanting to kill you". Everything was alive, pulsating, moving, breathing, it was like one enormous organism, and everything is this organism. I think it's going to take me quite some time to assimilate this experience. There is no speech in that world either, it's just mind to mind. .....who would have thought that the whole cosmos lies in one little mushroom?