Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain psilocybin which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include Copelandia, Gymnopilus, Inocybe, Panaeolus, Pholiotina, Pluteusand Psilocybe. Psilocybin mushrooms have been and continue to be used in indigenous New World cultures in religious, divinatory, or spiritual contexts. Psilocybin mushrooms are also used as recreational drugs.

Background: 

In 1955, Valentina Pavlovna Wasson and R. Gordon Wasson became the first known European Americans to actively participate in an indigenous mushroom ceremony. The Wassons did much to publicize their experience, even publishing an article on their experiences in Life on May 13, 1957. In 1956, Roger Heim identified the psychoactive mushroom the Wassons brought back from Mexico as Psilocybe, and in 1958, Albert Hofmann first identified psilocybin and psilocin as the active compounds in these mushrooms.

Inspired by the Wassons' Life article, Timothy Leary travelled to Mexico to experience psilocybin mushrooms himself. When he returned to Harvard in 1960, he and Richard Alpert started the Harvard Psilocybin Project, promoting psychological and religious study of psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs. Alpert and Leary sought out to conduct research with psilocybin on prisoners in the 1960s, testing its effects on recidivism. This experiment reviewed the subjects six months later and found that the recidivism rate had decreased beyond their expectation, below 40%. This, and another experiment administering psilocybin to graduate divinity students, showed controversy. Shortly after Leary and Alpert were dismissed from their jobs by Harvard in 1963, they turned their attention toward promoting the psychedelic experience to the nascent hippie counterculture.

By the early 1970s, many psilocybin mushroom species were described from temperate North America, Europe, and Asia and were widely collected. Books describing methods of cultivating large quantities of Psilocybe cubensis were also published.

Description: The cap is 1.6–8 cm (0.6–3.1 in), conic to convex with a central papilla when young, becoming broadly convex to plane with age, retaining a slight umbo sometimes surrounded by a ring-shaped depression. The cap surface is smooth and sticky, sometimes with white universal veil remnants attached. The cap is brown becoming paler to almost white at the margin, and fades to more golden-brown or yellowish with age. When bruised, all parts of the mushroom stain blue. The narrow grey gills are adnate to adnexed, sometimes seceding attachment, and darken to purplish-black and somewhat mottled with age. The gill edges remain whitish. The well-developed veil leaves a persistent white membranous ring whose surface usually becomes the same colour as the gills because of falling spores. The mushroom has no odour, and tastes farinaceous.  

Benefits of Magic mushroom:

1. Increase of “openness” and other beneficial shifts in personality, 

2. Smoking cessation and other addictions, 

3. Reduce depression,

4. Dissolve your ego and increase creativity

Best and popular magic mushroom strains

1) Golden Teacher Mushrooms

The exact origin of the Golden Teacher is unknown but it made it’s appearance in the late 80’s.  It is a great mushroom strain for beginners while also being a favourite for advanced growers and has an average to high potency.

It grows large mushrooms with wide golden caps and a thick stem and probably gets it’s name from the colour of it’s caps.  You can get several flushes (new growths) out of one batch and likes to grow in the following substrates.

2)  B+ Cubensis Mushroom

This one is considered by many to be the most popular of all the cubensis species.  It has an unknown origin but is known as a P. azurescens / P. cubensis hybrid and has a higher than average potency level.  It will germinate quickly (meaning spores turning into mycelium) and will produce a large 1st flush followed by smaller ones.

Some people who take this strain say that the ‘sometimes occurring nausea’ that occurs with other strains is less likely to occur with this one.

3) Blue Meanies Mushroom

In my video I originally stating that I thought the Blue Meanie was a member of the Panaeolus genus and not a Psilocybe cubensis strain.  However, I later learned that both species of mushrooms have the same common name of Blue Meanie.  That is where the confusion came in.

The one I am referring to in this article that made the top 10 list is actually a strain from the psilocybe cubensis.  If it was the Panaelous cyanescens (which also has the common name of Blue Meanie) then it would look like this:

They are actually pretty difficult to tell apart but do understand that the Panaeolus cyanescens have been reported as being 2x more potent than Psilocybe cubensis strains.

One way to tell them apart is the sport print.  The sport print of the Panaeolus cyanescens is black while the Psilocybe cubensis is dark purplish brown to violaceous brown.

4) Alacabenzi Mushrooms

The Alacabenzi strain is reported by some to deliver more physical and spatial effects with a significant warping of balance in higher doses.  It won’t provide an overly intense hallucinogenic experience but you may want to stay close to home until you get an idea for the optimal dosage for yourself.

5) Cambodian Mushrooms

The Cambodian strain is great for a beginner because the mycelium will grow very fast and is also a fast fruiter.  It was first discovered growing on cattle dung by John W. Allen near the Angkor Wat temple complex which is a Buddhist temple in Cambodia and is the largest religious monument in the world.

6) PF Classic Mushroom

The PF classic strain is named after Robert McPherson, aka Psylocybe, Fanaticus who pioneered the PF Tek growing method.  It is a slow mature and grows best with the BRF or PF Tek method (it is illegal to grow in the United States by the federal law).

7) Orissa India Mushroom

This mushroom was originally found growing in elephant dung in Orissa India by John W. Allen.  This one grows taller than any other cubensis (cube) strain and will have wide saucer like caps.  This strain is perfect for beginner because it is a very forgiving strain and withstands contamination very well.

8) Florida White (F+) Mushrooms

The Florida White (F+) often gets ‘put off’ because it’s name include ‘F+’ which most people associate with failure.  It is however an A+ strain and is a favorite among experienced growers for the vivid visuals it provides.  They will grow medium sized fruits very similar to the Texas strain.  It is higher in potency typically and because it is very dense it doesn’t lose a lot of size in drying.

9) Penis Envy Mushrooms

The Penis Envy is one of the most difficult mushrooms to find because only 5% of it’s mushrooms drop spores and it has a short shelf life and will contaminate easily.  Therefore, it is typically more expense to buy.

They can also take 7 to 10 days to germinate so you have to be patient.  Many people think they have dead spores when they just need to wait a little longer.

The founder of this strain is RG back in the 1990’s however many people thought it was the late Terence McKenna who engineered this strain.  Most people report it being about 1.5x more potent than normal cubensis strains and yes, it is uniquely shaped like a penis.

This strain is very hard to get a print of so you can get the spore syringe but keep in mind that it has a very short shelf life. 

10) Z Strain Mushrooms

The Z Strain was engineered in a lab and is one of the most aggressive and fastest producing strains. It produces dense and meaty mushrooms and utilizes all of it’s substrate very well. It’s mushrooms will grow taller than most all other strains and has been reported as having higher than normal potency.

Cultivation method

Step 1: Substrate preparation

The fungi consume the brown rice flour for food, and the vermiculite serves as a structure for the mycelial network to grow on. The end result yields thick white “cakes” of mycelium that can be placed directly into the fruiting chamber later on. Mushrooms will grow directly from these cakes.

The ratio of ingredients is going to be 2 parts vermiculite, 2 parts brown rice flour, and 1 part water. Start by adding the vermiculite. For 5 half-pint jars, you’ll need roughly 2 cups (500 mL) of vermiculite.

Next, add the water and mix it with the vermiculite. It should be wet, but without any water pooling at the bottom of the bowl.

The final step is to add the brown rice flour. Mix it around thoroughly. It should form an even coat of flour over the damp vermiculite.

Step 2: Fill the Mason Jars with Substrate

Step 3: Seal the Jars with Tin Foil

Step 4: Sterilization

Now that the jars are fully loaded with your substrate and sealed up, you need to sterilize them to prepare them for inoculation. This is done using a pressure cooker. Instant Pots also work great for this as they’re essentially just a glorified pressure cooker.

Step 5: Inoculation

Inject Some of the Spore Syringe into the Jar. Rinse & Repeat

Step 6: Incubation

The ideal conditions for Psilocybe cubensis during this stage is as follows:

Humidity — High (>80%)

Temperature — 20–28 ºC (68–82ºF)

Light — None

Airflow — Low or none

Step 7: Fruiting

Once your jars are fully colonized, the next step is to initiate fruiting. This involves creating the ideal environment for the mycelium to produce mushrooms — which are the reproductive organs for the fungi.

The ideal conditions for fruiting are as follows:

Humidity — High (>80%)

Temperature — 10–20 ºC (50–68ºF)

Light — Low (indirect light)

Airflow — Moderate

Step 8: Harvesting & Drying

When your mushrooms are ready to harvest, pinch them off at the base. They should break off easily without much effort. Only harvest the mushrooms that are ready. You may need to harvest a few mushrooms every day until they’re all done.

Side effect of Magic mushroom: 

The effects of psilocybin vary between people, based on the user’s mental state, personality, and immediate environment. 

If the user has a mental health condition or feels anxious about using the hallucinogen, they face a higher risk of having a bad experience. Psychological distress is the adverse event most often reported after recreational use of psilocybin. This distress can take the form of extreme anxiety or short-term psychosis.

The effects of psilocybin are generally similar to those of LSD. They include altered perception of time and space and intense changes in mood and feeling.