Subject: Andrew Weil writes...
From: [email-masked] (Jeff Heeney)
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 1994 00:51:10 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.psychoactives

An excerpt from the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs.
		                 Vol.7(No.1)Jan-Mar,1975

	Re: Liberty caps (in a field in Oregon)

	..Soon I had eaten 25 of the tiny mushrooms...
	Gradually I became aware of a strange sensation in my 
stomach, a sort of buzzing vibration that grew slowly in
intensity. It was not at all unpleasant, and I knew at once it
was the mushrooms. Over the next ten minutes this unusual 
feeling became stronger, filling my abdomen. Then it began
to invade the rest of my body, pushing outward through the 
muscles to the extremities. I was distinctly aware of a subtle
but powerful energy vibrating through the musculature of my
whole body. It made me feel warm and strong. As it reached my
head, my senses sharpened, and I found myself admiring qualities
of the wet pasture I had ignored until then. The green of the
grass was of glowing intensity, highlighted by tones of brown and
red. The smell of the earth and rain was overpowerin. I had no 
desire to move. If the ground had been dry, I would have
stretched out and rolled on the grass.
	Our little group slowly drew together. Obviously, we were
all feeling the effects of the mushrooms. We moved slowly and
gracefully, swinging our arms and laughing at each other. The 
laughter seemed to bubble up from inside, and the sound of it
echoed inside my chest. I was also very conscious of the taste
of mushrooms. It was as strong as if fresh in my mouth but was
diffused through my whole body. I felt the taste in my muscles.

	......to be cont.
-- 
     www
     O-O
      L
     -=-           ........ so there!!

=============================================================================

Newsgroups: alt.psychoactives
From: [email-masked] (Jeff Heeney)
Subject: Andrew Weil (cont.)
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 1994 06:39:09 GMT

	The rain picked up in intensity. Clearly we could not 
stay out in the field much longer. It was late afternoon and 
turning colder. Slowly we wended our way out of the pasture,
across the fence, and up a steep bank to the car. I curled up 
in a corner of the back seat as we started to move. It was an 
hours drive south along the caost to Greg and Susan's house.
	The mushroom energy continued to course around my body.
And now it began to pull me away from ordinary awareness into
a realm that bordered on sleep but was not sleep. It was an
effort to maintain awareness of the car and my fellow passen-
gers, let alone the scenery outside. Instead, I closed my eyes
and began to see visions that were somewhere between images in
the mind's eye and actual movies projected on the inside of my
eyelids. At first there were shadowy patterns that tended to 
multiply themselves in infinite regressions, but these soon 
resolved themselves into very clear images of mushrooms. The 
mushrooms that appeared to me were of one type, not Liberty
Caps. They grew in clustered bunches, the stipes arising from
a common point, and lacked the Liberty Cap's distinct peak.
They also seemed fleshier and bigger. I had never seen them 
before. Bunches of these visionary mushrooms appeared out of
nowhere, springing up at odd angles, swirling and receding.
They occupied my attention completely.
	"Are you all right?"someone in the front seat asked.
	"Yes, I'm seeing mushrooms." I opened my eyes for a
moment, surprised by the brightness of the outside light. I
closed them quickly and was instanly back in the comfortable
night world of visions. I felt sorry for the driver and 
other front-seat riders who were attending to the road and 
could not watch the interior show.
	We arrived at the house without difficulty just as 
it was growing dark.
	"Are you still seeing mushrooms?"Greg asked me.
	I closed my eyes to make sure."Yes, they're still
there."
	"A number of people who eat these things see mush-
rooms,"Greg said.
	"The ones I'm seeing aren't the ones we ate. I wonder
if I'll ever meet up with them."
	I told Greg and Susan that Liberty Caps more than 
lived up to my expectations and thanked them for introducing
me to them. Hallowe'en seemed an especially fitting day on
which to meet them.
	It was now a stormy Hallowe'en night, and a long
ride through the mountains lay between us and Eugene. The
visions were subsiding, and I volunteered to drive. It took
some concentration to follow the tortuos road through the 
rain, but we arrived home without incident. I could still
feel the vibrational energy in my muscles, though it was
fading rapidly. About six hours after I had eaten the 
mushrooms, I was back to normal, feeling tired. I fell
asleep and awoke the next morning refreshed and ready to
leave Oregon for the south.
  
-- 
     www
     O-O
      L
     -=-           ........ so there!!

=============================================================================

Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: [email-masked] (Jeff Heeney)
Subject: Andrew Weil (conclusion)
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 1994 07:11:59 GMT

	Excerpt from "Mushroom Hunting..." by Andrew Weil in
the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs. Vol.7(1)Jan.-Mar.,1975.

	I did not return to the state until April. When I got
back I made an effort to find out more about Liberty Caps and 
eventually got in touch with Jerry, the Oregon state student
who had introduced Greg and Susan to the mushrooms. Jerry gave
me much useful information about them. He said they appeared
to be a species called Psilocybe semelanceata, that like all
Psilocybes they had purplish brown spores, and like all
psychoactive Psilocybes they tended to stain blue on handling
or drying, although less so than other varieties.(I had seen 
no tinges of blue on the ones I ate.) Jerry said further that 
they appeared only after the Autumn Equinox and continued to
grow until the Winter Solstice, despite low temperatures. Thier
range extended from the California border north into British
Columbia, from the ocean east to the crest of the coastal 
mountains. Of the active species he had tried, Jerry said
Liberty Caps were his favourites.
	I have found reference to this species in one European
handbook and in no American one. The European book called 
Psilocybe semilanceata a poisonous species. And, no doubt,
persons who ate it unawares, without the proper set, would
interpret the dramatic changes as mushroom poisoning.

	Andrew Weil writes again in the Journal of Psychedelic
Drugs Vol.8(2)Apr-Jun.,1976.

-- 
     www
     O-O
      L
     -=-           ........ so there!!