Florida weekend retreat

Psilocybe cubensis is a species of psychedelic mushroom whose principal active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin. Your brain on psilocybin is finding new ways to connect synapses that are usually not active and allows new connections to travel more freely in your brain, allowing you to form new thought patterns about yourself and how you see the world. Mushrooms can promote neurogenesis in your brain meaning it can create new brain cells and repair damage in your brain. New research also shows that mushrooms can physically change the size of your amygdala (structure in your brain that processes fear/anger and our fight or flight response) indicating that mushrooms can be helpful for individuals with PTSD.

Mushrooms have been used in many cultures all over the world, cave drawings from 9,000 years ago have been found in Siberia indicating their widespread usage. Mushrooms were most commonly used in Central America and Mexico as part of spiritual or religious ceremonies for centuries. Psilocybin or “Magic Mushrooms” became popularized in western culture after an American journalist took part in a mushroom ceremony in Oaxaca, Mexico with a Mexican Indigenous medicine woman, Maria Sabina. The journalist published an article about his experience with the mushrooms that later led to the psychedelic boom in the United States and the exploitation of Maria Sabina, her community, and sacred mushrooms.

You can read more about Maria Sabina here.

A ceremony in the psychedelic context serves to direct our minds, energy, and thoughts to be aligned and focused. A ceremony with mushrooms tunes out the outside world and provides a safe and intimate connection with the mushroom medicine. You can expect your facilitator to use clearing sacred herbs such as Sage and Palo Santo as well as drumming and singing to set the ceremonial context. We will be grounding our energy during the ceremony via an altar. Altars are a place where you can focus your energy throughout the ceremony and will help set the tone and pace of the ceremony.