0:00:00.0 April Pride: Obviously, the most direct way to intensify a mushroom trip is to choose one of the most potent mushroom strains, like Albino Penis Envy.
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0:00:15.0 AP: Hey, welcome to The High Guide. I’m your host April Pride, coming in first with a big thanks for your grace last week while I made a show on the fly. The fact that technology allows me to do that makes me just want to do that because way fewer pieces of equipment are involved, software programs, et cetera. I told you I was particularly pressed last week in anticipation of this week’s event on Tuesday, The High Guide to psilocybin, a Q&A I hosted at the Cloud Room here in Seattle and I’ll continue to host every other Tuesday. I’m going to read you a few of my notes that I jotted in my journal the morning after the event. I’ll further explain what’s behind the shorthand as I go, and then after I read my minutes so to speak. Stay tuned for a Shroom Strain review on Albino Penis Envy, the strain you heard me refer to at the top of the show. So which nuggets shall I share from my journal jot? Let’s see. Which entheogens are decriminalized in Seattle psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, ibogaine and non-peyote-derived mescaline.
0:01:17.1 AP: Women and psilocybin. What have I learned about women’s health in psilocybin? Jennifer Chesak, who is the author of the soon-to-be-released, The Psilocybin Handbook for Women, I learned this while reading an early copy of her book, that we should time our trips with ovulation. Find that the energy afforded to us during the ovulatory period is very conducive and helpful to the mushroom experience. Microdosing starting at 80 milligrams, good idea. I start at like 150, but I do think that 80 is, that’s a good idea. I found myself explaining what’s the difference between different shroom strains as we discuss here. There’s a quote that you’ll hear later, “a cube is a cube” except Penis Envy, and so I was going into that on Tuesday night. And then there was a question of “You know. I want to drink and then have mushrooms and is that okay?” And I say no, because I always think adding alcohol is not a good idea when you’re talking about other substances just because it can be unpredictable.
0:02:16.4 AP: But I did want to acknowledge that there are people that do that, people that are close to me and everything’s fine. However, there was a facilitator there on Tuesday night, and she backed me up and was like, “No alcohol. Don’t do that. It’s just way too unpredictable.” But what the conversation where it ended up going was you really just need to be careful, right? That you’re in a setting with people you can trust and that you’re not going to be put in harm’s way. Be with it. So that’s really where that thinking comes from, right? I just want to keep people safe. And then emphasis on setting, as I was saying, the people, places and props, including the importance of music. Don’t forget, we’ve got the psyched audio series that we did with Patchworks, I hope you’ve got those six episodes that you can listen to while you trip, it’s really fun.
0:03:00.6 AP: Equal access, the expense of regulated psilocybin assisted therapy, the numbers came out recently from Oregon, it’s $3,500 a session. So what’s the solution? There was a lot of conversation around healing circles. So what’s a healing circle? We’re going to talk more about that in another episode because what we’re creating here with Of Like Minds and The High Guide is intended to be healing circles that are healing through fun. Now we’ll get into that in later episodes, but now let’s get into Albino Penis Envy aka APE.
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0:03:36.2 AP: Which is reported to have three to four times the potent effects, I say Golden Teacher, which we covered in a previous newsletter and in episode 59 of this show. This is episode 61, so it’s just a couple of episodes ago. Although many shrooms claim to be more potent than usual, we’ve gone over that on this show, they’re all more potent than you would expect. Only one is so famous that it’s changed the phrase “a cube is a cube” to include except, Penis Envy. Also known as PE, these so-called penis mushrooms have a history full of interesting twists and are consistently reported to be magnitude stronger than other psilocybin containing mushrooms. When PE was crossed with most likely Albino A+ Psilocybe Cubensis, the result was a variety more potent than the most potent. As I mentioned, it’s the species of Psilocybe Cubensis. And the origin, the legendary origin of the species has famed psychologist and psychonaut Terence McKenna stumbling across a patch of the penis mushrooms while on one of his forays in the Amazon. McKenna brought spore prints back to the US, one of which found its way into the hands of mycologist Rich Gee, who cultivated the fungus for us into its familiar phallic form.
0:04:45.6 AP: As I said, many mushrooms report to be potent, though Albino Penis Envy has an actual claim to the title. Psychedelic researchers at Oakland Hyphae all but confirmed during its annual Psilocybin Cup, kind of like the Emerald Cup for weed, that Penis Envy can be between 50 and 100 times stronger than other varieties. Some growers and those who buy penis envy cubensis suggest that Albino variety maybe even more potent. I cannot stress that Albino Penis Envy is for the advanced psychonaut only, even then it should be approached with caution and reverence.
0:05:24.2 AP: As with all mushroom experiences, I highly recommend making sure you’re in a safe place when experiencing APE. As a particularly potent mushroom, it may also be advisable to have a trip sitter with you, someone who can help you through what may become a very intense experience. After such an experience, it can take some time to integrate any revelations. The effects of penis mushrooms are similar to those of other shroom varieties, though highly intensified. Visual hallucinations are on the wavy side of things rather than the geometric patterns that are common with other varieties. The high is also described as clean by some trippers, with less heaviness or lethargy in the body. That would be good for me, I tend to get quite tired. But this leads to feelings of euphoria and out-of-body experience. As APE is generally a more potent variety, in my experience even lower doses can lead to the sorts of dissociative experiences that are more typical of a strong or heroic dose. Again, exercise caution in exploring penis mushrooms. [chuckle] I just like saying penis mushrooms.
0:06:26.7 AP: Appearance. Albino Penis Envy is named well, because it looks like a penis. As Hamilton Morris brilliantly reports in his podcast episode entirely dedicated to this variety, mycologist Rich Gee is said to have shown them to a group of Seattle dancers of the Rick’s variety for those of you who are local and have been so for a while who claimed they look… I live in Seattle so this is great, who claimed they look like donkey dongs. Gee asked if they had penis envy and the name stuck. The Albino variety has a very light coloring in stems and caps and bruises a dark blue when damaged, a sign of a potent shroom. Actually there is some debate about that and we’ve gone over that in an earlier episode.
0:07:11.2 AP: Duration. Alright so Albino Penis Envy’s intense trip lasts about six hours. My trips are like to the minute, four hours. Effects become noticeable in the usual 30 to 60 minute window that is usual for Psilocybe Cubensis. Although there’s no way to guarantee the potency of any particular mushrooms, APE is consistently reported to be some magnitudes more potent than most other Psilocybin containing mushrooms. Those beginning to experiment with these infamous fungi may want to step down to a lower dose than usual while becoming accustomed to the Penis Envy’s effect.
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0:07:52.8 AP: I leave you with today’s trip tips, to win with APE in the wild which means without a facilitator. Number one, the museum dose. While this variety is not intended for microdosing, APE is great for museum doses 250 to 500 milligrams because remember it’s three to four times more potent than if you were to take 250 milligrams or 500 milligrams of Golden Teacher. So you take a capsule, it invites increased openness to be social, to go to a museum, to be lost in the art or to go outside and embrace nature. Trip tip number two. Antidepressants appear to reduce the effect of psilocybin in some people. I have links to a comprehensive list posted by facilitators who match the records of their patients with clinical research information. Definitely find this link and take a look because you may be surprised at the specificity. For instance, Wellbutrin which I take daily doesn’t seem to suppress the effects of psilocybin but about six other SNRIs do significantly.
0:08:54.4 AP: And the third trip tip. When the effects of psychedelics are amplified so is the potential for our emotions to wander into a humbly vulnerable state. Also amplified is the potential for suppressed memories to resurface. This Tuesday’s convening of the High Guide to Psilocybin had a few consistent topics and the importance of setting as I mentioned earlier in the show, the people, places and props of things you have in your immediate surroundings. When you take a strain like APE, invest the same three to four times on getting your setting dialed in and enjoy the ride. I was really looking forward to having a trip report for today but I’m gonna wait until so I have way more space around taking that time. I’m gonna do it over the three-day weekend Memorial Day weekend, so stay tuned for an update because I’ve yet to take more than a gram or a gram and a half of APE.
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0:09:44.5 AP: Thank you for listening to this episode of The High Guide. I’m your host April Pride. Please check out our website thehigh.guide for our Shroom Strain reviews and guide to psilocybin. Tune in next Friday for another episode of The High Guide, a show all about women changing their lives thanks to altered states of consciousness.
