Depending on how we perceive the world and our beliefs, entheogens can be potential tools to aid in the treatment of mental illness, or compounds that help us explore ourselves, and to some, entheogens are tools to explore the realms of the spiritual world. Typically, these two insights rarely mix as the psychotomimetic community on the scientific and spiritual tend to split. However, this might be changing soon! The Beckley Foundation, alongside the Imperial College of London, the University of Sussex, the University of Oxford, and the University of California, brought us an interesting study that may connect how spiritual transcendent experiences, or 'peak experiences' in the psychonaut world, may predict positive results in mental health outcomes in therapy, such as reductions in depression and anxiety, and also reduced craving in substance abuse disorders. Learn more here!

Lately, an acronym has been around everyone's mouths, in some for its potential as a therapeutic tool, in others for the recent dilemma after the FDA denied its use as a tool for the treatment of PTSD. We are talking about MDMA. We have all heard about the story of Sasha Shulgin re-discovering MDMA and becoming coined as the 'Godfather' of MDMA by the media (which he publicly claimed to hate.) But did you know that at some point in history, MDMA had a natural precursor? A plant that goes under plenty of people's radars and suddenly became absent from psychedelic history after the mass destruction of specimens by the US government, leading to the endangerment of its species after MDMA became popular in nightclubs, this plant is Sassafras.

Stimulants are the most used compounds in the world. This statement may sound rather bold to many, considering how the media portrays the use and abuse of other substances. But by rethinking our routine, we tend to wake up and brush our teeth in the morning, followed by breakfast and coffee or tea Join us to find the secret chemical properties of coffee and tea and figure out that energy drinks may not be as harmful as they seem!

Recently, something has become a martyr in my head, and I think many people have this same question. Why do people keep on using psychedelics? Could it be that what we seek in psychedelic experiences represents the epitome of human existence as we try to satisfy our rooted curiosity about the unknown and could be the reasoning behind why people continuously explore the realms of consciousness and, consequently, psychedelics?

Following our Lion's Mane chocolate recipe, we decided to bring you a premium way to make Lion's Mane gummies! (But allow your mind to flow) We hope you've enjoyed this Myconomics segment and keep following your fungal adventures. As always, sending love! .

Mushroom edibles just became legal in Oregon, as regulators gave the state's first license of psilocybin edibles to Spiritus Oregon. With this first officialization of a company, we'll likely see the psilocybin-containing chocolate business grow unmeasurably in the next few years for both therapeutic and recreational use. Unfortunately, it isn't all good news. When mentioning mushroom chocolates, typically, just like any edible product, these bars are produced in mass, and the fungi content becomes spread unevenly, making it pretty much impossible to know the dosage we are taking per square. Another issue is that growers often sift out lower-quality mushrooms to make these chocolates, reserving the better mushrooms for sale, or sometimes, the problem is present in the quality of the chocolate used. We will teach you various techniques to avoid the issues mentioned previously and create gourmet chocolate using Lion's Mane like a true chocolatier (but allow your imagination to run wild).

Psychonauts often worry about their brain, whether because of a bad experience. We might feel our brain becomes less responsive or that something doesn't feel right post-trip, or we can have an underlying condition. The current forms of brain scans are limiting and expensive. For this reason, plenty of psychedelic interaction with the brain and their therapeutic effects remains quite a mystery. However, this might be about to change! Learn more about how CaST might be changing the way we study psychedelics with us.

Following up on last week's article, we clear up what we coined as Entheogenic Synergy, which bifurcates into Recreational Synergy and Therapeutic Synergy, concepts intended to raise awareness of anthropological values, mu beliefs, and elements susceptible to changing our biochemistry, microbiota, neurochemistry, and the way we think, such as music, hearing other experiences, expectations, and the journey to our destination, as well as conversations we have about the experience, being present to a new environment and language, learning to adapt, changing our neuroplasticity and thermoregulation are explored as equally as the psychedelic experience, and even further, be included in the psychedelic experience in the future research. 

The entourage effect is a phenomenon that has been gaining traction in psychedelic research. What at first was thought to be a phenomenon observed solemnly in the cannabis community and the entourage effect between THC and other phytocannabinoids turns out to be much more extensive than what we thought to be and to influence several species such as the Psilocybe genus. One specific study highlighted the significance of this phenomenon by demonstrating the superior therapeutic accuracy of psilocybin extracts compared to synthetic psilocybin. However, there is a species that hasn't been spoken of enough when mentioning the entourage effect. Lophophora Williamsii (Peyote). Join us and understand the entourage effect in Peyote!

The notion of Ketamine being a horse tranquilizer is slowly shifting into the compound as a tool in psychotherapy for the treatment of several mental illnesses, allowing novel therapies, such as Ketamine VR and using Ketamine to treat post-finasteride syndrome, to be developed. However, there is a downside to Ketamine therapy. Its availability, the cost, and the fact that patients stay in clinics for two hours after administration. But this might be changing soon! Researchers are currently in clinical trials for the approval of a slow-releasing racemic Ketamine tablet that will lower the cost of Ketamine therapy and can be administered at home by the patient as it doesn't have the typical dissociative side effects in IV Ketamine and has low chances of addiction according to researchers.