What is Magic Mushroom Day? To people in the psychedelic movement, it’s an educational day of action devoted to celebrating psilocybin mushrooms.
Created for psychonauts in 2015 by Nicholas Reville of Providence, the overall spirit of Magical Mushroom Day today is more party-like for most these days. But whether you’re educating yourself about psychedelic mushrooms and wellness or just enjoying their magical effects, this is the place to learn about the day!
History of Magic Mushroom Day
Magic Mushroom Day was inspired in large part by other days that celebrate substances. We all know about 4/20 on April 20th, when cannabis enthusiasts celebrate their favorite plant. That dates back to the 1970s.
Slightly less famous but just as fabulous as 4/19 or Bicycle Day, which dates back to 1943. That year, chemist Albert Hofmann, who extracted psilocybin and psilocin and invented LSD, intentionally took LSD intentionally ride his bike through Basel, Switzerland while experiencing the effects. He had the opposite of a bad trip, and a holiday was born.
Why did Reville choose September 20th and what was the goal? Mushrooms are most plentiful in nature at the beginning of autumn. The goal was to inspire people to connect and experience magic mushrooms and educate themselves about the psychoactive benefits of psilocybin decriminalization and the legalization of psychedelics.
What Are the Effects of Magic Mushrooms?
Magic mushrooms can produce both mental and physical effects. The effects of shrooms range from hallucinations, feeling drowsy or relaxed, and introspection, to nervousness, nausea, paranoia, panic, and in rare cases, psychosis.
These days many get their magic mushrooms via microdosing, the routine consumption of tiny doses of psychedelic drugs, such as LSD or magic mushrooms, without the goal of producing hallucinogenic side effects. Typically, people microdose improve cognition and performance, and a study in Psychopharmacology reports that 79% of microdosers noted mental health improvements.
Psilocybin is not addictive but it’s possible to build a tolerance, so stick to microdosing or space your trips out.
Is Psilocybin Legal?
Magic mushrooms are cultivated or wild fungi that contain psilocybin, a naturally-occurring hallucinogenic, psychoactive compound. Psilocybin-containing mushrooms have been used in spiritual and therapeutic settings for thousands of years and have been depicted in cave art as early as 10,000 BCE.
So people consume magic mushrooms for many different reasons and they have for millennia. In the 1960s, people sought psychedelics and magic mushrooms to expand their minds and cope with mental health disorders like anxiety, addiction, and depression. That continued until The War on Drugs began.
Eventually, in 2018, Johns Hopkins University researchers recommended that psilocybin be reclassified to allow for medical use from Schedule I to Schedule IV. It seems the FDA will soon approve psilocybin for use in conjunction with therapy for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder. Many research studies support the use of psilocybin to treat anxiety, cancer-related psychiatric distress, depression, end-of-life distress, nicotine addiction, substance use disorders, and other mental health conditions.
In 2019, Denver and Oakland decriminalized mushrooms. Soon thereafter, Santa Cruz and Oregon followed suit. In this sense, psilocybin seems to be following the cannabis example.
Researchers have also shown shows a connection between a psilocybin trip that produces a mystical experience and increased feelings of gratitude, forgiveness, and purpose. Other research has shown that psilocybin can increase openness to new ideas and help people break unhealthy patterns, and even change things like political ideology.
What’s Next for Psychedelic Mushrooms?
At this point, people pushing for change in the psychedelic field are looking to the cannabis industry as a model for what comes next. Psilocybin stakeholders and policymakers will have to make decisions about accessibility to medicine, what retail will look like, and how to ensure equitable access to people regardless of identity or geographical location. This is still a far-off goal in cannabis, too.
As yet, psilocybin dispensaries are still a dream, except for certain religious and mail-order mushroom dispensary exceptions that pop up from time to time—usually to be shut down. Of course, the underground market is robust, offering well-branded merchandise ranging from dried mushrooms of many different varieties and species for your own use, to fully ready-to-use psilocybin edibles and chocolates and microdosable capsules.
How to Participate in World Magic Mushroom Day
There are so many great ways to celebrate this day! Don’t let us limit you, but we’ll get you started. The key idea is to be safe, social, open, present, and enjoy magic mushrooms.
So, here are some great things to do to celebrate Magic Mushroom Day:
Picnic, Potluck or Cookout
Yes! Eat those magic mushrooms in great company and see what you can see and learn together.
Forage for Wild Mushrooms
Plan ahead, bring supplies, tell a sober person where you’re going, and check out this guide on how to safely forage for mushrooms and not die.
Psychedelic Movie Night
You can either go for some classics like Daisies or Un Chien Andalou, or be a little more literal and check out Easy Rider or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Mushroom Cultivation Workshop
There are a surprising number of these popping up in different places, and if you can’t find one, you can always console yourself with a mushroom cultivation kit for home.
Psychedelic Dance Party
You know what to do—and if you don’t, you will once it starts.
Magic Mushroom Discussion or Panel
This is a great way to enjoy microdosing, especially while really learning something.
Shroom Campfire
Nothing like a gorgeous, roaring fire to give you some psychedelic visions, and a campfire is a great spot to talk.
Psychedelic Integration Circle
This kind of event helps people use psilocybin in a safe space and explore and share their psychedelic experiences with others.
Community Bike Ride
Why not recreate Bicycle Day with magic mushrooms?
Final Thoughts on Magic Mushroom Day
We hope this guide to Magic Mushroom Day has been useful to you. We love this up-and-coming holiday and take it as an opportunity to educate everyone who will listen about the amazing effects and benefits of psilocybin and magic mushrooms. What are you going to do on September 20?
