Speculation on Amanita Muscaria's mode of action.

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Speculation on Amanita Muscaria's mode of action.

Post by Amanita Research » Thu Oct 31, 2019 2:03 pm

Hey all,

I was just wondering what people's positions were on what is going on when one uses Amanita Muscaria? Myself I'm coming at this from the medicinal/spiritual point of view and am only micro-dosing occasionally. That said, there have been occasions when I have over stepped the mark and have had various experiences. I'm just trying to make sense of them.

For a bit of background, I'm tee-total, but, decades ago, I had a wide variety of psychedelic experiences. From mescaline and salvia divinorum (60x +) to mushrooms and so on. I've not had any experience with DMT related chemicals.

So, with all that in mind, I don't think there is anything 'psychedelic' about Amanita Muscaria. Not at all. This is, of course, backed up by general anecdotal and scientific evidence. However, I am fully aware of surreal experiences it creates and am pondering the mechanism. My current view is that this creates or causes some sort of extension to hypnogogia.

My personal experiences of hypnogogia
Myself, I'm fortunate in that I experience certain aspects of hypnogogia naturally (as I'm sure many of us do). Every night there is a period, just before sleep, where I see a point of light, or shadow suddenly convert into a firework display of colour or a kaleidoscope of self-generating fractals. This can also present as various images, crosses and 'eyes'. This is so regular that I use it to tell if I'm ready to go to sleep. If I close my eyes and see the colours I know I'm tired. If I relax, within ninety seconds or so, I'm sound asleep. I can, on the other hand, maintain consciousness and watch the show for as long as I want. Interestingly the 'fractals' or images often reflect my underlying emotional state. So, for example, if I'm stressed or concerned about anything, they will have a slightly 'darker' aspect to them. The edges will be jagged and any images won't be 'nice' and will, on occasion, appear ugly or menacing. All totally harmless of course, but I use it as a barometer as to my current state of mind and whether I'm suppressing anything or not addressing something I need to in my personal life. Of course, on occasion, any images presented may be directly related to things that are on my mind. People, places and so on. Perhaps most tellingly, all this appears to me as though it were on a screen in front of my mind's eye. Whilst I have some control over what I see (I can disintegrate any unpleasant images I may see at will for example), I am very much just an observer of what is going on. It's just like looking into a fire. In this way it sounds similar to the experience of the 'prisoner's cinema' or various states of meditation.

Other people's experiences of hypnogogia
I'm aware (though have little experience) that other people have different but related experiences in this regard. Two specific examples would be lucid dreaming and 'astral projection'. In both these cases I would suggest that there is a similar mechanism in play. The conscious mind wakes up whilst in the dream state in one way or another. Regarding 'astral projection', the closest experiences I've had are when reading or watching TV just before sleep and I close my eyes and still feel I can 'see' what is going on, or 'read' what is on the page in front of me. With one's eyes shut one really feels as though one can literally 'see' the world through one's mind's eye. I only get this occasionally but I know other people get a very clear sensation that they have 'broken free' of their body and can then explore the world. There is, of course, much debate as to whether these people are exploring the world or a subjective dream state, but still, the experience itself is common enough to warrant investigation. Both of the above examples differ from my experiences insofar as the dreamer who is 'in' the dream, experiences it directly rather than as I do which is 'on a screen' inside my mind. However, I think they are all related via the hypnogogic state.

Amanita Muscaria, hypnogogia and my experiences
So, why do I think this relates to Amanita Muscaria? Well firstly, the obvious. The fairy tales and anecdotal evidence always go on about lucid dreaming. The standard picture of falling asleep in the forest after eating a cap to visit a land full of mythological and magical creatures. Also, I speak from personal experience. On those occasions when I've overstepped the mark, I note a few strange occurrences. Firstly, on one occasion I awoke and the room was 'pulsing' around me. Nothing fractal or psychedelic, just a pulse running through everything. I thought, 'how interesting' and closed my eyes to go back to sleep. Then, instead of the usual 'prisoner's cinema' effect described above I accidentally stepped straight into my dreams. Not as some spectator, rather as an active participant. I could reach out and touch things as though I was there. I could also recreate any world I decided to and experience it as through I were there.

Then, once I fell asleep properly, I 'woke up' in my dream. I was in a land of swirling images. It felt like I was somewhere 'real'. I felt there were other forces there. I could make changes but other forces would try to revert what I did. At the time (in my dream) I interpreted it as the collective unconsciousness of mankind. A place from whence all our thoughts arose. It certainly felt real whilst I experienced it.

Speculation
So, anyway, given the above I interpret all this as me having both a semi 'astral-body' experience (of sorts) and a lucid dream. Regardless of whether either experience represents anything in the real world, it is generally accepted that both of these phenomena are linked with REM sleep. I did some research and it turns out that muscimol indeed promotes REM sleep in cats. It also, interestingly, has a role in promoting wakefulness.

Whilst I wouldn't pretend to know what the specific mechanism of action is, it's interesting to note that GABA(A) appears to be central to REM sleep and wakefulness. Muscimol, as a GABA(A) agonist, may be interfering with these processes leading to the various experiences of enhanced hypnogogia. At the other end of the spectrum from all this would be 'waking dreams' where the dream state would appear to the waking mind.

I wonder whether this is what is happening with Amanita Muscaria at higher doses. Not a psychedelic experience as such, rather a blurring between the waking and sleeping minds. What does everyone else think? I'm honestly curious about all this.

And just to be clear, the above is 100% speculation on my part. Other than some tenuous links, nothing is confirmed. Still I thought it an interesting line of research and wondered what everyone else thought.

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Re: Speculation on Amanita Muscaria's mode of action.

Post by T36 » Fri Nov 01, 2019 10:19 am

From my experiences with high doses that breakthrough, i would speculate that AM separates the consciousness from the body. It starts with a sensation of what i like to call a spinning sphere of consciousness, imagine a sphere that has image's on the inside, and you are the observer who is inside of it, every time the sphere spins to the next image you kinda pass out for 1/10 of a second, the sphere goes faster and faster untill you go into a state of unconscious trance...
Basically AM turns off your pain,fear,anxiety,etc...and in the end it turns of you! you experience death and rebirth become the alpha&omega...
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Re: Speculation on Amanita Muscaria's mode of action.

Post by Amanita Research » Fri Nov 01, 2019 11:27 am

Yes, I've not tried any really high doses yet. I'm just curious as to what it's really 'doing' in the mind, but yes, I hear you regarding the subjective experience. Also I totally agree regarding the total removal of fear and anxiety. Even on the micro-dose level I notice that it makes me extraordinarily calm.

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