If you’re preparing for your first trip with psilocybin mushrooms, you’ve come to the perfect place.

Magic mushrooms could be a transformative experience cherished for a lifetime. Yet, they also have the potential to be as challenging an experience as any.

So how many shrooms should a beginner take? We advise between one to two grams of dried magic mushrooms. Start small and build your way up to higher dosages and stronger experiences. Check out this shroom dosage guide for further reading on this. 

At Gwella, we echo the Progressive, or Feminine approach to dosing, as Flor shares expertly on Super Psychedelic.

Wherever you’re coming from, the narrative of using psychedelics is changing. And the good news is humans have been using them for thousands of years, and along the way, we’ve figured a few things out.

Preparation For A Mushroom Journey

Making a conscious effort to find the right setting and create an atmosphere you are comfortable with will pay off. Cultivating a healthy mindset by researching, talking to experienced trippers, working with a coach or guide, and doing your favorite self-care practices will also set you up for success. Leaning on Fireside Project and their peer support line offers many trippers peace of mind.

The set and setting, as Timothy Leary coined them, are the most fundamental elements to consider when planning a mushroom journey.

These iconic terms as well as knowing about trip sitters, organizations like The Fireside Project, and intention setting are also important to place attention on before your trip.

Set - Mindset For Psychedelics

Set is your mindest. These are expectations, fears, hopes, plans, and the complex, unique psychology that make you a human. While magic mushrooms are somewhat unpredictable going into a trip relaxed with realistic expectations, a more positive experience is likely.

A healthy mindset for a psychedelic trip could be described as a curious, open mind, with education about potential psychedelic effects that we will cover later in this article. Having clear intentions as to why you are tripping is helpful, but perhaps more important is remaining flexible, and being ready for whatever the mushrooms do is essential.

Setting - Where To Trip On Mushrooms

The setting is your environment. Your external environment will be a driving force for a psychedelic experience. Your environment is the physical location of the trip but is also the people around you, the lighting or music playing. Paying attention to how all of these elements make you feel is essential.

Be honest with yourself about what your comfort zone is. For example, being connected to nature on mushrooms is great, but tripping alone in the forest could cause unnecessary anxiety if your friends in your apartment are your safe space. A familiar, private, comfortable space at the right temperature is ideal. Preparing art supplies, snacks, and a sweet playlist is also ideal, but be flexible, as psychedelics can sometimes have their own agenda.

Trip Sitters And Harm Reduction

A trip sitter can be a great anchor for a psychedelic journey. This can be a professional guide in the form of a psychedelic therapist, shaman, or a trusted friend, who ideally has experience with psychedelics. If you are nervous, planning to go deep, or simply want to share the experience with someone, a sitter can be helpful.

While it isn't usually recommended, a common first mushroom trip experience for many is festivals. The open, non-judgemental, and celebratory atmosphere works well for some people and is highly overwhelming for others.

If you find yourself at a festival or rave on psychedelics, make yourself aware of harm reduction services like chill-out tents, Dance Safe, or Zendo Project. Safe spaces for trippers have become a staple of the modern festival scene and have helped thousands keep mushrooms magic.

Intention Setting For Your First Trip

Another aspect of using psychedelics is setting intentions. Intentions are simply asking yourself, "why am I tripping?" Having a clear "why" can help prepare internal and external environments for the journey. An intention is handy during the experience as a reminder of why you chose to have a psychedelic experience. And after the trip, returning to your original intention can help you process psychedelic experiences as part of the integration.

Being The High Is Intentional Enough

There's a lot of attention on psychedelic experiences as tools for improvement, growth, deepening awareness, or working with our inner child - all of which resonates with Gwella. However, getting high to feel good, happy, or loving are all reasons people use mushrooms. Connecting with friends, laughing at the comedy of being alive, enjoying a concert, museum, and walking with nature is how most of us fell in love with psychedelics.

Being responsible, informed, and intentional is valuable and cannot be understated. Yet, most people who have a relationship with psychedelics began as first-time users seeking a different kind of high. It was recreational with friends - some experienced, others being psychedelic virgins.

How Many Magic Mushrooms Should A Beginner Take?

Whether you are experimenting with microdosing or feel ready to macrodose, remember - you can always take more, but not less.

Finding the dose that works for you will depend on your experience level, intentions, consumption method and the type of mushroom you take. While there are hundreds of psilocybin mushrooms in the world, most sit in a similar psychedelic range, with Penis Envy being the strongest of the bunch. Intentions can influence a trip as much as strain.

As we shared at the start, anywhere between one to two grams is a perfect place for a beginner. It loosens up the mind, invites profound beatuy and insights, and supports deeper connections all while your sense of self is left intact.

Anything more than three grams can begin unwinding our sense of self. These experiences are known as an “Ego Death.” For those just learning, dissolving into the Nothinginess of Everything can be overwhelming. Most bad episodes or challenging trips come down to over-dosing shrooms. Start low, and go slow. You’ll have a lifetime for bigger trips along your Way.

The Most Popular Consumption Methods

There are numerous ways to consume shrooms. And over a lifetime, each is worth trying because the consumption method impacts the type of experience bound to unfold.

Dried Magic Mushrooms

Dried is likely how your magic mushrooms will be. Dried mushrooms are easier to store as fresh ones likely won't last much longer than a week in your fridge.

Dry mushrooms are not a pleasant culinary experience. They are chewy and taste very "earthy," so many people disguise the flavor and texture. Some popular methods are blending the mushrooms into a smoothie, puting them between a PB&J, or coating them with honey.

Of course, you can also just eat them. Consuming dried mushrooms typically leads to some degree of nausea, regardless of what you mix them with.

Shroom Chocolates or Gummies

The Aztecs of Central America traditionally took their mushrooms with cacao as a sacrament. The tradition continues today, but if you don't have access to raw cacao, mushrooms chocolates are the next best thing.

With the explosion of psychedelics into the mainstream, it’s easy to buy edible shrooms in a variety of forms. My personal favorite is peanut butter cups!

This method is also gentler on the stomach than raw or dried mushrooms, with the effects being the typical 4-6 hours. As the Master Grower of Blue Goba shared, chocolates account for almost half of their sales… So people are catching on to these psychedelic delicacies for mind, body, and soul.

Shroom Tea

Mushroom tea is a pleasant experience. While it still retains a reasonably strong mushroom flavor, there is an opportunity to add herbs, other tea, or honey to sweeten the experience. Ginger is also a popular choice to aid with nausea, although even plain mushroom tea is generally easier on digestion.

Making mushroom tea is simple… hot water + mushrooms = mushroom tea. Be sure to give the mushrooms enough time to steep, at least 15 minutes. Some people like to grind their mushrooms for alleged improved extraction of psilocybin, but this is up to you.

Mushroom tea will likely bring you deeper into your mushroom journey faster, so be prepared if this is your first time making tea! The quicker onset can also make the trip end sooner.

Lemon Tekking

A lemon tek is grinding up mushrooms, soaking them in lemon juice, and taking the mixture like a shot. If you go this route, it’s advised to take half the dose you planned to ingest.

Lemon tekking brings on the trip faster and more intensely. It also has gained popularity for reducing nausea and ending a trip sooner.

While nobody has studied lemon tek, the theory is that the acidity of the lemon begins breaking down the mushrooms before they hit your stomach.

Once you've taken shrooms, how long do they take to kick in?

The answer isn't a simple one and depends on several elements, which we break down in full here.

Who Aren't Shrooms for?

This blog post isn't a substitute for a medical professional, but in the interest of safety and awareness, psychedelics aren't for everyone. Consuming psychoactive drugs are believed to speed up the onset for people with existing mental health conditions.

Final Advice for Beginners Taking Shrooms

Curiosity about magic mushrooms is worth exploring. Whatever your motivation, the world of psychedelics has been influencing human consciousness for millennia, and wanting to join the fun is an exciting and natural impulse.

Taking the time for proper preparation by cultivating your mindset, creating the setting that feels right for you, and giving yourself space to make sense of your experience will reap benefits. However, no matter how much effort you put into your trip, be it a spontaneous adventure with friends or a full-on ceremony, respecting that mushrooms are mysterious helps us be ready for whatever comes up.

With openness, flexibility, surrender, and deep breaths, mushrooms can take you to some pretty amazing places where you can join generations of millions of other explorers seeking the magic of the mushroom. See you there!