Scarecrow

uhhhh, like once every few days/nights for the majority of a whole winter and spring? dosage varied wildly. that was before i had respect for this sort of thing (don't judge me xD). not really surprised it kicked my ass in the end.

Oh, I'm grateful. No beef whatsoever here either... but I can't allow him to stay any longer. I've been starting to feel alarmingly close to death. The mushroom has always given me connotations of a bit of a twisted way of thinking, also. I don't think it's the best idea to simply let it do as it pleases without at least questioning it. One thing I've heard often is that, as benevolent as spirits may appear to be, they often tend to have their own motives. It's best to be accepting and curious, but also have a strong will, and be well guarded. I'm sure we'll meet again some day anyway... This is a very interesting idea. It does seem that the biggest issue I had was an exascerbation of my symptoms, so it's possible you're right, at least from a western perspective. In TCM terms, the fact that the mushroom seems to have a strongly cooling effect on the internal organs implies the same thing, as well as some other stuff. It would reduce the vigour of your immune response, slow the digestion, tighten the muscles, allow entry of exterior pathogens, etc. But this doesn't change my thoughts on having too much of it! Too much cooling, especially in the middle of winter, can easily cripple your health. For these reasons I suspect that too much of the mushroom was one of the major factors that brought me into this condition to start with. Furthermore, having noticed the powerful cooling effect, I started drinking some of my herbal medicine brew, which is very warming (to counteract my condition). There was an immediate improvement of my symptoms, and for the duration of the trip I continued drinking diluted cups of the brew. It helped immensely. I think we're on to something here :D

Reiki: I'm open minded enough to try it. My main concern would be that finding a legitimate practitioner, rather than a fraud/deluded person, for such an intangible healing practice might be difficult. I have no way of knowing whether I'm wasting my money or not, and I don't really have money to waste at this stage.As far as energy medicine in general goes though... chinese medicine and tai chi are my approach at the moment. I'm undergoing fairly regular acupuncture and cupping treatments, and practising moxabustion and tai chi at home, as well as taking regular doses of prescribed herbal brews. All of this seems to be helping a lot. I hope to learn Qigong once I've got a better foundation in tai chi. And thank you for your concern and reassuring words Dosage: naw, not likely. My bioassay was with only a quite small amount, because I know I shouldn't be pushing my limits right now. Hell, I didn't even finish the tea I made... I got about 2/3 of the way through it and then felt that something wasn't right, so I stopped. Lucky, too, because I was in a great amount of physical discomfort when it kicked in. I was definitely not anxious during the trip, either. I can handle my altered states very well, and even during some fairly immense physical discomfort, I kept a clear head and simply applied what I knew about helping my body cope with something that it's rejecting. This led to my above revelations... everything fun seems to tax kidney's life essence D:including most psychoactives... and sex watch out for that fatigue and lower back pain folks...

It's been weighing me down for quite some time, nearly two years now. Incidentally, the sensation started during a trip, and then never left. It's definitely felt like something has been living in me, feeding off whatever small amount of nutrients I give myself. Despite eating plenty and having a relatively solid diet, I've lost a huge amount of weight, and muscle. As for mental state, I've never really faltered there. Ever since I took up meditation, I've been increasingly more positive. I have never really let my illness bring me down. Likewise, I've been growing spiritually. As for sexuality, I've definitely gone through a more carnal phase. However, that's also come to a close lately, and I've become less and less driven by desires in general as I've grown spiritually and mentally. That is definitely possible. However, given the kicking onto my ass that mushrooms had given me not too long before this all started, and the fact that the the energy really felt like mycelium moving through my veins, I'm inclined to think that this was more of a hard whipping into shape. My illness was a huge factor in me deciding to take up chinese medicine, and after many revelations about looking after myself, it's led to this experience. I'm thinking this may all have been one big lesson. A rough one, perhaps, but maybe that was the only way I'd ever get the message... Plant teachers work in strange ways.

too much of anything isn't a good thing. i've been working on figuring out what mushrooms are doing in TCM terms... here are my notes from today; tension around spleen? tension around liver? tension around shoulders tension around lower back => kidneys strange feeling around behind ears, to above jaw, (outer temples?) => GB channel weakness of the limbs third eye strange feeling cold, tightening. overall feeling of burden feeling of swollfen left thumb palm (??) on the comedown: liver ache, working hard kidneys feel achey tired pain, feels taxed profuse, frequent urination right side shoulder/back pain joints cracking a lot tension along right side of spine i'm suspecting that it acts on the gallbladder channel, may cool the digestive system, taxes the kidneys... i haven't figured this out yet, need to think about this some more when i'm sober. frequent use has definitely caused me trouble, combined with some other factors may have led to my "fibromyalgia". does this count as too much information? i'm doing research here...

Done. Sounds like interesting research, I'm also keen to hear the results when it's done.

for everyone who was talking about LIGHT and PURPLE http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

That's a great reminder of the value of meditation, to me. Feels like I'm going in the right direction

PM'ing

well i for one will be there might be a bit later than last time, as I have to make my own way there this time (public transport). see you guys tomorrow!

i have no delusions regarding this (i'm studying traditional chinese medicine as a result)

God damn it. I was talking to somebody in one of my classes about how hard it is for naturopaths to become recognized just the other day. The conclusion of our conversation was that it's likely because they're in direct competition with pharmaceutical companies. I know people who have had significant results in just days using naturopathy, after months of unsuccessful treatments with dangerous pharmaceuticals. But that doesn't matter, because money is more important than having medicine that works, right?

oh yeah, bioshock was fantastic. that plot twist at the end, wow. the more recent bioshock infinite was also fantastic.

That's really cool. and i'm sure they can make it better now that they've raised $350,000 more than they intended!

...or it just misses everything >___>

thanks for the advice d00d! i think you're definitely right. i've been planning to go out on a day trip with a few close mates soon, to do it properly. i'll definitely keep all this in mind!

I went looking last night, and managed to find a few... except they were old, shrivelled and questionably edible (not that I'd want to eat them!). It seems there hasn't been enough rain in that spot. I'll check back if the weather picks up, but in the meantime I guess I'll try somewhere else.

i'm up for whatever haha. i'm free every day except wed-friday. i can't speak for everyone else though

good move! fukken actiblizzard

I think it might be a bit late to change the venue now, in case some people miss the memo. We should organize another meet after this one instead!

I really don't know where to start looking. Are you guys finding these at small reserves or going further out of town? I'm going to go check out some parks and etc tomorrow, but some advice from the experts would be lovely

That's great. It's always encouraging to know that there are other people who think this way. This is definitely a step in the right direction.

oh fuck off US