I Cured My Cold with Magic Mushrooms
You may have read the title of this article with judgement, thinking there is no way that magic mushrooms can cure someone of a physical illness. I mean, sure, there is tons of research around psilocybin mushrooms helping others heal from Depression, Anxiety, PSTD, Eating Disorders, etc., but these are diseases of the mind. There is very little information (if any) of psilocybin mushrooms healing others from physical illnesses. However, I experienced this profound physical healing and I invite you to drop any judgements you might have around plant medicine or this story before reading it so that I may share freely of my experience.
I work with Mexican mushroom shamans in Oaxaca who have been using magic mushrooms for countless generations in medicinal ceremonies. In the village I work in, many people come into mushroom ceremonies looking for healing from physical illnesses. The curanderas, female shamans of this town, are considered doctors who use the psilocybin mushrooms as medicine. So, if you have the flu, you go into mushroom ceremony. If you’re developing arthritis, you go into mushroom ceremony. I’ve seen healing from slight allergies to terminal cancer take place in traditional Mazatec mushroom ceremonies.
The idea here is that the majority of our physical illnesses are actually emotional or energetic blockages that have manifested physically in the body. We are now seeing substantial evidence of this as Western scientists and psychologists do more research on the parasympathetic nervous system, proving the incredible mind-body connection that many Indigenous Peoples from around the world have been talking about for thousands of years.
For the past 2 weeks, my partner had a really bad cold. Typically, when we begin to feel tickles in our throats, we take a microdose and put an intention into the mushrooms, asking them to clean our bodies. After all, the Mazatec people will sometimes refer to magic mushrooms as los limpiadores de Madre Tierra (the cleaners of Mother Earth). Usually, this works. We catch our illness as it develops before it gets worse and we’ve been able to stay healthy this way. However, we didn’t have any mushrooms for the past 2 weeks. So, my partner battled his cold while I felt quite healthy. The day that he began to feel better, I began to feel sick.
By this moment, I was able to get my medicine — my mushrooms. Instead of just taking a microdose with the intention of restoring my physical health, I decided to try a bigger dose. I intended to move the mushrooms through my body after I ingested them, asking them to open space in the body for my healing.
I have no words to describe the experience I had, but I will try.
About an hour into the experience, after setting the space and saying the Mazatec prayers I had learned, I felt the mushrooms working through my body. It was almost as if someone was sweeping my throat, cleaning any blockages that were there, allowing the cells where the sickness was stored to loosen and mucus to flow out of my body.
I remember meeting the virus itself, as an entity. I asked it many questions. I took time to get to know him. He was childlike, with a masculine energy — a playful fighter. I asked, politely, if he would like to leave my body and go elsewhere. He didn’t want to leave. He said he liked hanging out in my body. I could feel my immune system kicking in and giving him a good fight while my mind fought the idea of being sick. Finally, I said to him, “Okay, fine. I will take 7 days off from work so I can just lay in bed. I will rest.” The moment I surrendered to the experience and to the virus, he left my body. He was so bored! It turned out what he wanted, what he enjoyed about being in my body, was the fight! He craved chaos!! The moment I refused to give into this chaos, I actually saw this now un-entertained virus leave my body.
Then, I had the urge to go to the bathroom. I felt the need to throw up, so I sat over the toilet. I rubbed water over the parts of my body that ached and I held them with love. I felt energy flow from the pit of my abdomen, up my spine, and through my throat until it left my body as a bubble of air out of my mouth and into the toilet (similar to an Ayahuasca purge). I repeated this a few times until I felt that I was clean from what no longer served me.
When I finished, I returned to the couch with my blanket and concluded my psychedelic journey. When my partner came home from work that day, he was surprised to see me so healthy! That morning, I woke up with a stuffed nose, the worst headache of my life, a sore throat that kept my voice from coming through, and the puffiest “I’m so sick. Take me to the doctor” eyes you can imagine. Just a few hours later, after taking mushrooms, I looked reborn and healthier than even before. We enjoyed a movie and dinner, soaking up this healing together.
The next day, I woke up healthy. Although, I still wonder what it was that was healed that previous day — was it the illness itself, or was it the idea that I wasn’t okay with being sick that was healed? There is more for me to look into there, but regardless, I’m grateful.
All I ever have is gratitude. Every day, every experience, it is all I am left with. I’m so thankful that mushrooms hold healing spaces for so many different people and situations. I’m anxious to see more research published about what magic mushrooms can do for the physical body.
You can find more of my work on https://www.vibrationalhealing.me/
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