Can You Intensify a Magic Mushroom Trip? 6 Tricks To Potentiate Psychedelic Mushrooms

You may have heard some foods or drinks can intensify a mushroom or shroom trip.

So, how true are these kinds of claims? Is there any science behind this, or are the claims mythical?

Put bluntly, many of the methods haven’t been proven by science. However, anecdotal evidence says there are things you can do to help speed up the onset of effects, prolong the trip, and intensify the psychedelic effects.

We’ll look at a few tried and tested ways to intensify a mushroom trip, as well as debunk some of the myths that have been going around lately.

1. Drink Orange Juice

There’s a long-standing belief that consuming orange juice affects psychedelic trips in some way. Some say that consuming magic mushrooms or LSD with orange juice intensifies the psychedelic trip. Others claim that orange juice helps reduce the chances of a bad trip and could even act as a trip killer.

Although there’s a lot of conflict in opinion, many people swear by consuming orange juice either before, during, or after consuming a psychedelic substance. So, where did this idea come from, and is there any truth to what people say?

The association between orange juice and psychedelic substances may be a legend. The fact that orange juice can help intensify a trip or ease come-downs from other substances may not be based on scientific facts.

This belief stems from the thought that orange juice can help alter the course of a psychedelic trip because citrus fruits can help your body metabolize psilocybin better. Although certain citrus fruits can indeed help break down psilocybin into psilocin (the compound that’s metabolized by the human body), oranges aren’t one of them.

Citrus fruits contain acetic acid, which helps break down psilocybin into psilocin. Acetic acid can help the body metabolize magic mushrooms more efficiently — effectively leading to a faster onset of effects and a more intense mushroom trip.

It’s no surprise that many people associate orange juice with the trip-intensifying effects of acetic acid. However, there’s very little acetic acid in oranges —and even less in the dilute fruit juices sold in stores. 

The amount of acetic acid in orange juice is so low because the manufacturers reduce amounts to avoid upsetting the consumer’s stomach. Freshly pressed orange juice contains higher acid concentrations, but still, a relatively minute amount compared to other citrus fruits. 

So if you drink a gallon of freshly pressed orange juice, it could help intensify a mushroom trip. However, it isn’t a particularly good “shroom and juice” combination, according to science. There simply isn’t enough acetic acid in oranges to help your body efficiently metabolize the psychedelic compounds in magic mushrooms.

The legend that orange juice helps intensify psychedelic trips didn’t come from anywhere. 

The whole acetic acid thing is true, but orange juice isn’t the most efficient way to consume acetic acid in high enough concentrations to have an effect. Instead, you may be better off consuming lemon juice — lemons have far higher concentrations of acetic acid and could help noticeably intensify a magic mushroom trip with a small amount of juice.

Let’s take a look at how lemon juice can be used to intensify a psychedelic trip and make your shrooms work more efficiently.

2. Mix With Lemon Juice

Like the orange juice theory, where acetic acid helps the body metabolize psilocybin, lemon juice is said to do similar things. However, unlike orange juice, lemon juice has a concentration of acetic acid high enough to break down psilocybin into psilocin. This means that lemon juice may make a mushroom trip more intense when used correctly.

The citric acid in lemon juice may also help to intensify the effects of a mushroom trip and speed up the onset of effects. Citric acid has a similar effect on mushrooms as stomach acid. When mushrooms are left to soak in lemon juice, the citric acid helps break down the fungus’s chitin walls where psilocybin is stored.

A method called “lemon tek” can essentially pre-digest the mushrooms and metabolize the psilocybin into the more bioavailable psilocin. This means that when the shrooms are ingested, the active ingredients can take effect faster — making for a more intense come-up and all-around experience.

Lemon tekking is the act of letting your mushrooms soak in lemon juice for 15 to 20 minutes before ingesting them. This is usually enough time for the citric acid to break down the chitin walls and the acetic acid to begin metabolizing the psilocybin into psilocin. 

Once the shrooms have been soaked in the juice for an adequate time, the mushrooms and the remaining juice can be ingested. You can expect to feel the effects of the mushrooms in as little as 10 minutes. 

Because the shrooms are partially digested, the effects come on much quicker, and the trip is more intense. However, a trip after consuming mushrooms using the lemon tek method usually lasts only four hours instead of roughly six hours after eating them raw.

This method improves the bioavailability of magic mushrooms’ psychoactive compound, psilocybin. This isn’t the only benefit of lemon tek, however. Due to the citric acid breaking down the chitin walls before the shrooms reach your stomach, your digestive system doesn’t have to work as hard after ingestion.

Many people suffer from nausea and occasionally vomiting after ingesting raw magic mushrooms. It’s believed that the feelings of nausea and stomach cramping are down to the stomach breaking down the chitin walls of the fungus. Seen as lemon juice breaks much of this down, people report a duller feeling of nausea or none after consuming shrooms this way. 

3. Make Magic Mushroom Tea

It’s easy to make magic mushroom tea, but you do have to follow some simple steps and take some precautions if you want to produce the most potent brew from the shrooms you have.

Making magic mushroom tea can be an excellent way to intensify your mushroom trip. When psilocybin is dissolved into tea, the onset of effects is much faster. It can take only 5 or 10 minutes before you begin to feel the psychedelic effects of the shrooms.

Gulping a potent magic mushroom brew can produce a sudden onset of effects. Taking the time to brew a tea can be beneficial if you’re looking for the most intense psychedelic experience from your shrooms. 

Like the lemon tek method, psilocybin becomes more bioavailable when made into tea. This means the effects come on far quicker, and the trip is more intense. However, the psilocybin is flushed from your body more quickly, meaning a typical tea trip lasts four hours as opposed to the usual six. 

It’s common to mix lemon juice with magic mushroom tea to break down the shrooms further and increase the bioavailability of the liquid. If you brew the tea correctly, it can produce extremely intense effects quickly. Due to the lack of solids, it’s also far less harsh on your body, reducing nausea and less chance of stomach cramps.

4. Combine Mushrooms with Cannabis

Many people experimenting with magic mushrooms also use cannabis or have tried cannabis before. However, using cannabis and mushrooms together may not be everyone’s first thought.

Using cannabis with magic mushrooms can enhance the psychedelic effects of psilocybin. However, it may not intensify the trip in the sense of speeding up the onset of effects or making the psychedelic effects “stronger.” 

The most common way to use cannabis alongside magic mushrooms is to use some when you consume the mushrooms and some more when you begin to come down.

Cannabis can help you relax, and it can also stimulate your mind. Some people like smoking a little weed when they ingest their shrooms to “relax” into their trip and have a pleasant come-up. Cannabis can also calm the stomach for some people, which can ease the stomach cramps and nausea sometimes associated with ingesting magic mushrooms.

Many people report that smoking a joint as you come down from a mushroom trip can almost provide a “boost.” Using some cannabis as you begin to come down can bring back feelings of euphoria and some of the visual and audible hallucinations associated with magic mushrooms.

Although there’s no science that explains why cannabis and magic mushrooms can work well together, many people enjoy combining the substances. 

Cannabis and psilocybin work on different receptors in the brain. However, they both indirectly increase dopamine levels in the brain — this could be why they can complement each other. 

Using cannabis will not intensify a mushroom trip directly, but it can help relax you into a psychedelic experience. It can be especially useful when consuming “heroic” (super-potent) doses of psilocybin to reduce nerves and nausea while inducing a relaxed state of mind before you begin the journey. 

5. Introduce External Stimuli

Introducing external stimuli can alter the course of your trip. Set and setting are extremely important when embarking on a psychedelic trip. Adjusting the setting in which you trip can intensify the effects of the magic mushrooms dramatically. 

Simply lying down in a dark space can be enough to let your imagination run wild. You can find that depriving your senses of sound and light can allow you to spiral into an intense psychedelic trip that’s incredibly inward. 

Closing your eyes and lying down with no external stimuli can be a great way to trip if you want to work on yourself or experience intense closed-eye visuals.

On the other hand, filling the room with exciting lighting, artwork, candlelight, and music can intensify the experience in other ways. Although you’ll have less of an inward experience in a room filled with stimuli, you’ll likely have more of a euphoric experience. 

External stimuli may also encourage open-eye visuals such as “energy waves,” geometric patterns, blurred outlines, and colorful shapes. 

If you find your psychedelic experience on magic mushrooms rather dull and want to intensify it, try changing your environment. Moving into another room or outdoors (in a safe place) can intensify things. 

If you’re looking for a more intense experience with magic mushrooms, experiment with your setting. Try removing any external stimuli or introducing lighting, music, and other factors to alter your trip. Just ensure that the setting is comfortable and safe before you begin your psychedelic journey. 

Related: 8 Things to Do While Tripping on Shrooms.

6. Increase Your Dose

This is fairly obvious, but if you want to intensify your experience with psychedelic mushrooms, then increase your dose. Upping your dose will produce stronger effects and a far more intense trip. 

Altering the number of magic mushrooms you consume is the only direct and proven way to make your trip less or more intense. If you want an intense psychedelic experience or a “heroic” trip, you’ll want to consume more psilocybin. 

Of course, this isn’t without its risks, and you’ll likely get an uncomfortable stomach if you consume more than five grams of raw magic mushrooms. However, provided you have some experience with psychedelic substances, are in the proper set and setting, and have someone on hand to mind your trip, this is the best way to “intensify a mushroom trip.” 

Assuming average-strength Psilocybe cubensis magic mushrooms are being used, anything more than five grams is considered a highly-potent dose. At this level, you’ll experience an extremely intense trip with strong psychedelic effects that could last up to eight hours.

What an “intense dose” is will differ from one person to the next. It is possible to develop a tolerance to psilocybin, so the amount you use magic mushrooms will affect how much you’ll need to produce an intense psychedelic experience. If you often consume psychedelics, it’s a good idea to take a break for one to three months, so your tolerance level decreases.

Decreasing your tolerance level before consuming a high dose of psilocybin will help induce a much more intense experience. 

High doses of psilocybin should be taken exceptionally rarely. You shouldn’t make a habit of consuming heroic doses of magic mushrooms, although the fungi are deemed relatively harmless. 

Consuming psychedelic substances at high doses regularly may pose a risk to your health. 

Hallucinogen Perception Persisting Disorder (HPPD) is a condition that causes lasting visual hallucinations even after the psychedelic substance has left the body. This rare disorder affects 0.12 to 4.2% of psychedelic users and is more prominent in high-dose regular users of psychedelic substances [1,2].

If you wish to take high doses of psilocybin or other psychedelic substances, ensure you’re experienced and prepared for the trip. As with any substance, you must be responsible and test it with a drug testing kit.

Tips For Staying Safe During a Mushroom Trip

If you’re looking to intensify a mushroom trip, you likely have a lot of experience with psychedelics. However, safety should still be of top priority, especially if you’re looking to intensify a trip to have a truly mystical experience.

If you want to embark on an incredibly intense mystical psychedelic experience, you’ll likely need to consume a lot of psilocybin. High doses of psilocybin, although not dangerous in terms of potential overdose, can pose a high risk for the user. 

If you want to experiment with high-dose psychedelics, you must prepare yourself properly. Preparing your setting, so it’s welcoming, safe, and left undisturbed is extremely important.

You should also ensure that you have the right mindset for the trip. Having a clear mind without any worries or stresses bothering you is vital if you want to have a safe and enjoyable experience.

If you’re planning on taking a lot of magic mushrooms to embark on a psychedelic journey, it’s a good idea to have a trip sitter around. A trip sitter is someone sober and can watch over you for the duration of your experience. This person can ensure you stay safe and will help you if you enter a bad trip or react badly to the shrooms.

Preparation is the key to success when it comes to intense psychedelic experiences. As long as you get your set and setting right and have someone close that can look after you, you’ll stay safe and should hopefully have an enjoyable and insightful experience.

Summary: Can You Intensify a Magic Mushroom Trip?

You definitely can intensify a magic mushroom trip. Of course, there are some false facts, such as the orange juice “legend” that promise to intensify trips but have no benefits. However, there are some tried and tested ways to intensify your experience with magic mushrooms.

Using lemon juice is the best way to increase the bioavailability of your magic mushrooms. Soaking your shrooms in lemon juice for 15 to 20 minutes can help you get the most out of your shrooms. Using lemon juice helps your body absorb the psilocybin far more effectively — leading to a faster onset of effects and a more intense trip. 

Brewing up a magic mushroom tea is also a tried and tested way to improve the bioavailability of your magic mushrooms. Shroom tea produces a faster onset of effects and, often, a more intense come-up. Shroom tea trips can be more intense than eating whole and raw shrooms, but the trip’s longevity will be decreased.

Altering your setting is another way to alter the course of your trip. Removing or introducing external stimuli can alter your experience and make your trip more or less intense. 

All of these techniques will work to intensify your experience with magic mushrooms. However, if you want to have the most intense mushroom trip and experience a “mystical state,” then you’ll need to increase the amount of psilocybin you consume. Increasing your dose is undoubtedly the best way to produce a stronger psychedelic trip.

References

1. Baggott, M. J., Coyle, J. R., Erowid, E., Erowid, F., & Robertson, L. C. (2011). Abnormal visual experiences in individuals with histories of hallucinogen use: A web-based questionnaire. Drug and alcohol dependence, 114(1), 61-67.
2. Hermle, L., Simon, M., Ruchsow, M., & Geppert, M. (2012). Hallucinogen-persisting perception disorder. Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology, 2(5), 199-205.