Huautla (Oaxaca) Magic Mushroom Strain
Huautla isn’t known for its potency, but it can radically alter consciousness and bring forth a deep sense of spirituality🧘
Deep in the Sierra Mazateca of central Mexico sits the village of Huautla, near Huatla de Jimenez. It’s a remote and beautiful place, but it’s also famous for something else: magic mushrooms.
For centuries, the Mazatec people have used hallucinogenic mushrooms for healing ceremonies, and the Huautla Oaxaca strain is at the center of this tradition.
This mushroom strain is closely associated with the spiritual realm. It is considered slightly below average in terms of potency but maintains some stunning hallucinogenic effects and a notoriously gentle nature. People have reported it to feel like a potent THC edible in lower doses.
Beginner shroom growers can appreciate this strain for its vigor, resilience to contamination, and bountiful flushes — it’ll make you feel like an expert grower without much experience.
Huaulta shrooms grow tall and thin with a reddish-golden conic to hemispheric cap that can grow up to 50 mm in diameter.
Huatla Mushrooms Specs
| Potency | Weak 🐁 |
| Cultivation | Beginner |
| Species | Psilocybe cubensis |
| Suggested Substrate | Rye grain |
| Sold By | Spores 101 (🇺🇸/🇨🇦), Miracle Farms (🇺🇸/🇨🇦), Sporeslab (🇨🇦), The Magic Mushrooms Shop (🇪🇺) |
History Of Huaulta Shrooms
The Huautla strain was collected in the subtropical Mexican state of Oaxaca, near the village of Huautla de Jimenez, which was relatively unknown until Americans began to take an interest in shamanism in the 1950s.
Many visitors visited Huautla to meet with a medicinal healer or shaman named Maria Sabina, also known as “Saint Mary of the Holy Mushrooms,” to learn about her healing practices.
Huaulta and Maria Sabina gained fame after a Life Magazine article titled “Seeking the Magic Mushoom,” was published in 1957 after the American banker and amateur ethnomycologist Robert G. Wasson experienced a “velada” (ceremony) with Sabina, popularizing the term “magic mushrooms” in the United States.
Wasson even sent samples of mushrooms he collected in Huautla (which are believed to be the original source of the Huautla strain in circulation today) to friends and researchers who went on to cultivate and examine the properties of these shamanic mushrooms. Later, Albert Hofmann would identify and synthesize the active ingredients, psilocin and psilocybin, for the first time from these very mushrooms.
This attention was both good and bad for the village. On the one hand, it brought new interest in traditional healing methods. However, on the other hand, it also led to increased scrutiny from the Mexican government.
Maria Sabina was accused of drug dealing because she used hallucinogenic mushrooms as part of her healing ceremonies. As a result, Maria Sabina was persecuted by the authorities and forced to leave her village. She died in 1985, but her work continues to inspire people worldwide.
Huautla mushroom spores are often said to be from the very same Sabina used in her rituals, which is a “must-try” for those looking to experience profound spiritual trips.
Potency & Psilocybin Content
These mushrooms are considered below average, even “weak,” compared to many other Psilocybe cubensis samples. However, potency isn’t everything. These mushrooms are popular because of their unique history and their “gentle” nature. They’re an excellent shroom for both the beginner and experienced psychonaut alike — often producing uniquely insightful and spiritual trips in the 2–4 gram range.
Testing on this mushroom shows average psilocybin and psilocin levels of around 0.47% and 0.01%, respectively (dried mushrooms). The total tryptamine concentration is around 0.47% total.
For reference, we consider the average Psilocybe cubensis strain to fall somewhere between 0.5% and 0.9% total tryptamine concentrations (psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, and other tryptamine derivatives combined).
That said, the growing environment, the way the shrooms were stored, preparation methods, and the user’s body chemistry are all significant factors in how these mushrooms can affect an individual. Treat these mushrooms with respect the same way you would with a more conventionally “potent” mushroom — they’re still powerful hallucinogens.
What Do Huatla (Oaxaca) Shrooms Feel Like?
Lighter doses (1 g) can feel like very strong cannabis THC edibles, and upwards of this amount can lead to a sense of warped time, colorful apparitions, often described as deep musical experiences intended to heal the soul — it’s no wonder this strain is a popular tool for meditation and creative inspiration.
Heroic doses (5 g +) aren’t for the faint of heart. For many, this is the threshold of experiencing “ego death.”
The onset of effects can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and last up to six hours.
Because this strain isn’t known to have a high psilocybin content, it’s less prone to negative experiences like nausea and impaired motor control at standard doses (3 g) — but this depends on the individual, as magic mushrooms can affect everyone differently.
Where To Buy Huaulta Spores
Huaultaspores can be tricky to source.
If you want to try your hand at growing your own magic mushroom garden with Huaulta, we recommend the following vendors:
- If you live in the United States — Spores 101, Miracle Farms
- If you live in Canada — Spores 101, Sporeslab, Planet Spores
- If you live in Europe — The Magic Mushrooms Shop (🇪🇺), Shiny Spores (🇬🇧)
→ View all spore vendors & grow kit suppliers
How To Grow Huaulta Magic Mushrooms
Huaulta (and most P. cubensis mushrooms) are beginner-friendly mushrooms because of their resistance to environmental contamination and impressive yield.
The easiest way to get started is with a mushroom growing kit and spores from a trusted retailer, or you could create a setup from supplies you may already have at home and a quick visit to your local gardening center or hardware store.
The first step is to find a suitable location for your little mushroom farm — preferably someplace you can keep dark, humid, and clean. While the Huaulta strain is robust, you still need to maintain a sterile environment to grow mushrooms successfully at home.
Once you’ve found a suitable location, it’s time to sterilize the space and all your equipment before inoculating your substrate.
Some kits may include vermiculite, perlite, rye grain, or brown rice flour — all these substrates seem to work fine for the Huaulta. To innoculate the substrate, mix in your syringe of spores and leave them alone, well-covered, to fully colonize before moving them into the fruiting chamber.
Once the spores have taken over the substrate, the next step is to transfer the contents into your humid fruiting chamber. You should keep this space cool and very humid by misting it with water. In 1-2 weeks, you should start to see the pinheads of the fruiting mushrooms — but avoid the temptation to touch them until they reach full maturity.
How do you know when it’s time to harvest?
The cap sizes can vary anywhere from 20–55 mm in diameter with a conic or hemispheric shape that will start to flatten and darken to a reddish-caramel brown when it reaches maturity.
You can enjoy them fresh or dry them on a paper towel in a dark space. Doing this makes it easier to store your magic mushrooms long-term, and it’s easier to dose accurately since mushroom dosages are based on dried weight.
How to Dose Huautla Mushrooms
Dosing magic mushrooms is a personal affair and depends on your age, genetics, weight, and the type of experience you’d like with your mushrooms.
The good thing about Huautla magic mushrooms is that they’re more forgiving than other mushroom strains.
If you’ve never dosed before, here’s a general guide — but remember, it’s always best to start with smaller doses and work your way up gradually. The effects of magic mushrooms can be overwhelming for someone with no experience.
- Light recreational dose: 0.25 – 1 g
- Medium recreational dose: 1 – 2.5 g
- Strong recreational dose: 3 – 5 g
- Spiritual dose: 5 g +
Related: Our handy magic mushroom dosage calculator
Similar Strains To the Huautla Strain
Huautla shrooms are special in many ways and were said to be many famous people’s first mushroom trip, including Bob Dylan, Allan Richardson, John Lennon, and Albert Hofmann.
This mushroom strain is known for its deep, introspective nature and stunning visuals. Unfortunately, genuine Huaulta shrooms aren’t as easy to come by these days, so we’ve outlined some similar strains we think you’d enjoy.
1. Alcabenzi
The closest strain to Huaulta mushrooms is the Alcabenzi, which is also native to Mexico. However, Alcabenzi is known to be much milder than other Mexican magic mushroom strains, making it ideal for beginners or those looking for a mellower trip.
2. Golden Teacher
The Golden Teacher strain is arguably the most famous of Mexican magic mushroom strains — it’s still a favorite among beginners and seasoned psychonauts for its dependable and intense hallucinogenic journey while still feeling light on the body.
Golden Teacher spores are easy to source and easy to grow. They’re fairly resistant to contamination and produce impressive crops.
3. Golden Emperor
Golden Emperor is a progeny of the Golden Teacher strain with very similar effects. The distinctive feature of Golden Emperor shrooms is their large caps, which make them an impressive sight.
Strains vs. Species: What’s the Difference?
Simply put, a species is a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. A strain is a subgroup within a species with slightly different characteristics from the rest of the group.
For example, there are many breeds of dogs within the Canis lupus species, including Golden Retrievers, Chihuahuas, German Shepherds, and French Bulldogs. Their traits and characteristics vary significantly, but they all belong to the same species.
These differences can be due to genetic mutations or environmental factors.
In the world of fungi, two strains of the same magic mushroom species might have different shapes and prefer different growing environments — but they will still be genetically identical (DNA).
Many people will favor certain magic mushroom strains because some strains can have a higher psilocybin content than others, making for a very powerful psychedelic experience.
However, even mycologists have difficulty categorizing different mushroom strains and predicting their effects and wonder if strains are a reliable indicator of potency.
Although Huautla mushrooms aren’t known to be a super potent strain, their growing conditions and the user’s body chemistry can influence how powerful these mushrooms feel.
