Psychedelics and spirituality have shared a unique bond throughout many generations of history. From the iboga plants of Africa to the Ayahuasca brew of Brazil, the hallucinogenic compounds have done unimaginable things to our minds any time it is consumed. This tale is the first of many spiritual encounters I have experienced along my journey. My vehicle for this particular adventure was an eighth of shrooms that were at least five years old… but how does one come in contact with such old shrooms?

It all started a week earlier in a conversation with one of my colleagues at work, Stewart. I was expressing my desire to eat some shrooms, and that’s when Stewart began to explain:

“I have done many psychedelics in my day, but after having my son, I decided I had seen too much. However, I had a few friends who have yet to grow up and one of them got me these mushrooms for my birthday five years ago. They’ve been sitting in my weed safe ever since and you can have them if you want.”

Naturally, I wanted to jump at the offer, but I hesitated. I was worried that five-year-old mushrooms would get me sick or something so we decided to spend a week researching health risks of old shrooms. I ended up learning a few things that were key to the potency of these mushrooms.

The first thing I was worried about was mold, but I discovered that the mushrooms will only grow mold if they get wet again after being dried. The next thing I learned was sunlight’s effect on psilocybin. It turns out that long duration of exposure could cause the psilocybin to deteriorate, making the mushrooms weaker. Luckily, this particular bag had been kept in a cool dark safe so that everything was dry and unaffected by sunlight. If anything, they might’ve gotten a bit stronger over the years. So I decided to accept Stewart’s offer.

The following Friday, I drove to Stewart's house after work, picked up my package, and continued home. Nine o’clock at night was when I decided to eat them. Upon ingestion, I sat in bed and watched my favorite show Rick and Morty. After three episodes, I wasn’t really feeling anything so I decided to go to my garage and smoke a few bowls. Once I opened that door, everything changed…

I stepped into the garage and it was as if I could actually see the soul inside my body. There was a stream of blue light inside me that was moving my limbs. It was as if my soul became separated, and I could feel it controlling my body like a marionette. It was so profound that I just sat and watched my right arm move around like a rag doll at the will of my energy. Then I realized how long I had been watching my arm, and I decided to smoke since I made the travel.

After a couple grams of sweet THC, I retreated back to my bedroom where all of the lights were off. I put my headphones on and proceeded to listen to Journey: Greatest Hits and I laid on my bed. After who knows how long, it got so dark and I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or closed. I sat in this void of darkness until I somehow floated out of my body.

My room now resembled an old black and white movie, and my perception of myself was that I was a floating ball of light. When I looked down, I saw what resembled a sleeping Lucas, and I floated away to test the boundaries of this astral plane. I floated throughout my room all while watching myself lay there comatose. After a while, I realized that although I could fly away, I had nowhere to go. So I went back and hovered above my body and just existed.

Eventually, I began to feel the presence of another orb of light, but I could sense it very far behind me. It crept closer and closer until it was directly in front of me. We sat eye to eye, orb to orb, and had the deepest conversation of my life up to this point. I felt like I was gaining infinite knowledge and wisdom from this experience. I asked all the questions that can’t be Googled, but eventually I passed out, and upon waking I could not remember any of the answers.

This experience not only made me a more spiritual person, it was the kick-off to my binge as a psychonaut because I have been searching for the ball of light since.