"Unrelated thoughts and ideas flow together, inanimate objects become loaded with emotional meaning and senses blend into one another"

All mushrooms have a bit of magic about them. Neither animal nor plant, these are life-forms that appear as if from nowhere after rain and that we like to think pixies and toads use as umbrellas and stools.

But the name “magic mushroom” is reserved for those containing psilocybin, a compound that has spectacular effects on the minds of humans who ingest enough of it: euphoria, awe, sensory enhancement, spiritual experiences, revelatory thoughts, and hallucinations.

For many people, the experience is positive, but not for all. A “bad trip” can be fraught with anxiety, panic and paranoia . Very rarely, intoxication leads to serious accidents and self-harm, and persistent psychotic symptoms .

The earliest archaeological evidence for the use of psychoactive mushrooms dates back to 3000 years ago, in Mexico. But they only started piquing the interest of western science and culture in the 1950s.