Singing a New Song with Magic Mushrooms

Exploring my brain through psychedelic therapy

Lizzie Finn
4 min readAug 18, 2020
Photo by Lizzie Finn

I was two hours into a heroic dose of magic mushrooms when I finally understood why I was weeping so profusely. The music was divine, and my body was infused with it. I watched as the tiny hairs on my arms stood up and swayed back and forth as if conducting an orchestra.

It was one of the most transcendent experiences of my life.

No, I didn’t see demons, and my face didn’t melt. It’s more like I entered a waking dream state with heightened senses, and yet I was in the calmest state of being I had ever felt.

The best way I can explain it is this — it’s like playing a game in virtual reality. Only you are playing within your brain. And rather than playing to win — the point is to sit back, relax, go with the flow, and see where the game takes you.

When the experience became too intense, I removed my eye mask and earplugs and took a couple of deep breaths. Then I plunged back into this mystical VR world so I deep-dive into my mind before the magic wore off.

Ten months ago, I turned 52 in Jamaica and had my first experience with magic mushrooms at a psilocybin-assisted retreat. I wrote about that experience below.

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Lizzie Finn

I write, create, instruct. My curiosity is expansive — health, happiness, relationships, spirituality, TV/film, psychedelics, feminism, neuroscience, life.