Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion with Michelle Janikian

Michelle Janikian is the author of Your Psilocybin Mushroom Companion: An Informative, Easy-to-Use Guide to Understanding Magic Mushrooms—From Tips and Trips to Microdosing and Psychedelic Therapy. This thoroughly enjoyable read is helpful for both beginners and psychonauts alike, so we just had to reach out for an interview. Luckily for us, she said yes.

In this chat, we learn about her journey from experimental teenager to myco-journalist, discuss microdosing, and the magic of mushrooms.

Vivian Kanchian: I would love to know just a little bit about how you got into mushrooms.I got into medicinal mushrooms decades ago when I walked into an elixirs and tonic shop in LA called Dragon Herbs. I walked in on the verge of coming down with something, and after taking a few droppers full of this mystery tonic… I literally walked out saying to myself “I think I'm well”. I never did get sick. So, that is what sparked my interest. And I'm curious what got you interested.

Michelle Janikian: I talk about this a bit in the book intro. I was a teenager. [My pursuit of mushrooms] wasn't health-based, honestly. It was more consciousness exploration-based. And I fell in love with it. I was unprepared my first time, and I talk about all the ways that I really misunderstood the gravity of the experience I was about to embark on. I really was very mesmerized with the three and a half gram mushroom dose experience, a full dose. And I got obsessed.

I was 17, I read all the books, I showed all my friends, we did it together a few times. It was really that experience, that place I went to…it was all very very weird and magical. But it also just made me feel like myself, and [realize] how comfortable I was with myself in that space. [It was just] like a big homecoming…a very powerful thing for me. So my first mushroom trip got me into it, short answer.

It was 10 years later, in my late 20s that I began experimenting again… around 2005. There was an underground movement of mushroom therapy, but I had no idea. That wasn't in the news. [I would see things] a little bit on Erowid and some [other] message boards. Even back then, the internet was less a part of my life. It was just a different time. And then, I was already a cannabis reporter and there was all this news on mushroom therapy, which is when I really got interested.

Both as a person who just needed… I kind of shy away from the word healing. But you know, as a person who could use some help, and [as] a reporter that was really curious in this new space, that was very adjacent to my beat. I started writing about mushrooms and psychedelics first, and after a retreat experience, I really got into more of a health-based and personal growth based-experience.

It was really mind-opening for me and that this is so much more than a really crazy afternoon. Even though I always had big insights when I would [previously] take mushrooms just for fun, I didn't really pursue them, I didn't take them very seriously, until I really got deep into it.

VK: When you moved to this more wellness-based kind of experience, what were some of the things that you did differently post-trip to really nurture those feelings of expansion?

MJ: We use the word integration in the psychedelic world. For me, it was journaling. Keeping track of it all has been really helpful in revisiting that. I am a writer, so it [especially] makes sense for me to do that. But everyone's gonna have their own little way to do this.

But yeah, right after the trip or the next day, I try to journal right before too. So I see kind of where I was going in, and then I write down a trip report of what happened, what I felt, what my big insights were. And then, going back to those entries is really powerful. Especially on the verge of another trip, maybe a year later, or just seeing where I was at that point in time and where I am now. And I think that's how I've learned.

By writing them down and revisiting them, I don't forget them as easily. And sharing them with the world as a writer. The experiences that I've talked about and written about are the ones that have stuck with me the most. And coming back to them when I'm feeling really low, remembering that place that's inside of me that makes me feel like I can literally do anything… that's always with me, so that's helpful.

VK: I love that. So do you think there is a connection between the journaling and the intention setting? And why is intention setting kind of such a big deal? Some people come in with the intention of wanting to quit smoking or wanting to be more social or whatever the case may be. There seems to be a suggestibility component. What do you think that's about?

MJ: For me, the pre-trip journaling helps me solidify and clarify my intentions. But, I actually personally try to go in a little bit open-minded because when I set too many intentions or get too specific, it really does have a big influence. To answer your question, why? I think to be honest, humans' intentions affect every part of our lives, our expectations. And mushrooms and psychedelics amplify that. It's really all it is.

I want to say that it's probably related to witchcraft and magic too, because if you think about casting a spell, that is intention-setting with sometimes a plant ally and a time in the moon cycle. I really think mushrooms are magic. It's not just a phrase. There is something very magical about them and our intentions heighten that. I'm getting very far away from the scientific stuff, but I really feel that when we set an intention and we take a large dose of mushrooms, it’s a form of witchcraft – and it works.