Set & Setting - 8 Tips for a fun Trip

When taking psychedelics, it is incredibly important that your set and setting are in tip-top shape. These are a number of small steps that you can easily take to make your trip fun, safe and responsible. In this article we give a clear and complete explanation of what set and setting are. We also give 8 golden tips to make your experience with magic mushrooms, peyote and even DMT much more enjoyable and intense. Have a safe trip!

Set and Setting for all Psychedelics

In this article we use magic truffles as an example. But you can also read the article as set and setting for magic mushrooms. Magic mushrooms are most similar to magic truffles because they contain the same hallucinogenic compounds as psilocybin. Furthermore you can also use this article to improve your setting for an ayahuasca trip, DMT trip, peyote / mescaline trip, LSD trip and Hawaiian Baby Woodrose (LSA) trip. In short: for all classic psychedelics. You can also improve your experience with psychedelic party drugs like 2C-B and 5-MeO-DMT by following the tips in this article. But first: what are set and setting exactly?

Set: What can influence your trip?

The set is the complete package you offer to the trip: that is you! Your body and your state of mind are the most important factors that determine how the trip will go and especially how intense the trip will be. These are the things to take into account when thinking about the set for tripping:

• Your body weight
• Previous experience with magic truffles
• Tolerance build up since last trip
• When did you have your last meal?
• Are you healthy and do you feel fit?
• Have you taken any other drugs, drinks, medicines or caffeine?
• What expectations do you have of tripping?

The set and the correct dosage are inseparably linked. You have to take your body weight into account when calculating the correct dosage.

Use our handy Mushroom Calculator! Enter your body weight and calculate the correct dose.

What do you expect of the trip?

Well, if you are going to try magic truffles, your expectations may not be specific. Maybe you expect to see more colours or to hallucinate, but maybe you are very sceptical. The difference between your expectation and the effects is determined by set and setting. It is advisable to keep an open mind and let yourself be transported into another world. But if you have heard from someone that the walls come to life and you see spaghetti flying, you are putting yourself on edge. The best thing is to go into the trip with an open mind or to ask yourself a question before you are taken into that other world.

Your health and energy level

You should not think about tripping when you are ill. This applies to physical ailments, but especially to your mental state. Although there is research going on in America and England about the medicinal value of psilocybin, there is no legitimate reason for self-medication. Our magic truffles and other psychedelics are primarily meant for self-development and the exploration of other states of consciousness. It is also advisable to only trip when you are well rested. Usually that makes the trip more fun. A psychedelic trip like that is quite an assault on your body and mind. It is tiring. You will also notice that at first you get a bit tired and start yawning. That happens very often.

Empty stomach

Do not eat three to four hours beforehand. Drinking is allowed, but preferably ordinary tap water. Carbonated water and fruit juice reduce the effect of psilocybin. Although caffeine does not have synergy with magic truffles, it does make you more alert which makes it harder to be carried away. Also the agitated feeling that several cups of coffee can cause is not a good basis for a trip. So better no coffee or strong tea. Alcohol is a fatal no-go. It lowers the effect of psilocybin and it increases the risks of a bad trip, accidents and arguments. Weed is possible but not recommended, because it makes the trip intense and disturbed. In any case, wait until after the climax of your trip. With magic truffles and mushrooms at least 3 hours after ingestion.

Tolerance and Experience

When you take magic truffles for the first time, it is all new. Often you have only heard or read what to expect. But if you have been tripping before, you might be tired of the psychedelic kiddy pool. The recreational pool of a higher dose then sounds tempting. However, we recommend that everyone paddles in the kiddy pool before joining in with the competitive swimmers, because a heroic trip like that can really shake up your views on life!

All classic psychedelics block your serotonin receptors. Translation please! You build up a sort of tolerance to another trip immediately after one. And they are interchangeable. This means that last Saturday's mushroom trip will not make you feel Hawaiian Baby Woodrose a few days later. Your body is still processing it. That's good, because at the same time it means that these substances are not addictive. Take a break between two trips. At least 10 days, but preferably longer. You don't want to do this every week, right?

Are you healthy and do you feel good in your own skin? Then you have the green light to go tripping.

Setting: Where are you going to Trip?

The setting can be seen as the location, the atmosphere and the surroundings. You can be sure that your experience will be terrible if you start tripping between four grey concrete walls. A chilly, grey environment detracts from the trip. It is much wiser to take magic truffles in a place where you can be yourself. A place that inspires you can also be great, but can also take unexpected turns. So take that into account. With the following tips we will elaborate on what you can do to make sure the setting is perfect. So you can take all the steps to enjoy your trip.

Take magic truffles in a place where you can be yourself.

Tip 1: The importance of a Tripsitter

By far the most important thing you can do to make tripping fun and safe. Invite someone to accompany you or provide you with company while tripping. You don't have to drum up a shaman from the backwoods. Just choose a good friend or family member who you trust completely and who supports your choice to trip. Preferably someone with some experience, but that is not necessary. It is up to you to tell the tripsitter as well as possible what to expect and how long it will take. Fortunately, on all our product pages you can find exactly what these psychedelics do and how long a trip lasts. Take our magic truffles for example. Click open the extended description on your mobile. In any case instruct your tripsitter never to tease or make you crazy. Again: The goal is safety and trust. By the way, if there is a sober person sitting next to you who can intervene if things go wrong, this will also give you peace of mind. This makes it easier to let go and let the psychedelics do their work.

Tip 2: Trip at home

Your home is probably a safe environment where you feel comfortable. If not, your priority is not to devour a bag of truffles, but to do something about your home interior. Tripping at home is preferred for a number of reasons.

• Safe
• Familiar
• Comfortable
• Nearby assistance

Your home should be a safe place and this has to do with factors that you would otherwise find outside. The number of unexpected events at home is the lowest of all the places you can think of to trip. This does not only improve safety, but also the nature of the trip. It gives you peace of mind and that helps to let go of any worries you have. Furthermore, you know exactly where everything is. Your phone in case of emergency and simple things like the door to the toilet help you to relax. You can also just grab a blanket or turn up the thermostat a few degrees when you start to feel chilly. Often psychonauts get a bit colder before they actually start exploring the cosmos. Finally, your neighbours are usually not far away. So if something were to go wrong, you or your tripsitter just have to walk to the people you know and extra help is at hand.

Tip 3: Trip in Nature

Even with a low dose of magic truffles, the forest, dune area or heathland can look fantastic. You can easily stare at one tree for fifteen minutes and see how the branches split in seemingly countless ways. Tripping in nature is the most amazing way to see the world with different eyes. It is relatively safe and also a bit of a traditional way to use psychedelics. Ayahuasca and magic mushrooms sessions also take place in nature in South America. The ear-deafening jungle is the perfect place to let the world speak to you. European nature is often a lot safer as well, where not every stone is the home of a poisonous centipede or scorpion. 

However, you do need to bear in mind that you are sharing nature with others. Even on rainy days (highly recommended!), you may come across people walking their dogs or, like you, enjoying nature. This unpredictable factor can cause stress. And you have to be able to let go of that to prevent a bad trip. Whether you are tripping at home, in nature or with someone else, do not trip on the street or at a festival. That is a recipe for an unpleasant experience. Magic truffles and mushrooms are not party drugs!

Tip 4: Dim the lights and lower the music volume

Imagine a cozy pub. Not for tripping, but to clarify this golden tip. It's late, everyone is pretty much tipsy and the music is blaring over those mega speakers they often have in pubs. You notice that you have to raise your voice to make yourself understood. If it continues like this, you will definitely have a sore throat by tomorrow.

Make sure you give the magic truffles room to show you something. 

Magic truffles also have a voice. That accompanying voice shows you, amongst other things, those crazy patterns everyone is talking about. But if the volume in the proverbial pub is high, it is difficult to hear that voice. What we are saying is that it is wise to limit external factors that demand attention. If you turn the light a little less bright or turn off a few lamps, it is more likely that there will be room to see those patterns. Also with a lower dose of magic truffles. If you want to put on some music, do not put on gangster rap, brutal death metal or hardstyle at volume 11, but calming music at a low volume. Then you will not only experience the music more intensely, but also more pleasantly.

It looks like Christmas. Here's what you need to imagine when thinking about a great setting!

Tip 5: Turn off your cellphone, TV and computer

This is especially true if you have the company of a tripsitter. If your phone is off, you are less likely to be distracted. Also turn off the TV and your computer. Try it without these distractions. Think back to the pub with tipsy pub visitors. It is not easy for everyone to surrender to the trip, but by turning off your devices it is easier to perceive the magic truffles effects.

Tip 6: Treat Magic mushrooms as a Sacrament

A sacrament is an act or ritual to get in touch with the divine. It sounds corny, but from the earliest times natural psychedelics have been used exclusively to enrich and give depth to life. Entheogens, another difficult word, are substances found in nature that help ancient populations make contact with their gods, ancestors or guide animals. It would not be the first time a militant atheist opened a bag of magic mushrooms and had a mystical experience! Psychedelics like magic mushrooms, magic truffles, peyote and ayahuasca all belong to that group of entheogens. All of them have been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years as stepping stones to spiritual maturity. The fact that since the 1960s we have been treating these sacraments irresponsibly by using them as party drugs, has not been to the liking of the natives. The pleasure and meaning that psychedelics can give you only increases with the amount of respect you give them.

Tip 7: Be Open

This tip goes back a bit to tip 6. By opening yourself up to what the magic truffles have to offer, you make peace with the uncertainty that a trip has naturally. Think of it as a roller coaster in the dark you haven't been on before. Every curve and loop comes as a surprise. But if you pull that brace down over your shoulders and tell yourself that this roller coaster is rubbish, the ride will probably be a disappointment.

Tripping is like a roller coaster in the dark.

Tip 8: Get Trip stoppers

Our trip stoppers say "Always have an exit strategy" for a reason. Trip stoppers are soothing valerian capsules and dextrose tablets that help you get back to Mother Earth when you are spacing. The aim is to calm you down and bring you back to reality by making your trip less intense. Having a few trip stoppers on the table also gives you confidence - it makes you more secure and less anxious to know that there is a door to the outside. The trip will end by itself, but trip stoppers make the wait for the end easier and more pleasant. Have a glass of water, turn off the music, take a moment for yourself or listen to the encouraging words of your sober tripsitter. It will all be alright!