Focus:
Understanding that your nervous system is listening, and giving it signals of safety.
Repetition:
My nervous system is safe.
My body knows how to heal.
I am held. I am whole.
The Quiet Wisdom of Mushrooms
Long before mushrooms showed up in shiny supplement bottles, they were quietly doing their work in the forests where our great-grandparents walked. They were dried and tucked into pantries, simmered into broths for the sick, brewed into bitter teas for the weary, and woven into daily life from the Carpathians to the mountains of Japan. Mushrooms are one of the oldest medicines we have, and like so much of what truly heals, they belong to the slow, reverent, ancestral way of being human.
This week we are looking at medicinal mushrooms: what they are, what they offer, how to take them gently and affordably, and what time of day they tend to do their best work. We will also talk briefly and honestly about amanita and psilocybin, because they are part of the conversation now and you deserve careful information instead of hype.
Take what serves you and leave what does not. Remember that mushrooms are helpers, not saviors. The deepest medicine is still reverence, sunlight, real food, sleep, community, and the quiet presence of God. Treat mushrooms as medicine and, as always, start slowly and increase slowly to the recommended amount.
How to Take Them, Simply
The most affordable, ancestral way to take medicinal mushrooms is as a slow-simmered decoction. Simmer the woody ones (reishi, chaga, turkey tail) gently for one to four hours and sip as a tea or stir into broth. If you cannot simmer, dual extracted tinctures (water and alcohol) are the next best choice. Whole fruiting body powders from a trusted small farm can be stirred into coffee, cocoa, or warm milk. Avoid products made only from mycelium grown on grain; they are cheaper but much weaker. One trustworthy source used consistently does more than a whole cabinet full of bottles.
Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum): The Calming Mushroom
Reishi has been used for thousands of years as a tonic for the nervous system and the immune system. It settles the body, supports the adrenals, gently brings the immune response back into balance, and helps the body remember how to rest. It is bitter, woody, and not glamorous at all, which is part of why it works.
Take reishi in the late afternoon or evening as a simmered tea or tincture, where it pairs well with the slowing of the day and supports deep, restful sleep. Most people do well with daily use for several months, followed by a gentle pause.
Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus): For the Mind and the Gut
Lion’s mane is the mushroom for the brain and the belly, which are more connected than we used to know. It supports nerve growth factor, helping the brain build and repair itself, and it has a long traditional use for healing digestion, especially the gut lining. If you are walking through brain fog, recovering from illness, or slowly rebuilding after a long season of stress, lion’s mane is a faithful companion.
Take it in the morning or early afternoon as a tincture, or as a powder stirred into coffee or broth, daily for two to three months, and then reassess.
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus): The Birch Forest’s Gift
Chaga grows on birch trees in the cold north and brings the forest’s antioxidants into your cup. It is deeply nourishing, gently supports the immune system, and is rich in melanin and betulinic acid. The traditional way is the best way: simmer a chunk slowly for hours and sip the dark, earthy tea throughout the day. It is beautiful in the morning in place of coffee, or alongside it. Daily use is usually well tolerated, but if you have kidney concerns, check with a practitioner first because of its oxalates.
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor): The Immune Ally
Turkey tail is one of the most studied medicinal mushrooms in the world, especially for immune support. It is rich in beta-glucans and polysaccharopeptides that help the immune system work with wisdom instead of overreacting. Simmer it as a tea, add it to meat stock, or take it as a dual extract, ideally in the morning or midday. It is a wonderful companion through the cold months and during the long recovery from any serious illness.
Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris): For Energy and Breath
Cordyceps supports energy production in the cells and has a long history of use for stamina, the lungs, and recovering from exhaustion. It is the morning mushroom, best taken before noon and ideally before movement or work. Many people with chronic fatigue find it gentler and more sustainable than caffeine. Take it as a tincture or powder daily for one to three months at a time.
Maitake, Shiitake, and Tremella: The Kitchen Medicines
These three belong in the kitchen as much as in the medicine cabinet. Maitake (hen of the woods) supports blood sugar balance and immune function. Shiitake nourishes the immune system and the heart and blood vessels, and it is delicious in broths and stews. Tremella, the snow fungus, hydrates the skin from within and supports the lungs. Eat them as food, which is the most ancestral way of all: medicine on the dinner plate.
Ten More Worth Knowing
There are so many more medicinal mushrooms than most of us were ever told about. None of these are required, so pick what fits your situation, source carefully, and add them one at a time.
Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis) is one of the longest-lived mushrooms on earth, used in Greek and Indigenous Pacific Northwest medicine for the lungs and respiratory infections; take it as a dual extracted tincture in the morning, seasonally during cold and flu months.
Mesima (Phellinus linteus) is a woody bracket fungus with strong immune balancing properties and a long history in Korean and Japanese medicine; simmer it as a tea or take a tincture in the morning or midday, often in three month courses.
Poria (Wolfiporia cocos) is gentle and traditionally used for fluid balance, calm digestion, and a calmer nervous system; it is mild enough for daily use as a powder stirred into broth or warm drinks in the evening.
Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) is easy to grow, easy to cook, and quietly powerful, supporting cholesterol balance with its natural lovastatin; eat it as food several times a week, as it is the most affordable medicinal mushroom of all.
Enoki (Flammulina velutipes) is a delicate cooking mushroom with immune support and prebiotic properties; add it to soups and stir fries, and daily use as food is well tolerated.
King trumpet (Pleurotus eryngii) is meaty and satisfying and rich in ergothioneine, a powerful antioxidant the body cannot make; eat it seared in good fat, and it is excellent when rebuilding after illness.
Black fungus, or wood ear (Auricularia auricula), supports the heart and healthy blood thickness and is a traditional Chinese kitchen staple; soak it and add it to soups and stir fries, but be careful if you are on blood thinners.
Royal sun, or almond mushroom (Agaricus blazei), is a Brazilian mushroom now widely studied for immune support; take it as a tincture or powder in the morning or midday, usually in two to three month courses.
Artist’s conk (Ganoderma applanatum) is a close cousin of reishi with similar calming and immune balancing effects; simmer it as a long decoction and take it in the evening, as a less expensive option for reishi-like benefits.
Birch polypore (Fomitopsis betulina) was carried by travellers throughout history, including Ötzi the Iceman, for digestion; simmer it as a tea and take it as needed during digestive upset or low-grade illness.
Which Mushrooms Feed the Good Microbes
This is one of the loveliest things about mushrooms: many of them are wonderful food for the microbes in your gut. The beta-glucans, chitin, and complex sugars in mushroom cell walls are not fully digested by us. They pass through to the lower gut, where our beneficial bacteria ferment them into short-chain fatty acids, the very compounds that nourish the gut lining and calm inflammation through the whole body. In that way, mushrooms are one of the most ancestral prebiotics we have.
The strongest microbe feeders are the ones richest in beta-glucans and polysaccharides: turkey tail, reishi, maitake, shiitake, oyster, lion’s mane, chaga, enoki, and king trumpet. Turkey tail especially has been shown to shift the gut microbiome toward beneficial species, and lion’s mane is especially gentle and nourishing for the gut lining itself.
Mushrooms also belong to a small group of foods rich in glyconutrients, the essential sugars (like mannose, xylose, and N-acetylglucosamine) the body uses for cell to cell communication and immune signalling. Reishi, shiitake, maitake, cordyceps, lion’s mane, and turkey tail stand out here. This is part of why traditional cultures saw mushroom broths as so restoring for the sick and recovering; they were quietly giving the body the raw materials to repair its own communication.
A Careful Word on Amanita Muscaria
Please use my prior directions and source.
A Careful Word on Psilocybin
Psilocybin is one of the most studied compounds in neuroscience right now, and the findings are interesting. In the brain it is converted to psilocin, which mostly acts on serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. These receptors are packed into the parts of the brain involved in thinking about ourselves, recognising patterns, and the default mode network. Turning them on seems to quiet the default mode network for a while and help parts of the brain talk to each other that usually do not.
Dr. Andrew Huberman describes this as a state of heightened neuroplasticity, a window when the brain can more easily form new connections and loosen patterns that have become rigid. This is part of why psilocybin is being studied for depression, trauma that has not responded to treatment, and certain stuck nervous system patterns.
Microdosing means taking amounts too small to notice on a set schedule, and it is being explored for mood, focus, and creativity. Therapeutic dosing means a full experience in a guided setting, and it seems to produce the strongest and longest-lasting effects on neuroplasticity. Both should only be approached with a trained practitioner who knows your full health history and can hold the work properly. I will not write protocols here, because this work belongs in a real relationship of care, not on a page.
There are also deep, time-tested paths into the depths of the soul that ask nothing of the body and cost nothing: contemplative prayer, Scripture, spiritual direction, the wisdom of the Saints and the Church Fathers and Mothers, the sacraments for those in the Faith, silence, and the company of people we trust. These are not lesser medicines. For many of us, they are the truest ones.
Bringing It All Together
Medicinal mushrooms are gifts, but they are not the centre. The centre is the same as it has always been: nutrients in and toxins out, sunlight on the skin, bare feet on the earth, real food from healthy soil, sleep that follows the rhythm of the day, community, beauty, reverence, and prayer. Mushrooms are helpers along the path. They support the body the way a good friend supports you on a long walk, quietly and faithfully, without taking over the journey.
St. Hildegard of Bingen, who knew the healing properties of plants and fungi as well as anyone in our Christian tradition, used the word viriditas, the greening power, the divine life flowing through all of creation. Mushrooms carry that viriditas in their own quiet, hidden way, rising from dark soil and fallen logs and turning death and decay back into life. They are a small picture of the Resurrection if we have eyes to see it.
When we take them with gratitude, simmered slowly in our own kitchens, they become more than medicine; they become a small act of remembering that the world is alive, that God has provided abundantly, and that healing is not something we manufacture but something we are gently invited back into.
Take what serves you, leave the rest, and go gently.
References and Further Reading
Stamets P. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. Ten Speed Press, 2005.
Powell M. Medicinal Mushrooms: A Clinical Guide. Mycology Press, 2014.
Rogers R. The Fungal Pharmacy: The Complete Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms and Lichens of North America. North Atlantic Books, 2011.
Hildegard of Bingen. Physica and Causae et Curae.
Carhart-Harris RL, et al. “Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression.” NEJM, 2021.
Strassman R. DMT and the Soul of Prophecy. Park Street Press, 2014. (For careful theological reflection on entheogens.)