The Sacred Mycelium Podcast

Can a mushroom experience make a psychology book feel like a map of somewhere you have already been?

In this host-only episode of Sacred Mycelium, I walk through a person’s account of a powerful mushroom experience. They described a sense of oneness, an encounter with God, symbolic animals, and internal voices that seemed to become distinct. Months later, therapy introduced them to Jung’s ideas of the shadow, archetypes, and individuation.

I’m interested in what happened next. Instead of stopping at a huge revelation, they got curious. They worked with a therapist. They began recognizing the parts of themselves without needing another trip. The focus shifted from intensity to integration.

In this conversation, we explore:

• why symbolic figures can feel more vivid than ordinary thoughts
• what “shadow” can mean without reducing it to evil
• why internal contradiction does not automatically mean pathology
• the difference between taking a mystical experience seriously and claiming certainty about its cause
• how projection, self-honesty, and therapy can turn insight into everyday practice

Maybe the map did not create the landscape. Maybe the landscape made the map recognizable.

Free Resource From Victoria

Trauma, the Body, and the Breath

This free on-demand webinar explores releasing what the mind can’t and how neuroscience, breathwork, and psilocybin-assisted healing can help us understand what the body continues to carry.

Watch the free replay:

https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Read more:

https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Have a story you would like to share on Sacred Mycelium?

Email me at:

[email protected]

And if this conversation resonated with you, follow Sacred Mycelium wherever you listen so you don’t miss the next story.

This conversation reflects one reported psychedelic experience and Victoria’s interpretation. It is not a diagnosis, proof of a metaphysical claim, or medical advice.

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

What does it actually feel like to return to yourself?

In this episode of Sacred Mycelium, I sit down with intuitive and transformational guide Lynda Samphire for a beautiful conversation about Amanita muscaria, nervous system restoration, dreams, sleep, self-trust, and the quieter forms of healing we sometimes overlook.

So much of our culture teaches us to look for the big breakthrough.

The profound journey.

The life-changing moment.

But what if healing also looks like realizing something that normally would have sent you into fight or flight… simply didn’t?

What if it looks like sleeping more deeply?

Pausing before reacting?

Feeling creativity begin to return?

Or slowly discovering that it feels good to be inside your own body again?

Lynda shares how Amanita entered her own life and eventually became a significant part of her work. We explore her perspective on the relationship between Amanita, the nervous system, dream consciousness, and what she calls the process of remembrance, restoration, and return.

We also talk about the difference between chasing peak experiences and actually embodying what we learn from them.

Because expanded consciousness isn’t necessarily about escaping the human experience.

Sometimes it’s about becoming present enough to finally live it.

In this conversation, we explore:

• what drew Lynda into a relationship with Amanita muscaria
• nervous system activation, hypervigilance, and reactivity
• sleep and the restorative intelligence of the night
• dreams, liminal states, and learning how to receive
• subtle changes that can be easy to miss when we expect dramatic transformation
• the role of integration and being witnessed
• the relationship between Amanita and psilocybin in Lynda’s practice
• why less can eventually become more
• learning to trust yourself again
• what “returning to yourself” actually feels like

Meet Lynda Samphire

Lynda Samphire is an intuitive and transformational guide exploring consciousness through relationship. Her work weaves together nervous system intelligence, dreams, contemplative practice, nature, and earth-based medicines.

Known for her thoughtful approach to Amanita muscaria and intentional low-dose psychedelic work, Lynda focuses less on extraordinary experiences and more on cultivating presence, curiosity, creativity, connection, and a deeper relationship with ourselves.

She is the founder of SoulRoot, an educational community and Amanita store, and creates immersive retreats and mentorship experiences.

Learn more about Lynda and join her newsletter:
https://www.lwsamphire.com/media-page

When you join, you can also access her free guides, The Healing Path of Amanita Muscaria and Work with Your Night.

Free Resource From Victoria

Trauma, the Body, and the Breath

This free on-demand webinar explores releasing what the mind can’t and how neuroscience, breathwork, and psilocybin-assisted healing can help us understand what the body continues to carry.

Watch the free replay:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Read more:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Have a story you would like to share on Sacred Mycelium?
Email me at:
[email protected]

And if this conversation resonated with you, follow Sacred Mycelium wherever you listen so you don’t miss the next story.

This conversation reflects personal experiences and practitioner perspectives and is not medical advice. Amanita species vary significantly, including in chemistry and toxicity, so thoughtful identification, sourcing, preparation, individual health considerations, and appropriate professional guidance matter.

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

What happens when someone you love changes dramatically—and every change seems to be for the better?

In this episode of The Sacred Mycelium Podcast, I’m sharing the story of a woman whose husband returned from a weekend mushroom journey and slowly began transforming his life.

He exercised. He read. He changed how he ate. He became more ambitious. He went back to school. His career grew.

He seemed more alive.

Everyone around her thought it was wonderful.

But she couldn’t stop wondering:

What happened to my husband?

What makes this story so fascinating to me is that his heart hadn’t disappeared. He was still warm, kind, and loving. What changed were the habits, identities, and patterns that had shaped the life they created together.

So maybe the experience didn’t turn him into somebody else.

Maybe something that had been keeping him stuck finally loosened.

And that creates another part of transformation we don’t talk about nearly enough: what happens to the people who love us when we change?

His wife didn’t choose this transformation, yet suddenly she was living inside of it too.

There can be grief even inside positive change. We can celebrate who someone is becoming while still missing the familiar rhythms of who we were together.

That’s why my biggest question for this couple isn’t whether he should become his old self again.

It’s:

How do we build this relationship around who we are becoming now?

Because sometimes the medicine journey happens to one person, but the integration belongs to an entire ecosystem of relationships.

The experience may open the door.

We still have to choose whether we walk through it.

🌿 Free Replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath

Explore what happens when healing reaches beyond what the thinking mind can resolve—and how neuroscience, breathwork, and psilocybin-assisted healing can help us understand the process.

Watch the free replay on demand after opting in:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

🌿 Explore the Blog

Continue exploring healing, breathwork, plant medicine, and transformation:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

🌿 Share Your Story

Have a healing or transformation story you think belongs on The Sacred Mycelium Podcast?

Email:
[email protected]

And follow or subscribe to The Sacred Mycelium Podcast so you don’t miss the next story.

Source Credit

This episode is inspired by a real healing story shared publicly in an online community and retold here with care for privacy.

Ready to experience this work for yourself? Join me in Prescott, Arizona for an intimate, guided psilocybin retreat. Details + registration here: https://www.victorialeestarr.com/divinae-retreats

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

What is someone really asking when they reach out about microdosing?

They may mention depression, anxiety, grief, chronic pain, migraines, menopause, cognitive health, or nervous system overwhelm. But beneath the practical question is often something much more personal:

Is there still hope for me?
Could I feel differently in my own life?
What if I have already tried everything?

In this episode of Sacred Mycelium, I’m joined by Kayse Gehret, founder of Microdosing for Healing.

Kayse is a pioneer in transformational wellness with nearly 30 years of experience guiding people through deep, soulful change. Through her work, she has supported more than 1,400 individuals across over 30 countries using intentional, earth-based practices.

Kayse takes us back to the beginning of her own journey, including her experience with grand mal seizures and the circumstances that led her to explore another path. She shares what she was initially hoping to find, what surprised her, and the point at which her healing became about something much bigger than symptom relief.

We then explore what Kayse has learned from listening to thousands of people describe why they are considering microdosing.

These are not abstract conversations about psychedelic headlines. They are the stories of parents, caregivers, people navigating loss, women moving through menopause, individuals living with pain, and people who simply want to feel calmer and more present in their own lives.

Kayse reflects on the patterns she has witnessed around depression, anxiety, grief, migraines, chronic pain, hormonal changes, and fears surrounding cognitive health. She also speaks about the responsibility of facilitation, what makes a guide trustworthy, and what someone should consider when seeking support.

At the heart of this episode is a quieter question:

What are people truly seeking when they turn toward plant medicine?

This conversation does not offer guarantees or present microdosing as a cure. Instead, it creates space for the real fears, hopes, and human experiences that are too often missing from the conversation.

In This Episode

• Kayse’s journey through grand mal seizures
• What drew her toward earth-based healing
• When healing became bigger than symptom relief
• Why people are exploring microdosing
• The deeper question beneath depression and anxiety
• Grief, chronic pain, migraines, and nervous system overwhelm
• Microdosing conversations surrounding menopause
• Cognitive health and fears of dementia
• The qualities of a skilled and responsible facilitator
• How to find aligned support
• Kayse’s hopes for the future of plant medicine

Connect with Kayse Gehret

Microdosing for Healing:
https://www.microdosingforhealing.com/podcast

Microdosing Starter Package:
https://www.microdosingforhealing.com/microdosingstarterpackage

GATHER — A Home for Guides:
https://www.microdosingforhealing.com/professionalguideprogram

Use promo code VICTORIA500 for Kayse’s Microdosing Facilitator Training.

LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kaysegehret

Instagram:
http://www.instagram.com/kaysegehret

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@microdosingforhealing

Free Resource

Watch Trauma, the Body, and the Breath, my free on-demand webinar replay exploring how we release what the mind cannot and how neuroscience, breathwork, and psilocybin-assisted healing may support the healing process.

Access the replay here:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Explore the Blog

Read more about trauma, breathwork, microdosing, plant medicine, and the human journey of healing:

https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Share Your Story

Have a transformation story you feel called to share?

Email me at:

[email protected]

Identifying details can be changed to protect your privacy.

Follow Sacred Mycelium

Follow or subscribe to Sacred Mycelium for compassionate conversations about healing, transformation, plant medicine, and the stories that remind us we are not alone.

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

What happens when you lose someone you love…but the grief doesn’t come?

In this episode of Sacred Mycelium, I’m sharing the story of someone who experienced a sudden loss and immediately went into doing mode—helping family, making arrangements, getting through the funeral, and taking care of everyone around them.

They were sad. But the grief hadn’t fully landed.

It wasn’t until weeks later, when everyone had gone home and life became quiet again, that something began to change. Memories surfaced. Sleep became harder. The emotions seemed to be there, but just out of reach.

Then they became curious about microdosing sacred plant medicine.

What followed wasn’t about escaping grief or making the loss disappear. It was about finally finding enough space to feel what had been waiting underneath the surface.

In this conversation, I reflect on delayed grief, why we can sometimes function before we feel, and the difference between carrying grief and allowing ourselves to move through it.

I’ll also guide you through a gentle breathwork practice to help soften, slow down, and reconnect with the present moment.

Because grief doesn’t always arrive on our schedule.

And healing doesn’t necessarily mean moving on.

Sometimes it means making room for what’s already there.

🌿 FREE REPLAY: TRAUMA, THE BODY, AND THE BREATH

Go deeper with my free webinar replay, Trauma, the Body, and the Breath—an exploration of releasing what the mind can’t and how neuroscience, breathwork, and psilocybin-assisted healing can intersect in the healing process.

Watch on demand after opting in:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

🌿 EXPLORE THE BLOG

Continue exploring healing, plant medicine, breathwork, and transformation:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

🌿 SHARE YOUR STORY

Have a healing or transformation story you’d like to share with Sacred Mycelium?

Email me at:
[email protected]

Stories are always treated with care for privacy.

🌿 FOLLOW SACRED MYCELIUM

Follow or subscribe wherever you listen so you don’t miss the next story.

SOURCE CREDIT

This episode is inspired by a real healing story shared publicly in an online community and retold here with care for privacy.

This podcast shares personal experiences and perspectives and is not medical advice.

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

Why So Many Gen Xers Are Turning to Psychedelics After 50

Many of us grew up believing psychedelics were dangerous, irresponsible, or simply off-limits.

For Gen X especially, decades of messaging created deep fear around plant medicine—even as many quietly searched for something to help them reconnect with themselves later in life.

In this episode, I sit down with Cesar Marin, founder of Microdosing Over 50 and Cultivating Wisdom, to explore what happens when curiosity begins to replace fear.

Cesar shares his deeply personal story of discovering psilocybin at age 55 after a successful career at CNN, and how that experience led him to redefine success, embrace emotional vulnerability, and reinvent his life.

Together we explore the unique challenges facing men over 50, why healing doesn't have an expiration date, and how intentional work with plant medicine can become one pathway toward greater presence, purpose, and authenticity.

Whether you're curious about microdosing, questioning long-held beliefs, or simply wondering what the second half of life could look like, this conversation offers hope, perspective, and compassion.

Connect with Cesar

• Cultivating Wisdom
• Microdosing Over 50
• Summit Within Retreat
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube
• TikTok

🎁 Use discount code VICTORIA for Cultivating Wisdom merchandise.

Free Replay

Trauma, the Body, and the Breath

Learn how trauma lives in the nervous system, why healing requires more than mindset alone, and how breathwork and psilocybin-assisted healing can support lasting transformation.

https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Read More
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Share Your Story

Have a healing journey you'd like to share on Sacred Mycelium?

Email:
[email protected]

Healing doesn't have an expiration date. Whether you're in your 30s, your 50s, or beyond, it's never too late to question old beliefs, reconnect with yourself, and begin writing a new chapter.

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

What if emotional numbness isn't the absence of feeling—but the result of feelings that have been buried for years?

In this episode of Sacred Mycelium, Victoria shares the story of someone whose life appeared completely stable from the outside, yet internally they had become disconnected from joy, empathy, and emotional presence.

As they cautiously explored a microdosing practice with psilocybin, subtle changes began to unfold. A walk home became more vivid. A difficult conversation became more honest. Old journals reopened long-forgotten grief, creating space for healing instead of continued suppression.

Rather than promising instant happiness, this story explores something much more meaningful: the gradual return of emotional accessibility.

Victoria also reflects on why emotional numbness often develops so quietly, how unresolved experiences can become stored within the body, why integration matters just as much as the medicine itself, and closes with a gentle guided breath practice to help listeners reconnect with themselves.

In this episode:

• What emotional numbness can feel like before we recognize it
• Why functioning doesn't always mean we're emotionally present
• How one person's microdosing journey helped soften emotional protection
• The role of grief, honesty, and integration in healing
• A short guided breath practice for grounding and reconnecting with your body

Continue Your Healing Journey

🎁 Free Replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath

Explore how trauma is stored in the body and how breathwork and psilocybin-assisted healing can support transformation.

https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

📚 Read more:

https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

💚 Want your healing story featured on the podcast?

Email:
[email protected]

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who may need this conversation.

Source Credit

This episode is inspired by a real healing story shared publicly in an online community and retold here with care for privacy.

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

What is mycelium?

And why does it matter if you’re exploring microdosing, psilocybin, or plant medicine?

In this episode, Victoria explores the hidden underground network beneath mushrooms—the living system known as mycelium—and why understanding it changes how we relate to medicine, healing, and ourselves.

This conversation unpacks:

• the biology of mycelium
• how mushrooms emerge from underground networks
• why connection is central to healing
• how the nervous system mirrors ecosystem intelligence
• what shifts when internal communication changes

This episode is an invitation to see healing differently.

Not as fixing.

But as restoring communication within the system.

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

What happens when anxiety becomes so overwhelming that waking up feels unbearable?

In this episode, Victoria explores a powerful story of severe anxiety, depression, alcohol dependence, and the desperate search for relief through microdosing.

But this isn’t a simple “plant medicine can fix it” conversation.

It’s a deeper look at what happens when someone is suffering intensely and carrying that suffering in secret.

Inside this episode:

• severe morning anxiety and nervous system dysregulation
• the alcohol-anxiety cycle
• fear of losing control
• the emotional cost of secrecy
• why support matters before medicine

This conversation is for anyone standing at that edge—wondering if healing is possible, but terrified of making things worse.

Source Credit:
This episode is inspired by a real healing story shared publicly in an online community and retold here with care for privacy.

Original source: https://www.reddit.com/r/microdosing/comments/1686zko/please_talk_me_through_this_im_so_scared/

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]

What happens when someone with ADHD experiences silence in their mind for the first time?

In this episode, Victoria explores a powerful healing story about microdosing and ADHD—what shifts, what softens, and why that first taste of nervous system regulation can feel life-changing.

This conversation dives into the emotional reality behind ADHD:

• the shame of inconsistency
• the exhaustion of executive dysfunction
• the constant internal pressure
• the search for something that helps

Victoria also unpacks the difference between microdosing and stimulant medication—how one may support emotional regulation and awareness, while the other often supports consistency and execution.

Source Credit:
This episode is inspired by a real healing story shared publicly in an online community and retold here with care for privacy.

Original source: https://www.reddit.com/r/microdosing/comments/1d4gwtn/microdosing_for_adhd_people_in_which_ways_does_it/

If you’re curious about microdosing, exploring plant medicine, or seeking deeper healing, this is a space to listen, reflect, and reconnect.

Resources mentioned:

🎁 Free replay: Trauma, the Body, and the Breath
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/freebies

Blog:
https://www.victorialeestarr.com/blog

Story submissions:
[email protected]