How to Start a Mushroom Church:

NOTE: Mycelia Monastery does not supply sacrament. We encourage people to follow the law. Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal in many states and countries. We also advocate to change these laws, and any reference to use of entheogenic healing medicine or spiritual aids below refers to use within a legal jurisdiction. We are committed to harm reduction and healing, including for first responders and law enforcement, when we can do so within a legal jurisdiction such as a retreat setting.

COMING UP: The Mushroom Church Symposium – Learn More

TIP: Do you want an informal spiritual myco-club? Or a formal, legal mushroom church? We can help either way. A legal mushroom church can be a 501c3, accept donations tax-free like any other church, but comes with more paperwork and admin requirements.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Growing Your Own Mycelial Community

How to start a Mushroom Church in your city, town, forest, or living room.

We’d love to help.

Here’s the complete guide to creating your own local mycelium.

Cutting to the chase, we have a life-changingly awesome group of humans who help others to evolve spiritually, to upgrade ourselves, to become the best expression of human we can.

How did we get here?

Mycelia Monastery is a mix of a four crucial ingredients. They are

Magical Humans: Low ego, high caliber individuals committed to harm reduction, well being, and the healing of others. Some of our group are mental health professionals, clergy, practicing clinical licensed psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. Others are artists, philosophers, and others have seemingly more every-day lives, and yet are no less magic – they are committed to self improvement, to presence. Our “required-ish reading” (highly suggested) includes NVC (Non-Violent Communication), Eckhardt Tolle or pulls from Buddhism. philosophers like Kierkegaard or Sartre, eastern religions, emotional maturity (we’re fans of Brene Brown). Aside from this, we are inspired by the timeless rituals of Burning Man’s 10 Principles and “enthusiastic yes” benchmarks for consent. The group you form will reflect the commitment and quality of your founding group. Lest that sound like it’s coming from ego, our goal is to balance both servant leadership, with people who have “done the work” and inspire others to become the best version of themselves.

TIP: Start with credibility and care (science, harm reduction, and spiritual integrity). Then infuse charisma and aesthetics later, rather than the reverse. The initial crowd (mycologists, facilitators, NVC types) are the ones who’ll give the movement roots — the “pretty people” make it bloom.

Mycologists: For those seeking information on how to start a mushroom church, supply becomes part of the equation. To both enrich one’s personal experience with the sacrament, and to avoid financial exposure to a potentially illegal financial transaction, it may make sense for those who do start a mushroom church to cultivate relationships with mycologists, who are confident in helping people to grow their own supply. Note we cannot condone illegal activity, and laws vary by jurisdiction.
Soft-Edge On-Ramps: This means “shy yes” venues with frequent events for people to meet in a low-risk way. Speaking very plainly, we are very anti hard drugs. We are strongly against the use of any substance that is so addictive it causes people to put their fix ahead of their relationships. “Fiending drugs” such as meth or heroin can lead to trouble – and yet how do we serve those with addiction issues, knowing full well that community and support are the path out? Carefully, and in low-risk environments such as a public place. We also wish to serve veterans who may have PTSD, and inviting unknown people into one’s home directly feels unsafe. We have found public “soft edge” events to be especially helpful as a way to get to know some people in a lower-stakes environment. Group hikes outdoors, or events at a park, meetups at a bar or restaurant can all be lower risk than house parties or meetings in a home. Meetups like “Burning Man Fridays”, or “Weirdo Wednesdays”, or backyard firepit grilling meetups may be a great way to invite new people in, while keeping relationships one step at a time. “Soft Edge” also helps avoid weird and/or cult references, as there’s no formal “buy-in” moment, wherein we teach you a secret handshake. The experience of involvement in Mycelia Monastery starts organically, gently, and trust is built through interactions, one step at a time. As people spend more time with the core group, certain patterns become more clear – for example, we practice radical consent. This means anything short of enthusiastic fully empowered yes is consider a no, or a “maybe, but we need to clarify”. As people see this in action, it becomes clear this is a safe-space group to talk about our innermost fears – and this is what leads to healing.
Frequency of Connection: Last, part of what makes our group so magic is that we spend time together frequently. This changes the nature of our friendships – we are not in “summarize mode” when we see each other, we have in-depth granular insights with deep, powerful conversations. While not everyone is available all the time, having a constant cadence of available meetings creates a through-line framework for the group. For us, this shows up as weekly events, frequent parties, hikes, long-weekend glamping party hopping (aka regional burning man events), and real friendships that occur leading to even more granular time together – helping people move, doing fundraisers, distributed dance parties (aka Gregarious Monks) and more. As we evolve, we are working on new expressions – including real estate eco-monastery co-living, legal retreat events, a cruise, conferences and events like the Telluride Mushroom Festival (road trip with friends!) – and whatever fits our vibe. Simply put, rarely-seen friends get the big-picture, but that rarely feels like deep connection. True connectedness requires both a feeling of emotional safety, and granular resolution.

We’re a network of people who enjoy cultivating wonder, connection, ecology, creativity, and spore-level mischief. Your chapter can be as serious or as silly as you’d like. This guide shows you how to begin.

NOTE: If you do want to use the Mycelia Monastery brand & affiliation – we hope you do! – we have some “brand protections” in place. These include a mix of exoskeletal-style hard rules and endo-skeletal guidance and values. Here we’ll give you the top level overview of how to start a mushroom church – with your own brand, or with ours. If you want to start a local Mycelium of Mycelia Monastery – awesome! Start a conversation with us.

🌱 What Is a Mushroom Church?

A Mushroom Church is a community built on mycelial principles—decentralized growth, mutual nourishment, curiosity, and interconnectedness. Each local group is called a mycelium, representing a unique network of people who meet in whatever way feels natural: outdoors, at home, in co-ops, online, or anywhere spore-friendly.

The Mushroom Church is not about doctrines—it’s about shared exploration, creativity, earth-connection, and the joy of growing something together.

If that resonates, read on.

How to Start a Mushroom Church in 7 Simple Steps

1. Why? What’s Your Intent?

Every mycelium begins as a spore, an intention.

Ask yourself:

Why? If ego, and forming a cult is your agenda, we are not your people. If you seek to truly help fellow humans evolve spiritually, heal trauma, find harm reduction, and develop the deepest and most rewarding levels of connectedness, then we are your people.
What kind of community do I want to gather?
Is my focus ecological, spiritual, artistic, playful, educational, or a blend? We believe parties can be the path to healing for people who don’t know they need it, but it’s not the only on-ramp to healing.

You don’t need a rigid mission statement—just a guiding vibe.

If you choose to associate with Mycelia Monastery, we’ll give you a starting place of our documents, and you’ll be able to modify if you choose. We have living documents born of consensus, and are a “collectivist anarchy”, technically speaking. Note “Anarchy” doesn’t mean no rules. It means no rulers.

2. Choose a Gathering Space (or Don’t!)

Your Mushroom Church can meet:

In a forest or park
In your living room
In a community space
At a café or bookstore
Online via video chats

All you need is a place where people can show up and feel welcomed.

Note: See the “Soft Edges” comments above for some of the events.

3. Invite Your First Spores (Members)

We recommend starting by bringing two groups together at first:

Mycologists. People really into mushrooms and/or foraging and/or growing.
Healers. This could be wonderful humans into yoga, or clinical psychiatrists who believe in the power of psychedelics for personal transformation, and everyone in between. The goal is low-ego, highly helpful humans with a spirit to help.

Once you have some of these two groups lined up, bring in the party people – the beautiful fun extroverts, the beautiful and gregarious. Why? Grease. They turn events from a nerdy mycology talk into something everyone wants. They help people feel included, special, wanted, like they’re in the right place.

But note “party” is easy. There’s tons of “up” “party” energy. It’s common.

What is not common is party with substance, party for good.

There are multiple ways to find healing – meditation, prayer (in whatever form you choose) – and partying. Many in our society are lonely, disconnected. A good party can help reignite the soul, foster connection, excitement.

The magic is when that is mixed with the magic, the healers, the right conversations.

The right conversations happen when people feel safe, valued, included.

The right conversations require a level of humanity, personal skill, having “done the work” i.e. examined our innermost psyche, desires, emotions, and then having dissolved the ego enough to reduce the filters, and see through other people’s filters to their real self, to help them feel safe, and take the steps to level up themselves.

All of that is contagious.

As the group levels up, other people come into the group and experience the magic.

This article can help you find out “how to start a mushroom church” – but what you truly want is a center of gravity, for people to experience the magic life-changing connectedness they crave, while upgrading themselves.

That is expressed through time, conversation, and can be accelerated through our mushroom cousins.

Ok – back to the practical matters:

Get the right group of just a handful of people, and start meeting. When it’s magic, it will turn fun. When it turns fun, others will want in. Just start meeting and having great conversations.

4. Hold Your First Mycelial Gathering

Your first meeting can include:

Introductions
Sharing favorite fungi or ecological moments
A walk in nature
A discussion on mycelial metaphors
An imaginative ritual or creative activity

Keep it light. Keep it welcoming. Let the vibe grow naturally.

5. Establish Your Core & Cadence

Each local group is a mycelium, with its own nickname, culture, and character.

Your identity can evolve over time—mycelia do that.

6. Create a Rhythm (Not Rules)

Instead of rigid structures, choose a natural rhythm:

Monthly gatherings
Seasonal events
Mushroom-themed creative nights
Service projects
Forays or micro-pilgrimages

The goal isn’t to enforce consistency—it’s to cultivate connection.

7. Connect With the Wider Network

Mycelia is plural of Mycelium – a local network.
If you want support, ideas, or affiliation, connect with us. There’s no cost, no gatekeeping, and no obligations.

🌐 Want Help Starting Your Mycelium?

If you’re curious, inspired, or ready to grow your chapter, start a conversation with us.

We’d love to:

send you starter materials
collaborate on your first gathering
add your chapter to the constellation
co-create a shared story and culture

→ Start a conversation with us and begin your Mushroom Church journey.

(Just message us. We respond like friendly spores.)