Her Magic Mushroom Memoir
This 22-episode novel-as-podcast is inspired by real events and people—most notably, a 1957 Life magazine presentation by R. Gordon Wasson called "Seeking the Magic Mushroom." That piece introduced the Western world to psilocybin mushrooms and helped ignite the psychedelic revolution. In this story, we follow Dr. Lidiya Hart Johnson, a fearless neuroscientist who once had a front-row seat to that revolution. Now facing her own decline, she's in a race against time—and she believes Christopher Wade may be the only one who can help carry her truth forward. The twist? Chris has his own clock ticking down. Copyright © 2024–2025 by John H. Wasson. All rights reserved. This podcast is for personal use only. You may stream or download episodes for your own listening, but no part of this podcast may be reproduced, shared, or distributed in any form without prior written permission from the author—except for brief excerpts used in reviews or educational references.
Episodes
Last time, Lidiya and Craig made a pact: no more secrets. Together, they agreed to infiltrate the very systems that once recruited her. What began as quiet complicity was now open resistance—dangerous, yes, but necessary.
In this episode, the story unfolds in flashbacks and fieldwork—hidden files, forbidden experiments, and missions that test both their courage and their love. What they unc...
Last time, Lidiya brought us into the most luminous stretch of her past: a summer of discovery, joy, and unexpected love with Craig Johnson. From BASIC code to Capitol Hill, from omelets to Woodstock, everything felt open and full of promise.
In this episode, that promise is tested. As whispers of surveillance grow louder and Lidiya's past catches up to her, she finds herself at a crossroad...
Last time, Chris confronted the truth about Lidiya's legacy—and she confessed that she wasn't just a witness to history. She had been part of it.
In this episode, we glimpse a different side of Lidiya. She's brilliant, curious—and unexpectedly in love. In the heat of 1969, as music drifts through the air and the world begins to change, Lidiya lets herself hope. Even in uncertain times, some...
Last time, Chris and Lidiya peeled back the layers of unintended consequences: how Gordon's scientific curiosity became ammunition in a hidden war. This time, the story gets stranger—and darker.
They called her "Mushroom Girl." Gifted, curious, and far too trusting. But in 1960s Cambridge, where science flirted with surveillance and inno...
What happens when reverence turns to curiosity, and curiosity turns to spectacle? In our last episode, we witnessed the unraveling of Huautla's sacred silence: from Gordon and Valentina's respectful early visits to the post–Life magazine flood of seekers, smugglers, and spies, as the psychedelic tide rolled in.
In this
In our last episode, Lidiya and Chris began the next leg of their journey—bidding farewell to Millicent, to Oahu, and to Piney's Holistic Health Center—now bound for Danbury, Connecticut, to see Exa. While on their flight, Lidiya's immersive storytelling took us high into the cloud forests of Huautla. We saw what Gordon Wasson saw—and met the cur...
In the last episode of Her Magic Mushroom Memoir, Chris took his first halting steps toward sobriety at Piney's Holistic Health Center. Meanwhile, Lidiya and Millicent made the long, windswept trek to Ka'ena Point—the mythical leaping place of souls—where Lidiya finally admitted what she feared most: dying alone. And then, with Exa's voice on the phone, a promise was made.
Previously on Her Magic Mushroom Memoir…
Chris hit rock bottom—fired from both jobs, drunk, and ready to give up. But just as he spiraled into darkness, Lidiya showed up, literally dragging him out of his tent and ...
Last time on Her Magic Mushroom Memoir…
Lidiya's past continued to unfold—from mushroom theft and forgiveness to mentorship under Gordon and life lessons from Sister Emilka, a nun with a war tattoo and a resistance...
Previously on Her Magic Mushroom Memoir…
Left alone with temptation, young Lidiya crossed a forbidden threshold—stealing sacred mushrooms from Gordon's garden and embarking on a psychedelic journey that forever alt...
Last time on Her Magic Mushroom Memoir, Lidiya opened the door to her most formative experiences: losing her mother, surviving trauma, and finding refuge in the unlikeliest of places. With Exa's help—and Gordon's quiet generosity—Lidiya began again. Two schools, two caretakers, and one fragile but growing sense of self. It wasn't just a rescue—it was the moment she began to believe she might become someone.
Previously from Her Magic Mushroom Memoir...
Chris reluctantly met with Lidiya in a stunning Beverly Hills guesthouse, fully expecting to turn her down. But as she shared childhood memories—hookworms, a collapsed stepfather, a funeral canister named "Maxwell"—he started to reconsider. Through laughter and loss, something shifted. Lidiya wasn't pitching a book anymore—she was opening a vein. And Chris, whether h...
Last time in Her Magic Mushroom Memoir, Lidiya made a bold move—tracking down Chris Wade, the struggling writer who saved her on the beach—and offering him a chance to write her life story. Meanwhile, Lidiya prepar...
Previously in Her Magic Mushroom Memoir:
Lidiya returned to Brooklyn shaken by her collapse in Venice—and even more so by what followed. As her mind drifted through research, memories, and grief, a second collapse led to an MRI scan, and with it, a life-changing diagnosis. As she tries to ground herself—gardening, foraging, cooking—signs and memories keep surfacing. A mushroom known as "the...
Previously in Her Magic Mushroom Memoir: Chris, a broke and broken veteran living in his car, wrestled with the collapse of his life—his job, his family, and his writing. Across town, Dr. Lidiya Hart Johnson reflected on her past and the psychedelic revolution she helped spark. After collapsing near the Venice Pier, Lidiya was helped by Chris—two lives intersecting in a moment neither of them expected. Their st...
Two strangers are about to cross paths: Chris Wade, a struggling writer living in a tent near LAX, and Dr. Lidiya Hart Johnson, just off a high-profile lecture and carrying memories she'd rather forget. What starts as a chance encounter on a Venice beach might be something much more—a fracture in time, where two lives intersect at exactly the wrong—and maybe right—moment.
The opening scene ...
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