Your first truffle ceremony: a practical guide

If it is your first truffle ceremony, one thing I want to say before anything else: no one knows exactly what will happen in advance. And that is fine.

But there are things you can know. Practical things. Things that help you enter the day with more ease.

The day itself

A ceremony begins with a quiet arrival. Tea, a brief conversation, time to land in the space. No rush, no elaborate ritual. Just the transition from your everyday state to one of attention.

Then the truffles — most commonly as tea or as fresh truffles. The effects begin after twenty to forty minutes, sometimes later. In the meantime: lying down, listening to music, or simply sitting with what comes.

The come-up

The first hour and a half is often what participants describe as the most challenging part. Not because something goes wrong, but because you do not yet know what is coming. There is sometimes mild nausea. There is anticipation. There is the moment when you feel the truffles working and realise: this is actually happening now.

My advice: breathe. Let it come. Do not resist.

The middle

This is the core — four to five hours during which many things can happen, or very little. Music plays. You are held. The facilitator is present but stays in the background.

What you experience — insights, imagery, emotions, stillness — belongs to you. There is no right or wrong experience.

Coming down

After four to five hours, the effects gradually ease. There is space for conversation, for food, for telling some of what was there. Not everything needs to go into words right away.

The day after

Take that day off. Write down what was there. Walk. Sleep early. The first week after a ceremony is valuable — do not let it disappear into the noise of everyday life. What you take with you deserves space to settle.