9·20 — TaraLand

The day

Why the twentieth of September

Since 2015, 9/20 has been the day for psilocybin mushrooms — the way 4/20 is for cannabis. It started as an “educational day of action” in Providence, Rhode Island, and grew into an open, worldwide, un‑owned holiday. There is no organiser. There is just the date.

The date was chosen with some care: the beginning of autumn, when mushrooms are most plentiful. Days from the equinox — a turning point, light and dark in balance. And it rhymes with 4/20, which showed that a plant’s reputation can change in one generation.

If a film called Fantastic Fungi is what first opened this door for you — you are far from alone. Mycelium is the network under the forest floor. Consider this page a thread of it.

Neon wireframe mushroom cluster under a golden geometric figure

The molecule

4‑HO‑DMT — the one on the plates

A few of you spotted it on Ganapati’s licence plate and asked. Here is the short version.

What the mushroom makes is psilocybin. What your body actually meets is psilocin — psilocybin loses its phosphate group within minutes of being swallowed, and psilocin is what remains. Its chemical name is 4‑hydroxy‑N,N‑dimethyltryptamine: 4‑HO‑DMT.

5‑HTserotonin — the body’s own tryptamine

DMTthe bare molecule, in countless plants — and in you

4‑HO‑DMTpsilocin — DMT with one hydroxyl group, at position four

So the mushroom molecule is DMT, wearing one small extra atom‑group like a ring on one finger. Same family as serotonin. Same family as the molecule your own brain synthesises. Chemistry is not mystical — and it is not not mystical either.

The whole family tree, drawn out: dmt.family

Ceremonial cacao cup on dark earth with glowing mycelium and two golden mushrooms

The gathering

Cacao, not techno

We came home from the festival with ringing ears and a clear thought: what we want is quieter and deeper. A cacao circle. Ecstatic dance — a set that starts on the floor and ends in the stars, with no one shouting over it. Space to lie in the grass and watch the sky do its thing.

Small. Invited, not announced. If you are reading this, you were handed a card by a person who wanted you there. That is the whole guest list.

Bring something to sit on, something warm for after sunset, and whatever you would like to share. Cacao is provided. Everything else is optional — including the mushrooms, which are your own decision and your own responsibility. Nothing is sold here.

Cacao as we drink it: cacao.vision

Dirt track through golden Alentejo hills leading to a small white farmhouse, an orange cone on the track

The place

TaraLand · Eira do Milho

A monte in the hills of Santa Clara‑a‑Velha, Odemira — Alentejo, a little inland from the Vicentina coast. Cork oaks, dry grass, no neighbours in earshot, a sky with nothing in it but stars.

How to actually get here

Navigation apps know the pin. They do not know the last track. Follow the steps, not the voice.

Navigate to Santa Clara‑a‑Velha (from the coast: via Odemira / Sabóia). Then let the app take you towards the pin below.
Follow the tarmac road as far as it goes. When the tar ends, you are close.
Where the tar ends, turn right. There are orange cones at that exact spot on the day — if you see them, you are on the right track. If the app tells you to continue straight, ignore it.
Keep on the dirt track until you see the white house. Park where the others parked. Walk in. You made it.

37.5472167, -8.3957149

Google Maps Apple Maps Other app

Address, if a form insists: Monte Eira do Milho, Cortes Pereiras, 7665‑859 Santa Clara‑a‑Velha. Mobile signal is thin on the last stretch — load the map before you leave the village.