Anecdotes are a good place to start. At the very least, they give us a jumping off point. I learned about adding the cocoa powder to the mushrooms because I happened upon a YouTube video where some traveler was speaking with a native curendera woman in central Mexico. She styled herself as a mushroom shaman and she made a really big deal about the importance of consuming cocoa with the mushrooms. I started eating about a table spoon along with my usual weed cookie before I drink my tea (which I make from strong mushroom broth, green tea, grape juice, and CBD oil) altogether it seems to stretch the trip out for an extra couple of hours and mellow it while making it more visual (that's subjective, of course, but I'd be lying if I said that it just felt like mushrooms).
I know your reluctance. I didn't touch psychedelics for 12 years after some rough rides. I recently found a source for mushrooms though and I couldn't resist the opportunity. I did have a rather unpleasant experience last week so I chose to skip this week and I may skip the next one too.