Category Archives: Psychedelics

The use of psychedelics from plant sources was the beginning of humankind's deep spirtual awareness. The suppression of the use of these psychedelics by governments and organized religion is one of the great crimes against humanity. And it continues to this day in the so-called "War on Drugs", which is in part an attempt to prevent people from realizing that what they're told by politicians and the mainstream media consists mostly of lies and that the real source of true understanding is the divinity within their own consciousness. But the prohibitionists will be defeated, and will be regarded with contempt by future generations.

First a 1954 review of Huxley's The Doors of Perception.

Now a couple of reports of psychedelic experiences from the late 80s:

This article originally appeared under the title "Mushroom with a View" in Unshaved Truths #3 (Autumn/Winter 1992), edited by Jon Lebkowsky. (Unshaved truths are the opposite of barefaced lies, which are commonly found in the mainstream media, such as the New York Times.) It was originally presented as fiction; this was itself a fiction, as any experienced reader would soon realize. The article was subsequently reprinted (under the original title) in Psychedelic Illuminations (#5, 1993), ed. Thomas Lyttle.

In 1990, when Dr Rick Strassman was designing the questionnaire for use in his DMT experiment, he sent me some questions. I don't have the original questions, but they are implicit in the answers given. Previously unpublished.

I began this article in September 1989. It went through several revisions, which were shown to numerous people who kindly offered suggestions for improvement. After extended work with the DMT pipe (see the "DMT Journal" below) it was completed in June 1992 and was published simultaneously at the end of that year in Psychedelic Monographs and Essays, Volume 6 (edited by Thomas Lyttle), and in Jahrbuch fr Ethonomedizin und Bewutseinsforschung (Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness) (edited by Christian Rtsch, Ph.D.). It was reprinted in Psychedelics (1994?) edited by Thomas Lyttle. The Psychedelic Monographs version, and parts of it, have been published at various places on the web. For this HTML version I have made some minor changes and have added a small amount of new material.

Notes I made "in the field" while researching the DMT article.

Now reports by other people. Most remark on the astonishing nature of the DMT experience, how no words can ever convey the quality of the experience to those who have not had it. It is, indeed, the weirdest thing you can experience this side of the grave. And, by the way, the experience immediately refutes all the basic assumptions of modern materialist Western science, as I say in Physicalism: A False View of the World.

For many accounts of experiences in the DMT space by a large group of people see 340 DMT Trip Reports (603KB). The links below are to reports by individuals.

A series of reports of DMT-smoking experiments by a 40-year-old female researcher which resulted in definite contact with the entities. These reports mention a phenomenon, sometimes called "elf-dismemberment", where the entities are experienced as performing an operation of some kind upon the subject which may feel like dismemberment and recomposition. This phenomenon is often reported by persistent explorers and it is emerging as one of the "consistent features" to be encountered in the DMT world. Just what is actually happening during this process is, of course, anyone's guess.

Some extracts from this article.

A 31-year-old male here reports on his DMT experiences, and concludes (as others have noted) that the further you go the weirder it gets.

The 5-MeO-DMT molecule is the DMT molecule with a methoxy (CH3-O-) group attached to the 5-position of the benzene ring. It is about five times as potent as DMT, and smoking 2 - 4 mg can produce significant effects. Jonathan Ott reports (in Pharmacotheon, p.169) that Alexander Shulgin found 5 - 10 mg of this material to be effective when injected parenterally or smoked. The main difference, subjectively, is that 5-MeO-DMT produces few visual effects (though some are reported). I have smoked it twice, and I find that the absence of significant visual effects means that there is little about the experience that I can recommend. Here is a report of three 5-MeO-DMT trips (and some further thoughts on the subject) by an 18-year-old male ("MAP"). He says that on his first trip he smoked 30 mg of 5-MeO-DMT, which is about six times the recommended amount, and found the effects highly impressive.

Dimethyltryptamine is unique and extremely powerful. If I were asked what its most important attribute was, I would have to say that it is the doorway to the intensely personal temple of our own sacredness. It opens the doorway to the vastness of the soul; this is at once our own personal soul, and its intrinsic connection to the universal soul. When the underlying unity of this fictional duality is seen and felt, one experiences a completeness and interconnection with all things. This experience, when we attain it, is extremely beautiful and good. It is a song that rings and reverberates through the lens of God. Now we know why we were born; to have this intense experience of the sacred, the joyous, the beauty, and the blessing of just being alive in the arms of God.

These PDF files are viewable with Acrobat Reader. "Moving Into the Sacred World of DMT" first appeared in Vol.X, No.1, (Vernal Equinox) 2001 issue of TheEntheogen Review, pp.32-39. "Just a Wee Bit More About DMT" first appeared in Vol.X, No.2 (Summer Solstice) 2001 issue of TheEntheogen Review, pp.51-56. Both articles are republished here with permission of Infinite Ayes (Nick Sand) and TheEntheogen Review.

Contemporary researchers, in particular, Carl Ruck, Blaise Daniel Staples and Clark Heinrich, have confirmed Wasson's research and expanded upon it, providing evidence that this mushroom has played an important role not only in Indian religions but also in Judaism and Christianity (thus supporting John Allegro's findings) and in the alchemical tradition.

But the mere suggestion that the eating of a drug-containing fungus, and the psychedelic effects thereof, played a major role in the development of the world's religions is enough to send conventional thinkers into fits of hysterics. Eventually, however, the truth will become known, and the vacuity and the fraudulent character of conventional Christianity, and other religions based merely on faith (which is chosen belief, sometimes strongly-willed and often self-delusional), will become clear.

The truth of the matter is that some psychoactive drugs can help you to overcome the self-limiting conditioning that a mechanistic/materialistic society imposes upon its members, thus leading to a more authentic understanding of self and world, whereas other drugs, used unwisely, can lead to ruin.

There is plenty of evidence (in the literature) from people who have used psychedelics that these drugs (LSD, psilocybin, ketamine, etc.) generally have positive effects, sometimes even major beneficial effects. Cannabis is a divine gift to mankind (Christians might reflect on the fact that the Bible in Genesis says that God gave to mankind for its use all the seeds and plants upon the Earth; this includes the cannabis plant). Alcohol has its beneficial uses, though injudicious use of this substance causes many problems in modern society. Tobacco may be OK for some people, but for most it is extremely addictive, and kills about 300,000 people each year in the U.S. Heroin is addictive also, but in comparison to tobacco very few people die from its use. But if we want to talk about bad drugs we haven't yet got to the worst. Cocaine is addictive, its use ruins lives, and when some people smoke crack cocaine they can go crazy (even to the point of killing other people). Amphetamine can also send you over the edge if used to excess. Even so, the use of these drugs should not be illegal, since people can use them without harming others, and if so, they have a right to do so.

Another drug which some people consider bad is PCP. This is not addictive, so it does not destroy lives in the way that cocaine can do. But (unlike its relative ketamine) it has a low margin of safety. It's easy to overdose, which can have unfortunate consequences, even for someone very experienced with psychedelics.

A Few Good Rules Before You Trip:

1) Cars can hurt you. 2) You cannot fly. 3) It's never a good time to die. 4) Taking your clothes off will draw attention. 5) Keep your mouth shut at all times while in public. 6) Although you may see things that are not there, you won't NOT see things that aren't there. 7) Don't forget how to burp. 8) Only carry: a house-key, some loose change, and your address in your shoe. 9) Nobody can tell that you are tripping till you tell them "I'm tripping". 10) No matter how fucked-up you think you are, you'll eventually come down.

(Found at NOFADZ.)

Further articles on this website:

Ayahuasca is a brew prepared by boiling the vine Banisteriopsis caapi, which contains harmala alkaloids, and Psychotria viridis (or another plant), which contains DMT. The harmala alkaloids render the DMT orally active, and the brew is drunk by South American shamans to induce powerful visions. Steven Gilman travelled in South America and partook of ayahuasca with several shamans. His experiences are recorded in his book Pilgrim Tales, which is published for the first time here on Serendipity.

Tells of an experience following ingestion of 40 grams of dried psilocybin mushrooms. This is about eight times the recommended normal dose.

A short article concerning the preservation of dried psilocybin mushrooms. Hara Ra invented this technique in the early 1980s, and he sent me this article sometime around 1990 (it has not previously been published). I have not tested this technique and so cannot confirm that it is effective, but the author is reliable.

One reader expressed some reservations about this method, to which Hara Ra replied.

Years later another reader, Doc Haux, contributed further advice on this subject.

This article presents "correlations between the Pineal Gland, the psychopharmacological molecule LSD and, its antagonistic neurotransmitter Serotonin."

The pioneering ethnobotanist Richard Shultes died 2001-04-10.

Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD, died 2008-04-29.

See the original post:

Psychedelics - Serendipity

"Psychedelics" redirects here. For other uses, see Psychedelic.

A psychedelic drug is a psychoactive drug whose primary action is to alter cognition and perception, typically by agonising serotonin receptors.[2] Psychedelics are part of a wider class of psychoactive drugs known as hallucinogens, a class that also includes mechanistically unrelated substances such as dissociatives and deliriants.

Unlike other drugs such as stimulants and opioids which induce familiar states of consciousness, psychedelics tend to affect the mind in ways that result in the experience being qualitatively different from those of ordinary consciousness. The psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as trance, meditation, yoga, religious ecstasy, dreaming and even near-death experiences. With a few exceptions, most psychedelic drugs fall into one of the three following families of chemical compounds; tryptamines, phenethylamines, and lysergamides.

Many psychedelic drugs are illegal worldwide under the UN conventions unless used in a medical or religious context, such as medical cannabis or ayahuasca. Despite these regulations, recreational use of psychedelics is common.

The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words (psyche, "soul, mind") and (delein, "to manifest"), hence "soul-manifesting", the implication being that psychedelics can access the soul and develop unused potentials of the human mind.[4] The word was coined in 1956 by British psychiatrist, Humphry Osmond, the spelling loathed by American ethnobotanist, Richard Schultes, but championed by the American psychologist, Timothy Leary.[5]

Aldous Huxley had suggested to Humphry Osmond in 1956 his own coinage phanerothyme (Greek "phaneroein-" visible + Greek "thymos" soul, thus "visible soul").[6] Recently, the term entheogenic has come into use to denote the use of psychedelic drugs in a religious/spiritual/mystical context.

Psychedelics have a long history of traditional use in medicine and religion, where they are prized for their perceived ability to promote physical and mental healing. In this context, they are often known as entheogens. Native American practitioners using mescaline-containing cacti (most notably peyote, San Pedro, and Peruvian torch) have reported success against alcoholism, and Mazatec practitioners routinely use psilocybin mushrooms for divination and healing. Ayahuasca, which contains the powerful psychedelic DMT, is used in Peru and other parts of South America for spiritual and physical healing as well as in religious festivals.

Classical or serotonergic psychedelics (agonists for the 5-HT2A serotonin receptors) include LSD (also known as "acid"), psilocin (the active constituent of psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as "magic mushrooms" or "shrooms"), mescaline (the active constituent of peyote), and DMT (the active constituent of ayahuasca and an endogenous compound produced in the human body). Salvia divinorum is an atypical psychedelic that has been gaining popularity over the past decade, due to its legality in many US states. It is often compared to DMT due to its short and very intense trip. A few newer synthetics such as 2C-B have also enjoyed some popularity.

This class of psychedelics includes the classical hallucinogens, including the lysergamides like LSD and LSA, tryptamines like psilocybin and DMT, and phenethylamines like mescaline and 2C-B. Many of these psychedelics cause remarkably similar effects, despite their different chemical structure. However, many users report that the three families have subjectively different qualities in the "feel" of the experience, which are difficult to describe. At lower doses, these include sensory alterations, such as the warping of surfaces, shape suggestibility, and color variations. Users often report intense colors that they have not previously experienced, and repetitive geometric shapes are common. Higher doses often cause intense and fundamental alterations of sensory perception, such as synesthesia or the experience of additional spatial or temporal dimensions.[7] Some compounds, such as 2C-B, have extremely tight "dose curves", meaning the difference between a non-event and an overwhelming disconnection from reality can be very slight. There can be very substantial differences between the drugs, however. For instance, 5-MeO-DMT rarely produces the visual effects typical of other psychedelics and ibogaine (a 'complex tryptamine') is also an NMDA receptor antagonist and -opioid receptor agonist in addition to being an agonist for the 5-HT2A receptors, resulting in dissociative effects as well (see dissociatives below).

The empathogen-entactogens are phenethylamines of the MDxx class such as MDMA, MDEA, and MDA. Their effects are characterized by feelings of openness, euphoria, empathy, love, heightened self-awareness, and by mild audio and visual distortions (an overall enhancement of sensory experience is often reported). Their adoption by the rave subculture is probably due to the enhancement of the overall social and musical experience. MDA is atypical to this experience, often causing hallucinations and psychedelic effects in equal profundity to the chemicals in the 5-HT2A agonist category, but with substantially less mental involvement, and is possibly both a serotonin releaser and 5-HT2A receptor agonist.[citation needed]

The cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and related compounds are capable of activating the brain's endocannabinoid system. Some effects may include a general change in consciousness, mild - strong visual distortions, strange unique hallucinations unlike serotonin based psychedelics that usually have rigid movements and vividly flashing images usually seen in dim lighting (high doses), landscapes and vivid cartoon-like images upon closing eyes, euphoria, feelings of general well-being, relaxation or stress reduction, enhanced recollection of episodic memory, hunger, increased sensuality, increased awareness of sensation, creative or philosophical thinking, disruption of linear memory, paranoia, agitation, anxiety, potentiation of other psychedelics, and increased awareness of sound, patterns, and colo(u)r.

Certain dissociative drugs acting via NMDA antagonism are known to produce what some might consider psychedelic effects. The main differences between dissociative psychedelics and serotonergic hallucinogens are that the dissociatives cause more intense derealization and depersonalization.[8] For example, ketamine produces sensations of being disconnected from one's body and that the surrounding environment is unreal, as well as perceptual alterations seen with other psychedelics.[9]

Salvia divinorum is a dissociative that is sometimes classified as an atypical psychedelic. The active molecule in the plant, salvinorin A, is a kappa opioid receptor agonist, working on a part of the brain that deals with pain. Activation of this receptor is also linked to the dysphoria sometimes experienced by users of opiates either therapeutically or recreationally. An unusual feature of S. divinorum is its high potency (dosage is in the microgram range) and extremely disorienting effects, which often include "entity contact", complete loss of reality-perception and user's experiencing their consciousness as being housed in different objects e.g. a pane of glass or a pencil. It is also unusual as it is a terpenoid like THC as opposed to an alkaloid like the comparably intense serotonergic psychedelics and NMDA receptor antagonists mentioned above.

Despite many psychedelic drugs being non-ad
dictive[10] and there being no evidence to support long term harm on mental health[11] many of these drugs have been declared illegal under the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971. In addition, many countries have analogue acts that automatically forbid any drugs sharing similar chemical structures to common illicit substances regardless of whether they are harmful.

Others

Read more from the original source:

Psychedelic drug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The purpose of this site is to provide science-based information about how to safely use psychedelics. Following basic safety precautions dramatically reduces any risks.

Safety with psychedelics is important not just because these are powerful substances but also because creating a safe environment and approach will make treatment much more effective. Crucially, when psychedelics are used in a safe and comfortable setting, it becomes easier for people to relax and open themselves to the experience and gain the most benefit.

The most common psychedelics -- LSD, mushrooms, MDMA -- are far safer to their users and the people around them than drugs like alcohol, tobacco, and many prescription medicines. However, because of prohibition in many countries, there is far less available information and far more uncertainty about the sources and contents of psychedelic substances. Caution is very important.

We recommend psychedelics be taken only when you are in good health (unless you have decided to use it specifically to deal with an illness or in alleviating end of life anxiety). Those with heart problems should avoid psychedelics unless specifically discussed with a doctor. Pregnant women should not take psychedelics.

During a psychedelic experience, the mind/body connection is usually magnified. Any physical pain or discomfort (including something as small as hunger pangs) can affect the nature of the experience. Women should avoid tripping when experiencing menstrual cramps. If a woman typically experiences strong pre-menstrual symptoms (back aches, bloating, moodiness, headaches etc) its advisable to postpone the trip until they have subsided.

Entering a psychedelic journey with a comfortable and healthy body will help you toward a positive and meaningful experience.

For the advanced psychedelic user, a trip to deliberately investigate physical discomfort or pain may prove beneficial in understanding the mind/body connection and creating a deeper connection with your physical body.

Here are the some components of a safe psychedelic experience:

Setup the room that you will be in so that it feels cozy and pleasant. Have a comfortable place to sit or lie down, have pillows and decorations. You may want to have some music to listen to as well (music without words is recommended, as it is less likely to pull your thoughts away).

Keep in mind that going from place to place, being in a public setting, or dealing with logistical matters can be difficult while using psychedelics and can also be a source of anxiety. This is not recommended and can distract your focus.

When in doubt: be very cautious, don't rush, and start small.

Dont take a psychedelic for the first time without someone present who has experience with that substance. Make sure this is someone who you trust to help talk you through any stressful or confusing moments. Having trusted support is incredibly helpful for letting you feel safe and open to the experience. In addition, having someone around to help with practical needs (like getting you a glass of water) will let you focus on the process. Even if you have lots of experience with psychedelics, we recommend having a trusted person present (they don't need to be in the same room, just on hand).

We generally believe that psychedelics are most appropriate for people in their mid-20's and older. We don't know of research that has explored age-associated effects, but anecdotally, older individuals tend to take a more serious and intentional attitude towards psychedelic exploration.

If you have a dissociative psychological disorder, we do not recommend that you use psychedelics. Again, there is not good research on this topic and anecdotal reports are highly contradictory-- some people have had their conditions healed by use of psychedelics, others have found it has made their symptoms worse. We encourage you to err on the side of caution for these types of disorders.

Be sure to very carefully research any potential interactions with other prescription or non-prescription medicines or supplements that you are taking. In particular, anti-depressants, SSRIs, anti-anxiety, and anti-psychotic medications are not safe to take with psychedelics.

Before using a particular psychedelic for the first time, you may want to gauge your sensitivity to it. Some people are much more sensitive to certain substances than others. One mushroom cap might feel strong for one person and very mild for another.

If it is your first time taking a substance, try to take a very small tester amount (less than 1/10th of a dose) a few days before your planned trip. You may not feel any effects, but you will be able to roughly judge your sensitivity if you do, and you may feel more comfortable when the time comes to take a standard dose.

Several companies make purity testing kits for various substances, including MDMA and LSD. These can be found easily on Amazon.com or with a Google search. If you are uncertain about the purity of a substance, it's always better to test and be safe.

Psychedelics have been misunderstood and misrepresented for decades. That's changing. Please help us share safe, responsible information on using psychedelics by sending this page to friends, and posting to Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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Safety - How to Use Psychedelics