Psychedelics – Serendipity

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 Previously unpublished.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.

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Psychedelics - Serendipity