weedemon, I realize it was a while ago that you were truly asking this question yet I feel like it is a question that is perpetually pertinent, if not to you than perhaps to someone else reading this now or later, so it's certainly worth addressing again. Mostly what I want to say is obvious and has already been stated in this thread in different ways by different people, but here were go again anyway. You asked if you are or rather were "unfit" to think about taking a psychedelic? The best thing you can hope to do is to know thyself, weedemon...
No one can tell you if you're ready or not, if it's the right time and if it will all work out this time or if you're taking a risk. Guess whatwe're always taking a risk. My wife (who has dropped more lucy in her lifetime than I've even seen) says that is what scares her most when I go out on these trips now, in which she no longer partakes: it's the risk that something might happen to "me", my personality or my notion of myself, and I might come back to her as someone she no longer cherishes. Getting your personality crushed into some grotesque, trembling thing the size of a pinhead is a real possibility with these substances, especially if you're not cautious and if you don't
know yourself to the best of your abilities
This is one of the most purely personal yet unquestionably universal experiences available in the average human lifetime IMO, and the very nature of those contradictory qualities (plus the individual contexts of place, time, emotional maturity, whatever other details you want to bother categorizing) indicate that this is an intrinsically unpredictable experience. I have subjected myself to all sorts of experiences over the years, mostly plant, fungi and ordeal based experiences but there has also been plenty of LSD and other "lab drugs" that played a part along the way. I have to say that for myself it becomes MORE, not less, of a challenge every time. Each time I enter these spaces now I have more and more reverence for just how out of control and tiny they can make me feel...like floating helplessly in the Ocean, feeling the pull of the tide and being completely dwarfed by the scope of it all...so my point is it never gets easy, not truly...if you're doing it right
That being said all of the things that seem like common sense are really very important. As I implied above, I believe that
you and only
you can really know if this experience is something you need, want or will likely be able to tolerate, but no matter who
you are if you decide to have a psychedelic experience then there are certainly things you can do to make it a little safer. As people have been saying, know your mindset and where you are at emotionally and be sure to take all of the factors that play into your psychological state very seriously. Set up the most ideal conditions that are available to you. I know people like tripping outside a lot--myself included--but IMO outdoor tripping is something that should be done in relative isolation and only by committed, prepared, comfortable and well practiced psychonauts. The only good "festival" drugs there ever really have been (IMO of course) are LSD and cannabis, and real LSD is lamentably hard to come by these days. Even then a lot (the majority) of people are not ready for that level or
any level of social interaction while tripping and anyway if you're SERIOUSLY into having a psychedelic experience (ie. committed to a high dose experience) then there are better methods for achieving a real visionary breakthrough.
The ideal high dose encounter is to trip in a safe, comfortable space you have prepared for yourself, isolated from others unless you decide that you want or need a sitter
If you do require a sitter, it's very important to have a sitter who is educated and experienced with these substances, who understands psychedelics and will not panic if you go a little bat shit crazy. Really. Crazy is OK...you're being opened up to things your every day mind can't imagine, let alone understand, so a little bit of mental wildness is expected. Most people come back from crazy no problem...picking up sharp objects and thrusting them about ehhh not so much. Even still I feel like with high dose trips sitters are best left outside the actual room you will have the experience in and the better route is to trip in a space that is as physically safe as possible (soft blankets and no sharp objects or open flames etc.) My preferred method is to remove anything dangerous from my bedroom, freshly launder the sheets and trip in silent darkness laying in my bed. Even though I have a tolerant wife I still tend to trip when I am completely alone, and when I know I will be for the duration of the trip. This is preferred by both myself and my spouse but I have also taken years to build a comfort zone, and I'm very careful to make sure we have a line of direct contact available if I'm trying something new...so even after years of practice having a sympathetic person in your life can be very important for safe tripping. Even if this level of caution (some might say respect...) doesn't sound appealing to you I still definitely recommend tripping
alone in a safe, familiar place..IF this is safe for you, again know yourself and your limitations OF COURSE!
jeffp said:
I feel that with LSD you never really return. You land; lucidity does return, but you land in a different place than where you took off from. Mushrooms were equally revelatory to me. The experience is as described in this thread and a good analogy is that it's like a Chinese finger puzzle - if you try and resist you will be stuck. Also you really won't know what your true mental state is until your subconscious is totally lit up; you may intellectually cognize that you're OK but down the rabbit hole the truth comes out.
Quoted for truth. I couldn't agree more...especially with what you said at the end: you really won't know what your true mental state is until your subconscious is totally lit up. How true
that is. One thing you learn when you take a lot of these substances is that although every experience, on the whole, is a lot like other experiences...which might lead you to start feeling in control...they all also have the potential to become radically different in what seems to be just an instant. I have had trips where I have been so prepared and felt so ready and even started out the trip well only to have some experience, which sparked some thought, which lead me somewhere that just changed the dynamics of the trip dramatically and almost instantaneously. This has happened often, and while under the influence of different substances. The better defence than trying to control scary situations is just working your way through them calmly...allow what needs to be expressed be expressed and try to understand it for what it is...hopefully you'll get the point. As there almost always IS a point IMO. As was expressed earlier in this thread, there's not really any such thing as a "bad trip." Every trip has something to teach you, and often the ones that are hard, scary or challenging have the most to say and offer the greatest potential for true change. All we really need to do to get ourselves through these times is stop clenching, stop grasping, let go and breathe.
To jeffp and lwien (and anyone else who might have relevant experience): you both mentioned being active during the original flush of LSD and also mentioned that you are no longer interested or active in these substances. It is really sad that real LSD is hard to come across these days...I myself only pick it up when I can find it in liquid form, but even then I always question myself and the experiences a little. It's always in the back of my mind, as it were. I really wish I could have experienced it in the original context with full certainty that what you're getting is pure and honest, but I'm surely not alone there so what to do. I have an actual question for you though, and not just some pointless rambling, so I'll get on with it. Did either of you ever come across Sandoz psilocybin? If so did you try any of it, and if so how would you relate it to full-on mushroom experiences? I've always been interested in how the two compare...as mushrooms feel sooo much more "animate" and in control than LSD does to me, so I was wondering mostly if Sandoz psilocybin retained that animate quality...or if that's something more associated with imbibing natural, botanical psychedelics.
That actually brings up another point which has been focused on in this thread, due to the lack of reliability in sourcing pure LSD these days: there is a huge difference between lucy and botanical psychedelics, but there are definitely options if you can't get any LSD you feel comfortable working with. Nothing really allows you to probe your mind in the same easy way LSD does (IME) but there are plenty of things to learn, about yourself and the world, and plenty of experiences that have much to teach.
A few people in this thread have expressed that they prefer LSD over mushrooms or cacti etc. and this is a pretty common sentiment among those who have dabbled. I think the most likely reason why is pretty interesting. Of all the psychedelics I've tried LSD is the one where I feel the most normal...I feel the most in control of my senses and it's just like I'm wearing a funny headset or something...I get funny thoughts and ideas sure but mostly I "feel" like myself and I just have a new insight or interest in the world, and the visual/auditory hallucinations are easy and comfortable with LSD IME. Mushrooms, as an example, feel very different. While LSD feels like a "tool" that I can use to probe my psyche and my general emotional constitution, taking mushrooms is much more akin to tuning into something...something entirely Other that seems to be going on whether I'm looking at it or not. Yet it knows when I'm looking at it...if that makes sense. As an example of these feelings (and no I do not have the citation for this so sorry if you're wondering) apparently Albert Hofmann claimed later in his life that he did not enjoy taking psilocybin mushrooms and greatly preferred instead to take LSD. When pressed on why he held that preference he apparently claimed that it was because mushrooms felt too "alive" to him, to conscious, and that scared him (or at the very least made him feel uncomfortable and made him more predisposed to taking LSD). I have spent many years talking and sharing experiences with other psychonauts and this sentiment is NOT new: if you want to do psychoanalytical, inward looking self-analysis type work LSD is truly hard to beat. If you can't get LSD and you are simply looking to learn, to grow and to experience something that will shake your foundations of understanding about yourself and the world to the very core, well there are many things you can easily grow in your own home which will "take you there" safely again and again.
My days of amphetamine use are long over (I only ever tired that particular drug once before thank fully the dealer had run out when i went back for more. [who knows what would have happened to me if he hadn't run out!]). Much appreciated!
. This are not the traditional amphetamines like benzedrine .. Those DOx are active even in smaller doses than LSD.. which also mimics some of the amphetamines effects..
.. Had much more stronger experience than any LSD blotter.. almost compared to a tripple drop... There is egodeath with some psychadelics.. but these will bring your ego apocalypse ...
