I have tried to get some feedback on this subject and mabey it was overlooked but there is something i've been wondering about and wanted to get the feedback and opinion of others here in this fine forum.

I have noticed that if SWIM isnt in the right state of mind and might be thinking negatively...as said before LSD and psilo can amplify those negative thoughts and can potentiate a BAD TRIP (been there).

Yet that hasnt happened to SWIM w/ spice.Even if SWIM has been in a little bit of a funk and he smokes spice,he hasnt yet experienced a bad trip...mabey a little overwhelming but not bad,infact the afterglow is extremely euphoric.

So, i came up w/ a theory and i want to see what some of you other psychonauts think.

When your on LSD or shrooms...yes perception is altered and depending on the size of the dose you can capture glimpses into different realms but the ego still has the ability to take controll of the steering wheal and can steer the trip down some ugly roads of bad thought and cause a bad trip.

It seems to me that with spice the ego isnt invited to that party (so to speak).So long as you can "let go" and surrender to the molecule and let it take you where it wants to take you,your ego wont controll the experience,although if you fight the experience i can see how things can turn real ugly but so long as you "let go", your ego cant take the steering wheel and life circumstances dont play as much of a role with a dmt journey.

Maybe SWIM has more learning to do and actually experience a bad dmt trip but it hasnt happened,even when he's not in the best frame of mind and i believe its because the ego has no controll over the experience.

Yet swim has had more than a few bad trips on lsd and psilo,due to life situatuions or circumstances.

Strassman sais the the molecule has a life of its own and i've noticed that your ego is certainly not in controll when on dmt.

I know what you mean

SWIM has also not yet had a bad trip.. The most that happened was meeting some sort of angry beings, but it wasnt a bad trip at all

you might be right on the ego thing, I dont know

I heard some people talking about how fear is a big factor in having a bad trip and so on.. Well, maybe not outright affraid, but SWIM ALWAYS feels anxious and has fast heart beat before smoking it, but didnt notice this affecting it much. Always a few seconds after when the trip really starts, the tension goes down and SWIM just lets go


but who knows, it might still happen..

SWIM has noticed that some of his experiences have been strange and hard to understand...sometimes with some gore...dead bodies and what not..sometimes they ask him to stay...and then other times they laugh at him..and then other times they beat him up...but he agrees that they havent been...'bad' really...just really strange and sometimes make you question whats really happening when you go inside..

but it hasnt scared SWIM away yet...he may not smoke it everyday like he use to:-P but he loves thinking about the possibilities that have become obvious now that he has gone through so much on the otherside...hes starting to learn about how to direct the experience...not really direct it..but almost communicate to 'them' what he wants out of the journey...and then sees what they come up with...

its all very strange...but believe me...sometimes the trips arent really bad...but they can still scare the crap out of you...and then you come down...and take a deep breath..and then dive back in

Same here, the worst that happened were these dancing jesters that had this mischievous look on there faces and were real close to me and staring me in the eyes,which made me a little uncomfortable.

Also had some auditory hallucination of what sounded like plastic paper that was crumpling,right behind my head that i couldnt see but that was the worst. everything else has been pretty spectacular.



Same with swim.He just gets a little pre spice apprehension but after it comes on, he takes a breadth and "lets go" and the spice has been pretty kind to him

I've never had a bad "trip" on any psycadelic, but I have had some bad experiences with DMT.

These were mainly physical in nature, shaking eyes, jitters, highly uncomfortable feelings. They always happen when I am anxious over something right before lift off. I think that it prevents me from letting go.

I've just notice that on other psychedelics the ego has some "wiggle room" to effect the experience and if i have some un resolved issues or anxieties at the time of my trip my ego has the ability to effect the trip, or mabey i am just allowing those issues to effect the nature of the experience.

It just seems as if when on DMT as long as you can "Let go" or "surrender" to the molecule,your ego has no controll and your less apt. for anything going on in your personal life to effect the outcome of the experience.

This may be that i have never had a "bad trip" on DMT and my view might change if i did, but i have definately had some bad trips on other psychedelics,where my ego has some effect on the outcome.

I was listening to Mckenna last night talk about his book release of "true Hallucinations" and he alluded to the same thing ,although he didnt put it into context of bad trips but more so the ego not having controll in the dmt world because you are literally transported into "that realm", where as lsd you (for the most part) are just capturing glimses into "that realm".

while SWIM at the time has had trips that were downright scary and terrifying and can even be considered bad they were always teaching SWIM something useful. With spice this has happened as with other psychedelics. However the spice it seems as if ones clarity of thought is less intefered with then on lets say LSD or mushrooms so its easy to observe whats happeneing and stay cool about it.

I had some terrifying spice experiences but wouldn't call them 'bad'. They only deepened my respect for the spice, and also commitment. But since then, I tremble a bit more before launching

Because there's always the possibility it hits you with a raw force millions of times greater than anything experienced before. Doing it again despite this possibility of pure terror can be rewarding beyond belief, it's as if you passed some test!

I posted this on another thread about bad trips " dmt experiences: my worst dmt experience yet"but it's relevant here so here it is again.


"Most of the best learning and knowledge that I have gotten from psychedelics are from "bad trips". I think that the the ultimate lesson is that "all we've got to fear is fear itself". I have likened doing lsd and other psychedelics to being given the keys to a Ferrari v12 and having never driven a car before. If you can learn to drive before you go off the road at 200 mph you are ok. The thing about going off the road on psychedelics is that it won't kill you and if you keep on trying you can learn techniques for gently guiding your Ferrari v12 and keeping on the road. If you do go off the road you can learn techniques for relaxing and giving up to the experience and it can still be a very rewarding experience and empowering once you come down enough to regain control. You eventually gain enough confidence and familiarity with techniques to maintain balance that you exercise these with a powerful experience. These techniques are valuable in normal life. There are people who are "on the edge" psychologically who apparently have very lasting psychological problems from going over the edge but I believe that these people need to become aware of their situation so that they can treat it and must be very cautious using any psychedelics." Said SWIM.