Greetings Nexians!

I am very happy to finally join the forum after some years of valuable lurking. As a brief introduction, I am a middle aged desk jockey who is enthusiastic about the value of plant medicines. In high school I experimented quite a bit with mind expansion, then I took about 10 years off as I went down a somewhat strange path of spiritual dogmatism where I believed I had everything figured out. Then one day a friend gave me a chocolate containing our little friends, I was blasted into the abyss, encountered archetypes like the mantis, the reaper, the shifting void, and after the dust settled I realized I have nothing figured out. I stopped judging others (ie, the 'non-righteous' who I thought were people like gays and pagans who I now love and respect haha), a cloud of depression lifted, anxiety was reduced, confidence was boosted. I totally missed the real value of the medicines when I went on 100's of journeys before I was aged 21 or so. Now, as a professional type guy in my 30's I finally have the opportunity to explore the great uncharted territories of the mind. Visionary thinkers have inspired me to take my experiences and apply them to my daily life and I'd like to big up the psychedelic salon podcast especially for exposing me to such great ideas that have changed my life in such a great way. I find the most value comes from the hint and essence of the psychedelic experience that stays with you, and recalling these new mind states during my daily life is incredible.

I decided to sign up after hearing a great podcast with Nen on the Perfect World, as I realize there is much to discuss both in terms of peripheral issues to the experience and ways of attaining it with various types of medicine. I am very happy to see the younger generation opening up to the medicine and taking it with a sense of purpose and good intention. Personally, I find the most value in harmalas, partially because of the broader access issues, but also because of the grounding, subtle, yet dreamlike experience. The differences between plants than contain similar compounds is fascinating- I've not decided whether the plant spirits are 'real' or not but like it has been said, that question is in bad taste to begin with. I'm here to discuss history, media, sociology, religion/philosophy, and herbalism. I am particularly interested to hear about Nen's research in terms of Acacia use through history as mentioned in that podcast.


Thanks for reading and I hope to contribute meaningful input. Much love.

Namaste,

Welcome to the Nexus. I too am relatively new here but find it a welcoming refreshing environment that is unlike any forum I have yet thus visited. I'm also middle aged and I find the atmosphere conducive to thought and the topics and post generally well discussed. I have yet to be subjected to strings of "leet speech", or low brow hate. It is a welcome change of pace from the internet forums I generally now avoid due to the "trolls"...

My how I wish they could be more like tryptamine trolls!

This generation that is coming after us is certainly seeming to come full circle back to the same values that were sought generations ago. I see more and more youth being conscientious about health, spirit, and mind while being open to new modes of thinking and new ideas so I am most certainly with you there.

I need to catch some more podcasts, news, conventions, heck anything to get more involved. You mention Perfect World, any other good things I might want to catch you can suggest? The use of entheogens throughout history intrigues me as well and Acacias use throughout a large part of the world is certainly something I would love to hear or read more on. As a student of transpersonal psychology the spiritual and therapeutic uses of entheogens intrigues and fascinates.

Again, welcome to the Nexus. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Cheers!

Welcome to the Nexus, mullein!

I think you'll find that there are many re-enty Nexians who experienced psychedelics in their teens and early 20's, then came back around to it as more mature adults. IMO, one of the great things about this place is the diversity of experience and ages of members.

Thanks for the welcome. One important aspect of my registration that I didn't include has to do with the ability to interact with others about these experiences. While I am lucky to have a strong social circle of friends, no one who I am comfortable sharing my psychedelic experiences with is interested in poking around hyperspace with me, or even discussing it in depth. While I understand the hesitation, it seems to me that NOT exploring one's consciousness is a risk I can't afford to take. My friends are very content to smoke herb and have some drinks but alas, they don't share my sense of exploration, at least in the same way. So, I am very pumped to be able to relate to my fellow explorers. I am pretty much a well adjusted entheogenic loner and glad to have this little bit of community.