[This is a very long essay written by my local wizard, to all people interested in the work that is discussed on this website, I've printed it here verbatim. (two-parts... first, a few maxims/insights, second, a couple of hints on extraction):]
Many of the users on the nexus understand that Dmitri is a sacred spirit, that the molecule demands respect, and many of the users here are in a position that others would find appropriate as a source of good advice. I am a long-time lurker on the forum and a one-time poster (of my first steps in hyperspace) but not one that others would quickly bring to the forefront of a conversation here should someone declare they need an expert. I'm not hoping to change that, to be completely honest, as I feel like each and every soul should find their own path with steps informed by good sources (read: not one but many sources) so I intend to continue my lurker status with the odd message sent now and then through my assistant mzrd.
Having said that, I DO wish to immediately put out into the community my few learned insights in dealing with this most sacred of entheogenic compounds, whether it be taking the sacrament, or making it, and all of the steps between. It's meant to be a small guidebook not only to using the nexus (as I see it, anyhow) but to the world of DMT in general. Presenting:
THE 10 ABSTRACTIONS
1. INTENT is everything.
2. PAY ATTENTION
3. Don't get ahead of yourself.
4. There WILL be losses
5. Let Go
6. Be Grateful
7. Ask Questions
8. Incorporate & Integrate
9. Maintain Lucidity
10.RESPECT the spirit
1. When you intend to pull the spirit from the plant, SPEAK to the plant. Apologize for harming it, ask forgiveness as you explain that it must be done. tell the plant you love it, thank the plant for giving you wonder, love, and magic. When your intent and spirit are in tune with the plant before, during, and after the extraction period, your sacrament is very special, even other people will try it and say so. If you intend to turn the plant into money-making "x-tals dude!", they will be a flash in the pan, no legs to stand on, no spirit. your intent is everything.
2. PAY ATTENTION. it has been said before, and it must be said forever, it is that important. you MUST pay attention. I've read some comments here on the extraction posts, as if it were children trying to do everything from memory, mixing up steps, etc... P A Y A T T E N T I O N... the steps are there, do them one at a time, be sure of them, Follow the recipe, but still, PAY ATTENTION to what you are doing, what does each step do? when you know these things, it gets better and better. In taking the sacrament. PAY ATTENTION to what is happening. it is all important, you couldn't possibly take it all in, so While you can, PAY ATTENTION
3. Don't get ahead of yourself, slow down. there is time. If you've made a mistake, there is a VERY good chance that you can fix it. If you're on a deadline for extracting then you're doing it for the wrong reasons. I had the plants needed to extract my own for over a year before I did it, you have to wait until you're called. I waited until it was offered to me. but everyone is different, I suppose. Point is, this work takes TIME, there is quite a bit of waiting involved. Use that time to send your thoughts and intentions to the materials... IT WORKS! Don't get ahead of yourself!
4.There WILL be losses. This is a wizard's Mantra. If you can make peace with the fact, you'll find the losses are less and less drastic. It applies to everything in this universe. the law of entropy. there will always be losses. Try to move on and not to freak out when a crystal goes flying across the room into the carpet, or you spill a bunch on your (sweaty) hand, or some of your acid wash boils over the side of the pot, or some of your naptha spills over the side of the container, or your plants never came in the mail... There WILL be losses.
5. LET GO and just be. Breathe and be. Have you ever seen someone taking vapor in, and then they hold their hands in front of the face the whole time? Like a squirrel, holding a nut they're not done eating... for some, this is what their mind and body does when the spirit is magnifying. clenching onto it like gollum with his precious. LET GO. LETGOLETGOLETGOLETGO. Let Go
6. Be Grateful. For Everything. When you receive a gift, be it a light show, or an insight, or a memory long-since forgotten... THANK the spirits. When your extraction is successful, THANK the spirits. When synchronicity starts to pop and spiral in you, THANK the spirits. Be Grateful
7. Ask Questions. Here, Everywhere. If you've got a burning question, ask Dmitri before you go in. Develop a ritual where you thank the spirit for what will happen, and ask a question. Take the sacrament and ask again, ask more, Thank the spirit for any answers you get because You may get an answer, or you may get more questions, but to go in BLANK, is almost missing the point. ASK QUESTIONS
8.Incorporate & Integrate. When your spirit work starts to flourish, you'll find that you get random "flashes" of insight about things. REMEMBER TO INCORPORATE & INTEGRATE them into your life... these are messages from YOU, LISTEN TO THEM!!! If the spirit tells you to clean your house, DO IT, the next time you speak it will be much more rewarding... there are many gifts to be taken from these experiences, but to truly receive them, you must INCORPORATE & INTEGRATE
9. Maintain Lucidity. This can be tough. When you start to move through the layers and levels of the universe and start to understand the mysteries, consensus reality may start to lose its' appeal... REMEMBER: you are ALWAYS on DMT... it's always there, you must maintain lucidity and participate in consensus reality when you are not Elevated... Life is about more than discussing DMT and other neurotransmitters. Dive into life with the same fervor as that with which you dive into the spirit realm. Maintain Lucidity.
10. RESPECT THE SPIRIT. If you meet another fold of consciousness, it may not be in the form you expect, so if you find yourself having a mental conversation with a clown-like abstraction of geometric perturbations with the face of peter griffin seen through a stained-glass window, try not to laugh too hard, they may want you to laugh, and that's okay, but respect that it is another spirit just like you, and the people you've left behind in consensus reality. they ALL deserve respect. even the jesters. RESPECT THE SPIRIT.
Lastly, I'd like to just say a few things about extraction in general:
First, I find it's very nice to use MHRB, yes, and you can get some lovely things out of working with jurema, and quite easily, as well... but the acacia extractions I've run have all had MORE... not exactly more DMT per-se... just MORE. the experience feels more rewarding, so even though the tips I'm giving are applicable to any extraction of dmt, They're mainly regarding ACRB, as it's quickly become my favorite.
Second, I don't measure anything. EVER. it is my intent and faith that the spirit wants to come out for me.
When doing your reduction, do it SLOW... and LOW. I like to reduce at about 200F this is way lower than what is considered "SAFE" boiling temp for an acidic wash, but gives you time to work with your main boil and I like to sing to the pots as I cook. ONE FULL DAY to cook down the bark in acidic water and reduce it to a very SMALL volume (I like it to be on the tipping point, the VERGE of being "thick", but still watery, if that makes any sense).
I do not perform a defat step, yes, it will help you make crystals faster, but it's not fast food we're making here, this is magic... leave it out.
After basification (done with base-water into the soup, not base into the soup), add the NPS and keep warm (not HOT, it never needs to be HOT, it helps, sure, but it's not needed) as you roll it around (some advocate shaking, and if you've got salt and lots of base, the emulsion problem won't crop up as much, but I prefer the gentle roll and tipping method) try this method I find works wonders:
with each time you upend the jar, think strongly on a word, feeling, sense, adjective, whatever you'd like to assign to the spirit: mine goes LOVE, MAGIC, WONDER, EXCITEMENT, JOY, MYSTERY, BEAUTY. repeated six times (one cycle per petal on the flower of life) for a total of 42 "shakes"... you can use any "words" you like.
I do this until I smell a strong little whiff of the other world, then put the jar down to settle. I repeat this process (keeping the whole jar warm) 36 times. (it takes about an hour to an hour and a half, when just upending the jar instead of shaking it, it settles out pretty quickly and you can just keep going).
get three jars going, the last will be for the nps. pour off the top into one jar trying to keep as little of the basic soup as possible from transferring... (don't worry about getting ALL the nps, you'll get it at some point.) then when that's settled in the new jar, pour the NPS into another new jar, again minimizing the transfer of the basic portion... pour the basic soup back into the main jar and continue this method back and forth until you've only got a tiny little few drops of basic solution, then pour your nps into the 3rd clean jar you had set aside, cap it and toss it into the freezer. Leave the two decanting jars dirty, they'll get cleaned up at the end of the whole process.
once your crystals have formed in the jar, (I like to wait 24 hours) quickly pull the jar out of the freezer, uncap it, pour out all the nps back into the main working jar, then recap your crystals and put them back in the freezer, UPSIDE DOWN.
KEEP this whole process going, adding the pulled NPS back into the precip jar and into the freezer until you've done at least 6 good pulls. on the 6th pull, warm up some water on the stove (NOT BOILING, just hot) and put the precip jar in there to get the crystals all good and melty in the nps pull, once it's all liquid, give it a good stir so it's incorporated then let it settle for about ten minutes (long enough for the hot water to become warm water) Carefully decant the clear layer on top from the yellowy layer on the bottom, put the clear layer in a brand new jar (WIDE MOUTHED), cap it and throw it in the freezer.
The yellow layer is CHOCK FULL of yummy goodies, WONDERFUL for changa. very deep journeys with it. The clear layer will give you plenty of delicious crystals once you freeze it, and then evap off the remaining NPS.
OPTIONAL, instead of working the re-x into the last pull, just leave it all in the jar and freeze precip again, pour off the nps to evap, then wait a few days for your jar to dry, scrape it up (it will be gooey still, probably) and put it on a flat glass surface, like a mirror, and keep manipulating it for a few minutes at a time over a period of several days, it will eventually begin to harden more and more until you're left with a very wonderful SOLID crystalline Full spectrum crumble. You just have to wait for it. and work for it.
If you've got a bunch of dirty stuff lying around and want to clean it all up to make it pretty, this works quite well: put it all in a little jar and perform an extraction on it.
skip the boiling parts, but stick to a simple a/b... you'll have pretty pretties in the end.
Thank you for reading this.
[Sorry this was so long, the wizard just keeps going
.]