Hello, I’m interested in being a part of this community because I have been immersed in psychedelia for years, and I am constantly looking for those more knowledgeable than I to ask about topics scientific and mystic. I have traveled to and lived in countries and regions where the Empire never broke the ubiquitous tradition of entheogenic use. Places where the best advice on visions is still grandma. But my history is mostly from within the Empire. I was lucky and discovered psychedelia young, with honest friends. We created safe spaces to explore ourselves before plunging into party culture, unhinged (which was great, btw).

Research chemicals, plant extracts, synthetic analogues, repurposed pharmaceuticals, mycological forays, and the real deal--I’ve been there, and I’ll be back soon.

I am a perpetual student and a lifelong seeker. Psychedelia has infused itself in my life in such a way that I am obligated to become knowledgeable about the processes which can generate these altered states of consciousness. I list them as: meditation, sexual union, fasting, mortification of the flesh, physical and mental illness, ecstatic dance, lucid dreaming, and the ingestion of indole alkaloids or phenethylamines. My experience has encompassed many of these processes, which led to comparable states of mind.

I like art. I think that the universe may be made of it. Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Yes, you should be here. Looking forward to what you contribute, big or small, friendly or raw.

I enjoyed reading your introduction, which was much more interesting than mine . I, too, am new here, but psychedelics have been a pretty big factor in who I am today. You sound very knowledgeable and I look forward to hearing your insight. May you always have safe travels.

Welcome to the Nexus waitwhatwhere.

I think you will fit right in with us here.

What is your experience with DMT, if any?

Out of the techniques you listed to alter consciousness, what is your favorite? Which have you learned the most from?

I also think the Universe is made of art. A masterpiece IMO

I like your Avatar, did you create it? Can I ask, what inspired it?

Welcome to the Nexus waitwhatwhere.

I think you will fit right in with us here.

Thank you!

What is your experience with DMT, if any?

I’ve done DMT around 50 times in one form or another. My first attempt was odd and underwhelming, since after smoking straight crystal from glass, everything went white. I lost awareness and then came back. That was it. Meanwhile, my friends in the circle each claimed to have had profound contact with their recently disappeared, presumably dead friend. I was intrigued, but knew it didn’t have its full effect on me and I didn’t have another shot until I was in the Amazon rainforest. There the experience available was Yagé, prepared by a Sinoa shaman, rainbow tucan feather crown and all.

He didn’t perform a ceremony, just a blessing for those who wanted it. He gave us a dose of what looked like bad wheat grass juice in a plastic water bottle. I fasted all day, meditated, and did yoga for a couple of hours before night fell. The moon was full in the flooded forest. There were Dutch party kids staying in the same cabañas, 4 hours by speedboat into the jungle. They played Snoop Dog while four of us sat nearby; choking down the most acridly bitter fluid I have ever had the displeasure of tasting.

I wanted to hold it down as long as I could. My stomach gurgled and protested, but I breathed through it and rotated my torso while sitting in lotus. I laid back and closed my eyes. White light began to strobe, as bright as a camera flash. Unsettled, I opened my eyes and saw the full, silver moon and heard the party kids drinking and carousing. I closed my eyes again. Symbols began to appear. Color and geometry unfolded into an infinite dimension, and then I was gone, fully immersed and rapidly losing grounding in my sense of self or surrounding. Yet as before, I could check in on my body anytime I wanted, opening my eyes.

Before, the idea of “ego death” was just an abstract concept, a little silly even. But then and there it was waitwhatwhere that was the abstract concept, more than a little silly. “I” was Shiva, a dancer-warrior, destroyer of all, unending and boundless. Telepathic discourse played out in Socratic style between the returning shadow of self and the infinite “true” self.

A lot more happened that first time, including the most galactic shit I’ve ever had, but I’ll leave it there. I have been lucky enough to have experienced Yagé a few more times, each a story of its own. Returning to the Empire, I found that DMT worked for me now when I smoked it. I have had no trouble breaking through 95% of the time, even when the people participating with me still have two feet on the ground.

Out of the techniques you listed to alter consciousness, what is your favorite? Which have you learned the most from?

I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t find the ingestion of entheogens to be rewarding, but I have recently been developing my meditation practice. I like to tell people that meditation is like climbing a mountain while entheogens are like taking a helicopter to the peak. The view is objectively the same, but I think most would agree that the mountain climber feels a bit different about his or her view of the horizon. Combining some of these techniques is of course possible. Ecstatic dance is an obvious one to combine with entheogens. Sex can be transformative and opening, and I would even venture that it is the most challenging to develop as a fully mind-altering experience. My dreams have always been vivid and epic. I would recommend anyone interested in exploring their mind to keep a dream journal. Fasting and mortification of the flesh are the what most would think are the most challenging and I have a little experience with both, but enough to know that the stories are true. One I omitted because of my lack of experience would be the making of music. I don’t really play an instrument, so its easy to forget. Another I would place in the category of meditation would be the participation or solo performance of ritual.

That said, learning and experience are cumulative. I may have learned the most from sex. Learning how to relate to another in a way that makes them feel safe and maximizes mutual enjoyment is a kindness that one can apply to other places in life. Entheogens are a piece of the puzzle, but you have to have some other nice ones figured out before the beauty really blooms.

I also think the Universe is made of art. A masterpiece IMO

Interactive art is my favorite.

I like your Avatar, did you create it? Can I ask, what inspired it?

I didn’t create it, I just vibed with it. It’s from Adventure Time, a show replete with overt references to psychedelic culture and substances. His name is Peppermint Butler and he is dressed as the Great Beast Aleister Crowley.

I like you. Welcome.