My exposure to this field began roughly eight months ago when a friend confided in me, sharing the most profound experience of her life and piquing my interest in these experiences.

She was no stranger to occasional, recreational use of various substances when she was offered the chance to try DMT. She felt in good hands, accompanied by a well seasoned partner, someone she had known for decades, and comfortable with what she had read on the topic - if not excited by it. Her first few low-dose trips were interesting, not too dissimilar to other entheogens she had tried, yet she could tell there was something more there, something just beyond her grasp that she couldn't quite describe. Then she had her first "real" experience, the one that really caught my attention, her first "breakthrough" as she called it.

I remember sitting there captivated by her description of traveling to what she saw as an alternate reality, or a different point in the universe, or a different dimension altogether. Not really knowing what it was, she distinctly felt in a deep, visceral sense that her consciousness was literally, and I mean literally, present in some foreign place - one that was not part of what we know to be real. I was not listening to an entertaining recreational experience. I was hearing the account of what she believed, with every ounce of conviction, to have been a paranormal event. It was almost as exhilarating to hear as it was for her to recount.

The details beyond that are very personal to her so I will not go into those. Suffice to say the experience was quite moving and caused her to reevaluate a lot of what she knew about our physical reality, and spirituality.

Well, one cannot hear something like this without feeling intrigued. So, I started reading up on the subject, one amazing experience after another, becoming more interested with each account, but also strangely skeptical in that I just couldn't seem to wrap my head around what was described. I'm at the point where reading about this no longer satisfies my curiosity. I need to see this for myself to understand.

So, here I am, this is the path that led me to the Nexus, and I'm glad to be here. I'm grateful to those who have shared their experience and knowledge, and I hope to contribute something similarly. One bonus that I hadn't expected on this journey are the TEKs used to isolate our alkaloids. I'm no chemist, but I love technical challenges and learning new technical skills. Two extractions have been completed thus far (one San Pedro, one MHRB), and each had the perfect combination of education, frustration, and satisfaction.

So, in closing I'd just like to say Hello everyone, nice to meet you all.

I take great joy in learning and performing extractions myself. Pure contentment. I find that the resulting experiences have, without fail, a little "something extra" than just the chemical itself. A relationship beyond simply human and drug. It feels like it lubricates the mind, making certain complex experiences happen more fluidly and naturally.

I enjoyed reading your introduction a lot. I am curious what kind of books you have been reading. I'm a fairly large reader myself, and am always looking for new brain food. I would welcome you to the Nexus, but I'm afraid I just got here myself. I will settle for a simple "Hello" then.

Hello!

Hello and welcome,

Extractions are a great way to get hooked onto chemistry in general, at first its just a means to an end, but often that same curiosity that drives us to seek altered states of consciousness will have us up late at night looking up every chemistry term we come across, growing increasingly excited by the prospects. Often the extraction is more fun then administration!

Wait, what? seriously though iv turned into a amateur chemistry nut and its all cause of extractions, so i know where you both are coming from

Also pennyless, you mention you've completed extractions on san pedro and MHRB, does that mean you've tried them and have those experiences under your belt?
I dont mean to pry, just curious if you've had any of the experiences that you seem to be looking for.

Thanks dumbstruck, nice to meet you. A while back I Googled "DMT Experiences", and found lots of material. Erowid had some really interesting reports, a link to one of my favorites is below. Also, there's a lot of video discussion on Youtube. And of course, here at the Nexus you'll find a great deal of material.

The authoritative reference is probably The Spirit Molecule by Strassman - which I highly recommend. I read it through in just a couple days, which is extraordinarily fast for me. They made a DVD based on the book also, hosted by Joe Rogan . I posted that link below. It's on back order right now, I've been waiting for mine for about three weeks now.


Erowid DMT experience reports:
http://www.erowid.org/ex...ences/subs/exp_DMT.shtml

One of my favorites:
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=80701

The Spirit Molecule DVD:
http://thespiritmolecule.com/

Thanks Arahantzz, nice to meet you. Yeah, I know what you mean, I feel the chemistry hook grabbing me already - as I glance over at the Organic Chem textbook and three lab manuals on my coffee table

SWIM ended up with some pretty good yields from both the cactus and MHRB extractions. Accounts of those are posted in the extractions forum. The Mesc was great, I mean really great, some of the best ever - hopefully that doesn't sound boastful. This was the first time in quite a while, but definitely not the first. SWIM has spent some quality time with shrooms and Mesc over the years, always sourcing from good friends, never personally extracting until now.

My experiences have always been positive and entertaining. There were some that were a little difficult, but we learn a lot form those and I think we become better people as a result. I wouldn't characterize any of them as bad or troubling. I've had a few moments of profundity, but nothing like what I've seen and heard about DMT.

SWIM hasn't had the chance to try it yet, but probably will at some point over the next few weeks. I'd really like to walk through the Re-X process and see what happens. I'm reading up on that now. One thing is for sure, SWIM will definitely be showing this compound a lot of respect - starting with low doses and working up. I look forward to posting about those as soon as possible.