Happy Saturday, nexus.
I'd very much like some input on this essay. I have a rare opportunity to take part in a facilitated 5 meo DMT experience along with several others. I wrote this to introduce those people to the substance. I have taken some pretty big leaps with this one, including much of my own thoughts and feelings regarding the nature of 5meo. Prior to submitting it, I'd appreciate some people here going over it. You're knowledge, editing and critiquing would be very much appreciated. Im pretty happy with it, the last part on integration I feel is the weakest. So, have at it, it's very long, 4000 words and perhaps you can help with things that can be cut out.
Here goes:

WHY VENOM NOW
5 meo DMT and transformative entheogenic experience

(This essay is intended to introduce one who is contemplating using 5meo DMT to the life changing potential of that drug. It is composed of fact and opinion and is not intended to be a journalistic exercise. I have attempted to communicate the transformative nature of this substance through my personal experience with it, along with factual information about it and more esoteric contemplations regarding its nature in a hopefully entertaining prose. I want people to be introduced to this medicine, which I feel has revealed itself to us at this time for the purpose of being used by the modern westerner, who needs the most powerful ego solvent there is to remove the deep set blockages of life energy they experience. However, the potential of this material is a complete and total transformation and one must be prepared for such a powerful thing in order to use it practically and not be damaged by it.)

“You are born, lain upon the cold dead breast of your mother, and your father stands far, far off. NOW STAND AND WALK!–the Toads voice

Archaeological evidence supporting the use of 5 meo DMT dating back over 4000 years has been found in tribal burials in Peru in the form of residue of adananthera columbrina (a 5meo DMT containing plant indigenous to central/south America) found on smoking implements (1). It has also been traditionally used in snuffs such as the yopo used by the Yanomami tribes of Venezuela and Brazil (4). The traditional uses of 5-meo DMT are shrouded within cultural contexts that would be very difficult for even the most intrepid westerner to access. Brewing some ayahuasca at home and putting some icaros on the iPod is one thing, having a psychoactive snuff blown up the nostrils thru a five foot long tube is a painful and unwieldy process. However, the use of venom from the bufo alvarius toad is a newer phenomenon, and one seemingly tailored to the needs of westerners. Alkaloid extractions from source plants are very hard to achieve and those attempting to free base them from the botanical sources have been met with little success.

The demand for a true entheogen is growing in the west, and now along comes a toad that secretes a vaporizable 5meoDMT that is quite pure, a veritable hopping croaking psychedelic chemical lab, just at the right time and place- for us. The venom the toad excretes must be dried and vaporized and no evidence has been found supporting indigenous use, ceremonial or otherwise. Pictographic representations of toads in Mayan and Aztec art is found in southern Mexico, where a cane toad that doesn't contain psychedelic venom lives but none of this batracid celebrating art has been found in northern Mexico or Sonora, the home of bufo alvarius. Therefore, one can say with a level of certainty that there is no cultural precedence for the consumption of toad venom as an entheogen. This apex psychedelic, an entheogen capable of providing an instantaneous transformative experience, has never before been used in this context.

Of all the natural entheogens in use now, most have seen their cultural context co-opted by western people desiring "healing ". For example, a bustling tourist trade thrives in South America, in jungle marketplaces where homemade ayahuasca brews are sold to tourists and villages where shamans provide the psychedelic in a more or less traditional setting for the benefit of people with no connection to those traditions. It speaks to both the power of these substances and the desperation of westerners that there is such a demand for the Entheogenic experience that people flock to foreign lands and doctrines looking for it. Traditionally however, brews like ayahuasca are reserved for the shaman mainly; in traditional ceremonies the patient receives little if any of the psychoactive brew (2). In the traditional context with mushrooms in Mexico and ayahuasca in Peru, the patient is not looking for esoteric healing. They are trying to heal physical ailments or to divine information from another plane to find lost items or missing people; they are not trying to erase the psychic damage of a life spent chasing the myth of the American Dream. They are intimately connected with their spiritual lives and a tribal native probably would not understand a concept like spiritual healing. Nowadays in ceremonies tailored for western tastes, not only is the brew given to patients but the doses are much higher in order to provide the ‘experience’. Westerners have refined tastes. We eat refined sugar, drink refined coffee and ingest refined drugs, and those desire combined with that for the real entheogen leads to the bufo toad.

The demand in the west for this experience and for "healing" deviates from definitions of that term in western allopathic tradition as well as that of the indigenous people who have traditionally used psychedelics ceremonially. Most western people refer to an esoteric form of healing when using the term in the context of entheogens or psychedelics. They desire to be rid of the ego driven complexes which cause addiction, they want to deal with their traumas, or understand their physical ills on deeper level, among other things.

That's where the toad medicine comes in. The discovery of vaporizable 5 meo DMT as a main constituent of the bufo alvarius, or Colorado River toad's venom seems to be the entheogenic gift given to us westerners, as if it is our sacrament into which to put our own ceremonial context, and our own intent. It seems to coincide with this western explosion of interest in psychedelic medicine and is more tailored to the needs of westerners. It is the most effective catalyst for temporary but total ego dissolution that exists. It has the potential to catapult one directly into a state described by master psychedelic chemist Alexander Shulgin as "plus four (+4). (3)

In his scale which has been adopted as the accepted descriptor of the levels of psychedelic experience, a plus four state is at the top, described as a unitive experience where a person becomes one with the source of All That Is, the divine source-field of potential, the mystical seed of manifestation. It is the highest one can be, a state which is the goal of mystery schools and mystic occult tradition, a state which training for decades may or may not be adequate to achieve-and the venom of a toad can put one there nearly instantly.

A person availing themselves of an opportunity to use 5meo DMT absolutely must be aware of this and be prepared for it. One who undergoes such an experience is transformed, instantly. Coming down into a world in which it is not merely distasteful, but rather wholly impossible to return to old behavior and thinking patterns, and one in which unfortunately there is no cultural relevance to relate it to can be challenging to put it mildly. One should have a strong foundation of stability and support onto which to touch down.

The desire to rearrange one's life in accordance with the revelation one has from a transformative unitive experience in the same lightning flash manner that the drug gave it is strong. That can have harsh consequences if one is not prepared and people have been known to take drastic action in an attempt to align their actions with their heart. Selling everything, shaving ones head and moving to Nepal is a drastic example, but the desire to live authentically can overwhelm ones common sense and even sense of self preservation.

The worst thing that can happen as a result of ingesting 5meo DMT is falling back into old destructive patterns because one was unable to integrate their experience successfully. Turning ones back on the experience because it does not align with the common route taken by the majority of society around you can be a special sort of lonely, and having no one to relate with can also be difficult and lead one back into old ways. To be in the world and not of it, is a worthy goal of the transcended westerner, but one that has little if anything in the way of instruction. Often we end up feeling strange in a stranger land, to paraphrase Heinlein. At the end of this essay are some links to online communities and resources for help in integrating an experience- being part of a psychedelic community has helped the author integrate his experience into a life of sharing what he has gained from it, among other things.

Why venom now?

There are many strange circumstances surrounding psychedelics in the twentieth century. LSD, DMT, mescaline and MDMA were all discovered and synthesized in the decades surrounding the discoveries of nuclear fission and the atom bomb. The sacred mushroom ceremonies and ayahusaca were also revealed to western ethnographers (and banker mycologists, hmmm) during that time. It is as if we are seeing the birth if two complementary energies into the world, one that gives life and one which takes it away on massive levels. The struggle between these two forces seems to have in some permutation or another caused much of the troublesome woes of the last century on a scale from the societal to the individual. It is as if somehow these forces were suddenly unleashed upon humanity in a game of sudden death for the entire species.

In this century, as a human race, we have undeniably seen changes that have never been witnessed upon the face of this planet. The human race has doubled in population over the span of just a few generations. Not lifetimes, but generations. People today are twice as close to each other, to put it one way, than ever before. Much has changed in our world in the last few years, but many things have stayed the same. Things that should have "changed with the times" have not and we have remained mired in thinking and surrounded by behavior derived from dark ages Europe. Ideas whose genesis is sorrow and scarcity, and thinking instilled by religious establishments for the purpose of mental slavery no longer have a valid place in human society.

The pinnacle, the entire reason for material manifestation of this reality, is the human mind. It is the only thing in this reality that has the ability to conceive of the universe within which it exists. It is a material manifestation of the Godhead. The consciousness that it contains is the crown of creation. The mythologies of the ancient Greeks and modern Christians, the hidden schools of ancient Egypt and of the mystic Rabbis, the esoterica of the exotic East, all obscure this truth. Created to combine knowledge which is innate to all humans together with egoistic falsehoods that cling to this life and desire immortality, religions all exist to help humans deal with the reality of death in a palatable manner. To comfort us into thinking there is a reason for all the misery, and that all the pain we endure will be rewarded one day in a great castle in the sky, or a harem full of beautiful virgins (whod want that anyway? Ill take an experienced harem, thankyouverymuch).

Few people, even today at the so called apogee of civilization, are prepared to deal with an absolute reality that denies such fantasy for the truth that this ONE life is all they have and that upon death in no way shape or form does consciousness continue to exist. For them, the existence of a greater consciousness that creates the universe and this reality within it, and the utter annihilation of their individual consciousness, cannot coexist. The hold of the ego and its utterly false sense of self importance creates an existential affront to the sensibilities of most people and they are unable to reconcile the concepts of universal love, a divine force and the annihilation of consciousness. But the concepts are not anathema to one another, the co-existence of godhead and the death of human consciousness is liberating to comprehend, it sets one free to pursue their hearts passion; since if this is all you have one best make good use of it!

To have an understanding like that and to go from not understanding to doing so over the span of several minutes is what a transformative spiritual experience is. That is what a breakthrough 5 meo DMT experience is. It is not a granted that this will happen to you, but it's possible and one must be prepared for it. The day after a transformative experience is not like the day before. It is not like the aftermath of a visionary experience with something like LSD, psilocybin or even n,n DMT. After a truly unitive experience, it is literally impossible for one to go back to the same old same old. To not be prepared for this is courting disaster.

To experience 5meo DMT is to take this into your own hands. It is realize that you are the manifestation of that which God is, you are the sensory organs, so to speak, and of the divine creative force that standing outside of space-time is unable to access its own created reality. Its as if God is having an identity crisis, and we are working it out. It is to realize that this one life is all you have, that upon death, the light goes out on the universe that exists within that individual consciousness, and one's individuality is reabsorbed into the field of unity from which it came. "You" cease to be. Like so many old and dirty clothes, the consciousness that conceives of the “I” is discarded. Without a strong foundation to come down to, that can be a hard realization, even once the who returns as it will upon coming down. A wounded ego will search in all direction for meaning.

Shulgin said , If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all human beings , it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution, and perhaps the end, of the human experiment. That is, this is it, this experience is all that there is to being human. To be able to witness it while still alive is a gift that few receive.

Dissolution and awakening, the experience

A psychedelic experience is by definition subjective, but there are certain undeniable common aspects to it beyond the pharmacological effects upon the physical body. For example, there appears to be some kind of objective space associated with the visionary n,n DMT experience that many users enter with a breakthrough dose of that substance. It is as if there was a certain topography of hyperspace, fixed locales within deep inner space populated by entities, dieties and archetypes.
The use of n,n DMT may attune a user to an innate space within the human mind that is the source of spiritual contemplation and awareness. Rather than these forms having been supplanted in the mind of the user being constituted of their memories and dogmas, perhaps the pantheons of religions may have been taken from this space having always existed. The ability to connect oneself with such deep portions of the human mind, accessing them at will is an ancient technology, one that we would do well as a species to reconnect with.

There are levels of insight into the nature of reality and the universe attainable through the psychedelic. Simply put, there is the visionary, dualistic and the Entheogenic, unitive state which each impart valuable knowledge of reality to the aware practitioner. The nature of a n,n DMT vision is (arguably) dualistic in nature and therefore a visionary rather than entheogenic state. 5meo DMT differs from its cousin in such a drastic way that some who thought the two were relative in effect have called it the "dark side" of the DMT experience. This is not the case, but while one often feels the comforting presence of some kind of protective 'guide' with them on ayahuasca or smoalked DMT, one is catapulted into the void and there is no presence of a guide nor entities, just the unification of one's mind into that of the divine source of reality. This is a unitive entheogenic rather than dualistic visionary state. This state goes by many names in many traditions such as samadhi. This is the transformative realization that you are god. It is an ineffable state, one that cannot be comprehended but only experienced.


The route to this state can instill fear, because it is death. As one approaches the mind of God, they will feel as if they are dying. One of the spectacular things with a practice, that is the intentional stimulation of this state, is that even in the depths of it, one can recall they are on a drug. This doesn't always alleviate fear, as they may think the drug is killing them. To the person under the influence of 5meo DMT, the heart may appear to stop beating, breathing may appear to cease, the sense of individualism will dissolve, and one may feel the dissolution of the entirety of their being. To an outside over observer, nothing more than a slight elevated pulse and concentrated breathing may be apparent, the body is not in distress, even in the most intense of breakthroughs. The sensation of the cessation of life functions like a heartbeat is due to the dilation of time that occurs in such transcendental states. It is not to be feared, you are fine.

There is an inexplicable state under the influence of powerful entheogens, which is to be aware of several different positions at once. That is, one can be the observer and the observed, even in several permutations at that. If one is able to let go and enter the void, they can enjoy this rare and precious state for an eternal second, and effectively be downloaded with vast amounts of information from the source.

There is no one template for what one may witness, but at some point, one will most likely become aware of their body and feel a sensation of "falling" as they come back to their body. The experience is not over though, upon reentry, the realities of material reality come into harsh view. The return to the body can feel animalistic, the god putting on a suit of fur. The sensations can be intense, physically euphoric, even sexual. One can also feel nauseous and if one feels the need to purge, it can bea fulfilling releases of pent up psychic energy. Don't resist. If there is any one piece of advice to a 5 meo tripper, it's 'don't fear'. Anywhere along the line, all anxiety does is make for difficulty, it can delay, obscure or even destroy the experience. If one can let go of everything, it all comes right back, one loses nothing and may find and identify many things they can lose.

Now What? Integrating transformative experience.

.The most important part of a practical psychedelic experience, that which makes it practical, let alone an Entheogenic experience is integration. Unfortunately, there is little specifically written on this topic. That which does exist is often buried within individual accounts, or trip reports on the internet or is veiled in obscure mystically psychedelic prose. Depending on the nature of the experience and the qualities of it one wishes to integrate, they may seek guidance from spiritual texts, psychotherapeutic manuals or the like but the literature that directly deals with the subject is woefully inadequate. In the case of 5meo DMT, in the experience of the author, the main area of relevance is the spiritual. Upon receiving for lack of a term an awakening from it, I began searching bookstores, hanging out in the 'spiritual' aisle looking for something with which I could put what I was going through into context. Finally landing upon some bks on kundalini awakening, I found some information that seemed to directly relate to what I was experiencing.

One thing that I found difficult to handle and something many likely will experience are effects from the drug that last seemingly long after its ingestion. This is not the loss of sanity, as one may fear, but is the result of what has been called a kundalini awakening in eastern traditions. It is the "tuning up" and switching on of a usually latent function of the human body that is so deeply hidden in western culture that it is considered the realm of the mystical and ignored or denied. A full awakening can produce effects that are very close if not identical to a full blown psychedelic state spontaneously. Breathing techniques taught in schools of the yogic tradition called pranayama cultivate and channel this energy, and it can be used to achieve visionary states. It is something that needs to be cultivated carefully and slowly however as it is a internal flow of energy and like electricity, needs to be worked with carefully to be safe. One may pick up, strengthen or continue with fresh zeal a practice like yoga, tai chu, qi gong or another martial art or technique to train oneself to cultivate these energies.

The practices one engages in that give them solace or strength however, like spiritual practice, may be strengthened or may be challenged. One may find validation or denial of their faith from a breakthrough unitive experience. The realization, without doubt, of some higher consciousness behind all that is may comfort many, but it may not be what one thought it was. However the rigid dogmatic mindset that accompanies a religious hardliner unwilling to accept change in belief usually isn't the kind of mind that smokes toad venom. If you do find yourself in spiritual crisis, or any other existential crisis in the aftermath, there are communities online and in many locales, of like minded people who can help you through discussing and relating to your experience. McKenna said to find the others, and after let go, it's probably the best advice for a tripper. The links at the end of this essay are a good resource for that.

It may be difficult to face ones reality in the aftermath of a peak 5 meo trip. If one has been engaging in behavior, habits, addictions, relationships etc that are not in accord with a embracing of life, they may experience a strong wish to cut it out if their life. Depending on what those things are, the medicine can give the needed strength to make major changes. It can also help provide inspiration on how to do so. At the core, the message of the medicine is cosmic and complete love. In the end, what you make if it is up to you, but 5 meo DMT can be a powerful tool for positive self change and can put one on the route to move into the future with conscious deliberation. Happy Trails to you, on your journey may you find peace and fulfillment,
PAX IN LVX

CGE 15 4 N2NPDX
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FOOTNOTES:
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/.../Anadenanthera_colubrina
(2)  a-Schultes, Richard Evans; Albert Hofmann (1979). Plants of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-056089-7.
b- McKenna, Dennis; Aya Awakenings: A Shamanic Odyssey (2013)
(3) “PLUS FOUR, n. (++++) A rare and precious transcendental state, which has been called a "peak experience," a "religious experience," "divine transformation," a "state of Samadhi" and many other names in other cultures. It is not connected to the +1, +2, and +3 of the measuring of a drug's intensity. It is a state of bliss, a participation mystique, a connectedness with both the interior and exterior universes, which has come about after the ingestion of a psychedelic drug, but which is not necessarily repeatable with a subsequent ingestion of that same drug. If a drug (or technique or process) were ever to be discovered which would consistently produce a plus four experience in all human beings, it is conceivable that it would signal the ultimate evolution, and perhaps the end, of the human experiment.-p 965, Shulgin, Alexander (1991), PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, Berkeley, CA: Transform Press, ISBN 978-0-9630096-0-9
(4)http://www.shamanic-extracts.com/xcart/shamanic-products/yanomami-yopo-snuff.html






RESOURCES FOR INTEGRATION:
https://www.dmt-nexus.me/forum
online forum with great experienced and rational people. If youi want to talk to someone about your experience that gets it, go here. Also, a great source of books and videos, all free, on the subject
http://entheogenic.podomatic.com/
Martin Ball of Ashlands podcast. He oftenhas guests like James Oroc, Octavio Rettig, Rick Doblin and other members of the psychedelic cognoscenti. 5meo DMT is a subject of particular attention
http://www.dmtsite.com/- Welcome to the Tryptamine Palace the web-based information portal dedicated to the endogenous psychedelic entheogens, DMT (dimethyltryptamine), 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-dimethyltryptamine), their animal and plant-analogues, (including ayahuasca, yopo, ebené, and Bufo alvarius toad venom), and their influence on the emerging global Visionary Culture. It is also intended as a entheogenic blog and 'e-companion' for the book "Tryptamine Palace: 5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad' by James Oroc. ( from site)

Theres more ...seek and ye shall find

"Archaeological evidence supporting the use of 5 meo DMT dating back over 4000 years has been found in tribal burials in Peru in the form of residue of adananthera columbrina (a 5meo DMT containing plant indigenous to central/south America) found on smoking implements (1). It has also been traditionally used in snuffs such as the yopo used by the Yanomami tribes of Venezuela and Brazil (4). The traditional uses of 5-meo DMT are shrouded within cultural contexts that would be very difficult for even the most intrepid westerner to access. Brewing some ayahuasca at home and putting some icaros on the iPod is one thing, having a psychoactive snuff blown up the nostrils thru a five foot long tube is a painful and unwieldy process."

I just want to point out that this is based largely on a myth circulating that bufotenine is just a toxin and therefore anadenanthera snuffs must be a 5-MeO-DMT experience. These snuffs are bufotenine dominant with little to no relevant 5-MeO-DMT levels. I am familiar with pure synthetic 5-MeO-DMT as well as bufotenine..they are worlds apart and the anadenanthera snuffs are bufotenine experiences, in my experience(both bioassaying and extracting) and lack the aspects of 5-MeO-DMT that make the substance special in my opinion. I have taken anadenanthera extracts probly 50+ times, and never have I had a 5-MeO-DMT experience with them.

I know of a number of popular names in the community right now who have perpetuated this myth, as well as other claims of bufotenine converting to 5-MeO-DMT upon combustion etc...it's not true.

Please edit that information if you are going to publish this elsewhere. It it totally wrong data.

"where a cane toad that doesn't contain psychedelic venom lives but none of this batracid celebrating art has been found in northern Mexico or Sonora, the home of bufo alvarius."

Also, the cane toad DOES contain psychedelic venom..it contains bufotenine and I have suspected for some time that it could have been used as a visionary aid. There is a lot of crap being spewed out in the wake of all this 5-MeO-DMT popularity, and a lot of comparisons to other entheogens that I find to be partially nonsense, with a lot of people inspired to make unfounded claims about the nature of reality while shooting down anyone elses ideas etc..

While 5-MeO-DMT has impacted me and is an extremely profound and powerful entheogen, I have not found it to be any more relevant or useful than psilocybin, DMT or mescaline.

Thank you Jamie, exactly why I wanted to put it thru here. I find it frustrating that almost any convo on the subject is spent refuting disinformation and I want none of it.

I'm familiar with your feelings on the DMT family and the hierarchy of experience, but respectfully disagree, that is opinion after all. Thanks again, will edit.

its all mostly dose relevant for me, but in general psilocybin and 5meoDMT both elicit somewhat stronger ego death for me compared to DMT.

I would def not describe DMT as dualistic and 5meoDMT as entheogenic. I think that is a heavily generalized dichotomy, but if it is your experience it is your experience.

For me, 5-MeO-DMT was actually extremely visual at the onset and post peak..as visual as DMT.

You might want to go into the virolas a bit..virola snuffs(of which there are many actually not just one species) are a highly overlooked and almost forgotten topic..anadenanthera snuffs are really not all that interesting IMO compared to the virolas.

Ah, thanks, I think that's what I was thinking of, I knew there was something I overlooked, thanks, again j.

Seriously, on the visuals? Wow. I've had far deeper experiences with the 5, and nothing other than a little trails and that sparkle everything gets to it. Interesting. It seems from the literature that a lack of visuals is common with 5.

Really, thanks for the input, don't be afraid to criticize.

Nice, thank you !



I had the very same ( "godhead" ) experience on a (very) large dose of Mushrooms and afaik there are several people who had it (although not as common as with 5meo) with nn-DMT.

btw. i like the phrase "entheodelic"

Right on. I should not make such definitive statements. I'm really trying to avoid the things I see in so much of the contemporary literature ( meaning any source if info, printed or otherwise, in this case). I should also make clear that this state can be achieved thru other psychedelics, I guess I made it sound like it can only be reached with 'the big 5'. I didn't mean that, but that 5 is a more reliable route to it.

Out of maybe six 5 meo trips, I attained that state once, quite by accident and much to my surprise and to some extent chagrin lol. I've only had maybe two full on out of body breakthrough DMT trips, and they were far far different, exactly how I portray in the essay, dualistic.

Seeking the commonalities or objective reality within the psychedelic state is possible, I think, but they are difficult to identify.

Once again, thanks. Go ahead, be merciless, I seek perfection. Big fat LOL!

this

I can relate very much to some things you have written here (the general, non toad related things).
Well done you "black smoke-snake puking white light 5meo ninja" ! (sorry,could not resist)

okay well in terms of visions with 5-MeO-DMT...the literature is actually full of accounts of people living other lives, traveling to other worlds and meeting aliens..even in Oroc's book he gives an account of meeting with a dead friend etc..the white light aspect of 5-MeO-DMT is prominent but not the whole of the experience. Among the sanema, 5-MeO-DMT containing virola snuffs are associates with hekula spirits who dwell in the chest etc, and there is a whole cosmology that seems to come out of that. It does not seem to be for them from our perspective, just some mystical union with light and god.

..and actually DMT for me is mostly fractal patterns of light and energy. I get visions with it also, and with psilocybin but both psilocybin and DMT are by and large energetic states of expansion for myself with very complex fractal phenomenon that goes far far beyond visuals, or any sort of identification with the self. It's really not all that different from 5-MeO-DMT on an energetic level for me when the dose is relevant. All 3 are very similar, while bufotenine is just something totally different and not something I really experience as being "entheogenic".

I cant honestly say I have ever had the whole mckenna alien trip with transforming machine elves etc..DMT is by and far a mystical experience for me. It has very little to do ime with dualist visuals etc..

I would tend to thing that the worst that can happen would be an overdose or the experience resulting in psychological trauma that is more severe than relapsing into bad habits. 5-MeO is extremely easy to overdo, and when overdone, old thought patterns will be the least of your worries.

Jamie, yours is one of the voices I hold in high regard here, and think I will edit to fold in a opposing viewpoint to mine. Also, I think I'll try to make it more apparent that statements on the nature of the experience ate opinion, and not based in empirical fact. I mean that should be obvious, but I do try to take into consideration the responsibility of a writer, and don't want to spread disinformation, promote harm even ignorantly, or color experiences negatively, or at all.

Global, I've looked for some good sources on the danger of 5meo, not hard enough though. Can you elucidate or point me to some citable resources regarding LD50 etc? I have actually wondered if my first death experience with it was precipitated by a overdose, since I was told it was n,n DMT, and dosed I.V. appropriate for that. Could my heart have stopped? I don't want to tell people to actually kill themselves, lol. Thanks for both your inputs.

ILK, that's flattering to be called a ninja, but come on!

Other things, considerations: 1.concerns for sustainability, ethical collection of toad venom.

I'm also not sure of the source of the 5 I've used, it was a fumarate or HCl, a salt of some kind. I'm having a meeting with a local practitioner today, and intend to get more info on just that. I'm beginning to get uncomfortable promoting the use of an animal product. I was listening to a episode of Martin Ball's Entheogenic Evolution with Rettig's partner ( name not handy, sorry) who is working on creating a toad preserve. According to him the population has been decimated by "youngsters" collecting them for fun and, gulp, profit. Input?

2.Using the words experience and westerner to much, lol. Need a good thesaurus, lol.

nice essay null24.

I have to agree with InLaKesh that the godhead experience you describe can be attained by a combination of the right dose and the right moment using other entheogens such as nn or mushrooms. I've never tried 5meo so don't really know how it compares to the others, but from the description it sounds similar, at least as jamie put it, in an energetic sense.

I am highly concerned about the ethical and sustainable collection of toad venom. In a world where humans have raped and reaped havoc upon the earth and have driven so many species to extinction I feel that promoting the use of an animal for the harvesting of a psychedelic is not the best idea. From what I've understood (though I really haven't put too much interest into the topic) it's highly stressful for the animal to excrete the venom and toads in captivity have much shorter lives than free ones. These two points make me not want to use them as a source of my entheogens. I would not want to cause misery and suffering upon another creature just so I can have a mystical experience.

Especially since humans are always insatiable - it's never enough to have one experience... you always need more. How many toads will we have to kill before we reach enlightenment? Or will they go extinct before we get there? How much suffering will we have caused (again) on another species just to please our desires?

Thanks for your input, e. I put it here for the purpose of critique and editing and appreciate yours and all the sentiments expressed by readers. I'm actually rethinking the whole thing in the context you brought out, that of concern for the toad species.

I would never promote the harm in any way, even 'simple' stress from human contact, of an animal to harvest a drug. Apparently, octavio rettig's partner ( whose name i forgot, sorry) has begun a sanctuary/preserve for the river toad to address the decimation of the population by, as he put it 'youngsters'. Therefore, there must be enough of damage to warrant real cob concern. The feelings you express regarding the nature of humans relationship with nature echoes my darkest sentiment regarding humanity- that the world is full of rapists. Unfortunately, yes, people will destroy forests to make consciousness raising drugs like ecstasy, so capturing and keeping toads for the purpose of milking them could easily be rationalized by many.

I think the revised essay that I'll put on my online whining diary & curated collection of who cares (blog) will deal more with the idea of a 'new' entheogen for the western practitioner, one that appeals to the refined tastes i spoke of. I was sent the name of a paper on the 'synthesis' of the thing in question from the plant mentioned in the essay, a. columbrina, which may refute the difficulty of obtaining it from a plant source, idk, haven't read it yet...

Thanks again, i really do appreciate everyone's kind input. Man, y'all are way less rough than i expected...

I would just forget colubrina. It is a plant I have worked with very heavily at times a number of years ago, from multiple sources etc..I had about 50+ experiences and it is always a bufotenine trip. If there is any 5-MeO-DMT present in it's extracts, it was never enough for me to detect. The difference between anadenanthera colubrina and 5-MeO-DMT is drastic..worlds apart. 5-MeO-DMT is far superior an entheogen for me.

I say this knowing what the literature says..and I am saying it is wrong, and at some point I am going to write an article addressing the issue. Jonothan Ott has said essentially the same thing, but noone seem to listen..and very very few people have done that level of work with the stuff..I KNOW that the stuff is not a 5-MeO-DMT source, but I can't prove it atm because I do not have chromatography results..but it's enough already..this spreading of misinfo(often from meo entheusiasts) needs to stop. It's not intentional, but it is sort of an eyesore in the literature..and it's sort of a bit sad, as many of the proponents of it that have risen in the mainstream are a little over the top at times(IMO) in the claims they make and presentation of ideas. 5-MeO-DMT needs more grounded people to start talking about it, rather than the absolutist mentality that seems to follow it around. I don't feel many of these people have the whole story. . I think 5-MeO-DMT is a very important entheogen, I just dont draw the same conclusions at say, Martin Ball. I enjoy some of his ideas and have respect for the guy, but something is missing to me when your telling everyone else that they're experiences are all just projections of the ego and not real or true, while claiming your subjective experience of things like god and white lights etc are the real thing(s). That paradigm is...lacking substance.

If you really want meo from anandenantheras, look into root and bark extracts..but you will have to go to south america yourself for that, and in south american folk magic the seeds are the parts used.."yopo" and "vilca" are the seed snuffs..and so the seeds are the only things available outside of your own personal collections..

Phalaris grass extracts resemble the effects of 5-MeO-DMT for me more than any other plant extracts I have used so far. I have only used pure 5-MeO maybe 8 times so I am not an expert on it's effects, but esp phalaris aquatica has that vibe when I vape it.

Thanks so much, Jamie. I wholeheartedly agree about the frustration of misinformation, and want to apply as much effort as i can to a avoid spreading it. I just mentioned a.c. again because of the paper ( which i still haven't found, other than the title) sent to me.

The hard part is separating the subjective, experiential part from the objective science. Will, it's not hard, it's difficult to do well for me. As you can read, my feelings towards 5meo, as imparted thru my experience, are that it is the most effective, efficient route to a truly awakening, unitive entheogenic experience- IN MY OPINION. But i have to remember that and i don't want to promote subjective idea as fact. I really have appreciated your input on this though, seeing that my experience IS subjective and while common, not the definition of a 5meo trip. I like Martin, and agree with many of his ideas; in fact we're going down to his conference in Ashland here in a couple weeks and through email, he seems like a very nice fellow, but i get your point, j.

So, toads are out, a. columbrina is out, r.c. factories have been out, hmmm, where's my entheogen coming from...?

Grass!

It's been clearly printed in the literature at least since the 1990's Entheogen Review days that 5-MEO-DMT can be obtained from Phalaris species. I feel it is very strongly in the interest of harm reduction that the nexus (and the greater psychedelic community in general) work to promote using sustainable sources and try to remove some of the hype toward hunting toads or importing exotic jungle plants for this compound. We like to talk about how personally healing and enlightening these experiences can be, but how healing or enlightening can an experience be if it comes at the expense of the natural world?

5-MEO-DMT is getting an incredible amount of hype right now for better or worse. People like Dr. Gerardo Sandoval Isaac and Dr. Octavio Rettig Hinojosa have really been making a name for themselves bringing the toad medicine into the public eye in recent years. Not to mention the likes of Martin Ball and James Oroc. It's that double edged sword, in the very act of trying to bring consciousness toward preservation, it is becoming popularized and hastening the devastation.

I want to echo the others that have pointed out the unity/++++ experience can be achieved via other psychedelics. Shulgin states the ++++ is anomalous, rare, and not repeatable by its very nature. He was quite familiar with 5-MEO-DMT and for him to say that the ++++ is not something that can be reliably induced with any particular substance bespeaks a clearly different order of magnitude, even beyond that achieved via the 5-methoxy trance. I would suggest toning down the emphasis on 5-MEO-DMT being so particularly different or special in the interest of not perpetuating the hype leading to further ecological damage in the pursuit of this compound and giving credence to the fact that there are many paths up the same mountain. By all means explain that 5-MEO-DMT is one of the most powerful and reliable in it's effect, just please try to remain mindful to the extent of the impact of your advice.

I definitely do see the integration section as lacking. After talking about the importance of integration you kind of trail off into talking about eastern philosophies without really providing any specific concrete information regarding how one should go about integrating these kinds of experiences. The integration resources section is also rather sparse and generalized in that it offers a few links to large sites with no direction to specific information about or tools for integration. I'll work on this a bit and see if I can put together some more specific and applicable information and resources for you to add.

Thanks, once again, funny, i don't think a finished essay is going to look anything like the original draft, and for that, ...

Yes, grass. I'm not the most procedurally oriented fellow, my braille tek may not work very well with grass, but I'm interested in it. I took a walk in a field i love that's prime habitat for wood loving mushrooms, and noticed tons of grasses growing all about. I'm sure there's plenty of it there, funny, a field of (potential) dreams, of the kind i can get down with! I think I'll take the season to become familiar with it, do some research, watch it grow ( holy cow, is this what my life has become, watching grass grow and writing about it ), and harvest and work with some when the time is right. Man, it would be great, as i am nursing the stress of a premonition regarding ACRB and it's availability..

As for 5meo and the ++++ state, maybe it's because (I'm pretty sure) i experienced it with that substance, and have never done so with n,n DMT that I've taken as proof positive of a certain property of 5meo that is of me, not the drug? In other words, I've let my experience become the definition of experience. And I've seen what you're talking about with the speakers you mentioned doing similar. Thanks, it's this kind of thing i want to try to be as aware of as possible if I'm going to attempt to speak on this subject in public, I'm not just speaking for me, but about a important subject about which there is a vast amount of misunderstanding, i would like to be thought of as somebody who cuts through that. I do not want to spread misinformation and promote myth.

I hadn't really perceived an increase in promotion of 5meo, but thought that i was just running into a lot of articles, podcasts, etc out of synchronicity. I think the finished essay will be about the search for an entheogen for the west, and attaching or not, ceremony and cultural pretext to it for messaging... I would like it to focus on 5meo, maybe it could be part of something on the DMT family. I'd have to do far more research into psilocybin though..

And yes, agreed on the trailing off, kinda lost steam, like right now, lol. Thanks a ton for helping make a great essay. And input and assistance is totally welcome, collaboration is good...By the way, there's no intent for it other than existing, if the powers that be would want to put it somewhere within the nexus, that would make me proud, but not til it's done...

You guys are wicked smart!! I very much enjoyed reading through this thread. Great essay!