Actually I just signed up to be able to see the images... but I want to introduce myself (and SWIM, while I'm at it) nonetheless, maybe we'll have to contribute something in the weeks to come, too.

SWIM is going to receive a bunch of herbs in the near future (mainly Salvia, Syrian rue, virola, calea) - SWIM's had some experience (a lot, actually) in MJ and alcohol, and a brief experience with mushrooms (brief but quite wonderful, hence his continuous interest in the topic). It seems that this Nexus is a perfect source of information on these, ehm, substances. SWIMs delighted to have found it!

Me, I'm an artist of sorts (-> my dA gallery), 37 years old, located in central europe.

Since SWIM is also the artist kind of guy he hopes to get some kind of sparks from these wondrous plants. Sparks also for some aspects of his live and personality that are pretty fucked up I guess. He really needs some kind of connection with his true self, and he needs a lot more self esteem. He's quite intelligent, but also he's painfully shy and a real weirdo most of the time. Like Henry Miller put it, it's like he's two people, him and that other guy who's watching him all the time.

Other than that self-help stuff, SWIM's very interested in dreams and dreaming. He hasn't managed yet to become a real lucid dreamer but would very much like to. That's mainly because of the wonderfully intense dreams on 'flying' he's had. (There's this saying in my country, something like 'don't dream your life, live your dream' - there's certainly some truth to it but I'm sure it's not the whole story.)

The spice has great potential to help SWIM find that.

Welcome to the Nexus!

You have some very beautiful pictures in your galery

I think psychedelics can definitely be a tool for artistic inspiration and self-development, but of course they can always escape our 'wants' and give us more than we bargained for, so be prepared, make sure set and setting is right, remember to let go during the experience and take good care with integration later on

As for you being a weirdo, I think if you look close enough, everybody is a weirdo. What we have to do is try to come to terms with the weirdo inside of us, and to find a balance between being unique and do what we feel is ours alone, but also be able to relate to others, share the happiness, make efforts and sacrifice for people too.. Everything with balance (a life-struggle )

Regarding psychedelics, you have any plans/desires to try dmt too? Extracting it and vapping or taking orally as in aya or analogues?

Good luck with your life's path!

Welcome to the Nexus!

I hope you enjoy the images - we are enjoying yours! Thanks!

And thanks for sharing a great introduction. So many don't tell us anything about new members. I suspect you will mesh well here.

I look forward to seeing you around sails.

Again, welcome!

Welcome to the Nexus. Some beautiful pictures in your gallery.

Thanks all for the warm welcome I'm glad you like my images, I do too although lately when I look at the bunch I think that that's really all pretty gray and dark for the most part.

@endlessness, thanks for the advice about integration. Is there some kind of techniques or advice for 'integrating'? Oh, and SWIM is absolutely intrigued by what he's heard about DMT. He's probably going to try it this summer, if the salvia and all that goes down well. He's a bit uncertain about the extraction and all that, but will surely find out what to do. (He's had a pretty bad experience back in the days when he tried to make hash oil - boiled it down with paint thinner as posted somewhere on the net. Didn't pay attention to the fact that his specific thinner had a bunch of really nasty additives that would remain in the final product and he ended up in hospital. Well but that's almost 20 years ago, lesson learned, this time he's going to check, double check, and triple check on every step that's even remotely 'chemical'

As for the balance, this morning I woke up with this thought:
I am very aware of being an animal, and how can I not be, it's so obvious - I have fur all over me, my heart beats, I sweat, I shit, I fuck, I puke, I hunt (or gather, more often) and eat, I was born and I'm going to die. The brain and the thinking it does is just one more of these natural bodily functions. And this is what I think the Henry Miller quote from above is about: I feel like I'm two men, there's me and there's this other guy watching me all the time. That's me, the animal, and me, the civilized human being watching the animal. And half the time it's the other way around. It's really quite strange.

I have a feeling that I'd really like to close this gap, or at least narrow it.

Hey Sails

Check the Health and Safety wiki here for tips on integration. Also the FAQ regarding extraction, read a few teks, you can def get it done if you just research a bit and follow safety proceedures

Yeah we all have the animal inside of ourselves, and the civilized man, and more... These substances can help us incorporating these different sides of ourselves and forming a coherent conscious pattern between them, at least I think so

Good luck with your path!

Sweet pics. You've got a good eye for composition.

Welcome to The Nexus.

I like them also. Welcome.

Thanks.

SWIM got mail by now and worked his way through catnip, lions tail, Heimia sailicifolia and calea, with noticeable effects only with the Lions tails which really seems to have a pretty relaxing effect on him and his restless mind, although apparently only in higher doses, and the calea, which absolutely improved his dreaming but seems to produce a tolerance quickly. The other day he tried a few small leaves of salvia and was kind of blown away by the simple fact that the effects of these leaves were like 10 times as strong as the effects of all these other herbs. Quite pleasant, though, so he will try some more leaves maybe tomorrow or on monday.