During
the Voyage
Once you are in the air it is relatively easy to forget that
you can alter the course of trip. Visuals and thoughts come
and go, and everything follows some strangely familiar yet
divine and unknown path. So one is left gawking at all this
jaw open, as if watching TV. But changing pathways is easy
- provided you don't forget it is possible =) Always decide
and ponder what you want to see and where you want to go before
the experience. A shamanic voyage to the underworld is a snack,
as is seeing the future. Usually every tripper forms his own
way, follows his own paths, be it for good or evil. Anything
is possible!
And remember the immortal words of the Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy:
_____ _ _ . . ___ __ . . . . _ ___ _____
/ \ | \ / \ |\ | / | | | /| |\ | | / \ \ / / \
| | | | | )( )| \| | |--' /-| | \| | ( V | | | |
| \___/ | | / \_/ | | | | / | | | | \_/ o | \___/ |
\_____/ ******************* ******************** *** \_____/
A general topological examination of the scenery
Minutes after ingestion:
0 Ignition
Usually the first effects of psiloc[ybin/in] are perceivable
after ten or twenty minutes. Funny or strange things may pop
into your mind. One may feel very relaxed or like jumping
all over the place. Next you may feel like you were blasting
off, up towards the stars, rising high. Chewing the mushrooms
for about ten minutes in your mouth enables the psilocybin
and its analogues to enter the brain faster - if the mushrooms
are immediately swallowed, it may take as long as 1 hour for
the first effects to set in.
20 Acceleration
If you get any physical symptoms, this is when they will
hit. You can avoid or at least reduce nausea by not eating
very much before the trip and not moving around too much during
this phase. Throwing up is uncommon but not unheard of; having
a barf bag around, especially on the first few trips, is a
good idea. If you find that your body really doesn't
like shrooms, a motion sickness pill (Dramamine and similar
anti-histamines) beforehand may help. But don't worry about
it too much, even if you feel queasy the nausea will end quite
quickly.
40 Leaving the atmosphere
One will begin entering the realms of the experience; often
the first real signs are simple hallucinations with the eyes
closed or in darkness, little colored pixels floating around
etc. If one is going to go to the toilet, it should be done
now.
70 Flight
1 hour is usually sufficient for the more powerful effects
to set in. The body will feel heavy and drowsy.
130 Peak
After two hours the peak of the experience. Often quite
awesome.
300 Deceleration
By now one will again start to remember the concepts of
normal reality and may feel like getting something to drink
and eat, or talk and do some moving about.
360 Touchdown
After about six hours most of the effects have disappeared
and sleeping becomes possible.
12h Reality
If you trip at night and fall asleep when the trip is ending,
this is when you'll wake up... and the odds are you'll feel
GRRRRRREAT!
7d Jet lag
Afterglow of the experience will persist anywhere from few
days to several weeks; what you've learned may change your
life. Occasionally this learning will be negative and you'll
be depressed for a while as you assimilate the fact that you've
been wrong about something for all your life, but the depression
is never extreme and - cheezy as it may sound - you will be
a much better person afterwards.
Surgeon General's Warning: One of the aftereffects of psilocybin
(and most all psychedelics for that matter) is "emotional
fluctuation", ie. things that would make you a bit happy cause
euphoria and conversely things you don't like cause depression.
At its worst this is a real manic-depressive rollercoaster,
but usually the fluctuations are more positive than negative
("It's Monday morning and I feel GRRRRRRREAT!"). At any rate,
this rarely lasts longer than a day or two, so don't worry
about it.
Notes on physical interference
In addition to the possible nausea in the beginning, which
invariably wears off by the time the hallucinations start,
the mushrooms can cause physical or psychosomatic interference.
You will feel odd, weird and maybe scary physical sensations
like liquid skin or distorted body-proportions. You may feel
that you have trouble breathing; you may feel that you've
just pissed or shit in your pants; you may feel that you're
sinking into the ground or into yourself. If you really start
worrying about this, you may start to feel like there are
worms crawling inside your stomach, that the roof is about
to collapse on you, that the sheet you are lying under is
trying to eat you...
Don't panic! First of all, 'serious' effects of this type
are quite unusual, but even if they do occur getting rid of
them is usually easy. Just remember, nothing has really happened
or is really happening, it's just your mind exaggerating and
creating things. Learn to relax and distract your thoughts
on other tangents at moments like this. A simple exercise
you can try to practice thought diversion, no drugs needed:
Lie on your bed in complete darkness, listening to suitable
evil/freaky music with headphones. Skinny Puppy and ambient
industrial are the classic choices. Meditate or just relax
for a while. Then, think about something you have a phobia
about: snakes, spiders, skeletons, rats, tornados, earthquakes,
even mushrooms. Everybody has something they're irrationally
afraid of. Staring at a picture of such a thing beforehand
may help. At any rate, you will, in all likelihood, feel yourself
to be tipping over and falling uncontrollably. Imagine that
you're falling into a bottomless pit filled with the nasty
thing. Visualize it. Now attempt to wrench your thoughts to
something else. If you can take half an hour of this without
ripping off the headphones, you're in good shape.
The Eraserhead Syndrome
The mushrooms can be fun. One may feel like eating them every
day. A - not cool, B - not good. A mental/physical tolerance
builds up quite fast: usually three or four times with 7 day
intervals cause diminished effect and notably less divine trip.
I'd recommend visiting the spiritworld 4 to 10 times a year,
for the freshness and divinity of it. Most of us know an acid-
or pot-head - a drug abuser. I call acid/ mushroomheads Eraserheads
(seen the movie?), as they are often bit paranoid and manic-depressive
and dullheaded. It's easy to get bad vibes off the psilos -
just do the mushrooms like you'd do alcohol - without respect
or any care. So - use the consciousness of turbocharged-monkeybrain
we all have. And if you only want to get your brain fucked up
there are better substances for that in the world.
Bad trip? What... hey waitaminute, I know - it's that oriental
food with rice and peaches and raw tuna innards - No???
Everyone gets anxious or bad feelings during their dives
to the seas of collective unconciousness. It's normal, but
the magnitude of baddies can be decreased by paying attention
to "set and setting." A friend or guide can distract the attention
of an tripper to a wholly different direction. A change of
room, place, music or lights often helps. Possible bodily
discomfort can be eliminated by learning relaxational techniques
and breathing exercises. Keeping your body in good condition
is not only good for your trip, but also for your life. Generally,
it's good to try to trip for living, not to live for tripping. |