DOSE:	4 g	oral	Mushrooms
		oral	Ginger	(capsule)

BODY WEIGHT:

75 kg

My 2022 Psychedelic Review - Installment #1

The following is the first installment of my 2022 Psychedelic Review:

Introduction: In April of 2022, I moved with my wife to a pleasant, small city in Thailand. At, or around this time, I was fortunate to have come across a number of people who, like me, are interested in promoting psychedelic research in the country. Psilocybin, for instance is only in Schedule 5 in Thailand (as opposed to Schedule 1 in the United States), and there are already major university studies underway, with possible talk of legalization. The substances I acquired for my research have proven quite impressive, in many cases educational, and thoroughly enjoyable overall.

Prior to the experience below, there were several experiments with 2C-B, LSD, and Mushrooms, starting with very low dosages, and I managed to write down a few details, but this is the first one for which I remembered to write the date and time. I’ve been using psychedelics off-and-on since my late teens (25-ish years ago), including several of the original ‘Shulgin Compounds’, and this is my first attempt at a Shulgin-inspired, systematic analysis of a series of self-experiments, running about three quarters of a year in length. This first trip-entry in the series constitutes perhaps the first really solid, “full psychedelic experience” of the year’s Psychedelic Sabbatical, with many more to come.

August 2022. Mushroom (Approx. 4g, mostly caps) - +++ - The first nighttime experiment, and very successful. This was after a two-week road trip, during which no psychedelics were consumed, and hence there was no tolerance. Roughly 6pm-10pm contained the bulk of the experience, after which I was very relaxed but not asleep until after midnight. [Maybe next time start a little earlier, to enjoy the sunset?]. Climate-control was pretty damn good, still my body felt hot. I took a couple grams of ginger which I’d pressed into gel-caps, along with an Asian herb called Rang Jued, which helped ease any stomach discomfort and help regulate body temperature at least a little bit [Chrysanthemum tea also works very well for this purpose].

Primary effects: Body floating / tilting; Beautiful “Art Deco” style closed eye visuals throughout the whole thing, in great pastel colors. Highly reminiscent of the “time” I spent in Miami when I was younger. Some of the standard “Tool album cover” type stuff too – The sort of artwork on the inside covers of ‘Lateralus’ & ‘Ten Thousand Days’ particularly. Then some very vivid and realistic jaunts through “Bad Farrang” bars, witching hours, and so on. [Author’s note: Bad Farrang; noun; Generally speaking, a certain type of unsavory foreigner from the West, either living in or visiting Thailand. Some are sex addicts, some are criminals, most are alcoholics, others are just depressed, unpleasant old guys (almost all of them are male). The word ‘Farrang’ is a corruption of ‘Français’, and in modern usage it is a common term for all foreigners, regardless of nationality. The overwhelming majority of Farrangs in Thailand are perfectly good, upstanding people. It’s a laid-back, relatively safe and comfortable country. Bad Farrangs tend to congregate in specific tourist traps and big cities – fortunately, I live hundreds of miles away from such places.]

There was very little bodily discomfort throughout the experiment (not zero though, and what tummy-urk there was did cause annoyance. Let’s try to relax even more next time – and take a bigger dose of ginger + Dramamine or equivalent). Headphones for binaural beats provided very good quality meditation during come-up, but I didn’t listen to music after that, as I was hearing plenty of crazy music in my head. Mind relaxed and open, a very good feeling. Some momentary X-Like “F.B.O.’s” [ecstasy-like full-body-orgasms] as well as blissful states, caused by my reaction to “everything going on” – The closed eye visuals, coupled with the distortion of my sense of equilibrium and gravity were sometimes the direct cause of the physical and mental euphoria. – “It’s all so amazing that the mind can do this. So much more that it can do… Astonishing possibilities…” Next day a little bit woozy and tired but not in a bad way, just took it easy for the first half of the day and after that I was good to go…

[Aftereffects… The psychedelics really do show you little secrets about what the human mind can do. And you can take that knowledge and apply it to everyday life in subtle ways – as they say “it’s all in your mind” – psychedelics give one a really solid sense of what that saying actually means. The brain does have a lot of power over the body, your attitude really does affect your overall mood, etc – and all of these things are at least partially under your control. Everybody basically knows these things, but psychedelics kind of shove it in your face for a few hours so that you’re almost forced to understand it more fully, and then you (hopefully) remember it when you need it – maybe this is why I feel subtly but noticeably more relaxed, calm and patient since the start of the year’s experiments…]

Exp Year: 2022	ExpID: 116715
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 38
Published: Oct 18, 2022	Views: 331
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