DOSE:

16 - 20 in

oral

Cacti - T. bridgesii

(ground / crushed)

BODY WEIGHT:

145 lb

Something I find worth mentioning up front is that I use psychedelics in a therapeutic sense for myself. I am a mental health professional, and I have done years of therapy and inner self-work prior to any use of psychedelics. From what I have seen so far, I believe this factor has made a huge difference in my experiences and the lasting effects they have in my life. It’s like these substances take what work you have done within yourself and create an avenue for you to understand more deeply and find peace.

My husband and I have been experimenting with different ways to prep cactus for a couple of years now , first with San Pedro and now with T. Bridgessi. We tried tea first, which was too nasty for either of us to truly get down for a good trip (I know, I know, we’re babies). We tried making a tea, straining it, and evaporated the tea to make a resin. No note-worthy effects. After that, we tried an extraction with d-limeonene and acetic acid and again felt nothing on the 12 inches we both took.

This time, we ordered 5 10-inch long T. Bridgessi cactuses, de-spined them, chopped them into thin stars, de-cored the stars (carefully traced the darker outer layer of skin where most mescaline is contained), dehydrated those pieces in a dehydrator for several hours (until they were brittle and basically broke when we picked them up off the tray), used a food processor to powderize the cactus, then a coffee grinder to get the powder finer, and we put those into gel capsules. We had about 150 capsules total, so we figured we would each take a third to not accidentally take too much.

We got up the next morning and each took our 50 pills of powdered T. Bridgessi. The setting was our home with just us and our dog and two cats in it, which is a very peaceful setting for us. Both of us reported grounded, peaceful, and excited mental states. I always have a protein smoothie in the morning right now since I’m working out, so that’s what I used to wash the pills down (pin in that for later). My husband used sparkling water for his pills, and we each took them slowly, over the course of about an hour to an hour and a half. This took place about 10:15 am.

We had been playing some World of Warcraft waiting for the affects to begin, and it was getting to be about 12:15 with no signs of mescaline effects. With some disappointment and defeat, my husband went to take a bath, and I (suddenly rather irritable, a telling sign of inner stress and anxiety for me) went to eat some lunch.

As I ate, my inner experience began to shift. I felt anxious (which I know is unlike mescaline that is typically gentle). I had difficulty breathing, and I had so many tears, like there was a lot my body had been holding onto that it began releasing. (The overall experience on mescaline was wonderful, so bear with me here.)

My husband finished his bath and came out to sit with me (around 1:30-2:00). He could tell I was stressed and even said I looked like I had just fought a battle. He said his mescaline was kicking in, and he reported seeing fractals, extremely prominent whites, everything looking alive and moving/morphing, and a pleasantly warm feeling all over his body.

My experience of the come up was slightly different... Lol As I sat there trying to eat my lunch, I realized I didn’t want to eat. In fact, I was feeling nauseous (probably due to the cactus). My body started feeling heavy (which I’m used to with psilocybin). My body started moving sluggishly, like I was ill, but my mind was suddenly peaceful, clear, and collected. I went to lay down to get through the come-up I knew would ensue. My husband and I wonder if my high protein shake (about 60g of protein) slowed the onset for me. My husband stayed with me and took care of me during my come-up, which greatly helped. I made sure he knew I was mentally peaceful and grounded and just getting through the come-up. Though I was weak, obviously physically ill, the experience of the come-up wasn’t unpleasant. My mind was very separate from yet present to the experience of the body.

Well, after the come-up, I still had a slight body heavy, but the visuals began kicking in. Everything in my field of vision was shimmering, like a glistening and rainbowy film of oil on the surface of water. Lights around the edges of our bathroom door chased and changed hues. Artwork on our walls breathed and morphed in amazing and beautiful ways. Synesthesia kicked in, and the deepest, richest royal blue color occurred when I would hear certain sounds. A hawk flying by was surrounded by a gentle pink aura, but only that one hawk. My mind was peaceful and present. I noticed my usual underlying tension and anxiety would occasionally surface (such as when seeing reminders of incomplete tasks), but it didn’t consume my experience as it usually would. I was able to easily move on and redirect my awareness and attention to other aspects of this beautiful experience, like all the detail and life I was noticing in everything around me. And not in an overwhelming or “high” sense that is dramatic and grandiose. My husband and I both felt grounded in these feelings and shared many insights with each other.

The effects persisted well into the evening and late night. We both agreed we wished we had taken it on a Saturday so we could have stayed up together through the night, enjoying the effects. Alas, we took it on a Sunday, and we had to go to bed for work the next day. So, we popped a couple of diphenhydramine pills and went to bed. We both said we still had some effects the next morning, but they were mild, and we could easily function on them. We also both agreed we would try 75 capsules next time for a slightly stronger experience.

Now, over a week later, the take aways for me have been:

1. I can still find that sense of presence and gentle focus on details in my environment, shifting my focus away from inner anxieties and criticisms. I notice colors and textures more now, whereas before everything could often be dull and muted, mundane. My mind has been so consumed in hyper-vigilant (anxious) and fixated thought patterns that I often missed the profound and amazing experiences of my most basic senses. Now, I can still notice the unique quality in every tree, the contrast of colors, the vibrance of hues and the ways they blend. I can still appreciate the sunlight as it basks the side of houses or the branches of trees. I can choose these things for myself alongside or even instead of rumination, anxiety, or self-critical thoughts. In fact, if I find myself having trouble connecting to these elements of my experience and environment, I now recognize this as an indicator of inner tension, discomfort, and unease and slow down to respond to those inner needs.

2. I have also noticed a different capacity within myself to respond to stressful stimuli. When faced with external stressors, my typical response was shut down. I would fixate on a problem, and that would become my reality. Now, I’ve noticed a sudden capacity within myself (since this one use of mescaline) to calmly bear witness to my internal experience, consider different paths and choices, and respond with wisdom and intention. Let me clarify, I have known for years this is the healthy way to respond to internal stress, but there has been a great chasm between knowing that logically and intellectually vs actually being able to successfully achieve this for myself. My inner programming was too loud. The mescaline brought a lot of clarity to me. It’s like I had no frame of reference for what I was trying to achieve, and the mescaline provided me with that frame of reference.

I will be curious how long I will be able to sustain this new understanding and when or if I will need another mescaline experience to reiterate these lessons and provide new ones.

Exp Year: 2025	ExpID: 118699
Gender: Female
Age at time of experience: 30
Published: Jul 8, 2025	Views: Not Supported
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Cacti - T. bridgesii (448) : General (1), Preparation / Recipes (30), Small Group (2-9) (17)