DOSE:

Various

BODY WEIGHT:

165 lb

I had read an article in Trip magazine a couple of years ago that had been in the back of my mind for a while. About 6 months ago it came back in my mind again, but this time I decided to buy one. So for $160 I bought my psychedelic toy :) At first, I was quite afraid that I had wasted my money. Now that I actually have used it, I feel that something this unique was worth it. My advice to people interested in buying one is this... buy it if you are really into altered states of consciousness in general, not just drugs. I have found it to be quite a useful way to achieve some of the benefits of meditation, but it does not teach you how to meditate better. It does work by itself, it can speed you up, it can slow you down, and it can make cool fractals/visuals. The visuals are entertaining, but not in the same way that acid or shrooms would produce visuals. It is more directed patterning than imaginative visuals. I have used it on several different substances and have gotten different results. Here are some of them:

LSD: The proteus can definitely take me to different heights when under the influence of acid. I had a trip that left me kind of blanked out one time, should have been enjoyable, but for some psychological reason I was unable to think of at the time, I wasn't having a good time. So, I put on the proteus, set it to one of the 'well-being' programs and lay on my stomach on my bed. At first, I wasn't too impressed with it (probably because I wasn't having too much fun to start with), but then the visual patterning turned into a sort of spinning vortex that inverted into itself, and I was flying through it. At this point, I had forgotten what exactly I was even doing!! Upon my realization that I was tripping on acid and that the mind machine had created this vortex tunnel, I felt my consciousness regain my concept of body and my body felt weightless until I had fully regained the physical. I immediately turned the machine off, and opened my eyes. Everything seemed full of life and I could see what I would say were something like auras that went through everything. A giant smile froze onto my face, and I broke through it with a ton of laughter.

At this point, I was enjoying 'reality' so much that I didn't bother to put it back on until several hours later. When I did return to the mind machine, I decided to put it on one of the visualization settings. This proved to be quite entertaining, although it was as profound as the experience described above. I continued to alternate between mind machine and reality throughout the rest of the trip, taking turns with some of my tripping mates.

DXM: The mind machine actually scared me when I was on dxm. I had taken a medium to large dose and was about half hour into the trip, when I decided to put on the proteus. I believe it was on a visualization setting, but I don't remember. About 30 seconds after I had put on the proteus, my body started to feel 'weird'... sort of empty and explodingly full at the same time. I got scared and pulled the thing off. I now realize that this feeling was my consciousness trying to leave my body, but I somehow didn't feel safe. I did not like it, perhaps because I was afraid to 'let go'. However, two of my buddies loved it. (They like DXM, whereas I'm not a big fan, just to make you aware of the bias) Both of them reported out of body experiences (OBE). I cannot justify whether that actually happened for them or not, perhaps they felt the same thing I did but just kept with it.

Anyway, after they told me how cool it was, I decided to try it again without fear. I put it on again, and had the same experience around 30 seconds or so. I attempted to let go as good as I could, but I didn't have an out of body experience. I had the same feeling as before, though it was a little more pleasant. I kept it on for another 2 minutes or so, and then decided that it wasn't to my liking. My tripping mates both grabbed for it as soon as I took it off, and they continued to take turns with it for quite a while. I'm not sure if they were having OBEs or whether they were feeling the same thing I was. What I can say is that my experience with the proteus on acid was much more like an OBE than with DXM.

Shrooms: I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here, because it tends to work very similarily to acid with the proteus. The only difference is the same difference I experience between acid and shrooms in general. The patterns were more free flowing and dreamy on shrooms than acid, whereas acid was more linear and creative. One thing that I can say is that shrooms feel much more enjoyable (warm and fuzzy) on the proteus than by themselves. Most of my friends have found this the most enjoyable substance to use the proteus with.

Ecstacy: I have NOT yet used the two together. I have stayed away from ecstacy in general somewhat directly and indirectly. Lots of my friends have quit taking it due to memory difficulties and/or loss of control over depressive states. I'm not going to even try to justify the effects of ecstacy, because I do know people that claim they have had no negative effects from it. Anyway, I have used ecstacy and looked at a strobe light with my eyes closed, which would most likely produce similar results to the proteus. I can say that doing that was quite enjoyable, but probably damaging to the retinas. Lots of geometric shapes and patterns and the like. If I do run into some ecstacy and decide to do it, I will definetly have to give the proteus a whirl. I would imagine that this would be quit entertaining... at least until the ADD aspect of MDMA kicks in and I decide to do something else... haha

Alcohol: this combo can be enjoyable at low buzzed states. Alcohol definetly intensifies the effects of the proteus. This is good for low levels, but at more drunken levels it has caused several people to feel sick and some of them even throw up. Not advised for those with weak stomachs. Nothing profound results from the mix of the two, but it can definetly be enjoyable after a couple beers.

Marijuana: the proteus and marijuana tend to go together rather well. This increases the intensity of the visuals as well as the euphoric feelings created by the proteus. If you smoke weed and have a mind machine, you will probably find yourself using the two together more than you would expect.

Those are all of the different substances I have used with the proteus. I have highly cut back my use of drugs since I have had a growing sense of responsibility, but I still use the proteus quite frequently. An afternoon break of 'well-being', a 'relaxing' night cap, and a 'stimulating' or 'energizing' session in the morning. Each of these happen on random occassions when I feel like taking a break and have been a nice little perk in my life. And just so you know, I am not a representative of Proteus in any way shape or form. One last thing... oral sex with an 'energizing' session gets 2 thumbs up for both sexes ;) I hope you found this report informative and if you decide to buy a mind machine, enjoy!!

Exp Year: 2003	ExpID: 30375
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jan 26, 2004	Views: 23,169
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Mind Machine Devices (301), Various (136) : Various (28), Glowing Experiences (4), Combinations (3)