Second Nature

As I will be partaking of the Food of the Gods later this aft, I thought I would share one of my other trips to pass the time. The title of this report is "Second nature", because the majority of this experience took place in a wooded and heavily treed area near my parent's house. I have long been an advocate of eating mushrooms in such a place, because it renders feelings, images and emotions that I rarely experience in a basement or party setting. A recent trip report reminded us that mushrooms are best used in a setting with familiar people, and not recreationally. I happen to agree. Anyway, enough rambling. On to the report.

This trip occurred last summer, approximately August, in a suburb of Toronto (In Canada, for the geographically disabled). It was a very warm summer night, not too humid, but certainly comfortable. I ha d heard that a friend had bought an oz. of mushrooms for a good price, and was looking to unload some of it. I also spoke to someone who had tried said shrooms and was told they were some of the best he had tried. Anyway, I obtained 3 grams, but as they had no scale (read: users not dealers), we estimated. In retrospect, I think they were VERY liberal grams, but I paid 20 dollars and left his apartment.They were beautiful shrooms, no shake, just pure unadulterated fungus. I called up J1 and J2 and asked them if they would like to trip that night. We agreed to meet at J1's house around 9:00.

As I recall, I chose not to eat dinner so I could speed up the onset, but I'm not sure if the others did. We injested the mushrooms plain with water. I may be an elitist, but I believe that the little bit of suffering that you put up with from the tast makes your trip more fulfilling (i.e. no pain, no gain). After about 15 minutes we decided to go on the mother of all walks, as I'm sure many of you have done. By this time we were all a little giddy, but no major effects yet.

We stepped outside, and the first thing my heightened senses picked up was the summery smell. I am a bit of a headtripper, and don't usually have outrageous hallucinations when I trip, but this smell made us feel so good, that we all laughed, hugged each other and said "this is gonna be good" (buncha saps ;). J1 lives in a relatively upscale neighborhood that backs onto a large park, in which there is a fancy restaurant. We walked towards the restaurant which was closed since it was a weeknight. The gardens blew me away. The luminescent moon was almost pouring light all over the gardens. And to top it off, there was a herb garden! (the legal kind). So we snipped a few sprigs of oregano, chive, basil, rosemary (chives were wicked), being careful to maintain the upbeat vibe of the trip by not being too greedy with other people's belongings. J1 had a smile across his face, and had a chive hanging from his mouth like a western cowboy with a piece of hay. Laughter ensued, followed by serious thirst. The only source of relief we could find was a sprinkler, which was just fine until a water fight broke out. Good thing it was summer.

This was about an hour into the trip, and I was peaking, breaking ground I hadn't broken often. I came across an old, brokendown wall that was part of the restaurant in its earlier days (probably about 100 years old). As I looked at it, I noticesd mayan and aztec patterns forming along the cracks in the wall. I closed my eyes and felt the wall. My CEV's led me to believe I was in Jerusalem at the wailing wall. I couuld feel some sort of energy coming out of this innate object. I realized that respect for others extends not only to living things, but to the structures and icons that have meaning to us. The wall has subsequently been demolished.

We left the restaurant and walked into the forests toward an abandoned CN rail bridge. we were on a path below the bridge, and looking up we could hear trains coming towards the tracks. J2 thought that there had been a derailment at some time. We looked into the water below for evidence but found none. My entire body was pulsing and buzzing, but my vision remained clear and almost refined. I felt excited but not drunk or stoned. We continued on this path and took in all the trees around us. We decided to build a lean-to and chill underneath for a while. While in our little habitat we stayed silent and closed our eyes. The only sound was a nearby waterfall. I started to shake because the experience was so powerful. J1 was crying and I asked why. He said because he missed his Dad. I told him his Dad was fine, he was just at home. Then we laughed at teh simple fact that we were high as a kite!

It's pretty hard to put emotions into words, its easier to say "you had to be there". But that was such a powerful night, even though I only had 1 - 1.5 grams of the stuff! I think that is why I am sometimes saddened by trip reports that involve injesting 5 grams for a first time experience. I think that those trips should be left to ex[perinced shroomers, for only one reason: Going to that plateau, a first time shroomer misses out on the subtleties and consciousness-expanding properties of teonanactl. Anyway, this trip is rated a level 2 because of the absence of intense hallucinations. But on the preceptual perspective it was a level 4 for me.


Sorry for the ramble. Anyway, as the effects subsided, we decided to grab some munchies. When we got back to J1's house, we smoked a joint and attempted to write down the happenings of the night, a task that proved difficult. Instead, we listened to some great Cd's:

Phish: A live One (Disc 1)
Grateful Dead: Dicks Picks 3 & 6
My entire Bob Marley collection

So that's it. I know, seems like a long-winded version of a weak trip. But here's a few tips I learned on this trip and applied to others:

1. Set and setting determine the intensity of your trip just as much or more than quantity.

2. THE WOODS ROCK!

3. Be with friends, or at least people you are comfortable with. If you can do it with your best friend, girlfriend all the better.

4. Go into your trip thinking about how you feel, not just what you're seeing. I think that's one of the things that always amazes me is how my thought processes change.

That's it. Keep up the good work Shroomery!