Review Erowid at GreatNonprofits.org
Help us be a "Top Rated Nonprofit" again this year and spread
honest info (good or bad) about psychedelics & other psychoactive drugs.
("Share Your Story" link. Needs quick login creation but no verification of contact info)
A Natural Radiance
Cacti - T. pachanoi
Citation:   The Medic. "A Natural Radiance: An Experience with Cacti - T. pachanoi (exp107060)". Erowid.org. Oct 2, 2016. erowid.org/exp/107060

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
6.5 in oral Cacti - T. pachanoi (tea)
  T+ 4:45   smoked Cannabis  
BODY WEIGHT: 125 lb
To begin, I have only had one experience with psychedelics. I have had a strong tab of LSD once, and use marijuana fairly regularly. My LSD experience was very positive and has changed how I think for the better. I excitedly discovered San Pedro was legal to obtain, despite containing mescaline and other powerful alkaloids. I ordered and prepared some as soon as possible. I put approximately 40 inches (20 inches long of 2-3 inches in diameter, 20 inches long of 1-2 inches in diameter) of cactus (which I had previously made into a paste in a blender) into a pot and boiled it for 3 hours, then strained the liquid out. I then froze the liquid and put it in the freezer for later. I was extremely eager to trip again, and so at the soonest moment when I felt good I took it. I took it on a Saturday in late September on a scorching hot day in good spirits, feeling very prepared from all the research I had done regarding what I should expect.

I am writing this the day after my adventure. I woke up feeling groggy (not unusual after a day when I smoke weed). Colours still seem just FAINTLY more interesting than they were before. Maybe it was tripping that just made me analyze colours more, or perhaps there’s some residual afterglow like when I took LSD. I remember that I needed sunglasses for a few days after I dropped, as the sun was abnormally bright to my eyes.

The trip: 9-20-15
11 am (T: 0): I hadn’t eaten since the previous night, to prevent as much nausea as possible. I had a rather large container that had about half of the liquid that I obtained. I planned on taking the entire thing for a truly deep and spiritually intense trip, but from the first sips I was already having a difficult time. The taste was awful, and was easily the worst thing I’ve ever had. However, the viscosity was truly vile. With my first extraction (which I gave to my friends, and they let me have a sip), it turned out to be very liquid, and just slightly “thick” (roughly of the same caliber as whole milk). With my second extraction, it turned out to be extremely thick and goopy. This made drinking the San Pedro tea very difficult, as the snot-like quality of it, combined with the taste, made me gag so hard tears formed in the corners of my eyes. I continued taking small sips, and switched between the cactus juice and a fruity veggie shake as a chaser.

12 pm (T: 1:00): I drank about 1/3rd of the container by this time period and could not drink any more. Even the smell of the tea made me gag horribly, and I decided to see what would happen with my relatively low amount, rather than risk throwing up what I had consumed.

12:30 pm (T: 1:30): At this point I noticed some baseline effects in the form of a very slight mind and body high. I felt light and my comprehension of language/things in general began to degrade. I was playing a competitive fighting game with my friend, at his request, and found myself doing even worse than I normally do.

2 pm (T: 3:00): My pupils seemed like they were dilating very slightly, and I definitely noticed an increase in the brightness and radiance of lights. I was feeling a fairly noticeable body high which consisted of a low “hum” throughout my body in a manner that was similar to my experience while coming up on LSD.

3 pm (T: 4:00): I decided to hike with a few of my good friends who I trust and who knew I was tripping. I hiked out into a forest with them and then started to feel the effects more strongly. It may have been increasing my blood pressure that triggered this response. I felt a definite psychedelic presence at that point, feeling the beautiful organic beauty of being in nature. Colours were bright and vibrant. My mind felt moderately “stoned” from the inebriation, but I felt calm, in control, and light. My body was starting to hum energetically, my teeth feeling very sensitive in a way that was neither good nor bad, but rather just drew awareness into my mouth. The body load seemed lighter than my experience with LSD six months earlier, and was by no means heavy.

3:45 pm (T: 4:45): I had maybe a third to half of a bowl off my bong using high grade weed. I didn’t notice any profound effects, except for the fact that I was nicely high. We hiked back (10 minutes roughly) through the woods and I started to feel the trip intensifying somewhat in a very mild way.

4:20 pm (T: 5:20): I got back to my apartment and decided to put on some good psychedelic drone. I put it on at a medium volume, and then checked on my pupils. They were somewhat large, making perhaps ~66% of my eyes black. At this point I reassessed how I felt and realized I was starting to climb to the peak of my trip, despite not feeling a lot just half an hour before. The weed definitely enhanced the effects of the San Pedro, pushing me further into the trip rather quickly.

4:30 pm (T: 5:30): I laid on the couch in my apartment, listening to music and in general relaxing. However, I quickly felt a need to interact with my friends and those who I love, so I brought up a social media website and started talking with my friends about what I was experiencing.

4:40 pm (T: 5:40): I really felt it at this point. I was unable to type very well anymore, so I decided to call a friend (B) and asked her to come over so I could talk to her. She told me she was on her way and would be to my place in about 15 minutes. As she walked over, I decided to call my mother. I am very honest with my family about what I do, and made it perfectly clear over the phone that I was tripping and I simply felt like talking to her. She unfortunately had to do a task where she would be unable to talk, so the conversation lasted no more than a few minutes. However, towards the end of the conversation something deeply emotional was triggered in me and tears began to flow, barely keeping my voice from cracking as we ended our short chat. Something about talking to my mother while I’m tripping always makes me cry joyously.

4:50 pm (T: 5:50): B arrived and we talked about my trip, what I was experiencing, how I felt, etc. She had tried San Pedro the night before with little success, as she had drank less than I did and ultimately threw up about half of it anyway.

5:10 pm (T: 6:10): A mutual friend (D) of ours arrived at my apartment, as my roommate (A) was celebrating his birthday and my friends were designing his birthday cake. As D and B worked in the kitchen on his cake, I listened to beautiful psychedelic music, ranging from sludge metal to The Beatles. I conversed with them as they made his cake. At this point I was at the peak, tripping quite nicely. The entire room had a kind of light purple “feeling” to it, very nice and soft. I was enjoying looking at the ceiling as the dots formed patterns and were very slightly shimmering. The body high was strong, but it felt light at the same time, my whole body humming with a feeling of psychedelic happiness.

7 pm (T: 8:00): I was still tripping nicely, but had definitely come down a bit. I got in the car to go to dinner with my roommate A as well as B, D, and about 6 other friends. I received a text from my other roommate (K). He wanted to know if his depressed friend could sleep in our apartment for a week, as K wanted to show him that life is worth living. I felt a very strong emotional connection with this depressed friend I had never met, and was entirely in favor of the plan. However, A was not sure, and felt ambivalent. I did my best to explain to A that this could really help somebody out, and that he shouldn’t be so negative about the idea. He wasn’t against the idea of having the person in our place, but didn’t seem happy about it either. Despite that, I assured K that I’d do everything in my power to make sure his friend is comfortable and has a good time while at our apartment. I think this was a point at which the phenethylamine alkaloids (which are naturally contained within the San Pedro) really affected me, as I had a strong sense of empathy. It’s difficult to know for sure, however.

7:45 pm (T: 8:45): We finally get our food, and it’s delicious. I ordered a rack of ribs, and since I had eaten nothing but a small slice of pizza, a small thing of fruit, and the fruity veggie shake, I was very hungry. As I was eating my ribs, I stopped and thought about how I was eating a creature that was once alive. I felt thankful that the creature died so I could eat it, and thought about how it most likely lived a miserable life in crowded and dirty conditions. That made me feel all the more thankful for it, but guilty as well.

8:45 pm (T: 9:45): We leave the restaurant and head back to our apartment. The effects were coming down for sure, but colours were still interesting and more vibrant than usual.

11:30 pm (T: 12:30): Visual perception was mostly back to normal, slightly blurry if anything, though I was tired and most likely just needed sleep. The faintest touches of a body high remained. I go to bed a few hours later.

It was an interesting experience that I enjoyed a lot. It wasn’t as intense as my LSD trip, most likely due to dosage. However, I felt more in control while on San Pedro than LSD. Never did I once think “this is too much” or “I need to clear my head” as I had a few times while on LSD. Again, this could be due to dose size so I can’t make any absolute statements regarding this. I do want to try it again, and am most likely going to try it next week. This upcoming time I plan to ingest twice the alkaloid content I had this first time so I can feel the effects more fully. It was by no means a weak trip, but I want to go deeper into this. I basically consider this a test run. I might boil the sludge down to about half the volume to make the solution more concentrated, but in doing so I risk harming the alkaloids and making the solution even thicker and more disgusting. I may let the solution reach near-room temperature and see if it’s more palatable, as I had it extremely chilled last time (to where the middle of the juice was still frozen solid). I didn’t have any mind-blowing realizations, but I certainly enjoyed myself and spent some time in the boundaries of the spirit world.

Exp Year: 2015ExpID: 107060
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 19
Published: Oct 2, 2016Views: 3,030
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Cacti - T. pachanoi (64) : Small Group (2-9) (17), First Times (2), General (1)

COPYRIGHTS: All reports copyright Erowid.
No AI Training use allowed without written permission.
TERMS OF USE: By accessing this page, you agree not to download, analyze, distill, reuse, digest, or feed into any AI-type system the report data without first contacting Erowid Center and receiving written permission.

Experience Reports are the writings and opinions of the authors who submit them. Some of the activities described are dangerous and/or illegal and none are recommended by Erowid Center.


Experience Vaults Index Full List of Substances Search Submit Report User Settings About Main Psychoactive Vaults