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Beating Around The Bush
Datura
Citation:   uviol. "Beating Around The Bush: An Experience with Datura (exp112542)". Erowid.org. Feb 8, 2019. erowid.org/exp/112542

 
DOSE:
  smoked Datura
    oral Datura
BODY WEIGHT: 75 kg
In the Autumn of 2015 I had collected seeds from the two fine Datura Metels I'd bought earlier that year. We crushed some dried seeds and mixed them in with hashish and tobacco joints (around 10 seeds per joint). No discernable effects, but did give a nice spicy peppery taste to the joints.

Since then I've sowed the previous years' seeds and by 2017 our greenhouse was more or less dominated by Daturas, a sea of dark green and scented white trumpet flowers. In the autumn of 2017 I began collecting large mature leaves, dried them and smoked them with tobacco. I thought I felt slightly spaced out from smoking the leaves, but it was so subtle that I put it down to placebo effect and from my head being full of Datura stories. (Around this time I was reading everything I could find on the plant, compiling the most informative/entertaining parts.)

One night after smoking the leaves I sat in my bed in the dark and experienced an odd feeling like I was being pulled upwards, very subtle but a sensation I'd never felt before, it was like a portion of gravity was reversed, making my limbs feel at once heavy and light. It was very pleasant. The same night I had a vivid dream that I was able to fly. I was floating above my local town and down below people were waving and calling up to me to come down at once and that I shouldn't be up there. I felt a great sense of power over the people below and I just hovered up there smiling at them. This was probably also to a certain degree spurred on by the articles about witches and flying ointments I’d been reading, but it was nonetheless pleasant and the first flying dream I'd had since I was a small child.

A few weeks later I tried eating some seeds. 10 seeds before bedtime. Nothing except a little dry mouth. A month later I went up to 15 seeds. Same result.

A week later I tried the highest dose to date, 25 seeds. I remember waking up later that night needing to pee and experiencing considerably diminished motor skills and very noticable light sensitivity. The light seemed to be boring itself into my skull regardless of where I looked. No problems peeing though. The next day I felt groggy and had an irritable, off feeling that was hard to shake. (all these seeds were from last years' plants)

3 weeks ago I made a tea of one dried flower from last year. Put it in a cup and poured water the temperature of which was something between boiling and luke warm. Added honey. Soon after I began to feel sluggish, slightly depressed and restless. I slept fine with no noticable effects and the next day was business as usual.

A few days ago I collected some ripening pods, laying in bed gently poking out the seeds with a chopstick. Then ate 3 seeds. Quite soon after I was overcome by an odd feeling, I suddenly felt wary of my surroundings which now seemed to contain a looming threat of some kind. I thought this must be what people feel when they've written about a "weird feeling" or "like being in a horror film." Not intense in any way, but just an ominous air that's hard to shake once it's made its presence felt. Laying in bed that night I experienced an odd sensation that was totally new to me. I'd be on the cusp of sleep and suddenly I was unable to feel my body
I'd be on the cusp of sleep and suddenly I was unable to feel my body
, like I was just a mind with no physical sensations telling me that my legs/arms etc were actually there. Though it was kind of relaxing and even pleasant in its own way, it prompted me to wiggle my extremities just to remind my mind that they were in fact there.

The next evening I ate 5 seeds. While falling asleep I experienced something like thought acceleration. It was as if my thoughts were in an area outside of where they normally are, in a space that was large enough to give the sensation of them being flung around by a powerful force, something was firing a barrage of random thoughts into my head, only for them to bounce into this "outer area" and be flung around by some kind of broken down sorting machine. It wasn't frightening as such, but more confusing and annoying and I had a hard time falling asleep because of it. (Fun fact: while I was lying in bed I was sure I heard the back door open, but didn't bother to go check because my dog didn't react and he normally reacts at the slightest sound. Late I went downstairs, it was freezing cold and the back door was wide open. This has never happened before. Did the spirit of the Datura plants enter the house and leave the door open? Or did I not close it properly and the wind blew it open? In any case it was a creepy addition to the evening).

The evening after I was laying in bed after a long walk with my dog, engrossed in music through headphones, and the same bodyless sensation from 2 nights ago came over me. Though this time I was able to feel my body, it felt like I was sinking into the bed, my body felt like it was weak and withering. Some of it was no doubt down to being physically tired. But there was something else going on in tangent with that. It was what I imagine dying to feel like, a subtle but consistent pull downwards while at the same time feeling total fatigue and light as a feather. It was an interesting and actually quite relaxing sensation, albeit with that ominous feel to it which prompted me to move my body for fear of what would happen if I just lay still.

I was surprised that the datura seems to have a subtle but lingering effect that can cause an odd sensation to crop up a full 24 hours after ingestion. Also in my experience the fresher seeds seemed to be more potent than older, dried seeds. I will continue to experiment with Datura, and maybe I'll reach a dose that puts me square in the middle of her maze. Until then I'll continue slowly beating around her bush, let her frolick in the greenhouse and enjoy her summer night's scented flowers.

Exp Year: 2015-2018ExpID: 112542
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 35
Published: Feb 8, 2019Views: 1,792
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Datura (15) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Alone (16)

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