DOSE:

30 mg

oral

BOD

It was to be my second trial of this compound. The first was back in 2016, on a wet, dark midwinter day. That time I was struck by the molecule's gradual onset- something like 2-3 hrs before reaching its maximum intensity - and having had no prior experience on a 'slow in/slow out' phenethylamine found this dilatory come-up rather disconcerting since the initial alert was felt within a timeframe comparable to that of LSD/psilocybin mushrooms. Yet despite this familiar signal the effects nevertheless build very slowly leaving me concerned as to exactly how high they'd reach, and its long duration (some 16hrs in total). As for its visual effects, they seemed a best a mild, generic, psychedelic 'filter' over my vision, unimpressive and easily ignored. Although my companion and I were in high spirits throughout, and dialogue remained easy, there was little evidence of the 'superb conceptualization' and 'hilarity' suggested by PIHKAL. Nevertheless, there was something intriguing about the state it induced, and I was left with the impression that perhaps at a much higher dose it would reveal itself as much more powerful psychedelic.

Four years later and a world reeling in an unprecedented global crisis. Two trusted companions (veterans of many shared adventures in these realms) and I embark on a post covid lockdown 'staycation' to a rather unique area of our little country, a coastal landscape famed for its natural beauty that has long been a site of religious pilgrimage, revered both by early Christians and by the Neolithic stone builders whose enigmatic constructions litter our countryside. Originally BOD had not been on the menu but a number of online accounts of people who had pushed the envelope beyond the doses set by Lemaire and Shulgin and reported significant experiences intrigued me. Unwilling to risk their highest doses (100mg v PHIKAL's 25mg) or even their recommended 'sweet spot' (60-70mg) I set about measuring 3x50mg, but some intuition or fear gripped me and I opted instead for a modest 30mg (not least because it would be one of our party's first exposure to BOD).

And so at midday the fun commenced, as before the first alert was felt in a few minutes, and BOD began to lead us on a slow graceful ascent ('gently insistent' was the phrase that came to mind). The day was unseasonably warm and as we slowly scaled the wind-scoured plug of an ancient volcano my mind turned to Darrell Lemaire's Nevada volcano lab from which this molecule had sprung, and felt a wave of gratitude for those who laboured in secrecy and at great personal risk to create these tools. Within an hour we had reached its summit and were able to look at amazing vista, every detail of my visual field was magnified, and I could alternate between the intricacy of the form of individual lichen on a rock, and the features of the landscape miles away without an apparent loss of resolution. A further half hour it seemed clear that I had entirely underestimated the visual powers of BOD, indeed 'visuals' is too crude a notion for the incredible enhancement of both the form and colour of the natural world, but for this aspect of its action to manifest it may be necessary to be in an environment that warrants such a perceptual depth (the kind of space that even without any drug one could gaze at for hours). My mind turned to the ancient saints and pilgrims who had traversed this landscape and I was filled with an immense sense of gratitude for everybody and everything that had conspired to deliver this moment. Yet ego loss was not on the horizon, and we all expressed astonishment at the manner in which BOD at once blew us away, folding us into the landscape while simultaneously preserving our cognitive integrity: our spatial location at the edge of the land (and its richness of form and colour) and the blue immensity of the sea and sky (differentiated only by degrees of motions and subtle shades of colour) seemed a perfect isomorph for the state of our souls. Looking out at the hills from which the rock that makes up Stonehenge were hewn, it seemed clear that something of this place which we could now sense had motivated them to transport those stones over several hundred miles.

At three hours we found ourselves at small beach where a few surfers and holidaying families disported themselves in the waves, gazing at the towering cliff faces I perceived numerous latent geometries and proto-forms, but also the extraordinary geological forces that traversed their shattered, sea beaten faces. Indeed, these rocks seemed possessed of a dynamism equal to the sea that had gnawed at them for countless millennia, it was simply a matter of different durations. Yet this did not translate into an apparently rippling or pulsing of my visual field, they were still yet moving. From the third to fourth hour the cove in which we sat revealed itself as a cauldron of delirious forces, and ourselves, our fellow holidaymakers, and the birds of prey that hung suspended above us, and that all had consciously or unconsciously been drawn to bask in these elemental powers. [A curious aside that the rational (closed ;) minded may skip; driving down the previous afternoon our attention had been caught by airborne object at a relatively low altitude not too far from the road, a solid white oblong form that seemed to hover before it disappeared. The most rational explanation seemed to be jet, one absent of discernible markings and curiously silent given its height and distance from us, which had perhaps become obscured by the few clouds that were present. About 10 minutes after that it suddenly reappeared, no easier to identify, and again vanished into what was now a cloudless sky.... Sitting on the beach we speculated that such 'beings' might be less concerned with monitoring the progress of humankind than with telluric forces of our planet, in which 'they' bask for sheer delight. I should add that in addition to being the site of a celebrated 'flap' in the '70's, reports of anomalous luminous phenomena in the area date back to the 18th century.]

By 4th-5th hour the effect began to stabilize, and the consequences of prolonged exposure to sunlight in an environment that afforded little by way of shade began to make itself felt (it should be noted that BOD seems to induce a degree of internal warmth) and so we went in search of water and shadow. Weaving our way back, our paths crossed with numerous hikers but we were unaffected by the unease that can grip one when encountering strangers in these states. The following hours were spent absorbed in the ability of BOD to illuminate the colours of the landscape, without any of the garish or oversaturated colour values that some psychedelics produce, and to allow one not only to take in the entire scope of one's visual field but examine each element in detail in calm, painterly manner; indeed, I imagine this might be what artists experience in the slow process of creating a landscape painting.

Nine or ten hours into the trip, and deep physical exhaustion set in, food temporarily reanimated us, but we no longer had the mental energy to continue enjoying the visual detail. This was not a problem, it was easy to lie still in low illumination and enjoy the enhancement of sound, again the quality was one of deep immersion without distortion or excessive amplification. Conversation continue to flow smoothly throughout. The closing hours (14-17+) brought occasional bursts of eidetic imagery behind the eyelids, while hazy their geometry and colour palette seemed unique, and congruent with unique 'vibration' or 'durée' of BOD. One of us was able to sleep at about 12 hrs, but for myself, this did not come until much later. On awakening, the drug's action though mild was still discernible, and the day was spent in languid, jovial reverie.

One curious observation. The first trial was conducted with an estimated dose of about 25 mg, the second with carefully weighed dose, in this process I discovered that my first trial had in fact involved a dose of approximately 35mg. Yet the second trip was far more powerful - go figure, 'set and setting' I suppose. In conclusion, I suspect that BOD's incremental onset and length is less a pharmokinetic modulation of generic psychedelic state, but an integral expression of its signature. Interestingly, since it reappearance I've read reports of efforts to reduce its onset and length by intranasal, rectal and vaporization, none of which have increased potency, shortened onset or the arc of the trip. It seems a compound that invites one to slow down, to move at the speed of Earth, and when one does its glory begins to manifest. It catalyzes a paradoxical state of maximal integrity and dissolution. Perhaps there are two routes to grasping this, one by pushing the dosage higher, the other by taking it in a setting that facilitates such a state of mind.

Exp Year: 2020	ExpID: 115870
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Nov 16, 2022	Views: 868
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BOD (572) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Nature / Outdoors (23), General (1)