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Introductory Expedition
Syrian Rue & Cacti - T. pachanoi
Citation:   Xorkoth. "Introductory Expedition: An Experience with Syrian Rue & Cacti - T. pachanoi (exp41849)". Erowid.org. Oct 21, 2005. erowid.org/exp/41849

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DOSE:
T+ 0:00
3.0 g oral Syrian Rue (capsule)
  T+ 0:45 11 g oral Cacti - T. pachanoi (capsule)
  T+ 1:15 2.0 g oral Cacti - T. pachanoi (capsule)
  T+ 2:30   smoked Cannabis (plant material)
  T+ 5:30   repeated oral Alcohol (liquid)
BODY WEIGHT: 145 lb
Let me tell the story of my first (significant) encounter with mescaline. It was last night, or rather, most of yesterday. Previously, within the last week, I had tried two other experiments with the same substance, but achieved only threshold effects. In truth, I expected to get only stronger threshold effects again, as I am planning a big trip but I wanted to make sure I knew what kind of dose to take for it. However, it turns out that mescaline was to have its way with me.

My method of preparation was as follows. At 4:00pm, I ground up three grams of syrian rue seeds and took them in capsules. The reason for this is that I had received only one ounce of san pedro cactus (minus the core, fortunately), and from what I had read, this would not have been enough to really trip even if I had taken it all. So, I had 13 grams of it left after my previous experiments. After taking the rue, I ground up the cactus chips in my coffee grinder, and began stuffing them all into gel caps. Needless to say, it was tedious, but since it was only 13 grams, I only had to use about twenty capsules. At 4:45, I began the task of swallowing 11 grams of the caps, saving two for a half hour later to attempt to ease my way in. Then I started listening to music and waiting.

Here are my (edited) notes of the experience:

T+0:00 (4:45pm) - As mentioned above, I took 11 grams now. I'm feeling subtle MAOI effects.

T+0:30 - Took the remaining two grams. By now, I'm beginning to feel some coming-on effects that I recognize from my previous threshold experiences. I had been laying down, feeling heavy from the syrian rue, but all of a sudden I decided to get up and walk around. Like before, I found that I suddenly felt charged with energy. My balance is a little off, but nothing much is happening yet. I suddenly have a desire to go ride my bike outside, as it is the nicest day so far in the early spring. My girlfriend suddenly arrives, and we go outside. She is walking, and I'm riding my bike in first gear, going the same speed. We talk for a while and walk down onto campus. The outdoors is making me feel very, very peaceful and serene. I find myself just facing the wind and breathing in, and staring at the sky a lot. At this point, I've almost forgotten about the san pedro, though in retrospect it was providing a lot of stimulation. It's just that riding my bike was channeling all that energy. I stop to climb some trees, and then my best friend B drives by. We all decide to go back to my apartment.

T+2:05 - Crazy, crazy, crazy! (In my notes, that was written several more times in a crazy, lopsided scrawling). We're back inside, and I've discovered that I'm way more fucked up than I was outside. By a lot. It feels like a good part of it is just because of being inside; the room looks so small and enclosed, and the light is dim and artificial in comparison to the slowly setting sun. It's very hard to stop moving. Powerful surges of what I perceive to be bio-electricity are coursing through my limbs and face. As a result, I'm pacing a lot and making strange faces. Actually, one of the very few similarities I've found between mushrooms and this is the inexplicable urge to contort my face and turn my head strangely. I can see now the character of phenethylamines, as I feel much... better than I have on mushrooms. The euphoria is very great, and I feel like nothing can bother me. Conversely, on mushrooms I always spend about half my time in the 'dark side', an emotionally abrasive place that makes me feel like I wish I hadn't taken them. Suddenly, I feel quite nauseous and go outside to puke. But when I try, all I manage to get up is a tiny glob of stomach acid and a nasty cactus taste. It makes my stomach cramp so badly that I can barely breathe for a few moments. However, the nausea is gone, aside from a SLIGHTLY uncomfortable strange feeling that persists throughout the night in my stomach.

I come back inside and me and my girlfriend and my friend B and my girlfriend's friend V are hanging out in my room. I turn on Ferry Corsten's Tsunami One, disc 1. This is my favorite trance song, and it invariably leads me joyful places, and this time is no exception. I have no nugs at the moment, but B brought some, and we smoked a couple of one-hitters. That definitely brought it up a notch. I'm definitely tripping now, as opposed to just having threshold effects, and I'm extremely pleased because I wasn't at all sure I would.

T+3:10 - I go outside with B as he smokes a cigarette, since I really, really want to be outside. As I'm walking through the hall, I feel a large wave come over me, and I realize that the peak has only just begun. I'm smiling hugely and laughing and leaping about. I find that I really want to climb things, though there's nothing nearby to climb but the railing on the stairs. I'm finding conversation in groups to be nearly impossible, but conversation between me and one other person is very enjoyable, and significantly altered. I'm formulating sentences in a different way than usual, with mirth. Oh, here comes my friend A, who I've tripped with on many occasions in the past. That's cool because he's a fun guy to hang out with in this state of mind. We go back inside and hang out for a while. I notice that I'm getting very, very slight visuals, in the form of strobing light in my peripheral vision and slowly morphing words on my page of notes.

T+4:00 - My friend L calls with great news: not only does he finally have nugs, but it's Kali Mist, a much-loved strain. We go there (A drives, not me) and I grab a bag, and we chill there for a while. Fun times were had, and I eventually had to tell everyone that I was tripping because I thought I was acting strangely, which I probably was. L thinks that's awesome, and shows me his own san pedro growing in the kitchen. I feel a bit like superman now, and my balance is actually very good when I put my mind to it.

T+5:10 - Finally, I'm going outside with A, just by ourselves, to ride my bike some more. It turns out we never leave the parking lot of my apartment complex, because it's big lot for me to ride around in and we end up meeting some other people I know and talking to them for a while. It seems like we're outside for a long time, but when I return inside I find out it's only been 15 minutes. A goes home, and the rest of us decide to go to the bar in a little while, because an excellent jam band is playing there tonight. It's a band a professor from my school as the lead guitar. He is truly a phenomenal player, and in fact is only around to teach for about a quarter of the year because the rest of the time, he's touring the country.

T+5:30 - T+9:00 - I'm coming down some but it's still very nice and pretty strong. I have a VERY slight headache, but nothing to worry about or even really bother me. We go to the bar, and throughout the night I have about five fairly strong drinks. If I'm not on stimulants or psychedelics, that amount usually makes me kind of tired and... gross. But since I'm on mescaline tonight, the drinks just soften the blow of coming down considerably. The rest of the night was fun and pleasant, but not really worth writing about.

Conclusion:

I noticed some things about mescaline that I really, really like. My only other real tripping experiences have been with the fungus, and there are a number of things about the fungus that make me slightly afraid of taking them. With mushrooms I have a lot less of a good time, generally, though I always think it's worth it by the end. But mushrooms are a battle for me, a battle to not despair during the peak. They don't generally give me any energy at all, and in fact sometimes make my body feel distinctly unpleasant. With mescaline, there was no emotional turmoil, and actually very little mental trip at all. My mind actually felt cleared and still for most of it, as opposed to mushrooms where it is racing and overanalyzing everything. Of course, the downside to this is that the one thing I really do enjoy about mushrooms is that I see infinity in everything and get all of those stereotypical 'tripping' mindstate. With this dose of mescaline, I didn't, but I think that's a more than even tradeoff since I find mushrooms to be frightening sometimes in this way. On a final note, I experienced ABSOLUTELY no paranoia whatsoever. I didn't think that everyone knew I was tripping, and frankly, I didn't care if they did. With mushrooms, I get extreme paranoia to the point of fear and discomfort in social situations with people other than friends.

Anyway, stay safe and happy travels!

Exp Year: 2005ExpID: 41849
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Oct 21, 2005Views: 10,733
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Cacti - T. pachanoi (64), Syrian Rue (45) : Various (28), Glowing Experiences (4), General (1)

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