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Light Summer Trippin, Conceptual Map Growth?
Bromo-Dragonfly
Citation:   ShaktiXTC. "Light Summer Trippin, Conceptual Map Growth?: An Experience with Bromo-Dragonfly (exp72794)". Erowid.org. Jul 29, 2008. erowid.org/exp/72794

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
1 hit   Bromo-Dragonfly (blotter / tab)
  T+ 9:30   smoked Cannabis  
BODY WEIGHT: 145 lb
Well, during the summer of 2006 my friend came to visit and with him came three blotters of bromo-Dragonfly. We would each take one and I saved the third for later. I hadn't heard of dragonfly before that point. My friend, who had taken it once at that point, described it as a subtle, prolonged acid trip and I was interested. In retrospect, that description isn't exactly misleading but is wanting. In my experience, it is definitely subtle, none of the potential of unrestricted fiery projection acid offers, at least at this dosage level, it is certainly a more contemplative substance and it doesn't seem to directly threaten ego in any way but may make one more sensitive to latent perceived threats. I would like to give you exacting measures of time but given that these experiences were over two years ago (and as if I was payin attention to the clock), this will be an estimated reconstruction.

Approx. 11:00am: We started walking and dropped the blotters. I wish I knew the actual dosage but I had no means of judging. The taste was a little bitter but not off-putting. He said it would take a while to come up, so we went to an Indian restaurant. I was fine and enjoyed the meal but my friend towards the end of the meal developed minor nausea and wished he hadn't eaten, but he felt fine shortly later.

Approx. 12:30pm: We got on the El and went downtown (Chicago). My friend being from Milwaukee, I thought I'd show him some of the city and get lost for the day. First signs appearing; lucidity of thought and unrestricted free association, both in thought and speech.

Approx. 1:00pm: Well we're definitely tripping now, a plus 2. The next few hours are spent walking around and watching people downtown. The primary observed effect upon me from this time until it finished was a heightened awareness of the states and perspectives of everyone we met. It was very easy to acutely hold the perspective of the other. In fact it was done fluidly and without effort. This was quite exceptional, being as we were in a stream of people. On this level it was great but simultaneously this forced us to engage the physiological milieu of rampant egoic modern materialism, consumption and the world of surfaces (especially along Michigan ave. north of the river). Groups of superficial women all talking to each other at once, no one listening. I became suspicious of people wearing sunglasses (for the sake of fashion not sun avoidance). Why were they afraid of revealing their eyes? What were they afraid people would see in them? I knew the answer at the moment of questioning, but had not considered this before that point. This and other observations of the infantile nature of American society filled the early afternoon. We felt sufficiently dissociated to take this light-heartedly.

The day was HOT. Good thing my friend brought a Nalgene with him, we drank from and refilled it lustfully. We laughed about the 'cool breezes from the inside' for a while, as we walked past open store doors spilling conditioned air. It felt great in the heat, but fit with our dystopia observations all too well.

We met a couple kids selling crappy home made hip-hop CDs over stolen beats as a cover for selling herb during this time. So, why not, I bought some ghetto green, for later. We also met a schizophrenic man dressed in a strange shiny green suit with a shiny orange tie on a bridge over the river yelling nonsense to people in tour boats. So we joined him in his efforts for a minute. We referred to him as 'the leprechaun' from then on. As an aside, I recently saw him on television in a crowd outside the window of a local news broadcast which was a nice surprise.

Approx. 3:30pm: We headed north to around Wrigleyville and continued our inane meandering walk. This period was certainly the height of the pyschoactivity. I felt entirely free from the restrictions of the waves of finite consciousness and was yet completely capable of entering into and operating within my normal relativistic structure to engage with everything arising moment to moment. During this time we met a devotee of Krishna trying to sell books on the street. I said to him simply 'I have no money for you'. I observed that in someway my projection had just undercut his mental seeking structure of that moment and he was left in a state of burgeoning recognition of the space I was occupying. We shared an interesting little/big moment. Thats all there was to that, but it sure was cool. I hope I'm not confusing reality with my own projections here too much, I really don't think I am, and that was roughly my perception of the moment.

Approx. 5:30: We walked over to the lake, stared at the waves, clouds, boats, tall buildings, enjoying a very comfortable peace for a few hours. This was probably the best period of the trip for me, being very observant of everything we came in contact with and talking over subtleties of our experience and the objects arising in our awareness. we hung out in a tree in a kinda small fenced off migratory bird sanctuary. Over all very peaceful and contented.

Approx. 8:30 As the sun dropped we were chillin in an empty golf course right near the lake and I rolled a spliff with the recently acquired herb. We were mostly down at this point (though we never really took off). It turned out to be a fairly heavily indica strain, as alot of the ghetto MJ tends to be. Smoking turned out not to have been the best idea as it caused a little more dissociation and a little social anxiety for me (not so much for my friend) because I just wanted to chill and my friend wanted to keep talkin shit and fixated on watching other people. Plus later on the El he was speaking of the people he saw in abstract generalizations a little to loudly, which many people don't take to kindly to. Maybe I was just being a little too self-conscious. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but was a little unpleasant on the El riding back downtown.

That was about it for my first experience with bromo-dragonfly as I couldn't distinguish any remaining effects from the marijuana. This is an interesting substance. Many people report disappointment with it which is understandable if they're looking for something wild or really out there. It's certainly subtle at the dosage levels I've taken in terms of visuals or forced emotional/psychological energy, but for me it allowed a certain lucidity to my egoic perspectives. I wouldn't get caught in either my frontal individuated ego, or my more primordial base awareness. There seemed to be an increased synergy between them.

My second (and last so far) trip on bromo-dragonfly, which I shall briefly cover, was a solo trip and it was a kind of a spur of the moment decision. In retrospect I brought to it a certain dissatisfaction that I couldn't shake and still can't define. The bulk of the trip wasn't the particularly interesting part. Near the end as I was coming down, my body and mind felt achy and polluted, for the lack of a better word. I was in my bathtub to try and ease my situation. I had what I can only describe as a minor satori, and emerging from that I was left with a solid conceptual understanding of the unity of the infinite absolute and the finite relative. It was all too simple. Also, all of the bodily tension I had been harboring was washed clean. It was by no means the most 'enlightening' experience I've had. I would describe it as almost an after shock to a major satori experience that reshaped my life about a year and a half prior to this experience, but it left me with a wonderful framework with which to communicate and conceptualize the territory I had stepped into. I wouldn't say that these were the effects of bromo-dragonfly, but like most entheogen-induced realizations seem to me to be, it acted as a catalyst for energies ready to be released.

Afterwards, in a very elated state of mind, I also stumbled into a brief out-of-body experience in which I was a wolf in a snow covered wilderness, the alpha male of a pack. Most of the experience was spent running with my pack and then hanging out in a den with puppies. The lasting message I received was about the love I was receiving from the other members of the pack, and the direct correlation it had to the suffering I carried for them.

So this basically surmises my limited experience with bromo-dragonfly. I'm happy to add it to the record. Thanks for reading.

Exp Year: 2006ExpID: 72794
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 29, 2008Views: 16,025
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Bromo-Dragonfly (349) : General (1), Various (28)

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