DOSE:

2.5 seeds

insufflated

Anadenanthera colubrina

(ground / crushed)

BODY WEIGHT:

125 lb

Substance: Anadenanthera colubrina var. cebil.
Dosage: 2.5 seeds prepared in a traditional manner, using calcium hydroxide as a basifying agent.
Route of administration: Insufflation.

Background:
I am male, 26 years old and weighing 125 pounds. I have experimented a little with cebil seeds before, but only via smoking. I have also tried yopo (Anadenanthera peregrina) seeds once as a snuff, however without any basifying agent. I am well versed in psychedelic compounds including mushrooms, LSD, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, ayahuasca and ayahuasca analogues, Trichocereus cacti, various 2C-compounds, MDMA, MDA, methylone, AMT, 5-MeO-DiPT, DOB, Salvia divinorum, ketamine etcetera.

I had started a herbal detox program today. The detox involves a diet of mainly alkalizing grains, greens and vegetables, and fish, while eliminating sugars, flours, fermented and processed food. The herbs involved in this cleanse include a preparation to stimulate bile production, a laxative preparation, and a cleansing preparation.

My main motivation for cleansing was due to a recurring cold, which kept coming back for another round. I had tried everything else, and was now desperate enough to give up most of the foods I normally eat for ten or twelve days, in the hopes of eliminating toxic build up and revitalizing my body. Although I usually smoke marijuana and drink yerba mate daily, and take kratom off and on, I was abstaining from these drugs in order to speed my recovery.

Preparation:
I had a small bag containing cebil seeds (Anadenathera colubrina var. cebil) that I had purchased several years ago. Ten seeds, varying in size. The smallest ones were about the size of a dime, and the largest was as big as a nickel. I wanted to try creating a snuff mixture from the seeds, following the traditional methods closely.

The seeds were toasted on medium heat for a few minutes in a covered pan, until they were heard to pop. Then the dark seed coat was pulled off and discarded, and the slightly toasted insides saved. I could maybe have toasted them a little longer, as not all the seeds had popped. Those that had popped, the seed coat was easy to take off, whereas those that had not popped were more challenging.

The insides of the seeds were placed in a mortar and pestle and ground to a fine-consistency yellowish powder. This released a peculiar odour, reminiscent of peanut butter, and it was observed that the seeds were a little oily. Into this was mixed a small amount of food-grade lime (calcium hydroxide). Visually I added about 1 part lime for 10 parts seed powder. I did not want to risk adding too much lime, as many people seem to do!

A few drops of spring water were added to the mixture, which was then mixed and kneaded using the tip of a knife. This mixture was put in a small tea cup and allowed to air-dry for two days. As the mixture dried, it changed colour, becoming dark brown on the outside.

The thoroughly dried mixture was chipped off the bottom of the tea cup and put back in the mortar and pestle, and again ground to as fine a consistency as possible. The insides were not as dark as the portion that had been exposed to the air, so the final mixture was a light brown in colour. Then I put it in a baggie, and it sat on the window sill for many weeks. I have to admit, the thought of snorting hallucinogenic jungle peanut butter was frightening enough for me to say, “maybe some other time!”

Set and Setting:
Today was the day I finally tried the cebil snuff. My partner was away for the night, and both my roommates were also out. So I had the house to myself, a rare occurrence. My intuition said it would be a good time.

I set up my bedroom comfortably for the experience, by clearing clothing on the floor and making the bed. I grabbed the Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants as a surface to work off of, and the bag of cebil snuff. I also grabbed my cebil snuff plate, an exacting replica of a museum piece that I purchased from a local artist some years ago when visiting San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. For those who don’t know, there was a town of the Tihuanacu (pre-Incan) culture in this area, where everyone was buried with a cebil snuff plate and tubes for snuffing, often elaborately carved. My snuff plate features a man’s face, with mouth open and crazy psychedelic patterns exploding out of his ears. Certainly appropriate.

I was still hesitant, so I did a tarot reading using the Thoth deck, asking “what is the energy of my doing cebil snuff tonight?” I pulled five cards in the shape of a cross. I got Death in the middle, with The Hermit on the left and Queen of Disks on the right, Valour above and Lust (called Strength in other decks) below. A propitious spread, which encouraged me to embark on the journey. I read the description for Death and resonated with it a lot, “The act of letting go, difficult as it may be, will liberate you. […] Any desire to hold on or cling to old bonds will cause their death to appear that much more agonizing. Hesse tells us to let ourselves fall. When we have renounced our supports, even the earth under our feet, so that we listen to the guide in our hearts, then all is won. There is no more fear, no more danger, when we let go.”

I scooped out about a quarter of the snuff mixture (equal to 2.5 seeds) and finished setting up the space by turning on the salt lamp and lighting a couple candles, then turning out the main light. I did not have one of the traditional snuffing tubes (often carved with birds, jaguars and other animals), so a rolled up piece of paper had to suffice. From my research on the net, I knew that this amount of snuff should be enough for a potent effect without going off the deep end.

Intention:
I took a moment to be calm, then stated my intention: To find my inner strength, to release from fear, and to journey with the plant medicine. I added that I wished for a comfortable and safe journey.

Experience:
I snuffed a small amount up each nostril, to test the waters. Many people describe the incredible pain and burning, and I was cautious. There was an initial sting, and as a little of the snuff dripped down my throat it stung a bit too. However the sting soon faded, as the cebil numbed my nose and throat. I feel that most people get incredible pain and burning because they have added too much basifying lime. My nose started to fill with mucous.

I didn’t feel anything right away, so I went ahead and snuffed the rest, gently as I did not want to get too much dripping down my throat (some people say it is the drip reaching the stomach that provokes vomiting). It was quite a mound I had snuffed down, more than I have ever snuffed of any substance, and I was happy it was a relatively painless procedure, as I am not generally a fan of snorting psychoactives.

I began to notice the effects after a couple minutes. A slight heaviness, a slight change in visual perception. I thought maybe I hadn’t taken enough, or that the seeds were weak, so I went into the bag and pulled out some more, preparing it on the plate. Luckily, I did not snuff this too, as the effects quickly stepped up in intensity, notch by notch. I laid down in bed as the effects became very strong. This was definitely a “lie down” kind of experience. The feeling was distinctly tryptamine.

As I lay in bed, feeling very heavy and weighted to the earth, I began to hear a tone. A high-pitched ringing noise that tweaked and twittered, growing in volume. It reminded me of the carrier wave sound of DMT. Soon I was experiencing closed eye visuals. At first it was an effect similar to gasoline floating on a puddle of water. Colourful swirling patterns.

The visuals became more and more intense. The speed at which the swirly patterns moved was increasing. It was like being underneath the strands of a multi-coloured mop, being twisted back and forth in a bucket of water. Sometimes there would be a shift, and I would see something behind the psychedelic mop. I saw a few times a whole sheet of small diamond shapes, in different colours. Other times, I seemed to see a small orange man, leaping across my vision. The visuals were very complex and vivid. I opened my eyes for a moment, and could still see the same patternings with my eyes open, though they were more vivid with eyes shut, so I shut my eyes again.

The intensity stepped up another notch. Now the visuals were shifting and morphing with a speed almost too much to handle. I felt a rocking motion, side to side, and then a spinning motion. It was like I was on a merry-go-round, spinning faster and faster. I was becoming rather motion-sick with all the spinning and the flashing lights and colours. There was a voice in my head, I felt the presence of an entity. I asked what he was doing to me? The voice replied that I was being evolved. I asked a couple more questions, though I cannot recall what I asked. The voice told me to stop asking questions, just relax and still my mind. Relax, indeed I had to remind myself to relax several times throughout this experience. Reminding myself that I was safe, and that everything is okay.

The closest drug I would compare the cebil to is DMT, although there are also differences between the two. The intensity was similar to DMT, although I remained in contact with my body throughout the trip. I was glad I had not taken more snuff, as I felt at a higher dose an out-of-body experience was likely. At moments my body felt a little distant. Unlike DMT, I felt very grounded, very heavy and earthy, which reminded me a bit of Salvia. The visuals were much more swirling and spastic/jumpy than the structured, geometric patternings I get with DMT. Cebil snuff comes on slower (probably five minutes to manifest full effects), and lasts quite a bit longer too. The intensity of the trip was so much it was almost unbearable, and I wondered from time-to-time how soon it would be before the effects dropped off in intensity. The visuals were doing new things now, jumping, fragmenting, twisting and turning in a way I can’t find words to describe.

Throughout this time, I felt a very slight tension in my belly, and also a feeling of needing to pee and/or poo. The grumbling in my intestines can probably be put down to the laxative herbs I was taking as part of the herbal detox program. The tension in my stomach I feel was an action of the cebil. I had eaten a light meal about an hour before the trip. If I explore this medicine again, I would do so with an empty stomach.

Gradually it seemed the whirling, spinning motion was a little less, and the speed of the shifting visuals slowed down a little. “Thank you,” I said, intuitively knowing the trance state was coming to an end. The entity acknowledged my thanks, but without any warmth. It had a very cool, laid back approach to things, as if it were a doctor simply operating on one more patient before the day was over.

I opened my eyes. No longer did I see the patternings with eyes open. Instead, it seemed there was a very large, transparent something hovering up around the ceiling. It was big, filling the whole room, and undulating gently like a jellyfish. I could see the distortions as it undulated. I wondered if the swirling visual patterns I had seen before were a result of some kind of hyperspatial jellyfish covering me with its tentacles. I had the feeling that only a part of a much larger creature was sticking down through the ceiling.

I closed my eyes again, and was surprised to see nothing at all. Total blackness, no close-eye visuals anymore. They had stopped completely as if with the flick of a light switch. I lay with my eyes shut for awhile, feeling this new sensation of stillness and dark. When I opened my eyes again, there was nothing there. No undulating distortions up near the ceiling. The entity was gone. There had been no humming of a space craft taking off or anything like that (as I have sometimes experienced with DMT), it was like the entity had just winked out of existence.

I lay in bed, feeling the after-effects of the cebil. I was languid, lazy to move and also feeling some nausea. Moving at all seemed like a bad idea, as I felt it would trigger dizzyness and vomiting, so I just laid still and quiet. It might have been a good idea to have a bowl or bucket on hand, in case of vomiting. Getting up and running to the toilet would not be fun in this state, even sitting up to puke would have been a lot. Luckily, I was able to simply rest quietly and did not vomit during this trip.

Eventually I felt okay enough to stretch my arm out behind me, and grab the alarm clock. Thirty minutes had elapsed. My best guess, it that the trance state lasted around twenty minutes. I continued to lie in bed. I debated in my mind whether the entity had been something alien that I called in, or whether it was the spirit of the cebil plant itself. I remain undecided, not that it really matters. Even if it was just my own mind making stuff up, or a contact with my higher self as a friend suggested, the experience would be the same regardless. It did feel rather earthy and plant-like though, for what that’s worth.

One of my roommates came home, I heard her open the door, and she intuited that I was there, calling out my name. I called back, that yes I was home, but that I was having a little lie-down. Actually, more of a journey than a lie down, I said. I seemed somewhat telepathic, tapping into her desire to smoke some pot at that moment.

An hour after starting the journey, I felt okay enough to roll over and sip some water. I experienced dizzyness when I moved, and still some residual nausea. There was a very slight alteration of my vision still, a sense of things appearing closer than they actually were. I felt renewed, and there was an emotional quality to it.

Soon I cautiously got up out of bed. I went and blew out my nose, big boogers filled with pieces of the crushed seed matter. Surprisingly, I felt really good and had been able to breathe fine throughout the trip. I discussed my experience enthusiastically with my roommate.

Two hours after starting the journey, I started typing this report. At two hours and forty-five minutes, I am still feeling the residual effects of the snuff as I type this. There is a not unpleasant dizzyness, akin to the effects syrian rue when taken on its own. Slightly intoxicating and discoordinating. My mind is very clear, though, no intoxication there. I feel awake and a little energized. I discussed some things with my roommate that brought up emotions in me, and I feel the emotions sharply, as if they are emphasised… in this way it reminds me of hawaiian baby woodrose seeds.

In conclusion, this was a good experience, I was blown away by the potency of the snuff mixture and really felt the medicine of the plant. I am happy that the snuff mixture did not cause incredible pain and burning (which I put down to my using a minimum of calcium hydroxide, one tenth the amount of ground seeds, not half-and-half like many others have described). I am also happy that I did not vomit during this trip. The amount of cebil snuff I took was perfect, I got a very profound effect but did not go overboard. At higher doses, I feel vomiting and out-of-body journeying are both very likely. Very much a plant medicine, not something to explore out of a desire to get high.

Cheers, thanks for reading!

Exp Year: 2011	ExpID: 90406
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 26
Published: Jun 24, 2011	Views: 41,854
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Anadenanthera colubrina (139) : Entities / Beings (37), General (1), Alone (16)