Mimosa Exploration 3

Detailed Field Notes

Substances: Moclobemide, Ayahuasca, Mimosa hostilis

20g mimosa hostilis root bark, powdered in a coffee grinder.

Bark was boiled in the recommended 30% lemon juice for 1-1.5 hours. I wonder about the percentage, because water had to keep being added. IN any case, it was started with 1 cup lemon juice and 3 cups water.

Strained through several layers of paper towels and boiled down to 1/3 cup.

1/2 hour before blast off, 75mg moclobemide (MAO inhibitor) was ingested.

1/2 hr into it: definite strong nausea, surprising because of the small amount of liquid ingested and the Moc shouldn't produce nausea. Wonder if it'd be even worse with P. harmala seeds.

**reference point: in experiment #2, above preparation and dosages was the same, but only boiled down to a CUP. Puked it up at the 45 minute mark and had a mild experience. Too mild. This time I vowed I'd boil it way way down so as to stay down better. It did!**

I'm a little more fuzzy on the time line after the 1 hour point.

Well, this time I hit a bulls-eye! Finally got to experience some of the glory of DMT! at around the 1.5 hr - 2hr point, I was feeling VERY trippy, my physical coordination was shot, lights were starting to "drip". Smoked a big 'ol bowl of kind bud, laid down and closed my eyes!

wow! a constant kaleidoscopic display for around 1/2 hr-45 minutes. lots of pictures of things, faces, scenery.....not much with open eyes, but satisfactory with closed eyes, oh YES! Incredible tripping, very interesting. A consistent image was of this tunnel I seemed to be advancing toward, all made of glistening bricks and other glowing substances, which I was almost falling towards. Real weird, but very enjoyable. No images of snakes, vines, jungle cats, or other Amazonian things. Strange, disjointed feelings, simultaneously. Physical imbalance, needed to lie down.

a real clear feeling in my body, was grooving on music. Only wanted to hear "earthy" stuff, drums, wood instruments. Nothing synthetic or technological. I attempted to listen to Cocteau Twins, who I usually love, and it didn't work at all. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was much more appropriate. Stuff like Steve Roach and Brian Eno didn't work either, this experience requires rhythm. beats, moving music. If you've heard of Trillian Green, I consider that perfect Ayahuasca music.

let me emphasize this was NOT an easy trip. My nausea was constant for the first 2-3 hours. My stomach remained unsettled and uncomfortable the whole time. My body was uneasy and uncomfortable in general. Kept doing a lot of twisting and making small weird noises (I was lying down for most of the trip). The peak duration of about 45 minutes, however, made it all worth while. DMT is a fascinating experience, similar but very different than the other more familiar psychedelics. ahhh, (expletive), it's hard to describe entheogenic ecstacy.

it was not easy on the mental side either. The brother of a friend died in a very unpleasant way last week and that kept floating back into my trip. Kept having this trippy death-skull floating back into the maelstrom of organic activity.

but I found that it was a somewhat controllable trip. At one point, I decided I was tired of the heavy imagery around that coming in, and it wasn't going away by itself. So I visualized a pure white eraser, and could see it erasing the big blueish-white skull. The death/skull thing didn't "freak me out" but neither did I want to spend my trip focusing on it. It was amazing to be able to wash it away like that.......and beautiful images returned to coursing through my synapses.

I can definitely see going much farther with this compound. I'd say my experience was roughly the strength of 3 grams of P. cubensis. It was beautiful, interesting, uncomfortable, fascinating, nauseous and I definitely got to where I was "aiming" for, unlike experiments #1 & #2.

I am aware that there is a LOT farther to go with DMT, I was nowhere near being high enough to see "machine elves" and other such high-dosage effects. I'll get there someday! But I was solidly on the other side, as opposed to experiment #1 (8g MH) where I just got to peek through the door. I've done my reading,I'll get there eventually.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

after a while, the DMT effect began to fade (sob). I was thinking, oh well, try a higher dose next time, maybe 30g of Mimosa. But then, it came back with a vengeance! What the hell is this??? I remember reading about those Italian Phalaris researchers (Santorini?) who had a similar experience with it fading and then coming back strong.

It was weird too. (of course.. ;-) )

and NOT good. For a little while, the visual component of the first part was dramatically enhanced, almost taking me back to the level I'd been peaking at. but then, the "high" got higher, and the visuals mostly disappeared. My physical discomfort INCREASED, although the nausea did not return (yay!). I started to feel a little anxious. I was not expecting this part of the trip. It was hard to describe, but I was pretty high and it wasn't that "trippy". It had almost a tinge of malevolence to it. Not Fun. This was at about the 3-3.5hr mark. I could feel a little panic rising, but was able to deal with it.

At this point, the room started moving around way too much. Not neato trippy imagery, but "stay Still, dammit!". I sat up and started to get worried because I couldn't get the my visual reality to stop moving around so much. It was quite disorienting and un-nerving. And it went on and on! DMT is supposed to be OVER after 3-4 hours. at the 4 hour mark, I started to have some of that worry..."hey, this isn't abating, what the fuck? am I going to come down? What IS this, this isn't like the first trippy part at ALL!!! I'm really high! Shit!" I felt physically bad, mentally worried, and generally not happy. I also didn't choose to listen to music at this point in the trip, preferring silence and my own wordless vocalizations.

Of course, I reminded myself that I was on a drug and it would wear off eventually, no matter how much I currently felt like it was a permanent and unpleasant state. A bit malevolent, like I said. A tinge of evil. No, not evil, that's not quite it. But not happy, either.

I also wonder if it'd have been different if I'd been expecting it.

When I started to come down out of the second part, and the room stopped jumping around, I felt TRIUMPHANT! "fucking A!" I cried out loud! I made it! Safe and Sound! (and made many other triumphant manly noises).

when I was feeling very high in the second part of the trip, I was thinking "I'm not sure I want to go farther with dosage with this plant". I was definitely patting myself on the back for being cautious with dosage and going up step by step. I'd considered using 30g, but sensibly realized that caution is the better part of entheogenic valor. At this point I'm REALLY glad I didn't go for a higher dose, although I definitely want to experience the first part at a higher dose.

so the next day I was thinking about all this and I wondered if my second part of the trip was a run-in with 5-MEO. I know a lot of DMT containing plants contain both. I thought I remembered reading that MH has just DMT in it, but I'm going to go back and check on that one. My experience in the second part was roughly corresponding to the reports I've read on the lists about 5-MEO. Because of those reports,I've never felt inclined to try 5-MEO.

let me emphasize that even with the second part of the trip, this was a VERY WORTHWHILE experience. There's just nothing like quality tripping, eh? and I'm willing to suffer quite a bit to get to that brief period of incredible tripping ecstacy. Overall, I was quite satisfied with the whole experience and will probably increase the MH dosage to 30g next time, even knowing the second part will be more intense/uncomfortable. OR maybe less because I'll be anticipating it.

comments and lingering questions: - how to reduce the nausea? I wondered if a full cup of lemon juice, even boiled down, has enough acids in it to cause physical discomfort. also, it was expensive, about $6-10. Ok, so I buy Organic lemons, which are more expensive....

- are the lemons really useful to extract the DMT? Do south american shamans add acidic things to their brews? OR could I just boil it without the lemon? I used the lemons based on ideas in Ayahuasca Analogues and recommendations from a friend.

- would P. harmala seeds increase the nausea or keep it at the same level? I'd only be using 4g of seeds. I don't have access to any more Moclobemide, so any further explorations will be with Rue.

- was the second part of my trip 5-MEO or was it a "regular" part of the DMT experience? Or maybe was it something OTHER than 5-MEO or DMT? What else is in this plant? Am I likely to regret it if I go for a higher dosage? I know I won't kill myself trying or anything like that, but I'd like to avoid a particulary unpleasant experience.

- I watched my diet carefully, and had no headache/blood-pressure problems re: MAO inhibitors. Even drank caffeine the next morning with no problems. I'd not eaten for about 6 hours before ingestion of the MH extract. I don't see the need for extended fasting, but an empty stomach is a good idea for entheogenic pursuits.

- wondered if part of my nausea was due to small powdered bits of the MH going into my system. Is paper towels a suitable way to strain? I wondered if I wanted a finer strainer, but then it'd get all clogged up immediately.

- when I ground it, I noticed it separated into two parts, a powder and a fibrous stuff. IF the DMT is concentrated in one or the other then it should be possible to smoke a small amount and get a significant effect. ***this material is strong enough that smoking a few fibers of non-ground root bark produces noticable effects!!!

- I know Santo Daime have large group ayahuasca sessions.....I'm mystified. I can't imagine sharing this in a public place with lots of people.

experimentation with this Ayahuasca Borealis stuff is a great thing,I'm blessed to live in this time and place. But tripping such as this is not for the meek. The body load plus the effects themselves plus the MAO stuff will thankfully keep such experiences out of the hands of the masses.

P.S.
Information from a few e-mail correspondences about my mimosa trip.

- 7-8g is the "usual" dose in Brazil, meaning that for most people "Ayahuasca" is important, but a very mild experience. With the tripping background I have, I want to be fully immersed, not just gently rocked.

- a number of people verified that it is only DMT in the plant, not 5-meo as well. So whatever the second part of the trip was, it's a "normal" part of a Mimosahuasca trip.

- It has been suggested that the proper dose for major OEVs and other effects is about 40-60g of the rootbark. I will probably try 30g for experiment 4. Levels above 20g should only be undertaken by EXPERIENCED TRIPPERS.

- apparently the effects of DMT can vary considerably depending on set and setting, so my trip isn't necessarily an accurate way to gauge anyone else's trip, except for dosage/strength. All the people who e-mailed me about this mentioned the wide variability in individual trips.

I'm looking forward to visiting the spirit of Mimosa again, even knowing it won't be an easy ride.