Delerium at the Campground

A very detailed report

Substances: Datura

On 7/12/97, I had my first experience with Datura. I am not too sure what specific species it was (I am thinking either D. Inoxia or D. Meteloides). These plants grow pretty wild during the summer/fall months near my place of residence.

I wanted to try Datura because of what I read in the "Don Juan" Castaneda books. I had just finished reading the first book (which deals extensively with Datura) when the decision had been made. My previous psychedelic experiences include mushrooms, LSD, Morning Glories, Cannabis (including hash), & Opium. I was eagerly waiting my time with this plant.

Datura is not really a psychedelic.The user undergoes a more "delirium" state rather than a "psychedelic" one. In many cultures it was and still is used as part of a ritual to initiate children into adulthood. Its divinatory properties as well as the ability to "fly" have been understood by many cultures throughout history and in many parts of the world. The latter two is described very well in the Castaneda books.

While under the influence of Datura one can project themselves to other places hence the "flying" aspects of it. This also enables the user to "see" what is happening in current and past situations. High energy and confidence or power is another property sought out in this plant. After taking Datura, I felt very energized and powerful days after. My confidence soared and I felt as if I could do anything. I was normal in all aspects except for this strange reverberation rolling throughout my body. It was relaxing yet at the same time I could "feel" the sensation of power. My vibrations were pulsating strongly. It was a physical sensation of power that was in sync with the mental aspects.

Many people say that vision can be blurred or distorted for up to a month after. My vision was blurred and normal sight did not return for another week. Anyone familiar with psychedelics should already have their optics wired to handle such things very easily and with no real problem (i.e. you can still drive, etc..).

The Story:

My friend and I collected a couple of green, prickly pods as we started hiking down a local ravine. The next morning came and we both got up ready to head down to a campsite in the local National Forest.

Before we left, we both took 20 kidney shaped, white in color (Perhaps my seeds were not mature yet, I often see accounts of these seeds as being black in color) seeds. We did not bother to crush them and on retrospect, I think it would have been a better idea to mulch the seeds up before ingestion to speed up digestion. It can take up to six hours for the alkaloids to kick in.

Dosage information is pretty slim on the Internet. During the time that I researched the subject, I could only find ambiguous suggestions to dosage amount. People have reported that they had an experience from 10 to a matchbox full of seeds. In the end, I think I ended up ingesting 120 seeds (that seems like a lot which is why I think I took immature seeds…any comment?) that day/night. There is some debate to this with my friend since I did not even remember ingesting the last sixty.

The experience came on very suddenly and it surprised me. My friend was sick and decided to stay sober so we both sat around waiting for an effect to arise in me. After two hours of waiting and consuming more than sixty seeds, I fell asleep on top of a picnic table. The next thing I remember is getting up and trying to stand up. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I could not get a balance. It was like my legs had turned to springs and I kept wobbling. I was able to control this wobbling and the sensation was strange yet soothing. I tried walking across a small patch of grass over to my friend. I kept stumbling about because of my impaired walking and the numerous holes in the ground. My friend was lying on his poncho looking at me very strangely. I told him that it was time. We both got up and walked over to a nearby dry streambed and stood the bank. The last thing I really remember up to this point is that I started talking to the plants around me. I was then transferred away. I don't recall the time of day but my mind keeps telling me it was near sundown (my friend says it was midday).

From this point, for a couple of hours the story goes from the point of view of my friend. I don't recollect this at all. He tells me that I kept walking around the different campsites. This was during the day and no one else was camped. I kept walking back and forth talking aloud to various people from my family. As if I was actually with my family, I kept asking them if they wanted anything from the store or what they were doing or watching on TV. I don't remember this at all. Perhaps I was watching my family and I thought I was there with them. My friend told me that I would look him in the face and respond to him as if he were my brother or dad. When I would talk to my friend, I would look at him for a time in his actual position, turn my head, and then forget where he was. I would turn to look at something else, face another direction and think he was there…I would continue talking to him and then suddenly realize he wasn't in front of me. When I did find my friend again, I actually yelled at him to stop moving around!

He also told me that I held a conversation with a person at another campsite. This was a lone, single person just probably out for a hike. I don't remember this at all. I am so curious to know just what we talked about. It must have been quite strange.

It's pretty hard to give you my accounts in total chronological order. While on Datura, I would pop in and out of reality. When I knew I was in normal reality, things still animated or talked to me (like rocks, trees, the dog..). When I popped out of reality, for the most part, my consciousness blacked out. It's very hard to remember exactly what went on during those times. I think that this is because I didn't have any preconceptions of where I wanted to go. I would simply just go out of body or to another reality.

Many times I would come back into normal reality and find myself already doing something. I spent an awful long time trying to tie a shoe because I would start it up, pop into another reality, and then go do something else. For a long time, I walked around with one shoe on…supposedly looking for the other. If you can imagine, your body and for the most part your brain going about doing things while your self-pops in and out assuming some control in those brief periods. Kind of like an out of body experience while awake.

Time is also distorted and slowed down. When sunset actually came, my friend commented that I said what a beautiful dawn sky it was. The initial waiting period, as the Datura came on, began to distort my sense of time. Minutes felt like hours and my impatience had me take many more seeds because I thought hours had passed. There is a definite slowdown in time while on Datura. In the end, my mind only recollected about two hours total of the trip. This is what I thought was the total amount of time spent under the influence. My friendly politely corrected me and told me it had been about ten hours total. And that was only when we had made the decision to leave the campsite.

During one of my periods of blackout, some people came and setup camp next to us. I don't know how I got there but I found myself over in their campsite debating something with a guy there. I think I was trying to convince him that this campsite was free and that I could go wherever I wanted. He was trying to tell me that this particular spot was his. Pointless argument, I don't know why it happened but I would not let up and he almost got up to hit me but some girl got in the way and I walked off. No doubt they must have thought I was strange. This leads to a point that I'd like to bring up.

I would never do Datura in the presence of people you do not trust. I would not do it in the presence of people at all. There have been numerous reports of kids trying these seeds and ending up in the hospital because of what they do while under Datura and it's delirious effects. People have gotten caught walking naked in the streets, talking gibberish to loved ones, or getting beat up in bars. If possible, go to the wilds where you will be alone or with trusted friends. I do suggest having at least one person with you. You never know what you will do in a delirious state. In a delirious state, the user needs to feel safe and secure and free from people who would decide to call the cops on a crazy person wandering the streets howling.

There were a few instances in which I DID remember certain visions. In one, there was a burned tree stump, which took on the guise of Death. To me, Death was standing on the slope of a hill behind our tents. I thought someone came over and tacked on a mask of a skeleton and threw some black, tattered robes around the stump. I remember seeing two females come toward the tree. In the whole time, they never said anything to me. They just looked at me. One of the females had a transparent face outlined in green and a black, hooded cloak about her head. She fused herself with the skeletal stump and the other simply faded away. The next day, I still believed that someone had dressed the stump up. I told my friend about what I saw and how I thought it was weird someone would dress up a stump. He gave me the strangest look and reminded me that it was just a burned stump. There were several things I witnessed during the experience in which I truly believed happened afterwards. I had to spend several days probing my friend about different things.

I also remember talking to the small, grayish boulders which outlined the camping area. In my vision, they floated upward and gave the appearance of some pale, sickly, fleshy creatures. The rocks were the heads of these people. I don't know what we talked about but I do remember that we all stood around in the circle talking to each other.

Toward the end of the night, I decided that I wanted to go home. I had a sudden sensation of soberness and thought I was back to normal. We got everything packed up (since we were originally going to spend the night) and into the car. As I started the car and backed out, I blacked out again. I almost hit a rock and managed to make it to the exit of the campsite. I asked my friend if he knew where we were. He looked back at me strangely and asked me if I was really okay to drive. I snapped back into normality again and told him that I was. For the rest of the drive home, I was fine.

I do not condone driving while under this substance. If you are going to try Datura, make sure you give yourself at least 24 hours of down time. My inexperience led me to believe Datura had released her hold on me. This was not the case. I really wish my friend had done more to stop us from going. I could have blacked out again at anytime. I strongly suggest finding means of keeping your car keys away from yourself while under Datura.

The rest of the night and next two days after was a blur. I was still tripping, blacking out into dream worlds of kaleidoscope colors and imagery (I am sure the mj I had helped!). I felt very mellow and calm and peaceful. These soft feelings were encapsulated by feelings of vigor and power. I felt very confident. Everything was pulsating in my body. My vision was blurred and it was very hard to read from my computer monitor. This got better after a couple of days even though some blurred vision remained.

Everything I've read about Datura has been found, in some sense, true in my own experience. Datura prefers people "violent in nature" (as said in the Don Juan books) which is why it offers power and the feeling of vigor during and after the plant is taken. Datura is especially useful to power seekers.

My black outs and periods of dreams were sometimes remembered and lost. The dreams were more reality oriented in that I found myself in places that I thought were 100% real. The campsite literally disappeared and I was somewhere else. Sometimes I was at the campsite yet watching my body doing other things. It was a waking oobe. I flew around the camp and flew to see my family. I spoke aloud to them while my body was at the campsite as if they were really there. I saw different people in the guise of my friend and spoke to my friend as if I was speaking to these other people. My normal reality at times became synonymous with the dream worlds I was experiencing. I would see what was in my mind projected in the sky or the mountains around me.

There you go. This is my account. I recommend trying Datura for anyone interested in its effects. Too many people consider entheogenics to be recreational only and get turned off by things that didn't give them a spankin' good time. Not all psychedelics are meant for recreation and if this is your interest only, Datura may scare you into calling 911 (and end up in a hospital and on the local news). I would stay away. If you are serious about exploring altered states, I recommend Datura.

As with any exploration, there is always an amount of danger involved. Explorers in all senses face the danger of death so why should the consumption of entheogenics be any different? Datura, in lethal doses can paralyze and even kill people. Datura is part of the Solanaceae family that includes not only tomatoes, potatoes, and pepper but also includes such deadly and highly-regarded plants such as Mandrake, Deadly Nightshade, Belladonna, Henbane, & Nicotine.

If anyone is interested in anything mentioned above, please feel free to email me. I am open to any and all correspondence. Want to learn more about Datura? Click on the link below to increase your education about the plant.

Entheogen.com Datura Links - This is the most useful and comprhensive collection of resources about the plant including images, how to grow, ritual uses, & medicinal uses.

Timrehkoot
Timrehkoot@hotmail.com

"May the world never be united under one reality"

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 (last revised 4/24/98) © 1998
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