Subtle Psychedelic with a Wonderful Afterglow

Mescaline

Citation: LucidStudies. "Subtle Psychedelic with a Wonderful Afterglow: An Experience with Mescaline (exp67897)". Erowid.org . Jul 14, 2009. erowid.org/exp/67897

DOSE:

T+ 0:00 95 mg oral Mescaline (capsule) T+ 0:30 130 mg oral Mescaline (capsule) T+ 1:10 55 mg oral Mescaline (powder / crystals)

BODY WEIGHT: 160 lb

-Introduction-I had obtained a small sample of pure mescaline hydrochloride, a white powder with an unremarkable appearance, but a very pungent chemical aroma. I viewed mescaline as a particularly special psychedelic. It is the only phenethylamine with a long history of ritualistic and religious usage. Culturally, this psychedelic is rivaled in importance only by the psilocybe mushroom and LSD. It is the center of some of the most important books and articles in psychedelic literature. It is also one of the best-studied phenethylamines, with well-documented LD50 data indicating the near-impossibility of a human overdose (212 mg/kg is the lethal dosage in mice). I wanted to make sure my first experience with this substance was as satisfying as possible, and I did not want to be alone for it.So I asked my girlfriend to share an experience with me. She is not a psychedelic user, but she is not hostile to the psychedelic lifestyle either. My first mescaline experience was also my first psychedelic experience spent almost entirely with my partner and lover. She did not partake of the substance, but it was our psychedelic day to share together.-Timeline-12:10PM: A 95 milligram capsule of Mescaline is swallowed on an empty stomach. This is to be the first part of a gradually-administered dose.12:20 / T+0:10: I feel the mescaline releasing from the capsule. There is warmth in my stomach and a slight raise in pulse rate. It is somewhat like mild alcohol intoxication at this point; mostly physical, warm and benevolent feeling. I have explained to my girlfriend that the effects will come on gradually. She is on hand for emotional support, but does some chores while waiting for things to get going.12:40 / T+0:30: The initial physical effects are evening out. My pulse has slowed back down a bit. There are not yet any psychedelic symptoms. A second dose, this time a 130 milligram capsule, is swallowed. This brings the dosage up to 225mg.12:50 / T+0:40: The substance is still setting in slowly.1:05 / T+0:55: Still no dramatic increase in effects. Im a little worried that the stuff might not be working, but I know I need to give it plenty of time.1:20 / T+1:10: A third dose is taken 55 milligrams of mescaline powder mixed with some kiwi strawberry soda in a shot glass is swallowed straight down. The total dose of Mescaline is now up to 280mg.1:30 / T+1:20: Time dilation sets in. Reality is slowing down. Lights and colors are amplifying, coming alive. There is a stirring in my stomach. Not severe nausea, just a slowly-progressing tickle of discomfort. Warm and sensual feelings flush up and down my body.1:45 / T+1:35: Strong effects begin to set in. Im dizzy, and when I close my eyes I feel as if Im floating in the middle of the room. I have strong closed-eye visuals. I sit with my eyes closed for a few minutes, practically unable to speak, lost in thought and slightly overwhelmed. My girlfriend sees that I look distraught and talks to me. I assure her that I will be OK.1:50 / T+1:40: The tingling feelings in my torso have spread out into my arms and legs. The warmth has enveloped my whole body. Sensations, sounds, sights and emotions are becoming hypersensitized. I can see extreme detail in the floor and walls, and a smoothly flowing ocean of colors greets me when I close my eyes. There is no movement of objects with eyes opened. I feel emotionally opened, childlike and with a rising sense of wonder.2:00 / T+1:50: I step into the bathroom to take a look at myself in the mirror, and deliberate for a few minutes over the mild but persistent nausea. It is at this time that the mental effects of Mescaline reach a peak. I sense a level of connectedness with my surroundings which is so strong its disconcerting. I feel connected with everything. I begin slipping into looping thought processes which I cannot control. There is something about my connectedness with the world that I cannot understand; something perplexes me.I find myself playing a mental game that consists of finishing the sentence, Everything is __________. Whatever answer I decide upon I must obsess over. For instance, I randomly pick the word Soft to finish the sentence with. Everything is soft. Then I sense that everything around me and everywhere in the world IS soft. The world is endlessly soft and so am I, from my skin down to my core, and my mind continually repeats the phrase: Everything is soft. Everything is soft. Everything is soft. But why is everything soft? Should everything be soft? Doesnt the world need hardness too?Several seconds later soft is gone and Im thinking something else, like Everything is safe. Everything is dangerous. Everything is complete. Everything is broken. Everything is colorful. Everything is dark. Everything is alive. Everything is dead. Everything is ME. Each iteration loops, a paradigm that briefly seems like the only possible reality, until it is replaced seconds later by another.This continues for ten minutes or so. I finally choose to finish my sentence as follows: Everything is FINE. I refuse to let any other phrase in to finish my sentence: This is my chosen reality. Once I come to the conclusion that everything is fine, I reach a plateau. From this point on, free thought is possible again.2:10 / T+2:00: I have rejoined my girlfriend, and I am talking and thinking quite effectively. When frightening thought loops start to re-emerge, I replace them with phrases designed to keep me centered and protected, such as all things flow together, which is a personal motto I discovered during a Psilocetin trip a couple months ago. I decide it is time to leave home and see a slice of nature.2:25 / T+2:15: My girlfriend and I are walking through a park together. It feels so good just to walk over the bright green grass and leave my footsteps in the dirt. I have an increased awareness of the fact that every blade of grass is alive, and remark to my girlfriend about how ordinarily I would think about them as objects rather than creatures. There is definitely an increased empathy for plant and animal life with this substance.I stop to marvel at the textures of two remarkable trees. My girlfriend informs me that they are eucalyptus trees, and begins telling me interesting things about the origins and lifespan of the eucalyptus, and the composition of its bark. I tear a tiny piece of bark off to take home as a keepsake.2:30 / T +2:20: My girlfriend realizes there is a pet store only a couple blocks away. I immediately remark that I am greatly excited by the possibility of puppies in my future.2:40 / T+2:30: We are at the pet store, playing with kittens, dogs, turtles, and birds. I draw warmth from the presence of all the life around me, though Im a little disconcerted by how the animals live encaged. My thought processes are close to normal. There are no problems navigating or conducting myself socially.3:00 / T+2:50: We leave the pet store. Were still enjoying each others company, the weather is wonderful, the sun is bright, and the effects of the substance, for me, are enjoyably mild. There are no sudden shifts in consciousness; the color brightening effect is still going strong but the visuals have not deepened any further.3:15 / T+3:05: We have wandered to the beach. After walking along the oceanside for a little bit, we find a ferris wheel ride and decide to give it a go. My girlfriend and I had been talking about riding a ferris wheel together for some time, as in the five years weve been together we had somehow not yet done it. Now we ride a ferris wheel together for the first time, but theres a lump of mescaline in my belly.The view of the ocean, the shopping strip, and half of the city from above is quite amazing. The mescaline amplifies the swirling feeling from the moving compartment we are in, and I cling to my seat half-afraid that I might somehow fly off into the sky. In time, I learn to enjoy the ride.4:15 / T+4:05: We get home. Nausea has been rumbling along under the surface for the last couple hours. I step into the bathroom and vomit. Its over with pretty quickly, definitely not severe nausea. My stomach feels tight for about 10 minutes afterwards before settling back out nicely.5:15 / T+5:05: Colors are shifting back to normal; the last of the visual effect is fading. Theres still some lingering warmth in the body, still a little bit of emotional openness. But things are definitely returning to normal. My girlfriend considers her trip-sitting complete and returns to her normal activities. I go on my computer for a couple of hours and tend to my own things.7:10 / T+7:00: The trip has ended. There are no visual effects and no significant alteration to my state of consciousness. Yet there is still an afterglow, a feeling of rejuvenation and completeness. This persists for the rest of the day.-Conclusions-Mescaline is a warm, subtle psychedelic that progresses slowly and smoothly. It takes over an hour to set in, initially having an electrifying, thrilling and dizzying feel to it, but quickly settling out into a peaceful state, in which I feel wide-awake yet sedated. For the first half-hour of the trip there were some racing thoughts, comparable to the passionate thought-loops and free-form thinking of a mushroom trip. But for most of the trips duration, the headspace was clear, open-minded, and conducive to socialization. There was practically no open-eye visual movement at this dose, and the visual effect was subtler than I had expected. There was some nausea, but not overwhelming.The subtlety of mescalines sensorial effects forced me to re-evaluate the 2C family of psychedelics, who I think Ive been a little bit harsh on. I tend to get categorically subtler psychedelic effects from phenethylamines compared to tryptamines, with greater nausea. I realize now that 2C substances offer psychedelic experiences every bit as strong as mescaline, with generally comparable side-effects. For instance, I used to deride 2C-I for being dull and boring because I imagined mescaline having much more intense visuals. Now I think the two have a lot alike: Both brighten colors, sensitize emotions, and produce very little in the way of open-eye movement and patterning. Both are valuable substances. Since Mescaline is quite expensive, I will be forced to save it for special occasions. My exploration of the 2C family will continue, and I will keep my memories of Mescaline on hand as a reference point for better understanding the effects of other phenethylamines.My favorite thing about Mescaline is the slow come-down and wonderful afterglow. The feelings of child-like contentment and general satisfaction afterwards were as valuable as the trip itself. For this reason, I would recommend that anyone lucky enough to come across Mescaline do what I did: Plan your day, plan your dose, try the substance, spend the trip with someone special, and enjoy the afterglow.