The Plant with the Answer

Peyote

DOSE: 13 buttons oral Peyote (plant material)

BODY WEIGHT: 100 lb

I am a male (vintage hippy) who has had a fair share of psychadelic experiences in my time. None, however could equal up to the life-changing trip I experienced after ingesting 'the divine catus'.It was saturday in El Paso,Texas. I was out of the house by 6 o'clock looking for my well known friend, lysergic acid diethylamide. Now up until this point I had never had a problem finding acid. But this time would be different.I was very dissapointed to hear that I had not succeeded in my journey for a dose. That is, until I came across a mexican-american (let's call him Juan) that i had recenty jammed with. I remember him telling me about a cactus he had experimented with while he was 'seeking enlightenment' in the chihuahan desert,mexico. My curiosity arose.Of course, being the desperate bastard i was at that point in time, I anxiously begged him to 'hook me up' with peyote. (Now when I say hook-up, I'm not giving off the idea that I am a stoner who abuses psychoactive drugs for the feeling. I have not, nor will I ever put a drug in my body for a reason other then to expand my mind, and for a better understanding of earth before it was infected by society.) Juan informed me that I was in luck and a few of his friends actually did have peyote in their possession. My dissapointment quickly turned to ecstatic joy.'Hop in.' Juan said.I quickly jumped in the vintage 1971 volkswagen van. And we were off. Off for a religous experience i will never forget.....When we arrived, I was surprised (but rather excited) to walk into an adobe-style house full of native americans. They told me what to expect of the peyote, and that I would experience nausea. (Especially being the size I am). But they told me it was nothing compared to the knowledge I would gain from the trip.Ok. Enough of the novel bullshit. Time for the good stuff. They opened a bag about 3 feet high and probably 1 foot in diameter. Inside was nearly 200 ready-to-serve peyote buttons. They handed me 13 (which just heppens to be my lucky number). They told me to be prepared for the bitter taste I would experience. Man were they right. I have never in my life tasted something so bitter. But hey, you can't expect something that sprouts from the ground and stuck in a bag to taste like marshmallows. I finished all 13 of them after about 30 minutes.Probably an hour after ingestion, the nausea was extreme. I went outside to vomit. And vomit I did. Goddamn did I vomit. The negativity of the puking didnt compare to what was about to happen. I walked around to the back of the house to see the mountains of El Paso (quite astonishing from certain angles). And being that everyeone else was already tripping, I knew I wouldnt be missed greatly. So off I was, to hike the mountains of Western Texas.After about 30 miutes of hiking (the time now being about 10:30 P.M.), I stopped at my destination. (That was whatever looked appealing to me.) I layed down on my back. The stars never had looked so beuatiful and in perfect order. I stood up and looked around. Everything was so incredibly fascinating and beautiful. The shrub's leaves glistened with light.It was at this time when I fell back down into an indian-style sitting position. The intensity of the beauty grew every second. Every time I blinked, A rainbow of colors appeared. So I closed my eyes in a meditative style. This is when my vision arose. In this vision, I was standing still in a field looking straight ahead at a buffalo. It was probably 50 yards away from me. It moved forward slowly. Probably an inch every minute or so. The buffalo didnt move in position though when it came forward. It just sort of slided towards me. Now lets jump forward in time about an hour later when it is about 3 feet in front of me. The past hour I had been so ammused by the buffalo coming towards me. I was anticipating what would happen when it got to me. Nearly a thousand thoughts were running through my head at once perfectly clear. (I'm not sure exactly what they were now.) But it seemed that every thought was how excited I was to see what would happen when the buffalo reached me.Now let's skip to the part where the buffalo is 6 inches away from me. The anticipation then turned to fear and terror. It was coming head on towards my stomach. It wasn't going to stop. It was probably the most terrifying feeling I have ever experienced. A few minutes later (roughly 5,000 thoughts later) It was centimeters away from my body. If this were'nt a vision my pants would have been soaked with urine. Here's the exciting part....The buffalo is literally touching my skin, though i feel nothing, nor do I fall back. It slowly just moves through my body. Gliding right past me (well, through me). A few minutes later, It is totally behind me, and all that I can see is the field and where it meets the horizon. Now to end this vision, nothing could have done it better then what happens next. At the start of the horizon A white light arises. Then it suddenly grows to cover up my whole screen (meaning everything I can see/ everything in front of me) And just like that, I'm out of my visionary state, back in the mountains sitting just like I was before this happened. Except, it was totally bright. That vision I had which seemed to have taken place in about 2 hours had lasted about 10. I looked around at everything I had admired the night before. I say this in the simplest form, though no words can describe how I really felt... I honestly felt ONE with everything around me, everything I saw. And I have felt this way towards everything since this experience. I walked back down to the indian's house. And knocked on the door to find Juan saying, 'Hey man I'm ready to go.' Just like that. No 'hey where did you go, we were worried.' Odd, but not offensive. He took me back to my house, where I sat for the rest of the day wondering what all of my vision meant. It surely couldn't have happened for no reason. It had to have had a meaning. And I was going to find out what that meaning was.6 months later I had traveled with friends up to Oklahoma next to lawton, where the Wichita Mountains lie. My friend and I were walking around. Everything was well and peaceful. Next thing we knew, a buffalo had gone wild and started running around at dangerous speeds in a psychotic manner. My friend ran off in fear for his life. But I on the other hand, was reminded of my vision on peyote. The buffalo started running towards me. In a matter of 10 seconds I had re-lived the 10 hour long experience that had occured. And something in my mind had told me not to move. When I snapped back into reality, the buffalo was standing right in front of me holding completely still. It had gone from carelessly running around to standing completely still in a matter of seconds. My friends was astonished. As was I. That is when I discovered what my vision meant. And up to this date, that is the best experience I have ever encountered. Definitely what i would call a spiritual experience.I highly recommend the spiritual, medicinal, or religous use of Peyote to anyone seeking enlightenment.