from
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=56947
A Week in the Woods, a Night of ?&!...
DOSE: T+ 0:00 3.5 g oral Mushrooms - P. cubensis (dried)
T+ 1:30 3.5 g oral Mushrooms - P. cubensis (dried)
BODY WEIGHT: 175 lb
First off, the title is incomplete because it cannot be summed up with words to the slightest, nor does this story do a good job at telling what exactly happened to me. Not even my memory gives me a complete view of what happened, although its fresh enough for some words.
Some background on myself. I am a part-time survivalist and tracker. I was trained by Tom Brown in many skill areas and tactics. It has been an amazing experience working with him. I must note since I mentioned him, he has never advocated drug use besides tobacco, this was my own discovery many years before meeting him.
At least once a year, I take a week’s vacation from work and venture into a large Northeastern USA forest. I do this as an escape and return to Nature. I feel like that is where I belong, it’s where we came from.
I bring about a three day supply of food and water in case I have trouble finding it on my own. I always enter the forest from a place I never been to before. I packed seven grams of cubensis mushrooms, which I have experience ingesting about forty times. And finally my trusted non-folding knife, and metal bowl.
I arrive at 5 am. I conceal my vehicle with brush. I then set out to explore. It was a breezy refreshing morning, of about 8°C or 45°F. I walk around all day for miles. I didn't stop walking. I maintained my sense of direction and maneuvered through clearings, dense forest, steep hills, level terrain, swamps. Finally I found a small stream. I walked in about a half mile circle around the stream making sure this would be a resourceful place to build a hut. It was near perfect. I found a patch of dogbane which makes excellent cordage which I would need for the bowdrill. I was in the coniferous regions of the forest so I could eat pine bark and make tea out of the needles.
The first two days I spent building my debris hut and bowdrill. I found great tinder and kindling so finally, after getting a bunch of wood together and burning lots of calories with my arms, built a fire. It wasn't easy, which made the gift of fire that much more enjoyable. On the morning of day three, I had two days of food left since I chewed White Pine needles and bark in place of some meals. I now had a steady fire and a temporary bowl holder so I could heat and sterilize water as well as make needle tea.
I spent day three having fun. I stalked and tracked many animals after camo'ing myself with mud from the stream. I got very close to a fawn and almost could touch it. I saw raccoons, many birds, squirrel, and deer as well as identifying some fox tracks. As evening was approaching, I got the feeling it will be a good night for the mushrooms. I heard the crying howls of coyotes in the distance. I was hoping they would stay away.
I decided to eat half- about 3.5g, at ~1 hour pre-dusk. I hum a relaxing tune and give myself feelings of confidence and strength. I begin on a long walk after placing enough wood on the fire so it stays hot. A half hour later I felt them building well. I felt the energy through my body but not in my head much yet. At dusk I was about a mile from the fire wandering around looking for animals to watch. I saw what might have been an opossum but nothing else. I began to feel the mushrooms take a hold of my mind. I was getting insight and a strong sense of viewing myself mentally in the third person.
I walked back and could see the soft glow of the fire a half mile away through the pines. I finally made it back to my fire and laid down beside it. I meditated, concentrating on my breathing and clearing my head of fleeting thoughts. I felt like I was contacting a reality much greater than this. I began to feel amazing energy as the mushroom vibe was focused in precise ways that I felt my subconscious mind was controlling. I decided to eat the other 3.5g with not much thought. I consumed them and drank some cooled sterile water from my bowl. That had been my first drink of water in almost 8 hours, and it felt wonderful.
Strangely, less than a minute after consuming the rest (which I estimate was 90 minutes or so after eating the first), I heard thunder. I wondered if this was to be a strong test instead of a peaceful night with nature. I began to meditate again, not thinking of anything and humming a low tone. Images of blood and destruction started creeping in my head. I calmly resisted and told my mind to ease up, ignore these random flashes. I then saw clearly, with my eyes closed, a blob of string-like fibres that appeared to be some kind of evil doll, with black eyes which were way too close together. With this startling image sounded a screeching sound which made me jump up. I looked around and saw blurs of these dolls in the distance, up on a hill, along with the trees waving at me. I stared at the fire, calmly trying to take my mind off this evil presence I felt in my own mind as well as outside of it.
I was losing myself extremely rapidly as the second batch kicked in. I thought for sure that I had taken too much and was going to die, if not from overdose and this insane mind stimulation, it would be from something I did. I could no longer stay calm or sane. I heard deep dark voices and with them fantastically rich patterns and swirls. I can hardly describe them, but they bent and twisted with all colors as well as some I've never seen sober. Imagine pentagons and hexagons, and 50-gons in 3-D swirling around, leaving long bending trails of infinitely detailed repeating patterns. I was amazed but horrified as well. I kind of thought something along the lines of ‘no one can see this…since I must have died tonight because this is too fantastic.’ It wasn’t with words though, I lost all sense of language. Only concepts could register in my mind. Amazing electronic unworldly music burst through the woods. I have a hard time believing this could come from my own mind. I no longer recognized my surroundings. Even the fire had turned into a seething isolated part of reality with its own magic going on. Objects I can’t describe danced and chanted. The fire took on all colors, especially green. My hands were strange flippers of patterned flesh.
I crawled into my hut and took out my knife. I didn't know myself, I was just conscious of this unfamiliar world. I must have known it hadn’t been this way forever but I couldn’t remember anything else. I started to lose a sense of fear to be overtaken with a very strange feeling of emptiness. I was still overcome by the most insane sounds and visuals, mixing together into many other senses (which wouldn’t make sense if I tried to describe). This emptiness overtook my mind probably as a defense in response to all the stimulation. I came out of the hut and looked at the sky, there were so many colors, patterns, so many lizard like creatures which I felt connected with. I also saw evil things sort of like the doll from earlier. I grabbed my knife and yelled. I was trying to keep things away and make them fear me. I think I knew deep down what I was seeing wasn’t there, although I never really thought about it. But I knew things could be there which might be a threat. I heard distorted howls in the distance again.
There were a few loud thunder rumbles, which got morphed into something else entirely. It was a deeper sound with grey cubic patterns mixed with it, along with warped signals from my new senses. I knew something was coming. Concepts related to the sound popped into my head with strange musical jingles and cartoon images of lightning bolts and dark clouds.
I ran into the stream for a reason I’m not sure of. The sensations were mind-blowing, almost literally. Pain and tingling pressure can’t even begin to describe it. Extreme senses oozed into my consciousness. I don’t even have the capacity to remember exactly what it was like, but I know it sent me on an insane run through the woods. I took off my clothes and boots. Completely naked, I ran around screaming and yelling in joy, pain, pleasure, anger, and emotions only the shroomed mind could ever know.
I remember it raining and thundering, it was nothing severe but it was exaggerated by my twisted mind to be a catastrophic storm. The lightning flashes were really…mind-jolting. Too bad language is so weak describing these things, it is truly sad.
The rest is a blank. I woke up, or came to, in a fetal position covered in leaves a few minutes before dawn, feeling the coldest I've ever been. I was tingling numb everywhere and couldn't feel my naked body. I tried to yell but my mouth was dry. I slowly moved and looked for the fire. I didn't know where I was. Panic shot through me, and I knew I would die shortly. I closed my eyes and tried to hold back a tidal wave of horribly saddening panicked emotion. Then as the sun rose I could see my tracks. They were very erratic but I could see a direction they led to in the distance. I crawled towards them. I could not stand.
Finally after 15 minutes and a half mile desperate crawl, I made it to the fire and hut. I quickly put dried sticks on the warm coals. Soon I had a fire, and finally felt like a human after it warmed me with blissful heat. A fire never felt so heavenly before.
***
I spent day four in awe of what happened and how far I’d gone. This is by far the furthest I’ve ever gone on any substance. I tried to organize what happened, but it was too chaotic to be complete in a three page story. I am still recalling pieces, nine days later. Every time I got another memory I’d write it down.
The rest of my vacation in the woods went well. I tracked myself slowly over a few hours and gave up because I was running in strange spiral patterns that ran together. I wish I knew what was going on then. The fact that I don’t remember any of the last chapter (or encyclopedia, of mental events) indicates I was very far gone indeed.
I returned home and back to indulgences of living in society. Bed, fresh food and water, house, money, etc. But this is what I wanted to get away from for a week, and I did. Out there, it’s home to me. I feel strongly connected to nature and loathe what mankind has done to it.
I would not do this again, at least at the magnitude I took it to. I don’t regret anything though…this night was the most powerful in all of my life and I feel I learned a lot about the mind and myself, as well as seeing and sensing things I never knew possible.
Cause the first thing 'other terrestrials' will be doing when they touch down is checking out wikipedia... and you think THAT is what will make us look foolish / narrow minded?
