elphologist1
Rising Star
I thought I would introduce myself here briefly so others can know a bit about me.
I became interested in consciousness expanding drugs much later in life than most people. By the time I attended college in the mid-1980s, by far the most popular "drug" on campus was alcohol. I never got into that scene. Had the scene been the 60's or 70's instead, I might have gotten interested. There were probably some people on campus interested in psychedelics, but as an engineering major I was too much of a geek to really care much anyway.
A few years after graduating from college, I remember seeing a special on TV about the 1960s. That was a real eye-opener for me, in terms of how openly drugs were advocated in society (they certainly weren't any more). It seemed to me that there had been some vague promise in the 1960's regarding a better society that had somehow faded away without ever being actualized. I read a few books on the 60's - as I recall I first read _The Acid Test_, and I also read the book _Storming Heaven_ about LSD. I became very interested in music by the Beatles, particularly how drugs influenced the later part of their careers. At the time I thought it would be really interesting to take LSD. But I certainly didn't have the contacts to find it, and reasoned that I probably never would.
It wasn't until the late 1990s that these thoughts crossed my mind again. I had read _The Holographic Universe_, and was fascinated by claims made about LSD in this book. I then read two of Stan Grof's books, which were even more fascinating. Someplace on Usenet I read about people making "pseudo" LSD using morning glory seeds. Right as the century was ending, I had several LSA "trips". Being cautious, I did a water extraction of 75 Heavenly Blue seeds. I felt the effects, but the trip was light. So I tried 150 seeds. I enjoyed the trip a lot at first and learned a lot, but towards the end the psychedelic effects changed to be mostly "mindfuck". This went on and on for far longer than expected and I started to panic. Gradually the trip ended with no harm done, but I vowed not to try the seeds again. That didn't last though. A few months later I tried again several times, with somewhat smaller doses. About that time I became busy with other things and pretty much lost interest in further experimentation.
Late in 2006 I began reading and participating in a forum that described how to grow psilocybin mushrooms. I decided to give it a try and had my first trip (2 grams of dried mushrooms) on Christmas day of 2006. I then produced enough psilocybin for about a dozen trips, and stored it carefully for future use. I would use it mostly I was facing a decision or other new situation in my life, in an attempt to view the situation from a new perspective. I used the last dose earlier this year. This fall, I considered growing some more mushrooms, but decided instead to experiment with other things. I had easy access to nitrous and tried it several times, but it didn't seem to provide me with much insight. I then read a bit about DMT. Hearing that is was once called the "businessman's trip" because of its short duration made me interested in trying, although the thought of "smoking" anything was repulsive to me (I've never smoked in my life). So I successfully extracted some DMT and have tried it several times. I also hope to try mescaline eventually. I would try LSD of course, but from what I read most of what is sold as "LSD" is really not LSD, even if I had the contacts to get it. After studying several syntheses of LSD, I concluded I would never be able to make it myself. I don't feel comfortable trying research chemicals without a proven history of safety.
My main interest in mind-expanding drugs lies in their potential to solve problems and reveal subconscious thoughts, as well as what experiences tell us about the brain. Although I don't have a problem with people using drugs recreationally, that's not my main motivation. I believe that a lot can be learned, both personally and scientifically, through responsible drug use. For this reason, I have for several years been a financial supporter of both MAPS and Erowid. I am also planning (have already requested the time off from work) on attending the MAPS conference on psychedelic science in the 21st century in San Jose this April.
My experiments with drugs are mostly limited by the amount of time required (I like to make sure I have enough time free from responsibilities to integrate each experience) and by other competing interests (I'm a geek with a lot of technical interests). Oh, and I chose the name "elphologist" to indicate that I like to study things objectively. I understand that people often see "elves" when using DMT (although I have yet to experience that myself) so I chose the name as sort of an analogy to "psychologist" or "anthropologist". Actually, I screwed up my E-mail address the first time so I had to settle for "elphologist1". Besides my interest in psychedelics in general, I'm still fascinated by anything that has to do with the 1960's. I enjoy reading books by people like Tim Leary and Richard Alpert. I also enjoy watching videos on this period, even anti-drug propaganda films (I have a fairly large collection).
elphologist
I became interested in consciousness expanding drugs much later in life than most people. By the time I attended college in the mid-1980s, by far the most popular "drug" on campus was alcohol. I never got into that scene. Had the scene been the 60's or 70's instead, I might have gotten interested. There were probably some people on campus interested in psychedelics, but as an engineering major I was too much of a geek to really care much anyway.
A few years after graduating from college, I remember seeing a special on TV about the 1960s. That was a real eye-opener for me, in terms of how openly drugs were advocated in society (they certainly weren't any more). It seemed to me that there had been some vague promise in the 1960's regarding a better society that had somehow faded away without ever being actualized. I read a few books on the 60's - as I recall I first read _The Acid Test_, and I also read the book _Storming Heaven_ about LSD. I became very interested in music by the Beatles, particularly how drugs influenced the later part of their careers. At the time I thought it would be really interesting to take LSD. But I certainly didn't have the contacts to find it, and reasoned that I probably never would.
It wasn't until the late 1990s that these thoughts crossed my mind again. I had read _The Holographic Universe_, and was fascinated by claims made about LSD in this book. I then read two of Stan Grof's books, which were even more fascinating. Someplace on Usenet I read about people making "pseudo" LSD using morning glory seeds. Right as the century was ending, I had several LSA "trips". Being cautious, I did a water extraction of 75 Heavenly Blue seeds. I felt the effects, but the trip was light. So I tried 150 seeds. I enjoyed the trip a lot at first and learned a lot, but towards the end the psychedelic effects changed to be mostly "mindfuck". This went on and on for far longer than expected and I started to panic. Gradually the trip ended with no harm done, but I vowed not to try the seeds again. That didn't last though. A few months later I tried again several times, with somewhat smaller doses. About that time I became busy with other things and pretty much lost interest in further experimentation.
Late in 2006 I began reading and participating in a forum that described how to grow psilocybin mushrooms. I decided to give it a try and had my first trip (2 grams of dried mushrooms) on Christmas day of 2006. I then produced enough psilocybin for about a dozen trips, and stored it carefully for future use. I would use it mostly I was facing a decision or other new situation in my life, in an attempt to view the situation from a new perspective. I used the last dose earlier this year. This fall, I considered growing some more mushrooms, but decided instead to experiment with other things. I had easy access to nitrous and tried it several times, but it didn't seem to provide me with much insight. I then read a bit about DMT. Hearing that is was once called the "businessman's trip" because of its short duration made me interested in trying, although the thought of "smoking" anything was repulsive to me (I've never smoked in my life). So I successfully extracted some DMT and have tried it several times. I also hope to try mescaline eventually. I would try LSD of course, but from what I read most of what is sold as "LSD" is really not LSD, even if I had the contacts to get it. After studying several syntheses of LSD, I concluded I would never be able to make it myself. I don't feel comfortable trying research chemicals without a proven history of safety.
My main interest in mind-expanding drugs lies in their potential to solve problems and reveal subconscious thoughts, as well as what experiences tell us about the brain. Although I don't have a problem with people using drugs recreationally, that's not my main motivation. I believe that a lot can be learned, both personally and scientifically, through responsible drug use. For this reason, I have for several years been a financial supporter of both MAPS and Erowid. I am also planning (have already requested the time off from work) on attending the MAPS conference on psychedelic science in the 21st century in San Jose this April.
My experiments with drugs are mostly limited by the amount of time required (I like to make sure I have enough time free from responsibilities to integrate each experience) and by other competing interests (I'm a geek with a lot of technical interests). Oh, and I chose the name "elphologist" to indicate that I like to study things objectively. I understand that people often see "elves" when using DMT (although I have yet to experience that myself) so I chose the name as sort of an analogy to "psychologist" or "anthropologist". Actually, I screwed up my E-mail address the first time so I had to settle for "elphologist1". Besides my interest in psychedelics in general, I'm still fascinated by anything that has to do with the 1960's. I enjoy reading books by people like Tim Leary and Richard Alpert. I also enjoy watching videos on this period, even anti-drug propaganda films (I have a fairly large collection).
elphologist
