69ron said:
Times are different now though. LSD is now very hard to get.
I did not know this, since I had been on a sabbatical from using psychedelics, since 1992. Not in any kind of Holier-than-Thou head trip or anything like that... I just needed a break from the Cosmic Elevator Ride. It can be demanding on one's aura, so a vacation was in order. Of course, it's just like riding a bike, right?
SWIM used LSD for many years. He’s used LSD over a thousand times. While SWIM was heavily into LSD, he occasionally had mushrooms, mescaline, and Hawaiian Baby Woodrose, but they were very seldom used. Eventually all of the LSD he could get was either fake, adulterated, or was something else completely. He got really tired of this. The clean stuff was getting almost impossible to get. So he completely stopped using LSD and switched to using mushrooms he grew himself. This was when he started having spiritual experiences and started to really appreciate the effects of the mushrooms. Before using mushrooms heavily, his experiences were just classic LSD-style psychedelic experiences. While fantastic, and very beneficial psychologically, psychedelic experiences are not the same as the spiritual experiences he started getting from mushrooms.
Funny, for me, ingesting LSD quite often resulted in profoundly spiritual experience. While I have had approximately 50% of your journeys with LSD (which is still a lot of acid trips), I have always considered myself a veteran in the field, so I will now toss in my 2 cents worth. I vote for both, as I have to side with the combo contingency. I have had over-lapping impressions of tryptamine and phenethylamine effects, from ingesting LSD-25.
IT IS DECIDEDLY BOTH, from the voyages experienced by Rising Spirit. Yeah, both and somehow... uniquely itself, altogether. I assert that without LSD's arrival, many of us would have missed the opportunity to embrace the more time-honored Power Plants, being byproducts of our modern civilization. LSD was like a great ambassador to the other psychedelics, eh?
I believe that I saw GOD on my very first acid trip. By my third experience, I felt kundalini rushing up my spine (like a geyser at Yellowstone National Park) and I had a very absorbing inter-phase with the Clear Light. I became acquainted with my third eye, projected through multiple levels of consciousness, expanded into the crown chakra, where I witnessed the cosmic pattern of the Grid and melted into the Void. This was loooooooong before I had begun to research traditional spiritual experiences or read about Native American mysticism and East Indian Yogic cosmology. It was completely spontaneous and I found out, after the fact, that much of these awakenings were indeed "spiritual experiences".
Years later, I danced with mescaline, peyote and psilocybin mushrooms. Now, there was something even more distinctly "spiritual" about these Medicines. They seem to have Guardian Allies, who oversee the journeys individuals take into their realms. I wouldn't label them as "religious", however, they had a collective-ness about them, as if they were part of an ancient cult (of sorts). For whatever reason, I have always perceived of Mescalito as masculine and the Mushroom Goddess as feminine. I don't know why but they ALWAYS impress me as having some kind of gender to them. LSD, on the other hand, can seem almost cold and featureless? I can see why you referred to LSD as an "atheist" psychedelic, as it lacks the history, continuity and feeling of being part of the traditional Shamanic journey (that cacti, mushrooms and ayahuasca are linked into). These Medicines seem somehow connected to the mosaic/pattern of a vast fraternity or family of mystics, visionaries and healers (woven into Greater Humanity's ongoing quest for understanding). In this way, their mystical insights are very, very organic and super spiritual.
Richard Alpert (as Ram Das) suggested that LSD was, in fact, the 20th century guardian-ally for the Western Counter-culture of the 1960's-1990's. I agree completely! To me, all psychedelics are equally transcendental, yet some have more of an anthropomorphic characteristic (if that is the correct term), as if they were the Governing Deities of the these older power plants.
Ultimately, each of these psychedelics dissolves my finite sense of self and I am brought to the realization of the Void. If I had to choose a favorite ally, I would pick Mescalito. Mescaline was more euphoric and somehow lighter and more enchanted. LSD is definitely HEAVY, if that's what SWIM meant by "mind-fuck". I have experienced synesthesia with both, yet not with any tryptamines. Tasting sounds, smelling colors, hearing silence, seeing empty space, etc...
I also feel LSD and mescaline are both euphoriants and highly energizing. Not so much with tryptamines. I had a hint of it on DMT. Although, I have had just one single day exploring DMT, it was a Divine voyage and highly transcendental.
A beautiful consciuousness. I was truly inspired from the spirituality of the experience (also, it was most euphoric, so go figure).
At this point in time, SWIM has enough experience with the various range of psychedelics, that he can very easily categorize them into the following groups based on their perceived effects.
Potent psychological effects: LSD, LSH, 5-MeO-DMT
Phenethylamine like effects: Mescaline, LSD, LSH, 5-MeO-DMT
Sedating psychedelics: LSA, bufotenine (very slight, after the peak)
Dreamy psychedelics: DMT, mushrooms, ayahuasca, bufotenine, LSA
Visionary psychedelics: Mescaline, mushrooms, ayahuasca, bufotenine
Clear headed psychedelics: Bufotenine, Mescaline, oral DMT + THH
Stimulating psychedelics: Mescaline, LSD, 5-MeO-DMT, oral DMT + THH
Long lasting psychedelics: Mescaline, LSD, LSA/LSH, mushrooms, ayahuasca
Short acting psychedelics: 5-MeO-DMT, DMT, bufotenine
Wow!!! I must admit I am jealous of your accessibility to these various Medicines. I applaud your insights into the maze of subtle differences, which these substances embody. Thank you, as it is a wonderful list of psychic effects and characteristics! BTW, I also like your name. Ron born in 1969? Or is the 69 symbolic of a Yin-Yang? Or both, like this thread? Either way, I appreciate you posting this fascinating topic! Om shanti.
Peace, love and light, Rising Spirit