Psychedelics in Plants as communication tool

[PlantPipeline]

This is something that occupies my mind a bit longer now. I have used the search engine but couldn`t find anything specific on this topic. The title is a bit whacky, as I didn`t find a good description:grin:


Introduction

So I grew up, spending lots of time in the woods and the mountains. Therefore I developed an appreciation for nature and was attracted to plants quite early on. In this time though, it was still much more on an intuitive level.
As I grew up my love and attitude to plants got more evident to me and I began strenghtening this bond. The discovery of psychedelics encouraged me to foster this relationship even more, which lead, to me feeling very sensitive to the "radiancy" of plants. The sensivity awoke questions in me about the essence of plants and if interaction on a more communicational level may be possible.

Relevant

During my psychedelic experiences with Salvia(sublingual), Changa, HBWR and Mushrooms I usually feel very strong guidance and feel a presence which I attach to my image of the plants character. They have distinctly different ways of presenting themselves and showing relevant things to me.
The only "man-made" psychedelic I have tried is clean LSD but the difference between them is big for me: I don`t feel any presence with L, where with plants it feels like there is some sort of interaction with a counterpart (symbiotic?).

One thought that fascinated me is, that the psychedelic substance in the plant could maybe act as an amplifier and communication tool to help the plant present itself to animals?
Does somebody know scientific sources about the role of psychedelics in plants or a potential benefit to their organism?

Another mind game I had, is to perform a psychedelic blind test with several people. I am aware that there usually are additional alkaloides in plants, which contribute to the experience.
But if one would do a full spectrum extraction on mescaline(example) and give the participant the extract and the cacti in two different occasions: There shouldn`t be a noteable difference in effects from a scientific aspect(?)
If the attendants could still sort out which one is which, wouldn`t that point to a non-substantial aspect in plants? Both samples of course had to be prepared indistinguishable for administration.


I am very interested in your thoughts, experiences and criticism on this subject

PlantPipeline

 

[brewster]

Interesting!

This was one of my earlier mushroom experiences - I was in the forest, completely overwhelmed (in a positive way) from all the vibrant, buzzing energy and connection all around me. I felt such an incredible reverence towards the majestic trees that I was crying with happiness.

And I loved nature before, but this has strongly increased the bond.

I assume, though, that our mindset massively influences the experience. While LSD has a slightly different touch for me, too, I think that the most part of your experiencing it differently is because you have stored it as "man-made" and the other stuff as "plant-made". Of course, I can't know this, this is just what I assume.

An important reason for this is that my psychedelic experiences have been so dramatically different from each other, that the difference in set & setting seemed more important to me than the difference in substance. (Speaking about Shrooms and LSD mostly.)

And I see plants as sentient beings and our roommates on this planet. I like the notion that they have a consciousness of their own, not inferior to ours, but totally different in nature. (No pun intended ).

Still - I do believe in the interaction between plant and human, and for me it is something special to ingest the whole plant other than an extract. It seems to me that this allows for a different kind of connection, a more intense one. Dosen't mean either one of them is inherently better, but I think that there is a difference.

There is so little research, especially for mescaline. Hopefully, we'll see some of these questions answered in the decades to come.

 

[AcaciaConfusedYah]

These plants are funky critters! It's widely suggested that the alks are defense mechanisms from predation. Why? How did the plants decide that they should biosynthesize these alkaloids? I dunno.

I used to go hiking in the woods almost every day. Ticks were always a concern. A happy accident revealed something interesting. I made a balm of coconut oil and DMT to attempt to achieve transdermal effects (i'll discuss that on another day; yes it did work, but mild in comparison to the amount consumed during administration.) While it wasn't a ticket to breakthroughs - it certainly has a use. Ticks HATED it. When I used it before going indi thre woods, i'd have no insect issues.

One day, I was sitting at my normal DMT vaping location, partaking in my typical DMT stuffs. It was a large rock that seemed to be hidden in the middle of no where. In between blasts, i looked down and noticed a tick crawling towards me. I usually smash them, but I was curious about the effectiveness of the DMT balm. I reached into my bag and put a thin, fresh layer on my arm and held it out to the tick. It came within about 2 inches from my arm and stopped. It stood there for a moment, turned around and hurried the other direction. Anecdotal, completely. But, I use the balm when i go into thre woods.

Good defense against ticks.


Take care!
ACY

 

[Asher7]

Certain examples of mimicry make me question evolution. But then again I can’t see how any of this is random.

 

[PlantPipeline]

Thanks for your answers

I assume, though, that our mindset massively influences the experience. While LSD has a slightly different touch for me, too, I think that the most part of your experiencing it differently is because you have stored it as "man-made" and the other stuff as "plant-made". Of course, I can't know this, this is just what I assume.

I agree with you that our mindset heavily influences our experiences. It makes it definitely very hard to distinguish how much is set/setting and how much comes from difference in substance. Another factor I am strongly fond of and complicates this topic, is the idea of collective experience/unconsciousness.
Independant from the differation of plant and man-made psychedelics, I am of the opinon that substances which have a very long interaction/tradition with humans, are richer in "data or information". This would make sense to me, as with traditional psy. plants people report way more often complete visions, often including indigenous scenes or landscapes, even if they had no particular interest/knowledge of the traditions. With LSD, which is only 75 years old, visuals seem to be more mathematical and less scenery.
I imagine it to myself like a "metaphysical data pool" where all the experiences are saved and theoretically are accessable time independant (time is no longer linear in these states).

The big difference with L for me is, that it acts like a extreme modification of my senses but has no "drive". Every time, I felt like I have to do something out of the exp., where the plants had their own programm prepared.(often related to saving nature):d
I really need to try other man-made psychs, as L is my only reference point...have loads of 2cb but haven`t tried it yet because of nasty bodyload stories.

I can really relate to your mushroom story. They are very connective to me aswell, even in very small doses

These plants are funky critters! It's widely suggested that the alks are defense mechanisms from predation.

I heard this before as well. What makes me doubt this a bit is, that many animals (like dogs) seem to seek out and eat psylocibes for example. Also the fact that psychedelics increase visual acuity, which is an advantage to animals, contradicts the defense mechanism for me.
Even if an animal had a strong experience by eating psych. plants I could imagine in retrospective, it arroused more interest in it:lol:

The DMT balm sounds very promising!
I can see myself going for forest walks enjoying a low dose dmt and beeing secure from ticks at the same time. I am like a magnet to them.

Certain examples of mimicry make me question evolution. But then again I can’t see how any of this is random.

Hmm I am not sure if I fully understand you


take care
PlantPipeline