The watermark patterns on top of fabrics.

[Sadalsuud]

To revive this conversation, for my first post, and because it is the first post pulled up in a search for 'watermark,' I would put forth an idea specifically about LSD.

Calling the visual effect seen at heroic doses a 'watermark' is quite literal for me, and no other term is more accurate in my opinion. It does not appear to be a clarification of the world around the tripper, some system lying just out of sight; nor does it feel particularly sentient in the sense that it is a language coming from some other source, trying to communicate.

At first, upon seeing it the first time, I thought it simply (lol) the watermark of the universe itself, quite literally a denominator design that permeated all existence that served as a brand for where we were. It seems, however, to be different on every crystal.

It seems, actually, to be a man-made watermark, somehow transcribed into the experience, that comes out in holographic glory. What drew me to this conclusion is from comparing experiences with others whom take great interest in appreciating trips for different reasons..

Sometimes the mark is mildly complex in design, other times it seriously looks like a picture a kid tried to draw like a circle in the upper corner with zigzags at the bottom for a sun and grass respectively. Then again, you might find yourself looking at a holographic steely dan encircled by bouncing bears, imprinted into and impressed outward from everything you turn to look. And whatever the source is, these images remain consistent enough to be reliably seen every time.

Has anyone else had this idea? I'm curious to know if somehow the creator has signed their work with these incredible visuals.

 

[CosmicGigglez]

The shipibo also see these patterns as some form of embodied tonality. In what way they reflect their sacred songs is still not clear to me, but there is a strong connection beween icaros and the sacred patterns. They use them to heal ...to defend...to strengthen.

astute observation imo 8)

 

[CosmicGigglez]

I think I know exactly what you're talking about; I see these patterns in cement, grass, plasterwork... Anywhere there is a chaotic texture or pattern. Especially on the "slower" psychedelics like LSD where you have time to focus on things. The stronger the dose, the clearer and more animated the patterns are. They seem to consist of various sizes of curved, interlinked asymmetrical arrows.

I think you are right- these patterns are always there but we normally don't see them. When visible, they make perfect sense because they describe the mathematical reality of the pattern you're looking at. Basically, it's a clarified organizational map. Psychedelics brioaden our awareness enough that we can see things this way.

There are two seemingly distinct kinds of patterns I'd like to talk about. I'll start with that which Guyomech skillfully identified above. I see these too, as noted especially on LSD. What amazed me about this effect as opposed to some of the other visual effects that you can get among the "lesser" visual effects is that (for me at least) it's not simply an overlay of a pattern onto a surface. So let's take cement as an example. It doesn't seem to me that the patterns seen behind the eyelids for example is simply overlaid on top of the cement, but rather it appears as if the particles of the cement itself have rearranged themselves as to display the pattern. This always struck me as being rather significant because I've felt that it implies something a little deeper as compared with wavering or size distortions. On DMT, the same chaotic textures that are ideal for creating this effect such as cement, sand, snow, etc...appear to me as more flowery, natural and organic where it the pattern appears to be a bit more synthetic with LSD. I might note that this could be a dose issue as I've never taken a heroic dose of LSD, so I think it might be likely that at the higher dose, this discrepancy might not exist.

Now I'd like to start talking about what I initially thought the OP was referring to as the watermarks. It seems I was wrong after reading Guyomech's post, but I thought that the kind of pattern I was thinking of bares mention. On a sufficient dose of DMT, the patterns that may start off as those noted above which presents itself (to me at least) as rather 2D, with a little bit of focus (i.e. simply looking at one place) begin to amass energy which they use to form themselves until the surface being studied becomes "supersaturated" with this energy as the patterns begin to erupt into the 3D/4D plane as holograms. Sometimes they're delicately translucent, sometimes they're packed with color, bordering on seeming radioactive. Sometimes they manifest into holographic machinery, sometimes it's vectors flying through the air and bounding around the room, and just the other day while I was still holding a hit in, before I could close my eyes, I was staring at my closet door which two tall and slender Egyptian statues formed and then began to rotate and part as to open a gateway of some kind. If it's the ceiling that's being focused on, then the hologram will usually begin to descend from the ceiling, unfolding in layers such that the pattern is still on the ceiling, occupying the area between myself and the ceiling and being right in my face eventually all at the same time. It really gives a fine appreciation of space and depth. It's this open-eyed interactable holographic phenomenon that I find to be so magical and interesting in regards to the DMT experience, and I believe that further study of this phenomenon will lead to some further interesting discoveries.

EXCELLENT RESPONSE! I cant wait to see what they find out about dmt in the next 20 years!!!

 

[aliendreamtime]

Ok, I'll play a little DEVIL's ADVOCATE here:

There is an assumption that these substances help us see MORE of what is really there... what if it's actually the opposite?

Our brains thrive on pattern - it's how we make sense of the world around us: thoughts, dreams, stories, music... Our brains NEED organization and pattern to function and progress. WHAT IF:

What you see on psychedelics, and what smerrel is reporting to see all around him while not under the influence, are not our brain RECOGNIZING pre-existing motifs, but rather IMPOSING pattern on irregular surfaces as a means of forcing the impression of comprehension.

Of course I realize what I am proposing here - that what we see, and hear (and feel) on psychedelics is a material response to a chaotic barrage, the brain's way of organizing the random, or the minutely organized, into larger chunks of recognizable pattern. I am not espousing this theory, but merely observing it as an alternative way of looking at this phenomenon. It fits in with a larger view of one aspect of what I believe these substances may be doing to our consciousnesses.

Incidentally, I don't see these patterns, but I do, on largish dose of DMT, see letters: mostly chunky golden-hued capital E's flying by, sometimes reversed, sometimes with an extra bar in them - a child's way of describing them, but words, of course, fail...

JBArk

This is the most accurate way to look at these patterns through a scientific lens. II have given the phenomenon of patterns with respect to psychedelics a lot of thought. Consider the origins of the names we have given these drugs - psychotomimetics - a psychosis-inducing drug. What is a major symptom of schizophrenia? An overactive pattern processing mechanism in the brain, so that the guy delivering the mail seems in on some scandalous governmental plot to subject you to your worst fears, or what have you. So this description is accurate to a degree, because it can induce a mental state in which disconnected phenomena appear to have some connection - again, an overactive pattern recognition state.

But ah, the "newer" term for these drugs? Psychedelics! What does it mean? Mind- (or perhaps soul) -manifesting. I think this is the most accurate description for these drugs and what they do (above psychotomimetic or entheogen), Seeing patterns in chaos is what the human mind is best at. It's what makes us human, allows us to anticipate, predict, design, communicate, discover, understand, etc. And this is perfectly born out in seeing patterns in chaotic grains of gravel in concrete- it is the mind manifest before your eyes. You are seeing the pattern recognition capabilities of your mind. I don't think it's logical to assume the patterns represent some reality outside did the one you're creating with your brain/senses. But then, art is not logical, spontanaeity is not logical, lots of good stuff in life is not logical.

Now, from a shamanistic perspective, these patterns are language, the spirit of the plant made manifest by ingesting the shamanic medicine.

I don't defend either the scientific/reductionist ir creative/spiritual definition per se, but certainly it's two good ways of explaining the phenomenon, which is something dear to my heart.

What I've noticed lately with DMT is - I've been getting asymmetrical visuals,. Anyone encounter that?