Some things I learned during the Plant Spirit Medicine (entheogenic) conference

[z00se]

Hmmm... Plus you need good parents. You need to have good memories of doing fun things and enjoying yourself, pre-alcohol or pre-whatever else.

 

Life shouldn't be all about study and work. I was a A grade student, but there are more important things that matter later on than study. University for me was a total waste of time, i learnt 80% of what was useful in my field of study outside of my course.

 

All you need are good text books, and knowing how to learn. That is the real gem of high school. Learning how to learn, and good English to be able to express yourself. That is power in the modern world.

[Flolfolil]

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Edited March 5, 2015 by Flolfolil

[BaguaKicksAss]

I'll share one of my methods in case anyone is interested.

 

First I get the plant from an ethical source. Of course worrying about the depletion of the rainforests and all, but even more relevant is having a strong, healthy and happy plant spirit.

 

Then I open up the packing and hold the herb, get a feel for it and have a little chat with it. At this point I can usually tell if that particular entheogenic species and I will get along or not. This is vitally important it one is going to go and ingest it I think! Not every person and every type of plant get along, no matter what people like to beleive.

 

Next up I light a candle, and incense it and add a livening it up liquid mixture, or a bit of my own fresh blood, depending.

 

This is repeated for several days, along with sitting with the plant, holding it, meditating and chatting.

 

Then, I will finally do the working.

 

Another method is to place said plant into a mojo bag in which you wear next to your body.

 

The only thing is, with this particular method, there are positives and negatives. The positives are that you are far less likely to purge (throw up), that plant spirit will take care of you and look out for you, and your journey will be a good one with positive feelings, or at least overall. The negatives are that everything you knew or learned about dosages and how long the journey will last just went out the window. As long as you stick with the dose that an experienced and ethical person recommended, or you know from experience you won't end up with an overdose or anything, but the journey might end up being much stronger than you had planned for. Also, don't plan anything for the next day, just in case .

[Flolfolil]

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Edited March 5, 2015 by Flolfolil

[BaguaKicksAss]

The chemical i have gotten the most out of, during this type of conversation i got the idea it was basically saying, "i hate you and everything about you, i am going to completely tear you to shreds until all you can see is your own fear. You are not ready for me. No one is."

 

Oh, now one like that I would be interested to work with . The reason being is that moving past fear is a really good thing. Well at least it warned you!

[BaguaKicksAss]

I don't see how it could be less potent when they were fresh? What psycho actives could be added through the drying process? I think most vegetables / fruits lose some of their nutrition after they age? Dunno, can't be sure, never tried dried ones. I had a mate who was right into it and took some of them mario brothers mushys, the red ones with the white spots, supposedly taken by vikings as a test haha. He ended up in ER saying they took the wrong ones haha. Just waiting in there for ages with his other friend who had them too and ended up just leaving because they were in there forever.

 

That guy really did push things to the limit, i've never seen somebody throw up that hard or that many times, then keep going back to the thing that made him chuck up, and before he even had more he'd go back out and chuck again for another 5 mins. Repeated it several times. A great bloke, took it all in his stride, was a good and caring friend but just liked pushing the limits too much. Unfortunately he died, was only like 23 or something, but he died travelling the world and came and saw me in China not long before he went. Definately always loved life and was always up for a festival or event. Was here for a short yet action packed time.

 

The notes, well they were pretty basic, down in my garage somewhere, it was not necessarily the notes, more the deep understanding and experience behind those notes. If a picture is 1000 words, an experience is like a million pictures. It's not like these are working outs of your mind, or readings from books, it's like they're right there in front of you and you've seen the events unfold.

 

Three of the biggest things i remember were:

 

Everyone is equal, still a person. Like monks, Hitler, the pope, neurosurgeons, etc. The pedistool, or lower level we put them on is only in our own minds, really everyone is on a level playing field, all just.... people.

 

And seeing more with my eyes closed that i could with them open. That was the massive one. Just knowing and understanding everything. As to if i really did or not, well i can't know but i felt i did. I remember asking my mate, ask me a question, ask me a question. I answered a few, and i think they were all right, but perhaps not in the direct way, perhaps more like that roundabout tai chi way, if you know what i mean. That way that is inbuned in Chinese bones, where sneakiness and indirect is natural. I could see with my eyes and with my brain at the same time, like two different worlds. I would get pulled into the other one, but i could keep my concentration here. Was a bit like live 'here', but go there to search for answers. Yet you could be doing both at the same time.

 

And understanding relativity, (not really Einstein's theory) how i understood it. Best way to describe it was 'how long is a piece of string'.

 

I was only 20 or so at the time, had done some meditation but nothing like the energy stuff i know these days. Was more like self hypnosis or just relaxing with breathing. Again, these things perhaps don't sound like much. A bit like patting a tiger... you think yeah that would be cool. But when you really pat a tiger its like woaw, that thing could kill me any second with one swipe. It's different to reading, it is being there and understanding how it came to be, and all that is with it. That's in the experience.

 

For several days, almost a week after a particular time i felt different. Like i knew something really profound, but i couldn't put my finger on it. It was just an awe filled sense of knowing. Mind you i still felt a bit out of it.

 

Like i said, quick in, quick out, i think that was the best. A couple of hours to get in there of solid (i don't know what to call it) and then get out again. It's tiring. Things that linger on for ages and you can't sleep, thats exhausting.

 

And how can you not remember? Well there have been plenty of nights i've binge drank and haven't remembered big sections. Your body is dealing with the poison, it doesn't have time or energy to record the events Apart from that there is too much going on... perhaps you can know everything, but that doesn't mean you can remember everything!

 

I was super fit back then too, i trained gym 5 days a week and ran 5kms 3-4 days a week, plus did walking too. So it is easier to handle poisons when you're fit. But sometimes those things, one in particular is like smashing you're health with a sledge hammer. It's not necessary, i now know other ways to get the same results and findings.

 

That being said, i would never go back and change those days. I loved them. Perhaps one of the hardest things for me has been to move on. Not from the stopping of poisons, just the closeness and love felt with close friends. We were friends for a long time before then, a big group of us and have things and special memories we still talk about to this day. However after being in China for a few years, when i came back everybody had moved on and, now i'm lucky if i get a few boys nights out a year. It's all family now.

 

Mmmm shared housing really is good fun when you're young. I would encourage other youngsters to go out and leave home at 18 too. Drinking, or more importantly having those close relationships with friends is good for young people. There is no time, and you're body can't handle it when you're older. Live for today.

 

There are only two things that really destroy lives, and thats ice (it's like the plague here in Australia), probably like crack in US, and opiates. Those things can really take you're life away from you. Other things, well if you let it take you're life away from you, thats you're own fault / choice, but when you decide you want to stop, you're life is always waiting for you when you decide to battle out of it and come back. That is the choice people can make as adults. Those two evil nasties... they destroy you're body and you're mind, especially ice. People never recover from extended daily use of that, even years later. So then you have a choice, shitty life with, or shitty life without. Involvement with those things should carry the death penalty. It can bring a country and communities to their knees. Australian law is far too soft on drugs. I've had friends who were happy and physically strong turn to shaking skinny nothings who struggle to hold a conversation. Pretty much the only one who 10 years later after daily use is still sane never used his brain much to begin with, so i guess he never misses it now.

 

In north america meth is the biggest problem lately, as a ruin the rest of your life sort of thing. Who needed those silly natural pleasure chemicals anyways right? Heroin is also a big one locally since we are a port city. It's quite unfortunate. I see the outcome of those things daily as I go through downtown.

[Flolfolil]

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Edited March 5, 2015 by Flolfolil

[BaguaKicksAss]

Found this: http://thetaobums.com/topic/21286-the-supernaturals/

[z00se]

Flolfolil, later after travelling i realized how many years of life i wasted doing the same things over and over. The memories are of the best times, not the normal times. Travelling opened my eyes up to that. Making friends with someone in china who could only speak a little English, inviting me on a 10hr train ride to go back to her parents house for Chinese new year, having a huge awesome meal with them, skulling scotch by the glass to keep up with their style of drinking, going out and lighting fireworks with the little tackers, getten driven round to other family members houses and drunken party's from house to house, they even bought me a slab for the trip... Walking up the stairs to their apartment, being the other side of the world with people i could never have known otherwise.... This was one of many realizations

 

Feeling like a rockstar because of the attention of being the only white guy in a town, giving 100s of kids their English name, sleeping in the subway with the bums in Shanghai because i forgot my passport, diving Surin island with sharks, turtles and fish and coral so dense it was like an aquarium, learning pulse diagnosis and tai chi from real masters, party party party in pattaya and biggest of all having my son. I could go on and on (I still have copies of emails i wrote of my adventures overseas if you want inspiration) Drugs can be awesome but later i think seeing hieroglyphics and the walls move just isn't special any more. Travelling is a trip outside your head, its awesome and there is no substitute. Full time work however i refuse to get used to. I am aiming for semi retirement at 35, that will be only 7 years full time work, more than enough for anyone though! I like my job but i like freedom more.

[z00se]

Yeah well my mate didn't leave them out in the sun. I still wouldn't go near them, its like you wouldn't do gutter drugs like sniffing glue (not that i ever got that stupid) if you have access to weed. Blue meanies and gold caps are good around here. I wouldn't eat something judging from a photo though, its much more dangerous than doing qigong without a teacher haha. You need to be able to positively identify plants as medicines or drugs because there are lots of things that are similar. Just look at dandylions for instance.

[z00se]

Baguakicksass, fill us in on your experience if ya go ahead. Would be cool to hear a tale again

[Flolfolil]

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Edited March 5, 2015 by Flolfolil

[z00se]

I guess its the same with qigong, always searching for more, its only when i give up i become liberated, the search is ended and i get what I've been seeking. Then i get bored and go searching again

[z00se]

What do you learn from deamons? Learn about yourself or the outer world? I saw a couple of those sort of things appearing and took a break. While in the trip i just tried changing my attention all the time and trying to run away from it, even though it came lurking again around a different corner. I didn't like it so i stopped.

[BaguaKicksAss]

What do you learn from deamons? Learn about yourself or the outer world? I saw a couple of those sort of things appearing and took a break. While in the trip i just tried changing my attention all the time and trying to run away from it, even though it came lurking again around a different corner. I didn't like it so i stopped.

 

Daemons just don't have the free time or inclination to hang around folks on this plane and spook them. However lesser spirits, or even dead folks do. Usually an aspect of oneself taking form. Also we tend to attract what we fear. So whatever a person's greatest fears are, would be either what they are, or their traits. If someone gets a bad feeling from them, they are not useful for any work, since obviously they wouldn't be healthy for them to have around. If however they feel like positive spirits, then both inner and outer work can be accomplished. .

 

Either way, could be a good introspective exercise to figure out what they were .

Edited October 30, 2014 by BaguaKicksAss

[BaguaKicksAss]

Baguakicksass, fill us in on your experience if ya go ahead. Would be cool to hear a tale again

 

I shared a couple of experiences already in this thread . Since my journeys are very specific personal focus, or a specific magical focus, not really something I would be writing in public about...

 

On a side note, looking around, I think someone could make quite a good career out of leading ayahuasca retreats! lol

[GreytoWhite]

I thought this one might be interesting to those of us here.

http://thetaobums.com/topic/20434-my-left-hand-path-for-k/page-4

[z00se]

I think i see spirits, ghosts deamons in the form or energy, or souls housed in the organs as defined in TCM. That's how it is taught in healing tao, not called spirits. They have the same traits as the energy of the organs and you can physically harness, diffuse or harness them by feeding power or diffusing it from the root within the organ housing the energy. The tao is all one after all and it has many different interpretations, its just which way you have learnt, or the way you find easiest to understand and work with.

[BaguaKicksAss]

http://mail.sciencealert.com.au/news/20143010-26421.html

 

On a side note, I did a search for iboga to find this thread. I was surprised at how many other threads came up in the search, some pretty interesting ones!