Psychedelic Drugs: Psychoactive Chemical Spacecraft For Psychonauts
Psychedelic drugs are psychoactive substances with the ability to expand human awareness beyond ordinary modes of perception. Some are so potent that just 1/10,000th of a gram can launch you on a trip beyond time and space or beyond life and death. The family of psychedelics includes recently developed synthetic compounds, like LSD and ecstasy, as well as entheogenic plants, such as cannabis and psilocybin mushrooms, which have been used in "shamanistic" settings for thousands of years.
Psychedelic drugs can be classified into several types. Among these types are:
Hallucinogens - psychoactive drugs that work on the brain to affect the senses and cause ‘hallucinations’ – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touching things that do not exist.
Hypnotics - psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep and to be used in the treatment of insomnia and in surgical anesthesia.
Stimulants - psychoactive drugs that increase heart rate, breathing rate, and brain function. Some stimulants affect only a specific organ, such as the heart, lungs, brain, or nervous system.
Opioids - psychoactive drugs that induce euphoria by affecting the brain regions that mediate what we perceive as pleasure.
Psychonauts & Psychedelic Drug Use
Psychonauts are voyagers who make use of psychedelic drugs and other consciousness expanding techniques to transcend the body and personality thereby allowing them to examine the mind from indescribable perspectives.
Psychonauts can experience heightened awareness and extrasensory perception, select from an infinite variety of "realities," unlock and experience the collective evolutionary consciousness of billions of years past, travel through time, and many more (see Transpersonal Experiences in Higher States of Consciousness). In short, psychonauts investigate the mind to permanently transform their experience of life.
However, a psychonaut is not the same as a psychotic. The psychonaut may go out of his mind from time to time, but he knows how to go back to his normal state. A psychotic, on the other hand, has completely lost touch with reality.
If you are planning to take psychedelic drugs because you want to explore the subconscious mind or because you are simply curious about its effects, then please read as much as you can about the subject first. There are many risks involved regarding the use of these substances, and people who usually take them without the supervision of experts are only exposing themselves to great danger. There are tons of books out there about psychedelics, enough to sink a battleship, so please do some research first before you experiment with any of these chemicals.
Traditional Psychedelic Drugs
The chemicals that you see here are ones that are commonly used by psychonauts and other consciousness researchers. I tend to write long and boring articles, so to prevent this post from giving you a bad trip, I will only mention here the positive psychoactive effects of these drugs.
1. LSD
LSD is a synthetic compound derived from Lysergic acid which is found in Hawaiian Woodrose and Morning Glory seeds, or Ergot fungus, which can grow on rye, wheat, and other grams. Ecstatic feelings of love and happiness, affinity for other people, and the feeling of being at home with one's self and the universe are common experiences of psychonauts with LSD.2. Psilocybin
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring compound which can be obtained from dozens of species of mushrooms of which the most popular is the genus Psilocybe. Psilocybin mushrooms are well known for their hallucinatory effects which include enhancement of colors and the animation of geometric shapes.3. Mescaline
Mescaline is a naturally occurring psychoactive chemical found in several cactus species, most notably, Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) and San Pedro (Trichocereus pachanoi). Mescaline is reported by psychonauts to bring on a sort of synesthesia, a mixing and interaction of the five senses.4. Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC
Tetrahydrocannabinol is the main psychoactive substance found in the cannabis plant. One of its many subjective effects is the distortion of the perception of time and space where an up rush of ideas from the bank of long-term memory can create the subjective impression of long elapsed time, while a clock reveals that only a short time has passed.5. Salvinorin A
Salvinorin A is a hallucinogenic compound derived from a native plant called Salvia divinorum. Psychonauts report a complete separation of consciousness from the body and personality at the onset of the experience. Subsequent effects may include: becoming objects, visions of various two-dimensional surfaces, revisiting places from the past, various sensations of motion, being pulled or twisted by forces of some kind, the perception that one is in several locations at once, and uncontrollable hysterical laughter. lol.6. Dimethyltryptamine or DMT
Dimethyltryptamine or DMT is a naturally occurring psychedelic found in a variety of plants around the world, several of which are native to the Amazon region. DMT is notorious for giving psychonauts a uniquely profound psychedelic experience in probably the shortest amount of time. DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Dr. Rick Strassman is probably the most popular book on the subject.7. Harmala Alkaloids
The Harmala alkaloids harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine are found in a variety of plants of which the most popular is the Banisteriopsis caapi vine. The most concentrated source of Harmala alkaloids is the seed of Peganum harmala, commonly known as Syrian Rue. The chemicals tend to produce bright colored imagery as it changes continually in a flowing transformation of dream-like sequences.8. Ketamine
The psychedelic drug Ketamine is a psychoactive chemical manufactured by Parke Davis and is generally used as an anesthetic. Psychonauts have reported intense visual hallucinations, perceptions of falling, fast and gradual movement or flying, seeing God, feeling connected to other psychonauts, objects and the cosmos, and shared hallucinations.Please know that there are also negative psychological and physiological effects associated with these chemicals. Like I said earlier, be careful if you're planning to experiment with these drugs. If you have decided to try out any one of them, make sure that you consult with someone who can completely explain to you the proper administration and effects of that certain chemical. Remember that it's your own mind that you're dealing with here. Have a safe trip.