The last few days/weeks, I've been needing some questions answered. Some feelings validated. A reconnection with the earth was desired. It seems that as we get older, we have fewer friends and occasions to meet or celebrate, and a seemingly lack of thrilling endeavors. The only way I figured this was to be done was to hike off into the middle of the woods, chaparral notwithstanding, and consume shrooms and dance with the animals.
It took us a good hour or slightly over to get to the final stop. It wasn't the original landing destination but we couldn't press any further due to overgrowth of the trail and a hidden rattlesnake warning us of its presence. As the only clear spot to camp, we set up right in the middle of a dry pond teeming with spiders, boater bugs, mosquitoes, salamanders, and ringed/speckled lizards.
As the sun started to dip down over the ridge, we decided then it was the opportune time to consume shrooms and await our journey. We stood there talking about all sorts of things when, out of the corners of our eyes, the hallucinations began. My world took on a sudden transformation of oozing, bubbling lichen on the rocks, skulls in the scum of the leftover pond water, intense beautiful aurora-like color changes to the lights in the sky, and feelings of euphoria, contemplation, and fascination overtook me.
After about 30-45 minutes, I had this overwhelming need to hole up in my sleeping bag and close my eyes, looking at the stars/sunset every so often to check back with reality.
The next hour or so turned into a magical, seamless, flying journey through my mind. I asked myself a certain question to see if I could unlock the answer through a series of ideas/feelings/memories/deeper connections.
As I travelled through the abyss that is my mind, I encountered visions and thoughts that were inexplicably linked somehow in so many ways that I was able to jump from memory/idea/thought to another back and forth and to so many tangents. It allowed for me to open doors or fly through walls to the next concept until finally all thoughts were cohesive and linked and the answer appeared to me in the form of a vision and a feeling.
At one point, I started getting overwhelmed by the visuals that I abruptly leapt up from my sleeping bag and got out of the tent....to a darkness made darker only by my visual impairment...
I wandered off a few feet in the darkness using only the moon and stars to guide my search for wood. After a lot of stumbling and tripping and getting my foot wedged between some rocks, i was able to bring back a pile suitable for an hour or two of fire.
It was exceedingly difficult in waves to focus and stack and blow on the embers to bring the fire back to life...but as it was a success, it brought me back down to Earth to calm and relax my soul from the journey Im on.....
However, it was far from over.
After huddling around the fire for what seemed like 30-45 minutes, I got this sense of aloneness....I realized that there's a mountain lion on the prowl, out in the dark, poor hearing, shrooming, I just got up extremely quick and bolted for the tent.
My friend was on his own trip holed up in his sleeping bag, but when i got his attention, I fell back in surprise.
When he looked at me, he had 4 eyes, a prominent unibrow, and long flowing dreads that looked as if a waterfall existed inside of them. Whenever he walked around after that, I saw him as that figure with a glowing aura around him as if he was a god.
I ended up curling back up in my sleeping bag, watching the stars through the seethrough top of the tent. I just tried to close my eyes and let myself sleep if that was to happen...I cant really describe what I saw in the next hour or so of the final end of the trip, but I was seeing the most beautiful visions, colors, and hearing music in my head. I felt the earth's pulse. There was a deep beat and music that seemed to come from the ground. It made me wonder if that kind of thing is inherent in those of the land, i.e. Native Americans, Aborigines, etc. It made me really appreciate their connection and love to the land. Makes you wonder...what life could really be like if we had that...the ability to survive, connect, and flourish in a wild world.
the only thing I would change about the whole experience is to have a little music in the background and the fact that we slept on rocks in the middle of a pond....as there was no other suitable sites to camp.
The next morning, when I woke up, back to reality, I spent an hour or so around a fresh fire organizing my thoughts and feelings. I truly felt refreshed and renewed. It's not something you can do all the time...yet people do. Sad.
Whenever I have a crisis or a burning question in my head that I can not for the life of me clear out of my system, I think a view to the alternate reality is an occasional must.
For me, I truly feel back in touch.
It's all I have to say.
