From: Earthlady Area: Magical Plants To: Rose X 25 May 92 23:53:56 Subject: Harmaline UpdReq Rose X (1:170/811) on Sat, May 23, wrote: RX>McKennas _Food Of The Gods_ came out last month. It is a RX>must read! A sample: Thanks for a most interesting post. I copied the quotes to an echo where several members have had longtime benevolent contact with assorted entities -- ETs, interdimensional beings, they aren't sure where they're from -- for their comparison. Some of the descriptions of the entities were familiar to me from their discussions. The main difference: These folks have these conversatons without benefit of external stimuli, consciousness-altering ritual, etc. It spontaneously happens to them. Any idea how? 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Fra.: Nachash Area: Magical Plants To: All 28 May 92 22:09:32 Subject: Magick Plants Echo UpdReq Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Welcome to Magick Plants. This echo is dedicated to the discussion of all aspects of ethnobotanical plants: growing, harvesting, history, legality, uses, abuses and everything in between. Due to the controversial subject matter we are dealing with, I would suggest that each sysop who carries this echo to monitor closely the persons that they allow access to this echo. This echo has been in distribution, although a _very_ limited distribution, for over a year and I have been able to keep a good handle on the traffic. I have decided to widen its distribution to all open-minded and tolerant boards that want to carry it. I ask that all sysops and users please strive to keep all conversations within legal bounds and keep to the subject matter. Now comes the distasteful part: As owner and moderator of this echo, I retain the right to stop the distribution of this echo to any bbs that delves into illegal activities on this echo. I am not responsible for, or condone, illegal activities of any bbs or user of this echo. What you do off of this echo is your own business. I will do all within my power to assure these guidlines are adhered to, and if that becomes an impossibility, then I will cancel the echo. Tolerance! Love is the law, love under will. NChSh 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Fra.: Nachash Area: Magical Plants To: J.S. Pereira 28 May 92 22:10:20 Subject: What does Mag_Plants mean UpdReq J.S., 93. Li> The question is, do plants such as Morning Glory, Wood Li> Rose, Hemp, Peyote, Mushrooms, etc. belong in a message base Li> dedicated to magickal plants. JP> I'm sorry, but I must disagree. If I wanted to read about such JP> things, I'd go buy a copy of High Times. I'd be much more JP> interested in talking about things such as appropiate ritual JP> incense, what types of scents are appropiate for which deity, JP> etc. I trust that you have seen my previous message regarding the purpose of this message base by now. Your interests are just as valid as Loki's, and both are basically on topic in this area, although a more valid line of discussion would be the growing, collecting, and processing of the plants required for the making of the ritual incense. 93 93/93 NChSh 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Fra.: Nachash Area: Magical Plants To: Loki 28 May 92 22:11:56 Subject: What does Mag_plants mean... UpdReq Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Greetings Loki, and welcome to Magick Plants! L> What is a magick plant? L> If we assume that it means, and plant that alters nature (or our L> perception of nature), in a manor unacknowleged by the majority, L> then we would have to determine which plants fit that L> description. L> The question is, do plants such as Morning Glory, Wood Rose, L> Hemp, Peyote, Mushrooms, etc. belong in a message base dedicated L> to magickal plants. Your assumptions are basically correct. I formed this base for the discussion of ethnobotanical plants, from the growing to the varied uses and abuses and everything in between. Everything is fair game as long as the discussions are kept within legal realms. L> I spaced, what was this echo supposed to be about originally? This echo has been around for quite a while, although the distribution has been very limited until quite recently. So Loki, what are your experiences with magickal plants? Love is the law, love under will. NChSh 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Dr. Steven Pollock Area: Magical Plants To: All 28 May 92 22:12:58 Subject: Rice Cake Method UpdReq The Rice-Cake Technique by Dr. Steven H. Pollock, M.D. This technique is extremely easy and highly recommended for its convenience in growing Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms. All that is needed is a pressure cooker, some canning jars, uncontaminated live mushroom starter (mycelia), and brown rice. Either long grain or short grain brown rice may be used. The former is usually more economical. Do not use white rice. It is inferior in quality to brown rice because most of the vitamins have been lost in converting brown to white rice. Into each quart jar place 1/4 cup brown rice and between 1/3 to 1/2 cup tap water. One-half cup or more of water is too much because the rice will turn to mush rather than a cake. One-third cup water leads to a dry cake that is adequate, but mycelia grow much faster on the wetter cakes resulting from the use of more than 1/3 cup of water. Up to 1/8 teaspoon of agricultural gypsum (calcium sulfate) may be added to each jar prior to sterilization to serve as a buffer, but gypsum is not really necessary. Some cubensis strains seem to prefer it, but so do many contaminants. It seems more practical not to bother using gypsum except except for purposes of experimentation to find out if a particular mushroom strain will fruit more aggressively with it. In most cases it probably will not make any difference. Invert the dome of each two-piece lid and place it on the mouth of the canning jar with the rubber seal facing upward. Then loosely screw on the lid bands. Presssure cook the jars at 15 lbs. pressure for an hour. Actually 45 minutes at 15 lbs. pressure is adequate, but an hour gives an even greater likelihood of complete sterilzation. Allow the pressure cooker to cool and remove the jars, screwing the bands tighter until ready to inoculate the rice-cakes with mushroom mycelia. Using a flame-sterilized probe, carefully transfer a piece of agar medium containing live uncontaminated mycelia into each jar. It is best to loosen the jar lid before-hand so that it will lift off easily. To make the transfer, cut out a section of agar medium containing mycelia using a flame-sterilized scalpel or probe. Then spear the agar block of mushroom starter with the probe, lift up the lid of the jar, and drop in the piece of mushroom starter. Close the lid but do not screw it too tight since it is necessary for growing mycelia to breathe. To enhance the rate of mycelia growth, very soon after the jar is inoculated the lid can be screwed tight and the jar shaken to bring the piece of mushroom starter into contact with more of the rice-cake surface. Then loosen the lid before setting the jar in place to incubate. In about four weeks mushrooms will start to grow. Sometimes they commence after only three weeks, but they may frequently take up to six weeks to appear. This depends a lot on the strain and room temperature. 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Dr. Steven Pollock Area: Magical Plants To: All 28 May 92 22:13:46 Subject: Rice Cake Method, pt. 2 UpdReq The mycelia can be grown in the dark but light is needed when it is time for the fungus to make mushrooms. As little as five minutes twice a day from an overhead incandescent light in a closet can be sufficient to initiate mushroom formation. But much better crops seem to come when fluorescent "grow lights" are used for longer periods during the day. When mushrooms are growing, the lid of each jar should be very loose since much condensation occurs as the mushrooms breathe. Some growers remove the lids completely at this time or replace the domes with a double layer of paper towels. The towels can be secured in place with the lid bands and the jars may be set near a window for natural light. Paper towel tops should be sprayed with water at least once a day to help maintain a humid enviroment. As the rice-cake dries, fruition is promoted. But if the dome is left very loosely in place, fruiting continues much longer. Sometimes fruiting occurs for three months or more! Mushrooms will keep appearing after harvesting of previous crops. To harvest the magic mushrooms, a fancier can reach in throught the mouth of the jar and pull them out. It is best to grasp each mushroom near the bottom of the stem and to give it a twist. If the mushroom cap is tugged, it might just break off from the stem. Alternatively, a long knife may be used to cut the mushrooms at the bottom of the stem. Still another method is to the jar facing down so that the cake will fall near the orifice. This makes it easier to grasp the mushrooms. Sometimes it is advantageous after a second of third harvest to flip the cake over in the jar before putting the lid back on. This maneuver often promotes a luxuriant fruiting from the newly exposed rice-cake surface. When the cakes have dried out too much for mushrooms to appear, they can besquited with water froma spray bottle to induce another fruiting or better yet used as spawn for a mushroom garden on compost. If there is absolutely no sign of contamination, the cakes themselves may be fried or broken up and cooked in mushroom soup or other cuisine for a psychedelic experience. One cake is usually sufficient for two to four enthusiasts. The rice-cake technique is very efficient. A 14 ounce package of brown rice can be obtained often for less than fifty cents and is enough for seven quart jars. When the cakes have completely become covered by mycelia, small pieces can be cut out with a sterilized scalpel or probe and transferred to newley prepared rice-cakes in other jars. This will not interfere significantly with mushroom production and will insure a continuing supply of magic San Isidro mushrooms. 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Calea Zacatechichi Area: Magical Plants To: All 28 May 92 22:16:10 Subject: The Dream Herb UpdReq FACTS REGARDING CALEA ZACATECHICHI: the Oneirogenic (Dream-Inducing) Herb Used by the Chontal Indians of Oaxaca as a tea, believed to clarify the senses. Emboden says they roll cigarettes from the leaves, lie down to smoke quietly, drinking the tea as well. The feeling of well-being is said to persist for a day or more with no unpleasant side effects. Leaves show some experimental antiatherogenic and CNS depression activity. The plant contains 0.01% of a crystalline alkaloid, C21H26O8. (James Duke, Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, CRC Press, page 86) In 1968 a naturalist, Thomas MacDougall, working among the Chontal Indians, reported a "secret" plant that is made into a tea or infusion and consumed in solitude while a cigarette of the same leaves is smoked. This produces a feeling of well-being that continues for one or more days. It is said that Calea promote a repose and one hears one's own heart and pulse beating. (Wm. Emboden, Narcotic Plants, revised ed., Collier Books, pgs 33-34) MacDougall has recently reported that the Chontal Indians of Oaxaca, who "believe in visions seen in dreams," employ this sacred plant to induce hallucinations. Crushed dried leaves are infused in water, and the resulting tea is imbibed slowly, after which the native lies down in a quiet place and smokes a cigarette of the dried leaves of the same plant. The Indian knows that he has taken a large enough dose when a sense of repose and drowsiness is experienced and when he hears his own heart and pulse beats. The Chontal medicine men, who assert that this plant is capable of "clarifying the senses," call it thlepelakano or "leaf of god." (Schultes & Hofmann, Botany & Chemistry of Hallucinogens, page 313) Calea zacatechichi is a plant used by the Chontal Indians of Mexico to obtain divinatory messages during dreaming. In human healthy volunteers, low doses of the extracts administered in a double-blind design against placebo increased reaction time and time-lapse estimation. A controlled nap sleep study in the same volunteers showed that Calea extracts increased the superficial stages of sleep and the number of spontaneous awakenings. The subjective reports of dreams were significantly higher than both placebo and diazepam, indicating an increase in hypnagogic imagery occurring during superficial sleep stages. The use of plant preparations in order to produce or enhance dreams of a divinatory nature constitutes an ethnopharmacological category that can be called "oneiromancy" and which justifies rigorous neuropharmacological research. 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Calea Zacatechichi Area: Magical Plants To: All 28 May 92 22:16:46 Subject: The Dream Herb, pt. 2 UpdReq Whenever it is desired to know the cause of an illness of the location of a distant or lost person, dry leaves of the plant are smoked, drunk and put under the pillow before going to sleep. Reportedly, the answer to the question comes in a dream. The human dose for divinatory purposes reported by the Chontal informant is a handful of the dried plant. A collection of interviews and written reports concerning the psychotropic effects of these preparations on 12 volunteers has been published. Free reports and direct questioning disclosed a discrete enhancement of all sensorial perceptions, an increase in imagery, mind thought discontinuity, void flux of ideas, and difficulties in retrieval. These effects were followed by somnolence and a short sleep during which lively dreams were reported by the majority of the volunteers. These results show that zacatechichi administrations appears to enhance the number and/or recollection of dreams during sleeping periods. The data are in agreement with the oneirogenic reputation of the plant among the Chontal Indians. all this suggests that Calea zacatechichi induces episodes of lively hypnagogic imagery during SWS stage 1 of sleep, a psychophysiological effect that would be the basis of the ethnobotanical use of the plant as an oneirogenic and oneiromantic agent. (Jose L. Diaz, et al, Psychopharmacologic Analysis of an Alleged Oneirogenic Plant: Calea zacatechichi, J. Ethnopharmacology, 1986, v.18, pgs 229-243) A recent expedition to collect material of Calea zacatechichi was successful and limited amounts are available for distribution. This consists of the dried herb of the locally recognized medicinal variety as identified by native specialists. Voucher specimens taken in the field have been determined by a taxonomic authority to be Calea zacatechichi Schlect. This material is being offered for botanical research, taxonomic analysis and phytochemical studies only, not for human use of as a medicinal herb. Please order immediately if interested in securing material. First received, first served policy. Package of 60 grams (two ounces) of dried herb for $25 ppd California residents add 6 1/4% tax 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Caapi Man Area: Magical Plants To: All 28 May 92 22:17:24 Subject: Yage & stuff UpdReq Yage This in in reference to the questions floating about regarding Yage. I cannot speak with any real authority on this plant, given my limited experience with it. I have actually used the isolated "main" fraction of the lina; harmaline and harmine (interestingly enough dubbed "telepathine" when first isolated.) I have found them personally to be of limited value, even though they CAN be extremely potent...but then so can Datura. Potency is not an accurate gauge for me to access it's illuminative qualities, although that is not to say they don't go hand in hand, all other things being equal. It is EXCELLENT for increasing the intensity of P. cubensis intoxication. As little as 25 mg or so can VASTLY increase within minutes, the "levels" one is traversing. I usually just put a pinch between my cheek and gum (no pun intended for all youz cowboys out there...I AM an Okie!) Harmine or Harmaline has always produced an incredibly irritating buzzing/pressure in my ears/head. There seems to be a propensity for this chemical to produce visions of cats and serpents.....and a smokey, bluish haze that seems to drift about. McKennah has given both the beta carbolines and the raw plant to Eskimos who have never seen either large cats OR serpents in the Artic...and they saw them. He was proposing a sort of Periodic Table of Hallucinogens at one time. I need to get back with him on this. ANYWAY, I just purchased an EXCELLENT book from the U.K.; _Gateway to Inner Space; Sacred Plants, Mysticism and Psychotherapy_ Edited by Christian Ratsch. Many, many writers collaborated on this text and I bought it because Terence McKenna has an article _Among the Ayahuasquera_. For instance, Charles Muses has a paper called _The Sacred Hallucinogens of Ancient Egypt_. I have not read that one yet, but it is abundant with complete breakdowns of the active constitutents. Next one for me to read, as I have finished the paper by McKenna. Before I go into the known methodology of preparing Yage (B. caapi), I'd like to list a short parse of the introduction....... "Information flows through the multiple continuum of being, seeking equilibrium yet paradoxically carrying images of ways its flow toward entropy is locally reversed by a being or society or phenomenon. These images become concepts and discoveries. We are immersed in a holographic ocean of places and ideas. This ocean of images and the intricacy of their connections is indeed infinite. We understand it to whatever depth we are able. This is perhaps why great genius proceeds by apparent leaps. The revolutionary idea which inspires the genius comes upon one complete and entire by itself from the ocean of the speculative mind. We seek the intuitive leap that reveals the very mechanism of that Other Dimension. The need for such a leap for humanity will grow as we exhaust complexity in all realms save the microphysical and the psychological. At present my method is immersion in the images and self-examination of the phenomena, i.e. taking P. cubensis mushrooms and pondering just what this may all mean, with confidence that time will at least deepen my understanding if not eventually answer all questions." "My provisional acceptance of this view of the dimension 'seen' in hallucinogenic trance approximates the worldwide 'primitive' view that we are somehow co-mingled with a 'spirit world'." 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Caapi man Area: Magical Plants To: All 28 May 92 22:18:00 Subject: Yage, pt. 2 UpdReq "Is the access to another dimension which the psilocybin mushroom makes available something so uniquely peculiar to it that it is reasonable to associate the phenomenon specifically with a single species of mushroom? Or is this strange world a thing unique to the chemical Psilocybin, wherever it occurs in nature? R. Gordon Wasson has written that when he returned to to Mexico (after Albert Hoffmann isolated the active constituent Psilocybin from the P. cubensis mushroom) and presented tablets of the Psilocybin to Maria Sabina, the old curandera who first introduced "white man" to it, the old mushroom bruja avoed: "The Spirit of the mushroom is in the little pill!"" "In my confrontations with the personified Other that is present in the mushroom, part of the message was its species-specific uniqueness and its desire for a symbiotic relationship with Mankind. At other times it presented itself not so much as a personage but as an infinite network which many sorts of beings in different parts of the multiverse were using for their own purposes. I felt (and still do) like a two-year-old child who struggles with the dilemma: "Are there little people in the radio?" Perhaps the psilocybin-revealed dimension is a kind of network of information and images, or something even more substantial." What follows next will be taken verbatim from _Plants of the Gods_, printed in 1979...limited edition by McGraw Hill Book Company. It was almost fifty dollars then...I have no idea if it is still in print (doubtful) or what the cost might be. It remains, in my mind, as THE definitive tome in this area. It was a collaboration between Albert Hoffmann and Richard Evans Schultes. Besides being the one to discover LSD and isolate Psilocybin from P. cubensis; Hoffman owes much to his good friend Schultes (who, by the way, is the Director of the Harvard University Botanical Studies Group and Museum). He and McKenna have traipsed about the globe together, sometimes with Andrew Weil in tow, collecting and propagating hallucinogens in the reserve McKenna has set up on several hundred acres of the big island of Hawaii. "The vine is prepared in an incredibly diverse range of technique. Alone, the vine bark is scraped from the freshly harvested stem. The bark is boiled for several hours. The stripped vine is then macerated and boiled for several hours in a seperate container. These are then combined and taken in various amounts....depending of the original length of the vine. All this is further complicated (and McKenna reiterates this as well) by the various admixtures of other plants into the brew of the plain caapi. Most of these are rich in the DMT family of alkaloids, which are not normally active orally, but since Harmine/Harmaline is a monoamine-oxidase inhibitor, it renders these quite potent when ingested orally. Some of the leaves of the plant B. rusbyana are often added, as are Virola theiodora, both of which are RICH in DMT and 5-MEO-DMT." I will quote the article I refered to earlier MeKenna wrote, in closing: "After spending seven weeks deep in the Amazonian rain forest, it became clear that the quality and efficacy of the various brews we imbibed depends entirely on the knowledge, personality and care used by the person preparing it. B. caapi is completely different by itself; the quality of the effect is RADICALLY altered by the various admixtures of the other DMT containing plants!" 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718 From: Fra.: Nachash Area: Magical Plants To: All 28 May 92 22:18:34 Subject: To Fly.... UpdReq "BE READY TO FLY.." by Brother 143 A wealth of herbal lore is associated with the western end of the Indo-European shamanic tradition; whether in its heydey when the Druids of ALBION were its ultimate repositories and guardians, or in its decline, in medieval witchcraft & slovanic paganism. Central to this lore is the family of plants henbane, hemlock, & belladonna, etc. Members of this family were the main ingredients in the legendary flying ointment, for which several known recipes exist. The manner of using such ointment for flying was for the (female) witch to stradle her ointment smeared broomstick, naked and possibly blind-folded with her back to an open door (a popular subject for engravers and artists). Henbane, the least toxic of the family, and we suspect the most frequently employed, dissolves readily in lard other finer oils, and the ointment thus prepared improves in left several days, getting progessively greener and stronger. Experiments with henbane as a clitoral stimulant reveal the essential practicality of the witches' modus operandi. We quote from one such couple's account of it. "Relaxed. Felt at one point as if I could taste/smell/breathe what my clitoris was tasting like, & a feeling of smooth hardness, i.e. its surface; this smell was slightly medicinal; clitoris now (45 minutes after the first application) discernably cool"....."during intercourse my vagina felt both numb and aroused at the same time; during slow movement it became a brief displeasure." The male participant noted "distinct numbness and coolness in tongue, mouth and nose - similar to Novacaine injection but without swelling. Nor was tactile sensation diminished so much as altered." Experiments with henbane ointment as a ritual aid applied to sensitive skin such as genitals, armpits & wrists similarly induce "identification" or "transference", enabling the participants more readily enter into the ritual & be it rather than simply "attend" it. Although out professional ethics specifically preclude priestesses standing in a draught for 45 minutes we can safely conclude that flying ointment applied to the clitoris with sufficient ventilation could induce a state where the "witch" was identified totally with her clitoris & thus personally experiencing quite extreme cold and a feeling of rushing though air. No experiment has resulted in ill-effects, quite the contrary, even where the priest inevitably ingested unabsorbed ointment from the priestess. Nevertheless the death of Socrates should be sufficient warning about the toxic effects of these herbs taken internally, while their external application in any case privides a wealth of marvellous alternatives. DOCTOR HARBERDEN'S MIRACULOUS FLYING OIL Ingredients: 8 ounces Henbane seed pods 6 fl. oz. Apricot kernel oil Method: Three days before the full moon, crush the Henbane seed pods release the seeds. Sift these to remove as much green matter as possible. This will probably leave about two ounces of seeds. Place the seeds in a sealable container and then add the oil. For the next seven nights, place the container, unsealed, in the light of the Moon, but keep the flask in a warm place during daylight hours. During this period, on the next available beneficial aspect between the Moon and Venus, consecrate the oil to the Goddess by invocations to both Moon and Venus, adding seven drops of rose oil. After seven nights of moonlight, seal the flask, and place it in a warm, dark place for seventy-one days, when it will be ready for use. Watch out for the seeds, they tickle a bit. And be careful how much of the oil is applied, as more than a teaspoon is likely to be counterproductive, if a lot of fun! 718499927771849992777184999277718499927771849992777184999277718