DMT, The Spirit Molecule

[Summerlander]

It all depends on how mentally stable the individual is. The drug will only provide the leeway for the experience of altered states.

[Stookie]

This is also available as a documentary now:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Spirit-Molecule-Documentary/dp/B004DME5NY

It was OK, but I was surprised to get a little bored. Seems about 10 years too late. Worth watching if your into this stuff.

[Astral Anarchist]

It all depends on how mentally stable the individual is. The drug will only provide the leeway for the experience of altered states.

I agree, and having a good set and setting helps a lot.  I find it’s always best to do this in a place where you feel safe and comfortable—and also, clearing the thoughts of any negative emotions or they will be amplified during the trip!  

Anyways, here's my only experience with DMT:

It was around eleven o’clock at night, (Saturday, January 23, 2010) I was sitting on the weightlifting bench facing the arm rest.  I finally felt ready to try and hopefully break through for the first time on DMT.  I sat up straight holding the oiler pipe with my left hand and the lighter with the other.  I lit the pipe slightly attempting not to vaporize all the spice.  I took my first inhalation, breathing in deeply for about 15 seconds then exhaled.  I noticed that very little of the spice vaporized but I felt that strong feeling nevertheless.   I decided to keep the lighter lit for longer.  I took the second hit, which was huge by the way, and held it in for as long as I could.  The smoke felt heavy—I felt that I was having trouble breathing.  I instinctively exhaled noticing the thick cloud of smoke come out of my mouth.  I still felt that I was having trouble breathing—for a moment I thought that I would suffocate.  I unconsciously leaned on the arm rest and began inhaling and exhaling heavily.  I started breathing in different synchronized rhythms that sounded like that of the ancient Indian tribes.  The sound of my heavy breathing overpowered all of the other senses.  I seemly shifted out of awareness and into another.  

This was a bright place that resembled abstract art.  The most abundant background color was white with other bright colors complementing it.  This place looked incredibly sharp—some parts resembled 3-D graphics.  I came across this circular palate covered with multiple geometric designs.  I got the feeling that each set of geometric designs symbolized every single emotion that could be conceived by me.  After experiencing this, I felt a rush of every emotion, to my knowledge, pass through me.  I was so taken aback by the experience that I just sat there, paralyzed with amazement,  in a frozen state.  At first I thought that what I was looking at was negative-- a positive feeling canceled the emotion out.  I struggled to keep myself together and weather these emotions.  Eventually, I felt that what I was looking at in the palate was neither good nor bad.  What I was looking at was every emotion in existence.  As I felt every emotion rush through me I noticed certain parts of my body begin to vibrate—I would later realize that they were my chakras.  As I kept looking further at more of the incoming geometric images,  I had the familiar feeling of déjà vu.  I thought to myself, “Did I see this last time that I smoked DMT? Wait a minute!  I haven’t smoked DMT before!”.  I progressively came back to my current awareness.  It was all over.

[Summerlander]

"Neither good nor bad" - makes sense. They are just concepts from which you became detached in order to perceive all possible emotions from a pristine cognition point of view. This reminds me of certain parts of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Also, the dejavu feelings can be experienced during OOBEs, particularly during visits to the metaphysical. Physically, I have no doubt that DMT lies at the centre of it all and provides the bridge for states of perception while the primary one remains the waking one (at least while we are still alive).

[Nomesb69]

Although some of these experiences sound cool and enlightening, doesnt doing dmt pose a rise of addiction and or bad actions while under the influence. By bad action I mean like thinking you can fly and jump off a balcony or thinking things are on your skin and clawing your self?

[Astral Anarchist]

"Neither good nor bad" - makes sense. They are just concepts from which you became detached in order to perceive all possible emotions from a pristine cognition point of view. This reminds me of certain parts of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Also, the dejavu feelings can be experienced during OOBEs, particularly during visits to the metaphysical. Physically, I have no doubt that DMT lies at the centre of it all and provides the bridge for states of perception while the primary one remains the waking one (at least while we are still alive).

My thoughts exactly!  I would also like to add that before this experience, I wasn’t convinced of the existence of chakras.  I always thought that, maybe, they where subjective constructs created by some wise-men in an effort to organize all the conceivable emotions into spheres of certain shapes and colors to be meditated upon.  I have to say that after feeling all these energy centers light-up with vibration with all of them being connected by what felt like an electricity cord coming through the floor, up my spine, and to the top of my head—well… let’s just say it’s great to turn a belief into a known (as Monroe used to say) .  

Interestingly enough, regarding my experience with shrooms, as I was gazing at the clouds, I noticed that at their edges there where swirls (picture 1).  As I concentrated in them, they began to transform into geometric shapes.  As I passively observed, my vision began to immerse into the geometric design itself repeating the same shapes over and over again like a fractal (similar to picture 2).  This is why I wonder if the reality in which we live in is in fact a fractal reality in the sense that everything that exists is contained in every single particle.  So in other words, everything that exists does so outside of our perception as well as within ourselves (as above so below).  Oh well, it’s just a theory.  

(picture 1)


(picture 2)

Although some of these experiences sound cool and enlightening, doesnt doing dmt pose a rise of addiction and or bad actions while under the influence. By bad action I mean like thinking you can fly and jump off a balcony or thinking things are on your skin and clawing your self?

Nope, as a matter of fact, many heroin addicts as well as cocaine addicts have reported quitting their addictions as a result of the profound experiences that they witnessed while taking DMT.  To add to this, the reason why I’ve only taken DMT once has to do with the fact, at least in my case, that I didn’t enjoy the intense emotions.  The experience was profound and I’m glad that I witnessed this, but it happened so fast and unexpected that it was like getting a surprise kick in the gonads.  Not fun!  But it also depends what you mean by addiction.  I find that our bodies are addiction machines in the sense that if you’re used to eating fast-food, watching lots of T.V., or drinking soda, and you suddenly decide stop, you’re going to feel withdrawal symptoms. Moderation is key.
 
Some people claim to experience “mechanical elves” jump in and out of their bodies and other such experiences, unfortunately I wasn’t lucky enough to experience this phenomenon. It’s best to approach the whole experience as a ride and just let it flow.  As for jumping out of balconies, that’s not going happen with DMT.  Once you smoke it, you’re body will instinctively go to sleep (or stop responding physically).  Regardless, it’s always best to have a sitter with experience by your side.  On the other hand, when you ingest shrooms, you’re emotions, positive and/or negative, will be substantially enhanced (at least from my experience).  So let’s say, if a person is an idiot when sober, then this person will become a super idiot while shrooming.  The same is true the other way around; so just as long as you have a good head on your shoulders you’ll be fine.  
 
What I used to do back when I used to go binge drinking, in order to keep myself honest, was to view myself from a third-person perspective.  As I got progressively drunk, I would ask myself, “Is this something I would normally do? Is this ridiculous?”  It didn’t matter how drunk I got, I would always be able to keep myself under control.  I don’t drink anymore BTW.  

It’s always a good practice to research as much as you can before trying entheogenic drugs.  This website has some very good info:
 
http://www.erowid.org/splash.php

On a side note, this video does an outstanding job presenting the BS that happened pertaining to the illegalization of pot.  (I’ve never smoked pot believe it or not) All the other drugs progressively became illegal after that, so this is the ground zero in a way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYXJNDe1ReM

This awesome book The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer, further illustrates the BS presented in the above video.  Anyone can read it for free here:

http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/

[Summerlander]

It didn’t matter how drunk I got

That's how I felt when people were giving me shots at a prom and I was tripping on magic mushrooms. The alcohol had no effect. But then again, you can consider shrooms to be orally active DMT.

Btw, I like your fractal reality theory. I observed geometric shapes in the sky too. I heard that some people report kaleidoscopic vision as remnants of a DMT trip. It's funny because sometimes when I induce an OOBE, I get this vision too as soon as I separate. Kinda like a fragmented vision which I may then correct. I call it partial blindness. There seems to be a connection there...

[Astral Anarchist]

Ha ha ha It must have been one hell of an experience, that’s for sure.  All of this entheogenic stuff tends to intertwine so well with obe’s! 

[Summerlander]

Absolutely!^^

I'm currently reading the book and have just gone past the "Unseen Worlds" section. The experiences described by Rick Strassman parallel mine! Particularly where the jokers/jesters/harlequin-like beings are concerned. Also the voices heard by people...

Btw, something I wanted to mention in relation to the pineal gland...calcite crystals were found inside which resemble the ones found in our ears. Their properties seem to indicate that they are piezoelectric. The sonar and the telephone rely on piezoelectricity to receive and transmit so it's feasible that the gland may tune into external electromagnetic fields. Perhaps it's really true...we really are tuning into other frequencies of reality when we experience OOBEs or...as Strassman would have it: the "DMT realms".

[blis]

On the subject of naturally producing DMT, I've read that extended periods of a total lack of light makes your brain churn out huge levels of DMT. I think it's got to be at least three or four days.

I read about a retreat called the darkness or the dark room or something where you go for a couple of weeks without any light. They explained what goes on with your brain chemistry but I forgot it all.

[Summerlander]

This seems feasible. Prolonged darkness could elevate melatonin levels and would automatically increase the amount of endogenous DMT.

[Jilt]

Fascinating stuff and I love hearing the possible scientific explanations behind our experiences.

I've never experienced drugs other than pot a few times but am fascinated with magic mushrooms and hope someone (come on Amsterdam) makes it legal and synthesizes the drug down into pill form so it's regulated/predictable. My friends who do shrooms often feel sick to their stomachs so I haven't tried them but feel I could totally handle whatever comes up emotionally because of all my OOBEs.

[Summerlander]

Mushrooms are great!

I'm on the penultimate chapter of Strassman's book. I know, it's taking me a while. I've got kids.

Strassman just got permission to do a study on psilocybin. The trip lasts longer as you know. Let's see how it goes. The book is a thrill!

EDIT:

In regards to what I said to Rudolph in his thread...
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_book_reviews/the_boy_who_saw_true-t34242.0.html

It's funny you mention that because I've just finished Rick Strassman's DMT: The Spirit Molecule and such creatures (gnomes, fairies) were mentioned. Strong electromagnetic fields in certain locations seem to also increase the chances of spiritual and alien encounters as "power spots" may suppress melatonin formation and get the pineal to make DMT instead.

More interestingly, Strassman also explores the possibility that the pineal DMT mechanism may allow our consciousness to tune into dark matter beings and parallel universes. It is truly fascinating stuff.

I'd encourage people to try to project from different locations and see if there is a difference in what is experienced. Dark matter could be going through our bodies as we speak and somehow act as a medium for contact with creatures from "unseen worlds". The Phase state may allow us to perceive and interpret these worlds in our own way. On the other hand, during the waking state, our brain is not designed to perceive these frequencies of reality and "Channel Normal" is on most of the time.

I will post some of Rick Strassman's notes in my DMT thread which you might find interesting.

Here's excerpts from Strassman's DMT book notes:

"The pineal gland becomes full of calcium as we age. The calcified gland is an excellent marker for the mid-line of the brain in skull X-rays and CAT scans. However, little of this calcium collects in the melatonin-producing cells. While melatonin levels do drop as we age, this is independent of the level of pineal calcification.

Early morning also is when we are most likely to be in dream sleep, and some studies suggested that large doses of melatonin enhanced dreaming. We were unable to examine this in our experiments because subjects needed to stay awake with eyes open for light to suppress melatonin. If melatonin did stimulate dream sleep, we would have expected less vivid dreams in volunteers whose melatonin production was inhibited. Interestingly, drugs that suppress nighttime melatonin formation increase, rather than decrease, dreams.

Magnetic fields also may affect consciousness, as in the shifts of awareness one notices in particular geological sites or formations, so-called "power spots". Recent studies describe magnetic fields affecting pineal function, in particular suppressing melatonin formation. These effects may redirect pineal energy and raw materials to make DMT instead.

I propose a relationship between DMT and alien encounters in another chapter. However, this is a good time to note that these experiences sometimes take place near high-intensity power lines, which produce powerful magnetic fields. In addition, alien encounters often occur at particular land locations, also suggesting magnetic field effects.

Btw, if anyone is interested, here's Rick Strassman's website:
www.rickstrassman.com

Rick Strassman also co-authored Inner Paths To Outer Space: