Diego Palma is a curandero we visited in Peru who taught us how to activate the spirit of Ayahuasca and access its wisdom.

1. Believe: If you’d like to experience a “spiritual” psychedelic trip, then you must first “believe” in the spiritual potential of the plant or substance. By believing in a substance, you activate its spirit, allowing it to communicate with you.

For some people, the psychedelic experience is just a drug induced high. For others, it is a journey of the soul. I like to say that “truth is in the mind of the believer.”

Our Ayahuasca ceremonies were held in a temple. Diego decorated the temple with candles, artwork, and other special objects to create an atmosphere of sacredness.

2. Create a Sacred Space: Setting has a tremendous effect upon a psychedelic journey. You can easily create a sacred space using art, music, lights, and special objects found around the house.

Festivals such as Burning Man do a great job of creating a massive “sacred space”. Thousands of people collaborate on massive art installations, music, and performances, creating a tripper’s paradise.

At the beginning of each ceremony Diego would ask us to focus our attention on the upcoming journey. He asked us to open our hearts to the wisdom that would be communicated by the Ayahuasca spirit.

3. Establish Intention: Some people use psychedelics for simple amusement while others are in search of the divine. Your intention will determine what you experience during your voyage.

So, if you’re looking for spiritual insight, then you must establish that as your intention. This can be as simple as making up your mind to have a spiritual trip.

Diego served as the trip-sitter of the group. Although he too drank the ayahuasca, Diego took it upon himself to ensure that everyone was safe during the trip.

4. Obtain a Trip-Sitter: Those who trip for spiritual insight often take large “heroic doses”. While doing so can certainly deepen your experience, it also makes you more susceptible to harmful behavior.

I find that having a trip sitter present not only lessens the likelihood of a dangerous trip, but also gives me the courage to venture deeper because I know someone is there to assist me in the default world. Trip sitters serve as safeguards as well as great companions to assist in reflection and integration (see tip #7).

Meditation was used in the beginning of the ceremony to help us center our attention. I found that it was also a good tool to use during difficult parts of the trip.

5. Meditate: Meditation offers many benefits for psychonauts. Meditating prior to a trip helps you to silence the ‘inner noise’, and focus your concentration.

During a journey, meditation can be useful if you become overwhelmed, get stuck in a negative cycle, or just want to tune up your mental awareness.

If you are interested in employing meditation it is best to practice regularly. Many resources are available online.

The strongest visions of an Ayahuasca trip often arrive when you close your eyes. Diego taught us to venture inward in order to access the deepest knowledge.

6. Close Your Eyes and Be Quiet: Too often when we trip we get caught up in what is going on around us. While the outside world can be very intriguing, the visions behind your eyelids are the most profound.

Make it a habit to dedicate a significant portion of your trip to just lying there in silence with your eyes closed.

Enlightenment is sometimes delivered through visions. Not to mention, that this can be the best way to encounter entities…that is if you believe.

The day following our Ayahuasca journey we reflected by sharing our experiences. I found that new insights would surface as I discussed my journey.

7. Reflect & Integrate: Spend the next day reflecting on the wisdom you may have gained from the experience. Next, determine how you will integrate the wisdom from your trip into your everyday life.

There are many things that you can do to accomplish this step: share your experience with a friend; write in your journal; spin your poi, staff, or hoop. The important thing is that you allow time to ponder the experience.

If you find my “message theory” hard to believe, perhaps you can accept the fact that flow arts have a calming effect upon the nervous-psychedelic mind. At my first Portal Penetration Gathering, I found that the fire dancers provided much needed relief. The simple patterns they created eased my mind at a very difficult moment during my journey.

As you gaze at the videos above, contemplate the effect that the patterns may have upon yourself during a heavy psychedelic journey. Consider the manner in which psychedelics open your eyes to things you otherwise may not have seen. Then ask yourself, “is it possible that we may have stumbled upon a new language?”

Related Links:

• Modern Rave Light Shows and Archaic Trance Technologies

An artist's vision is their most precious gift. Thank you for sharing this sacred mushroom mandala with us Sylvan.

He lives thousands of miles away from me on the continent of  Australia. I’ve never met him in person, and we’ve only conversed a handful of times over the net. Still, I can tell you that Sylvan O’Reilly is a special person with a big heart. The spectacular mushroom mandala seen above, suddenly appeared in my email inbox without warning.  It had been nearly two months since I had spoken to Sylvan, so seeing his name in my mailbox was a pleasant surprise. Opening the email I noticed that it contained an attachment which further excited me. The email contained a short note:

“I have a design for the FleshCap movement. A gift that you may use for creating more awareness in the psychedelic field. ~Sylvan”

As the image appeared on my screen I had to suppress the urge to yell out with excitement. I was at work, so I had to maintain my composure. “This is the most sacred of visions,” I thought to myself as I studied the fine details that Sylvan had placed around the mushroom. Wasting no time, I quickly emailed the image to my brother Lee and my girlfriend Irene. They both agreed that this was one of the finest pieces of sacred mushroom art ever created.

I later emailed Sylvan telling him that I wanted to compensate him with a small monetary donation for his time. He said he wanted nothing. Then, I remembered his message, “a gift”, that’s what he called it. Thank you Sylvan; an artist’s vision is their most precious gift. Thank you for sharing with all of us.

Related Links

• See more of Sylvan O’Reilly’s art – online gallery
• FleshCap interview with Sylvan (Astral Haze)
• Contact Sylvan: astral-visions@hotmail.com

A year after the tragic death of a young teenage girl in L.A., a nineteen year old man dies at the same event in Dallas.

It’s like a sequel to a tragic movie. Another person has died while attending the Electric Daisy Carnival. Last year, a fifteen year old girl died at EDC  2010 in Los Angeles bringing much public scrutiny to the rave scene. This time, a nineteen year old man has died at the same event in Dallas Texas. To be clear, the exact cause of death of this man has not yet been determined, but something tells me that it is likely to be drug related.

Tragedies such as this beg the question, “are these events dangerous?” Undoubtedly, the media certainly thinks they are, and will certainly paint them out to be so. Having attended these events for years, I am well aware that it is not the event that is dangerous, it’s the people’s behavior that make it dangerous. Promoters simply provide a venue and entertainment, nothing dangerous about that.  The choice to consume dangerous substances is made by the individual.

The point I’m getting at is that perhaps what the public needs to be concerned with is not shutting down raves such as EDC, instead they need to be concerned about educating ravers. Taking drugs is dangerous, but no one can stop the drug consumption. Educating those who choose to consume drugs will help to reduce harmful occurrences. What we need is truthful drug knowledge to be delivered by honest individuals. Simple advice such as not mixing alcohol and ecstasy, or not mixing two types of e-pills can help to reduce harm.

Don’t let yourself or someone you care about become another statistic. Take the time to educate yourself and apply that knowledge when you explore substances. Tragic stories such as this one just become ammunition for the politicians that seek to shut us down.

Related Links

• Dance Safe – health and safety information for consuming substances.
  

Much of Shufflelot's work is inspired by the artist's experience with Salvia.

I found this piece years ago while browsing the web for art inspired by the Salvia Divinorum experience. As you can imagine, there’s not much art out there that wears the tag “salvia art,” but this piece did come up in a google search for that very term. I fell in love with the piece immediately because it seemed to display characteristics of the salvia experience that I myself have had. The entities that seem to be watching over the dreamer really hit me. Salvia is one of several plant Allies that have introduced me to entities.

I’ll be featuring more of Shufflelot’s work in the future. A link to the artist’s gallery can be found below if you want to see more pieces now.

Related Links:

• See more work by this artist- Shufflelot’s Gallery
• Fleshcap Favorites- a gallery of our favorite visionary art by various artists.
• Sacred Mushroom Gallery- a collection of shroom art by FleshCap artists.

EDC may be the largest festival in America but size isn't everything. Last year, 185,000 dancers flooded the Coliseum, but, honestly, it wasn't all that comfortable.

“If it’s not big, then it’s not for me.” At least, that’s how I used to feel. There’s no denying that the energy of a massive rave can be exhilarating for the body and the spirit. But, during the last two years I’ve witnessed a sad thing happen in the Southern California rave scene. Promoters such as Insomniac have set aside concern for individual ravers and have started overloading venues.

Consider the Electric Daisy Carnival. It’ s Insomniac’s largest annual rave. Year’s ago, when I first started attending, there was approximately thirty thousand people. A very large, but comfortable number for a venue like San Bernardino’s Orange Show, or L.A.’s Colliseum. By 2010, that number had grown to over 100,000 people. At this point the event took a turn for the worse.

An overcrowded venue led to frustrating and even dangerous scenarios as people aggressively fought to gain entrance into overcrowded stage areas. And the most disappointing part about all of this is that the promoters didn’t even seem to notice that they had paralyzed the event by overselling tickets.

I often day dream about the days when I got rolled out on ‘E’ and ran merrily from stage to stage taking in the energy of the event. It’s a contrast to the Electric Daisy Carnival of the last two years where thousands of people were locked out of certain areas and nearly started rioting in protest.

If you’re reading Pasquale (founder/promoter of Insomniac) can you please stop being greedy. These venues can only hold so many people comfortably. Whatever happened to the concept of a sold out show? In case you haven’t noticed, it’s kinda hard to dance when there’s no breathing room.

Yeah, I’m going to this year’s EDC in Las Vegas. But I’m going to be paying close attention to how ravers are treated.  That’s right Pasquale, I’m giving you one more chance.  Massive raves may be awesome, but like they say, size isn’t everything.

Related Links:

• FleshCap Event Calendar

I’ll admit, I was reluctant at first. This event seemed really expensive to me. After all, for just $300, I get a week of Burning Man freaks, mutant vehicles, and art installations. So, when I heard that Lightning in a Bottle was $200 for four days, my first impression was that it was overpriced. However, after talking to a friend and watching the video I was sold. LIB is hosting tons of workshops, massive art installations, bands, djs, and camping. In fact, LIB looks like the So. Cal. tail-gate party for the Burn.

I don’t wanna pretend that I know too much about the event, but, from what I’ve heard it’s gonna be a trippers paradise. I’ll be sure to post a “trip-report” when it’s all over.

Date: May 27th – 30th 2011
Location: Silverado, California

Related Links:

• Lightning in a Bottle (official site)
• FleshCap Event Calendar

I try to tell myself that everything's going to be fine, but I know better. Truth is, tripping can be scary.

I get butterflies before I trip. Yes, the same type of butterflies that I get before I have to deliver a speech at work. I try to tell myself that everything’s going to be fine, but I know better. Tripping can be scary. Especially when you go big like Irene and I. At the last Portal Penetration Gathering, we ate three acid tabs and chased ‘em with a fist full of mushrooms. Oooh yeeeah, the fungus gods punished us that night.

So as I sit here, just hours away from entering the portal, thoughts of  scary flip-out sessions begin to haunt me.  Will I be confronted by entities…? Do I have to die again…? (that’s always so exhausting). Will the Allies make me suffer to achieve the message…?

Truth is, despite all the scary trips (bad trips) that I’ve experienced, I’ve always walked away a more enlightened individual. The experience isn’t always fun, but then again, if it were all about fun we may never learn anything.

May all your journeys be enlightening…

Aside from the awesome visuals seen in this video, the song “Darkness” by Phutureprimitive is the iconic neo-tribal psychedelic song. The tune paints images of archaic rituals performed by mystical people in some far off distant land. Just the kind of people I like hanging with. Be sure to check out other songs by Phutureprimitive available for preview on their website.

Related Links:

• Phutureprimitive official website

Shrooms elevated the young couple to a state of godhood allowing them to make divine love.

Shrooms do little for my sex drive. My girlfriend Irene has accompanied me on every shroom trip for the past five years and not once did it result in sex. I wonder if being totally out of my mind while tripping has anything to do with it…? Maybe I’ll try a lower dose. That seems to have worked for the girl that wrote the trip report below. Her boyfriend and her attained godhood and make divine love.

“God sex on 2.5g cubies” by LittleBpix

10am and my boyfriend just arrived home from his morning workout. He goes and takes and shower, and comes back in to ask me if I’d like to take the rest of the shrooms we had saved from our last big trip. Since it wasn’t really a lot, about 2.5g each, and we had just started our winter break I thought it sounded like a lovely way to start the day.

So, he served me a lovely breakfast in bed of about two and a half grams of mushrooms! yay! The last time we had this patch a group of four of us all had about 4 grams each and it was incredibly intense, but due to the lower amount we figured it would be more of a “fun” thing than crazy.

For the most part it was pretty intense again, but after 2 or so hours he turned to me and asked if I’d like to have sex and I couldn’t refuse, it just seemed right at that point……. oh my god it was amazing. It was like being merged as one, I was seeing colors and visuals, a sort of kaleidoscope effect almost. I had this vision and feeling like I could feel a bit of every couple, like we were the first couple ever experiencing sex. It was just mind blowing really is the best way to describe it.

and after the matter we both giggled and just said it felt as if we had been gods having sex.

what is everyone else’s experience with sex on shrooms?

This trip-report was originally posted at the Shroomery.org.