I’ve only had one potential opportunity but it was in a session context and I don’t often trip with strangers.
Relevant ☞ Alkaloids of the Peyote Plant
When you say "honor" do you mean that because someone was kind enough to gift or sell you some of their cactus buttons, or is the honor to you just in having the opportunity to use Peyote given its relative obscurity and oftentimes profound insight?
Yeah they're certainly different, though the trip still centers around the effects of a large-ish dose of 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine (Mescaline). Peyote has an entourage of related chemicals though that no doubt flavor and affect the subjective, qualitative effects. I think it's interesting to note how Peyote has present among these constituents 3,4-methylenedioxyphenethylamine (MDPEA). Note the 3,4-methylenedioxy benzene ring is also present in 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). There are a few of these compounds, in fact, along with a baker's dozen 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamines that are probably all mostly active, or if not individually, then in concert with one another. But I'm also making an educated guess here. Still, it's cool stuff going on with this.
Yeah I know what you mean. A person has to be willing to place themselves in a state of vulnerability in order to get the most from what psychedelics have to offer and to grow. That takes courage and forethought regarding set & setting, and even then you can't factor in for everything, all incidentals or weird goings-on that always seem to precipitate at the moment I'm peaking
… you know how it goes…Check out the above link to get an idea of where to research those specifics. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I've seen them. Seek and ye shall find.
It feels… cleaner and like it's glowing white hot inside of you – in a good way – and its enveloping and stimulating, sometimes a little nauseating, but Peyote is sometimes very nauseating. Idk, I hate to be this generic and corny-sounding, but this is simply true what they say – you know how mushrooms often feel more "organic" in terms of qualitative effects while LSD feels more synthetic? Yeah so Peyote is more organic feeling and Mescaline feels like it was forged from electricity by a shamanic scientist. Could be expectation, and maybe I'm furthering said expectations in others, sowing those mental seeds with my words now as you read them, so keep an open mind to the possibility that YMMV.
To clarify, one can purchase a living san pedro cactus, or one can obtain dry, powdered clippings of san pedro. Obviously, don't break the law, but for some who live where this is legal, they extract mescaline from the plant matter in a manner similar to extracting DMT from certain plant sources. The chlorophyl is a pain in the ass and there are quite a bit of plant-matter lipids to remove via de-fatting during an acid/base extraction. The overall yield is pretty low, but reasonably pure mescaline.hcl can be isolated from san pedro clippings with some delicate kitchen chemistry and extraction know-how. This certainly beats skinning, de-spining, and peeling a san pedro, making a gross-tasting cactus smoothie from the pulp, choking it down and vomiting some back up within the hour… just to trip.
… while that's an entertaining description, I think of it a little differently. It's bad, but maybe not that bad. To me, it's more like if someone blended together string beans, kale, and yard grass, then mixed that w/warm, full-pulp OJ and a couple drops of vinegar, then blended it in a Vitamix until it had the consistency of soupy oatmeal. Oh and one has to down something like ~32 ounces (~1L) of the stuff. Yuck. To me, this makes it worth the effort to refine the extraction process and minimize the yuck factor.Yes, I've anecdotally found this to be true. Definitely the strongest San Pedros I've had were a dark green with patches of purple in it.
Well, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), Lophophora williamsii is identified as "threatened" though not "endagered" yet (EDIT ☞ source). However, it is trending toward becoming endangered, so your concern is valid. However, by the time it's in the hands of the consumer, the damage has been dealt. The thing to encourage is that people not over-harvest the plant. I know you can argue that purchasing San Pedro only encourages others to continue over-harvesting it, but I'm afraid that will likely continue, and I doubt it will ever go fully extinct given its psychoactive alkaloidal content.
I don't think you're quite saying that the consumer is blameless, but I hope it's obvious that that would be no excuse. Using that logic you could justify buying ivory, because the elephant has already been killed, or sharkfin soup. But of course there wouldn't be a market for these things if there was no consumer demand.
Yes! This is the way - if someone wants to eat peyote, make sure source it from your own homegrown or someone else's non-wild farm/growery. People do amazing things with grafting onto S.P., or even Pereskiopsis (a true cactus that looks more like a succulent):
I was invited by a Uicholl shaman to partake.
That's different; that attaches animal suffering to the matter. Also, most consumers will not have the luxury of fully knowing their source, so how can someone know if the peyote in front of them was from over-harvesting a natural resource or the product of a grow operation meant for consumption of the product?
You had every right. These things are here for a reason, and I'll bet you've more than made up for it by now simply through educating people. But think about it – perhaps that's why the cactus was there in the first place; to be discovered and consumed so it can enlighten. Absolve yourself from that guilt, friend. I assure you the plant has no hard feelings about the matter
"Solar-powered", lol. That reminds me of the solar-powered clothes dryer (it's a clothes line), and the uselessness of a solar-powered flashlight
precious-cactus.com
Same genus, different species. But yeah, overall basically the same.
