Stripper and Todd Skinner's girfriend Krystal Cole's claviceps paspali (same alkaloid profile as the powerful Mesoamerican morning glory) ergot wine experience from Chapter 17 THE BLOOD OF CHRIST from the book "Lysergic":
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Todd knelt down, holding an ornately decorated gold chalice. A magnificent piece to behold, exquisite. It pulsated with energy, spirituality. "Sherom Teleqot Masecot," he began his prayers in ancient Chaldean, and then moved on to a higher prayer. "Ebatone Neahmeh Nohhoaayow..." the language of the gods. Reverent peacefulness engulfed him as the words came forth. He turned to face me and drank several large gulps. Then bowed his head in silence as he passed me the chalice.
"What is it?" I was totally caught by surprise; we had not planned on tripping for awhile. Things had been far too crazy lately.
"It's ancient wine. Just try a sip."
"I don't know..." I didn't want to have a repeat of my DMT experience. My mind wasn't as prepared as it should be prior to a journey. Also, I had never seen him this spiritual before a trip. He never prayed or used a chalice any other time. Usually he would non-ceremonially weigh out the doses on his lab scale, and then simply pass them out. No ceremony, no prayers. Why the sudden change?
"Just try a small sip. It is time for you to be initiated into the order, you're ready. But I would kneel and say a prayer first if I was you. This one must be taken very seriously." His head bowed slightly but he still kept eye contact.
I was curious so I knelt down, even though my instincts were telling me not to. What order? The brotherhood maybe? And what was in the chalice? It couldn't really be ancient wine, could it? I examined the liquid; it looked and smelled just like red wine. Why not? I cautiously drank a small sip. It was thinner than normal wine and had a woody taste. The most interesting part was the way it tingled as it went down. A warming sensation filled my throat and stomach. "Okay I drank some, now what is it?"
"It's Ergot wine." He smiled slyly, knowing he had gotten one over on me.
"ERGOT WINE! Oh my God!" I was in shock. "Ergot can kill people. I wouldn't have taken it if I would have known what it was. It's St. Anthony's fire! It can make you lose body parts if you touch it! Oh, my God!" My head was spinning. How could he have not warned me?
"I knew you would react like this, that's why I just told you to drink it. You get so afraid sometimes. There is no need to be; you are safe." A slight giggle escaped from his lungs.
"Are you sure it's safe? Where did you get it?" My heart was racing.
"I made it when I was younger. I did an alcohol wash of the ergot fungus with the wine. Then I corked the bottles up and stored them. The ergot fungus will feed on the sugars in the wine, giving it the woody taste. I let them age for about ten years. It is best to wait a little longer, but I felt it was an appropriate time to open one anyway. Every year it ages, it will become a little less potent and easier to control the dose."
"How do you know what a safe dose is?" I was skeptical.
"Ergot is a fungus and a precursor for LSD. Ergot is interesting because we really don't know what happens to the alkaloid concentration over time. It moves around, changes. So the dose is guesswork."
"Isn't Ergot what Socrates used to take at Eleusis?" I thought it was kind of cool to be taking something that the founders of our democracy used to take, but that our current democracy has made illegal.
"Yes, the priest who handed down the secret formula from generation to generation did a wine, or water with mint or peppermint leaves added, adds acidity and high in acetaldehyde, infusion of the ergot."
"I can feel it already."
"I started to see holographic symbols, floating in a circle around Todd's head. I had never seen symbols before in a trip. They were translucent almost like glass. Empty space had taken on a form. They constantly rotated, allowing me to see all of their sides. A few of them looked like symbols from the zodiac. Others looked like Sanskrit, or Arabic. Some I have nothing to compare them to. Where did they come from? What did they mean?"
"Out of all my journeys, ergot was my most productive and therefore my best."
"The chalice and prayers peeked my curiousity. Why had he done it this time and no others? What was the meaning of it all? He was so careful with his words, his humble demeanor, and even how he held the chalice as he drank. I had seen communion in church before and knew symbolically this is what he had meant by it all."