Perhaps the HBW is just showing you darkness that already lies in your psyche that you don't want to see? It's never been my experience to HBW has dark vibes. It can be very confusing and physically overwhelming at high doses, sure. Things can get to the point that it's hard to follow people's conversations, hard to express oneself to people clearly and hard to comprehend the plot of movies/TV shows (which is why I recommend you instead watch lighthearted easy to follow cartoons on HBW).
HBW can have an edge at high doses but I couldn't label that edge as dark and depressing. One can just feel an out of control edginess at not fully knowing what is going on around them or in their own mind , resulting in them feeling confused and powerless and easily frightened (though HBW is yet to strike the fear in me and doubt it ever will).
If any of you guys' HBW trips ever give you that dark edgy feeling again there's a plethora of plants, heath supplements, nootropics (aka smart drugs) pharmaceuticals, etc. that can really do wonders to relieve the trip anxiety and make one feel calm and centered.
Plants that may help calm down HBW: Bali Kratom, Pods, Kava, Blue Lilly, Pedicularis, Mulungu, Glaucine (active constituent of Yellow Horned Poppy), Wild Lettuce (latex is best), Corydalis
Supplements: L-Theanine, Taurine, Niacinamide, Inositol, Melatonin, 5-HTP
Nootropics: Phenibut, Picamilon (not sure if this one would calm a trip; anyone know?)
Pharms: Benzos, Neurontin, Baclofen, Ambien (though be careful b/c some people have adverse delirious reactions if they take too much Ambien)
In my opinion HBW is actually a much gentler, more understanding, tolerant, forgiving, accepting, compassionate teacher than Psilocybe, 2CE or Uncle Sidney. I can't comment on how Cacti, DMT, Aya or Amanita muscaria's teaching presence compares to HBW as I'm yet to try these.
My strongest Psilocybe experience was off merely 3.5 grams of Thai caps and has left me with a permanent respect/fear of ever recklessing using mushrooms. I realize my trip was so insanely intense because I approached the mushrooms with overconfident cockiness and underestimated their power and mocked them. I assumed hey just because I've easily handled 3.5-10 g of dried Psilocybe in the past 3.5 g of Thai ain't nuthin big, right. WRONG, very, very wrong...
Folks, don't do what I did above and always approach a new batch of Psilo at a very low dose and get a feel for it before plunging into a heroic dose that will leave you feeling like Terence McKenna's worst nightmare trips... I'd say with a new batch don't eat more than 1-2 grams to start. Ideally, don't touch a new batch of mushies till friends have tested it first and you've seen their reactions.
One of these day's I'd like to see how LSA's synergize with Psilocybe. I also would love to see how Peruvian Torch would compliment LSA's. In you guys' opinion would taking HBW and Psilocybe possibly cause one drug to block the other from working (this could happen if one drug blocks the other from reaching receptors) or would they synergize powerfully?
Any of you guys who think just taking HBW alone is dark make sure NOT to try LSAhuasca because you prob. aren't ready. Some of my HBW/Syrian Rue trips were profoundly intense.
Oh, yeah about the DXM...forgot bout explaining how to combine that with HBW. Silly forgetful me. Almost ended my post without getting to the issue of how best to combine Dex and HBW. I generally don't take the DXM till the HBW is peaking or starting to wear off. I never take the DXM before the HBW as the combined nausea would be agonizing. And I don't take the DXM on the HBW comeup as I dont want to compound the HBW nausea.
So I wait till the HBW nausea has totally died down and my stomach feels strong enough to handle DXM. Ideally, you want to use Zicam Max with HBW, rather than Tussin or cough gels. Why? Convenience. Zicam generally causes far less nausea than Tussin or cough gels. If I were you I'd start out with only 1 Zicam Max (around 391 mg DXM per .44 oz bottle) drank right as the HBW peak begins to fade. In 1.5-2 hrs you should be shot to a new, hopefully better peak than the previous HBW-only peak.
The combined body buzz of HBW and DXM is sooooo relaxing, god. The combined antidepressant effect is out of this world too. Not to mention the spiritual insights. Taking DXM while on HBW makes the DXM feel FAR more spiritual than a DXM-only trip. And I haven't gotten to the best part of the combo- the CEV's (Closed Eye Visuals). The CEV's from combining the 2 psychs rival some of the best CEV's I've ever experienced.
I'd say the only drugs that have given me deeper, fuller CEV's are Sally D and Ketamine. On a high enough dose of HBW/DXM with my eyes shut pretty much anything I imagine i can fully visualize. It's like being able to watch crystal clear extremely vivid lifelike movies play out in one's head. You'll never want to open your eyes again. Now, just know to get CEV's of the intensity I am describing I had to take 2 Zicam's, not just 1.
Oh, and I found out taking Kratom does wonders for smoothing out any dirty feelings one gets from HBW or DXM and being on all 3 is a much more clearheaded trip (and much easier to pass out at the end).
I'd def. be curious whether any Ketamine or Salvia veterans upon trying heroic doses of HBW and DXM would agree with me that the combined CEV's are almost as awesome as K or Salvia. In my opinion HBW/DXM visuals are superior since they can completely be controlled, like you have this switch handy that lets you increase or decrease the visuals at will. I love that on HBW/DXM no matter how deep I get into a CEV trance I can open my eyes and within seconds be totally aware of my environment again. I always hated how confusing the comedowns from high doses of IM/IV K were. Took way too long to reintegrate into sober reality...