Ask The Wizard

Salutitrations

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:58:28 -0500

“Life lived in the absence of the psychedelic experience is life trivialized, life denied, life enslaved to the ego.”

– Terence McKenna

So Tumblr has not been properly notifying me of new questions that are being asked, I am unsure if this is something that I did or something on their end. Anyways I finally just decided to check the questions area the other day to see what was up and to my surprise there are two new questions that some fine fellow magicians have put forth to me.

Both of them require a bit of research so I shall be doing that research and responding to both in the next few days. So fear not fellow travellers of the realms of the mind, your wizard friend does not want to seem like he is ignoring you, be ready for some fine content shortly.

how many pots have you smoked?

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 04:24:00 -0500

More times than the smallest Carmichael number.

In number theory, a Carmichael number is a composite positive integer n which satisfies the congruence

for all integers b which are relatively prime to n.

4-Hydroxy Tryptamines

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:01:03 -0500

4-Hydroxy Tryptamines:

Since the question asking appears to have dried up faster than a mouth on MDVP I thought I would share a link to a article I like quite a bit.

The Wizard Returns

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:50:00 -0500

I got lost in another dimension for some time, I apologize for the spam that took over this page. I think the machine elves got my password and trapped me there for some time. The elves have been dealt with and the wizard is in control again. So why not ask me some questions now that I have returned to this wonderful dimension. I am ready to answer!

No one has been asking any questions so have a picture instead!...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:50:00 -0400

No one has been asking any questions so have a picture instead! This wonderful picture comes to us from the article Grid Biosynthesis of Psilocybin from the website countyourculture

Should I take acid before going to the club?

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:45:00 -0400

The answer to this question relies very little on any scientific data and more on the weighing of many different factors of yourself which I shall attempt to order in most important to least.

Previous Experience

If you have never consumed LSD before I can’t say I would recommend using a club as the environment for your first experience however one must factor in just what type of club this is (more below). The various trips I have taken in various club environments have all went well mainly due to me always knowing prior to going out that I would have no issues walking or cabbing home if I began to feel uneasy in the club situation. I have seen many people overwhelmed when tripping in certain club environments mostly due to their lack of prior experience in knowing just how their minds function / the level of control they have when surrounded by people in a loud place on LSD. So if you have past experiences with LSD and a fairly good idea of what makes you uneasy when tripping in those experiences, you can use that to judge how you may do whilst clubbing on LSD. Also always make sure you are not stuck somewhere you may not want to be (plan to be able to walk or cab or have a sober friend drive you elsewhere incase of discomfort).

Amount

LSD, unless in liquid form, can be hard to properly dose in certainty. I rarely do a heavy dose in a club type environment and if I do it is even less likely I did it intentionally. One of the worst combinations, even for an experienced tripper is to much LSD in a overwhelmingly stimulating environment. It makes interacting much harder as well as maintaing a level head, especially in a hot cramped venue. So if you do end up taking LSD before clubbing, try your best to know approximately the level of trip you are going to have off the amount you consume and remember that setting can make the effects much more intense depending on how one feels in it. For example. 150ug at home one month, and the same 150ug at a club the next can and will hit you in a different way and depending on past experiences can make for a bad time.

Type of club / event

Many people have many definitions for what they consider to be a club. Whether it be collar popping bar star clubs, more rave type clubs, metal clubs or lounges the type of club you are thinking about taking LSD in plays a factor. Personally I have always felt most at ease in a rave type of environment due to the higher frequency of people in attendance who are accepting of or on non alcohol based drugs themselves. This factor however relies heavily on what type of place you are most comfortable in. I find familiarity with the club helps as well as new environments can be hard to navigate in the midst of a trip. Also unless you feel comfortable solo tripping, make sure you know a few people there who you can hang out with as to not feel alienated on the trip.

Summary

So to sum up, if it is going to be your first experience, I would not recommend a club type environment or anywhere that is exclusively indoors. If you have dosed before, then just make sure you feel good about doing it in the environment you pick, and always have a way to change your setting if needed safely. Also beware of heavy doses in crowded environments.

If anyone has any other tips feel free to comment or msg me and I shall add them.

Welcome / A favorite drug myth

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:13:00 -0400

Just thought I would do a quick intro post that would tackle one of my favorite myths from the days of high school which I heard many times was that eating magic mushrooms makes your brain swell and or your stomach bleed which causes the effects of the high. This myth always blew my mind based on the fact that if you even once took a drug that made your brain swell or bleed or if your stomach bled during the high you would not have many cases of someone taking mushrooms and coming out alive or non permanently damaged.

So how exactly do mushrooms get you high? Let us find out.

The common ‘magic mushroom’s’ consumed by the user usually fall under the mushroom genus Psilocybe and contain a chemical called Psilocybin. The most common and most potent members of the genus Psilocybe are P. azurescens, P. semilanceata, and P. cyanescens.

When you consume the mushroom your body works at breaking it down and through a processes called dephosphorylation the Psilocybin mentioned above is converted into psilocin. Psilocin is a partial agonist for several serotonin producing receptors in the brain, with a high affinity for the 5-HT2a in which it mimics the effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine. Mood and motivation are just some of the effects regulated by the bodies serotonin receptors. Dopamine (which has function roles in behavior and cognition, voluntary movement, motivation, punishment and reward) is indirectly produced by psilocin as well.

As it pertains to the actual danger, psilocybin has a very low toxicity when eaten having an LD50 280mg/kg. Since some of the higest % of psilocybin per dry weight were measured at 1.78% in P. azurescens there is certainly not much to worry about in terms of overdosing on psilocybin when eating mushrooms

As for the actual way visual distortions / hallucinations work I will point readers to this wonderful article by the science drug blog countyourculture Form constants and the Visual Cortext

Sources

The pharmacology of psilocybinTorsten Passie*, Juergen Seifert, Udo Schneider, Hinderk M. Emrich

Pharmako/Gnosis