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If your around Melbourne Central (multiple locations When: Friday 13 April (5pm – 9pm), Saturday 14 April (12pm – 6pm) Check the details https://www.theurbanlist.com/melbourne/a-list/melbourne-central-cactus-carnival https://www.facebook.com/events/1956503271234109/ https://www.melbournecentral.com.au/what-s-happening/cactus-carnival Are you a succa for succulents? Crazy for cacti? Let your prickly side loose over two plantastic days of cactus-themed events, photo ops and pop-ups at our Cactus Carnival! Cacti-fy your look – and your life – at our cactus-inspired market, get stuck into succulent treats from cactus-themed foodie pop-ups, and sip on a free tequila cocktail in a jar at our pop-up Tommy’s Margarita Bar by Melbourne Martini. Party like you're in the Californian desert with DJs spinning Coachella-inspired tracks and snap Insta pics among (real!) cacti in our Cactus Country desert garden. PLUS enter our comp for your chance to win a VIP trip to Cactus Country with your besties. It'd be a real prick to miss this! Join this event so you don't forget. WHEN: Fri 13 April, 5pm – 9pm Sat 14 April, 12pm – 6pm WHERE: The Cactus Carnival will be spread throughout Melbourne Central. Stay tuned for our event brochure which will take you on a journey to find all the cacti you could ever dream of!

Mckenna talks about the use of Datura in some cultures; The flowers are crushed into a paste and rubbed on ones "third eye" between the eye lids. This would lead to intense vivid dreams. Or even sharing a room with the plant as you sleep.

Bought myself a new ally, a Magnolia grandiflora tree. The flower contains liriodenine, anonaine, dehydroremerine (0.52% total alkaloids) Leaf from the flowering plant contains anonaine, remerine, liriodenine and rutine (0.54 % total alkaloids) It also contains essential oils 0.58 % Anonaine, the principle leaf alkaloid displayed affinity of 0.8 µM, the same order as the reference compounds nomifensine (0.2 µM), but more potent than amineptine and dexamphetamine at DAT. The oxoaporphine liriodenine was virtually devoid of activity as a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. It also has affinity for 5-HT1A and α1 adrenergic receptor affinity. Although not overly potent, studies suggest they are α1A antagonists, as is demonstrated by the vasorelaxant responses. The flowers are edible and said to have an exquisite flavour and are used as a spice and condiment. My flowers were dried and aged on the plant so lost most of that but still interesting flavours. Volatile constituents are mainly monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids. Look forward to a tea from the fresh flowers. Interestingly, the crude extract of the seeds contains 10% 4-O-methylhonokiol. It is also found in the bark. This is a potent CB2 receptor ligand which readily crosses the blood brain barrier and attenuates memory impairment. In addition to anonaine, liriodenine etc, the leaves contain sesquiterpene lactones like parthenolide which has intriguing activity but low bioactivity. Please be aware that the toxicity of the leaf material is unestablished while the constituents are more characterised. Well the Magnolia flower tea was interesting tastewise maybe a slight subjective uplift. Something spiritual to it but I wanted more DAT/5-HT1A action. Chewed through a whole flower as tea. Wanted to develop a bit of a relationship with this plant, see if it could be a good functional motivational aid, so I tried 2 tsp dried leaf material on top. Struggling to find info on doses but the same alkaloids at 5-10mg/kg in mice exhibited antidepressant activity. For me, the upper alkaloid dose would be about 80mg alkaloids in human equivalent doses. Interesting resonance, seems somewhat useful for doing things. Soft energetic resonance, seems superior to lotus/lily. Not really stimulatory but functional it seems. 3 tsp of crushed dried leaf: need all the uplift I can get. There's something but it's not pushy stimulant wise, feels clean, a focusing energy but soft. Started another day with leaves 17g dried, ~ 90mg alkaloids. I had to have an early sleep on it, it seems to have some waves of calming sedation for me anyway. Then it picked up into something more 'wanna do stuff'. Followed that up the next day with 17g and I had quite a good day. I tend to find stimulants calming and de-scattering so results may vary. I do like the magnolia leaf at decent doses but I'm going to leave my experiments there, let my ally grow before I find it too useful. Wouldn't say it's going to make a magnolia crack but still interesting. If I find a large M. grandiflora, I might make magnolia leaf extract, the tea is quite unpleasant and it would be nice to have a concentrated extract. Anyone done any trials themselves?

I found some pictures of the coleus plant that I used. It actually has more red than green.

I mostly do instrumental stuff, this track was actually my first time working with a vocalist... I've got an non-vocal EP coming out soon from this project. I also launched another project that same day, check it out if you're keen....

home is where heart is - centered monkish body .. looking nuns watch cloisters !

Sounds about right to me. The 5 senses completely cease as reference points in the 1st jhana. It'll come to me when its ready. I used to think meditation would get me there, but I've since realised that all of the other factors are crucial to its emergence. I now focus on becoming an embodiment of sila. Virtue is the seed of shamatha.

The first jhana is to my own knowing as once the mind becomes completely still then it becomes very peaceful then waves of bliss bring it into a fully transcendent state so it is unmistakable in that sense

If your meditation is getting unstable in the deep end it is truly because you don't have enough focus on metta, loving kindness. This counts in actions, thoughts and speech off the mat, as well as specific meditation or mantra focus. Attention makes the mind very strong and clear. Loving kindness does multiple things but one is that it inclines it in the right direction. Deep insight without the power of loving kindness can bring about intensely disassociative experiences. People with too much of the former with not enough of the latter often get this "unstable" experience and sometimes even develop temporary or recurring psychosis due to their response to practice; a kind of egoic rebound stress. Long story short, metta is crucial for stability and safety in strong practice, especially outside of a monastic environment. Even in monasteries the Buddha referred to it as a rapid path to jhana/samadhi. It is invaluable to develop a powerful metta practice. It can get to the point that you can feel powerful visceral loving sensations in the body towards others, even complete strangers. It keeps things safe! As for shamanism, I like stephen harold buhner's approach to plant relationships. He has some great books. And your future aspirations, who knows, it is possible. Make all the merit you can. Figure out how to turn obligation into devotion. Plenty of advice here, possibly unsolicited, just offering

I know I got side tracked for a bit, but back to grafts I've made today. First we have the potential scion to choose. Next we have to implant said scion into our Pereskiopsis. Noticed I still have some areoles left so I found another donor removed areole and replaced areole. Not quite done yet, but still having fun nonetheless.

Hey, this is the first release from one of my projects, came out today... Check it!!

cactus of the krillenium cactus of the millenium and cactus of the month

Bump! Wondering if anyone is still growing any acaicas from this seed batch? Thought I'd chuck up a pic of the one I've still got.. Guess its been almost 4 years.. gives ya a good idea of the growth rate for these guys.