holymountain

drugs and music are like the chicken and the egg. it's like that spaceman 3 album 'taking drugs to make music to take drugs to'.

hey the gig was good. datsuns were rocking as usual. it is a shame not many people care anymore. i guess thats what happens with hype. but these guys deserved the hype. either way it was a pleasure to play with them as they have been a favourite of mine for a while. for me stoner rock basically means metal riffs played at a slower pace than usual. it's like playing metallica on 33rpm instead of 45rpm. there's all different sorts of music. i find it funny that the genres are named after whatever drugs the audience or musicians are on. eg. speed metal, stoner rock, psychedelic rock, acid house. just goes to show drugs can play a big part on perception of music...sometimes you can't really appreciate certain groups until you go where they have been. e.g it took me a few tabs to realise just why the chemical brothers were called chemical brothers and to know what sort of experience jimi hendrix was talking about or to understand what the beatles 'tomorrow never knows' really means... ahhh if it wasn't for the beatles talking things up. i would never have begun my psychedelic quest. praise you lennon!

i had a great time too. bummer i had to leave a bit early. would definitley look forward to another one. anyone else get a tad sunburnt though? that'll teach me to wander around the cactus garden in the middle of the day. thanks for all the free seeds and what not, the generosity was much appreciated as was the knowledge gained. peace.

hey. i dig the stuff. i too play in a band that i would sort of classify as heavy/stoner/rock....we're called regular john you can check us out at myspace.com/regularjohnmusic we're playing with the datsuns tonight at the annandale hotel in sydney if anyone reads this in time....should be good. hopefully. peace.

i'll be there. i've been wanting to make it to one of these for a while. is there anything i should bring? food? don't have anything to trade really except maybe some hiemia cuttings if anyone wants...

good thinking. i was about to send a post asking about this film and if anyone else had seen it. it made my blood boil in a good 'i'm going to do something no matter what' way. hopefully z day will work and more and more people will see the film and be aware of it. i've been burning copies for as many people as possible. it's naieve and optimistic but i really believe if enough people see it maybe something will happen. i know it's not the sixties anymore but i can't help but stress over what is going to happen to us all in the next ten years. it looks very grim. unless...we spead the right information to as many people as possible. of course it's hard to do such a thing without scaring people off but i think this film can do it. even if you think it's bullshit at least you have been exposed to the ideas and maybe hopefully questioned your own ideas. nice one korky.

my mum and dad watch getaway. in fact all of my extended family watch it. if getaway say its okay then the chances of them listening to me when i try to explain the benefits of psychedelics to them will be much greater. i would have no problem if ayahuasca became mainstream provided it didn't mean the depletion of all alkaloid containing plants. the nature of the experience is so powerful that it could never be used for kicks and i might be being overly optimistic but i'm sure that everyone who did it would get the message or at least hold a lot more respect for the power of plants. i would be more than happy if the rich lawyers and business men of australia saw the segement and then decided they were going to visit brazil on their next million dollar holiday. they'd sure get a kick in the ass from the experience and it might even change their lives forcing them to use their money and influence to do good in the world or at the very least they'd have to admit that all the hippies may very well be onto something far greater than they could ever have imagined.

i just started a book by rupert sheldrake called 'the sense of being stared at' and it says that it's very common for couples and families to report things like that. when i finish the book i'll probably be able to explain why. funny you mention the book of subgenius.. i got it for christmas and plan on reading it as soon as i finish the rupert sheldrake book. is that a synchronicity or what? (or do most of us here have that book). i work at a call centre calling random westpac customers and quite often i'll be thinking of an old freind or a place i visited and i'll look up from my drawing and see that the next person i'm calling has the same name or i'm calling someone from a town i was thinking about. it always keeps me wondering just how that happens. cheers.

since becoming interested in psychedelics i've had many things happen to me that have made me grin because i 'know' they've happened for a reason and the only explanation i can find is that some divine source is playing with me, throwing me little gifts and clues to see if i notice. i guess the more attention you pay to things the more you notice so synchronicities increase as your awareness increases. but some things have happened that just make me go 'wow'. for example i saw a copy of alice in wonderland in a bookshop it was $5 and i was going to buy it because recently i'd become aware of it's psychedelic connotations but thought 'nah i'd rather have a cool old copy with lots of illustrations like the ones i remember at my primary school'... i also came across a few timothy leary books but figured i'd wait till i got paid before i bought one..the next day was pay day and i was on my way back to the bookshop to buy one of the leary books. on my way down the street i came across a bunch of boxes left on the side of the road. a dude informed me that someone had left all their stuff in storage and never collected it so they were throwing it out. he also said to grab whatever i wanted. i was the first one there and guess what i found?... an amazing old copy of alice in wonderland from the 70s and two leary books!!! i was jumping for joy. i also got a bunch of art books and a record player as well as lots of cool doctor who toys...people throw stuff out all the time in sydney and chances are someone somewhere is going to be into leary but the odds of me finding those books whilst on my way to purchase some is just bizzare to me. if it was stephen king or something like that i wouldn't be surprised as they are every where. it made me wonder if something was letting me know 'you are on the right track. keep searching'.. maybe i was just lucky but i choose to think that thoughts create reality. thinking about something calls it into existence. or something like that.

'waking life' is an excellent film. it tackles many deep metaphysical issues but somehow remains captivating. visually it is stunning as well. anyone that has ever tripped will enjoy it for the issues it deals with. pink floyd's the wall is amazing visually as well. the animations are fantastic but the plot is a bit of a downer so make sure you are aren't coming down too hard if you watch it. live at pompeii is amazing as well. the music is just...just...heavenly. a film called renegades has an amazing scene in it that you can watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=736NKsK86Uk . it was on sbs a few weeks ago under the name blueberry. i'd read about it as renegades in alex greys cosm magazine and was very happy with sbs for putting it on. anyway it has the best representation of a trip i've ever seen. i read an interview with the director by alex grey and he said that he and the animators drank ayahausca a number of times in order to get the visuals as accurate as possible. props to them for putting in the effort....2001 is stunning as well. you can synch the last scene up to 'echoes' by pink floyd and with or without drugs you will transcend space and time i promise.

just down the road from gardens r us on gardeners road (i think the suburb is zetland..) the bunnings has some phalaris arundicea. it's ten bucks but there is lots and lots of it growing per pot. cheapest i've seen for that amount.

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unfortunatley that was the only opportunity swim has had to try mushies so he figured he would go for as big a dose as he could rather than have smaller ones and maybe be dissapointed. i'm pretty sure he could have had similar results from half as much. after all he definitley felt like he had had too much as things were very, very intense and at times he wanted out. if he ever gets his hands on a large amount he'd be very interested to know what effects are brought on from lower doses.. he wonders if it's anything like acid where the difference between 1 tab and 4 tabs is huge but the difference between 4 tabs and 8 tabs isn't very noticeable... the next day he felt GREAT!! he just couldn't believe what had happened. he was a little worried that he might still be possessed by whatever was in him but was told so long as he integrated the experience he would be okay. he bought a smudge stick just incase and did a little made up ritual to cleanse himself. the world had never appeared so magical and amazing. he knew with certainty that the possibilites for consciousness were endless and the experience has left him so many questions that he knows he will always have something to search for and be excited about. it also opened up a lot more areas of spirituality that he had previously regarded as rubbish (eg he never would have used a smudge stick before..he would have considered that silly). he now avidly reads anything he can get his hands on that is even semi-related. it was a real life changer

swim once had 12 dried grams of cubensis. for him it was a little too much. he said for the first two hours it was indistinguishable from dmt and he encountered dozens of entities. some seemed loving and kind and others appeared evil and terrifying. at times he felt under attack by these forces. after a while he returned back to his body and began chanting/grunting in the style of american indian shamans. he was aware of what he was doing but was unable to stop or control it. he got up and began dancing around on one foot in circles with his arms out going faster and faster. his explanation for this was 'they were telling me to do it. and when i did i felt protected from the evil ones'. needless to say his tripping partner who also had the same amount was very freaked out. later his eyes darted around and kept going crosseyed whilst poking out his tounge and wiggling it around and making strange groans. he said when this would happen he felt taken over or possesed by something. he would walk around in the house in a hunched over posture with tounge darting in and out, eyes crossed and making odd gurgling noises. eventually he became aware of this and consicously tried to not to do it even though he said it felt really good to do. it remains the most bizzare entheogenic experience he has ever had and one day hopes to try 12 grams again if he can ever find it. other people he has spoken to have mentioned similar things happening to them on such large doses in particular the tounge wiggling poking and eyes crossing...anyone else had or heard of things like this?

from my experience one needs to take a fair bit for any real visuals to come about. i used to take acid all the time thinking i had seen it all taking up to 5 tabs at a time. then i found another source and took the same amount....BOOM!! it all depends on what you are getting and how much you are having. doses these days are quite low so you need a few to experience the full potential. i've found eyes closed is where its really at with acid thats where you can find yourself fully immersed in a completely different world. eyes open definitley won't give you as intense visuals and will generally keep you grounded in your surroundings with only minimal distortions. as terrence mckenna would say 'if in doubt double the dose'...that way you can be sure you've had enough.. then lay down with eyes shut and some music (you said you like tool.. you'll like them even more...). if you do it alone you'll go much deeper and have less distractions allowing the visuals to really unfold to their full potential... well thats what i do and i see some really intense stuff

thanks everyone. they all seem to be in a stable condition..if things get worse you'll hear about it trust me (as i'll be asking for more help i've only posted a couple of times here but i've been cruising the archives and i dig this place very much. we are very lucky to have such a site. once you encounter the great plant teachers there really is no going back so it's a real treat to find a site like this where such subjects can be discussed...without anyone cautiously backing away....peace.

so i bought those big pachanois in my last post and after having them a few days they have developed a nasty grey something or other on their skins. using the search engine i figured they could be scales so i tried to scrub them off with a toothbrush but could not get them off. i'm wondering if it's just scarring caused by the spines of the other cacti as i'm sure when i transported them they might have got knocked around and stabbed each other. either way i'm rather concerned especially because it spread in a couple of days and turned these very healthy cacti in serioulsy damaged looking ones. i also gave them a light spray of very watered down 'natural plant and soil nutrient' the other day it is 100% organic and contains seaweed extract and humate. methinks this may not have been a good idea and thats what might have caused the nastiness. is it common for pedros to react this way after spraying? definitley not going to do it again then. also my little bridgesii has recently got himself a few tiny black spots that appear very similar to the dreaded black death. they are mainly at the top but there are a few down the bottom as well. just wondering if i should leave them alone or at what point i need to take action... cheers..

greetings!!! visited a nursery in sydney the other day and came across these beauties for $190. i'm assuming they are t.pachanoi. they are quite large the tallest probably being close to metre. all up i think there are 8 or 9 in the pot. three big ones and a few pups. now 190 is a bit of money for a musician/student type but figured it was an okay price for so many cacti. any thoughts? should i pounce on it? there are a few more there as well for the same price but varying in the number of pups. i'm educatedly guessing that these are t. pachanoi so if they aren't please let me know so i can put the money to more responsible use. cheers!

cheers appreciate the advice.

measured it. roughly 10 feet all up. works out i guess $19 a foot. which is cheaper than $1 a cm and seeing as i can't be bothered waiting for cuttings to take root and start growing i might just make the purchase. ...this was the best one out of the bunch but the other ones for sale weren't too bad either.

comes to 160 US dollars. i know they are your standard san pedro and therefore not cool or exotic. but i honestly could care less. i'm not trying to impress anyone with my collection. plus the place is down the road from me so i wouldn't have to 'order it' and then pot it etc. i figure theres at least two metres worth of cactus probably more plus they are already rooted and growing etc.

hello all happy new year. i went to visit my parents for christmas and found all sorts of new and interesting things in my home town. if only i had known the joys of enthobotanicals in my teenage years. have some pics of some great cacti i found around the town. would appreciate any info as i'm sure i would be able to get cuttings next time i'm back. th first lot are from a garden just down the road. pretty sure that these last two pics are some type of cereus but as usual i'm never anything over 15% sure. can send larger pics if it will help. if you can't help thanks for at least looking i really appreciate it. peace.

i picked up a few different types of cacti at a garage sale a few weeks back (quite a nice surprise ). i'm pretty sure the first one of them is a t. pachanoi (the single one in the pot) and maybe the two in the one pot could be as well but i'm not 100%. also got a cutting from a nieghbour (one with the grey background) would appreciate some help very much. i've looked in my trouts notes and peyote coyotes page but i just can't be 100% sure what i've got growing. unfortunatley they all look rather similar to me and as each is distinct and a little different in it's own right i'm reluctant to classify. again any help would be appreciated. cheers. can send more photos, close ups different sections if that helps. peace.

thanks i'm new to the growing game so any advice is much appreciated. no matter how much i read it's always better to get specific feedback. so do you think it needs a bigger pot or just a different soil mix? i've started using yates thrive cactus and succulent fertiliser on it hoping it will help. also i picked up this little one at kmart it was unlabelled but have a hunch it might be a scop. bit i knowyou have some beauitful ones yourself so i'm sure you would know. ( i intend on putting it in a better soil mix...just haven't got aroud to buying some more yet) again any help is greatly appreciated