Darklight Posted August 7, 2003 When you're awake at 1am and a rat has just chewed through a power cord on the piece of equipment you were going to use right now , what else is there to do but dribble from the keyboard... ___________________________________- Ethnobotanical Life Cycle Level 1. Drug: Nutmeg Plant: Acacia melanoxyn The realisation that there are more types of drugs than you can comfortably consume in a weekend hits you. You find a copy of something by Terence McKenna at a secondhand bookstore , and a friend points you to a few sites on the internet where the implications of Erowid and SPF overwhelm you. If you persist you will pass to... Level 2 Drug: Salvia divinorum Plant: Banisteriopsis caapi You join a few EB forums and after trying repeatedly and overtly to swap a hundred grams of morning glory seeds for some Erythroxylum coca, you go on to make a couple of social gaffes so bad that you will cringe to recall them in five years and trust me someone will. If you remain undeterred your HSC will intervene anyhow, and things will go on hold until you get your results. Over the holidays you have trouble convincing your parents to water your growing plant collection and your insistence that this is vitally important arouses their suspicions so you don't press the point but instead lose a third of your hard won collection to the heat. Out of pure anguish you will break out the last drops of your 1-4B stash and lose a weekend and a girlfriend at the same time, which, after posting the full story to the forums, will gain you to entry at... Level 3 Drug: DMT ( farm grade ) Plant: Mitragyna speciosa You're only halfway through uni, but you're powering! Your influence and contacts have allowed you to start an EB related business licit or otherwise, and almost immediately you become embroiled in some senseless political battle where your moral stance and the marital status of your parents is called into question by those at Stage1 and 2. You funnel the business proceeds into more work and habitually attend gatherings and conferences both formal and informal, and start to to suspect that there is more to this than everyone's talking about, that some vital piece of knowledge, that unified theory of ethnobotany is being kept hidden from you by vast and powerful networks of people higher up the food chain- especially when you catch one of the guest speakers at a conference casting you condescending glances. You attempt your first formal bioassay and when you come back your sitter giggles and refuses to tell you what you said. You train a new sitter. The old one goes online and tells everyone. The shock and horror, both of the allegations and the breach of confidence that gave birth to them shows you have arrived at... Level 4 Drug: 2CE Plant: Erythroxylum coca By now your consumables swaps and trade collection occupies most of a large plastic breadbin, only ironically you don't have time to actually consume any of it. This is further complicated by the fact that most of your friends are EB freaks, so every time you meet the resultant swap frenzy starts to resemble the showbag pavillion at the Easter Show on Children's Day. Your mailbox is crammed with requests from people wanting advice, support, your presence and a few hours of your time so you can take all the drugs they sent you, and you intend to answer each and every one personally tomorrow. In fact you're so indispensable now that Mulga hates you and several other people go out of their way to argue with you so they can look important. In the meantime your pet project is burgeoning, and requires intensive tutoring in several subjects which seemed initially to be entirely unrelated. Which is a shame, because your booming business also really requires more time than it gets to do what are now repetitive and humdrum tasks, albeit tangentially related to the passion which spurred you on in the first place. You think seriously about collecting Brugmansia, just for appearance's sake. Non EB ppl avoid you at parties. The neighbours cast you funny glances, and your partner, if you still have one, starts to complain, mostly about the mess. Get a dedicated space for your work and proceed immediately to... Level 5 Drug: Who has time for drugs? Plant: Brugmansia whateveryournameis Your pet project whelps again and spawns its fifth litter. Your fierce parental instincts refuse to allow you to delegate or discard any of them and you seriously intend to finish them all one day just after you publish your next book. People mail, people call, and you just wish they'd go away and let you get back to work. In fact if one more person gives you another really really good idea you'll vomit. Certainly you can't be bothered reading any of the current threads in your newsgroup or forum, or look sideways at unrelated research no matter how groundbreaking as you're flat strap following the multiplying leads which will answer your original queston to our satisfaction if you could remember what it was you were originally in search of. By now you well and truly understand there is no great conspiracy at the back of EB, just a bunch of stressed overworked zealots who can't take any more and want to live alone on a mountain, and you realise those aren't condescending glances directed at newbies, they're pitying looks for those who simply refuse to escape. You crave for, but are incapable of any conversation that isn't related to mind altering susbtances though you start to suspect there's more to life. Congratulations, you're a star. Level 6. Drug: Asprin Plant: African violet You consider a career in hairdressing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waterdragon Posted August 7, 2003 afflicted. hasn't got to the asprin stage but the signs are there. maybe i should find another hobby just to even things out a bit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted August 7, 2003 Well, I dont think Mulga hates me YET and I dont want to be a hairdresser- if I ever get that far gone I'll join the theravada sangha (and the obsession for ethnobotanical oddities will be abandoned, its root destroyed, like an uprooted palm tree, deprived of the conditions of existence, not destined for future arising- see I'm already getting the language down ) so five years down the road if you see a monk taking a real close look at your heimias he might not be a stranger after all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slarty Fart Blaster Posted August 8, 2003 I'm sorry, no...i'm very glad, that i dont recognise any of that. I like exploring my conciousness but i have absolutly no time for Terence McKenna and think SPF is a total joke, do not attend any conferences to talk about my "theories". Dont feel i have to have taken certain drugs or grow the "in" plants. Vive le difference !!! Reality is what you can get away with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trixxy3 Posted August 8, 2003 I can't wait to get to level 6, ive always wanted to be a hairdresser Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mescalito Posted August 8, 2003 You got it wrong man! You separate the asprin from the CODIENE ( Discard the precipatate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thelema Posted August 8, 2003 jeez darklight, something munches through a power cord and youre gonna be a hairdresser? Is the moon full? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gomaos Posted August 8, 2003 Can't really find my level here... perhaps I'm stuck somewhere between level 3 and 4... not really on level 3 anymore but somehow can't get to 4, things are against me... and yes as mescalito said, seperate the codein and aspirin/paracetamol and throw the latter away, or better just use poppies... definitely don't wanna get to level 6, I like some distance between me and hairdressers, I only visit them when I have to look "normal" for official occasions... I'll probably stay a "shaman's apprentice" forever... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Salviador Posted August 22, 2003 MAN THAT IS SCARY i remember first non mainstream drug i tried: nutmeg, second, salvia, then the flood gates opened haha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
