This Halloween I decided to attend a rave in a nearby metropolis. I had been to one rave previously and found the experience quite interesting. On that occasion I was on a smallish dose of LSD. For this experience I chose to take my standard dose of 2CB (25 mg). All four of my companions did the same.

I chose not to fast before this trip. Although I usually fast for 12 hours or more prior to any trip, I decided that fasting prior to dancing for hours was not wise. However, I did make an effort to eat lightly throughout the day. The other benefit of fasting, focusing one's will on the experience to come, wasn't much of a problem since I had been anticipating this event for weeks.

At around 11:30 pm we arrived at the rave and ingested our chemicals. I had smoked a substantial amount of high grade cannabis early in the evening (around 6:00 pm), but was no longer feeling much, if anything, from it.

All but one of my companions had tried 2CB previously, and the one who hadn't was well versed in the more common psychedelics. Immediately after ingestion we entered the rave.

A rave is something else. The pounding music and trippy lights are enough to put one into an altered state. We walked around getting a look at the venue and then moved out to do some dancing. We danced for a bit (maybe 30-40 minutes, maybe a little less) and then went to rest for a while.

We moved to the sides of the venue and found a relatively clear space to sit. About ten minutes after we sat down, one of my companions (Jf, who had never tried bees before) asked me "Are we peaking yet?". This was ~50 minutes to an hour after ingestion. I wasn't sure I was feeling anything at that point and told her so, mentioning that bees usually peak (plateau might be a better word for this particular substance) at two to three hours. She was obviously feeling the bees strongly.

I decided to concentrate to see if I could determine whether or not I was feeling any drug effects, and if so, how much. The sensory experience of the rave itself made it difficult to tell. I certainly wasn't feeling "normal" but I wasn't feeling much of what I have come to think of as characteristic of 2CB either. After a few minutes of looking for drug alerts, I began to realize I was feeling the bees. I felt the calm centering that I have come to associate with 2CB. I also felt some stomach jitters, which I do not experience every time, but I am certainly familiar with. With eyes closed I was starting to detect the stirrings of eyelid movies. This was almost certainly influenced, and perhaps drowned out to a degree, by the lights playing all over everything, including my eyelids.

Now the bees were really coming on. Once I became aware of it, it was impossible to ignore. They were a little turbulent and I started to feel slightly uncomfortable physically. I just felt a bit "off". One of my friends mentioned later he too felt a bit out of it for a short while. After about ten minutes I realized I needed to use the bathroom and excused myself to go do so.

The bathroom provided a pretty good "trip check". Once I was out of the flashing trip lights and slightly insulated from the pounding beats I had a chance to evaluate how hard I was zooming. And I was zooming pretty hard. The wall in front of the urinal was rising up in sections and flowing around. I remember reading an account of a psychedelic session in which someone mentioned wallpaper "coming out to shake hands". The effect I am describing was much like this.

I returned to our spot and sat back down. By now my discomfort had disappeared and I was totally at ease. My earlier spate of dancing had worn me out so I was content to simply sit and trip on the scenery. As I have mentioned before, 2CB makes it very easy to simply Be. There is very little desire to do anything besides what you are currently doing.

I closed my eyes for a second and was somewhat surprised that it seemed to separate me from my surroundings. With eyes closed I was able to create a sort of "cone of silence" around myself. By doing this and concentrating on my breathing I was able to enter a quiet, meditative state. Quite an accomplishment considering the chaos around me! With my eyes closed my visuals were very nice. Lots of closely knit complex designs. Bright colors (a lot of violets) on a mostly black background. Several times that night I was able to close my eyes and concentrate to enter that state of solitude.

Most of the people around us were tripping on MDMA. They were playing around and doing all the little "rolling" tricks ( a term I heard for the first time at this rave). I could feel all the love and positive energy pouring off of them. 2CB has a really positive empathogenic quality to it as well, and I feel this was enhanced by being in the presence of so many people Xing. In any case, I felt like everyone there was totally friendly and open. Much more friendly than at the average rock concert. It reminded me of my experience with Deadheads.

After resting for a while I was ready to dance some more (that was the reason I was there, after all). I moved out into the crowd of ravers and let the beat take me. Until just recently I have been a very self conscious dancer. I wouldn't even dance in public because of it. I have overcome this to a large degree, although I still feel a bit awkward at times. Not that night, though. The pounding beat and squawking filters overcame me and I just MOVED. Everyone around me was really grooving and the energy was just fantastic. A couple of times I closed my eyes and when I did, I was alone with the beat, floating in space as my body moved itself. This was a pretty intense sensation, but I was afraid to continue for too long for fear of falling over, knocking someone else over, etc.

While dancing with eyes closed I had a sort of "flashback" to my mushroom trip the previous week. During that trip I had a definite impression that I was dancing somewhere in the future. I knew at the time I was on mushrooms that I was going to be attending this rave, so it's not exactly surprising. Still, I found it interesting that my previous weeks "flashforward" was attended by an accompanying "flashback".

I danced until I felt like I couldn't possibly dance another second (IE, until I was exhausted) and then returned to my spot on the floor. All but one of my companions were out shaking booty on the dance floor. I sat next to Jf and asked her how her trip was going. She indicated it was going well. Near us, there was a girl dancing with two light sticks. She was an awesome dancer, and the light sticks made her infinitely fascinating. I watched her on and off throughout the night, whenever I would sit down for a rest.

I was feeling very sensual, very keyed in to my body and what felt good. People walking by and rubbing against me as I sat on the floor was a very pleasant sensation. There were many, many attractive women around me, and I was very aware of it. When I thought about it, there was a lot of sexual energy, but I didn't feel a rave was the right place to express such feelings (not to mention no one I was with was really an appropriate target). I did give L, one of my female companions, a backrub that we both enjoyed. 2CB makes me very "touchy". I like to touch and be touched, even if its just me rubbing my palm against my face. Touching other people you can really feel tuned into to them.

I danced whenever I had the energy, probably a total of about half of the 6 or 7 hours we were there I spent on the dance floor. That is considerably longer than I would be able or inclined to dance normally. The bees have a lot of energy, probably because of their relationship to amphetamine, but it feels very "honest". It isn't precisely speedy at this dosage, it just makes you feel energized.

This experience helped expand my awareness of how nonchemical means (in this case, light and rhythmic sound) can alter one's consciousness. This was an overwhelmingly positive trip. I think that if 2CB ever becomes widely available it will be very popular as a rave drug. It seems to incorporate some of the best qualities of LSD and MDMA, which are currently the two most popular rave drugs (as far as I can tell) without the side effects of either.

If you have never attended a rave, I encourage you to do so. It is an intensely fun event, with or without chemical alteration of consciousness.