Recently, for the first time in my life, I came across a quantity of acid. Always in the past when I had some it was enough for one or two trips maximum. This time, however, I had come across enough to do a series of experiments and really work with it, something I have been eager to do since I became serious about entheogenic exploration. First however, I had to test it to ascertain its relative potency.

After work I put a single drop on my tongue and sat down to meditate. A couple of times during the meditation I thought I was getting little alerts. After the half hour was up I was definitely feeling slightly altered, but I wasn't sure yet if it was the acid or just the meditation.

I went into the living room to listen to some music. I put on a cd and sat down. I was restless, and kept going into the bathroom to do a pupil check (see if my pupils were abnormally dilated, a sure sign). At about T+40 a friend of mine dropped by to borrow something. We stood around and talked for ten minutes or so. By the time he left, I was definitely tripping.

I spent a few minutes fiddling with the stereo and then put on the Chemical Brothers Dig Your Own Hole. As I was sitting on the couch listening to it I had some weird twitches in my legs, like the last time I had tried LSD. I sat back and closed my eyes. There was an occasional flash of visuals, and as my mind wandered I was able to visualize my thoughts quite easily. With eyes open, everything seemed to stand out in relief and there were colored auras vibrating on the edges of everything.

After the disc was over I decided to take a shower. While I was in the bathroom I noticed patterns creeping out of the floor. The patterns I get on acid are distinctive and very cool. They look like alien runes covering everything. I spent some time staring into the mirror, watching myself breathe. I felt very in touch with my body and its processes as I watched my chest expand and contract. The same patterns I had seen on the tile floor seemed to flash in and out of existence on my skin as I inhaled and exhaled. A very cool effect.

After I had my fill of that I got in the shower. Showers tripping on LSD are always a pleasure, and this was no exception. I was fairly focused and managed to finish the shower in a reasonable amount of time.

Afterwards I felt great, very relaxed but still tripping. I lay down in my room for a while and just chilled out. I thought about the trip, acid in general, and various things of that nature. I quite enjoyed just lying there quietly.

About this time (T+4) I decided to smoke some pot. I rolled a big joint and lit it up. I took three or four hits before putting it out. It had been a while since I smoked pot so I was quite stoned. The acid and marijuana synergized well, as the trip intensified a bit and changed in character.

After smoking I had a tendency to zone off, and enter a trance of sorts. It is different than the mushroom trance, although it is difficult to explain how they differ.

I decided to look something up in DM Turner's Essential Psychedelic Guide while sitting there. It took me a minute or two to find my copy. I read what I was looking for, then continued to read other parts of it. This is one of my favorite books about psychedelics, a very handy basic guidebook with lots of good info. I quite enjoyed reading it while tripping. The letters seemed three dimensional and had colors bleeding off the edges of them.

After setting the book down I sort of zoned off again, and spent the next ten or fifteen minutes just sitting there, rocking back and forth staring alternately at the wall and into space. After I sort of "came to" I decided to call a friend and ask him a question. Once I got him on the phone I stumbled through asking him the question I had called to ask him, taking about ten minutes to do so as I continued to go off on tangents. I'm sure he found it humorous.

Once I was off the phone I decided to listen to more music. I put on Soul Coughing and sat down on the couch to enjoy it. They are one of my favorite bands and I really got into the music deeply. About halfway through the disc my roommate and a friend of his showed up. We relit the joint I had rolled and passed it around.

I decided to eat something and got some strawberries out of the refrigerator. They were delicious. Still hungry I decided to eat some actual food and fixed myself a pita with hummus. By this time, though I was still feeling the acid, I was mostly just really stoned. After eating I decided to go to bed (T+6 hours)

In the dark I had a surge of visuals. I felt infused by plant energy. Since LSD is such a transparent psychedelic, it seems that whatever you mix it with (marijuana in this case) greatly influences the character of the experience. For this reason, I think LSD is a good entheogen to do mixtures with, and I have a number of experiments along those lines planned.

My thoughts turned inward at this time. I often get quite introspective on an LSD trip. In this case, I was thinking a lot about some negative things in my past. One incident in particular was haunting me and I decided to finally take some action and resolve it at the earliest opportunity.

I fell asleep about an hour after I went into bed, or seven hours after ingestion. I slept for 8 hours and awoke feeling pretty good. My sleep felt light, and I was slightly tired the next day.

A good trip. I accomplished my purpose of calibrating the relative strength of the acid. I enjoyed myself, which is always spiritually affirming. And most importantly, I finally resolved to work out a problem that had been poisoning me for years. The very next night I actually did so, and I have felt a burden lifted from my shoulders since. Again entheogens have shown their ability to force me to confront deeply buried conflicts and bring about a resolution, one of their greatest benefits in my opinion.