Hey, I took LSD and Mushrooms recreationally first, which made me interested in these substances. I have since also taken ayahuasca, San Pedro/Peyote in ceremonial settings.
@Lethe I would strongly suggest not going into this on your own, if possible find either a retreat or at least someone sober to 'trip sit' you. you can go to very deep places and to really let go you need to feel relaxed and supported, ideally by shamans who have worked with these plants for many years. This isn't something to be taken lightly, you will really feel the presence of the Shaman/s and it can make all the difference. You don't necessarily have to travel to South America, people host ayahuasca ceremonies all over the world now.
For me ironically I had the most transformational experience back when I took mushrooms 'recreationally'. at the time I had been depressed for years and it happened that literally overnight, my whole perspective changed. I would wake up in the morning and look at the sky and the trees and have a deep appreciation for everything, I was so grateful to be alive. 100 bad things could happen to me during the day and it wouldn't touch me. I basically looked at all the reasons I was depressed in a whole different way, things I had placed so much importance on where laughable. Its like, over time your mind learns to believe certain things, you can learn beliefs that seem to be true, that seem to important, that seem to be unchangeable, but in reality it is just a learned perspective that can always be unlearned. If you think that X, Y and Z in your life will always be the same and never get better, psychedelics can show you in a matter of hours how wrong you always were. There is a bigger picture, and you are zoomed so far into your own problems and insecurities that you don't see it. And when you do see it you will laugh!! I was uncontrollably laughing about issues that had made me want to kill myself!! I really can't recommend it enough.
I have drank ayahuasca 3 times now and I can't say the effect has been as profound, although with these plants I think the experience can be very different from person to person and what happens largely depends on your mindset, where you are in life, what issues you are dealing with and so many other factors. For sure you will zoom out of your life and see a new perspective, I have had the feeling of looking at my life from a 3rd person perspective; literally thinking about everything in my life but without the awareness that it is 'me' that I am thinking about. This can be extremely profound. You really can't quite understand how extraordinary these plants are until you have the experience.
It is by no means a guaranteed quick fix, and the experience can be very difficult, you may uproot traumas/memories that are painful to look at. But that is why it is so effective, in the psychedelic state you can't ignore these things, things you may have brushed aside for years will be at the forefront of your consciousness. You can think of Ayahuasca like a grandmother, she may be stern and tell you things you dont want to hear, but she really wants the best for you. Ayahuasca has a feminine, maternal energy/spirit.
I feel like that text isn't the best ordered/kind of rambling but I am very passionate about this. If you have some feeling of curiosity I say go with that feeling! Be wary of who you decide to journey with, nowadays unfortunately there exist people who are trying to cash in on plant medicines, there are a lot of websites that review different retreat centers, look into it first, if something feels not right about the ceremony don't go ahead with it. If you are in Europe, there are also psilocybin retreats in the Netherlands, lots of places in Portugal. Most other countries outside of South America have to operate 'underground' because of the law.
I too am very curious. Researching DMT experiences was the thing that finally eased some of my anxiety of CTB. Would be an incredible experience if that is what awaits us after this world.
Also, vaping DMT showed me that there is indeed life after death, as well as before birth. I have been to the 'realm' (for lack of a better word) where my consciousness inhabited before my human body. For me this is as much of a fact as that the sky is blue, more so even. like waking up from the matrix.
