Ways to Take Magic Mushrooms: Tea

In my last article on the subject of mushrooms (the magic psilocybin containing kind), I talked about microdosing. To continue the subject of new ways to take psychedelics, I will share and expound upon two methods that when microdosing or otherwise I prefer, their effects and some of my personal stores with these processes.

Method 1: Tea 

Before the art of chocolate (see next section) was revived and perfected this was by far my preferred method for microdosing and sometimes psychedelic dosing (3 grams or more usually- if it's psilocybe cubensis). Often times this process can be simple, quick and tasty but has some differences in effect when compared to eating whole, fresh, or dried magic mushrooms.

First, let's find the baseline mushroom experience that you will notice throughout the scene. Usually people find magic mushrooms on the street or dark web that have been dried and generally are a strain or "variety" (a hybrid/designer strain) of Psilocybe Cubensis. The common terms for these sacred fungi are "shrooms, cubes, gooms, boomers" and so on. Most people online suggest taking a psychedelic dose of 3.5 grams but as stated in my previous articles about dosage, I have found a wide variety of amounts and methods which can all yield different results for different folks. Most people will just eat the dried shrooms or blend them into something, which as long as the dehydration process was done at lower temperatures, should masterfully maintain the amounts of psilocin and psilocybin in the magic mushrooms. 

Personally, I find that after the mushrooms have been dried and all the moisture removed, the grinding, smashing or breaking apart processes do little to change the amounts of the active alkaloids and thus should diminish potency. Although, sun light, heat (above 162 degree Fahrenheit) , and oxygen (especially moist air) exposure over time can all contribute to the breakdown of psilocin and sometimes psilocybin...so for potency's sake vacuum seal and cold-dark store all mushrooms or powders.

I mean you did something difficult and costly to acquire them and possibly even broke the law in your area, so store them well and treat them with reverence as you would any "Host of God."

Back to the tea; to be honest adding water and heating magic mushrooms usually diminishes their potency in some small to large way and it is very important to do this process precisely (or at least to not be disappointed if you don't have a deep strong trip). For me the process of tripping is best if it is shortened but strong so I can move on to the processing part where I sort the new information brought through my altered state. So mushroom tea, for me and others as you can see from this video, tends to be a shorter more intense trip in the right dosage. Remember is you see blue, there is a chemical breakdown occurring and a time limit to consider (a short shelf life).

To make mushroom tea, start by separately heating distilled or purified water to about 150 degrees Fahrenheit (or a little less to be safe). You have the option to add lemon or citrus juice (just a large squeeze) as some people enjoy this flavor and it has been said to help the extraction process and possibly strengthen the effects of the psilocybin.

Remember the active ingredients degrade chemically at temperatures above 162 degree Fahrenheit. 

So once you are fairly sure (usually by testing with a thermometer) that your water is about 150 degrees or below, add your mushrooms. These can be dried or fresh. I prefer to increase surface area by breaking them into small pieces. Some people. including me, have enjoyed ground mushroom powder that can be made by use of a coffee grinder (remember to clean it before and after). This dried powder should also be weighed and can be mixed into a warm water solution to make tea the same as dried or fresh mushrooms (whole or crumbled). It's important, in my opinion that a person at least break up the mushrooms so that water can have access to more surface area.

If you have a fork or something similar you can stir, mix and press the mushroom matter in the water while waiting 5 minutes for the solution to steep. In my opinion 10 minutes is also safe to wait while steeping but anything longer than that risks chemical breakdown and potency. If you have a clean French press this can be very helpful. After the steep time is complete, you should have water with active psilocybin and psilocin in it.

If you have mushroom matter floating around in your cup. press or tea pot, you can drink around it, eat it after drinking the tea (or before), or scoop it out. The best method for people with sensitive stomachs (as shroom tea and mushrooms especially raw, have been known to give people stomach trouble including nausea) is to pour the liquid off into another cup before drinking. Separating the fungal body of the mushroom from the essential tea extract is very likely to eliminate any stomach sensitivities and nausea that would normally result from digesting food or semi-raw mushrooms.

Mushrooms are like shellfish in their levels of chitan and for some people lacking in the enzyme chitanase, they can be very difficult to digest without being cooked. Shellfish and mushroom cell wall break down with heat, that is why it is generally a rule in culinary classes and cultural cooking to cook or saute mushrooms of almost every kind before human consumption.

Well there you have it! If you followed these suggestions up to this point you are about to go on a magic journey. Hopefully you are in safe lovely environment with someone watching over you and your body until you return to "normal" consciousness. Remember to journal your visions when you are "back" and talk to friends or counselors if you have difficulty with something you saw or experienced.

Don't do anything illegal in the eyes of God. Follow God's Laws!

You might be ready to graduate to Method 2: Chocolate Truffles (coming soon)
Or the secret bonus combo Method 3: Maya Hot Cocoa (coming soon as well)

Magical Protection and Cord Cutting

During my years as a teacher of Metaphysics and the series Defense Against the Dark Arts, I have encountered questions from students about energy, energy cords or parasitic connections to others and energy vampires. I have read and listened to many opinions on these subjects and find the following blog re-post from Cedar Stevens to be honest and helpful. It conveys many things I have talked about and encouraged students to practice.  Please read the following before going on to read more of my own words on these subjects.

Original is available here:

Cord cutting is a ritual done to remove unhealthy energetic attachments between yourself and another person or persons. I believe that Diane Stein was the first to detail this protocol in her book "Psychic Healing With Spirit Guides and Angels." I will transcribe her tech and append a number of variations that may suit your occasion. This is well-worked magickal practice which has developed considerably since her writing.

It is illuminating to consider what these cords are. The theory is that they are the visualized energy transfer conduit between two people. One is usually the donor, and one is usually on the receptive end. It is a relationship of dependency between a stronger being and a weaker being. If this is sounding unhealthy already, good! However, it has been theorized that these conduits are modeled after the umbilical cord. Your first cord cutting ritual was at birth! That was the severance of the meat of the cord, but there is usually no doubt that an energetic cord of (hopefully) healthy dependance remains between baby-child-young adult and their parents. Cords also form along this umbilical model between friends, lovers, spouses, employees and employers...and unfortunately between predators (aka energy vampires) and their prey.

Because we are all people somewhere on the spectrum of mental health and emotional unbalance, with motives from pure to puerile, there are many opportunities for cords to be formed, whether we like it or not. Some of these connections are healthy, others codependent, others outright malicious.

Diane Stein's original exercise goes:

"Enter the meditative state, ground and center, do full body

relaxation, and invite in your spirit guides, angels, and God/

Goddess/Source. Place protection around yourself. Look within and

ask your guides to show you the first layer of negative chakra cords

to be removed. Look at your solar plexus first. You will see coming

from that center one or more of what look like electric cords plugged

into it. They will seem ugly, dark, or moldy looking, and of various

sizes and thicknesses.

Pick one to focus upon and ask whom it is connected to. You will see,

feel, or know ther person. If it feels right, ask to cut the cord; if

it doesn't feel right, there will be another time. Cutting the cord

does not harm the other person in any way, it just frees your energy

from that person. To cut the cord, visualize scissors or light doing

the job, or ask your guides to cut it or unplug it like a lamp. The

cord will snap back to the person it came from; if it doesn't or there

is a root of it left, ask your guides to take it away. Send light to

the person who has been released, if you can, then fill yourself with

healing light where the plug came out to heal the chakra."

I was taught a variation of this by Reclaiming teachers. We would go to each chakra in turn, starting with the Root Chakra and proceeding up to Third Eye. If you just do Solar Plexus cords, you would miss the cords attached to your Heart with an ex who you can't get over, or the Root Chakra dependencies with a boss who uses your paycheck or job security as a way to control you, and so forth. I disagree with her that there is any “need to know” who the cord is shared with. “Needing to Know” is a trait of obsession which only benefits either the unhealthy attachment at hand, or the tendency to enter into others in the future.

There is no need to cut cords from the Crown Chakra. This is the chakra of the Higher Power, and cords to this chakra only attach to the Divine nature we all share.
We also used actual knives to cut our cords, and the ideal would be your ritual Athame. I have a very gnarly Boline for this work!
Some cords of love lost or codependency are re-formed out of habit, and this is why we should repeat this operation every day for a week or so to get over whatever grief or unhealthy attachment.
Some very persistent Energy Vampires are very aware of this magickal act, and will know when their feed tube is cut off, and reattach it. I have heard of and used a couple of these strategies, but really this is a very rare situation which should be scrutinized to eliminate that the source is not an internal one.
1) First, realize that any agent who seeks to feed off your energy is inherently confessing that they are weak and you are strong. This knowledge will ALWAYS give you the advantage in such a struggle. Most victims feel powerless compared to their predator, but this is a cheap mind trick which is often the ONLY developed skill of the vampire. If they were truly more powerful than you, they would not need you at all.
2) Use Banishing oil or Four Thieves Vinegar to rinse the ritual knife, athame, scissors, etc., before and after the cord cutting. Four Thieves Vinegar is used to eliminate and bring dissolution to enemies, hexes, and the like. The Witch Bottle technology is a similar way to diffuse negative magick sent your way.
3) Instead of allowing the cord to "snap back" to the vampire, plug it back into either the Crown Chakra or another Fountain of positive energy such as a Unicorn Spirit Guide, Guardian Angel, or the like. The needy party is then flooded with more energy than they know what to do with, and become healed by communion with the Divine. Sometimes otherwise positive romantic relationships can become discordant or veer into unhealthy or codependent terrain. You might try re-attaching your cords to your Beloved to the Crown Chakra, to bring the relationship back under the guardianship of each other's Higher Power.
4) Instead of allowing the cord to snap back, plug it into some large, immobile, and useless material object, such as a junk van on a wrecker lot, or a building that is always on the market that nobody will buy. This connection will cost the parasite more energy than they can afford, and theoretically they will give up after a few more attempts to re-attach.
5) You can hand the severed cord off to any God, Goddess, Spirit Guide, Totem Animal, or Ancestor that you are on good terms with, and ask them to take care of this for you. 
6) Attach the severed cord to a mirror. Put the mirror in a black bag or pouch some place away from your home where it will be undisturbed for some time. This metaphysically causes the perpetrator to reflect on what they are doing and receive the energy they are giving.
Some of these techniques are tried and true, and others are more experimental Defense Against the Dark Arts. I would definitely ask for feedback on how these or the many other versions have worked for you.
Most importantly, since Nature and Magick abhor a vacuum, return to mundane life and replace the negative energies with protection, self blessing, forward focus, and dedication to your own Will. DO NOT OBSESS on your little problem. (Vampyers love obsession...) Try to think of it as something you will have to remind yourself to do, like taking an antibiotic on time every day. Other than that, you have much more important things to do with your life!
Cedar Stevens
Sept 2012

New Ways to Enjoy Psychedelic Mushrooms and Micro-Dose

Reposted from MushroomShaman.com and Biohacker Labs

Some of the most surprising people are using LSD and other psychedelics in extremely low doses, and the results are most interesting. At the fifth annual Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics Conference in New York City in October 2011, pioneering psychedelic researcher Dr. James Fadiman solidified his reemergence as a leading researcher of and advocate for psychedelic substances. Fadiman had done groundbreaking research with LSD up until the very day it was federally banned in 1966, but after that, he retreated into a life of quiet conventionality—at least on the surface. While Fadiman disappeared himself from the public eye for decades, he never did give up him interest in and enthusiasm for psychedelics.

 A year before appearing at Horizons, he published his life’s work, The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide, an amazing compendium of hallucinogenic lore, as well as a user’s manual for would-be psychonauts. The book examined the primary uses for psychedelics, such as spiritual enlightenment at high doses and improvements in creativity at smaller ones. It also addressed a lesser-known but increasingly popular phenomenon: microdosing.

Microdosing refers to taking extremely small doses of psychedelics, so small that the affects usually associated with such drugs are not evident or are “sub-perceptual,” while going about one’s daily activities. It’s being done by anyone from harried professionals to extreme athletes to senior citizen businesswomen, and they’re claiming serious benefits from it.

To trip brains (or have a transcendental experience) on LSD, a dose of 400 micrograms or more is called for; to explore your inner self, take 200 micrograms; for creative problem solving, try 100 mikes; but for microdosing, take only 10 to 15 micrograms. Similar microdoses for other psychedelics would include 0.2-0.5 grams of dried mushrooms (about one-fifth the normal dose) or about 50-75 micrograms of mescaline.

At that Horizons conference, as reported by Tim Doody in a fascinating profile of Fadiman, the bespectacled 70-year-old at one point asked his audience “How many of you have heard about microdosing?” A couple of dozen hands went up. “Whoa,” he exclaimed.

He explained that, beginning in 2010, he had been doing a study of microdosing. Since research with LSD remains banned, he couldn’t do it in a lab, but had instead relied on a network of volunteers who administered their own doses and reported back with the results. The subjects kept logs of their doses and daily routines, and sent them via email to Fadiman. The results were quite interesting, he said.

 “Micro-dosing turns out to be a totally different world,” he explained. “As someone said, the rocks don’t glow, even a little bit. But what many people are reporting is, at the end of the day, they say, ‘That was a really good day.’ You know, that kind of day when things kind of work. You’re doing a task you normally couldn’t stand for two hours, but you do it for three or four. You eat properly. Maybe you do one more set of reps. Just a good day. That seems to be what we’re discovering.”

Study participants functioned normally in their work and relationships, Fadiman said, but with increased focus, emotional clarity, and creativity. One physician reported that microdosing put him “in touch with a deep place of ease and beauty.” A singer reported being better able to hear and channel music.

In his book, a user named “Madeline” offered this report: “Microdosing of 10 to 20 micrograms (of LSD) allow me to increase my focus, open my heart, and achieve breakthrough results while remaining integrated within my routine. My wit, response time, and visual and mental acuity seem greater than normal on it.”

 These results are not yet peer-reviewed, but they are suggestive.

“I just got a report from someone who did this for six weeks,” Fadiman said. “And his question to me was, ‘Is there any reason to stop?’”

It isn’t just Fadiman acolytes who are singing the praises of microdosing. One 65-year-old Sonoma County, California, small businesswoman who had never heard of the man told AlterNet she microdosed because it made her feel better and more effective.

“I started doing it in 1980, when I lived in San Francisco and one of my roommates had some mushrooms in the fridge,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. “I just took a tiny sliver and found that it made me alert and energized all day. I wasn’t high or anything; it was more like having a coffee buzz that lasted all day long.”

This woman gave up on microdosing when her roommate’s supply of ‘shrooms ran out, but she has taken it up again recently.

“I’m very busy these days and I’m 65, so I get tired, and maybe just a little bit surly sometimes,” she admitted. “So when a friend brought over some chocolate mushrooms, I decided to try it again. It makes my days so much better! My mood improves, my energy level is up, and I feel like my synapses are really popping. I get things done, and I don’t notice any side-effects whatsoever.”

She’s not seeking visionary experiences, just a way to get through the day, she said.

In an in-depth post on the High Existence blog, Martijn Schirp examined the phenomenon in some detail, as well as describing his own adventure in microdosing: “On a beautiful morning in Amsterdam, I grabbed my vial of LSD, diluted down with half high grade vodka and half distilled water, and told my friend to trust me and open his mouth. While semi-carefully measuring the droplets for his microdose, I told him to whirl it around in his mouth for a few minutes before swallowing the neuro-chemical concoction. I quickly followed suit,” Schirp wrote. “We had one of the best walking conversations of our lives.”

James Oroc, author of Tryptamine Palace: 5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad, exposed another realm where microdosing is gaining popularity. In a Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies monograph titled“Psychedelics and Extreme Sports,” Oroc extolled the virtues of microdosing for athletes. Taking low-dose psychedelics improved “cognitive functioning, emotional balance, and physical stamina,” he wrote.

“Virtually all athletes who learn to use LSD at psycholytic [micro] dosages believe that the use of these compounds improves both their stamina and their abilities,” Oroc continued. “According to the combined reports of 40 years of use by the extreme sports underground, LSD can increase your reflex time to lightning speed, improve your balance to the point of perfection, increase your concentration until you experience ‘tunnel vision,’ and make you impervious to weakness or pain. LSD’s effects in these regards amongst the extreme-sport community are in fact legendary, universal, and without dispute.”

Even the father of LSD, Albert Hofman seems to have been a fan. In his book, Fadiman notes that Hofmann microdosed himself well into old age and quoted him as saying LSD “would have gone on to be used as Ritalin if it hadn’t been so harshly scheduled.”

Psychonauts, take note. Microdosing isn’t going to take you to another astral plane, but it may help you get through the day. For more infomation on the microdosing experience, dig into the links up-story, as well as the Reddit user forum on microdosing. Surprisingly enough, the vaults of Erowid, that repository of drug user experiences, returned only one entry about microdosing, from someone who appears to have been a subject in the Fadiman microdosing experiments.

And, of course, if you want to try this, you have to obtain some psychedelics. They’re illegal, which doesn’t mean they aren’t around. An increasing number of people are finding them on the dark web; others obtain them the old-fashioned way: from within their own communities. Those who are really interested will get to work.

The above article was originally authored by Phillip Smith.
Read this article in it's original form...

And now something from the authors at Mushroomshaman.com, primarily Hugh Alkemi.
                                                                                                      

Microdosing is an interesting shamanic art and alchemical practice. I personally practiced this several years ago with Psilocybe Cubensis, Magic Mushrooms and Magic Cactus (containing mescaline). I rather enjoyed the everyday experience and the substances did provide better days, uplifted mood, and courage in relationships and communication. I am unaware of a drug test that can detect Magic Mushrooms after 24 hours of being in your system and this may also be true with mescaline (but that depends on the test, although most employee drug tests won't detect it).

I have taken psilocybin mushrooms in qualities as small as .1 of a gram to ease physical and nervous pain (and headaches). I have found that once an individual becomes adjusted or comfortable with the microdose, it is incredibly easy to sleep on/through and helps with the visionary state between sleeping and waking (hypnogogia).

Last year, I introduced a method of microdosing to my friends in the Phoenix, AZ area so that they might better be able to integrate their deep healing visionary and emotionally intense trips on larger doses of magic mushrooms. They were responsible adults and had been seeing several types of healers (for sober therapy) relating to healing childhood trauma triggered from being raised Mormon aka Church of Latter Day Saints. To this day, I believe they have been using the medicine in a safe and effective way.

Here's the method that I learned and shared with my friends in Phoenix: A person is to start with a very small dose of magic mushrooms such as .1 grams (or less if you are a sensitive) on the first day, take .5 grams the second day, ingest 1 gram on the third day, rest and prepare yourself (possibly doing a special cleansing diet on the fouth day (or for 24 hours before the next step).

The peak experience: On the fifth day or night it is time for the person to take a 3.5 to 6 gram dose of the magic mushrooms, with a sitter and safe set and setting on an empty stomach. This is a psychedelic dose and will usually trip someone into inner or outer-space. This is a great time to have a focus or conversation about the life experience or trauma that the person is seeking improvement with.

The next day, or the sixth day, it's important to journal and talk with the sitter or another person like a therapist in comfort about the experience/vision. Sometimes, I take a rest from the medicine but sometimes after a bad trip a person can be depressed, this may indicate that it's appropriate to take a micro-dose from .5 grams to 1 gram. This dose should be so closely following the full dose experience (within 24 hours) that the individual has a tolerance and may be suggestive of less strong effects. I would err on the side of caution and remember that less is better. Other things can be substituted for the psychedelic mushrooms during this "come down" phase, such as adaptogenic herbs like Rhodiola or Suma/Maca roots, and superfoods can be used to return the nervous system and brain function to a great state of health (e.g. chia seeds, sea-weed, sea salt, raw organic fair trade chocolate, walnuts, and avocados). This is definitely not a day for intense experiences, social pressure, or action movies...it is a time of reflection. I like to be by water or in water.

On the next two days, it's important to down step the dose back to the amount that you started with. So day 7 might be .5 grams or a little less, and day 8 may be even less (around .1 grams). This process of continuous microdosing is subjective and can be modified to you or your friend's needs. If you are new to psychedelics, less is better and always take your time with experiences and experimental doses. It's better to step up the dose slowly and a person can always make the bell-curve microdose model work around smaller or larger doses based on experience or take twice as long to increase and decrease the daily doses. It is also enjoyable and possible to receive the benefits of this healing journey by taking one or two days off in between doses. Remember that tolerance usually resets after 24 hours (with mushrooms).

Check out this graphic and imagine the dosage over time (dose is the height axis and times is the length axis).

Check out various articles on harm reduction, psychedelic therapy, and good set/setting practices online and by reading James Fadiman's book.

Go with your gut,

Hugh

PS. Check my other blogs and podcasts. Befriend me on facebook or instagram. Another great book is by Timothy Leary, entitled The Psychedelic Experience.

To Spend My Life on Meaningful Things

I've decided that when I distill all the things that i've experienced in my life...a few stand the #testoftime #Passion #direction. My new goals and choices will be centered around facilitation of these topics or quests for learning/understanding:

• Chance as expressed through Games (eg Card Games, MTG).
• Divination and Future Sight or Psychic Awareness.
• Alchemy and Transmutation (through Spiritual Science Applications and the Discovery of New Methods of Transformation.
• The Alchemy of Plants, Nature and Mushrooms.
• Magnetism and Metal (especially conductive metals like Gold).
• Inter-dimensional Awareness/Other Lives/Karma/Parallel Universe Theory.
• Magick and the Mysteries of East and West.
• Shamanism and the practices of talented individuals who break the rules of science to procure knowledge or miracles.
(Continue reading here or check out my original blog at Alchemyz.com)

I doubt that any of my choices from this point on will exclude these concepts and my long term awareness of their presence in my life. Some experiences include: reading all the Dune Books (the Masterpiece work of Frank Herbert), hearing the songs of many plants and fungi, having foretelling dreams. I have loved many people and been both betrayed and betrayer. I consider my experience of life to be wholly spiritual and at times I feel like an interloper here on Terra because I relate to so few on a deep level while still enjoy communicating with everyone (primarily to learn what motivates them or as Marshall Rosenberg would call it "what's alive in them"). I've learned (or attempted to learn) about five spoken world languages and have traveled all over 'Merica. I still look for Sasquatch, Bigfoot and the Yeti but to no avail. One of my best friends from Oregon, is hoping to catch a photo of the man. If I ever found a Bigfoot I would probably just eat mushrooms with him and teach him about Magic The Gathering. I was once a ghost hunter with a friend who became of Lutheran Priest in San Diego.

My friend, dear brother and teacher, Dennis Sharmahd taught me that the best time to plant a tree is "20

years ago" and that always sets me wondering why human life is so short. I wonder is that ever enters his mind. A Taoist person, teacher and friend of mine from ASU (Arizona State University), taught me last year that worry and thoughts of mortality lead to such things. He taught me that the best practice is to be focused upon youth and longevity if one desires to live a long time. I believe trees live a long time in relation to human lifespan, and thus their thoughts must be something congruent to "regeneration" all the time. Oh, to be a tree or a sandworm or a mushroom mycelium that lives around thousands of miles.

At this point, I am on tangents that make up my daily thoughts. I feel its important, no matter who you are, to visit a pot farm and just feel what it is like to be around such verdant and lust producers of oxygen and life force energy. Or just a forest like in the Pacific Northwest. I recommend a cannabis farm like the one I visited this

summer, outdoors with people who take care and have subtle awareness that the plants have some kind of soul, no matter if its the same or smaller than that of humans. I spread reishi mushroom spores across the trees they cut down to replace with cannabis plants; hopefully these spores bring mushrooms and medicine to that place next year and the cycle of nature starts again with my joyful intervention.

To supplement my tangents, I am writing today from Bisbee AZ where I come to retreat and reflect upon my website offerings of late In Bisbee, I always have vivid dreams. For the reminder of this blog I will share some, that I dare to interpret as meaningful. This morning I had two dreams: The first and earliest morning dream was about (edit. coming soon: something about silver and it's three states another dream alchemy lesson)...

The second was about visiting a local Tempe AZ comic book store and talking with a friend of mine as we walked out into the parking lot. Oddly enough the landscape of the shopping center had changed but was familiar and there was a school for Asian philosophy and society for children in that area that I don't remember being there in waking life. The school and its faculty seemed to be celebrating the Equinox September 2016 by sharing cultural history and philosophy with parents and children. Instead of going to my car and leaving, I crossed the parking lot and attended an event where the teacher was having people from the audience take an ancient Asian weapon such as a sword or spear or halberd from a pile of these to hold it, unsheathe it, and let everyone see the inscription on the metal. The instructor was also sharing her interpretation of the I-ching hexagrams and their meanings with people who cast yarrow sticks from a red cylinder tube. The blades contained a script unreadable to me and I waiting in line for my turn with selection and interpretation

while others seemed to be having readings that were agreeable and seemed to satisfy their need to know something about their future or to be entertained.

When it was my turn, I drew a Guan Dou (ancient Chinese weapon like a halberd) and unsheathed it before the instructor was ready. I was scolded for this (it was deemed "bad luck"), then she took me to look at a wall with metal overlaid Chinese characters in it and pointed out the one that meant "gold." The instructor that I would know it because I understood that Copper came before Gold. I still don't full understand this but at the time while staring at the calligraphy, it made sense (imagine that, i'm dreaming) and I agreed with her. She lead me back to the demonstration area where the Guan Dou was. I again unsheathed it, flipped it around from my battle hand, my right, and spin to land point down in my left hand. (I'll have to demonstrate in a video, if I can find a spear to borrow, or Heather Fiore my Gung Fu teacher from SD CA, maybe she has one). The woman instructor in my dream explained the process of my intentions behind moving my weapon from my right hand to my left hand and it felt true. She said something about waiting and being ready with the yin handle holding the yang instrument of war in a defensive contemplative position. Then she pointed out a connection between the inscription and the I-ching...i didn't seen the normal hexagrams of the I-ching (I-jing) on the blade but more Chinese characters which I had only her interpretation of their meanings.

In this world, my body tossed and my head turned and I opened my eyes to see an I-ching book in the living room of my friend's house whose floor I left on the night before. I was shocked but I closed my eyes because it was bright and I wanted to remember my dream in detail. I recalled the dream and decided that I must have subconsciously learned something from the books around me and possibly from the I-ching book a few feet away from my head. This book was familiar as it was the same book that my friend Jason Stahl and I looked through a few years prior to help identify the crystal correlation between minerals, the human body centers and the I-ching. I think it's a something that I can't further discuss because it's a sensitive work that I don't consider mine to publish or explain.

Anyhow, I grabbed the book and searched through it. I found the entry on Guan and hexagram 20 and it felt reasonable and helpful advice to get me through this time in my life. I'm still reading and looking into it and attempting to identify the Chinese symbols I saw for "gold" on the wall inscriptions.

Before Gold their was Copper, before Copper there was...

Is this a code? Dreams are communication forums. This isn't that strange to me. Although, I wake up feeling quite disturbed or at least perplexed often. Maybe it's time to visit China. Just in case this reality is a dream or will feel like a dream when I become aware of my next life (when I die here), I feel the truth and importance of exploring as much of this place as possible... especially history first hand by visiting ancient places.

Off to talk with an immortal Emperor and his terracotta warriors,

Capt. Hugh Trevahr Alkemi

PS. Dave Campbell and Lorina Q perhaps you can help me with the mysteries of my past lives in Asia, perhaps it was during the Bronze Age or Copper Age (Copper before Gold aka Bronze)