Peter J. Carroll
CHEMOGNOSIS

IMPORTANT NOTE: To use drugs of any kind is to poison the body. The difference between sufficient dose and overdose is so variable as to display the danger inherent in the use of toxic substances. The author has undertaken comprehensive study of the use of many different types of drugs in a controlled scientific way ensuring manifold safeguards and protections during the experiments. Neither the publisher nor the authorwishes to incite any reader to the irresponsible use of toxic substances and would advise against their use. However to amit a survey of this historically important aspect of the workings of magical technique would have been to jeopardize the integrity of the whole book.

CHEMICAL AGENTS OF natural and manufactured origin have always played a significant role in shamanism and magic. These substances can make various occult powers more accessible, but none of them confers magical abilities by themselves. There are four factors which control the outcome of experiments with magicai drugs: firstly, the physiological effects of the drugs themselves, secondly, the training and abilities of their users, thirdly any innate magical forces contained in the substances and fourthly, any outside magical events which may affect the experience.
On the basis of their physiological effects, magically useful drugs can be broken down into three categories. Hallucinogens are substances which enhance perception. Hallucinations, as distinct from superior perceptions, occur when the subject has overdosed himself or fails to direct his perceptions to any purpose, and the experience becomes a disordered trip around his imagination. Disinhibitory agents, such as alcohol and hashish, make it easier to attain the gnostic states of frenzied excitement required in various ecstatic rites. Hypnotic or narcotic substances are those which give rise to various degrees of trance and unconsciousnes.
Now most drugs in any of these classes will exhibit all three types of effect at various doses. Small amounts of narcotics are stimulating in many cases and larger doses may be hallucinogenic. Excessive doses of disinhibitory agents may cause stupor and hallucination. Hallucinogens themselves may be stimulating in small doses but cause trance in larger dosages.
Furthermore all drugs will cause poisoning, coma, and death at some level of dosage, although this may only be at extreme levels. The training and abilities of the users of the drugs account for many of the differences of effect noticed at lower dosages.. Quantities which may evoke only mild euphoria or nausea in untrained subjects may be sufficient to allow the adept to enter trance or ecstatic states. The directing of perception is also essential if one is to commune with magical phenomena rather than just have a pleasant or nauseating time. The directing of perception can be learned in non-drug meditation, or it can be brought about by the presence of an adept, or it can be caused by magical forces contained in the drug substance. Failure to direct perceptions is the cause of all meaningless and horrific drug visions.
There may be innate magical forces in a drug if it is made from a living thing, or if it has been prepared especially to contain some occult force. For this reason botanical drugs should be collected with the utmost care and respect. In return, the spirit of the species may yield up its secrets to the user: such knowledge as where to find the plant, what its nature and properties are (curative and otherwise), and a knowledge of other creatures and forces having a relationship to it. Some preparations may contain certain non-drug elements which have occult properties, such as part of an animal with which the sorcerer is seeking communion. When using a refined or purely chemical substance, it is wise to perform an invocation beforehand. At the very least this will direct one's perception, and it may succeed in placing a magicai charge in the substance itself.
Outside events may also serve to direct perception. An experienced initiate can lead the neophyte into the correct visions or demonstrate a particular phenomena to the neophyte's enhanced perception.


Now briefly, an exegesis of the magical drugs in common use and their effects: flying ointments are found at a variety of points in magicai history and many cultures. The essential ingredients are a grease base, one or more of the poisonous solanum species (Datura, Henbane or Deadly Nightshade and sometimes Aconite or Wolfsbane). The ointment is smeared on the forehead and around the thighs and was occasionally applied intemally to the female genitalia using a broom handle, hence the my ths. The alkaloids of the solanaceae cause drowsiness and unconsciousness in which hallucinations of flying occur and in which real astral travel is possible. The aconite alkaloids help in the general numbing of the body. All these alkaloids carry a severe risk of fatal poisoning however, and it is unwise to overdo or ingest the mixture. With this type of drug it is preferable to use only sparing amounts and then attempt willed astral travel while asleep rather rhan comatose.
A wide range of hallucinogens are available to stimulate magicai perception. Synthetics such as LSD do not possess any intrinsic magicai quality but produce dazzling erratic visions, which, although they may be emotionally charged, seem only to reflect the expectations or fears of the user. Because of the fleeting and fantastically distorted nature of LSD experiences, it is notoriously difficult to direct perception of particular visions within it. Whereas in the early days of its use LSD carried a certain joyous oceanic vibration, nowadays it seems to have acquired an aura of paranoia and madness.
Although it is probably impossible to direct the trance to magicai ends, nitrous oxide gas produces startling visions of an intensely inspirational nature. It often seems that this simple substance taps the very seat of inspiration itself, but the insights it brings have an infuriating tendency to slip through one's fingers on awakening. Nevertheless, it gives an enticing taste of somedllng approaching formless samadhi.
Naturally occurring hallucinogens provide a far richer source of magicai perception. Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric toadstool naving a red cap and white spots, contains a variety of alkaloids including Bufotenine. This substance is also found in glands behind the eyes of certain toads, which may explain their use in medieval witch's brews. It is also significant that Amanita Muscaia bears the name toadstool; indeed, it is virtually the archetypal toadstool in folklore, presumably because of this chemical similarily. No toad has ever been seen sitting on one by choice.
A similar group of hallucinogenic alkaloids exists in species of small Psylocybe mushrooms. Something very strange has hap pened to this species. There seems to be no reference to them at all in any folklore outside the Americas until recently, very recently. Although virtually every other psychogenic herb and fungus has been known for centuries, Psylocybe has remained unknown and catalogued as an uninteresting and seldom found little toadstool. It seems that what we are witnessing here is the sudden proliferation of a virile and hallucinogenic mutant within an otherwise insignificant species. It is to be hoped that after a few years it does not disappear again as mysteriously as it appeared.
The little mushrooms produce all the interesting effects of the Amanita but without the unpleasant side effects. They are also highly communicative if approached with respect and will show the seeker many aspects of their collective being as well as giving him glimpses into himself and the universe.
With all types of excitatory and trance-inducing drug, the trick is to use just enough to stimulate the required condition but not so much that one loses control of it. Trance-inducing sub stances include narcotics like opium, tobaco, or mandrake decoctions, and various anesthetics like ether and chloroform. Excitatory preparations include alcohol, hashish, and small quantities of hallucinogens.All these substances require an additional ecstatic techniqueto direct the perception to produce a useful effect. In general, chemical agents are only useful in receptive magic, such as astral travel, divination and invocation, and after a while the adept should be able to obtain these experiences without chemical assistance. Chemical agents find very little application in more active forms of magic such as sigil casting and enchantment. In magicai combat their use may prove disasterous.
An afterthought: l would not council anyone to tread too deeply in the mire of alchemy, but the Black Elixir of that tradition was almost certainly. essence of toad.

Note: All drugs are poisons and the previously mentioned substances are capable of acting as lethal toxins. With many natural psychoactives, the difference between a fatal and a merely psycho active dosage is impossible to assay by amateur methods. These techniques are mentioned only for the sake of historical completeness.