Luminous Numinous

If you’ve experimented with tryptamine indole psychedelics enough, then it’s happened to you: “The little dose that could.” The little dose that could catapult you into hyperspace; could drop you down the rabbit hole into wonderland; could convince you that you’ve already died and that the Earth is a gothic-themed hell realm. It happens.

On one such occasion, I swallowed maybe 1.5 grams of powdered, encapsulated psilocybe mushrooms. A modest dose to be sure. And yet the mushrooms have an entelechy of their own that defies weights and measures. I had experimented previously with much stronger doses of this particular batch. Yet this time, I was transported to a nightmarish realm and “shown” horrible visions.

Most of my trips are very spiritual. I have lots of Buddha themed trips and Native American flavored trips, but this was markedly extra-terrestrial.

I was shown a world of giant insects. I saw as they did, with multiple eyes and with the ability to visually perceive electromagnetic frequencies extending into the ultra-violet.

These insects looked like praying mantises, but also somewhat like grasshoppers (locusts) or crickets. There was a hierarchy and some insects were slaves. The mantis creatures that were in charge were infinitely more evolved than humans. They could read my mind and could control my body and my emotions with sound waves. They could, with their voice boxes, instantaneously cause limb paralysis, anxiety, sexual arousal, feelings of being in the presence of the divine, or total existential terror simply by uttering the correct vibration, as though my whole bodymind were nothing more than a kazoo in the hands of master flautists.

I was also psychically “taught” several things.

1.) I was taught that our world leaders are controlled by these extraterrestrial or interdimensional insects.
2.) I was taught that our terrestrial, garden variety insects play a more pivotal role in the web of life on this planet than we do—by far.
3.) I was taught that humans shoud eat insects rather than mammals, birds, and reptiles to fulfill our protein needs as much as possible.
4.) I learned that sound can be used as a weapon.
5.) I learned that much of modern electronic music is extraterrestrial in origin.
6.) And I learned that Burning Man is slowly evolving into a festival in which the mantis creatures are worshiped!

When I came down from my trip, I did some research and found some interesting things. I found that our government has been using “USWs” or Ultrasonic Weapons for about a decade now. The government can cause panic attacks, paralysis, and even death (at close enough range) with USWs.

I also learned that insects are a totally viable, more humane, and less gruesome souce of protein.

And while I didn’t find anything like conclusive evidence for the existence of large, super-intelligent mantis creatures, I was SHOCKED by the frequency with which psychonauts report encounters with such creatures—usually on mushrooms or DMT.

And I also learned a number of interesting things about mantises at Burning Man.

For one, mantises are a perennially prevalent art theme on the playa. I had only been once and was not aware of this.

Secondly, I was astounded to learn that mantises are one of only several living organisms (that are large enough to be visible to the naked eye) that are ever found on the playa. Apparently, the mantises are blown to the playa from a frog pond several miles away. I hadn’t known this prior to my “vision” either.

Lastly, I was especially disturbed to see this poster advertising the 2007 San Francisco Decompression. Look how mantis-like “The Man” is! Check out its eyes and “wings!” And what are we to make of this mantis symbolically towering over a scorched Earth? Does Larry Harvey worship interdimensional mantises? Has he duped 40,000 Bay Area hippies into inadvertently worshiping extraterrestrial locusts? Are these beings to be our overlords?

It’s hard to say for certain.

What is certain is that I will be on the playa every year until I give up the ghost …or the mother ship comes. Either way, I have an ominous feeling that I’ll encounter the mantises again.