So I recently stayed at an Airbnb cabin on a farm in QLD. The boarder restrictions eased and I took the opportunity while the window was open to travel interstate before another lockdown or totalitarian order. Since my time in hotel quarantine: Sept. ’20 – I was yet to have a moment to myself which something I really appreciate and need every now and again. I love people and I love company but I love being on my own JUST as much so you can imagine how that can cause such an affect. I also had a bunch of stuff I vowed to myself to complete or work on and have just been procrastinating for the last year and half on. So it was time to get my space, clear my thoughts and do a hard reset. Then the thought of tripping while on my trip crossed my mind…
I had done psychedelics in the past and a couple of those times on my own, just never this specific type or dosage on my own. So it wasn’t a totally crazy shot in the dark, I would actually recommend being with someone who has experience with trips if you’ve never tried it and wanted to.
So I made a decision to isolate from the world and book my ticket about a week out. I had been promising myself a cabin in the woods experience since quarantine so I can buckle down and write but life, lockdown and distractions got in the way so since I am currently injured and couldn’t do any of my usual training, this seemed like the best time to go. The cabin on the farm worked out safer, cheaper and I wasn’t going to say no to being surrounded by animals! So the cabin in the woods can wait for another day.
I decided that I wanted to go on a psychedelic adventure about a couple days prior and the plan seemed like it was going ahead. I decided to do it on day 2 of the cabin, leaving day 3 to be productive and relax after the previous day’s adventure to the great beyond.
I woke up and did my morning routine, a bit of yoga, physio exercises for my injury, tea, language lesson, etc, etc. And at about 11am I thought was a good time to get going (side note – I like get very comfortable everywhere I go which may include moving furniture around, changing lighting by moving lamps around to get the right setting, closing and opening certain window blinds, that kind of thing!). So I was laying down on the cleared out cabin floor staring at the ceiling fan, embracing the warm wind blowing down at me on this hot Aussie day. I was listening to some old Billie Holiday tunes when I popped the tab on my tongue and just laid there, enjoying the soothing classical tracks, watching the fan go in circles, trying to catch on to one of the blades and follow it around in circles trying to slow down the movement but always failing after one or two full rotations.
Close Encounters
Eventually, I decided to get up and sit on the couch to watch a film. The guy who owns the Airbnb with his wife used to own a video store so the cabin had a TV and a bunch of random films. I did originally want a no technology retreat but I figured that can wait for my woodland adventure, right now I’ll enjoy what has been presented before me. The day before I was looking through the films to decide which one I’d like to watch while I wait for the magic to kick in. There were some Cheech and Chong films that caught my eye, thought it would be a funny come up. Second glanced some LOTR but figured it’d be better to watch something I hadn’t seen before. Then I came across Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg…
So hang on. A trippy film, with aliens, set in the south and looks kind of farmish, by one of the greatest directors of all time and was made in the time where practical effects were at their peak! It was meant to be. So I started the film, loved every bit of the first half of it… and then it started kicking in. I knew it was starting to hit when I could no longer decipher whether the things I was seeing was part of the film or not. If you’ve seen the film and know how magnificent some of the shots are and how magical it all looks on screen, I’m sure you can imagine my confusion.
When I was coming to a peak I decided to pause the movie and like I always love to do when i’m tripping – go outside. I could not have asked for a more perfect day. It was warm, the sun was beaming, the animals were chilling and there was no one around.
I looked over passed the animals onto a little haven, with a bench for sitting surrounded by trees. I thought “hmm, if I stay over this side of the fence, I can enjoy the sun, the animals and being outdoors all the same. But if I jump over the fence, I’ll get to the haven, I’ll be circled in and isolated by the beautiful trees and the experience will be ten times better”. After weighing up whether the horse and alpacas might be offended by my intrusion and kick me out (literally) causing me some physical pain but mostly just shame, I decided the reward was far greater than the risk and I think the animals are familiar enough with me now to not mind. So I bent down and passed through the wired fence which was allegedly electric (turns out when I met the owner a couple days later, I was just lucky they weren’t turned on at that specific moment in time and no the signs aren’t just a scare tactic and no the electricity doesn’t only just work on animals and not humans). As I was walking over slowly to the haven, passing the sheep herding fences, the animals were caught by my attention and started walking over to me. I thought “yep I’m done. Shakira you idiot you crossed a line, you are walking right through their house”. But as the horse who had been laying eyes on me since my arrival (who’s name I later found out was of course Romeo) approached me, had pushed his head right up against me, nodding and rubbing up to me for cuddles. Like a little cat completely unaware of his size being double mine! He proceeded to caress me as I gave in to patting him and hugging back. I was safe and felt wholesome. I went over to the safe space, and this is when the adventure really began…
Electric Ladyland
It was time to put on one of the albums I pre-downloaded and go on a ride. I chose Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix and I put in my earphones to get the full sort of 8D experience. The wooden bench was larger than a normal park one and so I decided to hop up and lay right across the top table, facing up to the labyrinth of towering leaves and vines. I felt every part of my body experience the sound of his guitar as my blood was dancing around, rippling through the sound waves, swaying and twirling to the beats of the song through my veins. And then I closed my eyes.
When I closed my eyes, I was transported away. For a split second I had to open my eyes again to make sure what I was seeing was real. I closed them again and went back to my traveling state. There were a few different adventures taking place in this dream like land. I felt like I had been let in on a secret that no one was talking about. When Voodoo Child came on, I was somehow right there in the studio where Jimi was recording. I could feel his presence, I could see him bopping his head, playing his instrument and pulling faces while singing his song. I could sense the hazy, fog like setting of the late 1960’s hippie rock atmosphere. In the next portal I could see a kaleidoscope of snakes, of old western farms and saloons where cowboys would have a shoot out, and strong colours of red, constantly twirling around changing, going in and out of focus. The other dimension I was viewing was like an infinite space where everyone else who had previously listened to this album while tripping out had entered. Like they were all there with me, experiencing my trip with me as I experienced their trip with them. We are all here, all connected by these two things, this tune and this tab, and I feel like Jimi knew it too. Like he felt this connection through his music and it bursted out into our own individual life–. Don’t get me wrong, I am well aware I was tripping and my mind was probably making it all up but who’s to say even if its all in my head, that it isn’t real? (Thanks for the tip J.K.R).
I had listened, experienced and gone through this entire universe and back until the whole album had ended. Completely unaware that I had been laying on this wooden bench (until I checked the following day) for almost an hour and a half, totally undisturbed. It had felt like 5 minutes had gone by. Before opening my eyes, I stopped in awe processing what I had just gone through and then stopped and listened to the sound of Summer. I could hear the insects and the breeze and could feel the heat of the sun radiating my skin. I opened my eyes softly and stared up at the tree tops, swaying tall. Every now and again a bird or insect would swoop into view. A dragonfly could be very carefully spotted on a far right tree branch leaf, high up above. I could not believe the adventure I had just gone on. I couldn’t believe that I experienced a hundred different body’s of life in a matter of a couple minutes. And how beautiful this moment was right here, in this minuscule section of Earth on what I perceived as a perfect day.
The lady who put up the airbnb listing mentioned something about the land being sacred and full of healing properties. No whether you believe that kind of thing or not, whether placebo or not – if there is something I do know, it is that connecting to nature could only ever have a positive effect. Speaking from my own short personal life experience. So I looked over at the thick, long and uncut grass next to me and the abnormally large bench, and with my injured knee, I slowly descended down to the soft green bush and let the little tips of the grass reach up to my skin and hug me into the earth. I was mentally breaking down every part of my body from my toes to my head like I was in shavasana. I could feel every inch of my body relax, give in to the pull and be taken over by mother nature.
Then I got hungry
It was a good hungry. Not a starving hungry, not a bored hungry, but the kind of hungry where you know, no matter what I put in my mouth right now, it is going to exceed any expectation I have and it will taste better than any other time I have consumed this. I walked back to the cabin, put my music back on and began slicing up some fruit. **side note: fruit is always a great idea when tripping. Its refreshing and sweet and brings you back to life** All of a sudden my knee was no longer pulsing with a constant reminder that I previously mistreated it and I could not stop dancing. I was twirling around, feeling the music and just dancing around the cabin like every living thing around me was watching and enjoying it as much as I was. Electric Ladyland (the song) circled back around and i’m not gonna lie, but as weird as this sounds, I felt kind of sexy. I spend most of my time these days training, being a complete brute and when I’m not training, I just want to be as comfortable and relaxed as possible. But there was something about this sweet sounds, the vibrating bass and everything in my body dancing with me that felt feminine and strong and yeah, kinda sexy. Anyway… I took the fruit outside to enjoy with the animals as I started to come down from the peak of my trip.
The rest of the day was filled with much of the same. I did decide to use my crazy transformer shower that looked like an intense disco submarine. This thing has speakers, lights and massage instruments all in this shower/tub looking rocket ship. It was quite funny actually. I attempted the massage things with the weird water splashes from every corner of this vessel and just couldn’t stop laughing at it all. I did enjoy the internal speakers while the roof top shower tap came pouring down on me as I continued to dance. I decided to finish the alien film and then put on a comedy. I love and miss Robyn Williams and as soon as I saw his face on a DVD cover, I knew I couldn’t go wrong. The film was called ‘The Birdcage’ and it was fricking hilarious. The best way to end a trip is indeed with food and laughter.
I’ll add this one to the forever growing list of the most awesome day’s of my life. I loved every moment of it and will forever remember how I got let in on Jimi’s secret, a fairytale desert world and all the past trips connecting to mine. Can’t recommend alien adventures enough! Until next time…
Oh and the following day I did buckle down with many cups of tea and wrote wrote wrote all day long. A bit about jiujitsu, a bit of a screenplay and an idea for a novel. Too many ideas, not enough commitment to just one. Eh, i’m sure i’ll learn that lesson eventually.