[thechat] the absinthiste
Erika Meyer
emeyer at lclark.edu
Thu Jul 5 19:05:40 CDT 2001
>it is legal to have it, consume it, and it's legal to bring it into
>the country.
It had better damn well be legal. Nothing pisses me off more than
the illegalizing of god's green herbs. Well, almost nothing.
"All plants are medicine."
Wormwood grows wild in Northern California (I've seen it here in
Portland, too.)
Preparing willow & hazel for basketry, your hands get all raw from
peeling piles of sticks. You gather the wormwood, make an infusion
and soak your hands in it, and it heals them. I've done it. I was
very thankful for the wormwood.
It's also supposed to purge your body of worms, if you need that.
But you know anything you take to kill worms in your gut has to be
some gnarly shit.
Okay, I've tried a lot of psychotropic substances in my life,
mushrooms I found growing and thought were "probably" fun (they
were... blue-stain mushrooms won't kill you, anyway, and I knew that
much). You got to know your mushroom.
I've smoked industrial hemp that grows wild in the midwest (and
wouldn't recommend it).
When I was a teenager, I once ate huge amounts of nutmeg to catch a
buzz. (sort of works but not worth trying twice).
I've ingested certain flower seeds, after scraping off as much
strychnine as possible... psychedelic but still made me sick.
I've chewed fresh alder bark to make red dye for coloring ferns for
basketry (picture bright orange saliva gushing out of your mouth...
it's weird but probably harmless... I'd heard the old Indian ladies
did it..)
I knew a guy in Germany who tried Fliegenpilze (Amanita Muscaria) but
that's where I draw the line.
Nothing that starts with "Amanita" for me, thank you. And no
wormwood tea, unless I have worms and no health insurance, ha. And
I'll probably be avoiding Datura (Jimson Weed) as well.
>My brother had a bottle that he bought in the Czech Republic, which
>apparently was one of the places famous for good absinthe. You can
>buy it in England too.
yeah, I've seen it. I'd probably try it once, too, though I suppose
the thrill comes from overindulgence & poisoning your brain.
But this guy takes the cake, with his big herbal infusion, jeez.
... then again, reading back, maybe I am (or was once) that crazy,
back in the day. Maybe that's why the piece affected me so strongly.
But truly, you got to know your medicine.
Erika
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