Psychedelic Trip

 

It was Summer of 1968 in San Francisco, and we were parked off Hwy 1 in Big Sir. The ocean was to our west and we could just hear the waves breaking on the beach. In those days you could park there and even spend a night or two without the police telling you to move. We were sitting in Stephen’s bus with two other four marriages about to take peyote. Altogether there were 13 nervous students in the bus. Some of the women had stayed in one of the buses with the kids.

Stephen took out his medicine pouch and handed me a baggie of pot and rolling papers and said, “roll us some joints.” Whenever I was with him Stephen asked me to roll joints since he visited our place on Chattanooga Street and saw that I could roll a good one. 

There was a large tea pot of peyote simmering on the stove. Michael filled a big mug with tea and passed it to someone who took a swallow and passed it on. Stephen was lying propped up on pillows in his bed with one of the ladies lying next to him. Whenever we visited him, he would be lying in his bed with a lady draped around him. He wasn’t talking but looking at each of us in turn one after the other staring into our eyes, “eye-vibing” we called it.  

I was passed the mug and took a cautious swallow. Peyote is a foul-tasting herb, and you must really want to get high to drink it. It was hard to keep from gagging. It wasn’t unusual to vomit while ingesting it. 

He fixed his gaze on me and we looked into each other’s eyes for what seemed like a very long time. He asked me what I was thinking, He often asked people what they were thinking. I said, “nothing I’m trying to be no-mind.” He must have thought that was a good answer and went to the next person and eye-vibed with them. 

While we were “eye-vibing” I had this strong hallucination. Right before my eyes Stephen transformed into an ancient Chinese sage; small and gaunt emanating a feeling of wisdom and tranquility. This vision was quite striking in its realism, and it has stayed with me all these years. 

The meeting went through the night and in the morning, we meditated and did the om chant as the sun came up behind the mountain. 

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