My First Peyote Trip or How Lucifer led me to Montana

Howard Pendragon Phillips

Copyright Donald Correll 2011

My first Peyote trip took all of three days. That was a mighty short window in time for such a momentous event. But then wasn't Christ elevated to Godhead in three days. Now sitting ack safely my desk ! can "ust e#tempori$e on hitch hiking. Not that there were not plenty of memories. ! hitched coast to coast several times and once to Montana in the winter. But the est trip was a trip within a trip. ! left the Crow %arm commune near &eneta' (regon in the fine tradition of the holy fool' a wandering ho o complete with indlestiff. !n my handkerchief tied to my walking stick were my worldly possessions) a i le' a harmonica' a change of underwear and five hard dried peyote uttons. !t was early summer "ust after the haying. ! hate hay and roses ecause when they appear ! know that ! am going to get sick from hay fever allergy' sometimes leading to asthma. *o ! thought' go to the desert. %irst ! headed north through the +illamette &alley till past Portland near a place called the ,alles ! turned east. By early in the afternoon of the first day of my trip ! was tracing a path with fre-uent short rides along the (regon side of the Great Colum ia Basin. .ou do not want to stray hitch hiking into +ashington unless you like fre-uent trips to "ail. (nce you leave the coast and the placid farmlands' you need ut one word to descri e the countryside) wilderness. Back then it had only een a recent incident where airplane hi"acker ,B Cooper had e#torted /011 grand from the 2merikan government and parachuted into the thick Colum ia asin rush nevermore to e seen again. *o eing of a solitary temperament' the wilds suited me "ust fine. ! dou ted if ! would solve the mystery of the missing loot ut unknowing ! was on my way to discover treasure of a different sort. 2fter a night spent huddling against the cold y the side of the road' in my rather thin sleeping ag that had turned out to e rather inade-uate' the pangs of hunger were "ust starting to gnaw at my elly. ! elieve that one kindly farm house wife had taken pity and ought me lunch somewhere along the Colum ia ut it was a new day and ! considered my self most fortunate to find an unopened eer in a naturally chilled puddle coming off the melting glacial ice y the side of the road. +hat a splendid day for my march' ecause ride ! did not. Civili$ation thinned out efore virtually disappearing as the road wound and twisted ever upwards etween the sharp teeth of the mountains covered in melting snow on all sides' all a out me. This was a fairy crystal wonderland of many rain ows and many waters. Mile upon mile as ! walked not a car was in sight throughout all of the long morning. The thought entered my rain that if ever God3dess4 had intended his creatures to seek enlightenment with the Magickal Cactus this was it. 5ere in the heart of the land once home to Chief 6oseph and his Ne$ Perc7 who led the 8* Cavalry such a merry chase all the way to Canada. Never surrendering' proud and defiant to the last. !n todays world it is hard to even imagine such a wilderness as !daho's Bitteroot range was then. 6ust mile upon mile of sensationally scenic views as the "agged edge of the mountains clad in the tall tim er of virgin old growth gave up it's winter mantel9ling of snow and ice to high summer. The road was steep and at the fre-uent switch acks one could see far down the mountain. !t was here that ! decided to im i e my first peyote utton. Now if you have ever heard anything' it eing dou tful that you might have een so lucky to e#perience this most magickal' marvel healer firsthand. .ou may have heard of the itterness and unpalata le nature of the drug in its native form. Too tough to chew and itter eyond description is no lie. !t is not only strongly alkaline ut of a nauseating te#ture with

little more than a little wild pungency ut of a consistency that one is most reminded 3most unfavora ly4 of dried manure. ! mean it is really ad: *o ad that it is all that a strong person can do to masticate and to consume what one has egun to chew. !t does not get any etter either. The more you eat the worse it gets. The strongest will power alone is re-uired to get past the first and ! was determined to consume every it of all five of these walnut si$ed uds of no#ious her al goodness. Parado#ical as such seemingly opposite words must seem' this is the correct description. 6ust try to swallow even one' ! dare you. That is if you ever are lucky enough to find Peyote. My gums might as well een super glued together. !t was that hard to chaw and even that much harder to swallow. (ne would sooner su mit to torture efore ever getting even the first ni le down' much less to stay down. !t is almost inconceiva le how to finish off the first and to egin the second utton. +ell swallow ! did' somehow calling upon my deepest reserves of will power' slowly ! munched. 2nd ! chewed. (hhh argh ! swallowed ite y ite' utton y utton till ! had consumed' ! don't know ut ! would e lying if ! said that it was much more than two or three. (ne "ust does not think a out such an ordeal logically. To swallow peyote might e easier than eing water oarded' ut ! dou t it. +ell if chewing was hell' nothing could have prepared me for what followed. The disgusting itterness followed all the way to the stomach where it "ust fell into a huddled mass wore than dung it sat or lay on the ottom of my stomach. !t was so very vile that you dear reader may e tempted to suggest that ! e#aggerate. 2u contraire' ! find it a chore to discover words in the ;nglish language accurate enough to descri e the sensation of trying to hold it down. (h my <ord' what have ! done= The elching to#icity of the first little taste all the way till finally in one e#plosive movement ! found myself heaving. !t was like eing tossed upside down on some carnival tilt a9whirl ride. 8pside down' over' under' and ack again my head spun like a top as ! lew my disgustingly wretched load up' out' and away from my owels till the ile ran. But ! was not through retching. (h no: %ar from completion' ! had arely egun. *tranger though than fiction with every heave my touch with normal mundane reality ecame more and more tenuous. ! mean to say ! got high. Then ! retched again and again' over and over. +ith each e#plosive vomit' ! got high' and then ! got higher. Brilliant coruscating kaleidoscope of rilliant rain ow colors forming into a gate. ;very time ! retched ! got higher and higher' and higher. Till finally Mescalito appeared in the gate. 2t first he was like an animated character. Much like the old 5ein$ >? Brand Pickle' a smallish man' Mecalito appeared to e mottled green and covered with worts. 5e laughed' and giggled' and teased till the universe was one of mirth and "oy. Then in the link of an eye he turned. 6ust like that Mescalito telescoped until he was taller than a telephone pole with a massive mouth full of row upon row of "agged dagger teeth. 5e gra ed me y the heels and he shook me. !n a voice like thunder he ordered me to pay attention. +hat gar age had ! een swilling on= +hat filth had ! taken into my lungs. My first lesson was to ecome pure in my ways. ! must eat good organic foods of well prepared meals. %ruits' grains and nuts. *mall amounts of dried meats were accepta le and to e preferred. But most especially ! was to e omnivorous with the preponderance of my diet in fresh vegeta les. 2lso ! was to chose. ! could smoke ut ! must make a choice. ;ither to acco in moderation or the mari"uana that ! so dearly loved to consume. !f ! failed to heed Mescalito's warning ! would e rended from ear to ear and consumed "ust like that. 2s a result of the solemn intelligent vegeta le God ! found the strength to -uit smoking to acco for twenty five years. +ell imagine that here ! was on the loneliest road in the world' totally lown out of my rain when ! came ack down or was that up. ! was stoned clear. +as it five seconds' five minutes' or five hours= ! was una le to determine. ! "ust had een gone' and now ! was ack. ! was mildly stimulated ut the large massive hallucinations were over. (r were they= ! looked down the long road and saw what appeared to e a lone vehicle. To me it appeared like an old woman riding in an even older truck. But after some fifteen minutes had elapsed ! ru ed my eyes ut my perception was altered. Now instead of

the aged archetypical old witch form' the aged crone was transformed into a young sporting dude riding in a sleek' fast' sports model somewhat like a Chevy **. +hen she @he came up the road a reast where ! was thum ing he' for now ! was sure it was a he' slowed down and told me' why don't you hop in man. 2nd we went flying up the road' somewhere near the Montana line' ut still in !daho. 5e it turned out said that he was a ski um on his way to his ne#t tournament somewhere in *outhern !daho' the freak of the roads eing that he had to cross part of Montana to get ack to !daho. ,on't ask me it has een a long time' and as ! freely admit ! was very high. Ne#t thing my new friend 3he must have een <ucifer4 pointed to the dash oard and said 'roll one'. 5e had two fat ags of smoke. (ne Panama Aed' and the other Colum ian Gold. Ne#t around the end we came to a tavern where we picked up a couple of cases of cold Coors Beer. Aight efore we made the turn south into Montana to cross over the line as the road $igged and $agged switched ack' clim ed' fell and clim ed again 3to get to the *ki runs of the higher ranges of southern !daho4 he let me off saying that my road led over the hill to the left and on down another twenty miles or so into Missoula. %inally e#hausted ut very happy ! reached my destination at the home of a young +icca <ady who ! had met and made it with at the commune in (regon the previous winter. That night ! partied in the arms of my new Pagan friends with whom ! was to spend the summer. 2 summer of love 'em and leave 'em fight with them' and for them with my new partner. +hat a tale that will e ut this one has come to an end.