Bufo Alvarious is also known as the Colorado River Toad, an animal that amassed great popularity in the ’70s. Legends and myths surround this toad: if you lick it, your life will never be the same. That’s what the Church Of The Toad Of Light believes, at least.
Albert Most founded this church – even though it was never recognized by the US government for obvious reasons – and it has gathered a heap of followers who believe that ingesting the venom of this little toad will take them on a psychedelic trip like no other.
There’s a book called Bufo Alvarius: The Psychedelic Toad of the Sonoran Desert, that explains what happens when you lick the toad. No, that’s not a euphemism for something else.
It’s important to highlight that people don’t literally lick the toad, because it’s very poisonous. The toad’s venom is milked out of it – ew – dried, and then smoked. Obviously, the toad doesn’t have any magical powers, people are just getting really high. Albert Most claims that users will experience an LSD-like mind-bending journey that’ll also make them laugh a lot and get them extremely high.
Has anyone ever done this? According to Herb.com, a couple of ethnobotanists called Wade David and Andrew Weil ingested the venom and claimed that the effects were super wild.
Like being shot out of a rifle barrel lined with baroque paintings and landing on a sea of electricity.”
Currently, it’s illegal to move these kind of toads out of their native areas of New Mexico, Arizona and California, because they’re an endangered species. If you’re not from there, and feel really curious about the Church of The Toad Of Light, you’ll have to book a flight to experience the real deal.
