Psychedelic Salon

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: (Minutes : Seconds into program) [All quotations are by Terence McKenna] 3:05 "Basically, for me, the psychedelic experience was the path to revelation. It actually worked—on someone who thought nothing would work." 4:06 "What I like to talk about [at these gatherings]—and what I have very little competition in terms of talking about—is the content of the psychedelic experience, which is very difficult to ‘English’, or to bring into any other language." 4:39 "…that was sort of my core specialty, if you will: the ethno-pharmacology of consciousness and the phenomenology of the states there derived. But, after 25 or 30 years of doing this, it bleeds into all kinds of larger categories, like, ‘What is art?’, ‘What is human history?’, ‘What is the religious impulse?’, ‘What is the erotic impulse?’, ‘What is mathematics?’… ‘What is the future?’…" 5:50 Terence gives a brief personal history (childhood-1998). 9:20 "…psychedelics are actually a kind of miraculous

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: (Minutes : Seconds into program) 3:08 "…the story of the universe is that information, which I call novelty, is struggling to free itself from habit, which I call entropy… and that this process… is accelerating… It seems as if… the whole cosmos wants to change into information… All points want to become connected…. The path of complexity to its goals is through connecting things together… You can imagine that there is an ultimate end-state of that process–it’s the moment when every point in the universe is connected to every other point in the universe." 4:43 "On one level, I think there is a cultural singularity… a place in our cultural development where we can’t predict or understand what will happen to us… a kind of flip-point… or doorway… or revelation…" 5:20 "The human adventure has become the cutting-edge of cosmic destiny, but it won’t always be so…" 7:04 "…we wished for transformation. Western civilization built it into it’s cultural agenda… and now

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: (Minutes : Seconds into program) 1:50 "Whether meditation and psychedelics are the same thing I think depends on your meditation and your psychedelics. Different meditations strive for different things. Much meditation is about emptying the mind of phenomena. This would certainly not be a description of the psychedelic state." 4:14 "Ultimately, the meditation path and the psychedelic path must somehow lead to the same kinds of data if the claims of both are to be respected, which is that they give deeper knowledge about reality." 6:03 "The chemistry of DMT suggests that, in deep REM sleep, it’s possible every single night you have a DMT flash, but it does not transcript into short term memory." 6:20 "…or imagine a drug that allowed you to enhance long-term memory, so that you could slip into reveries of a summer day 30 years ago, and play it back, moment by moment by moment. Again, this is not shooting for the moon, pharmacologically…" 6:58 "It’s a false d

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: (Minutes : Seconds into program)

Guest speakers: Earth and Fire Erowid PROGRAM NOTES: Fire & Earth, founders of Erowid.org (Photo by Bill Radacinski, taken at the 100th birthday celebration for Dr. Albert Hofmann) In this highly original talk, Earth andFire, the founders of Erowid.org, provide a clear and convincing argument for the positive role "Drug Geeks" can play in civilized society. They also provide some interesting ways in which to think of this newly-evolving human culture. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Sasha Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: Shulgin Sasha Shulgin (photo by Bill Radacinski) This podcast of the Psychedelic Salon Sasha Shulgin’s in-depth talk about cacti, which was given at the 2002 Mind States Conference held in Jamaica. After podcast #022 of another talk Sasha gave in Jamaica, we received a lot of eMail saying, "More Dr. Shulgin!!!!" . . . And so, here he is once again. Although Sasha has given a lot of presentations at conferences all over the world, it isn’t often that he has devoted a single talk exclusively to a discussion of his extensive research into these intriguing plants. In addition to PIKAL and TIKAL, Transform Press has also published Sasha’s new book about cacti, all of which are listed in the BOOKS section on the Shulgin’s page at Palenque Norte. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Alex Grey PROGRAM NOTES: Alex &Allyson Grey (photo by Bill Radacinski) This is a talk Alex Grey gave at the 2002 Mind States conference in Jamaica. In it, he describes his journey as an artist as he takes us on a tour of some of his work. Pictures of the art Alex describes in this talk may be found on his personal Web site www.alexgrey.com. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speakers: Susan Blackmore, V.S. Ramachandran, Richard Glen Boire, John Gilmore, Ralph Metzner, and Jaron Lanier PROGRAM NOTES: Here are a few samples from the 2003 Mind States conference that was held in Berkeley, California in May of that year. Sound bites from the following talks are included here: Susan Blackmore:"The Grand Illusion of Consciousness" V.S. Ramachandran: "What Neurology Can Tell Us About Human Nature" Richard Glen Boire: "Neurocops: Welcome to the REAL Drug War" John Gilmore: "Our Constitutional Rights of Anonymous Travel" Ralph Metzner: "Seven Phases of Social-Cultural Transformation Catalyzed by LSD" Jaron Lanier: "Post-Symbolic Communication" Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option LINKS: Mind States Conference Central

Guest speaker: Sasha Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: This is Sasha Shulgin at his best . . . talking about some of the most beautiful molecules on Earth. Recorded at the Mind States conference in Jamaica in 2002, this is classic Sasha. "The revolution is in the ditch until you get your chemistry together."   ---Terence McKenna Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Ann Shulgin PROGRAM NOTES: This is a talk given byAnn Shulgin at the Mind States Conference in 2002. It provides a rare look into the world of psychedelic therapy during the years immediately preceding the scheduling of MDMA as a Category I substance. This schedule level means that the U.S. Government considers MDMA to have no medical value. After you listen to what Ann Shulgin has to report, you will see how wrong the government is about the medical value of MDMA. SOUND BITES: A newborn baby has no shadow. . . . The shadow represents the parts of us that, for whatever reason, we have come to think of as parts of ourselves that are not acceptable, not lovable, and not OK. . . . Whenever you find yourself reacting negatively to a person or group of people, consider the possibility that you may be reacting to your own shadow." –Ann Shulgin Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna & Ralph Abraham PROGRAM NOTES: This is part two of the conversation between Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham, which is featured in program #019 of the Psychedelic Salon. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speakers: Terence McKenna & Ralph Abraham PROGRAM NOTES: This podcast is part of a dialogue between Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham that took place at the Omega Institute on August 1, 1998. It isn’t often that we have the opportunity to see how accurate predictions about the future are, but this fascinating conversation between two of the great thinkers of our times has already proven to be right on target. The reason this may be of interest to you is that if they correctly predicted some things that have now happened, then we are really in for some big time excitement if some of their more far-out predictions come true. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Erik Davis PROGRAM NOTES: In this talk, Erik Davis gives an overview of the role that visionary art, as lineage and practice, plays in today’s planetary culture. Then he contrasts this with what he is calling "Visionary Design": the translation of the visionary impulse into the design of artifacts, systems, and real-world solutions. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Daniel Pinchbeck PROGRAM NOTES: Daniel Pinchbeck explores the thesis of a "dimensional shift," currently underway and culminating in 2012, the end-date of the Mayan Calendar. In this talk, he discusses crop circles, extraterrestrials, infraterrestrials, the likely collapse of the current socioeconomic order in the next few years, as well as the need for a new measure of time. Daniel also discussesEvolution, a new magazine and media company, currently in formation, designed to assist in the process of global healing and revisioning, offering new paradigms and tools for creating a harmonic planetary culture. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Fraser Clark PROGRAM NOTES: A story about reversing the Big Lie . . . The true story of Monkey’s Marvelous Trip from theAfrican Jungle toInner and Outer Space by Fraser Clark. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Gary Fisher PROGRAM NOTES: The description of Gary Fisher’s work with the amazing little girl, Nancy, is what the title of this podcast refers to. However, the conversation also covers a wide range of other topics, including: an amazing cancer cure involving ayahuasca, early psychedelic research, and the first scientific paper to discuss what is now called poly-drugging. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Rick Doblin PROGRAM NOTES: Dr. Rick Doblin and others present an overview of the current state of medical marijuana research. Also included in this podcast is the story of activist Steve McWilliams, who lost his life in America’s War on People who use non-prescription drugs. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Dr. Charles Grob PROGRAM NOTES: A talk by Dr. Charles Grob in July 2005. The topic was his current FDA-approved research project using the active ingredient from "magic mushrooms" to treat anxiety in cancer patients. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Christian Räetsch PROGRAM NOTES: A talk by Christian Räetsch at the Chan Kah hotel in Palenque, Mexico. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: A talk by Terence McKenna in Denver – April 1999 TRANSCRIPT OF THIS TALK . . . (PDF Version) "This is a struggle between novelty and habit." . . . "[Your culture] is the greatest barrier to your enlightenment, your education, and your decency." . . . Cultures are virtual realities made of language." One of the things Terence covers in this talk is his take on virtual reality, VR. On February 25th, about two months before this talk, Terence participated in an experiment in avatar-based random in 3D virtual worlds on the Internet. "We were operating live from Terence’s jungle retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii on a wireless packet radio network. The hosting area was finished off in the couple of hours before we went live at 3 pm Hawaii time. Fans were already arriving by that time and helping out by finding audio files to be linked in, images and other Terence netmorabilia. Approximately 40 fans showed up with very short notice from an announcement poste