Psychedelic Salon

Guest speaker: Bruce Damer PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features a talk given by Dr. Bruce Damer in May 2015 at the Lightening in a Bottle Festival. Building on a theme introduced by Lorenzo in a talk at Esalen, Bruce takes an in-depth look at the importance and essence of the Mysteries at Eleusis. In his concluding remarks, Lorenzo discusses the drawbacks of organized religion and suggests that minor children NOT be given religious instruction. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Next:Space | Dr. Bruce Damer | TEDxSantaCruz In the Beginning: The Origin & Purpose of Life | Dr. Bruce Damer | TEDxSantaCruz Lightning in a Bottle Festival The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries By R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, Carl A. P. Ruck

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “I describe myself as a tall man with a cheap watch.” “If reality is code, then it can be hacked in some way that we had not suspected before.” “In a sense, the Italian Renaissance IS the medieval lead turned to the secular gold of reform and rebirth.” “You aren't an object. You're a process of some sort.” “What foods are, essentially, are idea-neutral drugs.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Do You Have Social Anxiety or Social Phobia? We are seeking men and women on the autism spectrum with social anxiety who are at least 21 years old. You must be in good physical health, with blood pressure that is normal. We are conducting a research study of an experimental drug used in combination with therapy. The study takes place in the Los Angeles area and requires about 15 visits to the study location over several months. For more information, please call (310) 222-1664.

Guest speakers: Ashley Booth and Amy Ralston Povah Today's podcast features Ashley Booth, scientist and psychedelic advocate, and Amy Ralston Povah, a victim and hero of the War on Drugs. The talk by Ashley was given at the 2014 Palenque Norte Lectures at the Burning Man Festival, and the talk by Amy was given at a Venice, California salon hosted by Ashley in celebration of Bicycle Day 2014. Together these talks will give you a lot of things to talk about, both with friends who agree with you and the old Nancy Reagan just say no crowd. . . . As Ashley says, “By being a psychedelic advocate, I'm not saying that psychedelics are good for everyone, by any means. I would just like it to be an opportunity for people who would like to try it.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Ashley Booth's Website Aware Project Aware Project on Facebook

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “In hyperspace nothing is hidden.” “Culture is a narrowing.” “We're about to have the chance to create a global culture, to essentially clean our basement and decide what we're going to save and what we're going to keep.” “It's the monotheistic religions that have to take a knock for the present situation.” “The thing that I go back to over and over again, and that makes psychedelics different, and that makes what I'm doing different, is you are not asked to believe anything.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Psychedelic Salon Magazine The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries: The Classic Study of Leprechauns, Pixies, and Other Fairy Spirits By W.Y. Evans Wentz

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “Language is the software without which we wouldn't be people.” “Culture is a strategy for intensifying the dimensionality of an animal species.” “Somehow, the psychedelic experience is related to this bootstrapping process of climbing, organizationally, from one dimension to another, deeper and deeper into complexity. It's almost as though the psychedelic experience is a viewing of the process from the highest dimension in the plane.” “What you experience in the psychedelic experience is eternity, all of time.” “A shaman is someone who has seen the end.” “Ideas are the signposts of our destiny.” “It's an absurd question to ask the question, 'What will the world be like in 500 years?' What the world will be like in 500 years is unimaginable.” “Language is an informational creature of some sort.” “[Quantum physics] is our truth [about reality]. How crazy are you if your truth is something you can't even understand? And that's the situation that we are in.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Trip by Kelly Matten & Walker Farrell The Museum Dose: 12 Experiments in Pharmacologically Mediated Aesthetics by Daniel Tumbleweed

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “The most politically potent thing you can do for somebody is to educate them, to give them the facts. The facts are now so horrifying, and the means of delivering the facts so effective that there is no excuse for everyone not beginning to act in an informed manner.” “How can we go to the place where ideas come from?” “We are to life what life is to the inorganic realm.” “I think psychedelics are catalysts to thought, to imagination, to understanding.” “Our style of society is the historical equivalent of a temper tantrum. It has no viability. It's completely self-limiting. It's destructive. And it hands nothing on to its receivers.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option From Larry to Lorenzo from Lorenzo Hagerty on Vimeo.

We were saddened to learn that Kai left this life on February 6th, 2016 due to complications from a fast. She was on the 37th day of a 40 day fast. Guest speakers: Kai Wingo & Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: A mushroom expert, Kai Wingo's passion is highlighting the value of mushroom cultivation in the revitalizing of community. She is a mother, mycologist and lecturer on a quest to inspire reverence for earth's exploratory treasures and in the utilization of their technology and curative abilities. Kai feels that if we, women especially, learn to embrace fungi as our allies, they will heal, empower and transform. In today's program, Kai is interviewed by the salon's resident correspondent, Shonagh Home. [The following quotations are by Kai Wingo.] “When you use entheogens you truly change minds, and that is what will truly make a change.” “If you have the understanding that we are spiritual beings, the things that we do are spiritual. If we do it every morning, then it becomes ritual.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option You can find Kai and her grass roots effort, Kultured Mushrooms, on Facebook. Women and Entheogens2015 ConferenceSeptember 18-20, 2015 Shonagh Home is a teacher, shamanic practitioner, and the author of ‘Ix Chel Wisdom: 7 Teachings from the Mayan Sacred Feminine,’ ‘Love and Spirit Medicine’ and the upcoming, ‘Honeybee Wisdom: A Modern Melissae Speaks.’ Website: www.shonaghhome.com Contact: shonagh.home (at) comcast (dot) net

Guest speaker: Rak Razam PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features a talk given by Rak Razam this year at Byron Bay, Australia. Rak is an ‘experiential’ journalist, who writes about the emergence of a new cultural paradigm in the 21st century. Rak is the author of the critically acclaimed book Aya Awakenings: A Shamanic Odyssey and the companion volume of interviews, The Ayahuasca Sessions. In this podcast he discusses the Gaian process underway spearheaded by ayahuasca and other plant entheogens healing and cleansing us humans, preparing us to return to the "Garden", and the sudden popularity of 5-MeO-DMT Sonoran Desert Toad medicine. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Rak Razam (home page) Aya Awakenings (trailer HD) Ayahuasca Retreats Dying to Know: Ram Dass & Timothy Leary - Official Trailer #1 Bay Area Release Info with Direct links to ticket sales Film opens Friday July 10th at the following theaters: San Francisco - Roxie theater: Berkeley - The Elmwood: Sebastopol - Rialto: San Rafael - The Smith Rafael Film Center: Eugene Center for Ethnobotanical Studies We are a crowd-sourced, social enterprise dedicated to supporting  plant-based, non-profit health and well-being as a viable, sustainable, and growing option to corporate based, for-profit, pharmaceutical options. Casualties of the State (trailer) Why watch "Casualties of the State," a feature-length drama-thriller:  

Guest speaker: Mikey Siegel PROGRAM NOTES: “Technology is a manifestation of mind.” Mikey Siegel, Consciousness Hacker Have you ever given any thought to the proposition that perhaps human well-being, or enlightenment, may be approached through engineering? In today's podcast, which is the 2014 Palenque Norte Lecture given by Mikey Siegel, you are going to learn not only about the possibilities of such a thing as engineering enlightenment, you are also going to learn about the rapid advances that have been made in this field during the past five years. Mikey Siegel is one of the pioneers of what has come to be known as “consciousness hacking”, which is a hands-on-approach to making new tools for self-exploration. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Enlightenment engineering--tech as catalyst for inner & outer peace: Mikey Siegel at TEDxSantaCruz BioFluent Technologies: tools for integrating body, mind and spirit Consciousness Hacking is a hands-on approach to making new tools for self-exploration, in order to change the way we think, feel, and live. Psychedelic Thinking And The Dawn of Homo Cyber (PDF) Lorenzo's May 2001 Mind States Talk Podcast 001 – “Psychedelic Thinking and the Dawn of Homo Cyber” Podcast 226-McKenna: “Hermeticism and Alchemy” Part 4

Guest speakers: Annie Oak, Irina Alexander, and Bruce Damer "The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys"By James Fadiman PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features a panel discussion about some of the difficulties that can be encountered during a psychedelic experience. This panel discussion took place at the 2014 Palenque Norte Lectures at the Burning Man Festival and features Annie Oak, Irina Alexander and Bruce Damer. In addition to the featured speakers, several members of the audience also spoke about a few of their own difficult experiences with psychedelics and how they dealt with them. This would be a particularly good podcast to listen to before you attend a festival or other large event. And keep in mind, it isn't just the inexperienced people who sometimes go off their rails. It can, and does, happen to highly experienced trippers as well. So be prepared! Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option "The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys" By James Fadiman

Guest speaker: Aldous Huxley PROGRAM NOTES: This podcast celebrates the ten year anniversary of programming from the Psychedelic Salon. And so we return to one of the men who was responsible for igniting today's psychedelic renaissance, Aldous Huxley. The talk featured here was delivered at MIT in 1961, sometime after it was first given at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. The Medical Center version of this talk has been credited with giving Dick Price the inspiration to co-found the Esalen Institute. Today, more than 50 years after this talk was given, there remains much of current interest in the sentiments that Huxley so eloquently puts forth. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speakers: George Greer, John Gilmore, Rick Doblin, Annie Oak PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features the tributes to Sasha Shulgin that were made at the Palenque Norte lectures during the 2014 Burning Man Festival. In addition to comments from the audience, we hear from Dr. George Greer (MDMA Researcher and Co-founder of the Heffter Research Institute), Rick Doblin PhD (President of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), John Gilmore (Co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation), and Annie Oak (Co-founder of the Women’s Visionary Congress). Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option The Shulgin Research Institute  

Guest speakers: Ginny Rutherford & Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features an interview of Ginny Rutherford by Shonagh Home. Ginny is a Certified Transformational Life Coach in the Seattle area. She has studied Alchemical Tarot for the past 5 years and uses the Tarot in her coaching to get insight for her clients and information on their next step. She has spent time in the jungle of Peru participating in the Shamanic ceremonies using Ayahausca. She also uses Amazonian Kambo, Sananga and Rape' as healing and cleansing medicines. She will be completing her intensive Kambo practitioner training through the IAKP (International Association of Kambo Practitioners) in July. She does currently offer Kambo ceremonies in the Seattle area and can be reached at ginny (at) kambokiss (dot) com or go to her Facebook page Kambo Kiss. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Kambo Kiss Kambô is a traditional medicine used by native people in the Amazonian rainforest. It is made from a waxy secretion collected from the back and sides of the giant monkey tree frog, Phyllomedusa bicolor. Sapo In My Soul: The Matsés Frog Medicine By Peter Gorman (Sapo is another name for kambo.) Shonagh Home is a teacher, shamanic practitioner, and the author of ‘Ix Chel Wisdom: 7 Teachings from the Mayan Sacred Feminine,’ 'Love and Spirit Medicine’ and the upcoming, ‘Honeybee Wisdom: A Modern Melissae Speaks.’ Website: www.shonaghhome.com Contact: shonagh.home (at) comcast (dot) net

Guest speaker: Daniel Pinchbeck PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features the 2014 Palenque Norte Lecture delivered by Daniel Pinchbeck. Beginning with a discussion of his experimentation with toad venom (primary active ingredient 5MEO-DMT), his interaction with the audience leads down many of the different roads that Daniel has traveled as he was gathering information for his books Breaking Open the Head, and 2012 The Return of Quetzalcoatl. Daniel is also the co-founder of RealitySandwich.com, The Evolver Network, and the Center for Planetary Culture. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Daniel Pinchbeck's Website Reality Sandwich The Evolver Network The Center for Planetary Culture Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism By Daniel Pinchbeck 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl By Daniel Pinchbeck

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “These psychedelics, which in the Sixties and Fifties were simply called consciousness expanding drugs, a good old phenomenological description, if there is an iota of possibility that they expand consciousness then we must put out attention on this area. Because it is the absence of consciousness that is making our situation so very uncomfortable.” “Where spiritual advancement is discussed, I want psychedelics to be discussed. Where transformative social visions are put forth, I want psychedelics to be part of the agenda.” “The historical enterprise is an effort to turn the human body inside out so that the soul becomes visible, and the body becomes a process that you can command in the imagination.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: In this continuation of a Terence McKenna workshop from June 1994, he does brief riffs about Joyce's “Finnegan's Wake” and Orwell's “1984”. He then continues with some speculations about what he thought 2012 would bring. Step 1, he speculated, would be that everyone in the world would go outdoors and get naked. And from there he takes off on a wild flight of mind that you have to hear for yourself to truly appreciate his relationship (at that time) to a potential 2012 event. Ultimately he reaches a point where he speculates about why it was (and still is) necessary for a species like us humans to evolve. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speaker: Bernardo Kastrup PROGRAM NOTES: Today Bernardo Kastrup returns to the salon with more metaphysical speculations. Supplementing his recently released book, “Brief Peeks Beyond,” he touches on the so-called hard problem of consciousness faced by materialists. In his examination of the dominant materialistic world view, Bernardo reveals the forces behind our value systems, which in turn determine our behavior. He ends with some very concrete suggestions for five things each of us can do to make the world a little better. However, my favorite section of this talk comes when he suggests that cosmic consciousness at-large may actually be experiencing what we humans call multiple personality disorder. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Bernardo Kastrup on Amazon Bernardo Kastrup's Metaphysical Speculations Bernardo Kastrup's Facebook Page Bernardo Kastrup on Twitter Bernardo Kastrup on Youtube Terence McKenna Transcripts Tink Tink podcast with Diana Reed Slattery Transmutation (a feature documentary film about uprooting the experience of normality)

Guest speakers: La Laurien & Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: In this wide-ranging conversation between two experienced medicine women, in addition to talking about shamanism and psychedelic medicines, such as magic mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, and others, they also venture into such diverse areas as aliens and language. Most importantly, they talk about Atlan, which was co-founded by La Laurien. Atlan is a living and learning ecovillage dedicated to the artful co-creation of healthy living systems celebrating the connectedness and diversity of all Life. The village is located in the Columbia River Gorge. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option MIRRORACLE (La Laurien's Web site) /* The 2007 Palenque Norte Lectures (video) Psychedelic Traveler Your psychedelic travel guide around the globe The Daily Psychedelic Video

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: “If I didn't have cannabis I wouldn't take a psychedelic drug. It is indispensable.” Terence McKenna In this talk, Terence McKenna tells some stories about how Gordon Wasson was first led to investigating the mushrooms of Mexico, and of possible use of magic mushrooms by the Sufi's. We also get to hear one of the rare instances where the bard McKenna gives us his opinion about 5MEO-DMT, as contrasted with his primary psychedelic substance of interest, NN-DMT. Going on, he speaks about drugs grown out of cultured amphibian skin, and about ways to enhance certain psychedelics. At one point Terence takes off on what can only be called an anti-Myan rant, something I haven't heard him say before. This talk also contains the most detailed and specific accounting of what he thinks would happen on December 21, 2012 that I have ever heard Terence McKenna give. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option

Guest speakers: Meriana Dinkova & Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: In today's podcast we get to listen in on a conversation between Shonagh Home and Meriana Dinkova. Meriana received her initial training in psychology studies at Vienna University and at the Free University in Berlin. And in 2003 she completed her MA in Counseling Psychology at the California Association of Integral Studies in San Francisco. In 2010 Meriana started two different monthly Meetups, which have been successfully running since: “Get Out Of Your Own Way- Conquering Self Sabotage” and “Sex Magic”- . She has also been a featured speaker at the Visionary Voices Salon in SF where she talked about Sex Magic and different uses of sexual energy to enhance awareness. Meriana has developed a unique system of psychological and neo-shamanistic inner-space navigation tools for navigating non-ordinary states of consciousness and the Ayahuasca experience. Those tools are designed to maximize the experience and provide the opportunity for learning and healing, while safely navigating the inner landscapes, and avoiding common pitfalls. Learning how to use your consciousness in those ways can enrich your psychonaut toolkit and empower your inner shaman. Meriana also organizes retreats to Peru, in which she combines her work with experienced shamans. Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select option Macs – Ctrl-Click, select option Meriana Dinkova's Web Site “Confessions of an Ecstasy Advocate” with Lorenzo