Tierra Vida: An Ayahuasca Journey
There have been a flurry of ayahuasca documentaries lately, but I think this one takes the cake. In 2012, Alex Ward lived out of a backpack for 8 months, participated in over forty shamanic ceremonies, and went exploring “far beyond the veil of reality with Ayahuasca.” A freelance artist and filmmaker, Alex was originally looking for artistic inspiration to spur his creative pursuits. But as he puts it, “I got a little more than I bargained for.” Lucky for us, he made a short (26 min) video testimonial about the experience and what he learned from it. Check it...
Three psychedelic Kickstarter campaigns fully funded
Another sign of the times: three different Kickstarter campaigns relating to psychedelics have recently been funded! Alex Grey’s Entheon art temple, web magazine Reality Sandwich 2.0, and the film Neurons to Nirvana have all exceeded their fundraising goals in the last couple weeks. The first is Entheon, the brainchild of visionary artist Alex Grey. The Entheon campaign made over USD $200,000, far exceeding the original goal of USD $125,000 and making it the second most funded art project in Kickstarter history. So what is Entheon? According to the Kickstarter page: For over 30 years, the art of Alex...
A Treatise on Psychedelics Part 1/3: The Stigma
This guest post by Martijn Schirp was originally published on higHExistence.com and is reproduced here with permission. Martijn is the co-founder of higHExistence, a travel junkie, a meditation practitioner, and a yoga lover. He is a student of philosophy, passionate about science, and immensely fascinated by consciousness. The true student of science neglects nothing and despises nothing that may widen and deepen his knowledge of nature, and if he is wise as well as learned he will hesitate before he applies the term “impossible” to any facts which are widely believed and have been repeatedly observed by men...
Beckley Foundation: “Drugs prohibition is starting to crumble”
Amanda Feilding, director of the Beckley Foundation, has written a very encouraging article titled “At last, the edifice of drugs prohibition is starting to crumble.” The Beckley Foundation is a non-profit organization that promotes drug policy reform and works to advance the scientific understanding of consciousness. Amanda Feilding and her colleagues have been on the front lines of drug policy and research since the organization’s inception in 1998. She describes the Foundation’s perspective: The Beckley Foundation has always advocated an evidence-based, health-oriented, harm-reducing, cost-effective approach that respects human rights. The mark of a successful drug policy should not be the...
Ego, Fear, and the War on Drug Users
“Over one’s mind and over one’s body, the individual is sovereign.” —John Stuart Mill From the point of view of psychedelic enthusiasts, the prohibitionist stance is farcically weak. The moral imperative could not be more obvious: stop jailing non-violent consciousness explorers and give us back our tax dollars. But let’s consider how we got here to begin with. I don’t want to talk about Nixon and the Controlled Substance Act, or the DEA, or how America has exported its neurotic drug policy to the rest of the world. I won’t even present data revealing how ineffective and dehumanizing...
Low dose psychedelics increase neurogenesis, help mice unlearn fear
A new study of mice published in Experimental Brain Research shows that low doses (but not high doses) of psychedelics increase the rate of neuron creation in the hippocampus, and help the mice to rapidly unlearn conditioned fear responses. From the abstract (paragraph breaks added for readability): Drugs that modulate serotonin (5-HT) synaptic concentrations impact neurogenesis and hippocampal (HPC)-dependent learning. The primary objective is to determine the extent to which psilocybin (PSOP) modulates neurogenesis and thereby affects acquisition and extinction of HPC-dependent trace fear conditioning. PSOP, the 5-HT2A agonist 25I-NBMeO and the 5-HT2A/Cantagonist ketanserin were administered via an acute intraperitoneal injection...
Hella_Brad live-tweets his first acid trip
This is from a few months back, but is so full of innocent wonder that I have to post it! In September, @hella_brad took his first dose of acid and decided to live-tweet the trip. Considering the frequency and quality of the tweets, not to mention his ability to walk around and socialize, I imagine he took a low dose. Some have questioned the veracity of the tweets, but to me it seems real, and it would be a silly thing to fake. Hella_brad’s Twitter persona comes across as genuine and endearing, not just in these tweets but...
Radio interview with psychedelic pioneer Jim Fadiman
Public radio show “To the Best of Our Knowledge” interviewed psychedelic pioneer Jim Fadiman. The full 45 minute interview can be downloaded or streamed from their website. Jim Fadiman is one of the original psychonauts – a friend of Richard Alpert and Ken Kesey in the Sixties – who went on to do pioneering research on psychedelics and creativity, and helped found the transpersonal psychology movement. In this EXTENDED interview, Steve Paulson talks with Fadiman about a lifetime of unconventional thinking. The interview covers a variety of topics, from Fadiman’s days as a graduate student in the psychedelic...
DMT-esque animation: “1923 aka Heaven”
This short animation reminds me of a DMT voyage through some kind of cosmic power generator. From the Vimeo page: 1923 aka Heaven is one of two animation loops directed by Max Hattler, inspired by the work of French outsider artist Augustin Lesage. 1923 is based on Lesage’s painting ‘A Symbolic Composition of the Spiritual World’ from 1923. I recommend fullscreen mode. And turn up the volume, the soundtrack is great. The second animation mentioned is called ‘1925 aka Hell‘. The visuals aren’t as DMT-looking, but it’s still very trippy. If the video wasn’t enough to remind you of...
DMT Found in the Pineal Glands of Live Rats
Cottonwood Research, a foundation dedicated to studying consciousness and headed by Rick Strassman, is publishing a study that confirms the existence (and, they argue, production) of dimethyltryptamine in the pineal glands of rats. This paves the way for further research to determine whether endogenous DMT in humans also originates in the pineal gland, as has been speculated by Strassman and others. From their website: We’re excited to announce the acceptance for publication of a paper documenting the presence of DMT in the pineal glands of live rodents. The paper will appear in the journal Biomedical Chromatography and describes experiments that...
Song: “Parabol” by Tool, slowed to 1/8 speed
The original track was otherworldly to begin with. But Tool’s “Parabol” has a completely different feel when slowed down by a factor of eight. Ethereal and haunting, it’s more like a Gregorian chant than a single from a rock album. I recommend good headphones and your favorite consciousness-modifier (legal, of course). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5_eGEF5dGI In case you’re thinking, “This is missing something…binaural beats?” I have just the thing. Now strap on your headphones and meditate. And if you’re one of those strange people who listens to music at normal speed, here’s the original along with some slowly shifting Alex Grey...
Interview with Oliver Hockenhull, Director of “Neurons to Nirvana”
I am very excited to share with you my conversation with Oliver Hockenhull, director of the new documentary film Neurons to Nirvana: Understanding Psychedelic Medicines. About the film Neurons to Nirvana: Understanding Psychedelic Medicines is a richly-illustrated feature documentary about the resurgence of psychedelics as medicine. Through interviews with the world’s foremost researchers, writers, psychologists and pioneers in psychedelic psychotherapy, the film explores five powerful psychedelic substances (LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA, Ayahuasca and Cannabis) and their previously established medicinal and psychotherapeutic potential. The film is finished but needs funding for marketing and distribution. If you are interested in learning more about the project and bringing this...