Psychedelic Salon

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Guest speakers: Rick Doblin, Lester Grinspoon, Richard Yensen, Donna Dryer, Myron Stolaroff, Willis Harman, Ralph Abraham, and Robert Anton Wilson

PROGRAM NOTES:

Today's program features the continuation of Podcast 684, the Psychedelic Summit that was held in Santa Cruz in 1992. As you can tell from the list of speakers, it was another celebrity-packed speakers' list. While all of the names will be famaliar to you, this is the first time that we've had talks by Lester Grinspoon, Willis Harman and Robert Anton Wilson here in the salon.

PSYCHEDELIC AGENTS IN CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING: A PILOT STUDY (1966)

The Issue of the Consciousness-Expanding Drugs - Willis Harman (1963)

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Guest speakers: Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna

PROGRAM NOTES:

Today's program features a 1985 conversation between Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham that took place at the Esalen Institute near Big Sur, California.

Their conversation centers on the science of chaotic attractors and models of their actions. While mathematicians will more fully understand some of these concepts, Ralph has a way of explaining them so we can all grok what he explains.

The concept of using mathematical models for things like tracking hurricanes is common to most of us, ideas about modeling society may be new to many of us, and exciting as well. If ever there was a time to project the track of our culture's future, this is it.

Ralph Abraham's recent book, Schims, is an excellent companion to this conversation.

Schism: The Madness of Crowds, Toxicity of Social Media, Social Polarization, and Political Violence; A Cybernetic Approach

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Guest speaker: John Beresford

PROGRAM NOTES:

Dr. John Bereford delivering this talk in 2006 at the conference celebrating Albert Hofmann's 100th birthday.

Today's program features a lecture by psychedelic researcher Dr. John Beresford. Here is Erowid's introduction to him:

"British-born John Beresford began his psychedelic research interests in 1961, and shortly thereafter he resigned his post as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at New York Medical College. In 1963 he founded the Agora Scientific Trust, the world's first research organization devoted to investigating the effects of LSD. In contrast to Leary's invitation to "tune in, turn on, and drop out", Beresford initially wanted to keep LSD as a tool of scientifically trained specialists. However, later in his life he adopted a viewpoint that was opposed to the medicalization of psychedelics."

Of course, the story that he is best known for is the time that he wrote to Sandoz Laboratories and requested one gram of LSD! (If my math is correct, that's about 4,000 doses of 250 mics each.) Amazingly, Sandoz sent him a gram through the mail and attached a note that read, "Good luck."

The talk we are about to listen to was given by Dr. Beresford at the conference celebrating Albert Hofmann's 100th birthday. He titled it: "Psychedelic Agents and the Structure of Consciousness: Stages in a Session Using LSD and DMT".

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Guest speakers: Matthew Brederick, Bruce Eisner, Rick Doblin, Oscar Jannigar, Albert Hofmann, Humphry Osmand, John Beresford, Laura Huxley, Francis Huxley

PROGRAM NOTES:

Today's podcasta features talks from the 1992 Psychedelic Summit that was held in Santa Cruz. As you can see from the names of the speakers, this was a star-studded event. While this 1992 conference features much talk about the War on Drugs, it is an interesting counterpoint to the conference that was held in Denver earlier this year in which the focus was the scientific importance of psychdelic substances.

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Guest speaker: Bruce Damer

Today's podcast features two Palenque Norte talks that Bruce Damer gave at the 2022 Burning Man Festival.

This talk was followed by an hour-long Q&A session that I'll podcast after I post a few of the other Paleqnue Norte talks from 2022.

Although I haven't previewed them yet, there are recordings waiting for me from the talks by Corey Doctorow, John Gilmore, Android Jones, and Rick Doblin among others. My plan is to slowly roll them out to you during the next few months.

Bruce Damer's Website

Confessions of an Ecstasy Advocate from George Wada Dog Paw Productions on Vimeo.

Psychedelic Sunday Variety Series - February 5, 2023

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Guest speaker: Kathleen Lakey

PROGRAM NOTES:

Today we feature an interview that Charles Lighthouse recently conducted with Kat Lakey. Besides talking about her latest project, which will be the world's first Psychedelic Athenaum, they discussed the Psychedelic Assembly, which was a conference that Kat and her friends produced a few months ago.

Some highlights of this interview include a dicusssion of her work for the salon, including the production of an audio version of Leonard Pickard's book The Rose of Paracelsis. Also, Kat tells talks about the harrowing experience of being deep in a Peruvian jungle when the pandemic hit and marshall law was declared in Peru.

The World's First Psychedelic AthenæumThe Kat Lakey Archive on the Psychedelic SalonPsychedelic Salon Archives: The Rose of ParacelsusAthenaums: Where Greek Ideals Meet New England Charm2022 Psychedelic Assembly Speakers

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Guest speakers: Annie Oak and Rachel Clark

Ann Shulgin (1933 - 2022) ... photo by Jon Hanna

PROGRAM NOTES:

Today's podcast features the first of a series of Palenque Norte Lectures that I'll be podcasting over the next few months. And our guest speakers are Annie Oak and Rachel Clark.

Annie, among many other activities, is the managing edidor of Lucid.news. Her co-presenter is Rachel Clark whose column "Your Psychedelic Auntie" is featured in Lucid.news. Rachel also works with the DanceSafe Project and is one of the most up-to-date people I know of when it comes to psychedelic substances currently being widely used at festivals and other large events.

If you plan on attending an event at which you may be tempted to try something new, be sure to listen to what Rachel and Aannie are reporting.

Annie Oak is the founder of the Women’s Visionary Congress and co-founder of the nonprofit Women's Visionary Council.

Lucid News

Your Psychedelic Auntie

DanceSafe

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Guest speakers: Terence McKenna and Elizabeth Gips

PROGRAM NOTES:

This podcast is dedicated to long-time saloner MARJEAN McKENNA

This is a recording, from 1985, of an interview that Elizabeth Gips conducted with Terence McKenna at his home.

The interview begins, like most of the 1980s era McKenna interviews, with a detailed question about DMT, but Elizabeth quickly gets them on a more interesting track. And the reason that I say "more interesting" is because here in the salon we've already covered most of the nuts and bolts of various psychedelic experiences. It's the reasons that draw us to these substances that I find to be the most interesting.

When choosing a new psychedelic experience, Terence suggests asking three questions about the substance you are considering: 1) does it have a shamanic history; 2) does it occure in the tissue of a plant or animal; and 3) does it bear a simularity with compounds in our brains.

In Memoriam: Elizabeth Gips, 1922–2001

Elizabeth Gips' Obituary

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Guest speaker: Jahan Khamsehzadeh

PROGRAM NOTES:

Today's podcast features a conversation with author Jahan Khamsehzadeh, whose recent book, The Psilocybin Connection, is a significant addition to our understanding of how psychedelic substances have aided humans throughout history and how they continue to do so.

The book's publisher says that it is, “A comprehensive guide to psilocybin mushrooms and their impact on our psychology, biology, and social development. … Blending the selected experiences of nine people’s transformative experiences, his own psychedelic awakening, and the most comprehensive synthesis of psilocybin research to date, Khamsehzadeh’s Psilocybin Connection moves our understanding of the psychedelic mushroom forward toward a fresh, hopeful, and exciting future.”

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Guest speakers: Patreon Saloners

PROGRAM NOTES:

The painting, Saint Albert by Alex Grey, was completed as part of Dr. Albert Hofmann's 100th birthday celebration held in Basel, Switzerland on January 11th, 2006.

Can you imagine knowing someone for over 20 years, even tripping with them from time-to-time, and not knowing that this person had done LSD with Albert Hofmann on multiple occasions? Now that's humility. Had it been me, that would have most likely been one of the first things that I ever told you.

That story has now been told by one of my friends (hint, it wasn't Alex Grey) in this recording of the live salon that we held on the 17th of March to celebrate the beginning of our 18th year of podcasting.