The Second Psychedelic Revolution Part Three: Terence McKenna, The Rise of the Plant Shaman

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Metaphorically, DMT is like an intellectual black hole in that once one knows about it, it is very hard for others to understand what one is talking about. One cannot be heard. The more one is able to articulate what it is, the less others are able to understand. This is why I think people who attain enlightenment, if we may for a moment comap these two, are silent. They are silent because we cannot understand them. Why the phenomenon of tryptamine ecstasy has not been looked at by scientists, thrill seekers, or anyone else, I am not sure, but I recommend it to your attention. ~ Terence McKenna, The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelics, Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFO’s, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, & the End of History. (1991)

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The publication of PIHKAL and TIHKAL by Alexander and Ann Shulgin resulted in a plethora of new psychedelics (see Part Two) that are now commonly available largely thanks to the scarcity of Acid after the Y2K Kansas missile-silo LSD bust (see Part One). However, unlike the First Psychedelic Revolution, which was sparked primarily by the artificial psychedelic LSD and to a lesser extent laboratory synthesized mescaline, psilocybin, and DMT [1], (as listed in the introduction of ‘The Psychedelic Experience: A manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead’ by Leary, Metzner, and Alpert in 1964), the Second Psychedelic Revolution cannot be defined purely by ‘synthetic’ drugs alone. For although the LSD drought resulted in the popularizing of 2-CB, 2-C-T-7, 5-MeO-DIPT, and other previously unknown laboratory-discovered psychedelic compounds, it also accelerated an ongoing rekindling of interest in naturally occurring plant entheogens [2] and the popularization of the previously little known concept of plant shamanism and the idea that these plants were not so much ‘psychedelic drugs’, as they were ‘spiritual medicines’.

The Shulgins’ first volume, ‘PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story’, focused on Sasha’s work with the phenethylamine family of compounds, and while these include many true psychedelics such as mescaline and the numerous 2C-x compounds, it was his work with the popular empathogens MDMA and MDA [3] that bought Sasha’s work to the attention of the burgeoning ‘rave’ culture of the early 1990’s. The Shulgins’ second volume ‘TIHKAL: The Continuation’ [4], however, dealt with Sasha’s work with tryptamines, the class of compounds that includes important neurotransmitters such as serotonin and melatonin, powerful natural and synthetic psychedelic/entheogens including psilocybin (5-OH-DMT), LSD, and ibogaine, and the only endogenous psychedelics, dimethyltrpyamine (DMT) and 5-methoxy-DMT.

Long regarded as the Holy Grail of psychedelics, DMT was comparatively rare on the illicit drug market even in the 1960’s, its scarcity adding to its fearsome reputation—Grace Slick, the singer for the Jefferson Airplane, once famously said that while ‘Acid was like being sucked up a straw, DMT was like being shot out of a canon—and it had effectively disappeared from general psychedelic culture long before TIHKAL was released. However it was not the publication of TIHKAL, but a pair of books in 1992, (a year after PIHKAL) by a little-known author with no training in either organic chemistry or cultural anthropology that would ultimately be most responsible for popularizing DMT in contemporary psychedelic culture. But unlike the DMT use of the 1960’s, which utilized DMT either by IM injection or in its smokable salt form, this author’s primary interest in DMT was as the active ingredient in an obscure Amazonian shaman’s brew that was at that time still primarily known by its Spanish name yagé, rather than it is now, by the phonetic approximation of one of its many indigenous names, ‘ayahuasca’.

Peruvian ayahuasca shaman at work

When both ‘The Archaic Revival’ (a collection of Terence McKenna’s essays and speeches) and ‘The Food of the Gods’ (his magnum opus on psychedelic plants that includes his ‘Stoned Ape theory’) were published in 1991, it had been nearly two decades since Terence and his younger brother Dennis McKenna had written The Invisible Landscape (1975), a strange alchemical volume describing their 1971 expedition to the Amazon in search of oo-ko-heé, a shamanic snuff that contained DMT. (Terence was seeking a natural source to the synthetic DMT experience that as both a linguist and psychonaut he had become utterly enthralled with). This first McKenna book was originally not long in print and became something of a collector’s item for psychedelic bibliophiles, due to both the extraordinary tale of the expedition and the numerous radical ideas contained within its pages. (These ideas included an early compilation of speculations about time and casuality, which Terence developed into his ‘Novelty Theory’, as well as his prediction of the arrival of the eschaton: a singularity at the end of time, which he eventually predicted would occur in December of 2012[5].) While this now-legendary expedition was unsuccessful in finding the DMT-snuff that they were searching for, the McKenna brothers did find a species of very psychedelic psilocybin cubenis mushrooms, and in a now-lesser recognized part of the McKenna story, brought the spores of these mushrooms back to the United States and spent the next few years developing effective methods of indoor cultivation, the results of which they published in 1976 in the popular Psilocybin: A Magic Mushroom Growers Guide [6].

young banisteriopsis caapi vines

For this act alone—the introduction of readily available plant-entheogens [7] that anyone could cultivate and the first book on how to do so—the McKenna brothers would deserve a mention in this essay, but this would only be the beginning of extraordinary careers in the psychedelic arena for both men. Dennis McKenna returned to University, and has become a widely respected ethnopharmacologist. While over the last decade of his life—and now through the first decade of the 21st century—the philosopher, memetic engineer, and entertainer, Terence Kemp McKenna (1946-2000) has become the most popular and recognized spokesperson for psychedelics since Timothy Leary [8].  It is Terence who is most responsible for evolving contemporary psychedelic culture into its current state, thanks to his writings and lectures, many of the latter now having been transmogrified into a seemingly infinite number of internet podcasts since his death—a brand new medium that he had embraced enthusiastically in life as a new mode of communication and artistic expression, and that has now has fittingly immortalized him.

The publication of The Archaic Revival and Food of the Gods in fact coincided synchronistically with the nascent years of both the Internet and electronic music; and while Timothy Leary was truly an early pioneer of the Web, it was Terence McKenna that the global ‘rave culture’ of the 1990’s emphatically embraced. In the last years of his life Terence was often the most popular speaker and draw at the various conferences he attended, as well as a main attraction at the raves themselves—the self-declared ‘Mouthpiece for the Mushroom’, Terence had the rare ability that could make a packed dance floor sit down between DJ’s to listen as he waxed eloquently about the wild beauty of psychedelics, often for hours on end. His extraordinary capacity for the spoken word and the discovery of an often-captivated audience once again coincided with the Internet revolution, and many in Terence’s audience were technologically advanced for the time (there is a long-going relationship between the psychedelic and silicon communities [9]) resulting in an incredible number of recordings and pod-casts, often set to electronic music.

On Terence's Pond -1

Terence’s unexpected and untimely death at 53 also happened to coincide with the LSD drought that followed the Kansas-Silo bust of 2000, and the period where many psychonauts were forced to consider new psychedelic options. Magic mushrooms thus increased in importance to psychedelic culture, and interest grew in both ayahuasca, which had first begun to appear on North American shores in the late 1990’s, and, DMT, which after being incredibly scarce for decades, had also by the mid-2000’s begun to be more widely available. This interest in Terence’s central ideas, along with his popularity with both the electronic music and cyber-communities has thus increased McKenna’s influence exponentially since he died. A process only amplified by his bold prediction of the arrival of the eschaton on December 21st, 2012—the prediction that most ironically (and unfortunately) he did not live to see.

Now over a decade since Terence’s death, and more than a year after the aftermath of the 2012 hope and hysteria that he helped create, there can be no denying of McKenna’s influence on contemporary psychedelic culture, or even on the fringes of popular culture itself. The veneration of ‘magic mushrooms’ and the reintegration of the Goddess figure; the current interest in DMT in all its various forms; the often-debated supposition that natural plant entheogens are inherently superior to synthetic or artificial compounds, most notably LSD; our concepts about plant spirits, shamanism, and the corresponding rise of ayahuasca tourism; modern festival culture’s interest the idea of an ‘archaic revival’ to reinvigorate spirituality in Western society; the comingling of psychedelics and virtual culture; alien abductions and UFO’s; and of course the viral spread of the 2012 meme; these are all now well-known themes that have been either born or popularized due to Terence’s own ideas and interests, even though he ironically lived to see very little of the shift that he in many ways created.

In the decade following his death, the focal points of Terence’s McKenna’s life’s work have become, for better and for worse, something of a blueprint for the rise of a global neo-tribal, techno-shamanic culture, evidenced in Burning Man, the BOOM! Festival, and the now countless other events that represent it. Terence’s ideas have now influenced psychedelic fashion, the music we listen to, the psychedelics we take (and the way we take them), the countries we are visit, even the way we use the Internet. His bold prediction of a Singularity at the end of time within our lifetimes (if not his own) provided a modern coda to the ancient Mayan translation, and helped generate worldwide interest in what would have otherwise been an insignificant archeological date. But now that we are on the other side of Terence McKenna’s 2012 Omega Point and everything is still standing, it is Terence’s championing and popularization of ayahuasca that is most worthy of our attention.

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Over the past decade the rise in interest in ayahuasca has been extraordinary; not since the original advent of LSD in the 1960’s has there been a psychedelic that has so captured the artistic and spiritual imagination of the time, and ayahuasca use, while still nowhere near the numbers of LSD users in the late 60’s, has become common enough that it has started to penetrate the mainstream media. (Marie Claire, a popular ‘women’s magazine’, is the latest unlikely publication to include a feature article on ayahuasca circles[10]). Previously only known to psychedelic culture through William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg’s slim booklet of correspondence  The Yage Letters published in 1963, it was Terence McKenna’s popularization of this unlikely Amazonian shamans’ brew through the late 1980’s and early 1990’s that would subsequently give birth of an international ‘ayahuasca culture’. Once the first South American shamans and Santo Daime members started to visit Europe and the US in the late 1990’s, ayahuasca use spread rapidly throughout the psychedelic community in the early 21st century, a process that I believe was accelerated by the corresponding LSD ‘drought’ that followed the Kansas silo bust, as many psychonauts looked for other pathways to the psychedelic experience. (There has also been a renewed interest in San Pedro and Peyote, while smokable forms of DMT have reappeared in the underground market-place for the first time in decades, greatly aided by plant-based extraction recipes that are commonly available on the internet.)

Prohibition, it would seem, only creates diversification, and one noticeable difference that separates the Second Psychedelic Revolution from the First is the incredibly wide variety of psychedelics and empathogens, both natural and synthetic, that are now widely available.

Ayahuasca culture itself has, in several ways, begun to develop outside of the ‘traditional’ psychedelic community; many in the yoga community for example, have openly embraced ayahuasca, with independent yoga centers around the world hosting South American shamans and their ‘ceremonies’ that attract many spiritual seekers with little or no connection to the psychedelic community, since they do not view ayahuasca as a ‘psychedelic drug’, but as a sacramental medicine.

sign outside of a discoteque near Tarapoto, Peru

While ayahuasca contains DMT, a Schedule 1 drug just the same as LSD, ayahuasca use itself has (so far) not been prosecuted in the United States. Favorable federal court rulings in favor of the Brazilian synchretic Christian churchs União do Vegetal (UDV) and Santo Daime (who use hoasca, the Brazilian form of ayahuasca, in their ceremonies) in the early 2000’s has been interpreted as a loophole in the law for many, and has undoubtedly been a factor in ayahuasca’s rapid and wide spread rise in popularity. As more and more celebrities willingly endorse their life-changing experiences on the Amazonian brew, and more and more psychiatrists and psychologists speculate on the therapeutic value of the experience, the rhetoric around ayahuasca increasing resembles the tremendous excitement that LSD inspired before it was made illegal in 1966.

It is virtually impossible to quantify the psychedelic experience; ayahuasca has gained a special reputation due to the intense colorful visions that it can induce, while the LSD pinnacle is generally represented as dissolution into the mystic’s white-light. When compared from a strictly phenomenological perspective, both have reputations for being able to induce heaven or hell, and both experiences are long and physically taxing. Both have been described as true entheogens, capable of inducing life changing spiritual conversions; both have been successfully used to break addictions; and both have originated as medicines. (LSD was originally a legal medicine.) Many of the extraordinary properties attributed to one—telepathy, an increase in everyday synchronicity, artistic flowering, deeper connections with nature, mystical and transpersonal experiences—have also been attributed to the other, as has the ‘specialness’ of the communities that form around them. So where is the difference between these two ‘Psychedelic Revolutions’, or have we merely traded high dosages of a potent entheogen once manufactured in a Swiss laboratory for a natural equivalent haphazardly harvested from the Amazonian rain forest?

The difference, I would argue, lies not so much in the phenomenology of the internal psychedelic experience, but in the external container; the experience of the shaman and their icaros, and the ritual provided in the ceremonies themselves. When LSD use really exploded in the 1960’s after it became illegal, what the First Psychedelic Revolution ultimately lacked was a safe container for the experience itself. Too many young people slipped through the cracks of the Prankster model, and in the aftermath, psychedelics themselves became illegal. What we learned from the First Psychedelic Revolution is that in the West we lack the Mystery Schools needed to successfully and beneficially integrate the use of psychedelics into our society.  Thus, much of the evolution of contemporary psychedelic culture has been a process of investigating and integrating ancient wisdom and techniques with the hard-won underground anecdotal psychedelic experience that the last fifty years have generated.

Terence McKenna's final home

First looking for knowledge and direction in altered states of consciousness from the Gurus and Rinpoches of India, then the shamans of the Amazon Basin, and now from a wide-variety of traditional shamanism from numerous cultures, modern psychedelic culture has adapted to the entheogens on hand, and moved willingly back-and-forth between the laboratory and the ancient plant knowledge in search of the undiluted entheogenic experience. Terence McKenna’s enthusiastic advocation of the shaman as a spiritual psychedelic guide (as opposed to the homeopathic healer that could be argued to be closer to the truth) has resulted in thousands of Americans and Europeans journeying to Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil in search of that guidance, and a wave of South American shamans having journeyed to foreign shores — a psychedelic innovation which has inevitably spawned a horde of local imitators, and unfortunately made ‘shaman’ one of the most abused words in the modern vernacular. Sung ayahuasca icaros (guide-songs) can now be found melded into electronic music, the woven icaros found transmuted into festival clothing, and the habit of attending ayahuasca ‘circles’ has begun to approach a cult status in places as diverse as Asheville, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Portland, and Santa Fe. (To name just a few).

During this same period, academics studying Western history and anthropology have had to reconcile the fact that many of the world’s major civilizations and religions—including the Greeks, Hindus, and Buddhists—utilized psychedelic plants. This is an idea that has been extremely unpopular, but is now increasingly obvious to the generations of psychedelically savvy anthropologists and mythologists born since the 1960s, many of whom can be assumed to be familiar with Terence McKenna’s work. It is now increasingly realized and accepted that the Amazonian ayahuasca (and dmt-snuff) culture can in fact be considered the last [11] remaining sacramental entheogen of a great planetary era marked by at least five known distinctly entheogenic cultures, all of which lasted more than two thousand years; the others being the Soma of the Hindu Vedanta (India), the kykeon of the Eleusian Mysteries (Greece), the San Pedro culture which peaked in Chavín de hunatar (Peru), and the astonishingly broad variety of entheogens (cubenis mushrooms, morning-glory seeds, peyote cactus, and toad venom) used by the Mayan-Toltec-Aztec cultures (Mexico).[12] Plant shamanism is now recognized to be the primary shamanic model world-wide, not a ‘vulgar substitute for (the) pure trance’ of shamanic methods such as drumming and chanting, as Mircea Eliade [13] originally supposed in his classic 1951 text Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy. (Eliade himself changed his mind at the end of his life, pointing out to Peter Furst in an interview not long before his death that prior to the 1960s anthropologists didn’t have enough of a psychedelic perspective to recognize the significance in the various local rites, and so the evidence simply wasn’t there.[14])

the author with a particularily fine ayahuasca vine at the takawaski centre, Tarapoto, Peru in 2007

Terence McKenna was one of the first writers who really grasped the psychedelic history of humanity and ayahuasca’s link to our own ancient past. It was largely his writings that have helped bring the beauty, myth, and magic of the Amazonian people and culture a wider audience, and despite his association with the 2012 phenomenon and the unfortunate comingling of the two, his championing of plant entheogens, and reintroducing the shamanic process to the modern Western World will ultimately be remembered as his enduring contribution to psychedelic culture. Even his ‘Stoned Ape Theory’—the idea that spoken language evolved as our primate ancestors developed a diet that included psilocybin mushrooms—may still one day be mainstream enough to be given serious consideration. His untimely death at the too young age of 53, both robbed the psychedelic movement of its most charismatic spokesperson, and guaranteed Terence’s immortalization thanks to the emerging technology of the Internet which he had enthusiastically embraced, and of which he will one day surely be remembered as one of the early pod-cast stars.[15]


[1] DOM or ‘STP’, which could also be included in this list, did not appear until 1966.

[2] Entheogen (God-contained-within); a plant or compound that can induce a mystical experience; and is often held as sacred.

[3] which are generally only psychedelic in larger dosages

[4] Tryptamines I have known and loved.

[5] The original date of Terence’s prediction was the16th of November, 2012 (coinciding with what would have been his 66th birthday); Terence later changed it to 21st of December, 2012, to correlate with the conclusion of the Mayan calender.

[6] Under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric.

[7] entheogen: (‘God contained within’); a psychedelic plant or compound capable of inducing a spiritual or mystical experience.

[8] And the most controversial since Leary!

[9] See What the Doormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture shaped the Personal Computer Industry (2005) by John Markhoff.

[10] http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/ayahuasca-new-power-trip

[11] While both Soma and kykeon have long since disappeared, their true identities unknown, the San Pedro culture of Peru somewhat survives, albeit in a very diluted synchretic Christian form, as do the remnants of some mushroom ‘cults’ in Mexico; but the wide-spread traditional snuff and ayahuasca use of the Amazonian tribes represents the last major entheogenic tradition still in effect on the planet, and had remained largely unaffected until post-War War II. Ironically the ayahuasca churches of Brazil (Santo Daime, UDV) that have achieved some modicum of legality thanks to the Supreme Court ruling are also synchretic-Christian religions. These churches attribute the discovery of the hoasca (the Brazilian form of ayahuasca) to their mestizo founders, and not to the indigenous Amazonian tribes.

[12] An argument can be made that with the invention of LSD, and now with literally hundreds of ‘designer drugs’ available, we are in the process of creating the 6th  —and first planetary— entheogenic culture.

[13] The Father of Phenomenology of Religion, and the man who coined the term ‘shaman’ (from the Siberian) to apply to indigenous healers.

[14] “What did we know in the early 1950’s about these things?” Eliade confessed to Furst.

[15] Google Terence McKenna and you get 1.6 million results, many of them pod-casts and recordings.

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4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

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