Psychedelic Salon

Guest speaker: Alicia Danforth PROGRAM NOTES: Today we feature the 2015 Palenque Norte Lecture by Dr. Alicia Danforth. In her talk, plus a question and answer session, Alicia describes some of the difficulties that a professional woman researcher may encounter in the area of sexism at work. She also discusses what has been called “the […]

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “Boundary-dissolving internal hierophany does in fact reliably occur in the presence of these [psychedelic] plants and compounds.” “We have become so accustomed to seeking the answer that even as a community we have a lot of trouble figuring out how you just […]

Guest speaker: Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Shonagh Home.] “The mushroom has a wildness to it because it is wild, just as our minds once were wild.” “I see the mushroom as the ultimate test of the initiate because you’re on your own. There’s no shaman to guide you, and so […]

Guest speaker: Hamilton Souther PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Hamilton Souther.] “In the jungle, the ayahuasca is used traditionally to heal what are known as mystical, non-ordinary, problems.” “I came to look at it and realize that what we [North Americans] were looking for wasn’t specifically an experience that would produce healing, but […]

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: Today we pick up on the February 1996 Terence McKenna workshop that we began with Podcast 472. When he gets to his overview of habit and novelty and then moves into a discussion of time, his poetic language provides several interesting mental footholds from which we can expand on […]

Guest speakers: Borka Cafuk & Shonagh Home Today’s program features a conversation between Shonagh Home and Borka Cafuk, who is a remarkable medicine woman. Not only does Borka provide interesting details about plant medicines such as ayahuasca, sapo, and nu-nu, she also tells the fascinating story of her transition from working as an environmental journalist […]

Guest speaker: Cory Doctorow cory (at) eff (dot) org PROGRAM NOTES: Update! October 27, 2015 Victory for Users: Librarian of Congress Renews and Expands Protections for Fair Uses   Today’s podcast features a 2015 Palenque Norte Lecture given by Cory Doctorow at this year’s Burning Man Festival. Cory is a well-known science fiction writer and […]

Guest speaker: Timothy Leary PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Timothy Leary.] “We deliberately keep kids dumb by treating them like kids.” “We all know that if voting would change anything it would be illegal.” “The future belongs to those who can see the future.” “The smarter you are, the higher you want to […]

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “An interesting thing about drugs is often, when a new drug is discovered, it takes a long time to figure out how do you do it.” “In 1948, television was introduced, and millions and millions of people lead larval, low-awareness, warehoused lives […]

Guest speakers: Janine Sagert, Saj Razvi, Ryan LeCompte, & Shonagh Home FROM SHOCK TO AWE (Indiegogo Campaign) Click image to see video From Shock to Awe is a feature-length documentary that will chronicle the journeys of military veterans as they seek relief from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder with the help of ayahuasca, MDMA (“Ecstasy”), and cannabis. It will […]

Guest speaker: Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: Today we feature Shonagh Home from a talk that she gave at the recent Women & Entheogens Conference that was held in Cleveland, Ohio. The focus of Shonagh’s presentation has to do with breaking the spell of our cultural constructs that are preventing us from living informed and satisfying […]

Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “We don’t produce enough seritonin for living above 20 degrees latitude.” “I’m not a big advocate of mixing drugs, anyway. If you really want to get out into unknown territory, where there is the potential for danger, then start pouring these things […]

Guest speaker: Peter Gorman PROGRAM NOTES: “I have never gone to bed in Peru without having learned something new that day.” -Peter Gorman Today’s podcast features the second part of an interview with Peter Gorman, one of the larger-than-life figures to be found among our psychedelic elders. The program begins by picking up with a […]

Guest speaker: Peter Gorman PROGRAM NOTES: Today’s podcast features an interview of Peter Groman by Tom Huckabee. The interview took place at Peter’s home in August 2015. In this, the first part of Peter’s story, we learn that Peter was one of the first American’s to take ayahuasca. At the time, Burroughs’ “Yage Letters” hadn’t […]

Guest speaker: Rick Doblin PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Rick Doblin.] “When we take a psychedelic drug and material emerges from our unconscious . . . it’s not a psychedelic experience, it’s a human experience that psychedelics have catalyzed.” “One of the most successful exports of the United States is the drug war.” […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]