One Step Beyond, 1960s Magic Mushrooms Doc.

From ScienceBlogs.com

1960s documentary: Self-experimenting with magic mushrooms

Originally Posted on: July 17, 2008 10:11 AM, by Mo

In the January 4th, 1961 episode of One Step Beyond, director and presenter John Newland ingests psilocybin under laboratory conditions, to investigate whether or not the hallucinogenic mushroom can enhance his abilities of extra-sensory perception.

The programme was apparently inspired by a 1959 book called The Sacred Mushroom, by parapsychologist Andrija Puharich, who is known for taking the spoon-bending fraudster Uri Geller to the United States for investigation.

In the first part of the programme (embedded below), Newland, Puharich and others travel to Mexico to collect mushroom samples. They then return to Puharich's lab in Palo Alto, where Newland's ESP abilities are tested before and after ingestion of several mushroom stems.

The programme is of historical interest, as it was made some years before the widespread use of LSD led researchers to stop conducting psychedelic research. It therefore includes a brief mention of the potential therapeutic effects of psilocybin for psychiatric patients.

Parts 2 and 3 of the episode are also available on YouTube.

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"And then, oddly enough, the first sound we hear as the chemical in the mushroom takes effect is… laughter."
This video is a lot of fun and introduced me to Andrija Puharich, who wrote The Sacred Mushroom: Key to the Door of Eternity (1959). UCLA research psychologist Barbara Brown (who invented biofeedback), also makes the trip down to Mexico. But it is most fascinating to see the show's host, John Newland in an on-camera lab setting, have his extrasensory perception skills tested under the influence of mushrooms. Really makes me wonder where we might be now if science had continued to have access to these substances.

And then down the rabbit hole! I'm a big fan of a book called 'Myself and I'(1962) by Constance Newland, which is the pen-name of Thelma Moss, who was a parapsychology researcher at UCLA. 'Myself and I' tells the story of her LSD-assisted psychotherapy. She had specific symptoms she was trying to address, and years of traditional psychotherapy had gotten her nowhere. Under LSD she makes profound connections to long-lost childhood experiences which open the way to her cure. I learned a lot about my own mind from reading about her insights. I would highly recommend this book.

But I wonder if Thelma Moss ever met John Newland through Barbara Brown who was also at UCLA. I found one clip on the net that connects Moss and Brown… "In Prague I was warmly and hospitably received by Dr. Rejdak, who is perhaps the most active parapsychologist in Czechoslovakia. In the company of two other Ameri ­cans, Dr. Thelma Moss and Dr. Barbara Brown, we were shown films of recent experiments in the telepathic trans ­mission of taste impression on a hypnotic subject. I'm not sure why I'm even curious but somehow it's interesting. Another connection to this whole cast of characters is Uri Geller. As mentioned above, Andrija Puharich was responsible for bringing Uri Geller to the US for experiments. You can easily find Uri connections to Thelma Moss and Barbara Brown.

A free biography of Andrija Puharich by his ex wife H.G.M. Herman, found on Uri Geller's site offers up such gems as… In 1955 he had heard from a Mr. Wasson that a ritualistic mushroom cult had existed in Mexico for hundreds of years, and was still practiced in some remote parts of the country. (Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Wasson wrote a book entitled Mushrooms, Russia and History. It was published in 1957).Anxious to find out for himself, Andrija set out for the village of Juquila in the state of Oaxaca, 200 miles south of Mexico City in June of 1960. The original expedition was made up of nine people, including Paul Jones. When Paul returned after about four weeks saying that all members of the team had become ill, and that Andrija had been crazy to go on alone with an even crazier missionary, I became not only greatly concerned, but furious as well. How the hell did Andrija dare risk his life, being the father of four children and a fifth on the way? I hadn't even known that he was off to a dangerous remote place in Mexico. Besides, he had left me with barely enough money to buy food, and with unpaid bills. We no longer lived in Carmel Valley, but had moved to the chic part of Carmel, called Carmel Meadows. How Andrija had been able to buy the beautiful, spacious patio house, had been "none of my business." This from Chapter 6.
While browsing Uri Geller's site I noticed this in his sidebar: are your eyes attracted to 11.11? But we'll save that for another day.
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WIT, william irwin thompson surfaces! with his journal

WIT!  william irwin thompson's  journal!

On Religion and the State 4/26/2008


For as long as it takes a Tyrannosaurus Rex to devolve into a chicken, just so long will we have to wait for religion to scale down into a harmless nourishment for the soul. Then again, considering cock fights in Latin America, maybe the chicken isn't so chicken after all.  It is just smaller than we are.  So how long do we have to wait before religion becomes spiritually smaller than we are?  Judging by the recent exposures of the geriatric fundamentalist Mormon sect in Texas and the Pope's recent damage control on priests' child molestation, we  have a long wait ahead of us.  continued here  

What's a wife worth? update and upgrade with Joanna & Craig Barnes

new interview    

May 02, 2008 – Craig Barnes(51 minutes – 23.7mb)Craig Barnes  is an author, essayist, playwright and international mediator.  

 

 His books include  In Search Of The Lost Feminine, Decoding the Myths that Radically Reshaped Civilization, an analysis of the roles of women as they appear in archeology and myth before the patriarchy.

 

http://www.futureprimitive.org/GAIAlogues.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 See  Ivan Illich's  Shadow Work for  earlier take on all the work being done for little pay or cash  

Xenolinguist reports from Basel on mind-manifesting developments

okIt was massive. It was beautifully organized. The shift to a psychedelically informed culture is well underway. 1900-plus people, from 37 countries attended the four day event, according to Dieter Hagenbach, of  gaiamedia, organizers of the event. A big bookstore. A room dedicated to video presentations–art and documentary.http://mazerunner.wordpress.com/    

Alien Downloads

Altered states of consciousness are portals to multiple worlds. Many of these worlds are populated by sentient entities: gods; demons; plant teachers and animal spirits; Terence McKenna's machine elves. What forms of language are being used to communicate in these "Antipodes of the Mind?" Is language itself evolving in the psychedelic sphere? The Sundance Kid kept asking, "Who are those guys anyway?" The Xenolinguist wants to know what 'they' are trying to tell us.    

Albert Hofmann Transmitter/Receiver UCSB 1983

Saint Albert

Portrait by Alex Grey
High Quality (64MB) mp3 46 minutes.
Download "Transmitter/Receiver" Albert Hofmann at the UCSB Psychedelics Conference ll, 1983.

Saint Albert Hofmann de-animates into very low resolution atoms/pixels

Prints of this portrait are available (sale benefits MAPS) here.
More about Artist Brummbaer

from MAPS.ORG site

Brummbaer recently completed his second book, What's So Wrong With Love and Peace: 1965-67. To find out more about Brummbaer's work visit his Web site: www.brummbaer.net

And now, here comes Brummbaer to show us how to use the screen for interpersonal communication;how to embrace, fondle, cuddle, snuggle, enliven our brain-exchanges to the level of the high spiritualart of India, China, Tibet, Rome, Egypt, Venice, Berlin. He has sculpted digital pixels into tender,caressing mind inter-play things.It is always the artists who blueprint and design the spirit of a culture. The 21st Century is beginning to express itself in the shimmering electronic realities of these digital wizards.

Timothy Leary Nov. 1990 Los Angeles

 

 

2007 Women's Visionary Congress Audio Recordings

2007 Women's Visionary Congress Audio Recordings

womensvisionarycongress

The Women's Visionary Congress is a gathering of healers, activists, researchers and artists who are redefining the use of entheogens in contemporary society. This Congress will address the traditional uses of these substances and investigations into their therapeutic applications. Read more…

Favorites:
Annie Sprinkle
Adele Getty
Kat Harrison
Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia

See Also:
SheShamans

Burning Men, Part 2: the Order of Things by Erik Davis of techgnosis

How does Erik think this stuff UP^! too much and very nice. R eally gettin' a Clue!

The Perp! above ^

eDavis:

So when Burners invoked specifically legalistic categories like "arson" and "reckless endangerment"–and I did it too at times–they were not just rationally debating Addis' fate. They were actively deflating the productive legal ambiguity of Black Rock City as a self-governing political and territorial space by capitulating, too quickly and without consciousness, to the reality tunnel of the State and, particularly, to its conception of property.

and

Look, for example, at the constricted lives of so many kids today, with their helmets and knee pads and car-seats, their time managed, their piss checked, their movements tracked by cell phones and prohibitions against aimless wandering. What has been killed in the process of making them less likely to be killed? Perhaps, in our fearful genuflection before safety, we are deadening our taste for the raw and nervy exultation of cognitive and physical liberty–a liberty which most certainly should include the freedom to attend dangerous and wayward festivals where, if your aren't careful or even lucky, large burning things might fall on your head.

Burning Men
Part One: Chaosmos

book: Digital Contagions: A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses (Digital Formations) by Jussi Parikka

by

image

x.

Joseph Nechvatal
Mid-September 2007, Marrakech
http://www.nechvatal.net

from

http://transition.turbulence.org/blog/2007/09/28/review-of-digital-contagions/trackback/

Though no J. G. Ballard or William S. Burroughs, Jussi Parikka nevertheless sucks us into a fantastic black tour-de-force narrative of virulence and the cultural history of computer viruses (*), followed by innumerable inquisitive innuendoes

We may wish to recall here that for Deleuze and Guattari, media ecologies are machinic operations (the term machinic here refers to the production of consistencies between heterogeneous elements) based in particular

To begin this caliginous expedition, Digital Contagions plunges us into a haunting, shifting and dislocating array of source material that thrills. Parikka launches his degenerate seduction by drawing from, and intertwining in a non-linear fashion, the theories of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari (for whom my unending love is verging on obsession), Friedrich Kittler, Eugene Thacker, Tiziana Terranova, N. Katherine Hayles, Lynn Margulis, Manuel DeLanda, Brian Massumi, Bruno Latour, Charlie Gere, Sherry Turkle, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, Deborah Lupton, and Paul Virilio. These thinkers are then linked with ripe examples from prankster net art, stealth biopolitics, immunological incubations, the disassembly significance of noise, ribald sexual

Jussi Parikka

Jussi Parikka studied Cultural History at the University of Turku, Finland, and is currently Visiting Lecturer and Research Scholar in Media Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin. His Digital Contagions: A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses is published by Peter Lang, New York, in the Digital Formations series (2007). In addition, two co-edited books are forthcoming: The Spam Book: On Viruses, Spam, and Other Anomalies from the Dark Side of Digital Culture and Media Archaeologies. Parikka's homepage is <http://users.utu.fi/juspar>.

Back to article.

book on amazon

Current TV covers Burnin' Man

Live video cam from burnin' womans

http://qtss.telascience.org/live.sdp

burning man site and info

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/08/video-current-t.html

current.tv coverage of burning man
http://www.current.tv/network/video?id=39821750

More current TV 2007 vids day by day
http://www.current.tv/burningman/

Jonathan Ott on Free/Cheap/Peak fossil fuels/minerals update/comments

from

Erowid Conference Report: Mind States Costa Rica by Lux, Erowid Staff Writer

v1 – Jul 18, 2007

sample from Jon Ott-

"The End of the Treasure in the Basement", by Jonathan Ott

Jonathan described himself as "not a prophet", but someone who has been interested in the question of energy and the petroleum-based political and economic infrastructure of the industrialized world since the 1970s. He's surprised that the infrastructure has held itself together as long as it has.

Most known organisms derive their energy from the sun, which was properly regarded by many religious cultures as the origin of life.

….

Since 1979 the amount of energy per capita has decreased, and more people have no access to energy and water every year. We're starting over the hill and soon it will be a cliff. This is important because energy equals life, in a literal and direct equation. What Hubbard pointed out was the disparity between the natural ecology of energy and the economic system of the world.

So we start looking to alternatives to oil, coal, natural gas, and wood. Take nuclear energy � it is highly efficient in generating electrical power, but it requires a huge investment of energy to operate. Nuclear power plants must have their own power plant to run, and it may be the case that nuclear power does not even generate net energy.

Fusion reactors are too little, too late. A best-case scenario is production of fusion power in 2050, and that's way too late.

There are currently four countries that have not yet reached their peak. Jonathan predicts that within 30 years the wheels will come off the global economy. Perhaps as soon as 20, but definitely by 30.

Jonathan's response to this situation has been to create a self-sufficient solar and water power supply that powers his lights, a short-range electric car, and his basic needs. He's beginning to generate all of his own food in a sustainable little farm as well, and his hope is to live to see the day when everything comes unglued so he can see what happens.

http://erowid.org/general/conferences/conference_mindstates7.shtml

Ott is one of my favourite writers and   theoreticians.

 

Author of (Books)

  • Ometochtzin: Las Muertes de Dos Conejo (2001)
  • Just Say Blow. Coca and Cocaine: A Scientific Blowjob (2001)
  • Shamanic Snuffs or Entheogenic Errhines (2001)
  • Pharmacophilia: The Natural Paradise (1997)
  • Ott book
    http://www.erowid.org/library/books/images/age_of_entheogens.jpg

    This is a mind-blowing book, especially the Angel's Dictionary!

  • Age of Entheogens & the Angels' Dictionary (1995)
  • Ayahuasca Analogues: Pangaean Entheogens (1995)
  • Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic drugs, their plant sources and history (1993)
  • Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion (1986)
  • The Cacahuatl Eater: Ruminations of an Unabashed Chocolate Addict (1985)
  • Teonanacatl: Hallucinogenic Mushrooms of North America (Co-edited by J. Bigwood, 1978)
  • Hallucinogenic Plants of North America (1976)
  • more on Ott here
  • http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/ott_jonathan/ott_jonathan.shtml
  • Alan Watts Theater

    Here are six animated clips of short Alan Watts excerpts from the people at FreshMinds. If you're new to Alan Watts, chances are you'll be instantly smitten and wonder how it could be you've never heard of him. If you're an old fan of Alan's, then I'm sure you'll find these short animations to be very moving.
    Alan Watts Theater

    (P.S. I wonder how it could be that the wikipedia entry for Alan manged to find the ONLY shot I've ever seen of him frowning!

    Chris Hitchens joins attack on obsolete "religions"

    Interview by Laura Sheahen

    Your book discusses the problems with the Abrahamic faiths, but then says Eastern religion is not the answer. It seemed like your main criticism of Eastern religion wasn't so much about its tenets so much as one sex abuse scandal at one ashram.

    Oh, no. My objection was to the sign [at the entrance to one tent] saying, "Shoes and minds must be left at the gate." It's the idea that the whole effort of meditation is to try and dissolve your mind, which is the only thing you've got that's unequivocally worth having.

    But don't you sometimes get sick of your mind running on and on–and want to calm it a little bit?
    http://www.beliefnet.com/story/218/story_21800_1.html

    Jeffrey J. Kripal talks about "Esalen, America and the Religion of No Religion"

    This book is pretty amazing…the transition from Torture on the Cross to Yab-Yum Yummy yum yum maithuna tantric copulation. quite an extreme cultural reversal!
    sample chapter here from publishers site
    "Darwin, Tantric sex, cold war physics, psychedelic drugs, golf, and, of course, religion all come into play in a book that can only be described as monumental. Esalen is a prehistory of our nation's current fascination with Eastern religions, our steadily growing acceptance of the supernatural in everyday life–and a surprising page-turner."
    http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/220626.ctl

    FINDING MY RELIGION
    Author Jeffrey J. Kripal talks about "Esalen, America and the Religion of No Religion"

    David Ian Miller
    Monday, May 21, 2007

    Esalen is a place "where miracles not only happen but where they happen all the time" — at least according to the Esalen Institute's Web site, which also describes the institute as home to a 40-year Olympiad of body, mind and spirit.

    Sans the superlatives, the Esalen Institute, founded by Michael Murphy and Dick Price in 1962, is a world-renowned retreat and learning center on the beautiful Big Sur coast. It's been portrayed as the birthplace of the human potential movement, and it is a place where people come together to raise their spiritual awareness, expand their minds and get in touch with their bodies.