SikkimRex

A little acid DOES go a long way, its true. I remember a time of my life when there were only 2 types of people, those who HAD and those who HADNT. And you didnt have to worry about the former, and the latter were a write off... You can never UN-TAKE acid - you are a different person after it. I knew a frustrated academic who once yelled at some recalcitrant students "you guys need to take some acid - dont come back and talk to me til you have"... needless to say he ended up at teh headmasters office..

Damn - 16th July - I will be in Melbourne. A pity, fcked up the meet up for the Cactus thing too - doh. Meet you doods all later spose - enjoy it!

On the way back from EGA our crew met a few freinds for a drink. They wanted to know about the conference/meeting, and i dutifully described its focus on sacred plants, ethnobotany, spiritual use of plants, and the trance aspect of the meet. I was quite careful in how I framed this discussion. Afterwards, a friend who had come to EGA with me took me aside and said "You shouldent tell people that you are interested in this stuff?". I assmed that he was noting that there are potentially dodgy legal edges to my hobby, and that I should exercise due care- to which i agree of course. But what he was really saying was "If you talk about this stuff, people will think you are crazy". That is, because it is very fringe, because people assume such an interest is self-destructive, is pathological, that people who might be interested in such things are somehow brain affected. This guy was a couple of years older than me and an artist still stuck on the dole, a position that I could just as easily had been if certain circumstances hadnt transpired. As an artist and a thinker and a person, he is a guy who I admire. I was sad that he saw himself so easily sidelined and ruled out. I am aware of the kind of exclussive positions of Huxley, on the one hand, who thought that the use of psychedlics should be for VIP's, and that of Leary, that everyone deserves a go. I am not sure of where i stand on this (if its "secret business" or not), but I do think that there will be no shift in the broader perception of "drugs" unless people who use them or are interested or knowledgeable in them dont speak outside the community. Unless we go "well, hang on a second, there is more to this shit that you might think, for example (x)", we cannot expect attitudes to change. I am reminded of the gay "outing" that went on in Sydney in the 80's and 90's, where prominent gay people were outed by other gay community members, forced to ally themselves to the cause... In the most recent Queensland Civil Liberties Council newsletter, the president noted that there seems to be an increase in "wowser-ism" in the Australian community, and suggests that the drug policy committee needs to be reformed. I agree, and can feel conformity and conservatism growing in relation to drug use, and most importantly, attitudes to it. But i think that we have to start at home, and talk rationally to friends about this stuff, to ensure that they can at least perceive resons why people are interested in drugs, and why they might feel it is their right to be so interested. For me, its about the right to the sanctity of ones body, and the right to not have that sanctity invaded against ones will by others. This includes ones mind. I am somewhat aligned with Leary's International Federation of Internal Freedom here. So what do y'all tell your friends and loved ones? Do you think that there needs to be a public discussion not just about harm minimisation but also about the right to alter consciousness? Does the legal side outweigh your ability to talk broadly about this? Or are all of your mates just into entheogens anyway? Is this public or private business?

ok... fair enough... 1-what is science? A useful way of understanding phenomena that are outisde ourselves, and that can be reliably communicated to others, with roughly consistent results. A moment of fixity in the flux. 2-where does science stand in relation to spirituality and/or religion? Its another type of the above as far as I am concerned. It has real value but can easily become a useless orthadoxy when its attempted to be applied to human mental or cultural affairs. Subjectivity has real value and should be respected as a type of knowledge, even a type of rigour. 3-where does science stand in relation to ethnobotany? Vitally important as a means of developing the field and investigating the raw material - plants. But it has no real use in evaluating the experience or its implications. These are cultural, emotional things, importantly personal things. Subjectivity is the tool for understanding the experience. 4-where does ethnobotany stand in relation to spirituality and personal development? Gardening is a recognised therapeutic persuit and helps connect people (emotionally, subjectively) wit teh enviornment. But the "inside" bits and the "outside" bits are different. THerefore I do not beleive that ethnobotany can nescessarily inform spirituality, though the connection to the plants that it allows will undoubtedly affect our response to the effects of plants themselves. 6-where does science stand in relation to the truth? It depends what kind of truth. Frankly, science isnt the truth - its just a particular version of it. But in terms of understanding phenomena, sure it can be truthful. But in terms of it understanding me - (thankfully) forget it. Its pretty clear that it is a relativistic world these days. Truth is just the level of dogmatism with which one can hold ones view in the face of conflicting evidence. Ok wandjina?

Oh yeah, someone mentioned "3rd dimensional" in Adelaide - I got the opportunity to hang out with the guy from the shop at EGA - he was a dude, really nice guy (Micky? Mikey?) (and a mad pixie during the Dance of 500 Mushrooms!), but I forgot to get his details... anyone know if the shop has a website?

RE the chemical T shirts, I reckon the ones from the Hefter Institute are cool and sufficiently ambiguous.. and the cash goes to a good cause. The address is: http://www.cafepress.com/heffter I am also interested in hoodies (fcking queensland winters...). MAPS has a good one. Any leads appreciated. Just as an aside, its interesting that T-shirts have become meaningless. I remember in the 80's, wearing sufficiently obscure punk band T=shirts was cool, but I stopped wearing them because I got sick of just being someone elses free advertising, and also the idea that I had to use brands (even from bands) to idenitify myself. Now though its interesting because T-shirts have become even more meaningless.. I mean people wear Dickies T-shirts without realising that they were a seminal New York punk band from the seventies (who did great songs like "You drive me ape, you big gorilla!"). Walter Benjamin said it was gonna happen and it did - we are saturated by images, and the more there are, the less they mean. Marshall McLuhan would have been proud (the medium is the message)... That said, hey, I am up for a chemical T shirt that I dont really know what it means (Shulgin's dirty pictures...)

Hi P! Well, since I am (today!) reading about the particular influence of a French landscape architect called Michel Corajoud (who taught LA's in the 1960's in Versailles), this quote is kind of relevant, even though its specific to LA. (Excuse the translation, its a bit clunky..). It relates to teh interconnection between emotion or sense and science: "This exercise accepted only the references of the landscape as a guide, the horizon, the roofs of houses, the outline of certain historical parks from some distant past, the quality of certain leaves, of grasses. The two exclusive systems, that of memory and of the phenomenon, deprive each other of reciprocal connections. From this point, we would like to look at the destabilising role of an attempt at articulation, since these two forms of relation with the world are symptomatic of the compartmentalisation of the process of scientific work, on the one hand, and artistic work on the other. Observing contour lines, exposure to sunlight, the nature of soils, the phytosanitary state of the trees, uses, densities, sounds... gives information about a place which can be measured. Perceiving the colours, the chiaroscuro, the melodies, the different matters, the traditions... gives information about the impressions a milieu can procure. To work from the first category gives a succession of singular, raw states without any ultimate realisation. The second aims towards something arbitrary coming from an individual perception and proceeds by exacerbating the senses. Neither of the two series is able to produce the framework for a landscape project alone. What is more, each of time, even if they could be added up, their ideal sum would always be behind a new state that ceaselessly moves on. " Claramunt, M. and C. Mosbach (1999). "Nature of a Landscape Project." Pages Paysages(7): 54-64. Well.. thats not my opinion but... whats your view, as a kickoff??

And we won! you liddle BEE-auty!

we turned up but no one to be seen.. and no eftpos there.. and we had no cash on us.. so we aborted.. happy to meet up with any peep's interested... it looked good though..

Added a copy of all the back-issues of Entheogen Review (from a DVD i bought in Basel) to the mix. On its way Endrogen, with the blankies...

Hey thanks so much Ronny and the gang. A great time had by all, and well worth the trip from Bris-vegas. Good balance of information, discussion and fun. Very friendly people from diverse backgrounds. And good food too. So congrats and see you next year!

Its a great book. I bought mine in the bookshop in Nimbin - still the best entheogenish bookshop in Oz that I have seen. Not sure if they have a copy still. If you havent seen what Raetsch looks like, have a read of my post from the LSD forum. There are some pictures of him and his partner, and also some from Torsten when he was at SAB. He was a dude. he has another book on witchcraft medicine, prsumably on the the tropanes mostly.. anyone had a read? Stuff to play with in there?

Welcome to Oz, Dango! Numbers of Acacias are reported to contain alkaloids and many people on this forum have undertaken research into this. One of the species that people are most excited about is Acacia obtusifolia. Many of the extractions that people experiment with using Acacia's involve bark from the trunk not the roots, and some use the phyllodes too. There appears to be great variation related to specific populations in specific geographies, and at certain times of the year. In terms of your mention in the post of damaging the plant, then clearly you are. However there are different levels of that damage. The potential to ring bark a tree is real, and there are fears held by members of this forum for some populations of rare, high-yield Acacia's in the wild. The larger question of the spirit of the plant is one that you will also find discussed here. There is a lot about the Acacia's archived on this forum, so, as they often say (somewhat condescendingly) to newbies, "have a go first at searching with the search function", with "Acacia" as your key word and search all forums, so knock yourself out! The host organisation of this Forum, SAB, sells seed for many Acacia's online, though I am not sure what local import/export/quarantine restrictions apply. Australia is very rich in wattles and they are beautiful and very valuable in a whole range of ways. Happy Hunting (for information) Rex

Of course Dr Hoffman did it first... This is an extract fronm Entheogen Review (Vol XIV, No 1, 2005 p.92) of the conference call with the MAPS crew on his 99th birthday, last year, where he discusses the possibilities of very small doses of LSD for non-psychedelic effects: Rick: Albert, I’m wondering if you have any suggestions for us about things that we might want to look into regarding LSD and psilocybin? I remember, a while ago, you said one of the most unexplored areas of research with LSD was low doses? Albert: Yes, that would be interesting. Just as a kind of pleasure drug. Heh heh. Rick: Ah. Albert: Very, very low doses; this could be a worthwhile study. I have used it, sometimes, just very small doses, for walking and thinking. This could be a worthwhile study. Rick: What kind of doses are you talking about, when you would go out walking? Albert: 25 microgram. Twenty-five, instead of 125. Or even lower: ten. Rick: Wow. Can you actually notice when you take ten micrograms? Can you notice that you’ve taken it? Albert: Oh, yes! Yes. An improved response to nature. Improved experience of nature, yes. And of thinking, a big improvement of thinking. But, may I just add to this discussion, quite another thing: the work of Kast, Walter Pahnke, and Grof—that it may be used for dying people. Rick: Yes. Albert: I think that is a so very, very important thing in our time: the people who are suffering terrible pain, which resists other pain medicaments, have been treated very successfully. And I think this should be continued, this study in dying people who suffer terrible pain. We have a big investigations and publications from Kast, Pahnke, and Grof. What do you think? That it be allowed; if the danger of becoming addicted to LSD would not exist, if you use it in this kind of a very, very important use in our time? Ah.. el Papa...

Hi Torsten In terms of this discussion, how would you rate the current SAB Myrsticin Oil? Have a bottle and want to play but not sure where to start.. Cheers Rex