EGA- Bear Owsley Headlining - FRI 6-MON 9 NOV - Last Tix

[t st tantra]

EGAd , it's mEGA !!!

t s t .

[RonnySimulacrum]

hahah, point taken, however do you wish us to only talk about legal things to?

why penalize the sacraments and there beauty, like the government dose that for us already.

We are not looking to play it to all that.

we just wish to talk about such things

Now I have the hang of this posting, just an extra note on the EGA '09 image you just recently posted - Great artwork but I thought EGA was about plants not test tubes and beakers. Call me a 'stick-in-the-mud' but plants are legal, doing things to them in beakers is illegal. Next time, I think your advertising should reflect such legal sensitivities.

All the best for EGA.

Edited November 1, 2009 by RonnySimulacrum

[daif]

EGA is a cherished and special event.

Plants Vs. Beakers & test tubes - Yeah it's a small point I know but worth pointing out because I'd hate to see our new found 'freedom' to gather in groups and talk about such things put into jepardy by sending the wrong message to the general authorities.

Timothy Leary was labelled 'the most dangerous man in America' for his willingness to discuss and PROMOTE such things and eventually he went to jail and had to spill a whole lot of his knowledge about 'the scene' to the authorities to get out of jail. His memory lives on with his words "THINK FOR YOURSELF. QUESTION AUTHORITY". I agree with the first directive but amend the second to "RESPECT AUTHORITY". It's alot easier in the long run. After all, what we are talking about at EGA needs no promotion - the message got out there in the 1960's. Word of mouth and prudence is all we need to carry the torch forward.

Have a great EGA everyone.

[RonnySimulacrum]

Agree

[RonnySimulacrum]

JUST IN

THOMAS MUNRO RETURNING HOME TOO SPEAK AT EGA - more info on his lecture as it comes to hand

Bio

Thomas Munro obtained his Ph.D. on “The Chemistry of Salvia divinorum” at Melbourne University. He’s now an Instructor at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

As if there was not enough good things happening at the event...

Edited November 2, 2009 by RonnySimulacrum

[Fenris]

Only 3 more sleeps and Ill be in Melb.

Awesome, EGA rocks, I can't wait.

[Storm crow]

Well lets hope so, i will be happy if Adrian just makes the event.

He said he was on SAB for the first time in years the other day.

Good News

Adrian who helped set up at EGA2007 and slept in the meatlocker? (I still have pics of him asleep) I hope he can make it if you mean the same Adrian

Edited November 2, 2009 by Tarnicus

[incognito]

Bio

Thomas Munro obtained his Ph.D. on “The Chemistry of Salvia divinorum” at Melbourne University. He’s now an Instructor at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

[RonnySimulacrum]

EGA Weather

Forecast for Friday

Max 23

Forecast for Saturday

27

Forecast for Sunday

31

Forecast for Monday

Max 32

Edited November 2, 2009 by RonnySimulacrum

[sharxx101]

Had an awesome time!!! .

Thanks to Ronny and all the EGA crew for making it a great event!! Look forward to catching up with the Melb crew at the meet too!!!

[rahli]

Great job on the presentation line up.

There was a real diversity of entheogentic practice, insight and study represented in the EGA talks showing a sustainable array of entheogen use/potential use in this great land.

Cheers to the EGA team and thanks to everyone who attended for making it such an amazing event.

[JDanger]

Love your work, Ronny and crew. Had an absolute blast.

[bluejay700777]

Absolutely awesome experience!

[herbal_hindsight]

just got back home tonight in adelaide!

no amount of words could even come close to expressing my ega experience

it was one of the most significant events of my life so far.... thank you so much to everyone who made the event possible!

i attended the event with my older sister who i hadn't seen in nearly 15 years! what a choice of location for a re-union!

thank you thank you thank you

you will definently see me at the next ega and i hope to attend as many related events as possible

i met many beautiful people, made new friends and increased my level of knowledge exponentially

[Torsten]

WOOHOO! What a mad weekend! Great to see so many passionate people.

The following quote was discussed at EGA and it's hard to believe anyone here could actually make such a statement.

Call me a 'stick-in-the-mud' but plants are legal, doing things to them in beakers is illegal.

Since when is extracting plant illegal? Only a tiny fraction of plants are illegal when played with in test tubes and it seem ridiculous that we should deny the place of alchemy and pharmacology in the ethnobotanical field. The vast majority of people who play with plants and test tubes do so entirely within the law and it is a sign of complete 'today tonight' brainwashing to immediately assume an illegal intent when seeing simple glassware associated with plants. I for one am glad that Izwoz has included this aspect of ethnobotany into the EGA logo.

In other countries where science has a more mature position in society every curious kid grows up with test tubes and simple glassware and there are science stores in every small town. Let's not undo the minor advances science has made in the 'football nations' by buying into the mainstream media hysteria.

You're right about being a stick in the mud.

[Tlaloc]

AMEN Torsten!!

I've found the "Ignorant-Bogan-Today-Tonight-Football-culture mentality more prevalent in the country.

It shocked me not long ago, I was working with a bunch of people and thought I knew them rather well, when for the first time We broached on the subjects of Muslims, "drugs" & Jews.

It seems the old ingrained prejudices stand in many places unfortunately.

Petty, imaginal grievances

I pray we can bring Mr. Iboga into the equation.

No greater ignorance than my own...

peace to all beings

[Lost In Paradox]

Waow. First time down for ega. What an awesomely beautifully inspiring experience. I feel blessed. Full power to the gaian ethic. Empathetic compassionate just universal love.

[Korky]

what a beautiful collection of people and experience. it may be my favorite event of the calendar.

and great to see its evolution from 2007!

from talking to people it seems the bear caught a few people by surprise, not what they (or i ) were expecting it seems. funny though.

just to be constructive, some more tempo on the tunes sunday night would have been the icing on the cake. the literature handed out seems to have planned for 'dance' so forgive me if im pointing out something obvious. i dont want the event to turn into a doof, infact the chilled tunes played through out the fest were fantastic! it just would have been nice to wrap up the weekend with a little boogy with all the costumed plant heads.

throwing out a humongous congrats on pulling of a very special event.

YEARLY! YEARLY! YEARLY!...

[daif]

Thanks for an awesome EGA. The site and the vibe from everyone at the event were just fantastic. My friends and I have already adopted some gravelly-voiced ‘bear-ism’s’ like…

“Too much bottom end”

“Turn the level to 400”

“I just rigged up my own hearing aid because none of them transmit sound the way I want them to”

On ya Bear!

In regard to the ‘plants and beakers’ comment I made about the EGA logo, I am glad it stimulated some discussion and counter-arguments. If the entheogenic community is to succeed in changing the arbitrary anti-drug laws currently in place to a more realistic and permissive set of regulations, a well-reasoned set of arguments will be needed.

I can appreciate that Torsten has a high standing in this community and I send him much gratitude for his ’07 and ’09 EGA propagation workshops that have accelerated the spread of entheogenic plants throughout much of Australia. I can also see that he has some support for his statements supporting the EGA promotional artwork, so I would like to make one or two additional points before concluding my thoughts on the matter.

Consider the following statement which was posted in support of the inclusion of a beaker and test tube on the EGA promotional poster,

”Only a tiny fraction of plants are illegal when played with in test tubes”

It is those tiny fraction of plants that it is illegal to play with in test tubes that many people within the entheogenic community find very interesting. There weren’t any lectures on getting eucalyptus oil from gum leaves over the weekend were there? Eating some cactus flesh is a loophole to getting high, extracting its active ingredients is illegal. Last time I checked, extracting mescaline from cactus was illegal, extracting LSA from HBW or MG seeds was illegal, extracting DMT from acacia, psychotria and a range of other plant sources was illegal, extracting harmaline from Syrian rue or MAOI’s from other plants was illegal, as were extracts from poppies or ephedra.

I am not denying “the place of alchemy and pharmacology within the ethnobotanical field” as you suggest. I am instead trying to protect the integrity of the EGA event and the people who attend the event from misperceptions by the mainstream public.

One final quote to examine,

“and it is a sign of complete 'today tonight' brainwashing to immediately assume an illegal intent when seeing simple glassware associated with plants”

I agree with you. It is that exact public perception that I was trying to highlight as a risk to the future of EGA. I say we are on a good thing with EGA. All who attend know how fortunate it is to be gathering together and discovering each other and talking openly and maturely about sensitive issues previously only the domain of close friends. After 40 years of repression, misinformation, taboo and harassment from authorities, it is a very special thing to attend an event like EGA.

All the best everyone

In Plants We Trust

[Torsten]

It is those tiny fraction of plants that it is illegal to play with in test tubes that many people within the entheogenic community find very interesting. There weren’t any lectures on getting eucalyptus oil from gum leaves over the weekend were there?

But EGA isn't just about plants. It is indeed also about the pharmacology and maybe even the chemicals. Look at who the headline speakers were. One ex-LSD chemist and one university researcher working with synthetic psilocybin. Then there were talks on legal allylbenzenes, RC's [some of which are legal], and so on.

Eating some cactus flesh is a loophole to getting high, extracting its active ingredients is illegal.

There is no such loophole. Extracted mescaline vs fresh or dried cactus flesh are the same legal offence.

Last time I checked, extracting mescaline from cactus was illegal, .... extracting DMT from acacia, psychotria and a range of other plant sources was illegal, extracting harmaline from other plants was illegal, as were extracts from poppies or ephedra.

Yes, but you seem to be ignoring the fact that all of these plant materials are already illegal in their unextracted state. Getting busted with 5g of pure dmt is legally the same as getting busted with 5g of chacruna.

I am instead trying to protect the integrity of the EGA event and the people who attend the event from misperceptions by the mainstream public.

I understand that you are trying to protect the event and I agree that maybe the glassware pushes some extra buttons, but your desire has nothing to do with integrity as the current banner perfectly represents the content of the event and hence the banner has better integrity with the banner than without.

Whether it is a smart choice to push the extra buttons is a totally different argument though.

[alkatrope]

Yes, but you seem to be ignoring the fact that all of these plant materials are already illegal in their unextracted state. Getting busted with 5g of pure dmt is legally the same as getting busted with 5g of chacruna.

Only in Queensland, isn't it?

Not the obviously illegal stuff but things like pedro..

[Torsten]

Only in Queensland, isn't it?

Not the obviously illegal stuff but things like pedro..

Note that I said 'plant materials'. This does not include live plants [which are legal in many states]. Once you cut/pick/harvest the plant it then become material/preparation and is the same as holding the extracted compound. In fact, holding the extracted compound will get you charged with a much smaller amount so is legally advantageous.

btw, SA laws are pretty similar to Qld laws now... and ACT is way out there anyway. So that makes 3 states that have already scheduled a variety of plants.

[mac]

. Once you cut/pick/harvest the plant it then become material/preparation and is the same as holding the extracted compound. In fact, holding the extracted compound will get you charged with a much smaller amount so is legally advantageous.

So what if you have several cuttings laying about waiting for them to root, would this be considered preparation in some states ?

seems a little sketchy to me

[rahli]

I've read through my dangerous drugs act and its along the lines of -

Any preparation containing the scheduled substance is considered to be the scheduled substance. Though there is an option for the judge (and I think maybe the jury) to take into account the fact that there may only be trace amount of a sceduled substance in the evidence material. I guess it would be up to the judge to decide whether or not the cuttings are a preparation. If its Khat I'd think yes.

I suggest you read through your states drugs act so you can be sure for yourself. No point pushing the boundaries if you don't know what they are.

Edited November 11, 2009 by rahli

[alkatrope]

Note that I said 'plant materials'. This does not include live plants [which are legal in many states]. Once you cut/pick/harvest the plant it then become material/preparation and is the same as holding the extracted compound. In fact, holding the extracted compound will get you charged with a much smaller amount so is legally advantageous.

btw, SA laws are pretty similar to Qld laws now... and ACT is way out there anyway. So that makes 3 states that have already scheduled a variety of plants.

Ah gotcha.

But yeah, like mac, that begs the question.. What about cuttings? What if you have seed with prohibited contents? These could easily be shown to be intended for growing purposes only..