Bravo! Your joie de vivre was palpable in this article. Dare I say that your decision to write when you were inspired and not to produce content for your readers freed you in a way? Either way, I look forward to whatever you put out going forward including the book.
Also, you’ve really got me thinking about LSD in a new light.
fantastic, man! For a lot of us, LSD is still the king because it has given us more of those life-changer experiences. I also think LSD helps to bring the psychedelic realm back into the collective, because you're in there for so long!
acid if taken en masse in one moment can ‘sync’ everyone up. Even more so than ayahuasca. The prospect of syncing with a group is very enticing, especially as an entertainment scenario. A play where people dropped at the same instant for example. There must be a long list of these sorts of events in history. I’m wondering why it doesn’t happen today. Easier and cheaper than the $400 ayahuasca weekend. ~Mark Nichols
Prescient! I have been thinking along these lines for some time now. Nixon demonized Vit. A. and ever since it has been the ''work of the devil''...dangerous beyond word,etc etc. Aldous Huxley, however, did warn Leary and Alpert at Milbrook about popularizing it ...for exactly the worries that materialized under Nixon. I can tell you a story that is hard to understand but happened the day after taking approx 450mcq ...that amount was a story in itself the a day later it in its afterglow and completely ''down''...something happened to me that is unexplainable...Lord Saturn and all it entails...but I digress. Your point is hard to exactly uncover as so many points are made...all good, but the once clear point seems covered amongst the many...thannnnnk you
Thank you. So. Much. This has been much on my mind, totally perplexed why all the therapeuts and guides and all the hoopla aren't including the OG. You nailed the language (as per usual) of two hypotheses and added a dozen more. Fact is plain, it's dirt cheap and actually quite safe, don't need an industry and so no pharma, no guides side hustling... It's the Liberation Theologian in the crowd.
Enjoyed your LSD Post. A child of the 60's, I'm fascinated by both the history of LSD dissemination as well as the rediscovery of mushrooms and peyote by the educated West. Additionally the role of psychedelics in culture and religion is a subject that deserves more study .And thats all aside from the experience itself. - You've made me a subscriber.
I really appreciate your entry, the Elephant LSD. As a 50-something guy who fairly recently returned to psychedelics after a 30 year hiatus, I'm sympathetic to your insights about LSD in the current US cultural context. As many old-school tripsters know, set and setting are of vital importance. Unfortunately, in my teens and twenties, set and setting were sorely lacking. Even then I sensed this absence. I tried to read The Psychedelic Experience couldn't make much sense of it. It was not until I participated in an ayahuasca ritual with a gifted guide a few years ago that I experienced the comfort of a safely held container and the potency of a ceremony that has developed over many centuries and hybridized for the demographics of the community. I'm especially fascinated by the extraordinary effects resulting from the entwinement of the tea and the icaros, which seem to bind together like ayahuasca and chacruna, working in concert as one medicine. Just as there is a techne to ayahuasca, which you rightly mention, I believe that there is a techne to set and setting, a techne that has been refined in the cultures in which plant medicines have played a core role in religious/spiritual life.Psychedelics and religion have an ancient history. But LSD and religion do not. (As a side-note, my high-school psychedelic source wrote a paper on the Grateful Dead as religion, then dropped out of Harvard to go on tour with the band.)
The icaros (and corresponding textile patterns) are said to be given to shamans by the spirit of ayahuasca herself. Beyond the Grateful Dead, Kesey's Acid Tests, and Burning Man/Festivals what parallels might there be for LSD? What small-scale ceremonial techniques have tripsters gleaned from their acid experiences? At the risk of ascribing agency to a chemical molecule, one might ask, What is acid telling us about how we can benefit most from the gifts it has to offer? In my teens, I always had a journey tape - Harold Budd's "Pavilion of Dreams" on one side and George Lewis's "Blue" on the other. Similarly, the Kuya psychedelic assisted therapy center in Austin recently commissioned musician Poranguí to record journey music sessions. Poranguí, who walks a highly disciplined spiritual path, composed and performed the soundtrack for Aubrey Marcus's documentary film Ayahuasca and his is Kuya Project collaborator, Amani Friend, of Desert Dwellers and Liquid Bloom, also have long histories as spiritual seekers and their music has clear references to plant medicine. In my experience, having a journey soundtrack was very helpful but it is not able to respond to a journeyer individually in the moment the way that a medicine guide/shaman can - to issue an invitation, to hold space, to protect, and support the healing and discovery process, to say nothing of integration...
In Switzerland, the Swiss Medical Association for Psycholysis has been treating people with LSD (psilocybin and MDMA) since its foundation, in 1985. Though officially approved, they’ve been fairly quiet about it and therefore don’t have an English language website (yet): https://saept.ch/
I’d also like to direct you to Frontiers in Psychedelic Science, a series of public lectures at Zurich University. They communicate in English, like we do at the two Psychedelic Salons I’ve created in Zürich and Basel (soon to come: Bern). Their promoter, Milan Scheidegger, is to Zürich what Franz Vollenweider and Peter Gasser are to Basel,
Author Claude Weil has published an excellent (German) book, in which he asks older folks, many in their seventies, about their recent trips. LSD holds a special pace in many Swiss minds and hearts and is not a schedule A drug here. That category is reserved for addictive substances such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
LSD is alive and well! It is as spiritual as you wish, doesn’t make you retch or poop, sends no herds of stoners trampling through the Amazon, and is reliably strong.
I am sending your piece to a few friends.
Best,
Susanne
P.S. To be fair: he retching and runs I experienced during the seven years I participated in ayahuasca circles HERE, with various Amazonian teachers and/or their students, did me a world of good!
I feel this so hard. LSD is like an ignored but brilliant step child. And I know quite a few folks successfully microdosing it periodically in place of Ritalin or other ADHD meds. I also personally find that microdosing LSD really increases sexual satisfaction and the intensity of one’s orgasm, but have yet to hear this be discussed at all by the community.
What a great post, thank you Erik. What’s your new book’s release date, if there is one?
Appreciate the two book references (Gray & Jarnow), will be checking both out for sure. Did you love one more than the other? In case I only get to one of them? (I was a big fan of Martin Lee’s Acid Dreams when I read it, as someone unfamiliar with lsd and it’s heyday...)
Hey Chad, thanks! My blotter book will probably be out around Christmas 2023, but we will see! As for which book to read, its sorta what you are into: Jarnow is a colorful history of acid scenes, whereas Gray is one man's late-life personal exploration into LSD, very well and honestly told. 3rd vs 1st person, your poison!
Great piece. This article ignited some memories I hadn’t recalled in decades. In fact this article kinda serves as a memory fractal for me, a specific one called The Mandelbrot set. It was originally drawn in 1978 by Robert W. Brooks and Peter Matelski, most here are likely familiar with it or have seen it while high on LSD.
As I was reading this I found myself recalling random Artwork that I haven’t thought about in decades, book titles I read years ago, like ‘Godel, Escher Bach’, it was great! Ok Im rambling a bit here. Anyway, I enjoyed this article Erik & look forward to reading more of your work.
Thanks man. Godel, Escher, Bach is a great one...I remember the 90s well -- fractals were everywhere! Now they look kinda passe as a design element, but they are still amazing cosmic math monsters...
Bravo! Your joie de vivre was palpable in this article. Dare I say that your decision to write when you were inspired and not to produce content for your readers freed you in a way? Either way, I look forward to whatever you put out going forward including the book.
Also, you’ve really got me thinking about LSD in a new light.
Jeremy
fantastic, man! For a lot of us, LSD is still the king because it has given us more of those life-changer experiences. I also think LSD helps to bring the psychedelic realm back into the collective, because you're in there for so long!
acid if taken en masse in one moment can ‘sync’ everyone up. Even more so than ayahuasca. The prospect of syncing with a group is very enticing, especially as an entertainment scenario. A play where people dropped at the same instant for example. There must be a long list of these sorts of events in history. I’m wondering why it doesn’t happen today. Easier and cheaper than the $400 ayahuasca weekend. ~Mark Nichols
....digging the brief Gravity's Rainbow mention, Dr. D - teaser alert?
Prescient! I have been thinking along these lines for some time now. Nixon demonized Vit. A. and ever since it has been the ''work of the devil''...dangerous beyond word,etc etc. Aldous Huxley, however, did warn Leary and Alpert at Milbrook about popularizing it ...for exactly the worries that materialized under Nixon. I can tell you a story that is hard to understand but happened the day after taking approx 450mcq ...that amount was a story in itself the a day later it in its afterglow and completely ''down''...something happened to me that is unexplainable...Lord Saturn and all it entails...but I digress. Your point is hard to exactly uncover as so many points are made...all good, but the once clear point seems covered amongst the many...thannnnnk you
Thank you. So. Much. This has been much on my mind, totally perplexed why all the therapeuts and guides and all the hoopla aren't including the OG. You nailed the language (as per usual) of two hypotheses and added a dozen more. Fact is plain, it's dirt cheap and actually quite safe, don't need an industry and so no pharma, no guides side hustling... It's the Liberation Theologian in the crowd.
Enjoyed your LSD Post. A child of the 60's, I'm fascinated by both the history of LSD dissemination as well as the rediscovery of mushrooms and peyote by the educated West. Additionally the role of psychedelics in culture and religion is a subject that deserves more study .And thats all aside from the experience itself. - You've made me a subscriber.
bravo
I really appreciate your entry, the Elephant LSD. As a 50-something guy who fairly recently returned to psychedelics after a 30 year hiatus, I'm sympathetic to your insights about LSD in the current US cultural context. As many old-school tripsters know, set and setting are of vital importance. Unfortunately, in my teens and twenties, set and setting were sorely lacking. Even then I sensed this absence. I tried to read The Psychedelic Experience couldn't make much sense of it. It was not until I participated in an ayahuasca ritual with a gifted guide a few years ago that I experienced the comfort of a safely held container and the potency of a ceremony that has developed over many centuries and hybridized for the demographics of the community. I'm especially fascinated by the extraordinary effects resulting from the entwinement of the tea and the icaros, which seem to bind together like ayahuasca and chacruna, working in concert as one medicine. Just as there is a techne to ayahuasca, which you rightly mention, I believe that there is a techne to set and setting, a techne that has been refined in the cultures in which plant medicines have played a core role in religious/spiritual life.Psychedelics and religion have an ancient history. But LSD and religion do not. (As a side-note, my high-school psychedelic source wrote a paper on the Grateful Dead as religion, then dropped out of Harvard to go on tour with the band.)
The icaros (and corresponding textile patterns) are said to be given to shamans by the spirit of ayahuasca herself. Beyond the Grateful Dead, Kesey's Acid Tests, and Burning Man/Festivals what parallels might there be for LSD? What small-scale ceremonial techniques have tripsters gleaned from their acid experiences? At the risk of ascribing agency to a chemical molecule, one might ask, What is acid telling us about how we can benefit most from the gifts it has to offer? In my teens, I always had a journey tape - Harold Budd's "Pavilion of Dreams" on one side and George Lewis's "Blue" on the other. Similarly, the Kuya psychedelic assisted therapy center in Austin recently commissioned musician Poranguí to record journey music sessions. Poranguí, who walks a highly disciplined spiritual path, composed and performed the soundtrack for Aubrey Marcus's documentary film Ayahuasca and his is Kuya Project collaborator, Amani Friend, of Desert Dwellers and Liquid Bloom, also have long histories as spiritual seekers and their music has clear references to plant medicine. In my experience, having a journey soundtrack was very helpful but it is not able to respond to a journeyer individually in the moment the way that a medicine guide/shaman can - to issue an invitation, to hold space, to protect, and support the healing and discovery process, to say nothing of integration...
Curious to know others thoughts on these ideas...
Hi Erik
What a great article!
In Switzerland, the Swiss Medical Association for Psycholysis has been treating people with LSD (psilocybin and MDMA) since its foundation, in 1985. Though officially approved, they’ve been fairly quiet about it and therefore don’t have an English language website (yet): https://saept.ch/
I’d also like to direct you to Frontiers in Psychedelic Science, a series of public lectures at Zurich University. They communicate in English, like we do at the two Psychedelic Salons I’ve created in Zürich and Basel (soon to come: Bern). Their promoter, Milan Scheidegger, is to Zürich what Franz Vollenweider and Peter Gasser are to Basel,
https://mailchi.mp/ed2d06b58a4d/newsletter-frontiers-in-psychedelic-science-nov-15436173?e=86753120cd
Author Claude Weil has published an excellent (German) book, in which he asks older folks, many in their seventies, about their recent trips. LSD holds a special pace in many Swiss minds and hearts and is not a schedule A drug here. That category is reserved for addictive substances such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
LSD is alive and well! It is as spiritual as you wish, doesn’t make you retch or poop, sends no herds of stoners trampling through the Amazon, and is reliably strong.
I am sending your piece to a few friends.
Best,
Susanne
P.S. To be fair: he retching and runs I experienced during the seven years I participated in ayahuasca circles HERE, with various Amazonian teachers and/or their students, did me a world of good!
Nicely - good attitude. I was going to a conference as notary but AB passed just prior to it((
I feel this so hard. LSD is like an ignored but brilliant step child. And I know quite a few folks successfully microdosing it periodically in place of Ritalin or other ADHD meds. I also personally find that microdosing LSD really increases sexual satisfaction and the intensity of one’s orgasm, but have yet to hear this be discussed at all by the community.
What a great post, thank you Erik. What’s your new book’s release date, if there is one?
Appreciate the two book references (Gray & Jarnow), will be checking both out for sure. Did you love one more than the other? In case I only get to one of them? (I was a big fan of Martin Lee’s Acid Dreams when I read it, as someone unfamiliar with lsd and it’s heyday...)
Hey Chad, thanks! My blotter book will probably be out around Christmas 2023, but we will see! As for which book to read, its sorta what you are into: Jarnow is a colorful history of acid scenes, whereas Gray is one man's late-life personal exploration into LSD, very well and honestly told. 3rd vs 1st person, your poison!
Great piece. This article ignited some memories I hadn’t recalled in decades. In fact this article kinda serves as a memory fractal for me, a specific one called The Mandelbrot set. It was originally drawn in 1978 by Robert W. Brooks and Peter Matelski, most here are likely familiar with it or have seen it while high on LSD.
As I was reading this I found myself recalling random Artwork that I haven’t thought about in decades, book titles I read years ago, like ‘Godel, Escher Bach’, it was great! Ok Im rambling a bit here. Anyway, I enjoyed this article Erik & look forward to reading more of your work.
Thanks
Jonathan Guske
Thanks man. Godel, Escher, Bach is a great one...I remember the 90s well -- fractals were everywhere! Now they look kinda passe as a design element, but they are still amazing cosmic math monsters...