Saturday, May 31, 2008

Undiscovered tribe found in remote Amazon

WARRIORS in a lost tribe of Indians in an Amazon jungle have aimed longbows at probably the first aircraft they have seen.

May 30, 2008
Pictures: Lost Amazonian tribe

Brazil's National Indian Foundation has confirmed Brazil's last uncontacted Indian tribes has been spotted in the far western Amazon jungle near the Peruvian border.

The Indians were sighted in an Ethno-Environmental Protected Area along the Envira River in flights over remote Acre state, said the government foundation, known as Funai.
Funai said it photographed "strong and healthy" warriors, six huts and a large planted area. It was not known to which tribe they belonged.

"Four distinct isolated peoples exist in this region, whom we have accompanied for 20 years," Funai expert Jose Carlos Meirelles Junior said in a statement.

Funai does not make contact with the Indians and prevents invasions of their land, to ensure "total autonomy" for the isolated tribes.

Survival International said the Indians were in danger from illegal logging in Peru, which is driving uncontacted tribes over the border and could lead to conflict with the estimated 500 uncontacted Indians now living on the Brazilian side.

There are more than 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide, most of them in Brazil and Peru, the group said in a statement.

"These pictures are further evidence that uncontacted tribes really do exist," Survival director Stephen Corry said.

"The world needs to wake up to this and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct."

The Daily Mail reported the tribsemen responded with aggression to the aircraft flying overhead:

"Skin painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the aircraft buzzing overhead. The gesture is unmistakable: Stay Away," the report said.

"Behind the two men stands another figure, possibly a woman, her stance also seemingly defiant. Her skin painted dark, nearly black.

"The apparent aggression shown by these people is quite understandable. For they are members of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes, who live in the Envira region in the thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian frontier.

"Thought never to have had any contact with the outside world, everything about these people is, and hopefully will remain, a mystery.

Their extraordinary body paint, precisely what they eat (the anthropologists saw evidence of gardens from the air), how they construct their tent-like camp, their language, how their society operates - the life of these Amerindians remains a mystery.

Meirelles said the flight was made for scientific reasons, not to disturb the tribe.

"We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist," he said. "This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence."

Meirelles, who despite once being shot in the shoulder by an arrow fired by another tribe campaigns to protect these peoples, believes this group's numbers are increasing, and pointed out how strong and healthy the people seemed.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The multi-state theory of psychedelic action by James Kent

Spatially oriented neural grids and visual processing networks seen on psychedelics

The multi-state theory of psychedelic action
By James Kent
May 20th, 2008
Link : www.tripzine.com

I have been locked down in mad-scientist mode for the last few weeks working on the latest version of my theory of psychedelic action, and for those of you who are interested there is a review version available in PDF form.

The multi-state theory is an extrapolation of what I called signal theory, or the theory that runaway feedback in sensory circuits is responsible for many of the perceptual effects of psychedelics. The multi-state theory expands on this notion, breaking down the effects of psychedelics at various dose ranges into stages of cortical network excitation, destabilization, feedback overload, complete cortical decoupling, and subsequent cortical resynchronization at an optimized high-energy phase state. It is my assertion that the process of cortical decoupling and subsequent resynchronization at an optimized phase-state is the most poorly understood event in the psychedelic experience; yet this is the very process that makes psychedelics so mystical, powerful, and useful for facilitating novel and unique expanded mind states.

Most of the paper is pretty technical, so if you have questions feel free to ask: HERE

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Alex and Allyson Grey: Psychedelic Families @ 2008 Psychedelic World Forum

What Do We Tell the Children?

As presentated at the


Mp3: Download right click, save as
Subscribe: HERE

PROGRAM NOTES:

"Our parents were completely unprepared for the sixties . . . and for our behavior." – Alex Grey

"[In drug education as it is practiced today] there is this kind of overriding mis-characterization of drugs, and an exaggeration of the problems that, marijuana especially, gives us." –Alex Grey "And they contradict people’s own observations." –Allyson Grey

"There are perils, and we have children and we want to protect them. So drugs can lead to terrible things as well." –Allyson Grey

"Basically, you want to establish a bond with your children, and not to come in with total, preconceived notions about how they ought to behave. The idea is to listen and to establish a link of trust so that you can really be there for them, instead of alienating them. So you have to learn about these substances and the possible substances they’re using, so that you can be an informed assist for them." –Alex Grey

"If you’ve already been lying to your kids about drugs, then why should they listen to you about anything, including the dangers of meth?" –Alex Grey
"If any of you haven’t gone a year and a half without any substances, it’s really a great experience. The altered state of sobriety is something Alex and I recommend." –Allyson Grey


"This is what my mother taught me when it came to sex, and I applied it to drugs. Whenever a child asks a question you answer it, and you don’t tell them things they don’t want to know, or they’re not ready to know. But if they ask you something, you tell them honestly." –Allyson Grey

"We’re part of an underground society, and that’s a heavy burden to place on a young mind if they’re not ready." –Alex Grey



Links:
http://www.alexgrey.com/
http://www.allysongrey.com/
Alex in the Vaults of Erowid
Alex & Allyson Grey on the Psychedelic Salon

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Amanda Feilding: Expanded Consciousness and its Importance





Expanded Consciousness and its Importance to Survival

As presentated at the

From Psychonautica

Mp3 download: HERE



This talk from the 2008 World Psychedelic forum is given by Amanda Feilding of the Beckley foundation, entitled 'expanded consciousness and its importance to survival'.

Amanda talks about the specturm of states of consciousness, the benefits of expanding and altering consciousness, the neurophysiology of altered states, prehistoric man, altered consciousness and cultural evolution, the psychedelic transformation of the 1960s, the Eleuinian mysteries, Benny Shannon's writings on the use of Acacia and Harmal (ayahuasca analogue) in ancient Egypt, the potential benefits of psychedelics for modern society, the ability of psychedelics to increase blood flow to the brain, the importance of increased cerebral circulation, the scientific understanding of consciousness, Beckley foundation's research projects, obstacles to scientific research into psychedelics, LSD assisted psychotherapy, using psilocybin to help with addiction problems and represssed memories, development of new antidepressant medications based on ketamine research, the antipsychotic component of cannabis, using an EEG on people meditating, trebination to increase blood supply to the brain, potential for use to delay the onset of dementia in old age, bringing the light of reason to drug policy, the evidence based approach to drug policy, the lack of attention being paid to the potential benefits of illegal drugs such as LSD and ecstasy, the road to a 'new Eleusis'.

In recent years, Amanda has taken part in different conferences where she has given the following talks:



To watch the whole program, click here

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness

From: TED, Ideas worth spreading.
Download: Zipped MP4 (ZIP) Hi-res Video (MP4)

What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard says: We can train our minds in habits of happiness.

After training in biochemistry at the Institute Pasteur, Matthieu Ricard left science behind to move to the Himalayas and become a Buddhist monk -- and to pursue happiness, both at a basic human level and as a subject of inquiry. Achieving happiness, he has come to believe, requires the same kind of effort and mind training that any other serious pursuit involves.

His deep and scientifically tinged reflections on happiness and Buddhism have turned into several books, including The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet. At the same time, he also makes sensitive and jaw-droppingly gorgeous photographs of his beloved Tibet and the spiritual hermitage where he lives and works on humanitarian projects.

His latest book on happiness is Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill; his latest book of photographs is Tibet: An Inner Journey.

"Matthieu Ricard, French translator and right-hand man for the Dalai Lama, has been the subject of intensive clinical tests at the University of Wisconsin, as a result of which he is frequently described as the happiest man in the world."Robert Chalmers, The Independent

Links:
Matthieu Ricard's homepage
Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship
Mind & Life Institute
Matthieu Ricard on Wikipedia

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Shulgins explores the Surreality of Inner Space, 1 drug at a time

Self-Experimenters: Psychedelic Chemist Explores the Surreality of Inner Space, One Drug at a Time.

From: Scientific America

Alexander Shulgin endured a government crackdown and hallucinations of his bones melting in pursuit of new mind-bending compounds

By David Biello

This is the final story the series of eight stories in our feature on self-experimenters.

Alexander Shulgin is the world's foremost "psychonaut." The 82-year-old chemist has not only created more of the 300 known consciousness-altering (or psychoactive) compounds than anyone living or dead, he has, by his own account, sampled somewhere between 200 and 250 of them himself—most of them cooked up in the musty lab behind his home in the hills east of Berkeley, Calif., where he has shared many a chemical voyage with his wife of 26 years, Ann.

"I take them myself because I am interested in their activity in the human mind. How would you test that in a rat or mouse?" says Shulgin, known to friends as Sasha.

He has paid the price for his avocation. Some of his creations have induced uncontrollable vomiting, paralysis and the feeling that his bones were melting, among other terrors. And though some believe Shulgin has opened the doors of perception to a new class of potentially therapeutic mind-altering compounds, others argue that he bears responsibility for the damage that ongoing abuse of such now-illicit substances can cause.

As a student at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1950s, Shulgin's gateway drug was mescaline, a naturally occurring psychedelic found in peyote and other groovy cacti. "It introduced me to new colors which I had never seen before," Shulgin says. "It allowed me to interpret whatever I was looking at with an entirely new vocabulary…. And yet, what a simple structure!"

In the 1960s, while working as a biochemist at The Dow Chemical Co. in San Francisco, he couldn't resist tinkering with the potent mescaline molecule. He synthesized entirely new compounds that retained similar, trippy qualities. Some variations were less potent, but others were even more powerful or imparted their own unique twist.

Shulgin, who left Dow in 1965 to consult for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) among other pursuits, offered the best of his new chemical darlings to Ann, his second wife; the most promising of these were passed along to a close circle of 10 friends until the mid-1990s, when the DEA, no longer paying for his services, raided his lab and revoked his license to work with illegal drugs.

His personal favorite, which he describes as "extraordinarily comfortable and quite erotic," is known simply as 2C-B for its chemical makeup.

One by one, Shulgin has seen many of the compounds he invented or experimented with become illegal in the U.S., including some that have never been synthesized by anyone and some that he thought might prove therapeutic, such as MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), better known as ecstasy. "I was very sad to see MDMA achieve the status of a Schedule 1 drug," a designation that prohibits its manufacture or use in the U.S., he says. "I felt that it would inhibit research into its medical value and that's the way it's turned out."

Some researchers agree that the government's response to psychoactive drugs has deprived them of a unique window into human consciousness. After all, rodents will happily ingest most intoxicants and narcotics —from marijuana to heroin—but not the headier psychedelics.

"Peculiarly, not only did we make them illegal, but we backed away from them scientifically," says neuroscientist Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, one of the researchers who is restarting basic research into psychedelics. His lab has shown that psilocybin, the active ingredient in the variety of fungi known as magic mushrooms, can bring on lasting feelings of well-being. This may indicate that it could be harnessed to help clinically depressed or addicted patients.

Shulgin, who continues to study cacti for new chemical routes to altered states, predicts that by the year 2060, the number of different known psychedelics will have grown from 300 to 2,000. He intends to discover—and perhaps sample—as many of them as he can. "It is like opening a door to a hallway," he says, "that has unopened doors for its entire length, and behind every door is a world with which you are totally unfamiliar."

Ann & Sasha Shulgin on the Psychedelic Salon

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Dennis McKenna @ the 2008 World Psychedelic forum



Dennis McKenna Ph.D.
As presentated at the

Psychonautica Mp3 download:
PART ONE,
PART TWO (right click, save as)

Dennis Mckenna Lecture One: "Psychedelics in basic neuroscience and clinical practise" from the world Psychedelic forum. Dennis Mckenna talks about the ancient use of psychedelics by indigenus cultures, the role of the shaman, and shamanic techniques of ecstasy, the pharmacology of psychedelics, serotonin receptors, true psychedelics and quasi-psychedelics such as Salvia Divinorum and MDMA, the use of psychedelics for studying the neural substrate of consciousness, various neuroscientists and their research projects, comparison of psilocybin to meditation, psychedelics and mystical/religious experiences, and the use of psychedelics to treat addiction and obssessive compulsive disorder.

Dennis Mckenna Lecture Two: "Bitter brews and other abominations: the use of some little known psychoactive agents". Dennis talks about nature, the 'cornocopia of molecular diversity', the relation of DMT to tryptophan, the distribution of DMT in nature and Alex Shulgin's observations, Charles Nichol's research, Salvinorin-A receptors, psychotropic fish, the toxic pufferfish delicacy in Japan, psychedelic toads, bufotenine psychoactive frogs, near death experiences, spiders on drugs, insects in DMT visions, Jonathon Ott, ambrosia nectar and psychoactive honey, the 'bee-god' and cave-paintings of mushroom shamans from the Tassilli Plateau,psychoactive snakes, snake venom used to treat heroin addiction in India, Mimosa Hostilis and its orally active DMT component 'juremamine', pre-emptive prohibition of plant species.

Links:
Ayahuasca.com
Erowid.com
Heffter Research Institute

Friday, May 9, 2008

Free Psychedelic library at dmt-nexus.com

The Free Psychedelic library at dmt-nexus.com
There are PDF's, you can right click and save as or just click to open.
Entheogens
  • The Magic Mushroom Growers Guide.pdf
  • Psilocybin Growers Guide.pdf
  • Magic Mushrooms Around The World.pdf
  • Psilocybin Production.pdf
  • The Mushroom Cultivator.pdf
  • Psilocybe Species.pdf
  • PF Mushroom Tek.pdf
  • International Journal of Psychoactive Mushrooms.pdf
  • Food Of The Gods.pdf
  • Breaking Open the Head.prc(MobiPocket Software)
  • The Doors Of Perception.pdf
  • Journeys into the Brightworld.pdf
  • Entheogens - Benny Shannon.pdf
  • Using Psychedelics Wisely.pdf
  • A Short Guide About Hallucinogenic Drugs.pdf
  • Psychedelics Encyclopedia.pdf
  • Hallucinogenic Plants - A Golden Guide.pdf
  • Hallucinogenic Drugs and Plants in Psychotherapy and Shamanism
  • Medicinal Natural Products - A Biosynthetic Approach.pdf
  • Perscriber & Clinical Repertory Of Medicinal Herbs.pdf
  • A Complete Handbook of Nature Cures.pdf
  • Encyclopedia of Mind Enhancing Foods, Drugs, Nutritional Substances.pdf
  • The Secret Chief Revealed.pdf
  • Handbook for The Therupeutic use of LSD.pdf
  • Therapy With LSD.pdf
  • Remembrances of LSD Therapy.pdf
  • LSD_Psychotherapy-Stanislav_Grof-MISSING_PAGES.pdf
  • Using Medicinal Indigenous Knowledge to Treat Drug Addiciton.pdf
  • The Concept of Plants as Teachers.pdf
  • The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience.pdf
  • Psychedelics & Religious Experience.pdf
  • Psychedelic Mushrooms in Buddhist Tradition.pdf
  • Soma Siddhas And Alchemical Enlightenment.pdf
  • Psilocybin And Mystical Experiences.pdf
  • The Future of Human Consciousness.pdf


  • Of course they have a comprehensive DMT library as well

    Ayahuasca

    Extractions

    THANK YOU DMT-NEXUS

    Monday, May 5, 2008

    Matt Pallamary podcasts on Ayahuasca dietas

    C-Realm Episode 93: Diet and Preparation
    Guest: Matt Pallamary
    Download: MP3 (right click, save as)
    Play: NOW

    KMO welcomes Matthew J. Pallamary, author of Land Without Evil and Spirit Matters, back to the C-Realm to talk about the preparations one can make prior to departure in order to get the most from one's ayahuasca experiences.

    Psychedelic Salon episode 89 - “Ayahuasca: Diet, Rituals, and Powers”
    Guest: Matt Pallamary
    Download: MP3 (right click, save as)
    Subscribe: FREE

    Matt tells the story of how ayahuasca was first discovered. Preparation for an ayahuasca experience, beginning with the diet and what prescription medicines to avoid before the journey.

    "Ayahuasca doesn’t hide anything. . . . It can amplify perceptions, but it can also amplify fears or shadow aspects of yourself, the dark you’ve been avoiding. Ayahuasca has an intelligence to it that seeks out your fear and exploits it, and it’s a wonderful teaching tool."

    List of dietary do's and don't's

    By Ayahuascero Javier Arevelo Shahuano
    List of foods used at the Temple of the Way of Light:
    • Chicken (free range)
    • Game
    • Fish (only certain fish are allowed)
    • Potatoes
    • Eggs
    • Oats
    • Salads (standard and more exotic Amazonian)
    • Herbal teas
    • Spaghetti / pasta
    • Rice
    • Quinoa
    • Tapioca
    • Apples
    • Advocados
    • Tomatoes
    • Beetroot
    • Bananas
    • Green Plantain (grilled, roasted or boiled)
    • Carrots
    • Broccoli
    • Cauliflower
    • Yucca
    • Manioc
    • Onions
    • Garlic
    • Wholemeal bread
    • Coconuts and coconut milk
    • Olive oil is used sparingly in the cooking
    List of foods not allowed when working with Ayahuasca / on a medicinal plant dieta
    • No sugar
    • No salt
    • No alcohol
    • No pork
    • No red meat
    • No vegetable / sunflower oils
    • No sweets / chocolate
    • No vinegar
    • No condiments / seasoning
    • No spices
    • No chilli / hot peppers
    • No ginger
    • No fermented foods (soy / tofu, etc)
    • No ice / ice cold drinks
    • No caffeine
    • No cheese
    • No pickled foods
    • No canned foods
    Additional restrictions
    • No sexual activities
    • Avoidance of man made / synthetic soaps, perfumes, toiletries, etc
    • No prescription drugs (please contact us with more information if you are currently taking any medication / anti-depressants / antibiotics)
    • If female participants are menstruating, then they will not be able to partake in the Ayahuasca ceremony
    • Ayahuasca is not compatible with pregancy

    Links to Matt:
    Matt Pallamary - Official Homepage
    Matt's appearances on Podcasts
    *Watch Matt's videos on shamanism*