Hancock on drugs, entities, DNA

by **banned** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 10:35 pm

...is what I have found in every propagandist for drug taking, and chillin is no exception. "because when I try to validate that often told story they can never name names." Seriously, how fucking rude, disrespectful and intellectually slimy is it to ONCE AGAIN intimate that I am lying about my friend's experience? You and your infantile colleagues CANNOT EVEN FACE HONESTLY the fact that drugs have actually, truly ruined lives. No, first you claim the people who say so are liars; if that doesn't work you blame the victim (oh, he didn't take the RIGHT amount or in the RIGHT situation, or someone--gee, maybe like one of YOU boosters?--urged him on). It doesn't matter a bit to me that you don't want to own this addict mentality, which is characterized by the refusal to face hard truths and the inability to take responsibility. I've been sober from alcohol now 19 years and gone through drug recovery INTENSIVELY with one very close (as in best) friend and less intensively with several others, I've also had close friends who were the spouses or significant others of addicts. No matter what the circumstantial differences, the mindset of the addict is the same. And the one thing you learn, from AlAnon and NarAnon is, it's all self serving bullshit designed to justify the addict continuing to use the substance. Addicts will lie, cheat, steal, kill and die to keep that going. The unlucky ones end up mad, in prison, dead, ill, broke, with ruined careers and/or relationships. The lucky ones manage to skate by without a scratch. The REALLY lucky ones go into recovery, get hip to their own tricks, and stop BULLSHITTING the people around them and themselves. For you people to make up excuses in order to make every single argument regarding the dangers of drugs go away just makes my point, not that you can see it since REAL self insight (as opposed to the bogus, New Age claptrap that passes for it) is not part of the addict's psychological armamentarium. The difference between me and the fundies that you (again in your arrogant self delusion) try to class me with is that I don't favor making drugs illegal or prohibited--a HUGE difference which in your sophistry you glide over as if it were nothing! Furthermore, you also glide over the fact that all the benefits you allege to be gained from various drugs are all available WITHOUT THEM. Which leaves the HUGE question, if you can get to the supposed noble goal via a route that minimizes or eliminates the risk of a bad outcome, WHY risk the bad outcome? No one grasped my mountain-climbing analogy, but think about it. A climber has a choice between training for a climb, choosing the best climbing partners, fine tuning their equipment, and taking a climbing route that has the greatest chance of success--or, he can live on Happy Meals, be fat and out of shape, and take off alone for the summit without enough food or oxygen to make it, because all he wants is to get to the top FAST and be able to claim he bagged that peak. Just as societal resources are expended to save and rehabilitate those who come to grief with drugs, these 'short cut' climbers invariably have to be rescued, if of course they don't kill themselves on the mountain. They have nothing but the scorn of the real mountaineering heroes whose lives are ruled by discipline and effort. Given a choice, I'd rather be Edmund Hillary or Yvon Chouinard or Lynn Hill than the jackasses who make the front pages for their lurid demises or near demises. Who wouldn't? Well, lazy, undisciplined people who think the spiritual insights that take a real master a lifetime to attain should be theirs for the popping of a pill (or chewing of a mushroom or an herb.) Yes, perhaps they DO have an authentic experience (just as the lucky 'junk climber' may actually make it to the summit) but do they build anything on it? Again you keep ignoring me when I ask precisely WHAT has come out of 40 years of exploration of hallucinogens? A spiritual revival? An outpouring of creativity and authenticity? No--a society of lazy bastards who are looking for the short cut, destroying or crippling every societal institution in the process. What thrives now? Academe? Politics? The arts? Where is the Golden Age? This age isn't even brass--for my money it's the Age of Cheap Shit. SI REQUIRIS MONUMENTUM, CIRCUMSPICE. I don't blame that on drugs--I see drugs as a symptom of the refusal to recognize that anything worth attaining is worth working hard for, taking responsibility, and passing up the easy impulse for the enduring achievement. If drugs work for you in some way--coolio! Just hope it lasts, that they don't turn on you and leave you halfway up the mountain on a precipice at night in a slowly ripping bivvy bag with a busted leg and half a bottle of Evian. And for Christ's sake if you DO damage your brain, don't whine about it! You knew the risks, pay the piper.

by **banned** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:36 pm

....thought you folks would enjoy this reprint, from CannabisCulture.com. <a href="http://cannabisculture.com/articles/3136.html">cannabisculture.com/articles/3136.html</a> Bet the real fundies would blow a gasket to think their precious Christmas traditions were actually all about 'shrooms! "The psychedelic secrets of Santa Claus by Dana Larsen (18 Dec, 2003) Modern Christmas traditions are based on ancient mushroom-using shamans. Although most people see Christmas as a Christian holiday, most of the symbols and icons we associate with Christmas celebrations are actually derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribal peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe. The sacred mushroom of these people was the red and white amanita muscaria mushroom, also known as "fly agaric." These mushrooms are now commonly seen in books of fairy tales, and are usually associated with magic and fairies. This is because they contain potent hallucinogenic compounds, and were used by ancient peoples for insight and transcendental experiences. Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms. The world tree These ancient peoples, including the Lapps of modern-day Finland, and the Koyak tribes of the central Russian steppes, believed in the idea of a World Tree. The World Tree was seen as a kind of cosmic axis, onto which the planes of the universe are fixed. The roots of the World Tree stretch down into the underworld, its trunk is the "middle earth" of everyday existence, and its branches reach upwards into the heavenly realm. The amanita muscaria mushrooms grow only under certain types of trees, mostly firs and evergreens. The mushroom caps are the fruit of the larger mycelium beneath the soil which exists in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the tree. To ancient people, these mushrooms were literally "the fruit of the tree." The North Star was also considered sacred, since all other stars in the sky revolved around its fixed point. They associated this "Pole Star" with the World Tree and the central axis of the universe. The top of the World Tree touched the North Star, and the spirit of the shaman would climb the metaphorical tree, thereby passing into the realm of the gods. This is the true meaning of the star on top of the modern Christmas tree, and also the reason that the super-shaman Santa makes his home at the North Pole. Ancient peoples were amazed at how these magical mushrooms sprang from the earth without any visible seed. They considered this "virgin birth" to have been the result of the morning dew, which was seen as the semen of the deity. The silver tinsel we drape onto our modern Christmas tree represents this divine fluid. Reindeer games The active ingredients of the amanita mushrooms are not metabolized by the body, and so they remain active in the urine. In fact, it is safer to drink the urine of one who has consumed the mushrooms than to eat the mushrooms directly, as many of the toxic compounds are processed and eliminated on the first pass through the body. It was common practice among ancient people to recycle the potent effects of the mushroom by drinking each other's urine. The amanita's ingredients can remain potent even after six passes through the human body. Some scholars argue that this is the origin of the phrase "to get pissed," as this urine-drinking activity preceded alcohol by thousands of years. Reindeer were the sacred animals of these semi-nomadic people, as the reindeer provided food, shelter, clothing and other necessities. Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita mushrooms; they will seek them out, then prance about while under their influence. Often the urine of tripped-out reindeer would be consumed for its psychedelic effects. This effect goes the other way too, as reindeer also enjoy the urine of a human, especially one who has consumed the mushrooms. In fact, reindeer will seek out human urine to drink, and some tribesmen carry sealskin containers of their own collected piss, which they use to attract stray reindeer back into the herd. The effects of the amanita mushroom usually include sensations of size distortion and flying. The feeling of flying could account for the legends of flying reindeer, and legends of shamanic journeys included stories of winged reindeer, transporting their riders up to the highest branches of the World Tree. Santa Claus, super shaman Although the modern image of Santa Claus was created at least in part by the advertising department of Coca-Cola, in truth his appearance, clothing, mannerisms and companions all mark him as the reincarnation of these ancient mushroom-gathering shamans. One of the side effects of eating amanita mushrooms is that the skin and facial features take on a flushed, ruddy glow. This is why Santa is always shown with glowing red cheeks and nose. Even Santa's jolly "Ho, ho, ho!" is the euphoric laugh of one who has indulged in the magic fungus. Santa also dresses like a mushroom gatherer. When it was time to go out and harvest the magical mushrooms, the ancient shamans would dress much like Santa, wearing red and white fur-trimmed coats and long black boots. These peoples lived in dwellings made of birch and reindeer hide, called "yurts." Somewhat similar to a teepee, the yurt's central smokehole is often also used as an entrance. After gathering the mushrooms from under the sacred trees where they appeared, the shamans would fill their sacks and return home. Climbing down the chimney-entrances, they would share out the mushroom's gifts with those within. The amanita mushroom needs to be dried before being consumed; the drying process reduces the mushroom's toxicity while increasing its potency. The shaman would guide the group in stringing the mushrooms and hanging them around the hearth-fire to dry. This tradition is echoed in the modern stringing of popcorn and other items. The psychedelic journeys taken under the influence of the amanita were also symbolized by a stick reaching up through the smokehole in the top of the yurt. The smokehole was the portal where the spirit of the shaman exited the physical plane. Santa's famous magical journey, where his sleigh takes him around the whole planet in a single night, is developed from the "heavenly chariot," used by the gods from whom Santa and other shamanic figures are descended. The chariot of Odin, Thor and even the Egyptian god Osiris is now known as the Big Dipper, which circles around the North Star in a 24-hour period. In different versions of the ancient story, the chariot was pulled by reindeer or horses. As the animals grow exhausted, their mingled spit and blood falls to the ground, forming the amanita mushrooms. St Nicholas and Old Nick Saint Nicholas is a legendary figure who supposedly lived during the fourth Century. His cult spread quickly and Nicholas became the patron saint of many varied groups, including judges, pawnbrokers, criminals, merchants, sailors, bakers, travelers, the poor, and children. Most religious historians agree that St Nicholas did not actually exist as a real person, and was instead a Christianized version of earlier Pagan gods. Nicholas' legends were mainly created out of stories about the Teutonic god called Hold Nickar, known as Poseidon to the Greeks. This powerful sea god was known to gallop through the sky during the winter solstice, granting boons to his worshippers below. When the Catholic Church created the character of St Nicholas, they took his name from "Nickar" and gave him Poseidon's title of "the Sailor." There are thousands of churches named in St Nicholas' honor, most of which were converted from temples to Poseidon and Hold Nickar. (As the ancient pagan deities were demonized by the Christian church, Hold Nickar's name also became associated with Satan, known as "Old Nick!") Local traditions were incorporated into the new Christian holidays to make them more acceptable to the new converts. To these early Christians, Saint Nicholas became a sort of "super-shaman" who was overlaid upon their own shamanic cultural practices. Many images of Saint Nicholas from these early times show him wearing red and white, or standing in front of a red background with white spots, the design of the amanita mushroom. St Nicholas also adopted some of the qualities of the legendary "Grandmother Befana" from Italy, who filled children's stockings with gifts. Her shrine at Bari, Italy, became a shrine to St Nicholas. Modern world, ancient traditions Some psychologists have discussed the "cognitive dissonance" which occurs when children are encouraged to believe in the literal existence of Santa Claus, only to have their parents' lie revealed when they are older. By so deceiving our children we rob them of a richer heritage, for the actual origin of these ancient rituals is rooted deep in our history and our collective unconscious. By better understanding the truths within these popular celebrations, we can better understand the modern world, and our place in it. Many people in the modern world have rejected Christmas as being too commercial, claiming that this ritual of giving is actually a celebration of materialism and greed. Yet the true spirit of this winter festival lies not in the exchange of plastic toys, but in celebrating a gift from the earth: the fruiting top of a magical mushroom, and the revelatory experiences it can provide. Instead of perpetuating outdated and confusing holiday myths, it might be more fulfilling to return to the original source of these seasonal celebrations. How about getting back to basics and enjoying some magical mushrooms with your loved ones this solstice? What better gift can a family share than a little piece of love and enlightenment?"

by **Col Quisp** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:44 pm

So much for last word on the subject. I found this site : <a href="http://www.maps.org/">www.maps.org/</a> devoted to the study of psychedelics. Haven't found any information on DNA alteration yet, but there is a lot of material there. Here's a description of an MDMA study underway: <blockquote>Quote:<hr> MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Investigators: Michael Mithoefer, MD Location: Charleston, South Carolina Sponsor: MAPS Contact: Michael Mithoefer, MD The protocol was approved by FDA on November 2, 2001. The protocol was modified in June 2002 when FDA approved the move of the location of the treatment sessions to Dr. Mithoefer's office. In July 2002, the Western IRB approved the protocol, only to revoke approval in September 2002 as a result of internal pressure. In response to an appeal by MAPS, which included 12 letters of support for the protocol from scientists around the world, the Western IRB refused to review the underlying scientific data, decided the study was too controversial, withdrew from the review and returned all fees paid by MAPS. On September 23, 2003, a new IRB approved the protocol after a three month review process. The DEA issued Dr. Mithoefer his Schedule I license on February 24th, 2004, nearly a year and a half after he applied for it. This study is now fully approved and underway. Nine subjects have completed the study so far, and the tenth has undergone the second of two experimental (MDMA or placebo) sessions. The Data Safety Monitoring Board has since met, as scheduled, to review the study records and has reported that they have no safety concerns. They recommended that the study continue without modification.<hr></blockquote> Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=colquisp>Col Quisp</A> at: 12/16/05 8:50 pm

by **Col Quisp** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:52 pm

Here's more from MAPS: <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Dr. Albert Hofmann will celebrate his 100th birthday on January 11, 2006! A major international conference will be held in Basel to honor Dr. Hofmann. Dr. Hofmann first synthesized LSD-25 in 1938 while working at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel Switzerland. He became the first person to discover its psychedelic effects on April 16, 1943. MAPS is working hard to start FDA-approved research with LSD and psilocybin in subjects with cluster headaches so that Dr. Hofmann can witness the resumption of LSD research and the beginnings of the transformation of his 'problem child' into a 'wonder child'. <hr></blockquote>

by **Col Quisp** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:09 am

Here's a profound discovery resulting from LSD reported in August 2004: Copyright 2004 Associated Newspapers Ltd. Mail on Sunday (London) August 8, 2004 FRANCIS CRICK, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced the double-helix structure of DNA nearly 50 years ago. The abrasive and unorthodox Crick and his brilliant American co-researcher James Watson famously celebrated their eureka moment in March 1953 by running from the now legendary Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge to the nearby Eagle pub, where they announced over pints of bitter that they had discovered the secret of life. snip 'Dick Kemp told me he met Francis Crick at Cambridge. Crick had told him that some Cambridge academics used LSD in tiny amounts as a thinking tool, to liberate them from preconceptions and let their genius wander freely to new ideas. Crick told him he had perceived the double-helix shape while on LSD. 'It was clear that Dick Kemp was highly impressed and probably bowled over by what Crick had told him. He told me that if a man like Crick, who had gone to the heart of human existence, had used LSD, then it was worth using. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=colquisp>Col Quisp</A> at: 12/16/05 9:12 pm

by **monster** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:23 am

the inventor of the Polymerase Chain Reaction DNA amplification technique, came up with the idea while he was *high* taking a leisurely drive through California.

by **Pants Elk** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 7:42 am

Whoah, Quisp!! Excellent find!! I've experienced some kind of "molecular level" vision while on LSD (as I'm sure you have), but here's a guy who knew what he was looking at ... mindblowing. Other inventions created under LSD include: The Spacehopper, Silly Putty, Pet Rocks, the Brandenberg Concertos, Rouen Cathedral, Naugahyde, those chopsticks still joined at the hip you get in Chinese restaurants, anarchism, inflatable sneakers, the Thighmaster, and large portions of downtown Poughkeepsie, particularly the railway station. We rest our case. (Oh, and if you want an on-topic post from me, here it is; I don't know. Sorry, that's the best I can do!)

by **rain** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:34 am

Double-helix double cross? Biographer looks into charges that Nobel winners stole woman's DNA work - Reviewed by Rebecca Skloot Sunday, November 10, 2002 Rosalind Franklin The Dark Lady of DNA By Brenda Maddox HARPERCOLLINS; 400 Pages; $29.95 When I learned about DNA in an undergraduate genetics class, my instructor paced back and forth on the podium, telling the story of James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins -- the men who won the Nobel Prize for discovering the structure of DNA in 1953. But there was a catch, she told us. Those men didn't discover DNA's structure at all; they stole it from a King's College scientist named Rosalind Franklin, then let her die in obscurity, never giving her the credit due for her work. Franklin's story, passed from generation to generation, has helped turn her into a symbol of the feminist struggle. Now, in her new biography, "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA," Brenda Maddox has done a great service to science and history by giving this story a serious journalistic treatment. In the process, she's created what will surely become known as the definitive Franklin biography. Maddox has long been interested in stories of unsung but vital women who influence the lives of creative men. She has written provocative, convincing books that re-examine the familiar biographies of such writers as James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence and William Butler Yeats, in light of their powerfully important wives, Nora Joyce, Frieda Lawrence and George Yeats. What she reveals in each case is these women's profound influence, sometimes amounting to a virtual co- authorship, that is seldom acknowledged elsewhere. In many ways, this makes Maddox the ideal biographer for Franklin, though given her past work, it might seem that she would approach this story with an agenda: to prove the Franklin story of a woman wronged by men. But in addition to her intensive research and attention to detail, one of Maddox's most impressive accomplishments is the rigor with which she views her subject. "Rosalind Franklin has become a feminist icon, the Sylvia Plath of molecular biology, the woman whose gifts were sacrificed to the greater glory of the male," writes Maddox. "Yet this mythologizing, intended to be reparative, has done her no favours." In telling Franklin's story, Maddox shows that there was more to Franklin's life than a battle over the structure of DNA and, in the process, she brings to life a brilliant, somewhat tortured woman -- arrogant, often unhappy and unpleasant to those around her and struggling against a culture in which men viewed women as inferior. Born into an Anglo-Jewish London family in 1920, Franklin was immediately recognized as an "alarmingly clever" girl. Her cold, aggressive father found it unfortunate that of his four children, the girl turned out to be the "brightest and most determined," and she resisted family pressures to settle into the role of a traditional woman. Much of her early life -- especially her struggle to become a scientist -- sheds light on the strange and often adversarial relationships she developed with most men. But excessive biographical detail, which is often dry and dense, weighs down the first quarter of the book. Perhaps because Franklin, who died at 37, never had much of a life outside of her science, the book doesn't become engaging until it begins exploring her scientific life. Franklin used X-rays to determine the structures and functions of crystals. Initially, she did extensive work on coal, and by age 29, she was headed toward an impressive career, with nine research articles already published in peer-reviewed journals. After moving to a lab at King's College, she was instructed to begin working with crystallized DNA. Franklin made impressive contributions to early X-ray crystallography by fine-tuning instrumentation, and through her photos, she was the first to show that there were two forms of DNA (the A and B forms). She was at King's College for only 27 months, but there she found herself in the middle of a viciously competitive race to identify the structure of DNA. But Franklin was no innocent bystander. She insulted her colleagues by calling them "so middle class," she glared and snapped at them if they entered her lab or came too close to her data, and two colleagues claim she came after them threatening physical attacks. In many ways, she was a worthy opponent for Watson, who is famous for his condescension and aggression and whose patronizing attitude toward women was something she spent her lifetime fighting in others. Though Franklin was clearly difficult to work with, readers will probably come away sympathetic to her, as the author is. We watch her struggle to develop personal relationships, especially with men, with whom she succeeds only on occasion and never beyond friendship. And we watch her fight in vain to keep her research to herself, only to stand at conferences and give it all away in her talks. That was precisely how Watson first learned of her work. As the story goes, Franklin took a now-famous X-ray image of DNA that showed its double helix structure, then her colleague Wilkins stole it from her and gave it maliciously to Watson and Crick. In fact, according to Maddox, Wilkins tried to collaborate with Franklin for years, though she spurned him. Eventually, he began talking with Watson and Crick about the DNA work in his lab (including Franklin's). He felt free to discuss details because neither Watson nor Crick were working on the DNA structure. But once Watson saw Franklin's pictures, he immediately saw that they showed the structure of DNA and rushed to create a model and publish it. Though Franklin had developed her images of DNA months earlier, she hadn't published them. As Maddox writes, "In the excitement of discovery it seems to have escaped [Watson's and Crick's] notice that while Rosalind's work was fundamental to the discovery, she had not been consulted on its use." Franklin spent countless hours working in the dark with X-ray beams, shunning protective gear, working sometimes directly in the beam. When she developed large invasive tumors on both of her ovaries, she stayed away from the lab only long enough for surgery and worked in the lab until just before her death. Surprisingly, Maddox never draws a connection between Franklin's unbelievable radiation exposure in the lab and the cancer that killed her. This is a surprising oversight, though minor in light of Maddox's overall achievement. Rebecca Skloot is a biotech and life sciences editor at Popular Science magazine. Her book, "HeLa: The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks," is forthcoming from Times Books ©2005 San Francisco Chronicle <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/10/RV180325.DTL">www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ar...180325.DTL</a>

by **hanshan** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:18 pm

interesting contributions all on a truly fascinating subject highly instructive reads: <a href="http://www.drugwar.com/leopards.shtm" target="top">Drug War: Covert Money, Power & Policy: Leopards</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>The Bolivian Cocaine Coup of 1980 was not a lasting achievement. It was simply too transparent. Carter's State Department raised hell, as did Congress, the more politic elements of Carter's DEA, the OAS, the enormously powerful Catholic Church and the Bolivian labor confederations. The U.S. withdrew all overt military and economic aid. This caused another three cosmetic coups, which were seen for the shams they were. So, in October 1982, Hernán Siles-Zuazo, who had been duly elected in June of 1980, was allowed to resume the presidency. This enabled the Reagan administration to resume "anti-narcotics" aid to the Bolivian Army. Siles-Zuaso, President from 1956-1960, had been a leader of the 1952 social revolution.<hr></blockquote> Watchdog challenges U.S. drug war in Colombia - C.J. Schexnayder, Chronicle Foreign Service Wednesday, December 7, 2005 <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Bogota, Colombia -- A U.S. government report to be released next week raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the multibillion-dollar U.S. anti-drug campaign in Colombia, despite moves by the Bush administration to extend the program. The 52-page report by the Government Accountability Office, an advance copy of which has been obtained by The Chronicle, challenges administration conclusions that the drug interdiction effort known as Plan Colombia -- a five-year program that ends this year -- has reduced the amount of cocaine available in the United States.<hr></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center"><a href="http://www.drugwar.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/2/CategoryID/1000/SubCatID/0/file.htm" target="top">Drug War: Covert Money, Power & Policy </a> by Dan Russell</div> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>'Dan Russell is a paradigm shifter of the first order. This is a book that gives the world a whole new way to understand the cosmology of drugs, intelligence, shamanism, spirituality, assassination and war. If I had to pick five books to keep as the best understanding of the insanity, profit motive, Wall Street-driving, prison-industry-sustaining, intelligence-agency-protected system this would be one of them. An absolute must read for anyone coming from a legal, law enforcement or academic background. More than 1300 footnotes leave no stone unturned and a new dimension opened. Anyone who wants to understand the real issues raised by drugs and the drug war cannot afford to bypass this seminal work.' Michael C. Ruppert, former LAPD narcotics investigator; anti-CIA activist; publisher/editor - From The Wilderness @ www.copvcia.com 675 pages, 420 illustrations, paperback, $34.95, less 15%, Free Shipping <hr></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center">Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda Patriarchy and the Drug War by Dan Russell</div> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Discusses the archetypal aspects of the drug war - the evolutionary politics of the transition from tribal to industrial culture. It is true ancient history. The text is illuminated by 200 genuine pharmaco-shamanic images from the ancient world. Herbal magic, real pharmaco-shamanism, is at the core of all matriarchal cultures. The Goddess does not separate from her herbal magic, from her invention of medicine. The central sacrament of all Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures known is an inebriative herb, a plant totem, which became metaphoric of the communal epiphany. These herbs, herbal concoctions and herbal metaphors are at the heart of all mythologies. They include such familiar images as the Burning Bush, the Tree of Life, the Cross, the Golden Bough, the Forbidden Fruit, the Blood of Christ, the Blood of Dionysos, the Holy Grail (or rather its contents), the Chalice (Kalyx:'flower cup'), the Golden Flower (Chrysanthemon), Ambrosia (Ambrotos:'immortal'), Nectar (Nektar:'overcomes death'), the Sacred Lotus, the Golden Apples, the Mystic Mandrake, the Mystic Rose, the Divine Mushroom (teonanacatl), the Divine Water Lily, Soma, Ayahuasca ('Vine of the Soul'), Kava, Iboga, Mama Coca and Peyote Woman. The transition from tribal to patriarchal culture - the invention of chattel slavery - changed the sanctioned interpretation of this imagery and criminalized the power-rites to which it referred. <hr></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center">A Biochemical Bridge to the Embodied Psyche: LSD Research 1945-1965 Kim Hewitt</div> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Cultural context influences how we interpret experiences. Prior to knowledge about the biochemical component of mental illness -- and prior to knowledge about changes in perception and cognition induced by psychedelics -- how would we have interpreted the following report?<hr></blockquote> navigating Poughkeepsie at night... <img src="http://www.poughkeepsieday.org/news_files/images/midsummers.jpg " style="border:0;"/> cool rain; see <a href="http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/2ndsex.htm" target="top">Simone be Beauvoir & Sartre</a> <a href="http://www.dividingline.com/private/Philosophy/Philosophers/Beau/beau.shtml" target="top">"In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed or oppressing, resigned or rebellious, a man among men."</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sand" target="top">George Sand</a> <a href="http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/biography/BiographyofGeorgeSand/chap10.html" target="top">& Chopin</a> <img src="http://www.villamedici-giulini.it/Eventi/Concerti/Images/George%20Sand.jpg" style="border:0;"/> ....

by **hanshan** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:36 pm

Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda Patriarchy and the Drug War by Dan Russell <a href="http://www.drugwar.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/6/CategoryID/1000/SubCatID/0/file.htm" target="top">www.drugwar.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/6/CategoryID/1000/SubCatID/0/file.htm</a> Published on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 by the San Francisco Chronicle Watchdog Challenges U.S. Drug War in Colombia  by C.J. Schexnayder <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1207-07.htm" target="top">www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1207-07.htm</a> A Biochemical Bridge to the Embodied Psyche: LSD Research 1945-1965 Kim Hewitt <a href="http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v09n1/09130hew.html" target="top">www.maps.org/news-letters/v09n1/09130hew.html</a> <img src="http://web.stlawu.edu/gallery/images/a150889.jpg" style="border:0;"/> <img src="http://www.kaleidos.net/HMerliac/image/226mlc00h.jpg" style="border:0;"/> ..

by **Col Quisp** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:13 pm

Hey Hanshan, Where'dja get those cool pics?

by **professorpan** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:13 pm

I love the Pablo Amaringo paintings, hanshan. There's a *very* interesting essay about the UFOs found in his paintings: <a href="http://deoxy.org/ayalien.htm">deoxy.org/ayalien.htm</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>The spaceship motif has an important place in Pablo's visions. As we saw earlier, when the curandera who cured his sister gave him ayahuasca, Pablo saw a huge flying saucer making a tremendous noise that made him panic (Vision 7). Don Manuel Amaringo, Pablo's older brother, has a similar story. He told me - with tears in his eyes - that the main icaro he employed to cure many people he learned from a fairy called Altos Cielos Nieves Tenebrosas, who came in a blue spaceship: She asked me: 'Do you want to listen to my song?' She sang and that song I have always kept in my heart. In spite of the frequency with which Pablo depicts spaceships, he is sparse in his commentary about them. Pablo says that these vehicles may take many shapes, are able to attain infinite speed, and can travel underwater or under the earth. The beings travelling in them are like spirits, having bodies more subtle than ours, appearing and disappearing at will. They belong to advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that live in perfect harmony. Great Amerindian civilizations like the Maya, Tiahuanaco, and Inca had contact with these beings. Pablo says that he saw in his journeys with ayahuasca that the Maya knew about this brew, and that they left for other worlds at some point in their history, but are about to return to this planet. In fact he says that some of the flying saucers seen by people today are piloted by Maya wise men.[48]<hr></blockquote>

by **hanshan** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:01 pm

re: Pablo Amaringo Col Quisp - take your pic <a href="http://images.google.com/images?q=Pablo+Amaringo&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images" target="top">images.google.com/images?q=Pablo+Amaringo&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images</a> yeah, Prof, he's pretty cool tx for the link Mayan pilots <img src="http://radio.weblogs.com/0123486/images/9.10.05/pablo_amaringo2.jpg" style="border:0;"/> Huichol do some beautiful work as well: <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://modena.intergate.ca/personal/davidj/Resources/p100.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://modena.intergate.ca/personal/davidj/huichol.html&h=166&w=220&sz=13&tbnid=fMskBAsTTuYeOM:&tbnh=76&tbnw=102&hl=en&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3DHuichol%2Bart%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D" target="top"><img src="http://modena.intergate.ca/personal/davidj/Resources/p100.jpeg" style="border:0;"/></a> ...

by **Col Quisp** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:06 pm

Those are great paintings! Awesome-o! Somebody was asking about WS Burroughs on another thread -- didn't he experiment with yage? Or did he never find it? I remember he went to Mexico in search of it.

by **professorpan** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:44 pm

<img src="http://radio.weblogs.com/0123486/images/9.10.05/pablo_amaringo2.jpg" style="border:0;"/> <img src="http://www.searchingforagem.com/Pictures/GH1USPoster.jpg" style="border:0;"/> More on Burroughs and Yage: http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca_writings2.shtml

Hancock on drugs, entities, DNA

A childish mindset grounded in denial...

Just to show there's no hard feelings...

Ahem, Back to the topic at hand

Re: Hancock on drugs, entities, DNA

DNA was discovered on LSD

Kary Mullis,

DNAANDLSD

re:dna and lsd

re:dna/lsd/MAPS

re:links/oops

Re: re:links/oops

Re: re:links/oops

re; the territory is/isn't the maps

Re: re; the territory is/isn't the maps

Coincidence?

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