In A Perfect World

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In which experiential journalist Rak Razam dialogues with Professor Diana Slattery of the McKenna Chair of Xenolinguistics at the Institute for the Encouragement of Outrageous Ideas. Slattery is one of the world's foremost experts on the art of alien languages or xenolinguistics, and in this fascinating interview Razam and Slattery speak the unspeakable about the linguistic phenomena of the psychedelic experience. What if on some level we are made of sound? What if in the beginning was the Word? Is language itself a cosmic app downloaded and upgraded by higher consciousness? How can we translate and anchor multidimensional experiences into our baseline understanding, and can doing so transform our DNA and reality? Slattery's thesis, expounded in her forthcoming book: Xenolinguistics: Psychedelics & Language at the Edge of the Unspeakable, involves interior dialogues with the Other, whether framed as the voice of the Logos, an alien download, or communion with ancestors and spirits.  Sentient visual languages are encountered, their forms unrelated to the representation of speech in natural language writing systems. Slattery constructs a theoretical model of linguistic phenomena encountered in the psychedelic sphere for the field of altered states of consciousness research (ASCR). She has also received and anchored the Glide Oracle, a higher dimensional, gestural glyph language now available as an app on the iPhone. Turn on, tune in, and go translinguistic in this seminal interview. For more information see Slattery's website: Psychedelics and Language.

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Photo credit: Tim Girvin, art: Gerhard Hillman

Experiential journalist Rak Razam chats with the world's premier mycologist,Paul Stamets, at the Uplift festival, Dec 22, 2012, about the whole systems theory of nature that the mycelium networks of the mushrooms point towards. Stamets describes his pioneering work with fungi and how that has affected his own worldview, from his own shamanic-style initiation as a teenager, to his work with bio-remediation and introducing fungi as bio-tools for corporate and government scientific use, and the cultural clashes that has engendered. Can Western culture drop it's mycophobic reaction towards mushrooms and embrace the healing benefits of these substances? Can we integrate the psychedelic benefits as well as the physical ones? Is the mushroom "earth's natural internet" as Stamens describes, and what does that mean to our scientific worldview, and a network-based future?

Click here for more information on Paul Stamets and his Ted Talk.

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam hosts a panel at Eclipse festival 2012 on November 16, 2012 with sacred feminine facilitator Beata Alfoldi, Undergrowth director and visionary-filmmaker Tim Parish, Jungian therapist Jeremiah Abrams, shamanic practitioner Darpan and rites of passage commentator Sobey Wing. So Dec 21st, 2012 came and went, and life goes on. What are our tribal strategies to use this time of transition as a planetary initiation? What contingency plans do we need to entertain, how will we cope if the mainstream world continues its path towards austerity, surveillance, dictatorship and environmental ruin? Can we as individuals, as well as a community, retain our integrity of vision for a world worth living in? Can we take strategic advantage of the turbulent times to chart a new course for a sustainable future in 2013–and beyond? What's our Plan B), 2013??? With thanks to Beau Deeley for modulating the raw festival audio into something slightly more listenable

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photo: La Chorrera, 1971, courtesy Dennis McKenna

Join experiential journalist Rak Razam in a frank and revealing interview with Dennis McKenna, on the cusp of his new book publication, The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss. Dennis discusses his early life with Terence and the unbreakable bond between his brother and he; living through the first wave of the psychedelic 1960s; the Experiment at La Chorerra (recounted in full, mind-blowing detail) and the fallout that still lingers to this day. The 2012 meme, Timewave Zero, ayahuasca and the Global Shamanic Resurgence are all examined at length, as is the passing of Terence and the impact on his family, and the entheogenic tribe. Dennis also discusses the perils and pitfalls of writing not just a memoir, but a critique of sorts on Terence, his ideas and legacy, and why he wanted to get this book out before Dec 21st, 2012.

With additional commentary by Australian shamanic practitioner, Darpan.

To read Dennis' book click here: The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss

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(aka the last 2012 panel discussion ever!)

photo: Adam Taylor

The Hopi Indian myths tell of a final age of Mankind, where a RAINBOW TRIBE shall appear of all peoples, all colors as one. The Mayans have their cosmogenesis telling of the shift coming in 2012, when the the Fifth World is born, even Australian Aborigines have their DREAMTIME mythos. 
Ethnobotanist and philosopher Terence McKenna helped fuel the idea of Dec 21st, 2012 as a 'Strange Attractor at the End of Time'... And here we all are, the latest in a long line of youth cultures affected by our relationship with the Earth and the deeper, Gaian consciousness that birthed us... Is Global Trance Culture a bridge between previous youth movements and something even older peaking in waves throughout His-story? What can we do to sacralize our dance, to empower our hearts, and to connect with these potent times to make a difference? Are we the ones we've been waiting for…?

Join experiential journalist Rak Razam on this provocative tribal discussion panel held Thursday 15th Nov, 2011 at the Eclipse 2012 Festival in Far North Queensland, Australia, with guest speakers Even Dawn, Mark Heley, Chiara Beclu, Maha Lakshmi Grace and Charles Shaw.

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Without the moral compass of a connection to the spiritual dimension are we a lost tribe on the brink of extinction? As Western civilization slides into the Kali Yuga of materialism and a denatured relationship with nature, can examples from previous earth-based cultures show us the way forward? Is the return of the feminine and the Goddess part of the rebalancing, and if so why is it mainly men that are entheogenic spokespeople? What role have psychedelics played in the evolution of human imagination? What is the link between mystical experiences, neuroscience and parallel dimensions? Are we on the cusp of making the great leap forward into an evolved consciousness, and what does that mean to be aware of our place in the web of life?

A provocative panel discussion held at the Brisbane Origins of Consciousness tour Thursday 18th October, 2012 with Graham Hancock, Dennis McKenna, Mitch Schultz, Darpan, Des Tramacchi, Dan Schreiber and Rak Razam, facilitated by Steve McDonald. Image courtesy of Lost Tribes and EGA. For more info see Graham's website and also his YouTube channel , and see his alternative news desk for your daily news.

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam meets the world's leading experiential author and researcher, Graham Hancock, as they explore the "fingerprints of the gods" in the archeological record from the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Sphinx and more. Was there an 'Ur-Race' that predated the historical record, so altered by the 'achitecture of cataclysm', and how does that relate to the use of psychedelics in ancient cultures? Was mankind blessed with greater powers in connection with the earth and stars, and are we nowdays a species with amnesia? Is there a conspiracy at work flatlining the true story of our past, and what agenda does controlling history serve? Are we now entering the 'End of His-Story', and the beginning of a new world age? And if so, how can we best awaken to our full potential, to step up to our role as galactic citizens?

For more information: see
Graham's website and also his YouTube
channel , and see his alternative
news desk for your daily news.

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In ancient days the sun was worshiped as a living entity, life giver and destroyer all wrapped in one… Entire cultures sacrificed and fed energy to the sun, understanding that the delicate cosmic web must be maintained, and that the process of life works both ways… As we near the time of galactic alignment on Dec 21st 2012, the sun and our solar system has risen above the galactic plane and are now being bombarded with intense galactic energies. The sun is changing, waking, and the earth is following suit, as solar flares affect our magnetic field and change consciousness itself. Join experiential journalist Rak Razam, shamanic practitioner Darpan and the visionary founder of Starseed Gardens Dan Schreiber in an intimate tribal discussion about the living sun and its connection to the sun within, how to cleanse and heal our energy bodies and the assist the process of true illumination.

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Josh Davis, founder of the Human Mandala Project, an ambitious living sculpture based on yoga principles and made of fractaling human beings. According to ancient vedic tradition the body can be a building block opening energetic portals within, and when combined with other bodies in sacred geometries a deeper morphic connection can be revealed. Can the group mind be engendered in the group body? What are the potential of these gestalt organisms in yoga, festival and trance cultures around the world? Like Dr. Emoto and the water crystals, can conscious intent placed into and through these flesh sculptures radiate into the world? Is the 'humandala' the next step towards a hive mind consciousness like insects have? As the species fractal flowers, what can we become?

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam hosts a provocative panel discussion from the 2012 Nimbin Mardi Grass on strategic responses to the War on Nature's ally, marijuana. In 1973, almost 40 years ago, the laconic Australian town of Nimbin was first “occupied” by the Aquarius Festival, and twenty years later in 1992, Bob Hopkins heralded the next “occupy” cycle with his one-man protest-surrender at Nimbin police station. Where are the politics of change in 2012 - locally, nationally and internationally? What has evolved, for the better or the worse, over the last four decades? Is 2012 the beginning of a new wave of drug law reform activism? Is there anything to learn from the successes of other political/social movements who have also struggled for fairness and justice? This special 2-hour panel is for organisations and individuals to share their plans, visions and information about their activities, as well as providing an opportunity for seeding synergies and alliances.

With PANELISTS: Graham Askey [Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party], Stephanie Barlow [Happy Herb Company], Paul Cubitt [Law Enforcement Against Prohibition], Mamakind [Cannabis Campaigner, Journalist and Author], Annie Madden [Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League], Steve McDonald [Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine], Moose [Cannabis Campaigner], Jim Moylan [Civil Liberties Observer Group], Matt Riley [Independent Activist], Ann Symonds [Founder, Australian Parliamentary Group on Drug Law Reform], Dr Alex Wodak [Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation].

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam talks with independent researcher, author and lecturer Jan Irvin from Gnostic Media about his forthcoming documentary on Gordon Wasson, influential New York banker and the godfather of the modern psychedelic movement. According to the historical record Wasson, an amateur mycologist, first 'discovered' 'magic' mushrooms via Maria Sabina in Oaxaca, Mexico in 1955, the account of which was published in the seminal LIFE magazine on May 13, 1957. Irvin, however has uncovered documentary evidence which points to the possibility of a secret history of the mushroom in the elite power structures of the West, and to the life and times of Gordon Wasson himself. What would it mean to history if the mushroom's true story, at the foundations of world religions, came to light? Does Wasson's entrenched position within the power elites of the banking and establishment world reflect an ongoing fixation with the mushroom and other mind altering sacraments within their own ranks, and in their approach to controlling the illumination of the masses? The sacred and the profane is all revealed in this in-depth, lively discussion that shakes the foundations of psychedelic history.

For more info see Jan Irvin's detailed research at: Gnostic Media

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In this continuation of In a Perfect World 33, experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews author and academic Robert Forte about the origins of the Psychedelic Movement and manipulation by the power elites as a social engineering tool for control of the dominant paradigm. This far-ranging discussion covers Huxley, Wasson, Hofmann, Leary et.al and the social milieu and the role of the CIA and elite steering of the dissemination of psychedelics in the West and the vested interests behind them that have culminated in the global police state that confronts us today. The medical, spiritual and religious arms of the movement are dissected in light of the political agendas that control civilization, as Forte and Razam examine the revolution of the 60s and the revolutionary times we now live through. They ask the critical question: is the commodification of the modern psychedelic movement a prelude to global Soma, and can individuals awaken to their own cosmic sovereignty before it's too late?

ROBERT FORTE, AMRS, began his work with psychedelics as a student of Stanislav Grof and Frank Barron, cofounder of the Harvard Psilocybin Project. He obtained his master’s degree under Mircea Eliade and has collaborated with many of the leaders in the field of psychedelics, including R. Gordon Wasson, Timothy Leary, and Huston Smith. A former director of the Albert Hofmann Foundation, he teaches at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Forte's seminal book, Entheogens and the Future of Religion, with contributions by Albert Hofmann, R. Gordon Wasson, Jack Kornfield, Terence McKenna, the Shulgins, Rick Strassman, and others is now back in print, with all proceeds going to support the Council on Spiritual Practices work with psilocybin research.

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam chats with "radical anthropologist" and global freakologist Graham St John about the evolution and current direction of Global Trance Culture. With origins in the 60s Acid Tests and the legendary Goa beach parties, the archaic revival of psychedelic trance and dance and group mind has blossomed into a cathartic Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ) in almost every modern culture across the planet. Why is this revival of tribality so important and what human need is fulfilled in the psychic moshpit of the dancefloor? How does an anthropological perspective inform these liminal zones and does trance culture itself point towards some gestalt consciousness awakening in the species?

Graham's latest book,
Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance will be published by Equinox Press in June/July 2012 . Click here to download his first anthology on Australian doof culture, Free NRG: Notes from the Edge of the Dancefloor , which also contains the story by Rak Razam, "Directions to the Game".

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam talks with Kilindi, an African-American warrior-teacher who works with psilocybin mushrooms as entheogenic guides in the mapping of the inner realms. Where Terence McKenna posited five dried grams as the 'heroic dose', Kilindi regularly takes 20-30 dried grams and goes deeper than most people have experienced, right to the core bardos of existence. His background with martial arts /warfare training colors his approach to exploring innerspace, drawing upon his African ur-shamanism lineage. What are the dangers of colonizing the invisible landscape and encountering interdimensional entities? Could territorial battles result in a 'West Bank of hyperspace?' as humans found 'interdimensional villages'? Does the mushroom access an interdimensional library of translinguistic information that underpins our physical reality? Does it have an agenda and are we ourselves being absorbed by it's mycellium consciousness? Join this fascinating discussion about high doses towards an organic singularity as humans re-engineer themselves into higher consciousness by synergizing the morphenogenic field through the mycellium network…

For more information on Kilidi see: The Tamerrian Institute

Photo: Adam Taylor and mushroom pics Gerhard Hillman

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam hosts a panel discussion at Entheogenesis Australis on the 2012 date and the implications for entheogenic culture in the year ahead. Is there a 'strange attractor' at the End of Time that entheogens have been presaging? What do the plants and indigenous cultures say about this critical juncture in time? Can we #Occupy our Hearts and lend that energy to the social movements transforming the world? Should we prepare for the apocalypse, or awakening? Are we a culture ready to step forward into our local communities and facilitate change, and can we make a difference? If in plants we trust, how can we not? Ambient recording at the outdoor conference on Dec 4, 2011, with guests Steve Macdonald, Mitch Schultz, Margaret Cross, Joseph Gelfer, Dan Gooden and Dan Schreiber. Photo © Adam Taylor, 2011.

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A lecture given at the EntheoGenesis Australis Conference, Dec 3, 2011. At the height of the first wave of psychedelia Ken Kesey promoted the idea of the Next Step, which at the time he envisaged as "beyond acid". What if acid was merely the latest in a long line of entheogens secreted by the planet to regulate humans, and each one was merely a stepping-stone to the Gaian awareness of hyperdimensional connectivity? What if the Next Step was a post-human species upgrade seeded by entheogenesis, and synchronizing with the galactic alignment and intensified energetic bombardment? What if we all had it within us to be Gods, then what? In this provocative lecture experiential journalist Rak Razam weaves together strategic ideas from entheogenic elders and indigenous wisdom with the latest factual research from astrophysicists and other science to reveal the big picture of life on earth, the planetary changes we are now living through and the key role of entheogens as messengers and activators. The lecture has a particular examination of the notion of 'group mind' espoused by the Pranksters and the Grateful Dead and other psychedelic tribes of the 60s, the role of entheogens in creating that circuit of group consciousness, and why and how gestalt consciousness is a necessary evolutionary step that psychedelics and entheogens can empower. The NEXT STEP is a how-to handbook of strategic information for the current resurgence of planetary entheogenic culture to best understand itself and our place in the web of life, the 2012 target window of species opportunity, and how to successfully navigate the eschaton.

Time is short, and the way is hard. But the call of the Other is ringing in our genes. In Plants We Trust. Are you ready to take the NEXT STEP?

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To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the passing of the legendary Ken Kesey on Nov 10, 2001, experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Ken Babbs, one of the last Merry Pranksters, to chat about the life and impact of Kesey and his coterie on the counterculture of the 1960s–and the world. Discover the origin of the Pranksters' name and the first-hand account of their infamous 1964 journey across America in the day-glo bus 'Further', blazing the first wave of psychedelia behind them. Learn the only thing that ever slowed Neal Cassady down–and it's not what you think! From the Acid Tests to Goa and Global Trance Culture, the Pranksters' legacy expands beyond the party to a deeper understanding of reality itself, to the idea of Group Mind–and how to play the Game. Absorbed by history into the tapestry of American folk-lore, the story of these psychedelic pioneers has been recounted in the recent documentary Magic Trip by Magnolia Films. But here join master storyteller Ken Babbs as we learn why the psychedelic outlaws of yesteryear deserve to be remembered as the heroes of today.

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam gets all down-to-earth with Shane and Margaret, shamanic practitioners–not shamans!–in Australia trained in the Peruvian style with both Wachuma and Ayahuasca entheogenic sacraments, and part of the spiritual business of the second generation of the global shamanic resurgence. Hear their intimate stories of shamanic initiation and the challenges they and healers like them across the plantet face as they work their local communities. How much of the indigenous practice can be incorporated in the Western model without a type of spiritual imperialism encroaching? Shane and Margaret, affectionately known as "Mother" and "Father" by their clients, often young "chicks" under their wing, create space as the new elders to undergo classic initiation rites, as foretold by the Peruvian legend of the Eagle and the Condor. As the rise of Western Shamans continues are we seeing the rebirth of the Children of the Sun, or a mongrel spirituality? A laid-back, family conversation with mum and dad, not shamans. For more info see Circles Spaces and beyond Photo courtesy of EntheoGenesis Australis c 2009

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Join experiential journalist Rak Razam and his special guest 'Cleva Fela'–and his many children–in this unique character profile of a white man dreaming the indigenous Australian land and culture. 'Cleva Fellas' is a slang expression for medicine men in Aboriginal culture, and this Cleva Fela, whilst making no claims to the role, has spent years in the indigenous way of life, and shares with us here his experiences. Learn about the songlines, mobs, naming conventions, the dreaming clusters, the use of entheogenic plants and altered states of mind within a culture that already sees the world as an altered state of being. Cleva shares his initiation into the cultures of Australian aboriginals and the challenges of integrating their world view into our own, in this intimate family conversation held in Mullumbimby, NSW.

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You are cordially invited to the 50th podcast of In a Perfect World, for which experiential journalist Rak Razam hosts a dinner party unlike any other, held in these perilous times of planetary awakening in late July, 2011, or as is soon becoming apparent, the Edge of the Apocalypse. Joining us tonight are the Wizards of Oz: Darpan, global shamanic facilitator, Dan Schreiber, founder of Starseed Gardens in NNSW, Nen, perhaps the Grandmaster of Spice on the DMT-Nexus forums, and Kaiser Om, ruly zen master… On your menu in this epic conversation of fine minds and shamanic memes: * The origin of existence, and the nature of all things *Entheogenic plants, DMT and tryptamines in all their myriad forms as the chemical messengers of the earth * The shamanic revival and the hyperspatial experience as a precursor to species migration *Astronomical alignments, 2012 as a cosmic event, not a date; space weather, Comet Elenin and imminent planetary change *The End of Time, the Apocalypse or "lifting of the veil", the revealing of truth and the world as it really is * The secret to the mystery and the mystery of the secret… No delicacy shall be left untasted, no mind left unsatied. Join us in this rambunctious and insightful dialogue, in celebration, acceptance and love of this perfect world…

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Hey all, if you listen to my In a Perfect World podcasts please join the Facebook page and I'd love to discuss some of the content and ideas that are raised there with you xxx rak

Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Susan Joy Rennison, author of Tuning the Diamonds: Electromagnetism and Spiritual Evolution, and a physics and geophysics lecturer who focuses on the emerging science of space weather. Learn about solar flares, magnetars and cosmic rays coming from both galactic and universal sources that are bombarding our planet and causing severe earth changes from earthquakes to imminent pole shift. Rennison also documents the energetic catalyst fueling the consciousness leap in humans, as well as the DNA spike and discusses the scientific and metaphysical implications. Behind all this is an electrical universe, Rennison posits, with a plasma-based 'shadow biosphere' that is manifesting to take advantage of the increased energies on the planet, at once revealing and debunking classic UFO theory. She documents many under-reported scientific discoveries and a cover-up campaign by NASA and mainstream science in this far-ranging discussion that is essential listening to understand the changing times we live in and the root causes behind them. Listen... and be illuminated...

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Hey all, if you listen to my In a Perfect World podcasts please join the Facebook page and I'd love to discuss some of the content and ideas that are raised there with you xxx rak

Subversive independent documentary maker Ben Stewart, of The Esoteric Agenda and Kymatica fame talks with experiential journalist Rak Razam. What is the nature of media in todays social networked world, where millions of people download documentaries like Stewart's to explore the nature of reality? How does this 'subversive' infotainment change the hierarchical control and flow of information? As the 'conspiracy' stream evolves into a more whole system spiritual context, are these YouTube docos a rough type of digital mystery school, educating the global masses? Are these filmmakers fulfilling a shamanic need to bring to light repressed material for healing and transformation? Art is magic, so are DIY 'bedroom filmmakers' uploading a media spell to break the hold of Hollywood on the consciousness of the world? Is this the age of digital awakening?

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Experiential podcaster Rak Razam interviews Max Igan, 'memetic revolutionary' and podcaster of Surviving the Matrix on American Voice Radio and probes the intertwined issues of planetary awakening and control. As the illusion of democracy crumbles across the globe and a cancerous consumerism strip-mines the planet, are we on the verge of a New World Order of enslavement or enlightenment? Are they the two sides to a larger awareness? Just who profits from a dead earth, anyway? Can a new language give us words for concepts beyond revolution, or a Newspeak to entrain the left brain? Who writes the history books and how far back does the organized conspiracy we call history really go? Where did all the gold go and just who is the Central Intelligence whose eye is in the pyramid? Welcome to Planet Orwell (or is it All Well?), where everything you know is wrong, and the answers will provoke more questions…

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TURN ON, TUNE IN, EVOLVE… In the 1950s corporations used psychedelics as creativity tools... can modern companies – and strategic individuals – use psychedelics to help solve some of the most pressing problems of our time? Can a global psychedelic village think its way out of planetary crisis, or get back into Gaian union? Can we all have the shared vision of a psychedelic utopia if we all have different psychedelic experiences? Is psychedelic elitism a danger and is our grasping at utopias falling prey to it? Should we be dosing Steven Hawking, and the world intelligentsia or should they be volunteering for the front lines of consciousness expansion? With a sense of urgency building on planet earth, is a NEW type of psychedelic revolution our best hope for planetary survival? Experiential journalist Rak Razam asks this provocative question to a panel of experts at the Entheogenesis Australis 2010 conference including: Rick Doblin (President of MAPS, the Multi-discipline Association of Psychedelic Studies), Henry Cox (senior anthropologist at the Kimberley Land Council), Joseph Gelfer (author and researcher in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University), Torsten Wiedermann (Shaman Australis)and Carl Turney (EGA).

Image: courtesy of Hugo Farrant and his zeitgeist-breaking "Dance. Omega!" album cover, for more info check out Hugo1love

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Image: Andy Thomas Are psychedelics and entheogens medicines and/or spiritual tools for consciousness expansion? Can they be culture jammed by Big Pharma into commodified weapons of mass control, a soma for the masses? Find out the answers as experiential journalist Rak Razam moderates a panel discussion at Entheogenesis Australis, Melbourne, Dec 2010, starring MAPS President Rick Doblin (Medical Association of Psychedelic Studies), Steven Bright, Australian psychologist and addictions researcher, Jasen, a practitioner using Ibogaine to break addiction and Dr. Anna Kokavec, a psychologist from La Trobe University. As Western culture is increasingly over-medicated, will psychedelics simply get commodified as they are absorbed? Will there be an arms race for psychedelics as they are patented and become part of medical "fashion"? How will the financial underpinnings of the medical industry affect medical psychedelics and the business they are entering? As John Halpern's Entheogen Corporation ™ has shown with its exclusive global patent for Bromo-LSD, a non-psychedelic with "broad growth opportunities", corporations are now intending to make money for investors through the patenting of psychedelics. Is this the Brave New World that Aldous Huxley predicted – Soma from the corporations? Can the free market regulate the mind? Find out in this provoking discussion on the market dynamics of medical psychedelics…

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In which experiential journalist Rak Razam does his best to digest the ultra-dense, even imploding infometrics of new paradigm physics guru Dan Winter over lunch in Mullumbimby… How does an electrical universe and "implosion science" create self-organizing DNA, gravity and the plasma consciousness of life? What is the fractal nature of reality and what can the sacred geometry underlying nature tell us about life, death, the beyond and our mission here on earth? What is LOVE and how can we phase-lock ourselves and the species into a love frequency? Is the sun having an orgasm? Listen as Dan downloads critical survival memes for the upcoming cosmic shift and tells us how to attune our energetics through correct bliss frequencies, gestalt consciousness, EMP-free tribal living and sacred spaces to maximise our transformation into a galactic species. But how does Stonehenge, Shakespeare, Enki's iPhone and the possibility of extraterrestrial contact and intervention through history tie into all this? Hold onto your paradigms, this one will literally blow you away!

For more information see: http://www.goldenmean.info/

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What is consciousness, and where does it come from? In this provocative lecture given at EntheoGenesis Australis in Dec, 2010, experiential journalist Rak Razam discusses the nature of consciousness that is underpinning the current global shamanic resurgence and planetary awakening. As Richard Maurice Bucke said in his influential book from the turn of the 20th century, Cosmic Consciousness is a heightened perception of awareness above and beyond normal consciousness, illustrated through figures from history like the Buddha and others who claimed to have experienced mystic states. But what about the widespread shamanic ability indigenous and now the West is experiencing that often gives glimpses of this cosmic connection? What larger species vectors can be drawn from the rising tide of consciousness across the planet and the history books? Is the once sporadic peaking of consciousness in the genepool now a species-wide activation? Like a cosmic season, are we entering the summer of the soul, the tide of galactic history dovetailing with the celestial grand orbit of our solar system? Prepare to be illuminated in this critical philosophic podcast that grounds many esoteric and New Age ideas with modern science and current affairs...

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam experiences the "kiss of the kambo", the Brazilian Phyllomedusa Bicolor frog which secretes the most powerful toxin in the Amazon rainforest. Used by indigenous peoples throughout Peru and Brazil as a purgative, the poison of the frog is wooed by singing to the amphibian, and its peptide secretions are then burned into the skin to promote a full-body flush death and rebirth. Known as "ordeal medicine", the kambo ritual is still used today in the Amazonian jungles as a body and consciousness sharpening tool, and is now following in the trail of plant medicines like ayahuasca as an initiation for Westerners. In this rare interview with Brazilian practitioner Oruam, Razam discovers the secrets of the "vaccine of the forest", its lineage, medical usage and spiritual emergence as one of the next wave of shamanic modalities...

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Dan Schreiber, Australia's answer to Terence McKenna, a grand intellectual thinker and the founder of Starseed Gardens in the Byron Bay Shire. In this epic, far-reaching conversation Schreiber explores the heart-mind-pineal relationship of consciousness and shares his experiences learning from tribal peoples across the globe. What is the entheogenic connection between the Amazon and the Outback, ayahuasca cosmovision and the Dreamtime at the End of Time? Learn the secrets of the Australian cane toad–and its DMT/ bufotenine secretions–as Schreiber explains its role as an activator for the tryptamine-acacia fields across Australia. How does the devic world under the surface of nature itself fuel the current flowering of planetary consciousness? Schreiber describes the cascading role of entheogens shaping planetary culture to the tipping point we are now living through, and the whole-systems theory of Gaian "galactivation" as we remember our personal and collective awakening… This conversation is itself a catalyst and a turning point for moving forward: A highly recommended, lengthy dialogue that links up many existing theories into a collective whole to guide us deeper into the new paradigm…

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hal Lucius, High Priest of consciousness with the Temple of Awakening Divinity, a travelling medicine space using 5-MEO-DMT as its active psychedelic eucharist. Lucius draws upon his past as a ceremonial magician in the Crowley/ Golden Dawn Alchemical Hermetic tradition to anchor this syncretic entheogenic church turning on the West Coast with a "complete dissolution of egoic consciousness". The Church claims a 95% success rate inducing a +4 on the Shulgin state with returning parishioners going into the godspace each time. But what are the dangers and logistics of a mystical-religious experience outsourced to an external catalyst? What are the benefits? Lucius posits that by changing the individual, the collective changes as well, and that the collective awakening is then part of the quickening of the paradigm change we are now experiencing. Is this the next wave of entheo-based gnostic religion? Hallaleuh, brothers and sisters!

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with Mitch Schultz, director of The Spirit Molecule DVD


On the road in Peru with Mitch Schultz, who talks about the making of his documentary The Spirit Molecule, based on the Rick Strassman book of the same name, and why he was driven to make an independent documentary about DMT. In 2002 Schultz had his first experience with dimethyltryptamine and the entities therein: nothing would ever be the same. Schultz convinced Dr. Rick Strassman to lend his story and credibility as the narrative backbone of the documentary, studying DMT in controlled medical conditions with legal patients under the auspices of the US government from 1990-1995. Why has nature seeded DMT throughout most living things: as a strategic neurotransmitter, a language for nature to communicate within itself? What is the value of contact experiences with entities in innerspace? How can film communicate a glimpse of the DMT realm and how ready are mainstream audiences for it? Join experiential journalist Rak Razam and filmmaker Mitch Schultz in search of the answers...

In Part II.

with Susan Blumenthal (DMT test subject)

In the early 1990s Susan Blumenthal was a participant in Dr. Rick Strassman's DMT tests in New Mexico, the first legal psychedelic experiments in a generation. Blumenthal was in a study group with Strassman looking at the Tibetan Book of the Dead, but was one of the least experienced psychonauts who went in. Terrified, disembodied, strewn across the universe, Blumenthal underwent an alien contact experience and enlightenment at the same time, finding the birthing place of souls and ultimately, God. Inside the DMT-realm she experienced entities testing her, just as she was being tested on the outside, hooked up to cardiac stabilisers and medical intervention gear. Her accounts of Strassman's DMT experiments vary from those recounted in the book, focusing less on the medical and more on the contact experience with insects, reptile and geometric entities of the invisible landscape. Here she shares intimate details of those now-famous tests with experiential journalist Rak Razam...



The Spirit Molecule DVD is now on sale and the Australian Film Tour with Mitch Schultz will cover four Australian cities in December. Details and tickets on sale via:

Undergrowth.org

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Englishman Tom Askew, who is bridging the worlds of indigenous shamanism with 21st Century techno-shamanism... Tom is a certified SCENAR practicioner: The SCENAR stands for Self-Controlled Energy Neuro Adaptive Regulator and is a Russian device invented in the 1970s as a secret military project for Cosmonauts to use instead of drugs for healing and to prevent illness... The SCENAR sends electromagnetic pulses that mimic the bodies own frequencies to an affected area and tricks the brain to send natural healing chemicals like serotonin and neuro-peptides. It also works on healing emotional and energetic illness, and Tom has used it on shamans and his third eye! It works, so well it has since been taken up for use by all paramedics in the Ukraine, by doctors in Germany and in almost 60 countries across the world. But what are the ramifications on this, and such techno-healing devices, outsourcing our own healing abilities? Is this the "killer-app" for medicine? For more info email Tom at: tom@tomaskew.com

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam is interviewed by anthropologist Robin Rodd from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, on all things ayahuasca, Down Under. What are the cultural uses of ayahuasca in Australia and how does it relate to other entheo cultures in South America and elsewhere in the world? Without an unbroken shamanic lineage, Aussiehuasqueros have had to stitch their shamanic practice from multiple sources, sometimes united in a cultural synergy for group shamanizing. The hybridization of not just ayahuasca, but of Amazonian shamanism itself is potent in the Australian counterculture as it births a new hybrid modality suited to the conditions on the land. But what of the cultural archetypes, do they remain the same? How do Australian aboriginal spirits and energies affect the mix? Is there something activating in the vibrational frequency of the Australian Land itself, its songlines and energetic grid, and how does all of this tie into other indigenous prophecies of these changing times? A personal exposition from Razam on his own journey and collective journey in the culture...

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Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Steve Beyer, author of the recent compendium Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon. Beyer tells of his beginnings as a wilderness survival enthusiast that led him into the world of Amazonian shamanism–and sorcery, the dark side of the shamanic world. Beyer explores the ideas of healing and harming and the relationship between the two: the magic phlegm for protection, the mariri, virotes and magic darts, attack sorcery and the dangers the West faces by absorbing a "shamanism lite" for its spiritual practice. Beyer posits that the plants and the spirits in them can be used for dark as well as the light. And while ayahuasca can reveal an infinite landscape within, are we putting too much emphasis on the interface instead of ourselves? As Westerners quest solely for visions and transformation with plants like ayahuasca – what Beyer calls the the "pink neon buffalo" syndrome, are we focusing too narrowly on a tragic cosmovison?

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In our first bilingual episode, experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Mancoluto of the Chimbre Shamanic center in Puerto Maldornado, Peru. Mancoluto claims to be one of only five master shamans in the world and descendant from the legendary Chavin shamanic civilization that existed for 100,000 years in Peru, long before the Incas. Listen as Mancoluto recounts the secret history of Antediluvian times and the shamanic connection to Atlantis, Lemeria, and back through the stars... This controversial interview explores human concepts of "love" versus higher universal powers the beings Mancoluto believes possess; our inter-dimensional nature; and Mancoluto's plans to catalyze "future humans" with these higher abilities those with the right genetic heritage once possessed in ancient times, and is now becoming available to us all...

With translation and additional comments by Rob Velez, Director of Chimbre and Nick Heyming. Original photo by Tom Askew.

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A live sonic adventure with our amphibian allies in Rak's backyard on Mt. Jerusalem, with housemates Steve and Joseph Wap Norton... *Warning* - there's a lot of experimental frog talk in the first ten minutes, literally, before we get to the deep semantics... In which the experiential podcaster talks to the frogs and explores sonic modes of interspecies symbiosis... Vibratory consciousness underlies our reality as with Peruvian icaros and the idea that we can *sing* objects into existence... How does sound affect consciousness? What is the primary level of language-vibration and how do words really work? Why do names have power? Why has our language been desacralized and lost that original power? Beyond theta level consciousness, the sound of the insects and the amphibians channels the divine song, the song of creation that unites us all. Listen... beyond the sonic fooling around, if you get over the start, the language of the frogs will reveal all...

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with Robert Forte

Just who does take psychedelics in the 21st century, after the lockdown of consciousness post 9/11? What role does the psychedelic community still offer as an activist movement? Psychedelic academic and author Robert Forte cuts to the chase by proposing that the medicinal resurgence of psychedelics obscures their real purpose as an anti-war, expansion of consciousness and creativity movement. Forte explores how psychedelics permit the illusion of America as a free state instead of a failed state, and the origins of the war on drugs and the Nixon-Leary struggle for the soul of a generation... Were avant guard psychologists of the late 50s and early 60s like Frank Barron and Tim Leary "assassin bees of consciousness", aware of the mass mind-control operation on America? And what lessons can we learn from such models, strategically using the mind-expansion psychedelics provide to best re-engineer the psychedelic movement into the future? Be provoked by this controversial discussion with experiential journalist Rak Razam...

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At the MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference 2010 with experiential journalist Rak Razam:

* Stan Grof divulges his personal history in the Checkoslovakian psychedelic scene of the 1950s and his first trip in 1956; psychedelic therapy, his LSD research in America and his disappointment at the discarding of years of scientific data; his subsequent founding of holotropic breathwork and its ability to alter consciousness; and his thoughts on the current wave of psychedelic research in some ways going over old ground... Stan advocates the technologies of the sacred as part of healing and a network of centers to support the exploration of consciousness in a supported environment...

* Nick Sand, famed LSD chemist who developed "Orange Sunshine" tells of his part in the acid movement of the sixties and beyond in a sizzling conversation... Sand trained with Mazatec mushroom shamaness Maria Sabina and received his first illuminations in cosmic glossalalia with her, deciding to first synthesize psilocybin... When that proved too expensive to produce he turned his hand to DMT, creating the first street use of the tryptamine in the US and turning people on, including Richard Alpert from Millbrook... Sand went on to become the Chief Alchemist for the League of Spiritual Discovery–and was prosecuted for following his religion under his constitutional rights... The rest is history, and a very colorful one at that! Learn the secrets of pizeoluminescent-LSD as the inner light, the sacrafice the acid chemists took personally for their work, how Sand survived life in prison, his Eckhart Tolle connection–and how Richard Milhouse Nixon was dosed with acid, and much, much more in this very provoking interview...

Additional comments by Gypsy Taub...

Stan Grof pic courtesy of Pati Lyall
Nick Sand pic courtesy of Anthony Devan
psychedelic background courtesy of Tim Parish and The Journeybook

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At the MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference 2010 with experiential journalist Rak Razam:

* In perhaps his last public interview, Sasha Shulgin shares his thoughts on the future of psychedelics and the repositioning of 'drugs' in culture; the thrill of the chase in exploring virginal molecular landscapes and bringing back chemical maps; rules for safe ingestion and active levels of compounds... and the revelation of the most potent drug there is...

* Carolyn (Adams) Garcia, aka Mountain Girl tells of her time in the boys club of the Merry Pranksters, hanging with Neal Cassady and Ken Kesey, and the gender politics of being the only girl with a motorbike for a thousand miles around La Honda in the early 60s... From the Pranksters to the Grateful Dead, and her marriage to Jerry Garcia, Mountain Girl has always been an integral part of the hippie tribe. Here she reveals the lessons of the infamous Acid Tests, the failure of "group mind", and her advice for women entering the psychedelic scene...

* Alex and Allison Grey talk about the entheogenic origins of art and the mystic state of religion; the spiritual renaissance catalyzed by entheogens and a hunger for the transcendent; shamanic art and anchoring energy into this realm; the mapping of hyperspace by a generation of new psychedelic artists, and COSM - the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors and the Grey's mission to create a permanent home for visionary art...

Sasha Shulgin pic courtesy Pati Lyall
Mountain Girl pic courtesy of Lianne Gillooly
Ralph Metzner pic courtesy of the web
psychedelic background courtesy of Tim Parish and The Journeybook

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At the MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference 2010 with experiential journalist Rak Razam:

* Rick Doblin talks about the almost 25-year history of MAPS, the Multi-Disciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, the "end of the beginning of the Psychedelic Renaissance" and why Western culture is now ready for the psychedelic experience and a global spirituality. Rick discusses the return of the 60s elders and the new psychedelic generation, the spiritual approach to entheogens paralleling the medical psy-resurgence, the need to turn on, tune in and stay in the culture as we integrate the numinous, and much more...

* Charles Grob outlines some of his landmark studies with entheogenic medicine, including the ayahuasca research of the early 1990s on serotonin-platelet rejuvenation after regular ayahuasca usage and the current cultural uptake; MDMA tests on volunteers and the difference between man-made and indigenous medicines; and psilocybin with late-stage cancer patients treating anxiety. Sacred medicines allow exploration of the great mysteries, Grob says, and induce mystical experiences that are at the root of all true healing...

* Ralph Metzner discusses the PTSD-MDMA tests MAPS is sponsoring and the possibility of psychedelics as a soma for the masses; his history with Tim Leary and the Harvard years and the need to move drugs out of law enforcement and back into public health system.

background image courtesy of Tim Parish and the Journeybook

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A rollicking interview with James Oroc, author of the Tryptamine Palace: 5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad. In which experiential journalist Rak Razam delves into the secret history of DMT from Stephen Szara's experiments in the 1950s, William Burroughs (whom Oroc calls the "Godfather of DMT") and his radical break with English language caused by his DMT experiences ("language is a virus") through to the lower language bardos of the DMT realm where the golden code of meaning manifests. Oroc hypotheizes about the relationship between consciousness and language and the Zero Point Field and recognizing oneness within God. Is 5-MeO-DMT a tool to help us experience on the inside what quantum physics explains on the outside – non-local experiences of the "whiteout" or plenum of energy that lies within? Is 5-MeO-DMT specifically designed to be a sacred template or will it become the "next big thing", full circle from the 60s? Oroc and Razam trade maps of the 5-MeO-DMT space and attempt to tranlinguisticize the bardo spaces of the Godhead, and what lies beyond the beyond... An intimate discussion by two pre-eminent psychonauts on the fringes of innerspace for your enlightenment and elucidation...

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A seminal interview with Dennis McKenna, Ph.D on the evolution of ayahuasca and the entheogenic movement and the imminent tipping point on planet earth the movement parallels. In which experiential journalist Rak Razam quizzes Dennis on his role as a scientist and a leading ayahuasca researcher, while Dennis waxes lyrical on bio-piracy, the proliferating business of shamanism in Peru and around the world, and the urgent need for integration of the plant teacher experience in people's everyday lives to truly make a difference. Is the sacrament of ayahuasca becoming commercialized? As pharmahuasca – and the startling development of ayahuasca in a pill form – spreads beyond the vine itself, is the wisdom of globaluasca transcending its Gaian roots to connect with a new generation without the plant dogma? Is the future a religious, compartmentalized Entheogenic Evangelism? Or will lodges transform into "psychedelic monasteries" training plant Jedis? Its been ten years now since Dennis' brother Terence passed on, and Dennis deconstructs some of his theories, from Timewave Zero to the Singularity and provides a critical analysis of the 2012 phenomenon and the unfolding Archaic Revival...

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A 'pillow talk' about the ayahuasca movement conducted the morning after a journey into the infinite with Lara Star, a moderator from the ayahuasca.com forums... In which Lara and experiential journalist Rak Razam discuss Haoma (Syrian Rue) and the branching of the pure Amazonian tradition with the Middle Eastern mystic experience of "haomauasca". If ayahuasca is the "Madre", then Syrian Rue is the Prince, a warrior spirit, Lara suggests, kissing cousins from the same tree, the One Tree that host different plant devas in an overall family. Lara trained with the Peruvian Q'eros shaman Armundo who trained her in the cosmovision of the Andes under San Padro, mescilito and ayahuasca. Here she discusses the ayahuasca.com forums as part of the global shift and an infinite library of initiates awakening. Different shamans initiate and play different roles to different energy needs but Lara says the point is to get people switched on, and if they're not switched on they need to die and be reborn, opening back up to the great pool of becoming...

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A lecture given on March 17, 2010 to the Sydney cell of the Evolver network as part of its community "spore" discussion on the future of psychedelics. In which experiential journalist Rak Razam discusses the state of psychedelic culture, where it came from in modern times with the advent of LSD in 1943, the legacy of alchemist Albert Hofmann, and why the psychedelic movement is so important to a sustainable future. Acid opened the mind in the 60s, ecstasy opened the heart in the 80s, and in the 21st century ayahuasca and entheogenic plant sacraments are opening the soul of the West, guiding us back to a cooperative Gaian partnership. As the "second wave of ayahuasca shamanism" sweeps the world in a slo-mo r-evolution, the psychedelic movement is reaching out to the elder indigenous cultures around the world to bridge the gap of our own psychic and spiritual understanding, and is becoming a global entheogenic movement. Can this new wave reach a critical mass of its own understanding, as well as a purity of intent to truly be ready to join the galactic community? Join Razam and the Evolver community to find out...

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On the road to Burning Man in a Toyota Prius with Rak Razam and radical cyber anthropologist Jenny Ryan (aka Tuna Bananas), research assistant to media pundit Howard Rhinegold (The Virtual Community and Smart Mobs). Jenny discusses cyber literacy, smart mobs and virtual communities with experiential journalist Rak Razam... How do we use technology to form communities and conduct virtual everyday social interactions? Does social networking keep the drones sedate and make us good workers? Or does Super-poking and quiz sharing provide a social glue for online communities? Where does the drift towards hive mind collectivism in the human matrix being able to laterally recognize itself – an ambient awareness – lead us? What role does the ego play in blogging and lifestreaming? And as social tribes grow, does it increase our pool of knowledge and ability to draw upon the wisdom of the collective? Or is it all an Orwellian marketing wet dream? The intent behind technology makes all the difference... *warning* some scratchy wind muffles about 20 minutes in... the perils of experiential podcasting...

For more information see: www.jennyryan.net/

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A robust round table discussion first broadcast on the Munt Warning drug harm reduction show, River FM in Lismore, Northern NSW, Australia in Jan 2010. Featuring hosts Paul and Jackie Onassid, with guests experiential journalist Rak Razam, Aussie plant specialist Mulga, and youth culture representative Dylan Heller. What is the difference between entheogens and drugs and what role does DMT or Dimethyltryptamine straddle between the two as this archaic knowledge crests in the Western consciousness? Is DMT in danger of becoming a recreational street drug, as with the leaf extract known as "Changa"? What about the religious spiritual usage as with ayahuasca churches? Can modern culture reclaim the sacred, and is DMT the vehicle for it? Does DMT take us to the realm we go to when we die? Is it a portal to God? Are there alien entities in the hyperspace it takes one to? And what good is the knowledge of the DMT experience when we come back? This debate covers the pros and cons, the dangers and the ineffable mysteries of DMT from a street level and a divine perspective and is invaluable listening for those psychonauts about to ingress, or those who are wondering about the merits of tryptamines themselves...

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In conversation with Mark McCloud, acid blotter art historian and 60s archivist in his home in the Mission district of San Francisco, August, 2009. In which experiential podcaster Rak Razam learns from the master about the colorful and mind-expanding history of blotter art, from the early acid chemist oufits like the "Ghost" and the underground crews that ran the business of enlightenment. Discover who first put artwork on blotter and how the process of dipping the chemical on artwork was evolved. Acid was originally dipped on string, sugar cubes–even underwear, in the case of Michael Hollingshead (who wrote the book The Man Who Turned On the World) before blotter paper was hit on as a mode of transportation. And then the artform really took off, originally with the chemists themselves choosing the art that would grace the minds of a generation of trippers. But how does the art influence the trip? Did trips like the "Gorbies" with Mikail Gorbachov heads help tumble the Berlin Wall? Why did the infamous Mickey Mouse Sorceror's Apprentice tabs terrify the Disney corp? Like the host in the Catholic mass, is blotter art a holy artform? An illuminating interview into the world's first edible art...

This talk was transcribed and printed in part in Juxtapose magazine online.

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A Skype interview conducted in mid-2007, from which a feature article was printed in Australian Penthouse. Here experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews the prophet Raël, who may or may not be the messiah, or just a very naughty boy, to paraphrase Monty Python. Raël claims to have had a UFO encounter in 1973 where the Elohim (the original name in the Hebrew bible for the "sky people", later converted to "God" in Western translations) gave him the mission to be their last prophet on earth. Raël's mission is to build a space embassy in Israel (the third temple) to welcome the Elohim (and to provide sexy "Raël's Angel's" brides for our alien masters). Raël claims the Elohim created all life on earth through their super science and cloning, and that they hold the secret to eternal life. Far off in space with clones of Jesus, Mohammed and other luminaries, the Elohim watch us like a clip of "Cosmic YouTube", waiting for us to reach maturity. As whacked out as all this may sound, there are definite seeds of anthropological and mythological truth in what Raël says, and the lighthearted interview approach is a unique bro chat with perhaps the world's most controversial religious figure, head of the global free love and alien worshipping Raëlians... Beam us up, Raël!

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