Guest speaker: Bernardo Kastrup PROGRAM NOTES: Today Bernardo Kastrup returns to the salon with more metaphysical speculations. Supplementing his recently released book, “Brief Peeks Beyond,” he touches on the so-called hard problem of consciousness faced by materialists. In his examination of the dominant materialistic world view, Bernardo reveals the forces behind our value systems, which in turn determine our behavior. He ends with some very concrete suggestions for five things each of us can...
May 04, 2015•1 hr 13 min
Guest speakers: La Laurien & Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: In this wide-ranging conversation between two experienced medicine women, in addition to talking about shamanism and psychedelic medicines, such as magic mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, and others, they also venture into such diverse areas as aliens and language. Most importantly, they talk about Atlan, which was co-founded by La Laurien. Atlan is a living and learning ecovillage dedicated to the artful co-creation of healthy living systems cele...
Apr 27, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: “If I didn't have cannabis I wouldn't take a psychedelic drug. It is indispensable.” Terence McKenna In this talk, Terence McKenna tells some stories about how Gordon Wasson was first led to investigating the mushrooms of Mexico, and of possible use of magic mushrooms by the Sufi's. We also get to hear one of the rare instances where the bard McKenna gives us his opinion about 5MEO-DMT, as contrasted with his primary psychedelic substance of interest...
Apr 20, 2015•1 hr 25 min
Guest speakers: Meriana Dinkova & Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: In today's podcast we get to listen in on a conversation between Shonagh Home and Meriana Dinkova. Meriana received her initial training in psychology studies at Vienna University and at the Free University in Berlin. And in 2003 she completed her MA in Counseling Psychology at the California Association of Integral Studies in San Francisco. In 2010 Meriana started two different monthly Meetups, which have been successfully runnin...
Apr 13, 2015•1 hr 2 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: Today's talk by Terence McKenna takes us on an in-depth description of what he experiences on a DMT trip. While it is a story that we have heard before in various guises, Terence once again manages to tell his DMT stories in a way that makes it seem like you are hearing it for the first time, and with new detail if that can be imagined. Who else, for example, would describe a DMT trip as feeling like you are a baby in a maternity ward's playpen. And ...
Apr 06, 2015•1 hr 23 min
Guest speaker: Kathleen Wirt PROGRAM NOTES: Today we feature a talk given by Kathleen Wirt, the hostess of the legendary salon that took place in Venice, California. While the stories Kathleen tells are of interest from an historical point of view, they are also very informative for anyone who is also interested in starting a salon in their area. Kathleen's talk was given at the inaugural session of the Aware Project Salon, which has picked up the torch and is carrying this work to a new generat...
Mar 30, 2015•1 hr 15 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “One of the reasons I'm so fond of psychedelics is because they transcend rhetoric.” “Meditation and all these other things I take to be co-options organized by beastly hoards of priests.” “One of the most uncool things you can say to another human being is, 'Could you explain to me what it is I just said?'” “We are held together by our expressed assumptions.” Download MP3 PCs – Right click, select optio...
Mar 23, 2015•1 hr 26 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “The absolute victory of habit is death itself.” “Life is apparently a phenomenon in this universe considerably more tenacious than stars.” “When the democratic crunch hits, democratic values will go down the drain long before they turn off the lights and stop delivering the food.” “The Net is a tremendous permission for eccentricity.” “Freakery is the wave of the future.” “If you've never read Moby Dick...
Mar 16, 2015•55 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “The present is this hairline division between the past and the future, and the past exists in memory largely for the coordination of some agenda in the future. And that's history!” “We have thought of history as something that we do. History is something that is done to us, and therefore we are not responsible. This is the first thing to understand. History is a process. It's like waves in the ocean, an...
Mar 09, 2015•1 hr 36 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “Now all that stands between us and some kind of angelic completion of some sort is the dark side of ourselves and the unpaid bills of the historical process.” “I am a resolute optimist of a very complicated sort.” “If you have the psychedelic experience in your inventory of experiences, you are able to make a different model of reality than if you lack it.” “I don't think that what the shaman is doing i...
Mar 01, 2015•1 hr
Guest speaker: Lorenzo THE FUND DRIVE HAS COME TO AN END AND THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR MAKING IT SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM NOTES: It has been one year since our last fund raising effort, which means that the time has come once again to see if there is enough support for these podcasts to keep them going for another year. As I did last year, I will update the graphic that you see here to display the progress of our campaign. This year, in the way of saying thank you for your donation, everyone will receive...
Mar 01, 2015•10 min
Guest speakers: Yalila Espinoza & Shonagh Home PROGRAM NOTES: Today we feature a conversation about psychedelics, sexuality, and the dark side of ayahuasca tourism. The conversation is between two highly experienced medicine women, Shonagh Home and Yalila Espinoza, Ph.D. Yalila's Ph.D. studies and diverse training in Integrating Sexuality & Spirituality have inspired her to create the Spiritual Erotic Awakening model ~ body centered practices that supports your connection with joy and se...
Feb 24, 2015•1 hr 10 min
Guest speakers: Marian Goodell & John Gilmore PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Marian Goodell.] “I don't think Burning Man is the solution. I think that we are a really powerful gravitational force, and mixed with other cultures and other groups, that's what's powerful.” “The biggest problem I think Burning Man has is translating what people think is Burning Man into what really is Burning Man.” “I want people to see Burning Man as really a state of mind in their heart.” Download ...
Feb 17, 2015•1 hr 2 min
Guest speaker: Marina Korsakova PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features the 2014 Palenque Norte Lecture given by Dr. Marina Korsakova. Marina is a professional pianist and scholar in music cognition. Her research is focused on emotional responses to music and on the perception of melodic transformation. Currently, Marina teaches Music Cognition at Touro College. She performs regularly as a member of Union City Chamber Players, and she is an author of books and scientific papers. Her latest book,...
Feb 11, 2015•48 min
Guest speaker: Bernardo Kastrup PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Bernardo Kastrup.] “It is not the mind that is in the body. It is the other way around. It's the body that is in the mind.” “In the same way that there is nothing to a whirlpool but water, I claim there is nothing to a brain-body system but consciousness.” “The psychedelic trance allows us to 'see the stars at noon' because it simply eclipses the sun of egoic-awareness. It reduces the obfuscation and allows us to see mor...
Feb 04, 2015•57 min
Guest speaker: Rak Razam PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features Rak Razam's 2014 Palenque Norte Lecture, which was originally titled “Cosmic Consciousness To Convergence: Activating the Species.” As you can see, I have shortened it to a phrase that Rak used in his talk, “Consciousness Browsers,” which is an excellent way to describe the psychedelic experience. During his talk, Rak ranges from a discussion of his research into the shamanic use of ayahuasca, to black holes, consciousness as a bit...
Jan 28, 2015•1 hr 26 min
Guest speakers: Katie Tomlinson & Rachel Hope PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features two of the Palenque Norte Lectures that were given at Burning Man in 2014. The first talk is by Katie Tomlinson, founder of GAPS, the psychedelic student organization at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. For anyone interested in establishing student groups on other campuses this talk has some great pointers for you . Following Katie's talk we hear Rick Doblin, the founder of MAPS, introduce Ra...
Jan 22, 2015•1 hr 22 min
Guest speaker: Tom Barbalet PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features a conversation between fellow podcaster Tom Barbalet and his guest. Their discussion centers on what we have all come to think of as that voice in our head. As you will hear, it may not be anything like what you think it is. As Tom's guest says, “The idea for me is really very simple, break the identification with the voice in your head. It's not who you are. It's just your language machine. And you'll be in a much better positi...
Jan 15, 2015•1 hr
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “I sort of see [cannabis] as the pilot light of Gian consciousness.] “The danger is [in using psychedelic drugs], just to put it out there, is madness.” “LSD is different. LSD is like psychoanalytical Drano. It's not a personality.” “Matter is simply a concept. The world is made of language.” “If you're truly psychedelic the difference between living and dying is quite immaterial. No pun intended.” Downl...
Jan 07, 2015•1 hr 28 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “History is anomalous, and there is no way to get used to it.” “The miracle of our predicament is not how long everything has been in place but how brief it all has been.” “Each stage of cosmic development proceeded more quickly than the stage which preceded it.” “A singularity is a place where the rules are broken. A miracle is a singularity.” “That's part of the nature of a fractal cosmos, nothing is u...
Dec 31, 2014•1 hr 21 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “After you fiddle with psilocybin for a while the question of whether or not there is an alien intelligence becomes moot.” “We are embedding ourselves in a matrix of silicone and glass.” “ We are beginning to embed ourselves into a cultural membrane of some sort.” “What is happening is a globalizing of intelligence.” “The reductionists who want to say these drugs just perturb the brain I don't think have...
Dec 23, 2014•1 hr 21 min
Guest speakers: Lorenzo Hagerty & Chris Hedges PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Chris Hedges.] “I think when we speak today about American values what we're really speaking about are corporate-instilled values.” “When you spend over a decade brutalizing people, people become brutal.” “You can't use the word 'liberty' when your government watches you 24 hours a day. That's the relationship of a master and a slave.” “There is no difference between a night raid in Oakland and a night...
Dec 15, 2014•1 hr 36 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “Once you encounter [the psychedelic experience] you see that this is an aspect or an activity as informing of what it means to be human as something as inimical to our nature as sexuality.” “What we lack is the will to change our minds.” “WE are the anomalous factor in the natural world.” “I think part of what being psychedelic is about, the real shock of psychedelics comes from the realization of the r...
Dec 08, 2014•1 hr 29 min
Guest speaker: John Gilmore PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by John Gilmore.] “I thank medical marijuana for breaking down social resistance to recreational marijuana.” “In medical marijuana states it was the gay community that developed political skills in working for their own liberation that then applied those skills to liberate marijuana in a medical context in the aids fight. Those people blazed a trail for us.” “I think encouraging courage among people who are in the know to actua...
Dec 01, 2014•54 min
Guest speakers: Shonagh Home & Diana Reed Slattery PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features a conversation between Shonagh Home and Diana Reed Slattery who is a practicing xenolinguist and psychonaut. She has been investigating linguistic phenomena in the psychedelic sphere for over 15 years. Her website, Psychedelics & Language, details this research. Her science fiction novel, The Maze Game, tells the story of one such language, Glide. Her latest book, Xenolinguistics: Psychedelics, Lan...
Nov 24, 2014•1 hr 30 min
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “Everything appears to me to be authored, in some strange way. And I wonder if this is not the spreading assumption of the psychedelic illusion/delusion/revelation that life is in fact art.” “[This legendary Amazonian substance is] a cybernetic transdimentional medium of some sort that is generated out of the mysteries of the physiology of the human body.” “You may miss the end of the world, but you defi...
Nov 17, 2014•1 hr 28 min
Guest speaker: Niles Heckman PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Niles Heckman.] “The visual component of the psychedelic experience is for the most part the final frontier for what computer graphics still have yet to replicate faithfully.” “Art isn't really important unless it helps you grow in creating it, or it helps others grow through its consumption.” “Computer graphics are, and will continue to be, the tool used to visualize what is essentially unlanguageable.” “It's really fascin...
Nov 10, 2014•1 hr
Guest speaker: Terence McKenna PROGRAM NOTES: [NOTE: All quotations are by Terence McKenna.] “The world is magic, not a little bit, one hundred percent. Every atom from one end of this cosmos to the other is magic, magic, magic.” “Fate has chosen you to hear about [DMT]. . . . If you now go ahead and live in your mundane, stock portfolio, BMW existence, it's because you're making a choice.” “To go from birth to the grave without ever encountering DMT is to my mind like going from birth to the gr...
Nov 03, 2014•1 hr 42 min
Guest speaker: Grover Norquist PROGRAM NOTES: The final speaker at the 2014 Palenque Norte Lectures, which are held at Burning Man each year, was Grover Norquist. According to Wikipedia, “... he is an American political advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases and a co-founder of the Islamic Free Market Institute. A libertarian-leaning Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” While to those...
Oct 27, 2014•1 hr 53 min
Guest speakers: Nese Devenot Photo credit: Randy Mayfield PROGRAM NOTES: Today's podcast features a conversation with Nese Devenot who pose a number of challenging questions. One of the issues they raise regards the reluctance of some of us in the psychedelic community to discuss some of the serious problems that arise out of a false sense of protecting the reputation of us all. Hopefully this will be the beginning of an ongoing discussion of this important topic. Download MP3 PCs – Right click,...
Oct 20, 2014•1 hr 15 min
