:''This entry focuses on the Ayahuasca brew; for information on the vine of the same name, see Banisteriopsis caapi'' ''Ayahuasca'' (''ayawaska'' pronounced in the Quechua language) is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the ''Banisteriopsis spp.'' vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the ''Psychotria'' genus. The brew, first described academically in the early 1950s by Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, who found it employed for divinatory and healing purposes by the native peoples of the Amazonian Colombia, is known by a number of different names (see below). A notable property of ayahuasca is that neither of the ingredients cause any significant psychedelic effects when imbibed alone; they must be consumed together in order to have the desired effect. How indigenous peoples discovered the psychedelic properties of the ayahuasca brew remains unknown.

Nomenclature

In Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru, Colombia and to a lesser extent in Brazil, "ayahuasca" or "ayawaska" is Quechua for "spirit vine" or "vine of the souls"; ''aya'' means "spirit" while ''huasca'' or ''waska'' means "vine". The spelling of ''ayahuasca'' is the hispanicized version of the name; many Quechua or Aymara speakers would prefer the spelling ''ayawaska''. The name is properly that of the plant ''B. caapi'', one of the primary sources of beta-carbolines for the brew. Other terms include:

''cipó'' (generic vine, liana), "caapi", "hoasca", "vegetal", "daime" or "santo daime" in Brazil

''natem'' amongst the indigenous Shuar and Achuar people of Peru and Ecuador ''yagé'' or ''yajé'' (both pronounced jaˈhe) in Tucanoan ''shori'' among the Nahua people of Peru

Chemistry

Harmine compounds are of beta-carboline origin. The three most studied beta-carboline compounds found in the ''B. caapi'' vine are harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine. Harmine and harmaline are selective and reversible inhibitors of MAO-A, while tetrahydroharmine is a weak serotonin uptake inhibitor. This inhibition of MAO-A allows DMT to diffuse unmetabolized past the membranes in the stomach and small intestine and eventually get through the blood-brain barrier (which, by itself, requires no MAO-A inhibition) to activate receptor sites in the brain. Without RIMAs or the MAOI of MAO-A, DMT would be metabolized in the digestive tract and would not have an effect when taken orally.

Individual polymorphisms in the cytochrome P450-2D6 enzyme affect the ability of individuals to metabolize harmine. Some natural tolerance to habitual use of ayahuasca (roughly once weekly) may develop through upregulation of the serotonergic system. A phase 1 pharmacokinetic study on ayahuasca (as Hoasca) with 15 volunteers was conducted in 1993, during the Hoasca Project. A review of the Hoasca Project has been published.

Preparation

Sections of ''Banisteriopsis caapi'' vine are macerated and boiled alone or with leaves from any of a number of other plants, including ''Psychotria viridis'' (''chacruna'') or ''Diplopterys cabrerana'' (also known as ''chaliponga''). The resulting brew contains the powerful hallucinogenic alkaloid N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and MAO inhibiting harmala alkaloids, which are necessary to make the DMT orally active.

Brews can also be made with no DMT-containing plants; ''Psychotria viridis'' being substituted by plants such as ''Justicia pectoralis'', Brugmansia, or sacred tobacco, also known as ''Mapacho'' (Nicotiana rustica), or sometimes left out with no replacement. The potency of this brew varies radically from one batch to the next, both in potency and psychoactive effect, based mainly on the skill of the shaman or brewer, as well as other admixtures sometimes added and the intent of the ceremony. Natural variations in plant alkaloid content and profiles also affect the final concentration of alkaloids in the brew, and the physical act of cooking may also serve to modify the alkaloid profile of harmala alkaloids.

Traditional brew

Traditional ayahuasca brews are often made with ''Banisteriopsis caapi'' as a MAOI, although Dimethyltryptamine sources and other admixtures vary from region to region. There are several varieties of caapi, often known as different "colors", with varying effects, potencies, and uses.

DMT admixtures: ''Psychotria viridis'' (Chacruna) - leaves ''Diplopterys cabrerana'' (Chaliponga, ''Banisteriopsis rusbyana'') - leaves ''Psychotria carthagenensis'' (Amyruca) - leaves

''Acacia maidenii'' (Maiden's Wattle), ''Acacia phlebophylla'', and other Acacias, most commonly employed in Australia - bark

''Anadenanthera peregrina'', ''A. colubrina, A. excelsa, A. macrocarpa''

''Mimosa hostilis'' (Jurema) - root bark - not traditionally employed with ayahuasca by any existing cultures, though likely it was in the past. Popular in Europe and North America.

MAOI:

Harmal (''Peganum harmala'', Syrian Rue) - seeds

Passion flower

synthetic MAOIs

Other common admixtures:

''Justicia pectoralis''

Brugmansia (Toé) ''Nicotiana rustica'' (Mapacho, variety of tobacco) ''Ilex guayusa'', a relative of yerba mate

Common admixtures with their associated ceremonial values and spirits:

Ayahuma bark Dead Head Tree. Provides protection and is used in healing susto (soul loss from spiritual fright or trauma). Head spirit is a headless giant. Capirona bark Provides cleansing and protection. It is noted for its smooth bark, white flowers, and hard wood. Head spirits look Caucasian. Chullachaki Caspi bark Provides cleansing to the physical body. Used to transcend physical body ailments. Head spirits look Caucasian.

Lopuna Blanca bark

Provides protection. Head spirits take the form of giants.

Punga Amarilla bark

Yellow Punga. Provides protection. Used to pull or draw out negative spirits or energies. Head spirit is the yellow anaconda. Remo Caspi bark Oar Tree. Used to move dense or dark energies. Head spirit is a native warrior. Wyra (huaira) Caspi bark Air Tree. Used to create purging, transcend gastro/intestinal ailments, calm the mind, and bring tranquility. Head spirit looks African.

Shiwawaku bark

Brings purple medicine to the ceremony. Provides healing and protection.

Camu camu Gigante:

Head spirit comes in the form of a large dark skinned giant. He provides medicine and protection in the form of warding off dark and demonic spirits.

Tamamuri:

Head spirit looks like an old Asian warrior with a long white wispy beard. He carries a staff and manages thousands of spirits to protect the ceremony and send away energies that are purged from the participants.

Uchu Sanango

Head of the sanango plants. Provides power, strength, and protection. Head doctor spirit is a grandfather with a long, gray-white beard.

Huacapurana:

Giant tree of the amazon with very hard bark. Its head spirits come in the form of Amazonian giants and provide a strong grounding presence in the ceremony.

Usage

Ayahuasca is used largely as a religious sacrament. Users of ayahuasca in non-traditional contexts often align themselves with the philosophies and cosmologies associated with ayahuasca shamanism, as practiced among indigenous peoples like the Urarina of Peruvian Amazonia. While non-native users know of the spiritual applications of ayahuasca, a less well-known traditional usage focuses on the medicinal properties of ayahuasca. When used for its medicinal purposes ayahuasca affects the human consciousness for less than six hours beginning half an hour after consumption, and peaking after two hours. The remedy also has cardiovascular effects, moderately increasing both heart rate and diastolic blood pressure. The psychedelic effects of ayahuasca include visual and auditory stimulation, the mixing of sensory modaltities, and psychological introspection that may lead to great elation, fear, or illumination. Its purgative properties are important (known as ''la purga'' or "the purge"). The intense vomiting and occasional diarrhea it induces can clear the body of worms and other tropical parasites, and harmala alkaloids themselves have been shown to be anthelmintic Thus, this action is twofold; a direct action on the parasites by these harmala alkaloids (particularly harmine in ayahuasca) works to kill the parasites, and parasites are expelled through the increased intestinal motility that is caused by these alkaloids.

Dietary taboos are often associated with the use of ayahuasca. In the rainforest, these tend towards the purification of one's self - abstaining from spicy and heavily-seasoned foods, excess fat, salt, caffeine, acidic foods (such as citrus) and sex before, after, or during a ceremony. A diet low in foods containing tyramine has been recommended, as the speculative interaction of tyramine and MAOIs could lead to a hypertensive crisis. However, evidence indicates that harmala alkaloids act only on MAO-A, in a reversible way similar to moclobemide (an antidepressant that does not require dietary restrictions). Psychonautic experiments and the absence of dietary restrictions in the highly urban Brazilian ayahuasca church União do Vegetal also suggest that the risk is much lower than perceived, and probably non-existent. popularly termed Ayahuasca Open Style (AOS).

The work of Stanislav Grof has been an important inspiration for a non-religious approach to working with entheogen. Grof’s primary focus has been on the transpersonal dimensions of the psychedelic experience. According to Grof, the birth process plays a decisive role in determining the individual's relationship to life in general, and to spirituality in particular. Problems experienced during the intrauterine (pre-natal) phase, a time when the foetus is physically one with the mother, are reflected in developmental problems. As a consequence, authority issues inevitably play a significant role in this type of ayahuasca use. The personality of the person or persons administering ayahuasca, the purposes for which it is being used, the level of understanding and commitment as well as personal views and beliefs involved play a much more important role in determining the outcome of ayahuasca use than in the more conventional ceremonies of the Santo Daime and União do Vegetal where interactions between participants are strictly regulated.

Due to the legal status of ayahuasca, those who have been exploring its therapeutic potential are unable to do so openly. The therapeutic use of ayahuasca is not protected by covenants on religious freedom.

History

In the 16th century, Christian missionaries from Spain and Portugal first encountered indigenous peoples using ayahuasca in South America; their earliest reports described it as the work of the devil. In the 20th century, the active chemical constituent of ''B. caapi'' was named ''telepathine'', but it was found to be identical to a chemical already isolated from ''Peganum harmala'' and was given the name harmaline. Beat writer William Burroughs read a paper by Richard Evans Schultes on the subject and sought out ''yagé'' in the early 1950s while traveling through South America in the hopes that it could relieve or cure opiate addiction (see ''The Yage Letters''). Ayahuasca became more widely known when the McKenna brothers published their experience in the Amazon in ''True Hallucinations''. Dennis later studied the pharmacology, botany, and chemistry of ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, which became the subject of his master's thesis.

In Brazil, a number of modern religious movements based on the use of ayahuasca have emerged, the most famous of them being Santo Daime and the União do Vegetal (or UDV), usually in an animistic context that may be shamanistic or, more often (as with Santo Daime and the UDV), integrated with Christianity. Both Santo Daime and União do Vegetal now have members and churches throughout the world. Similarly, the US and Europe have started to see new religious groups develop in relation to increased ayahuasca use. Some Westerners have teamed up with shamans in the Amazon rainforest regions, forming ayahuasca healing retreats that claim to be able to cure mental and physical illness and allow communication with the spirit world. Some reports and scientific studies affirm that ritualized use of ayahuasca may improve mental and physical health.

In recent years, the tea has been popularized by Wade Davis (''The Serpent and The Rainbow''), Chilean novelist Isabel Allende, writer Kira Salak,author Jeremy Narby (''The Cosmic Serpent''), and radio personality Robin Quivers.

Legal status

Internationally, DMT is a Schedule I drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The Commentary on the Convention on Psychotropic Substances notes, however, that the plants containing it are not subject to international control:

The cultivation of plants from which psychotropic substances are obtained is not controlled by the Vienna Convention. . . . Neither the crown (fruit, mescal button) of the Peyote cactus nor the roots of the plant Mimosa hostilis nor Psilocybe mushrooms themselves are included in Schedule 1, but only their respective principles, mescaline, DMT and psilocin.

A fax from the Secretary of the International Narcotics Control Board to the Netherlands Ministry of Public Health sent in 2001 goes on to state that "Consequently, preparations (e.g.decoctions) made of these plants, including ayahuasca, are not under international control and, therefore, not subject to any of the articles of the 1971 Convention."

The legal status in the United States of DMT-containing plants is somewhat questionable. Ayahuasca plants and preparations are legal, as they contain no scheduled chemicals. However, brews made using DMT containing plants are illegal since DMT is a Schedule I drug. That said, some people are challenging this, using arguments similar to those used by peyotist religious sects, such as the Native American Church. A court case allowing União do Vegetal to use the tea for religious purposes in the United States, ''Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal'', was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 1, 2005; the decision, released February 21, 2006, allows the UDV to use the tea in its ceremonies pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In a similar case an Ashland, Oregon based Santo Daime church sued for their right to import and consume ayahuasca tea. In March 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Panner ruled in favor of the Santo Daime, acknowledging its protection from prosecution under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Religious use in Brazil was legalized after two official inquiries into the tea in the mid-1980s, which concluded that ayahuasca is not a recreational drug and has valid spiritual uses.

In France, Santo Daime won a court case allowing them to use the tea in early 2005; however, they were not allowed an exception for religious purposes, but rather for the simple reason that they did not perform chemical extractions to end up with pure DMT and harmala and the plants used were not scheduled. Four months after the court victory, the common ingredients of ayahuasca as well as harmala were declared ''stupéfiants'', or narcotic schedule I substances, making the tea and its ingredients illegal to use or possess.

Research

Charles Grob directed the first major study of the effects of ayahuasca on humans with the Hoasca Project in 1993. The project studied members of the União do Vegetal (UDV) church in Brazil who use ayahuasca as a sacrament. which in May 2008 held a 3-day conference under the title ''The globalization of Ayahuasca - An Amazonian psychoactive and its users''. There are also the investigations of the human pharmacology of ayahuasca done by the team of Doctor Jordi Riba, in Barcelona, Spain and the work of Rafael G. dos Santos and collaborators, in Brazil.

References

Bartholomew, Dean ''Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia'', Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009. ISBN 978-081303378

Burroughs, William S. and Allen Ginsberg. ''The Yage Letters''. San Francisco: City Lights, 1963. ISBN 0-87286-004-3

Dobkin De Rios, Marlene. ''Visionary Vine: Hallucinogenic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon, (2nd ed.)''. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1984. ISBN 0-88133-093-0

Dobkin de Rios, Marlene & Roger Rumrrill. ''A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy: Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the United States''. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008. ISBN 978-0-313-34542-5

Fraser, Sylvia. ''The Green Labyrinth: Exploring the Mysteries of the Amazon''. Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2003. ISBN 0-88762-123-6.

Hancock, Graham, ''Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind''. London: Century, 2005. ISBN 1844136817

Heaven, Ross and Howard G. Charing. ''Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul''. Rochester, Vt.: Destiny, 2006. ISBN 1-59477-118-9

Lamb, Bruce F. ''Rio Tigre and Beyond: The Amazon Jungle Medicine of Manuel Córdova''. Berkeley: North Atlantic, 1985. ISBN 0-938190-59-8

Langdon, E. Jean Matteson & Gerhard Baer, eds. ''Portals of Power: Shamanism in South America''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8263-1345-0

Luna, Luis Eduardo. ''Vegetalismo: Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon''. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1986. ISBN 91-22-00819-5

Luna, Luis Eduardo & Pablo Amaringo. ''Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of A Peruvian Shaman''. Berkeley: North Atlantic, 1999. ISBN 1-55643-311-5

Luna, Luis Eduardo & Stephen F. White, eds. ''Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon's Sacred Vine''. Santa Fe, NM: Synergetic, 2000. ISBN 0-907791-32-8

McKenna, Terence. ''Food of the Gods: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution''.

Metzner, Ralph, ed. ''Ayahuasca: Hallucinogens, Consciousness, and the Spirit of Nature''. New York: Thunder's Mouth, 1999. ISBN 1-56025-160-3

Metzner, Ralph (Editor). ''Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca, (2nd ed.)'' Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 2006. ISBN 1594770530, ISBN 978-1594770531

Narby, Jeremy. ''The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge''. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998. ISBN 0-87477-911-1

O'Rourke, P. J., ''All the Trouble in the World''. New York: The Atlantic Monthly, 1994. ISBN 0-87113-611-2

Ott, Jonathan. ''Ayahuasca Analogues: Pangæan Entheogens''. Kennewick, Wash.: Natural Products, 1994. ISBN 0-9614234-5-5

Ott, J. ''Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History , (2nd ed.)(Paperback)''. Kennewick, Wash.: Natural Products, 1993. ISBN 0961423498. ISBN 978-0961423490

Ott, J. 1999. ''Pharmahuasca: Human pharmacology of oral DMT plus harmine'', Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 31(2): I7I-177.

Perkins, John. ''The World Is As You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes''. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 1994. ISBN 0-89281-459-4

Pinchbeck, Daniel. ''Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism''. New York: Broadway, 2002. ISBN 0-7679-0743-4

Polari de Alverga, Alex. ''Forest of Visions: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Spirituality, and the Santo Daime Tradition''. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 1999. ISBN 0-89281-716-X

Rätsch, Christian. ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants''. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 2005. ISBN 978-0892819782

Rätsch, Christian, Claudia Müller-Ebeling & Arno Adelaars. ''Ayahuasca. Rituale, Zaubertränke und visionäre Kunst aus Amazonien'', Aarau, Switzerland: AT, 2006. ISBN 978-3-03800-270-3

Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. ''The Shaman and the Jaguar: A Study of Narcotic Drugs Among the Indians of Colombia''. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1975. ISBN 0-87722-038-7

Schultes, Richard Evans & Robert F. Raffauf. ''Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, Their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia''. Oracle, AZ: Synergetic, 1992. ISBN 0-907791-24-7

Shannon, Benny. ''The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-19-925293-9

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Taussig, Michael. ''Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. ISBN 0-226-79012-6

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Category:Herbal and fungal hallucinogens Category:Psychedelic tryptamine carriers

af:Ajahuaska bg:Аяуаска ca:Ayahuasca cs:Ayahuasca cbk-zam:Ayahuasca de:Ayahuasca et:Ayahuasca es:Ayahuasca eo:Ajahuasko fa:آیاهواسکا fr:Ayahuasca it:Ayahuasca he:איוואסקה lt:Ajahuaska hu:Ayahuasca nl:Ayahuasca (drugs) ja:アヤワスカ no:Ayahuasca pl:Ayahuasca pt:Ayahuasca ru:Айяуаска fi:Ayahuasca sv:Ayahuasca uk:Аяваска

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Alex Grey
birth date	November 29, 1953
birth place	Columbus, Ohio
occupation	Artist, painter, author
field	Spiritual and psychedelic art }}

Alex Grey (born November 29, 1953) is an American artist specializing in spiritual and psychedelic art (or visionary art) that is sometimes associated with the New Age movement. Grey is a Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and painting. Grey is a member of the Integral Institute. He is also on the board of advisors for the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, and is the Chair of Wisdom University's Sacred Art Department. He and his wife Allyson Grey are the co-founders of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a non-profit institution supporting Visionary Culture in New York City.

Biography

Grey was born Alex Velzy in Columbus, Ohio on November 29, 1953, the middle child of a middle-class couple. His father was a graphic designer and encouraged his son's drawing ability. Young Alex would collect insects and dead animals from the suburban neighborhood and bury them in the back yard. The themes of death and transcendence weave throughout his artworks, from the earliest drawings to later performances, paintings and sculpture. He went to the Columbus College of Art and Design for two years (1971–73), then dropped out and painted billboards in Ohio for a year (1973–74). Grey then attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for one year, to study with the conceptual artist, Jay Jaroslav.

At the Boston Museum School he met his wife, the artist Allyson Rymland Grey. During this period he had a series of entheogenically induced mystical experiences that transformed his agnostic existentialism to a radical transcendentalism. The Grey couple would trip together on LSD. Alex then spent five years at Harvard Medical School working in the Anatomy department studying the body and preparing cadavers for dissection. He also worked at Harvard's department of Mind/Body Medicine with Dr. Herbert Benson and Dr. Joan Borysenko, conducting scientific experiments to investigate subtle healing energies. Alex's anatomical training prepared him for painting the Sacred Mirrors (explained below) and for doing medical illustration. When doctors saw his Sacred Mirrors, they asked him to do illustration work. Grey was an instructor in Artistic Anatomy and Figure Sculpture for ten years at New York University, and now teaches courses in Visionary Art with Allyson at The Open Center in New York City; Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado; the California Institute of Integral Studies and the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.

In 1972 Grey began a series of art actions that bear resemblance to rites of passage, in that they present stages of a developing psyche. The approximately fifty performance rites, conducted over the last thirty years, move through transformations from an egocentric to more sociocentric and increasingly worldcentric and theocentric identity. The most recent performance was WorldSpirit, a spoken word and musical collaboration with Kenji Williams which was released in 2004 as a DVD.

Grey's unique series of 21 life-sized paintings, the Sacred Mirrors (on display at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in Wappingers Falls, NY), takes the viewer on a journey toward their own divine nature by examining, in detail, the body, mind, and spirit. The Sacred Mirrors present the physical and subtle anatomy of an individual in the context of cosmic, biological and technological evolution. Begun in 1979, the series took a period of ten years to complete. It was during this period that he developed his depictions of the human body that "x-ray" the multiple layers of reality, and reveal the interplay of anatomical and spiritual forces. After painting the Sacred Mirrors, he applied this multidimensional perspective to such archetypal human experiences as praying, meditation, kissing, copulating, pregnancy, birth, nursing and dying. Grey’s recent work has explored the subject of consciousness from the perspective of "universal beings" whose bodies are grids of fire, eyes and infinite galactic swirls.

Renowned healers Olga Worral and Rosalyn Bruyere have expressed appreciation for the skillful portrayal of clairvoyant vision in his paintings of translucent glowing bodies. Grey's paintings have been featured in venues as diverse as the album art of Tool, The String Cheese Incident, the Beastie Boys and Nirvana, Newsweek magazine, the Discovery Channel, Rave flyers and sheets of blotter acid. His work has been exhibited worldwide, including Feature Inc., Tibet House, Stux Gallery, P.S. 1, The Outsider Art Fair and the New Museum in NYC, the Grand Palais in Paris, the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil. Alex has been a keynote speaker at conferences all over the world including Tokyo, Amsterdam, Basel, Barcelona and Manaus. The international psychedelic community has embraced Grey as an important mapmaker and spokesman for the visionary realm.

A large installation called Heart Net by Alex and his wife, Allyson, was displayed at Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum in 1998-99. A mid-career retrospective of Grey's works was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego in 1999. The large format art book, ''Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey'' has been translated into five languages and has sold over one hundred thousand copies, unusual for an art book. His inspirational book, The Mission of Art, traces the evolution of human consciousness through art history, exploring the role of an artist's intention and conscience, and reflecting on the creative process as a spiritual path.

''Transfigurations'' is Alex's second large-format monograph, containing over 300 color and black & white images of his work. Sounds True has released ''The Visionary Artist'', a CD of Grey's reflections on art as a spiritual practice. ''ARTmind'' is the artist's recent video exploring the healing potential of Sacred Art. Grey co-edited the book, ''Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics'' (Chronicle Books, 2002). In 2004 Grey’s VISIONS boxed set containing a portfolio of new works and ''Sacred Mirrors'' and ''Transfigurations'', his collected works. The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, CoSM, a long-term exhibition of fifty works of transformative art by Grey opened in the Fall of 2004 in New York City and relocated to its present Hudson Valley location some years later. He lives in New York City with his wife, painter Allyson Grey, and their daughter, actress Zena Grey.

Grey was featured in the 2006 film ''Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within'', a documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world.

Paintings

Grey’s paintings can be described as a blend of sacred, visionary art and postmodern art. He is best known for his paintings of glowing anatomical human bodies, images that “x-ray” the multiple layers of reality. His art is a complex integration of body, mind, and spirit. The Sacred Mirrors, a life-sized series of 21 paintings, took 10 years to complete, and examines in detail the physical and metaphysical anatomy of the individual. "The inner body is meticulously rendered - not just anatomically precise but crystalline in its clarity" . Many of his paintings include detailed representations of the skeleton, nervous system, cardiovascular system, and lymphatic system. Grey applies this multidimensional perspective to paint the universal human experience. His figures are shown in positions such as praying, meditating, kissing, copulating, pregnancy, birth and death. His work incorporates many religious symbols, including auras, chakras, and icons with geometric shapes and tessellations in natural, industrial, and multicultural situations. Grey’s paintings are permeated with an intense and subtle light that is rare in art history. “It is the light that is sublime in Grey’s oeuvre - which is the most important innovation in religious light since the Baroque - and that makes the mundane beings in them seem sublime, in every realistic detail of their exquisite being”.

Philosophy

Grey has also made his own contribution to the philosophy of art in his book ''The Mission of Art'' (1998). Therein, he promotes the possibility of the mystical potential of art: he argues that the process of artistic creation can (and should) play a role in the enlightenment of the artist. For him, the process of artistic creation holds the potential of transcending the limitations of the mind and more fully expressing the divine spirit. He also believes that art can induce within the viewer an elevated state wherein spiritual states of being are attained.

In an interview with Ken Wilber for ''Integral Naked'', Grey described an experience of shared hallucination between himself and his wife, which led him to believe in spirituality and spiritual practice.

Reception

Painting and music groups

Grey's artwork has often been used by music groups on their album covers.

An album of David Byrne remixes called ''Visible Man'' featured Grey's artwork.

Michael Hedges's album ''Torched'' features one of Grey's "Holy Fire" paintings on the cover.

The liner notes for the Nirvana album ''In Utero'' included a reproduction of Grey's painting ''Muscle System (Pregnant Woman)'' among a series of photographs of the band.

The cover of The String Cheese Incident's album Untying the Not features Grey's work ''Cosmic Elf'', commissioned specifically for the album.

Hip-hop group the Beastie Boys featured Grey's "Gaia" painting as well as his "Vision Crystal" image inside the booklet of their album "Ill Communication".

The metal band Tool has featured Grey's artwork as album artwork for their album ''Lateralus''. He also executed the stage design for Tool for the associated tour that included massive reproductions of the album artwork as well as provide the artwork for the 2006 Tool album ''10,000 Days'' and the computer-generated graphics for the video of the single "Vicarious". Tool also used a few paintings from Alex on their 2007 tour of Europe, Asia, and North America.

In 2004 a live multimedia performance was recorded as a DVD titled ''Worldspirit'' - featuring the animated artwork and live spoken word of Alex Grey, coupled with the project direction and live music of Kenji Williams.

The alleged mystical properties of Grey's artwork are discussed in Stuart Davis' 2006 DVD ''Between the Music''.

DJ/Producer Bassnectar has used Alex Grey's artwork for multiple album covers.

In 2008 and 2009, TELESMA performed Winter Solstice concerts at which Alex and Allyson Grey appeared on stage and painted new original pieces. A DVD of their first collaborative Winter Solstice concert with TELESMA called "Hearing Vision's LIVE" was released in June 2010. On December 18, 2010, Alex and Allyson Grey again "live painted" new original pieces with TELESMA during the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) Full Moon Solstice Celebration.

In the media

Grey's artwork has been featured on the cover of ''Sub Rosa'', ''Newsweek'', ''High Times'', ''Shaman's Drum'', ''Shambhala Sun'', ''Juxtapoz'', ''Vision'', ''Gnosis'' and ''The Healing Power of Neurofeedback: The Revolutionary LENS Technique for Restoring Optimal Brain Function''.

The Discovery Channel included Grey in a feature on art and creativity in altered states.

The Viking Youth Power Hour interviewed Alex & Allyson Grey about the role of sacred art, the holy shenanigans of Burning Man, and the development of his process.

Grey's work and his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors gallery in New York City are featured in a 2006 DVD release ''CoSM The Movie'', directed by Nick Krasnic.

Grey talks about his personal philosophy in the 2009 movie Cognition Factor.

In ''Variable Star'', a science fiction novel written by Spider Robinson based on a story outline by Robert A. Heinlein, Robinson devotes several pages to his protagonist's discovery of Grey's ''Sacred Mirrors'' and ''Progress of the Soul'' series, and to using them to enhance meditation.

Collections

''Transfigurations''

''Visions'', 2003, a 2,000-copy limited edition collection of Grey's two hardcover books and a set of prints, all in an illustrated wooden case which folds out into an 'altar'

Publications

1990 - ''Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alexander Grey'' (Alex Grey) (Inner Traditions - Bear & Company) ISBN 0892813148

2001 - ''Transfigurations'' (Alex Grey) (Inner Traditions - Bear & Company) ISBN 0892818514

2001 - ''The Mission of Art'' (Alex Grey) (Shambhala Publications Inc.) ISBN 157062545X

2006 - ''True Visions'' (Erik Davis and Pablo Echaurren) (Betty Books) ISBN 88-902372-0-1

2007 - ''Metamorphosis: 50 Contemporary Surreal, Fantastic and Visionary Artists'' (beinArt) ISBN 978-0-9803231-0-8

2008 - ''Art Psalms''

See also

Zena Grey

Chapel of Sacred Mirrors

10,000 days

Tool

Thangka

Sky burial

Nirvana's In Utero

References

External links

Alex Grey's Home Page

Chapel of Sacred Mirrors home page

Tripatourium.com, published the only two officially licensed Alex Grey Blotter Art prints.

Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:American artists Category:Contemporary artists Category:Integral art Category:Psychedelic artists Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:Album-cover and concert-poster artists Category:Tibetan Buddhists from the United States Category:Columbus College of Art and Design alumni

bg:Алекс Грей de:Alex Grey es:Alex Grey fr:Alex Grey it:Alex Grey nl:Alex Grey pt:Alex Grey fi:Alex Grey pl:Alex Grey

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	Graham Hancock
Birth date	August 02, 1950
Birth place	Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Death date
Resting place coordinates
Nationality	British
Citizenship	British
Known for	Author, ''The Sign and the Seal'', ''Fingerprints of the Gods'', ''The Message of the Sphinx''
Alma mater	Durham University
Occupation	Author
Footnotes	}}

Graham Hancock (born 2 August 1950 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British writer and journalist. Hancock specialises in unconventional theories involving ancient civilisations, stone monuments or megaliths, altered states of consciousness, ancient myths and astronomical/astrological data from the past. One of the main themes running through many of his books is the possible global connection with a "mother culture" from which he believes all ancient historical civilizations sprang.

Biography

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hancock's formative years were spent in India, where his father worked as a surgeon. Having returned to the UK, he graduated from Durham University in 1973, receiving a First Class Honours degree in Sociology.

As a journalist, Hancock worked for many British papers, such as ''The Times'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''The Independent'', and ''The Guardian''. He was co-editor of New Internationalist magazine from 1976–1979 and East Africa correspondent of ''The Economist'' from 1981-1983.

Works

His books include ''Lords of Poverty'', ''The Sign and the Seal'', ''Fingerprints of the Gods'', ''Keeper of Genesis'' (released in the US as ''Message of the Sphinx''), ''The Mars Mystery'', ''Heaven's Mirror'' (with wife Santha Faiia), ''Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization'', and ''Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith'' (with co-author Robert Bauval). In 1996 he appeared in The Mysterious Origins of Man. He also wrote and presented the documentaries ''Underworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age'' (2002) and ''Quest for the Lost Civilisation'' (1998) shown on Channel 4. In Hancocks's book ''Talisman: Sacred Cities, Secret Faith'', co-authored with Robert Bauval, the two put forward "a version of the old Jewish-Masonic plot so beloved by ultra-right-wing conspiracy theorists." They suggest a connection between the pillars of Solomon's Temple and the Twin Towers, and between the Star of David and The Pentagon.

Hancock's most recent non-fiction book, ''Supernatural: Meetings With the Ancient Teachers of Mankind'', was published in the UK in October 2005 and in the US in 2006. In it, Hancock examines paleolithic cave art in the light of David Lewis-Williams' neuropsychological model, exploring its relation to the development of the fully-modern human mind.

His first novel, ''Entangled: The Eater of Souls'', the first in a fantasy series, was published in the UK in April 2010 and in the US in October 2010. The novel makes use of Hancock's prior research interests and as he has noted, "What was there to lose, I asked myself, when my critics already described my factual books as fiction?"

Although his books have sold more than five million copies worldwide and have been translated into twenty-seven languages, his methods and conclusions have found little support among academics.

Often criticised for being a pseudoarchaeologist, Hancock has never claimed that he has formal training in archaeology, or that he is an archeologist. He sees himself as a journalist who asks questions based upon observation and as someone who provides a counterbalance to what he perceives as the "unquestioned" acceptance and support given to orthodox views by the education system, the media, and by society at large.

Orion Correlation Theory

One of the many recurring themes in several of Hancock's works has been an exposition on the "Orion Correlation Theory" (or OCT) , first put forward by Belgian writer Robert Bauval and then further expounded in collaborative works with Hancock, as well as in their separate publications.

BBC ''Horizon'' controversy

BBC 2's ''Horizon'' TV series broadcast a programme, "Atlantis Reborn", on 4 November 1999 that challenged the ideas presented by Hancock. It detailed one of Hancock's claims that the arrangement of an ancient temple complex was designed to mirror astronomical features and attempted to demonstrate that the same thing could be done with perhaps equal justification using famous landmarks in New York. It also ''alleged'' that Hancock had selectively moved or ignored the locations of some of the temples to fit his own theories (see below).

Hancock claimed he was misrepresented by the programme, and he and Robert Bauval made complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Commission against the way ''Horizon'' had portrayed them and their work. Eight points were raised by Hancock, two by Bauval (one of which duplicated a complaint of Hancock's). This included the complaint that:

"''The programme attempted to create the impression that he [Hancock] was an intellectual fraudster who had put forward half baked theories and ideas in bad faith, and that he was incompetent to defend his own arguments."''

The BSC dismissed all but one of the complaints. Overall, the BSC concluded that "the programme makers acted in good faith in their examination of the theories of Mr Hancock and Mr Bauval". The complaint which was upheld was that '"The programme ''unfairly omitted one of their arguments in rebuttal of a speaker who criticised the theory'' of a significant correlation between the Giza pyramids and the belt stars of the constellation Orion (the "correlation theory")"', which the Commission did find to be unfair. That speaker was the astronomer Edwin Krupp. Krupp accused Bauval of somehow fudging the maps of Orion and the Pyramids by placing them "upside down" in order to make the theory work. Krupp's argument hinges on the modern convention that 'north is up and south is down' in map-making. In interviews filmed with Horizon, Hancock and Bauval provided detailed rebuttals to Krupp and argued that the ancient Egyptians had made the Pyramids correlate in the most obvious and intuitive manner with the three stars of Orion's Belt: Lower Egypt is ''North'' and Upper Egypt is ''South''. Krupp's criticism was rejected by two prominent British astronomers, Dr. Percy Seymour of Plymouth University and Dr. Archie Roy, professor Emeritus at Glasgow University. ''Horizon'' subsequently offered to broadcast a revised transmission of the programme which takes into account the larger point which was found in the writers' favour. This went to air under the name ''Horizon: Atlantis Reborn Again'' on 14 December 2000.

Cultural references

In 2009, Roland Emmerich released his blockbuster disaster movie 2012 citing ''Fingerprints of the Gods'' in the credits as an inspiration for the film, stating: "I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie, but I never felt I had the hook. I first read about the Earth's Crust Displacement Theory in Graham Hancock's ''Fingerprints of the Gods''." Also in 2009, author Geoff Stray released his best-selling book "Beyond 2012: Catastrophe or Awakening?" in which he sites Graham Hancock as one of his inspirations and as a guidepost to point others to do their own investigation into the wonder of ancient societies.

Books

Published in the United Kingdom as

See also

Archaeoastronomy

Erich von Däniken

Mythology

Zahi Hawass

References

External links

The Official Graham Hancock Website

Broadcasting Standards Commission – Synopsis of adjudication. Horizon: Atlantis Reborn (November 4, 1999)

Horizon: Atlantis Reborn and the Broadcasting Standards Commission The BBC's response to the Horizon programme debate.

Brass, M., nd, ''An analysis of the quality of Graham Hancock's "science"'', The Antiquity of Man Web Site.

Brass, M., 2002, ''Tracing Graham Hancock's Shifting Cataclysm'', Skeptical Inquirer. vol. 26, no. 4: 45-49.

Carroll, R. T., 2009, ''Atlantis'', The Skeptic’s Dictionary website.

Fagan, N., nd, ''An Answer to Graham Hancock'' and ''Analysis of Hancock's Position Statement on C-14 Dating'', Papers, In the Hall of Ma’at website.

Tonkin, S., nd, ''Some Astronomical Errors of Graham Hancock'', The Astronomical Unit website.

Flemming, N., nd, ''Review of Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age'', Papers, In the Hall of Ma’at website.

The Big Idea: Graham Hancock

Category:1950 births Category:Atlantis Category:Living people Category:British non-fiction writers Category:Pseudoarchaeology Category:Pseudohistory Category:Alumni of Durham University Category:2012 theorists

ca:Graham Hancock da:Graham Hancock de:Graham Hancock es:Graham Hancock fr:Graham Hancock it:Graham Hancock ja:グラハム・ハンコック no:Graham Hancock pl:Graham Hancock pt:Graham Hancock ru:Хэнкок, Грэм sk:Graham Hancock sv:Graham Hancock ta:கிரஹாம் ஹான்கோக் zh:葛瑞姆·汉卡克

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
region	Western Philosophy
Era	20th century philosophy
Color	#B0C4DE
image	Mckenna1.jpg
name	Terence Kemp McKenna
Birth date	November 16, 1946
Birth place	Paonia, Colorado, United States
Death date	April 03, 2000
Death place	San Rafael, California, United States
School tradition	Metaphysics, phenomenology|
Main interests	shamanism, ethnobotany, metaphysics, psychedelic drugs, futurism, primitivism, environmentalism, consciousness, phenomenology, historical revisionism, evolution, ontology, Mind at Large, virtual reality, dominator culture, criticizing science, the Logos
Influences	psychedelic drugs, Marshall McLuhan, Alfred North Whitehead, Teilhard de Chardin, Aldous Huxley, I Ching, William Blake, Riane Eisler, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, Heraclitus
Influenced	Rupert Sheldrake, Robert Anton Wilson, Ralph Abraham, RU Sirius, Cliff Pickover, Timothy Leary
Notable ideas	Novelty Theory, The "Stoned Ape" Theory of Human Evolution, Machine elves }}

Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946 – April 3, 2000) was an Irish-American researcher, philosopher, speaker, spiritual teacher and writer on many subjects; such as human consciousness, psychedelic drugs, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and the end of the universe, cybernetics, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.

Biography

Early life

Terence McKenna grew up in Paonia, Colorado. He was introduced to geology through his uncle and developed a hobby of solitary fossil hunting in the arroyos near his home. From this he developed a deep artistic and scientific appreciation of nature.

At age 16, Terence moved to Los Altos, California to live with family friends for a year. He finished high school in Lancaster, CA. In 1963, McKenna was introduced to the literary world of psychedelics through ''The Doors of Perception'' and ''Heaven and Hell'' by Aldous Huxley and certain issues of ''The Village Voice'' that talked about psychedelics.

Terence claimed that one of his early psychedelic experiences with morning glory seeds showed him "that there was something there worth pursuing." In an audio interview Terence Mckenna claims to have started smoking cannabis regularly during the summer following his 17th birthday.

Studying and traveling

In 1965, Terence enrolled in U.C. Berkeley to study Art History. In 1967, while in college, he got involved with shamanism after being lead there by studying Tibetan religions That year, which he called his "opium and kabbala phase," he also traveled to Jerusalem, where he met Kathleen Harrison, who would later become his wife.

In 1969, Terence traveled to Nepal lead by his "interest in Tibetan painting and hallucinogenic shamanism." During his time there, he studied the Tibetan language and worked as a hashish smuggler, until "one of his Bombay-to-Aspen shipments fell into the hands of U. S. Customs." He was forced to move to avoid capture by Interpol. He wandered through Southeast Asia viewing ruins, collected butterflies in Indonesia, and worked as an English teacher in Tokyo. He then went back to Berkeley to continue studying biology, which he called "his first love."

After he completed part of his studies and his mother's death from cancer in 1971, Terence, his brother Dennis, and three friends traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of oo-koo-hé, a plant preparation containing DMT. Instead of oo-koo-hé they found various forms of ayahuasca, or "yagé," and gigantic psilocybe cubensis which became the new focus of the expedition. In La Chorrera, at the urging of his brother, he was the subject of a psychedelic experiment which he claimed put him in contact with Logos: an informative, divine voice he believed was universal to visionary religious experience. The voice's revelations and his brother's simultaneous peculiar experience prompted him to explore the structure of an early form of the I Ching, which led to his "Novelty Theory." During their stay in the Amazon, Terence also got romantically involved with his translator, Ev.

In 1972, Terence returned to Berkeley to finish his studies. There he decided to switch majors to a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Conservation, in a then-new experimental section of the same university called the Tussman Experimental College. During his studies, he would also develop techniques for cultivating psilocybin mushrooms with Dennis.

In 1975, he parted with his girlfriend Ev, when she left him for one of Terence's friends from Berkeley. Their parting left him "tormented with migraines and living alone." He graduated in 1975. That same year, he began a relationship with a friend he met in Jerusalem, Kathleen.

Soon after graduating, Terence and Dennis published a book inspired by their Amazon experiences, ''The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching.'' Terence also began lecturing. The brothers' experiences in the Amazon would later play a major role in Terence's book ''True Hallucinations'', published in 1993. In 1976, the brothers published what they had learned about the cultivation of mushrooms in a book entitled ''Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric.

Later life

In the early 1980s, McKenna began to speak publicly on the topic of psychedelic drugs, lecturing extensively and conducting weekend workshops. Though associated with the New Age and human potential movements, McKenna himself had little patience for New Age sensibilities. He repeatedly stressed the importance and primacy of felt experience, as opposed to dogma. Timothy Leary once introduced him as "one of the five or six most important people on the planet." }}He soon became a fixture of popular counterculture. His growing popularity culminated in the early to mid-1990s with the publication of several books: ''True Hallucinations'', relating the tale of his 1971 La Chorrera experience; ''Food of the Gods''; and ''The Archaic Revival''. He became a popular personality in the psychedelic rave/dance scene of the early 1990s, with frequent spoken word performances at raves and contributions to psychedelic and goa trance albums by The Shamen, Spacetime Continuum, Alien Project, Capsula, Entheogenic, Zuvuya, Shpongle, and Shakti Twins. His speeches were, and are, sampled by many. In 1994 he appeared as a speaker at the Starwood Festival, documented in the book ''Tripping'' by Charles Hayes. His lectures were produced on both cassette tape and CD.

McKenna was a colleague of chaos mathematician Ralph Abraham, and biologist Rupert Sheldrake, creator of the theory of "morphogenetic fields", not to be confused with the mainstream usage of the same term. He conducted several public debates known as ''trialogues'' with them from the late 1980s until his death. Books containing transcriptions of some of these events were published. He was also a friend and associate of Ralph Metzner, Nicole Maxwell, and Riane Eisler, participating in joint workshops and symposia with them. He was a personal friend of Tom Robbins, and influenced the thought of many scientists, writers, artists, and entertainers. His influences include comedian Bill Hicks, whose routines about psychedelic drugs drew heavily from McKenna's works. He is also the inspiration for the Twin Peaks character Dr. Jacoby.

In addition to psychedelic drugs, McKenna spoke on the subjects of virtual reality, which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics; techno-paganism; artificial intelligence; evolution; extraterrestrials; and aesthetic theory, specifically about art/visual experience as ''information'' representing the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics.

In 1985, McKenna co-founded Botanical Dimensions with his then-wife Kathleen, a nonprofit ethnobotanical preserve in Hawaii, where he lived for many years before he died. In 1997 he and Kathleen divorced. Before moving to Hawaii permanently, McKenna split his time between Hawaii and Occidental, located in the redwood-studded hills of Sonoma County, California.

Death

A longtime sufferer of migraines, in mid-1999 McKenna returned to his home on the big island of Hawaii after a long lecturing tour. He began to suffer from increasingly painful headaches. This culminated in three brain seizures in one night, which he claimed were the most powerful psychedelic experiences he had ever known. Upon his emergency trip to the hospital on Oahu, Terence was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. For the next several months he underwent various treatments, including experimental gamma knife radiation treatment. According to Wired magazine, McKenna was worried that his tumour was caused by his 35-years of smoking cannabis; though his doctors assured him there was no causal relation.

In late 1999, Erik Davis conducted what would be the last interview of McKenna. During the interview McKenna also talked about the announcement of his death:

Terence died on April 3, 2000, at the age of 53, with his loved ones at his bedside. He is survived by his brother Dennis, his son Finn, and his daughter Klea.

The library fire

On February 7, 2007, McKenna's library of rare books and personal notes was destroyed in a fire which burned offices belonging to Big Sur's Esalen Institute storing the collection. An index maintained by his brother Dennis survives, though little else.

Ideas

Terence McKenna advocated the exploration of altered states of mind via the ingestion of naturally occurring psychedelic substances. For example, and in particular, as facilitated by the ingestion of high doses of psychedelic mushrooms, and DMT, which he believed was the apotheosis of the psychedelic experience. He spoke of the "jeweled, self-dribbling basketballs" or "self-transforming machine elves" that one encounters in that state.

Although he avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of monotheism), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being "trans-dimensional travel"; literally, enabling an individual to encounter what could be ancestors, or spirits of earth. He remained opposed to most forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening.

Either philosophically or religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Gnostic Christianity, Alfred North Whitehead and Alchemy. McKenna always regarded the Greek philosopher Heraclitus as his favorite philosopher.

He also expressed admiration for the works of James Joyce (calling ''Finnegans Wake'' "the quintessential work of art, or at least work of literature of the 20th century") and Vladimir Nabokov: McKenna once said that he would have become a Nabokov lecturer if he had never encountered psychedelics.

The "Stoned Ape" Theory of Human Evolution

In his book ''Food of the Gods'', McKenna proposed that the transformation from humans' early ancestors ''Homo erectus'' to the species ''Homo sapiens'' mainly had to do with the addition of the mushroom ''Psilocybe cubensis'' in its diet - an event which according to his theory took place in about 100,000 BC (this is when he believed that the species diverged from the Homo genus). He based his theory on the main effects, or alleged effects, produced by the mushroom. One of the effects that comes about from the ingestion of low doses, which agrees with one of scientist Roland Fischer's findings from the late 60s-early 70s, is it significantly improves the visual acuity of humans - so theoretically, of other human-like mammals too. According to McKenna, this effect would have definitely prove to be of evolutionary advantage to humans' omnivorous hunter-gatherer ancestors that would have stumbled upon it "accidentally"; as it would make it easier for them to hunt.

In higher doses, McKenna claims, the mushroom acts as a sexual stimulator, which would make it even more beneficial evolutionarily, as it would result in more offspring. At even higher doses, the mushroom would have acted to "dissolve boundaries", which would have promoted community-bonding and group sexual activities-that would result in a mixing of genes and therefore greater genetic diversity. Generally McKenna believed that the periodic ingestion of the mushroom would have acted to dissolve the ego in humans before it ever got the chance to grow in destructive proportions. In this context he likened the ego to a cancerous tumor that can grow uncontrollable and become destructive to its host. In his own words:

The mushroom, according to McKenna, had also given humans their first truly religious experiences (which, as he believed, were the basis for the foundation of all subsequent religions to date). Another factor that McKenna talked about was the mushroom's potency to promote linguistic thinking. This would have promoted vocalisation, which in turn would have acted in cleansing the brain (based on a scientific theory that vibrations from speaking cause the precipitation of impurities from the brain to the cerebrospinal fluid), which would further mutate the brain. All these factors according to McKenna were the most important factors that promoted evolution towards the ''Homo sapiens'' species. After this transformation took place, the species would have begun moving out of Africa to populate the rest of the planet Later on, this theory by McKenna was given the name "The 'Stoned Ape' Theory of Human Evolution".

Bibliography

1975 - ''The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching'' (with Dennis McKenna) (Seabury; 1st Ed) ISBN 0-8164-9249-2.

1976 - ''The Invisible Landscape'' (with Dennis McKenna, and Quinn Taylor) (Scribner) ISBN 0-8264-0122-8

1976 - ''Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' (with Dennis McKenna: credited under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric) (2nd edition 1986) (And/Or Press) ISBN 0-915904-13-6

1992 - ''Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide'' (with Dennis McKenna: (credited under the pseudonyms OT Oss and ON Oeric) (Quick American Publishing Company; Revised edition) ISBN 0-932551-06-8

1992 - ''The Archaic Revival'' (HarperSanFrancisco; 1st edition) ISBN 0-06-250613-7

1992 - ''Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge - A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution'' (Bantam) ISBN 0-553-37130-4

1992 - ''Synesthesia'' (with Timothy C. Ely) (Granary Books 1st Ed) ISBN 1-887123-04-0

1992 - ''Trialogues at the Edge of the West: Chaos, Creativity, and the Resacralization of the World'' (with Ralph H. Abraham, Rupert Sheldrake and Jean Houston) (Bear & Company Publishing 1st Ed) ISBN 0-939680-97-1

1993 - ''True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil’s Paradise'' (HarperSanFrancisco 1st Ed) ISBN 0-06-250545-9

1994 - ''The Invisible Landscape'' (HarperSanFrancisco; Reprint edition) ISBN 0-06-250635-8

1998 - ''True Hallucinations & the Archaic Revival: Tales and Speculations About the Mysteries of the Psychedelic Experience'' (Fine Communications/MJF Books) (Hardbound) ISBN 1-56731-289-6

1998 - ''The Evolutionary Mind : Trialogues at the Edge of the Unthinkable'' (with Rupert Sheldrake and Ralph H. Abraham) (Trialogue Press; 1st Ed) ISBN 0-942344-13-8

1999 - ''Food of the Gods: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution'' (Rider & Co; New edition) ISBN 0-7126-7038-6

1999 - ''Robert Venosa: Illuminatus'' (with Robert Venosa, Ernst Fuchs, H. R. Giger, and Mati Klarwein) (Craftsman House) ISBN 90-5703-272-4

2001 - ''Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness'' (with Rupert Sheldrake and Ralph H. Abraham) (Park Street Press; revised ed) ISBN 0-89281-977-4 (Revised edition of Trialogues at the Edge of the West)

2005 - ''The Evolutionary Mind: Trialogues on Science, Spirit & Psychedelics'' (Monkfish Book Publishing; Revised Ed) ISBN 0-9749359-7-2

Spoken word

''History Ends In Green: Gaia, Psychedelics and the Archaic Revival'', 6 audiocassette set, Mystic Fire audio, 1993, ISBN 1-56176-907-x (recorded at the Esalen Institute, 1989)

''TechnoPagans at the End of History'' (transcription of rap with Mark Pesce from 1998)

''Psychedelics in the Age of Intelligent Machines'' (1999) 90 minutes video

''Alien Dreamtime'' with Spacetime Continuum & Stephen Kent (Magic Carpet Media) (CD) video

''Conversations on the Edge of Magic'' (1994) (CD & Cassette) ACE

''Rap-Dancing Into the Third Millennium'' (1994) (Cassette) (Re-issued on CD as ''The Quintessential Hallucinogen'') ACE

''Packing For the Long Strange Trip'' (1994) (Cassette) ACE

Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell, broadcast on May 22, 1997, Five hour interview covering various topics

''Global Perspectives and Psychedelic Poetics'' (1994) (Cassette) Sound Horizons Audio-Video, Inc.

''The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge'' (1992) (Cassette) Sounds True

Discography

''Re : Evolution'' with The Shamen (1992)

''Alien Dreamtime'' with Spacetime Continuum & Stephen Kent (Magic Carpet Media) (DVD)

2009 - ''Cognition Factor'' (2009)

See also

Ethnomycology

Exopheromone

List of notable brain tumor patients

Machine Elf

References

External links

Terence McKenna Land at Deoxy.org

Terence McKenna at Levity.com

Erowid's Terence McKenna Vault

Botanical Dimensions

Rotten.com bio

FloatingWorldWeb's McKenna Pages

Terence McKenna's Last Trip 2000 Wired Magazine article by Erik Davis

"Mind contagions" (2001) at disinfo.com

Psychedelics, Evolution & Fun 2008 essay by Patrick Lundborg

Machine Elves 101, or Why Terence McKenna Matters - Reallity Sandwish by Daniel Moler

Transcription from 1991 interview regarding cannabis

Audio and video resources

Terence McKenna's interview Conducted by John Hazard in October 1998

Audio and video archive at Deoxy.org

Terence McKenna media archive at EROCx1.com

FutureHi.net MP3 Downloads - Terence McKenna, Albert Hoffman, Robert Anton Wilson, and more

McKenna at the 1999 Entheobotany Seminar - Audio Podcast

Psychedelics in the Age of Intelligent Machines - Video samples from the 1999 DVD

McKenna Video on FloatingWorldWeb - McKenna Video Portal

Over 100 podcasts of Terence McKenna talks - Audio Podcast

Transcripts

MindofMcKenna - McKenna Audio Excerpts, Transcriptions and Quotes

Category:2012 theorists Category:Deaths from brain cancer Category:Cancer deaths in Hawaii Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:Psychedelic researchers Category:American cannabis activists Category:American book and manuscript collectors Category:Contemporary philosophers Category:Counterculture festivals activists Category:1946 births Category:2000 deaths Category:American anarchists Category:Philosophers of science Category:Western mystics Category:Ethnobotanists Category:Religious skeptics

bs:Terrence McKenna cs:Terence McKenna de:Terence McKenna es:Terence McKenna fr:Terence McKenna (écrivain) hr:Terrence McKenna it:Terence McKenna nl:Terence McKenna ja:テレンス・マッケナ pl:Terence McKenna pt:Terence McKenna ru:Маккенна, Теренс Кемп sk:Terence McKenna fi:Terence McKenna sv:Terence McKenna tr:Terence McKenna

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Ben Stewart
honorific-suffix	MLA
residence	West Kelowna, British Columbia
office	MLA for Westside-Kelowna
term start	May 12, 2009
Office3	Minister of Citizens' Services and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism and the Public Affairs Bureau of British Columbia
Premier3	Gordon Campbell
Term start3	June 10, 2009
Term end3	June 11, 2010
Predecessor3	Wally Oppal
Successor3	Mary McNeil
Office4	Minister of Community and Rural Development of British Columbia
Premier4	Gordon Campbell
Term start4	June 11, 2010
Term end4	October 25, 2010
Predecessor4	Bill Bennett
Successor4	Stephanie Cadieux
Office5	Minister of Agriculture of British Columbia
Premier5	Gordon Campbell
Term start5	October 25, 2010
Term end5	March 14, 2011
Predecessor5	Steve Thomson
Successor5	Don McRae
party	Liberal
occupation	vintner }}

Benjamin Richard Stewart is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2009 provincial election and a winemaker who has operated Quails' Gate Estate Winery with several family members in the Okanagan since 1989. He represents the riding of Westside-Kelowna as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party. As a member of the provincial government, he worked as Minister of Citizens' Services (June 2009 - June 2010), Minister of Community and Rural Development (June 2010 - October 2010), and Minister of Agriculture (October 2010 - March 2011).

In the 2011 BC Liberal Party leadership election he endorsed Kevin Falcon; following Christy Clark's victory, she made Stewart Government Whip. Stewart also serves as a member of the Cabinet Priorities and Planning Committee, as well as the Legislative Review Committee.

Quails' Gate Estate Winery

Ben Stewart was born and raised in Kelowna, British Columbia. His father, Dick, had moved to the Okanagan in 1911 where he started a nursery growing fruit and shade trees. Dick purchased a West Kelowna vineyard in 1956 which Ben would later incorporate as Quails' Gate Estate Winery. Along with his wife, Ruth, and brother, Tony, they began making their own wine in 1989, with bottling beginning in 1990. In the first couple of years, they were producing about 4,000 cases of wine. Sufficient demand allowed them to expand numerous times so that in 1997 they produced 28,000 cases. A $4 million expansion in 1998 increased their production to 60,000 cases. The winery specialized in pinot noirs. Their tasting room and wine shop was located in an historical building, built by one of the first white settlers in the area, before being replaced with a more modern facility during their 2007 expansion.

Stewart was a proponent of attracting tourism to the Okanagan, as well as promoting exports of British Columbia wine. In 2006, their local Chamber of Commerce awarded Stewart their President's Award for his efforts in promoting Okanagan businesses. The next year Quails' Gate Estate Winery was awarded the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise's regional Family Enterprise of the Year Award. Stewart also served as the marketing chair of the BC Wine Institute, chairman of the Vintners Quality Alliance, and as a member of the UBC Okanagan Advisory Council.

Politics

In 2005, following Member of Parliament Werner Schmidt's announcement that he would not stand for re-election in the next federal election, Stewart campaigned to be the next Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the Kelowna—Lake Country riding. While six other candidates ran, Kelowna city councillor Ron Cannan eventually won the Conservative Party nomination and went on to win the 2006 general election. In 2008, following MLA Rick Thorpe decision not to stand in the next provincial election, and following the re-alignment of electoral boundaries to create the Westside-Kelowna riding, Stewart sought to be the B.C. Liberal Party candidate. Only two candidates stood for the nomination: Stewart and Rick de Jong, brother of then-Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister Mike de Jong. Stewart won the nomination and was the B.C. Liberal candidate in the 2009 provincial election. He campaigned on an economic platform: that the BC Liberals in power would be more beneficial for the provincial economy than a New Democrat government. Stewart won the election, with 53% of the vote, over the NDP candidate and mental health worker Tish Lakes, who received 29% of the vote and stated "I was never running against Ben Stewart. I was running against the policies of [Liberal leader] Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals."

BC Premier Gordon Campbell immediately promoted Stewart to the Executive Council of British Columbia as the Minister of Citizens' Services and the Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism and the Public Affairs Bureau. As minister, Stewart was immediately thrust into the spotlight as allegations against the Public Affairs Bureau arose concerning the suppression of a report, that should have been released prior to the election, showing a 50% increase in welfare enrollments in 2009. Stewart responded with the statement that the bureau was following protocol regarding the release of information during an election campaign and that the same bureau also withheld a report showing positive job growth during the month of April 2009, a month prior to the election. In December 2009 Stewart also had to defend the Ministry of Housing and Social Development who was under investigation regarding the leak of "mailed sensitive government information to someone in the United States" Stewart stated that "We don't exactly know who this other individual is, but it's believed they could be in the United States."

In his October 25, 2010 cabinet re-shuffling, Campbell promoted Stewart to Minister of Agriculture. Within the first few weeks, he toured the Peace River region, which had suffered a dry summer, and spoke about improving ministry programs like Agristability and production insurance. Shortly afterwards, he was consulted by the federal agricultural minister Gerry Ritz regarding Canada farm-disaster aid. Stewart has spoke favourably about local purchasing and considered re-establishing the "Buy B.C." program. Stewart signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea for regulating aquaculture as a "shared responsibility". In late-2010, a comprehensive review of the Agricultural Land Commission was done and recommendations submitted to Stewart who said he would review the report and discuss with fellow cabinet ministers before making it public.

In the 2011 BC Liberal Party leadership election, following Campbell's resignation, Stewart endorsed Kevin Falcon, noting his approval of Falcon's "support of deregulation for businesses" and his performance as Minister of Health; however, Christy Clark eventually won. Clark did not include Stewart in her first cabinet, but did appoint him Government Whip. He currently serves on the Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides, the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives, as well as the BC Liberals Priorities and Planning Committee and Legislative Review Committee.

Electoral history

|- | style="width: 130px" |BC Liberal |Ben Stewart |align="right"|10,334 |align="right"|53% |align="center"|''n/a'' |align="right"|$95,251 |NDP |Tish Lakes |align="right"|5,656 |align="right"|29% |align="center"|''n/a'' |align="right"|$26,122 | Conservative | Peter Neville |align="right"|1,772 |align="right"|9% |align="center"|''n/a'' |align="right"|$9,705 |Green |Robin McKim |align="right"|1,617 |align="right"|8% |align="center"|''n/a'' |align="right"|$1,075 |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Total Valid Votes !align="right"|19,379 !align="right"|100% |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Total Rejected Ballots !align="right"|107 !align="right"|0.55% |- bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3|Turnout !align="right"|19,486 !align="right"|47% |}

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia - Honourable Ben Stewart

British Columbia Liberal Party - Ben Stewart (Westside-Kelowna)

Category:British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:People from Kelowna