Dale Pendell: Plant Teachers and the Path of Eve

Dale Pendell
Plant Teachers and the Path of Eve: The Mythopoetic Roots of Psychedelic Practice in the Western Tradition.

As presented at the
World Psychedelic Forum 2008

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Courtesy of: Psychonautica

For those of you not familiar with Dale Pendell. Do yourself a huge favor, listen to this talk and get a glimpse of what you have been missing. He is the author of the Pharmako Trilogy, a collection of 3 books which in the entheogen genre easily qualify as literary masterpieces that must be read by all those who share our interest. Dale once said, "back in the 60's, it was his dream to be a far out poet". Well in my opinion, he has far exceeded this goal becoming something much greater. Imagine if you can a cross between a poet, ethnobotanist, scientist, philosopher, story teller, historian, anthropologist and psychonaut. Dare I say it, someone like Terence McKenna. Only completely different in his own unique way.

In this particular talk we explore the mythopoetic roots of psychedelic praxis in the Western Tradition. The Pharmako, Faust the great necromancer and Shaman giving bodies to spirits, black magic and conjuring. Eve is the first Curandera and the patron goddess of the "poison path" We learn about the links between Eve, Maria Sabina and Pandora, the "all-gifted," and that her true gift was the pharmakon. Eve is the one who dared and the one who shared.

Also Dale talks about Buddhist philosophy on the 6 levels of the world, plant wisdom, entheogen allusions in religious art, the importance of having a shadow, losing your shadow, the importance of luck in some shamanic traditions, Western shamanic figures such as Orpheus, Socrates, divine madness and shamanism, scapegoating drugs, William Blake, artistic depictions of Eve and the serpent in the garden of Eden, Eve as Isis, modern cultural myopia towards sacred plants and the poetry of John Milton. Can all of this fit in one short talk?

Psychonautica