William S. Burroughs: The Junky's Christmas

Francis Ford Coppola Presents
William S. Burroughs' The Junky's Christmas

Part claymation and part live action. The Junky’s Christmas, depicts a story by William S. Burroughs written in 1952. Burroughs takes down a book and reads us the story of Danny the car wiper, a desperate character who has just been released from jail on the upper west side of Manhattan, searches for a fix on a cold Christmas day. His story ends in a revelation that even Danny could never have thought possible.

Merry Christmas!
E

Terence McKenna: The Alchemical Dream

The Alchemical Dream- Rebirth Of The Great Work [2008]

 
In the mid-1990's Terence McKenna and Mystic Fire's Sheldon Rocklin teamed up to make this rich and exciting film. Little did they know that this would be their last film. Filmed in Prague with Terence portraying his usual erudite rendition of the Irish Bard, this filmed classic takes us on a journey into the alchemical renaissance of King Frederick V and his wife Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia. Playing the role of John Dee, court magician for Queen Elizabeth of England, Terence McKenna shows us how the promise of a return to the tradition of alchemy was almost instituted in Europe. He also shows us that this early attempt at the creation of an alchemical kingdom actually lead to the European Renaissance and the institution of Cartesian science and the beginnings of rationalism within the western mindset. This incredible film is not only beautifully filmed but is one of Terence McKenna’s finest performances and a worthy eulogy to his genius.

FREE Download link: megaupload.com

If you enjoy this film, please support it makers work by purchasing a copy below.

 

www.GaianBotanicals.com

Christmas’ pagan origins

Discovery news: Christmas Elements Have Pagan Roots
with James Williams

Christmas’ pagan origins
Written by Kelly Wittmann

No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?

The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.

In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.

In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.

Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.

Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”

The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says, “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts.” […] Sir James Frazer says, “The largest pagan religious cult which fostered the celebration of December 25 as a holiday . . . was the pagan sun- worship, Mithraism . . . This winter festival was called . . . ‘the Nativity of the SUN.’ […] Franz Cumont, perhaps the greatest scholar of Mithraism, wrote, quoting Minucius Felix, “The Mithraists also observed Sun-day and kept sacred the 25th of December as the birthday of the Sun. Many scholars have pointed out how the Sun- worshipping Mithraists, the Sun-worshipping Manicheans and the Christians were all syncretised and reconciled when Constantine led the take-over by Christianity[…]”

However, other Sun-worshipping groups were included too, because of the general importance and popularity of Sol Invictus, the Invincible Sun-deity. Mario Righetti, a renowned Catholic liturgist, writes, “the Church of Rome, to facilitate the acceptance of the faith by the pagan masses, found it convenient to institute the 25th December as the feast of the temporal birth of Christ, to divert them from the pagan feast, celebrated on the same day in honour of the ‘Invincible Sun’, Mithras. The mixing of pagan Sun-worship and Christianity is exemplified by the testimony of a Syrian scholiast on Bar Salibi, who said, “It was a custom of the heathen to celebrate on the same 25th of December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and festivities the Christians also took part.” Practically all the known Sun-deities were born on the 25th December. In S.E. Titcomb, Aryan Sun myths, the Origin of Religions, we find it cited, quoted from primary sources, that the following Sun-deities were all born on 25 December, according to their legends: Crishna (Vishnu), Mithra (Mithras), Osiris, Horus, Hercules, Dionysus (Bacchus), Tammuz, Indra, Buddha. Therein we also read of the Scandinavian goddess Frigga in whose honour a “Mother-night” festival was held at the winter solstice (+ - 25 December), as well as a similar great feast of Yule, where a boar was offered at the winter solstice in honour of Frey.”

Recommended reading Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide
Wikipedia entry "Christmas controversy" and Pre-Christian origins of Christmas

Religioustolerance.org The Christmas star and The Christmas tree
A liberal analysis of the myths surrounding the birth of Jesus
A conservative Biblical analysis of Christmas

www.GaianBotanicals.com

Christian Rätsch: Nutmeg Cookie Recipe

There was a great Nutmeg article written by Ibo Nagano in the Vernal Equinox 2008 issue of the Entheogen Review. Very comprehensive, about 10 pages of Nutmeg info. The following is a recipe by Christian Rätsch called Cookies for Preventing Sadness which was published in his Pagan Christmas. I am sharing it below for your Holiday baking pleasure.

• 2 Tbsp ground nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp ground cloves
• 3 cups flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 eggs
• A pinch of salt
• 3/4 cups of chopped almonds

Mix ingredients and Bake cookies at 350 F for 5 to 10 minutes.
*Note this is far from a visionary dose, but rewarding none the less.

The Winter Solstice celebrations

The historical "reason for the season," for many of these celebrations can be indirectly traced back to the 23.5º tilt of the earth's rotation axis relative to the plane of the ecliptic, as shown below.
The earth spins like a gyroscope or a child's toy top. It constantly points to the same region far out in the universe.

The seasons are not caused by the earth getting closer or farther away from the sun, as many people believe. It is caused by this 23.5º tilt. As the earth travels around the sun, the density of the sun's rays differs between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. In early December of each year, the sun is very low in the northern sky, and very high in the southern sky. This produces winter in the north and summer in the south. In the northern hemisphere, the daylight hours shorten each day and the nighttime lengthens.

₁

On or about DEC-21, the daytime is at a minimum and the nighttime is at a maximum. This is the winter solstice. Humans living millennia ago were far more aware of the shortening day, an apparent pause, and then a gradual lengthening of the daylight hours in late December. Living in a pre-scientific era, many cultures were terrified that the daylight interval would continue to shorten, causing an end to life on Earth. So the winter solstice or the days immediately following the solstice were a time of great celebration. Ancient faiths attributed a major religious theme to the solstice: it was a time of the birth of a new God to replace the old, dying deity. Implicit in this is the hope for a new warm season and a return to the earth's fertility.
The historical origins of religious observances in December:
Wiccans, and other Neopagans celebrate Yule, which is their name for the Winter Solstice.
Nova Romans, celebrate Saturnalia, an ancient Roman holiday. This was the Festival of Saturn which was gradually extended in duration until it became a seven day observance from DEC-17 to 23 each year. The Romans decorated living trees outside their homes, and hung garlands, wreathes and other decorations on their doorways, windows, and stairs. It was also observed at the winter solstice.
Ancient Rome: In the religious melting pot which was the Mediterranean in ancient times, there were many celebrations of the births of saviors at this season:
The ancient Roman Pagan religion celebrated the birth of one of their Gods, Attis, in December of each year. Attis was born of the virgin Nana. He was sacrificed as an adult in order to bring salvation to mankind. He died about MAR-25, after being crucified on a tree, and descended for three days into the underworld. On Sunday, he arose, "as the solar deity for the new season." His followers tied an image of Attis to a tree on "Black Friday," and carried him in a procession to the temple. His body was symbolically eaten by his followers in the form of bread. Worship of Attis began in Rome circa 200 BCE.
The Babylonians celebrated their "Victory of the Sun-God" Festival on DEC-25.
The followers of the Pagan mystery religion Mithraism observed the birth of the savior Mithra, the "Deus sol invictus" ("unconquered sun"). Their God was believed to have been born on DEC-25, circa 500 BCE. His birth was witnessed by shepherds and by gift-carrying Magi. This date was celebrated as the "Dies Natalis Solic Invite," The "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun" each year. Some followers believed that he was born of a virgin. During his life, he performed many miracles, cured many illnesses, and cast out devils. He celebrated a Last Supper with his 12 disciples. He ascended to heaven at the time of the spring equinox, about March 21.
The Roman Emperor Aurelian (circa 214-275 CE) blended Saturnalia with a number of birth celebrations of savior Gods from other religions, into a single holy day: DEC-25. At the time, the various Christian movements were not recognized as legitimate religions. They were subject to intermittent oppression. This new holy day partially lost its close connection to the Winter Solstice.
Ancient Egypt: The god-man/savior Osiris died and was entombed on DEC-21. "At midnight, the priests emerged from an inner shrine crying 'The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing" and showing the image of a baby to the worshipers."
Ancient Greece: The winter solstice ritual was called Lenaea, the Festival of the Wild Women. In very ancient times, a man representing the harvest god Dionysos was torn to pieces and eaten by a gang of women on this day. Later in the ritual, Dionysos would be reborn as a baby. By classical times, the human sacrifice had been replaced by the killing of a goat. The women's role had changed to that of funeral mourners and observers of the birth.
Inca Religion: The ancient Incas celebrated a festival if Inti Raymi at the time of the Winter Solstice. It celebrates "the Festival of the Sun where the god of the Sun, Wiracocha, is honored." Ceremonies were banned by the Roman Catholic conquistadores in the 16th century as part of their forced conversions of the Inca people to Christianity. A local group of Quecia Indians in Cusco, Peru revived the festival about 1950. It is now a major festival which begins in Cusco and proceeds to an ancient amphitheater a few miles away.
Native American Spirituality:

• The Pueblo tribe observe both the summer and winter solstices. Although the specific details of the rituals differ from pueblo to pueblo, "the rites are built around the sun, the coming new year and the rebirth of vegetation in the spring....Winter solstice rites include...prayerstick making, retreats, altars, emesis and prayers for increase." 
• The Hopi tribe "is dedicated to giving aid and direction to the sun which is ready to 'return' and give strength to budding life." Their ceremony is called "Soyal." It lasts for 20 days and includes "prayerstick making, purification, rituals and a concluding rabbit hunt, feast and blessing..."
• There are countless stone structures created by Natives in the past to detect the solstices and equinoxes. One was called Calendar One by its modern-day finder. It is in a natural amphitheatre of about 20 acres in size in Vermont. From a stone enclosure in the center of the bowl, one can see a number of vertical rocks and natural features in the horizon which formed the edge of the bowl. At the solstices and equinoxes, the sun rises and sets at notches or peaks in the ridge which surrounded the calendar.

Christianity: By the third century CE the main surviving Christian movement who were spiritual descendents of the first century CE Pauline Christians, had forgotten Yeshua of Nazareth's (Jesus Christ's) birth day. An anonymous third century document "The DePascha Computus," "placed Jesus birth on March 28. Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (d. ca. 215 CE), thought Jesus was born on November 18."  After much argument, the developing Christian church adopted the Pagan Emperor Aurelian's date as the birthday of their savior.
Since the people of the Roman Empire were accustomed to celebrating the birth of various Gods on that day, it was easy for the church to divert people's attention to Jesus' birth. The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated in the same way as Saturnalia. They involved drinking, sexual indulgence, and singing naked in the streets. These practices have long since been abandoned, although naked singing evolved into modern caroling. According to the Judaism Online web site: "Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city."
Judaism: Jews celebrate an 8 day festival of Hanukkah, (a.k.a. Feast of Lights, Festival of lights, Feast of Dedication, Chanukah, Chanukkah, Hanukah). It recalls the war fought by the Maccabees in the cause of religious freedom. Antiochus, the king of Syria, conquered Judea in the 2nd century BCE. He terminated worship in the Temple and stole the sacred lamp, the menorah, from before the altar.  At the time of the solstice, they rededicated the Temple to a Pagan deity. Judah the Maccabee lead a band of rebels, and succeeding in retaking Jerusalem. They restored the temple and lit the menorah. It was exactly three years after the flame had been extinguished -- at the time of the Pagan rite. 
Although they had found only sufficient consecrated oil to last for 24 hours, the flames burned steadily for eight days. "Today's menorahs have nine branches; the ninth branch is for the shamash, or servant light, which is used to light the other eight candles. People eat potato latkes, exchange gifts, and play dreidel games. And as they gaze at the light of the menorah, they give thanks for the miracle in the Temple long ago."

Modern-day Jews celebrate Hanukkah by lighting one candle for each of the eight days of the festival. Once a minor festival, it has been growing in importance in recent years, possibly to compete with Christmas.
Busshism:  On DEC-8, or on the Sunday immediately preceding, Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day (a.k.a. Rohatsu). It recalls the day in 596 BCE, when the Buddha achieved enlightenment. He had left his family and possessions behind at the age of 29, and sought the meaning of life -- particularly the reasons for its hardships. He studied under many spiritual teachers without success. Finally, he sat under a pipal tree and vowed that he would stay there until he found what he was seeking. On the morning of the eighth day, he realized that everyone suffers due to ignorance. But ignorance can be overcome through the Eightfold Path that he advocated. This day is generally regarded as the birth day of Buddhism. Being an Eastern tradition, Bodhi Day has none of the associations with the solstice and seasonal changes found in other religious observances at this time of year. However, it does signify the point in time when the Buddha achieved enlightenment and escaped the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth through reincarnation -- themes that are observed in other religions in December.
Islam: During the period 1997 to 1999, the first day of the Islamic lunar month of Ramadan occurred in December. The nominal dates were 1997-DEC-31, 1998-DEC-20 and 1999-DEC-9. The actual date for the start of Ramadan depends upon the sighting of the crescent moon, and thus can be delayed by a few days from the nominal date. This is the holiest period in the Islamic year. It honors the lunar month in which the Qura'n was revealed by God to humanity. "It is during this month that Muslims observe the Fast of Ramadan. Lasting for the entire month, Muslims fast during the daylight hours and in the evening eat small meals and visit with friends and family. It is a time of worship and contemplation. A time to strengthen family and community ties."
FROM: religioustolerance.org

Czech government defines rules of legal drug possession

The cabinet was today also expected to discuss artificial drugs and a permitted amount of these drugs in people's possession.

However, it postponed the debate for two weeks, the source said.

The new Penal Code, which will take effect on January 1 is designed to specify the government's directive. It contains a special provision on the growth of hemp and magic mushrooms.

The government today also approved a directive on the use of anabolics and the list of diseases that will be considered congenial, according to the criminal law.

The law distinguishes between the possession of marijuana and hashish for people's personal needs, for which they will face up to one year in prison, from the possession of other drugs for which they can receive up to two years in prison.

According to the Justice Ministry's proposal that the government did not approve today, the possession of over 15 grams of dried marijuana or over two grams of methamphetamine (pervitine), cocaine and heroin will be punishable.

The tolerated amount of drugs in people's possession is at present defined by police internal directives. No one thus knows precisely what amount is considered an amount "larger than a small amount of drug," the possession of which is punishable by the law.

If the government approves the ministry's proposal without changes in two weeks, people will be able to have four pills of ecstasy in their possession and up to five grams of hashish.

Prague - The Czech government today approved the list of hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, including hemp, coca, mescaline cactus and magic mushrooms, and decided that people would be allowed to grow up to five pieces of such plants and keep 40 magic mushrooms at home, a CTK source said.

From ČTK

Misconceptions on 2012 & The Maya Calendar

The Mayan calendar is associated with nine creation cycles, which represent nine levels of consciousness or Underworlds as symbolized by the Mayan pyramids. This pyramidal structure of consciousness development can explain things as disparate as the common origin of world religions and the modern complaint that time seems to be moving faster. Time, in fact, is speeding up as we transition from the materialist Planetary Underworld that still governs us to a new and higher frequency of consciousness, the Galactic Underworld, in preparation for the final Universal level of conscious Enlightenment.

The Mayan calendar is thus a spiritual device that enables a greater understanding of the evolution of consciousness driving human history and the concrete steps we can take to align ourselves with this cosmic evolution toward Enlightenment.

More info on Carl Calleman on his website: www.calleman.com
Maya Calendar Portal website: http://mayaportal.lucita.net

Rupert Sheldrake & Andrew Weil MP3’s

The Hollyhock Dialogues

Each year Rupert Sheldrake holds a dialogue with Dr Andrew Weil at Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC, Canada. Following are recordings of their conversations in MP3 format. Just right click on the name of the talk and save target as.

August 2009
Plants 1hr

August 2008
New Science and the Future 1hr 13min

August 2007
Placebos and Mind-Body Relationships Part 1, 50min
Further discussion Part 2, 30 min.

August 2006
Fields of Mind and Body Part 1, 47 min
Questions and discussion Part 2, 47 min

August 2005
Evidence and Belief in Science and Medicine 43 min

August 2004
Integrative Medicine and the Extended Mind 47 min

From: Sheldrake.org

Obama LSD Blotter

FROM: www.erowid.org

 
Even Obama XTC!

I wouldn't trust them. However regardless of ones opinion about Obama. These are humorous.

Sorta reminds me of the old Gorbechav doses.

Nuff said…

William Burroughs: Thanksgiving Prayer

THANKSGIVING PRAYER

William S. Burroughs

 Hear Burroughs Read His Poem: Mp3 Download

Thanksgiving Prayer (QuickTime 7.6 MB)

For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts —
thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison —
thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger —
thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot —
thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes —
thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through —
thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces —
thanks for “Kill a Queer for Christ” stickers —
thanks for laboratory AIDS —
thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs —
thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business —
thanks for a nation of finks — yes,
thanks for all the memories… all right, let’s see your arms… you always were a headache and you always were a bore —
thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

“Thanksgiving Day” first appeared in the chapbook Tornado Alley, with illustrations by S. Clay Wilson. Director Gus Van Sant then put together the above montage whose power derives almost solely from Burroughs’ reading and, perhaps, the strange sad-old-man expression of his staring eyes at the end. There are numerous variants of “Thanksgiving Day” floating around the internet, but this entry is from RealityStudio.org who copied this directly from the original printed text.

Love the Love Police

A compilation of clips by the 'Love Police' (Also known as the 'Everything is OK guys').

 
For the full length videos, please visit:
http://www.youtube.com/user/cveitch

Music: DJ Shadow - 'Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt'

Edited by Harvey Lester (Formerly 'John Nada').
http://www.operationmindseed.com

How to make whole root Kava Kava

A few people have asked me how do I make a Kava Kava beverage from whole roots. Many search results demonstrate how it is traditionally prepared from an Ethnobotanical perspective. This includes everything from pounding and grinding the roots with stone, volcanic rock or coral by hand to having virgins chew it then spit back into a community bowl from which everyone later drinks. Don't worry, they rinse their mouths first. Reminds me of a story Terence McKenna once told however that's a story for another day.

Even if your game for a traditional Kava making ceremony, good luck finding a few young female virgins to sit around in grass skirts and coconut shells chewing your Kava root for hours in the modern world. While I typically prefer the traditional use of Ethnobotanicals, I do not employ any of these techniques when it comes to Kava. I take a more modern approach. Traditions are important but are also very interesting so I encourage everyone to read some of the literature on traditional use. Take part in a ceremony if you have the opportunity. But for the here and now I describe what works well for me…

First begin with mature whole Vanuatu lateral Kava roots [from Gaian Botanicals of course.] Put about an ounce of whole roots broken up enough to fit nicely in a blender with 16 ounce of water and a couple table spoons of Soy Lecithin per person

.

Let it soak for a few minutes until it looks like this.

 
Then blend it on high for 5 minutes.
If your blender gets hot you can do 2 increments of 2 1/2 minutes

   
It should completely emulsify while blending

  
Strain it into your cup

your strainer may clog up, move the pulp around some with a spoon

Then with clean hands, press and squeeze the water from the pulp

You can now enjoy your first glass of Kava. mmm, that earthy spice taste with hints of fire. A true drink of the gods.I re-blend the pulp to make a second glass and avoid to wasting good Kava lactones.

Its as easy as that.

Please note everyone's sensitivity to Kava varies. 1oz may be way too much for some or be too little for others. Please start low and work your way up. Safety first, you can always drink more.

www.GaianBotanicals.com

©2009 EROCx1

Animated story of Dock Ellis' LSD induced NO-hitter

In celebration of the greatest athletic achievement by a man on a psychedelic journey, No Mas and artist James Blagden proudly present the animated tale of Dock Ellis' legendary LSD no-hitter. In the past few years weve heard all too much about performance enhancing drugs from greenies to tetrahydrogestrinone, and not enough about performance inhibiting drugs. If our evaluation of the records of athletes like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds needs to be revised downwards with an asterisk, we submit that that Dock Ellis record deserves a giant exclamation point. Of the 263 no-hitters ever thrown in the Big Leagues, we can only guess how many were aided by steroids, but we can say without question that only one was ever thrown on acid.

Sadly, the great Dock Ellis died last December at 63. A year before, radio producers Donnell Alexander and Neille Ilel, had recorded an interview with Ellis in which the former Pirate right hander gave a moment by moment account of June 12, 1970, the day he no-hit the San Diego Padres. Alexander and Ilels original four minute piece appeared March 29, 2008 on NPRs Weekend America. When we stumbled across that piece this past June, Blagden and Isenberg were inspired to create a short animated film around the original audio.

www.nomas-nyc.com

The 2009 Singularity Summit: Video

 
The 2009 Singularity Summit
Held October 3-4, 2009
In New York, NY. USA

Videos from The 2009 Singularity Summit 2009
Watch for FREE on Vimeo

Hosted by the Singularity Institute featuring a group of extraordinary visionaries in business, science, technology, design and the arts exploring the rising impact of science and technology on society. The summit was organized to further the understanding of a controversial idea – The singularity scenario.

Speakers include:
Ray Kurzweil
Aubrey de Grey
Stephen Wolfram
Peter Thiel
David Chalmers
Michael Nielsen

Complete list of speakers

Videos from past Singularity Summits

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Reading List:

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
Ray Kurzweil

Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology
Eric Drexler

Global Catastrophic Risks
Sir Martin Rees, Nick Bostrom, Milan Cirkovic

Good and Real: Demystifying Paradoxes from Physics to Ethics (Bradford Books)
Gary Drescher

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind
Gary Marcus

National Geographic: Inside The Tripper's Brain

National Geographic Explorer presents how researchers are using scans and sensors to create 3D maps showing the activity of the brain on hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD.

FROM: Nationalgeographic.com

Inside LSD airs Tuesday, November 3rd @ both 7PM & 10PM ET/PT.

 

LSDs inventor Albert Hofmann called it "medicine for the soul." The Beatles wrote songs about it. Secret military mind control experiments exploited its hallucinogenic powers. Outlawed in 1966, LSD became a street drug and developed a reputation as the dangerous toy of the counterculture, capable of inspiring either moments of genius, or a descent into madness. Now science is taking a fresh look at LSD, including the first human trials in over 35 years. Using enhanced brain imaging, non-hallucinogenic versions of the drug and information from an underground network of test subjects who suffer from an agonizing condition for which there is no cure, researchers are finding that this "trippy" drug could become the pharmaceutical of the future. Can it enhance our brain power, expand our creativity and cure disease? To find out, Explorer puts LSD under the microscope.

www.Nationalgeographic.com

Fall Of The Republic: The Presidency Of Barack Obama

Fall Of The Republic documents how an offshore corporate cartel is bankrupting the US economy by design. Leaders are now declaring that world government has arrived and that the dollar will be replaced by a new global currency.

President Obama has brazenly violated Article 1 Section 9 of the US Constitution by seating himself at the head of United Nations' Security Council, thus becoming the first US president to chair the world body.

A scientific dictatorship is in its final stages of completion, and laws protecting basic human rights are being abolished worldwide; an iron curtain of high-tech tyranny is now descending over the planet.

A worldwide regime controlled by an unelected corporate elite is implementing a planetary carbon tax system that will dominate all human activity and establish a system of neo-feudal slavery.
The image makers have carefully packaged Obama as the world's savior; he is the Trojan Horse manufactured to pacify the people just long enough for the globalists to complete their master plan.
This film reveals the architecture of the New World Order and what the power elite have in store for humanity. More importantly it communicates how We The People can retake control of our government, turn the criminal tide and bring the tyrants to justice.

www.infowars.com

Dr. Stephan Beyer: Singing to the Plants interview

 
Dr. Steve Beyer
Singing to the Plants:
A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon
(University of New Mexico Press, 2009)

This outstanding interview is featured in two episodes of the C-Realm

C-Realm Podcast #175: FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD

KMO plays the first half of a conversation between AyasminA and Dr. Stephan V. Beyer. Steve is the author of Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon, and in the conversation Steve details his lifelong odyssey into the deep regions of consciousness and spirituality which include fifteen years spent in the upper Amazon with the Mestizo keepers of the Ayahuasca tradition.

Music by Joseph A.

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C-Realm Podcast #176: FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD

KMO plays the second half of AyasminA’s interview with Dr. Stephan V. Beyer, author of Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon. Steve details the importance of the auditory aspect of the Ayahuasca experience, and then the conversation turns to the paternalism and condescension of First World defenders of indigenous peoples. Later in the episode, KMO plays a clip from the It’s Not Us It’s You podcast about the totalitarian aesthetic of Wal-Mart's new generic product packaging.

Music by Zarathustra

www.singingtotheplants.com

Sharing some great videos =o)

This is just Groovy!

Lip Dub Video: I Gotta Feeling! 
Produced by 172 communication students from UQAM
On September 10th 2009 in 2h15min

While I am sharing awesome videos
These are also very entertaining.

Greatest Story Ever Told - Watch more Funny Videos

And last but not least. The amazing
Rodrigo Y Gabriela performing Diablo Rojo in Los Angeles.

If you cant tell, I finally fixed my computer =o)

2012 isn't the end of the world, Mayans insist

By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press

 
MEXICO CITY – Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly "running out" on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it's not the end of the world.

Or is it?

Definitely not, the Mayan Indian elder insists. "I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff."

It can only get worse for him. Next month Hollywood's "2012" opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the White House.

At Cornell University, Ann Martin, who runs the "Curious? Ask an Astronomer" Web site, says people are scared.

"It's too bad that we're getting e-mails from fourth-graders who are saying that they're too young to die," Martin said. "We had a mother of two young children who was afraid she wouldn't live to see them grow up."

Chile Pixtun, a Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas.

A significant time period for the Mayas does end on the date, and enthusiasts have found a series of astronomical alignments they say coincide in 2012, including one that happens roughly only once every 25,800 years.

But most archaeologists, astronomers and Maya say the only thing likely to hit Earth is a meteor shower of New Age philosophy, pop astronomy, Internet doomsday rumors and TV specials such as one on the History Channel which mixes "predictions" from Nostradamus and the Mayas and asks: "Is 2012 the year the cosmic clock finally winds down to zero days, zero hope?"

It may sound all too much like other doomsday scenarios of recent decades — the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, the Jupiter Effect or "Planet X." But this one has some grains of archaeological basis.

One of them is Monument Six.

Found at an obscure ruin in southern Mexico during highway construction in the 1960s, the stone tablet almost didn't survive; the site was largely paved over and parts of the tablet were looted.

It's unique in that the remaining parts contain the equivalent of the date 2012. The inscription describes something that is supposed to occur in 2012 involving Bolon Yokte, a mysterious Mayan god associated with both war and creation.

However — shades of Indiana Jones — erosion and a crack in the stone make the end of the passage almost illegible.

Archaeologist Guillermo Bernal of Mexico's National Autonomous University interprets the last eroded glyphs as maybe saying, "He will descend from the sky."

Spooky, perhaps, but Bernal notes there are other inscriptions at Mayan sites for dates far beyond 2012 — including one that roughly translates into the year 4772.

And anyway, Mayas in the drought-stricken Yucatan peninsula have bigger worries than 2012.

"If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn't have any idea," said Jose Huchim, a Yucatan Mayan archaeologist. "That the world is going to end? They wouldn't believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain."

The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., had a talent for astronomy

Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012.

"It's a special anniversary of creation," said David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin. "The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they're just recording this future anniversary on Monument Six."

Bernal suggests that apocalypse is "a very Western, Christian" concept projected onto the Maya, perhaps because Western myths are "exhausted."

If it were all mythology, perhaps it could be written off.

But some say the Maya knew another secret: the Earth's axis wobbles, slightly changing the alignment of the stars every year. Once every 25,800 years, the sun lines up with the center of our Milky Way galaxy on a winter solstice, the sun's lowest point in the horizon.

That will happen on Dec. 21, 2012, when the sun appears to rise in the same spot where the bright center of galaxy sets.

Another spooky coincidence?

"The question I would ask these guys is, so what?" says Phil Plait, an astronomer who runs the "Bad Astronomy" blog. He says the alignment doesn't fall precisely in 2012, and distant stars exert no force that could harm Earth.

"They're really super-duper trying to find anything astronomical they can to fit that date of 2012," Plait said.

But author John Major Jenkins says his two-decade study of Mayan ruins indicate the Maya were aware of the alignment and attached great importance to it.

"If we want to honor and respect how the Maya think about this, then we would say that the Maya viewed 2012, as all cycle endings, as a time of transformation and renewal," said Jenkins.

As the Internet gained popularity in the 1990s, so did word of the "fateful" date, and some began worrying about 2012 disasters the Mayas never dreamed of.

Author Lawrence Joseph says a peak in explosive storms on the surface of the sun could knock out North America's power grid for years, triggering food shortages, water scarcity — a collapse of civilization. Solar peaks occur about every 11 years, but Joseph says there's evidence the 2012 peak could be "a lulu."

While pressing governments to install protection for power grids, Joseph counsels readers not to "use 2012 as an excuse to not live in a healthy, responsible fashion. I mean, don't let the credit cards go up."

Another History Channel program titled "Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: End of Days" says a galactic alignment or magnetic disturbances could somehow trigger a "pole shift."

"The entire mantle of the earth would shift in a matter of days, perhaps hours, changing the position of the north and south poles, causing worldwide disaster," a narrator proclaims. "Earthquakes would rock every continent, massive tsunamis would inundate coastal cities. It would be the ultimate planetary catastrophe."

The idea apparently originates with a 19th century Frenchman, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, a priest-turned-archaeologist who got it from his study of ancient Mayan and Aztec texts.

Scientists say that, at best, the poles might change location by one degree over a million years, with no sign that it would start in 2012.

While long discredited, Brasseur de Bourbourg proves one thing: Westerners have been trying for more than a century to pin doomsday scenarios on the Maya. And while fascinated by ancient lore, advocates seldom examine more recent experiences with apocalypse predictions.

"No one who's writing in now seems to remember that the last time we thought the world was going to end, it didn't," says Martin, the astronomy webmaster. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of memory that things were fine the last time around."

DJ Dan Live @ Opulent Temple 2009 Burning Man

Download: FREE Mp3

DJ Dan – Live @ Opulent Temple / 2009 Burning Man Playlist

1. Get off vs The Pills (DJ Dan & Mike Balance Mashup)
2. The Loops of Fury – Flick A Switch (DJ Dan & Mike Balance Remix)
3. Fake Blood - The Dozens
4. In The Night (Bootleg)
5. Tim Healey – Out of Control
6. Caninesounds – Merrang (Moonboutiqua Mix)
7. Defunct! – In The Air (Hot Mouth Remix)
8. Rico Tubbs - Get Nasty (Stupid Fresh Remix)
9. Jaksaw & MC Cyanide - Jack My Flow (Electric Soulside Remix)
10. Gigi Barocco - Rowdy Jack
11. Blaze Tripp - Automatic (Defunct! Cruiser Remix)
12. Skee-Lo – I Wish (Breakdown Remix)
13. Bass Weazal – Break The Bomb
14. TJR – I Don’t Why
15. Tim Healey – The Mexican (DJ Dan and Mike Balance Re-Funk’d Mix)
16. Flashback to Mars Edit

 

DJ Dan @ Opulent Temple 2007:
FREE Mp3 Download

DJ Dan: Future Retro Mix Tapes

Fried my PC + Carl Sagan explains the 4th Dimension

Hello Friends. Have some sorta bad news. My computers power supply was failing and it fried my hard drive and possibly other components killing my home PC. I lost lots of data, all my settings & software I use to blog blog, participate in forums, etc. So please excuse my lack of online presence and delays in correspondence. I've had several other unexpected major expenses recently and business has been pretty slow. So I probably will not be able to fix this until the end of this month unless things improve sooner. Any orders placed at Gaian Botanicals will be extra appreciated during this period and I would be happy to over fulfill any orders placed that mention my blog in the check out notes. I am able to process these orders from another computer. I really appreciate your friendship and support during these tuff times.

Enough of my personal problems. While I have the ability to post to my blog, I would like to share this great Carl Sagan video of him explaining dimensionality. Enjoy!

Cop steals pot, makes brownies, calls 911

Happy Friday! Kick the weekend off with a good laugh!

The Psychedelic Transhumanists

The Psychedelic Transhumanists
By: Michael Garfield
From: h+ Magazine Fall 2009, Page 50-56
Download this complete issue in PDF: HERE

Transhumanism in a fortune cookie: the familiar human world is just one point along a continuum of evolution, and we have an unprecedented capacity to participate in that process. And yet, the future being as slippery as it is, there are as many visions for how this might occur as there are visionaries to guess at it. Computer scientists tend to have one transhumanism; genetic engineers, another. However, coherent themes emerge for those who have taken it upon themselves to make a sweeping survey of human inquiry, integrating a keen reading of the vectors of our technology with postmodern insight into the nature of mind. Some of these thinkers have been catalyzed by the psychedelic experience — in a way, the most informative window into a world beyond the human that we have yet discovered. They understand the message of psychedelics and the message of technology to converge on the horizon of a deeper reading of reality that recognizes mind and matter as dimensions of the same truth — a truth for which language has ill-prepared us.

Among the ranks of these “psychedelic transhumanists” are legendary rebels like Timothy Leary, wise fools like Terence McKenna, cultural commentators like Erik Davis and Mark Pesce and avantpsychopharmacologists like David Pearce. Hailing from disparate knowledge domains, they all share a hyperliterate intelligence that is, in its own way, rigorous. Their arguments are not necessarily subject to the conventional scientific method, but they are not so easily refuted. Their common vision shares much with the rest of the transhuman community, including an embrace of technology and science as both potent and inevitable; an evolutionary model of the universe and humanity; a sense of the human organism as something that can be tinkered with and expanded; a recognition of drugs as a technology that can dramatically reinvent identity, and a playful challenging of fixed boundaries. In many ways they demonstrate the seed of transhumanism in this moment by exemplifying self-revision and the reevaluation of assumptions as an open ended and ongoing process. And along the way, they tatter the mechanistic control fantasies we have held onto in spite of our most sophisticated inquiries.

Among these visionaries, we find a general agreement on the emergence of machine intelligence, but from a less dualistic perspective than most in the transhuman sphere — leaning towards a deeper and more balanced recognition of both inner and outer realities. They tend to critique philosophies that consider mind a mere epiphenomenon, or that fail to recognize the role of the speculator in speculation.

They see technology as ideas, and ideas as technology. They question our fanatical efforts at control via the runaway complexity of progress, and remind us of the stubborn persistence of the unconscious, the body and the other. They remind us to see the evolution of humanity and beyond as much in terms of qualia as quanta, and paint the future as more sensitive to psychological, spiritual, ethical, and biological concerns than those on the hardboiled tech edge.

The distinctions between this vision and the more common idea of a technological singularity are easily distilled. In their own words, presented as a “virtual conversation” of transcripts and correspondences, here are the core messages of a transhumanist vision informed by the psychedelic experience…

{READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON H+}

h+ Magazine Fall 2009, Page 50-56. You can download the electronic version or PDF from the h+ website, or wait until later this month and find it on newsstands.

Maybe Logic Academy: Gnosis Now in Mp3

Erik Davis of Techgnosis.com is sharing free Mp3 recordings from last springs Maybe Logic Academy course called Gnosis Now! He will post one lecture each week over the next eight weeks, along with the readings for the week. Cant wait for my iPod to arrive so I can hear for myself. I've always wanted to hear some of what goes on @ Maybe Logic Academy. Thanks Erik!

DOWNLOAD: Mp3 #1
LINK: Techgnosis.com

Week 1 readings:

(Unless otherwise mentioned, all readings from W. Barnstone's necessary collection The Other Bible, now known as The Gnostic Bible. 

• Excerpts from “The Gospel of Thomas” (verses 1, 2, 3, 7, 11, 13, 19, 24, 28, 29, 37, 39, 42, 49, 50, 51, 55, 56, 61, 62, 70, 777, 89, 91, 108, 113);

• Richard Smoley: “Who Were the Gnostics?”, from his great survey Forbidden Faith.

• Excerpts from “The Gospel of Philip” (“Names,” “Rulers,” “Jesus Tricked Everyone,” “The Lost,” “Seeing,” “God is a Man-Eater,” “Leaving the World,” “Joseph and the Wooden Cross,” “Superiority of Chrism to Baptism,” “Laughing Christ,” “Knowledge of Self,” “Slaves and Freedom,” “Root of Evil,” “The Perfect Light”)

Thomas Jefferson on banks

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks...will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."

-Thomas Jefferson

Beezo DJ Mix Download Site

I just ran across DJ Enrie’s Beezo mix site and am so glad to have found it. Since I left Los Angeles a decade ago, I had no idea Power Tools was still grooving. I remember back in high school listening and dancing to the sounds of Tony B, Artie the one man Party, Richard Vission, Enrie in the early 90’s LA House / Rave daze. This lead me to the warehouses of the Underground scene and inspired me to learn to DJ and get heavily involved in the dance community and eventually to the entheogen community. It was a chain of fortunate events that greatly impacted who I would become. At any rate, download some of these mixes, you will be glad you did. A few of my favorites are below:

DJ Enrie

 
Richard Vission

DJ Dan (Old School LA)

 
Berry Weaver (Old School LA)

 
Thee-O (my old friend)

 
Reza - my old friend who wont call me back ;-D

2012 according to the Maya: The Maya Of Eternal Time Video

From: www.OneLotus.net

“THE MAYA OF ETERNAL TIME - 2012 will begin with the realization that everything our modern world knows of the Maya and their knowledge, including the most accurate calendar know to man, did not come from the Maya themselves, but from the modern world – archeologists, universities, governments, researching individuals. The Maya themselves find the interpretation of the Mayan evidence differently then the modern world. How do we know that to be fact?

Because Don Alejandro Cirilo, the living Dali Lama of the Maya, said so, and he is the head of the Mayan Council of Guatemala, which is represented by all 440 Mayan tribes in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, the entire Mayan nation. According to Don Alejandro, a 13th generation Mayan shaman, the Maya have not spoken or written a single word with permission from the Mayan Council in 527 years.

To initiate a change in this silence, The Mayan Council brought a global assembly of people from all the continents of the world into sacred ceremony deep in the jungle of Guatemala in November of 2007, and in so doing, began to initiate the whole world into an amazing release of knowledge and wisdom to prepare the planet for a transformation into a new world of Light and realization.”

This video is in 14 segments. Which can be found: HERE

Download the complete series as a torrent.
The Maya of Eternal Time

Be advised some 2012 researchers have expressed that there are inaccuracies and exaggerations in this video. These are set out in detail and discussed on Reality Sandwich. As always, watch with critical thinking and determine your own conclusions as to what you believe.

www.OneLotus.net

RIP DJ AM! Join me in re-experiencing his work

For those who may have not heard. Our community has lost DJ AM today. He had the skills and heart to rock the dance floor and in turn made the world a little brighter. Dance is very shamanic by nature and I have always have felt the healing power of the all night dance ritual. A good DJ is shares powers similar to a shaman. I think many people fail to realize the significance of this but any rate Im getting off topic. DJ AM was profoundly creative and novel in his music. Mixing live druming into his sets. Going from Jonny Cash to NWA with out letting the dancefloor slow one bit. He left us too soon and so many entertainers and even personal friends seem to be leaving our default reality I can only hope that they are finding a better place. But for AM I fear that may just be wishful thinking. His final twitter entry was, “New York, New York. Big city of dreams, but everything in New York aint always what it seems." -by Grandmaster Flash. Then he is gone? Sad & strange. Well, lets listen to these mixes and resonate with his vibe and say good bye. This is the best thing I could think of to do. Sorry I'm not more creative.

FREE Mp3 Downloads are below:

RIP ADAM!