Park Street Press

Unbeknownst - or unacknowledged - by many, there is a long tradition of psychedelic magic and religion in Western civilisation. As Thomas Hatsis reveals, the discovery of the power of psychedelics and entheogens can be traced to the very first prehistoric expressions of human creativity, with a continuing lineage of psychedelic mystery traditions from antiquity through the Renaissance to the Victo

Women have been shamans since time immemorial, not only because women have innate intuitive gifts, but, also, because the female body is wired to more easily experience altered states, such as during the process of birth. Whether female or male, the altered states produced by psychedelics and ecstatic trance expand our minds to tap into and enhance our feminine states of consciousness as well as r

Just as we can write and install apps in our electronic devices, we can construct “mindapps” and install them in our brain-mind complex and, just as digital apps add capabilities to our devices, mindapps can expand our mental powers and creative abilities, allowing us intentionally to redesign our minds. Using psychedelics as the prime example, Thomas B. Roberts explores the many different kinds o

In India, both yoga and cannabis are considered gifts from the Hindu god Shiva. They are seen as twin currents of wisdom and enlightenment, allies for healing and consciousness expansion. As ethnobotanist and yogi Chris Kilham explains, when wisely and thoughtfully combined, cannabis and yoga offer profound benefits for body, mind, and spirit. Kilham examines the history and lore of both cannabis

On November 24, 1979, Christopher M. Bache took the first step on what would become a life-changing journey. Drawing from his training as a philosopher of religion, Bache set out to explore his mind and the mind of the universe as deeply and systematically as possible, with the help of the psychedelic drug LSD. Following protocols established by Stanislav Grof, Bache's 73 high-dose LSD sessions ov

Hemp, Cannabis sativa, has been called the world's most versatile plant. Materials made from hemp fibre have been discovered in tombs dating back to 7000 B.C. During the Middle Ages hemp was used to treat fevers, insomnia and malaria. Columbus's ships had sails of hemp and during colonial times it was universally grown because its strong fibres made superior ropes, sails, cloth and paper. In fact,

In May 1953 Aldous Huxley took four-tenths of a gram of mescaline. The mystical and transcendent experience that followed set him off on an exploration that was to produce a revolutionary body of work about the inner reaches of the human mind. Huxley was decades ahead of his time in his anticipation of the dangers modern culture was creating through explosive population increase, headlong technolo

An illustrated foray into the hidden truth about the use of psychoactive mushrooms to connect with the divine. • Draws parallels between Vedic beliefs and Judeo-Christian sects, showing the existence of a mushroom cult that crossed cultural boundaries. • Contends that the famed philosophers' stone of the alchemist was a metaphor for the mushroom. • Confirms and extends Robert

For thousands of years, voyagers of inner space - spiritual seekers, shamans and psychoactive drug users - have returned from their inner imaginal travels reporting encounters with alien intelligences. INNER PATHS TO OUTER SPACE presents an innovative examination of how we can reach these other dimensions of existence and contact otherworldly beings. Based on their more than 60 combined years of r

In the Amazon, shamans do not talk in terms of hallucinogens but of tools for communicating with other life-forms. Ayahuasca, for example, is first and foremost a means of breaking down the barrier that separates humans from other species, allowing us to communicate with them. The introduction of plant-centred shamanism into the Western world in the 1970s was literally the meeting of two entirely

In this updated edition of A New Science of Life, Rupert Sheldrake presents further evidence for his controversial theory of morphic resonance--the observation that past behavior influences ...

Toward the end of his fifties, Christopher Gray took, for the first time in years, a 100-microgram acid trip. So extraordinary, and to his surprise so enjoyable, were the effects that he began to take the same dose in the same way - quietly and on his own - once every two to three weeks.In THE ACID DIARIES, Gray details his experimentation with LSD over a period of three years and shares the start

DNA dictates the physical features of an organism. But what dictates how something grows - from the division of cells in a human being to the fractal patterns of a crystal? Massimo Citro reveals that behind the complex world of Nature lies a basic code, a universal information field - also known as the Akashic field, which records all that was, is and will be - that directs not only physical devel

· Explores the shamanic use of healing songs, psychoactive plants and vision quests at the heart of the Odyssey and the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien· Examines odysseus's encounters with plant divinities, altered consciousness, animal shapeshifting and sacred topography - all concepts vital to shamanism· Reveals how the Odyssey emerged precisely at the rupture between modern and primal conscio

In search of something to restore his spiritual connection to life after his release from captivity as a political prisoner in Brazil, Alex Polari de Alverga had a transformative encounter with Padrinho Sebastiao Mota de Mela, one of the two revered founders of Santo Daime. A potent synthesis of Christianity and indigenous Amazonian practices of enthnogen use, mediumship and healing, the Santo Dai

Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphic resonance challenges the fundamental assumptions of modern science. An accomplished biologist, Sheldrake proposes that all natural systems from crystals to human society inherit a collective memory that influences their form and behaviour. Rather than being ruled by fixed laws nature is essentially habitual. THE PRESENCE OF THE PAST lays out the evidence for Sh

· Includes interviews with practising San Pedro shamans on their rituals, cactus preparations and teachings on how San Pedro heals the mind and body· Contains accounts from people who have been healed by San Pedro· Includes chapters by Eve Bruce and David Luke on San Pedro's effects on psychic abilities and its similarities to and differences from ayahuascaSan Pedro, the legendary cactus of vision

Extending deep into the caverns of humanity's oldest memories, beyond 60,000 years of history and into the Dreamtime, this collection of Australian Aboriginal myths has been passed down through the generations by tribal storytellers. The myths were compiled at the turn of the century by K. Langloh Parker, one of the first Europeans to realize their significance and spiritual sophistication. Saved

Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world's preeminent biologists, has revolutionized scientific thinking with his vision of a living, developing universe--one with its own inherent memory. In The Rebirth of Nature, Sheldrake urges us to move beyond the centuries-old mechanistic view of nature, explaining why we can no longer regard the world as inanimate and purposeless. Sheldrake shows how recent devel