Listen Now!

Dave Emory’s CRISIS IN BOSNIA

The most thorough WESTERN investigation of American and NATO actions and propaganda against Yugoslavia to date.
If you believe the Serbs are the evil demons of the Balkans, you’d better take a listen!

MP3 Audio – approx. 3 hours, Recorded Jan 1996

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Avila Tower before and after American missiles destroyed this famous landmark.
Right photo by Jan Irvin 1999

7) What are the plans in the West for destruction of Yugoslavia? Will Western powers help Albanian immigrants take South Serbia (Kosovo) and give it to Albania to create their “Greater Albania” (Also see this article) or create a new separate state/autonomy or country from Serbia? Is there involvement of Bob Dole and the Republican party’s “Ethnic Outreach Council”?

See Bob Dole’s 1986 Concurrent Resolution 150 against Yugoslavia

(Input: This area has always been Serbia but has many Albanian immigrants. (Many Albanians believe their ancient descendants from 3000 years ago called the Illyrians came from Kosovo. Many Historians argue that the Albanians originally came from Dalmatia (the Croatian coast).) When Yugoslav leaders were asked why don’t they give up this ancient land, they replied “will America give back the south western states to Mexico?” (Whose territory it was just over 152 years ago, not to mention the large number of “so-called” Latino “immigrants” in the area.) The answer was, of course, “NO!”.)

(Update: As of April 1998 the nationalist Albanian immigrant ‘Kosovo Liberation Army’ or KLA (so-named by American media in Jan. “98) in Kosovo has once again clashed with the Serbs. Known for decades, the immigrant nationalist have killed many Serbs and Albanian-Serb sympathizers in Kosovo driving as many as 200,000 to 500,000 Serbs from Kosovo in the last 30 years using rape, violence, murder and their growing economic-political gain in the name of “Greater Albania“.

(See this 1982 New York Times article “Exodus of Serbians stirs Province in Yugoslavia” where 57,000 Serbs had already fled Kosovo)

This Beograd hospital was bombed while my friend’s wife gave birth.

Left photo by Strike on YU, right photo by Jan Irvin

Part 1:

Part 2:

Left photo by Strike on YU – Right photo by Jan Irvin

Wasson and Allegro on the Tree of Knowledge as Amanita

by Michael Hoffman and Jan Irvin

You may find this article here:

http://www.egodeath.com/WassonEdenTree.htm

A Critical Rejoinder to Raw Amanita is Always Best

By J.R. Irvin

March 31, 2008

Copyright J.R. Irvin, 2008. All rights reserved.

Introduction

The following is a rebuttal to the “journal” entry Raw Amanita is Always Best by the ambiguously named “Hawk and Venus,” August 12, 2006. This rebuttal also serves as a critique and review of their book, Sacred Soma Shamans, 2006.

Hawk and Venus are the self proclaimed “High Soma Priests” of Amanita muscaria mushrooms and authors of the book Sacred Soma Shamans, 2006.

It is essential to the safety of those interested in the use of entheogens, and especially Amanita muscaria, to understand the distortions, dangers and misconceptions of Hawk and Venus’s presentation.

On August 12, 2006, Hawk and Venus posted comments on their website www.somashamans.com that focused on a footnote from our book Astrotheology & Shamanism (Irvin and Rutajit, 2006) that briefly discusses disfavor with certain areas of their scholarship.

With the help of others I originally began researching and writing this rebuttal at the time Hawk and Venus put their comments on their website in 2006. However, due to a legal complaint to their web host provider from another author, they temporarily took it down:

Although we received a large amount of admiration in our August 12th update (in which I damned myco-urophilia), due to a single complaint to our web host, we’ve taken it down.

~ Hawk and Venus

I had since laid my rebuttal aside for more than a year thinking it wasn’t worth my time and that I’d let bygones be bygones. But do to regular interest in my thoughts on their work; as well as a slightly updated version of their commentary reappearing on the internet with the offending comments to that one author removed, I couldn’t help but complete this rebuttal and figured it is in the public’s best interest that it be completed.

The updated version of the Hawk and Venus commentary may be found online at:

http://www.somashamans.com/journal-2006.html

To show the breadth and scope of their attack as it was originally intended, one must first read their original (August 12, 2006) diatribe in full. Following their commentary I will provide a step by step breakdown of their remarks with quoted citations.

Raw Amanita is Always Best

By Hawk and Venus

August 12th, 2006

The following footnote from “Astrotheology And Shamanism” was brought to our attention:

Lies.

Hawk and Venus, the authors of “Soma Shamans,” recommend eating the Amanita raw. However, their ability to eat the mushroom raw is likely due to tolerance buildup from near daily use over many years. Eating Amanita raw goes against the overall majority of anthropological research and science on Amanita Muscaria. Their technique is NOT something we recommend for beginners, and we caution those who follow their work.

Writers Rutajit and Irvin’s research is weak to non existent in their slack representation of shamanism. They begin with the lie that we’ve eaten raw Amanita everyday for many years. There are so many problems with this one paragraph alone that we had to break our response down into sections:

“Their ability to eat the mushroom raw is likely due to tolerance buildup from near daily use over many years”

There are two problems with this absurd claim:

1) To say that we ate raw Amanita every day for many years is a fool’s lie. We’ve never made that claim. In fact, for the past 4 years we’ve lived far from our patches and can only collect 4 to 5 times during the annual season, so were lucky to eat fresh picked red Soma at most 4 to 5 times a year. Mr. Irvin and Mr. Rutajit should ask themselves where they got this information. They didn’t ask me or contact our webmaster. It’s not in our book or documentary, or internet page.

The only way to eat fresh Amanita — especially muscaria — year-round is to constantly travel the globe. Amanita muscaria is seasonal, 2-3 months in the Pacific Northwest at best.1 Not even the hardiest Yellows and Browns grow throughout the entire year. This is why we share our tips on how to prepare and store your own supply.

1. Though we do mention finding different varieties of Amanita throughout one particular year, it was obviously the exception to the rule.

2) There is no tolerance “buildup” for Amanita. We would know, don’t you think? While such fairytales are fine for movies like “The Princess Bride” (in which a heroic pirate builds up a complete tolerance to fantastic poisons), they are ill-suited for Amanita. If anything, the ability to eat the mushroom raw has more to do with our spiritual connection and skill level, not tolerance. Indeed, because of wear and tear on his liver, Hawk has decreased his dosage to a daily medicinal tonic and only ups this dosage on special occasions. The dosages he originally used when he started would now kill him.

In 6,500 years of Amanita history, the Gathas, Zend Avesta, Rig Veda, as well as all medical research, there is no mention of toleration buildup to Amanita precisely because there is no such thing.2 3

2. When Hawk says in our DVD, “Always start off with moderate doses. Then as the toxics gradually build up in your body and you get higher and higher, take more and more,” he is talking about a single experience, in which you start with a single bite and as your body acclimates to the Amanita toxins, if you want to get higher, take more. The next day, you will be no more immune to Amanita’s effects than the day before. As a matter of fact you’d be weaker because of the previous strain on your liver.

3. In our book, “Sacred Soma Shamans”, we say, “Consume at least a bite, but be moderate. Even if you find you have an extremely high tolerance to Amanita toxins, never eat more than one fresh Soma at a time, in order to freely experience its spirit and assimilate its chemistry with your own.” In this case, we are discussing a personal tolerance, based on a person’s constitution, one of the many factors that affect the strength of an ecstatic experience.

Our book and documentary, along with the Zend Avesta and Rig Veda, are the greatest sources of information on Soma in the world. Here is what it says in the Rig Veda, book 8, hymn LXXX, Verse 4, about eating Amanita raw:

1. It has the power to unite yourself with God.

2. It unites yourself with God’s will.

3. If you eat Amanita raw, God will bring you Earthly wealth.

If eating raw Amanita unites you with God and brings you preordained wealth — what more could you ask of it?

As for going against the “overall majority of anthropological research and science”, there is no science on Amanita. They haven’t even been able to determine which of the two poisons kill you. Science offers no antidote to Amanita poisoning. Indeed, my wife and I are the only ones on Earth ever to discover an antidote to Amanita poisoning, which works 75% of the time. This was a result of many years of work, research and experimentation on ourselves. This is well documented in our work, the work that these con-men, these unethical, deceitful, manipulative and ass-kissing liars (see the e-mail below) caution you against following.

“Their technique is NOT something we recommend for beginners.”

Here they make it sound as if we suggest only eating raw Amanita for everyone. What they neglect to mention is that we share many techniques; from picking to preparing, how to freeze, dry and even make Amanita tea, and we share the knowledge you need before ever attempting to go near an Amanita. We share how to meet the spirit of Soma safely. It sounds to us like they’re trying to scare people away from reading our book and learning from shamans with real experience, instead of amateur writers who are too busy parroting their “hero’s” sentiments to bother with the truth.

Besides we are sharing our preference when we say in our book, “Fresh is our favorite way to consume Amanita. At its peak, the fresh Amanita is far superior in spiritual essence. It is alive and filled with mystical power and closet [sic] to God. A truly rewarding experience awaits the Master who can determine the perfection of a willing fresh picked Soma.”

[Emphasis added]

“We caution those who follow their work.”

Then why would they offer to advertise our work, in exchange for a few pictures?

In March, 2006, two months after they published a dire warning to anyone following our advice, we received the following email:

Hello, my name is Andrew Rutajit – coauthor of Astrotheology & Shamanism. I’m trying to make a video and discuss some amanita symbolism. I was wondering if you could help me. I need a few and I have photo’s of the ones I need…meaning, I have some that are copywritten by someone else. I’d like go give all credit in the video to one source – you, if you agree. I can’t pay you because this is a zero-dollar-budget video, but I can promise a full screen ad at the end of the video with the credit for the images. I have your video and I can see that you have access to the real deal, so I figured you’d be the best to ask first.

Eagerly waiting your reply.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Emphasis Added]

Cheers?

We certainly wouldn’t caution people against an online mushroom vendor, only to later print their advertisements in our book. Why caution readers against our work one minute, then say we have access to the “real deal” and offer to give us a full screen ad the next?

So why tell people to steer clear of our book in the first place? What was their hidden agenda?

On Author Andrew Rutajit’s MySpace.com page, two of his heroes listed are Clark Heinrich and James Arthur. Heinrich is a urophile, who extols the virtues of his “rose-colored” urine and became the ultimate nasty-talking badboy when he claimed to obtain union with God’s mind directly after he drank a glass of his own piss. The other hero, urophile James Arthur was a convicted pedophile, serial child rapist and psychotic swine who committed suicide in a county jail rather than do the mandatory 15-30 sentence for his second conviction on the multiple rape of children under seven years of age. Arthur raped little girls for his pleasure.

Rutajit’s heroes have more in common than being disgusting: They both insist that the only way to take Amanita is by drinking Amanita-laced urine. We maintain this is the absolute worst thing you can do to Amanita — not to mention yourself! Of course, if more people became aware of our teachings, they might start to question why these grown men are so fixated on each other’s urine.

4. News from the San Joaquin Valley . 4-12-2005

5. Inmate’s death is ruled a suicide James Dugovic, 47, died in Madera jail cell. The Fresno Bee, April 12, 2005.

Rutajit’s hero insists that the only way to take Amanita is by drinking Amanita-laced urine. We maintain this is the absolute worst thing you can do to Amanita–not to mention yourself! Of course, if more people became aware of our teachings, they might start to question why these grown men are so fixated on each other’s urine.

Cheers, indeed.

(Every time we hear from one of these urophiles, they sign their email “Cheers”. Coincidence? We think not.)

What motivates these liars and fools? Simply, they want to seem authoritative and push their hidden agenda… a recipe for urophilia. So by contradicting me, the world’s foremost expert on picking and ceremoniously and shamanistically preparing and dosing Amanita, they hope to seem knowledgeable. Neither author has had the guts to take raw Amanita. They are frauds, and their book is garbage, a worthless read, a waste of paper. This is how they have the nerve to talk about something they know nothing about. They ignore the historical research of Amanita, then try to hide behind “anthropological research.” But observation without experience — in this case — is worthless. As it says in the Rig Veda, those who’ve never taken Soma will never understand it. We couldn’t agree more.

The entirety of that footnote is an attempt to discredit eating raw Amanita in order to push their hidden agenda, their own recommendation — urophilia. Their heroes are the perverts who recommend to first buy potency weakened devitalized dried mushrooms (for, whatever drying practice you use, a draining of potency is inevitable.) Then, they kill the Amanita by boiling it for an hour, drinking it, then drinking their recycled urine. A “cowards cocktail” which reduces the potency of Amanita by approximately 93%

This is another lowlife piece of junk, written by obscene deviants posing as Amanita experts. Do you really want a riotous romp through a ridiculous, pretend world of poor almost-educated buffoons who contradict other people’s educated work, just to make a name for themselves?

In the second edition of our book, “Sacred Soma Shamans,” we cover this gruesome subject of urophiles, profiling James Aurthr’s last days before his incarceration, and suicide, including the police reports. We got the scoop during a six hour interview with Jack Herer, Arthur’s loyal disciple.

We learned how warped this club of Pee drinkers really is — how they try to manipulate and bully others into engaging in myco-urophilia, and offend and alienate family and friends with their obsession. They defile the purity and spiritual essence of the mushroom through unclean preparation and disrespect. They lead people astray from the truth of Soma. They wouldn’t want people to find out about us, so they lie about our ways to keep people away.

People who write lies about Soma, and contaminate its purity will never be welcome in Somadise.

In our work, we strive to educate, inspire and give others the knowledge for a chance to find conscious ecstasy of the supreme Medicine-Sacrament-SOMA.

Soma Blessings From All

Hawk and Venus

A Critical Rejoinder to Raw Amanita is Always Best

To understand how unfounded Hawk and Venus’ attacks on our research are, we must first analyze the depth of their statements. They write:

The following footnote from “Astrotheology And Shamanism” was brought to our attention:

Lies.

Hawk and Venus, the authors of “Soma Shamans,” recommend eating the Amanita raw. However, their ability to eat the mushroom raw is likely due to tolerance buildup from near daily use over many years. Eating Amanita raw goes against the overall majority of anthropological research and science on Amanita Muscaria. Their technique is NOT something we recommend for beginners, and we caution those who follow their work.

Writers Rutajit and Irvin’s research is weak to non existent in their slack representation of shamanism. They begin with the lie that we’ve eaten raw Amanita everyday for many years. There are so many problems with this one paragraph alone that we had to break our response down into sections:

“Their ability to eat the mushroom raw is likely due to tolerance buildup from near daily use over many years”

There are two problems with this absurd claim:

1) To say that we ate raw Amanita every day for many years is a fool’s lie. We’ve never made that claim. In fact, for the past 4 years we’ve lived far from our patches and can only collect 4 to 5 times during the annual season, so were lucky to eat fresh picked red Soma at most 4 to 5 times a year. Mr. Irvin and Mr. Rutajit should ask themselves where they got this information. They didn’t ask me or contact our webmaster. It’s not in our book or documentary, or internet page.

The only way to eat fresh Amanita — especially muscaria — year-round is to constantly travel the globe. Amanita muscaria is seasonal, 2-3 months in the Pacific Northwest at best.1 Not even the hardiest Yellows and Browns grow throughout the entire year. This is why we share our tips on how to prepare and store your own supply.

But did we in fact say that they eat “raw Amanita every day”? What we said is: “near daily use over many years,” but our caveated statement, though it could have been written more clearly, was intended to refer to the near daily use of A. muscaria in general, and not only fresh or raw specimens. Hawk and Venus intentionally used the word “raw” as a red herring to steer the reader away from the facts: the daily consumption of Amanita is something Hawk and Venus readily admit in both their book and video!

The information and true life experiences we compiled for this book has been gained through nearly 25 years of our own extreme experimentation and devoted daily use of Soma.

~ Hawk and Venus, Introduction to Sacred Soma Shamans

In their attack on our work, in their book, and video, they claim that their spiritual and vibrational energy abilities come from their “connection and skill level, not tolerance”.

If anything, the ability to eat the mushroom raw has more to do with our spiritual connection and skill level, not tolerance. Indeed, because of wear and tear on his liver, Hawk has decreased his dosage to a daily medicinal tonic and only ups this dosage on special occasions. The dosages he originally used when he started would now kill him.

~ Hawk and Venus

We do acknowledge that clinical research does not show a buildup or tolerance to A. muscaria. But that statement, based on their video, was written in late 2004, two years before I read their book in late 2006. In their book, and contrary to the above comment on their “spiritual connection,” they admit that their ability to eat raw Amanita (and daily consumption of Amanita in general) is actually because of their daily consumption of milk thistle and manganese (more on this later). This may not be tolerance due to daily mushroom usage specifically, but it is still a tolerance buildup via the use of milk thistle and manganese nonetheless. In fact, this is why I used the word “likely” in the footnote they quoted. This was not stated as a fact, but a “likely” possibility. This fact was avoided in their response. However, I should also point out their admission in the above quote:

“Indeed, because of wear and tear on his liver, Hawk has decreased his dosage to a daily medicinal tonic and only ups this dosage on special occasions. The dosages he originally used when he started would now kill him.”

~ Hawk and Venus

Does not this quote give an admission of tolerance buildup? Does not Hawk’s admission of his former ability to consume such large amounts that “[t]he dosages he originally used when he started would now kill him” reveal some sort of past tolerance when consumed in regular large doses? It certainly appears so.

Besides their unsupported narcissistic boast that their book is one of “the greatest sources of information on Soma in the world,” Hawk and Venus don’t seem to even be able to quote the original text of the Rig Veda.

For Book 8, Hymn LXXX of the Rig Veda, Hawk and Venus claim the following:

Our book and documentary, along with the Zend Avesta and Rig Veda, are the greatest sources of information on Soma in the world. Here is what it says in the Rig Veda, book 8, hymn LXXX, Verse 4, about eating Amanita raw:

1.     It has the power to unite yourself with God.

2.     It unites yourself with God’s will.

3.     If you eat Amanita raw, God will bring you Earthly wealth.

If eating raw Amanita unites you with God and brings you preordained wealth — what more could you ask of it?

~ Hawk and Venus

Let’s see exactly what Book 8, Hymn LXXX actually says:

HYMN LXXX. Indra.

1.     DOWN to the stream a maiden came, and found the Soma by the way. Bearing it to her home she said, For Indra will I press thee out, for Śakra will I press thee out.

2.     Thou roaming yonder, little man, beholding every house in turn, Drink thou this Soma pressed with teeth, accompanied with grain and curds, with cake of meal and song of praise.

3.     Fain would we learn to know thee well, nor yet can we attain to thee. Still slowly and in gradual drops, O Indu, unto Indra flow.

4.     Will he not help and work for us? Will he not make us wealthier? Shall we not, hostile to our lord, unite ourselves to Indra now?

5.     O Indra, cause to sprout again three places, these which I declare,— My father’s head, his cultured field, and this the part below my waist.

6.     Make all of these grow crops of hair, you cultivated field of ours, My body, and my father’s head.

7.     Cleansing Apala, Indra! thrice, thou gavest sunlike skin to her, Drawn, Śatakratu! through the hole of car, of wagon, and of yoke.

As we can see, the word Amanita is not even mentioned. The ‘Vedic text’ they provided was their own interpretation, not a quote from the Rig Veda. In fact, it is Gordon Wasson’s interpretation of Soma on which Hawk and Venus base their argument – more on that later.  But “Hawk and Venus” make further claims that Amanita will bring them material wealth:

3. If you eat Amanita raw, God will bring you Earthly wealth.

If eating raw Amanita unites you with God and brings you preordained wealth — what more could you ask of it?

~ Hawk and Venus

Since it is actually earthly, material wealth that Hawk and Venus seek with the consumption of raw Amanita and not spirituality, why exaggerate to others and mislead them about being “High Soma Priests” and “Soma Shamans,” etc? But furthermore, in their book they repeatedly imply that they’re financially broke. If eating raw Amanita brings preordained earthly wealth, then why have Hawk and Venus spent much of their lives living in Northern California campgrounds with none of this preordained earthly wealth?

Camping is a favorite American pastime, but how many families can take even a month off to go? We got to go camping for three years.

~ Hawk and Venus, pg. 85

Followed up with this:

Anyone who’s ever gone camping can remember how exhausting it is, and how you crave, the comforts of home. After a weekend camping trip, you just want to go home and sit in front of the tube and relax. Imagine setting up camp and breaking it down again over and over, for three years! We would usually hit our favorite motels a couple of times a month…

~ Hawk and Venus, pg. 102

Could it be, as I’ll further show, that Amanita as Soma is only one possible entheogenic interpretation of the ancient texts? Could it also be that eating a raw mushroom or not has nothing to do with material wealth? It’s just a wild assumption, but I’m willing to bet that eating raw A. muscaria mushrooms has nothing inherent to do with wealth.

I must ask: Did Hawk and Venus actually read our book, or did they only read the single footnote brought to their attention? In fact, as I will show, they have not read our book. If they had, they would know that our book does not discuss how to prepare the mushroom at all, as they imply, other than in historical and anthropological reference. The only place boiling the mushroom is mentioned in our book is on page 111 in discussion of a piece of artwork depicting the process:

On the far left in Figure 104, the rain is falling into what looks like a spoon. Notice inside the spoon is the ouroboros  biting its own tail, depicted with wings on top. Next to it, in the middle image, is the homunculus (or little man) urinating into the water  and the (living) water is being boiled and recycled up. On the far right is the caduceus , completing the alchemical  process of the drugs from beginning to the end. (pg 111)

That’s it. That’s the only reference. No where does our book state to boil the mushroom for an hour. Hawk and Venus are only trying to imply that because someone else wrote something in another book, that we hold that idea too.

On page 60-1 in regards to urine drinking, we say:

Was his [Wasson’s] friend Imazeki the only one who properly prepared the mushroom by roasting? It also appears that Wasson  never recycled his urine  while conducting personal experiments with the Amanita even though he criticized anthropologists for not doing the same.  This is customary of cultures that use the Amanitas…

Soma  was one of the most important anthropomorphized deities in the Hindu pantheon. On the surface, Soma can be confusing because it represents so many things. Soma is a plant, Soma is the word or logos (‘vac’) , Soma is a drink, Soma is a drink made from a plant [cited to Wasson and Heinrich], and the psychoactive urine  of the priest who had ingested the plant.

The reference to the psychoactive urine of priests comes from the well known ethnobotanist Jonathan Ott (Pharmacotheon, pg. 332).

On page 89 we further state:

This is a description of one of the greatest mystical symbols in alchemy : the ouroboros . It needs nothing. It is a symbol of the eternal life. The word ouroboros comes from the Greek “ouron” (to make water) , and is the source of the English word “urine, ” as well as the name of the constellation of Orion [cited to: Apples of Apollo, by Ruck, Heinrich, Staples, pg. 74] on the macrocosm. The ouroboros is symbolized by a snake biting its own tail, and often it is represented as a winged dragon above a serpent , both biting one another’s tails. In Norse mythology, the sea serpent “Jormungand” grew so big that he was able to surround the earth and grasp his own tail. In the heavens, the ouroboros is the Milky Way, appearing to wrap itself around the earth like a serpent. In this respect, the ouroboric serpent it is known as Leviathan.

We provide more research on the ancient custom of mushroom urine drinking on pages 91-93, further explaining our position and backing our claims with citations from well known ethnobotanists:

Koryak, for example, learned empirically that the hallucinogenic effects of the mushroom pass into a man’s urine. As a result, men waited outside a house where the plant was being consumed in order to collect the urine of a user in special wood containers. The process was repeatable for five cycles before the drug began losing its potency. It is possible that the Siberian herdsmen learned about the relationship between the mushroom and its lingering effects in urine from their reindeer…. Every Koryak man carries a vessel made of seal skin, which he suspends from his belt as a container to catch his own urine. This is done as a means of attracting refractory reindeer. Sometimes, a reindeer will run to the camp from faraway pastures to drink urine-saturated snow, which appears to be a delicacy for them…. When reindeer eat the fly agaric mushrooms, which is not an infrequent occurrence, they behave in a drunken fashion, falling into a deep sleep… if a Koryak encountered an intoxicated animal, he would tie its legs and not kill it until the drunkenness wore off. The Koryaks claimed that if one killed an animal while it was intoxicated, the effects of the fungus would be felt by all who ate the meat. [cited to: Hallucinogens: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, by Dobkin de Rios, pg. 32]

~ Marlene Dobkin de Rios

It is well known that the urine  of humans who have eaten Fly Agaric [Amanita muscaria] becomes in itself hallucinogenic. Among some Siberian populations it was customary to drink the urine of those who had drugged themselves with the mushroom to attain an even greater degree of intoxication, reputedly more powerful than that achieved by eating the mushroom itself. Even reindeer  ”go mad” for the urine of other reindeer or human beings who have ingested the hallucinogen. In fact, it would seem that the Siberian peoples discovered its inebriating properties by observing the behavior of the reindeer. [cited to: Animals and Psychedelics, by Giorgio Samorini,  pg. 39]

~ Giorgio Samorini

Reindeer , as it happens, have an inordinate fondness for Amanita muscaria and will eat it whenever they find it, either until there is no more or until they fall over in a trance, whichever comes first…Reindeer will also nearly trample one another to eat the golden snow created when, after eating their fill of mushrooms, they urinate. [cited to: Apples of Apollo , by Ruck, Staples, and Heinrich,  pg. 51]

~ Ruck, Staples, Heinrich

It is muscimole that holds the pharmacological key to the urine -drinking custom. Muscimole, they [Eugster -1967, Waser 1967 & 71] discovered, is an unsaturated cyclic hydroxamic acid that secrets through the kidneys in basically unaltered form. [cited to: Hallucinogens and Culture, by Peter T. Furst, pg. 93.]

~ Peter T. Furst

However, and besides misquoting us and implying we wrote things not found in our book, we must also point out that Hawk and Venus are completely wrong in their knowledge regarding ancient urine drinking customs. In India the practice of urine therapy is ancient and is known as ‘amaroli’ or ‘shivambu’. Amaroli has been used for healing and spiritual purposes in Ayurveda and Yoga since before recorded history.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/9012/amaroli.htm

In India, urine therapy is called “shivambu”: “Had our shivambu rishi (sage), great devotee, propagator and mighty supporter of shivambu movement, centenarian former Prime Minister of India, respected (late) Morarji Desai not boldly and emphatically declared before the world that lie drank his own urine regularly and that was the secret of his longevity and exuberant health, the most valuable and beneficial information that is being given to you through this booklet, which can prove to be a boon to our poor country and which is capable of curing a host of diseases ranging from common cold to cancer and arthritis to AIDS, would have remained hidden in some unknown quarters and the entire mankind would have been deprived of shivambu. Really speaking, late Shri Morarjlbhai by his frank and honest declaration has accorded world recognition, glory and greatness to this free yet priceless therapy otherwise considered to be nauseating. The whole world shall ever remain indebted to him for rendering this great humanitarian service. ” G.K.Thakkar

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/urine.htm

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/shivambu.pdf

The following biblical references are also appearing to refer to this tradition.

“Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.” – http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%205:15;&version=9

Proverbs 5:15

“But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?”:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2036:12&version=9

Isaiah 36:12

See also Kings 18:27:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2018:27&version=92

Doing a search on Google for “urine therapy” will return over 10 million results!

More than three million Chinese drink their own urine in the belief it is good for their health.

http://www.8bm.com/diatribes/volume01/001/002.htm

“”Urine contains no bacterium and is more sanitary than blood,” Yang Liansheng, a professor from the Liaoning Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was quoted as saying.”

Thais drink urine as alternative medicine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3083577.stm

“…Dr Banchob, started recommending urine therapy a few months ago, instructing patients to collect their own urine in the morning and drink it untreated, starting with small amounts and progressing to a glassful a day.

He now says he has seen some remarkable cures – from cancer to back pain.”

“…the medical community has already been aware of [urine's] astounding efficacy for decades, and yet none of us has ever been told about it. Why? Maybe they think it’s too controversial. Or maybe, more accurately, there wasn’t any monetary reward for telling people what scientists know about one of the most extraordinary natural healing elements in the world.”

The amniotic fluid that surrounds human infants in the womb is primarily urine.  Actually, the infant “breathes in” urine-filled amniotic fluid continually, and without this fluid, the lungs don’t develop.  Doctors also believe that the softness of baby skin and the ability of in-utero infants to heal quickly without scarring after pre-birth surgery is due to the therapeutic properties of the urine-filled amniotic fluid.

http://skepdic.com/urine.html

Tom Brokaw reported on NBC Nightly News, October 16, 1992:  “In Egypt , rescue workers found a 37-year-old man alive in earthquake rubble. He survived almost 82 hours by drinking his own urine. His wife, daughter and mother would not and they died.”

“I don’t think there’s any question that these women and the child would not have died had they simply been aware of the truth that not only would their own urine not harm them, but would, in fact, have provided a power-packed combination of liquid nutrients and critical immune factors that would have sustained them in good health until help arrived.”

Associated Press, July, 1985

http://www.all-natural.com/urine.html

“these con-men, these unethical, deceitful, manipulative and ass-kissing liars”

~ Hawk and Venus

Hawk and Venus ignored all of this readily available research, choosing instead to call us “fool liars,” amongst other things, and make childish statements in attempt to associate us, our work, as well as others not associated to the footnote, and the ancient practice of urine therapy – with pedophiles.

They continue:

So why tell people to steer clear of our book in the first place? What was their hidden agenda?

On Author Andrew Rutajit’s MySpace.com page, two of his heroes listed are Clark Heinrich and James Arthur. Heinrich is a urophile, who extols the virtues of his “rose-colored” urine and became the ultimate nasty-talking badboy when he claimed to obtain union with God’s mind directly after he drank a glass of his own piss. The other hero, urophile James Arthur was a convicted pedophile, serial child rapist and psychotic swine who committed suicide in a county jail rather than do the mandatory 15-30 sentence for his second conviction on the multiple rape of children under seven years of age. Arthur raped little girls for his pleasure.

Rutajit’s heroes have more in common than being disgusting: They both insist that the only way to take Amanita is by drinking Amanita-laced urine. We maintain this is the absolute worst thing you can do to Amanita — not to mention yourself! Of course, if more people became aware of our teachings, they might start to question why these grown men are so fixated on each other’s urine.

4. News from the San Joaquin Valley . 4-12-2005

5. Inmate’s death is ruled a suicide James Dugovic, 47, died in Madera jail cell. The Fresno Bee, April 12, 2005.

Rutajit’s hero insists that the only way to take Amanita is by drinking Amanita-laced urine. We maintain this is the absolute worst thing you can do to Amanita–not to mention yourself! Of course, if more people became aware of our teachings, they might start to question why these grown men are so fixated on each other’s urine.

Cheers, indeed.

(Every time we hear from one of these urophiles, they sign their email “Cheers”. Coincidence? We think not.)”

~ Hawk and Venus

What would Hawk and Venus be without their “Cheers” conspiracy? What would they be without their vicious and insecure name calling and taking research out of context?

Heinrich is a urophile, a rotten piss drinking fool…

~ Hawk and Venus

In the updated version of their article on their website, they removed the vicious comments regarding Heinrich.

While we may consider Hawk and Venus’s research shoddy, unfounded, and often times to the level of ridiculous, we never resorted to name calling as they did: “these con-men, these unethical, deceitful, manipulative and ass-kissing liars,” nor unfounded statements such as their absurd remarks that we’re “fixated on each other’s urine.” No place have we ever suggested drinking another’s urine, much less any “fixation” to urine or religion about urine. They simply made these claims up for their own agenda.

We asked to use their photographs, not their information, for use in our video simply because getting our own photos at that time was half a day’s drive to the Pacific Northwest . Not being able to distinguish and separate personal attack from academic request or response, they felt threatened and confused by our request instead. This is revealed by their presentation of Andy’s letter to request permission to use their photos:

I have your video and I can see that you have access to the real deal, so I figured you’d be the best to ask first.

~ Andy Rutajit quoted by Hawk and Venus

When we stated “you have access to the real deal,” that meant access to Amanita muscaria. In other words, we could see from their video they had the correct mushrooms. We simply thought it would be best to ask them for photos first, via a simple email, rather than drive 500 miles to take my own photographs and have only a chance that I’d find them at the time I arrived. Of course Hawk and Venus have taken Andrew’s statement out of context as some sort of admission by us that only they have “the real deal,” and we should ask them first – the self-proclaimed “experts”. This is of course taken out of context to an absurd level of narcissism.

These “Soma Priests,” Hawk and Venus, resorted to baseless attacks and unfounded statements on something they never bothered to read. They also attacked Andrew for having Arthur listed as a “hero” on Myspace but fail to mention that Andrew also listed many other authors, including: Manly Palmer Hall, John Allegro, Ram Dass, Maria Sabina, Randy Couture, Bruce Lee, Joseph Campbell, Terence McKenna, Brian Greene, Fulcanelli and Wilhelm Reich.

Hawk and Venus have likely never consumed their own urine with Amanita muscaria, as the mountains of anthropological research on Amanita muscaria shamanism shows is a historical fact – that “real” Amanita using Siberian shamans drink their urine. Maybe they’re hiding behind the fact that they are not “real” shamans and have no understanding of the historical references to Amanita muscaria shamanism as they claim.

The Amanita muscaria, as urine, was first called to the attention of the Western World by a Swedish army officer, Filip Johann von Strahlenberg, after having served 13 years as a captive of the Russians in Siberia . His book, first published in German in Stockholm, appeared in 1730; and an English translation in London in 1736 and again in 1738 under the lengthy title beginning An Historico-Geographical Description of the North and Eastern Parts of Europe and Asia. ~ Gordon Wasson, Soma pg. 25

In the following extract about the ‘water of life’ we are reminded of the fly-agaric in one of its manifestations, as a liquid, either derived directly from the mushroom, or human urine. Should we not consider the possibility that this conception, so widespread in Eurasian and American folklore, had its origin in the fly-agaric? Here is what Jochelson says: – RGW

~ Gordon Wasson, Soma pg. 271

We also discussed this issue in our book, pg. 100: “Bear in mind that most of them have not consumed the Amanita at all, much less in the traditional shamanic manner, which includes urine  consumption.”

Why would Hawk and Venus, the self-proclaimed enlightened “Soma shamans,” feel so threatened by us, or the ancient urine drinking custom, that they would result to such childish attacks and play-ground name calling?

What motivates these liars and fools? Simply, they want to seem authoritative and push their hidden agenda… a recipe for urophilia. So by contradicting me, the world’s foremost expert on picking and ceremoniously and shamanistically preparing and dosing Amanita, they hope to seem knowledgeable.

~ Hawk and Venus

Do I sense more narcissism here? Nothing like tooting your own horn – repeatedly! On what basis does Hawk make this claim “the world’s foremost expert”? I wonder what indigenous Siberian shamans living today would think about such maniacal claims.

Andy and I are not pushing a hidden agenda. We’re discussing historical fact, something that Hawk and Venus seem to have trouble separating from personal attack.

Neither author has had the guts to take raw Amanita.

~ Hawk and Venus

This is completely untrue. I have eaten the amanita fresh or “raw” and un-dried on several occasions. However, I should like to point out that dry Amanitas are also “raw” – to which I’ve also eaten them many times.

They are frauds, and their book is garbage, a worthless read, a waste of paper.

~ Hawk and Venus

I should point out that calling us “frauds” is slander and libelous. Did they actually read our book to back their claims? Of course not. But they continue:

This is how they have the nerve to talk about something they know nothing about. They ignore the historical research of Amanita, then try to hide behind “anthropological research.”

~ Hawk and Venus

I would like to know exactly what historical research on Amanita we’ve ignored? Since their book provides no bibliography, and few, if any, citations, it’s hard to discern what historical research they’re referring to. They certainly didn’t supply citations in their attack either.

In fact, the only research available on shamanic usage, practice and effects of Amanita muscaria is via anthropological study on Siberian tribes! This is something that Hawk and Venus seem not to want their readers to know. All of the known anthropological studies (up to 1968) that reference A. muscaria consumption by Siberian shamans are located in the ‘Exhibits’ section (pgs. 233-304) of Gordon Wasson’s book Soma  – who first suggested that A. muscaria is Soma. This idea, although widely accepted, is also hotly contested by many scholars today.

Our book certainly discusses both the Rig Vega and Zend Avesta – providing further evidence that they didn’t bother to read our book. It appears Hawk and Venus only read the simple footnote, ignoring not only the text connected with the footnote, but the entire book. We’re not hiding behind anthropological research, we’re actually providing it. Unfortunately, the historical evidence just doesn’t support their views.

But observation without experience — in this case — is worthless. As it says in the Rig Veda, those who’ve never taken Soma will never understand it. We couldn’t agree more.

~ Hawk and Venus

On what basis do they make this claim?  Andy and I have both consumed Amanita muscaria on numerous occasions. This is clearly stated in our book (pg. 66).

In specific regard to the way Hawk and Venus use the word Soma, many scholars, including ourselves, no longer believe that Soma was only A. muscaria as Wasson first proposed. Christian Ratsch, Ph D, et al, discuss this in Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas:

There is said [to] be a total of 108 psychoactive plants that are consecrated to Shiva and are sacred, and that transport the shamans into a trance.

~ Müller-Ebeling, Rätsch , Shahi

Soma was probably nothing more than a generic term (taxon) that was used in the same way as the words “drug,” “entheogen,” “psychedelic,” or “psychoactive substance” are used today. [cited to: Shamanism and Tantra In the Himalayas , by Rätsch , Müller-Ebeling, Shahi, pg. 178.]

~ Müller-Ebeling, Rätsch , Shahi

Hawk and Venus further their fanciful claims:

The entirety of that footnote is an attempt to discredit eating raw Amanita in order to push their hidden agenda, their own recommendation — urophilia.

~ Hawk and Venus

Once again, Hawk and Venus make the false implication that we’re promoting “urophilia” by cautioning people against eating raw Amanita. They also attempt to tie us to other’s boiling practices – something we’ve not stated in our own book anyplace – simply because our supposed “heroes” do. Maybe they should stick to reading our book so they can understand what we say.

Their heroes are the perverts who recommend to first buy potency weakened devitalized dried mushrooms (for, whatever drying practice you use, a draining of potency is inevitable.) Then, they kill the Amanita by boiling it for an hour, drinking it, then drinking their recycled urine. A “cowards cocktail” which reduces the potency of Amanita by approximately 93%.

~ Hawk & Venus

From the above statement it appears that Hawk and Venus also like to make up their numbers as they go, providing no scientific evidence to support such numbers such as “approximately 93%” in reduced potency via urine consumption, aka the “cowards cocktail”. How would they know if they’ve never tried it or studied it? And if they have tried it, would they not be hypocrites? By what means did they derive this number? They don’t tell us. Maybe this number just appeared to them from the Tarot deck (below)? It certainly isn’t backed by any of the scientific studies – the ones they claim don’t exist (below).

At 17 minutes in their video they discuss how the mushroom “loses potency up to 80%, but an average of 60%”. An average by definition means that it could be less than 60%. In fact, if the high reduction of potency is 80%, with a swinging average of 20%, we can also say that many mushrooms, using Hawk and Venus’s *scientific and mathematical* deductions, could be only 40% reduced potency. However, they don’t back their claims with chemical analysis or reference to any study. Did they fabricate these numbers for the sole purpose of misleading their readers? It appears so.

More childish name calling and attacking our book that they didn’t read – and again, notice the libelous slander in bold:

This is another lowlife piece of junk, written by obscene deviants posing as Amanita experts. Do you really want a riotous romp through a ridiculous, pretend world of poor almost-educated buffoons who contradict other people’s educated work, just to make a name for themselves?

~ Hawk & Venus

Now they’ve got me wondering whose “educated work” we’re supposedly contradicting. Nevertheless, “educated work” seems to start with their own definition of the word educated as something like – “make it up as you go”. In my opinion, it seems clear that Hawk and Venus are better at making themselves look foolish than they are at educated work. In their video they adorn themselves with ridiculous gowns and sun glasses as they literally stutter and drool their way through it, high on Amanita. To watch their unprofessional performance makes one cover the face and grimace in embarrassment for them.

Now on to their crusade against the world’s evil “urophiles”. But first I thought we should start by defining exactly what an “urophile” is.

-phile relates to a love or strong affinity or preference for something – as in Pedo-PHILE (and remember, they’re attempting tie our research and writing to Arthur and pedophilia). Thusly, the term urophilie is hinted as being a sexual orientation on urine – as in “golden showers”, etc. Urophiles feel urine or urination is erotic and desire-increasing.

The term “urophilia” is being used by Hawk and Venus to make the absurd assumption that any person who studies or discusses the urine consumption tradition in relation with Amanita muscaria is obsessed not with the study of entheogens, shamanic knowledge and historical accounts; but only with the act of drinking urine or urination itself – and furthermore, pedophilia! Though it is impossible to follow logically their line of thinking, here is a quote from their book on this very topic:

The exhibitionistic myco-perverts use Soma as an excuse to engage in urophilia. The Soma urine used by the urophiliac is merely an opportunity to narcissistically consume their own waste. They want attention and this is their only way of getting it. With constant appearances on radio programs, seminars, workshops and in articles and books they are tireless in the self-discussion of urophilia as their religion.

~ Hawk & Venus pg. 294-5

Wiktionary simply defines urophilia as meaning, “One with a sexual dependency on the smell and/or taste of urine; or the sight and sound of someone urinating.”

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/urophile

Some psychologists believe urophilia is a sexual orientation developed during the infant phase, and the urophile partly stopped at this age through the course of his sexual development. However, the drinking of one’s urine has been shown to be clearly justified (after newer research results) as an instinct for the stabilization of the immune system. It seems in fact well-known by many animals that they should consume their urine for reasons of health.

Urine has been used since ancient times for the treatment of wounds. One example was its use on sailing boats for treating scurvy, and is still practiced today for such applications. The so-called “urophile” has realized an instinct which is no longer practiced by general public, most likely having been suppressed by numerous powers for numerous reasons over time.

Thus, with this understanding of the word urophile, we may see clearly that Hawk and Venus are intentionally and deceptively slandering researchers who discuss this ancient custom with their twisted association to Arthur and pedophilia.

In the second edition of our book, “Sacred Soma Shamans,” we cover this gruesome subject of urophiles, profiling James Aurthr’s last days before his incarceration, and suicide, including the police reports. We got the scoop during a six hour interview with Jack Herer, Arthur’s loyal disciple.

~ Hawk & Venus

In actuality, Jack Herer, as well as ourselves do believe, regardless of James Arthur’s hideous crimes in his private life, that he provided valuable research to this field. We also believe he committed atrocious acts.

People may live with horrific skeletons in their closets who’ve contributed huge amounts to our understanding of the world. This does not make their actions right, or their research wrong. One does not equal the other. Just because Arthur was a researcher who discussed the Amanita urine consumption custom, does not make the custom itself associated to pedophilia. Such a leap of logic is absurd. It is the logic of uneducated fools.

Furthermore, Hawk and Venus were deceptive in order to gain their so-called “interview” with Jack Herer. Herer invited them into his home where they talked for hours, never telling him it was an interview. They then attempted to use this information against him so that they could appear as the world’s leading Soma experts.

We learned how warped this club of Pee drinkers really is — how they try to manipulate and bully others into engaging in myco-urophilia, and offend and alienate family and friends with their obsession. They defile the purity and spiritual essence of the mushroom through unclean preparation and disrespect. They lead people astray from the truth of Soma. They wouldn’t want people to find out about us, so they lie about our ways to keep people away.

~ Hawk & Venus

The above statement really pushes the extremes of absurdity, if not shattering them completely. During this so-called interview with Herer, Hawk admitted that his practices of Amanita consumption have nearly killed him at least 4 or 5 times! In his own video he admits that his liver has gone bad. In their book they also discuss his having a heart attack while on Amanita. I’ve quoted several such instances below for our edification and amusement.

The recycling of urine has a dual purpose in the process of consuming Amanita. Both ibotenic acid and muscimol are excreted via the urine, which scientific studies have clearly shown for some time. The purpose of recycling the urine is essentially to increase the potency via decarboxylation of the remaining ibotenic acid into muscimol, thus increasing the high.

If not drying and/or recycling, one is left with Hawk’s method of eating them fresh. The problem is not all ibotenic acid becomes muscimol. That is why people discovered recycling! That is the problem with Hawk’s argument, which will be discussed further as we reveal the scientific research (below). He says eating them raw is best, but then says drinking urine is perverse. Then what is he getting off on? Ibotenic acid! Could this be the very reason why Hawk’s liver has been poisoned by his own methods?

I was to experience eighteen more overdoses over the years. Nothing was as bad as the first, until I experienced liver failure and had a heart attack while lying on the ground convulsing and blacking out.

~ Hawk and Venus, pg. 220

Does the above quote sound like it came from someone you want to listen to?

Though I’ve tried them raw, I don’t recommend eating raw Amanita, or any other mushroom. However, why would you? Just for an ibotenic acid high? The best and safest practice is to properly dry the mushrooms first, or make a tea, then eat; and while disgusting, recycle your urine until you reach your state of bliss.

If I’ve ever seen anything as warped, it’s this pathetic attack on our work by Hawk and Venus. I’m not quite sure how they mean that Andrew and I bully and manipulate people by providing historical and scientific references to factual information – clearly basing their attack on a single footnote. Maybe they would like to explain themselves?

If we wanted to lead people away from Hawk and Venus’ almost non-existent research, we would have just omitted any mention of their work from our book – and certainly not offered to use their photos in a video. Instead we chose to simply warn beginners from some of their practices.

We certainly hope that Hawk and Venus are capable of heeding there own words of advice:

“People who write lies about Soma, and contaminate its purity will never be welcome in Somadise.”

~ Hawk & Venus

However, this quote doesn’t sound like “Somadise” to me:

I experienced liver failure and had a heart attack while lying on the ground convulsing and blacking out.

~ Hawk & Venus
The ibotenic acid is what is primarily excreted, along with small amount of muscimol, in the urine. However, between the following article by Jonathan Ott and The Botany of Chemistry of Hallucinogens by Schultez, 1980 (below), it is clear that it is the decarboxilation of Ibotenic Acid into muscimol that is responsible for most of the high. I’ll also point out that Hawk and Venus’s statement that “there is no science on Amanita” is completely false:

As for going against the “overall majority of anthropological research and science”, there is no science on Amanita.

~ Hawk & Venus

From Pharmacotheon by Jonathan Ott:

In 1869, two German chemists published a book on the properties of muscarine, a toxic alkaloid they had isolated from Amanita muscaria (Holmstedt & Liljestrand 1963; Schmiedeberg & Koppe 1869). For almost a century, muscarine was believed to be the main toxic principle of the fly-agaric. This in spite of the marked difference between fly-agaric and muscarine intoxication. Muscarine causes profuse salivation, lachrymation and perspiration, and is not psychoactive.⁴ These symptoms of a stimulated autonomic nervous system are generally not seen in fly-agaric inebriation. Moreover, the concentration of muscarine in European specimens of Amanita muscaria was shown to be quite low, only about 0.0003%, by no means high enough to account for the remarkable activity of this mushroom (Eugster 1956; Eugster 1353).

The problem was complicated when Schmiedeberg isolated a base from a sample of commercial muscarine which counteracted the cardiac depression of muscarine. Since atropine and related alkaloids (from Atropa belladonna and the psychoactive Mandragora and Brugmansia species; see Appendix A) have this “antimuscarinic” effect, this new compound came to be called Pilzatropin (“mushroom atropine”) or alternately muscaridine (it has also been called “myceto-atropine” and “mycoatropine”; Tyler 1958a). Further confusion resulted when in 1955 it was reported that Pilzatropin was in fact an isomer of atropine, l-hyoscyamine, supposedly isolated from South African Amanita muscaria and A. pantherina (Lewis 1955). To make matters yet more confusing, bufotenine or 5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine […] was reported as an entheogenic principle of A. muscaria (Wieland & Motzel 1953). Subsequent work has failed to substantiate the presence of either l-hyoscyamine or bufotenine in A. muscaria, and the evidence indicates that these reports were probably in error (Brady & Tyler 1959; Saleminck et al. 1963; Talbot & Vining 1963). In 1963, American chemist W.B. Cook (who had earlier worked for the CIA on phytochemistry of ololiuhqui seeds from Mexico ; see Chapter 5, Note 8) published a preliminary paper on pharmacologically- active extracts from A. muscaria (Subbaratnam & Cook 1963).

Finally, in 1964, the true entheogenic principles of the fly-agaric were isolated almost simultaneously in three laboratories–in Japan (Takemoto et al. 1964a; Ta kemoto et al. 1964b; Takemoto et al. 1964c), England (Bowden & Drysdale 1965; Bowden et al. 1965) and Switzerland (Catalfomo & Eugster 1970; Eugster 1967; Eugster 1968; Eugster 1969; Eugster et al. 1965; Muller & Eugster 1965). These new compounds were isolated with the use of a fly-killing test, a fly-stunning test, and a mouse-narcosis-potentiating test respectively. In 1967, international agreement was reached as to nomenclature, and the compounds were named ibotenic acid⁵ and muscimol (earlier called agarin(e) or pantherine; Eugster & Takemoto 1967; Gagneux et al. 1965a; Good et al. 1965). Ibotenic acid was found to be alpha-amino3-hydroxy-5-isoxazole acetic acid; and muscimol its decarboxylation product 3hydroxy-5-aminomethy1 isoxazole (Eugster 1967; Gagneux et al. 1965b; Konda et al. 1985; Lund 1979). The isoxazole ring (5-membered, with adjacent oxygen and nitrogen atoms) is uncommon in natural products and drugs, and is found in the medicinal MAO-inhibitor isocarboxazid or Marplan (see Chapter 4; Budavari et al. 1989). […] In addition, a rearrangement product of ibotenic acid, muscazone, has been isolated from Swiss A. muscaria (Eugster et al. 1965; Fritz et al. 1965; Reiner & Eugster 1967) as well as American A. pantherina (Ott, unpublished). Muscazone is readily prepared from ibotenic acid (Chilton & Ott, unpublished; Goth 1967), may be an artifact of isolation procedures, and is of dubious psychoactivity. It is likely that either ibotenic acid or muscimol represents the Pilzatropin isolated by Schmiedeberg a century ago. A potentially psychoactive beta-carboline compound, methyltetrahydrocarboline carboxylic acid (MCTHC; I-methyl-3-carboxyl-tetrahydro-B-carboline has been isolated in low levels from European A. muscaria (Matsumoto et al. 1963). This compound is of unknown pharmacology, however, and Chilton and I were unable to detect this substance in North American A. muscaria (Chilton & Ott 1976). Two other compounds of obscure pharmacology, stizolobic acid and stizolobinic acid (also found in edible seeds of Stizolobium [Mucuna] species), have been isolated in good yield from Amanita pantherina (Chilton et al. 1974; Chilton & Ott 1976; Saito & Komamine 1978; Ott, unpublished laboratory data). These compounds have been proposed to be feeding deterrents in insects Janzen 1973), and were found to have such activity against Spodoptera but not a Cdllosobruchus species (Fellows 1984).

Besides Amanita muscaria, ibotenic acid and muscimol have been isolated from A. strobiliformis (Takemoto et al. 1964a) and A. pantherina (Chilton & Ott 1976; Takemoto et al. 1964c; see Table 6). Both compounds have been detected in A. cothurnata (=A. pantherina var. multisquamosa), A. gemmata (Beutler & Der Marderosian 1981; Chilton & Ott 1976) and in varieties alba and formosa of A. muscaria (Benedict et al. 1966; Beutler & Der Marderosian 1981; Chilton & Ott 1976). Thus far, these unusual amino acids are known to occur in no other plants.

EFFECTS OF IBOTENIC ACID AND MUSCIMOL

Ibotenic acid evokes entheogenic effects in human beings at doses ranging from 50 – 100 mg (Chilton 1975; Theobald et al. 1968). An equivalent effect is produced by 10-15 mg of muscimol (Theobald et al. 1968; Waser 1967). After oral ingestion, the onset of the inebriation is rather slow, and generally 2-3 hours elapse before the full effects are felt (Chilton 1975). This delayed response has also been reported following ingestion of Amanita pantherina (Ott 1976a). The effects last for 6-8 hours, depending on dose. Effects are characterized by visual distortions, loss of equilibrium, mild muscle twitching (not convulsions, as has erroneously been reported), and altered auditory and visual perception (Chilton 1975; Ott 1976a).

It would appear that muscimol is the psychoactive constituent, and that following ingestion of ibotenic acid, a fraction of the material decarboxylates to muscimol, which then produces the inebriation. After oral ingestion of ibotenic acid, a substantial percentage of the drug is excreted unaltered in the urine, but small amounts of muscimol are also excreted (Chilton, unpublished). This mechanism would potentially explain the Siberian urinary drug recycling practice. After ingestion of the mushroom, the celebrant would excrete substantial amounts of ibotenic acid in his urine. A second user ingesting the urine of the first, would cause some of the ibotenic acid to be decarboxylated to muscimol during digestion, producing inebriation when the muscimol was absorbed; and the bulk of the ibotenic acid would be re-excreted in his urine in turn. Thus a 100 mg dose of ibotenic acid might potentially represent four or five 10-15 mg doses of muscimol, and Steller’s 1774 report that one dose of mushrooms could be recycled through four or five persons is certainly feasible. Muscimol itself probably does not play a significant role in urinary drug recycling, since it was found that only a small percentage of injected muscimol was excreted in the urine of mice (Ott et al. 1975a). This hypothesis has yet to be verified quantitatively in human beings, though it has been demonstrated qualitatively in preliminary experiments (Chilton 1979).

It is clear by the above scientific references, which Hawk and Venus would like their readers to believe don’t exist, that decarboxilated Ibotenic Acid, known as Muscimol, is created when the water molecule is removed from the Ibotenic acid by drying. Muscimol is up to 10x more potent than its original, Ibotenic acid, state.

The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens by Richard Evans Schultes, 1980 (Harvard)

Pg. 49

Subsequent investigations of Amanita muscaria by Eugster and others in Switzerland and by Takemoto and others in Japan led to the isolation of various amino acid derivatives with characteristic psychotropic activities corresponding to the psychic effects described following ingestion of this mushroom. These were ibotenic acid, muscimole, muscazone, and ®-4-hydroxy-pyrrolidone-(2).

Ibotenic acid is the zwitterion [A molecule or ion having separate positively and negatively charged atoms or groups] of a-amino-a-[3-hydroxy-isoxazolyl-(5)]-acetic acid monohydrate. It occurs in the mushroom in the racemic [b. Composed of dextro- and lævorotatory isomers of a compound in equal molecular proportions, and therefore optically inactive.] form (Good et al., 1965; Muller and Eugster, 1965).

It separates from water in colourless crystals, mp 145o C. Ibotenic acid must be considered a principal active constituent of Amanita muscaria, being present to the extent of 0.3-1 gm/kg of undried carpophores of material of this species collected in southern Germany and in Switzerland . Ibotenic acid easily decarboxylates and loses water to be transformed into muscimole, which is the enol-betaine of 5-aminomethyl-3-hydroxy-isoxazole.

Muscimole forms colourless crystals, mp 174o-175o C, which are extremely soluble in water. Muscimole is probably not a genuine constituent of living Amanita muscaria. It is produced mainly during extraction of the mushrooms by decomposition of ibotenic acid (Eugster, 1968; Eugster and Takemoto, 1967).

[…]

One synthesis starts with 3-bromo-5-animomethyl-isoxazole (1), which, by heating with KOH/MeOH, is transformed into 3-methoxy-5-aminomethyl-isoxazole (2). This compound, after hydrolysis [reaction in which a bond is broken by the agency of water and the hydrogen and hydroxyl of the water become independently attached to the two atoms previously linked; the decomposition or splitting of a compound in this way.], yields muscimole. Another method utilizes as starting material the ketal of y-chloro-acetoacetate (3), which is treated with hydroxylamine to provide the corresponding hydroxamic acid (4). Cyclization with dry HCI gas in absolute acetic acid affords 3-hydroxy-5-chloromethyl-isoxazole (5), which can be transformed by treatment with NH3 into muscimole.

Studies with ibotenic acid and with muscimole in pharmacology and experimental psychology have shown that there is no significant qualitative difference between these two substances; however, quantitatively muscimole proves to be at least five times more active than ibotenic acid. In pharmacological experiments on animals, the principal demonstrable effect is inhibition of motor functions. This is brought about by a central nervous supraspinal mechanism of action. Vegetative functions, however, are hardly influence by these two substances.

Psychological experiments with normal test persons showed that both ibotenic acid and muscimole cause a relatively uncharacteristic condition of intoxication.

Interest in the biological activity of ibotenic acid has shifted in recent time from psychic activity to the action on central neurons of various species of animals, which are stimulated much more efficiently than by glutaminic acid. Muscimole is a strong GABA mimeticum, which passes the blood brain barrier (Eugster, 1977).

Ibotenic acid and muscimole were detected in human urine within one hour after ingestion of Amanita muscaria. These preliminary and only qualitative experiments in man seemed to indicate that ibotenic acid does pass to the urine with relative efficiency. Quantitative measurements of the fate of muscimole in animals were made with tritiated muscimole, injecting 3H-muscimole intraperitoneally into mice. Only 27 percent of the administered counts were recovered in the urine excreted within the first forty-eight hours. It seems unlikely, therefore, that the urine of a mouse receiving an oral threshold dose of muscimole would intoxicate a second mouse. (Ott et al., 1975). This result, however, is not conclusive concerning the fate of the active ingredients of A. muscaria in man.

A CASE STUDY: Amanita muscaria toxicosis in two dogs:

“Central nervous system dysfunction results primarily from the actions of ibotenic acid and its decarboxylation product, muscimol, which are analogues of the neurotransmitters glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), respectively. Identification of these toxins in the urine and serum of affected dogs using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) provides a definitive diagnosis.”

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.111…4431.2005.00181.x
Muscimol, formed by decarboxylation of ibotenic acid, is similar to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Both of these chemicals can cross the blood-brain barrier (Michelot, 2003) [...]
Demonstrating high affinity for GABA receptors, muscimol activates GABA receptors and thereby can act as a sedative. Many of the CNS effects of muscimol are ascribed to its ability to act as a GABA agonist. By comparison, ibotenic acid is more of a CNS stimulant, acting on glutamic acid receptors. In humans, most of the ibotenic acid ingested is excreted unchanged in the urine. Some ibotenic acid is metabolized to muscimol. About one third of the amount of muscimol ingested is excreted unchanged, one third is conjugated, and the rest is oxidized.

http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic1505.htm
Not just in our belly:

“Ibotenic acid (Ibo) is a powerful neuronal excitant also structurally related to Glu. Excitation by Ibo, however, is readily antagonised by alpha-AA, whereas GDEE has little or no effect, suggesting that Ibo preferentially activates Asp rather than Glu receptors. Furthermore, excitation of neurones by Ibo is followed by a prolonged depression of excitability which is sensitive to bicuculline methochloride, indicating that Ibo is probably converted by decarboxylation into muscimol during microelectrophoretic ejection near CNS neurones. Thus, neither KA nor Ibo seem to have sufficient specificity to be useful compounds with which to study central Glu or Asp receptors. We describe here a new class of Glu agonist obtained by structural manipulation of Ibo (Table 1). Elongation of the side chain of Ibo by an additional methylene group and introduction of different ring substituents have led to isoxazole amino acids with carboxyl groups resistant to decarboxylation. A further aim of this homologation was to convert the apparent Asp agonist Ibo into a Glu agonist.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v284/n5751/abs/284064a0.html

Interestingly, as if Hawk and Venus suddenly had a moment of scientific clarity regarding magical energy and Tarot-like hocus-pocus, they write:

John [Jack Herer] said James Arthur (modern day rijisi) told him that the Amanita residue in his urine was six times stronger than before, as if some magical transformation occurred. To this, Hawk said, (even if that was the case- and it isn’t) “so take six times more!”

~ Hawk and Venus pg. 207

As all of the science does show, the residue in the urine can be much stronger. And it’s not “some magical transformation”. Its scientific name is called decarboxylation. But also notice that these two dangerously recommend to “take six times more!” mushrooms, rather than reuptake the much safer urine.

Since Hawk and Venus were so kind as to provide a detailed review of our book, I thought I would return the favor by dedicating the rest of this essay to a review of their book.

Sacred Soma Shamans by Hawk & Venus, 2003/2006
The first 110 pages is mostly an autobiography on their lives and family drama, and their 3 year mushroom trip, or, more appropriately, their 3 year “camping” stint, living in camp grounds and gypsy houses in their constant search for a place to live and get a free daily high from Amanita muscaria, pantherina, or the deadly phalloides!

The Gypsies invited us to stay with them and digitally edit the movie. We stayed there off and on for a few months. (pg. 95)

Hawk is the High Priest and “Master of Ecstasy.” Using his sacred laws inspired by extreme austerities and a shamanic trip to Death’s Door, he prepares Soma for our daily sacrament and special ceremonies. (pg. 15)

We were so overcome by the desire and need for these mushrooms that we went back the next day and picked many of them. (pg. 32)

Hawk, as Master of Ecstasy, is able to sense and harmonize even the deadly Pantherinas and Phalloides (pg. 25)

The first half of this book hardly discusses Amanita muscaria at all. It’s about these two –Hawk and Venus (especially Hawk) – the self proclaimed “High Shaman-Priests of Soma.” These two (in my opinion) are Psychology 101 textbook examples of patients with delusions of grandeur. Remember Timothy Leary, the self proclaimed “High Priest of LSD” who ended up wrongly giving the drug a bad name leading to its outlaw and him working undercover for the CIA? At least Dr. Leary could write eloquently!

We are Hawk and Venus, High Priest and High Priestess of Soma, guardians of the secrets of Soma. (pg. 9)
For a while, he [Hawk] wore a monks robe, a metal crown of thorns and a huge metal dollar sign on a tire chain around his neck, carried a staff and went barefoot. People didn’t know whether to arrest or worship him (pg. 29)

In India , Hawk would be known as a holy man, just for his austerities… (pg. 49)

He [Zarathustra/Zoroaster], like Hawk and me was a purest and understood the higher spiritual qualities that await the devoted. (Pg. 48)

We also discovered that in the Vedas the Hawk brought Soma from Heaven to Earth. (Pg. 207)

They give us no citation to verify their claim about Zoroaster. They only follow up by comparing themselves to Zoroaster and the hawk of the Vedas! On their website they also say:

Hawk is a prophet, longtime nature mystic and Master Soma Shaman. This is not ego-based identity, he has earned the wisdom and has the skills to back it.

I find it humorous that they claim this statement is not ego-based, but who other than an ego or megalomaniac would claim they’re a prophet?

Megalomania (from the Greek word μεγαλομανία) is a psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, genius, or omnipotence – often generally termed as delusions of grandeur. The word is a collaboration of the word “mania” meaning madness and the Greek “megalo” meaning an obsession with grandiosity and extravagance, a common symptom of megalomania. It is sometimes symptomatic of manic or paranoid disorders.
Hawk’s delusions of prophesizing in their book goes on to say how Hawk had a vision that he’d meet his wife on a day wearing a certain pair of paints. So instead of prophesizing the specific day, Hawk wore the same pants daily for a year!

Hawk uses his cards to reach these spiritual advisers who reveal the future.

pg. 67

About a year before we met, his Tarot cards said he would be wearing a particular pair of denim pants when he met the woman who would be his wife. So, he wore them all the time and laundered them so much he had to start sewing them up with decorative patches he bought on his travels. By the time we met, the pants were over three-fourths covered in patches and then I gladly helped finished the rest. […] Hawk even wore those magic pants when he helped deliver our eldest son… (pg. 29)

Obviously any woman he then happened to meet would fall nicely into his fantastic delusion, a delusion that Venus bought hook, line and sinker. Is this the sign of a prophet, or a megalomaniac who will go to any means to make his gullible partners believe his hocus-pocus?
On top of the delusions of grandeur, for the first part of the book, Hawk seems incapable of writing his own words. Wherever Hawk has something to say, it’s usually Venus annoyingly “quoting” Hawk.

Hawk says: Amanita Muscaria is the most beautiful mushroom on the planet. […]

Hawk says, “Soma is the world’s greatest aphrodisiac for the male. […]”

Was Hawk too high to sit and write more than a couple paragraphs of his own? By the end of the book I was left wondering if Venus has any thoughts of her own. As well, it doesn’t appear that Venus bothered to fact check anything “Hawk says”. I found several major errors in their (so-called) citations to other works where they hadn’t bothered to quote exactly, as above with the Rig Veda, and took entire sections completely out of context for their own agenda – more on that later. To top all of this off, this book has no footnotes, no bibliography, and no index.
This book is also of Venus, Hawk’s wife – an unquestioning loyal disciple – who (in my opinion) has clear father figure psychological issues. The two met when she was 18, high on LSD, and dreaming for her father-man-guru figure to come rescue her:

…I took some LSD for inspiration and went on a hike by the sea. [...] I was 18 years old. Now love filled my heart and I prayed out loud to meet a strong, spiritual man to be my love and my light (pg. 9)
Never had I felt so completely ready to devote my attention to someone. He was like a priest, a guru, a best friend—my true love. (pg. 11)

I’m not quite sure how many barely-legal 18 year-olds are completely ready to devote their attention to anyone!
It doesn’t end there. During one of Hawks overdoses he ends up comatose on the sidewalk, and later in the hospital, where the doctor tells him to be more careful and measure the doses. Hawk admittedly never considered something so basic and common sense as measuring doses!

The doctor asked what I had taken and how much.

He then gave me an unforgettable piece of advice. After the other doctors and nurses had gone, he leaned over me and said confidentially, “Look, me and another doctor here sometimes take Psilocybin Cubensis before coming on duty, but we measure the dosage.” To measure the dosage was the first piece of mushroom advice I was ever given, and still the best. (pg. 5)

Furthermore, Venus repeatedly attempts to convince the reader that only Hawk is wise and brilliant enough to sense the “vibrational energy” of which Amanitas are safe to pick and consume:

We understand the pure vibration needed to be welcomed within the mushroom’s energy field and how to merge with its spiritual life force. My husband, Hawk, knows exactly when to approach and pick each mushroom according to its spiritual vibration and how to prepare them individually, in pairs or groups using various methods… (Pg. 16)

As far as sensing every mushroom’s energy to avoid bad trips, it’s not clear until chapter 12 when we learn that Hawk is actually taking daily doses of manganese and milk thistle to (supposedly) help control the negative side effects of the mushroom and its bad trips (more on that in a moment). So much for vibrational energy hippie power! As well, the book has many references where they have bad trips, even though Hawk had previously “sensed the mushroom’s energy.” In these situations, they blame the bad trip on some other outside force, while maintaining delusional inconsistencies in their argument.

During an overdose, I always use a minimum of 500mgs of Manganese, or a maximum of 1000mgs. The point is to stop the convulsions, and Manganese is the only thing that will. […] [manganese] is a very effective relaxant and I feel it’s not a bad idea to have at least one tablet with your Soma dose to help smooth out the ride. (Pg. 125)

The liver must detox many poisons including Amanita toxins, so do it a favor and have Milk Thistle tincture, capsules or tea with your Soma. These days, Hawk always takes it with his Soma. (Pg. 126)

Hawk and Venus furthermore claim the Amanita muscaria to be lethal:

They haven’t even been able to determine which of the two poisons kill you.

~ Hawk and Venus

…the toxicological literature does not contain a single case of lethal fly agaric poisoning: “there is no evidence of fatalities” (Garnweidner 1993, 41**)

~ Christian Rätsch, 1998/2005 pg. 638

Hawk and Venus also claim to be the sole discoverers of the Milk Thistle over-dose cure:

Science offers no antidote to Amanita poisoning. Indeed, my wife and I are the only ones on Earth ever to discover an antidote to Amanita poisoning, which works 75% of the time. This was a result of many years of work, research and experimentation on ourselves.

~ Hawk and Venus

Did you notice the made up percentages? They also directly contradict this statement in their book, admitting the German scientists are the ones who made the discovery:

In Germany , human studies have been done for 60 people with Amanita poisoning and none of the patients died though death usually occurs within 50% of people poisoned by the deadly Phalloides. The Silymarin and the mushroom toxins bond to the same sites on the liver cell membrane, then the Silymarin levels in your blood increase, the extract occupies the cell membrane receptor sites displacing the Amanita toxins. (Pg. 127)

Milk Thistle and its extracts have actually been used for many decades to treat mushroom poisoning and liver damage and used to alleviate the toxicity of Amatoxins & Phallotoxins.

Its potent extract is used in medicine under the name silymarin. Another extract, silibinin or a derivative, is used against poisoning by amanitas, such as the Death Cap (Amanita phalloides) and the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessed_milk_thistle
http://www.iamshaman.com/amanita/milkthistle.htm

One study chose to address the hypothesis that potassium protects neurons through an effect downstream of GABA receptor activation, examining whether neuronal death mediated by direct activation of GABAA receptors was prevented by elevated potassium. They challenged cells with 10 µM muscimol, which depressed cell counts at DIV 10-12 similarly to GABA potentiators (Fig. 8G). Figure 8G shows that muscimol-induced neuronal death is indeed greatly reduced by maintaining cells in high-potassium growth medium. This result strongly suggests that the protective effect of KCl occurs downstream of GABAA receptor activation.

http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/20/9/3147#F8

So what of Hawk and Venus’s use of manganese to (supposedly) control the negative side effects of the Amanita mushrooms? I decided to check the Physicians Desktop Reference (www.pdrhealth.com) and found the following warning in regards to the use of manganese in people with liver problems:

Warnings:

Manganese should not be used in persons with liver or kidney problems

Side Effects:
Stop taking your medicine right away and talk to your doctor if you have any of the following side effects. Your medicine may be causing these symptoms which may mean you are allergic to it.

Breathing problems or tightness in your throat or chest

Chest pain

Skin hives, rash, or itchy or swollen skin

So here we have it. Hawk admits to having liver problems all the while ignoring the medical warnings regarding the use of manganese with a bad liver! Hawk and Venus are telling other people to take manganese and Amanita together – two liver toxins! Let me repeat: Hawk and Venus are telling other people to take manganese and Amanita together – two liver toxins!

He [Hawk] said it felt as if someone had kicked a sharp blow to his liver with a pointed shoe [notice the symptom of liver failure]. Then he’d stand back up, clutch his middle, buckle and fall back to the ground. He repeated this several times. He’d lay there on the ground twitching at first, then flailing sharply in convulsions, eyes rolling back in his head. It was frightening and worse than epileptic seizures I’ve witnessed.

Hawk […] had a pained, agonized look on his face and kept gasping for air and grabbing his chest, something he’d never done and we realized he was having a heart attack. (Pg. 286)

I personally blacked out and convulsed for six hours when I ate an Amanita shaped like a pair of lips, presented in our video. (Pg. 296)

Welcome to “Somadise,” indeed!

Not only do we see that manganese can exacerbate liver problems, but we also see the symptoms of a heart attack in the side effects to a manganese allergic reaction! Ironically, Hawk and Venus have this to say about combining liver toxins in their book:

Myth #12 – Have a few drinks with Amanita consumption to help you relax.
This is TABOO. Never take Soma with alcohol. No beer, wine or liquor! Amanita toxins are a liver poison and alcohol is a liver poison and if you mix two liver poisons together you’re just asking for trouble. This could be a lethal mix for the wrong person. If you need to relax, have some cannabis or relaxing herb tea. Also manganese is excellent. (pg. 46)

Protect your liver:
Take Milk Thistle with your dose of Amanita (see next chapter for more information on Milk Thistle).
ALWAYS have a bottle of Manganese on hand, for if you start  to feel too speedy, shaky or (in severe cases) start convulsing. Manganese can be a lifesaver. (See next chapter for more information on Manganese).  (pg. 120)

Since milk thistle is used in protecting the liver from Amanita toxins, can we also assume that the milk thistle alone is strong enough to cancel out in the negative effects of manganese on the liver too?

Hawk started taking milk thistle for his bad liver because he saw that research showed it is used to treat mushroom poisoning and protect the liver from Amatoxins & Phallotoxins and other substances. He started taking manganese because he saw research that showed it could help treat convulsions.

Looking up manganese and convulsions: manganese deficiency has long been recognized as a possible cause of convulsions. Once again, it’s not anything that Hawk discovered. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=f…s&btnG=Search

Hawk and Venus simply started taking the two together. That is not a new cure or anti-dote. That is simply taking two existing medicines together as already proven treatments for the separate ailments; all the while ignoring that manganese can exacerbate liver problems – exactly what he’s trying to avoid.

Throughout their book Hawk and Venus discuss how Hawk always senses the mushrooms’ energy before they’re picked. However, I found this little contradiction on page 169:

One year our gypsy friends showed up from Oregon and surprised us with an incredible haul of Muscaria. Boxes upon boxes! It’s rare for Hawk to be surprised about anything [we must assume that Hawks Tarot failed him] but he could not believe his sudden windfall at the time when we weren’t going to be able to pick anywhere near our usual amount. (pg. 169)

If Hawk is the only person who can sense the mushroom’s vibrational energy, then why would he consume mushrooms picked by his gypsy friends? What about Hawk’s theory of personally testing the vibrational energy of every mushroom before they’re picked?

Besides these glaring contradictions, the first 100 pages are also filled – ad nauseum – with Venus’s Proskuneo (words of worship) for her shaman-guru-god-husband-master.

Then I’d see Hawk, tan, peaceful, a godlike man in tune with nature. (pg. 84)

She repeats over and over how wonderful her master is, trying to convince us to only believe her and Hawk -an attitude reminiscent of a young 60’s hippie on a recruiting mission for Charles Manson (psychologically speaking, the comparison is the same). Here though, they claim they don’t have disciples or apprentices – all the while claiming that in order to be the safest and to enter “Somadise,” you should only follow Hawk’s methods.

Venus also reveals that Hawk seems incapable of making any decisions on his own. Each and every day Hawk wakes up and eats Amanita and reads his Tarot deck to “communicate with the spirits of Tarot” which tell him what to do at every step throughout the day. She admits he can’t even take a trip to the store without consulting his deck:

… I discovered Hawk possessed the Ninja-like Art of Invisibility. He would deal out his cards for the day to determine safe picking times, which also kept him from being harassed by setting up a protective force field. Hawk communes with the spirits of the cards and through spiritual “conversation” they tell him what moves to make and when to make them, so Tarot is a valuable ally. (Pg. 29)

Each day, he [Hawk] takes Soma, reads his cards and plans out this day around the advice and directions received from his communication with the spirits of Tarot. This includes every day life, errands, what stores to shop, when to go somewhere, or what to do to help a family member. (Pg. 33)

The only really contributory sections of the first half of the book are their sections dispelling myths, though these are somewhat biased and admittedly completely unscientific, and Ch. 12 on Milk Thistle (not manganese!), though not their own.

Our interest and expertise is not in the realms of scientific, clinical study; our knowledge of Amanita comes from the natural truth of experience gained from long-term use, guided by the mushrooms’ superior intelligence and our obedience to the Sacred Laws. (Pg. 18)

Followed up with this contradiction on page 181:

Brain chemistry plays a big part in the Soma experience. If you are too depleted, overly nervous or anxious, always take Soma with some food and B-complex (50 or 100 mg), calcium and/or manganese. It merges easier with a calm mind. (Pg. 181)

In other words, Hawk’s energy senses have ZERO to do with the Amanita bad trips. It is sadly and painfully clear throughout their book that it’s only Venus who is naïve enough to buy this junk from her Savior, Hawk.

The first 130 pages could have been condensed down to less than 30 pages and you’d get as much or more out of it in a condensed version. The first half is NOT heavy on information about Amanita muscaria. It’s really just Venus’s Proskuneo de Hawk.
Someone who studies the history of alcohol consumption and alcohol’s effects might write a 300 page book with 500 or more footnotes and citations. A long-term alcoholic might call himself an alcohol expert and back up that foolish claim by boasting of his “26 years of devoted daily use”. An alcoholic might also destroy his liver and continue to drink daily and brag about it. It would be very interesting to study if there is any dependency related to daily use of Amanitas. Interestingly, Wasson quoted Jochelson on this very subject in Soma, pg. 272:

People addicted to the use of fly-agaric can be detected by their appearance. Even when they are in a normal condition, a twitching of the face is observable, and they have a haggard look and an uneven gait.

~ Waldemar Jochelson
The second half of their book is actually a little better, not good, but a little better. It includes a few good recipes, some history – like that of the Zulu’s suggested, but unconfirmed, use of the Amanita for war (Day of the Zulu, Lewis, 2001). And some of Hawk’s misplaced philosophical meandering in regards to violence and cultural advancement and the use of Amanita:

Soma was also historically used in times of war. The Indo-Aryans would go into battle with barrels of Soma mounted on the back of their gold inlaid chariots. They used reeds to deliver Soma into their mouths during a killing frenzy. The Vikings used it before battle in mega doses, as it kills pain, anxiety and fear by blocking the relay system that transmits these chemicals to the brain.

Soma helps you obtain superior fighting powers – it is the perfect

fighters [sic] toxin.

In order to understand how extreme levels of Red Muscaria can produce the battle fury and excite the instinct to kill, I picked and ate a Red Soma with a cap as large as a frying pan. (pg. 187)

…the early Vedas were using Soma to experience the ecstasy of killing, thereby imitating Indra, the god whose ecstasy was killing his enemies while on Soma.

Therefore since Soma can no longer be used as a sacrament in that old time religion, this is how we use it in the new. (pg. 307)

I don’t make this stuff up, I just quote it.

Though Hawk took the idea that Soma is Amanita muscaria from Wasson’s book Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, Hawk failed to recognize that Wasson also debunked the Amanita muscaria’s associations to violence and the Berserkers’ rage (Soma, pg. 157):

In these comments of various observers there is nothing that suggests the berserk-raging of the Vikings. Murderous ferocity marked the Viking seizures almost always, whereas murderous ferocity is conspicuously absent from our eye-witness accounts of fly-agaric eating in Siberia . […] The ardent advocate of the link between the fly-agaric and berserk-raging must content himself as best he can with the testimony of Krasheninnikov [4]: ‘The Kamtschadales and the Koreki eat of it when they resolve to murder anybody.’ This generalisation is hearsay: had he known about a particular episode, he would have reported it. […]

~ Gordon Wasson

Wasson is correct here. There is not enough evidence to link the Amanita with violence except for a single mention of it being used on occasion for hunting (Soma, pg. 159, ex. pg. 274), and one other unverified instance (Lewis, 2001). In fact, this gives further reason to question the single Amanita muscaria as Soma theory.

The fly agaric is most certainly not the drug of the berserkers. The only psychoactive that is able to produce real aggression, raving madness, and rage is alcohol. The berserker madness was also induced by a beer to which Ledum palustre had been added.

~ Christian Rätsch, 1998/2005, pg. 634

The book also includes Hawk’s “laws” regarding Amanita consumption. Some of them are actually good! Also included is a pathetic story on how their son got busted for Cannabis, and instead of Hawk actually contributing help to his son’s case, he sat and read Tarot every day. Of course when their son was lucky enough to win without his father’s parental support, they claim this was a “Sweet Victory, powered by Soma!” (pg. 193).
Now back to Venus’ failure to fact-check Hawk’s claims in other publications. On pages 203 to 216 Venus and Hawk go to Jack Herer’s house who they call John. They went to Herer’s house on false pretences for their own agenda, an interview, and didn’t bother to tell Herer that they were putting what he said in their book. As quoted above:

In the second edition of our book, “Sacred Soma Shamans,” we cover this gruesome subject of urophiles, profiling James Aurthr’s last days before his incarceration, and suicide, including the police reports. We got the scoop during a six hour interview with Jack Herer, Arthur’s loyal disciple.

~ Hawk & Venus

However, they didn’t take notes and didn’t record the conversation, so the entire section, as Herer told me personally, is completely distorted and taken out of context. In other words, it appears that these two, Hawk and Venus, tricked Herer into an interview so they could make their poorly argued case. This section of their book is a convoluted misinterpretation of not only of what Herer said when he invited them to his house (no surprise by this point), but also historical anthropology, and their attack on James Arthur, an ethnomycologist who was arrested for pedophilia and later committed suicide. They create some delusional attempt to tie Arthur’s private life crimes to his studies and what they call “myco-urophilia.”

Later, Hawk read Arthur’s book, Mushrooms and Mankind, in which Arthur lured two young women into the mountains with promises they’d take mushrooms. But once there, James Arthur ate Amanita and then bullied the girls into drinking his urine… (pg. 203)

Not only did they take the entire passage in Arthur’s book out of context, but there is no mention anywhere of these two “young women” drinking Arthur’s urine. Hawk and Venus appear to have intentionally made up this claim to embellish their story. In fact, where Hawk and Venus claim Arthur consumed Amanita muscaria with the women, he had actually consumed Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms with the women:

The next few days were spent in a special mountain hideaway with a wonderful (and lovely) “procreative alchemist” and her sister (Karena and Jennifer). They were a joy and an inspiration as we discussed the upcoming (astronomical) events, and the particulars we could see played a major role in the shifting of the planetary consciousness. […] P.c. (Psilocybe) plant entheogens were used and inspired great states of awareness and insight into our own current states of knowing, as well as the current ongoing process of what can be affectionately called the evolutionary collective unconscious or the collective consciousness. The plants spoke to us.

~ James Arthur, Mushrooms & Mankind, pg. 89

Hawk and Venus also act as if James Arthur only talked about urine drinking during his lectures, something that was only a very small fraction of the material he discussed. They treat the issue as if Arthur was strictly seeking people to follow him on the urine drinking custom, ignoring the rest of the material he presented:

“Hawk says, “Urophilia is all about them telling the story of how they drink their crazy glass of pee, and shocking others. It’s not about Amanita – it’s about discussing their urophilia fetish in detail to an audience.” (pg. 210)
“The Soma urine used by the urophiliac is merely an opportunity to narcissistically consume their own waste. They want attention and his is their only way of getting it. With constant appearances on radio programs, seminars, worships and in articles and books they are tireless in the self-discussion of urophilia as their religion.” (Pg. 295)

Of course these statements are extreme exaggerations. Anyone intelligent enough to read Heinrich’s or Arthur’s books, or listen to their lectures, or watch their videos, would know immediately that these statements are 100% false.

My biggest concern with the writings of “Hawk and Venus” is their discussions of eating deadly mushrooms. Though throughout their book they do constantly warn that only Hawk should eat deadly mushrooms (the one thing I actually agree with them on); I’m nevertheless concerned that some daredevil teenager, after reading their book, will want to try the deadly phalloides or virosa. And just like the kids who copy the Jackass movies’ stunts, they’ll end up permanently injured – or worse – dead.

More people die from Phalloides poisoning than any other Amanita. Avoid them. We stopped taking them for a while because our San Francisco patch got contaminated. Many Laotian people in the Bay area were dying and getting liver transplants the year we stopped.

These Phalloides mushrooms became too unpredictable and unpleasant.

We came across Phalloides several years later in upper northern California that were mellower than the Frisco variety and we resumed taking them. Of course these are always given special shamanic attention and taken very carefully. […] Do not try this on your own because if you don’t harmonize them they can sincerely be dangerous, even fatal if a particularly poisonous Phalloides can’t be purified. (pg. 134)

The majority of this book deals with Reds, Amanita Muscaria, the safest and most spiritual of the Amanitas. Never eat any Phalloides, these come in shades of greenish, brown and yellow – or any of the white varieties, especially the Virosa. Hawk, as a Master Soma Priest has a long history with these dangerous Amanitas and he is very careful when shamanically preparing them and does not recommend others trying them on their own. We have certainly tried to instill the seriousness of using these dangerous mushrooms and hope people will listen to our warnings. (pg. 215)

It is this carelessness and incongruous logic by these two, “Hawk & Venus,” that is so dangerous. Their entire book is inconsistent, filled with contradictions, misquotes, misuse of information – and supplements, and careless discussions of dangerous mushroom stunts – to say the least. It would have been careless and irresponsible for us not to have put the warning in the footnote of our book:

Their [Hawk and Venus’s] technique is NOT something we recommend for beginners, and we caution those who follow their work.

~ Irvin and Rutajit, (pg. 86)

Furthermore, Hawk and Venus also use their baseless, misconstrued attack on Arthur for their unfounded attack on a completely unrelated researcher, Clark Heinrich – where they use completely unfounded and libelous dialogue:

With Arthur gone, only Clark Heinrich is left to carry on the vile tradition. (Pg. 213)

Their statement is clearly libelous on behalf of Heinrich. It leaves the reader wondering exactly what “vile tradition” Heinrich is left to carry on. Hawk and Venus chose to ignore the history of the urine drinking custom laid out by the majority of anthropologists and historians in the field of shamanic studies (see exhibits in Wasson’s Soma) in order for their own agenda against Arthur –someone who indeed committed atrocious crimes – but those crimes had nothing to do with his research, or Heinrich, or any other researcher. There are numerous scholarly publications out there on this topic, including Wasson’s own publications, as well as ancient Indian health and religious practices of urine therapy that is all enough to debunk their argument.
Do you really want a riotous romp through a ridiculous, pretend world of poor almost-educated buffoons who contradict other people’s educated work, just to make a name for themselves?

~ Hawk & Venus

I couldn’t have said this better myself. And since I’ve presented the reader with my evidence, I’ll leave it to the reader to make the decision on exactly what is the “ridiculous, pretend world of poor almost-educated buffoons”.

Thanks to Ben Maddy, Andrew Rutajit and others for their assistance in the researching and editing this article.

References:

·         Allegro , John, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross : Fertility cults and the origins of Judaism and Christianity – Doubleday, 1970

·         Arthur , James, Mushrooms and Mankind: The Impact of Mushrooms on Human Consciousness and Religion – The Book Tree, 2000, ISBN: 1-58509-151-0

·         Dobkin de Rios, Marlene, Hallucinogens, cross-cultural perspectives – University of New Mexico Press , 1984, ISBN: 0-8263-0737-X

·         Fulcanelli, Le Mystere Des Cathedrales – Brotherhood of Life, Inc., 1964, 1990, ISBN: 0914732-14-5

·         Furst, Peter T., Hallucinogens and Culture – Chandler & Sharp, 1976, ISBN: 0-88316-517-1

·         Greene, Brian, The Elegant Universe – Vintage, 2000, ISBN: 0375708111

·         Hall , Manly P., The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Diamond Jubilee edition – Philosophical Research Society , 1928, ISBN: 0-89314-546-7

·         Hawk, Venus, Raw Amanita is Always Best – an open letter to Jan Irvin and Andrew Rutajit – August 12th, 2006. www.somashamans.com

·         Hawk, Venus, Soma Shamans – Red Angels Ltd., 2003

·         Hawk, Venus, Sacred Soma Shamans – Red Angels Ltd., 2006, ISBN:  097437220X

·         Heinrich , Clark, Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy – Park Street Press, 2002, ISBN: 089281997-9

·         Herer, Jack & Arthur, James, The Most High – unpublished, 2004

·         Herer , Jack, The Emperor Wears No Clothes : The Authoritative Historical Record of Cannabis and the Conspiracy Against Marijuana , 11th edition – Ah-Ha Publishing, 2000, ISBN: 1-878125-02-8

·         Irvin, J. & Rutajit, A.,  Astrotheology & Shamanism – The Book Tree, 2006, ISBN: 1-58509-107-3

·         Jochelson, W., “Religion and myths of the Koryak” in Jesup North Pacific Expedition VI, I

·         Lee, Bruce, The Tao of Jeet Kune Do – Ohara, 1975 ISBN: 0897500482

·         Lewis, Mark, Dir/Prod., “Day of the Zulu,” in the PBS T.V. series Secrets of the Dead, 2001

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

·         Müller-Ebeling, Rätsch , Shahi, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas – Inner Traditions, 2002, ISBN: 0892819138

·         Ott , Jonathan, Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic drugs, their plant sources and history 2^nd edition – Natural Products Company, 1996, 0-9614234-9-8

·         Ram Dass, Remember Be Here Now – Hanuman Foundation, 1978, ISBN: 0517543052

·         Rätsch , Christian, The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants – Inner Traditions, 2005, ISBN: 089281978-2

·         Reich, Wilhelm, The Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality – Penguin, 1975, ISBN: 0140218556

·         Reich, Wilhelm, The Mass Psychology of Fascism, trans. By Vincent R. Carfagno, Farrar – Straus and Giroux, 1970

·         Ruck, Staples, Heinrich , The Apples of Apollo : Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist – Carolina Academic Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-89089-924-X

·         Sacred Writings 5: Hinduism; The Rig Veda - Montilal Banarsidass

·         Schultes, Richard Evens, The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens, 1980

·         Wasson , R. Gordon, Soma : Divine Mushroom of Immortality – Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1968, ISBN: 0-15-683800-1

*Online citations utilized are listed within the main body of the text.*

[2] Soma: The Divine Mushroom of Immortality, by Wasson; Magic Mushrooms in Alchemy and Religion, by Clark Heinrich .

[3] Pharmacotheon, by Jonathon Ott,  pg. 332.

[4] Apples of Apollo, by Ruck, Heinrich, Staples, pg. 74.

[5] Suns of God, by Acharya S.

[6] Hallucinogens: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, by Marlene Dobkin de Rios, pg. 32.

[7] Animals and Psychedelics, by Giorgio Samorini,  pg. 39.

[8] Apples of Apollo , by Ruck, Staples, and Heinrich,  pg. 51.

[9] Hallucinogens and Culture, by Peter T. Furst, pg. 93.

[10] Shamanism and Tantra In the Himalayas , by Rätsch , Müller-Ebeling, Shahi, pg. 178.

Review of the Second Edition With Colour Illustrations of ASTROTHEOLOGY & SHAMANISM: Christianity’s Pagan Roots. A Revolutionary Reinterpretation of the Evidence, by Jan R. Irvin and Andrew Rutajit (Gnostic Media, 2009).

By Gerrit J. Keizer, clinical psychologist, mycologist and forest ecologist. Neede, The Netherlands (April 2011).

In general, the second edition has substantially been improved by republishing the illustrations in colour, which makes evaluating relevant details of the religious art work included much more reliable. The following suggestions for completing and correcting the text of the book can be made.

1. Amanita pantherina

Amanita muscaria is a cosmopolitan species, which in Europe and Asia lives in symbiosis (ectomycorrhiza) with indigenous deciduous trees like birches, beech, oaks, poplars, hornbeam and lime and with conifers like pine, spruce, fir, larch and cedar. As Amanita pantherina (photo 1)  is an ectomycorrhizal partner of oaks, beech, birches, larch and pine too, the partners of the Fly Agaric completely overlap the trees the Panther cap is associated with, which implies, that identifying one of the two Amanita-species by the trees they grow with is impossible. And there is a mix up possible with the with conifers associated Brown or King’s Fly Agaric (Amanita regalis), a species of which the psycho-active constituents are comparable to those of Amanita muscaria, and is present in the mountain areas of the Middle East and the Scandinavian countries.

Recent molecular studies on the ancestral origin of Amanita muscaria have shown, that the Fly Agaric was present in the Siberian-Beringian region in the Tertiary period (65-2.4 million years ago) before wider spreading across Asia, Europe and North America with Alaska being the centre of diversification of the three distinct clades within the species. And until today it is documented, that in these areas, apart from the earlier mentioned indigenous tree species, the Fly Agaric has eucalypts (Portugal), southern beech (Nothofagus) and tree species of rainforests as an ectomycorrhizal partner after it has been introduced in Australia through the mycorrhized roots of plant material of pine and other conifers from European, North American and Asian countries.

2. Amanita muscaria (primordia)

3. Amanita muscaria

Mushrooms, like the Fly Agaric, don’t grow, they stretch out. In the primordium or “bud”, better known as the Golden or Cosmic Egg (photo 2),  which originates from the mycelium, all cells of the complete fruitbody, with the exception of the reproductive organs and spores, are present. If one cuts a primordium in half, one can imagine why our ancestors were intrigued by what was inside and came out of an “egg”, of which in those days the origin and sudden appearance could not (yet) be (scientifically) explained. Once the primordium starts surfacing (photo 3),  it “sucks up” moisture from the air and water from the soil, with which the compact cells are filled and the fruitbody stretches (hydraulics) until it is completely expanded, leaving parts of the velum universale as white warts on top and the from the margin of the cap torn off velum partiale as an annulus around the stem, and not until than the sexual organs start to build up and produce spores. For this reason, depending on the circumstances, a fruitbody of an Amanita entirely can develop within 2 to 3 days and the Pavement champignon (Agaricus bitorquis) can surface through tarmac with a piece of asphalt on top. The best illustration of the principle is the way the Common Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) completely develops inside a devil’s or witches’ egg (photo 4)

4. Phallus impudicus

and stretches with a speed of 2 to 5 centimetre an hour after breaking the leathery scale of the devil’s egg with a disc or “egg tooth”, and than standing upright for several hours without needing viagra. In Western Europe, in the old days, it was believed, that the devil’s phallus had his smelly olive green sperm on top and that witches, being social outcasts, who could not mate with common men, would have sexual intercourse with the devil’s penis when it surfaced in the early morning light and that is how they had children (of the devil). For that reason, a pregnant witch could even end up at the stake.

The greater part of the mycelium of the Honey fungus Armillaria ostoyae (photo 5)

5. Armillaria ostoyae

in eastern Oregon does not consist of very vulnerable, only 1-2 µm thin white hyphae, but of shoestring resembling rhizomorphs (photo 6), which have a black layer of melanin surrounding the inside hyphae to protect them from outside attacks by other fungi or parasitic organisms and high levels of soil acids.

In the at least 2.400 years of its existence, the Honey fungus in Malheur National Forest has killed more than 20 generations of about a hundred years old Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), that had regenerated after their “parents” had been killed.

6. Armillaria rhizomorphs

The European tradition of searching eggs at Easter originally was not associated with looking for the “Golden Eggs” of the Fly Agaric, because in Europe, Amanita muscaria is only present from the end of August till the beginning of December, as all ectomycorrhizal macromycetes are, because they only have the energy needed for producing fruitbodies at their disposal as the tree supplies of sugar have reached their highest levels and are partially stored in the trunk and roots, which is the case when trees start withdrawing chlorophyll from the leaves or needles and successively shed their discoloured foliage, which is in autumn. And because in springtime trees need their energy and chlorophyll reserves for themselves to grow new roots, twigs and leaves, to start the photosynthesis process again and to flower and produce energy absorbing seeds, in Europe there exist no ectomycorrhizal macrofungi, which fructify in spring or early summer, during which seasons the tree “donates” just as much sugar to the mycelia to keep them growing and fulfilling their “duties”.

Easter traditionally is the pagan feast of new born life and fresh food, with fluffy yellow chicks and lambs as evidence of the restoration of the cycle of nature. Because their eyes are closer to the ground, children with baskets were sent out to collect fresh food like eggs of ducks, pheasants or partridges, spring fungi like Morchella’s (photo 7)

7. Morchella esculenta

or St. George’s mushroom (Calocybe gambosa) (photo 8.)

8. Calocybe gambosa

and shoots of wild asparagus and ferns and, if lucky, their was a slaughtered lamb on the dinner table. The tradition of hiding eggs in the garden originates from the very old tradition of not eating all available eggs of domesticated chicken, but bringing part of the eggs to the freshly sown fields, i.e. not to the forest or vicinity of trees, because people believed, that the ”gift” of the symbol of not yet hatched new life would be beneficial to the germination of seeds and the harvest of crops later in the season. And the hare, an animal of the open fields, because of the manifestations of its strong reproductive drive in springtime, in almost all cultures was a symbol of life and fertility too. Christianity turned the pagan feast into the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, with Jesus and the lamb being symbols of (re)birth or revival and life (Cosmic Egg), and claimed, that later on non-religious elements were introduced, because of which Easter became a secular feast, which in fact is the other way around. Being in need of marking points throughout the year to remember or celebrate the self-invented major life events in the life of Christ, or as Francesco Carotta in “War Jesus Caesar ?” suggests, the historical life events in the life of the other JC and son of God, the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, the catholic church adopted the most important feasts of the astrotheological pagan calendar and integrated the “rebirth” of Jesus, i.e. the Fly Agaric, in the pagan Easter traditions, as it did with the birth of Christ on Christmas, the pagan feast of the returning light and the astrological constellation coinciding with it, but ignored that both the birth and “rebirth” or “resurrection” of Amanita muscaria, which has an entirely different life cycle, was either due a few month before or several month later. And that is how integrating Jesus into the pagan feasts of Easter and Christmas, his symbol, the Fly Agaric, got associated with Easter and Christmas and the hare, also being a pagan symbol of life and fertility, was introduced in early Christian paintings as a substitute for Jesus too. Moreover, the hare with the basket with eggs on his back hiding the before painted eggs, was also introduced as a substitute for the parents, who in reality hid the eggs, just like Santa Claus and the Dutch Sinterklaas are substitutes for the parents, which for obvious reasons want to keep the fact, that neither of these in the colours of the Fly Agaric dressed “Santa’s” or their “helpers” come down the chimney and the parents buy the presents themselves, a secret for their young and easily fooled children.

The symbolic Liberty Cap depicted and referred to is the Phrygian cap, which differs from the originally like the convex to subconical cap of a Psilocybe shaped “pileus” of ancient Rome, the freed (manumitted) slaves in ancient Rome wore, in having a forward pulled top. The Phrygian Cap probably was confused with the pileus and instead became the symbol of freedom and pursuit of liberty, later  adopted by the French revolutionaries wearing a “bonnet rouge”. In mycology, pileus is the name used for the cap of a mushroom. And as the cap of the Liberty Cap Psilocybe semilanceata does not look like a Phrygian cap at all, but has the characteristic shape of the felt caps the freed slaves wore on their shaven heads, its name must refer to their head gear, the pileus. Psilocybe is Greek for “bare headed”. In Dutch the genus is called “Kaalkopjes” and in German “Kahlköpfe”, which means bare or bold heads. The old Dutch name for Psilocybe semilanceata is “Libertijnenmutsje”, meaning the cap (mutsje) worn by the “Libertijnen” or Gnostic Libertines, followers of Joachim di Fiore (16^th century), free spirits and thinkers, who were persecuted as heretics both by Catholics and Protestants. Whether they were using psycho-actives to enlighten their spirits is possible, but not known with certainty. From De Sade, a libertine from a later period, is well documented, that he was addicted to drugs.

Ectomycorrhizal structures surrounding the roots of trees prevent the roots from being damaged by long lasting drought and defend them against attacks by parasites with self produced, species specific antibiotics and fungicides. The hyphae of the mycelium enlarge the root system of a tree up to a factor 1.000 to 2.000 and extensively stretch out into the soil as long as there is enough oxygen present. They uptake water and water soluble nutrients, minerals and spore elements and transport and deliver them to the roots. In return, the mycelium is provided with sugar polymers their “sugar daddy”, the tree, produces through photosynthesis. Fungi partially convert these sugar polymers into the sugar polymer chitin they integrate in the walls of their cells, which makes them closer related to insects then to green plants. If there is an uptake of poisonous heavy metals or salt from the soil by the hyphae, it is stored in parts of the mycelium, that are cut off and isolated from the main structures of the mycelial network.

In Europe, not only ergots of Claviceps paspali and C. purpurea can be found, but also of C. microcephala, which has reed (Phragmites) as its host plant. Although the effects of eating ergots were well known to the region, during the famine of 1977 in Ethiopia many people died after eating ergot infected grass seeds. Long time use of ergots results in gangrene with blackening and decomposition of the extremities of the body (finger tips, toes, ear lobes). In The Netherlands and Germany, midwives and doctors used to prescribe “moederkoren” or “Mutterkorn” (meaning “mother’s corn”) to pregnant women, who were near their term and had problems giving birth, to enhance the contractions necessary for going into labour. And in The Netherlands, until the early 1970’s, it was used to treat migraine attacks. A Dutch psychiatrist used LSD in the treatment of severely traumatized Dutch people, who had survived German nazi concentration camps. In The Netherlands, the story is told, that ghost ships like the Flying Dutchman, which were reported to be sailing the oceans in full sail without a crew on board and were found with a set table, were “created” by miserly ship owners supplying the crew of the ship with hardtack or shipman’s biscuits made of not properly “read”, i.e. not ergot free corn. Once at sea and far away from any harbour, after eating all fresh food, a diet of sauerkraut and “spiked” hardtack with the occasional glass of Dutch gin was served, causing the captain to step overboard, because he believed he could walk on water and the hallucinating crew following his example.

As Psilocybe cubensis is not an indigenous European species, wherever the name is mentioned or a photo is shown, it must be replaced by the fairly common in grasslands growing Liberty Cap (Psilicybe semilanceata) (photo 9).

9. Psilocybe semilanceata

Some European Psilocybe’s, like Psilocybe coprophila, P. cyanescens and P. hispanica, need cow, horse or sheep excrements as a substrate, some do not, like Psilocybe semilanceata, that grows on grass debris in fairly poor or manured grasslands. The same goes for Panaeolus species, Panaeolus fimiputris (= Anellaria semiovata) (photo 10)

10. Panaeolus fimiputris

and P. sphinctrinus need dung, Panaeolus foenisecii grows in grasslands and lawns. Before the days of smart shops selling free available fresh “magic mushrooms” to adult customers, a “field experiment” tolerated by the Dutch government until 2008, one could sometimes watch adolescents roaming about meadows with horse dung with an illustrated mushroom guide under their arm, searching for the, in comparison with the Liberty Cap and other species of Panaeolus, quite large specimen of Panaeolus fimiputris.

To the question : “Could mushrooms … be likened to interspecies pheromones that contain information from … Mother Earth herself ?” (Page 170), the answer is, yes, they can. Mushrooms are able of communicating with self produced, species specific pheromones or hormones, “scents” or “odours” and “tastes”, just as plants from the same species can among each other and certain plants or trees can with chitin based organisms like insects and fungi, they live in some kind of symbiotic interaction with. A tropical Acacia tree, for instance, has hollow spines, in which small colonies of ants live. Each cavity has two nipples, one that produces sugar to keep the ants from leaving “home” and one to alarm the ants, when the outer leaves of the crown of the tree are attacked by gluttonous insects. An invasion of insects triggers the “alarm” nipple to secrete a pheromone, that directs the ants to the leaves attacked. And as the ants need eating insects at a regular base, because they can not survive on a sugar diet alone, in this way the circular ecosystem of insects and a tree is closed.

In an experiment at a Dutch university, tobacco plants were placed in a row at an equal distance to one another. The first plant in the row was infected with wingless lice, that stayed on the leaves until the first flying generation was born, that colonized the next plant in the row and so on. By the time the fifth to seventh plant was reached by the lice, these plants turned out to be warned with pheromones by the first attacked specimen, which had made it possible for them to produce chemicals in their leaves, that were toxic for the lice and further colonization came to a hold.

Recently, a parasitic Honey fungus (Armillaria spp.) was found, that mimics the pheromones ectomycorrhizal macrofungi excrete to acquire access to the space between the outer cells of the tree roots they colonize and protect from attacks by parasites. Once the hyphae of the mycelium of the Honey fungus penetrate the ectomycorrhizal defensive zone and the outer layers of the root, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, they grow into and between the living wood cells and produce toxic chemicals to kill the living parts of the root and the trunk of the tree, for which they develop specific structures, the rhizomorphs (see photo 6). Rhizomorphs are very aggressive cambium killers and in blocking the transport of water, sugars and nutrients in two vertical directions in the wood vessels, in the end kill the tree. Living rhizomorphs can detect damaged roots over a distance of one meter by the grow hormones the tips of the roots secrete and “grow” in a straight line towards them at a speed of up to one meter a year. And the hyphae and rhizomorphs of the wood-rotting fungus Serpula lacrymans are able to detect wood (cellulose) on the other side of a wall, that separates them from their “food” and of using the joints in the brickwork to penetrate the wall and decompose the wood from behind.

Some finishing remarks.

Just like in the Dutch song : “Oh denneboom, oh denneboom, wat zijn je takken wonderschoon”, which means : “Oh pine tree, oh pine tree, how wonder- and beautiful your branches are”, with which not a pine tree, but the Christmas tree, traditionally a spruce, is meant, in Figure 44 also a spruce (Picea) is depicted, where the pine tree (Pinus) is mentioned.

The Lotus plant (Figure 106) does not grow or flower on land, but in shallow, muddy waters.

The dark winged Jesus (Figure 111) with an oak tree in the background might be a representation or symbol of, i.e. stand for Amanita pantherina.

In Figure 175, also notice the oak leaves and acorn, the fleur-de-lis, the poppy (?) and other plant or mushroom and animal symbols in the circular ring and on top of the plant rising up at both sides of the phoenix.

In general, whenever trees are included, ectomycorrhizal fungi like Amanita’s and ascomycete desert truffles (Terfezia spp., Tirmania spp.) must be the mushrooms considered and not Psilocybe’s.

Summarizing.

Astrotheology & Shamanism reads like a thrilling novel and is very well documented with references of the hypotheses and images of the symbols (re)presented. It provides a thorough analysis of the influence of astrotheology and entheogens on the development of religion. Even with a few easy to overcome errors or misinterpretations, the second edition of the book, at present, is the most complete publication on astrotheology and shamanism and on pagan rituals and ceremonies being at the very roots of Judeo-Christianity, religions still ignoring or denying their origins, which John Allegro so eloquently unveiled. And it presents a clear statement on the indoctrination of children and persecution of “free spirits“ by orthodox Christians or their religious leaders and sheds a light on their repressive agenda and opportunistic and hypocrite war on drugs through the ages and today.

Gerrit J. Keizer is the author and photographer of the Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Fungi (Rebo, Lisse/London, 1997/2008) and the CD-ROM The Interactive Guide to Mushrooms and other Fungi (ETI/UvA (UNESCO), Amsterdam/London, 2001/2010).

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860)

This episode is a presentation given by me, my first solo show, titled “Magic Mushrooms and the Psychedelic Revolution: Beginning a New History” – or “The Secret History of Magic Mushrooms” and is being released on Sunday, May 13, 2012.

Today is the 55^th anniversary since the publication of the May 13, 1957, Life magazine article, Seeking the Magic Mushroom, published by Gordon Wasson, which is what is largely considered to have launched the psychedelic revolution.

Today we’re going to toss out the last 55 years of academic history regarding the discovery of magic mushrooms, the beginnings of the field of ethnomycology, and this major event in launching the psychedelic revolution; and we’re going to start a new history – one based on truth and verifiable facts rather than legends and myths.

Council on Foreign Relations, R. Gordon Wasson - Chairman

Six years in the making, this episode exposes one of the largest coverups in modern academic history – something that may one day be regarded as large as the Piltdown Hoax. We’re going to reveal how the psychedelic revolution was launched by the CFR, CIA and the elite, and how R. Gordon Wasson, the so called discoverer of magic mushrooms, and the founder of the field of ethnomycology, was himself a government asset, a friend of Edward Bernays – the father of propaganda, and is one of the key figures for launching one of the largest mind control operations in history – information never before revealed until today. And it doesn’t stop there. I’m going to provide information that shows how R. Gordon Wasson may have been one of the key players in the organization of the JFK assassination.

Gordon Wasson nominates George Keenan to the Century Club. Foreign Affairs (CFR) letter head.

The entire transcript of this show is posted for download on the page to this episode on the Gnostic Media website so that you can follow along. Also included in the transcript are 70 endnotes leading to the evidence presented herein.

Download transcript file

Donate to the book and DVD project:

How Darwin, Huxley, and the Esalen Institute launched the 2012 and psychedelic revolutions –

and began one of the largest mind control operations in history.

Some brief notes.

By Jan Irvin

August 28, 2012

Updated March 30, 2013.

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

My investigation into Thomas Henry Huxley’s background (grandfather to Aldous and Julian) reveals him as THE KEY promoter of Darwin’s theories, who was his friend and teacher, and through Huxley’s “X Club” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Club) they created academics who would promote Darwin’s ideas (not coincidentally, spin offs of this “X-Club” include the X-men comic series (on eugenics and evolution) and Fourth World comics (on mind control) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby – the “Forth World” being tied to the UN’s Agenda 21 (See the UN’s website – http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/) and (UNCED) Fourth World Wilderness – “battle for the mind” – conferences (http://youtu.be/JUdgiehz9dU). My feeling is that the word “X” for MDMA is directly related. X-files? Possibly many others.). Later Julian Huxley would take up his grandfather’s stance in promoting Darwin’s theory, eugenics/humanism, etc, publishing nearly a dozen books on these topics. Aldous would follow suit via his novels.

On contemplating the idea of why Sir Thomas Henry Huxley would name his club the “X-Club” that was used to promote Darwin’s theories and eugenics, it hadn’t originally crossed my mind that I had done a lot of research on the topic of “X” for my first book, about 8 years ago. In Astrotheology & Shamanism, pp. 152-153, we wrote:

“X marks the spot” is common symbolic usage. In fact, it is universal symbolism. The mark is associated with the perfect man in Psalms 37:37. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of man is peace.” The mark of the archetypal “perfect man” is the cross. The cross is an upright X. In Ezekiel, a mark is set upon the foreheads of selected men in Jerusalem and all other men, women, and children are to be slaughtered.

Ezekiel 9:6
Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.

The irony here is twofold: 1) that Huxley and Darwin are using a biblical reference for the club in which they promote Darwin’s ideas, and 2) Their plan for eugenics is now laid bare for all the world to see.

The Darwins eventually married into the Huxley family: Charles Darwin > George Howard Darwin > Charles Galton Darwin > George Pember Darwin (great grandson) – marries Angela Huxley – Aldous’s niece (Thomas Huxley’s great granddaughter).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huxley_family

The Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin of Piltdown Hoax fame, a major influence of hippie story teller Terence McKenna, also created the Habit and Novelty / Time wave zero concept, which he called “The Omega Point” – but without the 2011/2012 end point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point

“Omega Point is a term coined by the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) to describe a maximum level of complexity and consciousness towards which he believed the universe was evolving.”

Not coincidently, at the end of the above video regarding UNCED, we hear none other than Edmund de Rothschild himself cite Tielhard regarding his views on this.

Tielhard, who’s a key suspect for creating the Piltdown Hoax, the largest academic scandal in history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_Man), also (along with CIA agent, Prof. Michael Coe, at Yale – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Coe) influenced Terence’s ideas of 2012 and the end of time. Not coincidentally, Coe and William Burroughs came up with the idea around the same time. Coe, aside from being CIA, is married to Sophie – the daughter of eugenicist Theodosius Dobzhansky – who was tied closely with Julian Huxley, and Julian and Theodosius even signed the Eugenics Manifesto together (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_manifesto). Coe and Theodosius had close relations.

INTERVIEWER
Do you admire Mr. Luce?

BURROUGHS
I don’t admire him at all. He has set up one of the greatest word and image banks in the world. I mean, there are thousands of photos, thousands of words about anything and everything, all in his files. All the best pictures go into the files. Of course, they’re reduced to microphotos now. I’ve been interested in the Mayan system, which was a control calendar. You see, their calendar postulated really how everyone should feel at a given time, with lucky days, unlucky days, et cetera. And I feel that Luce’s system is comparable to that. It is a control system. It has nothing to do with reporting. Time, Life, Fortune is some sort of a police organization.
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4424/the-art-of-fiction-no-36-william-s-burroughs

The ORIGINS of this idea that we’re evolving through psychedelics, et al, can be traced from Darwin and Thomas Huxley to Julian and Aldous Huxley, directly to the Esalen Institute, and from there we can trace the 2012 tie-in aspect to Coe at Yale in his 1966 book on the Maya, and to Tielhard’s Omega point theory. Coe’s book is now in it’s 8^th edition:

http://www.amazon.com/Eighth-Edition-Ancient-Peoples-Places/dp/0500289026/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346174459&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=michael+coe+secrets+maya

And then it can be traced to the In Search of TV program, which we’ll cover in a moment, and then on to Terence McKenna and Jose Arguelles.

Tielhard also influenced Terence’s ideas of the Stoned Ape theory: I suggest that with the many ties to Tielhard’s ideas found in McKenna’s work regarding the end of time and human evolution, and right back to Julian Huxley and Darwin, that we can tie McKenna’s idea of the Stoned Ape theory directly to the Piltdown Hoax and the Huxleys, and their secret agenda at making any and every attempt to prove “Darwin’s” theory of evolution, whom Thomas Huxley was the key promoter, and Julian after him. And not coincidentally, both Thomas and Julian Huxley were presidents of the Royal Society, and not coincidentally gave themselves and their friends (including Darwin) Copley and Darwin awards.

“… and since I feel pretty much around friends and fringies here (laughter), it doesn’t trouble me to confess that my book, Food of the Gods, I really conceived of as an intellectual Trojan horse. It’s written as though it were a scientific study. Footnotes, bibliography, citations of impossible to obtain books and so forth and so on (crowd really laughs now). But this is simply to assuage and ?calm? the academic anthropologists. The idea is to leave this thing on their doorstep. Rather like an abandoned baby or a Trojan horse.”
~ Terence McKenna [emphasis added] (starts at: 1:12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuhrhT8Z5QA)

See also Dr. Brian Akers’ refutation of McKenna’s Stoned Ape theory where McKenna provably falsified his citations in Food of the Gods: http://www.realitysandwich.com/terence_mckennas_stoned_apes

Not coincidently, Tielhard also wrote a book with Julian Huxley’s introduction:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Phenomenon-Of-Man-ebook/dp/B004HW7BZE

Via the Esalen Institute this multi-generational plan to “evolutionize” ( – their idea of evolution was just for them and the elites, not the rest of society whom they planned to dumb down and exterminate via their ideas laid forth in their many published books and programs on eugenics and humanism.) much of humanity was pushed forth via Aldous – with the help of Michael Murphy and Dick Price, with other connections to the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and the Tavistock Institute and many intelligence agencies, and other, similar sorts of mind control connections, such as with B.F. Skinner – creator of operant conditioning and “the Skinner box” (Esalen even brags of his time there! – http://www.esalen.org/assets/pdfs/friendsnewsletter/FriendsofEsalen-V1402.pdf) [Esalen has recently removed this newsletter. I’ve placed a copy here: www.gnosticmedia.com/txtfiles/FriendsofEsalen-V1402.pdf], who worked with the infamous Prof. Henry A. Murray at Harvard of MKULTRA fame. Dr. Tim Leary worked under Murray, and the infamous Dr. Ted Kaczynski, “the Unabomber”, was a part of Prof. Murray’s experiments. Dr. Kaczynski had attempted to shut those at SRI working on ARPANET and these other mind control / spying systems, down ( see The Net – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doQAwLb-DEE). Not coincidentally, it appears that Dick Price also studied in Murray’s department at Harvard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Price

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Department_of_Social_Relations

But this whole entire thing can be traced to the Huxley family – ALL of it.

From the above we trace this 2012 meme lineage to the In Search Of TV program (season 2, ep. 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNqOkpbv4xI) where they say in the closing minutes that 2011/2012 may be used to bring in a world government (it started out as the 2011 meme but was later changed to 2012).

“The ancient Mayans, men of knowledge, conceived their time on earth, their cycle of civilization to be 5200 years.  Beginning their calendar Aug 12 3113 BC they predicted that on December 24, 2011 AD, a cataclysmic earthquake would terminate their cycle of civilization. New men of knowledge would then appear to fight the forces of evil and lead the people to create a World Government.  If the Mayan men of knowledge were right in just 34 years we may learn the answers to some of the ancient Mayan mysteries.” ~ Leonard Nimoy, In Search Of TV program (season 2, ep. 4)

And from there it’s picked up by Terence McKenna, also working at Esalen and tied directly to the Huxleys:

“He [Terence] knew Francis Huxley, an anthropologist and one of Julian’s two sons. The other, Anthony, was a botanist.  Francis lived in Santa Fe and we knew him through personal circles there. Though how well Terence knew him, I have no idea. Not well. I only met him once or twice myself, so it was more of an acquaintanceship than a friendship. Laura, of course, was Aldous wife and was a beloved figure in the psychedelic community as a result.  I’m sure she probably hung out at Esalen and may have been there when T was there, which was regularly in the 80s and 90s.”
~ Dennis McKenna

So here we see that Terence even hung out with Francis Huxley, son to Julian Huxley. And of course Julian is one of the key suspects in this entire investigation. Coincidence? We also see that Terence likely spent extensive time at Esalen while Laura Huxley was there. Again, coincidence? Coincidentally, Terence’s archives were destroyed in a fire – at Esalen’s business offices in Monterrey, California. While official reports say that the fire started in an adjacent Quiznos, I can’t help but see the convenience and irony, especially when considering the magnitude of such an operation. Just some of the “coincidences” we’re dealing with here:

Is it coincidence that Terence would hang out with the great grandson of one of the key promoters of Darwin’s theories, Francis Huxley (1), who had ties via his own family to Darwin’s via his cousin (2), and was influenced heavily by Tielhard (3) – who created the Piltdown Hoax (4) – who happened also to have an intro in his book written by Julian Huxley (5), Francis’s father (6), and should then come up with the Stoned Ape theory (7), and promote it and the 2012 meme that was developed by a CIA agent, Coe (8), who just so happened to hang out with a friend of Julian’s, Dobhzanski (9), and then dispense the entire meme from Esalen (10), where he spent time with Aldous’s wife, Laura (11), and Esalen happens to be co-created by Aldous Huxley himself (12)?

12 coincidences, and that’s not even counting all of the other ties mentioned above to the Huxleys and Darwin, and those below, that will total up to about 40 coincidences!

(note: At this point those who can still maintain this many coincidences and still not see an agenda should have their heads checked – as this many coincidences is statistically impossible.)

It’s also picked up by Jose Arguelles, not coincidentally also at Esalen, and pushed forth until he dies, but not before Daniel Pinchbeck (as he admits, his last name, “possibly coincidentally”, means “fools gold”) picks up the 2012 torch and carries it on.

The ties between Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Julian, and Aldous (the Brave New World), down to Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, and Michael Coe and Theodosius Dobhzanski to Esalen, and down to Terence McKenna are incredible to contemplate, especially when considering that Aldous was a key founder of the Esalen institute, and Esalen has been a key promoter in using psychedelics for “evolution” all the while hiding the Huxley family’s deep connections to eugenics, humanism, et al. (for those who don’t know, humanism is the practice the elites use to get we the slaves to give up our autonomy to the greater religion of statism – ultimately them.)

Wrightwood, California.
21 October, 1949

Dear Mr. Orwell,

[...]

May I speak instead of the thing with which the book deals — the ultimate revolution?

The first hints of a philosophy of the ultimate revolution — the revolution which lies beyond politics and economics, and which aims at total subversion of the individual’s psychology and physiology — are to be found in the Marquis de Sade, who regarded himself as the continuator, the consummator, of Robespierre and Babeuf.

[...]

My own belief is that the ruling oligarchy will find less arduous and wasteful ways of governing and of satisfying its lust for power, and these ways will resemble those which I described in Brave New World.

I have had occasion recently to look into the history of animal magnetism and hypnotism, and have been greatly struck by the way in which, for a hundred and fifty years, the world has refused to take serious cognizance of the discoveries of Mesmer, Braid, Esdaile, and the rest.

Partly because of the prevailing materialism and partly because of prevailing respectability, nineteenth-century philosophers and men of science were not willing to investigate the odder facts of psychology for practical men, such as politicians, soldiers and policemen, to apply in the field of government.

***Thanks to the voluntary ignorance of our fathers, the advent of the ultimate revolution was delayed for five or six generations.***

Another lucky accident was Freud’s inability to hypnotize successfully and his consequent disparagement of hypnotism.

This delayed the general application of hypnotism to psychiatry for at least forty years.

But now psycho-analysis is being combined with hypnosis; and hypnosis has been made easy and indefinitely extensible through the use of barbiturates, which induce a hypnoid and suggestible state in even the most recalcitrant subjects.

Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.
~ Aldous Huxley [emphasis added] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111440/Aldous-Huxley-letter-George-Orwell-1984-sheds-light-different-ideas.html

And when we realize that ALL of the players center around the Huxleys and Esalen, we have one of those “oh fuck” moments.

http://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/6FBA86B0-0C57-9FCA-5CF9-D742DA541AAA#-675

To repeat the last two paragraphs of Aldous Huxley’s letter:

But now psycho-analysis is being combined with hypnosis; and hypnosis has been made easy and indefinitely extensible through the use of barbiturates, which induce a hypnoid and suggestible state in even the most recalcitrant subjects.

Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.
~ Aldous Huxley [emphasis added] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111440/Aldous-Huxley-letter-George-Orwell-1984-sheds-light-different-ideas.html

The role of drugs in the exercise of political control is also coming under increasing discussion. Control can be through prohibition or supply. The total or even partial prohibition of drugs gives the government considerable leverage for other types of control. An example would be the selective application of drug laws permitting immediate search, or “no knock” entry, against selected components of the population such as members of certain minority groups or political organizations.

But a government could also supply drugs to help control a population. This method, foreseen by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World (1932), has the governing element employing drugs selectively to manipulate the governed in various ways.

To a large extent the numerous rural and urban communes, which provide a great freedom for private drug use and where hallucinogens are widely used today, are actually subsidized by our society. Their perpetuation is aided by parental or other family remittances, welfare, and unemployment payments, and benign neglect by the police. In fact, it may be more convenient and perhaps even more economical to keep the growing numbers of chronic drug users (especially of the hallucinogens) fairly isolated and also out of the labor market, with its millions of unemployed. To society, the communards with their hallucinogenic drugs are probably less bothersome-and less expensive-if they are living apart, than if they are engaging in alternative modes of expressing their alienation, such as active, organized, vigorous political protest and dissent. […]
The hallucinogens presently comprise a moderate but significant portion of the total drug problem in Western society. The foregoing may provide a certain frame of reference against which not only the social but also the clinical problems created by these drugs can be considered.

~ Louis Jolyon West, Hallucinations: Behavior, Experience, and Theory. 1975. p. 298 ff.

Right now we can’t prove that McKenna was an agent, but he was most certainly, at least, a willful idiot. However, here is an interesting episode regarding McKenna being chased by Interpol and the FBI – from which no conclusion is ever mentioned. As Henk from Europe emailed me after this original article was published:

In 1969, McKenna traveled to Nepal led by his “interest in Tibetan painting and hallucinogenic shamanism.”[6] 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.[6] 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”.[6]

Note he fled to avoid capture by Interpol but then after a time he casually returns to Berkeley?

True Hallucinations page 166: “This decision to depart California (Henk:and return to the Amazon) was hailed by my circle in Berkeley. Concern for my mental state was rife among my friends, and rumor had reached us that the FBI was aware that I was somewhere back inside the country and had begun looking for me.”

First of all, why would Terence friends hail the idea of him returning to the Amazon because they were concerned about his mental state while the cause of his mental state was his prior trip to the Amazon? That’s a contradiction. Why would Terence make up a reason to go back to the Amazon? Him being wanted by the FBI should be plenty reason I think.

Attempts to get an answer from Terence’s brother, Dennis, regarding the above episode have failed. It seems they want us to believe that Terence just went from being wanted by Interpol and the FBI to just casually lecturing about psychedelics. What happened in the interim? Someone must know the answer.

Here is what McKenna had to say in his own words regarding humanism, feminism, transhumanism, and eugenics – “the limiting of male birth”, from the following Youtube video with Terence “Speaking the Unspeakable” (begins at 1 hour 11 minutes – the Q&A):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IO7pHD3X9M

Terence McKenna from Speaking the Unspeakable: Maui, 1994. (“In Praise Of Psychedelics”)

Questioner 1:
Hi, I just wanted to know if you have heard about a book called The Mutant Message?

Terence McKenna:
No.

Questioner 1:
I want to tell you little bit about its because it’s very interesting. I think it follows what you’re been talking about. I love what your ideas about collective consciousness. And I think the book describes an aboriginal tribe in Australia that has been living the way in which you’re speaking, in a collective, and what they’ve come to the conclusion of is that they can no longer procreate. Because they have recognized that they can no longer exist on this planet. And the reason they call it the mutant message is they believe we are a mutant life form on this planet that is destroying it to the extent that they can no longer continue their lineage. And it’s an interesting concept, because it’s the first culture that I know of that has selectively chosen not to breed and along with your concept of raising our consciousness so that we understand the destructive nature of ourselves, what about a parallel vision of reducing our population as these people are. Of consciously choosing not to procreate at this time?

Terence McKenna:

Well it’s interesting that you brought this up. Yes, I’ve been saying for some time that, ***the mushroom pointed this out to me***, if every woman had only one child the population of the planet would fall 50% in 40 years. 50% in 40 years – without war, revolution, coercion, anything else. Now when you suggest this to people they say, well didn’t they try that in China and it failed?. Yes. But you have to think about a couple of things. First of all a child born to a woman in Maui or Malibu or Manhattan, that child will use between 800 and 1000 times more resources in its lifetime than a child born to a woman in Bangladesh. Why do we preach birth control in Bangladesh? We should be preaching it on Maui, Manhattan and Malibu. Because the women in those places are highly educated, socially responsible, global people. And therefore are the population most likely to respond to this suggestion. If 15% of the women in the high-tech industrial democracies were to to limit their childbearing to one child, within 10 years certain pressure indicators on the planet would begin to move away from the red and into the black.

So I think that we have got to think with this question of population. There are clearly too many people. And one woman, one child, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist or a psychedelic advocate, to understand the impact of that. If the population of the earth was cut in half everybody alive would be twice as wealthy. It’s possible in 120 years that we could reduce the world’s population to a billion very healthy, very comfortable, very well educated people.

Ok, that’s part of what ***the mushroom said***. And that may seem radical and some circles, but not here perhaps. It also said something else which I rarely mention, ***but since you brought it up***, there are not only too many people, there are too many men [laughter]. And ***I would be very interested in seeing a set of social policies, tax incentives, medical policies, insurance policies, put in place to limit male birth***. It’s very rare in mammal populations that you have a 50-50 ratio of male to female and in fact it’s well-known that male infants are less robust than female infants. And the reason why we have a 50-50 sexual ratio is because we artificially support males, and withdraw all resources from females. I suspect in the high Paleolithic the ratio is closer to 2 to 1 [unsupported - see citations]. And my supposition and thinking about this is that probably the best ratio is about this is 3 to 1. This is the way to feminize the human race if you’re serious. This is the way to advance women if you’re serious. Then what you have is less men, women whose dedication to the reproductive activities is confined in time to the amount of time it takes to raise only one child. This would be tremendously salutary to our problems. I’ve never heard it advocated even by the most radical, lesbian feminist, yada yada. I’ve never heard anyone say male birth should be limited. But it obviously should. And through amniocentesis* and this sort of thing we can steer ourselves toward a population with the predominance of females and those females should have only one child. And 75% of those children should also be female. And I don’t consider myself a gung ho feminist. I mean, ***I’m a feminist*** [feminism has been entirely disproved - by women - see my interview with Karen of Girl Writes What], but I don’t read the literature, or try to understand all of the factions and theories. ***AS A HUMANIST I advocate a reduction in male birth.*** It just seems obvious that that’s the way to go [regarding the current practice of poisoning the male population, see my interview with Curtis Duncan]. If it doesn’t seem obvious to you then let’s have an a public debate about it, and at least make it part of the rhetoric of the culture that this is an option for people to think about.

Terence McKenna quotes:

“The Mushroom said. [...] But since you brought it up. [...] I would be very interested in seeing a set of social policies, tax incentives, medical policies, insurance policies, put in place to limit male birth. [...]
This is the way to feminize the human race. [...] I’m a feminist. [...] AS A HUMANIST I advocate a reduction in male birth.”
~ Terence McKenna

Is Terence actually trying to claim that the mushrooms wanted to promote eugenics and tyrannous government policies, taxes, and medical and insurance policies specifically against men, and limiting male birth, the exact antithesis of the hideous communist policies in China? Are we to believe Terence that the mushrooms would promote more hatred and the murder/limiting of men and baby boys? Does a mother not naturally nurture her offspring? As someone else pointed out to me, what greater evil could there be than to put words like this in the mouth of the sacrament – the mushrooms? What care could the mushrooms possibly have in tyrannical, communist government policies that promote hatred against half the population? Notice how Terence says the mushrooms said, but then switches it to “I would be very interested in seeing a set of social policies…”. Nice try, Terence.

And what is all of this feminism and humanist stuff? Please listen to the following interviews:

My interview with Karen of Girl Writes What:
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/karen-of-girlwriteswhat-interview-the-femanist-fallacy-146/

My interview with Curtis Duncan:
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/curtis-duncan-interview-the-conspiracy-to-feminize-males-masculinize-females-149/

After you’ve listened to both of those interviews, I think you’ll be fully well informed to see what McKenna’s agenda is.

Please don’t write me about these articles until you’ve studied the citations and read through the provided database.
Thank you.

For those of you who’d like to hear Terence in his own words, it begins at 1 hour 11 minutes:

Learn about Julian Huxley’s Humanism here:

World Evolutionary Humanism, Eugenics and UNESCO Pt 1 – On Julian Huxley

World Evolutionary Humanism, Eugenics and UNESCO Pt 2 – On Julian Huxley

On Eugenics and Julian Huxley:

UNESCO – It’s Evil Purpose and Philosophy

Alan Watt on Julian Huxley and UNESCO:

Into the Mind of Simon G. Powell – a study in fallacious “logic”.

I was recently humored, and also simultaneously distraught and upset, over the recent interview over at Red Ice with Lana of Radio 3Fourteen. I should say upfront that I’m a huge fan of Red Ice, well usually –

Red Ice Radio’s Radio 3Fourteen interviewed Simon G. Powell, the author of The Psilocybin Solution: The Role of Sacred Mushrooms in the Quest for Meaning, where in, clearly without studying any of my work or citations, Powell went on a 24 minute tirade, committing such a huge number of fallacies against my work that I figured that rather than lose this opportunity and let it go by, we can utilize it for the listeners/readers to apply their trivium skills and help spot Simon’s fallacies. The word fallacy comes from the Latin: fallare – to lie.

My papers on Wasson and Darwin, Huxley, McKenna, etc, for those interested in what my claims actually are, may be read here:

“Magic Mushrooms and the Psychedelic Revolution: Beginning a New History” – or “The Secret History of Magic Mushrooms” by Jan Irvin – #144
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/magic-mushrooms-and-the-psychedelic-revolution-beginning-a-new-history-or-the-secret-history-of-magic-mushrooms-by-jan-irvin-144-2/

How Darwin, Huxley, and the Esalen Institute launched the 2012 and psychedelic revolutions – and began one of the largest mind control operations in history.
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/how-darwin-huxley-and-the-esalen-institute-launched-the-2012-and-psychedelic-revolutions-and-began-one-of-the-largest-mind-control-operations-in-history/

See more on fallacies in my interview with Dr. Michael Labossiere, and in the Trivium studies information:

Michael Labossiere – Logical Fallacies:
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/dr-michael-labossiere-interview-logical-fallacies-the-critical-thinking-meme-part-1-062/

Trivium study:
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/triviumstudy

I’ve gone through and marked a large number of the fallacies from Simon Powell’s interview in the transcript below, but it’s exhausting work with so many, so no doubt I haven’t caught them all (about half), and I may have misidentified a few, but I think this is a worthy mental exercise for a study in fallacious logic and spotting the logical fallacies.

 

The full Radio 3Fourteen interview may be heard here:

Radio 3Fourteen – Interview Simon G. Powell

“The Psilocybin Solution vs. Elite Psychedelic Psyops”

September 12, 2012

http://www.redicecreations.com/radio3fourteen/2012/R314-120912.php

In the following transcript any spelling errors, missed words, etc, that aren’t blatantly Simon’s stuttering and run ons heard above, are then our own fault.

It may be helpful to hear Simon’s interview as you read along (if you’re able to bear it).

Good luck and happy fallacy hunting!

Jan

3:33

Lana: So you are also a Gaiaphiliac.  So what do you think about agenda 21 which is pushing for humans to be rounded up into the cities, living in apartments?

Simon Powell:  What’s that? Age.. say that again?

Lana: Are you familiar with Agenda 21?

Simon Powell:  I’m not familiar with Agenda 21.

Lana: (Gasp) Ok well you need to research this. Because basically the UN is pushing for Agenda 21, which is about climate change, and changing different things for the environment, for the health of the environment and one of those things is rounding people up out of the rural areas and into the cities, living in apartments, because it’s better for the environment.

Simon Powell:  Well I, uh, I wouldn’t be able to comment on that.  I mean, I mean, uh, I think the majority, I mean, there are mega cities, actually defined as mega cities because so many people live in them. Um, yeah, I mean I don’t know, how, it raises the question of how best to manage 7 billion people, 7 billion is a lot of people, and growing, the population is growing.   (4:42)

15:08

Lana: And if we get to the heart of the psilocybin experience, what is the message?“

Simon Powell:  Well it’s interesting.  I was listening to, someone posted a uh Terence McKenna clip on my Facebook wall today or a few days, yesterday I think.  And I listened to it this afternoon.  And he said something that, I have listened to, I don’t listen to McKenna so much at the moment, I listened to all of his stuff 10 years ago I went through all of his stuff [ironically, Simon doesn’t know that I’m the one who put out about 70 hours of McKenna archives about 10 years ago.], um so I have heard most of his stuff, I mean he is a great guy, a tremendous influence on my own work. But he said one of the, he said and I agree with him, one of the most important things about psychedelics like psilocybin is this concept of unity.  If you look at scientific research that has been done and …. The interconnectedness of all things becomes apparent.

23:42

McKenna rightly said that all of our theories about the psychedelic experience, or the psilocybin experience, are provisional, ***even what I have written in The Psilocybin Solutions, I don’t know if I still agree with what I wrote in there, they are provisional ideas***.

26:20

Lana: There’s also many biblical references to what many say could be psychedelics such as John Allegro’s mushroom cult theory. Are you familiar with that?

Simon Powell: Well how can I not be familiar with that when I have to plow through that Jan Irvin’s [Simon intentionally mispronounces my name throughout the interview despite Lana’s repeated attempts to correct him.] 2 hour – I don’t know what to call it..? [appeal to ridicule] Yeah, can we get on to this? I’ve got to get it out of my system. [appeal to emotion]

Lana: Yeah sure, so…

Simon Powell: It’s your, it’s Red Ice Radio’s fault, so uh… [blame casting]

Lana: [laughs] that’s right. Let me just let the audience know, that we had Jan Irvin on Red Ice radio and he pointed out Gordon Wasson’s involvement with the CIA, claiming that the psychedelic hippie movement was a psy-op, and provides a window into how the elites run their mind control systems. So would you like to comment on that?

Simon Powell: yeah well, I’d rather not [appeal to ridicule], but uh [laughs], I listened to Jan Irvin’s [intentionally mispronounces my name - again] two-hour diatribe last night [appeal to ridicule], and I put it off for a long time because I didn’t want to listen to it because it’s just going to be horrible. [leaping to an assumption – argumentum ad ignorantium – killing the messenger – arguing the arbitrary] and I listen to it. First of all, and I could say a lot, but let me just say about John Allegro, and these are my honest opinions about John [he ignores my writings and research on this that Henrik and I specifically discussed – argumentum ad ignorantium]. This is what I know about John Allegro and his Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, and all that sort of thing [dismissive appeal to ridicule]. A long long time ago before I started looking for mushrooms, at the point when I was learning about mushrooms, and decided I would go and look for them, I got a copy of John Allegro’s book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross from this local library, and this was a long time ago, about 1985. I then started… ***I couldn’t understand his book. It was too academic.*** But I started to read about these Fly Agaric mushrooms. And I went out and looked for them for months. And then I found Fly Agaric mushrooms in abundance in this hanold forest in the outskirts of London. So this is going back to like 1985. I brought shopping bags full of them back to this flat I was staying at with these punk rockers. We were in like a punk band. Um, and I tried every conceivable way of ingesting these Fly agaric mushrooms. And I dried the caps. I mix them with milk. I dried them in an oven. I dried them slowly. I tried every single possible way. So keen was I to get in the facts. And I got no effect whatsoever.

[Note: Simon’s ignorant of Prof. Carl Ruck’s work – who’s come out and fully endorsed Allegro (2009), not to mention Clark Heinrich’s work where Clark explicitly explains the issues of having a full blown experience with the Fly agaric (2002). He’s also ignorant of the works of Wolfgang Bauer and Edzard Klapp, and also Herman de Vries, Okluvuaha Native American Church head James Flying Eagle Moony who discusses this, and Professor John Rush’s 3 books on this, and also Dutch mycologist Gerrit Kaizer’s work. Simon also falsly assumes that Allegro was the first to publish on this, he’s not aware of John G. Bourke (1891), the French Mycological Society (1910 or so) the Wolfe’s (1920s) or Ramsbottom (1953), or Robert Graves (1950s) or Wasson (1956) before him. He tried every way but the way that’s it’s supposed to be done… In fact, I wonder if Simon’s studied a single thing from the entire field of ethnomycology aside from Gordon Wasson and Terence McKenna, whom he’s cited about 20 times to this point  – much less ANY of my own work – so, in fact, everything Simon says is entirely an argumentum ad ignorantium.***]

Lana: I heard you’re supposed to drink your pee. Like eat them and then drink your pee, and then you get an effect.

Simon Powell: Well that was a Siberian thing …they said… Because the active ingredients which I think is Muscimole, passes through your system and so your urine will be psychoactive. And so that’s where that comes from.

[Note: Simon misses the blatantly obvious, that the Siberians used in this way to get a psychoactive effect! The recycling of urine has a dual purpose in the process of consuming Amanita. Both ibotenic acid and muscimol are excreted via the urine, which scientific studies have clearly shown for some time. The purpose of recycling the urine is essentially to increase the potency via decarboxylation of the remaining ibotenic acid into muscimol, thus increasing the high. The ibotenic acid is what is primarily excreted, along with small amount of muscimol, in the urine. However, between the following article by Jonathan Ott and The Botany of Chemistry of Hallucinogens by Schultez, 1980, it is clear that it is the decarboxilation of Ibotenic Acid into muscimol that is responsible for most of the high.

EFFECTS OF IBOTENIC ACID AND MUSCIMOL

Ibotenic acid evokes entheogenic effects in human beings at doses ranging from 50 – 100 mg (Chilton 1975; Theobald et al. 1968). An equivalent effect is produced by 10-15 mg of muscimol (Theobald et al. 1968; Waser 1967). After oral ingestion, the onset of the inebriation is rather slow, and generally 2-3 hours elapse before the full effects are felt (Chilton 1975). This delayed response has also been reported following ingestion of Amanita pantherina (Ott 1976a). The effects last for 6-8 hours, depending on dose. Effects are characterized by visual distortions, loss of equilibrium, mild muscle twitching (not convulsions, as has erroneously been reported), and altered auditory and visual perception (Chilton 1975; Ott 1976a).

It would appear that muscimol is the psychoactive constituent, and that following ingestion of ibotenic acid, a fraction of the material decarboxylates to muscimol, which then produces the inebriation. After oral ingestion of ibotenic acid, a substantial percentage of the drug is excreted unaltered in the urine, but small amounts of muscimol are also excreted (Chilton, unpublished). This mechanism would potentially explain the Siberian urinary drug recycling practice. After ingestion of the mushroom, the celebrant would excrete substantial amounts of ibotenic acid in his urine. A second user ingesting the urine of the first, would cause some of the ibotenic acid to be decarboxylated to muscimol during digestion, producing inebriation when the muscimol was absorbed; and the bulk of the ibotenic acid would be re-excreted in his urine in turn. Thus a 100 mg dose of ibotenic acid might potentially represent four or five 10-15 mg doses of muscimol, and Steller’s 1774 report that one dose of mushrooms could be recycled through four or five persons is certainly feasible. Muscimol itself probably does not play a significant role in urinary drug recycling, since it was found that only a small percentage of injected muscimol was excreted in the urine of mice (Ott et al. 1975a). This hypothesis has yet to be verified quantitatively in human beings, though it has been demonstrated qualitatively in preliminary experiments (Chilton 1979).

The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens by Richard Evans Schultes, 1980 (Harvard)

Pg. 49

Subsequent investigations of Amanita muscaria by Eugster and others in Switzerland and by Takemoto and others in Japan led to the isolation of various amino acid derivatives with characteristic psychotropic activities corresponding to the psychic effects described following ingestion of this mushroom. These were ibotenic acid, muscimole, muscazone, and ®-4-hydroxy-pyrrolidone-(2).

Ibotenic acid is the zwitterion [A molecule or ion having separate positively and negatively charged atoms or groups] of a-amino-a-[3-hydroxy-isoxazolyl-(5)]-acetic acid monohydrate. It occurs in the mushroom in the racemic [b. Composed of dextro- and lævorotatory isomers of a compound in equal molecular proportions, and therefore optically inactive.] form (Good et al., 1965; Muller and Eugster, 1965).

It separates from water in colourless crystals, mp 145o C. Ibotenic acid must be considered a principal active constituent of Amanita muscaria, being present to the extent of 0.3-1 gm/kg of undried carpophores of material of this species collected in southern Germany and in Switzerland . Ibotenic acid easily decarboxylates and loses water to be transformed into muscimole, which is the enol-betaine of 5-aminomethyl-3-hydroxy-isoxazole.

Muscimole forms colourless crystals, mp 174o-175o C, which are extremely soluble in water. Muscimole is probably not a genuine constituent of living Amanita muscaria. It is produced mainly during extraction of the mushrooms by decomposition of ibotenic acid (Eugster, 1968; Eugster and Takemoto, 1967). ]

Lana: okay.

Simon Powell: Um, so that was my first exposure. I then got Allegro’s book again. I don’t know I saw it… I got up from a secondhand bookshop about five years ago. And tried to read it again and again. Unless you’re a philologist, experts on languages, it’s an intractable book. ***I just couldn’t, you know, understand it.*** It’s a book for philologists, language experts. [Note: He’s admitting his own inability to understand the work, which bears nothing on my or Allegro’s works.] I suspected, and I’m not alone here [appeal to popularity], and I’ve always suspected that he was a sensationalist [Note: Simon omits that I dealt with these exact claims in my book The Holy Mushroom (2008) – which deals specifically with this issue using 100%, primary documentation! He's simply regurgitating Jonathan Ott's unsupported claims (1993/96) that were also refuted with primary documentation (see pp. 89ff). He ignores that these issues were also discussed in my interview with Henrik.]. The fact that he, and others have pointed this out [only Ott], the fact that he published, it first got published in a newspaper called the Sunday mirror [Simon would only know this through my work, as I republished it with Allegro’s daughter, Judy Brown] and I think 1970, and that’s a rubbish newspaper [ad hominem], you know, it’s not a highbrow newspaper [appeal to authority]. And he would’ve got paid a lot of money [circumstantial ad hominem] because they serialized it over sort of eight issues or something [Incorrect – it came out over 4 issues - http://johnallegro.org/popular-press/popular-press-by-john-allegro/sacred-mushroom-and-the-cross-sunday-mirror-1970/ ]. And it’s a sensational book to say that Christianity, that Jesus was the Fly agaric mushroom [irrelevant]. It’s so, so sensational, but sensational equals book sales [just because something is sensational, or never before published, doesn’t make it wrong].

[Note: Simon omits that I dealt with these very claims in my book The Holy Mushroom, using all primary documentation (pp. 89-91). Simon further omits that there is no evidence for these claims of the amount of money that Allegro supposedly made, and omits that this claim originated from Wasson himself. Simon then makes an appeal to ridicule and a guilt by association, making it appear that anything published in the Sunday Mirror is of no value. He omits that Gordon Wasson too published in Life magazine and not in anthropological journals. He omits that the fact of this and the publication of Allegro’s book has been addressed by Prof. Carl Ruck and Allegro’s own family.]

 You know, if you want to sell millions of books, you write a sensational book, you know [no irony there]? But here’s the thing, right? Here’s my, this is the, this is the the the nub of it. If you, if you… On, on YouTube, there is a film of John Allegro, it’s about a 15 min. interview with him. I think it’s from about 1976, it’s an interview with John allegro, where they’re talking about this fly agaric mushroom, was he Jesus, was it Jesus and all this kind of thing. In that film there is a tell. You know when people play… In my opinion it’s a tell [his unsupported opinion doesn’t make it so.] You know when people play poker?

Lana: yes.

Simon Powell: You know a tell in poker?

Lana: yes.

Simon Powell: You know if you’ve got a bad hand and you’re bluffing you might scratch your nose or something, you know, you’ve got a tell.

Lana: give it away.

Simon Powell:

[scratching the nose is typically a sign of nervousness – Allegro was in a TV interview].

A poker player will spot your tell, you’re giving the game away through a tell. [Here Simon is attempting to make a guilt by association and red herring fallacies that are totally unrelated to Allegro’s work, not focusing on Allegro’s own citations, etc. He seems incapable of staying focused on the topic he’s discussing.]  Here’s another example of a tell, is uh, that numbskull [ad hominem], what he called? The spoon bender guy, the guy who bends spoons, Uri Geller! Uri Geller made a career on pretending that he could bend spoons. Yeah, I mean it’s just an illusion as James Randi… it’s a cheap trick, you know?  It’s an illusion that, you know, that magicians can do. But he made his career on bending… you know, this mysterious pa… now he’s got… the fact…that he he he never wanted to admit that he, uh, you know, conned people. And his tell is the fact that about, I don’t know, about 5… Because I detest people like Uri Geller… about five years ago he started calling himself…. He stopped saying he had paranormal abilities and mystical powers, and called himself a mystifier. Now that’s a tell!  Because what he’s saying is yes, I trick people and it’s not real. But I can’t admit it fully. I’ll just change the way I described myself. So he calls himself a mystifier. He mystifies people. That’s a tell! Yes?

[Note: During this long red herring about Geller, who pertains absolutely nothing to Allegro’s work, he doesn’t notice that Geller is the man  who worked with Andrija Puharich, who worked with Wasson. Puharich was in charge of “The Nine” – at the Esalen Institute. No irony there! As I wrote in my book The Holy Mushroom:

Wasson attacked Allegro for citing the work of Dr. Andrija Puharich, whom he simply calls “a man”. He doesn’t mention that Puharich was in fact a medical doctor who had worked with the US military and had left his post as Captain of the Army Chemical Center at Edgewood, Maryland in April 1955 (Levenda, 2005).  It was only two months later in June 1955 that Wasson himself worked with Puharich, though they had already met in February of that same year (Puharich, 1959). It appears that Puharich was in charge of collecting psychoactive compounds for government research. There is strong evidence to suggest that Puharich was actually working with the MK-ULTRA program, US Army Intelligence and the CIA (Levenda, 2005).”]

Lana: uha.

 Simon Powell: He’s giving the game away. He just doesn’t want to fully admits that he’s a bullshitter. [Notice how Simon is attempting this elaborate red herring in attempt to tie a fraud like Geller to Allegro – who’s completely unrelated.] Right now back to the Allegro thing. You go on YouTube – watch that uh uh 1976 interview with Allegro [this is an interview that I published with the help of Dutch mycologist Gerrit Keizer – who happens to support Allegro’s work and has researched it extensively. Watch it here: http://johnallegro.org/john-allegros-the-sacred-mushroom-and-the-cross/2011/01/]. And there’s a… in my opinion, there is a tell in there. Because at one point they.… Now bear in mind that he’s written this book saying that Jesus [laughs] was this fly agaric mushroom [appeal to ridicule]. That’s a massive claim! [irrelevant] That fly agaric mushroom must be phenomenal [post hoc fallacy – does not follow. His level and understanding of it bears nothing on how other cultures reveared the mushroom – like the Siberians, for instance.], it must make psilocybin… the psilocybin mushroom trivial in comparison [red herring - again, his conclusion does not follow his premise]. This must be a divinely powerful, supremely powerful mushroom! I didn’t get any affect when I tried it.

[Note: Just because the Amanita rejected Simon, and that he doesn’t use it correctly, doesn’t mean that it’s not a valuable tool. He’s trying to compare apples to oranges. He’s furthermore ignorant of ALL of the research on this topic by ALL authors outside Allegro, Wasson and McKenna – likely regurgitating McKenna’s long ago debunked argument in Food of the Gods. Simon’s clearly ignorant of The Epistle to the Renegade Biships, a canonized Orthodox Christian text that I was the first to publish in 2008 that specifically discusses “the holy mushroom” – see The Holy Mushroom, pp. 149 ff].

Simon Powell: And uh, I don’t think wor… Gordon Wasson… Even Wasson admitted that the psycho activity is a bit questionable [Wasson admitted to having prepared them improperly and not having drank his urine, just like Simon. We covered this in A&S – 2005/2009]. It’s not even classed as a psychedelic, muscimol, the active ingredient.

[Note: circumstantial ad hominem – Simon further omits that we went into psilocybe mushrooms in the works as well, and between myself and Prof. John Rush, we’ve published over 240 Christian icons showing the mushroom. Also, did you notice how Simon doesn’t attack Wasson for being one of the first to propose the fly agaric! – see notes above on Ibotenic Acid and muscimol.]

It’s classed as a -  as a sedative or hypnotic. You know, it’s not in the same league as psilocybe and anyways. [irrelevant]

[Note: He attacks Allegro for not trying the mushroom. This is a circumstantial ad hominem and bears nothing on Allegro's work. It's well known that Allegro never even had a drink in his life. See Brown, 2006]

33.01

Simon Powell: “anyways imagine that this Allegro wrote this book saying that this whole Christian religion got it all came back to this Fly Agaric mushroom.  Now in 1976 when they interviewed him, it was legal that mushroom, it still is legal to consume, but yet when the interviewer was asking, “have you ever taken this mushroom?” This is the tell-tail, he laughed, he got nervously, he sort of laughed nervously, ‘oh no I would never take that.  They’re strong.’ Or something. That is the acid test! [this is a circumstantial ad hominem and is irrelevant] if you are going to say that this thing is at the heart of Christianity, and it’s legal to take and they grow within 10 miles of where you live, lived in, you’re gonna take it. That’s the acid test. You take it.  You go and see.  That’s the acid test.  [Allegro based his reports of the experience from available academic journals. See the exact breakdown of this in The Holy Mushroom – 2008] If he didn’t it’s absurd [circumstantial ad hominem, appeal to ridicule], it’s like someone writing a book proclaiming that some ayahuasca [red herring] is the greatest thing in the world or something and they’ve never tried it [red herring – Allegro was a biblical scholar and was only interested in reporting what he saw.]. You know. Yeah.  I think you’ve got to try the thing.  [That’s Simon’s opinion. Allegro felt it was a poison by what he’d read.] The fact that he… it’s a tell!  So I think. [yeah, so? That’s all you’ve got is a red herring to support your argument?]  My opinion and it’s the same Jonathon Ott [appeal to authority – who’s been refuted on this issue – see my book The Holy Mushroom, pp. 89-91] and probably a lot of others [appeal to popularity], a lot of other critics is that he was a sensationalist [what is a sensationalist, someone who says Christianity was based on mushrooms? Or someone who says they can solve the world’s problems with mushrooms?].  I don’t think he believed it himself [based on what? Arguing the arbitrary].  And of course Jan Irvin, he has, he’s republished the book, so it’s like he has given over to that guy now so he’s gonna follow that path through.  So that’s why he is coming out with all this [non sequitor – Simon’s reasoning is baseless] , scarred…, That two hour thing, it’s the worst, it’s like trolling through mud [appeal to ridicule – based on what?].  I can’t believe, I can’t believe, I saw that he had raised $3,000 to make this film about this wacky theory [ad hominem  / appeal to ridicule] that that Gordon Wasson was part of the CIA. It’s just so absurd [arguing the arbitrary / argumentum ad ignorantium].

Lana:  Why is it absurd to you?

Simon Powell:  The I…  When I wrote the Psilocybin Solution. [red herring] I read, in the index, there is about 5…, if you wanna know about a guy. Get a feeling for someone, and they’re an author, then read their books. [Note: the irony here is that Simon has not read my books.] I have read most of Gordon Wasson’s books and he wrote, he published lots of ugh papers.  And he was a scholar you know [irrelevant – a scholar can be CIA – and many are.] and he wrote really, really good.  Like, like his fir.., Yeah, this is unfor, this is unfor, well it’s almost unforgivable [appeal to emotion]. Jesus said [red herring / appeal to belief].  I think Jesus was a teacher [appeal to belief]. Christ means awakened one [no – it means anointed one – Christ is from crisco, or oil.].  So I side with Morris Nickels [appeal to authority] who suggested that and Gergiev that suggested that Jesus came from an esoteric school that taught self-knowledge [red herring].  Jesus taught to forgive and I guess that’s what stops from having chips on your shoulder [Simon, try to practice what you preach], but what Jan Irving said, what he did at one point, that was almost, almost unforgivable [appeal to emotion – here comes the whambulance!], he quoted Gordon Wasson  about how Gordon Wasson discovered this mycophobia or mycophillia with his Russian wife.  She had a tradition of liking mushrooms and he was an Anglo Saxon, who didn’t wanna.  And the way he, Jan Irving was readying Wasson in this horrible voice to poke fun and that’s a terrible thing [OMG, Gasp! Can you believe it?! Because Wasson is an unquestionable god, and Simon is a religious Zealot selling his religion!] because Gordon Wasson wrote some good scholarly works [irrelevant]. And I am indebted to Gordon Wasson [irrelevant/appeal to emotion/ hidden agenda to protect. He should be indebted to truth, not vacuous, fallacious tirades] as a lot of people are in the, who are interested in the history of psilocybin [and Amanita too, let’s not omit that fact].  His, his scholarly work is uh, is first class [irrelevant, appeal to authority. It’s Wasson who’s in question here.].  So you know someone has to speak up.[Appeal to emotion – Wasson’s Cheer leader yay!] It was awful listening to that. It was almost unforgivable. I don’t know why he came out? [If Simon had bothered to read the material, this would have been obvious] You know?  But um. Yeah, alright. I did write some notes down.  [incredible!] He went on about the Century club saying that it was a front for the CIA.   Well I mean it…  I think he said he got letters from the secretary there [the librarian].   You can check on Wikipedia that the club is still there.  It’s for literacy, social, wealthy people, you know.  Ah, you can get, they sent him letters, records.  You know. What are we to conclude that the CIA has got really lax security that you can just get copies of letters from them [no, this is 60 years ago. It’s not current. Ever hear of FOIA or Freedom of Information Act request, Simon? Try contacting the librarian instead of making up lies and suppositions.] this is information.  Um what else?  Yeah well I wrote down this $3000 that Jan Irvin raised.  I, I, I’d love it if some people started up a Kickstarter project to stop Jan Irvin [the irony is .  Let me put that out there, anyone out there listening. Ah maybe 99.9% of your audience are really behind Jan Irvin and thinking who the fuck is this British guy talking here. You know.  But if there is anyone out there [laughs] who’d like to see Jan Irvin’s project stopped wants this stopped, then start a kick starter thing to stop, [laughs] raise money to stop Jan Irvin’s ugh.

37:52

Lana:  But you have to admit that the CIA does have a history of using psychedelics for nefarious purposes.

Simon Powell: Yeah

Lana: yeah

Simon Powell: It’s not…Wasson knew about it.  It’s well known that Wasson’s second trip to Mexico was funded by the Geschickter Fund, I mention this in my book, was funded by the Geschickter Fund which were a CIA organization and they sent a chemist out there under the guise of being an anthropologist or something. He had no empathy whatsoever and he had a horrible time on the mushroom, which is good, um and it’s because the CIA were interested in psilocybin to see if it could be used as a truth drug, but it can’t. It can’t be used as a truth drug or anything.  So they gave up their quest on it. So I am not denying MK-ULTRA that they gave LSD to unsuspecting prisoners or soldiers or whatever.  But um all the other stuff is… We have a word it.  Jan Irvin’s 2 hour diatribe could be, there is a single word in the English language that sums up his whole 2 hours and that word, that word is bullocks.

Lana: Well there you go. After…

Simon Powell:  Wasson’s first book.  The idea is just so absurd that it was a contrived cover.  Wasson’s first book, Russia Mushrooms and History, which was published in 1957, he only met, and I had the honor of reading it, cause it’s a really rare book and I read it at the British library. There are only 500 books made.  It’s a genuine, it’s a, you read that book and you realize this someone very interested in the history, the cultural history of, ah, of mushrooms in particularly psychoactive mushrooms and the last chapter is about his psilocybin experiences.  And then he, he then went on after he retired from JP Morgan back, he went on to write a number of important scholarly books about psilocybin, so his work is very important. And ah, Jan Irvin is just, ah, I do not blame, he contacted Wasson’s family about the archives or something, I can’t blame them to, for wanting to keep him at arm’s length you know.  I don’t know what’s governing.  I don’t know if Jan Irving [intentionally mispronounces my name] knows its bullocks or if he actually believes it. He has got this stupid thing on his site, this brain program, he’s got a chart with Gordon Wasson in the middle with all these lines leading out to Hitler and the JFK assassination.  I am surprised he didn’t have links to Genghis Khan and Stalin and maybe, maybe Gordon Wasson was involved with the HIV virus and maybe Gordon Wasson is behind earthquakes or something you know. It’s just absurd, absolutely absurd.  And it just messes, it dirties the whole psychedelic movement.  It tarnishes it, you know.

Lana: Are you someone who’s into

Simon Powell:  It’s absolutely expletively ridiculous.

Lana: Are you someone who is into conspiracy?

41:00

And He then starts going on about, how absurd can this get, he then starts talking about the Esalen Institute, whatever it’s called, that sort of new age, where all these new age people go.  He mentioned Alan Watts and then mentioned that Alan Watts had a handler. That is, there aren’t words for how crass that is. You go on, you look at, there are some wonderful wonderful ah, audio clips of Alan Watts he was a wonderful chap, really great wisdom there, the idea that he had a handler, a CIA handler, is Fucking crass.

Lana: Are you someone who is normally into conspiracy or you kind of shrug that off?

Simon Powell: There is only one conspiracy that we should really, really, really be concerned about. And it leaves all the other conspiracies behind but people don’t really want to know about it, and they think I’m crazy.  That’s the conspiracy of nature, or the whole systems of the Universe, the forces of nature, the laws of nature, to self-organize on every single thing single scale, and to self-organize life into existence.  And then to evolve life to the point of consciousness, so that we can be, we are in this privileged position where we are the universe waking up to itself.  That’s a big conspiracy, that’s a conspiracy that I’m interested in. Not this idea that… look, my, my Metanoia film, right, which I spent years making that film, I did all the music and everything. Some, this is how stupid some people are now, someone commented on there, someone said to me on this Youtu.., on this Metanoia thing,  “Ah Simon G Powell, I thought you were the real deal and then you mentioned about  population control and then this person then suggested that I was part of some sort of elite or something, you know. All I mentioned

Lana: I saw that comment.

Simon Powell:  All I mentioned at the end, it was just a casual thing, at the end of the film I was saying, I said that we need a new relationship with nature, we need a new clean renewable energy, and population control.   I didn’t mean rounding people up and shooting them Nazi style, I mean that population is an issue.  Cause there is an optimum carrying capacity of the earth. You know.

Lana: Well a lot of times, a lot of times…

Simon Powell:  It’s an issue to be talked about, population is.

Lana: yeah, I think a lot of times its…

Simon Powell:  Every time we bring new people into existence and they use a lot of resources you know.  But the fact that this person that I was part of this some shadowy elite,

Lana: Yeah people can reach for…

Simon Powell: Someone rightly said, someone rightly answered, they gave a quote from, I think it was  Thomas Coon, the philosopher Thomas Coon, and Thomas Coon rightly, I think, said that in the old days when your crops failed or your house fell apart or you got ill, you blamed demons, you would say there was demons  or an angry god, or some witch had put a hex on me, that’s just, that superstitious nonsense is just now being replaced by these shadowy groups, you know the groups of bankers meeting in Temples underground with their trousers rolled up.

Lana: Oh but Simon, you need to do some research, and, there is quite a bit of that going on, but if you’re not researching into it, you’re not seeing it.

Simon Powell: If, if you say so.  Nobody knows what’s, Terence McKenna had it right when he said, “nobody’s in control, nobody knows what’s happening”.  The big bang, you know the big bang theory, this idea that there was this creative event 145 billion years ago, that creative explosion is still happening, life is part of that, consciousness is part of that, nobody knows what is happening, something incredible is happening cause here we are and were conscious beings on this fucking incredible biosphere, nobody’s controlling that, not people, it’s bigger, bigger than people.

Lana: Yeah, well ultimately the only thing that someone can control is your consciousness.

Simon Powell:  The idea that there is a group of people that is running history is crap.  Yes, there are bad people, people, get obsessed with money and power and they do bad things, history’s always been like that.  This is getting out of hand now, everything is a fucking conspiracy.

Lana:  So if humans keep up on the bad track, you know disconnected from nature and the soul, what will we involve into then?

Simon Powell:  Sorry?  Um, I’m sorry, I’m just looking at my notes, to see if there is anything else I wanna say, cause it was so bad, yeah, let me just say one more thing about his ridiculous diatribe, the whole point of the psilocybin thing, and I, his called, his organization is called Gnostic Media, and Gnosticism is all about knowledge direct knowledge and that’s what mushrooms can give you.  Ah, the whole point of the mushroom is not history and all this kind of thing, it’s the actual experience itself, higher states of consciousness, everything else is beside the point, everything else is looking the wrong way.  Psilocybin is a tremendous natural resource because it empowers you.  That’s what we should be talking about the actual experience, it’s a shame McKenna is dead you know. It’s the actual experience and all this crap that people like Jan Irvin’s coming out with and you, you, you’ve got some responsibility because you broadcasted, it just muddies the water.  The psilocybin experience itself will empower you and that’s what we should be looking to and talking about and making something whole.

Lana: So did you go through Jan’s entire article?

Simon Powell:  No, I listened to the 2 hour thing, I, went to, I saw another video of him that I flipped through before, it’s an overview of thing.

Lana: Ok

Simon Powell: Look, I, I, I think, I might be wrong, but I think I’ve got a good sense of bullshit. I really believe that, the older I get I think I can detect bullshit.  I think I’ve got a good.., it’s just my opinion I can’t prove it, it would be quite difficult to prove it, but I think I can detect  bullshit, and there’s lots of bullshit ideas about there and you don’t pursue every single whacky idea you come across.  And it’s just bullshit.  I know, I know because I, well I don’t know, “know” is.., I’m convinced as convinced can be, having read.., like I said that thing about Allegro, the tell and all that, what I said about Allegro and having read Gordon Wasson’s book, he was you know, his life, the later part of his life, was dedicated to ah, ah, ah, unearth, unearthing the, the, the, the use of psilocybin in Mesoamerican culture.

Lana: Well at the end of the day if you get something good out of it, I guess that’s all that really matters.

Simon Powell: That’s what I’m saying the experience is the most important things.

Lana:  So if humans keep up on the bad track were on, disconnected from nature and the soul, what will we involve into then?

Simon Powell: We won’t, we’ll go down the pan like the dinosaurs.  Nature…, you know, I have tried to introduce, people have heard of the survival of the fittest, in my book Darwin’s Unfinished Business and in my Metanoia film I talk about the survival of that which makes sense.  What that means is that nature will only preserve in the long run, sensible behavior.  A sensible behavior means that you, you behave in a way that fits in with the larger environment, which is a larger web of life.  If we continue, not if, if human culture continues to not make sense, within the large context, it will be pruned away.

Lana: Do you think maybe Mother Nature will have a big depopulation event wipe out a bunch of humans, maybe leave some.

Simon Powell: Yeah, I mean I don’t know.  But we won’t, can’t carry on in this business as usual, cannot carry on indefinitely.

Lana: So speaking on psilocybin, should everyone try it?

Simon Powell: No I wouldn’t advocate everyone. No, you should be over 35 and you should have a science degree or an art degree.

Lana: (chuckle) Are you joking?

Simon Powell: I am covering myself.

Lana: (chuckle) so,

Simon Powell: Um no, no, not, they are not for everyone.  I mean, you have to, no, it’s for everyone? No, if you want to, they should, they, what you need, I recently went to, back in April, I went to this forum in America, it was partly about the near death experience but they also had psilocybin researchers there who done, you know the latest John Hopkins research, they’re giving psilocybin to people dying from cancer and this kind of thing, um and I met all the main psilocybin researchers and I think there is a general agreement, I have been pushing this for, I don’t know, maybe the last 6 months or so in interviews and such, what we need, cause at the moment, people… for instance there is an interest in ayahuasca and people who have got the money are going all the way out to Peru to take ayahuasca and have these therapeutic experiences.  Not everyone can afford to go all the way to Peru, to take ayahuasca.  What we need, and I call them revitalization centers, we need places in culture all over Europe and America, where people can go and have a guided.., so what I’m saying to you, everyone should have the opportunity to take them in a civilized fashion.  Yes.

Lana:  There are actually ayahuasca churches actually in America.  There is one in Bend, Oregon that I know about.

Simon Powell: Right. Well that’s good.

50:44

UPDATE:

Following the original research I put out on R. Gordon Wasson on May 13, 2012, in an article titled “Magic Mushrooms and the Psychedelic Revolution: Beginning a New History” – or “The Secret History of Magic Mushrooms” – which revealed R. Gordon Wasson as a CIA agent or asset, in late August I put out the following article in regard to some very interesting findings regarding Terence McKenna, Aldous Huxley and the Esalen institute. For those interested in reading this original article, see ”How Darwin, Huxley, and the Esalen Institute launched the 2012 and psychedelic revolutions – and began one of the largest mind control operations in history“. Further information on this topic is put forth in these recent videos: “Turning the Tables”, and Prof. Jay Fikes, Joe Atwill and Jan Irvin – “A Conversation about Mind Control”.

Additional research in this regard is laid out in the Brain research database – which reveals many dozens of connections in the McKenna/Huxley and Darwin nexus, leading into eugenics and population control. The database and its 6000+ citations, with INSTRUCTIONS of how to study it, maybe found here.

Following up with the above papers and database leads, recently I filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Terence Kemp McKenna (amongst others) with the CIA. The response came back that it’s “classified” information, and that “Our processing included a search for records that would reveal an openly acknowledged agency affiliation”, and stated that I must file an appeal for further information. An appeal was later filed and is currently pending.

A basic glossary is here to help people understand the FIOA.

AFFILIATION – A MEMBER OF

DENY – REJECT OR TURN DOWN THE REQUEST

CLASSIFIED – SECRET OR HIDDEN – SEE (b)(1).

RESPONSIVE – Letters that are NOT classified that the CIA MAY send. Such responsive letters are marked with the CIA’s stamp and release date when they’re approved to be sent out as “responsive” to the FOIA act requests. Here are two examples of responsive records sent to me by the CIA in response to my FOIA request on R. Gordon Wasson – filed in February 2012 (letter 1 – Gordon Wasson to DCI Allen Dulles, and letter 2, DCI Allen Dulles response to Gordon Wasson). These two letters, of several, reveal a conversation and friendship between the head of the CIA, DCI Allen Dulles, and Gordon Wasson, and the two are letters revealing the recruitment of the Ambassador to Vietnam, Ellsworth Bunker, to the Century Club (the East Coast version of the Bohemian Club) just 5 weeks before the Life Magazine article “Seeking the Magic Mushroom” was published on May 13, 1957. The stamps at the tops and bottoms of the letters marks them as approved for release, which means they’re “responsive” records.

APPEAL – this means to appeal their decision to deny my request and not provide the documents they don’t consider “responsive”.

A DENIAL of FOIA RESPONSIVE documents does not mean that they didn’t find anything. It means they found classified documents that they cannot send, and are waiving the law around as justification, and therefore they denied my request and said that I could APPEAL their decision within 45 days. If there was nothing found, there would be no “openly acknowledged Agency affiliation” to reveal, nor would there be a request to deny, much less any need to appeal such! A basic understanding of the English language and fallacious logic is key to understanding this document. Hopefully the above glossary helps.

Download the PDF here: www.gnosticmedia.com/txtfiles/TerenceMcKenna_CIA_FOIAresponse02.pdf

Michele Meeks 11 April 2013
Information and Privacy Coordinator,
c/o Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505
FAX: 703-613-3007

Dear Michele,
Thank you for your missive of March 26, 2013, denying to fulfill my additional request on R. Gordon Wasson, citing (b)(1) and (b)(3).

Recent documents that have come to light show that the CIA’s MKULTRA subproject 58 with R. Gordon Wasson was previously undisclosed in full view to the public, and that the resulting Life Magazine article of May 13, 1957, “Seeking the Magic Mushroom”, and also This Week Magazine’s “I Ate the Sacred Mushroom” of May 19, 1957, which the CIA essentially paid for, directly resulted in and was a major player in the launching of the entire psychedelic movement, or the so-called “psychedelic revolution”.

One letter in Subproject 58 mentions that Gordon Wasson was “unwitting” even though the documents show that J.P. Morgan Bank, where Wasson served as the Vice President of Propaganda, was the contractor for this operation. Subproject 58 was published by J.P. Morgan companies such as Henry Luce’s Life Magazine – directed by Henry P. Davison- Wasson’s direct boss at J.P. Morgan Bank, and also This Week Magazine, which was directed by Joseph P. Knapp of Morgan Guarantee Trust, which it is now clear that the CIA at very minimum funded these projects and launched the psychedelic movement itself. Therefore, all persons who were part of this movement were direct victims of the CIA’s MKULTRA Subproject 58.

Furthermore, other documents in Subproject 58 show that Wasson requested the money himself, and that James Moore did not approach Wasson regarding the $2000, as is the CIA’s official position.

I’ve already mentioned that Wasson had attempted to recruit Soviet Union Ambassador George Kennan to the CIA, and it is also evident that Wasson worked directly under DCI Dulles at both the CFR, and the Century Club. Furthermore, the Century has provided me a recording of Wasson presenting to banking and intelligence officers, as well as a list of former OSS officers who were members, making it clear that the club was a front group for the CIA and OSS.

Though the CIA has attempted to cover up Wasson’s letterhead and signature, and inserted the claim “unwitting”, from our own copies of these documents obtained elsewhere it’s clear that the address is 23 Wall street, New York 8 – J.P. Morgan, “The Corner”, and, along with forensic analysis of the typing, again shows that it was Wasson who requested the money directly, and that it was the CIA who funded this this entire program against all presently available historical record.

Therefore, it appears that the evidence reveals that the CIA maintains a concurrent and ongoing MKULTRA program against the law and against presidential order, and against its own statements of closing down and disclosing all related programs.

Because we are patriotic Americans, we want to make sure that our information on this matter is as accurate as possible as it may result in tens of thousands of additional lawsuits against the CIA and involved banking institutions in regard to MKULTRA. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that the CIA work with us and provide us everything as requested to expose this program once and for all. Inaccurate information could be disastrous for the Agency. We know that it is of great importance to the Agency to support historical research of this kind to make sure that everything is exactly accurate.

I must appeal your denial for information regarding R. Gordon Wasson as Wasson is key to revealing this concurrent and undisclosed operation to the public.

While your statements say that your search did not find any “responsive” records – you go on to state that “the CIA can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of records responsive to your request” which is contradicted by these other statements, below, and the fact that they’re classified (b)(1), and also (b)(3) “to protect from disclosure intelligence sources and methods, …” – the two grounds on which you rest your basis for denial of my requests. Classifying, as well as “protecting from disclosure intelligence sources and methods, as well as the organization, functions, names, official titles, salaries or numbers of personnel employed by the Agency” any documents or information that doesn’t exist is logically impossible. Therefore, these documents and information must exist.

I also note that the Agency chooses to use a vague equivocation of the word “responsive” which it uses classify or un-classify documentation it sees fit to [respond] with (or not) regarding public and historical research FOIA requests on MKULTRA and other mind control programs. The use of sophistry in the denials shows that the Agency is still unwilling to be honest regarding Project MKULTRA – and this is reason enough alone to appeal your denial.

Therefore, on the grounds of reason and logic, as well as to have an accurate historical record, I appeal the following denials to the Agency Release Panel under your care:

1) I appeal your 26 March 2013 decision on Gordon Wasson. You state that “a search for records that would reveal an openly acknowledged Agency affiliation existing up to and including the date the Agency started its search and did not locate any RESPONSIVE records”.

In the case above you point out that this is an openly acknowledged Agency affiliation, and therefore, if it’s openly acknowledged, there is no logical reason that the CIA would prevent the release of such documents, especially in light of the historical significance of this information and its possible relationship to concurrent MKULTRA or related operations – the ramifications of which, when revealed, would cause yet another national embarrassment for the CIA regarding the MKULTRA programs – now 40 years on, and is an obvious conflict of interest for the Agency to keep these documents classified.

If the openly acknowledged Agency affiliation is not that of the person(s) that I’m requesting information on – not the deceased, but is a currently active agent, then again, as you state, it’s openly acknowledged, and therefore is no reason for secrecy. However, my request deals with a person long ago deceased.

We all know that having maximum transparency is essential to insure that citizens select the best possible candidates and policies for our country. Unfortunately, sometimes our government officials have occulted information as leverage against others, including the American public; a practice which violates our rights and responsibilities as citizens as well as it’s a violation of natural law. This very issue, MKULTRA, and the release of all related documents, directly concerns this policy of violating the publics’ right to know – as well as performing illegal experiments on unwitting persons from the 1940s into the PRESENT. We must have accurate historical information to prevent such policies from being implemented again and to help those whom have been and continue to be victims of Project MKULTRA and its subprojects like 58.

Most importantly, in the 70s the CIA released about 17,000 documents relating to MKULTRA and its head and subprojects, and made a public statement that all of the MKULTRA projects and subprojects have been shut down. The work that we are doing, though taking a somewhat different direction, addresses the same topic and has the same historical significance.

It is of the greatest historical import that all documents be released in regard to all people that I have filed a FOIA request on – past and future – including and especially for R. Gordon Wasson. Doing so will help persuade me and numerous other researchers with whom I am involved that the CIA has in fact shut down ALL such operations and that there are no concurrent (head) projects or subprojects of any of this sort under way – as the evidence currently suggests there is. If, as we suspect, the Agency has not shut down and fully disclosed all operations to the public, then it is only in the Agency’s best interest to support this research in every way possible.

Denial of such documents and the continued classification thereof will serve only to increase public suspicion about the CIA and concurrent operations at a time when it is in the midst of great public scandal.

Releasing the information I am seeking will benefit not only historians and researchers but the Agency itself. It will also free the millions of people who’ve fallen victim to the CIA’s psychedelic revolution that is now clearly a result of Subproject 58, a.k.a. Life Magazine’s Seeking the Magic Mushroom, and also This Week Magazine’s “I ate the Sacred Mushroom”.

Therefore, I urge you to accept my appeal to the FOIA denial addressed above and to furthermore release all documents.

Sincerely,

Jan Richard Irvin
C/O: Gnostic Media
PO Box 3819
Crestline, CA 92325-3819

Online Brain investigation database:
Investigating Wasson Brain – MK-ULTRA and the launching the psychedelic and environmental movements

Download the Brain software (Windows/Mac/Linux):
www.thebrain.com

Download the entire Brain investigation database file (v. 2.9 – released April 14, 2013):
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/Wasson/InvestigatingWassonBrain_v.2.9.brainzip (238mb)

How to install and use the database: For use in the software version only (this version is the best, clearest representation of the database and the easiest to follow and research). This version must be IMPORTED into the Brain software after installation. Once the importation is complete, the software will attempt to ask you for a username and password to log into the server. Click “Do not connect to a server”. A window will pop up and ask “If you do not connect to a server, you will not be able to put your Brains online nor sync between computers. Are you sure you don’t want to connect?” Select the check-box “Always do this” and then click “Do Not Connect”. You will be brought to a window showing the available “Investigating Wasson Brain” – double click and you’re now in the database viewing the information.

How to view the information in the database:

Connections Above each data point are things that influence that data point: Such things can be parents, or organizations like the CIA, or fraternities, employers, etc. Below each data point are things that the data point created or influenced – such as children, books they authored, programs they started or directed, company’s they ran or directed, or people they had serious influence over, etc. To the far left are husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends and associates of each data point and leads to possibly related information or ideas. To the far right are 3rd hand investigative leads that are pulled up by the other related entries in the data base. On the bottom of the screen, if not minimized, will show citations: in the text box, as well links, videos, audio, books, and other information relating to that data point and how it relates to the others around it. Each citation should be studied. If you don’t find the citation there, check those directly around the center connection, and if that doesn’t provide the citations, usually a quick online search will be all you need to find the information to explain that connection. Sometimes it will require reading a book to get the exact information.

If you find an error, please contact us with the updated information and citations to show how that connection is wrong, or in the wrong place. Please do not contact us without already having your citations ready. Thank you.

This explosive audio clip that was just brought to my attention today by “Scott” reveals, in Terence McKenna’s own words, that he was in fact an agent.

The audio clip comes from Dec. 1994 from his lecture at the Esalen Institute, which may be found below in full.

As I wrote on August 28, 2012, in my article: How Darwin, Huxley, and the Esalen Institute launched the 2012 and psychedelic revolutions – and began one of the largest mind control operations in history. Some brief notes. (Here I’ve added most of the pertinent quotes from Mckenna’s True Hallucinations):

“…here is an interesting episode regarding McKenna being chased by Interpol and the FBI – from which no conclusion is ever mentioned. As Henk from Europe emailed me after this original article was published:

[Henk] In 1969, McKenna traveled to Nepal led by his “interest in Tibetan painting and hallucinogenic shamanism.”[6] 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.”

True Hallucinations, p. 22ff:

Late in August of 1969 fate turned me from hash smuggler to fugitive when one of my Bombay-to-Aspen shipments fell into the hands of U.S. Customs. I went underground and wandered throughout Southeast Asia and Indonesia, viewing ruins in the former and collecting butterflies in the later. Then came my time in Japan. Whether this gave me an edge on the others in experience seemed unlikely.

True Hallucinations page 166:

This decision to depart California (Henk:and return to the Amazon) was hailed by my circle in Berkeley. Concern for my mental state was rife among my friends, and rumor had reached us that the FBI was aware that I was somewhere back inside the country and had begun looking for me. The Bombay-to-Aspen hashish blues were catching up with me. It was, as they say, time to make a move.

True Hallucinations pg. 179

In February of 1970, a year before I arrived at La Chorrera, my fugitive wanderings had taken me to the island of Timor in Eastern Indonesia. Under indictment in the States for the heinous crime of importing hashish, I traveled and lived under the dramatic assumption that international police agencies were combing the globe looking for me. My cover, that of a graduate student in entomology doing field work for a degree—a butterfly collector—had worked well over the previous six months

True Hallucinations pg. 186

I swallowed hard. He didn’t look like the sort of person who would appreciate my stories of fighting the police at the Berkeley barricades shoulder-to-shoulder with affinity groups like the Persian Fuckers and the Acid Anarchists. Nor did my participation in the Human Be-In or the rolling orgies of the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury seem appropriate to mention. And my recent stint as a hashish smuggler in India and my subsequent move undercover to avoid capture by Interpol also seemed out of place in this particular interview.
I decided to go with the usual half-truth reserved for straight people. “I am an art historian turned biologist. I went to Nepal to study Tibetan but found that I am no linguist when it comes to Asian languages. I have returned to biology, my first love. Specifically, I am an entomologist.
I am collecting butterflies here in Indonesia retracing the route of Alfred Russell Wallace. Wallace was the real discoverer of the theory of natural selection, but Darwin got all the credit. I identify with his underdog status. Wallace was shafted by Victorian science because he was of the wrong class and didn’t know how to play politics the way Darwin did. Wallace explored the Amazon Basin as well and if all goes well, I hope to travel and collect there too. Eventually I will write a monograph on speciation among the butterflies of Amazonas and Eastern Indonesia, which will get me a degree. Then, who knows. Teaching perhaps. Hard to say.

[Henk] 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”.[6]

Note he fled to avoid capture by Interpol but then after a time he casually returns to Berkeley?

First of all, why would Terence friends hail the idea of him returning to the Amazon because they were concerned about his mental state while the cause of his mental state was his prior trip to the Amazon? That’s a contradiction. Why would Terence make up a reason to go back to the Amazon? Him being wanted by the FBI should be plenty reason I think.

Attempts to get an answer from Terence’s brother, Dennis, regarding the above episode have failed. It seems they want us to believe that Terence just went from being wanted by Interpol and the FBI to just casually lecturing about psychedelics. What happened in the interim? Someone must know the answer.”

We finally have the conclusion to what happened to Terence after the FBI had caught him:

Questioner: I’m real curious about one thing. Why is it important for you to do this?

Terence McKenna: I wonder myself. You mean am I the alien ambassador whether I like it or not? [laughs]. Well, often when asked this question, I’ve said it beats honest work. I mean, my brother is a PhD in three subjects and works in hard science and yet I don’t think it’s brought him immense happiness. Not that he’s despondent. But I was always kind of a slider. You know?

And certainly when I reached La Chorerra in 1971 I had a price on my head by the FBI, I was running out of money, I was at the end of my rope. And then THEY recruited me and said, “you know, with a mouth like yours there’s a place for you in our organization”. And I’ve worked in deep background positions about which the less said the better. And then about 15 years ago they shifted me into public relations and I’ve been there to the present.

I think ideas get me high. And I like the feeling of understanding and I love diversity to the point of weirdness.

Questioner: It seems that there’s more to it than that for you. Because, you know, being tuned in to ideas and turned on by ideas is one thing, but you can keep that just to self. The sharing of it is something else. I think that’s what we’re getting at. [??

Terence: well one thing is, I’m really fascinated… I think of myself as a pretty savvy person, and not easily led into false dogma…

 

The question remains: which agency did he work for? Was it the FBI, or the CIA? Since it was mostly the CIA doing the psychedelic studies on the masses, I think it’s likely that he was CIA and is why the Agency was blocking my requests for his files several months ago: http://www.gnosticmedia.com/urgent-release-the-cias-terence-mckenna-foia-request-response-positive-affiliation/

However, in Acid Dreams, Marty Lee, states (pg. 173):

It was a typical sixties scene: a group of scruffy, long-haired students stood in a circle passing joints and hash pipes. The setting could have been Berkeley, Ann Arbor or any other hip campus. But these students were actually FBI agents, and the school they attended was known as “Hoover University.” Located at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, this elite academy specialized in training G-men to penetrate left- wing organizations. To cultivate the proper counterculture image, they were told not to wash or bathe for several days before infiltrating a group of radicals. Refresher courses were also held for FBI agents who had successfully immersed themselves in the drug culture of their respective locales. For months they had smoked pot and dropped acid with unsuspecting radicals, and now the turned-on spies had a chance to swap stories with their undercover comrades. Former FBI agent Cril Payne likened the annual seminar to a class reunion. Between lectures on the New Left, drug abuse, and FBI procedure, the G-men would sneak away to the wooded grounds to get stoned while American taxpayers footed the bill.

So there is also the possibility that he was FBI.

Lastly, some have actually tried to claim that the mushrooms recruited McKenna (which is tantamount to saying that “God” told him to do it). To this we must apply some logical deduction and critical thinking:

1) Do mushrooms have organizations, deep background and public relations (propaganda)? Or does a spy agency?
2) What would mushrooms need with a public relations or propaganda department? Or is that something a spy agency would have?
3) Would mushrooms tell him the less said the better: “deep background positions about which the less said the better”, or is that something an agency would do?
4) Do mushrooms have “positions”? Or does an agency?
5) Are the mushrooms able to pay him because he’s out of money? Or is that something an agency could do? (remember he’s in trouble for smuggling)
6) Are mushrooms able to get him out of trouble with Interpol and the FBI for DRUG SMUGGLING? Or is that something an agency like the CIA or FBI could do?
7) Do mushrooms answer the story of what happened to him after his arrest? Or is that something that his employment as an agent would do?

The irony is that many don’t understand that someone who is in public relations, or propaganda, would use sophism to fool people who don’t understand logical fallacies and such manipulative tricks. Actually, that’s the entire point of propaganda in the first place.

When we understand that he was an agent, as he admits, then the contradictions are removed we don’t have to twist things into believing that magical mushroom beings or UFOs hired and paid him to work in their organization in public relations and deep background to the present – which he wasn’t allowed to discuss. These are things agencies do, not mushrooms or UFOs. Such a claim that the mushrooms recruited him is clearly ridiculous. The false claims of mushroom or aliens recruiting him is clearly a case of psychological cognitive dissonance and reaching for anything to avoid facing the facts which make one feel uncomfortable when they’re faced with new information that might reveal that they were fooled. Rather than dreaming up magical beings to avoid the facts and issues, just laugh it off and admit you were fooled by those people. This way the next time it’s less likely to happen to you again.

Hear the entire lecture here (See hours 4:21:50 – 4:24:05):

Hear only McKenna’s audio clip that is quoted above:

Entheogens: What’s in a Name?
The Untold History of Psychedelic Spirituality, Social Control, and the CIA

By Jan Irvin

November 11, 2014

O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

PDF version: Download latest version v3.5 - Nov. 20, 2014

Introduction

Today there are many names for drug substances that we commonly refer to as “hallucinogens,” “psychedelics,” “psychoactives,” or “entheogens,” et al. But it hasn’t always been that way. The study of the history and etymology of the words for these fascinating substances takes us, surprisingly, right into the heart of military intelligence, and what became the CIA’s infamous MKULTRA mind control program, and reveals how the names themselves were used in marketing these substances to the public, and especially to the youth and countercultures.[1]

The official history has it that the CIA personnel involved in MKULTRA were just dupes, kind of stupid, and, by their egregious errors, the psychedelic revolution “happened” – thwarting their efforts. The claim is that these substances “got out of the CIA’s control.” Words like “blowback” and “incompetence” are often tossed around in such theories regarding the CIA and military intelligence, but without much, if any, supporting evidence.

It’s almost impossible today to have a discussion regarding the actual documents and facts of MKULTRA and the psychedelic revolution without someone interrupting to “inform” you how “it really happened” – even though most often they have never studied anything on the subject.

As we get started, I would like to propose that we question this idea of blowback: Who does it benefit to believe that it was all an accident and that the CIA and military intelligence were just dupes? Does it benefit you, or them? It might be uncomfortable for a moment for some of us to admit that maybe they (the agents) weren’t so stupid, and maybe we were the ones duped. Sometimes the best medicine is to just admit “hey, you got me” and laugh it off. For those of you who’ve heard these blowback theories and haven’t considered the possibility that the CIA created these movements intentionally, this article may be challenging for you, but stick with it, as it will be worth your while.

Now we’re ready. Because, defenses aside, a more honest, and less biased, inquiry into the history and facts reveals, startlingly, something quite different from the popular myths. This paper reveals, for the first time, how the opposite of the official history is true, and that the CIA did, in fact, create the psychedelic revolution and countercultures – intentionally.

As I’ll show in this article, the goal had changed and they wanted a name that would help sell these substances to the masses as sources of spiritual enlightenment rather than insanity. In their book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, we see doctors Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert explain:

Of course, the drug dose does not produce the transcendent experience. It merely acts as a chemical key — it opens the mind, frees the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structures. The nature of the experience depends almost entirely on set and setting. Set denotes the preparation of the individual, including his personality structure and his mood at the time. Setting is physical — the weather, the room's atmosphere; social — feelings of persons present towards one another; and cultural — prevailing views as to what is real. It is for this reason that manuals or guide-books are necessary. Their purpose is to enable a person to understand the new realities of the expanded consciousness, to serve as road maps for new interior territories which modern science has made accessible.[2]
—Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Richard Alpert

But what was the purpose of all of this? They state “The nature of the experience depends almost entirely on set and setting.” As we’ll discover on this etymological trip, it was all about marketing – the CIA’s marketing – regarding set and setting. Sound like a “whacky conspiracy theory” yet? As we’ll soon discover, it’s not. The CIA’s MKULTRA program was very real, was exposed before Congress in the Rockefeller and Church Commissions, and was all over the news media in the 1970s. But that was 40 years ago and this is now. So why should we care? Because much of the program wasn’t revealed in the 1970s and persists to the present, and it affected just about everyone. It wasn’t limited to just a few thousand victims of the CIA’s secret human experiments. There were actually many more victims – millions more. You may have been one of them.

As we’ll see, this idea that the psychedelic revolution and counterculture were intentionally created affects most of us: the youth caught up in drug use, the parents, the anti-war movement, those involved in the psychedelic revolution or in politics; as well as artists, or people who use these substances for spirituality, or even anyone who’s ever spoken the word psychedelic. It affects us because, as we’ll see, that’s what it was meant to do.

In the early years of research into these drugs, psychology researchers and military intelligence communities sometimes called them, aside from “hallucinogen,” by the name "psychotomimetic" –which means psychosis mimicking. The word hallucinogen, “to generate hallucinations,” came just a few years before psychotomimetic. The same year that psychotomimetic was created we also saw the creation of the word “psychedelic” – which means “to manifest the mind.” The last stage of this etymological evolution, as we’ll see, was the word “entheogen” – which means “to generate god within.” We’ll return to hallucinogen and these other words in the course of our journey.

While these words may have told what these substances do in the intelligence community’s collective understanding, accurate or not, they are loaded with implications. Suggestibility, otherwise known as “set and setting,” is one of them. The study of the history of these words, their etymology, reveals how MKULTRA researchers covered up and kept covered up – until now that is – this aspect of the MKULTRA mind control program.

Psychotomimetic to psychedelic

In the 1950s most CIA candidates and agents were required to take psychedelic or hallucinogenic drugs to prepare them for chemical and biological warfare attack. This requirement didn't turn the agency into hippies. As this article will show, marketing and PR people that the Agency later hired created that end result.

19 November 1953

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

[…]

The Medical Office commented also on the draft memorandum to DCI from Director of Security, subject: “Project” Experimental Project Utilizing Trainee Volunteers; to the effect that it was recommended the program not be confined merely to male volunteer trainee personnel but that the field of selection be broadened to include all components of the Agency and recommended that the subject memorandum be changed as appropriate to the broadening of such scope. The “Project” committee verbally concurred in this recommendation. […][3]
~ CIA MKULTRA files

As Jay Stevens, author of Storming Heaven, reveals in the following quote, suggestibility plays a large part in the way psychedelic drugs work.

To drive someone crazy with LSD was no great accomplishment, particularly if you told the person he was taking a psychotomimetic and you gave it to him in one of those pastel hospital cells with a grim nurse standing by scribbling notes.[4]
~Jay Stevens

“Psychotomimetic” (psychosis mimicking) is a word loaded with implications, suggestibility being the most important.

This is something that Aldous Huxley, Dr. Timothy Leary, R. Gordon Wasson and others made clear in their books and articles. In order to “suggest” what the creators of the psychedelic revolution wanted, they had to pay particular attention to the name(s) used for these substances.

 What's in a name? ... Answer, practically everything.[5]
~ Aldous Huxley

However, for marketing and PR purposes, the word psychotomimetic was abandoned, or remarketed, not long after it was created in 1957.

But why is all of this important?

As Huxley just admitted above: “What's in a name? ... Answer, practically everything.”

Insanity, or psychosis mimicking, or even generating hallucinations, aren’t attractive terms and don’t work well for marketing purposes – or for the outcome of the “psychedelic” or, more importantly, the “entheogenic” experience.

Though this may sound implausible at first, the purpose of making these substances more attractive was to intentionally sell them, and not just to patients in hospital wards and to those in a chair with their therapists, but, especially, to the youth and countercultures of the world – a nefarious purpose indeed. Here Leary reflects on Arthur Koestler’s work regarding “juvenilization”:

From Koestler I learned about juvenilization, the theory that evolution occurs not in the adult (final form) of a species but in juveniles, larvals, adolescents, pre-adults. The practical conclusion: if you want to bring about mutations in a species, work with the young. Koestler’s teaching about paedomorphosis prepared me to understand the genetic implications of the 1960s youth movement and its rejection of the old culture.[6]
~ Timothy Leary

The understanding of suggestibility, or “set and setting,” including the name given these substances, is everything in how psychedelics work and were studied (and used) by the CIA for social control.

What could the name be replaced with? This was the problem set before those interested in remarketing these substances to the youth, counterculture and artists around the world. When discussing how to market these drugs with Humphry Osmond, Aldous Huxley remarked:

About a name for these drugs - what a problem![7]
~ Aldous Huxley

Over a couple decades this project would be undertaken by two different teams: Aldous Huxley, Humphry Osmond and Abram Hoffer; and the second, headed by Professor Carl A. P. Ruck of Boston University, included R. Gordon Wasson, and also Jonathan Ott, Jeremy Bigwood and Daniel Staples.

Some of us formed a committee under the Chairmanship of Carl Ruck to devise a new word for the potions that held Antiquity in awe. After trying out a number of words he came up with entheogen, ‘god generated within’, which his committee unanimously adopted[…].[8]
~ Gordon Wasson

And though they defend them, Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain reveal some of these remarketing tactics in Acid Dreams:

The scientist who directly oversaw this research project was Dr. Paul Hoch, an early advocate of the theory that LSD and other hallucinogens were essentially psychosis-producing drugs. In succeeding years Hoch performed a number of bizarre experiments for the army while also serving as a CIA consultant. Intraspinal injections of mescaline and LSD were administered to psychiatric patients, causing an "immediate, massive, and almost shocklike picture with higher doses."

Aftereffects ("generalized discomfort," "withdrawal," "oddness," and "unreality feelings") lingered for two to three days following the injections. Hoch, who later became New York State Commissioner for Mental Hygiene, also gave LSD to psychiatric patients and then lobotomized them in order to compare the effects of acid before and after psychosurgery. ("It is possible that a certain amount of brain damage is of therapeutic value," Hoch once stated.) In one experiment a hallucinogen was administered along with a local anesthetic and the subject was told to describe his visual experiences as surgeons removed chunks of his cerebral cortex.[9]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

In the following quote the authors reveal their bias in the situation, arguing for the spiritual aspects, while – in the same book – denying the psychosis aspects and that the psychedelic revolution was intentionally created by the CIA:

Many other researchers, however, dismissed transcendental insight as either "happy psychosis" or a lot of nonsense. The knee-jerk reaction on the part of the psychotomimetic stalwarts was indicative of a deeply ingrained prejudice against certain varieties of experience. In advanced industrial societies “paranormal" states of consciousness are readily disparaged as "abnormal" or pathological. Such attitudes, cultural as much as professional, played a crucial role in circumscribing the horizon of scientific investigation into hallucinogenic agents.[10]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

Here Lee and Shlain resort to name calling and ridicule, for example referring to “psychotomimetic stalwarts” and “deeply ingrained prejudice,” as the foundation of their argument rather than looking at the evidence itself – which sounds ironic in a book about the CIA using these same substances for mind control. And who were these “psychotomimetic stalwarts”? Was it only Dr. Hoch? As we’ll see, Lee and Shlain seem to also be referring to Aldous Huxley, Humphry Osmond, Albert Hofmann and Sasha Shulgin.

Lee and Shlain, while partially exposing MKULTRA, then promote the idea that the psychotomimetic theory was invalid. They continue:

Despite widespread acknowledgment that the model psychosis concept had outlived its usefulness, the psychiatric orientation articulated by those of Dr. Hoch's persuasion prevailed in the end. When it came time to lay down their hand, the medical establishment and the media both "mimicked" the line that for years had been secretly promoted by the CIA and the military—that hallucinogenic drugs were extremely dangerous because they drove people insane, and all this talk about creativity and personal growth was just a lot of hocus pocus. This perception of LSD governed the major policy decisions enacted by the FDA and the drug control apparatus in the years ahead.[11] [emphasis added] ~ Marty Lee and Bruce Shlain

Here we see the idea that the “psychosis concept had outlived its usefulness.” What does that mean exactly? It’s an ambiguous statement. Most assume it to mean that the substances didn’t actually create psychosis. But is that true? What if, instead, due to the above-mentioned suggestibility factor and “set and setting,” they decided to remarket these drugs as spiritual rather than psychotic? If we entertain this idea, we realize it could take just a new name to change not only everything about the outcome of the experience, but how quickly the youth and counterculture would adopt them. We’ll expand on this idea throughout this article.

On a side note, it should probably be mentioned that it was actually Timothy Leary and Arthur Kleps who went (along with Walter Bowart and Allen Ginsberg) before Congress in 1966 recommending regulation. You can’t have a good youthful rebellion with legal substances!

Senator Dodd. Don't you think that the drug needs to be put under control and restriction?

Dr. LEARY. Pardon, sir.

Senator Dodd. Let me rephrase my question. Don’t you feel that LSD should be put under some control, or restriction as to its use?

Dr. LEARY. Yes, sir.

Senator Dodd. As to its sale, its possession, and its use?

Dr.   LEARY. I definitely do. In the first place, I think that the 1965 Drug Control Act, which this committee, I understand, sponsored, is the high water mark in such legislation.

[…]

Dr. Leary. Yes, sir. I agree completely with your bill, the 1965 Drug Control Act. I think this is---

Senator Dodd. That the Federal Government and the State governments ought to control it?

Dr. Leary. Exactly. I am in 100 percent agreement with the 1965 drug control bill.

Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts. So there shouldn’t be---

Dr. Leary. I wish the States, I might add, would follow the wisdom of this committee and the Senate and Congress of the United States and follow your lead with exactly that kind of legislation.

Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts. So there should not be indiscriminate distribution of this drug should there?

Dr. Leary. I have never suggested that, sir. I have never urged anyone to take LSD. I have always deplored indiscriminate or unprepared use.[12]

As the University of Richmond website relates:

Leary was one of many experts who testified at the 1966 subcommittee hearings, which showed both ardent support and uncompromising opposition to LSD.[…] Just several months after the subcommittee hearings, LSD was banned in California. By October 1968, possession of LSD was banned federally in the United States with the passage of the Staggers-Dodd Bill, marking a tremendous step towards the “War On Drugs” campaign that would arise in the 1970s.[13]

But who within the CIA had promoted this term “psychotomimetic”?

For a moment, let’s turn to the Oxford English Dictionary, where, under the definition of psychotomimetic, it states:

psychotomimetic, a. and n.

[Orig. formed as psychosomimetic, f. psychos(is + -o + mimetic a., and later altered to match psychotic a.]

A.A adj. Having an effect on the mind orig. likened to that of a psychotic state, with abnormal changes in thought, perception, and mood and a subjective feeling of an expansion of consciousness; of or pertaining to a drug with this effect.[14]

Under the quotations in the OED for psychotomimetic, we further see that R. W. Gerard is listed for 1955, and the second entry for 1957 is from Dr. Humphry Osmond:

1956 R. W. Gerard in Neuropharmacology: Trans. 2nd Conf., 1955 132 Let us at least agree to speak of ‘so-called’ psychoses when we are dealing with them in animals.‥ Along that same line, I have liked a term which I have been using lately—‘psychosomimetic’—for these agents instead of ‘schizophrenogenic’.    1957 Neuropharmacology: Trans. 3rd Conf., 1956 205 (heading) Effects of psychosomimetic drugs in animals and man.    1957 H. Osmond in Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. LXVI. 417 The designation ‘psychotomimetic agents’ for those drugs that mimic some of the mental aberrations that occur in the psychoses had been suggested by Ralph Gerard and seemed especially appropriate.[15] [emphasis added]

If we read the OED entry carefully, what we see above is that Gerard actually used the term “psychosomimetic” – with an “s”, rather than “psychotomimetic” with a “t.” In fact, it appears from the OED that it was Osmond himself who was first to begin using the term psychotomimetic, which was also adopted by the CIA and military for their purposes. This same Osmond, as we’ll soon discover, just months later created the name psychedelic for these substances. Notice that Osmond states “The designation ‘psychotomimetic agents’ […] seemed especially appropriate.” That Osmond created the word psychotomimetic is a fact that Lee and Shlain seem to want to avoid.

In another interesting quote in the OED from 1970, we see none other than Sasha Shulgin referring to ibogaine as a psychotomimetic:

1970 A. T. Shulgin in D. H. Efron Psychotomimetic Drugs 25 Ibogaine‥is another example in the family of psychotomimetics, with complex structures and no resemblance to known metabolic materials.[16]

Was this a slip by authors Lee and Shlain revealing that Osmond and Shulgin were CIA?

It is true, in fact, that both worked for the government. While Shulgin worked for the DEA, he was also a member of the infamous Bohemian Club[17]; and as we'll see below, Osmond is revealed in the CIA’s MKULTRA documents.[18] But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll come back to this shortly.

In 1954, pre-dating the OED’s reference to Huxley’s close friend Humphry Osmond, in The Doors of Perception Huxley stated:

Most takers of mescalin [sic] experience only the heavenly part of schizophrenia. The drug brings hell and purgatory only to those who have had a recent case of jaundice, or who suffer from periodical depressions or chronic anxiety.[19]
~ Aldous Huxley

He continued:

The schizophrenic is a soul not merely unregenerate, but desperately sick into the bargain. His sickness consists in the inability to take refuge from inner and outer reality (as the sane person habitually does) in the homemade universe of common sense—the strictly human world of useful notions, shared symbols and socially acceptable conventions. The schizophrenic is like a man permanently under the influence of mescaline…[20]
~ Aldous Huxley

In Heaven and Hell Huxley went on:

Many schizophrenics have their times of heavenly happiness; but the fact that (unlike the mascalin [sic] taker) they do not know when, if ever, they will be permitted to return to the reassuring banality of everyday experience causes even heaven to seem appalling.[21]
~ Aldous Huxley

In their letters, Aldous Huxley and Humphry Osmond were very concerned over what to call these substances, but why should the public have cared what these two people wanted to call them? They were still mostly secret at this time and hardly anyone knew about them – except through marketing efforts and publications. Furthermore, why were Huxley and Osmond so concerned, and why would it be a problem, unless there were an ulterior motive?

The issue here is a Bernaysian/Koestler-type marketing strategy. With a word like “psychotomimetic” these substances would have never taken hold in the youth and countercultures. It was fine for underground LSD and other studies by the intelligence community, but for the new purpose, they’d need a new name. From Huxley’s letters in a book titled Moksha, we find:

740 North Kings Road,
Los Angeles 46, Cal.
30 March, 1956

Dear Humphry,

Thank you for your letter, which I shall answer only briefly, since I look forward to talking to you at length in New York before very long. About a name for these drugs - what a problem! I have looked into Liddell and Scott and find that there is a verb phaneroein, "to make visible or manifest," and an adjective phaneros, meaning "manifest, open to sight, evident." The word is used in botany - phanerogam as opposed to cryptogam. Psychodetic (4)   is something I don't quite get the hang of it. Is it an analogue of geodetic, geodesy? If so, it would mean mind-dividing, as geodesy means earth-dividing, from ge and daiein. Could you call these drugs psychophans? or phaneropsychic drugs? Or what about phanerothymes? Thymos means soul, in its primary usage, and is the equivalent of Latin animus. The   word is euphonious and easy to pronounce; besides it has relatives in the jargon of psychology-e.g.   cyclothyme. On   the whole I think this is better than psychophan or phaneropsychic. […]

Yours, Aldous

[Phanerothyme-substantive. Phanerothymic-adjective.]

"To make this trivial world sublime,

Take half a gram of phanerothyme.”

(4) Osmond had mentioned psychedelics, as a new name for mind-changing drugs to replace the term psychotomimetics. Huxley apparently misread the word as "psychodetics," hence his mystification. Osmond   replied: "To fathom Hell or soar angelic, Just take a pinch of psychedelic.”

Huxley still did not get the spelling, which he made psychodelic [Smith's note]. Huxley invariably uses psychodelic for psychedelic, as he and others thought the latter term incorrect. Huxley's spelling has been retained, as this was undoubtedly his preference. However, it fails one criterion of Osmond, which is that the term be "uncontaminated by other associations."[22] [emphasis added]

Why was it important to meet the criterion for the new word to be “uncontaminated by other associations”? They don’t say, but we can surmise that it’s because of this remarketing strategy and they needed to be careful of the term chosen. The word “psychodelic” contains “psycho,” but ‘psycho’ carries negative associations. This explains why “psychedelic” is the only word in the English language to use “psyche” rather than “psycho” – the criterion it failed was complete avoidance of any name that could imply a negative experience. Lee and Shlain in Acid Dreams give their version of the story thus:

The two men had been close friends ever since Huxley's initial mescaline experience, and they carried on a lively correspondence. At first Huxley proposed the word phanerothyme, which derived from roots relating to "spirit" or "soul." A letter to Osmond included the following couplet:

To make this trivial world sublime,

Take half a Gramme of phanerothyme.

To which Osmond responded:

To fathom hell or soar angelic

Just take a pinch of psychedelic.

And so it came to pass that the word psychedelic was coined. Osmond introduced it to the psychiatric establishment in 1957. Addressing a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences, he argued that hallucinogenic drugs did "much more" than mimic psychosis, and therefore an appropriate name must "include concepts of enriching the mind and enlarging the vision." He suggested a neutral term to replace psychotomimetic, and his choice was certainly vague enough. Literally translated, psychedelic means "mind-manifesting," implying that drugs of this category do not produce a predictable sequence of events but bring to the fore whatever is latent within the unconscious. Accordingly Osmond recognized that LSD could be a valuable tool for psychotherapy. This notion represented a marked departure from the military-medical paradigm, which held that every LSD experience was automatically an experimental psychosis.[23]
~ Marty Lee & Bruce Shlain

It’s ironic that they claimed the term psychedelic, for “mind manifesting” is “neutral.” A more appropriate word to describe it would be “ambiguous.” But notice that it’s gone from “mimicking psychosis” to “manifesting the mind.” And just months earlier Osmond was promoting the word psychotomimetic, which he said “seemed especially appropriate.” Here Lee and Shlain admit that Albert Hofmann was involved with this public relations scheme:

Dr. Albert Hofmann, the chemist who discovered LSD, thought Osmond's choice appropriate, for it "corresponds better to the effects of these drugs than hallucinogenic or psychotomimetic." The model psychosis concept was further called into question by published reports demonstrating that in many ways the comparison between naturally occurring and LSD-induced psychosis was facile. During the mid-1950s, researchers John MacDonald and James Galvin pointed out that schizophrenics did not experience the wealth of visual hallucinations common with LSD and mescaline but were prone to auditory aberrations, unlike drug subjects.

Oddly enough, true schizophrenics hardly reacted to LSD unless given massive doses.

As the psychotomimetic paradigm began to weaken, the focus shifted toward investigating the therapeutic potential of LSD. [24]
~ Marty Lee & Bruce Shlain

So weakened was the “psychotomimetic paradigm,” that in 1968 Hofmann decided to use the word anyway and published his essay ‘Psychotomimetic agents’.[25]

I think a possible explanation is that after the CIA did their MKULTRA LSD tests on the French village of Pont Saint Esprit, they realized that their application methods weren’t effective[26], so they had to come up with a way to get youngsters to self-administer the drugs. What they called them to each other, and to the public, as we’ll see more of, were very different things.

Aldous Huxley, an MKULTRA architect for the CIA with ties to British MI6, came up with the unmarketable term "phanerothyme" or “soul-manifester” - which fell on deaf ears. But here we begin to see where they intended to direct their public relations remarketing campaign. Wasson et al., under the leadership of Prof. Carl Ruck, in their 1979 article on this very subject, mentioned that the word actually meant “a drug which made intense emotions manifest,” also relating it to “organ of passion, temper and anger.”[27]

From there they remarketed these substances – they renamed them. At Osmond’s suggestion they changed the name again from psychotomimetic to psychedelic (properly psychOdelic) - “to manifest the mind.” Dr. Osmond was a close friend of Aldous Huxley and his personal doctor and another with many MKULTRA and CIA / MI6 ties. But notice “to manifest the mind” – the question of to whom it manifests is left open, or ambiguous. Does this mean manifest to the CIA’s doctors? To the patient/victim? Of course the latter was the intended target of the marketing. And today we know that hundreds of drugs were created out of the CIA’s MKULTRA studies.

In The Man Who Turned On The World, Michael Hollingshead, one of Leary’s students at Harvard, who also worked with him at Millbrook and helped the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, admitted:

From what I had heard in letters and conversations, the psychedelic movement in England was small and badly informed. It appeared that those who took LSD did so as a consciously defiant antiauthoritarian gesture. The spiritual content of the psychedelic experience was being overlooked.[28]
~ Michael Hollingshead

How could it be that the spiritual content was being overlooked? How could everyone in a country like England just overlook the drug’s spirituality and be “badly informed”? If they were as spiritual as claimed, wouldn’t this fact be self-evident? But instead, Leary gave Hollingshead “marching orders” to get back to London to set things straight – to give them the new suggestibility and “set and setting”:

Tim came to see me on the day of my departure. He was going to join me in London in January 1966, which gave me three months to set the scene for his arrival. The idea was to rent the Albert Hall, or 'Alpert Hall' as Tim called it, for a psychedelic jamboree. We would get the Beatles or the Stones to perform, invite other artists, and, as the climax of the evening, introduce Tim as the High Priest.

Taking a piece of paper from his pocket Tim said, 'These are your marching orders, your instructions.'

What they were I don't know because he decided to scrap them and took a clean sheet of paper and wrote the following on it:
'HOLLINGSHEAD EXPEDITION TO LONDON 1965-66

Purpose: SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

To introduce to London the interpretation and applications and methods developed by and

learned by Michael Hollingshead.

A YOGA-OF-EXPRESSION BY MH.
 Plan

No specific programme of expression can be specified in advance. The Yoga may include

1. Tranart* gallery-bookstore.
2. Weekly psychedelic reviews—lectures—questions and answers—Tranart demonstrations.

3. Radio—TV—newspaper—magazine educational programme.
4. Centre for running LSD session.'

Thus it was I arrived in London in the fall of 1965, with several hundred copies of The Tibetan Book of the Dead and thirteen cartons of the Psychedelic Review on their way.[29]
~ Michael Hollingshead

Of course every Harvard student of psychedelics had access to bands like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, and especially to radio, TV, newspapers and magazines – in England, right? This, in my mind, raises questions if those who worked in the Harvard Social Relations Department had possible connections to, not only U.S. intelligence, but also British. We know that at least several in the department, including Dr. Henry A. Murray, Dr. Thomas Chiu, Dr. B.F. Skinner, and Dr. George Estabrooks, were involved in the CIA’s MKULTRA program. Others in this same department at Harvard doing similar work at that time, who also appear to have been MKULTRA researchers, include Dr. Timothy Leary, Dr. Ralph Metzner, Richard Price, Dr. James Fadiman, and one of MKULTRA’s most famous victims – Dr. Theodore Kaczynski, who, in retaliation to their experiments on him, became the infamous Unabomber - and tried to blow the others to smithereens.

I thought for a bit about the ideas of the religious experience with LSD and thought it might be a good idea for us to go back to Albert Hofmann and check the description of his first experience. Does he mention religion or spirituality? This is the official version of the story:

Last Friday, April 16, 1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.[30]
~ Albert Hofmann

Well, there’s nothing there. Let’s check the second instance of Hofmann’s LSD experiences:

4/19/43 16:20: 0.5 cc of 1/2 promil aqueous solution of diethylamide tartrate orally = 0.25 mg tartrate.
Taken diluted with about 10 cc water. Tasteless.

17:00: Beginning dizziness, feeling of anxiety, visual distortions, symptoms of paralysis, desire to laugh.

Supplement of 4/21: Home by bicycle. From 18:00- ca.20:00 most severe crisis. (See special report.)[31]
~ Albert Hofmann

“Severe crisis” - does that sound like a spiritual experience to you? Though I’m no psychiatrist, it doesn’t to me. In fact, from Hofmann’s description, “visual distortions” could be interpreted as, say, hallucinations; and a “severe crisis” might look somewhat like a mimicked psychosis. Maybe Hofmann was just “badly informed” as the British later were? Ok, now for the “bicycle day” story:

In spite of my delirious, bewildered condition, I had brief periods of clear and effective thinking—and chose milk as a nonspecific antidote for poisoning.
~Albert Hofmann

Delirious, bewildered, and poisoning. Does that sound spiritual? Hofmann continues:

The dizziness and sensation of fainting became so strong at times that I could no longer hold myself erect, and had to lie down on a sofa. My surroundings had now transformed themselves in more terrifying ways. Everything in the room spun around, and the familiar objects and pieces of furniture assumed grotesque, threatening forms. They were in continuous motion, animated, as if driven by an inner restlessness. The lady next door, whom I scarcely recognized, brought me milk - in the course of the evening I drank more than two liters. She was no longer Mrs. R., but rather a malevolent, insidious witch with a colored mask.

Even worse than these demonic transformations of the outer world, were the alterations that I perceived in myself, in my inner being. Every exertion of my will, every attempt to put an end to the disintegration of the outer world and the dissolution of my ego, seemed to be wasted effort. A demon had invaded me, had taken possession of my body, mind, and soul. I jumped up and screamed, trying to free myself from him, but then sank down again and lay helpless on the sofa. The substance, with which I had wanted to experiment, had vanquished me. It was the demon that scornfully triumphed over my will. I was seized by the dreadful fear of going insane. I was taken to another world, another place, another time. My body seemed to be without sensation, lifeless, strange. Was I dying? Was this the transition? At times I believed myself to be outside my body, and then perceived clearly, as an outside observer, the complete tragedy of my situation. […] My fear and despair intensified, not only because a young family should lose its father, but also because I dreaded leaving my chemical research work, which meant so much to me, unfinished in the midst of fruitful, promising development. […]

Late in the evening my wife returned from Lucerne. Someone had informed her by telephone that I was suffering a mysterious breakdown. She had returned home at once, leaving the children behind with her parents. By now, I had recovered myself sufficiently to tell her what had happened.[32]

Dizziness, fainting, surroundings transformed in terrifying ways, the room spun, furniture assumed grotesque, threatening forms, restlessness, a witch, demonic transformations, alterations in perception, a demon had invaded, fear of going insane, the question of dying, intensification of fear and despair, and breakdown. These are all terms that Hofmann used to describe his experience. These descriptions sound exactly like hallucinations and having a mimicked psychotic reaction – much more than a nightmare. Demonic possession, however, could be interpreted as “spiritual” by mental health professionals since these people would see demons, or so-called “spirits,” but I don’t think it’s the type of “spiritual experience” to which is normally referred. Interestingly enough, on the next page Hofmann, as if to anticipate someone figuring out their marketing scheme in the future, claims:

I failed, moreover, to recognize the meaningful connection between LSD inebriation and spontaneous visionary experience until much later, after further experiments, which were carried out with far lower doses and under different conditions.[33]
~Albert Hofmann

He admits that he doesn’t recognize the meaningful connection to LSD and spontaneous visionary experience until much later, though claims this was after further experiments. That’s because this idea had to be marketed, or suggested (as his continued use of the word psychotomimetic in 1968, above, reveals). This is also known as “seeding.” And as will be shown below, Dr. Louis Jolyon West showed drugs as a system of control – but youth don’t take “psychotomimetics” in order to be controlled by them. And as it just so happens, Hofmann’s book, translated by Jonathan Ott (he’s part of marketing team 2), was published in 1979. 1979 must have been an important year. We’ll return to it, and Ott, shortly.

Ironically, Gordon Wasson later accused Huxley, Osmond and Hoffer:

In Antiquity people spoke of the Mystery of Eleusis, of the Orphic Mysteries, and of many others. These all concealed a secret, a ‘Mystery’. But we can no longer use ‘Mystery’, which has latched on to itself other meanings, and we all know the uses and misuses of this word today. Moreover, we need a word that applies to the potions taken in the antique Mysteries, now that at last we are learning what they were. ‘Hallucinogen’ and ‘psychedelic’ have circulated comfortably among the Tim Learys and their ilk, and uncomfortably among others including me for want of a suitable word: ‘hallucinogen’ is patently a misnomer, as a lie is of the essence of ‘hallucinogen’, and ‘psychedelic’ is a barbarous formation. No one who respects the ancient Mysteries of Eleusis, the Soma of the Aryans, and the fungal and other potions of the American natives, no one who respects the English language, would consent to apply ‘hallucinogen’ to these plant substances.[34]
~ Gordon Wasson

Apparently, as we saw above, Wasson is saying that Osmond and Hoffer don’t respect the English language, and that Huxley’s and Osmond’s word “psychedelic” is a “barbarous formation,” and likens them to “the Tim Learys and their ilk.” I wonder why Wasson never discusses entertaining Leary at his home?

In a moment we were heading uptown to Gordon Wasson’s apartment. On the way Tim told me that Wasson had graduated from Columbia’s School of Journalism, then worked for newspapers as a financial writer, and in the thirties was hired by the J.P. Morgan Company. “Sandoz was a client. That’s how Mr. Wasson became a director,” Tim concluded the biographical information, then hurried on. “I keep him posted on everything. I want his guidance on what to do next. Sandoz has invested a lot of money in psilocybin research without getting penny back. Of course, Mr. Wasson’s more aware of this than anyone. He’s a banker. […]”[35]
~ B.H. Friedman in a discussion with Timothy Leary

So Wasson was actually a director of Sandoz via his ties to JP Morgan. And then Leary reveals “I keep him posted on everything.” So then Wasson, who, as it turns out, headed up the CIA’s MKULTRA Subproject 58 program with JP Morgan Bank[36] - for which he was the vice president of propaganda - and knew and also worked with Aldous Huxley via the CIA’s front organization The Century Club,[37]^{, [38]} (their librarian sent me Friedman’s citation – who was also a member) was being kept posted on “everything” regarding Leary’s Harvard studies. We’re always given the illusion that Wasson hated Leary, that Leary was the CIA’s guy turned bad, etc. But in actuality, as we can see, Leary was working closely with Wasson and, as we’ll reveal in a moment, Huxley. If Leary was keeping the CIA informed of his actions and working with them on how to create a “psychedelic revolution,” as it appears, then it changes everything regarding our perception of the historical events as related by the official history.

Anyway, I don’t want to digress too far. I should point out here that I had my first “religious experience” with psychedelics or “entheogens” on the very night that I had met Timothy Leary and Dennis McKenna – on April 28, 1993, after the “Gathering of the Minds” convention at Chapman University in Orange County, California. It is possible that it was at this conference where these ideas were subsequently “suggested” to me during Leary’s lecture. I had taken “psychedelic” substances many times prior to this particular night without ever having had a “spiritual” experience.

The idea here is that until the idea is “suggested” or “seeded” into the person’s consciousness they’re unaware of it. But by planting or “seeding” the ideas, these psychologists were then able to direct people’s experiences to the conclusions that they wanted. In other words, using reframing, they label your experience, tell you what it means - and you remain in their box. Here Leary and Dr. Oscar Janiger are bragging about this fact:

A Conversation on LSD, 1979

Leary: Yes, right right. Yeah. And, uh, Ivan. Uh, of course…uh, then, there of course, was part [break in audio – mic muffled] coolness of the Los Angele [break in audio – mic muffled]s, uh, [break in audio – mic muffled] cell, whatever you want to call it. But they kept a, you kept a, uh…

Sydney Cohen: Would you mind not calling it a cell? Let's call it a cluster!

Leary: All right. [Room laughs] Our undercover agents in Los Angeles were very cool about, uh, and yet they did more in a very laid-back way, uh, and it's every bit as public as some of the other, you know, the buses running around the country [Ken Kesey and the Merry pranksters – here identified as undercover agents]….

Janiger: Yeah, and then Zinnberg says that the visionary experience, and all of the things he was doing at Harvard, and the others, his residence, and the rest he was giving LSD to, they never had a visionary, or ecstatic, or mystic experience. That the whole thing was a California invention, he said.

Leary: Wonderful! They're right!

Janiger: The only time it happened, was when you cross the Colorado River.[39]

Osmond was also at the same reunion (A Conversation on LSD, 1979), where Leary admitted he and the others were agents – and as we’ll see shortly, Osmond also worked on MKULTRA. From The Letters of Aldous Huxley and Moksha, Leary’s Flashbacks, and A Conversation on LSD, we may flush out the clues that Huxley and Osmond actually went to Cambridge (Harvard University is located in Cambridge, MA) and hired Tim Leary for the CIA:

Humphry Osmond: Remember the first time we met, which was in Cambridge? On the night of the Kennedy election.

Tim Leary: 1960.

Osmond: 1960. We went out to this place. And Timothy then was wearing his gray flannel suit and his crew cut. And we had this very interesting discussion with him. And when we went… and I don’t think I told you this, Timothy. But the night we went we both said “what a nice fellow he is”. He says “he’s a very nice man”, and Aldous said “it’s very very nice to think that this is what’s going to be done at Harvard”. He said “it would be so good for it”. And then I said to him, “I think he’s a nice fellow too. But don’t you think he’s just a little bit square?” [laughter – no mention of “too square for what?”] Aldous said “you may be right”, he said “but after all isn’t that what we want?” [laughter]

Timothy, when I’m discussing the need for understanding human temperament this is the story I tell. Because I said, yeah Aldous and I were deeply interested in the nature of human temperament and we meet someone who – I think that was probably the least satisfactory description of you ever made, Timothy. I think even your greatest enemies would never make that description. And we made it. We were very very concerned because we held that perhaps you were a bit too unadventurous. [for what?] You see what insights we had.

Al Hubbard: Well, you sure as heck contributed your part, but uh... [8:26][40]
– A Conversation on LSD – 1979.

So Leary was hired or recruited to popularize the newly named “psychedelic drugs.” Popularizing led, seemingly intentionally, to “stigmatizing” the word psychedelic and the drugs and resulted in their outlaw. But as was noted above, in reality Leary was of those who went before Congress recommending regulation in 1966. Why else would they have asked Leary to do this? Rebellious teenagers don't normally retaliate with legal drugs – especially ones named psychotomimetics. Obviously Leary could not have done this job before the drugs were renamed. If these substances were still called “psychotomimetic,” his efforts would have been wasted.

It is also a little-known fact that a close friend of Leary’s, MKULTRA author and researcher Walter Bowart (Operation Mind Control, 1978), as previously mentioned, went with Leary and Kleps before Congress recommending the regulation of LSD and these substances in 1966. Though Bowart’s testimony was definitely the most balanced of all their testimonies, and though they weren’t asked on the record, none of them admit in the hearings that they were all pals – which gives the impression that each of their testimonies was planned and rehearsed.

Bowart’s wife was none other than Peggy Mellon Hitchcock of the Mellon banking and Gulf Oil empires, and Peggy and her famous brother Billy provided the Millbrook Mansion, funded IFIF (International Federation for Internal Freedom), and also the Grateful Dead’s first album. It was Leary who introduced Walter to Peggy. Of course this direct connection from Bowart and his in-laws to the promotion of psychedelic drugs, and his going before Congress with Leary et al., is entirely omitted from his book. The following quote from the CIA’s own MKULTRA researcher, Dr. Louis Jolyon West, who was also a friend of Aldous Huxley, makes clear this agenda:

The role of drugs in the exercise of political control is also coming under increasing discussion. Control can be through prohibition or supply. The total or even partial prohibition of drugs gives the government considerable leverage for other types of control. An example would be the selective application of drug laws permitting immediate search, or “no knock” entry, against selected components of the population such as members of certain minority groups or political organizations.

But a government could also supply drugs to help control a population. This method, foreseen by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World (1932), has the governing element employing drugs selectively to manipulate the governed in various ways.

To a large extent the numerous rural and urban communes, which provide great freedom for private drug use and where hallucinogens are widely used today, are actually subsidized by our society. Their perpetuation is aided by parental or other family remittances, welfare, and unemployment payments, and benign neglect by the police. In fact, it may be more convenient and perhaps even more economical to keep the growing numbers of chronic drug users (especially of the hallucinogens) fairly isolated and also out of the labor market, with its millions of unemployed. To society, the communards with their hallucinogenic drugs are probably less bothersome–and less expensive–if they are living apart, than if they are engaging in alternative modes of expressing their alienation, such as active, organized, vigorous political protest and dissent. […] The hallucinogens presently comprise a moderate but significant portion of the total drug problem in Western society. The foregoing may provide a certain frame of reference against which not only the social but also the clinical problems created by these drugs can be considered.[41]
~ Louis Jolyon West

Marlene de Rios, one of the only early ethnobotanists to be seemingly forthcoming with these facts, states:

Plant hallucinogens appear to have been used by regional religious and political leaders for control of political, psychological, and social arenas using the power made possible in drug-induced altered states.[42]
~ Marlene Dobkin de Rios

More to this story can be found in Letters of Aldous Huxley[43] and in Huxley’s Moksha, edited by Michael Horowitz. These books of Huxley’s personal letters contain additional evidence that he and Osmond went to Cambridge and interviewed Leary for the position, as well as their involvement with key MKULTRA researchers. We also find more information about their marketing of these substances:

1960

Huxley and Osmond visited Dr. Timothy Leary at Harvard, where the Psychedelic Research Project had gotten underway. Here is Leary’s account of his impressions of Huxley upon the occasion of their first meetings in Cambridge.[44]
~ Michael Horowitz

We talked about how to study and use the consciousness-expanding drugs and we clicked along agreeably on the do's and the not-to-do's. We would avoid the behaviorist approach to others' awareness. Avoid labeling or depersonalizing the subject. We should not impose our own jargon or our own experimental games on others. We were not out to discover new laws, which is to say, to discover the redundant implications of our own premises. We were not to be limited by the pathological point of view. We were not to interpret ecstasy as mania, or calm serenity as catatonia; we were not to diagnose Buddha as a detached schizoid; nor Christ   as an exhibitionistic masochist; nor the mystic experience as a symptom; nor the visionary state as a model psychosis. Aldous Huxley chuckling away with compassionate humor at human folly.

And with such erudition! Moving back and forth in history, quoting the mystics. Wordsworth. Plotinus. The Areopagite. William James.[45]
~ Timothy Leary

Notice that Leary named Harvard’s “Psychedelic Research Project” after Osmond’s newly created term. Though Osmond coined the word in 1957, in 1960 Leary at Harvard had already made full use of it. In fact, the Psychedelic Research Project would eventually recruit more than 40 Harvard doctors and hundreds of students. Leary had already been testing this new word – and he was successful.

Also of note is that they claimed they should not impose their own jargon, while making up jargon to convey that it was a spiritual experience, as they did when they changed the name to psychedelic, forcing it one way rather than the other. Due to the suggestibility factor, they wanted to use jargon that sounded spiritual rather than psychotic – it’s just marketing. Spiritual was something they could market. They continued:

“Dope ... Murugan was telling me about the fungi that are used here as a source of dope.”

“What's in a name? ... Answer, practically everything. Murugun calls it dope and feels about it all the disapproval that, by conditioned reflex, the dirty word evokes. We on the contrary, give the stuff good names - the moksha medicine, the reality revealer, the truth-and­beauty pill. And we know, by direct experience, that the good names are deserved. Whereas our young friend here has no firsthand knowledge of the stuff and can't be persuaded even to give it a try. For him it's dope and dope is something that, by definition, no decent person ever indulges in.” […]

During the weeks of October and November of 1960 there were many meetings to plan the research. Aldous Huxley would come and listen and then close his eyes and detach himself from the scene and go into his controlled meditation trance, which was unnerving to some of the Harvard people who equate consciousness with talk, and then he would open his eyes and make a diamond-pure comment. ...[46]
~ Timothy Leary quoting Aldous Huxley

Here we see Huxley involved in the research at Harvard’s Psychedelic Research Project and helping to guide it, while he’s there recruiting Leary, and this is long before the public had ever heard of MKULTRA. Huxley was the first to sell this idea of soma rewards in his book Brave New World. Later, Wasson, who wrote the book Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality to suggest that the Amanita muscaria mushroom is Soma of the Rig Veda, was to participate in the next team to remarket psychedelics again. Here Marty Lee and Bruce Shlain reveal the underlying agenda at Harvard:

Whereas Huxley had suggested turning on opinion leaders, Ginsberg, the quintessential egalitarian, wanted everyone to have the opportunity to take mind- expanding drugs. His plan was to tell everything, to disseminate as much information as possible. The time was ripe to launch a psychedelic crusade—and what better place to start than Harvard University, the alma mater of president-elect John F. Kennedy? Leary seemed ideally suited to lead such a campaign. A respected academic, he had short hair, wore button-down shirts, and took his role as a scientist quite seriously. How ironic, Ginsberg noted, "that the very technology stereotyping our consciousness and desensitizing our perceptions should throw up its own antidote …. Given such historic Comedy, who should emerge from Harvard University but the one and only Dr. Leary, a respectable human being, a worldly man faced with the task of a Messiah.[47] [emphasis added] ~ Marty Lee & Bruce Shlain

The Macy conferences, including the Control of the Mind conferences, were CIA research projects. Here we see Huxley openly discussing the meeting with Leary just months later in February 1961 – suggesting that Leary must have had clearance to discuss the meetings. This is just one of many of Huxley’s letters which reveal his, and also Leary’s, further involvement with the CIA’s MKULTRA program:

To: Leary

DEAR Tim,
6 February, 1961

Thank   you for your letter of Jan. 23rd, which came during my absence - first in Hawaii, then at San Francisco (where we had a good conference on Control of the Mind).

Alas, I can't write anything for Harpers - am too desperately busy trying to finish a book.

At S. F. [San Francisco] I met Dr. [Oscar] Janiger, whom I had not seen for several years. He tells me that he has given LSD to 100 painters who have done pictures before, during & after the drug, & whose efforts are being appraised by a panel of art critics. This might be interesting. I gave him your address, & I think you will hear from him.

I also spoke briefly with Dr. Joly West [prof. of psychiatry at U. of Oklahoma Medical School – killed “Tusko” the elephant – MKULTRA],   who told me that he had done a lot of work in sensory deprivation, using improved versions of John Lilly's techniques. Interesting visionary results-but I didn't   have time to hear the details.[48] [emphasis added] ~ Aldous Huxley

David Black in Acid confirms that the Control of the Mind conferences were CIA funded through the Macy Foundation:

The speaker was Arthur Koestler, and also present was the anthropologist Francis Huxley. Koestler was also bound for America, for a conference on ‘Control of the Mind’ organized by the Joshua Macy Foundation – now known to have been secretly sponsored by MK-ULTRA.[49]
~David Black

Eugenics and social control have been Huxley family tradition for several generations, and we see Francis Huxley’s name show up at another conference with Arthur Koestler – from whom we previously learned above about paedomorphosis and juvenilization. We’ll leave them for another time. In the following quote from Brave New World Revisited, Huxley discusses his ideas of how to run his “fantasy eugenics”:

In the Brave New World of my fantasy eugenics and dysgenics were practiced systematically. In one set of bottles biologically superior ova, fertilized by biologi­cally superior sperm, were given the best possible pre­natal treatment and were finally decanted as Betas, Alphas and even Alpha Pluses. In another, much more numerous set of bottles, biologically inferior ova, ferti­lized by biologically inferior sperm, were subjected to the Bokanovsky Process (ninety-six identical twins out of a single egg) and treated prenatally with alco­hol and other protein poisons. The creatures finally decanted were almost subhuman; but they were capa­ble of performing unskilled work and, when properly conditioned, detensioned by free and frequent access to the opposite sex, constantly distracted by gratuitous entertainment and reinforced in their good behavior patterns by daily doses of soma, could be counted on to give no trouble to their superiors.[50] [emphasis added] ~ Aldous Huxley

Now that we have some history and context, let’s return to the word “hallucinogen” – yet another word all of these psychedelic social relations experts want users to leave behind.

Hallucinogens

Before the word psychotomimetic, early marketing first took place with Dr. Humphry Osmond, Dr. Abram Hoffer, and also Dr. John Smythies, who created the word “hallucinogen” sometime in or prior to 1953.

These drugs had earlier been designated hallucinogens by D. Johnson (Johnson 1953), who borrowed the term from Osmond and Americans A. Hoffer and J. Smythies.[51]
~ Jonathan Ott

The OED states the term was first used in 1954, citing quotes from Hoffer and Aldous Huxley himself. The second citation is from Huxley’s Doors of Perception:

1954 A. Hoffer et al. in Jrnl. Mental Sci. C. 30 When the literature is examined to catalogue these hallucinatory substances, which for convenience we have called the hallucinogens, one is struck by their small number.    1954 A. Huxley Doors of Perception 6 Lysergic acid, an extremely potent hallucinogen derived from ergot.
~ OED – hallucinogen

Surprised?

As it turns out, Dr. Hoffer was a CIA MKULTRA doctor and worked with Dr. Osmond performing human experiments in Saskatchewan; as was Dr. John Smythies, who contributed to MKULTRA subproject 8 at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology. As a CIA MKULTRA document of March 25, 1964, exposes, Osmond was further involved with Subproject 47 with Dr. Carl Pfeiffer[52], who wrote the letter on Osmond’s letterhead. In his book The C.I.A. Doctors, Dr. Colin Ross also reveals:

Dr. Abram Hoffer describes LSD treatment he conducted in Saskatchewan in partnership with Humphry Osmond before Osmond moved to Princeton, New Jersey to become the Director, Bureau of Neurology and Psychiatry, New Jersey Neuropsychiatric Institute. The Institute was the site of hallucinogen experiments by Dr. Carl Pfeiffer funded through MKULTRA and MKSEARCH. Along with John Smythies, Carl Pfeiffer was the Editor of International Review of Neurobiology. Dr. Smythies was from the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, site of MKULTRA Subproject 8. Contributors to the volume included Dr. Robert Heath, who received CIA and military money for hallucinogen and brain electrode implant research at Tulane University. Associate Editors of the volume included Dr. Hoffer. Dr. Heath and the British psychologist, Dr. H.J. Eysenck, the contractor on MKULTRA Subproject 111.[53]
~ Dr. Colin Ross

In this quote the CIA’s previously cited Dr. Jolyon West further discusses Osmond and Hoffer’s human experiments:

Adrenochrome. A trihydroxyindole called adrenochrome (an oxidation product of adrenaline) has been reported by some workers to be hallucinogenic in intravenous dosages of 0.5 mg. Based on these reports (including the supposed discovery of the presence of increased amounts of this and related metabolites in body fluids of psychiatric patients), an adrenochrome theory of schizophrenia was advanced by Hoffer and Osmond (1967).[54]
~ Louis Jolyon West

We just saw how the CIA funded an organization called the Macy Foundation, an organization through which it funded much of the MKULTRA research. Here Jay Stevens discusses Hoffer’s and Osmond’s “massive dose” alcoholic treatment with LSD at another CIA-funded Macy conference:

Besides introducing the word that would ultimately triumph in the public consciousness, Hoffer also briefed his colleagues on the startling way in which he and Osmond were now using LSD. Unlike most of the therapists at the Macy conference, they were not using small doses to "liquefy" defenses, thus speeding up the time needed for a successful treatment. Using Hubbard's curious techniques, they had begun giving their patients massive doses and then guiding them, if they could, into that part of the Other World where egos melted and something resembling a spiritual rebirth occurred. As Hoffer described it, there was scarcely any psychotherapy involved at all: "They come in one day. They know they are going to take a treatment, but they know nothing about what it is.”[55]
~ Jay Stevens

So Hoffer, Osmond’s close friend and CIA / MKULTRA research buddy, in 1953, along with Osmond himself and Smythies, created the first term, “hallucinogen.” And then in 1957 Osmond created the terms “psychotomimetic” and “psychedelic,” with Huxley creating “phanerothyme.”

As if all of this weren’t enough, in 1967 Hoffer, along with (can you guess it?) Osmond, published a book titled: THE HALLUCINOGENS.[56] But by 1957 Dr. Osmond and Aldous Huxley had already decided the word “hallucinogen” was bad! And Osmond’s new word “psychedelic” was good! But here, a decade after Osmond himself created the word psychedelic, we see him reverting back to hallucinogen – which is older than his other word, psychotomimetic. Could this be because, as Osmond knows, the substances are actually psychotomimetics and hallucinogens as he had originally stated?

And as it turns out, Hoffer was also the president of the Huxley Institute of Bio-Social Research (great name, huh?), and Osmond was a director. In 1964 Julian Huxley, Aldous’s brother, along with Osmond and Hoffer would publish the controversial paper Schizophrenia as a Genetic Morphism.[57] Psychedelics + paedomorphosis + schizophrenia + genetic morphism = bio-social control.

If we can’t trust them regarding the word “hallucinogen” being bad, then why should we trust them regarding the word “psychotomimetic” (or any other), especially when we see none other than Sasha Shulgin, above (who died during the writing of this article) calling ibogaine a “psychotomimetic” in 1970? The obvious question is then, are these substances being “suggested” as spiritual when they really are hallucinogens and psychotomimetics? Or is there something additional going on here?

And here again, Huxley and his pals create the words, and then turn and stigmatize them as if someone else had created them, as if they hadn’t hired Leary to do the job. I know, you can hardly maintain your astonishment. But there’s more.

As we’ll see in just a moment, in 1979 Huxley’s friend R. Gordon Wasson, along with Prof. Carl Ruck and his team, would attempt to rename them yet again to “entheogens.”

Entheogens

In 1979 Prof. Carl A. P. Ruck of Boston University, R. Gordon Wasson, Jonathan Ott, Jeremy Bigwood and Daniel Staples, in an article published in The Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 11, attempt to rename these drugs as “ENTHEOGENS,” meaning “generating god within.” So now let’s turn to the original paper published by Ruck and Wasson et al., introducing their word “entheogen,” to see what they have to say regarding the above facts:

When the recent surge of recreational use of so-called “hallucinogenic” or “psychedelic” drugs first came to popular attention in the early 1960’s, it was commonly viewed with suspicion and associated with the behavior of deviant or revolutionary groups. Apart from the slang of the various subcultures, there was no adequate terminology for this class of drugs. Words were manufactured, and in their making they betrayed the incomprehension or prejudice of the times.

Out of the many words proposed to describe this unique class of drugs only a few have survived in current usage. It is the contention of the authors who have subscribed their names to this article that none of these terms really deserve greater longevity, if our language is not to perpetuate the misunderstanding of the past.[58]
~ Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al

Actually, hallucinogen and psychedelic are still in common usage in 2014 and many scholars, due to the obvious religious connotations of the word entheogen, have refused to adopt it. But so far the authors don’t even mention these facts. And even the above-mentioned journal which published their article, The Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, changed its name but chose not to use “entheogen” per the authors’ recommendation. In 1981 it became instead The Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

And just to remind the reader, we saw above that R. Gordon Wasson is heralded as the so-called “discoverer” of magic mushrooms, and headed up the CIA’s MKULTRA Subproject 58 program with JP Morgan Bank – which became ‘Seeking the Magic Mushroom’ in Life Magazine May 13, 1957.[59]

Wait, I know, it’s a coincidence theory! They all just happen to work for the CIA’s MKULTRA program… There’s nothing to see here, folks. Move along…

I have written several articles as well as produced several interviews and documentaries that expose these facts regarding Wasson, et al., through primary CIA and various university archive documents which anyone may verify.[60]

Anyway, we’ll come back to their entheogen article in a moment, but in the meantime, do you think they’ll discuss all those facts we presented above?

In Jonathan Ott’s book Pharmacotheon he discusses their creation, as well as his use, of the word entheogen:

As is immediately obvious from my title, I use the neologism entheogen(ic) throughout this book, a new word proposed by a group of scholars including Dr. R. Gordon Wasson, Prof. Carl A. P. Ruck and me. As we know from personal experience that shamanic inebriants do not provoke “hallucinations” or “psychosis,” and feel it incongruous to refer to traditional shamanic use of psychedelic plants (that word, pejorative for many, referring invariably to sixties’ western drug use), we coined this new term by 1979 (Ott 1996A; Ruck et al. 1979; Wasson et al. 1980B).[61]
~ Jonathan Ott

The word pejorative, as defined by Oxford’s OED, means:

a.a adj. Tending to make worse; depreciatory; applied especially to a derivative word in which the meaning of the root word is lowered by the addition of a suffix or otherwise.

When we see a definition like this, then we must ask: exactly what was the use of the word “psychedelic” making worse? In whose opinion and for what purpose? I think we’re able to see the agenda now of suggestibility and their marketing strategy.

When we consider these ideas in terms of a marketing strategy by Huxley, Osmond and Hoffer, and by Ruck, Wasson and Ott, and their friends, to promote the use of these substances as “spiritual,” then the agenda begins to come clear.

For a moment I want to turn to a quote by the founder of public relations, Edward Bernays. I mention Bernays here, because, as I’ve exposed in two previous articles, he was a close friend of Gordon Wasson.[62] In the following quote regarding fluoride, Bernays gives us an example of some of the media tactics he employed:

We would put out the definition first to the editors of important newspapers. Then we would send a letter to publishers of dictionaries and encyclopedias. After six or eight months we would find the word fluoridation was published and defined in dictionaries and encyclopedias.[63]
~ Edward Bernays

Here we see Ott defining the word for himself and his group in his own dictionary The Age of Entheogens & the Angel’s Dictionary:

Entheogen nov. verb. –Plant Sacraments or shamanic inebriants evoking religious Ecstasy or vision; commonly used in the archaic world in Divination for shamanic healing, and in Holy Communion, for example during the Initiation to the Eleusinian Mysteries or the Vedic Soma sacrifice. Literally: becoming divine within. Hence: Age of Entheogens nov. verb., Entheogenic nov. verb. See: Enthusiasm, Hallucinogen, Phanerothyme, Phantasica, Pharmacotheon, Psychedelic.

1979 Ruck, J. Psychedelic Drugs 11: 145. In Greek the word entheos means literally ‘god (theos) within’ … In combination with the Greek root –gen, which denotes the action of ‘becoming,’ this word results in the term that we are proposing: entheogen.

1980 Wasson The Wondrous Mushroom, xiv. We are now rediscovering the secret and we should treat the entheogens with respect to which they were richly entitled.

1986 Wasson Persephone’s Quest, 31. We must break down the ‘Drugs’ of popular parlance and according to their properties and overcome our ignorance, which in this field is monumental. “Entheogen” is a step in that direction.

1993 Ott Pharmacotheon, 19. I have been privileged to be initiated into the sacred realm of the entheogens… have imbibed the amrta of Indra, the ambrosia of the Olympian gods, Demeter’s Potion; have for brief blessed instants gazed into Lord Shiva’s blazing third eye. [64]
~ Jonathan Ott

Notice that Ott refers back to himself and his own crew whenever referring to the word entheogen. This type of argument is known as “begging the question” or “circular reasoning,” referring to themselves to prove the whole of their argument, and we’ll show more problems with this in just a moment. The reader may have noticed Huxley and Osmond using this same tactic above. Ott doesn’t mention that the word was created intentionally in an effort to remarket these substances, again, to teens and young adults – but now as “spiritual tools” to “generate god within.”

As was shown above, Huxley and Osmond (who created the word psychedelic) had recruited Timothy Leary for the CIA, and we know that Leary was pursuing Huxley’s and the CIA’s goals – as shown in their letters we read above discussing the CIA’s Control of the Mind conferences. We also saw above how Leary and Janiger bragged, regarding the spiritual experience, that the whole thing was “a California invention” and that no one at Harvard had a mystical or religious experience – all through the 1950s. Why is that? It’s because, in this author’s opinion, these substances had not yet been remarketed. Again, the key issue with these substances is suggestibility. They needed a name – and psychotomimetic and hallucinogen wouldn’t create spiritual or mystical-type experiences. But we see Leary admit: “Wonderful! They’re right!”

Leary, the author of Interpersonal Diagnostic of Personality; Leary, the no-nonsense behaviorist: Leary, the number one American expert in personality testing.[65]
~ Michael Hollingshead

Yeah, that Leary. Leary is also the same man who created the CIA’s entrance exam, known, fittingly, as “The Leary.” Seriously, it’s no joke. I bet you must be thinking “how serendipitous!”

It was Dave McGowan who, in his book Weird Scenes inside the Canyon, showed that “serendipitous” came up too often during “unexplainable” events written in the official “histories.” The same thing is found throughout psychedelic literature as well. So here I’m going to use it for fun, taking McGowan’s lead.

We are supposed to believe that all of the musical icons who settled in Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and 1970s just sort of spontaneously came together (one finds the word “serendipitous” sprinkled freely throughout the literature). But how many peculiar coincidences do we have to overlook in order to believe that this was just a chance gathering?[66]
~ Dave McGowan

Coincidently or, I mean, serendipitously, in 1979, the same year that John Marks (Director for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research) published his book on MKULTRA, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, Gordon Wasson, Prof. Carl Ruck and Jonathan Ott, et al., published their paper ‘Entheogens’ in The Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, arguing to rename these substances yet again. We also saw, above, that this was the same year that Hofmann published LSD: My Problem Child. The timing seems just so, well, serendipitous. Or maybe it’s because Wasson and Hofmann just so happen, serendipitously, to be listed in the introduction to Marks’ book for their “assistance” in its writing:

My thanks for their assistance to Albert Hofmann, Telford Taylor, Leo Alexander, Walter Langer, John Stockwell, William Hood, Samuel Thompson, Sidney Cohen, Milton Greenblatt, Gordon Wasson, James Moore, Laurence Hinkle, Charles Osgood, John Gittinger (for Chapter 10 only), and all the others who asked not to be identified.[67] [emphasis added] ~ John Marks

I bet you’re probably thinking something along these lines right about now: “The head of MKULTRA Subproject 58 and the so-called inventor of LSD helping the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research author a book on MKULTRA, and they changed the name proactively to avoid the damage from exposure – I knew it!” Let me just say that I totally agree with you.

Above we saw Jonathan Ott create his own dictionary to define these words, similar to the ideas suggested by Bernays. In my 2012 article titled R. Gordon Wasson: The Man, the Legend, the Myth, I revealed how Wasson, with the help of Allan Nevins, had also used these same tactics to cover up the “Hall Carbine Affair” for JP Morgan, after which he titled his own book.

August 15, 1939

Dear Mr. Andrews:

I hasten to write you to assure you that Allen [sic] Nevins treated my manuscript exactly as I would’ve wished him to do. He refers and is taxed to a “careful investigation” which “has shown that he must announce transaction and was really prudent and commendable.” In an appendix he summarizes the episode in two or three pages. He doesn’t identify “the recent investigation”, and for this I am very glad. Since his revised Life came out, he and I had an exchange of cordial letters on the subject. [emphasis – mine] ~ R. Gordon Wasson

October 28, 1941

I am most grateful to you for your comments on the Hall Carbine paper, and we shall give earnest consideration to your advice. I have sent a copy of it to Allan Nevins, with whom I have often discussed it, and also to our good friend Steve Benet. We wish to think out carefully our procedure, and, fortunately, we can choose our own time. Perhaps after we let the matter simmer for some months we may bring out a second and larger edition.[68] [emphasis – mine] ~ R. Gordon Wasson

It should now be coming clear that these same public relations techniques were intentionally used against the people in this remarketing of psychotomimetic to psychedelic and then to entheogen.

Just as Osmond introduced psychedelic to the psychiatric community, above, Gordon Wasson, Carl Ruck and Jonathan Ott would introduce their new word to the psychedelic community, using almost the same arguments (and tactics), and arguing that these older words were now legacy, or tainted – no matter if by their own agents.

We commonly refer, for example, to the alteration of sensory perceptions as “hallucination” and hence a drug that effected such a change became known as an “hallucinogen.”(1) The verb “hallucinate,” however, immediately imposes a value judgment upon the nature of the altered perceptions, for it means “to be deceived or entertain false notions.” It comes from the Latin (b)al(l)ucinari, “to wander mentally or talk nonsensically,” and is synonymous with verbs meaning to be delirious or insane.

How can such a term allow one to discuss without bias those transcendent and beatific states of communion with deity that numerous peoples believe they or their shamans attain through the ingestion of what we now call “hallucinogens? The other terms are not less damning.”[69]
~ Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al

Here the authors use a loaded question, one which we’ll cover in just a moment. But damning for what? Also notice their bias to sell them as spiritual rather than “hallucination” causing. They appeal to “numerous peoples” – a non-specific appeal to popularity, while ignoring any scientific literature to the contrary.

Then the authors continue, making a statement that, from the evidence already presented, is completely false:

During the first decade after the discovery of LSD, scientific investigators of the influence of these drugs on the mental processes (most of whom, it is clear, had no personal experience of their effects) had the impression that they seemed to approximate deranged and psychotic states.[70]
~ Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al

Are they trying to claim that, of all people, Huxley, Hoffer and Osmond had no experience with these substances? That’s, of course, ridiculous. Everyone knows that Huxley wrote The Doors of Perception, and Osmond gave Huxley the mescaline! And Hoffer worked with Osmond and the Huxleys. And should we believe them when they say “scientific investigators […] had the impression that they seemed to approximate deranged and psychotic states”? Was it really only an “impression that they seemed to approximate”? At this point would you prefer to call it incompetence, or lies? It’s obviously part of their marketing strategy.

And, ironically, in an interview with Prof. Carl Ruck at his home in 2008, I specifically asked him if he’d ever tried mushrooms, to which he said no. He also admitted to having only tried LSD once in his life. LSD was made in a laboratory and is not a shamanic sacrament. It was Ruck who, as he admitted in his interviews with me and was noted above, was the primary developer of the word “entheogen.” So shouldn’t he, by his own words, have experience with these substances before trying to name them? I can’t help but wonder if his one experience with LSD was due to the CIA’s requirement for new recruits mentioned at the start of this article? Here’s more from their paper “Entheogens”:

Psychology, which is etymologically the study of the “soul,” has until recently concerned itself only with mental illness and aberrant behavior, and all of the terms formed from the psycho- root suffer from this connotation of sickness: psychotic, for example, cannot mean “soulful.” Osmond attempted to avoid these adverse associations when he coined “psychedelic,”(2) the only word in English that employs the anomalous root psyche- instead of psycho-, in hopes that this term, as distinct from "psychotomimetic,” might indicate something that “reveals the soul.”[71]
~ Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al

Notice how, just as with phanerothyme and psychedelic, above, the idea is to promote these substances as “spiritual.” Notice also that Ruck confirms what I’ve stated about the marketing strategy, above, that Osmond’s rules about the new word were “in hopes that this term, as distinct from "psychotomimetic,” might indicate something that “reveals the soul.””

Some of you may be thinking right about now, or you have been for some time, “well, psychedelics and mushrooms DO generate religious and spiritual experiences!” Well, as we’ve seen throughout this paper, and it really shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise by now, much of that assumption appears to have been public relations too. The topic of dark shamanism should also be mentioned, but is too vast for this article, so I offer a brief quote from Prof. Neil Whitehead and Dr. Robin Wright instead:

Amazonian shamanism is not a loving animism, as its middle-class urban vulgate want us to believe. It is better understood as a predatory animism: subjectivity is attributed to human and nonhuman entities, with whom some people are capable of interacting verbally and establishing relationships of adoption or alliance, which permit them to act upon the world in order to cure, to fertilize, and to kill. […]

Whereas neoshamanism is turned on the remodeling of individual subjectivities, indigenous shamanism is concerned with producing new persons and social relationships from the stock of human and nonhuman subjectivities existing in the cosmos.[72]
~ Neil Whitehead and Robin Wright

To summarize these ideas further, it was weaponized anthropology being used against us and the Mazatec peoples; it was what Gregory Bateson coined as “native revivalism” being remarketed to the public – which later became the “Archaic Revival.” Prof. David Price cites Bateson’s declassified OSS memo on these ideas. Unfortunately we don’t know exactly what this “significant experiment” was, or where its findings were published. This is something that anthropologists serious about getting to the truth need to investigate and make public:

The most significant experiment which has yet been conducted in the adjustment of relations between “superior” and “inferior” peoples is the Russian handling of their Asiatic tribes in Siberia. The findings of this experiment support very strongly the conclusion that it is very important to foster spectatorship among the superiors and exhibitionism among the inferiors. In outline, what the Russians have done is to stimulate the native peoples to undertake a native revival while they themselves admire the resulting dance festivals and other exhibitions of native culture, literature, poetry, music and so on. And the same attitude of spectatorship is then naturally extended to native achievements in production or organization. In contrast to this, where the white man thinks of himself as a model and encourages the native people to watch him in order to find out how things should be done, we find that in the end nativistic cults spring up among the native people. The system gets overweighed until some compensatory machinery is developed and then the revival of native arts, literature, etc., becomes a weapon for use against the white man (Phenomena, comparable to Ghandi’s spinning wheel may be observed in Ireland and elsewhere). If, on the other hand, the dominant people themselves stimulate native revivalism, then the system as a whole is much more stable, and the nativism cannot be used against the dominant people.[73] [emphasis added] ~ Gregory Bateson

For a closer look at this “native revivalism” and how it was used in the West, let’s get back to Gordon Wasson and the Mazatec mushrooms.

Although Dr. Andy Letcher overlooks Wasson’s ties to public relations and the CIA’s MKULTRA Subproject 58 program, he reveals Wasson’s hype of the mushrooms as spiritual. In his book Shroom Letcher states:

That Wasson was captivated by her [Sabina] seems understandable, given these qualities [charismatic]. What is less understandable is why he dismissed the other curanderos he encountered as second rate, practitioners of a degenerate tradition: their standing was as high as Sabina’s within their respective communities. […]

But I think it most compelling that Wasson alighted upon Sabina as ‘the archetypal shaman’ because she neatly fitted his preconceptions about what a priestess of his old religion should look like. On finding Sabina, his heart must have skipped a beat, for in her he saw the missing link for which he had been looking. […]

Devout, suffering, compassionate, generous, humble, a loving and devoted mother, a mystic, a woman without stain: she was a most Mary-like figure, and as such she slotted so very easily into Wasson’s High Church expectations. […]

The only problem with all of this was that the veladas were not religious ceremonies. That is, though each was framed within a unique and adaptive blend of Catholic and pagan ritual actions – prayers to Christian saints and Mazatec spirits, for example – they were not performed as an act of worship, or to induce mystical experiences of God: they were performed for the serious and pragmatic purposes of healing. Sabina was clear on the matter: ‘the vigils weren’t done for the simple desire to find God, but were done with the sole purpose of curing the sickness that our people suffer from’. To find God, Sabina – like all good Catholics – went to Mass. […]

The anthropological heresy that Wasson committed, therefore, was that he forced these complex indigenous healing practices to fit in with his own preconceptions rather than attempt the more difficult task of trying to understand them on their own terms. He went to Mexico with his vision of the ancient mushrooming cult fully formed, and projected the priestly role onto Sabina […].[74] [emphasis added] ~ Andy Letcher

Citing Maria Sabina’s own 1981 interview and book with Alvaro Estrada[75], Letcher accuses Wasson of “anthropological heresy,” words that certainly ring true here with regard to native revivalism, and we’ll see more of this “weaponized anthropology” as we progress. Another accurate word that Letcher used regarding Wasson’s selling the mushrooms as spiritual was “lies.”[76] Also, did you notice how Letcher pointed out that Maria Sabina was a “very Mary-like figure”? She even had the right name – Maria is Spanish for “Mary,” making a subtle suggestion to a religious experience. How serendipitous! And it gets even better. Maria belonged to…oh, I’ll just let her tell you herself:

I’ve belonged to the sisterhoods for thirty years. Now I belong to the Sisterhood of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The sisterhood is composed of ten women. […]Each member is also called mother. Our task consists of making candles and gathering money to pay for the mass that is given monthly in thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.[77]
~ Maria Sabina

Maria Sabina was a devout Catholic. There is no evidence that she had ever used the mushrooms for anything other than healing. Nearly all of the lyrics for her so-called “veladas” are the names of Christian saints (including Jesus’s) mixed with words for healing.[78]

During my vigils I speak to the saints: to Lord Santiago, to Saint Joseph, and to Mary. I say the name of each one as they appear. I know that God is formed by all the saints. Just as we, together, form humanity, God is formed by all the saints. That is why I don’t have a preference for any saint. All the saints are equal, one has the same force as the other, none has more power than another.[79]
~ Maria Sabina

Mycologist Dr. Brian Akers, who also possesses a Master of Arts in Anthropology and a degree in Comparative Religion, and who’s worked on various projects with Prof. Ruck, in The Sacred Mushrooms of Mexico, admits:

The mushroom indicates what made the person sick, and is able to say what the witchcraft was, who did it, on what day, as well as the motive, and can well indicate whether it pertains to a fright (un espanto) or sickness that can be cured with other medicines.[80]
~ Dr. Brian Akers

In Persephone’s Quest, Wasson himself admits these facts:

I have one more publication to report in the Mexican field. In 1958 I taped a complete ceremony of Maria Sabina’s velada, as we have come to call the customary night-time session. A boy about 17 years old had contracted a serious illness when working down in the hot country: something was gravely wrong with his liver or kidney. Maria Sabina would devote her healing velada to asking the mushrooms whether the boy would live or die, and if he was to live, what he should do to recover. The verdict however was that the boy had to die: within weeks he was dead.[81]
~ R. Gordon Wasson

Wasson admits that it was a “customary night-time session” and that Maria was healing a 17-year-old boy who died weeks later. Furthermore, curandero, from cure, means “a healer.” And while Maria Sabina appeared as a religious, godly figure that Wasson could market to the public, in 1953 Wasson met another curandero and did a “velada” with him as well. Unfortunately for Wasson, this curandero was a “one-eyed butcher” and didn’t fit the saintly image he would a few years later play up with Sabina:

The velada was held on the night of Saturday, 15 August 1953 stretching into the early hours of the following day, in Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca. We were talking with one of our best informants in Huautla, don Aurelio Carreras, a one-eyed butcher. […] He had furnished us with entheogenic mushrooms of two species and clearly meant us well. He had no success in finding shaman […] As we chatted with Aurelio, quite casually, don Roberto asked,

‘And tell us, Aurelio, when you give treatments (hace curaciones), are they successful?’

‘Always’, he answered.

For days we had been talking to a cotacine (‘one-who-knows’ in Mazatec, ‘shaman’) all unawares.[82]
~ Gordon Wasson

So in in 1953 Wasson and Weitlaner had already met a “shaman,” Aurelio, and had already seen a “velada” and decided that Aurelio wasn’t a marketable figure. “Aurelio, the one-eyed Mazatec butcher from Huautla de Jimenez” doesn’t sound as charming as “Maria Sabina, the sabia,” does it? In fact, he sounds more like Jack the Ripper. Furthermore, Aurelio “smoked a big, black, strong cigar all night” and “sweated profusely.”[83]

But to further prove that these substances were used for healing, notice above that Aurelio would “give treatments,” which sounds strikingly similar to something a doctor would do. Furthermore, Aurelio had asked what problem troubled Wasson and Weitlaner, to which Wasson replied:

We said we wished to have news of our son Peter, age 18, from whom we had not heard for many days. (Peter did not know our address.) This seemed a legitimate reason.[84]

Later, regarding lost objects, Wasson admits:

The natives told us of other wonders within the power of the mushroom: 1) if a young wife vanishes, the mushroom tells in a vision where she is; 2) if money has disappeared from a secret place, the mushroom reveals who has it and where it is; 3) if the burro has disappeared, the mushrooms says whether he is stolen and toward what market he is being driven for sale, or else whether it has fallen into a barranca where he lies with a broken leg; 4) if a boy in the family has gone away into the world, perhaps to the States, the mushroom will bring news of him. The Indians are agreed on these matters.[85]
~ Gordon Wasson

Aside from healing we have: finding a young, cheating wife, looking for stolen money, finding a missing jackass, and tracking down a boy in the family who’s gone into the world – these uses are what Wasson and Ruck seek to rename “entheogen.”

Embellishing the story to its furthest extreme, in his best Wassonian prose while referring to Mexican author Fernando Benitez, Akers states: “Benitez was personally referred to the curandera Maria Sabina by R. Gordon Wasson” and continues on, and quite falsely I might add: “Benitez presents an accurate picture of the sacred mushroom complex of the Mazatecs” […] - but Akers’ claim couldn’t be further from the truth:

Unconstrained by formal stylistic conventions of strictly scientific or anthropological investigations, Benitez here gives his sensibilities as a writer free reign […]. In particular, Benitez’ account brings out one inescapable feature of the experience brought on by ingestion of the mushrooms, namely its intensely personal quality. As a result, Benitez powerfully draws the reader into his narrative, offering observations that dovetail those of authors such as [are you ready for it?] Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, Huston Smith and R. Gordon Wasson. He paints an especially compelling portrait of Maria Sabina, whose essential character seems to emerge as a sort of native Mexican version of St. Theresa of Avila, humbly living a life of complete fidelity to her mystical visions, recognizing in their inspiration an overwhelming reality beyond the reach of doubt. In this respect, this account foreshadows the book Maria Sabina: Her Life and Chants by Alvaro Estrada (1981), which first appeared in the original Spanish in 1977. Benitez’ contributions have been widely acclaimed. As noted by anthropologist Peter Furst, a leading expert on the indigenous context of hallucinogens, such as the ritual use of peyote and the Huichol (1972, 1976).[86]
~ Brian Akers

Akers states that Benitez is “Unconstrained by formal stylistic conventions of strictly scientific or anthropological investigations,” which normally translates to “you’re about to hear a lot of poppycock.” Akers then claims that Benitez: “powerfully draws the reader into his narrative,” and has “observations that dovetail those of authors such as Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, Huston Smith and R. Gordon Wasson.” “He paints an especially compelling portrait of Maria Sabina,” the “St. Theresa of Avila,” and an “overwhelming reality beyond the reach of doubt.” We’ll see about that.

He also claims that “this account foreshadows the book Maria Sabina: Her Life and Chants by Alvaro Estrada” but he doesn’t mention that, as we’ll see below, Sabina entirely contradicts Benitez’ version of the story. And that’s not all.

A startling discovery by anthropologist Prof. Jay Courtney Fikes in his book Carlos Castaneda: Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties, 1993,[87] revealed that Prof. Peter T. Furst, Dr. Barbara Myerhoff, and Dr. Carlos Castaneda had collaborated together to mislead their readers regarding the Huichol for decades and had committed academic fraud.

When Fikes first went public with the information in his book, Furst threatened to sue his publisher. Rather than standing firm, Fikes’ publisher panicked and pulled his book from print. And Fikes and other anthropologists had already brought charges of academic fraud against Furst to the Ethics Committee of the American Anthropological Association in 1992[88], which also backed down due to Furst’s threats. Due to the depth of this scandal as we’ve been revealing here, we’re beginning to understand what was most likely the underlying cause that got the Anthropological Association to back down. Furst will have no such luck here. I’d love to get this scandal on the official record. Attempts to interview Furst have failed.

In a July 2011 interview with me, Fikes stated:

Neither Furst or Myerhoff or Castaneda had any field notes or tape recordings and nobody else among the Huichols who has studied them has found anything like that. It's not part of any Huichol ritual. So there is no basis for it at all. It's a fabrication and it's a fabrication in that we have three people who knew each other very well-- Castaneda, Furst and Myerhoff--all writing strikingly similar reports about waterfall jumping (Fikes 1993: 70-75).
~ Jay Courtney Fikes

Akers’ claims are quite overreaching, to say the very least. Fikes published his book in 1993, and Akers published in 2007, so there’s no reason for Dr. Akers, with a Masters in Anthropology, to not know the facts when he claims “Peter Furst, a leading expert on the indigenous context of hallucinogens, such as the ritual use of peyote and the Huichol.” And (for this article) Huxley’s and Wasson’s integrity are under question (we’ll have to leave Watts and Smith for another time), and now we see that Benitez fits tightly into their camp, as, seemingly, does Akers. But again, we can see what appears to be Akers and Benitez steering the conversation in a predetermined direction (just as Huxley and Wasson), which is behavior unbecoming academia. Though I’ll let the reader be the judge, it appears that Benitez (and Akers –if he knew) have committed the same “anthropological heresy” that Wasson did, above. In the following Benitez quotes (translated by Akers–we verified his translation and it’s accurate) we see Benitez acting seemingly as a good PR man, literally taking as much fictional liberty with the anthropological facts regarding Maria Sabina and the Mazatec as he possibly could. In this first quote he admits that he couldn’t understand the Mazatec language:

Unfortunately, the fact that Maria speaks Mazatec exclusively has prevented me from knowing her in all her spiritual wealth and depth. Not without overcoming an old distrust, she agreed to tell me her life story in three sessions, and although she had as a translator the intelligent teacher Herlinda, a native of Huautla who speaks Mazatec perfectly, it was quickly revealed that not only was she incapable of translating Maria’s poetic thought, but also distorted the meaning and originality of her story in passing it through the filter of another culture and sensitivity.[89]
~ Fernando Benitez

So Benitez couldn’t understand a single word Sabina said: “Unfortunately, the fact that Maria speaks Mazatec exclusively has prevented me from knowing her [...]”. He then states “Not without overcoming an old distrust,” but he doesn’t state an old distrust of what. Was it Wasson? As we’ll see in a moment it likely was. After all, Wasson sent him there. He then claims that the translator “who speaks Mazatec perfectly” was “incapable of translating Maria’s poetic thought,” and then says she “distorted the meaning and originality of her story.” But how could Benitez possibly know this if he didn’t speak a word of Mazatec? And, ironically, Benitez provides no detailed notes or recordings of his conversation with Sabina. He then uses assuming words: “in all her spiritual wealth and depth.” The question then becomes: Was Benitez a willful idiot? Or, like Furst, Myerhoff, Castaneda, Wasson, and, apparently, Ruck, a willful participant? Above we saw Akers state: “Benitez was personally referred to the curandera Maria Sabina by R. Gordon Wasson.” And would you believe it? Serendipitously, Wasson had worked with Furst and Castaneda. From The Valley News, March 27, 1970:

The uses of hallucinogenic drugs by other societies will be investigated by a group of scholars […]. Titled “Hallucinogenic Drug Use in Non-Western Cultures,” the series starts March 30 in Woodland Hills […], and March 31 at UCLA […].

Films, Slides and discussion will supplement the lectures, and among the films to be shown will be the first documentary on the Huichol Peyote cult of Mexico. […] Coordinating the program will be Peter T. Furst, research anthropologist at UCLA.

In the first lecture of the series, Carlos Castaneda will discuss the concept of a separate reality through the use of hallucinogens, relating his experiences as an apprentice shaman in Northern Mexico. […]

Peyote use among the Huichols of Mexico will be seen in a film and lecture by Peter T. Furst. “The Sacred Mushroom of Mexico” is the topic of a presentation by R. Gordon Wasson, who began research in 1927 leading to his famous studies of the mushroom and botanical identification of Soma, the sacred substance worshipped by ancient Indo-Europeans, on which Wasson will give a second lecture for the final meeting of the series.[90]

And although I’ve truncated the news article for brevity, other scholars in the lecture series were Weston Labarre, Marlene Dobkin de Rios, James W. Fernandez, Richard Evans Schultes, Michael J. Harner, and William A. Emboden, Jr.

We also have Carlos Castaneda meeting up with Wasson at the Century Club, a CIA front organization that I’ve exposed previously, which appears from documents was headed by the Director of Central Intelligence, Allen Dulles. Just one of the letters between Wasson and Dulles released to me through CIA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, states:

3 April 1957

Dear Gordon:

It was a great pleasure to write a letter of recommendation on behalf of my good friend, Ellsworth Bunker, to the Century Association. I enclose a copy. It was good to hear from you. Let me know if you are in Washington.[91]
~ Allen Dulles

Here is Wasson reminding Castaneda that the two had met up at the Century Club, as well as at Furst’s conference, above:

10 January 1976

Dear Mr. Castaneda:

After these many years may I remind you of some exchanges, mostly epistolary, that we had at the time of the publication of your first book. You sent me with a long letter a dozen pages of your field notes, not the scribbled notes that you made in Don Juan’s presents, but the ones that you wrote out within hours of the end of your session with them. Then, later, you came and had drinks with me at the Century Club in New York, and some months afterwards we saw each other briefly at the series of lectures that Peter Furst organized at UCLA.[92]
~ Gordon Wasson

But before I digress too far, let’s get back to Benitez. He continues:

First we note that the curandero, to commune with these gods, undergoes a transformation by which he himself becomes a god. No effort is necessary to demonstrate the existence of these gods. To this day in Huautla proof that the mushroom is sacred is established by the incontrovertible fact that eating it is sufficient to feel its supernatural effects.[93]
~ Fernando Benitez

Benitez later claims:

On the whole, the most important thing in this religious mixture is the ecstatic experience, “considered as the religious experience par excellence.”(17)

Therefore the ones who dominate in the Sierra are not the curanderos or Catholic priests, but the ones who resort to the sacred mushrooms, being—within a variety of techniques poorly studied—the specialists “of a trance during which the soul is believed to abandon the body and undertake the ascents to the sky or descents to the underworld.”[94]
~ Fernando Benitez

Though no page number is given, the above footnote 17 by Benitez references the Spanish edition of Mircea Eliade’s book Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, where on page 401 Eliade states:

The phenomenology of the trance underwent many changes and corruptions, due in large part to confusion as to the precise nature of ecstasy….Concerning the original shamanic experience … narcotics are only a vulgar substitute for “pure” trance.  The use of intoxicants is a recent innovation and points to a decadence in shamanic technique. Narcotic intoxication is called on to provide an imitation of a state that the shaman is no longer capable of attaining otherwise. Decadence or vulgarization of a mystical technique – in ancient and modern India, and indeed all through the East, we constantly find this strange mixture of “difficult ways” and “easy ways” of realizing mystical ecstasy or some other decisive experience.[95]
~ Mircea Eliade

In citing 16^th century Franciscan friar Motolinia, Benitez reveals:

They had another way of getting drunk that made them crueler: it was with certain fungi or small mushrooms (unos hongos o setas pequeñas), of which there are such in this land as in Castile; but those of this land are of such quality that eaten raw and being bitter, they drink after taking them and eat them with a little bee honey; and in a little while they see a thousand visions and especially snakes; and as they go out of their senses, their legs and body appear full of worms eating them alive and thus half raving they leave the house wanting someone to kill them; and with this bestial drunkenness and thing they felt (trabajor que sentian), it sometimes happened they would hang themselves and they were also crueler toward others. With these mushrooms, called teunanacatlh in their language, which means flesh of the god or the devil which they worship, and in this way with this bitter delicacy they communed with their cruel god.[96]
~ Motolinia

As it turns out, Friar Motolinia was one of only two existing citations of the early use of the word “teunanacatlh” (teonanacatl) or “flesh of the gods” – a name which has become highly popularized in “spiritual mushroom” pop-culture today. As we can see, Motolinia’s description mentions nothing even remotely spiritual as was being sold by Wasson, Akers, Benitez, Ruck, et al. Ignoring statements like “made them crueler,” “go out of their senses,” “wanting someone to kill them,” “bestial drunkenness,” and “it sometimes happened they would hang themselves,” dismissively Benitez gibes while letting the truth slip out:

Communion. Not with God but with the Devil, that terrible active Devil who impregnates the chronicles with his smell and always shows his horns and tail behind all the events. How we recognize the prose and spirit of the sixteenth century in those fragments! Other than the vision of future wealth and a peaceful death, the informants of Sahagun or Motolinia did not communicate any beautiful hallucination[…][97]
~ Fernando Benitez

Had the Aztec, in reality, used these substances to suggest their victims into human sacrifice? Interestingly, the anthropologists and ethnographers should also be aware of their biases, not only toward the indigenous, but toward the Spaniards as well.

But what did Maria Sabina have to say about all of this? In direct contradiction with all of the above claims from these “scholars,” in Maria Sabina, Her Life and Chants, she unequivocally states:

After those first visits of Wasson, many foreign people came to ask me to do vigils for them. I asked them if they were sick, but they said no…that they had only come “to know God.” They brought innumerable objects with which they took what they called photographs and recorded my voice. Later they brought papers [newspapers and magazines] in which I appeared. I’ve kept some papers I’m in. I keep them even though I don’t know what they say about me.

It’s true that Wasson and his friends were the first foreigners who came to our town in search of the saint children and that they didn’t take them because they suffered from any illness. Their reason was that they came to find God.

Before Wasson nobody took the mushrooms only to find God. They were always taken for the sick to get well.[98]
~ Maria Sabina

She further states:

For a time there came young people of one and the other sex, long-haired, with strange clothes. They wore shirts of many colors and used necklaces. A lot came. Some of these young people sought me out for me to stay up with the Little-One-Who-Springs-Forth. “We come in search of God,” they said. It was difficult for me to explain to them that the vigils weren’t done from the simple desire to find God, but were done with the sole purpose of curing the sickness that our people suffer from.[99]
~ Maria Sabina

So much for Akers’ statement that Benitez’s description was “beyond the reach of doubt.” In an interview with me in March 2009, Akers admitted:

And human beings, for all our talk about human worth and dignity and meaning and what’s important, for all our big brains and opposable thumbs, we’re really just smart two-legged animals, who wander the face of the earth scheming and dreaming in vain. Because the truth is there is no truth, except that we’re basically all fools and nothing matters. And the sooner you realize that the better for you. Because what it comes down to is, people are either going to be sheep, or they’re going to be shearers of the sheep. You know, you can be prey species, or you can be predator. That’s the choice that we have. And I personally would rather wear silk and gold and be one of the predators not the prey. So if you’re smart, that’s the point of view you’ll take.
~ Brian Akers

How spiritual! And back to Wasson: so Wasson and Weitlaner made up an illegitimate reason to have Aurelio perform a “velada” for finding their son! In fact, after all of this, using loaded wording, Wasson says: “his divinatory powers, put to this test, had seemed to us thin, but of course we had duly entered in our notes all that he had said.”[100] Of course the word divinatory implies that something is inspired by a god.

Let’s turn for a moment to Wasson’s book The Wondrous Mushroom (notice that word “wondrous”? He loves loaded terms like: “magic,” “wondrous,” “sacred,” “divine”). In this text Wasson is discussing the early 16^th century reports of Diego Durán:

We come now to the coronation of Montezuma II in 1502 when no one in Aztec country had yet heard of the Spaniards. For four days there was feasting and celebration and that on the fourth day came the coronation followed by human sacrifices in numbers. Then follows this paragraph where the sacred mushrooms enter.

The sacrifice finished and the steps of the temple and patio bathed in human blood, they all went to eat raw mushrooms; on which food they all went out of their minds, worse than if they had drunk much wine, ie fermented drinks, so drunk and senseless were they that many killed themselves by their own hand, and, with the force of those mushrooms, they could see visions and have revelations of the fugue, the Devil speaking to them in that drunken state.[101]

~ Gordon Wasson citing Diego Durán

Dismissing Durán’s quote out of hand, Wasson states:

Durán’s tone here is so out of harmony with what he had previously said that, were we not dealing with the holographic manuscript in his own hand, I would ask whether we had to do with an interpolation of a priestly redactor. Such a violent statement – many men drunk and senseless killing themselves is repeated by white men unacquainted with the hallucinogenic mushrooms, or who have possibly been ill-prepared for the experience and been drunk from alcohol when they took them. [102]

Since the passage is known to be of Duran’s own hand, Wasson can’t claim it’s a forgery. So when he claims that “many men drunk and senseless killing themselves is repeated by white men unacquainted with the hallucinogenic mushrooms,” this is actually what is known as a circumstantial ad hominem attack. Wasson’s tactic is arguing that because these men were white (Wasson was also white), their whiteness prevented them from properly seeing the natives eating mushrooms and, using suggestibility, influencing victims to commit sacrifice and suicide. None of this fits into the “spiritual” imagery Wasson is trying to force on his readers. It’s an absurd argument, and then he speculates about their use of alcohol to further his unfounded attack. Above I stated that anthropologists and ethnographers need to also be careful of their own prejudices against the Spaniards and using loaded language against them, but Wasson was, after all, the Vice President of propaganda for J.P. Morgan Bank and the head of the CIA’s MKULTRA Subproject 58 program. He has to promote this stuff to the youth. Wasson continues further down the page:

Such passages in the chronicles of the Aztecs astonish us: the number of human sacrifices that are set forth in detail, the way in which they are keyed to the religious calendar, the variety of methods used in taking the lives of the victims many of them cruel taxing belief and, perhaps strangest of all, the presence at their deaths, on the invitation of the victorious Aztec king, of their kin and friends. All these elements leave us in a quandary. A well-known mycologist has expressed his view- that the victims, to prepare them for sacrifice, were fed massive doses of mushrooms:

It now becomes comprehensible how the sacrificial feasts of ancient Mexico were unable to provoke any defense from the thousands of chosen human victims that were sacrificed in a cruel and bloody manner: they won the full cooperation of the victims, according the all appearances after massive orgies of mushrooms.

There is no support for this conclusion in either Duran’s Cronica X nor in the testimony of Sahagun’s Nahuatl informants nor anywhere else. This mycologist was giving circulation in a scientific journal to his own idle fancies. He did not know his sources, readily available though they were to him.
~ Gordon Wasson citing a “well known mycologist”

Wasson just ridicules this unnamed and “well known mycologist,” but now we also know about suggestibility, and didn’t we see Fernando Benitez citing Friar Motolinia above regarding the mushrooms? “…half raving they leave the house wanting someone to kill them; and with this bestial drunkenness and thing they felt (trabajor que sentian), it sometimes happened they would hang themselves and they were also crueler toward others.”

Then why is Wasson pretending that “There is no support for this conclusion in either Duran’s Cronica X nor in the testimony of Sahagun’s Nahuatl informants nor anywhere else”? So is Wasson attempting to claim that Friar Motolinia is not support for this conclusion and that there is none?

Of course Wasson is lying. That’s what PR guys and CIA spies do. And I won’t even bother to cite the archeology of these facts, and I won’t bother to call it incompetence because it’s just lying. The sweet irony is when Wasson states “This mycologist was giving circulation […] to his own idle fancies. He did not know his sources, readily available though they were to him.”
I just love the double meaning of his “this mycologist”. Was Wasson referring to himself when he said “this mycologist”?

We also saw Benitez cite Sahugun and Motolinia:

Other than the vision of future wealth and a peaceful death, the informants of Sahagun or Motolinia did not communicate any beautiful hallucination[…][103]

And above we saw that Wasson had referred Benitez to Sabina. And here we also see Wasson citing Benitez:

When asked by Fernando Benitez how she viewed the Sacred Mushrooms, Maria Sabina had said, as rendered into Spanish by Herlinda Martinez:
I see the mushrooms as children, as clowns. Children with violins, children with trumpea child-clowns who sing and dance around me. Children tender as sprouts, as flower buds, children that suck out the evil humors, the bad blood, the morning’s dew. The bird that sucks out illness, the good hummingbird, the wise Hummingbird, the face that cleans, the face that heals.[104]
~Wasson citing Benitez citing Herlinda Martinez translating for Maria Sabina.

Of course we already saw how Wasson had to omit all of Sabina’s other comments against mushroom spirituality and seeking god from this same book that didn’t support his claims. This was the only quote from Benitez that Wasson could try to cram into his fabricated version of Mazatec beliefs.

In any case, remember that word “suggestibility”? They label your experience and tell you the experience you're going to have:

It is probable, moreover, that even its anomalous formation cannot isolate it from confusion with the psycho- words, so that it suffers from the same problem as “psychotropic,” which tends to mean something that “turns one toward psychotic states” instead of merely toward an altered mentality.

We therefore, propose a new term that would be appropriate for describing states of shamanic and ecstatic possession induced by ingestion of mind-altering drugs. But notice that their own word, entheogen, suggests “generating god” – and not just an “altered mentality”.[105]
~ Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al

We just saw how Wasson (and Benitez in Akers) lied and faked what Maria Sabina and the curanderos used mushrooms for – which was not a spiritual experience by anyone’s wildest imagination. So then, why, based off their own work and using circular reasoning, are Ruck and Wasson then citing themselves as reason to create this new word entheogen?

They state:

In Greek the word entheos means literally “god (theos) within,” and was used to describe the condition that follows when one is inspired and possessed by the god that has entered one’s body. It was applied to prophetic seizures, erotic passion and artistic creation, as well as to those religious rites in which mystical states were experienced through the ingestion of substances that were transubstantial with the deity. In combination with the Greek root gen-, which denotes the action of “becoming,” this word results in the term that we are proposing: entheogen.[106]
~ Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al

Huh? Do I need to ask: Have these authors intentionally misled their readers? Have they committed academic fraud? Comparing this to what we just read from Dr. Andy Letcher, Maria Sabina, Motolinia, et al, does anything they wrote make any sense? Their “facts” don’t check out. Their reasoning doesn’t check out. Their friends don’t check out.

Ruck, Wasson, et al., continue misleading their readers:

In a strict sense, only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens, but in a looser sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial, that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens.[107]
~ Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al.

As cited above, Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain state in their book that it was the transcendental insight that was overlooked:

Many other researchers, however, dismissed transcendental insight as either "happy psychosis" or a lot of nonsense. The knee-jerk reaction on the part of the psychotomimetic stalwarts was indicative of a deeply ingrained prejudice against certain varieties of experience.[108]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

Or, based on the evidence and obvious public relations tactics I’ve shown here, was it the psychosis (not to mention curing) that was intentionally suppressed? So it appears. And, ironically, Michael Hollingshead, a friend of Timothy Leary and Aldous Huxley, quotes Harvard professor David McClelland. Prof. McClelland may be the only academic over the last 55 years to (even if only as a Hegelian dialectic) tell the truth of this agenda:

One of the most vocal of the critics was Professor David McClelland, a professor of psychology, a protestant-ethic man, highly intelligent, an expert in the psychological basis of
'fantasy', a prominent Quaker, dedicated to external achievement.

McClelland had decided to bring matters to a head by calling a meeting of the staff of the Center in which he revealed in no uncertain terms his growing concern over the Psychedelic Project. To judge by the behavior of Mexican curanderas and Indian mystics, he said, one would expect the chief effects of psychedelic substances to be to encourage withdrawal from contact with social reality and to increase satisfaction with one's own inner thought life. Research reports from the current Harvard project, he said, 'are not inconsistent with these expectations'. And went on to note that 'initiates begin to show a certain blandness, or superiority, or feeling of being above and beyond the normal worlds of social reality'. He was concerned about a developing interpersonal insensitivity, about the 'inability to predict in advance what the social reaction of a "psilocybin party" would be'. And religious and philosophical naiveté: 'Many reports are given of deep mystical experiences, but their chief characteristic is the wonder at one's own profundity rather than a genuine concern to probe deeper into the experience of the human race in these matters', and impulsivity: 'One of the most difficult parts of the research has been to introduce any order into who takes the drug under what conditions. Any controls have either been rejected as interfering with the warmth necessary to have a valuable experience or accepted as desirable but then not applied because somehow an occasion arises when it seems "right" to have a psychedelic session'. He concluded his statements with this warning: 'It is probably no accident that the society which most consistently encouraged the use of these substances, India, produced one of the sickest social orders ever created by mankind in which thinking men spent their time lost in the Buddha position under the influence of drugs exploring consciousness, while poverty, disease, social discrimination, and superstition reached their highest and most organised form in all history.'[109] [emphasis added] ~ Michael Hollingshead.

After Pont Saint Esprit, and after a successful remarketing slogan was created, the CIA and intelligence communities decided to do a much larger mind-control test – this time on major metropolitan populations of many millions. In 1965 the CIA launched the world's largest mind control test on the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. Armed with their new marketing tools, slogans and words, their mission, by the summer of 1967, would be largely successful. As propagandist and media expert Marshal McLuhan stated over lunch with Tim Leary:

The lunch with Marshall McLuhan at the Plaza was informative. “Dreary Senate hearings and courtrooms are not the platforms for your message, Tim. You call yourself a philosopher, a reformer. Fine. But the key to your work is advertising. You’re promoting a product. The new and improved accelerated brain. You must use the most current tactics for arousing consumer interest. Associate LSD with all the good things that the brain can produce—beauty, fun, philosophic wonder, religious revelation, increased intelligence, mystical romance. Word of mouth from satisfied consumers will help, but get your rock and roll friends to write jingles about the brain.” He sang:

Lysergic acid hits the spot.

Forty billion neurons, that’s a lot.

“The problem is tricky,” I said. “The opposition beat us to the punch. The psychiatrists and police propagandists have already stressed the negative, which can be dangerous when the mind is re-imprinting under.

They may be deliberately provoking bad trips. They never mention the 999 good experiences. They keep repeating ‘LSD: jump out a window.’ When some ill-prepared person goes spinning into new realms, he or she wonders what happens now? Oh yeah. Jump out a window. It’s like the over-solicitous mother who warned her kids not to push peanuts up their noses.”
“Exactly,” agreed McLuhan. “That’s why your advertising must stress the religious. Find the god within. This is all frightfully interesting. Your competitors are naturally denouncing the brain as an instrument of the devil. Priceless!

“To dispel fear you must use your public image. You are the basic product endorser. Whenever you are photographed, smile. Wave reassuringly. Radiate courage. Never complain or appear angry. It’s okay if you come off as flamboyant and eccentric. You’re a professor, after all. But a confident attitude is the best advertisement. You must be known for your smile.”
[…] “You’re going to win the war, Timothy. Eventually. But you’re going to lose some major battles on the way. You’re not going to overthrow the Protestant Ethic in a couple years.[…][110] [emphasis added] ~Timothy Leary

Serendipitously, here we see McLuhan giving Leary the exact instructions that he and Kleps used in the 1966 Congressional hearings, above; not to mention every time Leary was ever in the media or public.

And the serendipity was dripping when The Beatles came out with their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in 1967. And, by serendipity it must have been, that The Beatles got Marshal McLuhan’s message to Leary, using lyrics such as “picture yourself in a boat on a river” which falls right into the suggestibility factor we’ve been discussing, when McLuhan told Leary “get your rock and roll friends to write jingles about the brain,” just in time for the Summer of Love, and, by serendipity it must have been that Leary just happened to know such bands as The Beatles:

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...
~ The Beatles, Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds

For those of you who don’t already know this might come as a shocker, but “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is a sales pitch, a jingle for their product – LSD. In The Beatles and McLuhan: Understanding the Electric Age, Thomas MacFarlane says that by 1966 The Beatles knew exactly what McLuhan meant. Serendipitously, in 1969, Marshal McLuhan would have a filmed conversation with them.

Later, in Mission Mind Control, a 1979 ABC Television special on the CIA’s MKULTRA program, Leary admitted that the CIA originated the entire movement while at the same time using the very sales methods mentioned by McLuhan, above:

I give the CIA a total credit for sponsoring and initiating the entire consciousness-movement counterculture events of the 1960s… the CIA funded and supported and encouraged hundreds of young psychologists to experiment with this drug. The fallout from that was that the young psychiatrists started taking it themselves discovering that it was an intelligence enhancing, intelligence raising experience.[111]
~ Timothy Leary

And bringing it full circle, notice, above, that McLuhan stated: “That’s why your advertising must stress the religious. Find the god within.” “Find the god within” in 1979 became “generate the god within.” Today the CIA’s and Huxley’s dream of mind controlling the masses for the “Brave New World” has continued forward under the new moniker “entheogen.”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1

And so it seems, with a little public and social relations and marketing strategy, the fruit of the tree was remarketed in a fashion so suiting the Serpent – a rose.

Wait… the Serpent!? I wish I were kidding.

Flashback to the beginning

In Leary’s book Flashbacks he cites a very revealing conversation he had with Aldous Huxley:

These are evolutionary matters. They cannot be rushed. Work privately. Initiate artists, writers, poets, jazz musicians, elegant courtesans, painters, rich bohemians and they'll initiate the intelligent rich. That's how everything of culture and beauty and philosophic freedom has been passed on

Your role is quite simple. Become a cheerleader for evolution. That’s what I did and my grandfather before me. These brain-drugs, mass-produced in the laboratories, will bring about vast changes in society. This will happen with or without you or me. All we can do is spread the word. The obstacle to this evolution, Timothy, is the Bible”.

“I don’t remember any discussion of brain-change drugs in the Bible.”

“Timothy, have you forgotten the very first chapters of Genesis? Jehovah says to Adam and Eve, ‘I’ve built you this wonderful resort eastward of Eden. You can do anything you want, except you are forbidden to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.’”

“The first controlled substances.”

“Exactly. The Bible begins with Food and Drug prohibitions.”

“So the Fall and Original Sin were caused by the taking of illegal drugs.”

By this time Aldous was chuckling away very pleased with himself, and I was rolling on the floor with laughter.[112]
~ Timothy Leary in a conversation with Aldous Huxley

But why would Aldous Huxley say “The obstacle to this evolution, Timothy, is the Bible”? They state:

“The first controlled substances.” Exactly. “The Bible begins with Food and Drug prohibitions.” “So the Fall and Original Sin were caused by the taking of illegal drugs.”

Leary states “the Fall and Original Sin were caused by the taking of illegal drugs” and then admits “Aldous was chuckling away very pleased with himself, and I was rolling on the floor with laughter.” I can’t help but think with these words that this was intended to be some form of Crowleyan-style black magic ritual trying to recreate the Fall of humanity.

I’ve been an admirer of Aleister Crowley. I think that I’m carrying on much of the work that he started over a hundred years ago.[113]
~ Timothy Leary

The psychological implications on these men’s mental health are astonishing to contemplate, if this theory is correct.

To understand all of this in context, including Huxley’s comments to Leary regarding the Bible and his subsequent “chuckling,” we need to go all the way back to the beginning, to the Genesis of the entire story.

Genesis 3:1-11:
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Well, I did say to the beginning of the story! It is likely that Gordon Wasson, too, used the biblical narrative from Genesis as the origin, or “genesis” of his mushroom story. For some additional context here’s his version of the story as he told it in the May 13, 1957, edition of Life magazine, wherein his version of the myth seems uncannily like the biblical Genesis story:

It was a walk in the woods, many years ago, that launched my wife and me on our quest of the mysterious mushroom. We were married in London in 1926, she being Russian, born and brought up in Moscow. She had lately qualified as a physician at the University of London. I am from Great Falls, Montana of Anglo-Saxon origins. In the late summer of 1927, recently married, we spent our holiday in the Catskill Mountains in New York State. In the afternoon of the first day we went strolling along a lovely mountain path, through woods criss-crossed by the slanting rays of a descending sun. We were young, carefree and in love. Suddenly my bride abandoned my side. She had spied wild mushrooms in the forest, and racing over the carpet of dried leaves in the woods, she knelt in poses of adoration before first one cluster and then another of these growths. In ecstasy she called each kind by an endearing Russian name. She caressed the toadstools, savored their earthy perfume. Like all good Anglo-Saxons, I knew nothing about the fungal world and felt that the less I knew about those putrid, treacherous excrescences the better. For her they were things of grace, infinitely inviting to the perceptive mind. She insisted on gathering them, laughing at my protests, mocking my horror. She brought a skirtful back to the lodge. She cleaned and cooked them. That evening she ate them, alone. Not long married, I thought to wake up the next morning a widower.[114] [emphasis added] ~ R. Gordon Wasson

“The first day,” “mountain path, woods,” “the slanting rays of a descending sun,” “young, carefree and in love,” “my bride abandoned my side,” “spied mushrooms in the forest,” “knelt in poses of adoration,” “called each by an endearing name,” “she caressed the toadstools, savored their earthly perfume,” “the less I knew about those putrid, treacherous excrescences the better,” “She insisted on gathering them, laughing at my protests, mocking my horror,” “she ate them, alone.”

Some readers may think I’m reaching, but I think the similarities in the stories are uncanny, if not obvious. If Wasson had included a serpent it would have given it all away. And as I showed in my book The Holy Mushroom, never once in all his years of research and writing, did Wasson go beyond the Genesis story. Furthermore, he publicly attacked other scholars, like John M. Allegro, who did.[115] In Storming Heaven Jay Stevens reveals a similar biblical theme with Moloch (such as at Bohemian Grove):

From their [Jack Kerouac’s, Gary Snyder’s, Allen Ginsberg’s] days with Burroughs they knew that one of the quickest ways to disrupt the rational mind was with drugs. But not all drugs. Marijuana worked fairly well, but an even better disrupter was peyote, and its synthetic cousin, mescaline. LSD didn’t enter the Beat scene until the end of the Fifties, but when it did it quickly became the tool of choice for achieving “that ancient heavenly connection.”

Ginsberg took some peyote in the fall of 1955, […].Looking out his window, he [Ginsberg] had a vision of Moloch, the biblical idol whose worship was distinguished by the burning of children. Moloch was America, Ginsberg flashed, and he began writing a poem about this intuition.[116]
~ Jay Stevens

And so the Fall… Oops, I mean “the psychedelic revolution,” began.

Conclusion

In this study of ethnomycology we’ve explored two primary myths. One concerns the origins of the words psychedelic and entheogen. We found how suggestibility and “set and setting” are the chief factors in determining the outcome of taking the drugs; and how these substances were promoted to the public with weaponized anthropological tools such as “native revivalism.” The second myth concerns the origins of the so-called “psychedelic revolution” and “counterculture,” and we found that much of this myth seems to be based on biblical ideas of the Fall – though Christians might suggest it has more to do with the anti-Christ – in the flesh.

Marlene de Rios, mentioned previously, reflected:

De Rios and Grob in 1992 discussed the role of hallucinogenic plants in adolescent rites of passage in three traditional non-Western societies of the world. In the West, individualism is an undisputed value. Since the end of World War II, the empty self has emerged among the U.S. middle classes, with the breakdown of family, community, and tradition. Alienation, fragmentation, and a sense of confusion and meaninglessness pervade Western society, which particularly affects young people. There is a compulsion to fill up this emptiness, reflected in various ailments of our society: eating disorders, consumers’ buying sprees, and the perceived need for mind-altering substances.[117]
~ Marlene Dobkin de Rios

I’ve shown that the official history is contrived and that it appears that those involved have, in my opinion, committed academic fraud, not to mention working for the CIA’s MKULTRA program and intelligence. Further extensive investigation with regard to those who are still in academia, such as Prof. Carl Ruck at Boston University, and who participated in these matters, ought to be pursued. People who do not work in the best interests of our children’s minds and education have, obviously, no place in academia.

I still haven’t figured out if Wasson actually believed himself to be Satan or Adam – or both. Offering the fruit to humanity for the Fall, or the hapless victim of Eve’s, a.k.a. Valentina’s, desires? It’s possible, from their above statements, that Wasson and Huxley were challenging each other for the position of Satan and launching the Fall –crazy it may seem, but it doesn’t seem that we’re writing about sane men.

What is likely the hardest thing to understand is who the real target is. But once we understand that the real target was us –you and I, the “masses”– then we may begin to see things from a new perspective. And just because you’re not capable of thinking in such a destructive way and doing such horrible things to others, does not mean that others are incapable of doing so. In clinical terms such people are known as sociopaths or psychopaths – a personality type that everyone should research and become completely familiar with in order to protect themselves. Though not always, they’re often in places of power such as: CEOs, presidents and politicians, psychologists and psychiatrists, marketing and social/public relations experts, law enforcement and… intelligence.

I suppose the true implication here is that Aldous Huxley and Gordon Wasson, as well as Tim Leary and the others, like Satan of the Bible, were psychopaths. Stevens quotes Leary in Storming Heaven:

“You know, I really am a psychopath.” “I know you are,” replied [Charles] Slack, “but I’m one too.” “You aren’t in my league at all,” Leary said.[118]

It also seems possible that all of their “marketing” and lying and attacking the youth was a form of ritual magic or religious war to destroy humanity–outrageous as this statement may seem. I draw this conclusion from their actions here presented and their own words regarding the Bible, the Genesis story, Moloch, etc. Megalomania is a psychopathological condition which is defined:

Megalomania is a psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, genius, or omnipotence – often generally termed as delusions of grandeur. The word is a collaboration of the word “mania” meaning madness and the Greek “megalo” meaning an obsession with grandiosity and extravagance, a common symptom of megalomania. It is sometimes symptomatic of manic or paranoid disorders. [emphasis added]

I suggest that telling stories in which they place themselves into the Biblical narrative as Wasson has apparently done, and alluding to recreating the Fall as Aldous has obviously done, are symptoms of extreme cases of megalomania. Their actions against humanity are solid evidence of their paranoia.

Furthermore, both Gordon and Aldous were members of the CIA’s Century Club,[119] which is basically a secret society. Such groups are known to often use this type of ritual.

Let’s briefly summarize the key tactics exposed in this essay:

‘Set and setting’ is the key component to suggestibility with these substances, and through studying the etymology and history of these words we saw ‘neologisms’ – or new words, psychedelic and entheogen, that were used for marketing purposes and to “seed” the idea of the type of experience one should have while under their influence: If you told them it mimicked psychosis, it mimicked psychosis. If you told them it was mind manifesting, they had a mind-expanding experience. And if you told them it was a religious experience, well, they just might have a religious experience.

We also saw “juvenilization” and “paedomorphosis”, or child morphosis – promoted by Arthur Koestler – which was directly targeting youth to encourage their drug use and destructive behavior: “if you want to bring about mutations in a species, work with the young.”

What is beginning to become apparent is that a destruction of the self is being sold as a method of so-called “spiritual progress” and “enlightenment” by people who are lifetime actors and social/public relations experts.

And contrary to common understanding, we saw the prohibition of drugs as a tool of drug use enticement and control for rebellious youth to consume these substances with Leary going before congress, as well as with Louis Jolyon West: “The total or even partial prohibition of drugs gives the government considerable leverage for other types of control. […] To society, the communards with their hallucinogenic drugs are probably less bothersome–and less expensive–if they are living apart, than if they are engaging in alternative modes of expressing their alienation, such as active, organized, vigorous political protest and dissent.”

And from his declassified OSS letter we also saw Gregory Bateson’s native revivalism: “what the Russians have done is to stimulate the native peoples to undertake a native revival while they themselves admire the resulting dance festivals and other exhibitions of native culture, literature, poetry, music and so on. […] The system gets overweighed until some compensatory machinery is developed and then the revival of native arts, literature, etc., becomes a weapon for use against the white man.”

And lastly we saw the targeting of: “artists, writers, poets, jazz musicians, elegant courtesans, painters, rich bohemians […]. That's how everything of culture and beauty and philosophic freedom has been passed on.”

So it appears that Huxley’s idea of beauty means the degradation of society. You destroy one part (the masses) to elevate the other (the elite) – which does not seem able to elevate itself on its own.

If the masses were really dumb as we’re led to believe, all of this effort wouldn’t be spent by the intelligence community and people like Huxley, Wasson and Ruck, et al., to manipulate them and destroy their minds. As Sir Thomas More once wrote:

For if you [the rulers] suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves [and outlaws] and then punish them.[120]
~ Sir Thomas More

How these substances were studied from the 1940s onward might seem like a cart-before-the-horse type of situation by defining the drugs and then getting the expected results, rather than clinical, unbiased trials and reports of what they actually do. But what they do is increase suggestibility. This is why set and setting is so important – because in a relaxed set and setting you’re suggestible and they can get you to believe, under the right circumstances, just about anything.

Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.[121]
~ Aldous Huxley

One thing that is clear is that nothing from any of the above-mentioned scholars should be trusted without serious scrutiny.

Then, late in the 1930’s, we held a fateful meeting to decide our course of action, either to launch a systematic and massive assault on many fronts, or abandon the quest entirely.[122]
~ Gordon Wasson

Our appetite for simplicity has caused us to compress the chaos of the ‘60s into one monolithic “Youth Revolt.” But there were two philosophies then among the revolutionaries on how the world might be remade. One path, endorsed by political power and using the vantage to raise consciousness and save the world. The other path proposed an attack on the consciousness itself using a controversial and soon outlawed family of psychochemicals-the psychedelics. [123] [emphasis added] ~Jay Stevens

We can see that their aim was to attack and destroy not only the youth culture, but also Christianity and religion in general, while selling their own New Age version.

You’re not going to overthrow the Protestant Ethic in a couple years.[…][124]
~ Marshal McLuhan to Timothy Leary

With all of this what we begin to see is a pattern, and possibly one that’s been used throughout history with these substances. All of the above begs the question, was it a religious/racial war? In the opening paragraph of their landmark book In Darkness and Secrecy: The Anthropology of Assault Sorcery and Witchcraft in Amazonia, Prof. Neil Whitehead and Dr. Robin Wright provide this warning:

Shamanism is a burgeoning obsession for the middle classes around the globe. It's presentation in popular books, TV specials and on the internet is dominated by the presumed psychic and physical benefits that "shamanic techniques" can bring. This heightened interest has required a persistent purification of the ritual practices of those who inspire the feverish quest for personal meaning and fulfillment. Ironically,[…] given the self-improvement motivations that have brought so many into popular understanding of shamanism, two defining aspects of shamanism in Amazonia: blood, ie violence, and tobacco, have simply been erased from such representations. Such erasure is not only a vein self-deception, but more important it is a recapitulation of colonial ways of knowing through both the denial of radical cultural difference and refusal to think through its consequences.”[125]
~ Prof. Neil Whitehead and Dr. Robin Wright

We’ve seen how weaponized anthropology and native revivalism were sold to the masses. It appears that the “religious experience” sold to the population via the drugs, neo-shamanism and Eastern mysticism was something else entirely, a wolf in sheep’s clothing – the Fall (and Aldous Huxley was a Fabian Socialist whose logo is a wolf in sheep’s clothing). It was the intentional recreation of the Dionysian mysteries –and fall into debauchery we did.

Epsilons (singing)

No more Mammy, no more Pappy:
Ain't we lucky, ain't we happy?
Everybody's oh so happy,
Everybody's happy now!

Sex galore, but no more marriages;
No more pushing baby carriages;
No one has to change a nappy–
Ain't we lucky, ain't we happy:
Everybody's happy now.

Dope for tea and dope for dinner,
Fun all night, and love and laughter;
No remorse, no morning after.
Where's the sin, and who's the sinner?
Everybody's happy now.

Girls pneumatic, girls exotic,
Girls ecstatic, girls erotic–
Hug me, Baby; make it snappy.
Everybody's oh so happy,
Everybody's happy now.

Lots to eat and hours for drinking
Soma cocktails–no more thinking.
NO MORE THINKING, NO MORE THINKING!
Everybody's happy now.[126]
~ Aldous Huxley

At least Aldous would be happy with no more thinking, no more thinking but his, anyway. It’s a sort of self-appealing ad vericundiam fallacy. And I suppose for those who are psychopaths, they might find humor in his tune. But for the rest of us, it’s nothing but the cries of a petulant, sick and decayed, mind.

The last thing that readers are missing is how could creating hippies be a CIA tactic and how would such a tactic affect them?

If we consider that by having people “navel gaze” and focus on psychedelics as mind expansion, as opposed to real solutions to problems like social stratification, dumbing us down, and the like, then it distracts them from focusing on these real problems as the source of all of society’s ills, and more importantly, taking action to change them. With this in mind then it starts to become obvious that by focusing on psychedelics or spirituality as an answer to our problems we are distracted away from what the real problems are:

It is probably no accident that the society which most consistently encouraged the use of these substances, India, produced one of the sickest social orders ever created by mankind in which thinking men spent their time lost in the Buddha position under the influence of drugs exploring consciousness, while poverty, disease, social discrimination, and superstition reached their highest and most organised form in all history.[127]
~ David McClelland

What may help stem the tide of this Fall into debauchery, in this situation, is a word that is not loaded with any agenda to the intelligence community or otherwise. What we need is a word that truly warns potential users of these substances what they’re in for.

Because of the research in this article I suggest something along the lines of “suggestogens” (an English / Latin mishmash) or “suggerogens”. At least such a word, whatever it ended up to be, would inform potential users that whatever someone suggested to them regarding their experiences with these substances was likely to be close to the experience they would have. Such a word would be void of hallucinating, psychotic, mind-expanding, spiritual, or any other form of (mis)leading jargon. The OED’s definition, among several provided for the word suggest, much to my surprise, seems very fitting for the circumstances of our study:

suggest, v.

[f. L. suggest-, pa. ppl. stem of suggerĕre, f. sug- = sub- 2 + gerĕre to bear, carry, bring.]

1. a.1.a trans. To cause to be present to the mind as an object of thought, an idea to be acted upon, a question or problem to be solved; in early use said esp. of insinuating or prompting to evil. In extended application, to propose as an explanation or solution, as a course of action, as a person or thing suitable for a purpose, or the like.

b.1.b Said of the conscience, feelings, etc.; hence, of external things, to prompt the execution of, provide a motive for.
[…] d.1.d To utter as a suggestion.

e.1.e refl. Of an idea, proposition, etc.: To present itself to the mind.

†2.2 a.2.a To prompt (a person) to evil; to tempt to or to do something; to seduce or tempt away. Obs.

†b.2.b To insinuate into (a person's mind) the (false) idea that, etc. Obs.

3.3 To give a hint or inkling of, without plain or direct expression or explanation. […]

It was by total accident that I came up with this idea, based on the simple fact that in researching, considering and writing this article the concept kept coming up as to how these substances really operate. After repeatedly writing the word “suggest,” there occurred to me “suggestogens” or (pig?)-Latin - “suggerogens” – and feel free to correct my non-existent Latin. Suggestogen and/or suggerogen prompt us to be aware “of insinuating or prompting to evil” – which, as we can see above, was the purpose of the so-called “psychedelic revolution” and the agenda of men like Huxley, Ruck and Wasson.

As the CIA’s MKULTRA psychiatrist, Dr. Sydney Cohen, stated before Congress in 1966:

May I add something to what you have just said, Senator? I think another thing that has to be pointed out to these young people is that the LSD state is a completely uncritical one, a hypersuggestible one, and that what happens there can overwhelm some people and yet be quite illusory. There are insights here to be found and examined, but also the great possibility that the insights are not valid at all and overwhelm certain credulous personalities.[128]
~ Sydney Cohen

Here we also see Prof. Marlene Dobkin de Rios discussing the hyper-suggestibility factor:

Psychedelic substances like ayahuasca create a state of hypersuggestibility in which persons are very open to being influenced by others. Many traditional cultures have utilized this condition to inculcate cultural values and behaviors in young people as they receive initiation into adulthood. In the West, countercultural values can be inculcated in young people when using these psychedelics, especially when using them in an antinomian context.[129]
~ Marlene Dobkin de Rios

Here it is. In one paragraph Marlene de Rios clarifies the historical use of ayahuasca, peyote, and even the ancient Eleusinian mysteries – all at once she makes clear this historical agenda. And “antinomian” means: “of or relating to the view that Christians are released by grace from the obligation of observing the moral law.”

While in this view suggestibility is used to destroy Christianity and Protestant moral values, we can see that at one point the opposite must also have been the case within Judeo-Christianity as well, as I have written so much about–all of this new research forces a new look at my past books and writings, especially in Astrotheology & Shamanism: It would seem that the mystery of the secret societies, too, as well as early Christianity, was that these substances were used for the purpose of suggestion and control, for inculcation, rather than actual religiosity or spirituality.

So suggestogen(s) or suggerogen(s) would be roughly defined as:

1. A substance or substances formerly known as hallucinogens, psychedelics, entheogens, schizophrenigens, psychotomimetics, psychotropics, psychoactives, adaptogens, empathogens, fantasticants, enactogens, psycholytics, and many other various names, that have been used historically to suggest a person to someone else’s will, often to do evil, while under the influence of such substances, which generate hyper-suggestibility in the taker. Hyper-suggestibility is so increased by such substances that their mere name can affect the outcome of the experience of their use – hence (pl.) suggestogens. Historically, in the 1950s and 1960s, such substances were used in an attempt by men such as Aldous Huxley and Gordon Wasson, along with the CIA’s MKULTRA program, to re-create the biblical Fall.

Adj. suggestogenic/suggerogenic: capable of being used for such purposes.

If there are negative connotations to this word that somehow do not reveal the suggestibility factor and/or other dangers with the use of these substances and perpetuates their misuse, it is by accident, and any use of the word should be discontinued immediately.

If, however, the mere use of the word, a correct formation or not, wakes people up and frees them from this slavery, then allow it to be adopted for this use.

What’s in a name? Practically everything.

Epilogue

There was one last disturbing notion that kept creeping up as I researched and wrote this article. And now that we have the context, and being that so much of the psychedelic experience is based on suggestion, I thought I had to ask: Had Maria Sabina, being unlettered, suggested that 17-year-old boy to his death? Had this incident led Wasson to understand the mushroom’s full potential for social control? And what about the ‘December 21, 2012, end of the world’ movement, supposedly based on the Mayan calendar? As Wasson stated: “[T]he number of human sacrifices that are set forth in detail, the way in which they are keyed to the religious calendar…”

I leave it for the reader to decide.

Footnotes:

[1] Timothy Leary in Flashbacks, pp. 387, J. P. Tarcher/Putnam books, 1983/1990, pp. 387. ISBN: 0-87477-4977
[2] Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Richard Alpert, The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Kensington Publishing Corp., 1964/1992. pp. 11
[3] CIA MKULTRA records, Mori ID#: 145021, Filed: 11/19/1953
[4] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 59. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[5] Aldous Huxley, Moksha, Park Street Press, 1977/1999, pp. 181-182. ISBN: 978-0-89281-758-0
[6] Timothy Leary in Flashbacks, P. 387, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam books, 1983/1990, pp. 251-252. ISBN: 0-87477-497-7
[7] Aldous Huxley, Moksha, Park Street Press, 1977/1999, pp. 107. ISBN: 978-0-89281-758-0
[8] Gordon Wasson in Persephone’s Quest, Yale University Press, 1986, pp. 30. ISBN: 0-300-05366-9
[9] Marty Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 38. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[10] Ibid pp. 68
[11] Ibid pp. 70
[12] Leary in The Narcotic Rehabilitation Act of 1966. Hearings before a special subcommittee, Eighty-ninth Congress, second session. [89] Y 4.J 89/2:N 16/3. pp. 246, 250
[13] “Dr. Timothy Leary Defends Responsible Use of LSD, May, 1966” University of Richmond Virginia website: https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/5257
[14] Oxford English Dictionary, “psychotomimetic”
[15] Ibid
[16] Ibid
[17] Alexander and Ann Shulgin, Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story. Transform Press, 2000, ISBN 0-9630096-0-5. pp. 65
[18] Colin Ross, The C.I.A. Doctors, Manitou Communications, Inc., 2006, pp. 83. ISBN: 0-9765508-0-6, see also CIA MKULTRA Subproject 47 letter of March 25, 1964 on Humphry Osmond letterhead, declassified June 1977.
[19] Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, pp. 54
[20] Ibid, pp. 56
[21] Ibid, pp. 139
[22] Aldous Huxley, Moksha, Park Street Press, 1977/1999, pp. 107. ISBN: 978-0-89281-758-0. See also Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1969, pp. 795ff
[23] Marty Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, 54-55 Grove Press, 1985, pp. 54-55. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[24] Ibid PP. 54-55
[25] Albert Hofmann, Psychotomimetic agents. In A. Burger (Ed.) Chemical Constitution and Pharmacodynamic Action, Vol. II, Dekker, New York, 1968.
[26] Created by Dr. Frank Olson – murdered by the CIA for threatening to go public – eventually exposing MKULTRA and leading to the Church Commission
[27] Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al, The Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 11(1-2) Jan-Jun, 1979, pp. 146
[28] Michael Hollingshead, The Man Who Turned on the World, Abelard-Schuman, pp. 144. ISBN: 0-200-04018-9
[29] Ibid
[30] Albert Hofmann, LSD My Problem Child, J. P. Tarcher, Inc., pp. 15. ISBN: 0-87477-256-7
[31] Ibid, pp. 16
[32] Ibid, pp. 17-19
[33] Ibid, pp. 21
[34] Gordon Wasson in Persephone’s Quest, Yale University Press, 1986, pp. 30. ISBN: 0-300-05366-9
[35] B.H. Friedman, Tripping: A Memoir, Provincetown Arts Press, 2006, pp. 48ff. ISBN: 0-944854-48-6
[36] Irvin and Atwill, Manufacturing the Deadhead: A Product of Social Engineering, Gnostic Media, 2013.
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/manufacturing-the-deadhead-a-product-of-social-engineering-by-joe-atwill-and-jan-irvin/
[37] Psychedelic Intelligence, produced by Jan Irvin, Gnostic Media, May 2014.
[38] Gordon Wasson presenting to the Century Club, The Century Club, 04-01-1971. Audio. Hear the introduction by the president of the Century discussing Aldous Huxley’s membership along with Gordon Wasson’s. Available through the Century Association library archives.
[39] Youtube video: A Conversation on LSD – 1979, A “reunion” filmed at Oscar Janiger’s house with Tim Leary, Humphry Osmond, Sidney Cohen, et al.
[40] Ibid
[41] Louis Jolyon West in Hallucinations: Behaviour, Experience, and Theory by Ronald K. Siegel and Louis Jolyon West, 1975. ISBN 978-1-135-16726-4. pp. 298 ff.
[42] Marlene Dobkin de Rios, Hallucinogens: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, University of New Mexico Press, 1984, pp. 16
[43] Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1969, pp. 795ff, letter #744.
[44] Aldous Huxley, Moksha, ed. by Michael Horowitz, Inner Traditions, 1977/1999, pp. 180. ISBN: 978-089281758-0
[45] Ibid, pp. 181
[46] Ibid, pp. 181ff
[47] Marty Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 78. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[48] Aldous Huxley, Moksha, Park Street Press, 1977/1999, pp. 186. ISBN: 978-0-89281-758-0
[49] David Black, Acid, Vision Paperbacks, 1998/2001, pp. 49. ISBN: 1-901250-30-x
[50] Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1958, Ch. 2, 1^st paragraph.
[51] Jonathan Ott, Pharmacotheon, Natural Products Company, 1996, pp. 103. ISBN: 0-9614234-9-8
[52] CIA MKULTRA Subproject 47 letter of March 25, 1964 on Humphry Osmond letterhead, declassified June 1977.
[53] Colin Ross, The C.I.A. Doctors, Manitou Communications, Inc., 2006, pp. 83. ISBN: 0-9765508-0-6
[54] Louis Jolyon West in Hallucinations: Behaviour, Experience, and Theory by Ronald K. Siegel and Louis Jolyon West, 1975. ISBN 978-1-135-16726-4. pp. 293 ff.
[55] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 85. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[56] Abram Hoffer, Humphry Osmond, The Hallucinogens, Academic Press of New York and London, 1967.
[57] Julian Huxley, Ernst Mayr, Humphry Osmond & Abram Hoffer, Schizophrenia as a Genetic Morphism, in Nature 204, 220 - 221 (17 October 1964); doi:10.1038/204220a0
[58] Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al, The Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 11(1-2) Jan-Jun, 1979, pp. 145
[59] Irvin and Atwill, Manufacturing the Deadhead: A Product of Social Engineering, Gnostic Media, 2013.
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/manufacturing-the-deadhead-a-product-of-social-engineering-by-joe-atwill-and-jan-irvin/
[60] Jan Irvin, R. Gordon Wasson, The Man, The Legend, The Myth, May 2012; and Joe Atwill and Jan Irvin in Manufacturing the Deadhead: A Product of Social Engineering, May 2013, at www.gnosticmedia.com
[61] Jonathan Ott – Pharmacotheon, Natural Products Company, 1996, pp. 15. ISBN: 0-9614234-9-8
[62] Jan Irvin, R. Gordon Wasson: The Man, the Legend, the Myth. Beginning a New History of Magic Mushrooms, Ethnomycology, and the Psychedelic Revolution. May 13, 2012
[63] Edward Bernays in The Fluoride Deception, by Christopher Bryson, Seven Stories Press, 2006, 158ff. ISBN: 1583227008
[64] Jonathan Ott, The Age of Entheogens &The Angel’s Dictionary, Natural Products Company, 1995, pp. 88-89. ISBN: 0-9614234-7-1
[65] Michael Hollingshead, The Man Who Turned on the World, Abelard-Schuman, pp. 15 ISBN: 0-200-04018-9
[66] Dave McGowan, Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon, Headpress, 2014, pp. 59. ISBN: 978-1909394124
[67] John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, Times Books, 1979, pp. ix. ISBN: 0-8129-0773-6
[68] Andrews archive, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, Box 40: folder 441; Box 42: folder 460.
[69] Carl Ruck, Gordon Wasson, et al, The Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 11(1-2) Jan-Jun, 1979, pp. 145
[70] Ibid
[71] Ibid
[72] Neil Whitehead and Robin Wright, In Darkness and Secrecy, Duke University Press, 2004, pp. 171. ISBN: 0-8223-3345-7
[73] Gregory Bateson, (1944) Office of Strategic Services South East Asia Command: Interoffice Memo from Gregory Bateson, To Dillon Ripley, Subject: “Your Memo No. 53” Dated 11/15/44. Released by Central Intelligence Agency, under Freedom of Information Act request August 1994. FOIA Reference F94-I51 1. Found in Prof. David Price’s article: “Gregory Bateson and the OSS: World War II and Bateson’s Assessment of Applied Anthropology”, Sept. 2010, at: http://www.currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=1110
[74] Andy Letcher, Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom, HarperCollins Publishers, 2007, pp. 102-104. ISBN: 978-0-06-082828-8
[75] Alvaro Estrada, Maria Sabina. Her Life and Chants. Santa Barbara: Ross-Erikson, Inc., 1981.
[76] Andy Letcher, Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom, HarperCollins Publishers, 2007, pp. 110. ISBN: 978-0-06-082828-8
[77] Maria Sabina in Maria Sabina Her Life and Chants, by Alvaro Estrada, Ross-Erikson Inc., 1981, pp. 74. ISBN: 0-915520-32-8
[78] Ibid, pp. 105-190.
[79] Ibid, pp. 63
[80] Brian Akers, The Sacred Mushrooms of Mexico, University Press of America, 2007, pp. 49. ISBN: 978-0-7618-3582-0
[81] Gordon Wasson in Persephone’s Quest, Yale University Press, 1986, pp. 24. ISBN: 0-300-05366-9
[82] Ibid, pp. 33-35
[83] Ibid, pp. 35
[84] Ibid, pp. 35ff
[85] Ibid, pp.37ff
[86] Brian Akers, The Sacred Mushrooms of Mexico, University Press of America, 2007, pp. 81-82. ISBN: 978-0-7618-3582-0
[87] Jay Courtney Fikes, Carlos Castaneda, Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties, Millenia Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-0696960-0
[88] http://www.jayfikes.com/Home_Page.html
[89]Fernando Benitez, ed. by Brian Akers, in The Sacred Mushrooms of Mexico, University Press of America, 2007, pp. 97. ISBN: 978-0-7618-3582-0
[90] Hallucinogenic Drugs Use by Other Societies Studied, The Valley News, March 27, 1970, Van Nuys, California. (What section is hard to read – it appears roughly as – 10-A-Central, 12-A-?, 14-A-?, 14-A-North, 16-A-West, 14-A-East.)
[91] Documents and letters from the CIA archives on R. Gordon Wasson – FOIA request, February 2012. Approved for release 2003/05/05 : CIA-RDP80R01731R000700100003-5
[92] Richard DeMille archives, UC Santa Barbara: Box 1, folder 26, pp. 9.
[93] Brian Akers, The Sacred Mushrooms of Mexico, University Press of America, 2007, pp. 95. ISBN: 978-0-7618-3582-0
[94] Ibid, pp. 110
[95]Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Princeton University Press, 1964, pp. 401. ISBN: )-691-01779-4
[96] Brian Akers, The Sacred Mushrooms of Mexico, University Press of America, 2007, pp. 84. ISBN: 978-0-7618-3582-0
[97] Ibid
[98] Maria Sabina in Maria Sabina Her Life and Chants, by Alvaro Estrada, Ross-Erikson Inc., 1981, pp. 72ff. ISBN: 0-915520-32-8
[99] Ibid, pp. 86
[100] Gordon Wasson in Persephone’s Quest, Yale University Press, 1986, P. 36. ISBN: 0-300-05366-9
[101] Gordon Wasson, The Wondrous Mushroom, City Lights Books, 1980/2013, pp. 201ff
[102] Ibid pp. 202
[103] Brian Akers, The Sacred Mushrooms of Mexico, University Press of America, 2007, pp. 84. ISBN: 978-0-7618-3582-0
[104] Gordon Wasson, The Wondrous Mushroom, City Lights Books, 1980/2013, pp. 122
[105] Gordon Wasson, Carl Ruck, et al, The Journal of Psychedelic Drugs, Vol. 11(1-2) Jan-Jun, 1979, pp. 145
[106] Ibid
[107] Ibid
[108] Marty Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 68. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[109] Michael Hollingshead, The Man Who Turned on the World, Abelard-Schuman, pp. 34. ISBN: 0-200-04018-9
[110] Timothy Leary, Flashbacks, J. P. Tarcher/Putnam books, 1983/1990, pp. 251-252. ISBN: 0-87477-497-7
[111] Timothy Leary in Mission Mind Control, ABC Television, 1979. 16:58ff.
[112] Timothy Leary in a conversation with Aldous Huxley in Flashbacks, J. P. Tarcher/Putnam books, 1983/1990, pp. 44. ISBN: 0-87477-497-7
[113] Video: Timothy Leary & Satanism, "I’ve been an admirer of Aleister Crowley. I think that I’m carrying on much of the work that he started over a hundred years ago." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ky0saKkfig
[114] R. Gordon Wasson, Seeking The Magic Mushroom, Life magazine, May 13, 1957
[115] Jan Irvin, The Holy Mushroom: Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Christianity, Gnostic Media, 2008.
[116] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 112ff. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[117] Marlene Dobkin de Rios, A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy, Preager, 2008, pp. 104. ISBN: 978-0-313-34542-5
[118] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 132. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[119] Gordon Wasson presenting to the Century Club, The Century Club, 04-01-1971. Audio. Hear the introduction by the president of the Century discussing Aldous Huxley’s membership along with Gordon Wasson’s and their regular discussions of Soma and mushrooms. Available through the Century Association library archives.
[120] Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Utopia, Book 1
[121] Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1969, pp. 604, letter #572.
[122] Gordon Wasson in Persephone’s Quest, Yale University Press, 1986, pp. 18. ISBN: 0-300-05366-9
[123] Jay Stevens, introduction to The Invisible Landscape, 1993 edition, by brothers McKenna, pp. XII.
[124] Timothy Leary, Flashbacks, J. P. Tarcher/Putnam books, 1983/1990, pp. 251-252. ISBN: 0-87477-497-7
[125] Neil Whitehead and Robin Wright, In Darkness and Secrecy, Duke University Press, 2004, pp. 1. ISBN: 0-8223-3345-7
[126] Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1969, pp. 809, letter #757.
[127] David McClelland in Michael Hollingshead, The Man Who Turned on the World, Abelard-Schuman, pp. 34. ISBN: 0-200-04018-9
[128] Sydney Cohen in Organization and Coordination of Federal Drug Research and Regulatory Programs: LSD. Hearings, Eighty-ninth Congress, second session. May 24, 25, and 26, 1966. [89] Y 4.G 74/6:L 99. pp. 157
[129] Marlene Dobkin de Rios, A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy, Preager, 2008, pp. 16. ISBN: 978-0-313-34542-5

Youtube / Text Aloud version:

How to Identify and Remove Facebook Trolls, Gang-Stalkers, and Disinfo Agents

By Jan Irvin

Dec. 16, 2014

www.gnosticmedia.com

Have you ever had someone post on a thread you created who is mean to everyone trying to have a conversation - name calling and ridiculing, or just plain lying about the information? Have you ever had someone who contacts everyone on your friends list and tells them lies about you? Have you ever had someone who just about every time you post a new thread they’re the first to reply - posting nonsense, or attacks? Have you ever had someone make repeated comments to a thread while never seeming to stay on topic?

If you can say yes to any of the above questions, you’re likely a victim of paid online cyber-bullying: trolls, gang-stalkers, and counterintelligence agents.

After going through many hundreds of friend requests each month on Facebook I've learned to spot many, not all, but many paid cyber-trolls, gang-stalkers, and counterintelligence agents. I've decided to share this information the public to help you identify them as well, if you too are experiencing the problem. Even if you aren't, the tools here will be useful to you and your friends to help identify these potentially unsavory types in the future.

The more Facebook and internet users learn to identify paid trolls, gang-stalkers and counterintelligence agents, the less we all have to deal with them.

By exposing and sharing their methods we make them impotent and ineffectual.

In this day and age of high technology it’s important that we all realize the reality of, and learn to identify, expose, and stop, cyber-bullies, trolls and counterintelligence – for many reasons:

Trolls, cyber-bullies and counterintelligence agents waste billions of your tax dollars to intentionally mislead you on serious public matters.

Trolls, cyber-bullies and counterintelligence agents waste huge amounts of your time in productivity, etc.

Learning to identify trolls, cyber-bullies and counterintelligence agents, and expose them, we lessen their cost and impact on the rest of society.

By exposing trolls, cyber-bullies, and counterintelligence agents, we also expose their misinformation and attempts to mislead us where correct information for proper decision making is of great importance to everyone.

While this article focuses specifically with Facebook, many of the tools provided here will be relevant across the internet: on Youtube, Twitter, internet forums, news feeds, etc. Please share this article with everyone you know so that we may all benefit and prosper by the identification, and especially removal, of these counterintelligence infestations.

At the end of this short article I provide additional study materials on trolls, gang-stalkers, and counterintelligence agents, et al., for your continued study.

Psychology:

The basic psychology of the paid internet troll, gang-stalker and counterintelligence agent is essentially of someone who gets off on kicking over sand castles and trying to destroy what others build. They’re psychopaths and pseudo-psychopaths (-someone under the influence of a psychopath), and, surprisingly, they’re quite often paid for misleading others online.

Most trolls and counterintelligence agents seemingly have no talent or ability of their own, or at least they haven't fostered any - but lying, cheating, and misleading – and various other forms of sophism. Often because of their lack of talent or ability, as with most socialists, they take jobs with the government. They live off the backs of others who create and do hard work. But their psychopathology leads them to think that they're doing good by manipulating, rather than uplifting, “the herd,” hence trolls and counterintelligence types are more often than not paid by governments. Some also work for the “private sector”.

Identification:

There are many ways to help you identify trolls and other government employee unsavory types:

1) When you receive a friend request check to see if the person has a history. Did they create the account yesterday, or in 2007? Or someplace in between? You may check this on the right side of their user profile. If their account was created very recently, it's likely a troll. If it was created this year and also has the below signs, you're almost assuredly dealing with a paid troll.

Note: Often you may have to first approve the friend request before you may see the details of their account. Afterword, if you identify them as a troll/counterintelligence type, you may immediately "unfriend" them.

2) Do you have any friends that you personally know who also have them as friends? Check the mutual friends on the left.

3) Many trolls and cyber-agents will use loads of those cheesy, thoughtless, cliché images - the ones with all those cheesy New Age, Vegan, environmental (and many other) quotes and all.

4) Most trolls and cyber-agents will NOT have any personal or family photos. If they do have what appear to be family photos, check their upload history (they should not be all in one day, etc) and make sure that they show consistent places, dates, events, people, etc., and that places, dates, events and people match up.

5) On their walls, trolls, gang-stalkers, cyber-counter intelligence agents typically don't write anything on their posts. They'll very often post only the above mentioned cheesy images with no words or comments. If they do comment, it's very brief - only a few words. If you see long, thoughtful, original, well thought out comments, it's likely not a troll or counterintelligence agent, at least not a low level one anyway.

6) Many trolls and gang-stalkers friend each other and their friends will often have similar type profiles.

7) Sometimes looking for Hermetic, Kabbalistic, Crowleyan, and other forms of occult and Masonic type symbolism helps to spot trolls and counterintelligence agents. This is because “intelligence” is all about the “occult,” so these types often show off their knowledge of the occult like some high school girl seeking provisional self-esteem. Such symbolism is often in the top banner on their wall, or in their avatar.  Sometimes the symbolism may be associated to specific geographical regions and countries. For example: an Israeli counterintelligence agent might use an occulted Star of David.

Troll, gang-stalker, and counterintelligence agent interactive online tactics include:

1) Being the first poster on a new thread, and will typically post up irrelevant information, or snide comments to prevent others from commenting or following the thread.

2) Comments will typically avoid any data or material actually presented - at all costs. Trolls, cyber-bullies, and counterintel agents will nearly never say anything intelligent about the material itself. Like telemarketers, it's not about original thought, so they stick to a script - what I call "Sticking with Stupid". Their script says name call, ridicule, lie, etc, but it doesn't say consider any fact or comment you've raised rationally. These types are usually under-educated, often high school drop outs or university students (or at least seem so). Most of them have socialist leanings. But be careful. We've seen some who were Harvard educated.

3) Scripted comments will typically attack the presenter with name calling, ridicule, and other fallacious attacks, or just any bit of irrelevant nonsense. Often they seem incapable of even the slightest bit of critical thinking.

Learning and memorizing the trivium method and the logical fallacies is one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family. See www.triviumeducation.com.

4) Many will try to befriend you, and then when you present information they'll try to distort what it actually says, or try to make you feel stupid for thinking it - even if the facts are right in front of you.

5) Gang-stalkers and cyber-bully agents will often harass other members on your friends-list. They may send your friends direct messages, name call at them, talk shit behind your back – such as try to win them over with some made-up lie that they’re spreading about you or your work.

6) Trolls and counterintelligence agents will often try to keep you in the conversation, pretending that they really care. The more posts, the more they get paid.

Be careful also not to confuse a useful/willful idiot with a real troll / counter intel agent. We’ve all been willful idiots at one point or another. A willful idiot, usually within 15 to 20 posts, will often begin to consider your information rationally and will actually study it and comment on it - constructively. Look for cognitive dissonance before giving them the ultimate ban.

7) Counterintelligence agents, trolls, and cyber-bullies, love to hide amongst those who’re misinformed so that they can continue to mislead them – and it gives them a cover - hiding in plain sight. Again, it’s a psychopathology and provisional self-esteem issue, their own and the victim’s, which they love to play on.

What can you do?

1) The first line of defense is checking each friend request over carefully before you add them. If you find too many of the above signs, or sometimes even one of them, it's likely that the person is a paid troll / gang-stalker / or counterintelligence type.

2) Spread this article! The more who know this information, the less we’ll all have to deal with it.

3) If you've mistakenly added someone whom you think is a troll or counter intel / disinfo agent, you may test them. When you bring up information do they avoid the topic? Do they name call or ridicule you or your friends? Do they harass you and other members? Are they always the first to post or comment?

4) Create categories of friends. Name one as trolls / disinfo types and then tag people in that category that you're unsure of. You can add them to that list as you test them, or just ban them all together.

5) Let others know that you think someone is a troll or counterintelligence agent. But be careful. Sometimes you may just let your other friends know privately to block someone you’ve identified as a troll. But if you post up the troll’s personal information, they can come back at you.

6) Study the trivium method. By learning the trivium method you can learn the tricks that are being used against you and protect you and yours. My website www.triviumeducation.com is dedicated to providing this information for free, but your donations are encouraged!

7) Get informed. Learn as much as you can about the reality of these disinformation types - often paid for by your and other governments. Here are several websites and videos to help you get started.

Links:

Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists: Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response. Published on September 18, 2014 by Jennifer Golbeck, Ph.D. in Your Online Secrets:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/internet-trolls-are-narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists

How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

Gang Stalking and Harassment:
http://jbhfile.com/harm_gang.html

The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
http://pastebin.com/irj4Fyd5

How to spot an Online Troll:
http://burners.me/2014/12/12/how-to-spot-an-online-troll/

Videos:

Government Spies & Internet Trolls: What you should KNOW!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F_y1I-ggkw

How the Government Manipulates Your Thoughts Online | Big Brother Watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUWnGXAfabA

Of course after this post is made, the online counterintelligence / troll / cyber-bully / gang stalker community will begin to update their tactics, and we can update this list.

Spies in Academic Clothing

The Untold History of MKULTRA and the Counterculture –
And How the Intelligence Community Misleads the 99%

by Jan Irvin

May 13, 2015

 
 
Articles in this series:

1) R. Gordon Wasson: The Man, the Legend, the Myth. Beginning a New History of Magic Mushrooms, Ethnomycology,and the Psychedelic Revolution. By Jan Irvin, May 13, 2012
2) How Darwin, Huxley, and the Esalen Institute launched the 2012 and psychedelic revolutions – and began one of the largest mind control operations in history. Some brief notes. By Jan Irvin, August 28, 2012
3) Manufacturing the Deadhead: A Product of Social Engineering, by Joe Atwill and Jan Irvin, May 13, 2013
4) Entheogens: What’s in a Name? The Untold History of Psychedelic Spirituality, Social Control, and the CIA, by Jan Irvin, November 11, 2014
5) Spies in Academic Clothing: The Untold History of MKULTRA and the Counterculture – And How the Intelligence Community Misleads the 99%, by Jan Irvin, May 13, 2015

‘Books differ from all other propaganda media,’ wrote a chief of the CIA’s Covert Action Staff, ‘primarily because one single book can significantly change the reader’s attitude and action to an extent unmatched by the impact of any other single medium [such as to] make books the most important weapon of strategic (long-range) propaganda.’ The CIA’s clandestine books programme was run, according to the same source, with the following aims in mind: ‘Get books published or distributed abroad without revealing any U.S. influence, by covertly subsidizing foreign publications or booksellers. Get books published which should not be “contaminated” by any overt tie-in with the U.S. government, especially if the position of the author is “delicate”. Get books published for operational reasons, regardless of commercial viability. Initiate and subsidize indigenous national or international organizations for book publishing or distributing purposes. Stimulate the writing of politically significant books by unknown foreign authors – either by directly subsidizing the author, if covert contact is feasible, or indirectly, through literary agents or publishers.
The New York Times alleged in 1977 that the CIA had been involved in the publication of at least a thousand books.[1] [Emphasis added] ~ Frances Stonor Saunders

Introduction:

In her book The Cultural Cold War, Frances Stonor Saunders makes startling revelations regarding the CIA’s clandestine books program. Citing the Frank Church Committee and the New York Times, she states that by 1977 the CIA had published over 1000 books, including those, ironically on “indigenous national or international organizations” – which would very likely include neo-shamanism and “native revivalism”.

If you’re a reader like I am, or even if you’ve ever read a book sometime in your life, then that means you may have read a book that was written by an intelligence agent and it’s likely, as Saunders shows, that you were misled. And even though this article pertains to the CIA’s MKULTRA program and the counterculture, it will provide insight into how the CIA (and intelligence community as a whole) influences information in other books and areas – including academia – as well.

As I’ll show in this essay, by 1979 things hadn’t changed much. And even to this day it seems the CIA, et al, is cranking out propaganda in book form (along with movies, music and other forms of pop-culture). And as we’ll see, it wasn’t just in international publications, but in books and media right here at home that intentionally misled the public regarding major issues of concern.

In my study of the CIA’s MKULTRA program I made the startling discovery that all of the early books on the subject, and very many of the later ones, were written by authors of the CIA and intelligence community to misguide the public’s perception of MKULTRA and what it was (and is) really about. This may seem like an outrageous “conspiracy theory” now, but as we go along the evidence will speak for itself.

The typical level of deception in most of these books seems to follow something along the lines of 70/30. If the authors of these books that have mislead public perception, as well as historical research, were entirely inaccurate, they would be easily found out. But by using a general rule of about 70% facts and 30% deception, these authors and academics for the intelligence community are able to tell their version of history while at the same time providing a misleading glimpse into the world of intelligence. And with some effort and research, one is able to stitch together, by little bits from each of these publications, and by digging through university library archives, etc., a much more accurate picture. This essay focuses on exposing the 30% deception and how it works – and how a major aspect of MKULTRA was covered up until the present day.

Over the years I’ve been able to piece together a much different perception of MKULTRA and the counterculture revolution, most of which I’ve revealed on the Gnostic Media website. In Gordon Wasson, the Man, the Legend, The Myth, 2012; and in Manufacturing the Deadhead, 2013, with Joe Atwill, and more recently in Entheogens: What’s In a Name?, 2014, and in online videos and documentaries, I’ve revealed a large amount of primary evidence that shows that the official version of the MKULTRA story and psychedelic revolution is just another cover-up, and one that the CIA and intelligence community managed to get away with long after the MKULTRA program was first “exposed” in the 1970s. In doing this research I’ve been able to piece together how this deception works and is perpetuated throughout the intelligence community, and onto, or against, the “public” at large.

As Howard Zinn wrote in The Peoples' History of the United States:

The Church Committee uncovered CIA operations to secretly influence the minds of Americans:

The CIA is now using several hundred American academics (administrators, faculty members, graduate students engaged in teaching) who, in addition to providing leads and, on occasion, making introductions for intelligence purposes, write books and other material to be used for propaganda purposes abroad. . . These academics are located in over 100 American colleges, universities and related institutions. At the majority of institutions, no one other than the individual concerned is aware of the CIA link. At the others, at least one university official is aware of the operational use of academics on his campus... The CIA considers these operational relationships within the U.S. academic community as perhaps its most sensitive domestic area and has strict controls governing these operations. . ..
In 1961 the chief of the CIA's Covert Action Staff wrote that books were "the most important weapon of strategic propaganda." The Church Committee found that more than a thousand books were produced, subsidized, or sponsored by the CIA before the end of 1967.[2]
~ Howard Zinn

The CIA has to create an air of deniability, for if the public knew that the Agency violated its charter each and every day since its inception, and that its real target was largely the American people, they would have a totally different perception of the CIA – one of complete distrust – and that’s one the CIA doesn’t want. Though by now, with past scandals such as MKULTRA, and more recent ones such as the NSA’s spying, people are becoming less trusting, and less likely to blindly follow what they’re told are the facts regarding the intelligence community. Here Saunders (who’s very possibly a British counterintelligence agent exposing the CIA) reveals how the CIA hid funds from Congress and the public:

‘The key to all this is the counterpart funds,’ Lawrence de Neufville later revealed. ‘People couldn’t say in U.S. Congress, “oh, look what they’re doing with taxpayer’s money,” because it wasn’t our money, it was a byproduct of the Marshall Plan.’ In an innovative move under the early years of the Marshall Plan, it was proposed that, in order to make the funds perform double duty, each recipient country should contribute to the foreign aid effort by depositing an amount equal to the US contribution in its central bank. A bilateral agreement between the country and the US allowed these funds to be used jointly. The bulk of the currency funds (95 per cent) remained the legal property of the country’s government, while 5 per cent became, upon deposit, the property of the US government. These ‘counterpart funds’ – a secret fund of roughly $200 million a year – were made available as a war chest for the CIA. […]

Now Irving Brown was able to boost his CIA slush fund with Marshall Plan ‘candy’.[3]
~ Frances Stonor Saunders

In fact, the CIA had so much “candy” that:

We couldn’t spend it all. I remember once meeting with Wisner and the comptroller. My God, I said, how can we spend that? There were no limits, and nobody had to account for it. It was amazing.[4]
~ Frances Stonor Saunders citing CIA agent Gilbert Greenway

This article seeks to aid readers to understand some newly uncovered facts that anyone may verify. More and more evidence is amassing that reveals that the CIA did, in fact, launch the psychedelic revolution and counterculture, and that it was not blow back as is the common understanding. Here we’ll show how academics, authors, and spies (some were all three), colluded together to mislead everything the public thinks it knows about the MKULTRA program and the subsequent counterculture and psychedelic revolution, as well as how this type of information manipulation bleeds into nearly every area of our lives. By the end of this article it will be clear how the CIA and intelligence community perform this function against the American people.

We’ll be uncovering evidence and citations from the seven main books on MKULTRA and the counterculture that show, it appears, serious ulterior motives behind them, and, as the evidence will show, that they were misleading the American people’s perception of the CIA’s mind control program – apparently intentionally. And the Church Committee cited by Saunders and Zinn for the above quotes was one of the congressional hearings regarding the CIA’s MKULTRA mind control program.

Starting with John G. Fuller’s book The Day of Saint Anthony’s Fire, 1968, regarding what turned out to be pre-MKULTRA-like tests in Pont Saint Esprit, France, I’ll show that it appears that Fuller was doing a follow up study and even does a bogus UFO media stunt to gain acceptance from the local community when he arrives. He’s checking up on the damage done by these early MKULTRA-type experiments performed by the CIA and military intelligence, and further misleading the local population who’d already gone through years of hell.

In Operation Mind Control, 1978, Walter Bowart omits several glaring facts regarding his background, a background which, as we’ll find out, is astounding. Furthermore, Bowart was heavily studied in Marshal McLuhan’s public relations and media manipulation, and staged the famous ‘flower in the rifle’ or ‘flower power’ photo opportunity at the Pentagon that was photographed by Bernie Boston.

If I mention the book The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and Mind Control, 1979, many people have heard of it and may even know that it was written by John D. Marks. But unfortunately, for most people, their understanding of these very difficult subjects may stop at only one book – such as Marks’s –and they would only get about 70% truth in the focus of the one book. They may also not know that Marks was the assistant to the Director, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, for the U.S. State Department. Of course we can hardly expect an unbiased representation of MKULTRA from an intelligence agency. It would be foolhardy to assume otherwise. The MKULTRA files that are available today were originally released by Marks.

As we’ll uncover, the infamous fable of R. Gordon Wasson, the so-called “discoverer” of magic mushrooms, being infiltrated by a ‘mole,’ the CIA’s agent Dr. James Moore, on their search for psilocybe mushrooms in Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1956, must have started with Marks’s book. As we’ll see, it’s a story that’s ridiculous – but is repeated over and over in nearly every publication on the topic, including many ethnobotany publications since 1979. As it turns out, Wasson’s trip to Mexico with “personnel” was the CIA’s MKULTRA Subproject 58, which became ‘Seeking the Magic Mushroom,’ in Life magazine, May 13, 1957.

In 1985 Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain published what is, in my opinion, the most misleading and poorly researched book in all the available MKULTRA / psychedelic revolution literature, titled Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond. These authors repeatedly claim that there is no evidence that the government had launched the psychedelic revolution and counterculture – while apparently omitting certain evidence and dismissing other evidence out of hand. We’ll track some of this evidence down to the primary citations to show the reader that the authors may have covered up evidence that proved otherwise, while also quoting key CIA players and dismissing their quotes out of hand. Furthermore, the blow back mantra is repeated, as well as the James Moore myth started by Marks.

Jay Stevens is the author of Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, 1987, and this book has some good nuggets, though they’re often misleading and whitewashed, which forces one to realize that Stevens had to be on the inside to get them.

David Black’s book Acid: A New Secret History of LSD, 2001, exposes more, especially with Ronald “Stark” Shitsky, and has some great leads, but he repeats the same themes about how the psychedelic revolution appears to be blow back, and Black’s leads on Mr. Shitsky, unfortunately, run into dead ends.

Hank Albarelli published A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Cold War Experiments, 2010, and, again, he continues the James Moore story by Marks and that Wasson was personally unaware - while claiming to have read every page of the MKULTRA files and many more that others haven’t seen. Albarelli focuses on older, smaller, or more irrelevant aspects of MKULTRA, though must include some good material to not expose himself – which, as we saw in Manufacturing the Deadhead, 2013, he does anyway. As it turns out, Albarelli was a lawyer at the Whitehouse during the Carter Administration – when MKULTRA was first being exposed to the public.

A startling discovery, first pointed out to me by my friend, anthropologist Professor Jay Courtney Fikes, in his book Carlos Castaneda: Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties, 1993,[5] revealed that academics Prof. Peter T. Furst, Dr. Barbara Myerhoff, and Dr. Carlos Castaneda, had collaborated together and misled their readers for decades regarding the Huichol Indians, and appeared to have committed academic fraud. The best way I know how to describe this is what seem to be “academic cells” or groups of researchers and academics collaborating together, and citing each other’s misinformation to back up their stories. As I wrote in “Entheogens: What’s in a Name?”:

When Fikes first went public with the information in his book, Furst threatened to sue his publisher. Rather than standing firm, Fikes’ publisher panicked and pulled his book from print. And Fikes and other anthropologists had already brought charges of academic fraud against Furst to the Ethics Committee of the American Anthropological Association in 1992[6], which also backed down due to Furst’s threats. Due to the depth of this scandal as we’ve been revealing here, we’re beginning to understand what was likely what caused the Anthropological Association to back down. Furst will have no such luck here. I’d love to get this scandal on the official record. Attempts to interview Furst have failed.[7]

As seen in this same article, “Entheogens: What’s in a Name?,” other similar type academic cells started emerging, such as it appears with R. Gordon Wasson, Professor Carl A. P. Ruck, Jonathan Ott, and their collaborators. And there are still others coming to light. These same tactics have been and are used in MKULTRA research, and furthermore, I’ve noticed a pattern of these academic and research “cells” cross-citing each other to further bury each owns’ frauds. And it spreads far into other areas of our lives as well. Here President Bill Clinton’s professor at Georgetown University, Carroll Quigley, explains this process on a similar, but political scale:

By the interaction of these various branches on one another, under the pretense that each branch was an autonomous power, the influence of each branch was an autonomous power, the influence of each branch was increased through a process of mutual reinforcement. The unanimity among the various branches was believed by the outside world to be the result of the influence of a single Truth, while really it was the result of the existence of a single group. Thus a statesman (a member of the Group) announces a policy. About the same time, the Royal Institute of International Affairs publishes a study on the subject, and an Oxford don, a Fellow of All Souls (and a member of the Group) also publishes a volume on the subject (probably through a publishing house, like G. Bell and Sons or Faber and Faber, allied to the Group). The statesman’s policy is subjected to critical analysis and final approval in a “leader” in The Times, while the two books are reviewed (in a single review) in The Times Literary Supplement. Both the “leader” and the review are anonymous but are written by the members of the Group. And finally, at about the same time, an anonymous article in The Round Table strongly advocates the same policy. The cumulative effect of such tactics as this, even if each tactical move influences only a small number of important people, is bound to be great.[8]
~ Carroll Quigley

With this in mind, the above can be very startling in that it reveals how deep this type of disinformation can run through society, which acts as a web to keep the public misinformed on any topic.

And I should mention that I have no doubt that the intelligence community will launch all forms of vitriolic attack on me for publishing this paper. The typical fallacious tactics used against me since first publishing my article on Gordon Wasson, 2012, include: name calling, public ridicule, slander, straw man arguments, cyber terrorism, and anything but addressing the citations and what my work actually says. Their sophist attacks and deceptions (spin) have further helped me to understand how these cover-ups work – and where to look for evidence – in the opposite direction of their attacks. As the old cliché: “You get the most flak when you’re over the target”.

When we begin to understand how CIA/intelligence disinformation works, how counterintelligence works, we begin to see that all along our questions were incorrect:

If they get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.[9]
~ Thomas Pynchon

By close study of the documents and history of MKULTRA and the counterculture we realize that (nearly) all of the early psychedelic stars were agents (or assets), and then we see a whole new picture come into focus: CIA agents don’t always wear black, but they often wear tie-dye (or professors’ khaki pants) – talk about plausible deniability. The question was not who was a CIA agent… But rather, who wasn’t?

Aside from tie-dye, we’ll also strip away some of this academic clothing to expose more spies in what was no more than the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Now that we have an overview of how the CIA and intelligence community misleads and misdirects information, it’s time for some real journalism.

Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.[10]

In chronological order, we begin with John G. Fuller’s The Day of Saint Anthony’s Fire, about the poisoning of an entire village, Pont-Saint-Esprit, France, with what appears to have been ergot or one of the many Lysergamides extracted at the nearby Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, in Switzerland. This nightmare ended in seven dead, with hundreds of villagers going mad for days, weeks, or months –and some never recovered. The true history of this event continues to be suppressed to the present day. This is but one more chapter in uncovering the atrocious crimes committed against humanity by the intelligence community.

John G. Fuller: The Day of Saint Anthony’s Fire, 1968

(This section is dedicated to the people of Pont-Saint-Esprit, France)

John Fuller was an author and writer of several books, including:

The Day of Saint Anthony’s Fire, 1968, which is a look into the ergot / lysergamide outbreak in Pont-Saint-Esprit, France, in mid-August, 1951. The impact of this event went on for many months. The “official conclusion” of this event was that it was “mercury poisoning,” which Fuller exposes as false – for the simple reason that the effects aren’t all that similar – and there were hundreds of first hand descriptions of the effects.

He’s also the author of Arigo: Surgeon of the Rusty Knife, which is a look into Zé Arigó, a so-called “psychic surgeon,” from Brazil. In this book Fuller travels to Brazil with MKULTRA doctor and researcher, Andrija Puharich, to investigate Arigó and to supposedly tell his story.

Fuller’s book The Day of Saint Anthony’s Fire, though misleading, is quite good, and though it’s written as a story or narrative that’s nearly impossible to fact check –like all of his books, it does have an excellent “play-by-play” style. I would assume the letters and records he quotes should be in the official French records, although I have not verified this. No doubt there’s a strong possibility that he made up many of his “quotes”.

In my opinion, Fuller’s story in, well, all of his books, but in the case before us: The Day of Saint Anthony’s Fire, is a cover story. It appears that Fuller was doing a 15 year follow-up study for the CIA and Military intelligence community on the victims of what was apparently a Project BLUEBIRD or ARTICHOKE experiment (Project MKULTRA wasn’t funded until April 13, 1953):

I arrived in the bitter cold of Paris of January, 1967 […][11]
~ John G. Fuller

Before we continue, I should also point out that LSD does not create the effects of “Saint Anthony’s Fire,” as described in Fuller’s book, and nor does mercury – a very unlikely claim by the French officials, and backed by Albert Hofmann in his book LSD: My Problem Child.[12] However, there is at least one lysergamide that creates the exact effects as described at Pont-Saint-Esprit – Ergometrine – isolated in 1935. It’s very possible that Sandoz had made their own batch. And maybe it’s just in-your-face irony, but its effects are described as “Saint Anthony’s Fire”.

Possible side effects include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, tinnitus, chest pain, palpitation, bradycardia, transient hypertension and other cardiac arrhythmias, dyspnea, rashes, and shock. An overdose produces a characteristic poisoning, ergotism or "St. Anthony's fire": prolonged vasospasm resulting in gangrene and amputations; hallucinations and dementia; and abortions. Gastrointestinal disturbances such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, are common. [13]

Starting with the Pont-Saint-Esprit incident, after Fuller arrives in France, he worries over the lie he’s going to tell the French villagers in order to build their trust:

I decided that in order to discover the feeling of the town, and to try to get to know some of the people in a calm and unstrained atmosphere, I would have to practice a mild, benevolent deception. I knew no one whatever in the village, and had heard that it was almost certain that no one there could speak English. With my stumbling French it would be impossible to begin any depth-interviewing without getting to know some of the people well enough to beg their indulgence. I counted heavily on the tape recorder, so that I could listen and relisten to the interviews in French, and pick up the phrases I would lose in the thick Provencal and Languedoc accents of the Midi.[14]
~ John G. Fuller

He comes up with the idea to pretend to write about bridges, and then pretends that one of the villagers gave him another story –that he’s really there to investigate UFOs (more on this below):

“Vous avez raison,” I said, still wondering how he had penetrated my guise so quickly and easily. “You are absolutely right. I apologize”

“Why did you not come right out and tell me the real story you are here to investigate?” he said.

I stumbled around awkwardly, trying to find the right French words to express the subtleties of my apprehension and concern.

“So you come here to write the story of the Unidentified Flying Objects which have been reported,” he said. “I did not know that they had received such international attention. But obviously they have.”

I was completely stunned. […] I fell right into the accusation gladly.

“Yes,” I said. “You have uncovered my benevolent guise with impossible speed. I apologize profusely.”[…]

Although the subject was digressionary in my present situation, I felt that it would be an excellent way to get to know the village before beginning the research on the story of the “accursed bread.”[15]

~ John G. Fuller

So Fuller believes that deceiving the local villagers will be a good way to “get to know the village before beginning the research” on the “accursed bread”.

As a result, I did not hesitate to go along with M. Boudenne’s assumption that I was in Pont-Saint-Esprit to explore the UFO story.[…]

Within days my picture had appeared in all the newspapers of southern France in regard to the UFO story, and O.R.T.F., the national television network of France, sent an eight-man documentary film crew to the village to interview me on the parallelisms between the Pont-Saint-Esprit UFO sightings and those of Exeter. […][16]
~ John G. Fuller

Serendipitously, if you can believe it, Fuller had previously written two books on UFOs (Incident at Exeter, and The Interrupted Journey), but M. Boudenne was completely unaware of this fact.

I was completely stunned. I had said nothing about the subject of UFO’s—or soucoupes volantes as they are called in France. I had not even hinted at the subject, which was one I wanted to avoid getting further involved in, after the two books on it.[17]
~ John G. Fuller

Don’t you just love it when that happens? You show up in a strange, small town in a foreign country, where you’re trying to make up a lie, and a town local makes up a story for you that you’re there writing about UFOs, and, serendipitously, even though you’re trying to avoid the subject, you’ve written two books on UFOs, and, serendipitously the local didn’t know, and suddenly all of the newspapers and the national TV are promoting you! I’m sure it happens all the time. And it’s probably a really good thing that M. Boudenne’s assumption was so much better than Fuller’s “benevolent” lie about bridges.

After the newspaper and television publicity, I became somewhat of a pseudocelebrity in the town, which was helpful in getting to know the tradesmen, the bartenders, the villagers more quickly.[18]
~ John G. Fuller

How serendipitous that the TV and newspapers could be so helpful in making him a pseudo-celebrity overnight, because, without them, by Fuller’s admission, he couldn’t have done his study nearly as quickly, hence why he made up a lie in the first place planning to deceive the townsfolk. I suppose it didn’t matter what the lie was, as long as he got on national TV and in the papers. I’m sure his idea of writing about bridges or whatever (it could have been wine, butterflies, or bat guano), would have likewise made him just as popular a celebrity with the townsfolk and would have also gotten him on the national news, because, by Fuller’s logic, in order to: “discover the feeling of the town, and to try to get to know some of the people in a calm and unstrained atmosphere, [he] would have to practice a mild, benevolent deception.” –in other words, being a national news pseudo-celebrity creates a natural environment where one may “discover the feeling of a town” in a “calm and unstrained atmosphere” – if you can believe that.
And then, serendipitously, Fuller later just changed the story that he was there to research the “accursed bread”:

As the research began in earnest, and after confessing that the story of the bread was now my major objective, I learned that there were many ambiguities in the case, that the general feeling persisted that the entire case was squashed by the government of that time in order to avoid the possibility of having to pay out the millions of francs the indemnification would total.[19]
~ John G. Fuller

So no one was bothered that he just suddenly wasn’t a UFO researcher even after he was on national French television? I’m sure that would be a great trust builder in a town where seven people died and hundreds were driven crazy for days, weeks, or months from the OSS/CIA’s secret tests, since he’s now the talk of the town and he’s no longer talking about UFOs, but instead inquiring about every detail of the poisoned ergot derivative/LSD bread episode.

Serendipitously, these acts also got him a translator who helped him with his research on the bread, apparently without pay, and who also apparently wasn’t bothered that he suddenly switched from UFOs to bread research:

I was also lucky to find a British journalist from Cannes, Ted Clark, who spoke French fluently, and who came up to Pont-Saint-Esprit, Nimes, and Montpellier with me on several occasions to help out in the research. Even with the taped interviews I had done, I still had trouble translating their subtleties, and Clark and I spent long hours trying to unravel them.[20]
~ John G. Fuller

What’s that I smell? Is that… bullshit? What’s crazier is that no one’s exposed this since 1968. Such incredible luck for a guy who lied to get onto national television in a small town in a foreign country!

Further evidence that Fuller was in France to do a follow up study is in the fact that he worked on Arigo: Surgeon of the Rusty Knife, in Brazil, with Dr. Andrija Puharich. Serendipitously, Puharich happened to work at the Army’s chemical center at Edgewood, Maryland, and is now known to have worked with Project MKULTRA:

[…] Dr. Henry Karl Puharich, later known as Andrija Puharich, the man who introduced the controversial Israeli psychic Uri Geller to the world. […] was an Army officer in the early 1950s. During that time, Puharich was in and out of Edgewood Arsenal and Camp Detrick, meeting with various high-ranking officers and officials, primarily from the Pentagon, CIA, and Naval Intelligence. The purpose of the meetings was Puharich’s relentless attempt to convince the military and Intelligence agencies to take the potentials of parapsychology seriously. […]

Recently uncovered document fragments from the mostly destroyed MKULTRA collection reveal that Puharich had far more contact and interaction with the CIA and Army concerning drug experimentation then he indicates in any of his books. Indeed, it appears that Puharich participated in a number of secret experiments with Amanita muscaria, the species of psychoactive mushrooms mentioned in his book. The experiments took place at prisons for men in New Jersey and Maryland, as well as at Spring Grove mental hospital in Catonsville, Maryland.[21]
~ Hank Albarelli

However, Albarelli only briefly mentions that the two men were associated:

In the late-1960’s, American writer and investigative journalist John G. Fuller, an associate of Dr. Henry Andrija Puharich, began researching the Pont-St.-Esprit outbreak.[22]
~ Hank Albarelli

That Puharich and Fuller were associated is of great concern. As Uri Geller, the infamous “spoon bender” admitted, who was also one of Puharich’s promotions: he, too, was an agent – for both the Mossad and the CIA.[23] Shall we assume, when Puharich and Fuller were promoting Arigo, that it was any different?

It was almost dark as the Volkswagen microbus twisted along the serpentine road from Rio de Janeiro, four hundred kilometers to the south, toward the village of Congonhas do Campo. The green mountains, rolling like a rumpled billiard table, had turned to a purple-gray as the hot Brazilian sun deserted them. […] Inside the microbus were four men: two interpreters, university students from the University of Rio de Janeiro, and two Americans of widely divergent backgrounds. Henry Belk, a rangy, congenial, fiftyish Southerner from North Carolina who was both a successful businessman and an intellectual adventurer, had been at the wheel for nearly ten hours, dodging over exuberant Brazilian drivers and maneuvering around the precipitous hairpin turns with considerable skill. Beside him was Dr. Henry K. Puharich (he rarely used his given name, Andrija) with a medical degree from Northwestern University and a specialty in bioengineering. He further had a proclivity for trying to fuse and consolidate his extensive scientific background with little understood psychic phenomena.[…] They had also encountered John Laurance in Rio, a systems engineer in RCA’s space program, and an executive who had served on the advisory committee in setting up NASA.[24]
~ John G. Fuller.

Don’t you just love it when that happens? You’re cruising around a foreign country with an MKULTRA doctor and expert in “parapsychology” – (a field of psychology in which you get your victim(s) to believe in magic so as to take advantage of their credulity), and you just finished a follow-up study on a mind control experiment in France, and what do you know? Suddenly you’re meeting up with one of the men from the advisory committee in setting up NASA.

As Aldous Huxley states about dianetics and magic (10 December, 1950):

[…] Meanwhile we have been looking into dianetics. […]Basically it seems to be a procedure by which one obtains age regression without putting the patient into deep hypnosis. The aim is to get at the words and phrases, heard by the patient at moments of lowered consciousness, and accepted by him as obsessive commands, like post-hypnotic suggestions. The sub-conscious seems to take these verbal commands literally and unreasoningly, without regard to their context. The result can be disastrous, both mentally and physically. (If this is really the case, we may have here the rationale of magic spells, curses, and anathemas and the like.)[25]
~ Aldous Huxley

And, serendipitously, Huxley had worked with Puharich. Here are two of the many letters confirming this fact from The Letters of Aldous Huxley:

#691, 18 March, 1955

[…] Dr. Puharich was here for a few days last week, with Alice Bouverie, and we had talks about his latest preoccupation—amanita muscaria, which he thinks will open the doors of ESP in a big way, (provided always it doesn’t first open the doors of an untimely grave). Puharich is a lively bird, and I look forward to seeing what he does when he gets out of the army.[26]
~ Aldous Huxley

#714, 2 August, 1955

[…] On Friday I go to Boston and on Sunday to Maine

(c/o Dr. Puharich
Round Table Foundation
Glen Cove, Main).

Shall stay there a few days and then, perhaps, go to Woods Hole for a day or two. Then back to Guilford. Love to all.[27]
~ Aldous Huxley

And Puharich confirms Huxley’s participation in his book The Sacred Mushroom:

On August 7, 1955, Harry was giving a demonstration of telepathy for Aldous Huxley. In the middle of the demonstration Harry spontaneously slipped into a deep trance.[28]
~ Andrija Puharich

Remember what Albarelli said, above? “it appears that Puharich participated in a number of secret experiments with Amanita muscaria” – Obviously Aldous Huxley was authorized by the CIA to sit in on these, and many other, MKULTRA experiments. It’s also clear from Huxley’s letters that he recommended many of the MKULTRA studies. We’ll get back to that later, so let’s not digress too far. Getting back to Fuller – it gets better. Way better.

By the time Jorge Rizzina, the intense, thirty-five-year-old Brazilian journalist, arrived from Sao Paulo, Puharich had plotted the best possible way for shooting both stills and motion pictures the next day.[29]
~ John G. Fuller

So not long after they get to Brazil the journalists are showing up there, too? This isn’t going to turn into a national media spectacle, is it?

The whole complex phenomenon was in the wind almost everywhere in Brazil, and some of it filtering to Europe and North America. But harnessing that wind was another problem. By the time Belk and Puharich were preparing to leave Rio, the press had seized on Arigo’s operation on Puharich, and the story was spread across the country in blazing headlines.[30]
~ John G. Fuller

I’m sure glad we haven’t heard that story anyplace before. You show up in a foreign country and do a PR stunt and staged operation to popularize a folk healer, start a study on how a mestizo Brazilian curendeiro does his work and you get on the front page of nearly every newspaper in the country. Don’t you just love it when that happens? I’m sure it happens all the time – if you’re John Fuller, or Andrija Puharich.

And then, over the years, you do some “studies” to back up your “research,” and as it serendipitously turns out, Dr. Timothy Leary’s student, Dr. Walter Pahnke – of the Harvard Psychedelic Research Project, happens to be involved.[31]

But it gets better. The faith healer gets arrested, is convicted for practicing illegal medicine and gets sentenced to 15 months in prison. But Puharich and Fuller had previously staged various healings with Brazilian senators and the President! Don’t you just love it when you get to go to a foreign country to study a faith healer, create another media spectacle, and then take him to the president of that country, who, later of course, gets your faith healer out of criminal charges with a presidential pardon?

But in May 1958 President Kubitschek learned that Arigo was waiting for the ax of the jail sentence to fall on his neck. Kubitschek lost no time going into action. Within minutes, a presidential pardon was dispatched to Congonhas do Campo authorities. It stated that as President of the Republic, Article 87, Number 19 of the Constitution gave him the power to pardon Jose Pedro de Freitas, more commonly known as Arigo, and that the defendant was to immediately be relieved of his jail sentence by presidential order.[32]
~ John G. Fuller

How serendipitous! But after Arigo’s pardon, he gets into trouble with the law again, but this time his life ends in a freak car accident. Do you like fiction? I never liked fiction much. Reality is way better because you can’t make stuff up as well as the intelligence community’s slapstick.

Back in the United States, Fuller would have his manuscript verified by Puharich and the rest of the team before it was published:

Back in the States, I reviewed my research and fattened it with additional interviews with Belk, Puharich, Laurence, Cortes, and other members of the medical team of the Congonhas expedition. They were most helpful, especially because my mind was so full of what I had absorbed in Brazil that it needed better focus.[33]
~ John G. Fuller

There’s nothing like adding some post trip propaganda from the MKULTRA boys to further embellish the story.

Before we finish with Fuller, I thought it would be fun to check into his other books to see if there were any other serendipitous stories regarding media spectacles, alien abductions, and UFOs. And as it turns out, it was Fuller who popularized the “alien abduction” psy-op with psychiatric patients Betty and Barney Hill in his book The Interrupted Journey, – which is touted to this very day as proof of alien abductions. In reality, however, the couple had likely been drugged and hypnotized by MKULTRA doctors.

As we saw above with Carroll Quigley’s quote on politics, here we’ll see how MKULTRA and psychological operations also overlap into other areas – such as with UFOs. And surprise! There was a media spectacle with that, too:

Several weeks later, a series of articles broke in a Boston Newspaper, telling without the full background material the story of Barney and Betty Hill and how, while under hypnosis by a Boston psychiatrist, they had told of being abducted aboard a UFO, given a physical examination, and released with the assurance that they would not be harmed.[34]
~ John G. Fuller

Remember that Aldous Huxley quote, above?

The aim is to get at the words and phrases, heard by the patient at moments of lowered consciousness, and accepted by him as obsessive commands, like post-hypnotic suggestions. The sub-conscious seems to take these verbal commands literally and unreasoningly, without regard to their context. The result can be disastrous, both mentally and physically.
~ Aldous Huxley - 10 December, 1950

In Fuller’s book Incident at Exeter, I found lots of good media-stunt slapstick:

This book was no sooner completed, when UFO reports began to break out in unprecedented numbers all over the country. After my research in Exeter, I was convinced that this would happen, surprised that it had not happened sooner. For the first time, the general press began treating the subject with respect.[35]
~ John G. Fuller

Gee, how serendipitous! It’s a good thing we haven’t seen that one before. Did Fuller have anything to do with the press “treating the subject with respect”?

I had lunch that same day, with Conrad Quimby, editor and publisher of the Derry (N.H.) News, Ken Lord of the Amesbury (Mass.) News, and June Miller of the Haverhill Gazette. […] They were as interested as I was in the progress of the research, but unfortunately I was not far enough into it to give them any real pattern of the scene as it unfolded.[36]
~ John G. Fuller

So let me get this straight: Fuller calls a meeting with a bunch of newspaper people about UFOs in Exeter that he hasn’t yet completed the research on? And then there’s a media spectacle? How serendipitous! No wonder he was convinced UFO reports would “break out in unprecedented numbers” – as he PR’d the whole thing, and there was the press – just as above.

I don’t suppose that Fuller would have had any connections to other, previous, UFOs in the media, would he? What would be the chances of that? In Incident at Exeter:

At this time, I knew nothing about the incident at Exeter and little, if anything, about Unidentified Flying Objects. At one time several years before, I had helped produce a CBS-TV show which had, as guests, some technicians who had sighted UFOs—but that was the extent of my knowledge.[37]
~ John G. Fuller

CBS-TV and technicians – I wonder if they were CBS’s own special effects technicians? Of course he’s unclear. And how serendipitous that Fuller just so happened to help produce that one, too! No wonder he was convinced that there would be a media spectacle. But as it turns out, in reality, in 1964 Fuller had received a book from the NICAP, The UFO Evidence, which he claims:

In the spring of 1964, it issued a scholarly and well-documented book titled The UFO Evidence which analyzes 746 reports from among 5,000 signed statements it has in its files. I had received a press copy of this volume when it was first published, well over a year before, but had never bothered to look at it.[38]
~ John G. Fuller

And apparently the NICAP was founded by the CIA to give credibility to the entire UFO charade, and Fuller just so happened to be getting their press releases, while claiming, of course, that he “never bothered to look at it”. But we’ve no reason not to believe Fuller at this point, do we?

And CBS-TV had nothing to do at Exeter, had it?

We piled into Kimball’s car, a big Chrysler especially equipped for his newsreel and documentary camera work, with a shortwave radio, a mobile telephone, cameras, lights and a film stock. It carried a license plate CBS-TV, although he worked for all three networks.[39]
~ John G. Fuller

Well, so much for that.

Obviously Fuller was heavily involved in making these “UFO sightings” happen and marketing them to the public. And being that we may now see a clear path between UFOs and MKULTRA, we may now see the overlap between the drugs, hypnosis, and UFO “sightings” and “abductions,” and the manipulation of reality – not only for the victims themselves, but also of public perception of reality by the intelligence community.

As anyone who’s studied logic and epistemology knows, it’s impossible to prove a negative. Anyone who makes a claim must provide their own evidence to support it – which is known as the onus of proof. At one place in Incident at Exeter, Fuller makes the absurd argument:

Regardless of official proclamations, the Air Force offered no definite proof of nonexistence (a paradox, of course, but everything in this case was a paradox, an ambivalence, a dichotomy).[40]
~ John G. Fuller

Of course it’s a logical impossibility to provide the “definite proof of nonexistence” of something – in this case, UFOs. For instance, if I claim that there is a green fairy sitting on my shoulder, it’s on me to prove that it’s there; not on you to prove that it’s not. If I can’t prove it’s there, it’s known as arguing the arbitrary, and is dismissed automatically. I don’t, instead, turn and attack you and say “well, you’re just stupid or not spiritual enough,” or blame the other side for my own claims. It was on Fuller to provide his own evidence for his own claims, not on the Air Force to prove that something does not exist. In fact, in US courts, this is the exact reason why we’re supposed to have “innocent until proven guilty” – as it’s on the prosecutor, the accuser (Fuller in this case), to provide their own evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Fuller, to explain away his obviously ridiculous statement, adds the part about paradoxes and dichotomies.

On page 86 of Incident at Exeter Fuller lets the truth slip out about the psychological operation:

The threat of the UFO was still psychological, however. No instance of any physical harm befalling a human being had been reliably reported in the twenty-year history of the phenomenon’s most yeasty occurrences.[41] [emphasis added] ~ John G. Fuller

On the following page he also states:

The Orson Wells “invasion” in the late thirties, a single dramatized radio program resulted in mass hysteria. Would the same thing—or worse—happen if official government sources announced blandly that we definitely had visitors from another planet?[42]

~ John G. Fuller

And if the UFOs were real, wouldn’t they cause a real threat?

He felt that since even the Air Force admitted that the UFO’s seemed to pose no threat to national security, the investigation and dissemination of information about the phenomena should be turned over to scientific agencies.[43] [emphasis added]

~ John G. Fuller

Obviously they weren’t a threat to national security because the intelligence community made them up.

Citing the Tavistock Institute’s sister organization, the Brookings Institution, on pages 33-34 Fuller explains the real agenda behind the psychological operation and the creation of the UFO hysteria:

He went into the report from the Brookings Institution, which suggested that grave social consequences might follow from contact with highly evolved life beyond the earth. The report had given considerable attention to this possibility. “Anthropological files contain many examples of societies,” it said, “sure of their place in the Universe, which have disintegrated when they came to associate with previously unfamiliar societies espousing different ideas and different ways of life… It has been speculated that, of all groups, scientists and engineers might be the most devastated by the discovery of relatively superior creatures, since these professions are mostly clearly associated with mastery of nature. …”[44] [emphasis added]

~ John G. Fuller

Fuller continues on the next page:

The warlike nations of the world might become suddenly more amenable to working out their differences amicably. The suicidal collision course of the Great Powers might be shifted in the interest of overall world welfare [communism]. The petty quarrels of man might be submerged into the interest of the wider Universe. The fear of alien visitors would obviously cause a disruption in the pattern of normal life. But what greater fear is there than the potential incineration of the earth by hydrogen bombs? [created by the same intel / military]. And how could any super-civilized visitors match or exceed man's inhumanity to man? The choice between even total dislocation of civilization (if UFO's were proven real and interplanetary) and total incineration (Atomic War) would be easy to make. The former is curable, the latter is not."[45] [emphasis added]

~ John G. Fuller

In other words, giving our autonomy up to the intelligence community’s newly manufactured alien gods. And of course it’s government, and not the general populace, that manufactures and releases atomic bombs. Blaming the general public for the actions of politicians, military personnel, and the elite, is about as preposterous as it gets.

And when we go back to France, we see that Fuller manipulated the whole scenario with UFOs to do his Pont-Saint-Esprit follow up study for the intelligence community.

Now that we’re done with Fuller’s slapstick jesting, we’ll get a little more serious as we turn to the first major book to address the government’s mind control program: Walter Bowart’s Operation Mind Control.
 

Walter Bowart: Operation Mind Control, 1978:

If the government didn't actually "begin" the psychedelic revolution, it was certainly responsible for shutting it down. It did this by controlling the availability and quality of drugs.[46]
~ Walter Bowart

Walter Bowart was known as the world’s first yippie/yuppie. He’s mostly known for his 1978 book Operation Mind Control, which was one of the first books, if not the first, “exposing” the CIA and intelligence community’s mind control operations.

As we’ll discover, Bowart’s background is highly suspicious. For starters, Bowart was married to the Mellon banking empire heiress, Peggy Mellon Hitchcock. He was also the owner and publisher of the East Village Other, where he promoted the psychedelic “counterculture” to unsuspecting youth in the New York area. Bowart often hung around with Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, Marshall McLuhan, Andy Worhol, and many others in the psychedelic arena, including those at the Millbrook mansion – owned by his in-laws.
Bowart even went with Leary (and Arthur Kleps and Allen Ginsberg) before congress in 1966 when Leary recommended LSD’s regulation (below), revealing much of their agenda. And any one of us would go to speak to Congress on LSD, right? Why them?

However, what is likely Bowart’s biggest claim to fame is that he’s the one who PR’d the famous “flower power” media spectacle at the U.S. Pentagon:

As told by Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain in their book Acid Dreams:

What happened next was not something anyone had expected—in fact, it might never have happened had it not been for the FBI, which attempted to disrupt the antiwar gathering upon learning of a plot to sky-bomb the Pentagon with ten thousand flowers. Peggy Hitchcock (the sister of William Mellon Hitchcock, owner of the Millbrook estate) gave Michael Bowen and friends money to purchase two hundred pounds of daisies for the occasion, but the plan never got off the ground because of a dirty trick by the FBI. J. Edgar Hoover's men answered an ad for a pilot in the East Village Other but never showed up at the airport. Bowart was stuck with more flowers than he knew what to do with, so he turned around and drove back to the demonstration. Distributed among the crowd, the flowers were subsequently photographed by the world press protruding from the muzzles of rifles held by the soldiers guarding the Pentagon.[47]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

And as just mentioned, Bowart was the owner of the East Village Other. What does Bowart have to say about this event in his book? Absolutely nothing. Also notice that Lee and Shlain don’t bother to mention that the East Village Other was owned by him.[48] And, serendipitously, Marshal McLuhan – the media and public relations (PR) expert, was a regular feature of the publication.

Here Bob Dean/Neveritt, a.k.a. “Bob Dobbs,” who’s possibly Canadian intelligence (though he denies it), and promotes Julian Huxley’s trans-humanism and eugenics/dysgenics, and is the archivist for Marshall McLuhan, as well as having recorded long interviews with both Peggy and Walter Bowart, states:

Go back to 1967 with the levitating of the Pentagon, led by people like Abbie Hofmann and that. Well a little-known part of the story is that Bowart is the publisher of the East Village Other. He got the idea of dropping planeloads of flowers over the Pentagon and protesters when that was happening. Which would be October ‘67. So, if I recall he went… He put an ad in the paper for flowers, or for something. So he put feelers out there. So he started getting weird phone calls. So he suspected that the FBI or somebody was monitoring him. So when he went out to get the flowers and the plane at some airport, on the appointed day, he noticed there was no one around, it was totally empty at the hangar or wherever it was, and he just felt that there were people watching him. Now I can't remember the next details. I know that the flowers ended up in the Pentagon, and you have the famous picture of the girl, the hippie girl putting a flower in some Pentagon soldier’s rifle. […] Well Walter used to say those were his flowers. So somehow he got the flowers there, and I can't remember right now… he thought he was surveilled and something happened, and he got around it, and he got the plane off and they dropped the flowers. I may be wrong on the exact precision of that, but to me it was interesting to find out that the whole flower icon was stimulated by Walter's idea, and the suspicious activities around him once he put the idea out in his paper, and what happened that tried to frustrate them.[49]
~ Bob Dean/Neveritt, aka Bob Dobbs.

And though on his show, “Bob Dobbs” seems to want his listeners to believe that conspiracies don’t really happen, the CIA had every motive to mislead LSD and MKULTRA exposure, to make people think it was only about a Manchurian Candidate, that it was just a few thousand people – and to limit the scope of the investigation.

From Pont Saint Esprit and John G. Fuller, to Walter Bowart and John Marks, to Marty Lee and Bruce Shlain, and Jay Stevens - all of these original MKULTRA/psychedelic revolution researchers have, it appears, intentionally misled some amount of their MKULTRA research. These correlations are difficult to ignore. However, I want to mention too that each of these authors, especially Bowart and Stevens, have contributed vast amounts of valuable research and insight and their works should be studied regardless – at minimum to study how they spin information. We’ll see more of this tactic later in this article, but here we see Bowart cite some of those who assisted him with his book:

A number of professional people gave valuable technical assistance and patient explanations. My thanks to Harry Arons, Robert Brauers, Dr. and Mrs. Sidney M. Cohen, Dr. Remo Dicenso, Betty Dumaine, Dr. Milton E. Erickson, Morris Ernst, Bernard Fensterwald, George Griffin, Col. Laird Guttersen, Dr. Paul Henshaw, Edward Hunter, Hon. Louis K. Lefkowitz, John MacDonald, V. R. Sanchez, Alan W. Sheftin, Dr. Edgar Schein, Mrs. E. D. Yeomans, and Col. Joseph H. Ziglinski.

I received a great deal of assistance from a number of researchers and writers around the world. Thanks to Chip Berlet, Nancy Bressler, Jeff Cohen, Loren Coleman, Richard Crowe, William Grimstad, Paul Hoch, L. Ron Hubbard, Larry Lee, Charles Maierson, John Marks, David McQueen, Sandra Meiersdorff, Janet Michaud, Beverly Ogden, George OToole, Richard Popkin, Jeff Quiros, William Stevenson, Scoop Sweeny, Harold Weisberg, David Williams, and Peter Watson.[50] [emphasis added] ~ Walter Bowart

Bowart’s list contains a few names that are very interesting, such as L. Ron Hubbard – founder of the Church of Scientology. We also see two other names listed that will be recurrent throughout this essay: Dr. Sidney M. Cohen, and John Marks. A paragraph later, Bowart adds:

My understanding of the intelligence community was molded by exchanges with a number of intelligence and military people. They shall remain nameless.[51]

Some of the strongest evidence of Bowart’s collaboration with MKULTRA begins on page 79 of his book Operation Mind Control:

Tim Leary and Richard Alpert were fired from Harvard in 1963, ostensibly for giving LSD to an undergraduate, but basically because of increasing controversy over the nature of their research. Leary and Co. retreated to Mexico, where they attempted to carry on LSD experiments outside the U.S. government's purview. In June of 1963 they ran afoul of even the notoriously corrupt Mexican government and were expelled from that country for "engaging in activities not permitted to a tourist."

From Mexico they moved to Millbrook, New York, and established the International Federation for Internal Freedom (later the Castalia Foundation), which served as a platform for Leary to propagandize for LSD which, he now believed, could save the world from nuclear perdition by 'blowing the mind."

Leary frequently took LSD himself. His speeches, which were addressed to overflow audiences, were tailor-made for true believers in the new drug cult. Leary issued many public statements on the benefits to the individual and society of LSD. Always politically naive, he predicted that there would come a day when "a new profession of psychedelic guides will inevitably develop to supervise these experiences."

Finally, in the mid-sixties, Leary coined his famous slogan, "Turn on, tune in, drop out," and spoke at college lectures to the legions of young people who had illegally experimented with LSD and other psychedelic substances.

Through magazine interviews, television appearances, movies, records, and books Leary projected himself as the culture hero of a new generation which was fighting for an individual's right to alter his own consciousness—a right which Leary maintained was guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

A CIA memo dated November 1, 1963 and obtained by John Marks under a Freedom of Information suit in August, 1977, featured Dr. Leary, Dr. Richard Alpert and their organization which advocated the expansion of consciousness through psychedelic chemicals, the International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF). In alarming tones the memo ordered all CIA groups involved in mind control operations to report if any agency personnel were involved with either Leary or Alpert or IFIF. The response to this in-house memo, if there was one, was not released by the CIA.[52]
~ Walter Bowart

From The Letters of Aldous Huxley, edited for the book Moksha, by Michael Horowitz, we find:

1960

Huxley and Osmond visited Dr. Timothy Leary at Harvard, where the Psychedelic Research Project had gotten underway. Here is Leary’s account of his impressions of Huxley upon the occasion of their first meetings in Cambridge.
~ Michael Horowitz

We talked about how to study and use the consciousness-expanding drugs and we clicked along agreeably on the do's and the not-to-do's. We would avoid the behaviorist approach to others' awareness. Avoid labeling or depersonalizing the subject. We should not impose our own jargon or our own experimental games on others. We were not out to discover new laws, which is to say, to discover the redundant implications of our own premises. We were not to be limited by the pathological point of view. We were not to interpret ecstasy as mania, or calm serenity as catatonia; we were not to diagnose Buddha as a detached schizoid; nor Christ as an exhibitionistic masochist; nor the mystic experience as a symptom; nor the visionary state as a model psychosis. Aldous Huxley chuckling away with compassionate humor at human folly.

And with such erudition! Moving back and forth in history, quoting the mystics. Wordsworth. Plotinus. The Areopagite. William James.[53]
~ Timothy Leary

Serendipitously, Huxley’s everywhere! As I exposed in my last article, “Entheogens: What’s in a Name?,” Humphry Osmond was in fact MKULTRA, and it’s well known that he worked directly with Huxley:

As it turns out, Dr. Hoffer was a CIA MKULTRA doctor and worked with Dr. Osmond performing human experiments in Saskatchewan; as was Dr. John Smythies, who contributed to MKULTRA subproject 8 at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology. As a CIA MKULTRA document of March 25, 1964, exposes, Osmond was further involved with Subproject 47 with Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, who wrote the letter on Osmond’s letterhead.[54]

From the reunion video A Conversation on LSD, 1979, we find Osmond and Tim Leary discussing Leary’s hiring. Osmond’s been drinking and discloses some important and vivid revelations: that he and Huxley had hired Dr. Timothy Leary to take on the persona of ‘Tim Leary’ the hip drug pusher:

Humphry Osmond: Remember the first time we met, which was in Cambridge? On the night of the Kennedy election.

Tim Leary: 1960.

Humphry Osmond: 1960. We went out to this place. And Timothy then was wearing his gray flannel suite and his crew cut. And we had this very interesting discussion with him. And when we went.. . and I don’t think I told you this, Timothy. But the night we went we both said “what a nice fellow he is”. He says “he’s a very nice man”, and Aldous said “it’s very very nice to think that this is what’s going to be done at Harvard”. He said “it would be so good for it”. And then I said to him, “I think he’s a nice fellow too. But don’t you think he’s just a little bit square?” [laughter] Aldous said “you may be right”, he said “but after all isn’t that what we want?” [laughter]

Timothy, when I’m discussing the need for understanding human temperament this is the story I tell. Because I said, yeah Aldous and I were deeply interested in the nature of human temperament and we meet someone who I think that was probably the least satisfactory description of you ever made, Timothy. I think even your greatest enemies would never make that description. And we made it. We were very very concerned because we held that perhaps you were a bit too unadventurous. You see what insights we had.

Al Hubbard: Well, you sure as heck contributed your part, but uh... [8:26]

Leary sees the subject of his hiring as off limits and switches the subject.

Tim Leary: I've always considered myself very square.

Humphry Osmond: So we were right in a way!

Later in this same conversation Leary describes the organization as having cells, which I’ve described, above, –an accurate description of the various groups that were recruited to create the counterculture.

Sydney Cohen: You're talking about Gerald [Heard] and Aldous?

Tim Leary: Yes, right right. Yeah. And, uh, Ivan. Uh, of course…uh, then, there of course, was part [break in audio – mic muffled] coolness of the Los Angeles, uh, [break in audio – mic muffled] cell, whatever you want to call it. But they kept a, you kept a, uh…

Sydney Cohen: Would you mind not calling it a cell? Let's call it a cluster!

Tim Leary: All right. [Room laughs] Our undercover agents in Los Angeles were very cool about, uh, and yet they did more in a very laid-back way, uh, and it's every bit as public as some of the other, you know, the buses running around the country [Ken Kesey he and the Merry Pranksters identified as undercover agents]…. [33:20ff]

Later, in an interview with Bowart himself, Leary would reveal that he accepted the CIA’s job offer, which, it appears, came via Aldous Huxley and Humphry Osmond:

"I proceeded as an intelligence agent since 1962, understanding that the next war for control of this planet and beyond, had to do with the control of consciousness."
[...] "Yes," he answered strongly. "I was a witting agent of the CIA..."
[...] "So, you work for the Central Intelligence Agency?" I asked. "Is it the Deputy Director of Plans you work for? Who makes out your checks?"
"It's none of your business to know how those things work. I'll answer you no questions that have to do with business. I'll answer you any question about history or people..."[55]
~ Walter Bowart interviewing Timothy Leary

Discussing different types of intelligence cells, in Acid, David Black states:

The conspiracy starts with three people […]. These three in turn recruit two other people to form three new cells. This recruitment process continues until a large network of cells is built up. The advantage of the structure is that if cell members do not know each other’s sub-cells, then they cannot give them away if captured. The drawback is that if a single cadre is arrested and cannot resist interrogation, then the enemy can arrest the half-a-dozen comrades he or she knows and thus reach the sub-cells. […] A more sophisticated system discussed in Heinlein’s book [The Moon is a Harsh Mistress] is a pyramid-of-pyramids set-up – a sort of ‘Internet’ without the computers […]”[56]
~ David Black

Regarding this pyramid-of-pyramids set-up, Robert Heinlein writes in his novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress:

“Ought to take your money. Take same cells, arranged in open pyramid of tetrahedrons. Where vertices are in common, each bloke knows one in adjoining cell—knows how to send message to him, that’s all he needs. Communications never break down because they run sideways as well as up and down. Something like a neural net. It’s why you can knock a hole in a man’s head, take chunk of brain out, and not damage thinking much. Excess capacity, messages shunt around. He loses what was destroyed but goes on functioning.” […]

“Each vertex of each triangle shares self with zero, one, or two other triangles. Where shares one, that’s its link, one direction or both—but one is enough for a multipli-redundant communication net. On corners, where sharing is zero, it jumps to write to next corner. Where sharing is double, choice is again right-handed.

“Now work it with people. Take fourth level, D-for-dog. This vertex is comrade Dan. No, let's go down one to show three levels of communication knocked out-- level E-for-easy and pick Comrade Egberg.

“Egbert works under Donald, has cellmates Edward and Elmer, and has three under him, Frank, Fred, and Fatso … But knows how to send messages to Ezra on a zone level but not in his cell. He doesn't know Ezra's name, face, address, or anything-but has a way, phone number probably, to reach Ezra in emergency.

“[…] Casimir, level three, finks out and betrays Charlie and Cox in his cell, Baker above him, and Donald, Dan, and Dick in sub cell-which isolates Egbert, Edward, and Elmer. And everybody under them.

“All three reported-redundancy, necessary to any communication system-but follow Egbert's yell for help. He calls Ezra. But Ezra is under Charlie and his isolated, too. No matter, Ezra relays both messages through his safety link, Edmund. By bad luck Edmund is under Cox, so he also passes it laterally, through Enwright … And that gets it past burned-out part and it goes up through Dover, Chambers, and Beeswax, to Adam, front office… Who replies down other side of pyramid, with lateral pass on E-for-easy level from Esther to Egbert and onto Ezra and Edmund. These two messages, up and down, not only get through at once but in way they get through, they define to home office exactly how much damage has been done and where. Organization not only keeps functioning but starts repairing self at once." [57]
~ Robert A. Heinlein

So in 1960 Huxley and Osmond went to Harvard to hire Leary for MKULTRA, and we saw Leary and Osmond discussing their meeting and “cells,” and “undercover agents,” above. Leary admits that he was an agent by 1962, and we know from the title of the “Harvard Psychedelic Research Project,” that he’d already been using Osmond’s word, “psychedelic,” by 1960. As I wrote in “Entheogens: What’s in a Name?,” regarding Osmond’s creation of the word psychedelic, and Leary’s subsequent adaptation of it at Harvard:

Notice that Leary named Harvard’s “Psychedelic Research Project” after Osmond’s newly created term. Though Osmond coined the word [psychedelic] in 1957, in 1960 Leary at Harvard had already made full use of it. In fact, the Psychedelic Research Project would eventually recruit more than 40 Harvard doctors and hundreds of students. Leary had already been testing this new word – and he was successful.[58]

David Black in Acid, states:

Back at Harvard in the autumn of 1960, Leary learned that the Swiss Sandoz company had synthesized the active ingredient of psilocybin, so be obtained a batch of pills. He got some advice on using them from Aldous Huxley, […] Leary began to organize experimental sessions with the drug for his staff members and some of their graduate students. They were impressed.[59] [emphasis added] ~ David Black

Now back to Bowart. The reader may have noticed he doesn’t mention that it was his own wife that funded IFIF and was the New York director, and that his in-laws, Peggy’s brothers, including Billy Hitchcock, owned the Millbrook mansion. Peggy is only briefly mentioned at the beginning of Bowart’s book:

Kudos to Dr. Robert M. Thomson, Johanna Moore G., Martha Sowerwine, my mother Fenna, and my wife Peggy for their patience and support.[60]
~ Walter Bowart

Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain reveal more of the details:

Thanks to a sizable inheritance and a family trust fund that provided him with $15,000 per week in spending money, Billy Hitchcock was in a position to offer a lot more than moral support to the psychedelic movement. He first turned on to LSD after his sister, Peggy, the director of IFIF’s New York branch, introduced him to Leary. They hit it off immediately, and Hitchcock made his family’s four-thousand-acre estate in Dutches County, New York, available to the psychedelic clan for a nominal five-hundred-dollar monthly rent.[61]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

Regarding Peggy Hitchcock, in Storming Heaven, Jay Stevens admits:

Of all the socially prominent people that they met during these months, the most important, in terms of our story, was Peggy Hitchcock, the artistically inclined twenty-eight-year-old jet-setting heir of the Mellon millions. Peggy, as Leary later wrote, "was easily bored, intellectually ambitious, and looking for a project capable of absorbing her whirlwind energy." Mind expansion fit the bill and she joined Flo Ferguson as the unofficial patronesses of the psilocybin project.[62]
~ Jay Stevens

About Millbrook, Stevens also notes:

In less than three months they had been thrown out of three countries and one world-class University. Their plans were in disarray; they were deeply in debt; it was not an auspicious beginning for the ancient game. All they wanted was a hole they could crawl down and sleep for a few weeks. And it was then that Peggy Hitchcock mentioned an estate her twin brothers, Tommy and Billy, owned in Millbrook, New York, a village ninety miles north of New York City.[63]
~ Jay Stevens

Stevens also identifies others (probable agents / assets) on the IFIF Board of Directors:

In early January 1963, IFIF filed incorporation papers with the state of Massachusetts. Leary was designated president, Alpert, director, with Gunther Weil, Ralph Metzner, George Litwin, Walter Houston Clark, Huston Smith, and Alan Watts listed as members of the Board of Directors.[64]
~ Jay Stevens

Also, since Bowart’s wife was on the board of directors for New York IFIF, this point is especially interesting since it’s omitted from his book.

The entire MKULTRA era is riddled with banking families, and there is evidence that the CIA was aided in its founding by these families.

JP Morgan Bank and Gordon Wasson ran MKULTRA subproject 58. The Warburg family funded and ran Sandoz Pharmaceuticals – the makers of LSD, where Wasson was a director.[65] The Mellon family funded the Harvard Psilocybin Research Project, IFIF, owned the Millbrook mansion, and Billy Hitchcock LSD Enterprises, and was tied back to JP Morgan Bank. The Mellon family was also tied directly to the head of the CIA. As David Black exposes in Acid:

The CIA’s Director from 1966 to 1973, Richard Helms, was a regular guest at the Mellon family mansion in Pittsburgh. Even Tim Leary thought that the ‘liberal CIA’ were ‘the best Mafia you could deal with’.[66]
~ David Black

One thing that is difficult to understand is the fable regarding Tim Leary’s getting fired from Harvard in 1963 and the exposure by Dr. Andrew Weil. It appears from the evidence that Weil’s “exposure” was just an old trick using the Hegelian dialectic: problem, reaction, solution; – or thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis. Without Leary having been fired from Harvard he’d never have been able to create the appearance of the hippie guru he’d later use to promote the psychedelics to the youth for the CIA and Huxley and Osmond. Weil’s so-called “exposure,” and Leary’s subsequent “firing” (along with Dr. Richard Alpert), created the illusion, in my opinion, that Harvard, et al, were trying to suppress Leary’s “spiritual message”. This gave Leary and the CIA the psychological advantage they’d need to use against the public. And, after all, Leary and the others were nearly all out of the Harvard Social Relations Department under the well-known MKULTRA conspirator, Dr. Henry A. Murray – who headed the department.

Above we also saw Bowart cite a CIA memo regarding Leary:

A CIA memo dated November 1, 1963 and obtained by John Marks under a Freedom of Information suit in August, 1977, featured Dr. Leary, Dr. Richard Alpert and their organization which advocated the expansion of consciousness through psychedelic chemicals, the International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF). In alarming tones the memo ordered all CIA groups involved in mind control operations to report if any agency personnel were involved with either Leary or Alpert or IFIF. The response to this in-house memo, if there was one, was not released by the CIA.[67]

However, with the realization that those “buses running around the country,” above, meaning Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, were agents, it makes the theory that it was only Leary doing this and that he’d gone rogue, ridiculous.

Our undercover agents in Los Angeles were very cool about, uh, and yet they did more in a very laid-back way, uh, and it's every bit as public as some of the other, you know, the buses running around the country.
~ Timothy Leary

In the same reunion video at roughly 30 minutes, Dr. Sydney Cohen, yet another of the CIA’s specialists, who played the role of nemesis to Leary and Dr. Richard Alpert, admits that it was all a show:

Sydney Cohen: Well I think we need people like Tim and Al. They're absolutely necessary to get out, way out way out, too far in fact, in order to move the shit… move things around. And we need people like you to be reflective about it, and to study it. And, uh, little by little a slight movement is made in the totality. So, you know, I can't think of how it could have worked out otherwise. Uh, I must confess that when I studied LSD, and then I heard that it was getting out on the streets, I said this this’ll never sell. It's too intense, people will be too shook up. But it didn't work that way at all. I'm not quite sure I know why. But apparently people were able to sustain it - this intense response. So my record as a prophet is about one down and s…

A CIA document from November 1, 1963, (Mori ID # 146149) discusses how Alpert got them fired from Harvard and that Leary went too, but that IFIF was really supposed to be undercover for experimentation. However, it does not make clear if the experimentation was for the CIA, but we may see from Cohen’s above admission that it was:

These professors had been using hallucinogenic drugs in experiments involving undergraduate students... Drs. Albert and Leary had set up an organization known as the International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF), which obviously was a cover for additional experimental work in the hallucinogenic drugs. [emphasis added]

We also saw the true meaning of Al Hubbard’s words: “Well, you sure as heck contributed your part, but uh...”

Other letters are cited from Huxley and Osmond on this issue with Leary, too, and though there may have been some internal disagreement, Leary was not the originator of this plan to “turn on” the masses. In reality it was Allen Ginsberg, the “indefatigable Zionist politician for drugs,”[68] who wanted to give LSD out to the masses.[69]

Giving more of the secret away, as well as exposing more agents, in the same reunion video at roughly 35 minutes:

Tim Leary: Well, Of course we have to mention Ken Kesey. and of course Allen Ginsberg was a, Allen Ginsberg was an indefatigable Zionist politician for drugs, and the, uh, uh, so they…

Sydney Cohen: At the very beginning what would you say? What turned you on, Tim? I don't remember.

Tim Leary: And Gordon Wasson! [MKULTRA Subproject 58] Don't ever underestimate the effect of that wonderful, respectable, far out mind he has. In Life magazine, there he is, a banker, a Morgan Guaranty Trust banker, lying on the mud hut, of a Mexican uh… you know… Saying “wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!”

Someone: Oh boy!

Tim Leary: Talk about Joe Namath, uh, commercials! [laughs]

Leary exposes that it was all public relations when he says “Talk about Joe Namath, uh, commercials!” Serendipitously, Ginsberg was cousin to Oscar Janiger, who, serendipitously, hosted the same reunion party. And, serendipitously, Ginsberg was first dosed by Gregory Bateson – who helped to found the CIA. With all of these psychedelic “heroes” being agents, it appears that someone may have slipped in a few documents and letters to mislead the public regarding Leary and his assignment (more below). Leary, as the evidence now shows, was just a scapegoat – a covers story. By putting all the blame on Leary the CIA was able to keep the larger operation under wraps – for another 40 years.

What is clear is that from there the CIA took its MKULTRA tests on the road – with IFIF, then to Millbrook, etc, and with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters’ “Acid Tests,” – aided by the Grateful Dead – until successfully launching the so-called “psychedelic revolution” a few short years later.

And as “Bob Dobbs” admits, Peggy Hitchcock provided the funds necessary to get the Grateful Dead’s first album produced:

One of the things Peggy told me she did was, when the Grateful Dead made their first album they had, you know, budget problems. And she provided money to get that first album out. So she's key in that whole Grateful Dead scenario. So one of the things Peggy did in her life was, she helped the Grateful Dead get out their first album - she gave them some extra money, they were starving, and it wasn't looking good for the album. So she helped get the Grateful Dead myth started. She’s there. So there’s Walter involved with the Grateful Dead, and here's LaRouche saying the Grateful Dead is an MKULTRA scenario. And Walter’s in between. He's not fooled by hippie naivety. He's sophisticated. He's also a journalist. And his East Village Other is mentioned in the history of journalism. Any books on the history of the 50s or 60s, what he did is part of journalism history that students learn. So he's not naïve. He understands it could be, could be, a subtle ruse.[70]
~ Bob Dean/Neveritt, aka Bob Dobbs.

Typically researchers without an agenda would disclose to their audiences that they have a conflict of interest in such matters as these. The fact that Bowart doesn’t mention that his wife and in-laws funded all of this research (including the Psilocybin Project, IFIF, the Millbrook mansion, and the Grateful Dead’s first album), and that his own brother in-law ran Billy Hitchcock LSD Enterprises, and that his wife and in-laws were directly related to the Mellon banking empire, which also helped to found the CIA, forces the conclusion that there’s an intentional cover-up going on here – and Bowart was involved.

By 1968, society seemed to become divided into those who had taken illegal drugs and those who hadn't. Eventually LSD, marijuana, and cocaine were available on street corners and schoolyards throughout the land. If the government had covertly supported the unwitting Leary and associates, the snowballing effects of their LSD propaganda now caused a reversal of policy.[71]
~ Walter Bowart

Furthermore, Bowart claims that there was “a reversal of policy,” but he doesn't mention that he went with Leary before Congress in 1966 when Leary requested LSD's outlaw – furthering the apparent dialectic started by Weil with Leary getting “fired” from Harvard. In “The Narcotic Rehabilitation Act of 1966. Hearings before a special subcommittee, Eighty-ninth Congress, second session,” we find Leary’s testimony. Serendipitously, I should point out that these quotes were omitted from all of the books that I could find that mentioned Leary’s congressional testimony, forcing a trip to the local university’s Congressional archives to discover the best, omitted parts:

Senator Dodd. Don't you think that the drug needs to be put under control and restriction?

Dr. LEARY. Pardon, sir.

Senator Dodd. Let me rephrase my question. Don’t you feel that LSD should be put under some control, or restriction as to its use?

Dr. LEARY. Yes, sir.

Senator Dodd. As to its sale, its possession, and its use?

Dr. LEARY. I definitely do. In the first place, I think that the 1965 Drug Control Act, which this committee, I understand, sponsored, is the high water mark in such legislation.

[…]

Dr. Leary. Yes, sir. I agree completely with your bill, the 1965 Drug Control Act. I think this is---

Senator Dodd. That the Federal Government and the State governments ought to control it?

Dr. Leary. Exactly. I am in 100 percent agreement with the 1965 drug control bill.

Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts. So there shouldn’t be---

Dr. Leary. I wish the States, I might add, would follow the wisdom of this committee and the Senate and Congress of the United States and follow your lead with exactly that kind of legislation.

Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts. So there should not be indiscriminate distribution of this drug should there?

Dr. Leary. I have never suggested that, sir. I have never urged anyone to take LSD. I have always deplored indiscriminate or unprepared use. [72]

Bowart wants his readers to believe that the “snowballing effects of their [including his own] LSD propaganda now caused a reversal of policy”. In fact, they needed Leary to popularize the drugs to a certain extent, which Bowart’s wife and in-laws helped to facilitate. And then in a PR move they outlawed the drugs to make them much more popular and widespread with rebellious teenagers - Bowart himself having gone before the US Senate Subcommittee with Leary in 1966 while Leary recommended this very action.

Bowart continues in Operation Mind Control:

It became obvious to them that LSD and the other psychoactive drugs were politically dangerous. They allowed people to see through the indoctrination of the government, the credibility gap, and the government propaganda for the Vietnam War. The "acid heads" adopted a visionary fervor and began actively criticizing the war in Vietnam and calling for many social reforms.[73]
~ Walter Bowart

I’ve exposed the following quote from the CIA’s Dr. Louis Jolyon West in prior articles. This quote is important because it provides insight into how the CIA and intelligence community uses hallucinogens to control the population (it’s repeated again, below):

The role of drugs in the exercise of political control is also coming under increasing discussion. Control can be through prohibition or supply. The total or even partial prohibition of drugs gives the government considerable leverage for other types of control. An example would be the selective application of drug laws permitting immediate search, or “no knock” entry, against selected components of the population such as members of certain minority groups or political organizations.

But a government could also supply drugs to help control a population. This method, foreseen by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World (1932), has the governing element employing drugs selectively to manipulate the governed in various ways.

To a large extent the numerous rural and urban communes, which provide a great freedom for private drug use and where hallucinogens are widely used today, are actually subsidized by our society. Their perpetuation is aided by parental or other family remittances, welfare, and unemployment payments, and benign neglect by the police. In fact, it may be more convenient and perhaps even more economical to keep the growing numbers of chronic drug users (especially of the hallucinogens) fairly isolated and also out of the labor market, with its millions of unemployed. To society, the communards with their hallucinogenic drugs are probably less bothersome--and less expensive--if they are living apart, than if they are engaging in alternative modes of expressing their alienation, such as active, organized, vigorous political protest and dissent. […] The hallucinogens presently comprise a moderate but significant portion of the total drug problem in Western society. The foregoing may provide a certain frame of reference against which not only the social but also the clinical problems created by these drugs can be considered.[74]
~ Louis Jolyon West

While Bowart claims that the drugs “allowed people to see through the indoctrination of the government,” he doesn’t disclose that he and Leary perpetuated the “visionary fervor” and that they, and his own billionaire wife, Peggy Hitchcock, and his billionaire in-laws, were using them as systems of control, as well as to kill the very active anti-war movement he mentions here.

If the government didn't actually "begin" the psychedelic revolution, it was certainly responsible for shutting it down.[75]
~ Walter Bowart

Here Bowart wants us to believe that the huge explosion in the use of LSD that happened after the ruckus began at Millbrook, and after he went with Leary to congress who requested LSD’s regulation in 1966, was the government “shutting it down” – rather than funding the entire thing and creating a Hegelian dialectic. In fact, the party wasn’t in full swing until 1967 – with the infamous “Summer of Love”.

Several months after the subcommittee hearing, LSD was banned in California. In Storming Heaven, Jay Stevens reveals:

Although the Summer of Love officially began on June 21, the summer solstice, its actual beginning occurred the previous fall, specifically on October 6, 1966, the day the California law making possession of LSD a misdemeanor went into effect.[76]
~ Jay Stevens

The University of Richmond, Virginia, website also confirms this:

Leary was one of many experts who testified at the 1966 subcommittee hearings, which showed both ardent support and uncompromising opposition to LSD.[…] Just several months after the subcommittee hearings, LSD was banned in California.[77]

Again, Bowart doesn’t admit that he, and Leary, and his wife, and his brother-in-law, were all a part of those who helped to make it popular in the first place. In fact, it appears that it was Leary who introduced Bowart to Peggy Hitchcock.

Here Bowart describes his version of how the government shut down the LSD supply –and fueled the subsequent drug epidemic:

It did this by controlling the availability and quality of drugs. Underground LSD labs were raided, and it wasn't long before its quality degenerated and the supply dried up.

Several studies have shown that when LSD became illegal (October 6, 1966) real LSD ceased to be available on the street. What was sold as LSD was every other kind of chemical, including several forms of veterinary tranquilizers!

Often methedrine was sold as LSD, as well as heroin mixed with amphetamines.

Simultaneously, as the LSD supply dried up, large supplies of heroin mysteriously became available. It was strong heroin, imported from the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia (largely under CIA control). Many young people who had had their "consciousness expanded" too far to distinguish between one drug and another turned to heroin.

The government-inspired hysteria over drugs had led many to think, "Well, they lied to us about pot, they must be lying about heroin." And so when psychedelics were no longer easily obtained, and heroin was, many young people became addicts.[78] [Emphasis added] ~ Walter Bowart

Bowart describes how the government “shut down” the psychedelic revolution. However, it’s well understood that children don’t rebel with legal substances, and that LSD had to be outlawed (as well as remarketed – see “Entheogens: What’s in a Name?”), in order to launch the psychedelic movement, should now be clear. The additional impact was that American streets were now rampant with CIA drugs. As Time Magazine admitted in 2007:

After Wasson's article was published, many people sought out mushrooms and the other big hallucinogen of the day, LSD. (In 1958, Time Inc. cofounder Henry Luce and his wife Clare Booth Luce dropped acid with a psychiatrist. Henry Luce conducted an imaginary symphony during his trip, according to Storming Heaven.) The most important person to discover drugs through the Life piece was Timothy Leary himself. Leary had never used drugs, but a friend recommended the article to him, and Leary eventually traveled to Mexico to take mushrooms. Within a few years, he had launched his crusade for America to "turn on, tune in, drop out." In other words, you can draw a woozy but vivid line from the sedate offices of J.P. Morgan and Time Inc. in the '50s to Haight-Ashbury in the '60s to a zillion drug-rehab centers in the '70s. Long, strange trip indeed.[79]

Now we’ll turn to John D. Marks and his book The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, 1979, which is considered the most “respectable” work on MKULTRA to date. As Walter Bowart states about Marks:

Following the release of the Rockefeller Report, John D. Marks, author and former staff assistant to the State Department Intelligence Director, filed a Freedom of Information Act appeal on behalf of the Center for National Security Studies requesting documentation from the CIA. Marks requested documentation for the evidence cited in the Rockefeller Report on the CIA's mind-control activities conducted within the United States.[80]
~ Walter Bowart

John Marks: The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, 1979:

It would be an exaggeration to put all the blame on—or give all the credit to—the CIA for spreading LSD. One cannot forget the nature of the times, the Vietnam War, the breakdown in authority, and the wide availability of other drugs, especially marijuana. But the fact remains that LSD was one of the catalyst of the traumatic upheavals of the 1960s. No one could enter the world of psychedelics without first passing, unawares, through doors opened by the Agency. It would become a supreme irony that the CIA’s enormous research for weapons among drugs—fueled by the hope that spies could, like Dr. Frankenstein, control life with genius and machines—would wind up helping to create the wandering, uncontrollable minds of the counterculture.[81]
~ John D. Marks, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. State Department.

John Marks was the assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research under the US State Department, and the author of the book The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and Mind Control, 1979. Again we have an obvious conflict of interest and an issue with disclosure. How can the intelligence community investigating itself possibly be unbiased? It was Marks who got the bulk of MKULTRA documents available to the public today, released in 1977.

As I showed in Entheogens: What’s In a Name?, 2014, as well as in my video Psychedelic Intelligence, Marks’s quote is completely unfounded.

Just one fallacy that Marks exemplifies, above, is that the counterculture was not created by the Agency. You may have also noticed that he used what is known as an appeal to ridicule to force his readers to agree with his conclusions:

It would become a supreme irony that the CIA’s enormous research for weapons among drugs—fueled by the hope that spies could, like Dr. Frankenstein, control life with genius and machines—would wind up helping to create the wandering, uncontrollable minds of the counterculture.[82]

Having investigated Gordon Wasson for years, I know how he operated. I have many hundreds of his letters which reveal his moves and activities, and I’ve studied what he’d done to other scholars who told the truth, such as with John M. Allegro. I’ve also shown how Wasson faked historical research.[83]

We have:

• The background.
• The motive.
• The history to show that he’s done it before.
• The evidence that he did it again.

Just the notion that Marks had all of the MKULTRA documents, including JP Morgan on the “Institutional Notifications”[84] documents, and even more so, that Marks wrote about Subproject 58 and Wasson (pp. 114), but doesn’t mention JP Morgan’s involvement, is very revealing:
Institutional Notifications:

National Philosophical Society (Subproject 58 – Cosponsor)
Unable to locate – not sent

J.P. Morgan and Co., Inc. Subproject 58
[Redacted – Gordon Wasson?] 23 Wall Street
New York, N.Y. 10015

Marks just omits that little, itsy, detail about JP Morgan Bank (Where Wasson was VP of propaganda) being on MKULTRA Subproject 58 documents, as well as the American Philosophical Society where Wasson lectured in 1956.[85] Furthermore, it’s very clear that it’s Wasson’s own letterhead requesting the infamous $2000 from the Geschickter Fund in the Subproject 58 documents (below), which proves that Marks knew that JP Morgan and Wasson were guilty, and likewise he would have known that Wasson had directly requested the $2000, which Marks then covers up with the James Moore scapegoat story:

James Moore was only one of many CIA specialists on the lookout for the magic mushroom. For three years after Morse Allen’s man returned from Mexico with his takes of wonder, Moore and the others in the Agency’s network pushed their lines of inquiry among contacts and travelers into Mexican villages so remote that Spanish had barely penetrated. Yet they found no magic mushrooms. Given their efforts, it was ironic that the man who beat them to “God’s flesh” was neither a spy nor a scientist, but a banker. It was R. Gordon Wasson, vice-president of J. P. Morgan & Company, amateur mycologist, and co-author with his wife Valentina of Mushrooms, Russia and History. Nearly 30 years earlier, Wasson and his Russian born wife had become fascinated by the different ways that societies deal with the mushroom, and they followed their lifelong obsession with these fungi, in all their glory, all over the globe. […][86]

A few pages later Marks embellishes the story further:

A botanist in Mexico City sent the report that reached both CIA headquarters and then James Moore.

During the intervening winter, James Moore wrote Wasson—"out of the blue," as Wasson recalls—and expressed a desire to look into the chemical properties of Mexican fungi. Moore eventually suggested that he would like to accompany Wasson's party, and, to sweeten the proposition, he mentioned that he knew a foundation that might be willing to help underwrite the expedition. Sure enough, the CIA's conduit, the Geschickter Fund, made a $2,000 grant. Inside the MKULTRA program, the quest for the divine mushroom became Subproject 58.[87]
– John Marks

The letter Wasson wrote to the Geschickter Fund requesting the money was written in 1956. The $2000 requested in 1956 is worth over $17,300 in 2014 dollars, and was comparatively valued at $6884 by 1979 when John Marks wrote his book. The point is that $2000 sounded far less in 1979 than it was in 1956 and sounds far less today. It is likely that that much money in 1956 funded the entire trip – though Marks and Wasson’s collaborative efforts claim that it only covered part of the trip.

February 8, 1956

Attention, Dr. [redacted – Sidney Gottlieb or Charles Geschickter?]

Dear Sirs,

Over recent months, as Dr. [redacted] will inform you, I have had conversations with him and Dr. [redacted – James Moore?] of the [redacted – Geschickter Fund?] concerning certain pioneering inquiries that we are [unintelligible] hallucinatory fungi used by some of the more remote [redacted – Mexican Indian cultures] in association with their indigenous religious practices.

I am planning a fourth expedition to the mountains in the [redacted – Oaxaca region of Mexico] for July. I should like to hope that the expenses involved with this expedition would be borne by a [redacted – fund?] in the medical aspects of the research. With this in mind, I take the liberty of applying to you by this letter for a grand-in-aid of $2000 for the purpose of gathering the specimens in the field, identification thereof, their conservation either in liquor or in the dry state, and their conveyance to [redacted – CIA or Albert Hofmann?].

For your further information, Professor [redacted – Roger Heim], leading [redacted – French] mycologist and Director of the [redacted – Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle] has committed himself to accompany us on this trip. His great experience in mycology generally and in tropical mycology in particular will be of very great value to us. In order that we may plan accordingly, I should hope that your decision on this matter could be communicated to me before too long. I am leaving for a trip to [redacted – Europe] at the end of March to be gone for two months, and before my departure for [redacted - Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca, Mexico] I should like to settle on all details concerning the equipment we shall take and the personnel of our expedition.

I remain Respectfully Yours

~ Gordon Wasson [redacted in the original] [emphasis added]

It appears that Marks and those involved in “assisting” with his book’s writing had a meeting and coordinated their cover-up. They were all agents. The only reason to throw Dr. James Moore under the bus was as a cover – for the other agents and the larger operation – which we now know is fact.

On a side note, I should mention that with Leary as a scapegoat in the last section, and the issue with Wasson and Huxley and the rest supposedly not wanting to make psychedelics popular with the public, but only to select elite – well Wasson had popularized “magic mushrooms” across the nation in Life magazine (1957), where on the front cover was cleverly placed: “The Discovery of Strange Mushrooms that Cause Visions,” directly followed by the words “Teen-Age Allowances,” –long before Leary had joined their efforts in 1960. Furthermore, Huxley had published the popular book The Doors of Perception, 1954, wherein he popularized mescaline – only one year after MKULTRA was funded.

Early this summer I took mescalin [sic], under the supervision of Dr. Humphry Osmond, […]. I have just finished an account of the experience, with reflections on its philosophical, aesthetic and religious implications, which I will send you as soon as it is printed. Incidentally, Osmond wants to get funds from some Foundation to carry out an investigation of the effects of mescalin upon a select group of persons with special gifts and high abilities. He thinks, and so do I, that this might throw a great deal of light on the nature of the mind and its relation with brain and nervous system.[88] [Emphasis added] ~ Aldous Huxley

Apparently The Doors of Perception was the CIA’s first MKULTRA publication.

Returning to Moore, I speculated about him in my 2012 article on Gordon Wasson, but didn’t yet have the evidence:

I consider the entire James Moore story to be a red herring. A red herring is a fallacy that leads someone from one topic to another. In other words, he's a decoy or a scapegoat. When we consider Moore as a decoy, the contradictions in the storyline disappear. Wasson and Allen Dulles were friends; the CIA had known all along about Wasson's work; Dulles worked with the German conglomerate IG Farben, which was related with Sandoz AG. It's hard to believe that the CIA needed a field agent when they had Wasson himself. Rather than admitting that the entire project was an elite/CIA/intelligence operation, it was best to slip an agent into the story line who would serve to lead researchers astray for decades. That way Wasson didn't have to work for the CIA openly, and he could still publish his books, which he just published in elite publishing houses – too expensive for anyone to acquire – and delivered many of them to the CIA and CFR himself. It was a slick move, and fooled many hundreds of researchers – but like all lies it was bound to get figured out. If anything, Wasson could likely have been Moore's superior at the CIA, and Dulles himself would have likely approved the $2000.[89]

Basically, Moore gets a nice check and some time on ABC TV,[90] and is forever remembered as the CIA’s bad guy. If the truth had been exposed by Marks that Wasson was also dirty, and that the whole of the Mexico team were agents, or “personnel,” the CIA’s psychedelic revolution and counterculture agenda would have been exposed and over by 1979. Though one thing I did have wrong, it appears that the “Acting Chief” and “Research Director,” gave final approval for Wasson’s trip on authority of Dulles’s Memoranda of 13 April 1953:

21 March 1956

MK-ULTRA [unreadable]: COMPTROLLER
ATTENTION: Finance Division
SUBJECT: MK-ULTRA, Subproject 58

Under the authority granted in the Memoranda dated 13 April 1953 from the DCI to the DD/2, and the extension of this authority in subsequent memoranda, Subproject 58 has been approved, and $2,000.00 of the over-all Project MK-ULTRA funds has been obligated to cover the subproject’s expenses and should be charged to Allotment 6-2502-10-001.

[redacted – Acting Chief] TSS/Chemical Division
APPROVED FOR OBLIGATION OF FUNDS.
Research Director [redacted] Date: [redacted]

As we just saw in the last section from the transcript of the reunion party, A Conversation on LSD, Dr. Sydney Cohen and the group are sitting there having a discussion (don’t worry, we’ll revisit this transcript yet again):

Tim Leary: Yes, right right. Yeah. And, uh, Ivan. Uh, of course…uh, then, there of course, was part [break in audio – mic muffled] coolness of the Los Angele [break in audio – mic muffled]s, uh, [break in audio – mic muffled] cell, whatever you want to call it. But they kept a, you kept a, uh…

Sydney Cohen: Would you mind not calling it a cell? Let's call it a cluster!

Tim Leary: All right. [Room laughs] Our undercover agents in Los Angeles were very cool about, uh, and yet they did more in a very laid-back way, uh, and it's every bit as public as some of the other, you know, the buses running around the country [Ken Kesey and the Merry pranksters – here identified as undercover agents]….

Oscar Janiger: Yeah, and then Zinnberg says that the visionary experience, and all of the things he was doing at Harvard, and the others, his residence, and the rest he was giving LSD to, they never had a visionary, or ecstatic, or mystic experience. That the whole thing was a California invention, he said.

Tim Leary: Wonderful, They're right!

Oscar Janiger: The only time it happened, was when you cross the Colorado River.

[Room laughs]

Sydney Cohen: I'm reading John Marks book on, the Manchurian… The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, in which he says the CIA turned us all on, you know. But,

Cohen brings up the book by John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, and the CIA, to deflect investigation/discussion into this area. In fact virtually everyone in the room had some relationship to the CIA or military intelligence.

In the previous section we saw how Cohen and Marks assisted with Bowart’s book. Here, too, Cohen and Osmond (amongst others) are cited in thanks and Cohen (and also Gordon Wasson, James Moore, and Albert Hofmann), are also cited for their assistance in the introduction to Marks’ book:

There has been a whole galaxy of people who have provided specialized help, and I would like to thank them all: Jeff Kohan, Eddie Becker, Sam Zuckerman, Matthew Messelson, Julian Robinson, Milton Kline, Marty Lee, M. J. Conklin, Alan Scheflin, Bonnie Goldstein, Paul Avery, Bill Mills, John Lilly, Humphrey Osmond, Julie Haggerty, Patrick Oster, Norman Kempster, Bill Richards, Paul Magnusson, Andy Sommer, Mark Cheshire, Sidney Cohen, Paul Altmeyer, Fred and Elsa Kleiner, Dr. John Cavanagh, and Senator James Abourezk and his staff.

I sent drafts of the first ten chapters to many of the people I interviewed (and several who refused to be interviewed). My aim was to have them correct any inaccuracies or point out material taken out of context. The comments of those who responded aided me considerably in preparing the final book. My thanks for their assistance to Albert Hofmann, Telford Taylor, Leo Alexander, Walter Langer, John Stockwell, William Hood, Samuel Thompson, Sidney Cohen, Milton Greenblatt, Gordon Wasson, James Moore, Laurence Hinkle, Charles Osgood, John Gittinger (for Chapter 10 only), and all the others who asked not to be identified.[91] [emphasis added] ~ John D. Marks

So Cohen, one of the CIA’s doctors and an agent, says that he’s reading the book when he actually assisted with the book’s writing. And then Cohen’s telling the group what Marks is saying in the book about their own actions – right when Leary begins discussing “cells” and “Our undercover agents in Los Angeles”. It’s all PR - like Wasson. You tell the author what to say and he says it.

And when Marks says “and all those others who asked not to be identified,” this is simply another way that the CIA adds an additional layer of plausible deniability by having agents and assets not wish to be identified. The joke was on us: they were all agents and assets.

In my 2012 article Gordon Wasson: The Man, The Legend, The Myth, I revealed the following academic cover-up regarding Wasson’s involvement with JP Morgan and Civil War’s Hall Carbine Affair:

It appears that Wasson was able to gain his position at J. P. Morgan bank as VP of Public Relations (propaganda) by helping to cover up J. P. Morgan, Sr.'s involvement in the Civil War's Hall Carbine Affair, to which Wasson titled his own book on the matter. Documents uncovered at Yale University in the Andrews archives reveal that Wasson had been telling the Civil War historian, Allan Nevins, what to write about J. P. Morgan and the carbine affair, and then Wasson would turn and cite Nevins as an appeal to authority in his own arguments on the matter – which is an obvious conflict of interest, not to mention that someone working in PR for Morgan might likewise have a conflict of interest in writing an account of the matter. Furthermore, Wasson had been telling Prof. Charles McLain Andrews about the entire affair, and Andrews had forwarded Wasson's manuscript to Nevins.[92]

Here we see Wasson utilizing these same tactics with Yale’s Professor Charles McLain Andrews and historian Allan Nevins, revealing yet another “cell”:

December 15, 1937

I could make a very good use of the copy of my Civil War Carbine monograph that Mr. Nevins has, if he is back from California. My recollection is that he would be returning about this time. I hope it is not too much trouble for you to make sure that he returns it.

I think my name does not appear on the monograph. Do you happen to remember whether you let him know who wrote it? If not, there might be an advantage in leaving him in the dark if we should publish the manuscript through some other medium.[93] [emphasis added] ~ R. Gordon Wasson

August 15, 1939

Dear Mr. Andrews:

I hasten to write you to assure you that Allen [sic] Nevins treated my manuscript exactly as I would've wished him to do. He refers and is taxed to a “careful investigation” which “has shown that he must announce transaction and was really prudent and commendable.” In an appendix he summarizes the episode in two or three pages. He doesn’t identify “the recent investigation”, and for this I am very glad. Since his revised Life came out, he and I had an exchange of cordial letters on the subject.[94] [emphasis added] ~ R. Gordon Wasson

October 28, 1941

I am most grateful to you for your comments on the Hall Carbine paper, and we shall give earnest consideration to your advice. I have sent a copy of it to Allan Nevins, with whom I have often discussed it, and also to our good friend Steve Benet. We wish to think out carefully our procedure, and, fortunately, we can choose our own time. Perhaps after we let the matter simmer for some months we may bring out a second and larger edition.[95] [emphasis added] ~ R. Gordon Wasson

It’s the exact same stunt here with Marks. Simply replace the name Allan Nevins with John Marks. In one instance we have JP Morgan and The Hall Carbine Affair with Wasson (and Nevins and Andrews) covering it up, and in the other instance we have JP Morgan and MKULTRA with Wasson (and Marks, et al) covering it up.

The fact that Wasson himself requested the money from the Geschickter Fund proves that the James Moore story was fabricated – and this myth begins in John Marks’ book. And, as was shown above, like Gordon Wasson and Albert Hofmann, James Moore is also listed as one of those who “assisted” Marks with his book.

Many of the most common MKULTRA myths, in fact, seem to have started with John Marks’ book, including (but not limited to):

1) That most of the MKULTRA research was geared toward a Manchurian-type candidate.

2) That the CIA had not intentionally created the psychedelic revolution.

3) That Frank Olson committed suicide.[96]

4) That James Moore had infiltrated Wasson’s group to Mexico for the CIA.

5) That Albert Hofmann “discovered” LSD and the subsequent origins of “bicycle day,” which begins the first page of Marks’s book.[97] And as we saw, above, Hofmann, too, assisted Marks with his book.[98]

6) That Albert Hofmann had beaten out the CIA in producing psilocybin.[99]

7) That Tim Leary became interested in mushrooms from Wasson’s Life magazine article (the “Joe Namath commercial”). [100]

8) That Tim Leary had gone rogue.[101]

Gottlieb's dream of a CIA monopoly on the divine mushroom vanished quickly under the influence of unwanted competitors, and indeed, the Agency soon faced a control problem of burgeoning proportions. While Moore toiled in his lab, Roger Heim in Paris unexpectedly pulled off the remarkable feat of growing the mushrooms in artificial culture from spore prints he had made in Mexico. Heim then sent samples to none other than Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD, who quickly isolated and chemically reproduced the active chemical ingredient. He named it psilocybin.

The dignified Swiss chemist had beaten out the CIA, and the men from MKULTRA found themselves trying to obtain formulas and supplies from overseas. Instead of locking up the world's supply of the drug in a safe somewhere, they had to keep track of disbursements from Sandoz, as they were doing with LSD. Defeated by the old master, Moore laid his own work aside and sent away to Sandoz for a supply of psilocybin.[102]
~ John D. Marks

One person whose curiosity was stimulated by the article was a young psychology professor named Timothy Leary.[103]
~ John D. Marks

And so the fables are repeated by the “group,” or, “cell(s)”:

Among those whose interest was piqued by Wasson’s article in Life was a young professor named Timothy Leary.[104]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

Apparently, one of the “various foundations” from which Gordon was hoping to obtain a grant was the Geschickter Fund in Washington, D.C. It had been mentioned to him as a possible source of funding by James Moore, the CIA operative, when he initially contacted Gordon in August 1955. Unknown to Gordon, the Fund was a front for the CIA to channel money secretly. According to John Marks’ book The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate” (New York: Dell, 1979), it anted up $2,000 to help finance Gordon’s expedition in the spring of 1956.[105]
~ Allan Richardson

And though this topic deserves an entire article, it appears that Arthur Stoll, Albert Hofmann's boss at Sandoz, is really who invented LSD – sometime between 1918 and 1933. Hofmann was just a cover story – and, apparently, another CIA asset.

Wasson said that Albert Hofmann “worked in some way with the CIA” and that Hofmann’s “discoveries were imparted in whole by Sandoz to the U.S. government. Sandoz wanted to be on the right side of things.” Hofmann’s connection to the CIA has never been officially confirmed by the CIA, which maintains a policy of not commenting on or revealing information on foreign citizens who find their way into its employment.[106]
~Hank Albarelli

To his credit, Hank Abarelli (discussed more below) exposed Hofmann as likely being a CIA asset in his book A Terrible Mistake. And obviously if Hofmann was CIA “personnel,” then Moore couldn’t have been the only “mole”. Hofmann was also at Pont-Saint-Esprit, as first exposed by Fuller:

Much overlooked in Fuller’s book is a brief section noting the presence of Sandoz Company researcher Dr. Albert Hofmann in Pont-St.-Esprit during the summer of 1951. Hofmann himself has briefly, and parenthetically, mentioned the French outbreak in his own book, LSD: My Problem Child, first published in 1979, but for some reason, he does not mention that he was in the town of Pont-St.-Esprit in the days immediately following the outbreak.[107]
~ Hank Albarelli

Furthermore, In Manufacturing the Deadhead, 2013, Joe Atwill and I exposed that it’s highly unlikely that Hofmann had actually invented LSD, which was known about at least 5 years before his so called discovery of it.[108]

And though his version of events is obviously distorted, too, here’s how Dr. Willis Harmon, an SRI (Stanford Research Institute) researcher, and MKULTRA man for the CIA, told his version of the origins of LSD, psilocybin, and MKULTRA, on Australian ABC radio in 1977:

The story really starts way back in 1935 with a group of followers of the German mystic Rudolf Steiner who lived in a village in Southern Germany. In 1935 a dark cloud was over Europe so the members of this group set out very deliberately to synthesize chemicals which were like the natural vegetable substances which they were well aware had been used in all the world’s major religious traditions down through the centuries. By 1938 they had synthesized psilocybin, LSD and about thirty other drugs. They had stopped to think about the consequences of letting all this loose, and decided against it. They decided that they were not sure what the negative effects of the drugs would be and that it just wasn’t a very wise thing to do.

Five years later, in 1943, when Europe was really in bad shape, they decided apparently that possible negative consequences were nothing compared to the consequences of not doing this.

Now, two members of this group, which lived in a very tight religious community, were in the Sandoz chemical company – that’s partly how this project came to be. One of them was the chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann. He cooked up the newspaper story, that everyone has heard now, about the accidental ingestion of LSD and the realization of what its properties were after an amazing bicycle ride home and the visions and so on. This group quietly gave supplies of the chemical to a number of doctors around the world… [109] [emphasis added] ~ Willis Harmon

Harmon states that by 1938 they had created LSD, psilocybin and “about thirty other drugs”. He claims that they began to synthesize them in 1935, but we know from Saint Peter’s Snow by Leo Perutz, 1933, that LSD must have been invented in or before 1933. Obviously by 1938 they would have had to have known the outcome of what they were trying to do, and, again, targeting the masses with drugs was hardly the way to stop a war created by the elite – which was a genocide on those very masses. And, how, exactly, would they know five years later that releasing drugs would somehow help the masses and end the war? It’s a ridiculous cover story.

As it turns out, Harmon’s work at SRI involved the creation of a modern cult that came directly out of MKULTRA –which was printed in a study called Changing Images of Man, 1974, published by SRI. Others involved in this project included Dr. Carl Rogers – MKULTRA Suproject 97; B.F. Skinner – who created “operant conditioning”; Dr. James Fadiman – who did the last legal LSD studies in the USA; Margaret Mead – whose husband Gregory Bateson helped found the CIA, and the both of them were involved in the MKULTRA Macy Foundation conferences; Dr. Ralph Metzner – who worked with Dr. Timothy Leary at Millbrook and also came out of the Harvard Social Relations department; and Joseph Campbell – who would help them all create the new cult based on his knowledge of religion and the “power of myth”; amongst other participants.

Now let’s turn to the next book in our study of MKULTRA and the psychedelic revolution: Acid Dreams, written in 1985 by Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain. Their book would become one of the leading sellers in MKULTRA / counterculture disinformation.

Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain: Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond, 1985

What was Helms trying to hide? The wholesale destruction of these memoranda suggests there may have been a lot more to the CIA’s LSD program than the revelations that came to light during the post-Watergate housecleaning of the mid-1970s. Of course, it's highly improbable that the CIA would ever have drawn up a "smoking gun" document describing the details of a plot to dump millions of hits of acid on the black market. Nor is it likely that the Agency anticipated the catalytic impact of LSD and its disruptive effect on the youth movement. The CIA is not an omniscient, monolithic organization, and there's no hard evidence that it engineered a great LSD conspiracy. (As in most conspiracy theories, such a scenario vastly overestimates the sophistication of the alleged perpetrator.) If anything, it seems that a social phenomenon as complex and multifaceted as the psychedelic subculture was beyond the control of any single person or entity.[110]
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain are the authors of Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond, 1985. Theirs, in my opinion, is the worst of all the MKULTRA-related books reviewed here. In this book the authors repeatedly claim that there's no evidence that the psychedelic revolution and counterculture were intentionally created or launched by the CIA, while dismissing or omitting evidence.
For example, they cite at least five times the very same MKULTRA reunion video where this fact is directly admitted by the agents themselves – A Conversation on LSD, 1979.[111] But apparently no one has ever asked why Lee and Shlain only quote the first several minutes of this hour-long video. In my opinion, they seem to have intentionally avoided quoting any of the actual words of admission from the reunion video in order to help perpetuate the CIA’s own myths about MKULTRA and the origins of the psychedelic revolution and counterculture:

Unless Lee and Schlain were trying to mislead their readers, why would they claim that “there’s no hard evidence,” and then cite the very video 5 times where the entire operation is admitted by the agents themselves, and then ridicule “conspiracy theories”?

Lee and Shlain’s above claim, of course, is ridiculous, and, as the evidence shows, appears to expose them in an intentional cover-up of the facts regarding the origins of the psychedelic counterculture and the CIA’s involvement. And it appears that they must have known this fact since they’d obviously seen the above reunion video by 1985 when they wrote Acid Dreams (only 6 years after the video was recorded – on Feb. 16, 1979):

In February 1979 Leary showed up at an "LSD Reunion" in Los Angeles, hosted by Dr. Oscar Janiger. An animated discussion ensued among the thirty psychedelic pioneers who attended this private gathering. Dr. Humphry Osmond and Laura Huxley were there, along with Sidney Cohen, John Lilly, Willis Harmon, and Nick Bercel. The legendary Captain Al Hubbard, then seventy-seven years of age, swaggered into Janiger's home wearing his security uniform, with a pistol and a bandolier around his hip. “Oh, Al! I owe everything to you," Leary greeted the Captain. "The galactic center sent you down just at the right moment." To which Hubbard responded, "You sure as heck played your part.” It was the last time most of them would see the Captain, for he died a few years later, not long after receiving a card from President Reagan wishing him a happy birthday.[112]
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

And oh, how cute! A birthday card from President Reagan and all! But what did the video say? In fact, Lee and Shlain misrepresent where Al Hubbard’s quote took place in the conversation, where he says: “You sure as heck played your part”. At just around 4 minutes into the video is Leary’s “galactic center” comment (referring to the CIA):

Tim Leary: Oh, Al, I don't say that I owe everything to you.

Al Hubbard: Ah, [unintelligible - I don’t think you do(?)] but I think you would have.

Tim Leary: Galactic center sent you down just at the right moment to..

Al Hubbard: create a disturbance.

And, surprisingly or not, more than four minutes later is where Hubbard states: “you sure as heck contributed your part” – in the part of the discussion, shown above and repeated here, again, where Huxley and Osmond went to Harvard to hire Leary:

Humphry Osmond: Remember the first time we met, which was in Cambridge? On the night of the Kennedy election.

Tim Leary: 1960.

Humphry Osmond: 1960. We went out to this place. And Timothy then was wearing his gray flannel suite and his crew cut. And we had this very interesting discussion with him. And when we went.. . and I don’t think I told you this, Timothy. But the night we went we both said “what a nice fellow he is”. He says “he’s a very nice man”, and Aldous said “it’s very very nice to think that this is what’s going to be done at Harvard”. He said “it would be so good for it”. And then I said to him, “I think he’s a nice fellow too. But don’t you think he’s just a little bit square?” [laughter] Aldous said “you may be right”, he said “but after all isn’t that what we want?” [laughter]

Timothy, when I’m discussing the need for understanding human temperament this is the story I tell. Because I said, yeah Aldous and I were deeply interested in the nature of human temperament and we meet someone who I think that was probably the least satisfactory description of you ever made, Timothy. I think even your greatest enemies would never make that description. And we made it. We were very very concerned because we held that perhaps you were a bit too unadventurous. You see what insights we had.

Al Hubbard: Well, you sure as heck contributed your part, but uh... [8:26]

Tim Leary: I've always considered myself very square.

Humphry Osmond: So we were right in a way!

Tim Leary: I always try to hang around the hippest person in the area and I continue to do that. […]

Lee and Shlain’s quote is actually pulled from two different and unrelated segments of the first eight and a half minutes of the reunion video: from the first four minutes –and then is confounded with the discussion four minutes later, near 8:20ff.

According to Robert Forte, Lee and Shlain may have actually been at the reunion party, and possibly even filmed this video of it. But regardless, why, then, since they obviously knew of the reunion video by 1985, did they make the above claims and then omit the following transcript of the video from their book? The following is from the reunion video at roughly 35 minutes (we also saw this above):

Tim Leary: I think, you know, sometimes it's interesting to think too, as you’re going around the country, I'm sure you've all experienced… you talk to, uh, middle-aged, fairly respectable people in Tucson Arizona, and they say “this is where the acid thing really happened.” [Laughs] Tucson! In San Francisco “this is where it really happened.” The lower East side, you know, they say “that’s where it really happened.” And, uh, no one has ever really, uh, uh told us what was really going on in Los Angeles during those, uh, years. And I think there was much more done down here, there was a much wider range, there were more doctors involved. There were more scientists, and we…

Sydney Cohen: You're talking about Gerald and all of us.

Tim Leary: Yes, right right. Yeah. And, uh, Ivan. Uh, of course…uh, then, there of course, was part [break in audio – mic muffled] coolness of the Los Angele [break in audio – mic muffled]s, uh, [break in audio – mic muffled] cell, whatever you want to call it. But they kept a, you kept a, uh…

Sydney Cohen: Would you mind not calling it a cell? Let's call it a cluster!

Tim Leary: All right. [Room laughs] Our undercover agents in Los Angeles were very cool about, uh, and yet they did more in a very laid-back way, uh, and it's every bit as public as some of the other, you know, the buses running around the country [Ken Kesey and the Merry pranksters – here identified as undercover agents]….

Oscar Janiger: Yeah, and then Zinnberg says that the visionary experience, and all of the things he was doing at Harvard, and the others, his residence, and the rest he was giving LSD to, they never had a visionary, or ecstatic, or mystic experience. That the whole thing was a California invention, he said.

Tim Leary: Wonderful, They're right!

Oscar Janiger: The only time it happened, was when you cross the Colorado River.
[Room laughs] Sydney Cohen: I'm reading John Marks book on, the Manchurian… The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, in which he says the CIA turned us all on, you know. But,

They claim there’s no evidence while citing the very video where the admissions are clear.

The CIA is not an omniscient, monolithic organization, and there's no hard evidence that it engineered a great LSD conspiracy.[113]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

Then why not show the full transcript, unedited, Marty? Maybe they mean as long as they cover the evidence up, and pretend that it doesn’t exist…?

And, as we saw in the previous section, Marty Lee is also mentioned in the introduction to Marks's book. How serendipitous!

There has been a whole galaxy of people who have provided specialized help, and I would like to thank them all: Jeff Kohan, Eddie Becker, Sam Zuckerman, Matthew Messelson, Julian Robinson, Milton Kline, Marty Lee, M. J. Conklin, Alan Scheflin, Bonnie Goldstein, Paul Avery, Bill Mills, John Lilly, Humphrey Osmond, Julie Haggerty, Patrick Oster, Norman Kempster, Bill Richards, Paul Magnusson, Andy Sommer, Mark Cheshire, Sidney Cohen, Paul Altmeyer, Fred and Elsa Kleiner, Dr. John Cavanagh, and Senator James Abourezk and his staff.[114] [emphasis added] ~ John D. Marks

It’s a coincidence theory! And we must ask why Lee “provided specialized help” – and what help was it?

And, serendipitously, Lee and Shlain also admit that Al Hubbard was “a high-level OSS officer,” involved in smuggling:

That Hubbard, of all people, should have emerged as the first genuine LSD apostle is all the more curious in light of his long-standing affiliation with the cloak-and-dagger trade. Indeed, he was no run-of-the-mill spook. As a high-level OSS officer, the Captain directed an extremely sensitive covert operation that involved smuggling weapons and war material to Great Britain prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.[115]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

And to admit that Hubbard was “a high-level OSS officer” – and of course the OSS was the precursor to the CIA, and then claim there’s no evidence, is ridiculous. And it’s suspected that Hubbard actually helped to create and launch MKULTRA. But Lee and Shlain only state that it’s “all the more curious”.

Here, again, we see what strongly appears to be a cover-up of the origins of the psychedelic revolution and counterculture by Lee and Shlain in their book Acid Dreams. Why else would the authors cite the very video 5 times where the admission is made that those men were agents and then claim that there’s no evidence? Regarding Hubbard they further state:

Even though Hubbard took a lot of acid and was a maverick among his peers, he remained a staunch law-and-order man throughout his life. The crew-cut Captain was the quintessential turned-on patriot, a seasoned spy veteran who admired the likes of J. Edgar Hoover; Above all Hubbard didn't like weirdos—especially longhaired radical weirdos who abused his beloved LSD. Thus he was eager to apply his espionage talents to a secret study of the student movement and the acid subculture. After conferring with Harmon, the Captain donned a khaki uniform, a gold-plated badge, a belt strung with bullets, and a pistol in a shoulder holster. That was the uniform he wore throughout his tenure as an SRI consultant, which lasted until the late 1970s.

Ironically, while Harmon and Hubbard were probing the relationship between drugs and radical politics, a number of New Left activists grappled with a similar question. Political and cultural radicals from both sides of the Atlantic discussed the drug issue at a conference on "the dialectics of liberation," which took place in London during the summer of 1967. Some were wary of mixing acid and politics. "Don't give LSD to Ché Guevara, he might stop fighting," said Dr. David Cooper, a British psychiatrist who feared that drugs might undermine political commitment (the same thesis put forward by the Rand Corporation). But others, such as Allen Ginsberg, saw great advantages in a "politics of ecstasy." The pro-LSD faction insisted that acid was a radicalizing factor and that psychedelics would continue to galvanize the youth rebellion.[116] [Emphasis added] ~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

“Seasoned spy veteran,” “eager to apply his espionage talents to a secret study of the student movement and the acid subculture ,” “an SRI consultant,” “Rand Corporation” and “politics of ecstasy” – there’s nothing to see here, folks, move along…

Here’s a document marked “confidential” from the Department of the Army, dated 23 November 197(?):

Stanford Research Institute
Security Division

Gentlemen:
I have received certain documents from Special Agent A. M. Hubbard to be given to Major William E. Smith.

Very truly yours,
Dollie B. Smith
Secretary to Major Smith

So in the 1970s the Department of the Army is still calling Al Hubbard a “Special Agent,” and it’s also clear that in the 1970s SRI was still involved with mind control operations – headed by Willis Harmon, who, in 1968, gave Hubbard a job as a “special investigative agent”.

Adverse publicity forced IFAS to disband in 1965, whereupon Harmon, who considered himself a disciple of the Captain, became director of the Educational Policy Research Center at SRI. In October 1968 he invited Hubbard, then living in semiretirement in British Columbia, to join SRI as a part-time "special investigative agent." [117]
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

Furthermore, on p. 198 of Acid Dreams is Harmon’s October 2, 1968, letter to Hubbard (the original is on SRI’s letterhead) admitting the outline of Hubbard’s “study”:

Our investigations of some of the current social movements affecting education indicate that the drug usage prevalent among student members of the New Left is not entirely undesigned. Some of it appears to be present as a deliberate weapon aimed at political change. We are concerned with assessing the significance of this as it impacts on matters of longrange educational policy. In this connection it would be advantageous to have you considered in the capacity of a special investigative agent who might have access to relevant data which is not ordinarily available.[118] [Emphasis added] ~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

It’s like the fox investigating the hen house. And if I had to grade Lee and Shlain on their abilities at spin and counterintelligence bullshitting, I’d have to give them an “F”. Their spin is simply atrocious.

While at times Lee and Shlain omit citations while claiming there’s no evidence to the contrary, at other times, such as the above quotes, they cite them and then pretend they’re of no significance – when Harmon was also known to be CIA/MKULTRA (the Army’s letter was addressed to him, which proves that he had clearance to discuss “Special Agent” Hubbard), and Hubbard was an admitted “Special Agent” – and, apparently, an original founder of MKULTRA. And Harmon, serendipitously, was also at that same reunion party.

Here’s another quote where Lee and Shlain attempt their weak powers of bullshit – playing down the idea that Leary was an agent:

On repeated occasions PL castigated SDS regulars for being "escapist" and "objectively counterrevolutionary" when they spoke in favor of turning on. (Quite a few SDS members would have agreed with Arthur Kleps when he said, "Marxism is the opiate of the unstoned classes.") PL also criticized propaganda tactics like guerrilla theater and rock bands at rallies as "creeping carnivalism," and they even claimed that Timothy Leary was a CIA agent who pushed acid on the Movement as part of an imperialist plot.[119] [emphasis added] ~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

But wait a minute! An imperialist plot!? That’s some not-so-fancy loaded language. We just read Leary’s admission to Bowart (husband of Mellon banking heiress Peggy Hitchcock), above; and his own admission about “undercover agents,” and “cells,” above – from the same reunion video Lee and Shlain cited – 5 times! Apparently only the quotes they selected and took out of context were good enough for their book, while the quotes that tell a more direct story, somehow, were not:

"I proceeded as an intelligence agent since 1962, understanding that the next war for control of this planet and beyond, had to do with the control of consciousness."
[...] "Yes," he answered strongly. "I was a witting agent of the CIA..." [120]
~ Walter Bowart quoting Timothy Leary

And

Tim Leary: […]uh, then, there of course, was part [break in audio – mic muffled] coolness of the Los Angele [break in audio – mic muffled]s, uh, [break in audio – mic muffled] cell, whatever you want to call it. But they kept a, you kept a, uh…

Sydney Cohen: Would you mind not calling it a cell? Let's call it a cluster!

Tim Leary: All right. [Room laughs] Our undercover agents in Los Angeles were very cool about, uh, and yet they did more in a very laid-back way, uh, and it's every bit as public as some of the other, you know, the buses running around the country ….

What’s that I smell? Is that… bullshit? I hope you have your boots on, because there’s more:

He [Leary] wrote a widely acclaimed psychology textbook and devised a personality test called ""The Leary," which was used by the CIA, among other organizations, to test prospective employees.[121]
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

So Leary wrote the entrance exam for the CIA. How… serendipitous!

They also try to play down, while discussing, the obvious connections between the psychedelic revolution and youth movements:

On New Year's Day 1968 they dropped acid together so they "could look at the problem logically," as Rubin put it, and they hit upon a recipe for social change. Mix one part hippie and one part activist, marinade in Marx (Groucho, not Karl) and McLuhan, season radically with psychedelics, and what do you come up with? Paul Krassner, editor of the Realist, a satirical underground magazine, said it first: "Yippie!"—the battle cry of the Youth International Party. It was a name to conjure with, a rallying point for stoned politicos and militant hippies who had merged the "I protest" of the New Left with the "I am" of the counterculture. "We figured we could create a new myth of the dope-taking, freedom-loving, politically committed activist," Rubin explained. "Some day, we dreamed, the myth will grow and grow until there were millions of yippies …. Soon there will be yip-pies and a Youth International Party throughout the Western world."[122]
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

So then why heap all the blame on Leary? As we’ve already seen, this whole story against Leary is a lie. Leary was but the scapegoat to protect the larger MKULTRA operation. And, as we saw above, Walter Bowart was the first Yippie, and worked with Marshall McLuhan, and both were pals of Leary.

Repeatedly throughout their book they either entirely omit, or quote, and then deny.

Reflecting upon the sixties, a surprising number of counterculture veterans endorsed the notion that the CIA disseminated street acid en masse so as to deflate the political potency of the youth rebellion. "LSD makes people less competent," contends William Burroughs. "You can see their motivation for turning people on. Very often it's not necessary to give it more than just a little push. Make it available and the news media takes it up, and there it is. They don't have to stick their necks out very much."

Burroughs was one of the first to suspect that the acid craze of the 1960s might have been a manipulated phenomenon—an opinion shared by John Sinclair, the former White Panther leader who once sang the praises of LSD as a revolutionary drug. "It makes perfect sense to me," Sinclair stated. "We thought at the time that as a result of our LSD-inspired activities great things would happen. And, of course, it didn't …. They were up there moving that shit around. Down on the street, nobody knew what was going on."

Even Ken Kesey, who still views LSD in a positive light, would not dismiss the possibility that the CIA might have meddled in the drug scene. "Could have been," Kesey admitted. "But, then again, they were giving us the cream, and once you've seen the cream, you know how good it is. And once you know how good it is, you know they can never take it away from you. They can never take that strength away."

Nearly a decade before Kesey was introduced to psychedelics as part of a government-funded drug study in Palo Alto, the CIA embarked upon a major effort to develop LSD into an effective mind control weapon. The CIA’s behavior modification programs were geared toward domestic as well as foreign populations; targets included selected individuals and large groups of people. But in what way could LSD be utilized to manipulate an individual, let alone a subculture or a social movement?

LSD is not a habit-forming substance like heroin, which transforms whole communities and turns urban slums into terrains of human bondage. Whereas opiates elicit a predictable response, both pharmacologically and socially, this is not necessarily the case with psychedelics. The efficacy of acid as an instrument of social control is therefore a rather tenuous proposition.

The CIA came to terms with this fundamental truth about LSD only after years of intense experimentation. At first CIA researchers viewed LSD as a substance that produced a specific reaction (anxiety), but subsequent studies revealed that "set and setting" were important factors in determining its effects. This finding made the drug less reliable as a cloak-and-dagger weapon, and the CIA utilized LSD in actual operations—as an aid to interrogation and a discrediting agent—only on a limited basis during the Cold War. By the mid-1960s the Agency had virtually phased out its in-house acid tests in favor of more powerful chemicals such as BZ and related derivatives, which were shown to be more effective as incapacitants. But that did not mean the CIA had lost all interest in LSD.[123]
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

It appears that Lee and Shlain want their readers to ignore the evidence they present and then dismiss, while at the same time leading the discussion on what a “CIA weapon” would be. The Deadheads, for instance: following the Grateful Dead around for years doing nothing but drugs with their lives – and navel gazing.

But in what way could LSD be utilized to manipulate an individual, let alone a subculture or a social movement?
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

Remember the quote by Thomas Pynchon in the introduction of this essay?

If they get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

And then Lee and Schlain set up their own analysis of the things LSD is and isn’t, apparently trying to mislead people away from the conclusions that Joe Atwill and I finally revealed in Manufacturing the Deadhead, 2013.

LSD is not a habit-forming substance like heroin, which transforms whole communities and turns urban slums into terrains of human bondage. Whereas opiates elicit a predictable response, both pharmacologically and socially, this is not necessarily the case with psychedelics. The efficacy of acid as an instrument of social control is therefore a rather tenuous proposition.
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

Obviously it would be very important for the CIA to use counterintelligence to cover up the fact that it had launched the psychedelic revolution and counterculture as a system of social control over the general population. In other words, the CIA had intentionally launched a major psychological war against the American people (you should be really angry by now), and had to cover it up. And it appears, like the others discussed in this article, that Lee and Shlain were involved in that cover-up.

As the above mentioned MKULTRA psychiatrist, Dr. Sydney Cohen, stated before Congress in 1966:

May I add something to what you have just said, Senator? I think another thing that has to be pointed out to these young people is that the LSD state is a completely uncritical one, a hypersuggestible one, and that what happens there can overwhelm some people and yet be quite illusory. There are insights here to be found and examined, but also the great possibility that the insights are not valid at all and overwhelm certain credulous personalities.[124]
~ Sydney Cohen

Here we also see Prof. Marlene Dobkin de Rios discussing the hyper-suggestibility factor:

Psychedelic substances like ayahuasca create a state of hypersuggestibility in which persons are very open to being influenced by others. Many traditional cultures have utilized this condition to inculcate cultural values and behaviors in young people as they receive initiation into adulthood. In the West, countercultural values can be inculcated in young people when using these psychedelics, especially when using them in an antinomian context.[125]
~ Marlene Dobkin de Rios

Harvard Professor David McClelland, also made this point clear:

It is probably no accident that the society which most consistently encouraged the use of these substances, India, produced one of the sickest social orders ever created by mankind in which thinking men spent their time lost in the Buddha position under the influence of drugs exploring consciousness, while poverty, disease, social discrimination, and superstition reached their highest and most organised form in all history.[126]
~ David McClelland

Wrapping this section up, we’ll conclude with the CIA’s Dr. Louis Jolyon West, who’s cited by Lee and Shlain in the footnote on page 48:

* In his letters Huxley mentioned "my friend Dr. J. West," a reference to Jolly West, who conducted LSD studies for the CIA. At one point, while West was engaged in MK-ULTRA research, Huxley suggested that he hypnotize his subjects prior to administering LSD in order to give them "post-hypnotic suggestions aimed at orienting the drug-induced experience in some desired direction." Needless to say, the CIA was intrigued by this idea. Huxley also lectured on parapsychology at Duke University, where J. B. Rhine (with whom Huxley communicated) was engaged in ESP studies for the CIA and the army.[127]
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

In The Letters of Aldous Huxley, we find the discussion between Aldous Huxley and Dr. Humphry Osmond, regarding Dr. West:

DEAR HUMPHRY,

1 June, 1957

... It sounds to me very good, and if you could get away for at least some of the duration of the experiments, it should be possible to achieve something significant. Using the same subjects in a regular series of tests should make possible a really systematic exploration of their other world. It will also be possible to see what can be done by combining hypnosis with LSD or mescalin.

Dr. L. J. West, of the Medical School of the University of Oklahoma, was here a few weeks ago-an extremely able young man, I think.

His findings are that mescalinized subjects are almost unhypnotizable. I suggested to him that he should hypnotize his people before they took LSD and should give them post-hypnotic suggestions aimed at orientating the drug-induced experience in some desired direction, and also at the very desirable goal of enabling subjects to recapture the LSD experience by purely psychological means, after their return to normal consciousness, and whenever they so desired. The fact that this kind of experience occurs in some persons spontaneously indicates that chemicals are not indispensable, and it may be that the unconscious can be persuaded, by means of post-hypnotic suggestions, repeated if necessary again and again, to open the door without the aid of chemical keys. Such a set-up as Eileen envisages would be ideal for this kind of experiment. It would be a great thing if you could get down to Florida to supervise at least the initial phases of the work.[128] […] [emphasis added] ~ Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley’s letter makes clear that he was involved in directing MKULTRA studies, and he suggests that Osmond “get down to Florida to supervise at least the initial phases of the work”. And we already saw that Huxley was also involved with Dr. Andrija Puharich’s “secret experiments with Amanita muscaria” mushrooms, and that he worked with Humphry Osmond, who also worked with Dr. Carl Pfeiffer on MKULTRA Subproject 47. And, as we saw from Dr. West in the previous section on Walter Bowart:

The role of drugs in the exercise of political control is also coming under increasing discussion. Control can be through prohibition or supply. The total or even partial prohibition of drugs gives the government considerable leverage for other types of control. An example would be the selective application of drug laws permitting immediate search, or “no knock” entry, against selected components of the population such as members of certain minority groups or political organizations.

But a government could also supply drugs to help control a population. This method, foreseen by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World (1932), has the governing element employing drugs selectively to manipulate the governed in various ways.

To a large extent the numerous rural and urban communes, which provide a great freedom for private drug use and where hallucinogens are widely used today, are actually subsidized by our society. Their perpetuation is aided by parental or other family remittances, welfare, and unemployment payments, and benign neglect by the police. In fact, it may be more convenient and perhaps even more economical to keep the growing numbers of chronic drug users (especially of the hallucinogens) fairly isolated and also out of the labor market, with its millions of unemployed. To society, the communards with their hallucinogenic drugs are probably less bothersome–and less expensive–if they are living apart, than if they are engaging in alternative modes of expressing their alienation, such as active, organized, vigorous political protest and dissent. […] The hallucinogens presently comprise a moderate but significant portion of the total drug problem in Western society. The foregoing may provide a certain frame of reference against which not only the social but also the clinical problems created by these drugs can be considered.[129][emphasis added]
~ Louis Jolyon West

To answer Lee and Schlain’s question, that’s how LSD could be utilized to manipulate an individual, let alone a subculture or a social movement.

Now let’s turn to a book that’s a little more worth our while: Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, by Jay Stevens, 1987.

Jay Stevens: Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, 1987

What if Aldous Huxley hadn’t read that particular issue of the Hibbert Journal? What if Robert Graves hadn’t passed on an obscure reference to his friend the New York banker? What if the CIA … you could play the what-if game for hours.[130]
~ Jay Stevens

Jay Stevens is a poet, historian, and journalist, and is the author of Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, 1987. And to Stevens’ credit, his is probably one of the more readable books of the bunch being reviewed here, though at times his level of slapstick reaches that of John Fuller’s book.
And while we can speculate endlessly sans the evidence, as we’ll see, Stevens, like the others, repeats many of the same myths – as his above quote suggests. For instance, on page one, just as Marks, he starts with Albert Hofmann and bicycle day (there appears to be a formula or blueprint for these books – aside from cross-citing each other). One of the best quotes from his book, however, is the following:

On April 13, 1953, while Huxley was dashing off that enthusiastic note to Osmond concerning mescaline, the CIA formally approved MK-ULTRA, and diverted $300,000 to fund its initial investigations. […] Hiding itself behind two respectable fronts, the Josiah Macy Foundation and the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research, the CIA began funneling dollars to an intercontinental network that rivaled the one being forged by Huxley and Hubbard.[131]
~ Jay Stevens

In the above quote we see Stevens speciously admit that “the CIA began funneling dollars to an intercontinental network that rivaled the one being forged by Huxley and Hubbard.” In reality, however, as we saw above, Huxley and Hubbard were both MKULTRA. And the funneled money didn’t rival Huxley and Hubbard –it funded them. And, serendipitously, we see that the CIA funded MKULTRA at the same time that Huxley wrote to Osmond, who was also MKULTRA.

That the answer might come from the field of psychopharmacology was a possibility that Huxley did not rule out. In an essay written at Sanary around the time he read Lewin's Phantastica, Huxley had mused that should he ever become a millionaire he would "endow a band of research workers to look for the ideal intoxicant."[132]
~ Jay Stevens

Thank goodness for Huxley that the CIA funded his work and a “band of research workers to look for the “ideal intoxicant”! How serendipitous! But an “ideal intoxicant” for what purpose?

Aldous Huxley paid a memorable visit to a UCLA lab that was filled with cats and monkeys, each with a forest of electrodes sticking out of its skull. The caged animals, by pressing a lever, could massage their brains' pleasure centers with little electrical shocks, an experience so wondrously ecstatic that some pressed the lever eight thousand times an hour, until they collapsed from exhaustion and lack of food. "We are obviously very close to reproducing the Moslem paradise where every orgasm lasts six hundred years," Huxley wrote to a friend.[133] [Emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

Oh, the “Moslem paradise,” of course! This is just one more example (of many) of Huxley’s involvement in mind control studies and staying abreast in all of the latest developments in psychological and animal/human experimentation. And who would have thought that the man who pioneered the psychedelic revolution would be an ardent supporter of animal experimentation? And in reality, Huxley’s “friend” was Dr. Humphry Osmond (MKULTRA Suproject 47, etc.). The letter quoted by Stevens is dated 23 September, 1956, wherein Huxley writes:

#756

My dear Humphry, […]

While Julian [Huxley] was here we went to see, at UCLA, the rats and cats and monkeys with electrodes stuck into various areas of their brains. They press a little lever which gives them a short, mild electric shock—and the experience, in certain positions of the electrode, is evidently so ecstatically wonderful, that they will go on at the rate of eight thousand self-stemuli per hour until they collapse from exhaustion, lack of food and sleep. We are obviously getting very close to reproducing the Moslem paradise, where every orgasm lasts six hundred years.[…][134]
~ Aldous Huxley

Oddly, we don’t see Huxley volunteering himself for these “ecstatically wonderful” experiences. And let’s not forget Huxley’s “soma” for the masses in his Brave New World. As he wrote George Orwell:

But now psycho-analysis is being combined with hypnosis; and hypnosis has been made easy and indefinitely extensible through the use of barbiturates, which induce a hypnoid and suggestible state in even the most recalcitrant subjects.

Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.[135] [emphasis added] ~ Aldous Huxley

Jay Stevens continues:

The mescaline served Huxley in another capacity as well, filling his period of bereavement with new faces and exciting plans. Because of Doors and Heaven and Hell, which appeared in 1956, he found himself at the center of a peculiar movement, part religious, part scientific, which for the first time since the 1880s was mounting a concerted assault on Mind at Large.[136]
~ Jay Stevens

Stevens admits that MKULTRA is “part religious, part scientific,” and adds that Huxley’s plans are “a concerted assault on Mind at Large.” On the following page Stevens discusses Huxley’s lecture at the American Psychoanalytic Association, and does his best to separate Puharich and the “crackpots” from Huxley and the rest of the MKULTRA team. To do this, he uses Huxley’s letters to focus, rather than on the human experiments, instead on Puharich’s “strange household” and the “parascientific fringe movement”:

Huxley was invited to the American Psychoanalytic Association's annual convention, where he was the only nondoctor to participate in the panel on psychotomimetics. His reception by "the Electric Shock Boys, the Chlorpromaziners, and the 57 Varieties of Psychotherapists," was not effusive—compared to that of the Lab Madness Lobby.15 What might have been called Aldous's Visionary Potential Party was limited to himself, Osmond, Heard, and a small population of peripheral "crackpots" like the parapsychologist Andraj [sic] Puharich, who had already entertained Aldous at his Glen Cove, New York, headquarters. The specifics of Puharich's "strange household" are worth recording for the insight they provide into this parascientific fringe movement.[137] [emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

We just saw that Huxley thought the “Electric Shock Boys” at UCLA were creating “ecstatically wonderful” experiences and claimed that “We are obviously getting very close to reproducing the Moslem paradise, where every orgasm lasts six hundred years.” And furthermore, as we saw above, Huxley was more than entertained at Puharich’s house in Spring Grove. In reality, Huxley states that Puharich was actually much more than a “crackpot”. From The Letters of Aldous Huxley:

#747, 29 June, 1956

Dear Humphry,

[…] Al [Hubbard] too was in great form. His methods of exposition are a bit muddled; but I suppose he and his group have by now a mass of written material on their cases—material which will show how the other line of experimentation works. For obviously one must proceed on both lines—the pure-scientific, analytical line of Puharich, trying out factor after factor in a standardized environment, and the line of the naturalist, psychologist and therapist, who uses the drug for healing and enlightening, and in the process, if he is a good observer and clear thinker, discovers new facts about the psycho-physical organism.[138] [emphasis added] ~ Aldous Huxley

It appears that Stevens’ quotes from The Letters of Aldous Huxley are very selective, choosing not to quote those that expose the real agenda – and MKULTRA. And since we’ve been revealing Al Hubbard, here we see Hubbard’s influence on Huxley:

Thanks to Hubbard's system, a question began to take shape in Huxley's mind. Was it possible to use these new mind changers to stimulate a subtle but revolutionary alteration in the way the smart monkey perceived reality? At what point, provided you selected the right mix of brilliant, influential people, and gave them LSD or mescaline in a carefully controlled setting, doing everything possible to lead them to the Clear Light, at what point would the culture begin to shift to another tack? If you initiated the best and the brightest to the Other World, and let the knowledge filter down … It was an appealing speculation, and the more Aldous thought about it, the more convinced he became that it was not too farfetched. If one moved cautiously, doing nothing to startle the philistines …[139] [emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

On the following page we see Stevens discussing Hubbard recruiting new researchers and flying around the world to keep all of the (CIA’s) doctors supplied with LSD:

Al Hubbard […] materialized on doorsteps all over the world, wherever a researcher was working with LSD or mescaline. Hubbard was constantly on the go, visiting with Osmond in Saskatchewan, then down to Los Angeles to see Huxley and Heard, then across the continent—New York, Boston, Bethesda, D. C.; then off to Europe to check on progress there, then back again to repeat the circuit: vetting new researchers, conducting sessions for interested professionals, brainstorming on the best way to "launch" the psychedelic movement; paying his way with the latest experimental wrinkles, the most delicious gossip, and of course his inexhaustible supply of experimental substances, which he stored in a large leather bag.[140] [emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

And as we saw Stevens remark, above:

[T]he CIA began funneling dollars to an intercontinental network that rivaled the one being forged by Huxley and Hubbard.[141]
~ Jay Stevens

Apparently Stevens wants us to believe that these aren’t the same things: Special Agent Hubbard flying around the world, and the “intercontinental network,” that he claims “rivaled” Huxley and Hubbard. If you believe that, then I have a UFO to sell you.

So “Special Agent” Hubbard, as Huxley, was one of the key founders of MKULTRA, flying around and keeping “check on the progress” and providing the “latest experimental wrinkles, the most delicious gossip, and of course his inexhaustible supply of experimental substances”. But experimental substances from whom and where? And we see that Hubbard, too, was involved in “brainstorming on the best way to "launch" the psychedelic movement,” which makes the blame on Tim Leary, ridiculous:

And he wasn't alone. For some reason—the presence of Huxley? Southern California in general?—the Los Angeles LSD scene was particularly fertile. One day it seemed there were only five researchers working with the drug, the next day ten, the day after that twenty, all exchanging those knowing looks.[142] [emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

Those “knowing looks” must have been a “wink wink, I’m an MKULTRA researcher for the CIA, too.” It’s also clear that the psychedelic revolution didn’t only begin in San Francisco.

Above we saw that the “reunion party,” A Conversation on LSD, 1979, was held at Dr. Oscar Janiger’s home. In the next paragraph Stevens provides a little more insight into Janiger’s relation to Dr. Sydney Cohen:

One of Janiger's counterparts was Sidney Cohen, a psychiatrist attached to the Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Hospital, which was part of the Veterans Administration. Cohen had obtained his first LSD fully intending to pursue the model psychoses work of Max Rinkel and the other Lab Madness researchers, but his own personal experience with the drug had caused him to change direction.[143]
~ Jay Stevens

Serendipitously, Dr. Max Rinkel was an MKULTRA consultant for the CIA at Boston Psychopathic Hospital. He’s the guy who murdered tennis-pro Harold Blauer with an overdose of a synthetic mescaline derivative:

As with the experiments in prisons and military bases, hospitals held dangers for the human guinea pigs. In one of the first projects, at Boston Psychopathic Hospital, assembled by Bob Hyde and another CIA consultant, Max Rinkel, the tennis-pro, Harold Blauer, died from poisoning after he tested a synthetic mescaline derivative.[144]
~ David Black

And if you need a little more serendipity, Cohen is also the same CIA psychiatrist who dosed both Henry and Claire Boothe Luce, discussed above, and we’ll see more on Henry in the next section.

Cohen was also “consulted” when Laura Huxley injected Aldous with a (lethal) dose of LSD (and other drugs) the same day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination – a topic that deserves a full investigation on its own. However, I’ll say briefly that a careful analysis of Laura’s specious claims regarding the matter in her letter to Julian and Juliette Huxley of December 8, 1963,[145] (which everyone should read) suggests that Aldous was actually murdered by her, and/or the entire story is a fabrication to further market LSD for MKULTRA – right up to the end. As Laura states at the end of her eight-page “letter”:

If the way Aldous died were known, it might awaken people to the awareness that not only this, but many other facts described in ISLAND are possible here and now. Aldous' asking for moksha medicine while dying is a confirmation of his work, and as such is of importance not only to us, but to the world. It is true we will have some people saying that he was a drug addict all his life and that he ended as one, but it is history that Huxleys stop ignorance before ignorance can stop Huxleys.[146]
~ Laura Huxley

However, if you read the letter, it’s clear that Aldous never asked for “moksha medicine” and it’s all based on Laura’s interpretation of events and body language. This entire charade became the foundation for using psychedelics to aid in death. As I wrote in the epilogue of my last article, “Entheogens: What’s in a Name?”:

There was one last disturbing notion that kept creeping up as I researched and wrote this article. And now that we have the context, and being that so much of the psychedelic experience is based on suggestion, I thought I had to ask: Had Maria Sabina, being unlettered, suggested that 17-year-old boy to his death? Had this incident led Wasson to understand the mushroom’s full potential for social control? And what about the ‘December 21, 2012, end of the world’ movement, supposedly based on the Mayan calendar? As Wasson stated: “[T]he number of human sacrifices that are set forth in detail, the way in which they are keyed to the religious calendar…”

And, as we saw above, serendipitously, Aldous and Osmond hired Tim Leary for MKULTRA on the same day that Kennedy was elected. And Kennedy is the same president who fired DCI Allen Dulles and wanted to shut the CIA down – over MKULTRA and other fiascos, such as the Bay of Pigs. The New York Times claimed that Kennedy said he wanted to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.”[147]

In my article “Gordon Wasson: the Man, the Legend, the Myth,” 2012, I exposed that it appears that Gordon Wasson was a key figure behind JFK’s assassination. Serendipitously, Dulles was one of seven appointed to The Warren Commission to investigate the assassination.

Our appetite for simplicity has caused us to compress the chaos of the ‘60s into one monolithic “Youth Revolt.” But there were two philosophies then among the revolutionaries on how the world might be remade. One path, endorsed by political power and using the vantage to raise consciousness and save the world. The other path proposed an attack on the consciousness itself using a controversial and soon outlawed family of psychochemicals –the psychedelics. [emphasis added][148]
~Jay Stevens

If I had to take a guess at who was behind the path endorsed by political power that wanted to raise consciousness, my guess would be Kennedy. But I think it’s now obvious that the path that “proposed an attack on the consciousness itself using a controversial and soon outlawed family of psychochemicals-the psychedelics.” –the CIA, is the path that won.

But let’s not digress too far. Cohen was also at the CIA sponsored Macy Conferences on MKULTRA.

Next we see Stevens discuss Hoffer’s lecture at the Macy Conferences on his and Osmond’s MKULTRA experiments in “treating” alcoholism with hyper-suggestion, but no admission that the Macy Conferences were in fact a CIA operation and part of MKULTRA:

Besides introducing the word that would ultimately triumph in the public consciousness, Hoffer also briefed his colleagues on the startling way in which he and Osmond were now using LSD. Unlike most of the therapists at the Macy conference, they were not using small doses to "liquefy" defenses, thus speeding up the time needed for a successful treatment. Using Hubbard's curious techniques, they had begun giving their patients massive doses and then guiding them, if they could, into that part of the Other World where egos melted and something resembling a spiritual rebirth occurred. As Hoffer described it, there was scarcely any psychotherapy involved at all: "They come in one day. They know they are going to take a treatment, but they know nothing about what it is.[149] [emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

Now let’s return to Timothy Leary. In the following quote Stevens makes clear Leary’s contempt for the middle class, which provides the motive for all of these attacks on the “sheep-like bourgeois”:

Leary also impressed them with his contempt for everything middle class, which was nothing exceptional at Harvard, except that Leary's gibes contained an abrasive edge that went far beyond the usual swipes at the sheep-like bourgeois; Tim really did hate those faceless, conforming Organization Men. Charles Slack, a fellow psychology instructor and frequent drinking partner, concluded that one of Leary's most powerful drives was his desire to "escape the middle class … his whole career was a flight from middle-class values, relationships, people, scenes, everything."[150] [emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

We’ve seen throughout this article how scapegoating is a counterintelligence tool used as a cover for larger operations. While keeping to the official version of the story, Stevens later admits:

For Huxley, Tim Leary was like a strong breeze in a sail that had started to sag. His enthusiasm, his theoretical orientation, and most of all his connection with Harvard, made him the perfect man to advance Aldous's psychedelic scenario. One night when they were lying in front of the fire at the Newton house, having taken psilocybin, the conversation turned to the proper way to introduce the concept of mind expansion to a culture of organization men. It wasn't something Aldous had to think twice about: turn on the elites, he urged Leary. The artistic elite, the intellectual elite, the economic elite. "That's how everything of culture and beauty and philosophic freedom has been passed on."[151] [emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

But we’ve already seen how Wasson, Ginsberg, Hubbard, et al, were trying to kick off a psychedelic revolution, and how Huxley “was mounting a concerted assault on Mind at Large” – which fits perfectly with Leary’s contempt of the middle class – and helping them to bring about their neo-feudalism. So, again, the idea that Leary went rogue is patently absurd. They needed Leary to create “behavior change”:

In the balkanized world of academic psychology, Tim was considered an expert in personality assessment and behavior change, which meant he was a whiz at interpreting diagnostic tests like the TAT and MMPI, while at the same time he was taking a crack at one of psychology's really Big Questions: behavior change.[152]
~ Jay Stevens

And in chapter 8 of Storming Heaven we see Stevens repeat the same fables from John Marks:

Had Wasson's public exposure been limited to half a thousand copies of a book costing the equivalent of two weeks' pay, our story might have been different. But one day, while recounting his Mexican adventures during lunch at the Century Club, Wasson was overheard by an editor at Time-Life, who invited him to write the experience up and submit it to Life magazine, which had a running feature devoted to true-life adventures. Wasson's account of the mushroom ceremony was published, along with Allan Richardson's pictures, in the July 1957 issue of Life, where it was read by millions, and in particular by a young psychologist named Frank Barron, who was best friends with another young psychologist named Timothy Leary.

But these are reverberations that properly belong to the future. A better question, for the present, might be: Who was James Moore, and why had he been so eager to accompany Gordon Wasson into the Mexican outback in the summer of 1956?

As far as Gordon Wasson knew, James Moore was a professor at the University of Delaware.

Moore had written to him in the winter of 1956 expressing an interest in the chemistry of Mexican fungi, and upon learning that Wasson was planning another expedition to Huatla de Jimenez that summer had asked to tag along. To sweeten his unsolicited presence, Moore had mentioned a foundation that might underwrite the whole trip, the Geschickter Fund.

And sure enough, the Fund had ponied-up two thousand dollars to cover expenses. In retrospect, it was barely enough to cover the irritation of Moore himself.

The man was a complainer. Apparently he had thought a trip to Huatla de Jimenez would be little different from a jaunt to Acapulco; in any case he was unprepared for the diarrhea, the dirt floors, the monotonous food. "I had a terribly bad cold, we damn near starved to death, and I itched all over," was Moore's memory of the journey. To which Wasson has replied:

"He was like a landlubber at sea. He got sick to his stomach and hated it all."[153]
~ Jay Stevens

Stevens claims “In retrospect, it was barely enough to cover the irritation of Moore himself.” – but as we’ve already seen, $2000 in 1956 money is equivalent to $17,300 in 2014 money – and the trip was to a very remote location in Mexico, where the money would go very, very far.

And regarding “He was like a landlubber at sea,” – that quote is from John Marks’ book (p. 114) – the section Wasson “assisted” with (it appears to be Wasson’s own writing). The spin is so ridiculous that people never stop to think and to question it. It sounds so stupid it must be true!

Stevens further remarks:

Moore's complaints quickly alienated him from the other members of the expedition, among them Roger Heim, the eminent French mycologist. While Moore grumbled, the others reveled in the raw primitiveness of the adventure. Moore even found the mushrooms a disappointment. While the others soared—"I had the most superb feeling, a feeling of ecstasy," reported Wasson—Moore felt nothing save a disorientation that was compounded by the droning Indian dialects, the dirt floor, and the anarchy of his bowels. Already a thin man, he discovered upon his return to Delaware that he had dropped fifteen pounds. It took him a week to regain his strength, but when he had, he notified Botner that he was ready to work on the bag of mushrooms he had brought back from Huatla de Jimenez.
Botner was Moore’s case officer at the Central Intelligence Agency.[154]
~ Jay Stevens

You can hear the hippies jumping for joy: “The CIA’s bad guy gets it from the mushrooms! Hell yeah!” Of course the story is as ridiculous as it gets – as the entire team were “personnel”. But how would Stevens have known that Moore had “notified Botner” if he wasn’t on the inside? Stevens’ mention of Botner is not cited, and it doesn’t appear in Marks’ book. Stevens continues in the next paragraph:

While Heard and Huxley had been searching for a substance that would open the Door to the mind’s higher powers, the Central Intelligence Agency had been looking for a mind-control drug—a Manchurian candidate, to borrow the phrase popularized by Richard Condon’s best-selling novel of 1959.[155]
~ Jay Stevens

The slapstick and spin gets so stupid that one can only shake their head. And Stevens’ book was written almost 30 years ago, but no one’s called him on this gibberish until now?

Here we see Stevens admit that “Kesey stood in relation to Leary as Leary did to Huxley”:

In a sense, Kesey stood in relation to Leary as Leary did to Huxley: each represented a radicalization of the other’s position.[156]
~ Jay Stevens

Once again, we see that blaming Leary for all of this is nothing but a farce, a cover – as each were merely a radicalization of the other – a PR stunt.

Several pages later, Stevens remarks along the same lines that we saw previously with Bowart:

LSD allowed you an objective look at your own conditioning, at all the categories you had been taught to filter experience into, first as an infant and later as a functioning member of a complex, highly organized society. This was more or less in line with Leary's belief that psychedelics revealed the games one had unconsciously adopted, but it put matters in a starker, more appealing light: take LSD and wipe the slate clean of all that Madison Avenue-Big Business-Behaviorist crap.[157]
~ Jay Stevens

But wait a second... Didn’t we just see that Leary was a leading behaviorist? How could one possibly “take LSD and wipe the slate clean of all that Madison Avenue-Big Business-Behaviorist crap.” – when LSD was being promoted by the Harvard behaviorists – such as Leary, et al? It’s an absurd contradiction.

And in my last article I suggested that these substances be called “suggestogens” – and here we see Stevens admit that those of the Millbrook crew were intentionally manipulating suggestibility:

In a sense, the electronic whisperings […]—these were comparable to the huge eight-hour tapes that Metzner had devised at Millbrook.

Both were designed to manipulate the suggestibility of the psychedelic condition, to move the tripper in novel directions, except that the Acid Test piled on roaring guitars and flashing lights and hundreds of ecstatic fellow voyagers going wherever the flow led them. The ideal was to get everyone participating, adding their own creative juice to the gestalt. To get hundreds, maybe even thousands, synched up … to leave the planet![158] [Emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

Above we exposed how Leary went before congress requesting LSD’s regulation. Here Stevens claims:

In Private, though, Tim admitted that his chances of forestalling prohibition were slim.[159]
~ Jay Stevens

And, ironically, Stevens comments on Leary’s congressional testimony:

It was at this low ebb that Leary agreed to testify before one of the Congressional subcommittees, joining Allen Ginsberg and Art Kleps, among others, on the advocate side of the aisle.[160]
~ Jay Stevens

But as we already saw, with Leary recommending regulation at the Congressional hearing, only if we omit Leary’s entire testimony, as Stevens does, can we say that Leary was on the advocate side of the aisle. Stevens continues regarding the Congressional hearings:

Kleps, you will recall, was one of the Millbrook-trained guides. Since then he had gone on to form an LSD-based religion called the Neo-American Church, of which he was Chief Boo Hoo. ("Are you really called a boo hoo?" one of the senators asked him. "I'm afraid so," said Kleps.)23 Although Leary was not active in the Church, he was, Kleps informed the senators, a holy figure, the equivalent of Jesus Christ or Mohammed. "On the day the prison doors close behind Tim Leary," warned the bearded Chief Boo Hoo, "this country will face religious civil war. Any restraint we have shown heretofore in the dissemination of psychedelics will be ended."

After such a dramatic build-up, the senators must have been a bit nonplussed when Leary sat down before them in his old professorial tweeds. He began by stating his bona fides:[161]
~ Jay Stevens

The following is the only excerpt of Leary’s Congressional testimony presented by Stevens:

I believe that the criteria for marijuana, which is about the mildest of the psychedelic drugs, should be about those which we now use to license people to drive automobiles, whereas the criteria for the licensing of LSD, a much more powerful act, should be much more strict, perhaps the criteria now used for airplane pilots would be appropriate.[162]
~ Tim Leary

Stevens only provides a brief mention of Leary’s suggestion of regulation, but presents nothing that I’ve quoted, above. Stevens continues:

A miscalculation had been made, perhaps as far back as the gray November day when Leary, over hot milk, had rejected Huxley's elitist perspective in favor of Ginsberg's pro bono publico perspective. And this, with a generous nod to Kesey and the Pranksters, was the result: kids gobbling LSD wherever and whenever they could, completely ignorant of set and setting, without the least bit of interest in the Unspoken Thing.[163]
~ Jay Stevens

And so the myths are created and spread – until they become religious gospel. Finally, Stevens admits:

Of course Leary no longer sees himself as a drug guru either—that was just a role he played, at first for his own amusement, and then because his fans and detractors expected it of him.[164] [Emphasis added] ~ Jay Stevens

Sure, just for his own amusement. There’s nothing to see here, folks, so let’s move along to David Black’s book Acid…
 

David Black: Acid: A New Secret History of LSD, 1998

There has been much conspiratorial theorizing about the MK-Ultra ‘Mind Control’ programme of the CIA. Some have even argued it was actually responsible for the LSD explosion of the 1960s and ‘70s, as part of a plot by some all-powerful secret society.[165]
~ David Black

David Black is a British freelance author, writer, journalist and musician. His book The Secret History of LSD was originally published in 1998, and republished in a revised and expanded edition in 2001, with a new subtitle, Acid: A New Secret History of LSD.

I’m going to keep this section short because we’re beginning to see the same themes in repetition. But at least each of these books provides a new angle and a few more details of the story for us to stitch together.

Some people in the orbit of the intelligence community highlighted the potential social benefits of drugs such as LSD, rather than their military applications. One of the earliest public expressions of this view came from publishing magnate, Henry Luce, who saw his Time-Life empire as the semi-official voice of the US State Department. Behind the scenes, Luce was a keen advocate of LSD and mescaline and mind-expanders for the American policy-making elite and encouraged his fellow-trippers to collaborate with the CIA.

Former OSS officer Alfred Hubbard was introduced to LSD by Dr Ronald Sandison, the founder in 1953 of the first public clinic in Britain to use LSD therapy. Hubbard, based in Canada, obtained a plentiful supply of Sandoz LSD and, with CIA approval, doled it out to his old World War Two OSS contacts and to countless other people he encountered on his travels in North America and Western Europe. [166] [emphasis added] ~ David Black

Aside from Henry Luce encouraging “his fellow-trippers to collaborate with the CIA,” as we saw, above, Luce was also at the Century Club where Wasson, Allan Richardson, DCI Allen Dulles, and others, socialized. Luce also worked at the CFR with Wasson and Dulles, [167] and was a member of Yale’s Skull and Bones.[168] And he’s the one who was dosed by Dr. Sydney Cohen. We also saw that one of the myths created by Marks was that Leary got the idea of psilocybin through Luce’s publication of Wasson’s “Seeking the Magic Mushroom” in Life, May 13, 1953.

As with Lee and Schlain, above, Black exposes Hubbard but again plays down his role. If Hubbard doled out LSD “with CIA approval,” and he was a “Secret Agent,” as we saw above, then this contradicts the appeal to ridicule that Black provides us: “Some have even argued it was actually responsible for the LSD explosion of the 1960s and ‘70s, as part of a plot by some all-powerful secret society”. – And we’ve already seen Leary admit that he and the others were agents, so there’s no need to repeat it here, again.

Here Black provides some brief background on agent/asset Ronald Hadley “Stark” Shitsky:

Stark seems to excel at medicine, psychiatry, biochemistry and modern languages, and studies at institutions that are carrying out work for the US Department of Defense. He then falls under the umbrella of the CIA MK-Ultra project and its fronts, such as the Human Ecology Fund.[169]

Stark worked with Leary, The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, and sold LSD all over the world. And if Leary, Hubbard, Harmon, et al, were agents, as we saw they were, and if Stark was an agent, as we see Black admit here, then we can see that in fact the CIA was largely responsible for the LSD explosion of the 1960s and ‘70s – no matter if Black attempts to ridicule some false “all-powerful secret society”. Furthermore, we see that Stark took over for Billy Hitchcock’s LSD Enterprises:

Brotherhood members were described as ‘mystics’ who studied the ‘religious’ philosophy of Leary, who with Bill Hitchcock was placed at the top of the conspiratorial pyramid. In reality, Ronald Stark had more or less succeeded Hitchcock as procurer of LSD production materials and money launderer back in 1969; he had even unsuccessfully tried to fill Leary’s shoes, as ‘Guru’, with R. D. Laing.[170]
~ David Black

Dr. Ronald D. Laing, as it turns out, was also at Millbrook with Leary and crew, and, serendipitously, Laing worked with the Tavistock Institute.[171] And we saw, above, how the Mellon family was connected to the CIA – and that Peggy and Billy Hitchcock were Mellon family heirs, and that Peggy funded the Psilocybin Research Project, IFIF, and the Grateful Dead; and how Billy, her brother, provided the Millbrook mansion and ran Billy Hitchcock LSD Enterprises. Here Black reveals that Stark, an agent, “succeeded Hitchcock as procurer of LSD production materials and money launderer…” Serendipitously, Billy also knew Stark. And when we consider that Leary was an agent, and that Peggy and Billy funded the MKULTRA research and Billy was the procurer of LSD production materials, which agent Starky then took over, we have to consider another cover-up going on here.

Regarding secret societies and Black’s statement “as part of a plot by some all-powerful secret society,” he contradicts himself again:

The P-2 Masonic Lodge was headed by Licio Gelli. A former Blackshirt under Mussolini, Gelli had managed to escape execution for the murder of partisans by defecting to US Army intelligence at the end of the War. After some years of exile in Argentina, Gelli returned to Italy in 1964 and eventually made himself the main intermediary between the Italian SID secret service and the US Central Intelligence Agency.[172]
~ David Black

So there was, or there wasn’t a secret society? Obviously with the words “all powerful” Black creates and appeal to ridicule over the idea. Often intelligence agencies overlap with groups like the Masons, OTO, and Skull and Bones – and always have. In fact, serendipitously, we know that the Scottish Rite Freemasons helped to fund MKULTRA.[173]

The CIA is, in fact, a secret society – and indeed it has far too much money and power. And as long as we use appeal to ridicule (an argument that essentially says “you’re wrong because: haha”), we never have to address the facts and citations that show otherwise. And as we saw from Saunders in the introduction regarding CIA ‘candy’:

We couldn’t spend it all. I remember once meeting with Wisner and the comptroller. My God, I said, how can we spend that? There were no limits, and nobody had to account for it. It was amazing.[174]
~ Frances Stonor Saunders citing CIA agent Gilbert Greenway

In this quote Black uses what appears to be a red herring in order to take the heat off Leary:

Leary’s great enemy at the Harvard Centre for Personality Research was Professor Herbert Kelman, who accused Leary of ‘corrupting’ the students and undermining academic authority. Leary learned from an old friend at the State Narcotics Bureau that Kelman’s work at the University was funded by a ‘CIA front called the Ecology Fund’, and that ‘some people in the government have spent $25 million to research these drugs of yours. Secretly. A lot of it right here in Harvard medical school…
They want to stop you’.
Leary, at that that time, knew nothing about the CIA MK-Ultra programme and this was the first time he’d heard of the Human Ecology Fund, which was controlled by it. […]Leary began to suspect that his efforts were being undermined by CIA assets within academia. A CIA MK-Ultra consultant at Harvard, Martin Orne, who had been comparing his subjects’ Weschler scores with their susceptibility to hypnosis, also took a sneaking interest in the Harvard Psychedelics Project, though Leary had no inkling at the time of his CIA connection. Leary was also warned by Frank Barron that if he tried to ‘compete’ with such powerful and well-financed forces, they would turn on him.[175]
~ David Black

And of course we know that this passage is untrue because Leary admitted that he was a witting agent by 1962, and we saw Huxley and Osmond go to Harvard to recruit Leary in 1960; and all too many of these MKULTRA personnel worked with the Harvard Social Relations Department.

Black repeats many of the same intelligence community fables that originate with John Marks, including that LSD was invented in 1938 by Albert Hofmann (p. 26), that Frank Olson committed suicide (p. 33); that Leary and Dick Alpert were fired. (p. 13) And that there is no evidence that the CIA launched the psychedelic revolution – intentionally (p. 205).

And so the intelligence community’s fables are repeated – ad infinitum.

Now let’s turn our attention to Hank Albarelli, a former Whitehouse lawyer for the Carter Administration, and author of A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments, 2010.

Hank Albarelli: A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments, 2010:

Huxley and MK/ULTRA: a pipe-dream on your part. Wasson was not CIA. I challenge you to document that.[176]
~ Hank Albarelli

Hank Albarelli is a former Whitehouse lawyer from the Carter Administration, and the author of A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments, 2010, which, despite some of the complications we’ll be discussing here, is a good book and is definitely worth the read. The best part of Albarelli’s work is in exposing that Dr. Frank Oslon was murdered, rather than having committed suicide – which was the official version of the story, as we already saw, that was apparently created by John Marks, et al.

However, it is worthy of notice that it was around the same time that Albarelli worked at the Whitehouse, during the Carter Administration, that much of MKULTRA came to public light. As I exposed in my 2013 article with Joe Atwill, “Manufacturing the Deadhead: A Product of Social Engineering,” regarding my personal interactions with Albarelli:

An example of how Wasson’s activities for the CIA have been kept hidden is the work of MK-ULTRA “expert” and author Hank Albarelli, a former lawyer for the Carter administration and Whitehouse who also worked for the Treasury Department. Though Albarelli presents himself to the public as a MK-ULTRA ‘whistleblower’, he apparently attempted to derail Irvin’s investigation into Gordon Wasson. Over a 3-year period – which Irvin has carefully documented – Albarelli pretended to help Irvin file CIA FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. During this period Albarelli repeatedly claimed that the FOIA requests had come back empty, or that the Agency had not responded and had not yet filled the FOIA requests. Albarelli’s claims were untrue. The agency had filled separate FOIA that Irvin had filed on Wasson in just 90 days.

Though several pages on Wasson were released to FOIA requests by the CIA in 2003, eventually Albarelli sent a fake CIA response to Irvin, wherein Albarelli stated that the CIA’s response was: “0 on Wasson. “All pages most likely destroyed in 1973 MK/ULTRA destruction of documents.”” Then, after his many claims that the FOIA request hadn’t yet been filled by the CIA, Albarelli changed his story and claimed that the delay was due to the fact that he had never filed it, even though Irvin maintained numerous email records where Albarelli had claimed to have done so. Suspicious, Irvin filed his own FOIA request with the CIA, which was promptly filled by the Agency and exposed Albarelli’s cover story as, apparently, a fabrication intended to slow Irvin’s research. Here are just a few of the conversations regarding the matter that Irvin recorded:

On February 16, 2010, Irvin wrote:

Hi Hank,

Question, would you be willing to help me do a FOIA request on Wasson? I have no idea where to begin or who to send it to. I've looked a few times and it all was so intimidating for me - which is what they want I suppose. But that seems the best way to get to the core of this issue.

Best,
Jan

On February 16, 2010, Albarelli replied:

Sure. The first thing we need is an obit on Wasson from a major newspaper like the NYT's. After that, I can do the rest for you.

On May 04, 2010, Albarelli wrote:

0 on Wasson. All pages most likely "destroyed in 1973 MK/ULTRA destruction of documents."

On Oct 22, 2010, Irvin wrote:

I also asked if you would send me the CIA FOIA response so that I have it in my Wasson records?

On Oct 22, 2010, Albarelli replied:

[Y]ou can't without my revealing all those other files/documents/subjects I requested and I have no intention of doing that... that simply was not part of our arrangement which is a bit one-sided thus far...

On July 04, 2011, Albarelli, contradicting his email of May 04, 2010, claims:

[Y]ou need to read more carefully-- FOIAs have NOT been answered: these [are] the refiled FOIAs.

I will share nothing with you that does not involve your writings or work...

[…] Please do not keep bothering me with this stuff... I do not share your interest in Wasson: I don't care if he worked for the CIA; I am only interested in Pont St. Esprit and the French use of LSD, matters you know nothing about as far as I know.

On February 22, 2013, Albarelli wrote:

Huxley and MK/ULTRA: a pipe-dream on your part. Wasson was not CIA. I challenge you to document that.

[...] 90 days for a neophyte filing, but look at what you got in response; documents that were released 25 years ago. [...] I did NOT file a FOIA for you because I did NOT want to be associated with you in any way.

During the above conversation on February 22, 2013, Albarelli threw insult after insult at Irvin and refused to answer any direct questions. Though Albarelli claims that he did not want to be associated with Irvin in any way, after the above emails regarding the FOIAs and requesting his help, Albarelli did a full interview on Irvin’s podcast show to promote his book A Terrible Mistake, and he also agreed to publish this interview in print and did the editing of the interview himself. Albarelli accuses Irvin for being a neophyte for getting a response from the CIA in 90 days, but from the above February 16, and May 04, 2010 missives, it’s clear that Albarelli, too, received the response from the CIA within 90 days. Albarelli also claimed that the files had been released 25 years ago, when they had actually been released on 5/5/2003 – 6 years and 9 months before Irvin’s first request to Albarelli for help. When Albarelli claims: “you can't without my revealing all those other files/documents/subjects I requested,” in fact the CIA answers each FOIA request individually by postal mail.

Between the CIA FOIA request documents that Albarelli apparently attempted to withhold from Irvin, and also the CIA documents from MK-ULTRA subproject 58, it’s quite easy to document that Wasson was involved with the CIA and MK-ULTRA – as we’ve already revealed above.

In our opinion, in light of the above and the documents showing that MK-ULTRA funded Wasson, Albarelli’s description of Wasson’s relationship to the CIA below can be seen as clever disinformation intended to hide the truth from the public.

What is most disturbing, however, is how Albarelli, who claims to have read all of the available CIA MKULTRA files, repeats and embellishes the same mantra, discussed above, about Gordon Wasson being infiltrated by James Moore – the story created by John Marks’s team:

Especially significant in the history of LSD and psychotropic drugs is the work of Gordon Wasson and his wife Valentina Pavlovna. The couple traveled the globe in search of exotic and rare psychoactive mushrooms, and they were the first to use the term ‘ethnomycology’. Over a forty year period, the two collected and catalogued the “food of the Gods.” In 1977, Wasson commented that throughout his many excursions to Mexico from 1952 through 1962, “I didn’t send a single sample to an American mycologist. I didn’t get a penny, not a single grant from any government sources. I’m perfectly sure of that.”

There is no reason to doubt Wasson, but what he did not know at the time of his excursions was that the United States government was closely monitoring every one of his trips and that each and every one of his collected samples found their way back from Mexico to CIA-funded laboratories. Wasson also sent his samples to Albert Hofmann at Sandoz Labs in Switzerland. Hofmann, according to Wasson, “was doing the key work synthesizing the active ingredients” of the samples. What Wasson again did not realize was that the fruits of all of his and Hofmann’s labors were being plucked from the vine by the U.S. Army and CIA both of whom, since at least 1948, had covert operatives working in the Sandoz Laboratories.

Wasson also was unaware of CIA penetration into a number of his Mexico excursions. In 1956, Dr. James Moore of the University of Delaware, under secret contract with the CIA’s TSS, traveled to the Oaxaca section of Mexico to collect rivea corymbosa samples. Moore, according to Wasson, was collaborating with the Argentine-based mycologist, Dr. Rolf Singer, a Bavarian-born Jew who had fled Nazi Germany in 1933 for Czechoslovakia. […].

Wasson, in a 1977 interview, implied that Singer had some sort of ties to the CIA through Moore, but the specifics are unclear and it must be stated here that Wasson reportedly did not care much for Singer and considered his work “rushed” and often “borrowed” from others. Wasson only traveled once with Moore, in 1956, and the experience was horrible, he said. Said Wasson: “he was an awful ass… He expected to have a water closet in Mexico. It was laughable.”
~ Hank Albarelli

One of the CIA’s MKULTRA documents regarding MKULTRA subproject 58 that Albarelli should have read, which we saw in the section regarding John Marks, above, says:

February 8, 1956

Attention, Dr. [redacted – Sidney Gottlieb or Charles Geschickter?]

Dear Sirs,

Over recent months, as Dr. [redacted] will inform you, I have had conversations with him and Dr. [redacted – James Moore?] of the [redacted – Geschickter Fund?] concerning certain pioneering inquiries that we are [unintelligible] hallucinatory fungi used by some of the more remote [redacted – Mexican Indian cultures] in association with their indigenous religious practices.

I am planning a fourth expedition to the mountains in the [redacted – Oaxaca region of Mexico] for July. I should like to hope that the expenses involved with this expedition would be borne by a [redacted – fund?] in the medical aspects of the research. With this in mind, I take the liberty of applying to you by this letter for a grand-in-aid of $2000 for the purpose of gathering the specimens in the field, identification thereof, their conservation either in liquor or in the dry state, and their conveyance to [redacted – CIA or Albert Hofmann?].

For your further information, Professor [redacted – Roger Heim], leading [redacted – French] mycologist and Director of the [redacted – Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle] has committed himself to accompany us on this trip. His great experience in mycology generally and in tropical mycology in particular will be of very great value to us. In order that we may plan accordingly, I should hope that your decision on this matter could be communicated to me before too long. I am leaving for a trip to [redacted – Europe] at the end of March to be gone for two months, and before my departure for [redacted - Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca, Mexico] I should like to settle on all details concerning the equipment we shall take and the personnel of our expedition.

I remain Respectfully Yours

Gordon Wasson [name redacted in the original]

As the OED defines the word “personnel”:

1. a.1.a The body of persons engaged in any service or employment, esp. in a public institution, as an army, navy, hospital, etc.; the human as distinct from the matériel or material equipment (of an institution, undertaking, etc.).

“Engaged in any service or employment, esp. in a public institution, as an army, navy,..” – and I’ll add, the CIA.

For those familiar with the history, as we saw, above, it could not have been James Moore requesting the funds for the trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, because Moore hadn't been there on three prior trips:

I am planning a fourth expedition to the mountains in the [redacted – Oaxaca region of Mexico] for July

Furthermore, by cross referencing Wasson’s other letters I was able to fill in that he had a trip in March to Europe, and I found it in Wasson’s letters just before the above date – February 8, 1956. There can be no other conclusion but that it’s Wasson requesting to settle on all details “concerning the equipment” and “personnel of our expedition,” – identifying Roger Heim, Albert Hofmann, James Moore, Allan Richardson, Valentina Pavlovna Wasson, and Masha Wasson Britten, et al, as “personnel” – other agents and assets – for their expedition.

Regarding the James Moore myth, in my 2012 article “Gordon Wasson: The Man, The Legend, The Myth,” I wrote:

James Moore and the Red Herring

As I have considered all of these connections over the years, one question always comes up. What about James Moore? Moore was a CIA agent. He contributed $2000 to Wasson’s trip. Here’s how this myth begins:

“Nervous and paranoid” correctly describes a “short-order chemist” for the CIA, James Moore (Lee & Shlain, 1985; Marks, 1979; Stevens, 1987), who secretly infiltrated one of Wasson’s small expeditions into the Sierra Mazateca in 1956.

A scientist from the CIA’s “Project ARTICHOKE” had traveled to México in search of a so-called “stupid bush” and other plants which might derange the human mind, politically useful to control enemies’ minds in war time. Large quantities of morning glory seeds were sent to CIA laboratories for analysis by CIA scientists searching for compounds useful for extracting confessions, locating stolen or lost objects, perhaps even predicting the future. Visionary mushrooms were of special interest in these investigations. According to documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, James Moore was an expert in chemical synthesis who worked for the CIA. In 1956, Moore invited himself into one of Wasson’s expeditions to México. He offered Wasson a grant for $2,000 dollars from a CIA- front known as the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research, Inc. In 1955, Wasson had declined to collaborate openly with the CIA.” […] Moore collected specimens for his CIA-sponsored research and returned to Maryland, where he endeavored to isolate for the CIA the active principle of both the mushrooms and morning glory seeds. Unfortunately for Moore he was unable to find the active ingredients in the mushrooms and lucky for the world that he didn’t find them since they would of most likely been used as tools of mind war under the direction of the CIA.[57] [emphasis – mine] ~ John W. Allen

Notice that the above passage does not say that Wasson declined to collaborate with the CIA. It says that “In 1955, Wasson had declined to collaborate openly with the CIA.” In other words, if Allen’s statement is correct, while Wasson may have refused to collaborate “openly” with the CIA, this does not mean that he declined to collaborate with the CIA – two very different things. Then how would Wasson collaborate? He would need a cover story.
I further wrote (some of this was quoted, above):

There seems to be a repeated theme with Wasson disparaging people he actually knows are agents. I brought attention to this in my book The Holy Mushroom in regards to Wasson’s actions with Dr. Andrija Puharich,[59] and I think he’s doing the same here with Moore. Wasson wants to conceal his own identity as a CIA agent or asset, and to make himself look more innocent in the entire affair.

The above accounts seem absurdly impossible in light of all of the information regarding Wasson’s own participation in the CFR and CIA and with all of his own connections to all of these people in the CIA and intelligence. I consider the entire James Moore story to be a red herring. A red herring is a fallacy that leads someone from one topic to another. In other words, he’s a decoy or a scapegoat. When we consider Moore as a decoy, the contradictions in the storyline disappear. Wasson and Allen Dulles were friends; the CIA had known all along about Wasson’s work; Dulles worked with the German conglomerate IG Farben, which was related with Sandoz AG.[60] It’s hard to believe that the CIA needed a field agent when they had Wasson himself. Rather than admitting that the entire project was an elite/CIA/intelligence operation, it was best to slip an agent into the story line who would serve to lead researchers astray for decades. That way Wasson didn’t have to work for the CIA openly, and he could still publish his books, which he just published in elite publishing houses – too expensive for anyone to acquire – and delivered many of them to the CIA and CFR himself. It was a slick move, and fooled many hundreds of researchers – but like all lies it was bound to get figured out. If anything, Wasson could likely have been Moore’s superior at the CIA, and Dulles himself would have likely approved the $2000. Surely Dulles and Wasson had already discussed it over dinner at the Century Club. Wasson possibly needed a chemist along for the trip who could also aid in collecting mushroom samples – and would act as a possible future scapegoat should someone uncover their plot.

And although the photocopy of Wasson’s Geschickter Fund letter is partially redacted, one can tell it’s on Wasson’s JP Morgan letterhead by holding it up and matching it to his many hundreds of other available JP Morgan letterheads. Therefore, it is impossible for James Moore, who had never been to Oaxaca except on the one trip, to have written the letter. Furthermore, we see Allan Richardson, Wasson’s photographer for the trips, showing up at the Century Club:

Sometime just before or soon after our return from the '56 expedition, Gordon and I were dining at the Century Club in New York. He noticed Ed Thompson, the managing editor of Life magazine, alone at a table nearby, and asked him to join us. We talked about the article Gordon was working on to publicize what he'd discovered in Mexico. Thompson said Life might be interested in publishing it, and invited us to make a presentation at his offices.[177]
~ Allan Richardson

As I have exposed in several previous articles, the Century Club was a front for the CIA. Here’s a letter from DCI Allen Dulles to Wasson providing a letter of recommendation to allow Ellsworth Bunker, the ambassador to India and Vietnam, into the club:

3 April 1957

Dear Gordon:

It was a great pleasure to write a letter of recommendation on behalf of my good friend, Ellsworth Bunker, to the Century Association. I enclose a copy. It was good to hear from you. Let me know if you are in Washington.[178]
~ Allen Dulles

So therefore, it appears that Richardson was also working with the CIA and helping in the cover-up. We saw, above, that Richardson was propagating the official myth, and then he refers to John Marks as the originator:

Apparently, one of the “various foundations” from which Gordon was hoping to obtain a grant was the Geschickter Fund in Washington, D.C. It had been mentioned to him as a possible source of funding by James Moore, the CIA operative, when he initially contacted Gordon in August 1955. Unknown to Gordon, the Fund was a front for the CIA to channel money secretly. According to John Marks’ book The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate” (New York: Dell, 1979), it anted up $2,000 to help finance Gordon’s expedition in the spring of 1956.[179] [Emphasis added] ~ Allan Richardson

Another major problem with James Moore being the only agent to “infiltrate” the Mexico team is this quote by Gordon Wasson, found in Albarelli’s book:

In the same interview, Wasson said that Albert Hofmann "worked in some way with the CIA" and that Hofmann's "discoveries were impaired in whole by Sandoz to the US government. Sandoz wanted to be on the right side of things." Hofmann's connections to the CIA has never been officially confirmed by the CIA, which maintains a policy of not commenting on or revealing information on foreign citizens who find their way into its employment. Former agency officials have commented anonymously that several Sandoz scientists and officials, including Hofmann, maintain a close relationship with the CIA, but the "agency never fully trusted the Swiss" and "always held a dual insurance policy with Sandoz" by vetting and placing covert employees within the firm's laboratories and administration.[180]
~ Hank Albarelli

And so it’s ridiculous that James Moore was the only agent, as Wasson admits, and Albarelli quotes, that Albert Hofmann, too, was likely agent or asset. I should also point out that Albarelli fails to provide a citation for Wasson’s above interview, and so it’s impossible to fact check it. In a February 12, 2010 email, Albarelli wrote:

I looked long and hard at Wasson and enjoyed all that I discovered and read.
He's mentioned, I think, several times in my book. Indeed, he was my source for Albert Hofmann's CIA's connections; I had been given a past, never before published interview with Wasson in which he was questioned about his thoughts and experience with Hofmann, and on various other subjects.
~ Hank Albarelli

However, in an email from July 4, 2011, Albarelli admits (I’ve preserved his spelling and grammar – in all its glory):

[…]yOU NEEDTO UNDERSTAND THAT

wASSOM IS FAIR GAME FOR ANYONE; i'VE ALSO USED THE CIA INTERVIEW WITH HIM EXTENSIVELY

AGAIN, NONE OF YOUR MATERIAL WHICH i HAVE NOT READ AND THE LITTLE I KNOW OF

RE WASSON IS NOT BACKED UP WELL WITH SOURCES...
~ Hank Albarelli

So therefore we know that the interview used by Albarelli, above, was a CIA interview. Also, regarding his statement of being only interested in Pont St. Esprit, at one point after beginning communication with him I had heard that he was working on a book on Wasson, and so I asked him about it and for full disclosure of the documents I had requested for my inquiry, which explains his statement: “wASSOM IS FAIR GAME FOR ANYONE,” even though he had previously stated: “I do not share your interest in Wasson: I don't care if he worked for the CIA; I am only interested in Pont St. Esprit and the French use of LSD, matters you know nothing about as far as I know.”

And regarding Albarelli’s claim that my Wasson work is not backed up with sources, and that he’d not read it: “not read and the little I know of,” on February 17, 2010, regarding my book on John Allegro and Gordon Wasson, The Holy Mushroom, 2008, Albarelli stated:

I bought it last Sat. from Amazon and it came in 2 days Fed. Ex. Yes, I'm about half way through it. I think it's great.

Really enjoy your style and the way facts are laid out. Damn good book.
~ Hank Albarelli

Further contradicting himself regarding Wasson, on May 16, 2011, Albarelli wrote:

yes, means he was either OSS or CIA or both...

But we saw Albarelli declare, above, regarding Wasson from February 22, 2013:

Wasson was not CIA. I challenge you to document that.

Anyway, it’s now clear that everyone on the trip to Oaxaca with Wasson were the CIA’s “personnel,” – including Wasson.

As I wrote in Manufacturing the Deadhead, 2013:

Albarelli’s “research” seems to only expose insignificant aspects of the overarching MK-ULTRA programs, sacrificing older operations to keep the more important and more current ones separate and hidden.

Also of note is that the CIA FOIA request that Irvin filed behind Albarelli’s was on Gordon Wasson, and several of the files received from the CIA are personal letters between Wasson and Allen Dulles (one is quoted above) – from just 5 weeks before Wasson’s Life magazine article was published.

Conclusion:

In the process of studying “counterintelligence” and how it works, we’ve explored two primary myths: One concerns the true origins of the psychedelic movement and counterculture. The other concerns the veracity of each of the main books on MKULTRA and the origins of the counterculture, and the false history that’s been perpetuated by them.

We’ve also seen how counterintelligence and disinformation works against the general population – right here at home in the USA – and anyplace else for that matter. And we’ve exposed at least a dozen primary methods of sophism and spin used, which reveal how the intelligence community (mis)leads the discussion and muddies the waters on important topics, thereby misinforming and controlling the 99%.

The unanimity among the various branches was believed by the outside world to be the result of the influence of a single Truth, while really it was the result of the existence of a single group.[181]
~ Carroll Quigley

And Carroll Quigley’s quote brings us full circle, providing us an understanding of how intelligence cells and “groups” work. We may now understand how books and publications are cross-cited and published with such frauds, and then later perpetuated by those, willful dupes, who’ve bought into their lies – with MKULTRA, and just about any other topic.

And everyone has, at one time or another, been a willful dupe. I know I have. And I’m doubtful that anyone, an agent or not, could possibly know all of the different ways that the people are fooled simultaneously – and by all of the various intelligence agencies and groups – whether it’s the CIA, NSA, MI6, Mossad, the Masons, or the OTO, et al. This fact should give pause to those who knowingly participate in such behavior, because they, too, may be being duped – and are unaware of it. No one likes being fooled by this psychopathic insanity and self-appealing ad vericundiam (authority) fallacy. But if you catch it, laugh it off. Don’t fight it. Sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

If you deny that you were duped, you’re far more likely to be duped again. You can hate on me for exposing this, or you can take the honest, mature approach, and verify my citations and know the truth for yourself.

And contrary to places like China where people often know they’re censored and told they have to edit a book or publication before they can publish it, here in the United States (the “Land of the Free!”), and in the West in general, government utilizes the “free market of ideas” system to flood the market with so much confusion that, without the proper tools for critical thinking, such as the trivium method, it can be nearly impossible to wade through.

We’ve seen how public and social relations are used to misguide the public’s perception on just about everything they think they know. As Edward Bernays famously wrote in the introductory paragraph to his book Propaganda:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.[182]
~ Edward Bernays

And of course Bernays is using propaganda in the above paragraph to justify this assault on humanity. And, aside from Gordon Wasson and Bernays, we should also consider the likes of Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Bowart, Peggy Hitchcock, Gregory Bateson, John D. Marks, and the many others whom we’ve discussed here and in prior articles. We also shouldn’t forget those yet-to-be revealed. And, unfortunately, in all too many cases, we’ve woken up long after these destroyers of humankind have passed.

In this exposé we’ve seen a glimpse of how intelligence cells work with David Black; and how a “pyramid-of-pyramids” set-up works from Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress –an important concept and can likely be further understood with a study of Buckminster Fuller’s work.
Some of the cells we’ve exposed in this, and in prior articles, include: Prof. Carl A.P. Ruck, R. Gordon Wasson, et al; and Wasson with Charles McLain Andrews and Allan Nevins, et al. We’ve also seen Peter T. Furst, Barbara Myerhoff and Carlos Castaneda – exposed by Prof. Jay Fikes. We saw that it appears that John Marks created his own cell: again with Wasson, Sydney Cohen, Albert Hofmann, James Moore, and Martin Lee, et al. And from there it appears that Marks, Bowart, Lee and Jay Stevens may form yet another cell – each cross-citing and perpetuating the official myths, knowingly or not. And it’s clear that most of them had to be willful participants. I’ll let you decide which ones.

We also saw what appears to be a general rule of about 70% facts and 30% deception, though it’s also clear that some of the authors push their tests of our credulity to the limits, always pushing for a new low.

With John G. Fuller and Andrija Puharich, and again with Walter Bowart, we saw the constant use of media stunts:

After the newspaper and television publicity, I became somewhat of a pseudocelebrity in the town, which was helpful in getting to know the tradesmen, the bartenders, the villagers more quickly.[183]
~ John G. Fuller

We also saw Fuller utilizing UFOs to create media spectacles, and UFOs as a method of creating mass hysteria to control the population:

The Orson Wells “invasion” in the late thirties, a single dramatized radio program resulted in mass hysteria. Would the same thing—or worse—happen if official government sources announced blandly that we definitely had visitors from another planet?[184]
~ John G. Fuller

It is also highly likely that the military has regularly used tactics such as UFOs as a cover for new developments and technology. If you double wrap the lie, it’s even harder to figure out. And no doubt this statement will send the “true believers” in UFOs up in arms. But it’s not a religion (or is it?), so I hope that they at least consider this evidence deeply, along with Fuller’s association to MKULTRA.

Recent history documents the fact that the CIA, as the whipping boy of the cryptocracy, covers up and routinely lies about its activities, heaping one lie on another, in a labyrinth network of falsehood. It stretches credibility to believe, therefore, that the CIA and especially lower-profile members of the cryptocracy have terminated the mind-control research and development that has been going on for thirty years.[185]
~ Walter Bowart

And although Bowart’s above statement is correct, with him, and John Marks, we saw blatant conflicts of interest and a failure to disclose information regarding their backgrounds: Bowart’s marriage to Peggy Hitchcock, and her and Billy Hitchcock’s funding much of the movement and supplying the LSD. And Marks failed to mention that he was the assistant to a director of an intelligence agency.

All they wanted was a hole they could crawl down and sleep for a few weeks. And it was then that Peggy Hitchcock mentioned an estate her twin brothers, Tommy and Billy, owned in Millbrook, New York, a village ninety miles north of New York City.[186]
~ Jay Stevens

However, by cross-citing each of these books, as well as pulling material from outside, including primary sources, we’ve been able to stitch together a far more accurate understanding of MKULTRA and the psychedelic revolution, and, subsequently, how disinformation works in all areas of our lives.

In the work of Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain, and again with Jay Stevens, and David Black, we found what, in my opinion, appear to be intentional omissions, obfuscations and misrepresentations, and even the inclusion and ridicule of important citations.

Furthermore, with Marks we saw the creation of fables and myth making by “the group,” creating numerous myths that have been accepted as fact and repeated for decades, as a blueprint, though hold no bearing in truth whatsoever. These myths include:

1) MKULTRA being mainly about a Manchurian candidate.
2) The origins of the psychedelic revolution being “blow back”.
3) Frank Olson’s murder as suicide.
4) James Moore’s infiltration of Wasson’s group when all were agents.
5) Albert Hofmann’s “discovery” of LSD and the origins of “bicycle day”.
6) Hofmann’s isolation of psilocybin.
7) Tim Leary’s learning of mushrooms from Wasson’s Life article.
8) That Leary went rogue.

Throughout this essay we’ve covered, repeatedly, the evidence which overturns the official claims. And hopefully, if you’ve made it this far, it was worth your while and has greatly expanded your awareness of how the world is really run.

In nearly all of the books we’ve found loaded and misleading language.

In private, though, Tim admitted that his chances of forestalling prohibition were slim.[187]
~ Jay Stevens

We’ve seen the use of Hegelian dialectics and creating media spectacles to achieve the opposite of what the public was told. As I wrote:

It appears from the evidence that Weil’s “exposure” was just an old trick using the Hegelian dialectic: problem, reaction, solution; – or thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis. Without Leary having been fired from Harvard he’d never have been able to create the appearance of the hippie guru he’d later use to promote the psychedelics to the youth for the CIA and Huxley and Osmond. Weil’s so-called “exposure,” and Leary’s subsequent “firing” (along with Dr. Richard Alpert), created the illusion, in my opinion, that Harvard, et al, were trying to suppress Leary’s “spiritual message”. This gave Leary and the CIA the psychological advantage they’d need to use against the public.

We’ve seen the use of ridicule:

[T]hey even claimed that Timothy Leary was a CIA agent who pushed acid on the Movement as part of an imperialist plot.[188]
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

And hypnosis:

The aim is to get at the words and phrases, heard by the patient at moments of lowered consciousness, and accepted by him as obsessive commands, like post-hypnotic suggestions. The sub-conscious seems to take these verbal commands literally and unreasoningly, without regard to their context. The result can be disastrous, both mentally and physically.
~ Aldous Huxley - 10 December, 1950:

And the employment of misleading questions:

“But in what way could LSD be utilized to manipulate an individual, let alone a subculture or a social movement?”
~ Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain

If they get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.[189]
~ Thomas Pynchon

Not to mention scapegoating, better known as “throwing under the bus,” to cover a larger operation:

A better question, for the present, might be: Who was James Moore, and why had he been so eager to accompany Gordon Wasson into the Mexican outback in the summer of 1956?[190]
~ Jay Stevens

Carlos Castaneda, James Moore, Tim Leary, and Andrija Puharich, were all “thrown under the bus” to mislead researchers and to cover the larger operation – and to help perpetuate the official storyline.

And we’ve also seen the radicalization of the other’s position:

In a sense, Kesey stood in relation to Leary as Leary did to Huxley: each represented a radicalization of the other’s position.[191]
~ Jay Stevens

We’ve seen stalling and personal attacks:

Huxley and MK/ULTRA: a pipe-dream on your part. Wasson was not CIA. I challenge you to document that.[192]
~ Hank Albarelli

And of course we’ve seen intentionally avoiding and ignoring primary citations – throughout.

And so the intelligence community’s mantra is repeated:

The CIA is not an omniscient, monolithic organization, and there's no hard evidence that it engineered a great LSD conspiracy. (As in most conspiracy theories, such a scenario vastly overestimates the sophistication of the alleged perpetrator.)[193]
~ Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain

Clearly the Agency has violated its charter each and every day since its inception. And as they operate under a cloak of secrecy, they’re not an organization that the public can ever trust. And now it’s clear that the CIA and intelligence community has not only performed this deceptive operation overseas, but right here at home.

The Agency has covered up, for more than four decades now, the true ramifications of Project MKULTRA and the psychedelic revolution and counterculture movements. With this information we can learn to identify cells and counterintelligence disinformation operations and, not only protect ourselves from them, but expose them.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned through all of this research, it’s that the intelligence community hates primary citations. Always check them if you want to know the truth. Trust your five senses. Learn to look things up and go all the way down to the primary citations – and know exactly what someone or something says and in what context. These counterintelligence folks like to avoid primary citations at all costs, preferring to cite only themselves, or to name call. Once you get the ball rolling it becomes easy to spot them, and to find the truth.

Read all of the books, and study them for yourself. Learn to check the citations and fact check what they claim – on any topic. Remove the fallacies and contradictions, not only in the information, but within your own mind, and come to the truth. Truth does exist – and that understanding is what the social relations experts fear most. Otherwise they wouldn’t use so many lies to obfuscate the truth. They work by using fallacies against you, so study logic and memorize the fallacies to protect you and yours.

Once you realize that a contradiction is an error or a lie, your pace will quicken. Furthermore, grasp the concept of “the onus of proof,” and that when someone fails to present evidence of their own claims it’s known as “arguing the arbitrary” –and is dismissed automatically.

One of the most important ways that the intelligence community operates is via occultation and mysticism. And though this idea may upset many, learn that “mysticism is the tool of tyrants”. Nearly all of this MKULTRA business was sold to the public as magic, religion, and spirituality – tools that have been used for social control since, at least, the time of the Mahabharata.

We must stop staring at the shadows on the cave wall, pretending that they’re reality.

And no doubt the cyber terrorism will be ramped up in retribution for publishing this exposé. But without their attacks, we wouldn’t have been able to come this far. So for that, at minimum, I must thank the intelligence community. What will their attacks and spin reveal next? No doubt it will be exciting to find out. But such tactics are just about all they have.

So let them bring on the slander and ad hominem attacks, the straw man arguments and red herrings, and the appeals to ridicule, because that’s how they identify themselves – and it’s a great way to know where to look.

Steven Hager, the former Chief Editor of HighTimes magazine, who launched attacks on me soon after my 2012 article on Gordon Wasson was published, admits:

But that’s the way spooks play their games. If there’s going to be a social movement against whatever you’re doing, it’s best if you secretly create and orchestrate that movement against yourself right away so that it never does any unintended damage to your personal fortunes.[194]
~ Steven Hager

They're mocking you, and laughing like school girls at your credulity. So let’s strip their academic clothing off, and expose them for what they are. – Now’s the time to mock them.

Somewhere within the United States the technology for the creation of the perfect slave state is being perfected. Whether or not the mind-controlled state becomes a reality depends not so much upon the efforts of the cryptocrats, but upon the free will, determination, and strength of character of the American people. [195]
~ Walter Bowart

It’s ok to get angry. But more importantly, use that anger to act – now. Your freedom is at stake. And your free will, determination, and strength of character, will determine how this battle ends. Do you want to be free, or a slave? Choose.

Endnotes:

[1] Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War, The New Press, 1999, P. 245, citing the Final Report of the Church Committee, 1976
[2] Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005, pp. 555ff
[3] Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War, The New Press, 1999, P. 105-106, citing the Final Report of the Church Committee, 1976
[4] Ibid, pp. 105
[5] Jay Courtney Fikes, Carlos Castaneda, Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties, Millenia Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-0696960-0
[6] http://www.jayfikes.com/Home_Page.html
[7] Jan Irvin, “Entheogens: What’s In a Name? The Untold History of Psychedelics, Social Control, and the CIA,” Gnostic Media, November 11, 2014.
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/Entheogens_WhatsinaName_PsychedelicSpirituality_SocialControl_CIA
[8] Carol Quigley, The Anglo American Establishment, New York: Books in Focus, 1981, pp. 114 (or 96-pdf)
[9] Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow, pp. 255
[10] This quote is apparently falsely attributed to George Orwell/Erik Blaire, but in original form it appears to be from William Randolph Heart, Lord Northcliffe, or Alfred Harmsworth. The original states: “News is something somebody doesn't want printed; all else is advertising.” - William Randolph Hearst
[11] John G. Fuller, The Day of St. Anthony’s Fire, Macmillan Co, 1968, pp. 289
[12] Albert Hofmann, LSD My Problem Child, J. P. Tarcher, Inc., see footnote on pp. 6. ISBN: 0-87477-256-7
[13] Regarding Ergometrine, Wikipedia, notes: “Possible side effects include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, tinnitus, chest pain, palpitation, bradycardia, transient hypertension and other cardiac arrhythmias, dyspnea, rashes, and shock. An overdose produces a characteristic poisoning, ergotism or "St. Anthony's fire": prolonged vasospasm resulting in gangrene and amputations; hallucinations and dementia; and abortions. Gastrointestinal disturbances such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, are common.”
[14] Ibid, pp. 290
[15] Ibid, pp. 294ff
[16] Ibid, pp. 295
[17] Ibid, pp. 294
[18] Ibid, pp. 295
[19] Ibid, pp. 296
[20] Ibid, pp. 296
[21] Hank Albarelli, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments, Trine Day, 2009. pp. 53ff
[22] Ibid, pp. 352
[23] Uri Geller interview, The Secret Life of Uri Geller, Red Ice Creations, March 10, 2014. http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2014/03/RIR-140310.php
[24] John G. Fuller, Arigo: Surgeon of the Rusty Knife, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1974. pp. 11ff
[25] Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus, London, 1966, pp. 634
[26] Ibid. pp. 738
[27] Ibid. pp. 757ff
[28] Andrija Puharich, The Sacred Mushroom, Doubleday & Co., 1959, pp. 118
[29] Ibid. pp. 25
[30] Ibid. pp. 45
[31] Ibid. See photos section – film strips.
[32] Ibid. pp. 120ff.
[33] Ibid. pp. 206
[34] John G. Fuller, The Interrupted Journey, The Dial Press, New York, 1966, pp, xii
[35] John G. Fuller, Incident at Exeter, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1966. pp. 7
[36] Ibid, pp. 110
[37] Ibid, pp. 18
[38] Ibid, pp. 21
[39] Ibid, pp. 85
[40] Ibid, pp. 86
[41] Ibid.
[42] Ibid, pp. 87
[43] Ibid, pp. 57
[44] Ibid, pp. 34
[45] Ibid.
[46] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 80.
[47] Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 160. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[48] In 1965, Bowart, along with Ishmael Reed( who named the paper, Sherry Needham, Allen Katzman, and Dan Rattiner founded the East Village Other (EVO). EVO offered a newsprint medium for the rants, artwork, poetry and comics of such 1960s icons as Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, Robert Crumb, Marshall McLuhan, Spain Rodriguez, and The Fugs. In 1966, Bowart testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency about banning LSD. He drew national attention with his recommendations.
[49] Bob Dean/Neveritt, aka Bob Dobbs interview from 2 May, 2010. From 13:00ff, http://halkinnaman.com/ed/audio_rr/bob_dobbs_2_may_2010_walter_bowart.mp3
[50] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 9ff
[51] Ibid. pp. 10
[52] Ibid., pp. 79ff
[53] Aldous Huxley, Moksha, ed. by Michael Horowitz, Inner Traditions, 1977/1999, pp. 181. ISBN: 978-089281758-0
[54] Jan Irvin, “Entheogens: What’s In a Name? The Untold History of Psychedelics, Social Control, and the CIA,” Gnostic Media, November 11, 2014, citing CIA MKULTRA Subproject 47 letter of March 25, 1964 on Humphry Osmond letterhead. Declassified June 1977.
[55] Walter Bowart, “Lords of the Revolution: Timothy Leary and the CIA. . .The Spy Who Came In From the (Ergot) Mold” http://www.whale.to/b/bowart8.html
[56] David Black, Acid, Vision Paperbacks, 1998/2001, pp. 150. ISBN: 1-901250-30-x
[57] Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Orb Books (June 15, 1997), pp. 78-79 : ISBN-10: 0312863551
[58] Jan Irvin, “Entheogens: What’s In a Name? The Untold History of Psychedelics, Social Control, and the CIA,” Gnostic Media, November 11, 2014
[59] David Black, Acid, Vision Paperbacks, 1998/2001, pp. 10. ISBN: 1-901250-30-x
[60] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 10.
[61] Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 97. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[62] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 156. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[63] Ibid. pp. 201.
[64] Ibid. pp. 191.
[65] B.H. Friedman, Tripping: A Memoir, Provincetown Arts Press, 2006, pp. 48ff. ISBN: 0-944854-48-6
[66] David Black, Acid, Vision Paperbacks, 1998/2001, pp. 21. ISBN: 1-901250-30-x
[67] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 79ff
[68] In the reunion video “A Conversation on LSD, 1979, around 34 minutes Timothy Leary states of Ginsberg: “Well, Of course we have to mention Ken Kesey. and of course Allen Ginsberg was a, Allen Ginsberg was an indefatigable Zionist politician for drugs, and the, uh, uh, so they…”
[69] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 341. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[70] Bob Dean/Neveritt, aka Bob Dobbs interview from 2 May, 2010. From 21:30ff, http://halkinnaman.com/ed/audio_rr/bob_dobbs_2_may_2010_walter_bowart.mp3
[71] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 80.
[72] Leary in The Narcotic Rehabilitation Act of 1966. Hearings before a special subcommittee, Eighty-ninth Congress, second session. [89] Y 4.J 89/2:N 16/3. pp. 246, 250
[73] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 80.
[74] Louis Jolyon West (Louis Jolyon West (1975) in Hallucinations: Behaviour, Experience, and Theory by Ronald K. Siegel and Louis Jolyon West, 1975. ISBN 978-1-135-16726-4. P. 298 ff.)
[75] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 80.
[76] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 320. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[77] University of Richmond Virginia website: “Dr. Timothy Leary Defends Responsible Use of LSD, May, 1966”
https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/5257
[78] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 80.
[79] John Cloud, When the Elites Loved LSD – Time Magazine, April 23, 2007
[80] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 99.
[81] John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, Times Books, 1979, pp. 121. ISBN: 0-8129-0773-6
[82] Ibid.
[83] Jan Irvin, The Holy Mushroom: Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Christianity, Gnostic Media, 2008.
[84] CIA MKULTRA document titled Institutional Notifications
[85] In “Manufacturing the Deadhead,” 2013, with Joe Atwill, I wrote: “Wasson goes on to discuss a paper he read on 15 November 1956 to the American Philosophical Society. CIA MK-ULTRA documents reveal that “10. National Philosophical Society” was a “Subproject 58 – Cosponsor,” but then go on to say “Unable to locate – not sent.” Why would the CIA be unable to locate the National Philosophical Society, unless the name is wrong? I think it’s highly likely that this reference to the National Philosophical Society is actually referring to the American Philosophical Society. There doesn’t appear evidence of a National Philosophical Society ever existing, and there is much for an “American Philosophical Society” – which was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743. So was the American Philosophical Society also behind MK-ULTRA Subproject 58? Online searches for a “National Philosophical Society” automatically pull up the “American Philosophical Society” – where Wasson gave his lecture on this very topic in 1956 – during the height of his MK-ULTRA activities.” See also Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, Carl Ruck, The Road to Eleusis, North Atlantic Books, 2008. pp. 22
[86] John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, Times Books, 1979, pp. 111. ISBN: 0-8129-0773-6
[87] Ibid. pp. 114
[88] Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus, London, 1966, pp. 678ff
[89] Jan Irvin, "R. Gordon Wasson: The Man, the Legend, the Myth. Beginning a New History of Magic Mushrooms, Ethnomycology,and the Psychedelic Revolutio," Gnostic Media, May 13, 2012 at http://www.gnosticmedia.com/SecretHistoryMagicMushroomsProject#R.%20Gordon%20Wasson
[90] Mind Control, ABC News Closeup, ABC Television, 1979
[91] John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, Times Books, 1979, pp. ix. ISBN: 0-8129-0773-6
[92] Jan Irvin, R. “Gordon Wasson: The Man, the Legend, the Myth. Beginning a New History of Magic Mushrooms, Ethnomycology, and the Psychedelic Revolution.” May 13, 2012
[93] Andrews archive, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, Box 37: folder 419.
[94] Ibid., Box 40: folder 441.
[95] Ibid., Box 42: folder 460.
[96] John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, Times Books, 1979, (see ch. 5) pp. 73ff. ISBN: 0-8129-0773-6
[97] Ibid. pp. 3 – Marks’s book was published on 2/1/1979, before Albert Hofmann’s book. Hofmann assisted Marks with the writing of his book.
[98] Ibid. pp. ix
[99] Ibid. pp. 115
[100] Ibid. pp. 117
[101] Ibid. pp. 121 – “CIA officials never meant that the likes of Leary, Kesey, and Ginsberg should be turned on. Yet these men were, and they, along with many of the lesser-known experimental subjects, like Harvard's Ralph Blum, created the climate whereby LSD escaped the government's control and became available by the early sixties on
the black market.”
[102] Ibid. pp. 115-116
[103] Ibid. pp. 117
[104] Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 73. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[105] Allan Richardson in The Sacred Mushroom Seeker, ed. by Thomas Riedlinger, 1990, p. 203.
[106] Hank Albarelli, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments, Trine Day, 2009. pp. 359 ISBN: 978-0-9777953-7-6
[107] Ibid. pp. 355
[108] Joe Atwill and Jan Irvin, Manufacturing the Deadhead, Gnostic Media, May 13, 2013. At: http://www.gnosticmedia.com/manufacturing-the-deadhead-a-product-of-social-engineering-by-joe-atwill-and-jan-irvin/. See also St. Peter’s Snow by Leo Perutz, 1933.
[109] Willis Harmon in Beyond the Mechanical Mind, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Sydney, 1977, pp. 101
[110] Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 286. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[111] Ibid. See References section: Ch. 1 "Don't worry … won't work" O Nick Bercel, comments at LSD Reunion in Los Angeles, February 16, 1979. Ch. 2 "Cost me a couple of thousand dollars" O Hubbard, remarks at LSD Reunion in Los Angeles, February 16, 1979. And also: "We waited for him like the little old lady" O Dr. Oscar Janiger, remarks at LSD Reunion in Los Angeles, February 16, 1979. Ch. 3. "We rode out to his place" O Humphry Osmond, remarks at the LSD Reunion in Los Angeles, February 16, 1979. "The whole thing was just moving geometrically" O Oscar Janiger, remarks at the LSD Reunion in Los Angeles, February 16, 1979. Postscript: Acid And After "The American people today are quantum jumps more" O Timothy Leary, remarks at the LSD Reunion in Los Angeles, February 16, 1979.
[112] Ibid. pp. 293.
[113] Ibid. pp. 286.
[114] John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, Times Books, 1979, pp. ix. ISBN: 0-8129-0773-6
[115] Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 44. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[116] Ibid. pp. 199.
[117] Ibid. pp. 198.
[118] Ibid.
[119] Ibid. pp. 229.
[120] Walter Bowart, “Lords of the Revolution: Timothy Leary and the CIA. . .The Spy Who Came In From the (Ergot) Mold” http://www.whale.to/b/bowart8.html
[121] Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 73. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[122] Ibid. pp. 160.
[123] Ibid. pp. 216.
[124] Sydney Cohen in Organization and Coordination of Federal Drug Research and Regulatory Programs: LSD. Hearings, Eighty-ninth Congress, second session. May 24, 25, and 26, 1966. [89] Y 4.G 74/6:L 99. pp. 157
[125] Marlene Dobkin de Rios, A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy, Preager, 2008, pp. 16. ISBN: 978-0-313-34542-5
[126] David McClelland in Michael Hollingshead, The Man Who Turned on the World, Abelard-Schuman, pp. 34. ISBN: 0-200-04018-9
[127] Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 48. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[128] Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus, London, 1966, pp. 824
[129] Louis Jolyon West (Louis Jolyon West (1975) in Hallucinations: Behaviour, Experience, and Theory by Ronald K. Siegel and Louis Jolyon West, 1975. ISBN 978-1-135-16726-4. P. 298 ff.)
[130] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. xvi. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[131] Ibid. pp. 80-81
[132] Ibid. pp. 41
[133] Ibid. pp. 18
[134] Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus, London, 1966, pp. 807 – Letter 756 to Humphry Osmond, 23 September, 1956.
[135] Ibid. pp. 604ff – Letter 572 to George Orwell, 21 October, 1949.
[136] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 51ff. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[137] Ibid. pp. 52
[138] Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. by Grover Smith, Chatto & Windus, London, 1966, pp. 798ff – Letter 747 to Humphry Osmond, 29 June, 1956.
[139] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 57. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[140] Ibid. pp. 58
[141] Ibid. pp. 81
[142] Ibid. pp. 62
[143] Ibid.
[144] David Black, Acid, Vision Paperbacks, 1998/2001, pp. 43. ISBN: 1-901250-30-x
[145] Laura Huxley, letter of December 8, 1963, to Julian and Juliette Huxley, available from: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/03/most-beautiful-death.html
[146] Ibid. pp. 7-8
[147] "CIA: Maker of Policy, or Tool?". The New York Times. April 25, 1966. p. 20, column 3. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
[148] Jay Stevens, introduction to The Invisible Landscape, 1993 edition, by brothers McKenna, p. XII.
[149] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 85. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[150] Ibid. pp. 132
[151] Ibid. pp. 142
[152] Ibid. pp. 127
[153] Ibid. pp. 78ff
[154] Ibid. pp. 79
[155] Ibid.
[156] Ibid. pp. 236
[157] Ibid. pp. 246
[158] Ibid. pp. 249
[159] Ibid. pp. 265
[160] Ibid. pp. 284
[161] Ibid.
[162] Ibid.
[163] Ibid. pp. 311
[164] Ibid. pp. 369
[165] David Black, Acid, Vision Paperbacks, 1998/2001, pp. 205. ISBN: 1-901250-30-x
[166] Ibid. pp. 59
[167] Council on Foreign Relations archives, Princeton, Mudd Library: “To meet His Excellency Marshal Josip Broz Tito, President of the Republic of Yugoslavia, Friday, September 30, 1960”. MC 104, Box 455, Folder 1. –Henry Luce and R. Gordon Wasson were in attendance. See also “Round Table Meeting and Dinner for Hon. W. Averell Harriman, Monday, September 14^th, 1959,” with Allen Dulles and R. Gordon Wasson in attendance. MC 104, box 443.
[168] Jan Irvin, "R. Gordon Wasson: The Man, the Legend, the Myth. Beginning a New History of Magic Mushrooms, Ethnomycology,and the Psychedelic Revolutio," Gnostic Media, May 13, 2012 at http://www.gnosticmedia.com/SecretHistoryMagicMushroomsProject#R.%20Gordon%20Wasson
[169] David Black, Acid, Vision Paperbacks, 1998/2001, pp. 189. ISBN: 1-901250-30-x
[170] Ibid. pp. 132.
[171] Ibid. pp. 152.
[172] Ibid. pp. 153
[173] Colin Ross, The C.I.A. Doctors, Manitou Communications, Inc., 2006, pp. 132ff. ISBN: 0-9765508-0-6
[174] Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War, The New Press, 1999, p. 105.
[175] David Black, Acid, Vision Paperbacks, 1998/2001, pp. 61. ISBN: 1-901250-30-x
[176] In a conversation with Jan Irvin on February 22, 2013.
[177] Allan Richardson in The Sacred Mushroom Seeker, ed. by Thomas Riedlinger, 1990, p. 203
[178] Documents and letters from the CIA archives on R. Gordon Wasson – FOIA request, February 2012. Approved for release 2003/05/05 : CIA-RDP80R01731R000700100003-5
[179] Allan Richardson in The Sacred Mushroom Seeker, ed. by Thomas Riedlinger, 1990, p. 203
[180] Hank Albarelli, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments, Trine Day, 2009. pp. 359ff ISBN: 978-0-9777953-7-6
[181] Carol Quigley, The Anglo American Establishment, New York: Books in Focus, 1981, pp. 114 (or 96-pdf)
[182] Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 1928, Ch. 1, P. 1.
[183] Ibid, pp. 295
[184] Ibid, pp. 87
[185] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 276.
[186] Ibid. pp. 201.
[187] Ibid. pp. 265
[188] Ibid. pp. 229.
[189] Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow, pp. 255
[190] Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987, pp. 78ff. ISBN: 0-87113-076-9
[191] Ibid. pp. 236
[192] In a conversation with Jan Irvin on February 22, 2013.
[193] Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain, Acid Dreams, Grove Press, 1985, pp. 286. ISBN: 0-8021-3062-3
[194] Steven Hager, located at: https://stevenhager420.wordpress.com/tag/eliphas-levi/
[195] Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control, William Collins Sons & Co., 1978, pp. 284.