The story of two generations of scientific explorers in South America—Richard Evans Schultes and his protégé Wade Davis—an epic tale of adventure and a compelling work of natural history.
In 1941, Professor Richard Evan Schultes took a leave from Harvard and disappeared into the Amazon, where he spent the next twelve years mapping uncharted rivers and living among dozens of Indian tribes. In the 1970s, he sent two prize students, Tim Plowman and Wade Davis, to follow in his footsteps and unveil the botanical secrets of coca, the notorious source of cocaine, a sacred plant known to the Inca as the Divine Leaf of Immortality.
A stunning account of adventure and discovery, betrayal and destruction, One River is a story of two generations of explorers drawn together by the transcendent knowledge of Indian peoples, the visionary realms of the shaman, and the extraordinary plants that sustain all life in a forest that once stood immense and inviolable.
A unique account and the definitive guide for a future generation of psychedelic psychotherapists. Therapy with Substance is a comprehensive guide for the medical use of psychedelic substances in the therapy of emotional and psychosomatic disorders . . . It describes in clear and articulate language everything that is necessary to know for effective and safe use of this treatment modality and for work with non-ordinary states of consciousness in general. In this groundbreaking book, Doctor Friederike Meckel Fischer explores how the skillful use of psychedelic substances in psycholytic psychotherapy can cause dramatic breakthroughs for people who have not responded to traditional methods of psychotherapy. Her extraordinary conclusion is that psycholytic psychotherapy is the only method that reaches the depth of the psyche required to resolve and heal our deepest wounds. Psychedelic drugs were routinely used in clinical research and psychotherapy until the 1960s. Since then they have been illegal except for a short period in Switzerland, where Dr Meckel learned the basics of psycholytic therapy. Over the years she developed her unique psychotherapeutic method using these substances to assist the progress of those of her patients who were “stuck”. Dr Meckel is a medical doctor who has trained in individual, group and family psychotherapy and, with Stanislav Grof, in transpersonal psychotherapy.
We live in a time when a great many voices are calling for a spiritual renewal to address the problems that face humanity, yet the way of entheogens–one of the oldest and most widespread means of attaining a religious experience–is forbidden, surrounded by controversy and misunderstanding. Widely employed in traditional shamanic societies, entheogens figure prominently in the origins of religion and their use continues today throughout the world. They alter consciousness in such a profound way that, depending on the set and setting, they can produce the ultimate human experiences: union with God or revelation of other mystical realities.
With contributions by Albert Hofmann, Terence McKenna, Ann and Alexander Shulgin, Thomas Riedlinger, Dale Pendell, and Rick Strassman as well as interviews with R. Gordon Wasson and Jack Kornfield, this book explores ancient and modern uses of psychedelic drugs, emphasizing the complementary relationship between science and mystical experience and the importance of psychedelics to the future of religion and society. Revealing the mystical-religious possibilities of substances such as psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and LSD, this book exposes the vital need for developing an organized spiritual context for their use in order to fully realize their transformative and sacred value. Stressing the importance of academic and religious freedom, the authors call for a revival of scientific and religious inquiry into entheogens so they may be used safely and legally by those seeking to cultivate their spiritual awareness.
First published in 1979, Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered is regarded by many as the most comprehensive, accurate, and accessible analysis of psychedelic drugs for the general reader. It records the extensive history of scientific research on, and societal experience with, psychedelic drugs.
The Lindesmith Center reprint edition features a new introduction by the authors on recent developments in psychedelic research, as well as a preface by Dr. Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith center.
This manual uses material from The Tibetan Book of the Dead for this preparation. The authors also make an important contribution to the interpretation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. They show that it is concerned not with the dead, but with the living. The last section of the manual provides instructions for an actual psychedelic session, under adequate safeguards. The authors were engaged in a program of experiments with LSD and other psychedelic drugs at Harvard University until sensational national publicity unfairly concentrating on student interest in the drugs, led to the suspension of the experiments. Since then, the authors have continued their work without academic auspices.
The sensationalism surrounding the widespread use of LSD in the late 1960s and the subsequent legislative overkill virtually ended psychotherapeutic LSD research. Much of what had been learned over thirty years of scientific medical study was so distorted or suppressed that no objective overview was available to the general reader except for this book.
LSD Psychotherapy is a complete account of a remarkable chapter in the ever-continuing inquiry into our transpersonal nature and origins. The controlled studies described in this book reveal exciting and challenging data about the nature of human consciousness, perception, and reality itself. Drawing on this work, Stanislav Grof outlines a new cartography of the human mind, one which accounts for experiences such as shamanic trances, near-death experiences and altered states of consciousness. This vision is also the foundation for Dr. Grof’s revolutionary Holotropic Breathwork techniques.
This book is also a visual feast, with numerous color drawings and paintings created by research participants (see featured artist Sherana Harriette Frances’ book, Drawing It Out: Befriending the Unconscious. Many of these depict archetypal images from the collective human consciousness, forming a powerful addition to the text. LSD Psychotherapy is a valuable source of information for those who are involved with LSD in any way, whether as parents, teachers, researchers, legislators, or students of the human psyche. The approach to healing described in this book is inspired by the eternal desire of humankind for wholeness and an enduring grasp of reality.
A pioneering book that explores the unknown landscape of human consciousness induced by LSD and other psychedelics.
Shows the relationship between shamanism, near death experiences, and other mystical and altered states with those induced by psychedelics.
Lays the conceptual foundation for the creation of important new therapies in psychiatry and psychology.
Stanislav Grof’s first 17 years of research into nonordinary states of consciousness induced by LSD and other psychedelics led to a revolutionary understanding of the human psyche. His research was the impetus behind a vastly expanded cartography of the unconscious, including two new realms still unacknowledged by official academic circles–the perinatal domain, which holds memories of the various stages of birth, and the transpersonal domain, which mediates experiential identification with other species and mythic figures, visits to archetypal realms, access to past life memories, and union with the cosmic creative principle.
The research presented in this book provides a map of the psyche that is essential for understanding such phenomena as shamanism and near death experiences as well as other nonordinary states of consciousness. This map has led to the development of important new therapies in psychiatry and psychology for treating mental conditions often seen as disease and therefore suppressed by medication. It also provides a new threshold to understanding and entering the numinous realm of spirit.
Written in his late eighties, at the height of his magnificent career, The Way of the Psychonaut is possibly Grof’s greatest contribution. The commanding breadth and depth of his knowledge is astounding, the tone of his writing easy and accessible, and his narratives brightened with amusing anecdotes, intriguing personal accounts, and brilliant case studies. Grof reviews the history of depth psychotherapy, the important revisions that are needed to make it more effective, and why the inner quest is such an essential pursuit.
Authors Dieter A. Hagenbach and Lucius Werthmüller, close friends of Albert Hofmann, take readers on a journey through Hofmann’s mystical childhood experiences with nature to his chemistry studies with Nobel Prize winner Paul Karrer in Zurich through his discoveries of both LSD and psilocybin at Sandoz; to his adventurous expeditions; to his many years of retirement devoted to philosophy of nature. Hagenbach and Werthmüller document Hofmann’s rich social life including interactions with illustrious writers, artists and thinkers including luminaries like Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass).
Throughout Mystic Chemist, the authors reveal the eventful history of LSD, and they chronicle Hofmann’s groundbreaking work with the drug that was later featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary series, “How to Change Your Mind.” From the start of his experimentations, Hofmann took a positive view towards LSD-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of illness, and he maintained that mystical experiences and trips to other worlds of consciousness are the best preparation for the very last journey we all must eventually make. Mystic Chemist: The Life of Albert Hofmann and His Discovery of LSD contains more than 500 photos, illustrations and drawings as well as a foreword by renowned Czech psychiatrist Stanislav Grof.
Not since the 1960s has the world witnessed a drug phenomenon like the rapid and widespread emergence of Ecstasy. Described by enthusiasts as the most intense euphoria they know and by detractors as a cause of brain damage and even death, Ecstasy has engendered unprecedented levels of interest – and misinformation. While Ecstasy is found across the world in living rooms and dance clubs, reliable information about the drug is not. Now, Ecstasy: The Complete Guide takes the first unbiased look at the risks and the benefits of Ecstasy and the real drug behind it, MDMA, offering a critical resource for anyone seeking credible information.