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Interview: Dennis McKenna |
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Written by Michael (we know him as Rev. MeO)
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Wednesday, 24 December 1997 |
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Page 2 of 8
(Rev:)
Hey, I'm 19! That is quite a dose. I have been less than heroic when it comes to LSA. 7 HBW offered me a very beautiful experience. The Freak Bros.!
(DM:)
Yeah, later i found out that 7-12 is about the right range, for my weight...I've since had very positive, very clear experiences on it... But woodrose is one of those that can benefit from a little simple technology...
(Rev:)
Extraction-wise?
(DM:)
Yeah. You can do a simple water extraction, or use very dilute acidified water, to get out the water soluble alkaloids and leave behind the more toxic, less water soluble alkaloids... This was the basis of Hofmann's point about the brew prepared from ergot at Eleusis...ergot contains lots of nasty alkaloids; but the psychoactive ones are almost all water soluble. So at Eleusis, by preparing this brew from ergotized barley, they effected a simple extraction and made it safe (or safer)
(Rev:)
Moving from the past to the well, the recent past at least (I'll touch the middle ground sooner or later). I have always dreamed of attending a psychedelic conference such as “The Psychedelic Vision At The Turn Of The Millennium”, to be surrounded by such great expansive minds. How was this conference (late July-August)? Is it extra special to speak at such a conference that your brother is also attending? These such events must be like a reunion of sorts for you!
(DM:)
Just a moment... It was a pretty good conference. Terence and I don't often appear in public together, so its always fun when that happens. He livens up any scene that that...yeah, I enjoyed the conference and so did everyone, I think... There's another one in November, I think, the “Mindstates” conference, in Berkeley or SF. I won't be there, but it should be good.
(Rev:)
It seems there a lot more such conferences than there were, say 3 years ago. This could very well be because of my expanding awareness of them though. What did you focus on at this conference?
(DM:)
Well, everyone kind of had their different slant. Generally, people talked about events in their lives that had gotten them to that time and place. And of course there was a lot of speculation about the importance of psychedelics in that, and continued directions for the future...I mean, its hard to detail it, you hadda be there...
(Rev:)
Understandable! What entheogen(s) do you feel the most connected with?
(DM:)
I think, for me, the tryptamine hallucinogens, or more specifically, the orally-active tryptamines, which means psilocybin and ayahuasca...Most of the interesting events of my life I owe to one or the other, and I don't just mean trips, although they count too. Its more about the path they set you on. If you're interested at all in psychedelics, its hard to be casual about it...Both are wondrous substances, and both have been very good to me...although they are different, obviously.
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