The Nexian Issue 2

CONTENTS 01 A Remembrance of Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin Entropymancer 02 Entheogenic Tryptamines, Past and Present: Folkways of Resilience jamie & nen888 03 Feed Your Head: Harnessing Neurogenesis Sam Gandy 3 ~ 4 04 First Steps in Cacti Cultivation Hostilis 5 ~ 12 05 Citrus Growers Manufacture Huge Amounts of DMT Morris Crowley 13 ~ 18 06 Interview with Rick Strassman Nexus Asks The Doc 19 ~ 24 07 The Open Hyperspace Traveler Announcement 25 ~ 26 08 Criminals and Researchers: Perspectives on the Necessity of Underground Research David Nickles 27 ~ 35 09 The Art of Changa Olympus Mon 36 10 DMT and Frequency: The Musicality of Hyperspace Global 37 ~ 46 11 Caapi Propagation Ringworm 48 ~ 53 12 Phalaris Teachers: Temperate Sources of Tryptamine Gnosis jamie 55 ~ 60 13 Initiation of the Heart Aegle 61 ~ 62 14 Reflections on the Unfolding Journey : A Conversation with nen and gibran nen888 vs gibran2 63 ~ 68 The Nexian - Issue #2 69 71 ~ 75 A Remembrance of Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin A Remembrance of Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin By Entropymancer his June, we lost a truly great man. Alexander Theodore Shulgin, known as Sasha to his friends, was a chemist and psycho- Tpharmacologist specializing in psychedelic drugs. While mainstream outlets have eulogized him as the "godfather of ecstasy," due to his role in introducing MDMA to psychotherapy, Shulgin's most enduring legacy will likely be his extensive work developing novel phenethylamine and tryptamine psychedelics and exploring their structure-activity relationships. The Alchemist, By Mike Cole 2014 Inspired by a photo by Greg Manning of Team Shulgin Shulgin's life has been an inspiration to many. He had the heart of an explorer, boldly venturing into uncharted territory with each new drug he synthesized. He was driven by a conviction that humankind desperately needs these tools if we are to survive the destructive power of our own technology. Considering the prevailing political trends which seek to prohibit and marginalize these drugs, Shulgin drew the ire of the DEA when he courageously decided to publish his work, complete with syntheses and dosage commentary, in the popular volumes PiHKAL and TiHKAL. Shulgin's work ultimately touched many lives, including the lives of many who never met him. As news of his death spread, people expressed their thanks to Shulgin for the role his work played in their personal development through an outpouring of personal remembrances on social media sites. He inspired many psychonauts to study organic chemistry. His compounds helped many of us to examine ourselves, empower our creative expressions, overcome depression, and begin to live our lives in an authentic way. I can't help but feel that Shulgin's work came to us in the nick of time. We find ourselves at a pivotal moment in human history. Our population has exploded to the point where a simple disruption of supply chains could cause starvation on an unprecedented scale. Our consumption of resources has reached an unsustainable fever pitch. Our weapons have the power to wipe out huge swaths of life on earth. Our agricultural war against biodiversity pushes many segments of the community of life to the precipice of extinction and beyond. We need a new cultural paradigm. We need new ways of thinking. And Shulgin's toolbox has the potential to serve as a catalyst to the types of transformation we must undergo. It feels like the end of an era…but it is also a new beginning. In each generation, some heed the call of the mysterium tremendum. Already, other hands are busily expanding on the scaffolding that Shulgin erected. Wonderful wizard, you will be sorely missed. You can donate to the Shulgin Legacy Project, which will preserve and archive Sasha’s life’s work. http://www.shulginresearch.org/home/donate/ 3 The Nexian - Issue #2 A Remembrance of Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin Photo by Jon Hanna, 2008 4 The Nexian - Issue #2 Entheogenic Tryptamines, Past and Present: Folkways of Resilience Entheogenic Tryptamines Past and Present : Folkways of Resilience By jamie and nen888 additional research by dreamer042 & the Nexian editorial staff Before and Beyond Ayahuasca he first thing that comes to mind at the mention of Amazonian plant medicines or tryptamine use is, more often than not, ayahuasca. Indeed, ayahuasca has represented the pinnacle of entheogenic tryptamine folkways, for some time, in the West. It has been regarded by many Tas the “entheogen ” both in the ceremonial elegance of its delivery to the Western consciousness and the profound, yet gentle flowering of collective visions that seem to bloom in its wake. Ayahuasca is, no doubt, a medicine worthy of great respect. However, in this article, we would like to take a look beyond the ayahuasca meme that has predominated within Western entheogenic culture. We will examine the larger world of folk DMT and tryptamine use that existed before ayahuasca and continues to extend from the far past into the present in a par excellence, myriad of continually evolving forms. The use of DMT and similar tryptamines within folk traditions is not simply a relic revived from a long forgotten past, or an exotic cultural artifact reconstructed in contemporary Western culture. We would posit that it represents a range of cultural modalities, both ancient and modern, from indigenous tribal cultures to contemporary Western folk traditions, which have grown beyond the cultural modality comprising ayahuasca in the Western mind. Ayahuasca itself represents an interesting paradigm within Magic Leaves ( ) by Blue Lunar Night the larger world of entheogenic DMT practice, . Ayahuasca is the modality that has been put in the spotlight within the entheogenic subculture. And yet, there has been a blooming of contemporary practice in the West that arguably more closely resembles these other traditional practices—all while maintaining a sovereign, grassroots, neo-folk approach as a living, evolving Western tradition. crop There is good evidence, for instance, of the cultural usage of tryptamine-containing plants such as acacia trees in Africa, the Middle East, India, China/East Asia, and the Pacific/Oceania, dating back to antiquity—each with different traditions. (Rätsch 2005, Voogelbreinder 2009). There is even the possibility that ancient Egyptians may have smoked entheogenic acacias, considering that acabcuia t ittr edeose sfi gnuorte r epprroemseinnet nthtlayt inw oarnldc iienn itt sE geynptitrieatny symbolism, and a practice of inhaling the vapor from 5 The Nexian - Issue #2 Entheogenic Tryptamines, Past and Present: Folkways of Resilience burnt acacia flowers still exists in contemporary Egypt (Osborn 1968). The harmala alkaloid-containing plant, , also has a history of traditional and ritual use in North Africa, Iran, Turkey, and India. (Flattery & Schwartz 1989). The environments of these plants are, like their associated traditions, very different to those of the ayahuasca regions, which are restricted to South America. Phalaris grasses containing DMT and harmalas (MAOIs) are native to Europe (Festi & Samorini 1994), perhaps having lost their accompanying traditions. Also, as most of these traditions are secretive, obscure, or lost, the modern tryptamine explorer is left without much reference for the experience, particularly that of shorter acting methods. Hence, a new folklore emerges through experimentation, exploration, and garnPereignagn wumha ht acramna bla e found in the remnants of older traditions. Throughout the Amazon basin and elsewhere, a diverse number of tryptamine-based medicinal and entheogenic modalities are expressed. is a genus of trees in the family Fabaceae (legumes), comprising two species and a variety of subspecies of tryptamine-bearing specimens occurring in South America. The Fabaceae family contains nitrogen fixers with astonishing numbers of DMT and other tryptamine-containing genera, including , , , , , , and others. The oldest documented use of entheogenic tryptamines in South America predates any documented use of ayahuasca. Analysis of snuffs dating back to 780 CE from the region of San Pedro de Atacama, a town in Chile, identified DMT, 5- MeO-DMT, and bufotenine. seeds and smoking pipes dating back to 2130 BCE have been found in Argentina, representing the earliest known entheogenic tryptamine use in South America. (Torres & Repke 1996) Anadenanthera Similarly, the resin collected from the Abacrakc ioa f aM nuimmobsea r oDf etrsemesa notfh tuhs e Anadenanthera Lespedeza Desmodium Myristicaceae family such as and , are used to make potent tryptamine Anadenanthera colubrina snuffs. These snuffs mainly contain 5-MeO-DMT, DMT, and other tryptamines and beta- carbolines, but not bufotenine. 5-MeO-DMT is the main tryptamine in many virola snuffs. However, in the Vmiraoilna thryepiotadmoriane presVeirnotl aisc raelpooprhteyldla to be seeds, cebil snuff, and a modern DMT snuff made from a chaliponga extraction DMT. (Schultes & Hofmann 1980) The use of DMT-, 5-MeO-DMT-, and bufotenine-containing snuffs and smoking mixtures present paradigms of tryptamine use that are possibly far older than oral tryptamine/beta-carboline mixtures, such as ayahuasca. Ayahuasca itself often contains nothing more than the Anadenantohera colubrina vine, or any of a number of other vines, such as , which are now being sold on the online market as "ayahuasca" (McKenna et al. 1995). The commonly (mis)understood paradigm of what ayahuasca iVsi raomlao ng cWaleosptheyrnll a psychedelic and entheogenic enthusiasts presents a very limited and often misleading model. The harmala alkaloids, such as harmine, found within both and are profoundly visionary and entheogenic medicines on their own—producing deep, dreamy sequences of visions often of a very personal quality. Some tribes never use DMT admixtures at all (McKenna et al. 1995). The use of itself is not limited to aqueous potions; its use has been observed among the Piaroa as an additive to yopo preparations—a snuff made from the seeds of Banisteriopsis caapi —Bansi swterlli oapss bise imngu rcicoantsa umed before the ingestion of the snuff (Rodd 2002). Tetrapterys methystica 6 The Nexian - Issue #2 B. caapi B.

Load more