Great Optical Illusion

( thanks reggaepsyc! )

Uluru and the rain

Untile recent times rain was a rare event in the desert of Central Australia,  but the exceptional bad weather and heavy rains of last months have changed its traditional dry landscape. Photographer Peter Carroll was in that area  during the rainfalls and had the unusual lucky chance to take pix of Uluru (aka Ayers Rock), the Australian aboriginals' sacred mountain, with water pouring down her flanks.
Visit Carroll's site to see the photo gallery.

Manifesting the Mind conference

DATES: April 28-29, 2011
LOCATION: BioPharmaceutical Technology Center, Madison, WI
COORDINATORS: BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute and Promega Corporation
OVERVIEW: Manifesting the Mind is designed to explore the Mind-Brain phenomenon and how this relates to human consciousness.
A characteristic of humans is the desire to reach beyond ourselves to ponder the question of purpose and the higher meaning of our existence. The ability to question -- and perhaps the source of this questioning -- lies within the brain, but defining consciousness is no easy task.
In this spirit, this year’s Bioethics Forum covers a wide range of topics:

• ethnobotany and indigenous cultures
• the savant syndrome
• sleep, dream and wakefulness states
• near death experiences
• neurotransmitters
• quantum perspectives
• recent clinical studies of the therapeutic effects of entheogens
• mindfulness and meditation

Manifesting the Mind brings together world leaders in these fields. They will assist us in exploring these diverse topics in order to enhance our understanding of human potential and our conceptualization of the next step in the evolution of consciousness on this planet.

The conference will feature an impressive panel of presenters. Among them we'll find:
Wade Davis, Kathleen Harrison, Jeremy Narby, Franz X. Vollenweider, David E. Nichols, Roland Griffiths...

To get more info and registration form please visit here

Scott Saw's Visions

"I’m inspired by space, nature, the universe, love, passion, sadness, euphoria, beauty, vitality, physics, death, the idea that there is more to our existence than this short life on Earth. My art truly It is a reflection of what is going on inside me. It's a way for me to express deep feelings and ideas... a way to keep a secret and spill my guts at the same time. It’s therapy."

If you feel inspired  by the words written above and you like the few sample paintings posted, please visit Scott Saw's site here
(click on pix to to see in larger format...)

José Arguelles passed away...

José Arguelles, aka Valum Votan, Mexican-American author, artist, scholar, educator and visionary passed away yesterday after a short illnes. He dead at 6.10 a.m., the exact same time that he was born in 1939...)
After experimenting with LSD in the 1960s, he produced a series of psychedelic art named The Doors of Perception (after Aldous Huxley's 1954 book with the same title) and in 1972 he co-authored Mandala, a book that introduced that kind of Indian/Tibetan spiritual art to the counterculture.
In those years he became a disciple of Chogyam Trungpa, a Tibetan tantric lama who was also Allen Ginsberg's guru.
During the 1980s he deepened the study of Maya culture, that culminated in 1987  with the Harmonic Convergence event and the publication of his book The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology, where Arguelles devises a complicated numerological system by combining elements taken from the pre-Columbian Maya calendar with the I Ching and other esoteric influences, interspersed with concepts drawn from modern science such as "genetic codes" and "galactic convergences" (from wiki).
Sometimes accused by his detractors to be just an eccentric 'new age guru', Arguelles - probably the first one to talk about 2012 - gave input to the birth of a vast movement  of people, interested in consciousness and Mayan calendar, who considered him an enlightened 'cosmic' guide. He was the founder of the Foundation for the Law of Time.
Arguelles, who often said "Time is Art", gave his final message:
"EVERYTHING'S PERFECT!!! Love everyone. Hate no one. God bless everyone."
R.i.P. Valum Votan...

To read more about Arguelles: here
To get a copy of his biography, 2012: Biography of a Time Traveler (foreword by Daniel Pinchbeck): here

Jennybird's Surreal Art

Jennybird Alcantara, a surrealist artist living in San Francisco, "uses the symbolism of duality to explore the connection of life and death and the veil in between, as well as the relationship between the beauty and cruelness of nature, that of the natural world as well as human and animal nature..."
You can see her intriguing oil and acrylic paintings and dolls here
(just one minor complain about this site: the exaggerated and useless use of copyright that doesn't allow to save images in small format - or even post them on a blog...I far way prefer sites (and artists) that implement more free 'politics'...Anyway...)

Canned Heat, Woodstock 1969

Good-bye Gunter

Another renowned member of the international 'psychoactive network' has left the material dimension...Deutch sociologist, writer, journalist, drugs (and Bob Dylan) expert Gunter Amendt (b. 1939) died in a car accident few days ago in Hamburg (March 13). All the people who enjoyed his books (one for all: "No Drugs No Future") will miss him sorely...R.i.P. brother...

Zen Humor

(thanks Raghu!)

John Martyn - Don't Know to Know

The legendary John Martyn live at Leeds Grand Theatre, July 15, 2008

Blues Paintings by Earl Klatzel

I received some news about this artist and few of his paintings few moments ago from my old pal reaggaepsyc. While not exactly particularly 'visionary' or 'psychedelic', the art of Earl Klatzel ( born 1957 in Calgary, AB, Canada ) deserves a little attention at least by all the people who love blues. In fact, Earl's oil paintings, a heartfelt tribute to blues, are interely dedicated to famous blues and rock-blues musicians and to the early glory days of this immortal kind of music. If all that says to you something, make a visit to Earl's site.

Sandefyord, Norway

(thanks reggaepsyc!)

Owsley "The Bear" Stanley RIP

Augustus Owsley Stanley (aka The Bear) died in a car crash in Queensland, Australia, yesterday. He was 76. Between 1965 and '67, Owsley manufactured more than one million doses of pure LSD (among others the legendary orange sunshine and white lightning) in the San Francisco bay area, fueling a revolution in consciousness, art and music and providing the counterculture its main sacrament of those times...
In late 1967 his laboratory in Orinda (California) was raided; Owsley was found in possession of 350.000 doses of LSD and 1500 doses of STP and sentenced to 3 years in prison. After he was released from prison he went on to do more sound work for the Dead and later he worked as a broadcast television engineer.
In more recent years he worked as a sculptor, jewel designer and graphic artist (see here)
He is survived by his wife Sheila, four children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Rest in Peace brother, you're in history books already...

Goa Gil interview

Goa Gil is a true legend in his own time, having witnessed the birth of the hippie movement and acid rock, he has been a regular in Goa since the 70s. Following his own path he became not only a sadhu but has been instrumental in creating the Goa music scene that he would take to the world as the aesthetic of the Goa trance movement. Gil sees his music redefining the ancient tribal ritual for the 21st century. This video is from the Goa Hippy Tribe project  which is working on making a documentary about 40 years of Goa psychedelic culture. See other interesting interviews to Goa pioneers like Eddie "Eight Fingers" searching for 'goa hippy tribe' on youtube...
(thanks Teleomorph)

Helping the Community

Jon Hanna, renowned member of the psychedelic community, organizer of Mind States conferences and now in the staff of Erowid is seeking help for Maria, a member of our family who has fallen onto hard times and is living a dramatic situation. Jon is selling items from his collection of psychedelic art, photography, literature and ephemera as part of this fundraising campaign.
Know the story of Maria and please help her asap making donations and purchases: here

Naked Flowers

Cecelia Webber takes photos of naked people and then digitally transform them into colorful floral creations. See other 'naked flowers' on her site...