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The article and commentary below examine the history and use of plants and other substances which are capable of producing profound and dramatic shifts in perception. However, as the effects of all drugs are only temporary, one must seek truth and understanding in order to make real progress on the path towards enlightenment. [More]
SOUNDS
LYRICS
The molecule LSD-25 was originally synthesised by Albert Hofmann in 1938 and tried on animals and when no interesting effects appeared, the molecule was consigned
to the "useless" heap. However, a "presentiment" told Hofmann to retrace his steps and perform a new synthesis, which
was completed on 16 April 1943. Hofmann accidently breathed in or swallowed some of the material, and had the merit
to realize, when its effect came upon him, that something of momentous significance had happened. He assumed LSD was the
cause, and when he tried it again the assumption proved right, opening a new chapter of history. In 1958 Hoffman also isolated and named the two
psychoactive compounds found in magic mushrooms, psilocybin and psilocin, and developed the synthetic version of psilocybin which is used in current research.
Reasearch into psychoactive substances began in the 1950s and by the mid 1960s research was being done on the use of LSD in treating psychiatric
illnesses and in creative problem solving in the United States. From 1965 its exploration "outside the laboratory"
was also being popularised by writers like former Harvard professor Timothy Leary1
and William Burroughs. From their communal base in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco Jerry Garcia and his
band the Grateful Dead pioneered the free festivals and "love ins" which
defined the flower power generation, having previously been involved in the "acid tests"2
with Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters.
Meanwhile, over in Britain many of the bands who were part of the 1960’s British beat boom
rapidly became part of the new direction ushered in by psychedelia. Released in 1966,
the Beatles album Revolver was a clear indication of what was to come and was the
first sign that the Beatles had it in them to become more than a straight pop band - the era
of true invention both sonic and musical had indeed arrived. Other British acts to ride the
first wave of psychedelia included the Who, the Kinks, the Move, the Small Faces and Pink Floyd
(pioneers of the psychedelic light show).
During the 1960s and early 1970s analog multi-track tape recording technology developed rapidly, increasing the importance of the recording
studio in making music. These new machines were initially four track, but there quickly followed in rapid succession eight, twelve, sixteen
and a little later twenty-four track, which became industry standard by the mid 1970s.
Heavily overdriven guitar came to the fore thanks to the new guitar gods, Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, while in Jamaica the ska-bluebeat advance into
what became "rock steady" also occured around 1966 and by 1970 reggae had already
been mutated into dub.
From San Francisco also came the first "Summer of Love," the funky muse of Sly and the Family Stone and the latin based rock
of Santana, spiritualised by way of Trane and Miles, the man in the green shirt
seeding jazz-rock fusion In a Silent Way, back east in New York. More elements to fuel an already
bubbling cauldron of sounds.
The emergence of progressive rock at the end of the 1960’s was also greatly assisted by developments in recording technology.
Among the new English progressive bands were
Led Zeppelin,
King Crimson, Genesis (with lead singer
Peter Gabriel), Yes and Roxy Music, the latter establishing the important profile of
Brian Eno in the music industry.
The Wailers had been quite successful commercially in the Caribbean during most of Jamaican
rock's evolutionary phases but after signing with Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1972,
they issued a string of well received albums on the internationally distributed Island label,
beginning with the album Catch a Fire. Bob Marley and the Wailers' mesmerising and
often incendiary songs were customarily steeped in images of Third World strife and
underscored by the turbid tenets of the Rastafarian faith as well as by symbols and maxims
derived from Jamaican and African folklore. Rastas smoked "herb" to "help with their
meditations" and the Rasta colours are richly symbolic:
Gold fe de wealth stolen from the sufferah since Solomon's
temple was laid low
Green fe de blessed land in Africa dat awaits the black mon's return
During the early 1990's bands like The
Shamen produced house anthems like "Ebeneezer Goode" and as the decade progressed,
labels like On-U Sound and Axiom
continued to push the boundaries of contemporary music by producing music which fused reggae and dub with jazz,
blues and other exotic music from around the world. The film
Modulations explores how advances in technology have enabled a wide range of
electronica subgenres to flourish in the 1990s and beyond.
COMMENTARY
Psychedelia has been fostered in the Western world largely through the use of synthetic
drugs such as LSD but sacred plants - plants which cause visions and hallucinations - are
a central feature of Shamanism
in many regions of the world. To the modern urban
Westerner the idea of visions induced by psychotropic means may seem like an aberration,
perhaps even a type of decadence. Indeed, during the late 1960s when youthful exploration
of psychedelics was rampant, one would often read in the press about mystical episodes
being 'artificially' produced by drugs like LSD and psilocybin. The perception was that
drugs invariably produced a distortion, a wavering from reality. In the pre-literate world
of the Shaman the exact opposite is true. Here the sacred plants are believed to open the
doors to the heavens to allow contact with the gods and spirits, and to permit access to a
greater reality beyond.
The word 'drug' itself is a highly coloured term and is frequently associated with acts that
are disapproved of in the mainstream. As a consequence the 'drug experience,' if one could
call it that, is not something that is valued by modern Western culture as a whole. Little
distinction exists in the popular mind between sacred or psychedelic drugs like those which
feature in Shamanism, and the recreational, addictive or analgesic drugs which are seen as
part of contemporary urban life.3 As far as we know, none
of the plants with psychotropic properties used in shamanism are addictive.
4
Also, it is important that we make the distinction that these plants do not simply modify
moods but are capable of producing dramatic and often profound changes in perception. In
every way the sacred plant is a doorway to a realm that is awesome and wondrous, and the
undertaking is not one which is taken lightly. To this extent then, the ritual use
of halluginogenic plants is not recreational but transformative - one undertakes the vision
quest to 'learn' or to 'see,' not to 'escape' into a world of 'fantasy.' The use of such
plants extends back for hundreds and in some cases thousands of years.5
From the Aztec Peyotl, peyote (Lophora williamsii) was the first hallucinogenic plant
discovered by Europeans in the Americas and was fiercely suppressed by the Christian
missionaries because of its 'pagan associations.' 6 Today
the Indians continue to regard the peyote cactus as divine, associating the region where it
grows with paradise (Winkuta) and the plant itself with the Divine Deer, or Master of the
Deer species.7 Shamanism views the three realms of the plant
kingdom, the mineral kingdom and the animal kingdom as being inextricably connected. An
experienced Shaman will call on allies in all three kingdoms.
The most important of the Shamanic mushrooms in Mexico is the species Psilocibe mexicana.
Psilocibe mushrooms provide a state of intoxication characterised by vivid and colourful
hallucinations and also unusual auditory effects. It is for the latter reason the
Mozatecs say, respectfully, that 'the mushroom speaks.' The Aztecs were in such awe of
them that they called them Teonanacatl, which translates as 'divine flesh.' 8 Please note that
there are species of mushroom similar to psilocibe mushrooms which are highly toxic and should not be ingested. Always be clear about what
you're taking.
The Morning Glory species Rivea corymbosa was known to the Aztecs as Ololiuhqui and
they regarded it as a divinity. The seeds of this well known flowering vine contain ergot
alkloids related to LSD.9
The tree climbing forest vine known botanically as Banisteriopsis caapi is the pre-eminent
sacred plant of South America. Its bark is brewed together with Psychotria viridis to make a beverage which allows direct
contact with the supernatural realm, enabling Shamans to contact ancestor or helper
spirits and to have initiatory visions.10 Also known as
Ayahuasca - a term which translates as 'vine of the soul,' the drug produces in many
subjects the sensation of 'the flight of the soul' and intensely coloured and dramatic
vision.11
Dating back at least three thousand years as a ritual sacrament, San Pedro cactus
(Trichocereus pachanoi) is one of the most ancient magical plants of South America. In
Bolivia it is known as Achuma and today it is cut into slices, boiled for around
seven hours in water and consumed to bring on the visions. The cactus contains mescaline
and initially produces drowsiness and a state of dreamy lethargy. However, this is followed by a
remarkable lucidity of mental faculties. Finally one may experience 'a telepathic sense of
transmitting oneself across time and matter.'12
The psychedelic position is most threatening to the Establishment because, when fully and
logically thought through, is an anti-drug, anti-addiction position. And make no mistake
about it, the issue is drugs. How drugged shall you be? Or, put another way, how conscious
shall you be? Who shall be conscious? Who shall be unconscious?13
The major problem with "drug use" as an approach is that the effects of any given substance are
only temporary and there is no real merit in experiencing dramatic and profound shifts in
perception unless insights so gained are able to be incorporated into one's being or
consciousness as permanent aspects of awareness.
[More
More recently there has been a renewed interest in the use of psychoactive substances in the treatment of various psychiatric and
mental health conditions, including PTSD, depression and addiction. The late James Oroc's book The new psychedelic revolution: the genesis of the visionary age (2018)
is a good take on contemporary psychedelia and visionary art.
NOTES
1. Leary, T., Metzner, R. and Alpert, R. (1995). The psychedelic experience.
New York: Citadel Press
2. Wolfe, T. (1983). The electric kool-aid acid test. New York:
Bantam Books.
3. Drury, N. (1982). The Shaman and the magician. London: Arkana, p. 43.
4. ibid, pp 44 - 45
5. ibid, p 45
6. ibid, p 46
7. ibid, p 47
8. ibid, p 50
9. ibid, p 51
10. ibid, p 52
11. ibid, p 53
12. ibid, p 57
13. McKenna, T. (1992). Food of the gods. New York: Bantam Books
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Black, D. (1998). Acid: the secret history of LSD. London: Vision.
MORE PSYCHEDELIA
Strands of Contemporary Music
© 1997 - 2023.
Psychedelic is defined as ‘mind revealing’ or ‘mind manifesting’ and the word is used to
describe enhanced perception and imagination induced by ecstasy with or without the use of
drugs. The term is also applied to illegal substances such as hashish, LSD (lysergic acid
diethylamide - also known just as acid), mescaline, psilocybin
and opium which help to produce that state and to the use of abnormally brilliant colours in art and design which has been
fostered by psychedelic experiments.
Young America rebelled against the authorities who were supporting the Vietnam war,
strengthening an underground movement which effectively used music to spread its
philosophies around the globe and in 1966 LSD was made illegal in the United States. But it was already too late. Many musicians had already "turned on" and were looking for new
ways to express themselves and Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, the Byrds and others
changed the face of pop music with their free-thinking and exotic approaches to lyrics and sound.
Red fe de bloodshed inflicted on the sufferah since slavery days
Jazz rock fusion and progressive rock tended to become more complex and pompous as the 1970s rolled on, and with the
arrival of punk, these aspects were to become loathed and reviled. The initial energy and enthusiasm which fueled the
post-punk new wave was to bland out into "business as usual" as the '80's progressed. However, by the late 1980s
psychedelia had embraced dance music and a new tribalism emerged: rave culture and the drug of choice - ecstasy.
Derogatis, J. (1996). Kaleidoscope eyes. London: Fourth Estate Limited.
Drury, N. (1989). The elements of shamanism. Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element
Books.
Drury, N. (1982). The Shaman and the magician. London: Arkana.
Henke, J. and Puterbaugh (eds.). (1997). Let me take you higher. San Francisco:
Chronicle Books.
Jarnow, J. (2016). Heads: a biography of psychedelic America. New York:
Da Capo Press.
Leary, T., Metzner, R. and Alpert, R. (1995). The psychedelic experience. New
York: Citadel Press.
McKenna, T. (1992). Food of the gods. New York: Bantam Books
McKenna, T. (1991). The archaic revival. San Francisco: HarperCollins.
McKenna, T. (1993). True hallucinations. San Francisco: HarperCollins.
Oroc, James. (2018). The new psychedelic revolution: the genesis of the visionary age.
Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press.
Pollan, Michael. (2018). How to change your mind.
New York: Penguin Press.
Schultes, R. and Hofmann, A. (1992). Plants of the gods. Rochester, Vermont:
Healing Arts Press.
Warter, C. (1994). Recovery of the sacred. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health
Communications Inc.
White, T. (1991). Catch a fire: the life of Bob Marley. London: Omnibus Press.
Wolfe, T. (1983). The electric kool-aid acid test. New York:
Bantam Books.
