PSYCHEDELICS: IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD

"To fathom hell or soar angelic,

Just take a pinch of psychedelic."

- Dr. Humphrey Osmond (1956)

Haven't done one of these in a while. Longtime readers of WoM know that I will occasionally post under this title something with only a wisp of tangential relevance to the usual content.

Unless you lived under a rock (or actually were one as in the Mother's song, "Help, I'm A Rock" from the ground-breaking 1966 "Freak Out" album) there was a serious drug culture afoot. Timothy Leary, along with others, such as the Bay-area basement chemist, Owsley Stanley, Richard "Ram Dass" Alpert (no relation to Herb), and later, Terrence McKenna (who ironically died of brain cancer), led the charge with their proselytizing of pot, LSD, mescaline and other "mind manifesting" (aka psychedelic) substances.

Horror films have used psychedelic drug use in numerous pictures of the years. The 2007 Irish slasher film, SHROOMS and the UK folk horror film, A FIELD IN ENGLAND immediately come to mind.

Today, these types of mind-altering drugs are being used and seriously being considered as a common modality of treating mental disorders in the medical community. Using the homeopathic model, it makes some sense. Hopefully, these substances can be used in a responsible and rational way. There's a lot Nature can tell us still, but unfortunately, there is always a caveat brought on by the ignorance and greed associated with harvesting and utilizing these resources.

This article from NEXUS (April/May, 2022) provides an "honest" history of psychedelics and their use around the world.

Also in the news is this story about new technology that reveals that mushrooms can communicate (!). You can listen HERE.