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VISIONARY REVUE
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I AM THE TRUE VINE
THE AYA HUASCA
THE VINE OF THE DEAD
Detail
L. Caruana
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FALL 2007
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EDITORIAL
L. Caruana
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In the opening pages of The Visionary Manifesto, we find the intriguing sentence: “...the Visionary artist uses all means at his disposal - even at great risk to himself - to access different states of consciousness and expose the resulting vision.”
The many and varied ‘means’ at the artist’s disposal (as we later find out) include dreams, trance, hypnagogic images, illness, near-death experiences, meditation, madness, the imagination, visitation, revelation and - entheogens.
This issue digs, as deeply as possible, into the relationship between entheogens and artistic creation. Ten Visionary artists recount their experiences - the sudden lucidity, the higher thinking and hyper-perception, the eye-opening visions that fall like a cleansing dew from a higher world.
I wish to thank these contributors, not only for the tremendous images they’ve created, but for their courage to recount, honestly and openly, what can sometimes be a very personal and harrowing experience.
Visions differ from person to person, as do the effects from one entheogen to another. A wide variety of entheogenic experiences are recounted here: LSD, Ayahuasca, Mushrooms, Salvia Divinorum, DMT, 5-MeO DMT and Cannabis.
One need not be an artist to experience visions, or appreciate the higher world evoked through Visionary Art. Myrette St. Ange has left behind a moving account of her own experience, meditating on Venosa's Astral Circus under cannabis.
For the first time in its history, The Visionary Revue has become a collaborative effort. It has also surpassed the length of all previous issues, with 266 pages. The lay-out has also changed, allowing the reader to scroll down through each article rather than clicking from page to page.
My own contributions to this issue - two long works titled A Mirror Delirious and Myrette - bring up-to-date all my thinking and experiences in regard to Visionary Art, after publishing The Manifesto six years ago.
All the articles I wrote for the first three issues of this publication were discursive essays. But, after the composition of my novel
The Hidden Passion, I’ve been seized by an unceasing fascination for the power of narrative.
For this reason, A Mirror Delirious and Myrette present the updates to my researches in narrative form. I hope the reader will be moved as much by its new discoveries as by its narrative form.
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VISIONARY REVUE
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PRECAUTIONS
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No investigation of entheogens escapes without some warning. All the articles here present entheogens in a positive light. And yet, as was stated above, the visionary pursues his visions “at great risk to himself.”
There is so much information and mis-information regarding ‘the risk’ of psycho-active substances, that I will simply offer these pieces of advice. Set and setting are crucial. Set? That’s you - who you are and how you feel. If your mental state is fragile, dark or troubled - you should forgo this particular experience.
The full entheogenic experience can involve a frightening experience of ego-death. Meanwhile, many in their teens and twenties are still in the process of building up and strengthening a rather fragile ego through life’s experience. The threat which entheogens pose to a fragile ego can be frightening, indeed traumatizing, leaving lasting marks.
That is one reason why setting is also crucial. Not only a secure and peaceful environment, but an experienced guide is recommended. All sources of distraction will demonize the experience. A point of focus, such as Sacred or Visionary Art (accompanied by its musical equivalents) can lead, on the contrary, to enlightening visions. Since most entheogens come from plants, Nature is also an ideal setting.
If the experience is approached with reverence and humility, a spiritual awakening may follow. That is why many entheo-artists prepare themselves through fasting and prayer beforehand, and only receive it as a medicine or sacrament on ritual occasions (such as each solstice, equinox or full moon).
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FALL 2007
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BESAGEMENT
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What are entheogens? They are, in the scientific sense, psycho-active substances capable of inducing visions. They are, according to our government and its laws, illicit drugs and illegal narcotics. More commonly, they are called psychedelics or hallucinogens.
But, to emphasize the CULTURALLY-INTEGRATED use of these visionary substances in tribal and traditional societies, ethnobotonists coined the term entheogens. The word ‘hallucinogen’ was inappropriate, since it suggested that the resulting vision was false - a hallucination. The word ‘psychedelic’ was too evocative of the counter-culture revolution of 60’s.
Meanwhile, entheogen meant, literally, ‘that which induces a divine experience from within’ (from the Greek ‘entheos’ - the divine within; and ‘genesthe’ - to generate or induce’). Although, in the strict sense, entheogens pertain to traditional or tribal cultures, who use them in a religious or shamanic context - many people today prefer that term, since it evokes their own personally-verified experience of these plant-substances as guides to sacred vision and awakening.
Since they have a tendency to evoke visions, the broad category of 'entheogens' would include ergolines such as LSD; MAO-inhibitors such as ayahuasca; tryptamine alkaloids such as DMT, 5-MeO-DMT and psilocybin mushrooms; and cannaboids such as marijuana and hashish.
Entheogens do not include stimulants such as amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine and nicotine. (However, certain tribal cultures use tobacco as a sacrament, and hence, as an entheogen). Nor does it normally include opioids such as heroin or morphine.
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VISIONARY REVUE
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Other words for entheogens are within reach: lucidogens, pharmacotheon. Within this very issue, the artists have uncovered a number of interesting terms: the medicine of God (Heskin), besagement (Rimmel), sacred plants of Gaia (Mirante), psylos, the flesh of the gods (Staber) and Diosa Madre Tierra (Thompson). All emphasize the essentially sacred nature of the entheogenic experience.
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THE EFFORT TO ERADICATE DRUGS
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Entheogens are visionary substances which, by definition, are CULTURALLY-INTEGRATED into their tribal and traditional societies. Meanwhile, our society is at great conflict with itself, due to its inability to integrate these substances.
On July 11th, I read my morning paper, as usual, at my local brasserie here in Paris. On the front page of Le Monde was the headline: Cannabis: une addiction française (Cannabis: a French Addiction). Another headline in Le Figaro stated: Les 'accros' au cannabis sont de plus en plus nombreux (More and More Cannabis Addicts). The article in Le Monde went on to explain that 1.2 million people in France are regular hashish smokers.
Meanwhile, each year the French government spends €36.5 million euros on its educational campaign to 'combat drugs and addiction' (la Lutte Contre les Drogues et la Toxicomanie), and a further €523.5 million euros in an effort to eradicate drugs completely.
France, which has just elected the ultra-conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, is now entering an era of Neo-Conservativism which Americans know all-too-well. After coming into office, Sarkozy arbitrarily appointed members from his own election team as the heads of France's major tv channels and newspapers.
And the results are already manifest for all to see. How else can we explain that Le Monde - one of France's most neutral and intelligent newspapers - suddenly speaks of cannabis (which is a non-addictive substance) as a French addiction? The word 'accro' used by the right-leaning Figaro does not simply mean addict, but junkie. Hence, I could have translated their headline as 'More and More Cannabis Junkies'.
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FALL 2007
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While countries like Holland and Switzerland have made steps toward integrating entheogens into their society, France has adopted the path of total repression.
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THE COUNTER-MOVEMENT
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Meanwhile, there are curious signs of a counter-movement emerging within the media itself. The European cultural channel ARTE (which is funded by the French and German governments) is offering a whole series of psychedelic films and documentaries this summer, titling it The Summer of Love.
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This television series was inspired by a large exhibition dedicated to Art of the Psychedelic Era, also called The Summer of Love. The show originated in Liverpool, then travelled to Frankfurt and Vienna before hitting New York. Last summer, I had the opportunity to see the show at the Kunsthalle in Vienna. Mati Klarwein's Aleph Chapel was on display, beside other works by Ernst Fuchs and Arik Brauer.
The most fascinating thing I learned from that exhibition is that the 60s, in fact, only lasted five years - from 1966 - 1971. Amazingly, within five years, a generation had produced a plethora of art, music and films which INTEGRATED psychedelics into our society.
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VISIONARY REVUE
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THE ENTHEOGENIC ERA
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I am not someone who looks back with wistful nostalgia on a bygone era (nor am I old enough...). I do not hope to magically re-create the mystique of the 60s. But there are certain lessons to be learned from the dissolution of that movement.
Initially, the governments of that era were quite unprepared for the cultural revolution that had suddenly exploded. But, within five years, they reacted swiftly and effectly to two important aspects of 60s counter-culture - the drugs and the demonstrations. The psychedelics were outlawed, and the police acquired new tactics for dispersing crowds.
I live in the Bastille area of Paris, which is where demonstators traditionally gather to protest (in honour of the French Revolution). On the night of Sarkozy's election, as my neighbourhood went up in flames, I had the opportunity of witnessing just how effective is France's tactical police in dispersing masses of demonstrators (violent and non-violent).
And I realized: if another cultural revolution is to occur - it won't take place on the streets. It can't. Our governments have effectively taken control over these public spaces.
Another realization came to me at the end of a ceremony with the sacred vine. During the 60's, LSD was the single, most powerful catalyzer of change, altering people's thoughts and perceptions of the world. Often, it was freely distributed at gatherings and 'be-in's.
I believe that ayahuasca - relatively unknown during the 60s - is the single, most powerful catalyzer of change in our own era. And it is much needed, since it opens our awareness to the vital, even intelligent nature of plants, animals and Nature. In times of mass environmental destruction, it provides immediate, direct and intimate contact with Nature. (Many entheogens share this empathetic quality).
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FALL 2007
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And yet, the plant has chosen her own methods for leaving the Amazon basin and integrating herself into our culture. If I speak of the plant as 'she', it is because anyone with direct experience of this plant has also become acquainted with its spirit, who is often refered to as la madre or 'grandmother'.
No one from our own generation will be freely distributing this particular entheogen at large gatherings in public parks. It is just not within the nature of la madre to introduce herself in that manner. Rather, small groups of like-minded individuals will gather in secret, usually at night, to share a shaman-led initiation into her spirit realm.
Our governments recognize the paradigm: anarchists, revolutionaries and terrorists have traditionally gathered into 'cells' as an effective way of evading capture. But, la madre doesn't need to be so elusive. The true paradigm derives from the Amazon basin: these like-minded individuals are gathering together to form 'tribes'. They are willingly returning to tribal societies, in order to achieve levels of human interaction which are genuine, supportive and caring.
And so, entheogens may be effectively INTEGRATED into our culture - not at a mass level, but through a tribal network of caring and supportive individuals.
In this manner, the revolution will take place, and the counter-culture propegate itself. Visionary art and music will also have their roles. They manifest the new worldview which is emerging, through heightened perception and integrated thinking.
The cultural revolution of the 60s swept across the world in five years. As I write these words, it is the Summer of 2007. In five years, we will reach 2012.
How we reach that momentous date - is entirely up to you.
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L. Caruana
Paris, 2007
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