the head shop

I am unequivocally and without reservation DO NOT advocate the use of mind altering or illegal drugs by anyone. The information on this page is expressly NOT intended for children.

Electric Kool-aid - Kesey

Be Here Now

Leary

On the road/Dharma bums - Kerouac

Catcher in the Rye

Vonnegut

Brautigan

Kotzwinkle

Divine Right's Trip

Whole Earth Catalog

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Naked Lunch

I was way too young to be reading this humorous, non-linear and often highly disturbed novel. This is not for the easily offend, or even the not-so-easily offended. Some of his nightmarish visions of addiction and deviant sexuality will haunt you for the rest of your life. Fair warning.

The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead

Tibetan Book of the Dead

Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream

The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out

The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell

Center of the Cyclone - John C. Lilly, MD Dolphins, sensory deprivation, virtual reality Set and setting.

The experience of my youth has had a profound impact on my life and my thinking, but it was not without huge risk to my health and mental well-being. ;

The mental risks are real. This stuff is extremely powerful and should not be used by anyone who does not feel completely comfortable with him/herself as a centered, whole being. Personality imperfections are often magnified to extremes under certain substances. Leary's instructions about "set and setting" are crucial to the experience. My experimentations were always done in an environment where I felt completely safe and with people I trusted. I would no sooner drop acid and go to a headbanger rock and roll rave than I would put a gun to my head. I tried to approach each experience as a religious sacrament, done with deep respect and clarity. The physical risks are also real. When made in illegal labs and/or distributed via unknown routes from manufacture to end-user (which is normal), all sorts of heinous things can happen to these substances. You cannot know if you are getting what you are told, or what the dosage is, or what other chemicals may be hiding in them. LSD and other psychedelics in tablet or capsule form were often mixed (or 'cut') with stimulants or opiates or even poisons. The risks are great enough when you have complete certainty of what you have and how it will affect you, which is rare.

This page is created by Dwight Newton/ORISCUS, ©2005.

Last updated: 03/09/2005