Concept

Awaken the divine within you - Reach your full potential - Take responsibility for your actions

Evolution lies in the change of consciousness
Albert Hofmann


In 1964 Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert wrote "The Psychedelic Experience", a manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, intended for guiding psychedelic sessions. This work is largely based on a series of loose experiments in psychology, conducted by Dr. Timothy Leary and the Harvard Psilocybin Project.

"The Marsh Chapel Experiment" in 1962 was one example of the Project’s activities. It was run by Walter N. Pahnke, a graduate student in theology at Harvard Divinity School, under Leary’s supervision. Their aim was to see if in religiously predisposed subjects psilocybin mushrooms would act as reliable entheogen. The participants, graduate degree theology students, took part on a double-blind experiment on Good Friday. The students were randomly divided into of the students received psilocybin, while a control group received a psychoactive placebo, niacin. Nine out of ten students of the experimental group reported experiencing profound religious experiences, providing empirical support for the notion that psychedelics can facilitate religious experiences..

During the day the Psychedelic Forum will present a series of lectures and workshops discussing the issue of "Psilocybin as an Entheogen". The botanical aspect will be demonstrated by chemist and mycologist, Jochen Gartz, Ph.D., shows the historical development of mushroom cultivation and considers the possibility of the use of mushrooms in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Psychotherapist and folklorist Wolfgang Bauer will discribe the mushrooms in fairy tales, myths and shamanism in every day life.

Ethnobotanics in traditional shamanism will be explained by Christian Raetsch, Ph.D. and Roger Liggenstorfer. Smartshops and the legal sales of psychedelics will be described by Hans van Hurk, the founder of the smartshop Conscious Dreams in Amsterdam, which was the first of its kind to sell psilocybin mushrooms legally. The impact of the constitutional right of the "freedom of religion" on the classification of entheogenics in the narcotic laws, will be lustrated by Bernhard Schmithüsen, LL.D. Boris Nikolaus Hiesserer will speak about the connection between traditional shamanism and the present psychonaut rave culture. Following the lectures, we will lead a panel discussion about what happens next, where the speakers will be at your disposal for any questions.

In the evening and during the night, an audio-visual ceremony will simulate and stimulate the connectivity and synchronicity, and strengthen our desire for peace, love and empathy. The ceremony will try to recapture the acquired knowledge on a more sensual level, along with electronic music tuned to animations of sacred geometry, thought-provoking quotes and carefully selected musical performances, so the participants can adapt similar feelings and sensations of oneness and empathy experienced during a psychedelic session.