Part four of Kurt’s journey in Nayarit, taking peyote on a ranch Read more →
Tag: psychedelics
Peyote Trip on Scorpion Ranch part 3
Out on a ranch, thinking about the history of peyote and how it was once used in battle Read more →
Peyote Trip on Scorpion Ranch part 2
Kurt talks to a wizened conspiracy theorist and starts to try peyote out on a ranch in rural Mexico Read more →
Nayarit Peyote Adventure: Episode 164
The Story: Peyote journey in Mexico
A few weeks ago, I (Kurt) decided to take a short trip out onto a ranch in Nayarit, about 4 or 5 hours from my home in Guadalajara, in a native American community. Once upon a time, peyote was an important tradition for the Wixárika (Huichol) people in this region, and they would walk for about ten days to arrive at the sacred site of Wirikuta – known as the birthplace of the earth – crossing almost directly over the mountains to perform the pilgrimage. Nowadays, almost nobody in this community takes this sacrament, though many who live closer to Wirikuta still partake, and some native Americans even eat peyote every day, from the time they are children.
According to the mythology of the Wixárika people, the tribe was once lost and without food, and sent off a group of young men to forage. As the scouts were wandering in the desert, they saw something very strange – a blue deer. They took it as an omen, followed the deer, and realised that the animal was sustaining itself by eating a certain cactus that grew close to the earth – peyote. If you notice a blue deer in some artwork, you can be sure that the artist is Wixárika, and is referring to this myth.
In this episode, Kurt tells the story of taking peyote out on the ranch, explains what visions he had, why the peyote told him not to take peyote, about how so much of our lives is based around our interpretation – to the extent that we don’t even see the interpretations.
Join us on another star-gazing episode of … The Paradise Paradox!
The Eps:
The Links:
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
Kurt on Anarchast – Living Freely and Enjoying the Ride
The Story: Kurt is interviewed by Jeff Berwick on Anarchast
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Jeff Berwick, known for his media outlet “The Dollar Vigilante” and his channel “Anarchast” in which he interviews notable anarchists, almost always beginning the interview with the question “How did you become an anarchist?”
I’ve been listening to the Anarchast for years, and hoping that one day I would be able to appear on it, so when Jeff asked me, my answer was an emphatic “Hell yes.”
I figured that, to make the interview entertaining for Jeff and for the thousands of listeners, I’d better prepare carefully, thinking about what would be engaging for them. So in the couple of weeks leading up to the interview, I wrote out many drafts thinking about how I would describe my journey of becoming an anarchist, “Free man on the land” type ideas and how they lead me to question authority, about the freedom that people enjoy in Mexico (despite its flaws), the anti-authoritarianism that exists here, spiritual experiences, and how life is full of wonders.
The Eps:
See the world with new eyes – Episode 147
Jeff Berwick: The Dollar Vigilante – Episode 77
Sterlin Lujan: Compassionate anarchy – Episode 156
The Links:
The Dollar Vigilante on YouTube
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
Shamanic Aliens: Luis Fernando Mises – Episode 146
The Story: Luis Fernando Mises of Emancipated Human talks about his experience with ETs
Everyone at some stage in their life has looked up at the stars and wondered if there’s someone there, looking back. Certain organisations have spent millions of dollars on satellite dishes and radio telescopes, trying to find proof of life on another world. Yet, what if there was a technology that humans had used for thousands of years, which enabled us to contact extraterrestrial beings? What if, by putting our minds into a certain state, we could access the wisdom of the universe, and over the course of a few hours, receive knowledge that we couldn’t expect to receive from years of regular study?
In this episode, Luis Fernando Mises of Emancipated Human tells us about his experiences talking to extraterrestrial or interdimensional beings, through the use of entheogens – powerful shamanic medicines such as ayahuasca and huachuma, which have allowed him to have fascinating visions, bringing his subconscious mind to the surface. We also talk about his spiritual dance battle with a malicious spirit that has affected the life of a loved one, stretching back generations. We talk about his experience at a conference for CEOs, how they want to change the world by reducing the power of the state, and how capitalism is aligned with spirituality – because it involves service to others.
Join us in the next star-faring episode of … The Paradise Paradox!
The Eps:
Shamans with Guns: Luis Fernando Mises – Episode 96
Peyote Spaceship Part 1 – Episode 118
Peyote Spaceship Part 2 – Episode 119
Mental illness and shamanic experiences – The Andrarchy Show episode 1
The Links:
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
Synchronicity – Leandrew Dixon
Leandrew tells a story about a day full of synchronicities that made him wonder what was going on in the universe.
Watch or listen to the full episode here L-Dixon: Believer to atheist to wonderer- The Paradise Paradox Episode 143
Transcript
I used to be this straight-edge atheist character, and now, having experimented with psychedelics, witnessed synchronicities – I’m still sort of agnostic, but I highly and strongly believe that there is something greater going on than what we currently understand.
I feel like I had become a different person in a way – completely diametrically opposed to where I was before.
The Ouroboros – the snake eating its own tail – it represents rebirth, and cycles. To me, that kind of represented the fact that I had come around intellectually, to start to devour my old ideas – the old picture of reality I had. It’s like, that’s bullshit, that’s almost as much of a religion as the religions I was so opposed to. So I made the decision to go get these tattoos, the Ouroboros tattoos. That day, I wanted to get Carl Jung’s book “Synchronicity”, because he’s the one who coined the term and I just thought it would be a cool thing to read. I went to Barnes & Noble and I picked up the book, and I noticed that he has his book “Man and his Symbols” right next to it. I picked that up and go to flip it to a random page, completely random page in the middle of the book, and it’s the fucking Ouroboros. I have the synchronicity book in my left hand, and that day I’m going to get these tattoos, and I flip open this book randomly and it’s the Ouroboros. It was just a mindfuck that I couldn’t deny.
It was just one of those things. I know my personal experiences and synchronicities – they aren’t really a testament to the larger reality, they’re not “proof” of anything, but it was like a sense of internal validation that, there’s something more going on, that I want to dive into and try to figure out and understand as much as I can.
Anyway, later that day, I go and get the tattoo, still have the books in my car. The tattoo artist is just starting, doing the head. He randomly mentions to me “Hey, you know what, I’d rather be just running through the forest and tripping on mushrooms.” And at the time I had a pretty large supply of mushrooms, so I’m like, “You’re talking to the right person – we can make this happen.” I ended up paying for my tattoos with the mushrooms on the day I grabbed the synchronicity book and opened up the page with the Ouroboros… It was just a mindfuck.
Ayahuasca: You don’t have to hike through the Amazon or pay $11,000
I’ve noticed a few times that when I post articles and videos about ayahuasca in Facebook groups, occasionally I’ll get a rather unexpected and violent reaction, talking about how ayahuasca is an experience for the elite only, that the cost is prohibitive, and when will regular people be able to try this experience which purports to be so life-changing.
When I first saw these comments, I was a little confused, as I’ve taken ayahuasca two times (here in Mexico), and both times it cost somewhere in the realm of $60 USD – more than an LSD trip surely, and perhaps more than a night at the movies, but not exactly in the realm of “maybe if I take out a second mortgage…”
My perspective changed when my buddy Aaron pointed out how the media portrays ayahuasca – with all the poetic visions that go along with it – hiking through the jungle, travelling by canoe along the Amazon to reach a 70 year old shaman holding a palm tree shaker, speaking in an incomprehensible native American tongue, which he later uses to sing incantations, conjuring tigers by the campfire.
Or people read about it in articles like this one from Business Insider casually mentioning the figure of $11,000 without explaining that, well, you don’t have to pay that much.
In an ideal world…
Of course, in an ideal world, everyone would be able to take this mystic medicine with a shaman who has a 1,000 year lineage, after a month of eating a pure vegan diet, abstaining from X, Y and Z, meditating every day, with spiritual guidance on hand… But, if you can’t get the ideal conditions, sometimes it’s best to just fucking do it. And you can do it.
Solutions
I’m told that in the US, you can take a ceremony for around $400. In Europe, about €300 – still rather expensive for some. However, new groups are popping up all the time, and that’s sure to drive the price down.
In some countries, you can order the plants online to make the medicine for yourself or find a supplier who makes the brew ready-to-use.
As I said, both times I’ve taken it so far, it cost about $60 USD – 1100 MXN, and for that I slept on the floor of a shaman’s house on my sleeping bag, listening to musicians play hymns and ícaros. But for someone looking for a more all-inclusive experience, I know of at least one group in Mexico which will provide a 3 day retreat with food, accommodation, psychotherapy, and complementary medicines such as rapé, for around 6000 pesos or $310 USD.
Ayahuasca isn’t yet something that you can obtain with extreme ease in a lot of the world. But it is getting cheaper, and it is getting more accessible. When the media tells you that you have to travel to a Peruvian jungle – don’t believe the hype.
Disclaimer
This article is for entertainment purposes only; don’t take it as medical advice. If you are going to do ayahuasca, do your research, and especially be aware that psychotropic drugs can interfere with the medicine, introducing serious risks.
L-Dixon: Believer to Atheist to Wonderer – Episode 143
The Story: Hardcore atheist goes on a spiritual quest
Many people in the world grow up with a religion, believing in a certain interpretation of God. When they get a little older and start asking questions, they might notice that those people who are supposed to be the authority on the subject don’t know quite as much as they pretended. This young truthseeker has to face the sad fact that he’s been tricked, that the world is a little different compared to what they told him in Sunday school.
Such a strong disappointment is hard to take, and may be a formative experience. Determined to avoid such feelings, he says “I’ll never be fooled again!” and, going a step further, he says “I’ll never believe in anything again!” He becomes a hardened atheist and skeptic, determined to make sure that everyone knows that magic and miracles are just for children’s stories.
The years pass by, and eventually he sees some strange things happen. He takes psychedelics, and within the course of a few hours, he sees his life from a completely different perspective. He begins to notice coincidences which make him start to question whether he’s been missing something. He’s no longer content to accept just anything, nor to reject everything. Instead, he keeps asking questions, thinking about “what if” and considering ideas “as if true”. He becomes a wonderer.
In this episode, Kurt interviews Leandrew Dixon, a man who has taken this path and enriched his life because of it. Join us both on the next paradigm-shattering episode of… The Paradise Paradox!
The Links:
L-Dixon on Anarchast with Jeff Berwick
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
What drugs do you use to contact aliens? – Episode 131
The Story: Using psychedelics to contact extraterrestrials
Many people believe that it’s possible, and even likely, that intelligent life exists outside of our little planet. However, when it comes looking at potential evidence, many would prefer to dismiss it. To find evidence of something which, to us, might be bizarre, we have to look at the bizarre, diving in to the unexpected. We have to consider evidence of UFOs, strange structures on Mars, and mediums channelling interstellar communciations – and, we should consider that maybe, they might contact us even more directly, by telepathic communication instigated by powerful hallucinogenic drugs. Could peyote or LSD help you to receive such a communication? In this video I make the case that, maybe they could.
The Links:
Aliens and Drugs: Can psychedelics be used to contact beings from out of this world?
UFOS: Generals, pilots and government officials go on the record by Leslie Kean
Symmetry and geometry of the face on Mars revealed
Aliens could be staring us in the face – Royal astronomer
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.