Psychedelic Festivals in the Planetary Era

Abstract of Anthropology Thesis by Ana Flávia Nogueira Nascimento

Nowadays, a new social phenomenon known as global psychedelic trance movement has been gaining more and more incomers in the whole world through ritualistic festivities focused on an electronic music style, called psychedelic trance which stimulates dancing and the altered states of consciousness, also integrating psychedelic art, nature and use of psychoactive substances that act in the physical, emotional and spiritual mind.
In this fluid and virtual context that has been reached by the most recent technological discoveries is the Psychedelic Art, which has now been embraced mostly by certain "computerized" youth sector, which makes use of signs and symbols that marks them in the contemporary scenario. The speed of getting information, now accessible through means of communication and their digital technology enables global social spaces related to new informational processes, creating new ways of amusement and interpersonal relations.
This article is the result of a two-year observation process held in the "Psychedelic Festivals" which took place in Brazil between 2003 and 2005. The result is an analysis concerning how in a contemporary society, surrounded by technology, speed, globalization of information and by the permeability of cultures, the experiences in mind expansion relate with cyber culture and with the spread of the Psychedelic Art throughout planet Earth - Planetary Era.

Link to thesis (portuguese)

PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY

PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY on The History Channel(R)

"Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey" Airing on The History Channel, April 20, 2008 @ 8:00pm. (PRNewsFoto/Gryphon Productions Inc.)

VANCOUVER, BC UNITED STATES

Premieres on The History Channel(R) Sunday, April 20, 8-10pm ET/PT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- From Amazon
jungles to the American Plains, British mental wards, Swiss labs, New York
mansions and Grateful Dead shows, the history of hallucinogenic drugs is as
fantastic as the visions the drugs produce. Wade Davis, is a modern-day
anthropologist, author ("The Serpent and the Rainbow") and protege of one
of psychedelia's most intrepid forefathers -- Richard Evans Schultes. Davis
traces Schultes' life's work as one of the greatest botanist-explorers of
the 20th century and reveals an illustrated history of the world's most
mind-altering plants and substances in: PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC
ODYSSEY, premiering Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The
History Channel(R).

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080402/LAW501)

Winner of the prestigious 2008 CINE Golden Eagle Award, the documentary
follows the career of Schultes, who journeyed into far-flung areas in
search of ritualistic healing medicines known to produce powerful visions:
Peyote, mushrooms, Ayahuasca. Davis, a former student of Schultes at
Harvard and author of Schultes' biography ("One River"), travels to the
exotic locations Schultes once voyaged to, seeking the same experiences.

Along the way, set to the music of the Grateful Dead and featuring
input from experts such as Dead co-founder Bob Weir, plus Dr. Andrew Weil,
and LSD inventor Dr. Albert Hofmann, the documentary reveals how
hallucinogens got from jungle shamans to the hippie generation. Questions
arise about the attitude toward psychedelics: their great potential
benefits versus perceived harmful side effects. Why is it that so many
ancient cultures consider hallucinogenic plants -- a medicine given from
God, while in today's culture they are outlawed, and even reviled. PEYOTE
TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY is a long, strange trip that began decades
ago, but is probably nowhere near its end. Even now, new uses for
hallucinogens are being sought and tested by leading universities and
medical institutions.

PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY is produced and directed by Peter
von Puttkamer of Gryphon Productions Inc. along with producer Sheera von
Puttkamer and co-producer Wade Davis. Executive Producer for The History
Channel is Michael Stiller. An exhibit of Richard Evans Schultes'
photographs will run at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
in Washington, DC, April 16 - November, 2008. See the trailer at
http://www.gryphonproductions.com or on YOU TUBE.


SOURCE Gryphon Productions Inc.