How is your French accent?
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- Thread starter Skarekrow
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How is your French accent?
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Common Dreams
Trump's Reviled Hotline for "Criminal Aliens" Flooded with Reports of UFOs
'Just tried to call to report the theft of my tractor by space cadets—on hold for 8 minutes had to abandon, will call again!'
Nadia Prupis, staff writer
One man reported that he had been abducted by a UFO. (Image: Paulo Alegria/flickr/cc)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday unveiled its controversial immigrant crime office, complete with a hotline for U.S. citizens to report alleged crimes committed by undocumented aliens—which was promptly overwhelmed with calls about extraterrestrials, UFOs, and First Lady Melania Trump.
The Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (VOICE), which was announced in February, has been slammed by critics as a tool to scapegoat and demonize immigrants to serve President Donald Trump's "nativist" rhetoric. DHS chief John Kelly introduced the office at a press conference Wednesday where he refused to take questions from reporters, stating, "There's nothing but goodness in what we're doing here today."
Opponents disagreed. And they seemed to enjoy trolling the hotline after its introduction, with one man, Marine Corps veteran and journalist Alexander McCoy, telling BuzzFeed that he reported being abducted by a UFO.
"I think it's powerful to see the response there's been. I think there are a lot of people who have been searching for something they can do to speak out, and I'm glad that so many people are showing solidarity with the immigrant community," McCoy said.
[...]
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...-hotline-criminal-aliens-flooded-reports-ufos
A voice in my head My intuition told me to post this.
Common Dreams
Trump's Reviled Hotline for "Criminal Aliens" Flooded with Reports of UFOs
'Just tried to call to report the theft of my tractor by space cadets—on hold for 8 minutes had to abandon, will call again!'
Nadia Prupis, staff writer
One man reported that he had been abducted by a UFO. (Image: Paulo Alegria/flickr/cc)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday unveiled its controversial immigrant crime office, complete with a hotline for U.S. citizens to report alleged crimes committed by undocumented aliens—which was promptly overwhelmed with calls about extraterrestrials, UFOs, and First Lady Melania Trump.
The Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office (VOICE), which was announced in February, has been slammed by critics as a tool to scapegoat and demonize immigrants to serve President Donald Trump's "nativist" rhetoric. DHS chief John Kelly introduced the office at a press conference Wednesday where he refused to take questions from reporters, stating, "There's nothing but goodness in what we're doing here today."
Opponents disagreed. And they seemed to enjoy trolling the hotline after its introduction, with one man, Marine Corps veteran and journalist Alexander McCoy, telling BuzzFeed that he reported being abducted by a UFO.
"I think it's powerful to see the response there's been. I think there are a lot of people who have been searching for something they can do to speak out, and I'm glad that so many people are showing solidarity with the immigrant community," McCoy said.
[...]
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...-hotline-criminal-aliens-flooded-reports-ufos
I remember reading once upon a time that if you do not fear dangers, nothing bad is going to happen to you. This reflects the Law of Attraction.
There is a great way of testing that hypothesis. Two people go a tropical area infested with crocs or alligators. One person is holding the camera, another goes down to the shore. What happens next?
So, basically, I am wondering if you would like to come down with me to Everglades, Skare. I am the technician.
'It gives people hope': born-again Irish beach captures world's attention
Achill islanders ready themselves for wave of tourism after reappearance of Dooagh sands washed away in storms in 1984
Irish beach reappears 33 years after being washed away
Henry McDonald Dooagh beach, Achill Island
Wednesday 10 May 2017 13.03 BST Last modified on Wednesday 10 May 2017 13.35 BST
For Achill islander Emmet Callaghan, the beach at Dooagh where he grew up sounded as mythical and unreal as Brigadoon, the mysterious Scottish village that only appears every 100 years.
The 300-metre (984ft) stretch of golden sand where his grandfather used to collect seaweed for villagers to fertilise their land was destroyed in 1984 by Atlantic storms that battered Ireland’s north-west coast – seven years before Callaghan was born.
A more benign freak of nature this Easter brought Dooagh beach back, its mysterious reappearance capturing the world’s imagination. An unusually strong tide appeared off the coast of Achill Island, dumping hundreds of tonnes of sand on the rocks and building up the beach again.
Looking out across the golden sand as he stood beside the memorial at the spot in Dooagh where Don Allum, an English oarsman, hit land after becoming the first man to row solo both ways across the Atlantic, Callaghan explained why the global media has come calling.
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Dooagh beach after a storm returned sand to it, 30 years after another storm had stripped all the sand off the beach. Photograph: Handout/Reuters
[...]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-irish-beach-dooagh-captures-worlds-attention
Achill Island beach: Dooagh beach returns, 33 years after storm washed it away - TomoNews
The Mandela effect? This is pretty big in terms of size though, affecting more than a single person.
Achill islanders ready themselves for wave of tourism after reappearance of Dooagh sands washed away in storms in 1984
Irish beach reappears 33 years after being washed away
Henry McDonald Dooagh beach, Achill Island
Wednesday 10 May 2017 13.03 BST Last modified on Wednesday 10 May 2017 13.35 BST
For Achill islander Emmet Callaghan, the beach at Dooagh where he grew up sounded as mythical and unreal as Brigadoon, the mysterious Scottish village that only appears every 100 years.
The 300-metre (984ft) stretch of golden sand where his grandfather used to collect seaweed for villagers to fertilise their land was destroyed in 1984 by Atlantic storms that battered Ireland’s north-west coast – seven years before Callaghan was born.
A more benign freak of nature this Easter brought Dooagh beach back, its mysterious reappearance capturing the world’s imagination. An unusually strong tide appeared off the coast of Achill Island, dumping hundreds of tonnes of sand on the rocks and building up the beach again.
Looking out across the golden sand as he stood beside the memorial at the spot in Dooagh where Don Allum, an English oarsman, hit land after becoming the first man to row solo both ways across the Atlantic, Callaghan explained why the global media has come calling.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
Dooagh beach after a storm returned sand to it, 30 years after another storm had stripped all the sand off the beach. Photograph: Handout/Reuters
[...]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-irish-beach-dooagh-captures-worlds-attention
Achill Island beach: Dooagh beach returns, 33 years after storm washed it away - TomoNews
The Mandela effect? This is pretty big in terms of size though, affecting more than a single person.
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Actually, I just did a quick search and found that piperine (black pepper) is also helpful. I wonder if you could create your own blend of curcumin, capsaicin, and piperine that could perhaps have the most benefit for you personally. Just a thought.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27821437
Too too funny with this line!...actually my mother is French-Canadian, Mohawk decent, lol My G-Grandmother Grace spoke French and some Iroquois, my Granddad (mom's Dad) spoke French quite well
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I'm very sorry to hear this Skarekrow, I hate to think about this.
I was wondering, with what the others suggested if eating anti-inflammatory foods and cutting out inflammatory foods could help?
Might mean less cheese though?
Or try chanting. People use it for pain relief too!
www.sgi-usa.org
Bio energetic healing (modality from Barbara Ann Brennan) Can help heal body cells and aid repair. I tried this on someone's broken arm myself once and they said it helped it heal. (I'm not properly trained, but just saying it works in healing tissue and bone etc.).
Also you could consider getting a Reiki attunement. It's relatively low cost and simple, and by the second attunment, you are able to give yourself healing, whenever you like just by placing your hands where you need the energy. Overall it'd have other benefits too.
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Hey...I will give you all fair replies over the course of the next few days.
Taking the time to really get this pain situation under control.
Like I said...if I concentrate hard enough while under meditation I can imagine it dissipating and it actually does.
Alas...it comes back...though, I’m in a better place mentally and I appreciate all the advice and suggestions thus far.
I appreciate that people give a shit.
Much love back to you all.
Will be back...this is nothing new...the X-rays I got the other day shows this along with SI Joint arthritis -
Seriously though..it’s pronounced Fa-set joint...not fas-et.
Ugh...hate it when they do that.
Taking the time to really get this pain situation under control.
Like I said...if I concentrate hard enough while under meditation I can imagine it dissipating and it actually does.
Alas...it comes back...though, I’m in a better place mentally and I appreciate all the advice and suggestions thus far.
I appreciate that people give a shit.
Much love back to you all.
Will be back...this is nothing new...the X-rays I got the other day shows this along with SI Joint arthritis -
Seriously though..it’s pronounced Fa-set joint...not fas-et.
Ugh...hate it when they do that.
Dangit! I sure do wince when I see you dealing with more pain than usual. I guess that's empathy talking. Not that I know what you're going through exactly. So...dangit all to hell I hate to see you in pain Skarekrow.
Hey.... just so you know.... When the pain goes away it means you have shifted your vibrational frequency to match a higher dimension where you are healed.
Also.... I have had some vision experiences where specific places in my body were stimulated with energy along meridian lines from my head to my toes. These were the seeds of healing.
I have also been stating my Intention out loud which says: I am assisting my body with its optimal functioning. This manner of Intention allows me to move away from defining my body's issues....to move away from me perceiving my body with issues....while also dissuading me from looking in to the future body as different than it is now.
Looking for problems and looking for improvements are the same thing. It's still a way of defining (labeling) a thing and that has limitations while keeping us locked in to thinking there is wrongness with the body.
Making the Intention with love for the fact you are assisting your body is an extremely empowering action to take.
Doing it while feeling pain is not something I have managed to do yet. But in those moments of no pain I find my Joy and make that Intention.
I am noticing a difference in my body. I feel stronger when I'm up. Less pain to longer times of no pain.
...and giggles...
I AM assisting my body with its optimum functioning. With love and gratitude for carrying me and my arrogant ass around all of these years. Hah!
Much love to you. May you have ease.
Ooph, sending much love and healing thoughts your way!❤
On a side note...with the knowledge your health insurance is crap. Here's a thought. I had facet issues in the Sacral, Lumbar and Thorasic spine. (Notice I used the word had, the issues are still there but the pain is not!) I had to really dig deep to come up with a yes to these injections, but, They are a coctail of numbing agents, pain relievers, and steroids. I dislike anything to do with steroids. After I had the shots I was grateful I took the chance on them. I'm not totally pain free, if I do too much strenuous labor and stretch my back too far I have to lay up a day or two and rest, however the daily pain is often nonexistent. Here's a vid of the procedure I had. The Doc did both sides of the facet joint in all three areas, injecting right into the nerve clusters. It works like a nerve block to some extent. I did this as a last ditch effort. Living life one day up three down was getting to be a burden.
I just know that made you chuckle, lol. Chin up my friend, hope you'll be feeling well soon...hugs and much love to you.
Ooph, sending much love and healing thoughts your way!❤
On a side note...with the knowledge your health insurance is crap. Here's a thought. I had facet issues in the Sacral, Lumbar and Thorasic spine. (Notice I used the word had, the issues are still there but the pain is not!) I had to really dig deep to come up with a yes to these injections, but, They are a coctail of numbing agents, pain relievers, and steroids. I dislike anything to do with steroids. After I had the shots I was grateful I took the chance on them. I'm not totally pain free, if I do too much strenuous labor and stretch my back too far I have to lay up a day or two and rest, however the daily pain is often nonexistent. Here's a vid of the procedure I had. The Doc did both sides of the facet joint in all three areas, injecting right into the nerve clusters. It works like a nerve block to some extent. I did this as a last ditch effort. Living life one day up three down was getting to be a burden.
The other thing I tried was a similar cocktail injected via a 5 1/2 inch needle in each hip this helped with the pain too.
A true shot in the ass
Yes...I have had a facet joint nerve ablation last year that seemed to help for a significant amount of time...just don’t like desiccating my nerves.
I get regular injections, most with steroids in them, that is why they are spaced out at 6 month intervals due to the issues that steroids can cause.
I should go back and ask for just regular lidocaine injections minus the steroids...we shall see.
This is just the newest area that is effected...it’s rampant through my SI Joints and there are most definitely some kind of nerves being pinched by arthrosis and bone spurs/whatnot....there is some narrowing of my neuroforamen (where your nerves exit the bone or spinal cord), bone spurs around the endplates of the vertebra...disc height is diminished throughout.
But also the arthritic facets are from L 3-4 down to SI...so that’s a total of 8 facet joints that are effected, just grinding on each other.
Supposedly when they fuse the pain goes away...they are well on their way...I stretch and do specific exercises for keeping the facets open...otherwise they start to form more bone spurs and adhesions that turn into bone.
The real problem is that it is Rheumatoid in nature and not osteoarthritis...so it’s actively under assault, actively inflamed...it’s not arthritis from normal wear and tear - though working as an EMT probably didn’t help.
I am curious about spinal cord stimulators and implantable pain pumps now...this is what I am researching as I used to help implant them sometimes in the OR.
I am really not in contention with it now...it’s been accepted.
Hell, my Grandfather whom I received this fantastic bit of genetic material was bedridden for almost 3 years while his whole spine fused.
Thankfully they have better treatments now.
Also, I do self-healing exercises.
From my meditations on the nature of my pain and the way I understand it now....
It’s not a matter of it healing...there is not growing back of cartilage and synovial capsules, there is no growing of cartilage that will smooth out my sacroiliac joints and my discs are not going to rehydrate.
I do agree that our mental outlook and spiritual outlook can make a huge difference.
Like I said, while under focus I can meditate the pain away...but that doesn’t last for too long (yet, maybe it will), I agree that the body can indeed heal itself, but there are certain things that just don’t heal on their own once the damage has been done...a fractured leg, will not set itself through will.
It’s a variety of things all brought together that allow us to continue on.
@Kgal
I don’t know...when you say - “The pain goes away when you raise your vibration” is sort-of frustrating to hear...and I know that isn’t how you meant it to be, you meant it as I’m doing well...and I know there is some truth to that as well...but I also feel that this experience of pain is necessary to shape part of who I am...and what do I do to keep it raised at all times?
(Just keep going as I have been?)
I feel like it is some sort of blessing in the manner that it has deepened my empathy, and allowed me to see from perspectives I never would have imagined.
I have to have that mindset otherwise I am fighting it - and I am done with that.
And I also believe that while I worked in the medical field there were certain times where I gave up a part of myself in order for that person to live, at the time there was no other choice in my mind/heart/soul, I believe that this contributed to it overall.
So I may be raising my vibrational state, like you said, when I meditate and will the pain away...but it's not something that I can maintain when I try and walk, get up and down, take a shower, etc. (ate it pretty good in the shower the other day...bruises on my knees, came down on them hard...but better that then fully eat it hehe)
I am very lucky that I was able to work, and work the high intensity jobs that I did for so many years - but they took their toll.
Carrying 300 lb. + folks up and down stairs on a gurney...doing CPR for close to an hour on occasion...lifting dead weight off the road.
Combined with the Ankylosing Spondylitis and it has made for some difficult hurdles.
Still, I am much luckier than many, many other people and I constantly remind myself of that, because pain makes you very self-centered, which is very frustrating as well to me.
There is so much I would rather be spending my thoughts, time, emotions, and effort on, yet...it often takes forced precedence.
I don’t even like spending the amount of time talking about it here as I have now.
Perhaps the meditation will continue to carry over more and more into my waking life, like you said...keep my vibrational state at a higher level.
As if that were not already incredibly difficult - adding pain into the equation makes it a real challenge sometimes.
Thanks for all your help and suggestions, I see my pain doc on Friday...so I am curious to see what he thinks about the X-rays.
Much love to you and all those who have posted material to help this situation...it is much appreciated!
Gotta run for now...TTYS!
Much love.
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Yes I wonder, that does seem like a possible solution to managing the pain.
Good luck on Friday, I come you can up with some kind of plan together.
Are you aware of coral calcium? This is just one webby about it..
http://www.polymvasurvivors.com/what_you_know_testimonials.html
This was just another thought. Dad has a series of back issues and he claims since they have him the high doses of magnesium for his vascular issue that his back feels better.
http://www.life-saving-naturalcures...tments-calcium-magnesium-boron-vitamin-d.html
I'll keep you in my thoughts and ministerings. Hoping you find continued comfort in the meditations Skarekrow. <3 hugs.
Thank you very much...feeling good about my choice of pain vs sick.
This is far more painful physically but I felt like I had congestive heart failure and was sick nearly every morning...that was originally why I began to meditate on a daily basis.
I can handle the physical pain...bring it.
Very interesting...magnesium is also a precursor that is necessary for dopamine production (happiness neurochemical), and gives me the shits...hence Milk of Magnesia.
Still, don’t think I’m writing you off, I am keeping all these suggestions that you and @Wyote and @Kgal and @LittleLissa @Tin Man have been so gracious and kind to take the time and show they are compassionate creatures.
I should give glucosamine and MSM and all the old standby OTC herbs and shit a run-through again, now that I’m off the biologic medication.
There is a chance that I could react very differently, also since it has moved up my spine more and out of my SI joints as actively.
Again...thank you...every suggestion is taken seriously and once I am rich I will try them all!!
Hahaha.
Cause shits way expensive medication wise right?
They really gotta do something about that...if they don’t then people will force them.
I see it very black and white at this point - do it or you’re gonna get fucked.
Anyhow, I’ll leave that image in you head, lol.
Much love,
M
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This is probably partially due to my conversation about raising your vibration with @Kgal
So I was finishing up my meditations for the day today and was very happily surprised when the vibratory stage before an OOBE began (Because it has been a while too).
I almost lost it...I mean I even reached up and scratched my face for an itch and yet the vibrations persisted which was very peculiar.
As with almost every time this happens the first thing to pop in my head is - I must not be breathing, my heart must have stopped.
So you have to remain focused and stay there for a moment until you realize - Hey, it’s okay that I don’t register my breathing, my body is asleep, my soul doesn’t need to breathe - your astral body doesn’t need to breathe or have a heart beat.
Once I became okay with that I let the vibrations intensify and began to hear all the associated voices/noises...so many voices this time, as if I were in a crowded room...anyhow, I jumped up out of my body at that moment and stood there waiting for my vision to come to me....and I waited, then as I grew frustrated I lost cohesion.
Anyhow...still a fantastic experience...the vibratory stage this time was really loud...cause I had my earbuds in and binaural beats playing.
And the sound is not coming from inside your head...I could point to you where or what room this or that noise at that time is.
I suppose it could come from in you head...but it never presents itself that way...it always sounds like it’s external in source.
When it caught me off guard once I thought I heard yelling from the kitchen and pulled off my earbuds and opened my eyes twice before I realized what this yelling was.
Anyhow...it is my own opinion that this is the barrier or border that our consciousness passes through on it’s way out of the brain/body, where you can hear and even tap into the collective consciousness...the supposed Akashic records.
I think I jumped up too soon...need to stabilize or intensify the vibrations next time.
So I was finishing up my meditations for the day today and was very happily surprised when the vibratory stage before an OOBE began (Because it has been a while too).
I almost lost it...I mean I even reached up and scratched my face for an itch and yet the vibrations persisted which was very peculiar.
As with almost every time this happens the first thing to pop in my head is - I must not be breathing, my heart must have stopped.
So you have to remain focused and stay there for a moment until you realize - Hey, it’s okay that I don’t register my breathing, my body is asleep, my soul doesn’t need to breathe - your astral body doesn’t need to breathe or have a heart beat.
Once I became okay with that I let the vibrations intensify and began to hear all the associated voices/noises...so many voices this time, as if I were in a crowded room...anyhow, I jumped up out of my body at that moment and stood there waiting for my vision to come to me....and I waited, then as I grew frustrated I lost cohesion.
Anyhow...still a fantastic experience...the vibratory stage this time was really loud...cause I had my earbuds in and binaural beats playing.
And the sound is not coming from inside your head...I could point to you where or what room this or that noise at that time is.
I suppose it could come from in you head...but it never presents itself that way...it always sounds like it’s external in source.
When it caught me off guard once I thought I heard yelling from the kitchen and pulled off my earbuds and opened my eyes twice before I realized what this yelling was.
Anyhow...it is my own opinion that this is the barrier or border that our consciousness passes through on it’s way out of the brain/body, where you can hear and even tap into the collective consciousness...the supposed Akashic records.
I think I jumped up too soon...need to stabilize or intensify the vibrations next time.
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You are always welcome. All of us are going to wish you well I think, all that energy has to be useful, ehe ?
Meds are expensive and cost is growing my friend. I don't see it slowing down anytime soon either. Hopeful the shots provide you comfort ... leave me with that image, hell, I'm scratching my eyes now reading your reaction to magnesium, lol Take care, love hugs ❤
We know that you can do it, Skare. (Referring to your healing.)
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Terence McKenna Explains How to
Smash the Modern World
ANDREI BURKE
Terence McKenna, psychedelic legend, explains why modern culture and the mainstream media are not your friends, and how to free yourself from their control
Smash the Modern World
ANDREI BURKE
Terence McKenna, psychedelic legend, explains why modern culture and the mainstream media are not your friends, and how to free yourself from their control
The late psychedelic theorist Terence McKenna (check out his books here) is one of the biggest—perhaps the very biggest—heroes of the psychedelic counterculture.
For decades, his books and recorded talks have guided generations of seekers to question their culture and get back in touch with the deep psychedelic wisdom of their ancestors—and, as McKenna put it, to experience an “Archaic Revival,” a return to shamanism and direct experience of life, nature and altered states of consciousness.
McKenna was not a fan of modern culture.
Like many spiritual thinkers before him, including Timothy Leary, Colin Wilson, G. I. Gurdjieff, William S. Burroughs and so many others, Terence McKenna considered culture to be a control mechanism which keeps people’s consciousness locked down into a robotic grid, unable to achieve its true potential.
In the video below, McKenna explains that culture serves a select group of people and institutions by extolling the sovereignty of the individual while abusing that individual to become a part of a greater machine.
Culture, thought McKenna, creates a double consciousness in the individual in which they must reconcile their lived experience with the experience they are force-fed by the dominating power structure.
To accept a cultural identity is to accept a set of beliefs and practices that might be antithetical to the growth of the individual and society.
This can be seen in nearly every aspect of Western civilization, from media saturated consumer culture to the oppressive cultures that are predominant in postmodern discourse.
Through platforms like corporate news and social media, corporate culture divides individuals into two halves of a schizophrenic whole—the sovereign being with free will and the commoditized being who buys the latest products and votes for the best candidates.
Individuality itself is the greatest commodity of all, and this mass fragmenting of the self creates a constant cycle of needy users looking for their chance to be somebody.
We are always offered a second chance to become a better individual with fancier opinions.
A primary mechanism of culture’s control, of course, has always been television and the legacy media.
In the video below, McKenna delivers a diatribe on what makes television one of the most destructive drugs on the planet.
The audio of McKenna’s talk has been paired with the visuals from the music video to the song “Vicarious” by Tool, which in part were designed by Alex Grey.
Terence McKenna, Tool
In the talk, McKenna quotes media theorist Marshall McLuhan’s oft misunderstood dictum, “The medium is the message.”
The meaning of the statement, according to McKenna, is that media is the the thing that makes the difference.
It really doesn’t matter if you are watching Game of Thrones or Cosmos, or whether you get your news from FOX or MSNBC.
What matters is that you’re watching television.
It all comes out of the same sewer.
McKenna likens television to a drug, noting that if you put a viewer in front of a TV set for 20 minutes there will be noticeable physiological and neurological effects in a similar matter to how narcotics like heroin alter their users’ body chemistry.
And it can certainly be as addictive as hardcore narcotics.
While (certain) drugs can act like a mirror by effecting introspection in the user, television acts like a billboard with a sponsored message.
Television is a drug in which the dealer controls the trip, à la the titular villain in Philip K. Dick’s The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
We’re not really off the hook on the Internet, either.
The lingo has even begun to resemble that of drugs.
Where TV shows have viewers, websites have users.
And the social media platform has given the dealers even more control over your trip.
Your status update really amounts to nothing more than a free billboard.
Once in a while you may post something that makes you feel like a special unique individual, but most of the time you are just selling yourself to a brand.
In addition to this, Facebook was recently caught conducting psychological tests on its users to find out which emotions are most easily manipulated for clicks.
And then there’s that creepy new messenger app…
We’re getting to that point in our media addiction where the drugs seem to be turning on us.
As we move further into the 21st century, and watch our culture and media mutate into newer and stranger forms (albeit while still following the same basic control patterns), we would be wise to bear McKenna’s insights in mind, and remember that the Archaic Revival is always just a drive to the woods (and, er, a few dried grams) away.
Could psychedelics become an accepted treatment for mental health problems?
Magic mushrooms contain chemical compounds thought to work as a treatment for depression
Guy Kelly
16 MAY 2017 • 2:16PM
Magic mushrooms contain chemical compounds thought to work as a treatment for depression
Guy Kelly
16 MAY 2017 • 2:16PM
A few years ago, if you were to tell most people suffering from a serious mental health problem that their ills could be cured with a spot of Class A drugs, they might think you’ve, well, taken something.
Aided by a slew of recent scientific studies, however, the perception of many of many illegal substances – from LSD to ecstasy – as having no medicinal benefit is beginning to change.
Earlier this month, for instance, US researchers found that ketamine might reduce rates of depression.
In April, scientists at the University of Sussex and Imperial College, London, discovered what is believed to be the first concrete evidence for psychedelic drugs inducing a heightened state.
And at the beginning of the year, articles promoting the idea of 'microdosing' drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms appeared all over the internet.
If the movement is surprising to some, for Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss and March, it's all a case of I-told-you-so.
“I think we’re turning a corner, or have done in the last three or four years. I’ve always thought that the very best science can shine a telescope on how these things have their effect and work wonders. It’s still a very new area, but people are finally paying it the attention it deserves,” she says.
For the past half a century, she has given her life over to the research and ultimately promotion of psychedelic substances as beneficial therapeutic aids.
There’ve been ups and downs, but recent times have brought long overdue success.
Last summer, Feiding, together with scientists at Imperial College, organised a clinical trial in which a dozen volunteers with previously incurable depression were induced into psychedelic trips using psilocybin, a hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms.
Impressively, results showed that 67% of participants were free of depression one week after treatment, and 42% remained so at the three-month mark.
"People used to say I was mad"
Its offices exist in a converted cowshed within the grounds of Beckley Park, a vast Tudor Hunting Lodge on the verge of a fen in Oxfordshire.
Feilding, 73, whose family descend from the House of Habsburg, grew up in the property and still lives there with her husband, Jamie Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss and 9th Earl of March (from whom she took her title when the couple married in 1995).
Beckley Park is encased on three sides by moats, its mile-long driveway piercing a thickness of meadows and woodland.
Cut off from the outside world, it’s here where, as the youngest of four siblings at home in the 1950s, Feilding first experienced the transformative power of the human brain.
“I was very isolated in these grounds,” she says, gesturing to the view from a large, ornate window.
“We had no heating, so I would spend my time mooching around the garden feeling quite lonely, and one thought a lot about oneself a lot. Every child has mystical experiences with nature, but perhaps I had more. It was a state I loved: losing my identity.”
Feilding at home during the 1960s
For three years she explored the Middle East and India – including three weeks spent alone with a nomadic Yemeni tribe – and returned intermittently to receive private tutoring in Islam and comparative religions from Oxford professors.
During this time, studying in Oxford in 1960, Feilding was introduced to drugs.
“There was a group of older undergraduates who had been in the Korean War, and in their university lodgings they gave me a smoke of cannabis,” she says. “I remember it vividly – Ray Charles was playing, and I heard the music so deeply that I felt moved.”
Feilding became an on-off cannabis user, yet only became interested in the power of psychedelics when friends introduced her to LSD in 1965.
A year later she met Bart Huges, a Dutch scientist who taught her about the science behind her experiences, triggering what would become a lifelong fascination.
“Before I met Bart I’d been thinking about the art and beauty of drugs, but once he’d explained the mysteries of altered consciousness I was captivated. Finding out more was all I wanted to do.”
Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss and March
Undeterred, she pressed on with her own, often controversial, writings and analyses of drugs and consciousness over the next 25 years.
One, in 1970, gained particular notoriety.
With her then partner, Joe Mellen (with whom she went on to have two sons, Rock and Cosmo), Feilding explored the power of trepanation, an ancient practice involving the drilling of a burr hole through the skull in order to improve cerebral circulation, doing so herself for a bizarre, bloody short film.
The story has followed her around since, giving rise to dismissals from academics that she is merely an eccentric aristocrat.
Feilding admits the film looked “ghoulish”, but still believes further research into trepanation has the potential to reveal its benefits for Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers.
The war on drugs is a waste of time, Feilding believes
Through The Beckley Foundation, which works in partnership with various senior figures in science and is supported by four or five staff, Feilding has spent the last two decades working tirelessly to change the perception of drugs around the world, from advising international governments to commissioning ground-breaking studies.
Feilding’s breakthrough study last year gives credence to the idea that, when administered in a safe, controlled environment, drugs previously thought a menace to society could be used for emphatic good.
In fact, she believes things like LSD, magic mushrooms and MDMA may have the power to cause “awakenings” in the brain that could make, mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD and even degenerative brain diseases all potentially treatable.
Yet while the medical community are now largely on side, and ‘microdosing’ is becoming more widely known, lawmakers remain steadfast.
“The ‘war on drugs’ is a completely false battle. Sensible drugs policies should help people, not punish them, meaning we should move towards a system of regulation and education rather than outlawing everything,” says Feilding, who is not in favour of total decriminalisation but believes many substances need to be downgraded to allow for medical experimentation.
“At the moment a psilocybin dose costs £1500 because providers have to clear so many hoops to deliver it. That needs to change.”
(Skarekrow - about 40 or 50 $$s on the street for a good portion)
She has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the world's first study on LSD 'microdosing' –taking minute doses of LSD to enhance cognition, increase creativity and alleviate depression.
After half a century of often fruitless research, people are finally beginning to accept her theories.
“I get a lot of people coming up to me now and say, ‘Gosh, Amanda, I used to think you were mad! Now I can see you were right all along…’
“That can be frustrating, but I think if society had a more open and realistic attitude to drugs, we’d all be happier,” Feilding says, cheerfully.
“As I say, we’re at a turning point now and have a chance to make real progress, but there’s lots more work to be done.”
Kulning
How to call a wild swan with traditional Swedish singing.
We were visiting my mother in laws little cabin by the sea.
My husband, who is a photographer, recently bought a new camera and wanted to compare the sound quality from his phone and camera.
So he asked me if I could "kula" over the water so he could record it.
This way of singing is an old nordic tradition.
It was used by women to call in the cattle and to communicate over big distances in the forest and mountains.
Cows and cats use to react by being curios when I call but I have never seen a bird react before.
Kulning är ett sångsätt man använde förr i världen för att locka på kor.
Men jag kunde aldrig i min vildaste fantasi föreställa mig att en svan och hennes unge skulle komma när jag ropade!
How to call a wild swan with traditional Swedish singing.
We were visiting my mother in laws little cabin by the sea.
My husband, who is a photographer, recently bought a new camera and wanted to compare the sound quality from his phone and camera.
So he asked me if I could "kula" over the water so he could record it.
This way of singing is an old nordic tradition.
It was used by women to call in the cattle and to communicate over big distances in the forest and mountains.
Cows and cats use to react by being curios when I call but I have never seen a bird react before.
Kulning är ett sångsätt man använde förr i världen för att locka på kor.
Men jag kunde aldrig i min vildaste fantasi föreställa mig att en svan och hennes unge skulle komma när jag ropade!