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ShamanicFreedomRadio episode 18:

In this episode, Opaque points out that he nearly went too far with ayahuasca and should know better than to go to Syd Barrett reality. He carries on his chinwag with Martin Ball, and this week topics include theism vs atheism, the mysteries of consciousness, the deorwellisation of language,  geographical and climate anomalies which could be forms of consciousness, and the possibility of psychedelics being used to expand the vocabulary of chimps!

Opaque then reads emails from Adam from Psychonautilus about his Native American initiations, and Wolf and Malbat talking about the Aeolus Kephas podcasts.

Opaque then reminds everyone to prepare for next week's episode which will have an interview with Ralph Metzner.

Music by Air.

In this episode Opaque starts by reading an email by Neil Kramer relating to the 'is it ok to call yourself a shaman?' debate. He then reads a very intelligent email from listener William. During the chat with Martin Ball many topics are covered such as American Drug laws, the change in British law in 2005 concerning magic mushrooms, and the possibility of Salvia following suit, as it is in some American states; the cognitive dissonance of drug taboos offset against alcohol and antidepressant availability, and the dangers that manifest as a result; the way the obsolete model of reality of conformity, debt slavery etc looks like it is about to be replaced by alternative systems such as bartering; the Santo Daime church as a recognised religion in Oregon, and how ayahuasca can penetrate through to the truth, how psychedelics can cure or prevent migraines. Finally Martin talks about how although there is a grand unified theory of the mind and brain, there is no explanation for consciousness in mainstream academic/Darwinian models, and how psychedelics are an important part of understanding consciousness.

In the aftermath of the chat with Martin Ball, Opaque reminds people that in future episode 19, Ralph Metzner will be on the show.

Music by the prodigy.

In this episode, Opaquelens goes into detail about his recent problem when busking, the fact that he faces the second seizure of his guitar and the possibility of an arrest and ASBO (for the non UK listeners, ASBO stands for AntiSocial Behaviour Order). Opaque goes into detail of how the authorities are acting unlawfully, followed by explaining his masterplan for a future career as a tour guide if all goes well. After a musical interlude, Opaque discusses why it should not be taboo to refer to oneself as a shaman if one's reasons are right, and gives his own perspective of how he is a Doctor Who style interloper character who is always on the edge of everything, whether it be counterculture or mainstream, and how that reflects the role of a shaman adapted to a Western context. After playing a talk by Terence McKenna about smoking DMT, Opaque reads out a few emails and comments from Sharon, Adam of Psychonautilus, and Glint.

Music by Hawkwind and Ozric Tentacles.

In this installment Opaque opens up by thanking everyone for the inspiring emails and the sudden surge in donations that he was not expecting. Also he announces that Lorenzo of the Psychedelic Salon has confirmed himself as a fan of this podcast!
During the talk with Aeolus Kephas, the subjects covered range from conspracies to aliens to psychedelics and even autism.  Unfortunately the interview suffered a bit from the mic quality due to a recording error, at Opaque's end but it works out ok and is listenable enough.
In the aftermath of part 1 of the interview, Opaque announces that he has recently interviewed Ralph Metzner, who will be featured on a future podcast.

Music by Shivkumar Sharma

http://shamanicfreedomradio.podomatic.com

In episode 12, Opaque interviews Alexander Beiner, who goes by the alias 'Ozritt' on the Grow Report forums, about his soon to be released book 'Beyond the Basin'. The conversation then goes off on a tangent where Alex talks about a mushroom trip in Maastricht, Holland, and how sad it is that the Dutch laws have tightened up.  Other things discussed are an idea for shamanic training being incorporated into Western culture, bees disappearing, neotenization of the human species in the Western world, ayahuasca tourism and its pitfalls, and many more topics. An 'entire sweetshop in a single box' conversation! Listen out for the joke: How does Terence McKenna acquire milk from a cow? To find out the answer, listen to this podcast! Those not in the psychedelic community will probably not get it!

In the aftermath, Opaque explains how to find the archived off copies of these podcasts, plugs his myspace page, talks about future podcasts in the pipeline, which include already recorded interviews with Aeolus Kephas from the 'Stormy Weather' podcast, and Martin Ball from 'Entheogenic Evolution'.

Music by Groove Armada

In episode 11 Opaque opens us by revealing that he has just had a lifechanging ayahuasca experience, and feels that no only has he had a 'firmware update' but also an operating system update too! He then plays a recording of theinterview he conducted with Neil Kramer from http://thecleaver.blogspot.com.
In this chat, many topics are covered, particularly about the ego and how it takes over in the material world, at the expense of the more refined self. Neil explains that from an early age he had a negative reaction to the hoarding of material stuff, status and prestige, and instead of conforming to mainstream teenage youth culture, he got into reading philosophy. The conversation veers towards such as Bill Hicks's comed, the effects of energy points such as Avebury and Glastonbury, and how sometimes you can go to a sacred site like a stone circle, and that it will revitalise you or sap your energy,  or amplify what one would feel based on how they were when they arrived in these places.

Music by Ozric Tentacles (again!)

Greetings Zaka.

Sorry I don't appear much on this forum except to announce weekly podcasts. Glad you like it though. Cheers and hope to have you keeping listening.

Opaquelens

In episode 10, Opaque plays the concluding part of Rupert Sheldrake's lecture in Goldsmith's College. At the end you may recognise Opaque asking Rupert a question during the question and answers session. Roger Irrelevant, a regular poster on the Grow Report, was at the lecture and also had the privilege of asking Rupert a question too. This week Opaque is celebrating the fact that he is now talking through a valve preamp, making the vocals more OOMPHy! Also in the aftermath of Rupert's talk, Opaque records his closing speech whilst it is snowing outside. He reads a few emails and comments from Steve, Eris, and Seaside blue, and chats about plans for the Beanfield podcast which he is proposing for the summer, and announces that he is no longer an ayahuasca virgin, and feels like he's had a firmware update!!

Rupert Sheldrake's book can be purchased at the following link:

//http://www.shamanicfreedom.com/our-amazon-bookshop-31-c.asp.

Music by Here And Now

In episode 9, Opaquelens takes his microphone to Goldsmiths College, SouthEast London to record a lecture by Rupert Sheldrake, promoting the revised edition of his book 'A New Science Of Life'. This is part 1 of 2, and the second half will be broadcast in episode 10.

During this lecture, Rupert Sheldrake brings contraversial points to the forefront such as how melting points of new compounds have changed over the years, and that if it is difficult to crystalise a compound the first time, it becomes easier once it's been done, anywhere in the world. Also the effect on morphic resonance to train animals to do certain tasks and how it becomes easier for any of the same species to learn once one set of animals has been trained.

After part one of the lecture, opaque talks about ideas he has for future podcasts. Watch this space!

Incidentally, Rupert's book can be purchased at the following link:

http://www.shamanicfreedom.com/our-amaz ... p-31-c.asp

Music by Mozart. (yes a bit of classical for a change!)

http://shamanicfreedomradio.podomatic.com

In episode 7, Opaquelens interviews Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows of the Venus Project, who listeners will know from the film Zeitgeist Addendum. Discussed in this podcast are technological and sociopolitical solutions to problems of the world, and a change over from a monetary based world to a resource based world, with 4000 MPH MagLev trains, vertical take off planes, and a world where people will not be restricted to only what they can afford financially. Jacque Fresco argues that money is the reason why people are restricted to only owning houses and cars etc that they can afford, not what they would like, that corruption and war are a result of a financial system, and that politicians are not geared to solve the problems of the world, but to keep it the same as it is forever.

Opaque suggests that listeners visit www.zeitgeistmovie.com, and download the torrent for the film Zeitgeist Addendum (unless you already have!) so that you will be familiar with today’s guests.

Music by the Doors.

http://shamanicfreedomradio.podomatic.com

In this sixth installment of ShamanicFreedomRadio, Opaquelens takes the podcast on location to Hyde Park to interview his friend Jon, who had taken part in a peyote ceremony on Long Island in New York, in a sweatlodge with a Navaho who was married to a catholic white American.
Jon Discusses his experiences with Opaquelens, and as the two are old friends, the banter does get rather silly, especially as Jon decides to ‘swap identities’ with Opaquelens, who comments on how he’s ‘milking it’ before the interview is over.

Prior to the walk, Opaque reads out an email he received from S S Muldoon via the GrowReport forum network, and after the walk he bangs the world to rights in a righteous rant.

Music by the Sugarcubes and Gil Scott Heron

In this 5th installment of ShamanicFreedomRadio, Opaquelens starts by thanking KMO, Max Freakout, Rupert Sheldrake and Sancho for their contribution to his new intro. He segways from last week’s interview with Rupert Sheldrake by discussing the ‘Theism Vs Atheism problem’. He takes apart Richard Dawkins’s atheism by reading out excerpts from an interview with him, focussing on the flaws of his stance by exposing how it is a form of fundamentalism which mirrors his religious foes.

After that he reads an email from listener Sharon on the ‘what do we tell children?’ debate concerning entheogens, and another email from DefenderAlex about salvia.

As the show approaches the end, Opaque reminds people of Rupert Sheldrake’s upcoming lecture in Goldsmiths College, New Cross, South London, and talks of what is in store for the next few weeks on this podcast.

Music by Steve Hillage and Primal Scream.

Greetings,

Just to let you know that Episode 3 is up and running. Visit:

http://shamanicfreedomradio.podomatic.com

In this episode of shamanicfreedomradio, Opaquelens conducts his first podcast interview with J.D. Arthur, author of Peopled Darkness - perceptual changes through Salvia Divinorum (available at the bookshop section of www.shamanicfreedom.com on page 9).
In this informal chinwag, J.D. discusses how the reality of Salvia took him to deep levels where there appeared to be another dimension of reality with real being in it, and from his many ‘visits’ there, he believes that he’s visiting the land of the dead, who react to him by being aware that he is alive, and should not be there.

In his early stages of taking the herb he would see cheesy cartoon imagery, but as time went on and his journey became deeper he would go into a place in which he would develop an amnesiac barrier, making him forget who he was in this world. After a while there would appear to be certain people who acted as his guides there, though he would get a feeling that he was a burden to them because he was alive - in one session, he was referred to as Mr Meat!

As the interview turns into a tangental discusssion many topics are talked about including the US and UK’s drug laws, how Afghanistan produces more heroin post the War on Terror, and how podheads and LSD users became junkies and how unlikely it would be for that to happen without prohibition or intervention.

After the interview, Opaquelens reads out some feedback he has received from forums in response to his previous podcasts before ending on a song - The Curragh of Kildare by John Renbourn and Robin Williamson.

http://shamanicfreedomradio.podomatic.com

In this second installment of Shamanic Freedom Radio, Opaquelens goes to Epping Forest to broadcast the first part. He walks to the locations where he had previous mushroom trips in the days before they were banned from shops, and reminisces about his ‘stealth killer trap’ trip, his ‘standup dream’ trip and his ‘umbillical shapeshifter’ trip. As this is within a day of being hounded off the DMT Nexus forum (but not without a positive response and a sale!), he spends a bit of time ranting about people politics in forums, but praises the Grow Report and the Dopefiend network, especially Max Freakout, for being a friendlier and more civilised forum. He then philosophises about people politics and how we in the psychedelic community should be able to trancend petty people politics, and being a sensitive soul, he sounds a bit bitter! On the plus side, Opaque then mentions a future in the planning stages with James Arthur, who wrote Peopled Darkness about salvia, before visiting the Bedford Oak, an ancient oak tree in the forest to take a picture and use it as the wallpaper for this podcast. During the walk in the forest, Big Brother in the form of police helicopters fly over twice!

In Part 2, which is recorded two days later at home in South London, Opaque talks about how he may, if the podcast lasts the distance, broadcast from Avebury Stone Circle on Summer solstice. He then confirms that there will be an interview with author James Arthur and closes the book on his forum disaster at Nexus. He makes the point that the psychedelic community should trancend the ways of straight people by being less ‘conformist’ and less cliquey, stating that cliquey people lack the social confidence to go it alone, and that if the whole point of psychedelic culture is to look within, not succumb to people politics.

Before he wraps up he theorises on how culture has changed since the 1960’s, segwaying from playing Interstellar Overdrive, and appeals for listeners to contribute in whatever way they can, be it emails, trip reports or books to list on the site.

Music by Steve Hillage, Pink Floyd and 4 Hero.

Greetings,

I was recommended this forum by the man who runs SpiritGarden, who told me that Cenacle looking for shows to put on your radio station. I've started a podcast with the intent of trying to get business for my own online shop, whilst trying to do my bit to contribute to the psychedllic community with a podcast itself.
It can be found at http://shamanicfreedomradio.podomatic.com
Even if it doesn't make it as a show on here, i'd appreciate a few new listeners anyway.

Cheers.