Dear friends,
Welcome to my latest update.
What I’ve been up to
Phoebe and I launched Don’t Go Back To Normal. You can watch the video from the launch event here.
I continue to put a lot of time into Dandelion (dandelion.earth): a platform for events/ticketing/local groups/co-created gatherings that is the amalgamation of/successor to the Psychedelic Society and Autopia codebases. I outlined some of the key features in this post and started making this guide including this introduction to organisations in Dandelion. If I do say so myself, it really is shaping up to be an awesome platform. Please consider using it for your next event/gathering – get in touch if you need any advice or support!
Having finished going through the meditations in Seeing That Frees: Meditations on Emptiness and Dependent Arising by Rob Burbea, I'm going back to the beginning and meditating chapter-by-chapter on the book that was such an important portal for me into the mystical – Jonathan Star's translation of the Tao Te Ching. I'm posting each verse the day I meditate on it (usually 30 minutes sitting in the morning) in an album on Facebook and on a new Tao Te Ching section of on my website.
One of my proudest moments to date: Dandelion Collective Ltd, the not-for-profit company behind the Psychedelic Society and dandelion.earth, is now a worker cooperative. Meanwhile, the Psychedelic Society’s Experience Retreats, which I co-founded and were the first psilocybin-assisted retreats of their kind, are branching off to become a new, independent organisation, Alalaho.
I moved house and wild camped on Dartmoor for Hana’s birthday.
I published a list of recommended books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) that I have read over the past months.
I’m speaking with Adah Parris about Cyborg Shamanism on Tues 30th June.
What I’ve been reading & listening to
Since my last newsletter, I’ve shared a total of 73 links that you can read via my website (RSS), Facebook or Twitter. I also finished two books:
The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman, as told by Davi Kopenawa to Bruce Albert
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
Hana introduced me to a bunch of anime films, my highlight of which was Princess Mononoke.
And finally…
The most clicked link in my last email was the Temple Nights #1 playlist for a deep and/or sexy evening . This month I’ve been enjoying the Womb Alchemy playlists by Bryonia Melissae and Hana’s Temple playlists
If you appreciate my work, you’re welcome to make a donation via crypto, Paypal or Patreon. You could also take a look at my recommended products page (I receive a small commission for most products featured there).
Until next time, with love,
Stephen