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gaiamedia is a non-profit foundation founded in Basel on 23 July 1993 with the purpose of communicating information that contributes to a holistic understanding of nature and human existence.

please support our website and our other services by becoming a sponsor of the non-profit gaia media foundation or to make a donation. thank you very much.

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@ Cabaret Voltaire
The Psychedelic Salon Zürich
Kevin Barron
The Blotter Art of Kevin Barron
A British Art School graduate, Kevin Barron has been a practicing visual artist for nearly six decades. His primary focus has been in the field of psychedelic art and more specifically the rare and unusual art form of LSD blotter.
Zürich | Cabaret Voltaire | Spiegelgasse 1 | Thursday, 8 May 2025 | 6–9 p.m.  | CHF 15/10 | Please reserve!

Related
Psychonauts of Zurich Happy Hour
Zürich | El Lokal | Gessnerallee 11 | Friday, 16 May 2025 | from 6 pm

Psychedelic Science 2025
Denver | USA | 16–20 June 

Cannabis Europa
London | GB | 24 and 25 June

New Healing Festival
Music, Art & Inspiration
Das New Healing Festival gliedert sich in verschiedene Areas und Stages mit einzigartigen Themen und täglichen Schwerpunkten.
Near Hamburg | 11. – 17. August 2025

good to see

Rainbow Valentine Studios
American Prankster: Wavy Gravy’s Life Story.
There aren’t many original Beatniks left on planet earth, and as of this writing, Wavy Gravy is one of the very last ones standing. But Wavy isn’t just an original Beatnik poet; he is also an improv comedy trailblazer and international comedic activist whose antics once involved running a pig for president.

Brainforest Café
What can plants teach us about consciousness? Rajnish Khanna joins Dennis McKenna to explore the fascinating intersection of plant physiology, evolutionary biology, and the science of consciousness.

Kensho
An psychedelic exercise in consciousness

Enshittification
Cory Doctorow on the way the internet has changed

good to hear

Jackie Venson
Young Jam from The Love Anthology
I’ve just been introduced to Jackie Venson by a chance aquantance on a restaurant terrace: if there ever was a female Prince, here she is! Born in 1990 in Austin, Texas, she graduated from Berklee College in 2011 and went on to become a notable singer-songwriter and guitarist, realizing has released five studio albums to date. “Steering away from familiar Southern blues-funk tropes,. Venson copped a bit of Prince’s sexy synch swagger, a welcome addition that kept the music sounding fresh. Another element she borrowed from Prince is a sense of casual virtuosity.” (Rolling Stone)
Venson Records

Mrozu
Featuring DGE – Poligon
Time for a bit of funk now that the weather is warmer: Łukasz Błażej Mróz (born July 22, 1986) better known under the stage name Mrozu, is a Polish singer, composer and producer from Wroclaw. As a vocalist, and a keyboarder, he performs music of type described as “on the border of pop and R&B”. He’s a big star in his country and sings in several idioms: listening to Mrozu reminds us that good music is good in any language!
Mystic Productions

Coco Jones
The 1st TERRELL Show Concert (Full Show)
Coco Jones has captivated the world with her timeless artistry, sensjal voice and emotive songs t become R&BR’s breakout artist. Raised in Nashville, TN by a mother who wa also a singer, and a father who played in the NFL, she learned early the importance of folowing one’s dreams and began recording at the age of nine. In 2024, she was nominated for five Grammy Awards. Her visibility has made nher a role model for beautiful and talented dark-skinned Black women.
Def Jam

3YOONI
Said
The 3 in 3YOONI refers to the Arabic letter ع “ayn”, which like an inverted 3. 3YOONI translates to “my eyes”. Identity, language, racism and orientalism: these are topics that Yassin Mahdi, who was born in Baghdad and grew up in the Swiss canton of Grisons, critically examines in his music project 3YOONI (pronounced ayuni). Yassin Mahdi was born in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Due to the war, his parents fled Iraq with him and his little sister and came to Switzerland. His music is classified as “alternative electronic”.
Irascible Music

Asaf Avidan
Filmed Concert (Live at the Acropolis)
Asaf Avidan is an Israeli singer and songwriter born in Jerusalem. He was raised in Jamaica, and currently resides in Europe. From 2006 to 2011, he was part of the band Asaf Avidan & the Mojos, independently releasing three studio albums. Saf Avidan has released 7 studio albums which receibed multiple Gold and Platinum awards. He has headlines the largest festivals in Europe and sold out his own tours over the past decade. What an extraordinary voice!
Telmavar Records

goodnews editorial

Dear readers

Bicycle Day proved a growing success: A beautiful crowd made it to Basel and joined our yearly ride; more came to the party in the evening on Gannet, Basel’s ‘Culture Boat.’ Our thanks go to all participants, and to the organizers for their creative effort.

On the occasion of our annual celebration of Albert Hofmann and Susi Ramstein’s bicycle ride, we relaunched our website bicycleday.ch. Take a look and check out the online shop, too. Order a button, a t-shirt or one of the limited artist edition blotter sheets. You can take out a subscription including some of our new merch and tell a friend to suscribe to the free monthly gaiamedia goodnews. We are happy to welcome our new Bicycle Day x Gaia Media Members who subscribed during the occasion.

The Gaia Media Foundation has been active since 1993, the year it was established by Dieter A. Hagenbach, publisher of Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, Terence McKenna and many others, as well as the author of a definitive biography of Albert Hofmann together with Lucius Werthmüller, Mystic Chemist. Dr. Hofmann joined the board of Gaia Media and remained with us till his passing. The conference ‘LSD – Wonder Drug and Problem Child,’ held on the occasion of his 100th birthday, attracted more than 2200 visitors from all over the world. It included presentations, panels and workshops covering all aspects of the transformative power of LSD and hosted practically everyone with a name in the field, such as Sasha and Ann Shulgin, Mountain Girl Carolyn Garcia, Myron Stolaroff, or Amanda Fielding, and was covered by more than 200 journalists from every well-known international publication you can think of. You can see most of those presentation on Gaia Media’s YouTube Channel (scroll to find the English contributions). It kicked off the Psychedelic Revival, leading to new medical research at universities the world over, as well as to a greater acceptance of psychedelics as a road to mental health, and substances that help more than they hurt.

Our efforts were recognized at the highest level and lead to a promise by the Swiss government to reconsider and advance psychedelic research and therapy, ultimately leading to the decriminilization of these mind-altering substances.

We are committed to keeping up our good work. Please consider supporting us, if you aren’t a subscriber/member of our psychedelic family already. Thank you very much.

Yours, as always,
Susanne G.Seiler

P.S. We are only able to staff our lounge and library at Hochstrasse 70  by appointment. Please contact the editorial team if you’d like to make an appointment

good to read

The Acid Queen. The psychedelic Life and Countercuoture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff-Leary

by Susannah Cahalan
Rosemary Woodruff Leary was a woman with a mind of her own and at the heart of the psychedelic revolution of the late sixties and early seventies. Unfortunately, things went very wrong for her and Timothy Leary who, in her, had finally found a warm-hearted woman who took care of him and his two half-orphaned kids. When Timothy went to jail and talked to the Feds, Rosemary fled the country, fearing to be apprehended. She stayed away for 23 years and came back to the US by swimming to land in a bikini. What a woman! Here’s a review in the NYT. (SGS)
Viking Press

Strange Attractor. The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna

by Graham St. John

A stand-up philosopher who made a unique contribution to science, humanism, and the hidden arts, Terence McKenna (1946-2000) was the twentieth century’s psychedelic Renaissance man. Perfecting his rugged philosophy on the role of psychedelics in evolution, consciousness, and time, McKenna was a riotous charmer who stalked the shadows, but also sought the iridescence. More than twenty years since his untimely passing, McKenna has an enduring magnetism across the virtual pop stream, in pervasive digitization, and within social media networks.
MIT Press (for pre-orders)

Screenshot

Acid Dialectics

by Vincent Rado

Acid Dialectics applies dialectical theory to the study of LSD and vice versa. The book examines four acid dialectics as well as an assortment of lysergic politics including acid fascism, acid liberalism, acid communism, and acid anarchism. It draws on a wide range of historical and contemporary sources and ends with a list of questions for further dialogue and inquiry. It is out of print already and can be downloaded for free. “This work is itself part of a larger, ongoing project (…) which examines how power structures affect drug markets and the discourse about them.”
Illicit News

The Psychedelic Therapy Workout Book

by Elizabeth Nielson, Ingmar Gorman

Research shows the tremendous benefit of psychedelic drugs for people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and trauma. This workbook draws on evidence-based harm reduction techniques to help readers experiment with psychedelic substances–on their own, in a group, or with a therapist–and integrate the lessons they’ve learned from psychedelic experiences into daily life.
New Harbinger Publications

Psychedelics and the Soul. A Mythic Guide to Psychedelic Healing, Depth Psychology, and Cultural Repair

by Simon Yugler

Psychedelic therapist Simon Yugler takes the reader on a mythological journey, to explore 10 universal themes that transcend our individual experiences – and reveal how psychedelic medicine can heal the soul and our collective unconscious in a time of uncertainty and initiation. Designed for a new generation of psychedelic facilitators and seekers, Psychedelics and the Soul invokes the traditions of Jungian depth psychology, mythology, and Indigenous cultural wisdom to meet a critical question of our times: How can the emerging field of psychedelic medicine heal the soul amid planetary crisis and collective opportunity?
North Atlantic Books

good to discover

good to know

Before Modern Art
culture |  mututal art | 1 April
Ghost drawings & blot paintings

Loquaciousness
culture |  British Psychological Society | 2 April
Do women really talk more than men?

Weedcare
psychoactive | SwissInfo | 2 April
Basel cannabis study reports improvements in smokers’ mental health

Antartica
nature | Atlas obscura | 2 April
Most detailed map of the ice-free continent to date

Anti-feminism
culture | The Conversation | 3 April
How to talk with your sons about the manosphere

Plant medicine
psychoactive | DoubleBlind | 4 April
A Rasta village reclaimed psychedelics on its own terms

Functional
science | The Globe & Mail | 5 April
Mushrooms as a secret weapen for well-being

On the dance floor
psychoactive | DoubleBlind | 7 April
Raving is having a renaissance in mental health

Religiously
psychoactive | Ecstatic Integration | 8 April
A new wave of legal psychedelic churches

Clean power
eco | The Guardian | 6 April
Last year, forty percent of electricity worldwide came from renewable sources

New Mexico
psychoactive | Psychedelic Alpha | 9 April
First legislature-driven psilocybin access act passed in the US

Dreaming
psychoactive | Reality Sandwich | 9 April
A path to psychedelics in your sleep

Good fire
nature | Reasons to be cheerful | 10 April
Bringing Indigenous blazes back to the land

Cannabis
psychoactive |The New York Times | 14 April
Older users seeking help diagnosed with higher risk of dementia

Taking the drug out of the trip
psychoactive | The Microdose | 14 April
5 Questions for Stanford anesthesiologist and neuroscientist Boris Heifets

Appropriation
psychoactive | Reality Sandwich | 16 April
Indigenous nations rewrite the history of psychedelics

Psychedelic therapy
psychoactive | Psychedelic Alpha | 17 April
Inside Denver’s first licensed psilocybin center

Ketamine
psychoactive | DoubleBlind | 18 April
Miracle treatment or the next drug crisis?

No thanks
psychoactive |The Psychedelic Blog | 18 April
10 things psychedelics will ruin for you

Other psychedelic news
psychoactive | The Microdose | 18 April
A possible non-hallucinogenic LSD-analog, and ibogaine on the rise

Assumptions
psychoactive | Psyche | 19 April
Psychedelics as philosophical tools

Best ever
psychoactive | Newsbreak | 21 April
The mass-manufacturing of Owsley’s LSD

Oestrogen
science | The New York Times | 22 April
Sex hormones are brain hormones

Changa
psychoactive | Double Blind | 22 April
What to know about the smokable DMT

Pain relief
psychoactive | The Guardian | 23 April
Relieving cluster headaches with psilocybin

Stress
psychoactive | Nature | 23 April
Psychedelic control of neuroimmune interactions governing fear

Left hand star – right hand star
psychoactive he New York Times | 28 April
Are tech millionaires taking over psychedelics?

good to meet

Plants of the Gods
Part 1 — Ayahuasca and Tobacco Shamanism: an Interview with Ethnobotanist Dr. Glenn Shepard

Transform Drug Policy Foundation
An independent, UK-based charity working nationally and internationally towards a just and effective system of legal regulation for all drugs.

DanceWize
Harm reduction and help for psychedelic, and/or spiritual emergencies at festivals and other peer meetings are a necessity wherever people get together in large numbers.

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