dezember 2018 – good to read

Cody Johnson
Did US Army Intelligence really use LSD as an enhanced military interrogation technique? Why does ayahuasca have such a long history of use in Peru? Science is beginning to research what traditional cultures have told us for years: psychedelics have transformative healing properties. Many psychedelic plants and substances have a long history of being incorporated into various healing traditions — such as cannabis and opium in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Magic Medicine explores the fascinating history of psychedelic substances and provides a contemporary update about their progressive inclusion in modern medicine, science, and culture. Cody Johnson balances historical knowledge with cutting-edge science.
Fair Winds, June 2018

Damien Echols 
«Magick is not a path for followers; it is a path for questioners, seekers, and anyone who has trouble settling for dogma and pre-formulated answers. Magick is for those who feel the desire to peel away the surface of reality and see what lies beneath. Like various persecuted forms of mysticism, magick promotes direct contact with the source of creation.» At age 18, Damien Echols was sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. With High Magick, the author shares his first teaching book on the powerful spiritual techniques that helped him survive and transcend his ordeal on death row. He brings you an engaging and highly accessible guide for bringing magick into your own life.
Sounds True, October 2018

L.A. Kauffman
In this original and richly illustrated account, organiser and journalist LA Kauffman delves into the history of America’s major demonstrations, beginning with the legendary 1963 March on Washington, to reveal the ways protests work and how their character has shifted over time. Using the signs that demonstrators carry as clues to how protests are organized, Kauffman explores the nuanced relationship between the way movements are made and the impact they have. How to Read a Protest sheds new light on the catalytic power of collective action and the decentralised, bottom-up, women-led model for organising that has transformed what movements look like and what they can accomplish.
University of California Press, October 2018

David Jay Brown & Rebecca Ann Hill
In this full-color illustrated book, David Jay Brown and Rebecca Ann Hill examine the work and inspirations of eighteen of today’s leading female visionary artists, including Josephine Wall, Allyson Grey, Amanda Sage, Martina Hoffmann, Penny Slinger, and Carolyn Mary Kleefeld. They explore the creative process and the role that dreaming, psychedelic experiences, sexuality, and divine guidance play in the work of these women, alongside full-color examples of their art, and they discuss the future of visionary art and reveal how these artists have all been informed and inspired by deep inner experiences and seek to express non-ordinary visions of reality, often reminiscent of those encountered in shamanic trance, lucid dreams, psychedelic states, spiritually transcendent experiences, and other altered states.
Inner Traditions, November 2018

Aymon de Lestrange
One of the oldest and most potent natural stimulants, the leaves of the coca plant, are the organic source from which cocaine is synthesized. Fresh coca leaves and products made from them have verified medicinal and healing properties – and not the same addictive qualities or negative side effects as cocaine. In the late 19th century coca products became hugely successful in Europe and the United States. The most famous was Vin Mariani, a coca-based tonic wine developed by Corsican pharmacist Angelo Mariani (1838-1914). Many celebrities sang its praises, including Pope Benedict XV, Sarah Bernhardt, Thomas Edison, H. G. Wells, William McKinley, Emile Zola, and the doctors of Ulysses S. Grant, who credited Vin Mariani with giving him the strength to finish his memoirs before his death. A lavishly illustrated history of coca wine and the revolutionary advertising methods that made it a worldwide success.
Bear Company, December 2018