Re: Khazars, the Kabbalah and Jew Death Cults

[mgt23]

......and we see under Elizabeth and later Cromwell the near extermination of Gaelic Christianity. What I'm trying to claim in this thread is in fact that christianity in its dogmatic form is a gaelic-Brythonic/romano hybrid which became orthodoxy. I am more sympathetic to the gaelic/Brythonic root side of christendom, but acknowledge the romano side as so far as it has knowledge of the jew/saturn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds

Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Leeds can trace its recorded history to the 5th century when the Kingdom of Elmet was covered by the forest of "Loidis", the origin of the name Leeds

.....as a caveat the "White Hart" is known as the "King of the Forest".....hence the reason the white stag wears a crown around its neck. Constantine would have known this.

[Timothy_Fitzpatrick]

......and we see under Elizabeth and later Cromwell the near extermination of Gaelic Christianity. What I'm trying to claim in this thread is in fact that christianity in its dogmatic form is a gaelic-Brythonic/romano hybrid which became orthodoxy. I am more sympathetic to the gaelic/Brythonic root side of christendom, but acknowledge the romano side as so far as it has knowledge of the jew/saturn.

The Court of King Henry VIII appears to have been crawling with Jews. First, he needed their legalese in forcing the Bible to allow for his illegal divorce from Catherine of Aragon and take on a concubine, namely, Anne Boleyn. Then, as you point out, Cromwell must have been influenced by the exiled Marranos who took up residency in England, bringing with them the revolutionary Reformation of Luther and Calvin. And let's face it, the Church of England was nothing more than Protestantism with a somewhat Catholic mask. And wasn't Cromwell himself executed for heresy and his ties to the Reformation, which was stealing Monasteries from the Papacy?

[mgt23]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -pubs.html

How the magical white hart inspires legends (as well as the name of a thousand pubs)

By MARCUS DUNK

Last updated at 02:12 14 February 2008

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Grazing quietly in the forest opening, this majestic creature seems gently oblivious of its radiance and beauty.

With its antlers held high and its thick coat luminous in the morning light, the animal stops briefly among its fellow deer, turns and sniffs the air.

While his brown companions blend easily into the landscape, he stands out bright, bold and exposed.

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White hart

The white hart seen in the New Forest
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For the precious moments he is still, he seems to have stepped out of a stranger, more mysterious world.

Far from being just another deer, this is a white hart - an animal both rare and revered in equal measure - which was spotted this week roaming the New Forest.

Since time immemorial, the white hart has been a creature surrounded by mystery, a beast whose very existence is suffused with myth and legend.

An inescapable part of British folklore, its mystical quality led to it being adopted as a symbol of royalty, which is why a multitude of White Hart pubs is scattered around the country.

Some believe that this New Forest white hart could even be a direct descendant of the same white deer that Henry VII hunted in the area in the 15th century.

And for forest keeper Andy Shore, coming face to face with animal was an awe-inspiring experience.

"There's something quite eerie and beautiful about him that stops you in your tracks," he says.

"He can be a ghostly-looking animal, especially if you come across him on a misty day, as I have on a few occasions."

He is white - but not albino - as a result of a rare genetic mutation resulting in a condition called leucism which changes the animal's pattern of pigmentation.

The parents of a white hart can both be brown - they just need to have the same recessive gene to produce a white calf.

The sighting of this white five-year-old male fallow deer comes days after an equally rare Scottish equivalent, a white stag, was spotted in the Highlands of Scotland, ranging across a glen with a herd of red stags.

"I thought it was a sheep when I saw it because of its mottled colour," says Fran Lockhart, 45, of The John Muir Trust conservation body.

"I managed to get quite near to him, and he was even more magnificent up close."

But there is a high price to pay for this magnificence. The rarity of these beasts is such that their mounted heads and antlers can fetch thousands of pounds.

And even though their location is usually a closely guarded secret, poachers are unscrupulous.

Last October, they shot a treasured white hart, known affectionately as Snowy by local farmers and gamekeepers, on the border of Devon and Cornwall.

The animal was found decapitated and hanging from a tree, its head and antlers taken as a blood-drenched trophy.

Those who killed this stag, however, may have got more than they bargained for.

Like many legends, those surrounding the white hart come with their fair share of curses and prophecies of bad luck to anyone who crosses the creature.

For the ancient Celts, the white hart was a harbinger of doom, a living symbol that some taboo has been transgressed or a moral law broken.

To come across a white hart was to realise that some terrible evil or judgment was imminent.

The white hart's reputation improved in Arthurian legends, where its appearance was a sign to Arthur and his knights that it was time to embark on a quest - it was considered the one animal that could never be caught so it came to symbolise humanity's never-ending pursuit of knowledge and the unattainable.

Soon, the white hart was appearing in stories throughout Europe.

To Hungarians, it was a white hart that led their ancestors to their homeland; in a French legend, anyone who killed a white hart was cursed with the pain of unrequited love.

It was not long before Christianity managed to appropriate the white hart for its own purposes: the white stag came to symbolise Christ and his presence on earth.

Fundamental to this myth was the story of David I, King of Scotland, whose encounter with this animal led directly to the establishment of the royal palace, Holyrood House, in Edinburgh.

It is said that in 1128, a rebellious King David was warned by his priest not to go hunting on the Feast Day of the Holy Rood (Holy Cross).

Stubbornly, he set off on the hunt and came across a large white deer, which he chased.

Thrown from his horse, the deer charged him. David cried out to God to save him, and at that precise instant, the deer's antlers miraculously turned into a cross, and the animal vanished in a puff of smoke.

The shamed King built a church to the Holy Rood on the spot where his the vision occurred.

From then on, the white deer became a symbol of purity, redemption and good fortune in Scotland, and eventually took a leading position in English heraldry alongside its cousin, the mythic unicorn, whose horn was supposedly endowed with magical properties.

King Richard II adopted the white hart as his personal emblem.

Even today, white harts are seen to be lucky charms, and anyone who spots one is said to have a dose of good fortune just around the corner.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z29rpKo33H
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_in_mythology

Christianity
Detail of Saint Giles and the Hind, c. 1500, by the Master of Saint Gilles

Saint Giles, a Catholic saint especially revered in the south of France, is reported to have lived for many years as a hermit in the forest near Nîmes, where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion being a deer, or hind, who in some stories sustained him on her milk. In art, he is often depicted together with that hind.

In the founding legend of Le Puy-en-Velay, where a Christian church replaced a healing a megalithic dolmen. A local tradition had rededicated the curative virtue of the sacred site to Mary, who cured ailments by contact with the standing stone. When the founding bishop Vosy climbed the hill, he found that it was snow-covered in July; in the snowfall the tracks of a deer round the dolmen outlined the foundations of the future church.
St Hubertus / St Eustace in a 13th century English manuscript (Biblioteca Marciana)

Saint Hubertus (or "Hubert") is a Christian saint, the patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians and metalworkers, and used to be invoked to cure rabies. The legend of concerned an apparition of a stag with the crucifix between its horns, effecting the worldly and aristocratic Hubert's conversion to a saintly life.

In the story of Saint Hubertus, on Good Friday morning, when the faithful were crowding the churches, Hubertus sallied forth to the chase. As he was pursuing a magnificent stag the animal turned and, as the pious legend narrates, he was astounded at perceiving a crucifix standing between its antlers, which occasioned the change of heart that led him to a saintly life. The story of the hart appears first in one of the later legendary hagiographies (Bibliotheca hagiographica Latina, nos. 3994–4002) and has been appropriated from the earelier legend of Saint Eustace (Placidus).

Later in the 6th century, the Bishop Saint Gregory of Tours wrote his Chronicles about the Merovingian rulers, were appeared a Legend of the King Clovis I who prayed to Christ in one of his campaigns so he could find a place to cross the river Vienne. Considered as a divine sign, a huge deer appeared and showed were could the army pass across.

In the 14th century, probably keeping some relation with Saint Eustace's legend, the deer again appears in the Christian Legends. The Chronicon Pictum contains a legend, where the later King Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary and his brother the King Géza I of Hungary were hunting in a forest and appeared to them a deer with numerous candles on his antlers. As the saint Knight said to his brother, that wasn't a deer but an angel of God, and his antlers were wings, the candles were shining feathers. And as Ladislaus added, the place where the deer was standing was where it was meant to be built a cathedral in honor of the Holy Virgin.[6]

The deer is considered by some Christians to be a symbol of Christ. The Bible book Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verses 8–10 reads:

    The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains,

        skipping upon the hills.

    My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall,

        he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

    My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. (KJV)

Many Christians interpret the Song of Solomon to represent the longing of Christ for his Church, and vice versa.

http://worldculturenet.com/2006/11/21/t ... -red-nose/

The Legend of the White Stag, or, Why Rudolph Has a Red Nose
Published November 21, 2006 in American, British, Celtic, Chinese, Christian, Christmas Traditions, CULTURES, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Iranian, Irish, Japanese, LEGENDS, Persian, Winter | Comments [3] | Post a Comment

The legend of the white stag is part of the mythology of many cultures, originating with early European and Asian cultures who depended on hunting for their survival.

Star Mythology

The most ancient legend of the stag revolves around the "great hunter" (the constellation of stars known as Orion), who hunts the heavenly stag (Ursa Major), killing it around what is now Christmas time, in late December. When the stag is killed, the sun, which the stag holds in its horns, escapes and becomes stronger, signaling the beginning of spring. The stag's offspring repeat the cycle every year.

This legend is found in records and paintings from ancient cultures in Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylon, and even in the art of the Mongols, Chinese and Huns. Some cultures added the motif of the twins (the constellation Gemini) hunting the stag.

The Stag in Different Cultures

The Persian legends of the stag are Scythian in origin: the son of the emperor was hunting when he came across a wondrous stag, which he chased but could never catch. Finally the stag led him to a lake, where it jumped into the waters disappeared. The went to sleep, and woke to the sound of laughter and music. He followed the sounds until he came to a marble palace, where he found a beautiful goddess of a girl on the throne and married her.

In Hungarian mythology, a great white stag led the brothers Hunor and Magar to settle in Scythia, where they established the Huns and Magyars.

In a Japanese version of the legend, twin brothers chase the stag and then get into an argument about which way the stag has disappeared. One brother travels west, while the other one goes to the east and finds Japan.

In Celtic myth, the white stag symbolizes the presence of the Otherworld. It appears when someone has committed a transgression or broken a taboo. It also appears as an impetus to a quest or adventure, and was often seen in the forests around King Arthur's court, sending the knights on adventures against gods and fairies. The white hart also was the heraldic symbol of England's King Richard II.

In the French Romance, the stag appears in the lais of Marie de France, when Guigemar happens upon the strange sight of a white doe with antlers. He wounds the mysterious, hermaphroditic animal, which curses him to grow up and fall in love.

In the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, the stag is the favorite animal of the queen of the underworld (Yumala), which leads the hero to his doom.

For Christians, the white stag came to symbolize Christ. In the legend of St. Eustace, the Roman soldier Eustace happens upon a deer with a cross between his antlers while hunting. Eustace immediately falls to his knees and converts to Christianity.

The Meaning of the White Stag

The deer, of course, was a source of life, an important natural resource for early man who relied on hunting for survival. Because of its star origins, the stag is associated with the sun—it is often shown with the sun between its horns–and so symbolizes warmth and the renewal of life in the spring. In the early Scythian mythology, which underlies the Persian and Hungarian legend of the stag, the stag represents the cosmos, which carries the stars, sun and the moon in its horns. Scythian stags are often shown with horns in the shape of flames.

White is a symbol of purity, and of divinity. The white stag in the ancient Irish saga Pwyll penduc Dyfed has a white body with red ears– colors typical of supernatural creatures.

Santa Claus' sleigh is drawn by eight reindeer, who would be white if they live at the North Pole. Rudolph, the "most famous reindeer of all," had a shiny red nose, according to the famous American Christmas song, placing him squarely in the tradition of the legend of the White Stag!

[mgt23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II_of_England

Richard's approach to kingship was rooted in his strong belief in the royal prerogative, the inspiration of which can be found in his early youth, when his authority was challenged first by the Peasants' Revolts and then by the Lords Appellant.[89] Richard rejected the approach his grandfather, Edward III, had taken to the nobility. Edward's court had been a martial one, based on the interdependence between the king and his most trusted noblemen as military captains.[90] In Richard's view, this put a dangerous amount of power in the hands of the baronage. To avoid dependence on the nobility for military recruitment, he pursued a policy of peace towards France.[91] At the same time, he developed his own private military retinue, larger than that of any English king before him, and gave them livery badges with his White Hart,[92] which are also worn by the angels in the Wilton Diptych (right). He was then free to develop a courtly atmosphere in which the king was a distant, venerated figure, and art and culture, rather than warfare, were at the centre.[93]

......note how Shakespeare under Elizabeth demonized Richard. He represented the last of the Yorkist kings. A king of peace, art and culture. Then came the Lancastrians and the Jew in the war of the roses.

Henry Tudor after winning the War of the Roses then went hunting for the White Hart. Its an occult thing. Hence the killing of one in 2007 by poachers was an occult affront and the land is in woe.

[mgt23]

What I'm going to suggest is that the Cannibal cult from masonic Babylonian traditions were imports from populations pushed south from their glacial maximum. This is also the case with the symbolic medicine of the White Hart which were originally Reindeer from the arctic areas expanding southwards with the glaciers.....considered medicine because ancient cro magnon man was drinking reindeer mushroom urine.

When the Iberian turned up in Britain there were carrying an Egyptian tradition which became your druids.

When the essene jew turned up in Britain following Egyptian/roman trade routes after the death of Christ, they were essentially providing a solution to the cannibal/human sacrifice DMT problem, that the progenitors of the pharisee had tried to overcome with the sacrifice of animals rather than humans(and then commercialized it)

Under Gaelic Christianity, Christs blood sacrifice ensured us the POSSIBILITY of redemption. In gaelic christianity the white hart was seen as a symbol of christ and the communion was the liberty cap/flying agaric mushroom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Man

Cheddar Man

Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. The remains date to approximately 7150 BC, and it appears that he died a violent death. It is Britain's oldest complete human skeleton.

Excavated in 1903, the remains are kept by the Natural History Museum in London, but are not currently on display. A replica of the skeleton is exhibited in the "Cheddar Man and the Cannibals" museum in Cheddar village. The death of Cheddar Man remains a mystery. There is no scientific evidence to suggest how he died, although a hole in his skull suggests violence. Speculation based on scientifically investigated known ritual or warfare practices which existed during this early period is inconclusive.

The other key paleolithic sites in the UK are Happisburgh, Pakefield, Boxgrove, Swanscombe, Pontnewydd, Kents Cavern, and Paviland.
Mitochondrial DNA testing

In 1996, Bryan Sykes of Oxford University first sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of Cheddar Man, with DNA extracted from one of Cheddar Man's molars. Cheddar Man was determined to have belonged to Haplogroup U5, a branch of mitochondrial haplogroup U, which has also been found in other Mesolithic human remains.[1] Sykes got DNA from the 9,000 year old Cheddar Man's tooth, and from a 12,000 year old Cheddar tooth from the same cave.[2]

Bryan Sykes' research into Cheddar Man was filmed as he performed it in 1997. As a means of connecting Cheddar Man to the living residents of Cheddar village, he compared mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) taken from twenty living residents of the village to that extracted from Cheddar Man's molar. It produced two exact matches and one match with a single mutation. The two exact matches were schoolchildren, and their names were not released. They, like anyone else carrying haplogroup U5 today, share an ancestor of many thousands of years ago with Cheddar Man through his maternal line.[3] [4]

........note the coined term ATLANTIS GENE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Sykes

Bryan Sykes

Bryan Sykes (born 9 September 1947) is a former Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford and a current Fellow of Wolfson College.

Sykes published the first report on retrieving DNA from ancient bone (Nature, 1989). Sykes has been involved in a number of high-profile cases dealing with ancient DNA, including those of Ötzi the Iceman and Cheddar Man, and others concerning people claiming to be members of the Romanovs—the Russian royal family. His work also suggested a Florida accountant by the name of Tom Robinson was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, a claim that was subsequently disputed.[1] [2] [3]

Sykes is best known outside the community of geneticists for his bestselling books on the investigation of human history and prehistory through studies of mitochondrial DNA. He is also the founder of Oxford Ancestors, a genealogical DNA testing firm.

Blood of the Isles

In his 2006 book Blood of the Isles (published in the United States and Canada as Saxons, Vikings and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland), Sykes examines British genetic "clans". He presents evidence from mitochondrial DNA, inherited by both sexes from their mothers, and the Y chromosome, inherited by men from their fathers, for the following points:

    The genetic makeup of Britain and Ireland is overwhelmingly what it has been since the Neolithic period and to a very considerable extent since the Mesolithic period, especially in the female line, i.e. those people, who in time would become identified as British Celts (culturally speaking), but who (genetically speaking) should more properly be called Cro-Magnon[citation needed]. In continental Europe, this same Cro-Magnon genetic legacy gave rise to the Basques. But "Basque" and "Celt" are cultural designations, not genetic ones.

    The contribution of the Celts of central Europe to the genetic makeup of Britain and Ireland was minimal; most of the genetic contribution to the British Isles of those we think of as Celtic, came from western continental Europe, I.E. the Atlantic seaboard.

    The Picts were not a separate people: the genetic makeup of the formerly Pictish areas of Scotland shows no significant differences from the general profile of the rest of Britain. The two "Pictland" regions are Tayside and Grampian.

    The Anglo-Saxons are supposed, by some, to have made a substantial contribution to the genetic makeup of England, but in Sykes's opinion it was under 20 percent of the total, even in southern England.

    The Vikings (Danes and Norwegians) also made a substantial contribution, which is concentrated in central, northern, and eastern England - the territories of the ancient Danelaw. There is a very heavy Viking contribution in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, in the vicinity of 40 percent. Women as well as men contributed substantially in all these areas, showing that the Vikings engaged in large-scale settlement.

    The Norman contribution was extremely small, on the order of 2 percent.

    There are only sparse traces of the Roman occupation, almost all in southern England.

    In spite of all these later contributions, the genetic makeup of the British Isles remains overwhelmingly what it was in the Neolithic: a mixture of the first Mesolithic inhabitants with Neolithic settlers who came by sea from Iberia and ultimately from the eastern Mediterranean.

    There is a difference between the genetic histories of men and women in Britain and Ireland. The matrilineages show a mixture of original Mesolithic inhabitants and later Neolithic arrivals from Iberia, whereas the patrilineages are much more strongly correlated with Iberia. This suggests (though Sykes does not emphasize this point) replacement of much of the original male population by new arrivals with a more powerful social organization.

    There is evidence for a "Genghis Khan effect", whereby some male lineages in ancient times were much more successful than others in leaving large numbers of descendants; e.g. Niall of the Nine Hostages in 4th and 5th century Ireland and Somerled in 12th century Scotland.

Some quotations from the book follow. (Note that Sykes uses the terms "Celts" and "Picts" to designate the pre-Roman inhabitants of the Isles who spoke Celtic and does not mean the people known as Celts in central Europe.)
"    

[T]he presence of large numbers of Jasmine's Oceanic clan ... says to me that there was a very large-scale movement along the Atlantic seaboard north from Iberia, beginning as far back as the early Neolithic and perhaps even before that. ...The mere presence of Oceanic Jasmines indicates that this was most definitely a family based settlement rather that the sort of male-led invasions of later millennia.[4]
   "
"    

The Celts of Ireland and the Western Isles are not, as far as I can see from the genetic evidence, related to the Celts who spread south and east to Italy, Greece and Turkey from the heartlands of Hallstadt and La Tene...during the first millennium BC...The genetic evidence shows that a large proportion of Irish Celts, on both the male and female side, did arrive from Iberia at or about the same time as farming reached the Isles. (...)

The connection to Spain is also there in the myth of Brutus.... This too may be the faint echo of the same origin myth as the Milesian Irish and the connection to Iberia is almost as strong in the British regions as it is in Ireland. (...)

They [the Picts] are from the same mixture of Iberian and European Mesolithic ancestry that forms the Pictish/Celtic substructure of the Isles.[5]
   "
"    

Here again, the strongest signal is a Celtic one, in the form of the clan of Oisin, which dominates the scene all over the Isles. The predominance in every part of the Isles of the Atlantis chromosome (the most frequent in the Oisin clan), with its strong affinities to Iberia, along with other matches and the evidence from the maternal side convinces me that it is from this direction that we must look for the origin of Oisin and the great majority of our Y-chromosomes...I can find no evidence at all of a large-scale arrival from the heartland of the Celts of central Europe amongst the paternic genetic ancestry of the Isles... can[6]

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/arm ... ction=news

The U5 branch pre-dates the expansion of agriculture in Europe. Its age is estimated at 50,000 years but could be as old as 60,500 years. Haplogroup U5 and its subclades U5a and U5b form the highest population concentrations in the far north, in Sami, Finns, and Estonians, but it is spread widely at lower levels throughout Europe. This distribution, and the age of the haplogroup, indicate individuals from this haplogroup were part of the initial expansion tracking the retreat of ice sheets from Europe ~10,000 years ago. Haplogroup U5 is found also in small frequencies and at much lower diversity in the Near East and parts of Africa, suggesting back-migration of people from northern Europe to the south. U5a is six times more prevalent than U5b in our regions where it reaches 6.3% of the population of the Caucasus and 3.3% of the population of Iran. Many European populations lack Haplogroup

http://www.genetree.com/u_and_u5

This map shows the geographic distribution of haplogroup U5a as measured in various geographically and ethnically defined populations from around the world. The value displayed at any geographical location indicates the percentage of individuals at that location who belong to this haplogroup.

Haplogroup U, appearing about 55,000 - 60,000 years ago, is one of the oldest branches descending from haplogroup R.  Haplogroup U has extremely broad geographic distribution, ranging from Europe and North Africa to India and Central Asia.  Frequencies of haplogroup U range from 10-30% in these populations.

The wide distribution of haplogroup U is primarily due to its antiquity, with its appearance immediately following that of haplogroup R, after "the Out of Africa" exit. Subsequent migrations in turn gave birth to numerous subclades linked to specific geographic distributions.  Currently, nine main subgroups (U1-U9) have been identified within haplogroup U, some of which have been widely analyzed by population geneticists and anthropologists.

Phylogeography of U

Subhaplogroup U2 is subdivided into five subclades: U2a, U2b, U2c, U2d, and U2e ("e" means European).  Subclades U2a-d are all typical of the Indo-Pakistani region, and are found in 8-9% of the total population.  These subclades appeared from 35,000 to 40,000 years ago.

Subhaplogroup U7 is also prevalent in South Asia.  Frequencies among South Asian populations include 12% of the population in Gujarat (western India), 5% in Pakistan, and about 2% in India.  This subhaplogroup is also common in the Near East, found in 10% of Iranians.

Subhaplogroup U6 is typical of North Africa and appears to have originated in the Near East about 40,000 years ago, and subhaplogroup U5 is typical of Europe. Despite the difference in their geographic distributions U5 and U6 are strikingly similar to one another.  It has been postulated that the two populations harboring the U6 and U5 mitochondrial DNA variants were living in the same broad geographic area of southwestern Asia when they were affected by an event that led to their expansion and relocation. There was a change in climate conditions about 43,000 years ago which allowed humans to enter the Levant and then Europe and North Africa. Thus, while U5 took part in the first settlement of Europe by modern humans, U6 (and a subclade of M, called M1) entered North Africa giving rise to the so called "Back to Africa" expansion.  This scenario reinforces the idea that the first cultures in North Africa and Europe had a common source.

Moreover, the subclade U5b has been identified as a marker (together with H1, H3 and V) that characterizes the dynamics of late glacial dispersal in Europe (and other regions).  In fact, after the last Ice Age passed (about 13,000 years ago) hunter-gatherer populations, which took refuge in a few areas of Southern Europe including the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), gradually repopulated much of central and northern Europe, as well as northern Africa by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.  However, the U5b subclade is found also in northern Nordic countries.  A particular variation within this subclade known as U5b1b defines 27% of Swedish Saami, 40% of Finnish Saami, and 57% of Norwegian Saami peoples.

Subhaplogroup U8 can be further subdivided into the subclades U8a and U8b. The oldest U8a lineages in Europe were found among the Basques supporting the idea that Basques could have participated in the demographic re-expansion that took place after the last Ice Age (see above).  U8b includes the cluster K that was initially identified as an independent haplogroup.

Famous Members U

In 1903, the skeletal remains of a 9,000 year-old male were found in a cave in Cheddar, England. The "Cheddar Man" was about 23 years old at the time of his death and was killed by a blow to the face. Recently, scientists at Oxford University were able to extract and analyze maternal DNA from the skeleton's tooth, identifying characteristics of haplogroup U5a. After surveying maternal DNA from individuals living in Cheddar, a unique match was found to a local schoolteacher, Adrian Targett.

References

    Achilli A, Rengo C, et al. Saami and Berbers--an unexpected mitochondrial DNA link. Am J Hum Genet. (May 2005)
    González AM, García O, et al. BMC Genomics. (May 2006)
    Olivieri A, Achilli A, et al. The mtDNA legacy of the Levantine early Upper Palaeolithic in Africa. Science. (Dec. 2006)
    Palanichamy MG, Sun C, et al. Phylogeny of mitochondrial DNA macrohaplogroup N in India, based on complete sequencing: implications for the peopling of South Asia. Am J Hum Genet. (Dec. 2004)
    Quintana-Murci L, Chaix R, et al. Where west meets east: the complex mtDNA landscape of the southwest and Central Asian corridor. Am J Hum Genet. (May 2004)
    Richards M, Macaulay V, et al. Tracing European founder lineages in the Near Eastern mtDNA pool. Am J Hum Genet. (Nov. 2000)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... Spain.html

Has the real lost city of Atlantis finally been found... buried under mud flats in Spain?

By Daily Mail Reporter
UPDATED: 04:46, 15 March 2011

    Comments (53)
    Share


    Scientists are convinced that Atlantis is submerged just north of Cadiz
    They used a satellite photo of a suspected submerged city to find the site
    The team then surveyed it with a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology

It has remained a tantalising mystery for thousands of years, but now a U.S. led research team believes it has found the legendary lost city of Atlantis.

Scientists claim to have pinpointed the exact location of the metropolis under mud flats in southern Spain.

The team of archaeologists and geologists are convinced that Atlantis -swamped by a tsunami - is submerged just north of Cadiz.
Wonder of the ancient world or fantasy? The story of the fabled Atlantis has captivated humanity for centuries. Scientists claim to have pinpointed its exact location - under mud flats in southern Spain

Wonder of the ancient world or fantasy? The story of the fabled Atlantis has captivated humanity for centuries. Scientists claim to have pinpointed its exact location - under mud flats in southern Spain
The team's underwater cameraman Sebastian Giner prepares to film the underwater site

The team's underwater cameraman Sebastian Giner prepares to film the underwater site
SEA-GOING SUPERPOWER, OR WAS PLATO PLAYING POLITICS?

Atlantis was first described by the Greek philosopher Plato more than 2,000 years ago.

While many believe the story is a myth created by Plato to illustrate his theories about politics, others insist it is based on a real historical disaster.

According to Plato's account, written around 360BC, Atlantis was a major sea power located in the Atlantic.

It was larger than ancient Libya and Asia Minor (modern Turkey) put together, and was 'the way to the other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent'.

His account included detailed descriptions of the island - with mountains in the north and along the coast, and a plain in the south.

Its kings were descended from Poseidon - the god of sea - but their divine lineage became diluted as they mixed with mortals.

By around 9600BC the island had conquered much of Western Europe and Africa and enslaved its enemies.

This date would make the city nearly as old as the end of the last ice age and pre-dates the earliest recorded city states, found in what is now Iraq, so seems rather unlikely.

After a failed attempt to invade Athens, the entire island sank into the sea 'in a single day and night of misfortune'.

Over the centuries, scholars have attempted to locate the real Atlantis - believing the account was based on a real ancient superpower.

One of the most plausible theories is that Plato was describing the Minoan civilisation on Crete and the neighbouring island of Santorini which was devastated by a massive volcanic eruption around 1600BC.

Some believe the Atlantis myth was inspired by the Black Sea floods of around 5000BC - an event that may have also generated the flood stories which appeared in the Old Testament.

Professor Richard Freund of the University of Hartford, Connecticut, who led the international team, said: 'This is the power of tsunamis.

'It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about.'

The team used a satellite photo of a suspected submerged city to find the site then surveyed it with a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology.

Buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park they found a strange series of 'memorial cities,' built in Atlantis' image by the refugees who fled the destructive tsunami.

Atlantis residents who did not die built new cities inland, claimed Freund.

The team's findings were unveiled yesterday in Finding Atlantis, a new National Geographic Channel special.

Freund said the 'twist' of finding the memorial cities makes him confident Atlantis was buried in the mud flats.

He said: 'We found something that no one else has ever seen before, which gives it a layer of credibility, especially for archaeology, that makes a lot more sense.'

Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis some 2,600 years ago, describing it as 'an island situated in front of the straits called the Pillars of Hercules.'

These pillars were known as the Straits of Gibraltar in bygone times.Using Plato's detailed account of Atlantis as a map, searches have focused on the Mediterranean and Atlantic as the best possible sites for the city.

Freund says tsunamis in the region have been documented for centuries with one of the largest reported in November 1755 hitting Lisbon with a 10-story tidal wave.

Debate about whether Atlantis truly existed has lasted for thousands of years. Plato's 'dialogues' from around 360 B.C. are the only known historical sources of information about the iconic city.

Plato said the island he called Atlantis 'in a single day and night... disappeared into the depths of the sea.'

Experts plan further excavations at the site where they believe Atlantis is and at the mysterious 'cities' in central Spain 150 miles away to more closely study geological formations and to date artefacts.
Atlantis map


Atlantis has been 'discovered' many times in the past.

In 1997, Russian scientists claimed to have found it 100 miles off Land's End.

Three years later, a ruined town was found under 300ft of water off the north coast of Turkey in the Black Sea.

 
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    Reunited after 2,000 years apart: The Pompeii husband and wife whose tomb was buried by Vesuvius
    Burying pollution: Sandstone rocks under the North Sea could store C02, study claims

An American architect used sonar in 2004 to reveal man-made walls a mile deep in the Mediterranean between Cyprus and Syria.

In 2007, Swedish researchers claimed the city lay on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea, which was submerged in the Bronze Age.

And as recently as February of this year, what appeared to be grid-like lines that resembled city streets were spotted on Google Earth - in the ocean off the coast of Africa.

Sadly Google itself quickly debunked the suggestion, explaining that the lines were left by a boat as it collected data for the application.
Researcher Quentin Letesson works in the trench at the mud flat site near Cadiz

Researcher Quentin Letesson works in the trench at the mud flat site near Cadiz
On location: Professor Richard Freund (right) and a National Geographic Channel filmmaker at the site

On location: Professor Richard Freund (right) and a National Geographic Channel filmmaker at the site
A map of Atlantis - oriented with south at the top - drawn by 17th century scholar Athanasius Kircher, who pinpointed it as being in the mid-Atlantic

A map of Atlantis - oriented with south at the top - drawn by 17th century scholar Athanasius Kircher, who pinpointed it as being in the mid-Atlantic

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'Britain's Atlantis' found at bottom of North sea - a huge undersea world swallowed by the sea in 6500BC

    Divers have found traces of ancient land swallowed by waves 8500 years ago
    Doggerland once stretched from Scotland to Denmark
    Rivers seen underwater by seismic scans
    Britain was not an island - and area under North Sea was roamed by mammoths and other giant animals
    Described as the 'real heartland' of Europe
    Had population of tens of thousands - but devastated by sea level rises

By Rob Waugh

PUBLISHED: 00:32, 3 July 2012 | UPDATED: 11:49, 3 July 2012

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'Britain's Atlantis' - a hidden underwater world swallowed by the North Sea - has been discovered by divers working with science teams from the University of St Andrews.

Doggerland, a huge area of dry land that stretched from Scotland to Denmark was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC.

Divers from oil companies have found remains of a 'drowned world' with a population of tens of thousands - which might once have been the 'real heartland' of Europe.

A team of climatologists, archaeologists and geophysicists has now mapped the area using new data from oil companies - and revealed the full extent of a 'lost land' once roamed by mammoths.
Divers from St Andrews University, find remains of Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis'

Divers from St Andrews University, find remains of Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis'

Dr Richard Bates of the earth sciences department at St Andrews University, searching for Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis'

Dr Richard Bates of the earth sciences department at St Andrews University, searching for Doggerland, the underwater country dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis'
How the North Sea grew and the land-mass shrunk

A Greater Britain: How the North Sea grew and the land-mass shrunk
Scans show a mound discovered under the water near Orkney, which has been explored by divers

Drowned world: Scans show a mound discovered under the water near Orkney, which has been explored by divers


St Andrews University's artists' impression of life in Doggerland

St Andrews University's artists' impression of life in Doggerland

The research suggests that the populations of these drowned lands could have been tens of thousands, living in an area that stretched from Northern Scotland across to Denmark and down the English Channel as far as the Channel Islands.

The area was once the 'real heartland' of Europe and was hit by 'a devastating tsunami', the researchers claim.

The wave was part of a larger process that submerged the low-lying area over the course of thousands of years.

'The name was coined for Dogger Bank, but it applies to any of several periods when the North Sea was land,' says Richard Bates of the University of St Andrews. 'Around 20,000 years ago, there was a 'maximum' - although part of this area would have been covered with ice. When the ice melted, more land was revealed - but the sea level also rose.

'Through a lot of new data from oil and gas companies, we're able to give form to the landscape - and make sense of the mammoths found out there, and the reindeer. We're able to understand the types of people who were there.

'People seem to think rising sea levels are  a new thing - but it's a cycle of Earht history that has happened many many times.'

Organised by Dr Richard Bates of the Department of Earth Sciences at St Andrews, the Drowned Landscapes exhibit reveals the human story behind Doggerland, a now submerged area of the North Sea that was once larger than many modern European countries.
 
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Dr Bates, a geophysicist, said: 'Doggerland was the real heartland of Europe until sea levels rose to give us the UK coastline of today.

World beneath the waves: Scientists examine a sediment core recovered from a mound near Orkney

World beneath the waves: Scientists examine a sediment core recovered from a mound near Orkney

Seismic scans reveal a submerged river at Dogger Bank

Seismic scans reveal a submerged river at Dogger Bank
A visualisation of how life in the now-submerged areas of Dogger Bank might have looked

A visualisation of how life in the now-submerged areas of Dogger Bank might have looked
Doggerland

The research suggests that the populations of these drowned lands could have been tens of thousands, living in an area that stretched from Northern Scotland across to Denmark and down the English Channel as far as the Channel Islands

Life in 'Doggerland' - the ancient kingdom once stretched from Scotland to Denmark and has been described as the 'real heart of Europe'

Life in 'Doggerland' - the ancient kingdom once stretched from Scotland to Denmark and has been described as the 'real heart of Europe'

'We have speculated for years on the lost land's existence from bones dredged by fishermen all over the North Sea, but it's only since working with oil companies in the last few years that we have been able to re-create what this lost land looked like.

'When the data was first being processed, I thought it unlikely to give us any useful information, however as more area was covered it revealed a vast and complex landscape.

'We have now been able to model its flora and fauna, build up a picture of the ancient people that lived there and begin to understand some of the dramatic events that subsequently changed the land, including the sea rising and a devastating tsunami.'

The research project is a collaboration between St Andrews and the Universities of Aberdeen, Birmingham, Dundee and Wales Trinity St David.

Rediscovering the land through pioneering scientific research, the research reveals a story of a dramatic past that featured massive climate change. The public exhibit brings back to life the Mesolithic populations of Doggerland through artefacts discovered deep within the sea bed.

The research, a result of a painstaking 15 years of fieldwork around the murky waters of the UK, is one of the highlights of the London event.

The interactive display examines the lost landscape of Doggerland and includes artefacts from various times represented by the exhibit - from pieces of flint used by humans as tools to the animals that also inhabited these lands.

Using a combination of geophysical modelling of data obtained from oil and gas companies and direct evidence from material recovered from the seafloor, the research team was able to build up a reconstruction of the lost land.

The excavation of Trench 2, unveiling more finds about this lost land-mass

The excavation of Trench 2, unveiling more finds about this lost land-mass
Fossilised bones from a mammoth also show how this landscape was once one of hills and valleys, rather than sea

Fossilised bones from a mammoth also show how this landscape was once one of hills and valleys, rather than sea

The findings suggest a picture of a land with hills and valleys, large swamps and lakes with major rivers dissecting a convoluted coastline.

As the sea rose the hills would have become an isolated archipelago of low islands. By examining the fossil record - such as pollen grains, microfauna and macrofauna - the researchers can tell what kind of vegetation grew in Doggerland and what animals roamed there.

Using this information, they were able to build up a model of the 'carrying capacity' of the land and work out roughly how many humans could have lived there.

The research team is currently investigating more evidence of human behaviour, including possible human burial sites, intriguing standing stones and a mass mammoth grave.

Dr Bates added: 'We haven't found an 'x marks the spot' or 'Joe created this', but we have found many artefacts and submerged features that are very difficult to explain by natural causes, such as mounds surrounded by ditches and fossilised tree stumps on the seafloor.

'There is actually very little evidence left because much of it has eroded underwater; it's like trying to find just part of a needle within a haystack. What we have found though is a remarkable amount of evidence and we are now able to pinpoint the best places to find preserved signs of life.'

For further information on the exhibit, visit: http://sse.royalsociety.org/2012/exhibi ... andscapes/

Drowned Landscapes is on display at The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2012 from July 3-8 at the Royal Society in London.

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[mgt23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybe_semilanceata

............in Gaelic tradition this is what would have been used on hallows eve. I'm seeing this as more of a DMT vs Mushroom war........and funny enough the jews are obsessed with DMT.

Psilocybe semilanceata
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Psilocybe semilanceata
A group of three small, conical, yellow-brown mushrooms on spindly stems, with mixed ground-cover foliage below and in the background. A smaller fourth mushroom of the same type is visible below, in the background.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:    Fungi
Division:    Basidiomycota
Class:    Hymenomycetes
Order:    Agaricales
Family:    Strophariaceae
Genus:    Psilocybe
Species:    P. semilanceata
Binomial name
Psilocybe semilanceata
(Fr.) P.Kumm. (1871)
Synonyms[1][2]

Agaricus semilanceatus Fr. (1838)
Geophila semilanceata (Fr.) Quél. (1886)
Panaeolus semilanceatus (Fr.) J.E.Lange (1936)
Panaeolus semilanceatus (Fr.) J.E.Lange (1939)
Psilocybe semilanceata
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Mycological characteristics
   gills on hymenium
   

cap is conical
or umbonate
   

hymenium is adnate
or adnexed
   stipe is bare
   

spore print is brown
to purple
   ecology is saprotrophic
   edibility: psychoactive

Psilocybe semilanceata, commonly known as the liberty cap, is a psychedelic (or "magic") mushroom that contains the psychoactive compounds psilocybin and baeocystin. Of the world's psilocybin mushrooms, it is the most common in nature, and one of the most potent. The mushrooms have a distinctive conical to bell-shaped cap, up to 2.5 cm (1.0 in) in diameter, with a small nipple-like protrusion on the top. They are yellow to brown in color, covered with radial grooves when moist, and fade to a lighter color as they mature. Their stems tend to be slender and long, and the same color or slightly lighter than the cap. The gill attachment to the stem is adnexed (narrowly attached), and they are initially cream-colored before tinting purple as the spores mature. The spores are dark purplish-brown in mass, ellipsoid in shape, and measure 10.5–15 by 6.5–8.5 micrometers.

The mushroom grows in fields, grassy meadows, and similar habitats, particularly in wet, north-facing fields (south-facing for southern hemisphere) that are well-fertilized by sheep and cattle feces. But unlike P. cubensis and P. coprophila, the fungus does not grow directly on dung; rather, it is a saprobic species that feeds off decaying grass roots. It is widely distributed in the cool temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe. However, it has also been reported occasionally from warmer locations such as India, South America, and Australasia. The earliest reliable history of P. semilanceata intoxication dates back to 1799 in London, and in the 1960s the mushroom was the first European species confirmed to contain psilocybin. Further investigations into the chemical makeup of the fungus revealed the presence of the substances phenylethylamine and the psychotropic baeocystin.
Contents

    1 Taxonomy and naming
    2 Description
        2.1 Microscopic characteristics
        2.2 Other forms
    3 Similar species
    4 Ecology and habitat
    5 Distribution
    6 Psychoactive use
        6.1 Properties
        6.2 Legal status
    7 See also
    8 References
        8.1 Cited texts

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first described by Elias Magnus Fries as Agaricus semilanceatus in his 1838 Epicrisis Systematis Mycologici.[3] Paul Kummer transferred it to Psilocybe in 1871 when he raised many of Fries's sub-groupings of Agaricus to the level of genus.[4] Panaeolus semilanceatus, named by Jakob Emanuel Lange in both 1936 and 1939 publications, is a synonym.[5][6] According to the taxonomical database MycoBank, several taxa once considered varieties of P. semilanceata are synonymous with the species now known as Psilocybe strictipes:[7] the caerulescens variety described by Pier Andrea Saccardo in 1887 (originally named Agaricus semilanceatus var. coerulescens by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke in 1881),[8] the microspora variety described by Rolf Singer in 1969,[9] and the obtusata variety described by Marcel Bon in 1985.[10]
A small conical cream-colored mushroom on a long, spindly stem, amid long grass
A marble bust of a curly-haired boy wearing an edgeless conical cap with the rounded peak bending forward
The mushroom gets its common name from its resemblance to the Phrygian cap.

Several molecular studies published in the 2000s (decade) demonstrated that Psilocybe, as it was defined then, was polyphyletic.[11][12][13] The studies supported the idea of dividing the genus into two clades, one consisting of the bluing, hallucinogenic species, and the other the non-bluing, non-hallucinogenic species. However, the generally accepted lectotype (a specimen later selected when the original author of a taxon name did not designate a type) of the genus as a whole was Psilocybe montana, which is a non-bluing, non-hallucinogenic species. If the non-bluing, non-hallucinogenic species in the study were to be segregated, it would have left the hallucinogenic clade without a valid name. To resolve this dilemma, several mycologists proposed in a 2005 publication to conserve the name Psilocybe, with P. semilanceata as the type. As they explained, conserving the name Psilocybe in this way would prevent nomenclatural changes to a well-known group of fungi, many species of which are "linked to archaeology, anthropology, religion, alternate life styles, forensic science, law enforcement, laws and regulation".[14] Further, the name P. semilanceata had historically been accepted as the lectotype by many authors in the period 1938–68. The proposal to conserve the name Psilocybe, with P. semilanceata as the type was accepted unanimously by the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi in 2009.[15]

The mushroom takes its common name from the Phrygian cap, also known as the "liberty cap", which it resembles;[16] P. semilanceata shares its common name with P. pelliculosa,[17] a species from which it is more or less indistinguishable in appearance.[18] The Latin word for Phrygian cap is pileus, nowadays the technical name for what is commonly known as the "cap" of a fungal fruit body. In the 18th century Phrygian caps were placed on Liberty poles, which resemble the stem of the mushroom. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek psilos (ψιλός) ("smooth" or "bare") and the Byzantine Greek kubê (κύβη) ("head").[19][20] The specific epithet comes from the Latin semi ("half") and lanceata, from lanceolatus, meaning "spear-shaped".[21]
Description
A collection of brown mushrooms laid on a flat surface. The mushrooms' caps are small, conical, and variably rounded. Their stems are long, spindly, and irregular.
A collection from The Netherlands

The cap of P. semilanceata is 5–25 mm (0.2–1.0 in) in diameter and 6–22 mm (0.24–0.87 in) tall. It varies in shape from sharply conical to bell-shaped, often with a prominent papilla (a nipple-shaped structure), and does not change shape considerably as it ages. The cap margin is initially rolled inward but unrolls to become straight or even curled upwards in maturity. The cap is hygrophanous, meaning it assumes different colors depending on its state of hydration. When it is moist, the cap is ochraceous to pale brown to dark chestnut brown, but darker in the center, often with a greenish-blue tinge. When moist, radial grooves (striations) can be seen on the cap that correspond to the positions of the gills underneath. When the cap is dry, it becomes much paler, a light yellow-brown color.[2] Moist mushrooms have sticky surfaces that result from a thin gelatinous film called a pellicle.[22] This film becomes apparent if a piece of the cap is broken by bending it back and peeling away the piece. When the cap dries from exposure to the sun, the film turns whitish and is no longer peelable.[23]

On the underside of the mushroom's cap, there are between 15 and 27 individual narrow gills that are moderately crowded together, and they have a narrowly adnexed to almost free attachment to the stem. Their color is initially pale brown, but becomes dark gray to purple-brown with a lighter edge as the spores mature. The slender yellowish-brown stem is 45–140 mm (1.8–5.5 in) long by 1–3.5 mm (0.04–0.14 in) thick, and usually slightly thicker towards the base.[2] The mushroom has a thin cobweb-like partial veil that does not last long before disappearing; sometimes, the partial veil leaves an annular zone on the stem that may be darkened by spores.[22] The flesh is thin and membrane-like, and roughly the same color as the surface tissue. It has a farinaceous (similar to freshly ground flour) odor and taste. All parts of the mushroom will stain a bluish color if handled or bruised, and it may naturally turn blue with age.[2]
Microscopic characteristics
Microscopic characteristics

In deposit, the spores are a deep reddish purple-brown color. The use of a light microscope can reveal further details: the spores are oblong when seen in side view, and oblong to oval in frontal view, with dimensions of 10.5–15 by 6.5–8.5 μm. The basidia (spore bearing cells of the hymenium), are 20–31 by 5–9 μm, four-spored, and have clamps at their bases; there are no basidia found on the sterile gill edge. The cheilocystidia (cystidia on the gill edge) measure 15–30 by 4–7 μm, and are flask-shaped with long thin necks that are 1–3.5 μm wide. P. semilanceata does not have pleurocystidia (cystidia on the gill face). The cap cuticle is up to 90 μm thick, and is made of a tissue layer called an ixocutis—a gelatinized layer of hyphae lying parallel to the cap surface. The hyphae comprising the ixocutis are cylindrical, hyaline, and 1–3.5 μm wide. Immediately under the cap cuticle is the subpellis, made of hyphae that are 4–12 μm wide with yellowish-brown encrusted walls. There are clamp connections present in the hyphae of all tissues.[2]
Other forms

The anamorphic form of P. semilanceata is an asexual stage in the fungus's life cycle involved in the development of mitotic diaspores (conidia). In culture, grown in a petri dish, the fungus forms a white to pale orange cottony or felt-like mat of mycelia. The conidia formed are straight to curved, measuring 2.0–8.0 by 1.1–2.0 μm, and may contain one to several small intracellular droplets.[24] Although little is known of the anamorphic stage of P. semilanceata beyond the confines of laboratory culture, in general, the morphology of the asexual structures may be used as classical characters in phylogenetic analyses to help understand the evolutionary relationships between related groups of fungi.[25]

Scottish mycologist Roy Watling described sequestrate (truffle-like) or secotioid versions of P. semilanceata he found growing in association with regular fruit bodies. These versions had elongated caps, 20–22 cm (7.9–8.7 in) long and 0.8–1 cm (0.3–0.4 in) wide at the base, with the inward curved margins closely hugging the stem from the development of membranous flanges. Their gills were narrow, closely crowded together, and anastomosed (fused together in a vein-like network). The color of the gills was sepia with a brownish vinaceous (red wine-colored) cast, and a white margin. The stems of the fruit bodies were 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) long by 0.1–0.3 cm (0.04–0.12 in) thick, with about 2 cm (0.8 in) of stem length covered by the extended cap. The thick-walled ellipsoid spores were 12.5–13.5 by 6.5–7 μm. Despite the significant differences in morphology, molecular analysis showed the secotioid version to be the same species as the typical morphotype.[26]
Similar species
Lookalikes include P. mexicana (left), P. pelliculosa (center), and P. strictipes (right).

There are several other Psilocybe species that may be confused with P. semilanceata due to similarities in physical appearance. P. strictipes is a slender grassland species that is differentiated macroscopically from P. semilanceata by the lack of a prominent papilla. P. mexicana, commonly known as the "Mexican liberty cap", is also similar in appearance, but is found in manure-rich soil in subtropical grasslands in Mexico. It has somewhat smaller spores than P. semilanceata, typically 8–9.9 by 5.5–7.7 μm.[27] Another lookalike species is P. samuiensis, found in Thailand, where it grows in well-manured clay-like soils or among rice paddies. This mushroom can be distinguished from P. semilanceata by its smaller cap, up to 1.5 cm (0.6 in) in diameter, and its rhomboid-shaped spores.[28] P. pelliculosa is physically similar to such a degree that it may be indistinguishable in the field. It differs from P. semilanceata by virtue of its smaller spores, measuring 9–13 by 5–7 μm.[18]

The toxic species Cortinarius rubellus (formerly known as C. orellanoides)[29] has been confused with P. semilanceata by novice collectors looking to consume the mushrooms for hallucinogenic effects, sometimes with drastic consequences.[30] The expanded and bluntly umbonate cap of C. rubellus is orange-brown with a larger diameter than P. semilanceata, typically ranging from 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 in). The gills are adnate to sinuate in attachment to the stem, and cinnamon-brown in color (rather than dark gray to purple-brown). Its stem is roughly the same color as the cap, 5–8 cm (2.0–3.1 in) long and much thicker than P. semilanceata—usually 0.6–1 cm (0.2–0.4 in), and sometimes bears lemon-yellow bands. It is a mycorrhizal species that grows on acidic soil among mosses, usually in wet coniferous forests.[31] P. semilanceata has also been confused with the toxic muscarine-containing species Inocybe geophylla,[32] a whitish mushroom with a silky cap, yellowish-brown to pale grayish gills, and a dull yellowish-brown spore print.[33]
Ecology and habitat
Psilocybe semilanceata is a saprobic grassland species.

Psilocybe semilanceata is a saprobic fungus, meaning it obtains nutrients by breaking down organic matter. The mushroom grows solitarily or in groups on the ground, typically in fields and pastures. It is often found in fields that have been fertilized with sheep or cow dung, although it does not typically grow directly on the dung. The mushroom is also associated with sedges in moist areas of fields,[22] and it is thought to live on the decaying root remains.[34][35] Like some other grassland species such as P. mexicana, P. tampanensis and Conocybe cyanopus, P. semilanceata may form sclerotia, a dormant form of the fungus, which affords it some protection from wildfires and other natural disasters.[36]

Laboratory tests have shown P. semilanceata to suppress the growth of the soil-borne water mold Phytophthora cinnamomi, a virulent plant pathogen that causes the disease root rot.[37] When grown in dual culture with other saprobic fungi isolated from the rhizosphere of grasses from its habitat, P. semilanceata significantly suppresses their growth. This antifungal activity, which can be traced at least partly to two phenolic compounds it secretes, helps it compete successfully with other fungal species in the intense competition for nutrients provided by decaying plant matter.[38] Using standard antimicrobial susceptibility tests, Psilocybe semilanceata was shown to strongly inhibit the growth of the human pathogen methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The source of the antimicrobial activity is unknown.[39]
Distribution

Psilocybe semilanceata is considered the most common psilocybin-containing mushroom.[32] In Europe, P. semilanceata has a widespread distribution, and is found in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Channel Islands, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.[40] It is generally agreed that the species is native to Europe;[41] Watling has demonstrated that there exists little difference between specimens collected from Spain and Scotland, at both the morphological and genetic level.[26]

The mushroom also has a widespread distribution in North America. In Canada it has been collected from British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.[40] In the United States, it is most common in the Pacific Northwest, west of the Cascade Mountains, where it fruits abundantly in autumn and early winter; fruiting has also been reported to occur infrequently during spring months.[22] Charles Horton Peck reported the mushroom to occur in New York in the early 20th century, and consequently, much literature published since then has reported the species to be present in the eastern United States. Gaston Guzman later examined Peck's herbarium specimen, and in his comprehensive 1983 monograph on Psilocybe, concluded that Peck had misidentified it with the species now known as Panaeolina foenisecii.[41][42] P. semilanceata is much less common in South America,[41] where it has been recorded from southern Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.[40] It is also known in Australia (where it may be an introduced species)[26] and New Zealand, where it grows in high-altitude grasslands.[43] In 2000, it was reported from Golaghat, in the Indian state of Assam.[44]
Psychoactive use
1, 2 & 3 in the figure are Psilocybe semilanceata, which Sowerby wrongly thought was the same as Stropharia semiglobata.

The first reliably documented report of Psilocybe semilanceata intoxication involved a British family in 1799, who prepared a meal with mushrooms they had picked in London's Green Park. According to the chemist Augustus Everard Brande, the father and his four children experienced typical symptoms associated with ingestion, including pupil dilation, spontaneous laughter and delirium.[45] The identification of the species responsible was made possible by James Sowerby's 1803 book Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms,[46] which included a description of the fungus, then known as Agaricus glutinosus (originally described by Moses Ashley Curtis in 1780). According to German mycologist Jochen Gartz, the description of the species is "fully compatible with current knowledge about Psilocybe semilanceata."[47]

In the early 1960s, the Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann—known for the synthesis of the psychedelic drug LSD—chemically analyzed P. semilanceata fruit bodies collected in Switzerland and France by the botanist Roger Heim. Using the technique of paper chromatography, Hofmann confirmed the presence of 0.25% (by weight) psilocybin in dried samples. Their 1963 publication was the first report of psilocybin in a European mushroom species; previously, it had been known only in Psilocybe species native to Mexico, Asia and North America.[48] This finding was confirmed in the late 1960s with specimens from Scotland and England,[49][50] Czechoslovakia (1973),[51] Germany (1977),[52] Norway (1978),[34] and Belgium and Finland (1984).[53][54] In 1965, forensic characterization of psilocybin-containing mushrooms seized from college students in British Columbia identified P. semilanceata[55]—the first recorded case of intentional recreational use of the mushroom in Canada.[56] The presence of the psilocybin analog baeocystin was confirmed in 1977.[52] Several studies published since then support the idea that the variability of psilocybin content in P. semilanceata is low, regardless of country of origin.[47][57]
Properties

Several studies have quantified the amounts of hallucinogenic compounds found in the fruit bodies of Psilocybe semilanceata. In 1993, Gartz reported an average of 1% psilocybin (expressed as a percentage of the dry weight of the fruit bodies), ranging from a minimum of 0.2% to a maximum of 2.37%, which is the highest psilocybin concentration reported for a mushroom.[58] In an earlier analysis, Tjakko Stijve and Thom Kuyper (1985) found a high concentration in a single specimen (1.7%) in addition to a relatively high concentration of baeocystin (0.36%).[59] Smaller specimens tend to have the highest percent concentrations of psilocybin, but the absolute amount is highest in larger mushrooms.[60] A Finnish study assayed psilocybin concentrations in old herbarium specimens, and concluded that although psilocybin concentration decreased linearly over time, it was relatively stable. They were able to detect the chemical in specimens that were 115 years old.[61] Michael Beug and Jeremy Bigwood, analyzing specimens from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, reported psilocybin concentrations ranging from 0.62% to 1.28%, averaging 1.0 ±0.2%. They concluded that the species was one of the most potent, as well as the most constant in psilocybin levels.[62] In a 1996 publication, Paul Stamets defined a "potency rating scale" based on the total content of psychoactive compounds (including psilocybin, psilocin, and baeocystin) in 12 species of Psilocybe mushrooms. Although there are certain caveats with this technique—such as the unconfirmed assumption that these compounds contribute equally to psychoactive properties—it serves as a rough comparison of potency between species. Despite its small size, Psilocybe semilanceata is considered a "moderately active to extremely potent" hallucinogenic mushroom (meaning the combined percentage of psychoactive compounds is typically between 0.25% to greater than 2%),[22] and of the 12 mushrooms compared, only 3 were more potent: P. azurescens, P. baeocystis, and P. bohemica.[63] According to Gartz (1995), P. semilanceata is Europe's most popular psychoactive species,[47] and Psilocybe authority Gastón Guzmán, in his 1983 monograph on psilocybin mushrooms, claimed it is the world's most common psychoactive mushroom.[42]
O-phosphoryl-4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine
Psilocybin
3-[2-(methylammonio)ethyl]-1H-indol-4-yl hydrogen phosphate
Baeocystin
Phenyleth-2-amine
Phenylethylamine

Several reports have been published in the literature documenting the effects of consumption of P. semilanceata. Typical symptoms include visual distortions of color, depth and form, progressing to visual hallucinations. The effects are similar to the experience following consumption of LSD, although milder.[64] Common side effects of mushroom ingestion include pupil dilation, increased heart rate, unpleasant mood, and overresponsive reflexes. As is typical of the symptoms associated with psilocybin mushroom ingestion, "the effect on mood in particular is dependent on the subject's pre-exposure personality traits", and "identical doses of psilocybin may have widely differing effects in different individuals."[65] Although most cases of intoxication resolve without incident, there have been isolated cases with severe consequences, especially after higher dosages or persistent use. In one case reported in Poland in 1998, an 18-year-old man developed Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, arrhythmia, and suffered myocardial infarction after ingesting P. semilanceata frequently over the period of a month. The cardiac damage and myocardial infarction was suggested to be a result of either coronary vasoconstriction, or because of platelet hyperaggregation and occlusion of small coronary arteries.[66]

In 1998, a study reported the presence of the pharmacologically active drug phenylethylamine from samples collected in Sweden. The concentration of the compound was highly variable in the samples tested, but in one case was as high as 146 micrograms per gram of mushroom (wet weight).[67] This compound, a decarboxylated product of the amino acid phenylalanine, has received considerable interest in psychiatric research, as it may be a neuromodulator of aminergic synapses (neurons that use monoamines as a neurotransmitter) and it has been suggested to enhance energy, elevate mood, and promote aggression.[68] The authors propose that there may be an interaction between phenylethylamine and psilocin (the metabolic breakdown product of psilocybin) through competitive inhibition of monoamine oxidase enzymes.[67]

One danger of attempting to consume hallucinogenic or other wild mushrooms, especially for novice mushroom hunters, is the possibility of misidentification with toxic species. In one noted case, an otherwise healthy young Austrian man mistook the poisonous Cortinarius rubellus for P. semilanceata. As a result, he suffered end-stage renal failure, and required a kidney transplant.[30] In another instance, a young man developed cardiac abnormalities similar to those seen in Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, characterized by a sudden temporary weakening of the myocardium.[69] A polymerase chain reaction-based test to specifically identity P. semilanceata was reported by Polish scientists in 2007.[70]
Legal status
See also: Legal status of psilocybin mushrooms

The legal status of psilocybin mushrooms varies worldwide. Psilocybin and psilocin are listed as Class A (United Kingdom) or Schedule I (US) drugs under the United Nations 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.[71] The possession and use of psilocybin mushrooms, including P. semilanceata, is therefore prohibited by extension. Although many European countries remained open to the use and possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms after the US ban, starting in the 2000s (decade) there has been a tightening of laws and enforcements. In The Netherlands, where the drug was once routinely sold in licensed Cannabis coffee shops and smart shops, laws were instituted in October 2008 to prohibit the possession or sale of psychedelic mushrooms—the final European country to do so.[72]
See also
Portal icon    Fungi portal
   Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Psilocybe semilanceata

    Mushroom hunting
    List of Psilocybe species
    List of Psilocybin mushrooms
    Psilocybin mushroom


References

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    ^ Ammirati J, Traquair JA, Horgen PA. (1985). Poisonous Mushrooms of the Northern United States and Canada. Ottawa, Canada: Fitzhenry & Whiteside in cooperation with Agriculture Canada. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-88902-977-4.
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    ^ Stamets (1996), p. 24.
    ^ Finlay AR, McCracken AR. (1991). "Microbial suppression of Phytophthora cinnamoni". In Lucas, John. Phytophthora: Symposium of the British Mycological Society, the British Society for Plant Pathology, and the Society of Irish Plant Pathologists held at Trinity College, Dublin, September 1989. Cambridge, England: Published for the British Mycological Society by Cambridge University Press. p. 387. ISBN 0-521-40080-5.
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    ^ Suay I, Arenal F, Asensio FJ, Basilio A, Cabello MA, Díez MT, García JB, González del Val A, Gorrochategui J, Hernández P, Peláez F, Vicente MF. (2000). "Screening of basidiomycetes for antimicrobial activities" (PDF). Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 78 (2): 129–39. doi:10.1023/A:1026552024021. PMID 11204765.
    ^ a b c Guzmán G, Allen JW, Gartz J. (1998). "A worldwide geographical distribution of the neurotropic fungi, an analysis and discussion" (PDF). Annali del Museo civico di Rovereto 14: 198–280.
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    ^ a b Gastón G. (1983). The genus Psilocybe: A Systematic Revision of the Known Species Including the History, Distribution and Chemistry of the Hallucinogenic Species. Nova Hedwigia Beihefte. 74. Berlin: J. Cramer. pp. 373–74. ISBN 3-7682-5474-7.
    ^ Johnston PR, Buchanan PK. (1995). "The genus Psilocybe (Agaricales) in New Zealand" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 379–88. doi:10.1080/0028825X.1995.10412964.
    ^ Barthakur B, Gogoi P, Barua PK. (2000). "Agaricales of Nambar reserve forest, Golaghat, Assam, India". Advances in Plant Sciences 13: 609–13.
    ^ Brande E. (1799). "Mr. E. Brande, on a poisonous species of Agaric". The Medical and Physical Journal: Containing the Earliest Information on Subjects of Medicine, Surgery, Pharmacy, Chemistry and Natural History 3: 41–44.
    ^ Sowerby J. (1803). Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms. 3. London: J. Davis. pp. 248–49.
    ^ a b c Gartz J. (1997). Magic Mushrooms Around the World. Los Angeles, California: LIS Publications. pp. 16–27. ISBN 978-0-9653399-0-2.
    ^ Hofmann A, Heim R, Tscherter H. (1963). "Phytochimie – présence de la psilocybine dans une espèce européenne d'agaric, le Psilocybe semilanceata Fr. [Phytochemistry – presence of psilocybin in a European agaric species, Psilocybe semilanceata Fr.]" (in French). Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences 257 (1): 10–12.
    ^ Benedict RG, Tyler VE, Watling R. (1967). "Blueing in Conocybe, Psilocybe and a Stropharia species and the detection of psilocybin". Lloydia 30 (2): 149–157.
    ^ Mantle PG, Waight ES. (1969). "Occurrence of psilocybin in sporophores of Psilocybe semilanceata". Transactions of the British Mycological Society 53 (2): 302–304.
    ^ Semerdžieva M, Nerud F. (1973). "Hallucinogene Pilze in der Tschechoslowakei [Hallucinogenic mushrooms in Czechoslovakia]" (in German). Česká Mycologie 27: 42–47.
    ^ a b Repke DB, Leslie DT. (1977). "Baeocystin in Psilocybe semilanceata". Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 66 (1): 113–14. doi:10.1002/jps.2600660130.
    ^ Vanhaelen-Fastré R, Vanhaelen M. (1984). "Qualitative and quantitative determination of hallucinogenic components of Psilocybe mushrooms by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography". Journal of Chromatography 312: 467–72. PMID 6543215.
    ^ Jokiranta J, Mustola S, Ohenoja E, Airaksinen MM. (1984). "Psilocybin in Finnish Psilocybe semilanceata". Planta Medica 50 (3): 277–78. doi:10.1055/s-2007-969703. PMID 17340315.
    ^ Heim R, Genest K, Hughes DW, Belec G. (1966). "Botanical and chemical characterization of a forensic mushroom specimen of the genus Psilocybe". Journal of the Forensic Science Society 6 (4): 192–201. doi:10.1016/S0015-7368(66)70336-3.
    ^ Metzner R. (2005). Sacred Mushroom of Visions: Teonanácatl: A Sourcebook on the Psilocybin Mushroom (2nd ed.). Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press. ISBN 1-59477-044-1.
    ^ For example:
        Anastos N, Lewis SW, Barnett NW, Sims DN. (2006). "The determination of psilocin and psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms by HPLC utilizing a dual reagent acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) chemiluminescence detection system". Journal of Forensic Sciences 51 (1): 45–51. doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2005.00033.x. PMID 16423222.
        Anastos N, Barnett NW, Lewis SW, Gathergood N, Scammells PJ, Sims DN. (2005). "Determination of psilocin and psilocybin using flow injection analysis with acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) chemiluminescence detection respectively". Tatlanta 67 (2): 354–59. doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2004.11.038. PMID 18970175.
        Brenneisen R, Borner S. (1988). "The occurrence of tryptamine derivatives in Psilocybe semilanceata". Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C 43 (7–8): 511–14. ISSN 0939-5075.
    ^ Gartz J. (1994). "New aspects of the occurrence, chemistry and cultivation of European hallucinogenic mushrooms". Annali del Museo Civico di Rovereto 8: 107–23.
    ^ Stijve T, Kuyper TW. (1985). "Occurrence of psilocybin in various higher fungi from several European countries". Planta Medica 51 (5): 385–87. doi:10.1055/s-2007-969526. PMID 17342589.
    ^ Gartz J. (1986). "Quantitative Bestimmung der Indolderivate von Psilocybe semilanceata (Fr.) Kumm. [Quantitative determination of the indole derivatives from Psilocybe semilanceata (Fr.) Kumm.]" (in German). Biochemie und Physiologie der Pflanzen 181 (2): 117–24.
    ^ Ohenoja E, Jokiranta J, Mäkinen T, Kaikkonen A, Airaksinen MM. (1987). "The occurrence of psilocybin and psilocin in Finnish fungi". Journal of Natural Products 50 (4): 741–44. doi:10.1021/np50052a030. PMID 3430170.
    ^ Beug MW, Bigwood J. (1982). "Psilocybin and psilocin levels in twenty species from seven genera of wild mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A.". Journal of Ethnopharmacology 5 (3): 271–85. doi:10.1016/0378-8741(82)90013-7. PMID 7201053.
    ^ Stamets (1996), pp. 39–41.
    ^ Hyde C, Glancy G, Omerod P, Hall D, Taylor GS. (1978). "Abuse of indigenous psilocybin mushooms: a new fashion and some psychiatric complications". British Journal of Psychiatry 132: 602–604. doi:10.1192/bjp.132.6.602. PMID 566144.
    ^ Peden NR, Macaulay KEC, Bissett AF, Crooks J, Pelosi AJ. (1981). "Clinical toxicology of 'magic mushroom' ingestion". Postgraduate Medical Journal 57 (67): 543–45. doi:10.1136/pgmj.57.671.543. PMC 2426147. PMID 7199140.
    ^ Borowiak KS, Ciechanowski K, Waloszczyk P. (1998). "Psilocybin mushroom (Psilocybe semilanceata) intoxication with myocardial infarction". Journal of Toxicology-Clinical Toxicology 36 (1–2): 47–49. doi:10.3109/15563659809162584. PMID 9541042.
    ^ a b Beck O, Helander A, Karlson-Stiber C, Stephansson N. (1998). "Presence of phenylethylamine in hallucinogenic Psilocybe mushroom: possible role in adverse reactions". Journal of Analytical Toxicology 22 (1): 45–49. PMID 9491968.
    ^ Sabelli HC, Javaid JI. (1995). "Phenylethylamine modulation of affect: therapeutic and diagnostic implications". Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 7 (1): 6–14. PMID 7711493.
    ^ Nef HM, Möllmann H, Hilpert P, Krause N, Troidl C, Weber M, Rolf A, Dill T, Hamm C, Elsässer A. (2009). "Apical regional wall motion abnormalities reminiscent to Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy following consumption of psychoactive fungi". International Journal of Cardiology 134 (1): e39–e41. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2007.12.064. PMID 18378018.
    ^ Adamczyk A, Sadakierska-Chudy A, Janoszka J, Rymkiewicz A, Dobosz T. (2007). "Halucynogenne grzyby—lysiczki (Psilocybe). Czesc II. Identyfikacja Psilocybe semilanceata przy pomocy techniki PCR [Hallucinogenic fungi (Psilocybe). Part II. Identification of Psilocybe semilanceata by PCR]" (in Polish). Archiwum Medycyny Sądowej i Kryminolologii 57 (3): 285–88. PMID 17907620.
    ^ "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF). International Narcotics Control Board. August 2003.
    ^ Marley G. (2010). Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. p. 178. ISBN 1-60358-214-2.

Cited texts

    Bresinsky A, Besl H. (1989). A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Fungi: a Handbook for Pharmacists, Doctors, and Biologists. London, UK: Manson Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7234-1576-5.
    Stamets P. (1996). Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. ISBN 0-89815-839-7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria

Amanita muscaria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Amanita muscaria
A. muscaria
showing various growth stages
Scientific classification e
Kingdom:    Fungi
Phylum:    Basidiomycota
Class:    Agaricomycetes
Order:    Agaricales
Family:    Amanitaceae
Genus:    Amanita
Species:    A. muscaria
Binomial name
Amanita muscaria
(L.:Fr.) Lam.
Amanita muscaria
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Mycological characteristics
   gills on hymenium
   

cap is flat
or convex
   hymenium is free
   stipe has a ring and volva
   spore print is white
   ecology is mycorrhizal
   

edibility: poisonous
or psychoactive

Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric (play /ˈæɡərɪk/) or fly amanita (play /ˌæməˈnaɪtə/), is a poisonous and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. Native throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Amanita muscaria has been unintentionally introduced to many countries in the southern hemisphere, generally as a symbiont with pine plantations, and is now a true cosmopolitan species. It associates with various deciduous and coniferous trees. The quintessential toadstool, it is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually deep red mushroom, one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture. Several subspecies, with differing cap colour, have been recognised to date, including the brown regalis (considered a separate species), the yellow-orange flavivolvata, guessowii, formosa, and the pinkish persicina. Genetic studies published in 2006 and 2008 show several sharply delineated clades that may represent separate species.

Although it is generally considered poisonous, deaths from its consumption are extremely rare, and it is eaten as a food in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America after parboiling. Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. It was used as an intoxicant and entheogen by the peoples of Siberia and has a religious significance in these cultures. There has been much speculation on traditional use of this mushroom as an intoxicant in places other than Siberia; however, such traditions are far less well documented. The American banker and amateur ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson proposed that the fly agaric was in fact the soma of the ancient Rig Veda texts of India; since its introduction in 1968 this theory has gained both followers and detractors in anthropological literature.[1]
Contents

    1 Taxonomy and naming
        1.1 Classification
    2 Description
    3 Distribution and habitat
    4 Toxicity
        4.1 Pharmacology
        4.2 Symptoms
        4.3 Treatment
    5 Psychoactive use
        5.1 Siberia
        5.2 Other reports of entheogenic use
        5.3 Soma
        5.4 Vikings
        5.5 Christianity
    6 Culinary use
    7 Cultural depictions
        7.1 Literature
        7.2 Christmas decorations and Santa Claus
    8 See also
    9 References
        9.1 Cited texts
    10 External links

Taxonomy and naming
Amanita muscaria var. formosa

The name of the mushroom in many European languages is thought to be derived from its use as an insecticide, when sprinkled in milk. This practice has been recorded from Germanic- and Slavic-speaking parts of Europe, as well as the Vosges region and pockets elsewhere in France, and Romania.[2] Albertus Magnus was the first to record it in his work De vegetabilibus sometime before 1256,[3] commenting:

    vocatur fungus muscarum, eo quod in lacte pulverizatus interficit muscas [4]

Buttons

The 16th century Flemish botanist Carolus Clusius traced the practice of sprinkling it into milk to Frankfurt in Germany,[5] while Carl Linnaeus, the "father of taxonomy", reported it from Småland in southern Sweden where he had lived as a child.[6] He officially described it in Volume Two of his Species Plantarum in 1753, giving it the name Agaricus muscarius,[7] the specific epithet deriving from Latin musca meaning "fly".[8] It gained its current name in 1783, when placed in the genus Amanita by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and sanctioned by Elias Magnus Fries.

The starting date was set as January 1, 1821, the date of the works of the "father of mycology", Swedish naturalist Elias Magnus Fries, and so, the full name was Amanita muscaria (L.:Fr.) Hook.. However, the 1987 edition of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature changed the rules regarding the starting date and primary work for names of fungi, and now names can be considered valid as far back as May 1, 1753, the date of publication of Linnaeus's seminal work.[9] Hence, Linnaeus and Lamarck became the namers of the Amanita muscaria (L.) Lam.

English mycologist John Ramsbottom reported that Amanita muscaria was used for getting rid of bugs in England and Sweden, and bug agaric was an old alternate name.[4] French mycologist Pierre Bulliard reported having tried without success to replicate its fly-killing properties in his work Histoire des plantes vénéneuses et suspectes de la France, and proposed a new binomial name Agaricus pseudo-aurantiacus because of this.[10] One compound isolated from the fungus is 1,3-diolein, which is in fact an insect attractor.[11]

An alternative derivation proposes that the term fly- refers not to insects as such but rather the delirium resulting from consumption of the fungus. This is based on the medieval belief that flies could enter a person's head and cause mental illness.[12] Several regional names appear to be linked with this connotation, meaning either "mad-" or "fool's" Amanita caesarea. Hence there is oriol foll "mad oriol" in Catalan, mujolo folo from Toulouse, concourlo fouolo from the Aveyron department in Southern France, ovolo matto from Trentino in Italy. A local dialect name in Fribourg in Switzerland is tsapi de diablhou, which translates as "Devil's hat".[13]
Classification
Amanita muscaria var. formosa sensu Thiers, southern Oregon Coast

Amanita muscaria is the species of the genus. By extension, it is also the type species of Amanita subgenus Amanita, as well as section Amanita within this subgenus. Amanita subgenus Amanita includes all Amanita with inamyloid spores. Amanita section Amanita includes the species which are very patchy universal veil remnants, including a volva that is reduced to a series of concentric rings and the veil remnants on the cap being a series of patches or warts. Most species in this group also have a bulbous base.[14][15] Amanita section Amanita consists of A. muscaria and its close relatives, including A. pantherina (the panther cap), A. gemmata, A. farinosa, and A. xanthocephala.[16] Modern fungal taxonomists have classified Amanita muscaria and its allies this way based on gross morphology and spore inamyloidy. Two recent molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed this classification as natural.[17][18]

Amanita muscaria varies considerably in its morphology and many authorities recognize a number of subspecies or varieties within the species. In The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy, German mycologist Rolf Singer listed three subspecies, though without description: A. muscaria ssp. muscaria, A. muscaria ssp. americana, and A. muscaria ssp. flavivolvata.[14]

Contemporary authorities recognize up to seven varieties:

    var. muscaria, the typical red-and-white spotted variety. Some authorities, such as Rodham Tulloss, only use this name for Eurasian and western Alaskan populations.[15][19]
    var. flavivolvata is red, with yellow to yellowish-white warts from southern Alaska down through the Rocky Mountains, through Central America, tall the way to Andean Colombia. Rodham Tulloss uses this name to describe all "typical" A. muscaria from indigenous New World populations from Alaska southward.[15][20]
    var. alba, an uncommon fungus, has a white to a silvery white cap that has white warts but is similar to the usual form of mushroom.[15][21]
    var. formosa, has a yellow to orange-yellow cap with yellowish warts and stem.(The stem may be tan). Some authorities utilize the name for all A. muscaria which fits this description worldwide (cf. Jenkins), others (cf. Tulloss) restrict its use to Eurasian populations.[15][22]

Amanita muscaria var. guessowii has a yellow cap surface.
Middlesex Fells, Massachusetts

    var. guessowii is the color yellow to orange, with the center of cap more orange or perhaps even reddish orange than the outer part of it. It is found most common in northeastern North America, from Newfoundland and Quebec all the way down to the state of Tennessee. Some of the authorities (cf. Jenkins) treat these populations as A. muscaria var. formosa, while others (cf. Tulloss) recognize it as a distinct variety.[15][22]
    var. persicina is pinkish to orangish and can be called "melon" colored with poorly formed or also some absent remnants of universal veil on the stem and vassal bulb of it, known all the way from the Southeastern Coastal areas of the United States, described in 1977.[15][23]
    var. regalis which is from Scandinavia and Alaska,[24] is liver-brown and has yellow warts. It appears to be distinctive and authorities (cf. Tulloss) treat it as a separate species, while others (cf. Jenkins) treat it as a variety of the A. muscaria.[15][25]

A 2006 molecular phylogenetic study of different regional populations of A. muscaria by mycologist József Geml and colleagues found three distinct clades within this species representing, roughly, Eurasian, Eurasian "subalpine", and North American populations. Specimens belonging to all three clades have been found in Alaska; this has led to the hypothesis that this was the center of diversification of this species. The study also looked at four named varieties of this species: var. alba, var. flavivolvata, var. formosa (including var. guessowii), and var. regalis from both areas. All four varieties were found within both the Eurasian and North American clades, evidence that these morphological forms are simply polymorphisms found throughout the species rather than distinct subspecies or varieties.[26] Further molecular study by Geml and colleagues published in 2008 show these three genetic groups, plus a fourth associated with oak–hickory–pine forest in the southeastern United States, and two more on Santa Cruz Island in California, are delineated from each other enough genetically to be considered separate species; thus A. muscaria as it stands currently is a species complex.[27] The complex also includes at least three other closely related taxa currently regarded as species:[19] A. breckonii is a buff-capped mushroom associated with conifers from the Pacific Northwest,[28] and the brown-capped A. gioiosa and A. heterochroma from the mediterranean and Sardinia alone respectively. Both these last two are found with Eucalyptus and Cistus trees and it is unclear whether they are native or have been introduced from Australia.[29][30]
Description
A white-fleshed mushroom with a red skin cut in half
Cross section of fruiting body, showing pigment under skin and free gills

A large conspicuous mushroom, Amanita muscaria is generally common and numerous where it grows, and is often found in groups with basidiocarps in all stages of development. Fly agaric fruiting bodies emerge from the soil looking like a white egg, covered in the white warty material of the universal veil. Dissecting the mushroom at this stage will reveal a characteristic yellowish layer of skin under the veil which assists in identification. As the fungus grows, the red color appears through the broken veil and the warts become less prominent; they do not change in size but are reduced relative to the expanding skin area. The cap changes from globose to hemispherical, and finally to plate-like and flat in mature specimens.[31] Fully grown, the bright red cap is usually around 8–20 cm (3–8 in) in diameter, although larger specimens have been found. The red color may fade after rain and in older mushrooms. After emerging from the ground, the cap is covered with numerous small white to yellow pyramid-shaped warts. These are remnants of the universal veil, a membrane that encloses the entire mushroom when it is still very young. The free gills are white, as is the spore print. The oval spores measure 9–13 by 6.5–9 μm, non-amyloid, and they do not turn blue with the application of iodine.[32] The stipe is white, 5–20 cm high (2–8 in) by 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 in) wide, and has the slightly brittle, fibrous texture typical of many large mushrooms. At the base is a bulb that bears universal veil remnants in the form of two to four distinct rings or ruffs. Between the basal universal veil remnants and gills are remnants of the partial veil (which covers the gills during development) in the form of a white ring. It can be quite wide and flaccid with age. There is generally no associated smell other than a mild earthiness.[33][34]

Although very distinctive in appearance, the fly agaric has been mistaken for other yellow to red species in the Americas, like Armillaria cf. mellea and the edible Amanita basii—a Mexican species similar to A. caesarea of Europe. Poison control centers in the U.S. and Canada are aware that amarill is a common name for A. caesarea-like species in Mexico, not just the Spanish for 'yellow'.[22] Amanita caesarea can be distinguished as it has an entirely orange to red cap, lacking the numerous white warty spots of the fly agaric. Furthermore the stem, gills and ring are bright yellow, not white.[35] Finally the volva is a distinct white bag, not broken into scales.[36] In Australia, the introduced fly agaric may be confused with the native vermilion grisette (Amanita xanthocephala), which grows in association with eucalypts. The latter species generally lacks the white warts of A. muscaria and bears no ring.[37]
Distribution and habitat
A. muscaria in a Pinus radiata plantation, near Mount Field National Park, Tasmania

Amanita muscaria is a cosmopolitan mushroom, native to conifer and deciduous woodlands throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere,[26] includes high elevations of warmer latitudes in regions like Hindu Kush, the Mediterranean and also Central America. A recent molecular study proposes an ancestral origin in the Siberian–Beringian region in the Tertiary period before radiating outwards across all of Asia, Europe and North America.[26] Though generally encountered in autumn, the season can vary in different climates: fruiting occurs in summer and autumn across most of North America, but later in autumn and early winter on the Pacific coast. It is often found in similar locations to Boletus edulis, and may appear in fairy rings.[38] Conveyed with pine seedlings, it has been widely transported into the southern hemisphere, including Australia,[39] New Zealand,[40] South Africa[41] and South America, where it can be found in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná.[26]

Ectomycorrhizal, Amanita muscaria forms symbiotic relationships with a great variety of trees, including pine, spruce, fir, birch, and cedar. Commonly seen under introduced trees,[42] A. muscaria is the fungal equivalent of a weed in New Zealand, Tasmania and Victoria, forming new associations with southern beech (Nothofagus).[43] It is also invading a rainforest in Australia, where it may be displacing the native species.[42] Furthermore, it appears to be spreading northwards, with recent reports placing it near Port Macquarie on the New South Wales north coast.[44] Although it has not spread to eucalypts in Australia, it has been recorded associating with them in Portugal.[45]
Toxicity
a tall red mushroom with a few white spots remaining on the cap
Mature. The white spots may wash off with heavy rainfall

Amanita muscaria poisoning occurs in either young children or people ingesting it to have a hallucinogenic experience.[12][46][47] Occasionally, immature button forms have been mistaken for puffballs.[48] Additionally, the white spots can be washed away during heavy rain and it then may seem as the edible A. caesarea.[49]

Amanita muscaria contains a number of biologically active agents, at least one of which, muscimol, is known to be psychoactive. Ibotenic acid, a neurotoxin, serves as a prodrug to muscimol, with approximately 10-20% converting to muscimol upon ingestion. A toxic dose in adults is approximately 6 mg muscimol or 30 to 60 mg ibotenic acid;[50][51] this is typically about the amount found in one cap of Amanita muscaria.[52] However, the amount and ratio of chemical compounds per mushroom varies widely from region to region and season to season, which further confuses the issue. Spring and summer mushrooms have been reported to contain up to 10 times as much ibotenic acid and muscimol compared to autumn fruitings.[46]

A fatal dose has been calculated at an amount of 15 caps.[53] Deaths from this fungus A. muscaria has been reported in historical journal articles and newspaper reports;[54][55][56] however, with modern medical treatment a fatal outcome because of the poison of this mushroom would be extremely rare.[57] Many older books list it as "deadly" but this is a mistake that gives the impression it is far more toxic than it actually is.[58] The North American Mycological Association has stated there are absolutely no reliably documented fatalities in the past century.[59] The vast majority (90% or more) of mushroom poisoning deaths are from having eaten either the greenish to yellowish death cap (A. phalloides) or perhaps even one of the several white Amanita species which are known as destroying angels.[60]

The active constituents of this species are water soluble, and boiling and then discarding the cooking water will at least partly detoxify A. muscaria.[61] However, drying may increase potency as the process facilitates the conversion of ibotenic acid to the more potent muscimol.[62] According to some sources, once detoxified, the mushroom becomes edible.[63]
Pharmacology
Muscimol, the principal psychoactive constituent of A. muscaria.
Ibotenic acid, a prodrug to muscimol found in A. muscaria.

Muscarine, discovered in 1869,[64] was long thought to be the active hallucinogenic agent in A. muscaria. Muscarine binds with muscarinic acetylcholine receptors leading to the excitation of neurons bearing these receptors. The levels in Amanita muscaria, however, are minute when compared with other poisonous fungi,[65] such as Inocybe erubescens or small white Clitocybe species C. dealbata and C. rivulosa, and are too insignificant to play a role in the symptoms of poisoning.[66]

The major toxins involved in poisoning are muscimol (3-hydroxy-5-aminomethyl-1-isoxazole, an unsaturated cyclic hydroxamic acid) and its prodrug ibotenic acid. Muscimol is the product of the decarboxylation (usually by drying) of ibotenic acid. Muscimol and ibotenic acid were discovered in the mid-20th century.[67][68] Researchers in England,[69] Japan,[70] and Switzerland[68] showed that the effects produced were due mainly to ibotenic acid and muscimol, not muscarine.[11][67] These toxins are not distributed uniformly in the mushroom. Most are detected in the cap of the fruit, rather than in the base, with the smallest amount in the stalk. (Lampe, 1978; Tsunoda et al., 1993) A substantial fraction of ingested ibotenic acid is excreted in the urine unmetabolized quite rapidly, between 20 and 90 minutes after ingestion. Virtually no muscimol is excreted when pure ibotenic acid is eaten but muscimol is detectable in the urine after eating A. muscaria, which contains both ibotenic acid and muscimol.[51]

Ibotenic acid and muscimol are structurally related to each other and to two major neurotransmitters of the central nervous system: glutamic acid and GABA respectively. Ibotenic acid and muscimol act like these neurotransmitters, muscimol being a potent GABAA agonist, while ibotenic acid is an agonist of NMDA glutamate receptors and certain metabotropic glutamate receptors[71] which are involved in the control of neuronal activity. It is these interactions which are thought to cause the psychoactive effects found in intoxication. Muscimol is the agent responsible for the majority of the psychoactivity.[12][52]

Muscazone is another compound more recently isolated from European specimens of the fly agaric. It is a product of the breakdown of ibotenic acid by ultra-violet radiation.[72] Muscazone is of minor pharmacological activity compared with the other agents.[12] Amanita muscaria and related species are known as effective bioaccumulators of vanadium; some species concentrate vanadium to levels of up to 400 times those typically found in plants.[73] Vanadium is present in fruit-bodies as an organometallic compound called amavadine.[73] However, the biological importance of the accumulation process is unknown.[74]
Symptoms

Fly agarics are known for the unpredictability of their effects. Depending on habitat and the amount ingested per body weight, effects can range from nausea and twitching to drowsiness, cholinergic crisis-like effects (low blood pressure, sweating and salivation), auditory and visual distortions, mood changes, euphoria, relaxation, ataxia, and loss of equilibrium.[46][47][52][55]

In cases of serious poisoning it causes a delirium, somewhat similar in effect to anticholinergic poisoning (such as that caused by Datura stramonium), characterized by bouts of marked agitation with confusion, hallucinations, and irritability followed by periods of central nervous system depression. Seizures and coma may also occur in severe poisonings.[47][52] Symptoms typically appear after around 30 to 90 minutes and peak within three hours, but certain effects can last for a number of days.[49][51] In the majority of cases recovery is complete within 12 to 24 hours.[61] The effect is highly variable between individuals with similar doses potentially causing quite different reactions.[46][51][75] Some cases of intoxication have exhibited headaches up to ten hours afterwards.[51] Retrograde amnesia and somnolence can result following recovery.[52]
Treatment

Medical attention should be sought in cases of suspected poisoning. Initial treatment consists of gastric decontamination. If the delay between ingestion and treatment is less than four hours, activated charcoal is given. Gastric lavage can be considered if the patient presents within 1 hour of ingestion.[76] Inducing vomiting with syrup of ipecac is no longer recommended in any poisoning situations.[77]

There is no antidote, and supportive care is the mainstay of further treatment for intoxication. Patients can develop psychological symptoms similar to anticholinergic poisoning and physical symptoms similar to cholinergic poisoning; however, the use of atropine or physostigmine as an antidote is not recommended as muscimol and ibotenic acid do not produce a true anticholinergic syndrome nor do they have activity at muscarinic receptors.[78] If a patient is delirious or agitated, this can usually be treated by reassurance and, if necessary, physical restraints. Additionally, benzodiazepine such as diazepam or lorazepam can be used to control combativeness, agitation, muscular overactivity, and seizures.[46] However, only small doses of benzodiazepines should be used as they may worsen the respiratory depressant effects of muscimol.[79] Recurrent vomiting is rare but if present may lead to fluid and electrolyte imbalances; intravenous rehydration or electrolyte replacement may be required.[52][80] Serious cases may develop loss of consciousness or coma, and may necessitate intubation and artificial ventilation.[47][81] Hemodialysis can remove the toxins, although this intervention is generally considered unnecessary.[61] With modern medical treatment the prognosis is typically good following supportive treatment.[57][61]
Psychoactive use
Main article: Muscimol#Effects

Unlike psilocybin mushrooms, Amanita muscaria has been rarely consumed becaus

[mgt23]

.....i'm going to suggest this female wind spirit is common to elijah, enoch and other ascensions. Its not unique to judaism. I'm going to suggest that the sumerian lilitu and heqet are in fact the same spirit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Soubirous

Bernadette Soubirous

Saint Bernadette Soubirous

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes
Born    7 January 1844[1]
Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France
Died    16 April 1879 (aged 35)
Nevers, Nièvre, France
Honored in    Catholicism
Beatified    14 June 1927, Rome, by Pope Pius XI
Canonized    8 December 1933, Rome, by Pope Pius XI
Feast    16 April (18 February in France)
Patronage    

    Bodily illness
    Lourdes, France
    shepherds and shepherdesses
    against poverty
    people ridiculed for their faith

Saint Marie-Bernarde Soubirous (Gascon name: Bernadeta Sobirós; 7 January 1844 – 16 April 1879) was a miller's daughter born in Lourdes, France and is venerated as a Christian mystic and Saint in the Catholic Church. Occitan's closest relative is Catalan. Her native language can still be heard in the Val d'Aran region of Catalonia, Spain where it is known as Aranese.

Soubirous is best known for her Marian apparitions of "a small young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at a cave-grotto in Massabielle where the apparitions occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858. She would later receive recognition when the lady who appeared to her identified herself as the Immaculate Conception.[2]

Despite initial skepticism from the Catholic Church, Soubirous's claims were eventually declared "worthy of belief" after a canonical investigation, and the Marian apparition is now known as Our Lady of Lourdes. Since her death, Soubirous's body has apparently remained internally incorrupt, but it is not without blemish; during her third exhumation in 1925, the firm of Pierre Imans made light wax coverings for her face and her hands due to the discoloration that her skin has undergone. These masks were placed on her face and hands before she was moved to her crystal reliquary in June 1925.[3][4]

The Marian shrine at Nevers (Bourgogne, France) went on to become a major pilgrimage site, attracting over five million Christian pilgrims of all denominations each year.[5]

On 8 December 1933, she was canonized as a saint by Pope Pius XI in the Catholic Church; while her Feast Day is observed on April 16. She is considered a Christian mystic.
Contents

    1 Early stages in her life
    2 Visions
    3 Results of her visions
    4 Later years
    5 Sainthood
    6 Exhumations
    7 Fictional treatments
    8 See also
    9 Notes and references
    10 Bibliography
        10.1 Magazines and articles
    11 External links

Early stages in her life

Bernadette (the sobriquet by which she was universally known) was the daughter of François Soubirous (Francés Sobirós in Occitan) (1807–1871), a miller, and his wife Louise (Loïsa Casteròt in Occitan) (1825–1866), a laundress, and was the eldest of four children who survived infancy. Louise actually gave birth to nine children—Bernadette, Jean (born and died 1845), Toinette (1846–1892), Jean-Marie (1848–1851), Jean-Marie (1851–1919), Justin (1855–1865), Pierre (1859–1931), Jean (born and died 1864), and a baby girl named Louise who died soon after her birth (1866). Bernadette was born on 7 January 1844, and baptized at the local parish church, St. Pierre's, on 9 January, her parents' wedding anniversary. Bernadette's godmother was Bernarde Casterot, her mother's sister, a moderately wealthy widow who owned a tavern. Hard times had fallen on France and the family lived in extreme poverty. According to one source neighbours reported that the family lived in unusual harmony, apparently relying on their love and support for one another and their religious devotion. Bernadette contracted cholera as a toddler and suffered severe asthma for the rest of her life.
Visions
Main article: Lourdes apparitions

By the time of the events at the grotto, her family's financial and social status had declined to the point where they lived in a one-room basement, called le cachot, "the dungeon," where they were housed for free by her mother's cousin, Andre Sajoux.[6] On 11 February 1858, Bernadette, then aged 14, was out gathering firewood and bones with her sister Marie and a friend near the grotto of Massabielle (Tuta de Massavielha) when she had her first vision. As she recounted later, while the other girls crossed the little stream in front of the grotto and walked on, Bernadette stayed behind, looking for a place to cross where she wouldn't get her stockings wet. She finally sat down in the grotto to take her shoes off in order to cross the water and was lowering her first stocking when she heard the sound of rushing wind, but nothing moved. A wild rose in a natural niche in the grotto, however, did move. From the niche, or rather the dark alcove behind it, "came a dazzling light, and a white figure." This was the first of 18 visions of what she referred to as aquero (pronounced [aˈk(e)ɾɔ]), Gascon Occitan for "that". In later testimony, she called it "a small young lady" (uo petito damizelo). Her sister and her friend stated that they had seen nothing.[7]

On 14 February, after Sunday mass, Bernadette, with her sister Marie and some other girls, returned to the grotto. Bernadette knelt down immediately, saying she saw aquero again and falling into a trance. When one of the girls threw holy water at the niche and another threw a rock from above that shattered on the ground, the apparition disappeared. Bernadette fell into a state of shock and the girl who had thrown the rock thought she had killed her.[8] On her next visit, 18 February, she said that "the vision" asked her to return to the grotto every day for a fortnight.[9]

This period of almost daily visions came to be known as la Quinzaine sacrée, "holy fortnight." Initially, her parents, especially her mother, were embarrassed and tried to forbid her to go. The local police commissioner called her into his office and threatened to arrest her,[10] as did the district attorney, but since there was no evidence of fraud there was little they could do.[11] The girl herself remained stubbornly calm and consistent during her interrogations, never changing her story or her attitude, and never claiming knowledge beyond what she said the vision told her.[12] The supposed apparition did not identify herself until the seventeenth vision, although the townspeople who believed she was telling the truth assumed she saw the Virgin Mary. Bernadette never claimed it to be Mary, consistently using the word aquero. She described the lady as wearing a white veil, a blue girdle and with a yellow rose on each foot — compatible with "a description of any statue of the Virgin in a village church".[13]

Bernadette's story caused a sensation with the townspeople who were divided in their opinions on whether or not Bernadette was telling the truth. Some believed her to have a mental illness and demanded she be put in an asylum. She soon had a large number of people following her on her daily journey, some out of curiosity and others who firmly believed that they were witnessing a miracle.
Bernadette Soubirous (in 1866)

The other contents of Bernadette's reported visions were simple and focused on the need for prayer and penance. On 24 February, she reported that aquero had said Penitenço ... Penitenço ... Penitenço ("penance").[14] That day Bernadette kissed the muddy ground of the grotto. The next day she went further, and during her trance, chewed and ate grass she plucked from the ground. She then rubbed mud over her face and swallowed some mud, to the disgust of the many onlookers and the embarrassment of those who believed in her visions. She explained that the vision had told her "to drink of the water of the spring, to wash in it and to eat the herb that grew there," as an act of penance. To everyone's surprise, the next day the grotto was no longer muddy but clear water flowed.[15]

On 2 March, at the thirteenth of the alleged apparitions, Bernadette told her family that the lady had said "Please go to the priests and tell them that a chapel is to be built here. Let processions come hither." Accompanied by two of her aunts, Bernadette went to parish priest, Father Dominique Peyramale with the request. A brilliant but often roughspoken man with little belief in claims of visions and miracles, Peyramale told Bernadette that the lady must identify herself. Bernadette said that on her next visitation she repeated the priest's words to the lady but that the lady bowed a little, smiled and said nothing. Then Father Peyramale told Bernadette to prove that the lady was real by asking her to perform a miracle. He requested that she make the rose bush beneath the niche flower on the last week of February.

As Bernadette later reported to her family and to church and civil investigators, at the ninth visitation the lady told Bernadette to drink from the spring that flowed under the rock and eat the plants that grew there. Although there was no known spring, and the ground was muddy, Bernadette saw the lady pointing with her finger to the spot She said later she assumed the lady meant that the spring was underground. She did as she was told by first digging a muddy patch with her bare hands and then attempting to drink the brackish drops.[16] She tried three times, failing each time. On the fourth try, the droplets were clearer and she drank them. She then ate some of the plants. When finally she turned to the crowd, her face was smeared with mud and no spring had been revealed. Understandably, this caused much skepticism among onlookers who shouted, "She's a fraud!" or "She's insane!" while embarrassed relatives wiped Bernadette's face clean with a handkerchief. In the next few days, however, a spring apparently began to flow from the muddy patch first dug by Bernadette.[17] Some devout people followed her example by drinking and washing in the water which was soon reported to have healing properties.
Statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France

In the 150 years since Bernadette dug up the spring, 67 cures have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau as "inexplicable", but only after what the Church claims are "extremely rigorous scientific and medical examinations" that failed to find any other explanation. The Lourdes Commission that examined Bernadette after the visions also ran an intensive analysis on the water and found that, while it had a high mineral content, it contained nothing out of the ordinary that would account for the cures attributed to it. Bernadette herself said that it was faith and prayer that cured the sick.

Her 16th claimed vision, which she stated went on for over an hour, was on 25 March. During this vision the second of two "miracles of the candle" is reported to have occurred. Bernadette was holding a lit candle. During the vision it burned down and the flame was said to be in direct contact with her skin for over fifteen minutes but she apparently showed no sign of experiencing any pain or injury. This was said to be witnessed by many people present, including the town physician, Dr. Pierre Romaine Dozous, who timed and later documented it. According to his report, there was no sign that her skin was in any way affected, so he monitored Bernadette closely but did not intervene. After her "vision" ended, the doctor said that he examined her hand but found no evidence of any burning and that she was completely unaware of what had happened. The doctor then said that he briefly applied a lit candle to her hand and she reacted immediately. It is unclear if observers other than Dozous were sufficiently close to witness if the candle was continuously in contact with Bernadette's skin.

According to Bernadette's account, during that same visitation, she again asked the woman for her name but the lady just smiled back. She repeated the question three more times and finally heard the lady say, in Gascon Occitan, "I am the Immaculate Conception" (Qué soï era immaculado councepcioũ, a phonetic transcription of Que soi era immaculada concepcion). Four years earlier, Pope Pius IX had defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception: that, alone of all human beings who have ever lived (save for Jesus, Adam and Eve), the Virgin Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin. Her parents, teachers and priests all later testified that she had never previously heard the expression 'immaculate conception' from them.

Bernadette was a sickly child. She had cholera in infancy and suffered most of her life from asthma. Some of the people who interviewed her after her revelation of the visions, thought her simple-minded. However, despite being rigorously interviewed by officials of both the Catholic Church and the French government, she stuck consistently to her story. Her behavior during this period is said to set the example by which all who have claimed visions and mystical experiences are now judged by Church authorities.
Results of her visions

Among the reported visions of Jesus and Mary, Bernadette's visions can be viewed as being at a high level of significance.

Her request to the local priest to build a chapel at the site of her visions eventually gave rise to a number of chapels and churches at Lourdes. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is now one of the major Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. One of the churches built at the site, the Basilica of St. Pius X, can itself accommodate 25,000 people and was dedicated by the future Pope John XXIII when he was the Papal Nuncio to France.
St. Bernadette

Close to 5 million pilgrims visit Lourdes (population of about 15,000) every year, with individuals and groups (such as the HCPT) coming from all over the world. Within France, only Paris has more hotels than Lourdes. In 2008, the 150th anniversary of the 1858 apparitions to Bernadette, it was expected that 8 million pilgrims would visit Lourdes during the year. Lourdes is now a major center where Catholic pilgrims from around the globe reaffirm their beliefs as they visit the sanctuary.
Later years

Disliking the attention she was attracting, Bernadette went to the hospice school run by the Sisters of Charity of Nevers where she finally learned to read and write. She then joined the Sisters at their motherhouse at Nevers at the age of 22. She spent the rest of her brief life there, working as an assistant in the infirmary and later as a sacristan, creating beautiful embroidery for altar cloths and vestments. She later contracted tuberculosis of the bone in her right knee. She had followed the development of Lourdes as a pilgrimage shrine while she still lived at Lourdes, but was not present for the consecration of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception there in 1876. She eventually died of her long-term illness at the age of 35 on 16 April 1879. Her body was laid to rest in the Saint Gildard Convent.
Sainthood

Bernadette Soubirous was declared venerable by Pope Pius X.

She was declared "Blessed" on June 2, 1925, by Pope Pius XI.

She was officially canonized a Saint by Pope Pius XI on December 8, 1933.

The year 2009 was declared "The Year of Bernadette".
Exhumations
Relic of St. Bernadette and stone from the Grotto of Lourdes

Bishop Gauthey of Nevers and the Church exhumed the body of Bernadette Soubirous on 22 September 1909, in the presence of representatives appointed by the postulators of the cause, two doctors and a sister of the community. They claimed that although the crucifix in her hand and her rosary had both oxidized, her body appeared "incorrupt" — preserved from decomposition. This was cited as one of the miracles to support her canonization. They washed and reclothed her body before burial in a new double casket. The Church exhumed the corpse a second time on 3 April 1919. A doctor who examined the body noted, "The body is practically mummified, covered with patches of mildew and quite a notable layer of salts, which appear to be calcium salts. ... The skin has disappeared in some places, but it is still present on most parts of the body."[18]

In 1925, the church exhumed the body for a third time. They took relics, which were sent to Rome. A precise imprint of the face was molded so that the firm of Pierre Imans in Paris could make a wax mask based on the imprints and on some genuine photos to be placed on her body. This was common practice for relics in France as it was feared that the blackish tinge to the face and the sunken eyes and nose would make an unpleasant impression on the public. Imprints of the hands were also taken for the presentation of the body and the making of wax casts. The remains were then placed in a gold and crystal reliquary in the Chapel of Saint Bernadette at the mother house in Nevers. The site is visited by many pilgrims and the body of Saint Bernadette is still shown despite being nearly 130 years old.[19][unreliable source?]
Wax coverings on the body of Sainte Bernadette represent how her hands and face looked at the time of her death.

Three years later in 1928, Doctor Comte published a report on the exhumation of Blessed Bernadette in the second issue of the Bulletin de I'Association medicale de Notre-Dame de Lourdes.

"I would have liked to open the left side of the thorax to take the ribs as relics and then remove the heart which I am certain must have survived. However, as the trunk was slightly supported on the left arm, it would have been rather difficult to try and get at the heart without doing too much noticeable damage. As the Mother Superior had expressed a desire for the Saint's heart to be kept together with the whole body, and as Monsignor the Bishop did not insist, I gave up the idea of opening the left-hand side of the thorax and contented myself with removing the two right ribs which were more accessible." "What struck me during this examination, of course, was the state of perfect preservation of the skeleton, the fibrous tissues of the muscles (still supple and firm), of the ligaments, and of the skin, and above all the totally unexpected state of the liver after 46 years. One would have thought that this organ, which is basically soft and inclined to crumble, would have decomposed very rapidly or would have hardened to a chalky consistency. Yet, when it was cut it was soft and almost normal in consistency. I pointed this out to those present, remarking that this did not seem to be a natural phenomenon."
Fictional treatments
Statuettes depicting the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette

Her life was given a fictionalised treatment in Franz Werfel's novel The Song of Bernadette, which was later adapted into a 1943 film of the same name starring Jennifer Jones as Bernadette (and the uncredited Linda Darnell as the Immaculate Conception). Jones won the Best Actress Oscar for this portrayal. In 1961 Daniele Ajoret portrayed Bernadette in Bernadette of Lourdes (French title Il suffit d'aimer or "Love is enough"). A more recent version of Bernadette's life is presented in two films (Bernadette in 1988 and The Passion of Bernadette in 1989) by Jean Delannoy, starring Sydney Penny in the lead role. In 1984, Irving Wallace wrote the novel The Miracle, in which the private diaries of St. Bernadette reveal a second coming of Mary to the grotto, prompting renewed interest in her story and pilgrims to Lourdes.
See also
Portal icon    Saints portal

    List of Catholic saints
    Incorruptibility
    Lourdes apparitions
    Our Lady of Lourdes
    Song of Bernadette (song)

Notes and references

    ^ http://www.ichrusa.com/saintsalive/bernad.htm
    ^ Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia, Volume 3 by Phyllis G. Jestice 2004 ISBN 1-57607-355-6 page 816
    ^ [1]
    ^ [2]
    ^ Every pilgrim's guide to Lourdes by Sally Martin 2005 ISBN 1-85311-627-0 page vii
    ^ Taylor 42.
    ^ Taylor 59-60.
    ^ Taylor 62-63.
    ^ Taylor 68-69.
    ^ Taylor 82-86.
    ^ Taylor 91.
    ^ Taylor 82-84.
    ^ Taylor 84.
    ^ Taylor 88.
    ^ Taylor 88-90.
    ^ The following account is reported by Abbé François Trochu in his biography, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, Tan Books: Illinois, 1985.
    ^ Sceptics suggest that the spring had been there previously.
    ^ http://www.overcomeproblems.com/bernadette_exam.htm
    ^ The Body of St. Bernadette at Catholic Pilgrims of Mary and Jesus website

Bibliography

    Taylor, Thérèse (2003). Bernadette of Lourdes. Burns and Oates. ISBN 0-86012-337-5.
    Lourdes: In Bernadette's Footsteps, by Father Joseph Bordes, Copyright 2005 by MSM Company - Tells Bernadette's story, and describes the tourism at Lourdes.
    The Song of Bernadette Franz Werfel's classic abridged by John Martin
    Bernadette of Lourdes (St. Gildard, Nevers, France, 1926)
    Visage de Bernadette (Rene Laurentin, Lourdes 1978), (French)
    The Song of Bernadette (Franz Werfel), 1942 (English)
    A La Gloire du Lys de Marie (Sisters of Nevers), August 15, 1926 (French)
    Bernadette of Lourdes (Frances Parkinson Keyes), 1955
    Lourdes: Its Inhabitants, Its Pilgrims, and Its Miracles (Richard Clarke, SJ), 1888
    The Wonders of Lourdes (Anna T. Sadler), 1875
    Annales de Notre Dame de Lourdes (Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception), Lourdes 1871 (French)
    The Wonders of Massabielle at Lourdes (Rev. S. Pruvost), 1925
    Notre Dame de Lourdes (Henri Lasserre), Paris 1870 (French)
    Bernadette (Henri Lasserre), Paris 1879 (year of Bernadette's death), (French)
    Our Lady of Lourdes (Henri Lasserre), June 1906 (English)
    The Miracle Joint at Lourdes From "Essays " by Woolsey Teller, Copyright 1945 by The Truth Seeker Company, Inc. Critique of the Lourdes story.
    Our Lady of Lourdes (Henri Lasserre), 1875 (English)
    La Sainte Vierge a Lourdes, 1877 (French)
    Das Lied von Bernadette (Franz Werfel), 1953 (German)
    The Happening at Lourdes (Alan Neame), 1967
    Lourdes (Ruth Harris), 1999
    After Bernadette (Don Sharkey), 1945
    And I Shall Be Healed (Edeltraud Fulda), 1960
    Saint Bernadette (Margaret Trouncer), 1964
    15 Days of Prayer with Sainte Bernadette of Lourdes (Francois Vayne), 1999
    A Queen's Command (Anna Kuhn), 1947
    Bernadette (Marcelle Auclair), 1958
    A Holy Life: St. Bernadette of Lourdes (Patricia McEachern), 2005
    The Story of Bernadette (Rev. J. Lane), 1997
    The Wonder of Lourdes (John Oxenham), 1926
    Lourdes (Émile Zola), 1895 (German)
    Bernadette Speaks: A Life of Saint Bernadette Soubirous in Her Own Words, René Laurentin, Pauline Books and Media, 2000.
    St. Bernadette (Leonard Von Matt / Francis Trochu), 1957
    Bernadette of Lourdes (J.H. Gregory), 1914 (1st U.S. book)
    Bernadette of Lourdes (Therese Taylor), 2003
    Lourdes (Émile Zola), 2000 (English)
    The Miracle of Bernadette (Margaret Gray Blanton), 1958
    My Witness, Bernadette (J.B. Estrade), 1951
    St. Bernadette Soubirous: 1884-1879, by Abbe Francois Trochu, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1957.
    We Saw Her (B.G. Sandhurst), 1953

Magazines and articles

    "L'Illustration Journal Universal": Story covering Bernadette and apparitions from time of apparitions (October 23, 1858)
    Election of Pope Pius X (August 15, 1903): "The Graphic" England
    "The Illustrated London News": Funeral of Pope Pius IX (February 23, 1878)
    "La Nacion" - Buenos Aires, Argentina (Newspaper Movie section advertising The Song of Bernadette (September 12, 1944))
    "The New York Times": Pope Pius X Dies, (August 20, 1914)
    "The London Ilustrated News": The Election of Pope Pius XI (February 11, 1922)
    "L'Opinion Publique": The Funeral of Pope Pius IX (March 14, 1878)
    "The Illustrated London News": The Conclave & Election of the Pope (March 9, 1878)
    "The Graphic": With the Lourdes Pilgrims (October 7, 1876)
    "Harpers Weekly": French Pilgrims - Romish Superstitions (November 16, 1872)
    "The Graphic": A Trip to the Pyrenees (October 12, 1872)
    "Harpers Weekly": The Last French Miracle (November 20, 1858) - Recounts actual happenings at the time of apparitions
    "St. Paul Dispatch": Throne of St. Peter Made Vacant by the Death of Pope Leo XIII, (July 21, 1903)
    "St. Paul Dispatch": Cardinal Sarto (St. Pope Pius X) of Venice Called to Throne of St. Peter, (August 5, 1903)
    "The Minneapolis Journal": Pope Pius X is Reported Dead; Relapse Caused by Grief Over War (August 19, 1914)
    Caroline

External links
   Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bernadette Soubirous

    Lourdes and Bernadette Detailed chronology of the apparitions, with many pictures.
    Bernadette as she is today
    Biography of Bernadette Soubirous Includes referenced quotes by Bernadette
    The Body of St. Bernadette--Includes reports of her exhumation and photographs of her body and tomb.
    The Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction
    Life and Background to Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes
    Notes on the Investigation, including facsimile of notes taken during an interview with Bernadette
    Catholic Encyclopedia: Notre-Dame de Lourdes
    "Bernadette Soubirous". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 11, 2010.

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

2g2bnai0]

2g2bnai0]

[mgt23]

..............deer oh deer

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Rudolph the "red-nosed" reindeer... ho, ho, ho...  
Magic mushrooms & Reindeer - Weird Nature - BBC animals
[youtube:3ebutzq2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkCS9ePWuLU[/youtube]3ebutzq2]

[Timothy_Fitzpatrick]

Those videos by BEZCORE, the Sephiroth vs. the Qlippoth, is a dialectic itself. The guy pretends to be exposing the Illuminati but is a white magician himself. He says the Sepiroth is good and the Qlippoth is bad. Black and white. What he doesn't tell you is that they compliment each other and that evil is necessary. The explanations are endless that these so called occult researchers bring up. It's just a lot of mind-numbing contradiction. There is no true explanation of all the symbols, rites, and rituals because it's all just a bunch of lies. A person could spend a lifetime searching and never find their version of truth. Just ask Jim Shaw, a former 33rd degree Freemason who defected and exposed the Lodge. It's a seductive set of lies designed to keep you in bondage to the Illuminati hierarchy. The occult is not designed for one to find truth. If one could find the truth, then they wouldn't be in need of the occult and, therefore, could not serve as a slave to the occult and its Illuminati masters.

[mgt23]

Those videos by BEZCORE, the Sephiroth vs. the Qlippoth, is a dialectic itself.

......which is the whole point of this thread and why i started it. I'm merely tracing where its coming from. Original Gaelic shamanic tradition is devoid of this crap.

[mgt23]

http://www.realitysandwich.com/voyaging ... rassman_md

...........IMHO I think DMT has been used for millenia. It is why Aleister Crowley saw Aliens and why people see or exorcise demons etc etc etc

1)Pain based trauma
2)Cold Temperature immersion
3)Ayahuasca
4)Sound Based Inducement

Voyaging to DMT Space with Dr. Rick Strassman, M.D.
Martin W. Ball
tunnelbig153028338_1e18d3e2a3_o.jpg

 

Dr. Rick Strassman, pioneering psychedelic researcher and author of the book, DMT - The Spirit Molecule, discusses his new book, Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies, Zen Buddhism, psychedelics and spirituality, Old Testament prophecy and more in this fascinating interview. Dr. Strassman conducted the first federally approved psychedelic research in the US in nearly a generation with the compound dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, in New Mexico in the mid 1990's. Though expecting mystical raptures and deep psychological insights, in his study he was astonished to find many of his volunteers reporting unexpected encounters with strange and sometimes disturbing alien beings with advanced technology in what amounted to classical UFO "abduction" experiences. Unable to explain away the volunteers' experiences, he concluded that these were genuine encounters with independent sentient beings in otherwise normally invisible dimensions.

For this interview, I visited with Dr. Strassman in his home in Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico, where he currently works in a clinic for psychiatric medicine and is busy laying the foundation for his new research facility, the Cottonwood Research Foundation, where he plans to do continued research on psychedelics and their relationship to spiritual experience, creativity, and higher states of awareness and perception. More information on Cottonwood can be found at http://www.cottonwoodresearch.org.

 

MB - It's a great pleasure to meet you and come out here and do this interview with you. Your new book just came out, Inner Paths to Outer Space. Maybe you could start by telling us a little bit about it.

RS - Sure. It's a multi-authored book, non-fiction. It's pretty much the brain-child of the second author, whose name is Slavic Wojtowicz, who is an oncology researcher for a pharmaceutical company in New Jersey, and who also happens to be a big science fiction buff and illustrator. He read my book, DMT: The Spirit Molecule, and felt that there was a lot of overlap between the material we presented there and the kinds of things that people read and write about in science fiction. He felt it would be a fun and helpful thing to educate people in the science-fiction community about some of these overlaps and areas of similar interests.

He asked me if I'd like to collaborate with him, and I agreed. I asked another colleague of mine, Louis Eduardo Luna, who is a South American anthropologist who divides his time between Brazil and Helsinki and has been working with Ayahuasca for a few decades now. He has probably got one of the more balanced and sophisticated overviews of how to look at and apply the states and plant wisdom information that is associated with Ayahuasca. And so Louis Eduardo agreed to collaborate, and then Louis had a friend in Budapest Hungary named Ede Frecska, who is a Hungarian psychiatrist and has written a lot on new science views on shamanism - having to do with quantum mechanics and non-local theories of information transfer and storage - and so Louis Eduardo asked Ede if he'd like to collaborate. So that's how the four of us came together to collaborate on writing the book.

Each of us contributes three or four chapters. I wrote an overview chapter on psychedelics and DMT and also describe some of the range of experiences that occurred during our research on DMT. My last chapter in the book is probably the one I'm most proud of, which is a fairly long and involved chapter on getting ready for the journey - kind of how one prepares to take a psychedelic trip.

Louis Eduardo wrote several chapters on his relationship with Ayahuasca and the way that he supervises Ayahuasca sessions and Ede Frecska wrote some chapters on shamanism and new scientific paradigms of consciousness through which he explains some of the findings in shamanism. And Slawek wrote some chapters pointing out the commonalities between the material in science fiction books and films with the material that is more well known within the psychedelic community.

Something that comes up time and time again in people's experiences in your book, DMT - The Spirit Molecule, is that when volunteers are being injected with DMT, they experience UFO's, alternate technologies, and really sci-fi kind of material, so I can see how that would definitely speak to people who are interested in science fiction. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about what those kinds of experiences were like for people and what they were encountering.

I may want to preface my description of some of those kinds of encounters by stating at the outset neither I nor the volunteers expected anything like the frequency of those kinds of experiences to occur which actually did take place. Both myself and the volunteers were expecting mystical experiences, near death experiences, psychological breakthroughs, those kinds of things.

Now, I was doing my studies in the early 1990's and there may have been a fair amount out there on UFO's and alien abductions, but the volunteers who were in my study weren't that interested in that kind of material and I didn't know much about it and wasn't interested in it either, so I certainly don't think, though one could always argue that it was the case, but I don't think, that it was an example of people expecting to have alien contact sorts of experiences. And Terence McKenna's descriptions of the machines elves and the dwarfs and the pixies hadn't really come out to any extent yet - I don't know if his first book had really come out yet - and not that many people were really familiar with Terence in the early 90's in the first place. So, in that case as well, I don't think it was an example of people's expectations being fueled by their anticipated effects of the drug.

So I think both in terms of more contemporary memes that are passing through our culture, as far as the abduction experience in our culture and Terence's raps, I don't think that either of those had really filtered into the consciousness of our volunteers or my consciousness at the time. So, saying that as an introduction, people were certainly not going into our research studies with hopes of seeing entities or beings. Nevertheless, a huge number of volunteers did.

I was reviewing my notes in preparation for writing the DMT book. I completed the research in '95, and sort of did other things for a few years and then returned to my notes, and started writing the book a few years later. I had taken about 1000 pages of notes by the beside of the volunteers - 400 DMT sessions that we gave them over the space of about 5 years - and in reviewing people's accounts of their experiences, probably half, maybe more, reported having the experience of being in some sort of contact, some sort of relationship, more or less passive, more or less active, with these free standing, discretely demarcated, sentient sort of beings. I ended up calling them "beings" rather than "entities" or "aliens" or any of that sort of thing because it seemed like the most neutral term to use, but they were described in various shapes and forms and guises. Sometimes they were humanoid, sometimes they were insectoid, sometimes they were reptilian, and sometimes plant-like. They were more or less aware of the volunteers. Oftentimes they seemed to be expecting the volunteers and were glad to see them, and then began interacting with them.

Other times they seemed surprised and angry that the volunteers' consciousness, at the very least, had intruded upon the sphere of activity of that particular being. Sometimes the volunteers were treated or experimented on. Sometimes they experienced some type of sexual intercourse with the beings. Some were told scenarios of the future. Others were marked somehow or another for future reference in a way. Others showered light and love onto them. Others were guides to lead them to some other place, like through a tunnel leading to a typical near death or mystical experience. So it was the whole gamut of what you might expect.

Some of the motifs were pretty classical science fiction - kind of flying toward a space station or a space ship, or automatons or robots were busily doing their business. Sometimes they would see very hard to describe hybrid entities - machine/animal, even furniture kinds of conglomerates of beings. So, it was one of those things - in giving DMT, it starts very fast, within a few heartbeats, and is over within 30 minutes or so. One of the advantages of a short acting agent like that is you can write down everything that happens in the course of somebody's experience. I wrote down every possible thing I could - every thought I was having, everything the person was doing and saying, how they looked, the noises in the hall or outside, the emotional ambiance of the ward at the time. So I took a lot of notes and basically, once I wrote the notes and had them transcribed by my secretary, I really stopped thinking about people's individual sessions. So it wasn't until some years later that it really sank in how often indeed people were having those experiences.

And when they're having these experiences, I'm wondering what their physical natures are like. Are they lying down, moving around, are they active, perhaps even acting out some of the situations they're going through?

Well, most people, when they get a big dose of IV DMT are just lying down, and in our study, they are kind of hooked up to machines and IV tubes and a blood pressure cuff and a rectal temperature monitor and all kinds of things like that, so even if they could have moved around, they wouldn't have been able to just because of the physical restraints they were laboring under. But even if they weren't as constrained, a big dose of DMT, even when you smoke it, is pretty disabling, and they just are lying there. People might start to have a tremor or shiver, but any more formed, articulated, purposeful movements were not really that common. So they were just lying there and within 15 - 20 minutes they would start to talk to me and relate what they had just undergone.

Something that I noticed in your book is that many people felt that there would be a point where they had kind of left that aspect of their experience and then returned. Perhaps the DMT is still affecting them, but they feel that they are back in the room at this point. Did you find that people had pretty clear distinctions and transitions between feeling that they are fully in another reality, interacting with these beings and then kind of finding themselves back in the room, back with you, where they could then communicate more freely about what's going on with them?

Well, in our first study, when we just getting the kinks worked out of the protocol, a lot of times people would open up their eyes as the drug was first starting to affect them. First of all, that was pretty startling and disorienting and actually pretty unpleasant as we were doing the study in a pretty standard clinical research type of environment. It was a hospital room with all the accoutrements one would expect. But beside the disorienting aspect of the actual environment itself, it was also confusing too because the visions that the people were having would be overlaid on the objective physical reality of the room at the same time. So it was just a lot easier to monitor what they were experiencing by closing their eyes and not being distracted by the room so that the feeling of the being in the room wasn't as impressive. Within a few months it was obvious that we needed to help people keep their eyes closed because it was just kind of a reflex to open your eyes when you're just so stunned by the onset of effects. So we just got a pair of Wallgreen's eyeshades - the ones you use to sleep during the day time - so even if people did open up their eyes, they would see it was black "outside," so to speak, and just close their eyes again.

The peak of IV DMT occurs within 2-3 minutes of the injection and they start resolving pretty soon after that - so most people could open up their eyes and see me pretty clearly at the 15 minute to 18 minute point, but they'd still be pretty high, and even though they would be pretty eager and quite excited to describe what it was they had just experienced, I encouraged them to keep their eyes closed for another 10 or 15 minutes because there could still be some pretty interesting psychological or maybe emotional material that they could process during that time. And then when they'd open up their eyes again at maybe the half hour point, they were pretty much feeling normal and the visual and emotional effects had pretty much worn off. And that actually corresponded with the blood levels of DMT that we were monitoring all throughout the study. The highest concentrations of DMT occurred within 2-3 minutes after the injection and they'd be negligible or completely gone within 30 minutes and there wouldn't be any at the hour point after the injection.

Now, in your book, you kind of went out on a limb a little bit in really processing your own surprise with so many encounters with beings, where you write about tuning into, I think you call it, "channel dark matter," in proposing that people seem to be perceiving things not just within their own subjective consciousness, but perhaps perceiving other aspects of reality. I was wondering if you have any additional thoughts on that now, some years later from the study.

It was obviously hard to come up with a model, at least in my mind, at least with what I knew at the time, to really be able to accept and hold and take the stories that people were telling me, and come up with a theory that I could live with scientifically and personally and ones that would make sense to the volunteers.

I'm a clinical psychiatrist. I learned clinical analysis and how to prescribe anti-psychotic medications, so in terms of the kinds of models that I cut my teeth on as a psychiatric trainee and subsequently, there were primarily biological models and psycho-analytic sorts of Freudian psychology models. In the meantime I had undergone a fairly extensive Zen training and study, which I felt, or thought at the time, gave me a pretty firm understanding or spiritual basis for understanding the psychedelic experience. In fact, the questionnaire that we developed to monitor and rate people's experiences psychologically in DMT was derived from Buddhist psychological principles, so I felt I was pretty well saturated and marinated with Zen Buddhist ideas - including their cosmology of deities and spirits and angels and demons and bodhisattvas and those kinds of things - so I was expecting that I would be able to articulate a theory that would make sense to both me and our volunteers for all the possible varieties of the DMT experience that they might encounter. I just started off with the most gross explanations and worked up from there when those got rejected. The grossest explanation is obviously that of the brain - this is your brain on drugs - you give people DMT their brain does this - this is why people where having these entity contact experiences.

But every explanation that I tried fell on fairly much deaf ears on the part of the volunteers. They either rejected the ideas about this being a brain on drugs, or the other approach that I was taking that was pretty much a psychological approach - these were unexpressed dreams or impulses or drives or motivations to be special or to belong or to have exciting experiences - kind of the Freudian approach. So when that didn't work, I tried to learn as much as I could as fast as I could, in terms of what Jung had said about UFOs and aliens, so I tried using those models or explanatory systems to kind of encompass people's experiences. That didn't work. I tried the more generic approach of interpreting what they were experiencing as dreams, but that didn't work either.

The idea of the dream state and the DMT state deserves a little bit of thinking about. I think that one of our volunteers summarized it in a succinct and cogent manner when he said that in dreams, you have a dream and then another dream and then another dream, and you kind of pick up with the following dream where the last dream left off. But with the DMT state, as he described it, that level of existence was going on all the while, even when you weren't in it, and you were just kind of dipping into it at the point where it was just happening. If it was a month between trip to trip, then a month of time, in some form or another, had elapsed in the DMT realms, and you were just dipping into it, at the point at which the DMT state was, not necessarily your state, if that makes sense. It's kind of like going to India. It isn't as if you've been to India in January and then returned in June, it wouldn't be that things would begin for you just as they were when you left in January. It's more that you're back in India in June and all this stuff is happening over those five or six months. So that was, I thought, a pretty clear and insightful way of differentiating between dreams and the DMT realm - especially when you enter the DMT state over a week or a space of time, either weeks or months or years.

Also, from the Buddhist point of view, even though I knew a lot about Buddhist cosmology and their worldview, especially with respect to spiritual kinds of realities, either for my own reasons that I never quite swallowed the whole Buddhist rap, hook line and sinker, or maybe because it was a Zen community and they were more focused on everyday, here and now reality - chopping wood, carrying water - that I just wasn't feeling that equipped to deal with people's experiences through the lens of Zen Buddhism.

So, I think what the major contribution of my Zen practice was, at the time, to just be as open as I could and to focus more on the immediate situation than being stuck in any kind of theoretical rut that would prevent me from being able to take into account the full impact and depth and variety of what people were experiencing.

I tried and discarded various levels of interpretation until I finally just figured I'll just start to do an experiment assuming that what people are undergoing is real and that indeed they are experiencing or making contact with real, externally verifiable, discrete, freestanding sorts of beings. This is what they're saying and this is what they're doing and this is what is going on between them and the volunteer.

What happened as a result of that is that people became a lot more comfortable in sharing with me the full range of their experiences. I stopped fighting and trying to pigeonhole a round peg into a square hole - trying to fit their experiences with the theoretical constructs that I was stuck with. I think as a result of my change in attitude or approach that I was getting deeper and richer reports from people about what was going on. But still, as a scientist, I'm into mechanisms of action and when I started to write the book, I started to hunt around for scientific models that might encompass free-standing, sentient, independently existing, outside just one's mind, explanations for what people were undergoing.

So even though I'm no expert on quantum physics or any of the more far-out psychedelic views of cosmology, I did learn a little bit of this phenomena that is known as dark matter, which is non-visible matter that neither generates light nor reflects light, but still makes up 95% or more of the mass of the universe. It seemed to me that if it makes up that much mass of the universe, it could very well be inhabited, and it would just be a question of changing the receiving characteristics of consciousness through chemical changes that occurred with DMT to be able to perceive things that were normally not perceivable. And there are plenty of examples of that in everyday reality - I mean, with a microscope we can see tiny things we couldn't see normally - with a telescope we can see things very far away we can't see normally, with ultraviolet sensors we can see things that we can't normally see - so the only difference, maybe from a philosophical point of view, is that the change in our receiving powers are not tied in with a machine - they're more in our subjective/receptive consciousness rather than with a piece of metal and electricity and glass and things that can magnify or somehow change the things that we're capable of seeing.

So it's a bit of a stretch, but I don't think it's completely that crazy. The main thing that prevents further movement along the model that I'm talking about is just the verifiability between two people - like can two people see the same thing at the same time - like if you have two people looking through the same microscope at the same time, they can pretty much see and describe the same thing - but is it possible for two people to take DMT at the same time, or not even at the same time, and be able to see the exact same thing?

There are all kinds of caveats about how one would do an experiment like that - especially if there is a wide range of DMT related states, if it's not just one state. I think a lot of what people perceive is based on their own consciousness - their instrument of perception - so if they're depressed or tired or if they're in a good mood or over-energized, didn't get as much sleep as they normally do, or got more sleep than they normally do, I think all of those things will factor into affecting where they will go on any particular DMT experience.

One interesting historical footnote is that when people were first studying Ayahuasca, which is a brew from the Amazon that contains DMT and also another plant that has a substance in it that allows the DMT to be orally active - otherwise when you just swallow DMT it's broken down - but the Amazonian Indians discovered that if you combine a DMT-containing plant with another plant which contains an enzyme inhibitor that the oral DMT then becomes active - when chemists were first looking at the chemical composition of Ayahuasca, one of the compounds that they isolated they named telepathine, which I think was a reflection of how commonly it is reported by South American natives that they share perceptual effects when under the influence. And I actually know a couple of Western scientists who were doing some studies down there some time ago and they were in a small circle and they both drank DMT together and they both had the exact same vision of a big bird, like a vulture, sitting just outside the circle, which just the two of them were able to see - no one else did in their group. So I think experiments can be designed that can try to standardize as many of the independent variables as possible to see if people do enter the same state with DMT and other really powerful psychedelic drugs, and if they did, then that would lend some more credibility to the idea that it is something that isn't just one's individual hallucination.

It sounds like part of the difficulty, coming from a Western standpoint, is that we don't really have a sophisticated model of consciousness. We're getting very sophisticated with neurochemistry and neurobiology and looking at brain states in relation to neurons and chemicals and molecules in the brain, but we don't really have a firm model of subjective states of consciousness, and it sounds as if this research could really be paradigm shaking if we can get to performing this at a high level of examining what's really going on.

I think we'd also have to have some models that can incorporate those sorts of experiments and if those findings did come through in the way that I would expect them to, and to interpret those findings.

In this new book, Inner Paths to Outer Space, Ede Frecska describes some of the theories that are being circulated regarding non-locality and also some of the network ideas with respect to microtubules, and microfilaments that are contained within the nervous system - so I think we're starting to develop some theoretical models

Coming from quantum biology then . . .

It isn't really coming from within mainstream psychology or psychiatry, it would have to be some kind of hybrid of quantum science and maybe even an introspective science, like some of those that have been developed in introspective traditions that have been around for thousands of years.

It is interesting that in terms of the long span of human history we are one of the few cultures that does not believe in a free-standing spiritual level of reality. We've kind of thrown out anything that can't be objectively measured or imaged or photographed into the waste bin of superstition or supernaturalism, and we've got this view that things that can't be seen by a group of people at the same time are not real - that's a relatively recent development in the long span of human consciousness. That's not necessarily to say that old ideas are true ideas, but the vast majority of humans, for the vast majority of time, have firmly believed in and utilized to the best of their abilities the belief in and the conviction in a free-standing spiritual level of reality.

That could mean that it's a true fact - that there is a non-visible, only subjectively experienced, spiritual level of reality that we're so far ignoring or relegating to unreality. It may be that it's through the tools of science and pharmacology that we are also able to validate non-corporeal levels of reality and we can learn from and interact with the inhabitants thereof and maybe get back on course.

So, let's step back in time a little bit and talk about what inspired you to do this DMT study. I think that yours was the first study to be done in something like 30 years for research on psychedelics in the United States, and you write about in your book how this was a very difficult challenge to actually make that happen. So I'm kind of curious about what inspired you to delve into that hornet's nest and also what made you choose DMT as what you wanted to study.

In terms of what got me interested in the whole field in the first place, I went to college in the late 60's and the early 1970's, when there were two very interesting converging lines of research and experience. There was a discussion going on and a whole new level of experience was being had by people and these were, on one hand, the Eastern religious practices and traditions, especially Buddhism and Hinduism, and on the other hand, there was this influx of experiences being brought on by the ingestion of psychedelics. And it didn't escape all that many people's attention that there was a lot of similarity in people's descriptions of those two sets of experiences. So I started thinking to myself, if the descriptions of meditators comport so closely, at least in some respects, with the reports of some people taking psychedelic drugs, then there must be some kind of biological concomitant going on in the brain at the time that people are having deep mystical experiences. So I began to search for a biological basis for mystical experience because it seemed as though there must be as they were so similar.

It seemed like there must be something going on in the brain at the same time that people were having these non-drug induced experiences that might at least in some ways be similar to what happens in the brain in reaction to a psychedelic drug. So I began to hunt around within the literature for a biological basis for mystical experience. I didn't know about DMT at the time - this was in the late 60's - and actually a lot of the research on psychedelics in humans was winding down. But I did learn about the pineal gland, which is a small organ in the center of the brain which had been thought to have a role to play in the spiritual physiology of the Hindus, in particular in regard to the chakra system. So I started to learn about the pineal.

It was a few years later that the whole phenomenon of winter depression became current, and there was an interest in the role of melatonin, which is the main hormone of the pineal gland, which is involved in causing winter depression. So that was actually the root through which I was able to get involved in clinical research regarding my unspoken interest in spiritual states and spiritual consciousness. I ran a study at the university of New Mexico looking at the role and the function of melatonin. And even though it was a pretty psycho-pharmacological kind of study, looking at a whole range of hormones and autonomic functions, my underlying interest was to see if there were any psychedelic effects of melatonin.

So when that came up short, I decided to switch fields and go more directly into the field that I was fundamentally interested in, which was the psychedelic work. I had learned by that time about the existence of DMT as a very powerful psychedelic chemical that exists in plants and animals, including mammals and including humans, and the great amount of interest that DMT had garnered in the psychiatric research field in the 50's and 60's and the early 70's, and so even though there are no data yet connecting the pineal gland with DMT, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that suggested a relationship between the two things.

There were a number of reasons that I chose to begin using DMT, one of which was its possible but still unproven relationship to the pineal. The other is its endogenous nature - it occurs in human beings and I felt it was important to study it carefully and find out more about the effects of a naturally occurring psychedelic. I mean, nobody is looking at this, really, even to this day. It's still kind of a minor substance of abuse, but when you really think about the existence of this incredibly mind-blowing psychedelic that's being made in our bodies at all times by the lungs and the red blood cells and the brain, those sites of formation are fairly well established at this time . . .

Nobody is thinking or really talking about what could be the role of DMT in normal consciousness and in extraordinary states of consciousness. When people first were looking at naturally occurring DMT in humans, they of course were looking at it from the psychiatric point of view. For example, perhaps it causes schizophrenia. And there were a number of studies that compared the levels of DMT in the blood of schizophrenics versus normal people and they really weren't able to find any differences. But the levels of DMT occurring in everyday existence are so low that you really need incredibly sophisticated equipment to make a differentiation between the levels you might find in one group of people compared to the levels you might find in another group of people, so I think those studies suffered from a lack of technological expertise that hopefully we have made some progress in overcoming in the last 20 or 30 years.

In terms of a rationale to study DMT, one of the reasons I presented to the regulatory and funding bodies was that it was important to understand more the effects of externally applied DMT so we could then start to determine the levels of similarities and differences between psychosis and between the state of DMT intoxication that we were expecting to see in our volunteers. The other reason I chose DMT was because it was relatively obscure and it had been a couple of decades at least since anybody in the US had done human studies giving psychedelics to people.

I was afraid that if we began our studies giving people a drug like LSD, or even psilocybin, that it would garner a lot more publicity than beginning with a relatively obscure drug like DMT. The other reason we chose DMT was because of its extremely short duration. I was thinking that it would be pretty stressful for our volunteers to being given a psychedelic drug in the hospital and I was suspecting that people would perhaps undergo adverse affects or panic or get pretty disabled or disoriented. I was thinking that it would be much more manageable to deal with a 10 or 20 minute bad trip than a 6-10 hour bad trip.

Something that seems to be a central and reoccurring theme that runs through your discussion of a lot of this is really looking at the question of mysticism or spiritual states of consciousness or visionary states of consciousness, and of course you do raise in your book the controversy between what we can consider mainstream religious practitioners who tend to look down on the use of visionary medicines as being inauthentic spiritual experiences, at least within Western tradition, but certainly you're asking the larger questions of how this relates to spiritual experience. What is your view on that?

It's not any clearer than when I set out on this work. An interesting aspect of my involvement with the Zen community that I was with for over 20 years - I was a lay member - I was never a monk - I was ordained as a lay member and I ran a meditation group that was affiliated with the main temple - I never shaved my head and donned robes though and never got an Asian name, but I went up there fairly regularly, and frequently, and underwent lay ordination and was entrusted with teaching meditation and Zen for a couple of decades. So in the beginning of my relationship with the monastery - I was in my early 20's, as were most of the monks who were there at the time, and every chance I got I would take one of the monks aside and ask them if they had taken LSD, and if they had, how important their LSD experience was in their decision to enter a monastic lifestyle.

At the time, this was probably 1974 that I started to spend time at the monastery and be friends with the monks, I'd say at least 3/4, maybe 80-90% of the monks had an LSD experience, and the vast majority of them, probably every one of them, felt that their LSD experience was their first glimpse that there was another way of looking at reality.

In Buddhism, that's what's called bodhicitta, which is the thought of enlightenment, which, for a lot of Buddhist thinkers, is the most important step on the road to enlightenment - the realization that enlightenment exists and is possible to experience. So strictly speaking, for almost everyone - 3/4's of the monks at that particular temple who had had an LSD experience - their first entry into the enlightenment stream of life was through an LSD experience. So that validated in a lot of ways my thinking of the similarities and overlap and the relevance of the psychedelic experience to a spiritual lifestyle and a spiritual worldview and a spiritual way of interacting with people and with things.

I described some of the ins and outs of my relationship with the monastery over the years and pretty much as long as I kept the level of discussion and discourse just between me and a monk, and they for sure all chatted together about the laymen and laywomen who had come through for workshops and retreats and made sure that everybody was on track - so I'm sure that they were talking about my interests in psychedelics and the role that they play in spiritual growth.

So I got quite a bit of explicit encouragement over the years from these monks who had taken LSD and were climbing the hierarchy of the monastic organization. But it was only when I was actually starting to put the rubber to the road in doing my studies and both speaking and writing publicly about the association between the psychedelic experience and the spiritual life and practice, that the monastery started getting the jitters and for a number of reasons had to disavow any relationship between the two and any relationship between me and them. So that was a fairly good example of even an Eastern religion, which ostensibly puts more faith in the truth than in orthodoxy or any dogma, being faced with the public relations fallout that might be associated with any linking of their organization and me promulgating psychedelics as a possible way to work on one's spiritual life.

I certainly, at the time, never suggested that psychedelics were a replacement for spiritual practice. On the contrary, I think that one of the things that you can get from the psychedelic experience is a view - a glimpse, and that's what the monks and I had been talking about all these years, was how you got your first glimpse and then you worked on it every day, 24 hours a day. But those kinds of subtle distinctions were lost in the heat of the argument over whether there is a role for psychedelics within Buddhist practice. It was disappointing - it wasn't that surprising. This sort of break with the Buddhist community occurred in 1996 and I haven't really had anything to do with them since. I still do meditate on my black cushion, but I turned in my small piece of cloth that demarcated my membership as a lay Buddhist. I returned that to the mother temple a couple of years after the split.

But as the result - there's always a silver lining - the fact that I lost one religious community forced me to start re-examining my own spiritual roots, which are Jewish in nature. So for the last 10 or 12 years I've embarked on a fairly rigorous course of self-directed study of Hebrew texts and commentary and scriptures and have found that in a lot of ways they've augmented and filled in a lot of the gaps I had been struggling with in regard to a real spiritual view that could incorporate both a psychedelic experience and a religious experience. So I've been just starting to formulate the ways in which I can describe that in a sense that is intelligible and compatible with a more Western worldview of a more religious and psychedelic sensibility.

I've been circling around the Old Testament idea of the prophetic state of consciousness, which I think in some ways can allow for an incorporation of the psychedelic state - though there are a lot of dissimilarities - but probably more importantly is the information that comes in the psychedelic state. I think one of the pitfalls that the contemporary use of psychedelics is suffering from is that there isn't a culturally relevant framework in which to take home and incorporate the lessons of the psychedelic experience. A lot of it is, "Oh wow! That's the most amazing experience of my life and now I see that all is One," but that isn't really the prophetic viewpoint. The prophetic viewpoint is that there is information that is experienced in these exalted states and so what is that information?

So there's a huge amount of material in the first handful of books of the Hebrew bible, but especially in the prophetic books such as Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel. A fair number of them underwent incredible psychedelic visions on one hand, and on the other hand they really did a lot of teaching about what they felt and heard and thought and saw under the effect of that altered state of consciousness. And what they bring back isn't all that exalted - ethical teachings and moral teachings and a view of God and of history that isn't especially unique or far-out, but it's quite Western and as a result, it takes a lot of swallowing of bitter pills by most Westerners to get past their visceral aversion to looking at the Bible as a sacred text. There are probably more people in the psychedelic community that have read the Bhagavad Gita and the Buddhist sutras than have read the Bible. And that's cool, but it's kind of crazy too because the answers to how you incorporate and how you live under the umbrella of a psychedelic worldview or through a lens that's compatible with our Western worldview is kind of right beneath our noses.

It's a powerful book, obviously. Look at the course of world history as it's been driven by this vision of the Bible, especially of the Hebrew bible and all the prophets and Israel as the chosen ones, the Ten Commandments, and the Red Sea and Abraham and all that - you know, there's a tremendous amount of information there that is accessible, though it's pretty dense and it's fairly obfuscated by the efforts of the clergy and the rabbis, as it were. But it's still there, and the first step is to review what's in the Bible as a means of trying to articulate a psychedelic type of vision that is informed in the West. You know, we're not shamans. We didn't spend our infancy and childhood and adolescence and adulthood in the jungle and you know, we're not Buddhists or Asians or Indians or Japanese, we're not Native Americans. We're people who emerged from the matrix of the Bible, more or less.

People talk about a Judeo-Christian worldview, but I think it's more Jewish, because Judaism is the root from which both Christianity and Islam grew, so I think that's our worldview. And to just reject it out of hand without knowing about it I think is a mistake, because there are quite a number people out there in power, both governmental and other power, who are familiar with what's written in the Bible, and if the psychedelic community is not, I think our ignorance hurts us in a couple of ways. For one, we can't counter some of the crazy, fundamentalistic interpretations of the text, but on the other hand, we aren't able to take advantage of what's there to live a psychedelically informed type of life in a culturally relevant way for us. I don't think that we have to reinvent the wheel, but we do have to return to our origins a little bit more intently, critically and passionately.

So I notice on your bookshelf here, which we are sitting next to, you do have a copy of Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy by Clark Heinrich where he talks a little bit in this book about looking at some of the prophets form the Old Testament as actually being mushroom hunters and gathers. He makes an argument for Moses and the Ten Commandments, the burning bush, and looking at all that as actually relating to amanita mushrooms.

I think those are fairly strong and well-reasoned arguments, but I think rather than looking for some external source of the psychedelic experience, once again we have them under our noses. All of us are always making DMT at all times, so I don't think it's actually necessary to take in something from the outside that will cause the psychedelic experience - we've got the machinery in our brains already. I think even more remarkable than the effects or presence of mushrooms or acacia plants as being responsible for the visions of the prophets, a more prudent explanation, is that there may be some role of naturally occurring DMT or comparable psychedelics as mediating those types of phenomena.

I also wanted to ask if you have any thoughts on the preponderance of DMT in nature. It seems kind of surprising that it is in so many different species of plants and it seems to be everywhere, to some extent, and it's also inside us. Do you think that this is just part of our evolution and our physical bodies developing neurotransmitters and whatnot, that we're taking in these influences from the plants that we might be encountering or eating? It seems kind of odd that we have the chemical both within us and it's in so many plants.

I can speculate regarding that, but I think the person who really articulates that vision or some of the ideas behind that even better is Denis McKenna, and actually we've got a really fantastic interview with him for the DMT documentary that's in the works, which I hope will come out, maybe next year, if all goes well. I asked him that exact question - what do you think is going on with DMT being as ubiquitous as it is? I think a simple-minded answer, but one that fits the bill as well as anything, is that the presence of DMT is a shared conduit, in a way. It's the medium through which individuals or species that contain it are able to relate to each other.

It's a fairly common phenomenon when people take DMT, or any strong psychedelic for that matter, that they're able to understand the consciousness of animals and plants to a much greater extent than they ever were before. It isn't quite the case that you take DMT and you understand a rock or a couch or a stove (though some people do). It's a little more common of a phenomenon that people seem to describe a deeper level of empathy and consciousness sharing and communication with particular sorts of animals or plants. So it could be that DMT is the matrix through which we can maybe communicate with other beings that also contain DMT. It wouldn't necessarily be through the spoken language. It would be maybe more telepathic or empathic or visual or visceral, emotional kinds of content, but compelling and real content nonetheless.

I suppose in one sense we can say that it allows for interspecies communication on this level, but on the prophetic level, allows for communication beyond our immediate physical reality as well.

That could be. I think it's really strange that everyone isn't studying DMT. Everybody ought to be studying DMT - I mean, what's going on here? We have this incredibly weird chemical in our brains that seems to allow inter-species communication and seems to allow the reliable and reproducible entry into a spiritual state, it's a naturally occurring chemical - our brains make it, our lungs make it, our red blood cells make it, it lasts a half hour, you can infuse it into people for a few hours at a time and it retains its psychedelic potency, so it's almost like this spigot or valve that you can just turn on and open to some kind of consensus reality and observationally agreed upon way of looking at things or anybody at any time, so that's a question that I think about all the time. Why isn't everybody looking into this? Which you may want to counter with the same question - "so why aren't YOU looking at it?"

In some ways, that brings us to the end of the book, my DMT book, which if you read between the lines, it was clearly the case that I was in over my head. I had a tiger by the tail and I might hurt somebody or hurt myself and it was just too complicated, so I took a break. I had to work through things on my personal level, on the level of my spiritual development, and had to go back to the drawing board and reintegrate myself into my Jewish roots and learn about the Bible and the Hebrew language and the prophets and really start to get a handle on what seemed to be a spiritual level of reality - angels, demons, God, the afterlife and non-corporeal levels of existence and the way in which they interact with the physical level of existence - and I also had to make a living.

So it's been 12 years, almost 13 now, that I gave my last dose of anything to anybody. I'm feeling like I'm more in a position to renew the research, so that's why myself and a couple of colleagues put together the Cottonwood Research Foundation in the last year to renew studies with psychedelics, especially the psychedelic plants in a more humane and larger-view perspective of what these plants and drugs are able to provide access to, both in terms of information and their human properties, those kinds of things. We're just getting off the ground. We have a little bit of money in the bank and I'll be taking a vacation for a month or so after I complete my contract at a local clinic here. Then when I return this late summer, I'll be hitting the ground running to try and do some more fundraising and developing some proposals for grants. I'm also collaborating with a group right now up in Seattle trying to get an Ayahuasca study off the ground.

So I think this time around, I want to be helpful rather than clever, which was kind of the approach I was taking with the first series of studies. I was being clever in as much as I wanted to give people DMT and describe its effects and understand the brain chemistry going on behind it, but I was a little too hands-off. I was pretending that I wasn't interested in what the effects were other than just kind of knowing what they were. But I think that it's more important to apply those effects and to be helpful rather than just gaining some information, which was sort of my approach, for lack of a better reason.

But I was constrained by the model though. It was the government and it was a grant for brain chemistry and psychopharmacology and I couldn't have gotten anywhere without using that kind of model, but I opened up the door to get this new wave of American research up and running. But it's been kind of slow, so that's another reason that I opened up the Cottonwood. The pace of psychedelic research in the US has been quite slow since I left the field in '95 and seems as though it can use some re-energizing and reorienting away from the strictly scientific model. Clearly we're not going to be going off the deep end, but we're going to try and enlarge the questions that we try to address using the scientific model. It won't be strictly limited to brain chemistry and psychopharmacology.

Obviously with Ayahuasca it would again be looking at DMT. Is there a reason other than that why you are interested in looking at Ayahuasca?

Well, there's a whole lot of information out there about the effects and properties of Ayahuasca, and the reports that I've been hearing is that it is the mother of all healers, so I think that any plant that has that kind of reputation is worth studying. Up in this part of the world and in northern New Mexico, there is a huge problem with alcoholism and other substances being abused. There's a couple of centers in Latin America using Ayahuasca to treat substance dependence and there's a slowly increasing number of reports in the scientific literature as well that seem to confirm the impression that lots of substance abusers are able to stop abusing once they've undergone a number of sessions with Ayahuasca, so that's a natural set of studies that would be easy to do and wouldn't be hard to get funding and approval for, just because of the nature the problem is quite so pressing.

And it is DMT, and I like DMT. I made my career out of it, and it's a plant, so it's not quite as harsh an experience. It's a little gentler, someway, than a pure extracted powder that you inject into somebody's veins. There's a tremendous amount of information about Ayahuasca in the non-psychiatric literature - in the anthropological literature and religious literature, indigenous literature and the oral traditions, so I think that it's possible to utilize some of those sources of information that are at least ostensibly external to the scientific worldview, at least at this time in our history.

Of course, recently in the past couple years we did have the study by Johns Hopkins University that looked at psilocybin that, not surprisingly, came back and said that something like 60% of participants described their experience as being deeply mystical, deeply spiritual, and the most significant experiences of their lives. I wondered if you had any thoughts on their study?

It's a great study. It was quite well done and their control situation and actual implementation of the study was impeccable. On the other hand, it was basically a repeat of a comparable study that was done at Harvard University of giving psilocybin to divinity students and a large number of them also described results comparable to the ones that just came out of the Hopkins study. I think in some ways, comparable to the study I was doing with DMT, the Hopkins psilocybin mysticism study was kind of going back to basics, to, number one, establish that you can do these kinds of experiments in a safe manner, and number two, at least in terms of the Hopkins study, that you can induce positively valenced subjective experiences. I think that the next step is to be creative and start to apply some of these potentially beneficial effects in a healing and therapeutic manner.

I understand the Hopkins group is interested in doing some substance abuse work, specifically with psilocybin, so I think the more therapeutic work is done, the better. I think that when you're working in a strictly university setting that your explanatory models are a bit more constrained than if you were working in a free-standing institution like Cottonwood is going to be. I don't think that they'll be quite able to talk about p-values and statistical power in quite the same breath that they can talk about spirits and plants and the natives and angels and helping beings and those kinds of things. We wouldn't be using those terms and models in any of our scientific work, but I think we'll be freer to discuss those explanatory models in our more speculative models of what might be going on. In the best of all possible worlds, we'd like to have Cottonwood be an institution of higher learning that kind of revolves around the psychedelic experience. So we would apply every relevant discipline that has an interest in the psychedelic state, which would include anthropology and religion and shamanism, psychology, cognitive sciences, psycho-pharmacology and therapeutics, let alone just from the pure psychiatric point of view.

I think both levels of discourse have to take place. The university is a more appropriate institution for certain levels of discourse, but I think there needs to be a really explicit and overt role of a spiritual worldview in any full discussion of the psychedelic experience and its relevance to growth and healing and creativity. When you're in a university setting, you have to be much more circumspect in those disciplines that you might bring to bear on the discussion.

So it really sounds like you're trying to open up the paradigm here and move it out of the scientific reductionistic model, or at least scientific explanation of things and genuinely acknowledge that, look, there really is something going here that is opening people up to different levels of spiritual experience and perception, whatever that may be, and really is affecting people's lives.

RS - Psychiatry is a relatively recent invention, and these drugs and plants have been used for a long time before there was even a word "psychiatry," so I think that there are other people and cultures that know a lot more about the effects of these plants than we do. To pretend that's not the case or to hold ourselves out as having a more advanced or superior view or any kind of hegemony over the knowledge of what kinds of experiences these kinds of plants can bring on, I think the term is hubris, is a little far fetched that we can't learn from other cultures and traditions that have been around a lot longer than we have and have a lot more experience in the trial and error process of the scientific method using the tools that were and still are at their disposal for using these plants and their effects on our consciousness.

 

MB - It sounds like this could also potentially have a large impact on culture. For one, from a legal perspective, looking at these scientific studies and things like the UDV or Santo Daime making court cases for their legal right to use Ayahuasca, but could also potentially have broader effects within culture itself, that if we have people like yourself studying the spiritual effects of these plants and visionary medicines, it could perhaps change other people's attitudes and their openness to what the potential of these plants might really be.

RS - I don't think that we're going to come to the answers either through science or through religion. I think it's going to be some kind of hybrid. Science is a bit too constrained in the model building, and most religions are too constrained through the maintenance of their institution at the expense of the truth. As a rule, if you can establish the veracity of your findings through science, it's believed. It isn't excluded necessarily because someone disagrees with your findings. So I think it will require some kind of hybrid of scientific religion or spiritual science to be able to take into account the entire range of the phenomenon, the ethical implications that's available and also maintain the peer review and the cross-checking of your findings that occurs within the scientific model. Yeah - so it's pretty out there. It's kind of a large view and if I get one half of one percent done before I die, I'll feel pretty good about that.

 

MB - Do you think society is ready for that?

RS - I don't know . . . I'll find out . . . It could be . . . I mean, people are hungry, and they're lost. We're not doing so well as a species. People are taking psychedelics. I think as a means of living their life, science falls pretty short, but as a means of taking into account reality, religion falls pretty short. So I think people are looking, but they don't know quite where to look. If we can begin developing Cottonwood where these things can be looked at carefully and experiments can be designed and explanatory models are offered that take into account the entire range of possibilities of what is going on, then we might make some headway into establishing a new kind of hybrid model.

 

MB - What can those of us out there in the psychedelic community do to support this kind of work and research, and specifically, what can we do to support the Cottonwood Research Foundation?

RS - If you go onto the website for Cottonwood (http://www.cottonwoodresearch.org), you'll see the projects that we're beginning to work on, and we'll give you the opportunity to donate, so tell your friends and family and try and spread the word. We need money. Obviously, any research projects take lots of funding and time, and the more time I have to work on things, the more I'll do them. I'll be giving up my clinic job at the end of this summer and after I return from being gone for about a month, I'll be working on Cottonwood more in a bald-faced appeal for my own support. The more money I can bring in for operating expenses, the more time I can devote to Cottonwood.

We don't need much in the way of local volunteers right now. Once we get our coffers a little more plentiful, we'll be able to hire some staff. Ultimately, we're going to need some land, some buildings, some medical staff, a psychiatrist, a nurse, people who are keen on this work and are willing to devote themselves to it, so a few really large grants would help. A lot of small donations would help. It's a very long-range goal. The more funding we get, the more quickly we'll be able to start implementing some things. I have a contractor friend who's beginning to draw up some sketches and designs for the research suite with a couple of research rooms and a lab and a kitchen and a lobby and those kinds of things. Once that's firmed up, I'll be posting those to the web site. It's pretty young and inchoate now. I'm a patient person - obviously I wouldn't have gotten my research on DMT done if I weren't - so I've got plenty of time to work on it, and even if I didn't, it's got to be started off in the way that I would like it to turn out.

I think that one of the problems with our University of New Mexico work with DMT was that I felt like it was important to get this work started no matter what it took to get it started in the US and I was willing to do that. But I think as a result of just doing whatever had to be done to get my funding and my permits in order, I kind of painted myself into both a conceptual and practical corner. This time around I don't feel like I have much to prove. I've done the DMT work, I've written a couple of books. I feel as though I've left a good legacy behind. Other people have taken the baton and run their own studies, so I think that in respect to the Cottonwood, I would want to begin it the way that I would ultimately like it to turn out. If it never manifests in that particular way, then that's fine - it's obviously not meant to be at this time. And if we can get the funding to do it in a way that I think it needs to be done and do it right, then great - we'll go ahead and get started.

So in the ideal world, where would you like to start a study on Ayahuasca, if everything could fall into place nicely?

The first thing is to start giving Ayahuasca to people in this country, and that could occur anywhere. There's a group up in Seattle that's beginning that, though it isn't clear how quickly they'll be able to get started. But that could occur here in New Mexico or anywhere in the US, as long as somebody starts giving people Ayahuasca in at least a relatively humane setting. Obviously the more humane and attentive it is to the non-psychiatric aspects of the setting, the better. In terms of the treatment center, the obvious thing I'd like to do, living in New Mexico with the rampant alcoholism and other substance abuse problems we have here, is to have that kind of a protocol locally. But it would need to be in a conducive environment and that's the only way that I would be giving people drugs or psychedelics again, in a compassionate and humane setting.

One last thing that I'd like to touch on is you mentioned in your new co-authored book that you have a chapter that basically gives some advice for those who would personally venture out on this journey. I wondered if you could just touch on a couple of the ideas that you've expressed in there.

I'm quite pleased with that chapter. It's called "Preparing for the Journey." It's a fairly long-range view of getting ready for any kind of psychedelic experience. It takes into account the psychological work and preparation one needs to undergo to establish some kind of discipline, either psychological and/or spiritual to try and understand yourself and your motivations as well as you can. And I do spend a lot of time in that chapter emphasizing the importance of intent - to clarify over and over again what your intent is to undergo a psychedelic experience. The more you know of your intent, the more you'll be able to do the necessarily preliminary work to get the most out of the amplification of your normal mental and spiritual faculties through which these substances work.

For example, if your intent is to work on psychological sorts of issues, if you can spend some time in psychotherapy first with a psychotherapist that you like and you trust and think is helpful. You can do a lot of the legwork that would make it easier to make the most out of your psychedelic experience. And it may even turn out to be the case that you don't need to have the experience if you've gotten what you need out of the psychological work. If you're interested a mystical experience, it's a helpful thing to educate yourself on the literature of mystical states, especially if you can find something within your own tradition, and do some work and study with a master within that tradition. So the preparation can extend for months or even years before the actual trip.

I also discuss some of the more proximate kinds of planning that one can do, such as deciding if you're going to be tripping alone or with a group. If with a group, is there going to be a leader? Are you going to be alone or have someone with you? What kinds of preparations are you going to have in case you get sick or if someone panics or gets confused? Issues of staying nearby, when to drive - those kinds of immediate things that you want to make certain you've looked after. Getting enough sleep, are you feeling healthy? Are you especially stressed out or jet-lagged? Taking care of business like taking out the garbage, even taking care of your will, if you're old and you have some concerns that you may die - which, you know, isn't very common, but it can happen. You certainly can, at some point in a big trip, experience some fear of dying or be convinced that you have died. Taking care of every possible problem that you can anticipate, and making sure that you are steering the trip in anticipation of a good trip to optimize the kinds of effects that you have. And also ancillary instruments such as writing tools or art supplies, those kinds of things. I also spend time at the end of the chapter talking about integration issues and how to deal with adverse effects such as panic, depression, or anxiety, those kinds of things.

And what was the name of the book again?

It's called Inner Paths to Outer Space. It's published by Inner Traditions, the same group that did the DMT book and it is on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and tell your local bookstore to carry it if they don't already.

And it has a beautiful cover, so I do encourage everybody to check it out, and we're very lucky to have the original art piece here in the house that we're able to look at and it really is fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing what else is in the book - it looks like a very good one

[mgt23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca
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This article is about the Ayahuasca brew. For information on the vine of the same name, see Banisteriopsis caapi.
Ayahuasca cooking in the Napo region of Ecuador

Ayahuasca (ayawaska pronounced [ajaˈwaska] in the Quechua language) is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine (DMT)-containing species of shrubs from the genus Psychotria. The brew, first described academically in the early 1950s by Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, who found it employed for divinatory and healing purposes by the native peoples of Amazonian Colombia, is known by a number of different names (see below). It has been reported that some effects can be had from consuming the caapi vine alone, but that DMT-containing plants (such as Psychotria) remain inactive when drunk as a brew without a source of monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) such as B. caapi. How indigenous peoples discovered the synergistic properties of the plants used in the ayahuasca brew remains unclear. While many indigenous Amazonian people say they received the instructions directly from plants and plant spirits, researchers have devised a number of alternative theories to explain its discovery.[1]
Peruvian Ayahuasca
Contents

    1 Effects
    2 Nomenclature
    3 Chemistry
    4 Preparation
    5 Traditional brew
    6 Usage
        6.1 Non-traditional usage
    7 History
    8 Research
    9 Legal status
        9.1 Other legal issues
    10 Documentary films about ayahuasca
    11 See also
    12 Notes
    13 References
    14 Further reading

Effects

People who have consumed Ayahuasca report having massive spiritual revelations regarding their purpose on earth, the true nature of the universe as well as deep insight as how to be the best person they possibly can.[2] This is viewed by many as a spiritual awakening and what's often described as a rebirth.[3] In addition it is often reported that individuals can gain access to higher spiritual dimensions and make contact with various spiritual or extra dimensional beings who can act as guides or healers.[4] It's nearly always said that people experience profound positive changes in their life subsequent to consuming Ayahuasca[5] and it is often viewed as one of the most effective tools of enlightenment.[6] However, during an Ayahuasca experience, people sometimes report nausea, diarrhea, and cold flashes. Additionally, vomiting almost always follows ayahuasca ingestion; this purging is considered by many shamans and experienced users of Ayahuasca to be an essential part of the experience as it represents the release of negative energy and emotions built up over the course of one's life.[7] There are many reports of miraculous physical as well as emotional and spiritual healing resulting from the use of Ayahuasca.[8] There are no yet known long-term negative effects.[9]
Nomenclature

Ayahuasca is known by many names throughout Northern South America and Brazil.

Ayahuasca is the Hispanicized spelling of a word in the Quechua languages, which are spoken in the Andean states of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. Speakers of Quechua languages or of the Aymara language may prefer the spelling ayawaska. This word refers both to the vine Banisteriopsis caapi, and to the healing brew prepared from it. In the Quechua languages, aya means "spirit", and waska means "vine". The word ayahuasca has been variously translated as "vine of the soul", "vine of the dead", and "spirit vine".

In Brazil, the brew and the vine are informally called either caapi or cipó; the latter is the Portuguese word for liana (or woody climbing vine). In the União do Vegetal of Brazil, an organised spiritual tradition in which people drink ayahuasca, the brew is prepared exclusively from B. caapi and P. viridis. Adherents of União do Vegetal call this brew hoasca, daime, or santo daime.

In the Tucanoan languages it is called yagé or yajé (both pronounced [jaˈhe]).[10] The Achuar people[11] and Shuar people[12] of Ecuador and Peru call it natem, whereas the Nahua peoples of Peru call it shori.[13]
Molecular structure of harmine
Molecular structure of harmaline
Molecular structure of tetrahydroharmine
Chemistry

Harmala alkaloids are MAO-inhibiting beta-carbolines. The three most studied harmala alkaloids in the B. caapi vine are harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine. Harmine and harmaline are selective and reversible inhibitors of monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A), while tetrahydroharmine is a weak serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI).[14] This inhibition of MAO-A allows DMT to diffuse unmetabolized past the membranes in the stomach and small intestine, and eventually cross the blood–brain barrier (which, by itself, requires no MAO-A inhibition) to activate receptor sites in the brain. Without RIMAs or the MAOI of MAO-A, DMT would be oxidised (and thus rendered biologically inactive) by monoamine oxidase enzymes in the digestive tract.[15]

Individual polymorphisms in the cytochrome P450-2D6 enzyme affect the ability of individuals to metabolize harmine.[16] Some natural tolerance to habitual use of ayahuasca (roughly once weekly) may develop through upregulation of the serotonergic system.[14][17] A phase 1 pharmacokinetic study on ayahuasca (as Hoasca) with 15 volunteers was conducted in 1993, during the Hoasca Project.[14] A review of the Hoasca Project has been published.[18]
Preparation

Sections of Banisteriopsis caapi vine are macerated and boiled alone or with leaves from any of a number of other plants, including Psychotria viridis (chacruna) or Diplopterys cabrerana (also known as chaliponga). The resulting brew contains the powerful psychedelic drug DMT and MAO inhibiting harmala alkaloids, which are necessary to make the DMT orally active.

Brews can also be made with no DMT-containing plants; Psychotria viridis being substituted by plants such as Justicia pectoralis, Brugmansia, or sacred tobacco, also known as Mapacho (Nicotiana rustica), or sometimes left out with no replacement. The potency of this brew varies radically from one batch to the next, both in potency and psychoactive effect, based mainly on the skill of the shaman or brewer, as well as other admixtures sometimes added and the intent of the ceremony. Natural variations in plant alkaloid content and profiles also affect the final concentration of alkaloids in the brew, and the physical act of cooking may also serve to modify the alkaloid profile of harmala alkaloids.[19][20] Some shamans flash blanche the Psychotria viridis leaves by exposing the leaves to heat emanating from the cooking fire to modify the various harmaline alkaloids into more psychoactive forms.[citation needed]
Traditional brew
Ayahuasca being prepared in the Napo region of Ecuador
Freshly harvested caapi vine ready for preparation
Banisteriopsis caapi preparation
Beaten caapi ready for boiling
Caapi cooking over an open fire

Traditional ayahuasca brews are often made with Banisteriopsis caapi as an MAOI, although Dimethyltryptamine sources and other admixtures vary from region to region. There are several varieties of caapi, often known as different "colors", with varying effects, potencies, and uses.

DMT admixtures:

    Psychotria viridis (Chacruna)[21] – leaves
    Diplopterys cabrerana (Chaliponga, Banisteriopsis rusbyana)[21] – leaves
    Psychotria carthagenensis (Amyruca)[21] – leaves
    Acacia maidenii (Maiden's Wattle), Acacia phlebophylla, and other Acacias, most commonly employed in Australia – bark
    Anadenanthera peregrina, A. colubrina, A. excelsa, A. macrocarpa
    Mimosa hostilis (Jurema) – root bark – not traditionally employed with ayahuasca by any existing cultures, though likely it was in the past. Popular in Europe and North America.

MAOI:

    Harmal (Peganum harmala, Syrian Rue) – seeds
    Passion flower
    synthetic MAOIs

Other common admixtures:

    Justicia pectoralis
    Brugmansia (Toé)[21]
    Nicotiana rustica[21] (Mapacho, variety of tobacco)
    Ilex guayusa,[21] a relative of yerba mate

Common admixtures with their associated ceremonial values and spirits:

    Ayahuma[21] bark: Dead Head Tree. Provides protection and is used in healing susto (soul loss from spiritual fright or trauma). Head spirit is a headless giant.
    Capirona[21] bark: Provides cleansing and protection. It is noted for its smooth bark, white flowers, and hard wood. Head spirits look Caucasian.
    Chullachaki Caspi[21] bark (Brysonima christianeae): Provides cleansing to the physical body. Used to transcend physical body ailments. Head spirits look Caucasian.
    Lopuna Blanca bark: Provides protection. Head spirits take the form of giants.
    Punga Amarilla bark: Yellow Punga. Provides protection. Used to pull or draw out negative spirits or energies. Head spirit is the yellow anaconda.
    Remo Caspi[21] bark: Oar Tree. Used to move dense or dark energies. Head spirit is a native warrior.
    Wyra (huaira) Caspi[21] bark (Cedrelinga catanaeformis): Air Tree. Used to create purging, transcend gastro/intestinal ailments, calm the mind, and bring tranquility. Head spirit looks African.
    Shiwawaku bark: Brings purple medicine to the ceremony. Provides healing and protection.
    Camu camu Gigante: Head spirit comes in the form of a large dark skinned giant. He provides medicine and protection in the form of warding off dark and demonic spirits.
    Tamamuri: Head spirit looks like an old Asian warrior with a long white wispy beard. He carries a staff and manages thousands of spirits to protect the ceremony and send away energies that are purged from the participants.
    Uchu Sanango: Head of the sanango plants. Provides power, strength, and protection. Head doctor spirit is a grandfather with a long, gray-white beard.
    Huacapurana: Giant tree of the Amazon with very hard bark. Its head spirits come in the form of Amazonian giants and provide a strong grounding presence in the ceremony.

Usage

Ayahuasca is used largely as a religious sacrament. Users of ayahuasca in non-traditional contexts often align themselves with the philosophies and cosmologies associated with ayahuasca shamanism, as practiced among indigenous peoples like the Urarina of Peruvian Amazonia.[22] While non-native users know of the spiritual applications of ayahuasca, a less well-known traditional usage focuses on the medicinal properties of ayahuasca. When used for its medicinal purposes ayahuasca affects the human consciousness for less than six hours, beginning half an hour after consumption, and peaking after two hours. Ayahuasca also has cardiovascular effects, moderately increasing both heart rate and diastolic blood pressure. In some cases, individuals experience significant psychological stress during the experience. It is for this reason that extreme caution should be taken with those who may be at risk of heart disease.[23]

The psychedelic effects of ayahuasca include visual and auditory stimulation, the mixing of sensory modalities, and psychological introspection that may lead to great elation, fear, or illumination. Its purgative properties are important (known as la purga or "the purge"). The intense vomiting and occasional diarrhea it induces can clear the body of worms and other tropical parasites,[24] and harmala alkaloids themselves have been shown to be anthelmintic[25] Thus, this action is twofold; a direct action on the parasites by these harmala alkaloids (particularly harmine in ayahuasca) works to kill the parasites, and parasites are expelled through the increased intestinal motility that is caused by these alkaloids.
Urarina shaman, 1988

Dietary taboos are often associated with the use of ayahuasca.[26] In the rainforest, these tend towards the purification of one's self – abstaining from spicy and heavily-seasoned foods, excess fat, salt, caffeine, acidic foods (such as citrus) and sex before, after, or during a ceremony. A diet low in foods containing tyramine has been recommended, as the speculative interaction of tyramine and MAOIs could lead to a hypertensive crisis. However, evidence indicates that harmala alkaloids act only on MAO-A, in a reversible way similar to moclobemide (an antidepressant that does not require dietary restrictions). Dietary restrictions are not used by the highly urban Brazilian ayahuasca church União do Vegetal, suggesting the risk is much lower than perceived, and probably non-existent.[26]

The name 'ayahuasca' specifically refers to a botanical decoction that contains Banisteriopsis caapi. A synthetic version, known as pharmahuasca is a combination of an appropriate MAOI and typically DMT. In this usage, the DMT is generally considered the main psychoactive active ingredient, while the MAOI merely preserves the psychoactivity of orally ingested DMT, which would otherwise be destroyed in the gut before it could be absorbed in the body. Thus, ayahuasqueros and most others working with the brew maintain that the B. caapi vine is the defining ingredient, and that this beverage is not ayahuasca unless B. caapi is in the brew. The vine is considered to be the "spirit" of ayahuasca, the gatekeeper and guide to the otherworldly realms.

In some areas[specify], it is even said that the chakruna or chaliponga admixtures are added only to make the brew taste sweeter[citation needed]. This is a strong indicator of the often wildly divergent intentions and cultural differences between the native ayahuasca-using cultures and psychedelics enthusiasts in other countries.

In modern Europe and North America, ayahuasca analogues are often prepared using non-traditional plants which contain the same alkaloids. For example, seeds of the Syrian rue plant can be used as a substitute for the ayahuasca vine, and the DMT-rich Mimosa hostilis is used in place of chakruna. Australia has several indigenous plants which are popular among modern ayahuasqueros there, such as various DMT-rich species of Acacia.

A visitor who wishes to become a "dietero" or "dietera", that is, a male or female apprentice-shaman learning the way of the teacher plants, undergoes a rigorous initiation. This can involve spending up to a year or more in the jungle. This initiation challenges and trains the initiate through extreme circumstances involving a special diet and numerous different plant medicines to complement the ayahuasca, the lack of western food and conveniences, the harsh environmental conditions of heavy rains, storms, intense heat, insects, and venomous animals. The initiate is also tested for their unwavering commitment to ayahuasca and the shaman who oversees the training.
Non-traditional usage

Around the end of the 1990s, ayahuasca use spread to Europe. The first ayahuasca 'Churches' affiliated to the Brazilian Santo Daime were established in the Netherlands. A legal case was filed against two of the Church's leaders, Hans Bogers (one of the original founders of the Dutch Santo Daime community) and Geraldine Fijneman (the head of the Amsterdam Santo Daime community). Bogers and Fijneman were charged with distributing a scheduled substance (DMT); however, the prosecution was unable to prove that the use of ayahuasca by members of the Santo Daime constituted a sufficient threat to public health and order that it warranted denying their rights to religious freedom under ECHR Article 9. The 2001 verdict of the Amsterdam district court is an important precedent. Since then groups that are not affiliated to the Santo Daime have used ayahuasca, and a number of different 'styles' have been developed, such as the non-religious approach developed by Daniel Waterman in 2001,[27] popularly termed Ayahuasca Open Style (AOS).[28]

Due to the legal status of ayahuasca in much of the West[citation needed], those who have been exploring its therapeutic potential are unable to do so openly. The non-religious therapeutic use of ayahuasca is not protected by covenants on religious freedom.
History

In the 16th century, Christian missionaries from Spain and Portugal first encountered indigenous peoples using ayahuasca in South America; their earliest reports described it as the work of the devil.[29] In the 20th century, the active chemical constituent of B. caapi was named telepathine, but it was found to be identical to a chemical already isolated from Peganum harmala and was given the name harmaline. Beat writer William Burroughs read a paper by Richard Evans Schultes on the subject and sought out yagé in the early 1950s while traveling through South America in the hopes that it could relieve or cure opiate addiction (see The Yage Letters). Ayahuasca became more widely known when the McKenna brothers published their experience in the Amazon in True Hallucinations. Dennis McKenna later studied the pharmacology, botany, and chemistry of ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, which became the subject of his master's thesis.

In Brazil, a number of modern religious movements based on the use of ayahuasca have emerged, the most famous of them being Santo Daime and the União do Vegetal (or UDV), usually in an animistic context that may be shamanistic or, more often (as with Santo Daime and the UDV), integrated with Christianity. Both Santo Daime and União do Vegetal now have members and churches throughout the world. Similarly, the US and Europe have started to see new religious groups develop in relation to increased ayahuasca use.[30] Some Westerners have teamed up with shamans in the Amazon rainforest regions, forming ayahuasca healing retreats that claim to be able to cure mental and physical illness and allow communication with the spirit world. Some reports and scientific studies affirm that ritualized use of ayahuasca may improve mental and physical health.[31]

In recent years, the tea has been popularized by Wade Davis (The Serpent and The Rainbow), English novelist Martin Goodman in I Was Carlos Castaneda, Chilean novelist Isabel Allende,[32] writer Kira Salak,[33][34] author Jeremy Narby (The Cosmic Serpent), author Jay Griffiths ("Wild: An Elemental Journey"), and radio personality Robin Quivers.[35]

In 2008, psychology professor Benny Shanon published a controversial hypothesis that a brew analogous to Ayahuasca was heavily connected to early Judaism, and that the effects of this brew were responsible for some of the most significant events of Moses' life, including his vision of the burning bush.[36]
Research

Charles Grob directed the first major study of the effects of ayahuasca on humans with the Hoasca Project in 1993. The project studied members of the União do Vegetal (UDV) church in Brazil who use hoasca as a sacrament.[33]

The Institute of Medical Psychology at the University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany has set up a Research Department Ayahuasca / Santo Daime,[37] which in May 2008 held a 3-day conference under the title The globalization of Ayahuasca – An Amazonian psychoactive and its users.[38] There are also the investigations of the human pharmacology of ayahuasca done by Jordi Riba [15][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] and the work of Rafael G. dos Santos.[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]
Legal status

Internationally, DMT is a Schedule I drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. The Commentary on the Convention on Psychotropic Substances notes, however, that the plants containing it are not subject to international control:[56]

    The cultivation of plants from which psychotropic substances are obtained is not controlled by the Vienna Convention. . . . Neither the crown (fruit, mescal button) of the Peyote cactus nor the roots of the plant Mimosa hostilis nor Psilocybe mushrooms themselves are included in Schedule 1, but only their respective principles, mescaline, DMT and psilocin.

A fax from the Secretary of the International Narcotics Control Board to the Netherlands Ministry of Public Health sent in 2001 goes on to state that "Consequently, preparations (e.g.decoctions) made of these plants, including ayahuasca, are not under international control and, therefore, not subject to any of the articles of the 1971 Convention."[57]

The legal status in the United States of DMT-containing plants is somewhat questionable. Ayahuasca plants and preparations are legal, as they contain no scheduled chemicals. However, brews made using DMT containing plants are illegal since DMT is a Schedule I drug. That said, some people are challenging this, using arguments similar to those used by peyotist religious sects, such as the Native American Church. A court case allowing the União do Vegetal to import and use the tea for religious purposes in the United States, Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 1, 2005; the decision, released February 21, 2006, allows the UDV to use the tea in its ceremonies pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In a similar case an Ashland, Oregon based Santo Daime church sued for their right to import and consume ayahuasca tea. In March 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Panner ruled in favor of the Santo Daime, acknowledging its protection from prosecution under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.[58]

Religious use in Brazil was legalized after two official inquiries into the tea in the mid-1980s, which concluded that ayahuasca is not a recreational drug and has valid spiritual uses.[59]

In France, Santo Daime won a court case allowing them to use the tea in early 2005; however, they were not allowed an exception for religious purposes, but rather for the simple reason that they did not perform chemical extractions to end up with pure DMT and harmala and the plants used were not scheduled.[60] Four months after the court victory, the common ingredients of ayahuasca as well as harmala were declared stupéfiants, or narcotic schedule I substances, making the tea and its ingredients illegal to use or possess.[61]
Other legal issues

Ayahuasca has also stirred debate regarding intellectual property protection of traditional knowledge. In 1986 the US Patent and Trademarks Office allowed the granting of a patent on the ayahuasca vine B. Caapi. It allowed this patent based on the assumption that ayahuasca's properties had not been previously described in writing. Several public interest groups, including the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and the Coalition for Amazonian Peoples and Their Environment (Amazon Coalition) objected. In 1999 they brought a legal challenge to this patent which had granted a private US citizen "ownership" of the knowledge of a plant that is well-known and sacred to many indigenous peoples of the Amazon, and used by them in religious and healing ceremonies.[62] Later that year the PTO issued a decision rejecting the patent, on the basis that the petitioners' arguments that the plant was not "distinctive or novel" were valid. However, the decision did not acknowledge the argument that the plant's religious or cultural values prohibited a patent. In 2001, after an appeal by the patent holder, the US Patent Office reinstated the patent. The law at the time did not allow a third party such as COICA to participate in that part of the reexamination process. The patent, held by US entrepreneur Loren Miller, expired in 2003.[63]
Documentary films about ayahuasca

    Shamans of the Amazon (2001), directed by Dean Jefferys.
    "Jungle Trip" (2001), directed by Gavin Searle. In this episode of To the Ends of the Earth, an English amateur botanist seeks personal transformation from the indigenous peoples of the Amazon.
    Night of the Liana (2002), directed by Glenn Switkes.
    L'Ayahuasca, le serpent et moi (2003), directed by Armand Bernardi.
    D'autres mondes (2004), directed by Jan Kounen. Canadian anthropologist Jeremy Narby, Shipibo curandero Guillermo Arévalo, and others talk about the value and the mystery of ayahuasca.
    Sacha Runa: Spirits of the Rainforest (2005), directed by Sean Adair and Miguel Kavlin.
    The Man Who Drank the Universe (2005), directed by Gary Reich and Alistair Appleton. English television-presenter Alistair Appleton travels to Brazil to try ayahuasca.
    Die Letzte Droge (2006), directed by Stefan Kluge.
    Woven Songs of the Amazon (2006), directed by Anna Stevens.
    Heaven Earth (2008), directed by Rudolf Amaral and Harald Scherz. A look at the ayahuasqueros of Peru, and the people whom they help.
    "Amazonas" (2009), directed by Tuomas Milonoff. In this, the series-three premiere of Madventures, Riku Rantala and Tuomas Milonoff journey to the Amazon to drink ayahuasca with a shaman.
    Ayahuasca Diary (2009), directed by Christian Moran.
    Metamorphosis (2009), directed by Keith Aronowitz. Hamilton Souther, an American man from California, trains with Don Alberto to learn the ways of the ayahuasquero.
    Vine of the Soul: Encounters with Ayahuasca (2010), directed by Richard Meech.
    Stepping into the Fire (2011), directed by Ross Evison and Roberto Velez. Roberto Velez, an affluent American businessman, feels that his professional life and values are harming his family. His ayahuasca experience inspires him to build a shamanic retreat center in the Peruvian Amazon, and catalyzes a shift in his family members' lives.

See also

    Icaro
    Mariri
    Psychedelic experience

Notes

    ^ "Ayahuasca.com – Overviews Shamanism – On The Origin of Ayahuasca". Retrieved August, 2010.
    ^ Gorman, Peter (2010). Ayahuasca in My Blood: 25 Years of Medicine Dreaming. ISBN 1452882908.
    ^ Campos, Don Jose (2011). The Shaman & Ayahuasca: Journeys to Sacred Realms. pp. 67–70.
    ^ Metzer, Ralph (1999). Ayahuasca: Human Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature. pp. 46–55.
    ^ Campos, Don Jose (2011). The Shaman & Ayahuasca: Journeys to Sacred Realms. pp. 25–28.
    ^ Metzer, Ralph (1999). Ayahuasca: Human Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature. pp. 22–23.
    ^ Campos, Don Jose (2011). The Shaman & Ayahuasca: Journeys to Sacred Realms. pp. 81–85.
    ^ Campos, Don Jose (2011). The Shaman & Ayahuasca: Journeys to Sacred Realms.
    ^ Schultz, Mitch. "DMT: The Spirit Molecule".
    ^ This term was popularized in English in the 1960s by the beat generation writers William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg in The Yage Letters. The letters were originally written in the 1950s.
    ^ Descola, Philippe (1996). In the Society of Nature: A Native Ecology in Amazonia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 99–100, 163. ISBN 978-0-521-57467-9.
    ^ Incayawar, Mario; Lise Bouchard, Ronald Wintrob, Goffredo Bartocci (2009). Psychiatrists and Traditional Healers: Unwitting Partners in Global Mental Health. Wiley. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-470-51683-6.
    ^ Siskind, Janet (1973). To Hunt in the Morning. Oxford University Press. p. 130. ISBN 0-19-501891-5.
    ^ a b c Callaway JC, McKenna DJ, Grob CS, Brito GS, Raymon LP, Poland RE, Andrade EN, Andrade EO (1999). "Pharmacokinetics of Hoasca alkaloids in healthy humans". Journal of Ethnopharmacology 65 (3): 243–256. doi:10.1016/S0378-8741(98)00168-8. PMID 10404423.
    ^ a b RIBA, J. Human Pharmacology of Ayahuasca. Doctoral Thesis: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2003.
    ^ Callaway, J. C. (June 2005). "Fast and Slow Metabolizers of Hoasca". Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (San Francisco: Haight-Ashbury Pub. in assoc. w. Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic) 37 (2): 157–61. doi:10.1080/02791072.2005.10399797. ISSN 0279-1072. OCLC 7565359. PMID 16149329.
    ^ Callaway JC, Airaksinen MM, McKenna DJ, Brito GS, Grob CS (November 1994). "Platelet serotonin uptake sites increased in drinkers of ayahuasca". Psychopharmacology (Berl.) 116 (3): 385–7. doi:10.1007/BF02245347. PMID 7892432.
    ^ McKenna DJ, Callaway JC, Grob CS (1998). "The scientific investigation of ayahuasca: A review of past and current research". The Heffter Review of Psychedelic Research 1: 65–77.
    ^ Callaway, J. C. (June 2005). "Various Alkaloid Profiles in Decoctions of Banisteriopsis Caapi". Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (San Francisco: Haight-Ashbury Pub. in assoc. w. Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic) 37 (2): 151–5. doi:10.1080/02791072.2005.10399796. ISSN 0279-1072. OCLC 7565359. PMID 16149328.
    ^ Callaway, J. C.; Brito, Glacus S.; Neves, Edison S. (June 2005). "Phytochemical Analyses of Banisteriopsis Caapi and Psychotria Viridis". Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (San Francisco: Haight-Ashbury Pub. in assoc. w. Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic) 37 (2): 145–50. doi:10.1080/02791072.2005.10399795. ISSN 0279-1072. OCLC 7565359. PMID 16149327.
    ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ratsch 2005, pp. 704–708
    ^ Dean, Bartholomew (2009). Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-3378-5.
    ^ Tafur, M.D., Dr. Joseph. "Ayahuasca".
    ^ Andritzky, Walter (January–March 1989). "Sociopsychotherapeutic Functions of Ayahuasca Healing in Amazonia". Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (San Francisco: Haight-Ashbury Pub. in assoc. w. Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic) 21 (1): 77–89. doi:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472145. ISSN 0279-1072. OCLC 7565359. PMID 2656954.
    ^ Hassan, I. (1967). "Some folk uses of Peganum harmala in India and Pakistan". Economic Botany 21 (3): 384. doi:10.1007/BF02860378.
    ^ a b Ott, J. (1994). Ayahuasca Analogues: Pangaean Entheogens. Kennewick, WA: Natural Books. ISBN 978-0-9614234-4-5.
    ^ Who We Are at a-keys.nl
    ^ Introduction to Ayahuasca at a-keys.nl
    ^ Reichel-Dolmatoff 1975, p. 48 as cited in Soibelman 1995, p. 14.
    ^ Labate, B.C.; Rose, I.S. & Santos, R.G. (2009). Ayahuasca Religions: a comprehensive bibliography and critical essays. Santa Cruz: Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies – MAPS. ISBN 978-0-9798622-1-2.
    ^ See research by Doctor John Halpern in New Scientist
    ^ Elsworth, Catherine (2008-03-21). "Isabel Allende: kith and tell". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 2010-04-26.
    ^ a b Salak, Kira. "Hell And Back". Retrieved 29 December 2010.
    ^ Salak, Kira. "Ayahuasca Healing in Peru". Retrieved 27 December 2010.
    ^ stern show blog, podcast and videos, wcqj.com, retrieved 2012-01-14
    ^ Shanon, Benny (March 2008). "Biblical Entheogens: a Speculative Hypothesis". Time and Mind (Berg) 1 (1): 51–74. doi:10.2752/175169608783489116. ISSN 1751-6978. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
    ^ 'Research Department Ayahuasca / Santo Daime' at the University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, Klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de, retrieved 2012-01-14
    ^ Conference schedule "The globalization of Ayahuasca", Heidelberg, Germany: Ritualdynamik.de, 2008, May, retrieved 2012-01-14
    ^ Riba, Jordi; Barbanoj, Manel J. (June 2005). "Bringing Ayahuasca to the Clinical Research Laboratory". Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (San Francisco: Haight-Ashbury Pub. in assoc. w. Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic) 37 (2): 219–30. doi:10.1080/02791072.2005.10399804. ISSN 0279-1072. OCLC 7565359. PMID 16149336.
    ^ Riba, J. & Barbanoj, M.J. Ayahuasca (2006). Peris, J.C., Zurián, J.C., Martínez, G.C. & Valladolid, G.R.. ed. Tratado SET de Transtornos Adictivos. Madrid: Ed. Médica Panamericana. pp. 321–324. ISBN 978-84-7903-164-0.
    ^ Riba J, Rodríguez-Fornells A, Strassman RJ, Barbanoj MJ (May 2001). "Psychometric assessment of the Hallucinogen Rating Scale". Drug Alcohol Depend 62 (3): 215–23. doi:10.1016/S0376-8716(00)00175-7. PMID 11295326.
    ^ Riba J, Rodríguez-Fornells A, Urbano G, et al. (February 2001). "Subjective effects and tolerability of the South American psychoactive beverage Ayahuasca in healthy volunteers". Psychopharmacology (Berl.) 154 (1): 85–95. doi:10.1007/s002130000606. PMID 11292011.
    ^ Riba J, Anderer P, Morte A, et al. (June 2002). "Topographic pharmaco-EEG mapping of the effects of the South American psychoactive beverage ayahuasca in healthy volunteers". Br J Clin Pharmacol 53 (6): 613–28. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2125.2002.01609.x. PMC 1874340. PMID 12047486.
    ^ Riba, J., Rodriguez–Fornells, A., & Barbanoj, M.j. (2002). "Effects of ayahuasca sensory and sensorimotor gating in humans as measured by P50 suppression and prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex, respectively.". Psychopharmacology (Berl) 165 (1): 18–28. doi:10.1007/s00213-002-1237-5.
    ^ Riba J, Valle M, Urbano G, Yritia M, Morte A, Barbanoj MJ (July 2003). "Human pharmacology of ayahuasca: subjective and cardiovascular effects, monoamine metabolite excretion, and pharmacokinetics". J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 306 (1): 73–83. doi:10.1124/jpet.103.049882. PMID 12660312.
    ^ Riba J, Anderer P, Jané F, Saletu B, Barbanoj MJ (2004). "Effects of the South American psychoactive beverage ayahuasca on regional brain electrical activity in humans: a functional neuroimaging study using low-resolution electromagnetic tomography". Neuropsychobiology 50 (1): 89–101. doi:10.1159/000077946. PMID 15179026.
    ^ Riba J, Romero S, Grasa E, Mena E, Carrió I, Barbanoj MJ (May 2006). "Increased frontal and paralimbic activation following ayahuasca, the pan-Amazonian inebriant". Psychopharmacology (Berl.) 186 (1): 93–8. doi:10.1007/s00213-006-0358-7. PMID 16575552.
    ^ Santos, R.G., Moraes, C.C. & Holanda, A. (2006). "Ayahuasca e redução do uso abusivo de psicoativos: eficácia terapêutica?". Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa 22 (3): 363–370. doi:10.1590/S0102-37722006000300014.
    ^ SANTOS, R.G. (2007). "AYAHUASCA: Neuroquímica e Farmacologia.". SMAD – Revista Eletrônica Saúde Mental Álcool e Drogas 3 (1).
    ^ Santos RG, Landeira-Fernandez J, Strassman RJ, Motta V, Cruz AP (July 2007). "Effects of ayahuasca on psychometric measures of anxiety, panic-like and hopelessness in Santo Daime members" (PDF). J Ethnopharmacol 112 (3): 507–13. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2007.04.012. PMID 17532158.
    ^ Santos, R.G. & Strassman, R.J. (3 December 2008). "Ayahuasca and Psychosis (eLetter)". British Journal of Psychiatry.
    ^ SANTOS, R.G. (2010). "The pharmacology of ayahuasca: a review" (PDF). Brasília Médica 47 (2): 188–195.
    ^ SANTOS, R.G. (2010). "Toxicity of chronic ayahuasca administration to the pregnant rat: how relevant it is regarding the human, ritual use of ayahuasca?" (PDF). Birth Defects Research Part B: Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology 89 (6): 533–535. doi:10.1002/bdrb.20272.
    ^ SANTOS, R.G. (ed.). "The Ethnopharmacology of Ayahuasca". Trivandrum: Transworld Research Network. 2011. http://www.trnres.com/ebookcontents.php?id=93
    ^ Santos RG, Valle M, Bouso JC, Nomdedéu JF, Rodriguez-Espinosa J, McIlhenny EH, Barker SA, Barbanoj MJ, Riba J (December 2011). "Autonomic, neuroendocrine and immunological effects of Ayahuasca. A comparative study with d-amphetamine" (PDF). J Clin Psychopharmacol 31 (6): 217–26. doi:10.1097/JCP.0b013e31823607f6. PMID 22005052.
    ^ DMT – UN report<!- RoBot generated title (T-1000) ->, MAPS, 1971-02-21, retrieved 2012-01-14
    ^ Erowid Ayahuasca Vault : Law : UNDCP's Ayahuasca Fax, Erowid.org, 2001-01-17, retrieved 2012-01-14
    ^ (PDF) Ruling by District Court Judge Panner in Santo Daime case in Oregon, retrieved 2012-01-14
    ^ More on the legal status of ayahuasca can be found in the Erowid vault on the legality of ayahuasca.
    ^ Cour d'appel de Paris, 10ème chambre, section B, dossier n° 04/01888. Arrêt du 13 janvier 2005 [Court of Appeal of Paris, 10th Chamber, Section B, File No. 04/01888. Judgement of 13 January 2005]. PDF of this document may be obtained from Ayahuasca – Santo Daime Library.
    ^ JO, 2005-05-03. Arrêté du 20 avril 2005 modifiant l'arrêté du 22 février 1990 fixant la liste des substances classées comme stupéfiants (PDF) [Decree of 20 April 2005 amending the decree of 22 February 1990 establishing the list of substances scheduled as narcotics].
    ^ CIEL Biodiversity Program Accomplishments, Ciel.org, retrieved 2012-01-14
    ^ "The Ayahuasca Patent Case". Our Programs: Biodiversity. The Centre for International Environmental Law. Retrieved 18 December 2011.

References

    Bartholomew, Dean Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8130-3378-5 [1]
    Burroughs, William S. and Allen Ginsberg. The Yage Letters. San Francisco: City Lights, 1963. ISBN 0-87286-004-3
    Dobkin De Rios, Marlene. Visionary Vine: Hallucinogenic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon, (2nd ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1984. ISBN 0-88133-093-0
    Dobkin de Rios, Marlene & Roger Rumrrill. A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy: Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the United States. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008. ISBN 978-0-313-34542-5
    Fraser, Sylvia. The Green Labyrinth: Exploring the Mysteries of the Amazon. Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2003. ISBN 0-88762-123-6.
    Hancock, Graham, Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind. London: Century, 2005. ISBN 1-84413-681-7 [2]
    Heaven, Ross and Howard G. Charing. Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul. Rochester, Vt.: Destiny, 2006. ISBN 1-59477-118-9
    Lamb, Bruce F. Rio Tigre and Beyond: The Amazon Jungle Medicine of Manuel Córdova. Berkeley: North Atlantic, 1985. ISBN 0-938190-59-8
    Langdon, E. Jean Matteson & Gerhard Baer, eds. Portals of Power: Shamanism in South America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8263-1345-0
    Luna, Luis Eduardo. Vegetalismo: Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1986. ISBN 91-22-00819-5
    Luna, Luis Eduardo & Pablo Amaringo. Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of A Peruvian Shaman. Berkeley: North Atlantic, 1999. ISBN 1-55643-311-5
    Luna, Luis Eduardo & Stephen F. White, eds. Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon's Sacred Vine. Santa Fe, NM: Synergetic, 2000. ISBN 0-907791-32-8
    McKenna, Terence. Food of the Gods: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution.
    Metzner, Ralph, ed. Ayahuasca: Hallucinogens, Consciousness, and the Spirit of Nature. New York: Thunder's Mouth, 1999. ISBN 1-56025-160-3
    Metzner, Ralph (Editor). Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca, (2nd ed.) Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 2006. ISBN 1-59477-053-0, ISBN 978-1-59477-053-1
    Narby, Jeremy. The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998. ISBN 0-87477-911-1
    O'Rourke, P. J., All the Trouble in the World. New York: The Atlantic Monthly, 1994. ISBN 0-87113-611-2
    Ott, Jonathan. Ayahuasca Analogues: Pangæan Entheogens. Kennewick, Wash.: Natural Products, 1994. ISBN 0-9614234-5-5
    Ott, J. Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History, (2nd ed.)(Paperback). Kennewick, Wash.: Natural Products, 1993. ISBN 0-9614234-9-8. ISBN 978-0-9614234-9-0
    Ott, Jonathan (April–June 1999). "Pharmahuasca: Human Pharmacology of Oral DMT Plus Harmine". Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (San Francisco: Haight-Ashbury Pub. in assoc. w. Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic) 31 (2): 171–7. doi:10.1080/02791072.1999.10471741. ISSN 0279-1072. OCLC 7565359. PMID 10438001.
    Perkins, John. The World Is As You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 1994. ISBN 0-89281-459-4 [3]
    Pinchbeck, Daniel. Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. New York: Broadway, 2002. ISBN 0-7679-0743-4 [4]
    Polari de Alverga, Alex. Forest of Visions: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Spirituality, and the Santo Daime Tradition. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 1999. ISBN 0-89281-716-X
    Rätsch, Christian. The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 2005. ISBN 978-0-89281-978-2
    Rätsch, Christian, Claudia Müller-Ebeling & Arno Adelaars. Ayahuasca. Rituale, Zaubertränke und visionäre Kunst aus Amazonien, Aarau, Switzerland: AT, 2006. ISBN 978-3-03800-270-3
    Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. The Shaman and the Jaguar: A Study of Narcotic Drugs Among the Indians of Colombia. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1975. ISBN 0-87722-038-7
    Schultes, Richard Evans & Robert F. Raffauf. Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, Their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia. Oracle, AZ: Synergetic, 1992. ISBN 0-907791-24-7
    Shannon, Benny. The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-19-925293-9
    Stafford, Peter G. Heavenly Highs: Ayahuasca, Kava-Kava, Dmt, and Other Plants of the Gods. Berkeley: Ronin, 2004. ISBN 1-57951-069-8
    Sting. Broken Music. New York, NY: Bantam Dell, 2003. ISBN 978-0-440-24115-7
    Strassman, Rick. DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 2001. ISBN 0-89281-927-8
    Taussig, Michael. Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. ISBN 0-226-79012-6
    Wilcox, Joan Parisi. Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 2003. ISBN 0-89281-131-5

Further reading

    Rubenstein, Steven L. "On the Importance of Visions among the Amazonian Shuar", Current Anthropology, Vol. 53, No. 1 (2012), pp. 39–79.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berkowitz

David Berkowitz
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"Son of Sam" redirects here. For other uses, see Son of Sam (disambiguation).
For the American professional bridge player, see David Berkowitz (bridge).
David Berkowitz

2003 New York State Department of Corrections mugshot
Background information
Birth name    Richard David Falco
Also known as    Son of Sam
The .44 Caliber Killer
Born    June 1, 1953 (age 59)
Brooklyn, New York
Conviction    Murder in the second degree
Attempted murder in the second degree
Sentence    Six life sentences
Killings
Number of victims    6 killed, 7 wounded
Country    U.S.
State(s)    New York
Date apprehended    10 August 1977; 35 years ago

David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco; June 1, 1953), also known as Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer convicted of a series of murders that began in July, 1976. Perpetrated with a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver, the killings continued for over a year, leaving six victims dead and several others wounded. The highly publicized shootings terrorized New York City and achieved worldwide notoriety.

After his arrest by New York police in August, 1977, Berkowitz was indicted for eight separate shooting incidents. Berkowitz confessed to all of them and claimed that he was commanded to kill by a demon that possessed his neighbor's dog. He subsequently confessed to multiple acts of arson in the city, all previously unidentified with him.

Berkowitz has been imprisoned since his arrest and is serving six life sentences consecutively. In the mid-1990s, he amended his confession to claim that he had been a member of a violent Satanic cult that orchestrated the incidents as ritual murder. Though he remains the only person ever charged with the shootings, some law enforcement authorities have argued that Berkowitz's claims are credible. A new investigation into the murders was launched in 1996 but suspended indefinitely after inconclusive findings.

Early life

David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco on June 1, 1953, to Betty and Tony Falco of Brooklyn, New York.[1] His mother, Betty Broder, grew up in an impoverished Jewish family and later married Falco, an Italian-American Catholic. The couple ran a fish market together. His natural parents separated before his birth: his father left for another woman, and his mother later had an affair with a married real estate agent, Joseph Kleinman.[2] When she became pregnant, Kleinman threatened to abandon her if she kept the baby – she put the child up for adoption and listed Falco as the father.[3] Within a few days of his birth, the infant boy was adopted by Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz of the Bronx.[4] The Jewish-American couple were hardware store retailers of modest means, and childless in middle age. They reversed the order of the boy's first and middle names and gave him their own surname, raising young David Richard Berkowitz as their only son.[5][6][7][8]

John Vincent Sanders wrote that Berkowitz's childhood was "somewhat troubled. Although of above-average intelligence, he lost interest in learning at an early age and began an infatuation with petty larceny and pyromania."[9] Neighbors and relatives would recall Berkowitz as difficult, spoiled and bullying – his adoptive parents consulted at least one psychotherapist due to his misconduct – but his misbehavior never resulted in legal intervention or serious mention in his school records.[10] Berkowitz's adoptive mother died of breast cancer when he was thirteen and his home life became strained in later years, particularly because he disliked his adoptive father's second wife.

In 1971, at the age of 18, Berkowitz joined the US Army and served in the United States and South Korea.[11] After an honorable discharge in 1974, he located his birth mother, Betty Falco. After a few visits, she disclosed the details of his illegitimate birth, which greatly disturbed him, particularly because his birth father was deceased.[12] Forensic anthropologist Elliott Leyton described Berkowitz's discovery of his adoption and illegitimate birth as the "primary crisis" of his life, as a revelation that shattered his sense of identity.[12] Berkowitz fell out of contact with his birth mother, but remained for a time in touch with his half-sister, Roslyn. He subsequently held several blue collar jobs, and at the time of his arrest he was working as a letter sorter for the U.S. Postal Service.[13]
Crimes begin
First attacks

Berkowitz claimed that his first attacks were committed on Christmas Eve, 1975, when he used a hunting knife to stab two women. One alleged victim was never identified by police but the other, teenager Michelle Forman, was injured seriously enough to put her in the hospital.[14] Berkowitz was not under suspicion for these crimes, and shortly afterward he moved to an apartment in Yonkers, New York, just slightly north of the New York City borderline.[14]
Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti shooting
David Berkowitz is located in New York City
Pelham Bay area of New York City

The first shooting attributed to the Son of Sam took place in the Pelham Bay area of New York City's northernmost borough, the Bronx. At about 1:10 a.m. on July 29, 1976, Donna Lauria, 18, and her friend Jody Valenti, 19, were sitting in Valenti's Oldsmobile, discussing their evening at the Peachtree, a New Rochelle discotheque.[15] Lauria opened the car door to leave and noticed a man quickly approaching the car. Startled and angered by the man's sudden appearance, she said "Now what is this..."[15] From the paper sack he carried, the man produced a pistol and went into a crouch – he braced one elbow on his knee, aimed his weapon with both hands, and fired.[15] Lauria was struck by one bullet that killed her instantly.[16] Valenti was shot in her thigh, and a third bullet missed both women. Not having said a word, the shooter turned and quickly walked away.[15]

Valenti, who survived her injuries, said she did not recognize the killer. She described him as a white male in his thirties with a fair complexion, standing about 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) and weighing about 160 lb (73 kg). His hair was short, dark and curly in a "mod style."[15] This description was echoed by by Lauria's father, who claimed to have seen a similar man sitting in a yellow compact car parked nearby. Neighbors gave corroborating reports to police that an unfamiliar yellow compact car had been cruising the area for hours before the shooting.[15]

Detectives from the NYPD's 8th Homicide precinct were able to determine that the murder weapon was a pistol chambered for the .44 Special cartridge, manufactured by Charter Arms and called the Bulldog model. A five-shot revolver intended for use in close quarters, the .44 Bulldog was easily identified by ballistics tests.

The killer's distinctive shooting stance was the same one taught in NYPD pistol training and gave rise to speculation that he might be a police officer. In the absence of any additional evidence, however, police followed two working hypotheses: that the shooter was a spurned admirer of the popular Lauria or that the shooting was a mistaken assassination of the wrong person. The neighborhood had seen recent mob activity and police even hinted that Lauria's father, a member of the Teamsters union, might be involved in organized crime.
Carl Denaro and Rosemary Keenan shooting
David Berkowitz is located in New York City
Forest Hills Gardens, Queens. Most of Berkowitz's activity was in Queens, though he lived farther north in Yonkers.

On October 23, 1976, a similar shooting occurred in the New York borough of Queens. In a secluded residential area of Forest Hills Gardens, Carl Denaro, 25, and Rosemary Keenan, 38, were sitting in Keenan's parked car when the windows suddenly shattered: "I felt the car exploded," Denaro said later.[17] Keenan, however, quickly started the car and sped off for help. The panicked couple did not realize someone had been shooting at them, even as Denaro was bleeding from a bullet wound to his head. Keenan had only superficial injuries from the broken glass, but Denaro eventually needed a metal plate to replace a portion of his skull. Neither victim saw who made the attack.

Police determined that the bullets embedded in Keenan's car were .44 caliber, but they were so damaged and deformed that they thought it was unlikely that they could ever be linked to a particular weapon.[18] Denaro had shoulder-length hair and police would later speculate that the shooter had mistaken him for a girl. Keenan's father was a 20-year veteran police detective of the NYPD, spurring an in-depth investigation. As with the Lauria-Valenti shooting, however, there seemed to be no motive for the shooting and police made little progress in the case. Though many details of the Denaro-Keenan shooting were very similar to the Lauria-Valenti case, police did not initially draw a connection, partly because the shootings occurred in different boroughs and were investigated by different local police agencies.

Forensic anthropologist Elliott Leyton suggested that Berkowitz's choice of Queens for this and subsequent shootings was significant.[10] Like many other serial killers, Berkowitz seemed to express his frustration by lashing out at those he perceived as being a step above him in social status: he lived in blue-collar Yonkers, but chose victims in middle-class Queens.
Donna DeMasi and Joanne Lomino shooting

Late in the evening of November 26, 1976, Donna DeMasi, 16, and Joanne Lomino, 18, had walked home from a movie and were chatting under a streetlight outside Lomino's home in Queens. A man approached to within about ten feet of the girls. They later described him as about 5'9" tall and slender, weighing perhaps 150 lb (68 kg) with straight, dirty blond hair and dark eyes. He wore a slim, knee-length coat reminiscent of military surplus gear.

Startled but not frightened by his sudden appearance, DeMasi and Lomino suspected the man was lost and asking directions. In a high-pitched voice he said, "Can you tell me how to get..." and then produced a revolver.[19] He shot each of the victims once and, as they fell to the ground injured, he fired several more times, striking the apartment building before running away. Having heard the gunshots, a neighbor rushed out of the apartment building and saw the blond shooter rush by, gripping a pistol in his left hand. Both victims were hospitalized with serious injuries, and Lomino was ultimately rendered a paraplegic.

Based on the testimony of DeMasi, Lomino, and their neighbor, the police produced several composite sketches of the blond shooter. Police also determined the gun was a .44 caliber, but the slugs were so deformed that linking them to a particular gun was all but ruled out.
Christine Freund and John Diel shooting

The new year brought more shootings in Queens. In the early morning of January 30, 1977, an engaged couple, Christine Freund, 26, and John Diel, 30, were sitting in Diel's Pontiac Firebird, preparing to drive to a dance hall after having seen the motion picture Rocky. Three gunshots penetrated the car at about 12:40 a.m. In a panic, Diel drove away for help. He suffered minor superficial injuries, but Freund was shot twice and died several hours later at the hospital. Neither victim had seen their attacker(s).

Police made the first public acknowledgment that the Freund-Diel shooting was similar to earlier incidents, and that the crimes might be connected.[20] All the victims had been struck with .44 caliber bullets, and the shootings seemed to focus on young women with long, dark hair. NYPD sergeant Richard Conlon stated that police were "leaning towards a connection in all these cases."[21][22] Composite sketches of the black-haired Lauria-Valenti shooter and the blonde Lomino-DeMasi shooter were released, and Conlon noted that police were looking for multiple "suspects", not just one.[21]
Virginia Voskerichian shooting

At about 7:30 p.m. on March 8, 1977, Columbia University student Virginia Voskerichian, 19, was walking home from school. She lived about a block from where Christine Freund was shot.[23] In a desperate move to defend herself, Voskerichian lifted her textbooks between herself and her killer, only to have the makeshift shield penetrated, the bullet striking her head and killing her.[24]

Moments after the shooting, a neighborhood resident who had heard the gunshots was rounding the corner onto Voskerichian's street. He nearly collided with a person he described as a short, husky boy, 16 to 18 years old and clean-shaven, wearing a sweater and watch cap, who was sprinting away from the crime scene. The neighbor said the youth pulled the cap over his face and said, "Oh, Jesus!" as he sprinted by.[25] Other neighbors claimed to have seen the "teenager," as well as another person matching Berkowitz's description, loitering separately in the area for about an hour before the shooting.[25] In the following days, the media repeated police claims that this "chubby teenager" was the suspect.[25]

There were no direct witnesses to the Voskerichian murder, which happened on the victim's own street. The Voskerichian shooting differed from the other Son of Sam crimes in several respects. All the other victims were couples, and were shot on weekends in the late night or early morning.
Press and publicity
Press conference of March 10th, 1977

In a March 10, 1977 press conference, NYPD officials and New York City Mayor Abe Beame declared that the same .44 Bulldog revolver had fired the shots that killed Lauria and Voskerichian.[26] Official documents would later surface, however, saying that while police strongly suspected the same .44 Bulldog had been used in the shootings, the evidence was actually inconclusive.[26]

The same day, the Operation Omega task force made its public debut. Charged solely with investigating the .44 caliber shootings, the task force was led by Deputy Inspector Timothy J. Dowd, composed of over 300 police officers. Police speculated that the killer had a vendetta against women, perhaps due to chronic social rejection, and also declared that the "chubby teenager" was regarded as a witness, not a suspect in the Voskerichian shooting. The police regarded the taller, black-haired male shooter in the Lauria-Valenti case as the shooter in all of the murders.
Publicity and political implications

The crimes earned considerable mass media publicity, with television, newspapers and radio publishing every detail and speculation of the case. Australian publisher Rupert Murdoch had recently purchased the New York Post, and the paper offered perhaps the most sensational coverage of the crimes. Mayor Beame, meanwhile, helped funnel unprecedented amounts of money to the NYPD to help solve the case. In many cases serial killers such as Berkowitz draw additional pleasure and power from this type of media response. The feeling of control over the media, law enforcement, and even entire populations provides a source of social power for them.[27]
Another shooting
Alexander Esau and Valentina Suriani shooting

In the early morning of April 17, 1977, Alexander Esau, 20, and Valentina Suriani, 18, were in the Bronx, only a few blocks from the scene of the Lauria-Valenti shooting. At about 3:00 a.m., as they sat in Suriani's car near her home, they were each shot twice.[28] Suriani died at the scene, and Esau died in the hospital several hours later without being able to describe his attacker(s).

Police asserted that the weapon used in the crime was the same as the one they had suspected in the earlier shootings.[28] In the days afterwards, they repeated their theory that only one man was responsible for the .44 murders: the chubby teenager in the Voskerichian case was still regarded as a witness, while the dark-haired man who shot Lauria and Valenti was considered the suspect.[29]
Letters and profiling
Son of Sam letter
Final page of the first Son of Sam letter

Near the bodies of Esau and Suriani, police discovered a hand-written letter. Written mostly in block capital letters with some lower-case letters, it was addressed to NYPD Captain Joseph Borrelli.[30][31] With this letter, Berkowitz revealed the name "Son of Sam" for the first time.[31] In the press, the killer had previously been dubbed the ".44 Caliber Killer" because of his signature weapon.[32] Although the letter was initially withheld from public view, some of its contents leaked to the press and the Son of Sam monicker rapidly eclipsed the old name.[32]

With its rambling and feverish tone, the letter expressed the killer's determination to continue his work, and taunted police for their fruitless efforts to capture him.[33] In full, with misspellings intact, it reads:

    I am deeply hurt by your calling me a wemon hater. I am not. But I am a monster. I am the "Son of Sam." I am a little "brat". When father Sam gets drunk he gets mean. He beats his family. Sometimes he ties me up to the back of the house. Other times he locks me in the garage. Sam loves to drink blood. "Go out and kill" commands father Sam. Behind our house some rest. Mostly young — raped and slaughtered — their blood drained — just bones now. Papa Sam keeps me locked in the attic, too. I can't get out but I look out the attic window and watch the world go by. I feel like an outsider. I am on a different wave length then everybody else — programmed too kill. However, to stop me you must kill me. Attention all police: Shoot me first — shoot to kill or else. Keep out of my way or you will die! Papa Sam is old now. He needs some blood to preserve his youth. He has had too many heart attacks. Too many heart attacks. "Ugh, me hoot it urts sonny boy." I miss my pretty princess most of all. She's resting in our ladies house but I'll see her soon. I am the "Monster" — "Beelzebub" — the "Chubby Behemouth." I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game — tasty meat. The wemon of Queens are z prettyist of all. I must be the water they drink. I live for the hunt — my life. Blood for papa. Mr. Borrelli, sir, I dont want to kill anymore no sir, no more but I must, "honour thy father." I want to make love to the world. I love people. I don't belong on Earth. Return me to yahoos. To the people of Queens, I love you. And I wa want to wish all of you a happy Easter. May God bless you in this life and in the next and for now I say goodbye and goodnight. Police — Let me haunt you with these words; I'll be back! I'll be back! To be interrpreted as — bang, bang, bang, bank, bang — ugh!! Yours in murder Mr. Monster[30]

At the time, police speculated that the letter-writer might be familiar with Scottish English. The phrase "me hoot, it urts sonny boy" was taken as a Scots-accented version of "my heart, it hurts, sonny boy"; and the police also hypothesized that the shooter blamed a dark-haired nurse for his father's death, due to the "too many heart attacks" phrase, and the facts that Lauria was a medical technician and Valenti was studying to be a nurse.[34] On July 28, New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin alluded to the "wemon" quirk and referred to the shooter watching the world from "his attic window."[35]
Psychological profile and other police investigations

After consulting with several psychiatrists, police released a psychological profile of their suspect on May 26, 1977. He was described as neurotic and probably suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and believed himself to be a victim of demonic possession.[35]

Police questioned the owners of fifty-six .44 Bulldog revolvers legally registered in New York City, and forensically tested each weapon, ruling them out as the murder weapons. Among other unsuccessful ideas, police created traps with undercover officers posed as lovers parked in isolated areas, hoping to lure the shooter.
Breslin letter

On May 30, 1977, the Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin received a hand-written letter from someone who claimed to be the .44 shooter. The letter was postmarked early that same day in Englewood, New Jersey. On the reverse of the envelope, neatly hand-printed in four precisely centered lines, were the words: Blood and Family – Darkness and Death – Absolute Depravity – .44 The letter inside read:

    Hello from the gutters of N.Y.C. which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine and blood. Hello from the sewers of N.Y.C. which swallow up these delicacies when they are washed away by the sweeper trucks. Hello from the cracks in the sidewalks of N.Y.C. and from the ants that dwell in these cracks and feed in the dried blood of the dead that has settled into the cracks. J.B., I'm just dropping you a line to let you know that I appreciate your interest in those recent and horrendous .44 killings. I also want to tell you that I read your column daily and I find it quite informative. Tell me Jim, what will you have for July twenty-ninth? You can forget about me if you like because I don't care for publicity. However you must not forget Donna Lauria and you cannot let the people forget her either. She was a very, very sweet girl but Sam's a thirsty lad and he won't let me stop killing until he gets his fill of blood. Mr. Breslin, sir, don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. No, rather, I am still here. Like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest; anxious to please Sam. I love my work. Now, the void has been filled. Perhaps we shall meet face to face someday or perhaps I will be blown away by cops with smoking .38's. Whatever, if I shall be fortunate enough to meet you I will tell you all about Sam if you like and I will introduce you to him. His name is "Sam the terrible." Not knowing the what the future holds I shall say farewell and I will see you at the next job. Or should I say you will see my handiwork at the next job? Remember Ms. Lauria. Thank you. In their blood and from the gutter "Sam's creation" .44 Here are some names to help you along. Forward them to the inspector for use by N.C.I.C: [sic] "The Duke of Death" "The Wicked King Wicker" "The Twenty Two Disciples of Hell" "John 'Wheaties' – Rapist and Suffocator of Young Girls. PS: Please inform all the detectives working the slaying to remain. P.S: [sic] JB, Please inform all the detectives working the case that I wish them the best of luck. "Keep 'em digging, drive on, think positive, get off your butts, knock on coffins, etc." Upon my capture I promise to buy all the guys working the case a new pair of shoes if I can get up the money. Son of Sam[36]

Underneath the "Son of Sam" was a logo or sketch that combined several symbols. The writer's question, "What will you have for July 29?" was taken as an ominous threat: July 29 would be the anniversary of the first .44 caliber shooting.[17] Breslin notified police, who thought the letter was probably from someone with knowledge of the shootings. Sophisticated in its wording and presentation, especially when compared to the crudely written first letter, police suspected the Breslin letter might have been created in an art studio or similar professional location by someone with expertise in printing, calligraphy, graphic design or architecture.[37] Based on the "Wicked King Wicker" reference, police even arranged a private screening of The Wicker Man, a 1973 horror film.

A week later, after consulting with police and agreeing to withhold portions of the text, the Daily News published the letter, and Breslin urged the killer to turn himself over to authorities. Reportedly, over 1.1 million copies of that day's paper were sold.[38] The letter caused a panic in New York, and based on references in the publicized portions of the letter, police received thousands of tips, all of which proved baseless.[37] As all the shooting victims so far had long dark hair, thousands of women in New York acquired short cuts or brightly colored dyes, and beauty supply stores had trouble meeting the demand for wigs.[39] Despite it being one of the hottest summers on record, people stayed indoors at night.[citation needed]
Shootings resume
Sal Lupo and Judy Placido shooting

On June 26, 1977, there was another shooting. Sal Lupo, 20, and Judy Placido, 17, had left the Elephas discotheque in the Bayside section of Queens. The young couple were sitting in their car at about 3:00 a.m. when three gunshots blasted through the car. Both were struck by bullets, but their injuries were relatively minor, and both survived. Neither Lupo nor Placido had seen their attacker(s),[40] but witnesses reported a tall, stocky, dark-haired man sprinting from the area, as well as a blond man with a mustache who drove from the neighborhood in a Chevy Nova without turning on its headlights. Police speculated the dark-haired man was the shooter, and that the blond man had observed the crime.[40]
Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante shooting
David Berkowitz is located in New York City
Gravesend Beach area of Brooklyn where the final killing took place.

It was near the one-year anniversary of the first .44 caliber shootings, and police set up a sizable dragnet, focusing on past hunting grounds of Queens and the Bronx. However, the next .44 shooting was in Brooklyn.

Early on July 31, 1977, Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante, both 20, were in Violante's car, which was parked under a streetlight near a city park. They were kissing when a man approached to within about three feet of the passenger side of Violante's car, fired several gunshots into the car, striking both victims in the head, before running into the park. Moskowitz died several hours later in the hospital. Violante survived, though one of his eyes was destroyed and he retained only very limited vision in the other eye. With her short, curly blond hair, Moskowitz was a departure from the other female victims. Based on telephone calls to police within seconds of the shooting, the crime occurred at 2:35 a.m.

The Moskowitz-Violante crime produced more witnesses than any of the other Son of Sam murders, notably the only direct eyewitness who was not an intended victim. During the shooting, Tommy Zaino, 19, was parked with his date in a car three car lengths ahead of Violante's. Moments before the shooting, Zaino saw a peripheral glimpse of the shooter's approach and happened to glance in his rear view mirror just in time to see the crime occur. Due to the bright street light and full moon, Zaino clearly saw the perpetrator for several seconds, later describing him as 25 to 30 years old, of average height (5'7" to 5'9") with shaggy hair that was dark blond or light brown — "it looked like a wig", Zaino said.[41]

About a minute after the shooting, a woman seated next to her boyfriend in his car on the other side of the city park saw a "white male [who was wearing] a light-colored, cheap nylon wig" sprint from the park and enter a "small, light-colored" auto, which drove away quickly.[41] "He looks like he just robbed a bank," said the woman, who wrote what she could see of the car's license plate: unable to determine the first two characters, she was certain the others were either 4-GUR or 4-GVR.[41]

Other witnesses included a woman who saw a light car speed away from the park about 20 seconds after the gunshots,[41] and at least two witnesses who described a yellow Volkswagen driving quickly from the neighborhood with its headlights off.[42] A neighborhood resident given the pseudonym Mary Lyons heard the gunshots and Violante's calls for help, and glancing from her apartment window, she saw a man she later positively identified as Berkowitz, who was walking casually away from the crime scene as many others were rushing towards the scene to render aid.[43]

Shortly after 2:35 a.m., a man given the pseudonym Alan Masters was passing through an intersection a few blocks from the park. Masters was nearly struck by what he described as a yellow Volkswagen Beetle that sped through the intersection, against the red light and without headlights, with the driver holding his door shut with his arm as he drove. Angered and alarmed, Masters followed the Volkswagen at high speed for several minutes before losing sight of the vehicle. Masters described the driver as a white male in his late 20s or early 30s, with a narrow face; dark, long, stringy hair; several days' growth of dark whiskers on his face; and wearing a blue jacket.[44] Upset, Masters neglected to note the Volkswagen's license plate number, but he thought it might have been a New Jersey rather than a New York plate. Violante encountered a very similar man as he and Moskowitz were in the park shortly before the shooting, describing him as a "grubby-looking hippy" with whiskers, wiry hair over his forehead, dark eyes, and wearing a denim jacket.[45]

Police did not learn of the Moskowitz-Violante shooting until about 2:50 a.m., and Dowd did not think it was another Son of Sam shooting until an officer at the scene reported that large-caliber shells had been used.[46] About an hour after the shooting, police set up a series of roadblocks, stopping hundreds of cars to question drivers and inspect vehicles. Based on extended interviews of Masters and others who described a Volkswagen speeding from the crime scene, police now suspected that the shooter owned or drove such a vehicle. In subsequent days, police determined there were over 900 Volkswagens in New York or New Jersey, and they made plans to track down each of these cars and their owners.[47]
Justice system
Suspicion and capture

The evening of the Moskowitz and Violante shooting, Cacilia Davis, who lived near the crime scene, saw Berkowitz loitering in the neighborhood and glaring menacingly at passersby for several hours before removing a parking ticket from his yellow Ford Galaxie, which had been parked too close to a fire hydrant. Two days after the shootings, she contacted police.

Despite their claims to the contrary, police initially considered Berkowitz a possible witness, rather than a suspect. Not until August 9, 1977, seven days after Cacilia Davis informed police about the man with the parking ticket, did NYPD detective James Justis telephone Yonkers police to ask them to schedule an interview with Berkowitz. The Yonkers police dispatcher who first took Justis' call was Wheat Carr, the daughter of Sam Carr and sister of Berkowitz's alleged cult confederates John and Michael Carr.[48]
David Berkowitz is located in New York City
Berkowitz lived on Pine Street in Yonkers at the time of his arrest.

Justis asked "the Yonkers police for some help tracking [Berkowitz] down. Mike Novotny was a sergeant at the Yonkers Police Department. According to Novotny, the Yonkers police had their own suspicions about Berkowitz, in connection with other strange crimes in Yonkers, crimes they saw referenced in one of the Son of Sam letters. To the shock of the NYPD, they told the New York City detective that Berkowitz might just be the Son of Sam."[17]

The next day, August 10, 1977, police investigated Berkowitz's car parked on the street outside his Pine Street apartment in Yonkers. Seeing a Commando Mark III rifle in the backseat, they searched the car and found a duffel bag filled with ammunition, maps of the crime scenes, and a threatening letter addressed to Sgt. Dowd of the Omega task force. Police decided to wait for Berkowitz to leave the apartment, rather than risk a violent encounter in the building's narrow hallway; they also waited to obtain a warrant for the vehicle, worried that their search might be challenged in court. They had searched initially based on the rifle visible in the back seat, though possession of such a rifle was legal in New York State and required no special permit. The warrant had still not arrived, however, when Berkowitz emerged from his home at about 10:00 p.m. Police surrounded him as he started his car and discovered he was carrying his .44 Special Bulldog in a paper sack. His first words to them were reported to be, "Well, you got me. How come it took you such a long time?"[49][50]

Police searched his apartment, and found it in disarray, with Satanic graffiti on the walls. They also found diaries he had kept since he was twenty-one – three stenographer's notebooks nearly all full wherein Berkowitz meticulously noted hundreds of arsons he claimed to have set throughout the New York area.[51] Some sources allege that this number might be over 1,400.[51][52]

A few hours after the arrest, Mayor Beame announced to the media: "The people of the City of New York can rest easy because of the fact that the police have captured a man whom they believe to be the Son of Sam."[53]
Confession

Berkowitz was interrogated for about thirty minutes in the early morning of August 11, 1977. He quickly confessed to the shootings and expressed an interest in pleading guilty.

During questioning, Berkowitz claimed that his neighbor's dog was one of the reasons that he killed, stating that the dog demanded the blood of young, pretty girls. He said that the "Sam" mentioned in the first letter was his former neighbor, Sam Carr. Berkowitz claimed that Carr's black labrador retriever, Harvey, was possessed by an ancient demon and that it issued irresistible commands that Berkowitz must kill people. Berkowitz said he once tried to kill the dog, but was unsuccessful due to supernatural interference.

A few weeks after his arrest and confession, Berkowitz was permitted communication with the press. In a letter to the New York Post dated September 19, 1977, Berkowitz alluded to his original story of demonic possession but closed with a warning that has been interpreted by some investigators as an admission of criminal accomplices: "There are other Sons out there, God help the world."[54]
Sentencing

During his sentencing, Berkowitz repeatedly chanted "Stacy was a whore" at a low yet audible volume.[55] His behavior caused an uproar and the court was adjourned. Berkowitz later claimed that his statement was a response to Moskowitz's mother, who frequently opined that Berkowitz should be executed.

On June 12, 1978, Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each murder, to be served consecutively.[56] He was ordered to serve his time in the upstate New York supermax prison, Attica Correctional Facility.[57]
Retraction of claims of possession

At a press conference in February, 1979, Berkowitz declared that his previous claims of demonic possession were a hoax.[58] In a series of meetings with his special court-appointed psychiatrist, the noted scholar David Abrahamsen, Berkowitz admitted that he had long contemplated murder to lash out at a world that he felt had rejected and hurt him.[58] Berkowitz felt particular anger over his lack of success with women and thus singled out attractive young women as victims.
Prison life

After his arrest, Berkowitz was initially confined to a psychiatric ward in Brooklyn's King's County Hospital where staff reported that he appeared remarkably untroubled by his new environment.[59] On the day after his sentencing, he was taken first to Sing Sing and then to the upstate Clinton Correctional Facility for psychiatric and physical examinations.[57] Two more months were spent at the Central New York Psychiatric Center in Marcy before his admission to Attica prison.[57] Berkowitz served about a decade in Attica until he was moved (c.1990) to Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York, where he has remained ever since.

Life in Attica was described by Berkowitz as a "nightmare".[8] In 1979, there was an attempt on Berkowitz's life. He refused to identify the person(s) who had attacked him with a knife, but suggested that the act was directed by the cult he once belonged to. He bears a permanent scar from the wound that took 56 stitches to close.
Born-again Christian

In 1987, Berkowitz became a born again Christian in prison. According to his personal testimony, his moment of conversion occurred after reading Psalm 34:6 from a Gideon's Pocket Testament Bible given to him by a fellow inmate.[60] He says he is no longer to be referred to as the "Son of Sam"; rather he is now, he says, the "Son of Hope." In the same testimony, he stated that his involvement in the occult had been a major factor in the Son of Sam murders.
Parole hearings

In March 2002, Berkowitz sent a letter to New York Governor George Pataki asking that his upcoming parole hearing be canceled, stating: "In all honesty, I believe that I deserve to be in prison for the rest of my life. I have, with God's help, long ago come to terms with my situation and I have accepted my punishment." [61] In June, 2004, he was denied a second parole hearing after he stated that he did not want one. The parole board saw that he had a good record in the prison programs, but decided that the brutality of his crimes called for him to stay imprisoned. In July, 2006, the board once again denied parole on similar grounds, with Berkowitz not in attendance at the hearing.

Automatically considered for parole every two years under state law, Berkowitz was again denied in 2008 and 2010.[62] Over his own objections,[63] Berkowitz's most recent hearing was held in May, 2012, and he was denied parole for the sixth time.[64]
Other activities

In June 2005, Berkowitz sued his former attorney, Hugo Harmatz, claiming Harmatz had taken possession of Berkowitz's letters and other personal belongings in order to publish a book of his own. Berkowitz stated that he would only drop the lawsuit if the attorney signed over all the money he made to the victims' families. On October 25, 2006, Berkowitz and Harmatz settled out of court, with Harmatz agreeing to return the disputed items to Berkowitz's present attorney Mark Jay Heller, and to donate part of his book profits to the New York State Crime Victims Board.

Berkowitz's "official" website is maintained on his behalf by a church group, since he is not allowed access to a computer.[60] He remains involved in prison ministry and regularly counsels troubled inmates.

Shortly after his imprisonment, Berkowitz invited the former priest and exorcist Malachi Martin to help him in composing an autobiography, but the offer was not accepted.[65][66] In later years, Berkowitz developed his memoirs with assistance from colleagues in the born-again Christian community. His reflections were first released as an interview video, Son of Hope, in 1998.[5] A more extensive work was released in book form, entitled Son of Hope: The Prison Journals of David Berkowitz (2006).[67] Berkowitz collects no royalties or profits from any sales.[60]
Satanic cult claims

In 1979, Berkowitz mailed a book about witchcraft to police in North Dakota. He had underlined several passages and written a few marginal notes, including the phrase: "Arliss [sic] Perry, Hunted, Stalked and Slain. Followed to Calif. Stanford University."[68] The reference was to Arlis Perry, a 19-year-old North Dakota newlywed who had been murdered at Stanford on October 12, 1974. Her death, and the notorious abuse of her corpse in a Christian chapel on campus, was a widely reported case. Berkowitz mentioned the Perry attack in other letters, suggesting that he knew details of it from the perpetrator himself. Local police investigators interviewed him but "now [2004] believe he has nothing of value to offer" and the Perry case remains unsolved.[69]

After his admission to Sullivan prison, Berkowitz began to claim that he had joined a Satanic cult in the spring of 1975. He had met some of its members at a party, and initially thought the group was involved only in occult activities such as séances and fortune telling; the group, however, gradually introduced him to drug use, sadism, crime and murder. Berkowitz states that he knew roughly two dozen core members in New York – the "twenty-two disciples of hell" mentioned in the Breslin letter – and that the group had ties across the U.S. in drug smuggling and other illegal activities.

In 1993, Berkowitz first made these claims known when he announced to the press that he had killed only three of the Son of Sam victims: Donna Lauria, Alexander Esau and Valentina Suriani.[70] In this revised confession, Berkowitz says that there were other shooters involved and that he personally fired the gun only in the first attack (Lauria and Valenti, July 29 1976)[71] and the sixth (Esau and Suriani, April 17, 1977).[72] He says that he and several other cult members were involved in every incident by planning the events, providing early surveillance of the victims, and acting as lookouts and drivers at the crime scenes.[71] Berkowitz states that he cannot divulge the names of most of his accomplices without putting his family directly at risk.[17]

Among Berkowitz's unnamed associates was a female cult member who he claims fired the gun at the Denaro and Keenan: the victims survived, he said, because she was unfamiliar with the powerful recoil of a .44 Bulldog.[19] Berkowitz declared that "at least five" cult members were at the scene of the Freund-Diel shooting, but the actual shooter was a prominent cult associate who had been brought in from outside New York with an unspecified motive – – a cult member whom he identified only by his nickname, "Manson II".[19] Another unnamed figure was the gunman in the Moskowitz-Violante case, a male cult member who had arrived from North Dakota for the occasion, also without explanation.[73]

Berkowitz did name two of the cult members: John and Michael Carr. The two men were sons of the dog-owner Sam Carr and lived on nearby Wicker Street.[74][17] Both of these other "sons of Sam" were long dead: John had been killed in an unsolved shooting in North Dakota in 1978,[75][19] and Michael had been in a fatal car accident in 1979.[9][19] Berkowitz claims that the actual perpetrator of the DeMasi-Lomino shooting was John Carr, and adds that a Yonkers police officer, also a cult member, was involved in this crime.[19] He also claims that Michael Carr fired the shots at Lupo and Placido, adding that cult members had long wanted to kill someone at the Elephas disco because of its redolence of 19th century occultist Eliphas Levi.[76]
Case reopened

Journalist John Hockenberry asserts that, even aside from the Satanic cult claims, many officials doubted the single-shooter theory, writing, "[w]hat most don't know about the Son of Sam case is that from the beginning, not everyone bought the idea that Berkowitz acted alone."[17] John Santucci, Queens District Attorney at the time of the killings, and police investigator Mike Novotny both expressed their convictions that Berkowitz had accomplices.[17] Other contemporaries have voiced their belief in the Satanic cult theory, including Carl Denero[17] and Donna Lauria's father.[70] Hockenberry's own report was covered on network news and given in-depth exposure by Dateline NBC (2004). In it, he discusses another journalist, Maury Terry, who had begun investigating the Son of Sam shootings before Berkowitz was arrested. Terry published a series of investigative articles in the Gannett newspapers in 1979 which were later assembled in book form as The Ultimate Evil (1987). Largely impelled by these reports of Satanic cult activity, the Son of Sam case was reopened by police in 1996, but no new charges were filed.[77] For lack of findings, the investigation was eventually suspended but remains unclosed.[17]
Skeptics

Berkowitz's later claims are dismissed by many. The writer Jimmy Breslin flatly rejected Berkowitz's story of Satanic cult accomplices, stating "When they talked to David Berkowitz that night, he recalled everything step by step by step. The guy has 1,000 percent recall and that's it. He's the guy and there's nothing else to look at."[17]

Other skeptics include a former FBI profiler who spent hours interviewing Berkowitz stated he was convinced Berkowitz acted alone, was an "introverted loner, not capable of being involved in group activity."[17] Dr. Harvey Schlossberg, a NYPD psychologist, states in the Against The Law documentary on the Son of Sam case that he believes that the Satanic cult claims are nothing but a fantasy concocted by Berkowitz to absolve himself of the crimes. Forensic anthropologist Elliott Leyton argued that "[r]ecent journalistic attempts to abridge – or even deny – Berkowitz's guilt have lacked all credibility."[78]

The case in Yonkers has never been brought before a grand jury, nor has Berkowitz ever testified his Satanic cult claims under oath or been cross-examined about his version of events in a trial. The New York City police have never wavered from their belief that a lone gunman was the Son of Sam.
Legacy

Decades after his arrest, the name "Son of Sam" remains widely recognized as a notorious serial killer, and it evokes a distinctive time in New York City history.[79] Many manifestations in popular culture have helped perpetuate this notoriety, while Berkowitz himself continues to express remorse on Christian websites.[80] Many contemporaries are still alive and keenly sensitive to the events; many regularly follow Berkowitz's parole hearings and voice opposition to his release. Others refuse to talk about Berkowitz at all, while Stacy Moskowitz's mother – who previously had not hidden her bitterness towards the man[79] – wrote a letter to him shortly before her death in 2006, forgiving him for his sins.[81]
Laws
Main article: Son of Sam law

Beginning in the 1980s, several US states enacted so-called "Son of Sam laws". The first of these laws was enacted in New York state after rampant speculation about publishers offering Berkowitz large sums of money for his story. The new law authorized the state to seize all money earned from such a deal from a criminal for five years, with intentions to use the seized money to compensate victims.
In popular culture

Jimmy Breslin, in collaboration with writer Dick Schaap, published a novelized account of the murders, Son of Sam (1978), less than a year after Berkowitz's arrest.[82] The highly fictionalized plot centers around a Berkowitz-based character dubbed "Bernard Rosenfeld", and in North America the book itself was renamed as .44.[83][84]

The Spike Lee drama Summer of Sam was released in 1999 with actor Michael Badalucco in the role of Son of Sam.[85] The film depicts the tensions that develop in a Bronx neighborhood during the shootings, and Berkowitz's part is largely symbolic. A minor character in the script, he functions "mostly as a berserk metaphor for Lee's view of the seventies as a period of amoral excess."[86] Berkowitz was reported to be greatly upset by what he called exploitation of "the ugliness of the past."[79]

Other film portrayals of Berkowitz include the CBS television movie Out of the Darkness (1985)[87] and the Ulli Lommel DVD release Son of Sam (1999).[88] The character of Son of Sam played a significant minor role in the miniseries The Bronx Is Burning (2007), and was the inspiration for numerous songs including "Psycho Killer" (1977) by Talking Heads; "Son of Sam" (1978) by The Dead Boys; and "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" (1989) by Beastie Boys.[89]
References

    ^ Abrahamsen, p. 73.
    ^ Bardsley, Marilyn (2012). "Crime Library: David Berkowitz". TruTV.com. Turner Entertainment Networks. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
    ^ Leyton, p. 206.
    ^ Abrahamsen, p. 16.
    ^ a b Fishman, Steve (2006). "The Devil in David Berkowitz". New York (New York Media, LLC). Retrieved 27 September 2012.
    ^ "Profile: David Berkowitz". Notable Names Database (NNDB). Soylent Communications. 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
    ^ "Crime File: David Berkowitz (Son of Sam)". Crime & Investigation Network. AETN. 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
    ^ a b "Larry King Interview with David Berkowitz". CNN.com Transcripts. CNN. 2002. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
    ^ a b Sanders, John Vincent (August 2002). "I am the Son of Sam!". Fortean Times. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
    ^ a b Leyton.[page needed]
    ^ Leyton, p. 217.
    ^ a b Leyton, pp. 187ff.
    ^ Leyton, p. 192.
    ^ a b Montaldo, Charles. "David Berkowitz – The Son of Sam". About Crime. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
    ^ a b c d e f Terry (1999), pp. 23–24.
    ^ Thomas, Robert McG. (July 30, 1976). "Bronx Woman Is Shot To Death As Shooting Outbreak Spreads". The New York Times: p. 10. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
    ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hockenberry, John (2004). "Did 'Son of Sam' really act alone?". MSN. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 27.
    ^ a b c d e f Terry (1999), p. 529.
    ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (31 January 1977). "Woman Dies in Mystery Shooting". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
    ^ a b Terry (1999), p. 32.
    ^ New York Daily News. 1 February 1977.
    ^ McQuiston, John T. (9 March 1977). "Columbioa Coed, 19, Is Slain on Street in Forest Hills". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
    ^ Leyton, p. 193.
    ^ a b c Terry (1999), pp. 36–37.
    ^ a b Terry (1999), pp. 38–40.
    ^ Fox, James and Jack Levin, "Multiple Homicide: Patterns of Serial Killers and Mass Murder," Crime and Justice, Vol. 23, (1998), pp. 407–455.
    ^ a b Perlmutter, Emanuel (18 April 1977). "Fourth Woman Slain by Same Gun". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 43.
    ^ a b Bardsley, Marilyn. "Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, famous serial killer". The Crime Library. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
    ^ a b Scott, p. 73.
    ^ a b Gibson, p. 13.
    ^ Gibson, pp.13–14.
    ^ Terry (1999), pp. 43–44.
    ^ a b Terry (1999), p. 47.
    ^ Terry (1999), pp. 48–50.
    ^ a b Terry (1999), p. 51.
    ^ "Son of Sam – David Berkowitz". Altered Dimensions. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
    ^ "Bath in New York". Retrieved 19 April 2007.
    ^ a b Terry (1999), p. 53.
    ^ a b c d Terry (1999), p. 70.
    ^ Terry (1999), pp. 70–72.
    ^ Terry (1999), pp. 71–72.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 79.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 68.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 78.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 91.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 98.
    ^ Scott, p. 77.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 113.
    ^ a b Gibson, p. 22.
    ^ Scott, Shirley Lynn (2012). "What Makes Serial Killers Tick?". TruTV.com. Turner Entertainment Networks. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
    ^ McFadden, Robert D. (11 August 1977). "Suspect in 'Son of Sam' Murders Arrested in Yonkers; Police Say .44 Caliber Weapon Is Recovered". The New York Times: p. A1. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 147.
    ^ Terry (1987), p. 291.
    ^ Siegel, Max H. (13 June 1978). "Berkowitz Given 25 Years to Life in Each of 6 'Son of Sam' Slayings". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
    ^ a b c Abrahamsen, p. 161.
    ^ a b Leyton, p. 203.
    ^ "Eats Like A Horse, Sleeps Like A Baby". The Leader-Post. AP. 15 August 1977.
    ^ a b c "The Official Home Page of David Berkowitz." forgivenforlife.org.
    ^ "'Son of Sam' serial killer denied parole". USA Today. July 9, 2002. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
    ^ "Convicted serial killer 'Son of Sam' David Berkowitz denied parole for fifth time". NY Daily News. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
    ^ "'Son of Sam' serial killer David Berkowitz says he will not seek parole in 2012". The New York Post. Fox News. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
    ^ "'Son of Sam' David Berkowitz again denied parole". The New Haven Register. AP. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
    ^ Guiley, p. 168.
    ^ Martin, Malachi. "An Article on Exorcism". Star Harbor Films. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
    ^ Berkowitz, David (2006). Son of Hope: The Prison Journals of David Berkowitz (Vol. 1). New York: Morning Star Communications. ISBN 9780977899623.
    ^ Terry (1987), p. 16.
    ^ Snyder, Jessie (10 October 2004). "Detective searches for 1974 Stanford church killer". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
    ^ a b "Berkowitz Claims He Killed Only 3 of the 6 'Son of Sam' Victims". The Buffalo News. AP (Buffalo, NY). 8 November 1993. Retrieved 20 October 2012. – via HighBeam Research (subscription required)
    ^ a b Terry (1999), p. 528.
    ^ Terry, p. 530.
    ^ Terry (1999), pp. 530–531.
    ^ Terry (1987), p.177.
    ^ Abrahamsen, p. 217.
    ^ Terry (1999), p. 539.
    ^ Summers, Chris. "Crime Case Closed – David Berkowitz". Archived from the original on 2007-02-19. Retrieved 27 September 2006.
    ^ Leyton, p. 186.
    ^ a b c Harden, Blaine (20 June 1999). "New 'Son of Sam' Film Reawakens Painful Memories". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
    ^ "Journals of David Berkowitz". Ariseandshine.org. 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
    ^ Peyser, Andrea (28 September 2006). "A Mom Dies – Forgiving Son of Sam". The New York Post. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
    ^ Breslin, Jimmy; Schaap, Dick. "Son of Sam – London: Futura (1978).". Worldcat.org. OCLC Inc.. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
    ^ Breslin, Jimmy; Schaap, Dick. ".44 – New York: Viking (1978).". Worldcat.org. OCLC Inc.. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
    ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (May 23, 1978). "Books of the Times: .44". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
    ^ Italie, Hillel (29 June 1999). "At the Movies: 'Summer of Sam'". AP Online. Retrieved 26 September 2012. – via HighBeam Research (subscription required)
    ^ Pomerance, p. 147.
    ^ Wahl, p. 176.
    ^ "Son of Sam (1999)". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Flixster. 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
    ^ Mayo, pp.32–33.

Bibliography

    Abrahamsen, David (1985). Confessions of Son of Sam. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-05760-1.
    Gibson, Dirk C. (2010). Clues from Killers: Serial Murder and Crime Scene Messages. Westport, CT: Praeger. p. 13. ISBN 9780275983604.  – via Questia (subscription required)
    Guiley, Rosemary Ellen (2009). The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438131917.
    Leyton, Elliot (2001). Hunting Humans: The Rise of the Modern Multiple Murderer. New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1228-7.
    Mayo, Mike (2008). American Murder: Criminals, Crimes and the Media. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9781578591916. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
    Pomerance, Murray (2007). City That Never Sleeps: New York and the Filmic Imagination. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813540320.  – via Questia (subscription required)
    Terry, Maury (1987). The Ultimate Evil: An Investigation into America's Most Dangerous Satanic Cult. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-23452-X.
    Terry, Maury (1999). The Ultimate Evil: The Truth about the Cult Murders: Son of Sam & Beyond. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 9780760713938.
    Scott, Gini Graham (2007). American Murder. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 978-0-313-02476-4.
    Wahl, Otto F. (1997). Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-2213-5.

Further reading

    Breslin, Jimmy and Dick Schaap (1978). .44. Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-32432-9.
    Klausner, Lawrence D. (1980). Son of Sam: Based on the Authorized Transcription of the Tapes, Official Documents and Diaries of David Berkowitz. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-035027-2.
    Rowlett, Curt (2006). Labyrinth13: True Tales of the Occult, Crime & Conspiracy. Chapter 10, "Son of Sam and the Process Church of the Final Judgment: Exploring the Alleged Connections". Lulu Press. ISBN 1-4116-6083-8.
    Douglas, John and Olshaker, Mark (1995). Mindhunter. Arrow Books ISBN 0-7493-2214-4.

[mgt23]

1makhuh7]

......more on my thesis that Lizards are POSSESSED JEWS.

1)Sitchin is a jew
2)Annunaki obsessed with acquiring gold and create a slave race to help them get said gold.
3)Earth(DRAGON OFFSPRING LOTAN or BEAST) and moon(and asteroid belt) are result of Annunaki homeworld Niburu(Male) near collision(mating) with TIAMAT(female)
4)EARTH WORSHIP IN NEW AGE IS BEAST WORSHIP.
5)Saturn is clearly seen with rings on tablet in an age without telescopes.
6) The Sumerians were using base 6 or 60 as their mathematics, hence the number of the beast 666 =http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anu.

In Sumerian mythology, Anu (also An; (from Sumerian *An  = sky, heaven)) was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, Consort of Antu, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions.

6a)BRIGANTIA IS KNOWN AS THE SLAYER OF SERPENTS
http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/deitiesb.html

BRID    (Pan-Celtic) [breet or breed] Also Brigit, Brigid, Bride, Brighid, Bridget, Brigindo, and Banfile. Her name comes from the old Irish word brigh, meaning "Power"; "Renown"; "Fiery Arrow or Power" (Breo-saighead). Daughter of The Dagda and one of the Great mother Goddess of Ireland. At one time in History most of Ireland was united in praise and worship of her. She probably was one and the same with Dana, the first great mother Goddess of the Irish. Called the poetess, often called the Triple Brigids, Three Blessed Ladies of Britain, The Three Mothers. Another aspect of Danu; associated with Imbolc. She had an exclusive female priesthood at Kildare and an ever-burning sacred fire. The number of her priestesses was nineteen, representing the nineteen-year cycle of the "Celtic Great Year". Her kelles were sacred prostitutes and her soldiers brigands. Goddess of fire, fertility, the hearth, all feminine arts and crafts, and martial arts. Healing, physicians, agriculture, inspiration, learning, poetry, divination, prophecy, smithcraft, animal husbandry, love, witchcraft, occult knowledge.

A major Celtic pastoral deity, described as a "wise woman. Brid became "Christianized" as St. Brigit of Kildare, who is said to have lived from 450-523 AD and founded the first female Christian monastery community in Ireland. In reality her shrine at Kildare was desecrated and adopted as a holy site by Christian missionaries who turned her into their Saint Brigit in an attempt to Christianize her pagan followers. She was originally celebrated on February 1 in the festival of Imbolc, which coincided with the beginning of lactation in ewes and was regarded in Scotland as the date on which Brigit deposed the blue-faced hag of winter (see Cailleach Bheur). The Christian calendar adopted the same date for the Feast of St. Brigit. There is no record that a Christian saint ever actually existed, but in Irish mythology she became the midwife to the Virgin Mary. The name can be traced into many Irish and European place names. It is also akin to Brahati which means "exalted one" in Sanskrit.

In pre-Roman Britain, she was the tutelary Goddess of the Brigantes tribe, and like so many Celtic Goddesses, she has some riverine associations.

Brid represents the supernal mother, fertility, and creative inspiration. She has also been worshipped as a warrioress and protectress, a healer, a guardian of children, a slayer of serpents, a sovereign, and a Goddess of fire and the sun. Still other sources say she was the Goddess of agriculture, animal husbandry, medicine, crafting and music.
deity hr

GoddessBRIGANTIA    (British, Anglo-Celtic) "High One"; pastoral and river goddess. Associated with Imbolc. Flocks, cattle, water, fertility; healing; victory. Tutelary Goddess of the Brigantes of West Riding of Yorkshire. She became identified with Caelestis, at Corbridge Northumberland, there is an altar inscribed to various deities, including Caelestic Brigantia. In carved stone relief at Birrens, on the Antonine Wall in Scotland, she is depicted with the attributes of Minerva. She may also bear links with the Goddess Brigit. She is frequently associated with water and herding. She is the Goddess whose face and sovereignty are the source of the appellation Britannia for Great Britain. As a Goddess of sovereignty, she is usually thought of as the Brid of England. In 1667 Charles I had her face placed on the coinage where it remains today, reviving an old custom, first instituted by the invading Romans who adopted her as their own.
deity hr

GoddessBRITANNIA    (Romano-Celtic British) Tutelary Goddess. The genia loci of Britain who first appears on the coinage of Antoninius Pius in the 2nd century AD. She became the symbol of the British Empire after being partly syncretized with the war goddess Minerva." See also Brigantia and Brid.

7)Mark Allen Smiths Hecate/Lucifer Books(see OP) go into Atlantis(ruled by Saturn) being run by the last Dinosaurs. Really this is just another angle on the Icke/Sitchin Annunaki.

8)The whole psychic Vampyre death cult so prevalent within the JEWISH SEX PARTY/PIERCEING(pain based DMT induction) FETISH SCENE is in fact people possessed by LIZARD JEW spirits. VAMPYRE=JEW

1makhuh7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler
........note Bulgaria is where the KABARS MIGRATED BECOMING THE EASTERN EUROPEAN ROYALTY.(The other southwards Khazars moved into Turkey)

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476), was a member of the House of Drăculești, a branch of the House of Basarab, also known by his patronymic name: Dracula. He was posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad Țepeș pronounced [ˈvlad ˈt͡sepeʃ]), and was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was a member of the Order of the Dragon, which was founded to protect Christianity in Eastern Europe. Vlad III is revered as a hero in Bulgaria as well for his protection to Bulgarian population both south and north of the Danube. A significant number of Bulgarian common folk and remaining boyars (nobles) moved north of the Danube, recognized his leadership and become part of Wallachia, following his raids on the Ottomans. [3]

Vlad III spent much of his rule campaigning against the Ottoman Empire and its expansion.[4] As the cognomen 'The Impaler' suggests, his practice of impaling his enemies[5] is central to his historical reputation. During his lifetime, his reputation for excessive cruelty spread abroad, to Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The total number of his victims is estimated in the tens of thousands. The name of the vampire Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula was inspired by Vlad's patronymic.[5]

8)A JEW IS DEFINED BY THERE MONEY GOD. USURY CAME FROM SUMERIA. BOTH THE ABRAHAMIC AND BABYLONIAN RELIGIONS CAME FROM SUMERIA.

9) Jews are in fact DMT (Dead Lizard-Alien) possessed people, obsessed with power, established internationally through an elite ethno-religious caste, complete with mystery school conditioning. They worship the material as their spirit comes from the void and they yearn to return in physical form to the material world. To do this the JEW must possess people having no physical form of its own and project there desire to worship the material on weak people via fear and pain. To succeed they need every human on the planet from birth worshipping the money god.

[mgt23]

http://www.galicianflag.com/county/corunna.htm

Galician county symbols:
County Corunna
Flag of Corunna

» Corunna Flag
» Historical timeline of the Lighthouse
» Interpretation of the symbols in the coat of arms
» Parishes of Co. Corunna

» I'd like to buy this flag!
» Corunna Flag wallpaper
» Back to the County Flags page..»
» Back to the homepage..»


Farum Brigantium (Tower of Brigantia), Coat of Arms of Corunna

County Corunna, GaliciaThe coat of arms of the city of Corunna is one of the oldest in Galicia. Since the 15th century the Tower of Brigantia (known for many centuries by its latin name Farum Brigantium) has always been the main feature in the coat of arms of the city.

The Tower of Brigantia is the only lighthouse in the world with two thousand years in operation. The tower existed in Celtic times, possibly as a watchtower. A Gaelic tradition written in the Book of Invasions of Ireland (Lebor Gabala Erenn in Irish) during the 11th century AD tells that King Breoghain of Brigantia discovered Ireland from the top of the tower and thereby decided to send his people to populate the island. In the Middle Ages the lighthouse was still known by the name Farum Brigantium, or just Farum (lighthouse), but in the 20th century it was named Tower of Hercules after a Greek mythological legend created in Spain.

The coat of arms of the city of Corunna features a silver lighthouse built on a promontory, with a skull and bones underneath. The skull is topped with a golden crown and the lighthouse is surrounded by seven golden scallop shells. The field of the coat of arms is azure, like the Arms of the Kingdom of Galicia.

In some institutional events, the Corunna city council displays the municipal coat of arms over a dark red-bluish standard to represent the dependency of the city upon the crown of Spain.

For civil use, the Corunna flag displays the same features as the city coat of arms:
- The Farum Brigantium lighthouse tower.
- Seven golden scallop shells; three on each side of the lighthouse plus one at the foot of the Tower.
- The skull and bones of a king buried under the Tower.
- An azure blue flag field, like the flag of the Kingdom of Galicia.



Historical timeline of the Tower of Brigantia, symbol of Corunna

Celtic Kingdom of Brigantia
2nd/1st century BC    
The city of Brigantium in the map 'Regno di Galicia' by G. Cantelli, 1696
The city of Brigantium in the map 'Regno di Galicia' by G.Cantelli, 1696
[Enlarge image]



The Celtic watchtower could look similar to a Broch
The Celtic watchtower could look similar to a Broch
[Enlarge image]
Tower of Brigantia: the first name given to the lighthouse

The area where the lighthouse was built was part of a Kingdom of Brigantia that existed before the Roman invasion and extended over the Artabrian Gulf and county Bergantiños. It is believed that its capital city, Brigantia or Flavium Brigantium in latin, would have been the modern city of Betanzos which at that time was a busy trading port.

Celtic kingdoms of Brigantia in Atlantic Europe, 1st century BC
Celtic kingdoms of Brigantia in Atlantic Europe, 1st century BC
[Enlarge image]
In the Celtic religion, Brigantia was the name of an important goddess. The word [Briga-] meant "high" or "holy" in the ancient Celtic language. Besides the Galician realm of Brigantium, there were also two other kingdoms of Brigantia in Ireland and Britain.

Maritime trade and cultural relations were intense in Atlantic Europe since the Bronze Age and the Galician city of Brigantia was a major trading port with the British Isles. It is likely that the mouth of the estuary leading to the city of Brigantia had several small watchtowers to alert the oppidum or city in case of danger. One of those watchtowers --the most strategic of them all, overlooking the estuary and the open seas-- could have been replaced by the Farum Brigantium lighthouse, which today is known as Tower of Hercules.

The oldest legend telling the history of the Tower refers to the Kingdom of Brigantia and to a King Breoghain that sent his people to populate Ireland. The lighthouse was known by the name Farum Brigantium (Tower of Brigantia) during Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Roman Gallaecia
1st-5th century AD    The Roman lighthouse is built

The Romans invaded Galicia looking to secure control of her mineral wealth and strategic position in the Atlantic trading route. Roman historian Cassius Dio mentions in his History of Rome the arrival to "Brigantium, city of Gallaecia" of the famous Roman general Julius Caesar in 62 BC. The Greek geographer Ptolemy wrote as well about the wealth of the Brigantian capital, describing Flavium Brigantium in his 2nd century Geography as "the great port of the Galicians."

The Tower of Brigantia during Roman times, picture courtesy of FactoriaGrafica.com
The Tower of Brigantia during Roman times, picture courtesy of
FactoriaGráfica.com
[Enlarge image]
Infrastructures were greatly developed during the Roman occupation. The Romans built several lighthouses in Atlantic Europe with the aim of improving navigation and trade. Two of those Roman lighthouses can still be seen today on the Atlantic shores: the Dubris Beacon at Dover in Britain, and the Tower of Brigantia in Galicia. Of these two, the Brigantian lighthouse is the only lighthouse in the world which was built in Roman times and is still in operation.

The Farum Brigantium was built in the 2nd century AD by Caius Servius Lupus, an architect from Aeminium (Coimbra) in Lusitania who left a commemorative carving on a rock at the foot of the tower. The Roman tower was higher than the previous Celtic watchtower: it was about 30 meters high, had three floors, and an indoor ramp leading to the beacon. The building was square and had windows and doors in the façade. Some of those Roman windows can still be seen in the current interior structure of the tower.

Kingdom of Gallaecia
and
Kingdom of Galicia
5th-15th century AD    Viking invasions and military use of the tower

In 407 AD the Roman armies left Galicia and the country became the first kingdom to emerge in medieval Europe prior to the fall of the Roman Empire. Galician historian Paulus Orosius, who lived during the first years of the new Galician kingdom, mentioned the Tower of Brigantia in his Historia adversum Paganos: "Brigantia, city of Gallaecia, where a lighthouse stands very high looking towards Britannia", clearly suggesting that trading relations between Galicia and Britain were still strong in those days.

The Early Middle Ages were marked by territorial wars and political instability that hampered trade in the Atlantic. The main trading partners of Galicia --Britain and the Mediterranean-- were living with insecurity due to Saxon and Arab invasions respectively. Centuries later Atlantic Europe was invaded by the Vikings and the Normans, and this also took a toll on Brigantia's trading relations with Britain.

The Farum Brigantium in the 10th century AD, picture courtesy of FactoriaGrafica.com
The Farum Brigantium in the 10th century AD, picture courtesy of
FactoriaGráfica.com
[Enlarge image]
In 844 AD a fleet of 150 Viking ships attacked Galicia and devastated the city of Brigantia. The raid was eventually aborted by king Ramiro in a battle near the Tower of Brigantia, but from this attempted invasion watchtowers were built throughout the Galician coast. The Brigantian lighthouse became a military tower which was used to watch for invading Viking ships. Yet, in 1015 AD a Scandinavian fleet led by the future King of Norway Olaf Haraldsson managed to reach and destroy again the city of Flavium Brigantium.

During this period the Tower suffered much deterioration and part of the outer wall fell away. We do not know whether the deterioration was caused by damage received after a military attack or by a long period of neglect, or both.


The legend of King Breoghain comes to light

The Leabhar Gabhála Éireann or Book of Invasions of Ireland is an ancient book of Irish history and folklore written in Ireland circa 1050 AD. The Leabhar Gabhála tells that Breoghain, a king of the city of Brigantium, built a watchtower called Tor Breoghain or Tower of Breoghain from where he could see a new, unexplored land. His descendants, Ith and Mil, gathered an army and left to conquer the new island, which they called Ireland.

The Irish legend was known on the Galician side as well, for there were ancient trade relations between Galicia and Ireland. A Galician legend called Trezenzonii Solistitionis Insula Magna, written nearly a century before the Leabhar Gabhála between 900-1000 AD, recounts how a monk called Trezenzonius climbed up the Tower of Brigantia, saw a wonderful island very far at sea, and went to explore the island in the same way that Ith and Mil did in the Irish legend.

That Galician-Gaelic legend is the oldest literary reference to the Tower of Brigantia, as well as being an outstanding case of shared mythology between two Atlantic nations.


Decadence of Brigantium and emergence of Crunia

Brigantia became known as Betanzos during the Middle Ages, as per phonetic evolution of Brigantium » Breganzo » Betanzos. Medieval times brought much political instability, wars and invasions that hampered trade in the Atlantic. As the city went into decline, so did also the magnificent lighthouse.

To make things worse, the harbour of Betanzos had been accumulating sediments that prevented large ships to enter the ancient Brigantian port. Thus, when King Afonso IX of Galicia and Leon decided to revitalise the area in 1208 AD, he set his sight on a nearby area called Crunia: The port of Corunna and the lighthouse"For the benefit of my kingdom I am building a new population near the Tower of the Lighthouse, in a place called Crunna". The village, built on meadows as its ancient Celtic placename Clunia (modern irish Cluain) points out, would become the city of Corunna which took over the decadent city of Brigantium.

The next kings of Galicia granted Corunna many rights and tax exemptions in order to boost free trade with England. The new city emerged rapidly as the main trading port in Galicia, in the same way that the city of Brigantia had once also been. By the 15th century Corunna had become one of the main ports in Europe and the lighthouse was its symbol of prosperity.


Early depictions of the lighthouse

'The Lighthouse of Gallaecia', Burgo de Osma Codex, 1086 AD
'The Lighthouse of Gallaecia', Burgo de Osma Codex, 1086 AD
[Enlarge image]
Hereford Mappamundi, England, 1300 AD
Hereford Mappa Mundi, 1300 AD
[Enlarge image]
The earliest representation of the brigantian lighthouse is found in the Burgo de Osma Codex from 1086 AD which shows the lighthouse in Gallaecia, next to the Shrine of Santiago and facing the islands of Britain and Ireland.

The largest medieval map of the world (Hereford Mappamundi, made in England about 1300 AD) also shows the Brigantian tower prominently located on the coast near Santiago de Compostela, with a fire burning at the top of the lighthouse in order to guide the ships in the Atlantic.

During the Middle Ages the lighthouse was still named after the city of Brigantia: Farum Bregantium, Farum Brecantium, Farum Pregantium, Faro Brigantio, all of them meaning "Lighthouse of Brigantia". With the emergence of the new city of Corunna, the Brigantian reference eventually disappeared and the lighthouse became known just as Faro (lighthouse), Castelo (Castle) or Castelo Vello (Old Castle) until it was finally renamed as "Tower of Hercules" during the nineteenth and twentieth century.


The Greek Myth of Hercules comes to Castile

The Castilian king Alfonso X
The Castilian king Alfonso X
Some two hundred years after the Book of Invasions of Ireland was written, the Castilian king Alfonso X wrote a Cronica General in the late 13th century where he used Mediterranean myths in order to create a new history of the Brigantian tower.

The new Castilian legend told that Greek hero Hercules fought for three days against a Trojan giant called Gerion, whom he eventually defeated. To celebrate his victory, Hercules built a tower and brought a group of people to live in the city. The Castilian tale explains that those settlers were brought from Galatia, in Anatolia, and "that's why the land became known as Galizia".

That legend, inspired by Mediterranean mythology, was promoted during the 19th and 20th centuries in Spain until the Galician lighthouse was eventually renamed as "Tower of Hercules".

16th century    Early representations of the lighthouse as the coat of arms of the city

Coat of Arms of Corunna, 1448 AD
Coat of Arms of Corunna, 1448 AD
[Enlarge image]


Coat of Arms in a Royal Charter from 1552 AD
Royal Charter, 1552 AD
[Enlarge image]
The first known coat of arms of Corunna dates from 1448. It is a small seal stamped over an insurance policy issued by the city council to a Portuguese merchant. The seal features the lighthouse with a lantern hanging from the top of the tower and with a pair of scallop shells on the sides of the tower.

Another coat of arms from 1552, in a Royal Charter issued by king Charles V of Spain, features the lighthouse with its lantern, eight scallop shells, and a crowned head of a king buried under the tower.

Coat of Arms of Corunna in the City Hall, dated on the 16th century
Corunna City Hall, 16th century
[Enlarge image]    
Coat of Arms of Corunna in St Carlos' gardens, Corunna
San Carlos' gardens
[Enlarge image]
16th-century coats of arms of the city, such as the one in the main stairs of the town hall, show a rather standardised representation of the lighthouse with its exterior ramp, the lantern hanging from the the top of the building, a crowned head underneath the tower, and seven scallops shells around the lighthouse. Some of those coats of arms (the one at the town hall and another one at St Carlos' Gardens) also feature the Holy Grail of the Kingdom of Galicia above them.

17th century    The legend of king Breoghain emerges again

In December 1601 the Irish lost the Battle of Kinsale against England and subsequently many Gaelic earls and their families decided to leave the country to avoid reprisals. Hundreds of Irish men, women and children arrived to Corunna and many of them decided to stay forever in Galicia, which reminded them strongly of home.

Earl Hugh O'Donnell, a popular rebel leader who fought at Kinsale, was one of the many Irishmen who decided to stay in Galicia. He escaped from Castlehaven on January 6th, 1602, and arrived at Corunna on the 14th, where he was received with all the honours. According to the Popular History of Ireland, one of the first things of O'Donnell did upon his arrival was "visiting the remains of the tower of Betanzos, from which, according to Bardic legends, the sons of Milesius had sailed to seek for the Isle of Destiny among the waves of the west".

The fact that Earl O'Donnell was taken to visit the lighthouse shows the legend of the Galician colonisation of Ireland was still known in Galicia in the 17th century. Also from the 17th century there is a Galician book telling the story of Gatelo (a Galician phonetic pronunciation of the Irish word Gaedhel), a king who founded the city of Brigancia, married Princess Scota, and then colonised Ireland and Scotland. Later in the 18th century, the name of the Brigantian king changed to king Brigo, and in the 19th century the name finally changed to Breogán.


The lighthouse, derelict and falling apart. Archives of Santiago Cathedral
The lighthouse, derelict and falling apart, Archives of Santiago Cathedral
[Enlarge image]
The tower falls into ruins once again

The 16th century was a period of economic stagnation for Galicia because of the Spanish wars against England and Flanders, Galicia's major trading partners. Lack of international trade and abusive taxation resulted in a period of neglect and deterioration of the lighthouse.

In 1682 the governor of the Kingdom of Galicia, the Duke of Uceda, began repairs to the "Castelo Vello" (Old Castle), as the lighthouse was known at the time. The works were directed by local architect Amaro Antunez, who carried out general maintenance works and built two small towers on the top of the tower.

18th century    
Galician Enlightenment intellectual Joseph Cornide, the greatest researcher on the Tower of Corunna
Galician Enlightenment intellectual Joseph Cornide
Joseph Cornide and calls to repair the lighthouse

During the 17th and 18th centuries the Galician authorities, supported by her trading partners England, Flanders and Holland, asked the kings of Spain to repair the Corunna lighthouse. The Galician requests were ignored until the end of the 18th century when king Carlos III of Spain finally agreed to repair the lighthouse (at the time, the building was owned by the Spanish Ministry of War).

Among all requests and initiatives put forward for the lighthouse, the most influential was undoubtely the research work carried out by Galician Enlightenment intellectual Joseph Cornide, who devoted three decades of his life to compiling the largest study done so far on the history of the lighthouse. Cornide's outstanding research was used as a guideline for the 1788-1791 makeover of the tower.


The lighthouse, repaired in 1791
The lighthouse, repaired in 1791
[Enlarge image]
The tower is finally repaired in 1791

Galician requests to repair the lighthouse were at last approved in 1788 by king Carlos III of Spain. The modern facade in neoclassic style was finished in 1791 by Eustaquio Giannini, an engineer at the arsenal of Ferrol.

» Giannini added a new floor at the top of the tower, destroying the ancient semicircular roof and building instead a two-storey octagonal room where he placed the lantern of the lighthouse.

» The internal structure of the tower was generally preserved, the only exception being the construction of internal stairs (prior to this, the stairs of the lighthouse were in the outside).

» The facade was completely redone. Neoclassic-style windows were added, as well as the diagonal stripes that can be seen around the tower. According to Joseph Cornide those stripes were added as a reminder of the ramp or stairs that climbed around the building by the outside.

The Tower of Corunna has barely changed at all since the 1788-1791 neoclassic-style makeover.

19th-21st
century    The Farum Brigantium becomes "Tower of Hercules"

Commemorative plate given by the Maritime Authority of Galicia after the repairs on the 'Brigantiam Phari' in179
Commemorative plate given by the Maritime Authority of Galicia after the repairs on the "Brigantiam Phari" in 1790
[Enlarge image]
The lighthouse was known by the name "Farum Brigantium" (Tower of Brigantia) up to the Middle Ages. Only after the decline of the city of Brigantia and the emergence of Corunna the building started to be known by other names such as "Faro" (Lighthouse) or "Castelo Vello" (Old Castle).

In 1792 Joseph Cornide confirmed that there were "tales" telling the lighthouse at Corunna was founded either by Greek hero Hercules or by king Brigo of Galicia and Ireland. Yet, the Galician Enlightenment intellectual asserted that the "real" founder of the lighthouse would rather be Roman Emperor Trajan, for the lighthouse was built during his time in government.

Probably the illustrious Mr Cornide, born and bred in Corunna, would have been happy for the lighthouse to be known around the world by the name of "Tower of Corunna". However, the lighthouse became known eventually as "Tower of Hercules", mostly as the result of the support of Royal Spanish Academy member Mr Ramon Menendez (1869-1968), who favoured the Castilian-Mediterranean myth.

The statue of the Celtic king Breoghain, the Compass Rose of the Celtic Nations, and the standing stones symbolising the Atlantic Megalithic Culture
The statue of the Celtic king Breoghain, the Compass Rose of the Celtic Nations, and the standing stones symbolising the Atlantic Megalithic Culture
[Enlarge image]
During the Galician Cultural Renaissance (19th and early 20th centuries) Galician authors favoured king Breoghain of Brigantia as the genuine Galician-Atlantic myth for the lighthouse. Although the lighthouse of Corunna was finally named after the Greek hero, king Breoghain managed to secure a place in the Galician National Anthem where he is hailed as the nation's eternal king.

More recently, Corunna City Council also also acknowledged king Breoghain's ancient connection with the lighthouse by placing several Celtic-themed monuments in the area. The Council's tribute to the legendary king include a statue of Breoghain placed at the entry path to the lighthouse; a Compass Rose with symbols featuring the seven Celtic nations, and a group of standing stones symbolising the Atlantic megalithic culture.


World Heritage Site

The Lighthouse of Corunna is the only lighthouse in the world that has been in operation for two thousand years.

In the same way that the Lighthouse of Alexandria was the most important lighthouse in the Mediterranean, the Lighthouse of Corunna was the most important lighthouse in the Atlantic.

The Lighthouse of Corunna is also the centrepiece of an ancient tradition according to which the tower is the place where the Celtic colonisation of Ireland began. That legend is an oustanding example of shared mythology between two European nations.

The Lighthouse of Corunna has been guiding millions of ships past this dangerous stretch of the Atlantic for two thousand years. Moreover, Irish and Galician folklore point to the tower as the place where the Celtic colonisation of Ireland began. For those reasons, we believe that the Tower of Corunna deserves to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Please support Corunna's bid for UNESCO World Heritage status!

Fly the flag of Corunna to show your support!


Interpretation of the symbols in the Coat of Arms of Corunna

The coat of arms of the city of Corunna feature a lighthouse built over a rock, both in argent, in which there is a crowned head of a king. There are seven scallop shells in gold colour around the lighthouse and the field of the coat of arms is azure.

The symbols displayed in the coat of arms of Corunna have the following meaning:

- The blue field in the coat of arms is the national colour of the Kingdom of Galicia, for the city of Corunna was the most important port of the Galician kingdom.

- The scallop shells are a reminder of times when the city belonged to the Galician Church of Santiago (the scallop shell was the symbol of Santiago and also of the pilgrims to Saint James). Moreover, the port of Corunna was the place of arrival for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from England, Ireland, Brittany, Flanders, Scandinavia, Germany, etc.

- The lighthouse and the crowned head of the king are open to interpretation:

Mediterranean interpretation: Tower of Hercules: According to the Cronica General written in Castile by the end of the 13th century, the tower was built by Greek hero Hercules after defeating his enemy Gerion of Troy and burying his head underneath.

Atlantic interpretation: Tower of Brigantia or Tower of Breoghain - According to Gaelic and Galician legends (such as in the Book of Invasions of Ireland from ca. 1050 AD) the tower was built by king Breoghain of Brigantia who discovered Ireland from the top of the building. The skull buried under the tower is Breoghain's, in line with the Celtic tradition of burying heads under buildings with protection purposes. A similar tradition can be found in Welsh folklore, according to which the head of Celtic king Bran was buried under the Tower of London in order to protect the city from enemy attackes.

  1st century AD

inhabitants of Ireland Iberian.....apparently

[mgt23]

http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_b/brigantia.html

Brigantia
The Brythonic, Gaulish, Irish and Cymric Gddess also known as Bridig, Brigit, Brigindona, Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Brigan, Brigandu, Braidd: The Most High

Brigantia (Bridig, Brigit, Brigindona, Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Brigan, Brigandu, Braidd) is a goddess known from Irish literary sources, as well a number of inscirptions in the North of England and Southern Scotland where she emerges as the titular deity of the Brigantes tribe. She is invoked as a water deity and as Minerva in her warrior goddess form. She seems to be a goddess of the 'gret mother' type and may well be a goddess with multiple aspects, similar to the other mother goddesses of the Celts.
   
   

Synonyms: Brigid, Brigit, Brigindona, Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Brigan, Brigandu, Braidd
Bryth, Gaul, Goi, Cym: The Most High

Though nothing is known about Brigantia from the Cymric written sources, and she appears in the Irish tales as Brighid the daughter of In Dagda, one-time wife of Bres, the half Fomorii who breiefly became leader of the Tuath Dé Dannan. By her second consort, Tuireann she had three sons: Brían, Iuchar and Iucharba. She is the brother of Oengus Mac ind-Óg, the Irish equivalent of the Brythonic Maponos and Bodb Derg, king of the Tuatha de Danann after they are driven underground into the sidhe. In one version of the Lebor Gabala Erenn Brighid is said to have owned two royal oxen, called Fea and Men, which gave their names to the plain of Feimhean. She is also said to own Torc Triath, the king of boars. Cattle being the main source of wealth in early Ireland (as they were for the Brigantes of Britain, see below). Both are also animals of the otherworld in both Cymric and Irish legend. She cries-out the first lament heard in Ireland when, during the second battle of Magh Turedh when her son Ruadhán is killed while attempting to slay Goibhniu the smith-god. Brighid Despite the paucity of written records a considerable amount can be inferred about this deity from epigraphic inscription, depiction in carving and surviving folklore.

The insular Brythonic goddess, Brigantia, was the tutelary deity of the Brigantes tribe of northern Britain. It is not surprising therefore that the inscriptional evidence for Brigantia in the Roman period is centred around Yorkshire, Northumberland and Southern Scotland. Inscriptions having been found at South Shields, County Durham, Adel and Castleford in Yorkshire. At Brampton, Cumberland and Irthington Yorkshire she is invoked as deae Nymphae Brigantiae (the Nymph goddesses Brigantiae) indicating a clear association with water and the multiplicity of this deity. At Corbridge, Northumberland she is linked with Jupiter and this is the only evidence we have for Brigantia's consort: indicating that he may have been of the sky god-warrior type. At Greetland, Yorkshire she is invoked as Victoria, (victory) — with the obvious implication that Brigantia, at least in one aspect of her multiplicity, was a warrior goddess. However, by far the most important and interesting depiction of Brigantia is the relief from Birrens (Blatobulgium) on the Antonine Wall, Dumfries, Scotland [see image above]. Here, Brigantia is depicted as Minerva. She bears a spear in her right hand and has a globe in her left, the symbol of victory. She wears a gorgoneion pendant about her neck (a symbolic representation of the Medusa replete with protruding tongue), symbol of Minerva in her goddess aspect and also shield-symbol of Pallas Athena. Behind Brigantia a shield can just be seen, another warrior attribute. Here Brigantia also wears a mural crown (a crown that looks like the crenulations of a battlement) indicating her territorial associations as both conqueror and defender of her territory. The fact that the Brigantes held this powerful warrior deity as their tutelary tribal ancestor is interesting in that this potentially makes Brigantis a goddess of the Magna Mater or great mother type, akin to Dôn/Danu and Modron/Matrona. This may be why some authors have conflated Briganta with Danu, though there is no direct evidence for this association. It is also likely that the river Brent (formerly *briganti) in Middlesex is derived from Briganta, indicating that the cult area of the goddess was wider than current evidence suggests. (Some have also suggested that the afon Braint on Ynys Môn is also derived from Brigantia; however this is etymologically dubious especially as the word braint in modern Cymric means 'privilege' and the word brig means 'highest point or summit'. We may have an example here of the survival of the name of a lost goddess, now conflated with Brigantia.) Finally, it appears as if the Brigantes were a pastoral people, concerned with husbandry and shepherding, then it would be strange if Brigantia did not, herself, possess a pastoral aspect. In the insular tradition, therefore, Brigantia can be viewed as warrior, water deity and healer (if she is a pastoral deity and by association with Minerva).

We now turn to considering the Irish tradition of Brighid. She is sometimes referred to as the triple Brigid, suggesting that she is a triple mother goddess. Assuming that the original form of Brigantia is something like *Brigantī then Brighid is equivalent to Brigantia, given Goidelic and Brythonic divergence and etymologically at least they seem to be the same deity. According to Cormac's Glossary (a tenth century encyclopaedia of Irish tradition compiled by Cormac mac Cuilennan priest-king of Cashel) a priceless repository of folklore, Brighid was a one of triplets, each with the same name. Respectively they were the goddesses of poetry, smith-craft and leech-craft, or healing. This may well reflect the survival of an older tradition that Brighid was a triune deity unto herself. In this respect here attributes are at least consistent with those of Brigantia. Folklore also portrays Brighid as the protectress of domestic animals and the bringer of fertility and new growth to the land and the people. During the christian period the legends of Brighid have become confabulated with those of St Brigit. These legends retain heavy mythological overtones and may have been borrowed from the goddess Brighid, though with a christian overlay that makes it difficult to separate the earlier myth from later tales. However, the saint was said to be daughter of Dubthach the Brown, who may have been a druid and in the legend is impervious to fire. He can only be sustained by a white, red-eared cow, the markings of an otherworldly animal, and the saint could magically provide a feast for all, regardless of how little food was at hand. Brighid was said to be the daughter of the goood god, the Dagda who is also associated with fire and is the possessor of the magic cauldron of plenty. In Ireland St Brigit became the principal focus of the feast of Imbolc or Oimelk (leterally oi-melc ewe's milk) on February the first. This is when, after the depths of winter, the days begin to noticeably lengthen and the nights shorten. Traditionally this was when lambing time began, hence it is the time of ewes' milk. In the Christian calendar Oimelc was subsumed into the festival of Candlemass. The association of Brigit in Ireland and her equivalend, St Bride, in Scotland with this day may man that is was once considered holy to the goddess Bridghid and to Brigantia, which would make sense in terms of her being a pastoral deity. But this association is uncertain. The association of St Brigit/St Bride with the coming of new light has been used as an argument that Brigantia herself was a solar or a fire deity. This is true in as far as the De Dannan and the Plant Dôn were the gods of light but any stronger association than this cannot be supported. St Bride of Scotland was invoked at childbirth and may be an echo of Brighid's aspect as a healer. It is interesting to note that St Brigid returned to Cymru in the form of St Braidd and churches were dedicated to her as at Llansanffraidd (due to mutation the intitial 'b' in Braidd becomes and 'ff' which has caused many authors considerable confusion).

Finally we come to the Continental aspect of the goddess, where there is most paucity of evidence. In western France there are inscriptions to Brigindo and at Auxey in the Côte d'Or there is an inscription to the goddess Brigindona. Both deities seem etymologically related ti Brigantia/Brighid and may well represent the same goddess. We also have the Brigantii tribe of Central Raetia whose capital, Brigantium Raetiae, situated on the eastern shores of Brigantinus Lacus in Central Raetia is mow known as Bregentz on Lake Constance in the Austrian Tyrol. Again the Brigantii, like their insular equivalents the Brigantiae would seem to be 'the people of the goddess Brigantia'. Interestingly this was also a location where a defixione (curse tablet) invoking Ogmios and also naming Dis Pater this indicates that Gaulish Brigantia, Ogmos and Dis Pater bore a similar relationship to one another as their Irish cognates: Brighid, In Dagda and Ogma (see entry on Ogmios for a full discussion), adding support to the proposition that Brighid is the cognate of Gaulish/Brythonic Brigantia.

Brigantia's name can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements *briganti- (be high) and the feminine ending -a. Thus the name Brigantia can be interpreted as 'Most High'.

[mgt23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Dragon

Welsh Dragon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about a part of the Welsh flag. For the snooker player with the same nickname, see Matthew Stevens.
Y Ddraig Goch on the flag of Wales
Coat of arms of Henry VII, showing a Welsh Dragon as a supporter on the Royal arms of England
The Mametz Wood Memorial
Welsh Dragon motif of Felinfoel Brewery

The Welsh Dragon – Welsh: Y Ddraig Goch ("the red dragon") pronounced [ə ˈðraiɡ ˈɡoːχ] – appears on the national flag of Wales. The flag is also called Y Ddraig Goch. The oldest recorded use of the dragon to symbolise Wales is from the Historia Brittonum, written around 829 AD, but it is popularly supposed to have been the battle standard of King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders. Its association with these leaders along with other evidences from archaeology, literature, and documentary history lead many to suppose that it evolved from an earlier Romano-British national symbol.[1] During the reigns of the Tudor monarchs, the red dragon was used as a supporter in the English crown's coat of arms (one of two supporters, along with the traditional English lion).[2] The red dragon is often seen as a shorthand for all things Welsh, being used by many indigenous public and private institutions. These include: The Welsh Government, Visit Wales, numerous local authorities including Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, and sports bodies, including the Sport Wales National Centre, the Football Association of Wales, Cardiff City F.C., Newport Gwent Dragons, and London Welsh RFC.
Contents

    1 History
        1.1 Mabinogion
        1.2 Historia Brittonum
        1.3 Henry VII
        1.4 Royal Badge
    2 References

History
Mabinogion
Main article: Mabinogion

In the Mabinogion story Lludd and Llefelys, the red dragon fights with an invading White Dragon. His pained shrieks cause women to miscarry, animals to perish and plants to become barren. Lludd, king of Britain, goes to his wise brother Llefelys in France. Llefelys tells him to dig a pit in the centre of Britain, fill it with mead, and cover it with cloth. Lludd does this, and the dragons drink the mead and fall asleep. Lludd imprisons them, still wrapped in their cloth, in Dinas Emrys in Snowdonia (Welsh: Eryri).
Historia Brittonum
Main article: Historia Brittonum

The tale is taken up by Nennius in the Historia Brittonum. The dragons remain at Dinas Emrys for centuries until King Vortigern tries to build a castle there. Every night the castle walls and foundations are demolished by unseen forces. Vortigern consults his advisers, who tell him to find a boy with no natural father, and sacrifice him. Vortigern finds such a boy (who is later, in some tellings, to become Merlin) who is supposed to be the wisest wizard to ever live. On hearing that he is to be put to death to solve the demolishing of the walls, the boy dismisses the knowledge of the advisors. The boy tells the king of the two dragons. Vortigern excavates the hill, freeing the dragons. They continue their fight and the red dragon finally defeats the white dragon. The boy tells Vortigern that the white dragon symbolises the Saxons and that the red dragon symbolises the people of Vortigern. If Vortigern is accepted to have lived in the fifth century, then these people are the British whom the Saxons failed to subdue and who became the Welsh.

The same story is repeated in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, where the red dragon is also a prophecy of the coming of King Arthur. It is notable that Arthur's father was Uther Pendragon ('Pendragon': 'Pen' (Head) and 'Dragon', being translated by Geoffrey as "dragon's head").
Henry VII

Henry Tudor flew the red dragon of Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon as his banner, overlaid on a green and white field representing the Tudor House, when he marched through Wales on his way to Bosworth Field. After the battle the flag was carried in state to St. Paul's Cathedral to be blessed.
Royal Badge
The 1953 Royal Badge of Wales

In 1953 the Red Dragon badge of Henry VII was given an augmentation of honour. The augmented badge is blazoned: Within a circular riband Argent fimbriated Or bearing the motto Y DDRAIG GOCH DDYRY CYCHWYN ["the red dragon inspires action"], in letters Vert, and ensigned with a representation of the Crown proper, an escutcheon per fesse Argent and Vert and thereon the Red Dragon passant.[3] Winston Churchill, the prime minister at the time, despised the badge's design, as is revealed in the following Cabinet minute from 1953:
"    

P.M. [Churchill]

    Odious design expressing nothg. but spite, malice, ill-will and monstrosity.
    Words (Red Dragon takes the lead) are untrue and unduly flattering to Bevan.

Ll.G. [Gwilym Lloyd George

    Wd. rather be on R[oyal] Arms. This (dating from Henry VII) will be somethg.
    We get no recognition in Union - badge or flags.[4]

   "

In 1956 this badge was added to the arms of the Welsh capital city Cardiff by placing it on collars around the necks of the two supporters of the shield.[5] The badge was the basis of a flag of Wales[6] in which it was placed on a background divided horizontally with the top half white and bottom half green. In 1959 Government use of this flag was dropped in favour of the current flag[7][8] at the urging of the Gorsedd of Bards[9]

The badge is currently used by the Wales Office[10] and is printed on Statutory Instruments made by the National Assembly for Wales.[11] The badge was previously used in the corporate logo of the Assembly until the "dynamic dragon" logo was adopted.[12]

There is a further badge for Wales, belonging to the Princes of Wales since 1901, of the red dragon on a mount but with a label of three points Argent about the shoulder to difference it from the monarch's badge.[13] (A similar label of three points is used in his arms, crest and supporters for the same reason.)

This Royal badge was supplanted by a new official Royal badge in 2008, which eliminated the red dragon altogether.
References

    ^ Davis, Dai. The Origin and Meaning of the Welsh Dragon. Welsh Flag. Retrieved 8th August 2012
    ^ See example of dragon supporter Elizabethan Heraldry; "Heralds and Heraldry in Elizabethen England"; accessed 6 September 2010
    ^ The London Gazette, 13 March, 1953
    ^ Arms for Wales | The National Archives
    ^ Hartemink, R. International Civic Arms
    ^ Flags of the World, "Wales"
    ^ Barraclough, EMC. Flags of the World, 1965.
    ^ Hansard (unofficial text) archive experiment, HC Deb 23 February 1959 C121-2
    ^ Lofmark, C. A History of the Red Dragon
    ^ Wales Office
    ^ Welsh Statutory Instruments - Town and Country Planning, Wales
    ^ BBC NI - Learning - A State Apart - Intergovernmental Relations - Overview
    ^ The London Gazette, 10 December, 1901

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/flag/

    Lofmark, Carl A History of the Red Dragon Gwasg Carreg Gwalch 1995 ISBN 0-86381-317-8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Dragon

White Dragon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
   This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2012)
Modern version of Anglo-Saxon dragon flag. The two-legged dragon or wyvern appears in the death scene of Harold Godwinson on the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings in 1066

The white dragon is symbol associated in Welsh mythology with the Anglo-saxons.[1]
Contents

    1 Origin of Tradition
    2 Historical use of a dragon as a symbol of the Anglo-Saxons
    3 Possible high and late medieval continuation
    4 Modern Usage
    5 See Also
    6 References

Origin of Tradition

In Welsh legend, the white dragon was one of two warring dragons who represented the ongoing war between the English and the Welsh. The white dragon represented England, as opposed to the red dragon of Wales.[2]

The battle between the two dragons is the second plague to strike the Island of Britain in the mediaeval romance of Lludd and Llefelys. The White Dragon would strive to overcome the Red Dragon, making the Red cry out a fearful shriek which was heard over every Brythonic hearth. This shriek went through people's hearts, scaring them so much that the men lost their hue and their strength, women lost their children, young men and the maidens lost their senses, and all the animals and trees and the earth and the waters, were left barren. The plague was finally eradicated by catching the dragons and burying both of them in a rock pit at Dinas Emrys in Snowdonia, north Wales, the securest place in Britain at that time. The dragons were caught by digging out a pit under the exact point where the dragons would fall down exhausted after fighting. This place was at Oxford, which Lludd found to be the exact centre of the island when he measured the island of Britain. The pit had a satin covering over it and a cauldron of mead in it at the bottom. First, the dragons fought by the pit in the form of terrific animals. Then they began to fight in the air over the pit in the form of dragons. Then exhausted with the fighting, they fell down on the pit in the form of pigs and sank into the pit drawing the satin covering under them into the cauldron at the bottom of the pit whereupon they drank the mead and fell asleep. The dragons were then wrapped up in the satin covering and placed in the pit to be buried at Dinas Emrys.[3]

The ultimate source for the symbolism of white dragons in England would appear to be Geoffrey of Monmouth's fictional History of the Kings of Britain (c. 1136), where an incident occurs in the life of Merlin in which a red dragon is seen fighting a white dragon which it overcomes. The red dragon was taken to represent the Welsh and their eventual victory over the Anglo-Saxon invaders, symbolised by the white dragon. [4]. The tale is taken up by Nennius in the Historia Brittonum. The dragons remain at Dinas Emrys for centuries until King Vortigern tries to build a castle there. Every night the castle walls and foundations are demolished by unseen forces. Vortigern consults his advisers, who tell him to find a boy with no natural father, and sacrifice him. Vortigern finds such a boy (who is later, in some tellings, to become Merlin) who is supposed to be the wisest wizard to ever live. On hearing that he is to be put to death to solve the demolishing of the walls, the boy dismisses the knowledge of the advisors. The boy tells the king of the two dragons. Vortigern excavates the hill, freeing the dragons. They continue their fight and the red dragon finally defeats the white dragon. The boy tells Vortigern that the white dragon symbolises the Saxons and that the red dragon symbolises the people of Vortigern. If Vortigern is accepted to have lived in the fifth century, then these people are the British whom the Saxons failed to subdue and who became the Welsh
Historical use of a dragon as a symbol of the Anglo-Saxons

There are a number of associations of a dragon with the Anglo-Saxons. Both Henry of Huntingdon and Matthew of Westminster speak of a golden dragon being raised at the Battle of Burford in AD 752 by the West Saxons.[5] A golden dragon is associated with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex and forms its modern county flag. The Bayeux Tapestry depicts a dragon twice, both in the death scene of King Harold. One is a red dragon with white wings held aloft a staff. The same scene also contains a fallen dragon, which may be considered to be either white or golden. This dragon is two legged, a form later known as a wyvern. Evidence for it as a golden dragon is supported by the fact that King Harold II was previously the Earl of Wessex.
Montfaucon / Benoît drawing showing Harold's death (Bayeux tapestry). The dragon can be seen next to the name Harold
Sutton Hoo helmet contains between eyebrows a gilded dragon-head [6]
Possible high and late medieval continuation

A dragon standard was also carried by Henry III (1216) and was subsequently installed at Westminster Abbey . The dragon was also used by Edward I, by Edward III at the battle of Crécy (1346) and by Henry V at the battle of Agincourt (1415).[5] However, the colour of the standard is unknown.
Modern Usage

The modern association with a white (rather than golden or red) dragon is evident in the work of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). In his poem "The Saxon War Song" he starts as follows:

"Whet the bright steel, Sons of the White Dragon! Kindle the torch, Daughter of Hengist!"

In February 2003 during his enthronement at Canterbury Cathedral Archbishop Rowan Williams wore hand-woven gold silk robes bearing a gold and silver clasp that showed the white dragon of England and the red dragon of Wales. [7]
See Also

Hengist and Horsa
White Horse Stone
Wyvern
The Battle of Burford and the Golden Dragon
Saxon steed
Coronation Stone
Anglo-Saxons
References

    ^ http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/wales/archiv ... -celts.pdf
    ^ Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae
    ^ "The Tale of Lludd and Llefelys" in The Mabinogion, translated by Sioned Davies, 2007
    ^ Geoffrey of Monmouth, op. cit.
    ^ a b http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/site ... _war.shtml
    ^ http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/hi ... n_hoo.aspx
    ^ Moreton, Cole. Is God Still an Englishman, Hachette UK, 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lludd_and_Llefelys

Lludd and Llefelys
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Lludd and Llefelys (Welsh: Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys) is a Middle Welsh prose tale written down in the 12th or 13th century. It has been associated with the Mabinogion since it was collected by Charlotte Guest in the mid-19th century. It tells a tale of the Welsh hero Lludd, best known as King Lud son of Heli in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and his brother Llefelys.
Contents

    1 Narrative
    2 Origins and development
    3 Notes
    4 References

Narrative

The story begins as Lludd inherits the kingship of Britain from his father, Beli. Soon after, he helps his brother Llefelys marry the princess of France and become king of that country. Though Lludd's reign starts off auspiciously – he founds "Caer Lludd", later to become London, as in Geoffrey – before long three plagues disrupt the peace. The first plague is a race known as the Coraniaid, who come to Britain and cannot be forced out, as their hearing is so good that they can hear anything the wind catches. The second plague is a horrid scream that comes every May Day and causes all pregnant women in Britain to miscarry. The third plague involves disappearing provisions: no matter how much Lludd may put in his stores, it will have vanished over the course of the night. Lludd takes his fleet to France to ask his brother's advice.[1]

With the aid of a brass horn that prevents the Coraniaid from hearing their conversation, Llefelys offers solutions to each plague. The Coraniaid, he reveals, can be killed by a mixture made from a certain insect. This mixture is harmless to the Britons, so Lludd must convene a meeting of both groups and throw the mixture over everyone, thereby destroying the invaders. The second plague is caused by a dragon that is embroiled in combat with a foreign dragon. Lludd must set a trap for them at the exact center of the island, put them to sleep with mead, and then bury them underground in a stone chest. The third plague is caused by a "mighty magician", who casts a spell to make the whole court fall asleep while he raids their stores. Lludd must confront him, keeping himself awake with a vat of cold water.[2]

Lludd returns home to Britain. He destroys the Coraniaid with the insect mixture and confines the dragons at Dinas Emrys. Finally he fights the "mighty magician", who submits to him to become his loyal servant.[2]
Origins and development

The earliest versions of the story appear inserted into certain manuscripts of the Brut y Brenhinedd, a series of Welsh adaptations of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.[3] The oldest surviving version is the one in the text Shirburn Castle C 18, Rep. II, written between about 1225 and 1250.[3] The tale's relationship with the Brut texts is significant; indeed, the early versions of the Brut have been classified by whether or not they include a version of it.[3] Lludd and Llefelys also survives intact in the Red Book of Hergest and in fragmentary form in the White Book of Rhydderch, the two source texts for the Mabinogion.[4] Both Mabinogion versions relied on the earlier Brut versions, but elements of the tale predate the Bruts as well as Geoffrey's Latin original.[5]

The most noted part of Lludd is the episode of the two dragons, which is clearly related to a story that first appears in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum.[6] Historia chapters 40–42 contain a narrative in which the tyrant Vortigern attempts to build a citadel, but the structure collapses repeatedly. His wise men tell him he must sacrifice a boy born without a father on the spot to alleviate the curse. Vortigern finally finds such a boy, Emrys (Ambrosius Aurelianus, identified with Merlin in later versions), but Emrys reveals the real reason for the collapsing towers: two dragons, one red and one white, representing the Britons and the Saxons specifically, are buried beneath the foundation.[7] This story was later adapted by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and thence appears in the Brut y Brenhinedd. Thus, Lludd supplies an origin for the dragons in the Vortigern story.

Lludd, earlier called Nudd, was originally a figure of Welsh mythology and derives ultimately from the pre-Roman British god Nodens.[8] He corresponds to the Irish mythological figure Nuada.[9] Celticist John T. Koch suggests that Llefelys' name is a compound, with the first element being Lleu (the name is usually spelled Lleuelis in the Red Book and White Book) lending his name to the Llewellyn dynasty of Welsh princes.[10] Lleu is a major figure in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, and is counterpart to the Irish mythological figure Lugh and the Gaulish god Lugus. Elements of Lludd and Llefelys bear some similarity to Irish stories of Nuada and Lugh, the fullest account of which is the Cath Maige Tuired (The [Second] Battle of Mag Tuired). In this tale Nuada inherits a kingdom (Ireland) and his kinsman Lugh is dispossessed. The kingdom is beset by oppressors, and as in Lludd both fertility and the food supply is affected, but Lugh returns and saves his people with his wit and skills. This may suggest that both the Irish and Welsh tales descend from an older Celtic story.[10]
Notes

    ^ Gantz, pp. 129–131.
    ^ a b Gantz, pp. 131–133.
    ^ a b c Bromwich, p. 416.
    ^ Gantz, p. 29.
    ^ Bromwich, p. 417.
    ^ Koch, pp. 526–527.
    ^ Historia Brittonum, ch. 40–42.
    ^ Bromwich, pp. 419–420.
    ^ Koch, pp. 1359–1361
    ^ a b Koch, pp. 1164–1165.

References

    Bromwich, Rachel (2006). Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain. University Of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1386-8.
    Gantz, Jeffrey (translator) (1987). The Mabinogion. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044322-3.
    Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109-440-7. Retrieved July 26, 2010.

[mgt23]

3kfcxlz2]

[Rockclimber]

It takes a lot to grab my attention these days but this is a fascinating thread, very thought provoking if not mind-blowing. Thanks mgt23!

[mgt23]

........in this thesis i will contend three further points.

1)Yahwehism was absent from Gaelic Christianity but not from roman Christianity. The druids would have recognized Christ because of the Egyptian Horus tradition but not Yahweh. Hence the extermination of Gaelics.

2)The Saturn cult thinks they can time travel using DMT induction. In the new age occult underground it has a name "Soul Retrieval". It is essentially body swapping with a dead person from the past(usually on a set agreed time control).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_retrieval

Soul retrieval
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Soul Retrieval refers to forms of New Age and shamanic practice that aim to reintegrate various interpretations of the soul that might have become disconnected, trapped or lost through trauma. In variants such as Carlos Castaneda's recapitulation technique, fragments of soul are sought solely within the memories of the retriever, making them largely psychoanalytical in nature; in others, the scope extends to rehabilitation of lost souls of the deceased,[1] paralleling the Roman Catholic practice of offering prayer for the dead to assist their progress through purgatory. Robert Monroe explored the concept of retrieval extensively through use of out-of-body and astral projection techniques, sometimes finding the personalities he perceived suggestive of prior incarnations of himself.[2]
Monroe's retrievals

Monroe's first exposure to retrievals came about interacting with a channelling subject during a routinely taped exploration[3] at his institute. In this session, he ostensibly found himself presented with the crying soul of a sailor, still clinging to the floating wreckage of his ship and waiting for his first dark night in the water to end more than 100 years downstream from the date he believed was current. Through offering friendship and suggestions of ways to transcend his predicament, Monroe seemed to effect a transformation in the sailor's understanding, freeing him from a century of anguish. The session was subsequently transcribed[4], and Monroe eventually developed a series of binaural frequency sets to assist others in the replication of altered states of consciousness suitable for similar retrievals.
References

    ^ Bruce Moen, "Afterlife Knowledge Guidebook: A Manual for the Art of Retrieval and Afterlife Exploration"; ISBN 978-1-57174-450-0
    ^ Robert Monroe, "Ultimate Journey" p110+; ISBN 0-385-47208-0
    ^ Recording of The Patrick Event
    ^ Rosalind McKnight, "Cosmic Journeys: My Out of Body Explorations with Robert Monroe", Chapter 21: The Patrick Event; ISBN 978-1-57174-123-3

Further reading

    Sandra Ingerman, Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self (2006); ISBN 978-0-06-122786-8
    Alberto Villoldo, Mending The Past & Healing The Future With Soul Retrieval; ISBN 978-1-4019-0626-9

3)Because they think they can time travel all of the "psychic" nonsense you see in Horoscopes is because they think they can body swap with a person of the future. Here the devil deceives indeed. Hence they believe they see the future and try to craft reality so that it comes true. The occult control of the mainstream newspapers doesn't come from editors but from sexually blackmailed Jew Horoscope editorial staff of every single Jewish owned newspaper.

........note the babylonian/sumerian origin of this meme.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac

Early history

Further information: Babylonian star catalogues and MUL.APIN

The division of the ecliptic into the zodiacal signs originates in Babylonian ("Chaldean") astronomy during the first half of the 1st millennium BC, likely during Median/"Neo-Babylonian" times (7th century BC),[3] The classical zodiac is a modification of the MUL.APIN catalogue, which was compiled around 1000 BC. Some of the constellations can be traced even further back, to Bronze Age (Old Babylonian) sources, including Gemini "The Twins", from MAŠ.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL "The Great Twins", and Cancer "The Crab", from AL.LUL "The Crayfish", among others.

Babylonian astronomers at some stage during the early 1st millennium BC divided the ecliptic into twelve equal zones of celestial longitude to create the first known celestial coordinate system: a coordinate system that boasts some advantages over modern systems (such as equatorial coordinate system). The Babylonian calendar as it stood in the 7th century BC assigned each month to a sign, beginning with the position of the Sun at vernal equinox, which, at the time, was depicted as the Aries constellation ("Age of Aries"), for which reason the first sign is still called "Aries" even after the vernal equinox has moved away from the Aries constellation due to the slow precession of the Earth's axis of rotation.[4]

Because the division was made into equal arcs, 30º each, they constituted an ideal system of reference for making predictions about a planet's longitude. However, Babylonian techniques of observational measurements were in a rudimentary stage of evolution and it was probably beyond their capacity to define in a precise way the boundary lines between the zodiacal signs in the sky.[5] Thus, the need to use stars close to the ecliptic (±9º of latitude) as a set of observational reference points to help positioning a planet within this ecliptic coordinate system.[6] Constellations were given the names of the signs and asterisms could be connected in a way that would resemble the sign's name. Therefore, in spite of its conceptual origin, the Babylonian zodiac became sidereal.[7]

In Babylonian astronomical records, a planet position was generally given with respect to a zodiacal sign alone, less often in specific degrees within a sign.[8] When the degrees of longitude were given, they were expressed with reference to the 30º of the zodiacal sign, i.e., not with a reference to the continuous 360º ecliptic.[9] To the construction of their mathematical ephemerides, daily positions of a planet were not as important as the dates when the planet crossed from one zodiacal sign to the next.[10]

Knowledge of the Babylonian zodiac is also reflected in the Hebrew Bible. E. W. Bullinger interpreted the creatures appearing in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation as the middle signs of the four quarters of the Zodiac,[11][12] with the Lion as Leo, the Bull is Taurus, the Man representing Aquarius and the Eagle representing Scorpio.[13] Some authors have linked the twelve tribes of Israel with the twelve signs. Martin and others have argued that the arrangement of the tribes around the Tabernacle (reported in the Book of Numbers) corresponded to the order of the Zodiac, with Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan representing the middle signs of Leo, Aquarius, Taurus, and Scorpio, respectively.[14][15] Such connections were taken up by Thomas Mann, who in his novel Joseph and His Brothers attributes characteristics of a sign of the zodiac to each tribe in his rendition of the Blessing of Jacob.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_%28mythology%29

Little evidence exists for the cult of Saturn outside Rome, but his name resembles that of the Etruscan god Satres.[14] The potential cruelty of Saturn was enhanced by his identification with Cronus, known for devouring his own children. He was thus equated with the Carthaginian god Ba'al Hammon, to whom children were supposedly sacrificed. Saturn was also among the gods the Romans equated with Yahweh, whose Sabbath (on Saturday) he shared as his holy day. The phrase Saturni dies, "Saturn's day," first appears in Latin literature in a poem by Tibullus, who wrote during the reign of Augustus.[15]

Gladiator munera

Saturn's chthonic nature connected him to the underworld and its ruler Dis Pater, the Roman equivalent of Greek Plouton (Pluto in Latin) who was also a god of hidden wealth.[16] In 3rd-century AD sources and later, Saturn is recorded as receiving gladiatorial offerings (munera) during or near the Saturnalia.[17] These gladiator combats, ten days in all throughout December, were presented by the quaestors and sponsored with funds from the treasury of Saturn.[18]

The practice of gladiatorial munera was criticized by Christian apologists as a form of human sacrifice.[19] Although there is no evidence of this practice during the Republican era, the offering of gladiators led to later theorizing that the primeval Saturn had demanded human victims. Macrobius says that Dis Pater was placated with human heads and Saturn with sacrificial victims consisting of men (virorum victimis).[20] The figurines that were exchanged as gifts (sigillaria) during the Saturnalia may have represented token substitutes.[21]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronus

H. J. Rose, A Handbook of Greek Mythology (1928),[5] observed that attempts to give Kronos a Greek etymology have failed.

Recently, Janda (2010) offers a genuinely Indo-European etymology of "the cutter", from the root *(s)ker- "to cut" (Greek κείρω, c.f. English shear), motivated by Cronus' characteristic act of "cutting the sky" (or the genitals of anthropomorphic Uranus). The Indo-Iranian reflex of the root is kar, generally meaning "to make, create" (whence karma), but Janda argues that the original meaning "to cut" in a cosmogonic sense is still preserved in some verses of the Rigveda pertaining to Indra's heroic "cutting", like that of Cronus resulting in creation:

    RV 10.104.10 ārdayad vṛtram akṛṇod ulokaṃ "he hit Vrtra fatally, cutting [> creating] a free path"
    RV 6.47.4 varṣmāṇaṃ divo akṛṇod "he cut [> created] the loftiness of the sky."

This may point to an older Indo-European mytheme reconstructed as *(s)kert wersmn diwos "by means of a cut he created the loftiness of the sky".[6] The myth of Cronus castrating Uranus parallels the Song of Kumarbi, where Anu (the heavens) is castrated by Kumarbi. In the Song of Ullikummi, Teshub uses the "sickle with which heaven and earth had once been separated" to defeat the monster Ullikummi,[7] establishing that the "castration" of the heavens by means of a sickle as part of a creation myth, in origin a cut creating an opening or gap between heaven (imagined as a dome of stone) and earth enabling the beginning of time (Chronos) and human history.[8]

During antiquity, Cronus was occasionally interpreted as Chronos, the personification of time,[9] and the Renaissance, the identification of Cronus and Chronos gave rise to "Father Time" wielding the harvesting scythe.

A theory debated in the 19th century, and sometimes still offered somewhat apologetically,[10] holds that Kronos is related to "horned", assuming a Semitic derivation from qrn.[11] Andrew Lang's objection, that Cronus was never represented horned in Hellenic art,[12] was addressed by Robert Brown,[13] arguing that in Semitic usage, as in the Hebrew Bible qeren was a signifier of "power". When Greek writers encountered the Levantine deity El, they rendered his name as Kronos.[14]

Robert Graves proposed that cronos meant "crow", related to the Ancient Greek word corōnē (κορώνη) "crow", noting that Cronus was depicted with a crow, as were the deities Apollo, Asclepius, Saturn and Bran.[15]

........the aim of this cult is control the entirety of time/space itself. Hence things like the LHCollider and the fact that the "Fallen Ones" are in fact Future Lizard Jews going backwards in time body consciousness jumping. Why? Because they are trying to escape "Heat Death" at the end of time and end up smacking into the unimaginable hot first few minutes of the bigbang..........or your metaphorical Jewish Hell. It is interesting to note that the Hel of the Germanic Norse is a dark cold place which i would place at the end of time(apparently for cowards and the sick i hear).

The reason why gealics were so interested in the Christ blood sacrifice is that it offered a way out of this dichotomy, so they could reach the singularity via the DMT blood sacrifice. You will note that brigantia(earth aspect) was seen as the midwife to the Virgin mary(Star aspect) of christ hence the fire cult of st bridget in kildare. By believing in a christ blood sacrifice in an earth aspect.....it offered the possibility of redemption without having to go through Hell(Hot)/Hel(Cold).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel_%28location%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell

......you will note that brigantia lost her son causing the great lament.

 

She cries-out the first lament heard in Ireland when, during the second battle of Magh Turedh when her son Ruadhán is killed while attempting to slay Goibhniu the smith-god.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keening

Keening is a form of vocal lament associated with mourning that is traditional in Scotland, Ireland, African, African-American, and other cultures.

"Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish/Scots Gaelic term "caoineadh" (to cry, to weep) and references to it from the seventh, eighth and twelfth centuries are extensive.
History

Written sources that refer to the practice in Ireland and Gaelic Scotland reappear from the sixteenth century on. It should be noted however that the principle of improvised vocal lament is in no way reserved to the Gaelic world and that laments are documented from various cultures around the world.

The Irish tradition of keening over the body at the burial is distinct from the wake - the practice of watching over the corpse - which took place the night before the burial. The "keen" itself is thought to have been constituted of stock poetic elements (the listing of the genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, emphasis on the woeful condition of those left behind etc.) set to vocal lament. While generally carried out by one or several women, a chorus may have been intoned by all present. Physical movements involving rocking, kneeling or clapping accompanied the keening woman ("bean caoinadh") who was often paid for her services.[1]

After consistent opposition from the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland (Synods opposed the practice in 1631, 1748 and 1800) that went so far as to recommend excommunication for offenders, the practice became extinct; the Church's position is however unlikely to have been the sole cause. Although some recordings have been made and the practice has been documented up to recent times, it is generally considered to be extinct.[citation needed]

John Millington Synge's one-act play Riders to the Sea features a chorus of women from the Aran Islands mourning the death of their loved ones at sea.
See also

    Banshee
    Death wail

References

    ^ Breandán Ó Madagáin, Caointe agus Seancheolta Eile / Keening and other Old Irish Musics. Cló Iar-Chonnachta, Ireland, 2005

[mgt23]

......you will note that brigantia lost her son causing the great lament.

 

She cries-out the first lament heard in Ireland when, during the second battle of Magh Turedh when her son Ruadhán is killed while attempting to slay Goibhniu the smith-god.

http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/deities.html

GOIBNIU    (Irish, Welsh) "Great Smith"; one of a triad of craftsmen with Luchtaine the write and Credne the brazier. Similar to Vulcan. He forged all the Tuatha's weapons; these weapons always hit their mark and every wound inflicted by them was fatal. His ale gave the Tuatha invulnerablity. God of blacksmiths, weapon-makers, jewelry making, brewing, fire, metalworking.

Aside from his craftsmanship, he is known as the provider of the Fled Goibnenn, a Sacred Feast. Associated, among other things, with brew-crafting, he is said to have created a brew which bestowed both immortality in battle, and release from illness and death for the one who imbibed. Note the similarity with the Greco-Roman Hephaestus/Vulcan, a divine smith who was also a brewer. His name survives in Abergavenny (Goibhniu's River).

Also: Gofannon; Govannon (Welsh)

it is very possible that the Brigantians saw Christ as Ruadhán-------this is speculation on my half

it is worth pointing to the famous JEW masonic Tubalcain at this point. Something that essene jews and the romans would have known.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubal-cain

Genesis 4:22 says that Tubal-cain was the "forger of all instruments of bronze and iron" (ESV) or an "instructer of every artificer in brass and iron" (KJV). Although this may mean he was a metalsmith, a comparison with verses 20 and 21 suggests that he may have been the very first artificer in brass and iron. T. C. Mitchell suggests that he "discovered the possibilities of cold forging native copper and meteoric iron."[5] Tubal-cain has even been described as the first chemist.[6]

Others connect Tubal-cain's work to making weapons of war. Rashi notes that he "spiced and refined the Cain's craft to make weapons for murderers."[1] In The Antiquities of the Jews, Flavius Josephus says that "Tubal exceeded all men in strength, and was very expert and famous in martial performances, ... and first of all invented the art of working brass." Walter Elwell suggests that his invention of superior weapons may have been the motivation for Lamech's interest in avenging blood.[7]

Alternatively, E. E. Kellett suggests that Tubal-cain may have been a miner.[8]
   Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tubal-Cain
References

    ^ a b Rashi, Bereishis, chapter 4.
    ^ Gordon Wenham, Genesis 1-15 (Word, 1987), 113.
    ^ Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record (Baker, 1976), 146.
    ^ Richard Coggins (1981). Who's Who in the Bible. London: Batsford. p. 154. ISBN 0-7134-0144-3.
    ^ T. C. Mitchell, "Tubal-cain," in New Bible Dictionary (IVF, 1962), 1302.
    ^ "Tubal-Cain Acclaimed as Pioneer Chemist". The Science News-Letter (Society for Science & the Public): 142. August 30, 1941. JSTOR 3918014.
    ^ Elwell, Walter E. (1988). Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House. p. 2109. ISBN 0-810-3447-7.
    ^ E. E. Kellett (1922), "Some Old Testament Notes and Queries", Expository Times 33: 426

........Brigantia was anti war/murderers it seems. A goddess of peace.

[mgt23]

xyml5sau]

1:32

DMT JEW Aliens are "HUMANS FROM DISTANT FUTURE"

........i hate being right sometimes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_McKenna

Studying and traveling

In 1965, McKenna enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley[4] to study art history.[1] In 1967, while in college, he discovered and begun studying shamanism through the study of Tibetan folk religion.[5] That year, which he called his "opium and kabbala phase"[6] he also traveled to Jerusalem, where he met Kathleen Harrison, who would later become his wife.[6

[Timothy_Fitzpatrick]

2g16q1ap]

2g16q1ap]

2g16q1ap]

[mgt23]

........jew decoder ring on standby

[youtube:1s094pb6]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJvdihC2JsQ[/youtube]1s094pb6]

[youtube:1s094pb6]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNnJB5PxSCc[/youtube]1s094pb6]

[youtube:1s094pb6]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoJots3u-vw[/youtube]1s094pb6]

[youtube:1s094pb6]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPo2X8MEWBU[/youtube]1s094pb6]

[youtube:1s094pb6]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5mIC8K5LrU[/youtube]1s094pb6]

[youtube:1s094pb6]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BlT_AJjDZY[/youtube]1s094pb6]

[mgt23]

http://www.rainbowserpentproject.com/

.......smacks of noahide to me

[youtube:2du7s8qw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3fF2drD1JI[/youtube]2du7s8qw]

[youtube:2du7s8qw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxzfgbdpWig[/youtube]2du7s8qw]

........well financed and lets be fair psytrance is mainly jewish, a bit shit and completely GHEY.

........now compare with REAL underground music
http://www.freeundergroundtekno.org/

[youtube:2du7s8qw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7MUlimHYx4[/youtube]2du7s8qw]
[youtube:2du7s8qw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYCOPT4I86w[/youtube]2du7s8qw]
[youtube:2du7s8qw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwvjUU7H80g[/youtube]2du7s8qw]
[youtube:2du7s8qw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj0rNyq4nN0[/youtube]2du7s8qw]
[youtube:2du7s8qw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxXCXOrZCXY[/youtube]2du7s8qw]
[youtube:2du7s8qw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7y3hH-X9kM[/youtube]2du7s8qw]

[mgt23]

[youtube:a5sezg5w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEDXX30M1MY[/youtube]a5sezg5w]

.........Grand Dragon indeed.............

[mgt23]

[youtube:2m6mg7zy]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tp7sOw8i6w[/youtube]2m6mg7zy]

......rinse and repeat infinitum. Take that serpent!!!!

[mgt23]

[youtube:2y6rmzlc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxXFs8EL35o[/youtube]2y6rmzlc]

.......eat Gaelic Drum Lizards.