The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss (79 page)
Read The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss Online
Authors: Dennis McKenna
And from the hands of demons rip
You, ere they can you much molest,
And I’ll take you to an isle of rest
(Your body and your mind distressed
if you should falter in your quest).
But let me say your journey’s blest
And if you follow these words behest
Then surely in a star you’ll nest
Or be made of DMT at best
About the Author
Dennis McKenna is an ethnopharmacologist who has studied plant hallucinogens for over forty years. He is the author of many scientific papers and coauthor, with his brother Terence McKenna, of
The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching,
and Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide.
He holds a doctorate from the University of British Columbia, where his research focused on Ayahuasca and
oo-koo-hé
, two hallucinogens used by indigenous peoples in the Northwest Amazon. He received postdoctoral research fellowships in the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology at the National Institute of Mental Health, and in the Department of Neurology, Stanford University School of Medicine. In 1990, he joined Shaman Pharmaceuticals as Director of Ethnopharmacology, and in 1993 became the Aveda Corporation’s Senior Research Pharmacognosist. Dennis has been an adjunct assistant professor at the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota since 2001, where he teaches courses in ethnopharmacology and botanical medicine. He has taught summer field courses in Peru and Ecuador, and has conducted fieldwork throughout the upper Amazon. He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on investigation of the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelic medicines.
www.BrotherhoodoftheScreamingAbyss.com
Table of Contents
The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss
Copyright 2012 © by Dennis McKenna
Dedication
Table of Contents
Epigraph
Disclaimer
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1 - Beginnings
Terry and Denny, 1952.
Central and Northern Peru (Map by M. Odegard)
Chapter 2 - Three Sisters
Joe and Hadie McKenna during World War II.
Chapter 3 - Roots and Wars
Left to right: grandmother Molly McKenna, Terence, father Joe McKenna, Dennis with Skelly, and grandfather Joseph McKenna.
Chapter 4 - Terry and Denny
Terence Kemp McKenna and Dennis Jon McKenna.
Chapter 5 - Happy Day Rides
Denny with Skelly.
Chapter 6 - The Nobody People
Chapter 7 - The Collector
Terence in the Amazon, 1971. (Photo by S. Hartley)
Chapter 8 - Flying, Fishing, and Hunting
Denny and his father beside the Piper Cub, in 1956.
Chapter 9 - Goodbye to All That
Terence and Dennis dressed for church, 1959.
Chapter 10 - The Big Picture
Chapter 11 - First Loves: 1962
Chapter 12 - The California Crusade
Chapter 13 - The Experimental College: 1965
Chapter 14 - Cannabis: 1966
Chapter 15 - The Tutor
Chapter 16 - A Psychedelic Education
Chapter 17 - Mapping Inner Space: Carl Jung
Chapter 18 - The Ladders of Ecstasy: Mircea Eliade
Chapter 19 - Summer of Love: 1967
Chapter 20 - The Secret Encountered
Chapter 21 - The Stoners’ Revenge
Chapter 22 - My Datura Misadventure
Chapter 23 - Escape from Mordor: 1968
Chapter 24 - The Church Lawn Bunch
Chapter 25 - Busted Again: 1969
Chapter 26 - Girl with a Gun: 1970
Chapter 27 - The Brotherhood Forms
Chapter 28 - Our Mother’s Death
Chapter 29 - A Narrow Passage: 1971
John Brown, Puerto Leguizamo, 1971. (Photo by S. Hartley)
Route map to La Chorrera. (Map by M. Odegard)
Chapter 30 - On the Edge of the Abyss
Chapter 31 - The Experiment at La Chorrera
Chapter 32 - Waiting for the Stone
A canoe at La Chorrera. (Photo by S. Hartley)
Chapter 33 - The Bell Tower and a UFO
Chapter 34 - Reflections on La Chorrera
The chorro at La Chorrera. (Photo by S. Hartley)
Part Three - Invisible Landscapes
Chapter 35 - Invisible Landscapes
Chapter 36 - The Timewave
The Timewave (Illustration by T. McKenna)
Chapter 37 - To See the Great Man
Chapter 38 - Fun with Fungi: 1975
Cover of the Grower’s Guide, first edition, 1976. (Photo by J. Bigwood)
Chapter 39 - A Lab in Paradise
Chapter 40 - In the Trenches
Chapter 41 - An Encounter with Ayahuasca
Don Fidel Mosombite, the ayahuasquero, and his family.
Dennis and helpers preparing voucher specimens, 1981.
Chapter 42 - The River of Poisons
Wade Davis and Dennis enroute to Pebas. March 1981.
Route Map to Pebas (Map by M. Odegard)
Don Marcos preparing ku-ru-ku hallucinogenic paste in Puco Urquillo, 1981.
Don Alfredo and his first sample of oo-koo-hé.
The village of Brillo Nuevo.
Terence standing beside a cumala tree near Puco Urquillo.
Terence packing seeds to take back to California, April 1981.
Pablo Amaringo (on guitar) and friends.
Chapter 43 - Adulthood and its Victims
Dennis working in the lab in Vancouver.
Chapter 44 - The Plant Teachers: 1985
A proud father and his two sons on Dennis’s wedding day, 1984.
Chapter 45 - The Perpetual Postdoc
Sheila and Dennis, about 1993.
Chapter 46 - Climbing the Vine: 1991
Preparing hoasca at the UDV temple in Manaus, Brazil.
Chapter 47 - New in Town
José Cabral and Dennis preparing voucher specimens, UDV study, 1993.
Chapter 48 - The Bard in Light and Shadow
Terence (Photo by J. Wagner)
Chapter 49 - A Desperate Situation
Aunt Amelia, Terence, Christy, and Dennis, 1999.
Chapter 50 - Into the Fire