It is rare for me to have such unbridled praise for any individual writer, but Metzner is quite simply a shining intellect - a hero among others.

Anything with the name Ralph Metzner even remotely attached to it is a safe buy. Metzner brings vitality and encyclopedic awareness to every project. An elder statesman responsible for such dramatic shifts in consciousness within this nation and throughout the world, buy his works and read them with pleasure.

What is striking about this work is the respect he brings to the subject and the well-constructed tapestry of thought contained within the pages.

Also, the design of this book is beautiful.

Solid content with the stamp of greatness. Palatable to the senses and nourishing to the neurons.

Cannot go wrong here!

This book discusses Ayahuasca from a variety of perspectives: historical, religious, chemical, cultural, horticultural and experiencial. The way the book is structured it would be easy for a reader to skip over the topics that don't interest them. All of the information is presented in a thorough, well-written, and objective manner offering some conclusions while at the same time allowing the reader to form their own.

Most interesting were the 25 or so personal accounts, 3-4 pages each written by people who appeared to Americans/Westerners who took the drug for religious/spiritual purposes and in a religious/spiritual setting. It was clear, based on their mindset (objectives and beliefs) and the religious setting that Ayahuasca seems to somehow create a religious construct through which a person can work through personal issues or sort through personal beliefs. The experience seemed to have a profound affect on most of these people.

Overall, I got the impression that Ayahuasca was not connecting these individuals to something divine outside of themselves, but rather that it was freeing the brain up to explore the subconscious/ID in order to resolve problems or explore issues in the persons life.

Well worth reading if you're interested in this sort of thing.

The book is brilliant! Just one thing I would add; Take everywhere it says LSD and replace it with Amanita muscaria (Which was the real entheogen this manual is experientially based upon). Then you have it! Keep in mind that NONE of the world's religions tell the whole truth, and this includes Tibetan Buddhism. All Patriarcal religions have severe problems and you should know what those problems (false dogmas) are before experimenting. The discovery that this book is not necessarily a book for the dead but a book to map the consciousness of those experiencing the Shamanistic 'Death Experience' is crucial to humanity's understanding of Tibetan Buddhism and other world religion.

In the 1960's Leary, Alpert, and Metzner were experimenting with psychedelic chemicals. All being trained psychologists, the experiences they were having with these chemicals did not fit into the zeigeist of what they have learned concerning the "maps" of the mind. They were suprised to find that there experiences were documented step by step in a book over 3500 years old known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. This book is an explanation of the process of psychological death and rebirth using psychedelic chemicals. If you explore with psychedelics, this book will give you a context in which to explore and achieve the desired goal...Nirvana. A true gem of the era! Highly recommended. Anything positive that can be said about this book is an understatement.

Tim Leary first introduced Lao Tzu to me in the late sixties. He translated the Tao Te Ching into American from the English. "No one has ever done it better." Tim's version of "Psychedelic Prayers," still stands as essential Tao. The Tao many of us will travel forever.

The I Ching came to me in a completely different way. I had read the introduction to John Blofeld's translation of Richard Wilhelm's version of the I Ching; not knowing it could me used as an oracle. That night a few mystifying ladies from Yale University campus, took me home and in an incense & candle lit session, showed me how to enter the mysterious consciousness of the Tao.

My concern then as now has been the philosophy of Tao. Book two of Wilhelm's I Ching teaches of the philosophical background of the pattern of change. Everything changes but change has a design.

This probably led to my trading Commodities Futures for a living.

Recently I found Richard Wilhelm's similar magnificent masterpiece "Tao Te Ching: The Book of Meaning and Life by Lao Tzu."

Anyone who has had an interest in Psychedelic Prayers, these last thirty years may want to consider Wilhelm's views on Lao Tzu's consciousness.

Just as in Book Two of the I Ching, Wilhelm dives right into Lao Tzu's mind with clarity like no one else.

"How does muddy water become clear? Muddy water becomes clear through stillness. How does one become still? One becomes still, by moving with the stream.".... With these words Timothy Leary set the cornerstone of Hippie philosophy in Eastern Mysticism. The hidden influence of "Psychedelic Prayers," will come to light in the passage of time. It's influence on music ("All things must pass." Beatles), TV ("Kung Fu," series), Film ("Easy Rider"), Hollywood, ("Star Wars"), just reflect the imprint on our collective consciousness... The general acceptance of the Tao's "I Ching," (High Priest), " The Tibetan Book of the dead," (The Psychedelic Experience) and later "The Art of War," (Sun Tzu), all you can see, trace there acceptance by the Hippies and later the baby boomers to this great work... In a search led by Harvard Scientists and students of religion. They looked for ways to map and understand awareness. Map Consciousness in ways that would empower people to program there own lives... Suppressed by many forces the "Tao Te Ching," is now, in the wake of Dr. Leary's death being re-released. This is only the second printing. Of what may be looked upon as one of the earliest, if not the first prayer book of the unnamed, unseen, as yet unformed philosophy of the group of people who have grown out of a tribe called Hippies. This was the first translation into American... Released as One of two guide book on how to explore higher con-sciousness before the prohibition. "Psychedelic Prayers," expanded on knowledge of set and setting, learned by the "Hashish Club of Paris," a century ago. They linked these techniques to ancient sacred texts of consciousness exploration... While it appears on the surface that these manuals are guide books to temporary trips. They are really guides to the use and abuse of consciousness. The first effort the "Psychedelic Prayers," offered here, was based on the "Tao Te Ching." "The Psychedelic Experience," based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead was the second more serious text book version... How you can be fulfilled, enlightened, more aware. How to wake up to live. How you can have anything you want, whenever you want it, wherever you want it. with whoever you want to have it with... Amazon books please send me a copy as soon as its re-released. You have my order. My 30 year old copy has been my constant companion. "...In the best sessions one does not know there is a guide..."

I find the Gaia Matrix Oracle rich in both esoteric and practical knowledge. I use both the book and cards often and find the mythology, symbology and weaving of patterns very helpful in my life.This is the kind of book that you can read and study forever and always find something new and meditating on the symbols helps to open up new pathways in one's thinking..Rowena Patte Kryder is a visionary in the true sense of the word.I truly enjoy this oracle.

Extraordinary book. Not a long book, but very rich and deep. Synthesizes many philosophical texts and ideas in conjunction with an examination of metaphors and analogies used to describe breakthroughs, awakenings, cosmic realizations and the like. A pleasure to read, with many valuable and leading footnotes. I could often anticipate his lines of thought, but they were so well-stated that they served to bring me further illumination, as well as affirmation of thoughts I already had. It's hard to convey how good this book is. Metzner very closely associated with Leary, but this work deals very little with drugs.

This book contains the works of many of the pioneers of the psychedelic revolution not to be found anywhere else. While I read this several years ago, I am left with the impression that this one of the best sources of both scientific and/or spiritual writings by some of the greatest minds to survey the outer limits of the human psyche in one volume. Well worth the price. Get yours before it goes out of print!

Sheila Metzner's photography is transcendent, rich, refined, esthetic, ethereal, modernist, and yet timeless. Her images are fascinating as they exhibit an astonishing tonal range. Enhanced with informative and illustratively descriptive commentaries by Ralph Lauren and M. Raven Metzner, Sheila Metzner: Form And Fashion is a core addition to any serious American history of photography reference collection, and a "must" for any serious student of photography-as-art.

I loved this book, and intend to re-read it. It is valuable for people first starting out on their transformative journey, but also contains enough information to interest those who've been on the path a while. The title of the introduction is "From Caterpillar to Butterfly," and that states the theme of the book--how we transform. The phases we move through during transformation follow a general sequence, although this is not a linear, predictable process. The author has arranged the chapters to reflect the general ordering of the stages of growth; thus one can see that there really is a pattern to what may seem at times random and pointless. This is helpful because the transformation process can be difficult, even scary at times--this book provides much wisdom and information for understanding and moving through both the good and the difficult times. It has an extensive bibliography and notes which provide good suggestions for further learning. This book is written from the perspective of transpersonal psychology and there is much in here about consciousness and how it develops. Although the author obviously has very high standards for scholarship and intellectual inquiry, the book is enjoyable and entertaining to read. I highly recommend it.

Each chapter in this book has a different emphasis. Each one stands alone and independent. The chapters span a wide range of subjects, from ecopsychology, to natural entheogens (teacher plants, which induce an altered state of consciousness useful for spiritual journeying).

He begins with an account of his visit with the Lacandones and experience of their Balche, an entheogenic drink. His next chapter uses depth psychology to analyze the Gaian hypothesis. He then describes a vision quest experience in the Mojave Desert before moving on to a discussion of the Veriditas of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th century mystic. He examines the role of entheogens, then broaches the subject of the psychopathology of the human-nature relationship--also examining the dissociative split within human consciousness between the spiritual and the natural. He goes back in time to contrast the Indo-Kurgan "sky gods" with the matrifocal cultures and their earth deities. He peeks at the wild deities of animistic and shamanic cultures, and then considers how the reunification of the sacred and the natural could impact both individuals and society. He shows how our current situation demands that we move to an ecological world view. Finally, he concludes with a chapter which demands that we root ourselves in our bioregions, commenting that our identity is not simply the ego baggage we have acquired, but that we also identify as beings who exist in a place. Without the stories of our "places," we are set adrift, and cannot forge a sacred union with the Natural.

This book is wonderful and outlining man's relationship with nature. I found it especially helpful while also reading the poetry of William Wordsworth, who holds the man/nature relationship in high esteem. I have already taken pages of notes while reading this and will certainly incorporate some of it into my personal philosophy (especially the materialism chapter... there are hints at Buddhism throughout the book). A great read for any nature or psychology enthusiast.

Word Ninja

I was a bit slow getting started reading this book, but once I began in earnest I got fascinated. It is a systems view of Man and the Environment, asking the hard questions and proposing answers from the psychologists (and common sense) point of view. There is so much management and operations management which is done without regard for the important constraints of the problem, it is getting out of hand. Can industries exist and produce without ruining the earth which supports them? Is there such a thing as a sustainable telecommunications system? Better ask these questions, and answer them, before it is too late.

I was personally quite disapointed in this book. The statement 'Ram Dass's famous "Be Here Now," is a prelude to "The Psychedelic Experience,"' is beyond misleading. Be here now had so much to say, but this book adds nothing to the already huge body of liturature written on the topic. If you are interested in this text, get the html version off the net and spend your money on something serious, like the Tibeten book of Living and Dying.

The funny thing about this is, thousands of copies of "the Tibetan Book of the Dead," found there way on to the shelves of hippie homes, because people thought they were getting Tim's "Psychedelic Experience."

We were seeking one thing and being confused with another.

The Psychedelic Experience is a manual where many, many people who I have met; claim to have been enlightened just by following Tim's directions.

We know the Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones; The Moody Blues were all exposed to these teachings, before they became really big stars.

"When you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find peace of mind is waiting there." George

The Beatles did a song about The Psychedelic Experience; they called it "The Void." You may remember it!

"Turn off your mind, relax, and float down stream,"

"Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void,"

"I'll play the game "existence" to the end of the beginning,"

"The Psychedelic Experience," is about life before death, The Tibetan Book is about life after death.

Ram Dass's famous "Be Here Now," is a prelude to "The Psychedelic Experience," but few people read that far.

There are three introductions in the Experience. Skip two and just read the one by lama Govinda. Tim was a researcher at Harvard University, those other introductions were written for people long dead.

The rest of the experience is quite simple (once you have had the experience that is.)

Leary's Psychedelic Experience do it now!!

This is undoubtedly Learys definitive work.This guide book is absolutely essential if you are going to take a psychedelic drug.It really makes sense of the visions and sensations you will encounter in the different stages,or Bardos of the trip.To put it simply and to the point,Lennon said of this book,"Learys method is the only way to trip".It really is a great guide book that should send you in the right direction. PRICELESS.
P.S:All the negative reviews of this book all seem to miss the point...its a GUIDEBOOK in the truest sense of the word,an internal 'roadmap'.Its not meant to preach to you a certain point,its there to be used as a manual-to memorize and if need be,to read during your trip.You will need to get beyond the sometimes 'poetic' style and get to the essence of the message.