Part One: Of Scientists and Shamans: Mind, Molecules & Magic
By Zoe Seven
(From AVS Journal)
In early 2002 I was invited to the Brazilian Amazon to lecture at an experiential ayahuasca healing retreat led by Silvia Polivoy, a transpersonal psychologist from Argentina (Ayahuasca- Healing.net). Being a consciousness researcher and writer and just having published the first book of a science fiction trilogy dealing with altered states of consciousness – Into The Void, Exploring Consciousness, Hyperspace & Beyond – I eagerly accepted the invitation. Now years later and steaming from all my experiences with the supernatural in Brazil, I have released the second installment of the trilogy: Back From The Void – A Modern-day Shaman’s Odyssey Continues.
Blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, the trilogy revolves around the main character “Joey” (my real name). Joey is a fantasy-prone individual who uses psychoactive compounds and mind-modifying technologies to enter into hyper-dimensional worlds—worlds that may only exist in his mind. He does this because he’s bent upon uncovering the secrets of existence itself. While engaged in these explorations, Joey comes to meet “himself” from the future: Zoe Seven. If you’ve read Into The Void, you may recall that Zoe told Joey that he had been guiding him “from the future” and creating life situations so that Joey would eventually embody “him” in this time line. Now, in the second instalment of the trilogy, Joey crosses over the boundary of his own book’s psychological framework to find himself “here,” back from the Void in the real world, as Zoe Seven. Considering this, I often wondered if Joey created Zoe Seven, or if Zoe Seven actually created Joey.
As a consciousness researcher and writer, in my new book I wanted to play with the reader’s perception of reality. One of the ways I accomplished this is by blurring the boundary between what the reader may consider to be reality and fantasy. Hence I had to find elements for the story from the “real world,” such as contemporary news items of world events that seem fantastic (as in not real), such as so-called “conspiracy theories” of late and combine them with the storyline of Back From The Void. This enables the reader’s awareness to “enter” into Zoe Seven’s reality –his book – and similarly, enables the book’s reality to “leap of the pages” and into the reader’s reality.
As far as my infamous experiments combining psychoactive compounds and neuro technologies are concerned, I was particularly curious about the interaction of two particular molecules together in the human’s brain: salvinorin A and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). These are the active ingredients in the Salvia divinorum sublingual tincture and ayahuasca potions. So as to maximize the effects of these plants, I underwent sessions of light and sound hemispheric synchronization prior to intake. This alchemical fusion, if you will, enabled my consciousness to enter into a never-before-experienced altered mind state I have dubbed the “Zenith7 state.” The effects of this combination are detailed in my new book. But based on my experiences with it, I must conclude that “Zenith 7” may be more than simply a new mind state, as what I experienced opened a portal of sorts to a “psychological space” where magic, real magic, is able to be integrated with reality.
This combination of plants had never been attempted before. Curious about this, I inquired about this particularity to various ethnobotanists, anthropologists, chemists and shamans I know. No one had heard of anyone doing what I was attempting to. Some of my colleagues reasoned that this was probably due to the fact that the plant species we’re discussing are from different geographical regions. Obviously, the only way I could find out if this was a viable shamanic admixture was to undergo the experience myself. What resulted from this however, was not the typical psychedelic experience. What’s more and stemming from my experiences with Brazilian shamanism, I have come to understand that plants have spirits similar to humans having a soul. And these plant spirits can be communicated with while engaged in the altered states of consciousness the plants produce. Which is what shamans have been claiming for millennia: that there is a spirit world that can be interacted with.
End of Part One.
Copyright: Zoe 7 for AVS Journal. All rights reserved.