Episodes
11-20
Episode 11: Interview with Neil Kramer
February 10, 2009 02:12 AM
PST
Click here to download from
archive.org
In episode 11 Opaque opens up by revealing that he has
just had a life changing ayahuasca experience, and
feels that no only has he had a ‘firmware update’ but
also an operating system update too! He then plays a
recording of the interview he conducted with Neil
Kramer from http://thecleaver.blogspot.com.
In this chat, many topics are covered, particularly
about the ego and how it takes over in the material
world, at the expense of the more refined self. Neil
explains that from an early age he had a negative
reaction to the hoarding of material stuff, status and
prestige, and instead of conforming to mainstream
teenage youth culture, he got into reading philosophy.
The conversation veers towards such as Bill Hicks’s
comedy, the effects of energy points such as Avebury
and Glastonbury, and how sometimes you can go to a
sacred site like a stone circle, and that it will
revitalise you or sap your energy, or amplify what one
would feel based on how they were when they arrived in
these places.
Music by Ozric Tentacles (again!)
Episode
12: Interview with Alexander "Ostritt" Beiner
February 16, 2009 01:22 PM
PST
Click here to download from
archive.org
In episode 12, Opaque interviews Alexander Beiner, who
goes by the alias ‘Ostritt’ on the Grow Report forums,
about his soon to be released book ‘Beyond the Basin’.
The conversation then goes off on a tangent where Alex
talks about a mushroom trip in Maastricht, Holland, and
how sad it is that the Dutch laws have tightened up.
Other things discussed are an idea for shamanic
training being incorporated into Western culture, bees
disappearing, neotenization of the human species in the
Western world, ayahuasca tourism and its pitfalls, and
many more topics. An ‘entire sweetshop in a single box’
conversation! Listen out for the joke: How does Terence
McKenna acquire milk from a cow? To find out the
answer, listen to this podcast! Those not in the
psychedelic community will probably not get it!
In the aftermath, Opaque explains how to find the
archived off copies of these podcasts, plugs his
myspace page, talks about future podcasts in the
pipeline, which include already recorded interviews
with Aeolus Kephas from the ‘Stormy Weather’ podcast,
and Martin Ball from ‘Entheogenic Evolution’.
Music by Groove Armada.
Episode
13: Fraser Clark Obituary Special
February 23, 2009 11:29 AM PST
Click here to download from
archive.org
In this episode, Opaque pays tribute to Fraser Clark,
creator of Megatripolis and the Zippy movement in the
1990’s rave scene, who died on Jan 21 2009. He reads an
obituary he found online and announces a ‘Fraser
Clark’s Funeral’ facebook page, which can be found
here.
at After a musical interlude, Opaque reads from Fraser
Clark’s Monkey's Trip, A Short History of the Human
Species - Reversing the big lie - The true story of
Monkey's Marvelous Trip From The African Jungle To
Inner & Outer Space, which also appears in podcast
form at Lorenzo’s psychedelic salon - click here.
Music by Eat Static and Gustav Holst
Episode
14: Aeolus Kephas interview part 1
March 02, 2009 12:15 PM PST
Click here to download from
archive.org
In this installment Opaque opens up by thanking
everyone for the inspiring emails and the sudden surge
in donations that he was not expecting. Also he
announces that Lorenzo of the Psychedelic Salon has
confirmed himself as a fan of this podcast!
During the talk with Aeolus Kephas, the subjects
covered range from conspracies to aliens to
psychedelics and even autism. Unfortunately the
interview suffered a bit from the mic quality due to a
recording error, at Opaque’s end but it works out ok
and is listenable enough. In the aftermath of part 1 of
the interview, Opaque announces that he has recently
interviewed Ralph Metzner, who will be featured on a
future podcast.
Music by Shivkumar Sharma.
Episode
15: Aeolus Kephas interview part 2
March 09, 2009 11:43 AM PDT
Click here to download from
archive.org
In this episode, Opaque plays the concluding part of
the interview with Aeolus Kephas, in which AK mentions
that he thinks the psychedelic community should take
less entheogens, and that everyone else should take
more! He feels that in the ‘psychedelic community’
itself that there is too much advocation of the use of
psychedelics and a bias away from its negative
qualities, whereas the ‘normal’ people tend to be to
phobic and maybe need to take more to get over that
barrier.
Before the interview, Opaque talks about a
problem/opportunity in his own personal life concerning
some oppressive law he finds himself on the receiving
end of, and plans for the future that could get him out
of , and mentions that next week’s podcast will be
about that. After the interview Opaque reads emails
from Upside Down Poet, Victoria Pandora and Glint.
Music by The Grateful Dead.
Episode
16: Opaque's brush with the law.
March 17, 2009 06:15 AM PDT
Click here to download from
archive.org
In
this episode, Opaquelens goes into detail about his
recent problem when busking, the fact that he faces the
second seizure of his guitar and the possibility of an
arrest and ASBO (for the non UK listeners, ASBO stands
for AntiSocial Behaviour Order). Opaque goes into
detail of how the authorities are acting unlawfully,
followed by explaining his masterplan for a future
career as a tour guide if all goes well.
After a musical interlude, Opaque discusses why it
should not be taboo to refer to oneself as a shaman if
one’s reasons are right, and gives his own perspective
of how he is a Doctor Who style interloper character
who is always on the edge of everything, whether it be
counterculture or mainstream, and how that reflects the
role of a shaman adapted to a Western context. After
playing a talk by Terence McKenna about smoking DMT,
Opaque reads out a few emails and comments from Sharon,
Adam of Psychonautilus, and Glint.
Music by Hawkwind and Ozric Tentacles.
Episode
17: Martin Ball interview part 1
March 23, 2009 12:33 PM PDT
Click here to download from
archive.org
In
this episode Opaque starts by reading an email by Neil
Kramer relating to the ‘is it ok to call yourself a
shaman?’ debate. He then reads a very intelligent email
from listener William.
During the chat with Martin Ball many topics are
covered such as American Drug laws, the change in
British law in 2005 concerning magic mushrooms, and the
possibility of Salvia following suit, as it is in some
American states; the cognitive dissonance of drug
taboos offset against alcohol and antidepressant
availability, and the dangers that manifest as a
result; the way the obsolete model of reality of
conformity, debt slavery etc looks like it is about to
be replaced by alternative systems such as bartering;
the Santo Daime church as a recognised religion in
Oregon, and how ayahuasca can penetrate through to the
truth, how psychedelics can cure or prevent migraines.
Finally Martin talks about how although there is a
grand unified theory of the mind and brain, there is no
explanation for consciousness in mainstream
academic/Darwinian models, and how psychedelics are an
important part of understanding consciousness.
In the aftermath of the chat with Martin Ball, Opaque
reminds people that in future episode 19, Ralph Metzner
will be on the show.
Music by the prodigy.
Episode 18: Martin Ball interview part 2
March 30, 2009 04:05 PM PDT
Click here to download from
archive.org
In
this episode, Opaque points out that he nearly went too
far with ayahuasca and should know better than to go to
Syd Barrett reality.
He carries on his chinwag with Martin Ball, and this
week topics include theism vs atheism, the mysteries of
consciousness, the deorwellisation of language,
geographical and climate anomalies which could be forms
of consciousness, and the possibility of psychedelics
being used to expand the vocabulary of chimps! Opaque
then reads emails from Adam from Psychonautilus about
his Native American initiations, and Wolf and Malbat
talking about the Aeolus Kephas podcasts.
Opaque then reminds everyone to prepare for next week’s
episode which will have an interview with Ralph
Metzner.
Music by Air.
Episode
19: Ralph Metzner Interview
April 06, 2009 03:31 PM PDT
Click here to download from
archive.org
In this installment, Opaque starts by reading a few
emails out and then plays the pre recorded interview he
did with veteran luminary of the psychedelic community
Ralph Metzner, old friend of Timothy Leary and Ram
Dass, who is promoting a talk at the Equinox Festival
in June of 2009 (visit equinoxfestival.org.
for further details). Also he promotes a collaborative
conversational memoir with himself and Ram Dass called
‘Birth of a Psychedelic Culture’. Amongst any other
reminisces about how he got close tom but never met
Aldous Huxley, the difference between Huxley’s more
elitist attitude towards psychedelics in popular
culture compared to Leary’s more egalitarian attitude,
and many other interesting topics, concerning
political, evolutionary and psychedelic issues, and
alchemical divination; and asks people to visit his
website www.greenearthfound.org.
In the aftermath, Opaque talks a little about his
recent experience of being banned from the Grow Report
forum, and how his controversial nature has got him
into trouble many times!
Checkout Opaque's new blog site by clicking here.
Music by Julian Cope
Episode
20: Banned Special!!
April 13, 2009 02:36 PM PDT
Click here to download from
archive.org
Episode 20 begins with two
new introductory voices - Neil Kramer and Ross
Hemsworth taking the place of KMO and Max Freakout in
Opaque’s endeavour to make this podcast more
representative of the wider alternative perception
community.
It starts with short clips of well known songs by
Frankie Goes To Hollywood and the Sex Pistols which
were banned, and as a result got to number 1 in the UK
charts. This segways into Opaque’s recent lifetime ban
from the grow report, which is the second forum Opaque
has been banned from since the start of this podcast.
He explains his version of events that lead to the ban,
and philosophises about how the psychedelic community
have become too academic and scholarly, lacking the
primal, bardic and anarchic qualities that he feels are
quintessential to the community not becoming imprisoned
in the left brain as it tries to conform and pander to
the institutions because it wants its drugs legalised,
which has resulted in that community becoming a
trainspotter like niche, and a second matrix outside
the first, that the trip is like a genie out of a
bottle, and as soon as the trip is over, the genie is
back into the bottle, which represents the left brain.
He argues that conformity is like a wave at sea, which
includes ‘pseudo alternative’ people, and that only the
bravest are part of the undertow which could change the
direction of the tide.
Also, Opaque talks about his new blog site shamanicfreedom.blogspot.com ,
and invites people to become guest bloggers. Other
subjects include the G20 protests and the
unsustainability and ridiculousness of the present
capitalist system.
He wraps up by plugging future shows, and reminds
people about his new blog site shamanicfreedom.blogspot.com .
Music by Ozric Tentacles, Captain Beefheart and Jimi
Hendrix 
