Meeting the Shulgins, the creation of The Elysium Foundation, and cannabis

Yes Thats him

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It’s almost like when someone tells you they’re related to royalty :grinning:

Maybe a bad example because who gives a shit about royalty lol.

That’s really cool.

The “glitterati” is the name used to jokingly refer to those that frequent the Farm. lol

But i assure you there are just as many flawed, and awful, people as you will find in the general population. They are all more interesting then the average joe perhaps, but never any better at being good people, and a few can be excellent examples and proof that these substances just amplify what’s already there in people and don’t cause any kind of improvement on their own

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When I was in high school I was gifted a copy of TIKAL. For better or for worse, his descriptions of the effects of the compounds are primarily what I went off of when deciding which research chemicals were worth doing.

Always stayed away form the phenethylamines.

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Before erowid, anyone lucky enough to know of Sasha’s books used them as the only available source of info. I went through three copies, from consulting those books so much, before erowid was a thing worth visiting, the Lyceum was another similar site back then, and the underground papers from Gracie & Zarkov (accessed through sites like deoxy.org ) were essential reading when almost nothing was easily available. Those white bound small run Trout’s Notes were the gold standard of reference materials on citations at the time.

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I read all of trouts notes. Its cool to know that this place attracts new and old alike.

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Trout is an amazing, gentle man and I feel honored that we’ve become friends. One of the first projects I did was to cold contact the Keeper and ask him when his book on San Pedro was coming out. He told me he had lost his publishing partner so I said I could get that money together and then somehow made that happen with a doctor friend funding it. Leading to the publication of Trouts Notes on: San Pedro and related Trichocerus spp.(Sacred Cacti Part II 2nd Edition)
Years later I reconnected with him and actually met in person for the first time when I started frequenting the Farm. He’s a rare gentle super kind down to earth man who I really get along well with. Spending time with him has made me a better more humble person. He was the first person I invited up to the lab I was running and one of only a couple to actually come and hang out with me in the lab all day and chat it up all night at my house for a few days years ago. I showed him Rick & Morty for the first time, which he thought was great. lol

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Those white bound copies were all printed when he was living in TX and only about 200 of each were ever made. Very valuable and sought after if you actually have them. even though his website freely gives away all his materials in pdf form and with color photos and updates (making the books less useful), but man they are prizes to own by any serious home library enthusiast.

Wait, are you saying you’re old or I’m old? Cuz I am only 44, shit is that old?

for those that are curious…
https://troutsnotes.com/

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No offense meant, I don’t know why I was assuming your were much older :joy:

Im only 25. When I was fixated with this I was like 14.

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lol. It’s cool man. I’ve always a had at least a few “old lady friends” since I was a child, so I always feel like the youngest dumbest one in the room. Which makes for a good education for a boy with a mania prone personality. lol

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Me getting interested in tryptamines is what originally gave me such an interest in learning basic chemistry so that I could extract dmt or mescaline. Thought it was the coolest shit in the world.

I would have never learned how to learn effectively without first learning the basic terms from all the stuff trout posted, everything on erowid, drugs forum, blue light, shroomery.

Then learning to pirate research articles was a game changer.

I’m thankful for the seeds that were sown that facilitated all this growth.

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EDIT:
I’ve added many more videos of the Shulgins to this YouTube Playlist, as well as changed its name to:
Down the Rabbit Hole: A Shulgins Omnibus

Every watchable video I can find (still adding occasionally when I have time).
Enjoy

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I love this! Great work

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I thought I’d post a playlist link, just in case folks missed this Video Conference.

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend.
Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”
~Groucho Marx

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Also Connie Littlefield’s newest Documentary on the Shulgins is finished and looking for theaters…

A Chemical Love Story
This is the story of how Ann met Sasha, and how their chemistry has given humanity a chance to evolve.
Ann and Sasha achieved a kind of intimacy that most people only dream of. Sasha’s revolutionary approach and scientific expertise established a gold standard in psychedelic research, but Ann’s way with people and words helped spread these ideas to the wider culture.

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https://conceptafilm.com/better-living-through-chemistry/

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I chose the bay I did my thesis work in based on the “better living through chemistry” poster that the student before me had left on the wall.

probably should have learned more chemistry :wink:

again, THANK YOU for helping document and disseminate.

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The Old Master’s Toolshed I:
Ode to Sasha

The surreal abode of the Di Vinci of Atoms, and birth-place of over 200 tools ushered into the world by the love and skill of our gentle giant and his Molecular Midwifery.

The mythic life and historic laboratory of the world’s most beloved psychedelic chemist, Dr. Alexander T. Shulgin, Ph.D. in words & pictures.

With a complete set of photos and re-written.

Curated & edited. Optimized & size-adjusted.
Here presented for the enjoyment, viewing pleasures, & booing snickers of domesticated screen-monkeys & media-junkies worldwide.

May humanity soon escape the self-constructed, doorless casino that is social-media & build something better.

©2022 MJ Martini
(from The Elysium Foundation Historical Archives)

The Old Master’s Toolshed I:
Ode to Sasha

Nestled in oaks on a small hill east of Oakland, just beneath his Magic Storeroom, The Old Master had built his Toolshed.

Constructed over the burned remains of his family home, the building’s modest exterior would conceal the enormity of the work performed within its walls.

An authentic alchemist lair and once fully-licensed & registered research facility, this landmark of weird science is no small monument to the curiosity and courage brought forth in our perennial search for the seat of the mind.

Sacred Delphic coordinates, irresistible cathode to a cadre of overachievers & underachievers, artists & writers, dropouts & doctors, the chemistry nerds & all manner of psychedelic glitterati.

Deo’s return would soon bring such travelers and once gone they’d return in mid-summer.

Each year, for over 30 years they had came. A march of modern mystai making the dangerous turn up that winding dirt road. A sacred pilgrimage to the home, lab & Farm of the Kykeon Chemist of California.

A novelty for some and only happenstance for others, but to dedicated Dadouchos it became their Anaktoron and they’d come seeking the triple aporrheta.

United by their deep love and well-deserved respect for a singular man, his perfect union to Ann & The Work that the dyad had mastered.

Only a few years ago, stoked by some urgent need and his insatiable curiosity, the Hephaestusian tool-forger would spend countless days within these walls.

Should you arrive in that time, you’d find The Old Master here.

The air filled with music (the usual Classical), The Old Master animated & gliding, with his gentle hands guiding the delicate instruments of his craft.


His constant conversing with concordant chemicals communicated with clandestine skill.
The chemist-conductor’s coordinated contortions causing compounds to conform to his will.


Whether divinely inspired, or just glorious purpose, his decades of work left us this;

A love song to humanity, a symphony synthesis, more clues left behind for all.
Woven from treasures: lead, silver & feathers The Old Master had gathered last fall. .

He knew from the start The Gift would be flawed, this Pegasus not easily ridden.
For its terrible power could not be distilled remaining there perfectly hidden.

To craft such a song he need infinite time, and some subset of man’s total knowledge. A song sung to an audience too distracted to hear it, and equal only in number to those that would fear it.

The Alkoxy-Hierophantēs with a whispered command, called out to his children of carbon.
To his invisible progeny The Old Master spoke softly, agreeing to one final bargin.

The Erlenmeyer’s offspring with their crystalline bodies, derived from the rarest of gems, would be forever immortal & preserved in his writings, if not in the minds of men.

With a thousand techniques he had begged, bargained, & stolen from the violet Persephone herself, The Old Master poured his 300 years of secret wisdom into his creation.

Finally nearing its completion he bound it together with an ancient magic destined to free all of humanity from our beloved invisible prison.

The Gift: A handful of notebooks, & the spells in two books, two-hundred neat crystal tools placed in vials in a nook & The Old Master’s call to carry on with The Work.

You see, first angels were chemists, but now the other way around. Tears became torrents, some cried out in horror as Hades came up from the ground.

But on his decent, that first god of men, forever with Old Moldy Crown, sent word through his Harald, that with his departure The Old Master’s Gift would be found.

Now free from the Darkness which held them so long, his name was their poetry & his deeds filled their songs:

"St. Sasha the Wise was a wizard of kind, the daVinci of atoms and ahead of his time.

Like the angels own chemist, he’d appeared on the scene, to assemble the atoms that would fuel the world’s dreams.

Filling volumes of notebooks of all he would find on his long lonely search for the keys to the mind.

The workspace was modest (just a small lab and crew), with the devil’s own mountain commanding the view.


As The Old Master aged, gaining in years, the grateful poured blessings of praise in his ears.

He welcomed them all and turned away none, gifted some with his wisdom and loaded all down with puns.

His task now complete, flashing one of his smiles, he placed both The Gift & his tools in those small amber vials.

So now we all drink cheap red, tearing up with a grin, for that rascal, The Old Master has slipped away on the wind.

FB link:
The Old Master’s Toolshed I

Google Photos link:
Will post shortly.

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Thank you. For sharing, and linking here for those that don’t venture out much.

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This.

Thank you for posting @mj_martini

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