The Fascinating Story of DMT: A Crucial Component of Ayahuasca

Since the mid-1950s, the powerful psychoactive compound DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine) has garnered attention from various enthusiasts, including experimentalists, prohibitionists, scientists, artists, alchemists, and hyperspace emissaries. As a crucial component of the jungle alchemy that is ayahuasca, DMT has a unique story that has remained untold until now.

A History of DMT: From Counterculture to Contemporary Times

Mystery School in Hyperspace is the first book to delve into the history of DMT, its discovery, and its profound impact on poets, artists, and musicians. This potent substance has made appearances at crucial junctures in countercultural history, influencing the creative minds of prominent figures such as William Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Tim Leary, and the Grateful Dead.

In the 1990s, Terence McKenna became the champion of DMT in the post-rave neo-psychedelic movement. The substance has also been present at various festivals, including Portugal’s Boom Festival and Nevada’s Burning Man, where it has been adopted as spiritual technology, fueling a visionary art movement.

The Cultural Significance of DMT: Debates in Consciousness and Theology

The growing prevalence of DMT use is evident in a vast networked independent research culture, influencing fiction, film, music, and metaphysics. As this book explores the effects of DMT’s release into the cultural bloodstream, the results should be of great interest to contemporary readers. The book invites a broad reading audience to join ongoing debates in studies of consciousness and theology, where the brain is held to be either a generator or a receiver of consciousness.

The implications of DMT, often referred to as the “spirit molecule” or “the brain’s own psychedelic,” raise important questions about the nature of consciousness, sparking discussions on whether DMT may lift the lid on the Pandora’s Box of consciousness.

A Richly Illustrated Cultural History

This book features a foreword by Dennis McKenna, cover art by Beau Deeley, and thirty color illustrations by various artists, including Alex Grey, Android Jones, Martina Hoffmann, Luke Brown, Carey Thompson, Adam Scott Miller, Randal Roberts, and others.

Documenting the scientists and artists drawn into DMT’s sphere of influence, Mystery School in Hyperspace excavates the significance of this enigmatic phenomenon in the modern world. By exposing myths and shedding light on the shadows, this cultural history reveals how DMT has had a beneficial influence on the lives of those belonging to a vast underground network.

This conversation is highly relevant at a time when significant advances are being made to lift the moratorium on human research with psychedelics.