Unofficial Vital Student ‘Zine
Notes from Vital Psychedelic Training class of ‘23
Kool-Aid Corner #9
Your regular round-up of trippy clippings, merry pranks, and psychedelic student life.
To finish: trippy clippings, merry pranks, and psychedelic student life
Graph or Table of the Week
Self treatment with psychedelics:
From: Self-treatment of psychosis and complex post-traumatic stress disorder with LSD and DMT —A retrospective case study by Mika Turkia published in Psychiatry Research Case Reports Vol 1 Issue 2 (2022)
My bookshelf weighs a ton
Notable new purchases for the occult library. Strictly second hand snap-ups only. This week: Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger
Another score from the Brick Lane bookstore, £6.50
“No other writer has thus opened my eyes,” wrote Albert Hoffman of Junger’s sublime nature writing in LSD: My Problem Child. Although the psychedelic inventor who corresponded with Junger after WW2, was keen to point out that he was less into Junger’s ‘earlier books’ about ‘war and a new type of human being.’
Junger was Germany’s greatest military hero of WW1. Throughout his career he consistently refused to apologise for embracing conflict when necessary, perhaps in contrast to his proto-hippy views that influnced the 60s counter-culture. He did accept that the warrior was powerless against the march of tech. “In war you learn your lessons, and they stay learned, but the tuition fees are high” is just one of the gems from this terrifying and exhilarating account of trench warfare that’s often uncomfortably, but necessarily, voyueristic.
Next issue: Core module two Psychedelic Therapies continues with ethics training on the edge of reality
Kool-Aid Corner #8
Your regular round-up of trippy clippings, merry pranks, and psychedelic student life.
To finish: trippy clippings, merry pranks, and psychedelic student life
Graph of the Week
Impact of traffic noise on heart disease:
From: Impact of road traffic noise on annoyance and preventable mortality in European cities: A health impact assessment by Sasha Khomenko et al, published in Environment International Volume 162, April 2022
My bookshelf weighs a ton
Notable new purchases for the occult library. Strictly second hand snap-ups only. This week: Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby.
From World of Books for £4.79
I understand why Cosmic Serpent is overlooked in favour of writings from more local experts like Eduardo de Luna. But it does at least come from the PoV of an intrigued, enthusiastic westerner. Plus it contains not only descriptions of the ceremonial process, but the animistic lifestyle that informs it.
Narby was only in his mid-20s when he travelled to Peru, and soon after first published the book in France in 1995. It was 1998 by the time it made it to the UK. That’s still 25 years ago. Kudos to Narby’s instinct for picking up on the vibe so long ago.
Next issue: Core module two Psychedelic Therapies begins with Courtney Barnes on the legal situation
Kool-Aid Corner #7
Your regular round-up of trippy clippings, merry pranks, and psychedelic student life.
To finish: trippy clippings, merry pranks, and psychedelic student life
Graph of the Week
Positive effects of DMT on rats:
From: Effects of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine on Rat Behaviours Relevant to Anxiety and Depression by Lindsay P. Cameron, Charlie J. Benson, Lee E. Dunlap, and David E. Olson published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience, April 2018
My bookshelf weighs a ton
Notable new purchases for the occult library. Strictly second hand snap-ups only. This week: illustrated Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake
From the National Trust bookstall at Ashton Court, West Somerset for £2
I currently live near Bunhill Row Cemetery in east London, where the ‘noncomformists’ were buried just outside the old city gates. The plot includes resting palces for Wuthering Heights author Thomas Hardy, Pilgrim’s Progress writer John Bunyan, Robinson Crusoe’s Daniel Dafoe, and Blake.
These poems contrasting the attitudes of the fool and the magus are a 12-Step favourite and often paired with the Bible’s Book of Job, that teaches life is more colourful when it includes hardship.
Next issue: Bennet Zenner of Brooklyn Psychedelic Society takes the discussion into the here and now
Kool-Aid Corner #6
Your regular round-up of trippy clippings, merry pranks, and psychedelic student life.
To finish: trippy clippings, merry pranks, and psychedelic student life
Preview image from Internice Eating the Weather by Charlotte Wendy Law
Graph of the Week
The relationship between:
Mindfulness
Creativity
My bookshelf weighs a ton
Notable new purchases for the occult library. Strictly second hand snap-ups only. This week: The Archaic Revival by Terrence McKenna.
From the incredible book stall at Brick Lane Market on Sundays for £8
Not to be overshadowed by any Netflix series or glossy hardback.
Much more on this guy later on in the course, but Terrence was essentially laying down the psychedelic enlightenment in the underground press decades ago.
It’s full of gems for all psychedelic aficionados, not just DMT bros. Terrence muses on rthe return of The Goddess, mankind’s destiny communicating as cephalopods, urges us all to try yoga and reciting mantras while microdosing, tells mystics to nob off in favour of lived experience, and much more.
Next issue: Dr Rick ‘The Strass’ Strassman goes further than ever before… several times
Each ‘Zine features the most mind-blowing bits I scrawled down during each of Vital’s exclusive live lectures by the finest minds in the space. Browse them by issue or go straight to the introductions with lecturer details.
And search by the topics: Traditional and Modern Approaches, Therapy, Space Holding, Medical and Clinical, and Integration. Funnies at the end too.