Anthropology of Consciousness
March 1, 2018
Graham St John
13 citations
DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a potent short-acting tryptamine that produces out-of-body states and profound changes in sensory perception, mood, and thought, and has grown in appeal independent of ayahuasca. The 'breakthrough' event commonly associated with the DMT trance coincides with significant revelatory outcomes, including perceived contact with entities and transmission of visual language. This article examines user reports and other sources to explore the liminal phenomenology of DMT, observing a transitional process that is private, individualized, internal, and ritual-like. It discusses gnostic, therapeutic, and recreational modalities of DMT use before exploring ritual-like modes of transmission and commenting on the ontological significance of the DMT trance.
Dancecult
January 1, 2011
Graham St John
10 citations
Goa Gil is a central figure in psychedelic trance music, blending roles as a DJ, producer, and spiritual leader across decades and continents. His 2007 compilation "Worldbridger" reflects his aim to connect physical, spiritual, and cultural worlds through "trance dance rituals" that appropriate sacred sites and tribal icons. Gil's career spans from 1960s Haight-Ashbury to Goa, India, and the evolution of Goa trance and darkpsy. He is both celebrated and criticized as a controversial "techno-shaman" who embodies ambivalence within global psychedelic scenes. This article examines his anomalous status in DJ culture.
Dancecult
January 1, 2013
Graham St John
8 citations
Psychedelic electronic music culture, from Goatrance to psytrance, cultivates a socio-sonic aesthetic infused with the sensibility of exile and expatriate compatriotism. Participants adopt the figure of the alien in transpersonal and utopian projects, repurposing cosmic liminality, space exploration, and abduction narratives from science fiction. This posthumanist pretension resembles Afrofuturist sensibilities, which are identified with, appropriated, and reassembled. The article explores the interface of psyculture and Afrofuturism, focusing on Israeli psychedelic artists and the dance floor as an orgiastic domain where mutant utopias are propagated and alien identities danced into being.
Drogues santé et société
November 13, 2017
Graham St John
4 citations
DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a short-acting tryptamine that has grown in popularity independently of ayahuasca. Known for inducing out-of-body experiences and profound changes in perception, mood, and thought, it inspires an underground community that praises its entheogenic virtues. Drawing on user reports from online repositories like Erowid and DMT-Nexus, this article describes the DMT breakthrough event or hyperspace. Depicted as a gnostic event sometimes compared to a near-death experience, the DMT experience often involves contact with entities and visual communication. The accounts highlight the substance's fundamental manifestation and help understand the liminal phenomenology of DMT and other tryptamines.
The MIT Press eBooks
October 7, 2025
Graham St John
1 citation
An intellectual biography of Terence McKenna (1946–2000), the twentieth century's psychedelic Renaissance man, who developed a philosophy on the role of psychedelics in evolution, consciousness, and time. More than twenty years after his death, McKenna maintains an enduring presence across digital culture and social media. The biography, drawing on original documents, letters, fifty-two rare photographs and artworks, and stories from over eighty people, chronicles his life, works, and legacy without glorifying or disparaging him. It presents McKenna as a stand-up philosopher who contributed to science, humanism, and the hidden arts, and whose weird intelligence continues to haunt the present.
Dancecult
November 23, 2023
Graham St John
The acid house rave scene of the early nineties found an unlikely champion in Terence McKenna, a counterculture figure whose recorded speech under the influence of psychoactive tryptamines produced an alien-sounding “elf chatter.” Producers of psychedelic electronica have since mined McKenna’s “unEnglishable” vocalizations as a precious sonic resource. Over three decades, McKenna has become likely the most sampled individual in electronic music history, with artists adopting his voice as a template for the unknown. This practice, termed mckennasploitation, evokes the “apocalypse” of self and culture central to ecstatic dance movements and echoes McKenna’s prophesied “Eschaton” in an era of accelerating crisis.