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What do you mean by Palenque Norte
... what's the theme? ... who
are the speakers?
 As
most of you already know, a legendary series of entheobotany seminars
was held for many years in a jungle resort near the ruins of Palenque
in Mexico. The Spring 1999 Bulletin of the Multidisciplinary
Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) had this to say about that
year's event:
This year's presenters included Sasha and Ann Shulgin: psychedelic
pioneers and co-authors of PIHKAL and TIHKAL; Jonathan Ott: natural
products chemist and entheobotanist as well as author of a variety
of books on psychedelic pharmacology; Terence
McKenna: lecturer and author whose works focus on the importance
of the role of natural hallucinogens in the future of human evolution;
Christian Raetsch: Germany's leading expert on the shamanic arts and
author of a number of books on psychoactive plants and their historical
uses in Europe; Michael Bock: chemist, lecturer, and authority on
Australian psychedelic flora and fauna; Rob Montgomery: founder of
the Botanical Preservation Corps; Giorgio Samorini: Italy's leading
expert on entheobotany, the African Bwiti and sacramental Iboga; Paul
Stamets: mycologist and founder of Fungi Perfecti mushroom company;
and Manuel Torres: art historian and expert on the ethnography of
visionary snuffs.
It is in the spirit of the wonderful talks given in those mystical
seminars that Palenque Norte is being formed. Our mission is not to re-create
the Palenque experience but instead to build upon it with a Burning Man
twist. We plan to provide a lecture space designed to reproduce the vibe
found "around the end of the pool" at the Hotel Chan Kah Ruinas
near Palenque, Mexico. We plan to continue to attract world-class speakers
on a wide range of topics (not exclusively entheogens). Since most of
the magic in Palenque took place around the end of the pool after the
lectures, we intend to encourage that same kind of ad hoc community formation
after and between the more formal “conversations”.
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