Grateful Dead And Psychedelic Alchemy

[harflimon]

Psychedelic Alchemy

* Jan 1, 2007 at 8:50 PM

“Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if you look at it right.” – Robert Hunter


The troubadours traveled the land in the times of the golden age. They came to town, creating tremendous excitement. We’d all gather together in the sacred places to not only listen, but participate in the harmony of the crowd, enjoying the music and magick as they cast their spell. Mind expanding rituals took place before and during the performance, the participants all melding together in a cosmic consciousness… at least while the music played and the colours swirled.

“There's a band out on the highway
They're high-stepping into town
It's a rainbow full of sound
It's fireworks, calliopes and clowns
Everybody's dancing

Come on children, come on children
Come on clap your hands

Sun went down in honey
And the moon came up in wine
You know stars were spinning dizzy
Lord the band kept us so busy
We forgot about the time

They're a band beyond description
Like Jehovah's favourite choir
People joining hand in hand
While the music plays the band
Lord they're setting us on fire

Crazy rooster crowing midnight
Balls of lightning roll along
Old men sing about their dreams
Women laugh and children scream
And the band keeps playing on

Keep on dancing through to daylight
Greet the morning air with song
No one's noticed but the band's all packed and gone
Was it ever here at all?
But they kept on dancing”

- from “The Music Never Stopped”


Yes indeed, I was one of those in the crowd, partaking of the music and cosmic consciousness, to some degree. Speaking as a fan of the music and former fan of the band, the Grateful Dead were one of a kind.


The themes present throughout their lyrics, symbols, and mythology, combined with their initial role as the house band of the Acid (LSD) Tests and cult following make the Grateful Dead one of the most interesting bands around in terms of the hidden, or occult, connections.

Anyone who’s listened to “Dark Star -> St. Stephen” from Live Dead can attest to its magickal qualities. Go on, turn down the lights, spark up the candles and whatever else you’ve got and listen to it. This is a powerful piece of music, made to affect the listener on a mystical level.

“Dark star crashes, pouring its light into ashes.
Reason tatters, the forces tear loose from the axis.
Searchlight casting for faults in the clouds of delusion.
Shall we go, you and I while we can
Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?


Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter.
Glass hand dissolving to ice petal flowers revolving.
Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of good-bye.
Shall we go, you and I while we can
Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds?”

And what of the Dark Star that is mentioned? What does its symbolism imply? The seemingly nonsensical lyrics are akin to reading an obscure alchemical or occult text. The album cover doesn’t disappoint either, invoking the same ideas.


Not only will we look at the rather well-known LSD distribution role and how that fits in with larger political conspiracy, but also the symbolism in the band's artistry and song lyrics. A pivotal figure in both areas is the main lyricist, Robert Hunter.

Hunter was one of those involved in the MK-ULTRA LSD experiments along with Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and leader of the Merry Pranksters, and poet Allen Ginsberg in 1964 at Stanford University.

To truly comprehend these experiments and their purpose, it is also necessary to understand Aldous Huxley and the plan for pharmaceutical control. Huxley spearheaded the Tavistock LSD program.

“There will be in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing... a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies,” Huxley stated. [1]

“Huxley collaborator Keith Ditman provided author Ken Kesey with an unlimited supply of LSD, and it was from this small group that arose Kesey's guerrilla theatrical Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead, a rock band that still commands a large cultic following after the demise of its leader. According to a 1968 FBI memorandum, Jerry Garcia, the leader of the Grateful Dead, was employed “to channel youth dissent and rebellion into more benign and non-threatening directions.”” [2][3]

Jerry Garcia also went by the moniker of “Captain Trips,” mimicking the work of Capt. Hubbard, a former high-level OSS officer known as the “Johnny Appleseed of LSD.”

As anyone who has tried it can tell you, LSD is just no good for any kind of control of those under its influence. However, it can very well distract or disengage those who use it from what could be termed ‘practical reality of the everyday world’.


Author of Mind Control, World Control, Jim Keith states it plainly:

“I believe that dumping LSD on the populace of the planet was seen as one of those high-leverage activities. It was a way of turning the masses away from a political activism that might net them a share of the world pie, and toward the life of ecstatic mystic peasantry.” [4]

So when Robert Hunter penned the lyrics to what would become known as “U.S. Blues”, I wonder what he was really thinking? Is it just a bit of fun or something more sinister?

"I'm Uncle Sam,
that's who I am,
been hidin' out,
in a rock 'n' roll band."

Now it should be noted that a large percentage of those who experienced LSD, me included, would still have done it knowing this in advance. The benefits in terms of consciousness expansion may outweigh its dangers, but that certainly cannot be said for all who indulged… just like anything else.


From this point, it is clear that the Grateful Dead’s involvement with LSD and its distribution and dissemination is legendary. For anyone wanting to read more about this topic (although without the Huxley and Tavistock conspiratorial bent), check out Tom Wolfe’s highly entertaining The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

With regard to the occult concepts connected with the Grateful Dead, it is notable that the original name of the band was The Warlocks. Before that, Jerry played in a band called The Zodiacs. Starting to see a pattern? The story of the name Grateful Dead is an interesting one as well. It involves a traveler who happens upon a funeral, but the deceased was too poor to pay for burial. The traveler is generous enough to foot the bill and the deceased aids the traveler in the future as the “grateful dead.” The concepts involved here are certainly noteworthy too: life after death / reincarnation and communication with the spirit world.

Robert Hunter was one of many figures in and around the band interested to some degree with the occult, theosophy, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, and similar ideas. [5]

In fact, the Acid Tests reminded some involved of an alchemical reaction:

“The whole point of the acid test, it seemed to Bear (Owsley, renowned LSD chemist), was to “expose you right down to your infinite detail, exposing you to forces of the universe that [Kesey and the Pranksters] didn’t thoroughly understand.” All the demons and spirits that are part of mythology and part of alchemical lore were “part of that real other reality which you fall right into with things like the acid test … They had discovered on their own the secret rituals of the ancient witchcraft rites and alchemical rites of human history that had been lost, suppressed by the Christian church among other things.” [6]

Now, let’s take a look at some of the symbolism of the band’s artistry and lyrics. First, the symbols of the band are very closely identified with them, probably more so than any other artist. The Steal Your Face logo with its death head and lightening bolt with red, white, and blue signifies the not only the U.S. but also invokes the concept of the red and blue degrees of freemasonry.


Another highly used symbol is the red rose.

Throughout time, it has been a symbol associated with secrecy (a la Rosicrucians). The other imagery tends toward animated figures of death. Many other occult secret societies use similar imagery whose stated purpose is reminding initiates of the transitory nature of physical life and that all are equal after death.

In terms of song lyrics, there are probably too many to choose from, but check out tunes like “Fire on the Mountain”, a nod to shamanism, “Franklin’s Tower,” referring to founding father and secret society grand master Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty Bell, or “St. Stephen” with its rose imagery and wishing well, golden bell, and ladyfingers dipped in moonlight. Robert Hunter is a semiotician, or one who specializes in the theory and study of signs and symbols. Reading his lyrics makes this obvious.

Another notable quality of Hunter’s lyrics is the way they continually reveal different aspects of meaning over time. This is difficult to describe to someone totally unfamiliar, but I believe most fans would agree with this statement and most hermeticists would as well.

At this point, the obligatory mention of the fact that the Grateful Dead played at the Giza pyramids in Egypt is due. The performance at Giza must have been quite a spectacle, but quite literally overshadowed by the pyramids themselves.

Of course, no investigation of this type would be complete without mentioning the fact that three consecutive keyboard players all died prematurely (a curse?). Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan died from alcoholism and related problems, Keith Godchaux in an auto accident, and Brent Mydland overdosed on heroin and cocaine. In addition, Jerry Garcia himself passed while in rehab to quit his addiction to heroin in 1995.

Not too long ago, it was publicized that two band members, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, are also both members of the Bohemian Club. That’s right, the same one featured in the Bohemian Grove taped ritual. In light of the above information, does this seem at all out of character?

1. Cited in Smith, Caulfield, Crook, and Gershman, The Big Brother Book of Lists. (Los Angeles: Price/Stern, Sloan, 1984)

2. White, Carol, The New Dark Ages Conspiracy. (New York: New Benjamin Franklin House, 1984)

3. Keith, Jim. Mind Control, World Control. (Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press, 1997) p. 96-97.

4. ibid.

5. McNally, Dennis, A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead. (Broadway Books, 2002)

6. ibid.

Additional source:
Lesh, Phil, Searching for the Sound: My Life With the Grateful Dead.



Update: A continuation of these thoughts -- http://rochester92.vox.combrary/post/ps...hemy-contd.html

Article

Also check out another blog on the Beatles and John Lennon that is about this same topic:

Above us only Sky


Tkra was cool enough to post the "Changing Images of Man" report on the tracker. It's referenced in these two blogs, so its something related that you might want to check out.

http://conspiracycentral.info/index.php?showtopic=6282

P.S. I couldn't include any of the images, it gave me an error for some reason, so you'll have to go to the blog to make sense of some parts of the article. Sorry :sad:

[MC David]

I love the Grateful Dead, I don't even care if they're "bad" they're fucking great

[al_uh_looyah]

Quote:Hunter was one of those involved in the MK-ULTRA LSD experiments along with Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and leader of the Merry Pranksters, and poet Allen Ginsberg in 1964 at Stanford University.

also included in this group is "Adi Da" aka Franklin Jones

Quote:Now it should be noted that a large percentage of those who experienced LSD, me included, would still have done it knowing this in advance. The benefits in terms of consciousness expansion may outweigh its dangers, but that certainly cannot be said for all who indulged… just like anything else.

me too.

Great post, having been to a few Dead shows, I'm well aware of the phenomenon and have some grown some critical awareness of the social engineering involved.

[MC David]

Quote:

Quote:Hunter was one of those involved in the MK-ULTRA LSD experiments along with Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and leader of the Merry Pranksters, and poet Allen Ginsberg in 1964 at Stanford University.

also included in this group is "Adi Da" aka Franklin Jones

Quote:Now it should be noted that a large percentage of those who experienced LSD, me included, would still have done it knowing this in advance. The benefits in terms of consciousness expansion may outweigh its dangers, but that certainly cannot be said for all who indulged… just like anything else.

me too.

Great post, having been to a few Dead shows, I'm well aware of the phenomenon and have some grown some critical awareness of the social engineering involved.

It's crazy to me, I never suspected any social engineering going on. Guess it didn't effect me like that, maybe that's why, I've always known my limits & have never been into hard drugs like coke or anything. The thing is that you can tell the band themselves geniunely love what they do and their music, I can't see they themselves seeing it as an actual conspiracy or that they're fucking over the fans in any way.

[Thirtyseven]

Thanks for posting that, very entertaining and interesting stuff.

[Target0]

Great Fuckin' song

Ah, the 1960s. Democracy happened en masse. Unfortunately, it had to be crushed by the powers-that-be. The counterculture, probably created by the very people who tried to find ways to prevent it.

"I'm Uncle Sam,
that's who I am,
been hidin' out,
in a rock 'n' roll band."

From Wikipedia:
Around 1962, Hunter was an early volunteer test subject (along with Ken Kesey) for psychedelic chemicals at Stanford University's research covertly sponsored by the CIA in their MKULTRA program.

When you say mind control, think Stanford Reserach Institute. SRI promoted the idea of Disneyland in the early 50s as mystical manipulation for the masses; early 70s SRI was also the remote viewing research with Scientologists Ingo Swann and Pat Price.

They all backfired. Ha ha ha, serves them right these chldren of Nuremberg.

There's an opposite view of this that the 60s went as planned. I disagree with this view.

Robert Hunter, incredible. Never was a dead head, but their early LPs were great.

Target0

[blove8.]

Thanks for some great years guys, I'll never forget them, but yes, I've moved on too.

[MC David]

The kids who got to trip & see The Dead, & people who are still experiencing it now are having experiences a million times greater than whatever wordly pleasures "the globalists" who funded it would with their mundane, low frequencies existences.