Alchemy, Entheogens, & The Esoteric with P. D. Newman

P. D. Newman is author of Alchemically Stoned: The Psychedelic Secret of Freemasonry and also Angels in Vermilion: The Philosopher's Stone from Dee to DMT. He is a 32nd degree master mason.

Here he points out that many species of the acacia tree contain DMT, the most potent psychedelic known. The very earliest alchemical writings – ie, those of Zosimos in the fourth century, AD – explicitly refer to the use of the acadia tree to derive the "philosopher's stone." Fourteen centuries later, the writings of Cagliostro are explicit that a potion derived from the acacia tree served as the basis for illumination in the Egyptian Rites that he initiated. Many other examples point to an intimate connection between entheogens and western esotericism.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the 1st Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death.

(Recorded on October 11, 2022)

[NewThinkingAllowed]

Statement of Comment Etiquette for New Thinking Allowed

[Apollo_Dionysus]

Jeff you should do a monologue about your ayahuasca experience! Would love to hear about it .

[deadbeats]

Thank you Mr. Newman, you're the first I've heard say mushrooms are basically the orally active form of DMT. Potency being different of course. Love your work.

[taylorbaxter]

Delightfully SHOCKING interview ! This really turns history on its head. I have to listen to this again, it was so full of surprises. Please being P. D. Newman back for more in-depth conversations on the various topics he touched on in this wide-ranging interview. Wonderful program !!!

[Piperdreams]

P D Newman is exceptionally knowledgeable combine this Jeffrey Mishlove, it was an excellent interview. I could have spent hours learning from these two talking about this!

[acacianilotica]

Ok so the Acacia! This tree has been showing up in my life for the past few years! We recently moved house and there are huge Acacia Niloticas behind my house, also known as the tree of life depicted on the walls of Ancient Egypt. I’m feeling such a deep spiritual connection to this tree, so many synchronicities associated with it and now here you are discussing it as the philosophers stone! ❤

[UFOsOnTheLevel]

Thank you Brother Newman and Dr. Mishlove! Appreciate the conversation and topic!

[DawnBytes]

Wonderful and interesting! I enjoyed every bit of this. Thank you both for this fantastic interview.

[katyRose]

I love this and. I love learning from your colleagues and you Mr. Mishlove, thank you so much for your work

[nigelericogden]

Excellent interview gents … It’d be great to hear more from Mr Newman.

[progressivelibertarian]

So great! Will get one of his books. Hoping for more programs with P.D.!

[aphysique]

Luv me some PD NEWMAN, my Grandfather devoted his whole life to thee Craft, I would've loved to have dialogue wit my Grandfather pertaining to PD Newman 's content! Fantastic Dr Mishlove !

[floydwilkes]

Extraordinary dialogue and sweeping history of a terrific, sublime subject! I do hope we get to hear more from him! Thank you NTA!

[gianmacinata]

Exellent info. I first read about Alchemy some fifty years ago. Mr. Newman clears up a lot of questions. Thanks to you both!

[Tyanite]

Nice historical view. Currently some people do what's called holotropic breathing or the breathing portion of the Wim Hof method to release this neurotransmitter.

[markangelagirard]

Thank you Jeff for always presenting material that challenge the taboo's of modern psychology. Watching your shows has expanded my worldview in so many different and helpful ways.

[NeganTropy]

In my findings yogic postures/positions are the result of reverse engineering the divine expressions. The case used to be that these yogis attained a certain level of connection with the divine energy/vibration resulting in synchronised movement (ie.dances/postures) as one of it's bodily expression.
Knowing these, early yogis tried to do the reverse, to see if those recorded postures/dances can connect them to certain energies/vibration that'll directly impact the soul, body and spirit. This was done to make it more accessible to the masses.

[spiralsun]

Wow, just wow. One of my favorite of your interviews. His description of anima was absolutely numinous and amazing, for example. Love the relation to Osiris in Egypt too. The philosopher stone to my mind is the Earth, the lead is the weight of Forgetting in the death of Osiris. The birth of a human. ❤. I definitely noticed real effects like that from yoga. I’m only half way through the video now… thanks so much guys. I spent some time in Tupelo. A while back. I used to live in Memphis. ❤👍🏻

[bennguyen]

Aside the Tyringham Initiative, another great resource might be Brian Muraresku and Bart Ehrman.

For example, Brian suggests how the burning bush may have been just a DMT-rich acacia tree.. and how the Eleusinian Mysteries was a gathering where kykeon was consumed (barley/Paspalum distichum, water, mint, ergot/lsd/Claviceps purpurea)... similar to Velada or Fly Agaric used in Mazatec rituals.. Or the divine mushroom of immortality (milk/honey, Amanita muscaria or Psilocybe mexicana mushroom, frankincense).

Regarding the 57m mark on the podcast with Anthony/Tony Stansfeld Jones.. he was interviewed on Thelema Coast to Coast: #4 (May 14, 2005) and talks about the mushrooms at the 44m mark.

[Endmorphin]

Brilliant episode gentlemen! One part of the interview reminded me about reading a book on indian alchemy/ayurveda that focused on the history of Soma rituals, in descriptions of one of the long term multi day rituals it was described the initiate would lose their teeth/ hair / nails and then regrow them.

Id love to pick the authors brain for a few hours to say the least, and look forward to reading his book
THANKS!