Today I would like to introduce you to a very special book: “Alchemically stoned” – The Psychedelic Secret of Freemasonry. Its author is P.D. Newman, who is himself a Master Mason and a 32° Mason from North Mississippi. Now, you have probably heard rumors of all kinds regarding Masonic secrets. And if you are a Mason yourself you know what the Masonic secret really means. But – psychedelic secret, that sounds new. Well, Brother Newman starts from one of the very important symbols used in Freemasonry worldwide, the sprig of Acacia. And he lets us know that this tree contains DMT. Taking it from there this book tells us about the vast usage of entheogens – plant entheogens as opposed to artificial drugs – within spirituality. It is a fascinating story that P.D. Newman takes us on, from Count Cagliostro’s Memphis-Misraim rite through the Mysteries of Eleusis, from the Rosicrucians to the masonically inspired orders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Brother Newman speaks about those substances with a certain authority: he has studied and where legally possible also practiced the use of entheogens and their roles in different cultures, religions and indigenous societies.
This book is an exciting tour through the history of Masonry up to our days on a subject that I also admit was completely new to me. But when you know what for example certain kinds of frankincense used in churches and religious rite can have by opening your consciousness, it seems obvious that a clearly defined use of those substances triggers new spiritual experiences, and this also in masonry. And this gives indeed a completely new meaning to the symbol of the Acacia.
This book opens new territory, is very well written and could be a perfect gift for any Mason who is spiritually interested and may have already so many books about the Craft – there is a chance that this subject is also new to him.
And as author P.D. Newman puts it himself in the first chapter of this book: The reader is therefore asked to maintain an open – if skeptical – mind.
Very interesting read indeed – go and get it!
