Description
Lecture: Plant Magic / Earth Allegiance
Earth denial is all about us—sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle. This talk and discussion will explore just how deeply earth denial is embedded in our culture, and how the ancient plant-human alliance is more important than ever.
“There are no plants in cyberspace,” I once wrote. Nor in any formal, abstract system. We are fascinated by the logos, the code, and overlook the supporting frame of matter/mother. Then we act “like a person with no relatives,” as the Navajo might say. Plants can be our guides in the realm where ghost sickness is more and more the norm.
Biography
Poet Dale Pendell is the author of the award-winning Pharmako trilogy, a literary history of psychoactive plants. His poetry is widely anthologized, most recently in The Wisdom Book of American Buddhist Poetry. Dale was the founding editor of Kuksu: Journal of Backcountry Writing. In addition to writing, Dale has been a consultant for herbal product development, botanical surveys, and a computer scientist. His most recent books areSeeking Faust, Walking with Nobby: Conversations with Norman O. Brown; The Language of Bird: Notes on Chance and Divination; and The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse, a novel.
He and his wife Laura and a familiar cat live in the foothills of the Sierra in California. Their performance group, Oracular Madness, appeared at Burning Man.
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Dale Pendell passed in January of 2018. His work and contributions in the entheogen and esoteric herbalism field is monumental. It was such an honor to have him present at the 1st Annual Viridis Genii Symposium. He is missed and forever celebrated.