Stanley Krippner

Stanley Krippner has spent the last several decades investigating the field of human consciousness, conducting research in such areas as dreams, hypnosis, shamanism, and disassociation, often from a cross-cultural perspective, with an emphasis on anomalous phenomena that seem to question mainstream paradigms. By "pushing the envelope" of orthodox models of actuality, he believes he and his colleagues have provided room to move for individuals and groups whose experiences, often classified as pathological, actually represent different belief systems, different ways of being, and different mythologies. He is an executive faculty member of The Saybrook Institute, where his personal commitment to teaching has been honored by the establishment of an interdisciplinary chair for the study of consciousness. He is an author and a contributor to several books on altered states of consciousness, dream states, and parapsychology.

Rolling Thunder and the Grateful Dead

(Presented with Sidian MorningStar Jones)

Rolling Thunder was an intertribal medicine man who was befriended by Mickey Hart and other members of the Grateful Dead in the early 1970s. Mickey's first solo LP was inspired by him, and Rolling Thunder let many rituals for band members. The Grateful Dead´s interest in Rolling Thunder was part of their curiosity about indigenous people and their capacities, an interest that would eventually win them an award from the Rain Forest Network. An example of this interest was the dream telepathy experiment Stanley Krippner conducted at Jerry Garcia´s suggestion with the entire audience each night of a series of Dead concerts in Port Chester (60 miles from Stan’s dream laboratory at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn). Through the Grateful Dead, Rolling Thunder met other rock stars including Bob Dylan with whom he toured for the Rolling Thunder Review. Stanley Krippner was introduced to Rolling Thunder by Mickey Hart and will share stories about Rolling Thunder's healing rituals and other shamanic activities. Sidian Morning Star, the grandson of Rolling Thunder, will provide the history of the chance meeting that brought Rolling Thunder together with Barry Melton, of Country Joe and the Fish, who introduced the medicine man to the rock band. This unknown fragment of rock history is filled with humor, tragedy, and wisdom.

Shamans and Drugs

The pioneering ethnologist Mircea Eliade looked upon "narcotic usage" by shamans as an indication that their traditional practices had degenerated. Although Eliade was right about many matters, he erred regarding psychoactive drugs (few of them "narcotics"). What are today called "entheogens" were present at the beginning of shamanism, especially in Siberia and the Americas. Not all shamanic traditions use drugs, but those that do continue to surround their employment with safeguards and ritual. Ayahuasca, for example, was used in the Amazon for centuries before it became a sacrament in some contemporary religious groups. Peyote is a sacrament in the Native American church, and marijuana is sacramental among Rastafarians. Join Stanley Krippner for an in-depth look at the Shamanic use of psychoactive substances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Top