shazaman

 

Rak Razam

http://www.rakrazam.com

contact


Rak Razam is a feature writer and editor specialising in underground and counter-culture, spirituality and technology issues.

He has written and edited for magazines and companies including The Age, the Australian newspaper, Eye On, High Times, Tekno Renegade Magazine (TRM), Gizmag.com, EnTrance digital magazine, Paper Free Press, Zavtone (Japan), Dream Creation (UK), Mushroom Magazine (Germany), Sensis (AUS), Bread TV and See advertising. He is currently the gonzo reporter-at-large forAustralian Penthouse and is writing for and co-editing Undergrowth magazine online.

He has interviewed and written about LSD creator Albert Hofmann, the psychedelic movement, the shamans of Peru and ayahuasca culture, Rael of the UFO Raelian religion, Aussie poker champ Joe Hachem, dance festival culture, the marijuana industry, old growth forests and environmental activism, anti-globalisation activists, Australian counter-culturalist writer Richard Neville, electronic musician Ollie Olsen and many other luminaries.

His short stories have been published in Alternative Australia: Celebrating Cultural Diversity (excerpts of which were read on JJJ national radio), FreeNRG: Notes from the Edge of the Dancefloor; Global Eyes Electronic Music Yearbook; The Program.net, the Future Cities Project and his short story collection Psyence Fiction is now available from Undergrowth Publishing and is chocked full of street level science fiction for the turbulent times we live through, so check it out! (www.undergrowth.org/psyence_fiction).

His forthcoming independent documentary on Global Trance Culture - Children of the Sun - will be released one day, God willing, when the editing is finally done....

He is currently writing two books about his experiences in Peru with the indigenous shamans and he subverts the dominant paradigm in his spare time.

 

Homepage: http://www.rakrazam.com

 

Ayahuascau Down Under > Rak Razam

460>_3242196

Experiential journalist Rak Razam is interviewed by anthropologist Robin Rodd from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, on all things ayahuasca, Down Under. What are the cultural uses of ayahuasca in Australia and how does it relate to other entheo cultures in South America and elsewhere in the world? Without an unbroken shamanic lineage, Aussiehuasqueros have had to stitch their shamanic practice from multiple sources, sometimes united in a cultural synergy for group shamanizing. The hybridization of not just ayahuasca, but of Amazonian shamanism itself is potent in the Australian counterculture as it births a new hybrid modality suited to the conditions on the land. But what of the cultural archetypes, do they remain the same? How do Australian aboriginal spirits and energies affect the mix? Is there something activating in the vibrational frequency of the Australian Land itself, its songlines and energetic grid, and how does all of this tie into other indigenous prophecies of these changing times? A personal exposition from Razam on his own journey and collective journey in the culture...


Listen to the podcast here;

 


Globaluasca Wisdom

| | | | |

 

A seminal interview with Dennis McKenna, Ph.D on the evolution of ayahuasca and the entheogenic movement and the imminent tipping point on planet earth the movement parallels. In which experiential journalist Rak Razam quizzes Dennis on his role as a scientist and a leading ayahuasca researcher, while Dennis waxes lyrical on bio-piracy, the proliferating business of shamanism in Peru and around the world, and the urgent need for integration of the plant teacher experience in people's everyday lives to truly make a difference. Is the sacrament of ayahuasca becoming commercialized? As pharmahuasca – and the startling development of ayahuasca in a pill form – spreads beyond the vine itself, is the wisdom of globaluasca transcending its Gaian roots to connect with a new generation without the plant dogma? Is the future a religious, compartmentalized Entheogenic Evangelism? Or will lodges transform into "psychedelic monasteries" training plant Jedis? Its been ten years now since Dennis' brother Terence passed on, and Dennis deconstructs some of his theories, from Timewave Zero to the Singularity and provides a critical analysis of the 2012 phenomenon and the unfolding Archaic Revival...

http://in-a-perfect-world.podomatic.com/entry/2010-05-04T14_32_27-07_00

 

 

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.


One Tree

| | | | |

 

A 'pillow talk' about the ayahuasca movement conducted the morning after a journey into the infinite with Lara Star, a moderator from the ayahuasca.com forums... In which Lara and experiential journalist Rak Razam discuss Haoma (Syrian Rue) and the branching of the pure Amazonian tradition with the Middle Eastern mystic experience of "haomauasca". If ayahuasca is the "Madre", then Syrian Rue is the Prince, a warrior spirit, Lara suggests, kissing cousins from the same tree, the One Tree that host different plant devas in an overall family. Lara trained with the Peruvian Q'eros shaman Armundo who trained her in the cosmovision of the Andes under San Padro, mescilito and ayahuasca. Here she discusses the ayahuasca.com forums as part of the global shift and an infinite library of initiates awakening. Different shamans initiate and play different roles to different energy needs but Lara says the point is to get people switched on, and if they're not switched on they need to die and be reborn, opening back up to the great pool of becoming...

 http://in-a-perfect-world.podomatic.com/entry/2010-04-13T07_03_38-07_00

 

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.


Aya: The Odyssey Continues > Rak Razam in Chimbre

| | | | |

AYA The Odyssey Continues...

Author Rak Razam will be doing readings from the book Aya: a Shamanic Odyssey and talking about the global shamanic resurgence at the launch of the Chimbre shamanic retreat in Peru April 22nd, 2010. Alongside Dr Dennis McKenna and Eduardo Luna, Razam will be facilitating discussions on the shamanic world and the revival of Western interest and what that portends for global culture... For the Chimbre grand opening, we invite you to join us for an illuminating 10-day journey into the heart of our world. For millennia, shamans of South America have cultivated a deep and intricate relationship with their environment, the abundant plants and animals of the Amazon. ...

CHIMBRE http://www.chimbre.com

Evolver Spore: The Future of Psychedelics

| | | |

 

 

A lecture given on March 17, 2010 to the Sydney cell of the Evolver network (www.evolver.net) as part of its community "spore" discussion on the future of psychedelics. In which experiential journalist Rak Razam discusses the state of psychedelic culture, where it came from in modern times with the advent of LSD in 1943, the legacy of alchemist Albert Hofmann, and why the psychedelic movement is so important to a sustainable future. Acid opened the mind in the 60s, ecstasy opened the heart in the 80s, and in the 21st century ayahuasca and entheogenic plant sacraments are opening the soul of the West, guiding us back to a cooperative Gaian partnership. As the "second wave of ayahuasca shamanism" sweeps the world in a slo-mo r-evolution, the psychedelic movement is reaching out to the elder indigenous cultures around the world to bridge the gap of our own psychic and spiritual understanding, and is becoming a global entheogenic movement. Can this new wave reach a critical mass of its own understanding, as well as a purity of intent to truly be ready to join the galactic community? Join Razam and the Evolver community to find out...

 to listen to the blog click here.

Creative Commons License


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.


In A Perfect World > Digital Networks & Social Media > with Rak Razam and Jenny Ryan

itunes pic

On the road to Burning Man in a Toyota Prius with Rak Razam and radical cyber anthropologist Jenny Ryan (aka Tuna Bananas), research assistant to media pundit Howard Rhinegold (The Virtual Community and Smart Mobs). Jenny discusses cyber literacy, smart mobs and virtual communities with experiential journalist Rak Razam... How do we use technology to form communities and conduct virtual everyday social interactions? Does social networking keep the drones sedate and make us good workers? Or does Super-poking and quiz sharing provide a social glue for online communities? Where does the drift towards hive mind collectivism in the human matrix being able to laterally recognize itself – an ambient awareness – lead us? What role does the ego play in blogging and lifestreaming? And as social tribes grow, does it increase our pool of knowledge and ability to draw upon the wisdom of the collective? Or is it all an Orwellian marketing wet dream? The intent behind technology makes all the difference... *warning* some scratchy wind muffles about 20 minutes in... the perils of experiential podcasting...


For more information see: www.jennyryan.net/

Find more podcasts by Rak Razam here.


In A Perfect World > Blotter Art & The Institute of Illegal Images > with Rak Razam

| | |

An illuminating interview into the world's first edible art...

In conversation with Mark McCloud, acid blotter art historian and 60s archivist in his home in the Mission district of San Francisco, August, 2009. In which experiential podcaster Rak Razam learns from the master about the colorful and mind-expanding history of blotter art, from the early acid chemist oufits like the "Ghost" and the underground crews that ran the business of enlightenment.

 

Discover who first put artwork on blotter and how the process of dipping the chemical on artwork was evolved. Acid was originally dipped on string, sugar cubes–even underwear, in the case of Michael Hollingshead (who wrote the book The Man Who Turned On the World) before blotter paper was hit on as a mode of transportation. And then the artform really took off, originally with the chemists themselves choosing the art that would grace the minds of a generation of trippers. But how does the art influence the trip? Did trips like the "Gorbies" with Mikail Gorbachov heads help tumble the Berlin Wall? Why did the infamous Mickey Mouse Sorceror's Apprentice tabs terrify the Disney corp? Like the host in the Catholic mass, is blotter art a holy artform?

Listen to the podcast here.

This talk was transcribed and printed in part in Juxtapose magazine online.


IN A PERFECT WORLD 14 > SPIRITS OF THE VINE, LEAF & FLOWER >Podcast with Rak Razam

| | |

 

Jitunes picoin passionate plant heads sharing their experiences with psychoactive plants and their relationship to the Gaian matrix. Behind the chemistry are there active intelligences in the plant world, and if so how do we best interact with them? How can reclaiming our human-vegetal partnership help us become a sustainable culture? Why do we need to connect to the plant world? If plants can be teachers, can humans be students? What is our historical and bio-chemical relationship with plants? What does Nature have to teach us? What is the Australian plant kingdom’s place in the global entheo blossoming?

Panel discussion held at EntheoGenesis Australis Nov 7, 2009 (see entheo.net) moderated by Rak Razam, featuring speakers: Jewelli Dollman, Dan Schreiber, Margaret Cross, Michael Bock, Julian Palmer, Rob Bruce and Mulga.

 

In a Perfect World 14: SPIRITS OF THE VINE, LEAF & FLOWER
In A Perfect World

 

WORDS ARE MAGICK > with Rak Razam & Levin A. Diatschenko

WORDS ARE MAGICK PODCAST

Interview with magickal realist writer Levin Diatschenko, Australian author of "The Man who Never Sleeps" and the recent novella "Meta-Detective". Levin expounds on the act of writing about magical thought, the power of words themselves and the similarities between practising magic and writing with experiential podcaster Rak Razam. Conducted at the Rails Hotel, Byron Bay, mid-Oct 2009.

For more on Levin's work see:  www.levindiatschenko.com


IN A PERFECT WORLD > Experiential Podcasts with Rak Razam

Rak Razam, co-founder of Undergrowth.org and author of Aya: A Shamanic Odyssey hosts a regular series of "experiential journalism" podcasts exploring the changing world around us and the evolution of the global paradigm.

"In a Perfect World" will chart his meetings, musings and collective dreamings amongst the cultural creatives of the global tribe; the Ultraculture of the 21st century.

These recordings are raw snatches of Beatnikian immediatism, unedited downloads from the tribal journey of remembering...

Come anchor the vision and spark the new paradigm alight...

http://in-a-perfect-world.podomatic.com/