Hello friends and supporters,

This is a greeting to everyone who has helped my Kickstarter Project and all those who have taken an interest.  I know it's been a while since I've posted, and I apologize for that. The reason is that I've been busy doing what your generous and kind support has made possible - writing my book, The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss.  I really think of it as 'our' book because without your help, it would not be happening. Because of your help, it is happening.  I'm working very hard on it, trying to keep distractions at bay and use the time wisely.  Every moment I'm on the internet or hanging out on social media is a moment that I am not writing.  So for that reason, I have not been posting.  But now that the year is coming to a close, I wanted to check in and let you all know that I have not absconded with your money to Bora Bora or some such place!  I have in fact used it to pre-pay most of the costs of publishing, promotion, editing, design and layout. Thanks to you, all of that has already been paid for; the remainder, shrinking, but still sufficient to pay the bills until the book is finished.  That should be later this spring, with a launch date still projected for late September to mid-October.  Thanks for your continued patience.  I hope the result will be worth the wait.  

Meantime, I want to extend my very best wishes to my friends and supporters for the Holiday season and the Year to Come! 2012 is the 'Big One' -- whatever that means.  We shall all know vey soon.  I'm pleased and honored to be able to share this incredible time in history with you.  With a little luck we shall all be around to learn, as my grandfather was fond of saying, How the Boar Ate the Cabbage! 

Many thanks to everyone. Further words and encouragement are in the attached video. Peace, prosperity, good health, love, and wisdom to all, in 2012 and (hopefully) far beyond! 

Dennis McKenna

June 7

Well, WE did it! And I do mean 'WE' because this Kickstarter thing depends on the kindness, and the confidence, of so many people.  You fine people out there have shared this vision all through this intense pledging period, and thanks to you, the project has reached and even exceeded its goal.  

So first of all, I owe a profound and humble thanks to everyone who pledged their support - even if it was just good wishes, because that's important too - for this project.  It could not have happened without your support, and I am amazed, dumbfounded, and extremely pleased and grateful not only for the financial support (but thanks for that too!) but also for the sense I get, from this community, of the love that exists out there among you for Terence, and me too I guess. I really feel it and I really appreciate it. I have been hearing for years from occasional individuals who contact me, students, and others, about the deep personal connection they feel to Terence and to the ideas that Terence & I share.  Those ideas still resonate across cyberspace even though Terry has been gone for more than 10 years; a remarkable testimony to how very much he was ahead of his time. Much of what he articulated in the late 80's and throughout the 90's seems as fresh as though it was uttered yesterday.  I will miss Terence's insights and entertaining stories as will everyone in our community. Fortunately they are still out there in cyberspace for all to enjoy. 

But it's one thing to hear from individuals; it's quite another to plunge into the realm of social media, and to realize that for every one person I may hear from, there are dozens to hundreds who share the sentiments but don't contact me (out of respect for my time I presume and of course, I appreciate that!).  Well, I have gotten a real crash education in social media over the last two months!  It's a very interesting space; and it's good to know, reassuring somehow, to know that virtually our entire community of interest can be linked in this way, and to many other communities as well.  So we can continue to use these tools to stay connected, and I want to do that. I will need your continued encouragement and support as I work on this project over the next months. You have put your hard-earned moola on the line to make it possible. And I want to make a special thanks to those of you for whom it was a financial sacrifice to make a pledge. Times are tough, I know, for many people; so if you stretched your budget to make a pledge, and I know many of you did, then I want acknowledge that and give you a very special thanks.

Now, the ball's in my court. Now, I have to deliver, and I will give it my very best effort. 

So what happens next? Well, first of all now that the pledge window has closed I can use the Kickstarter tools to keep track of the pledges, and what rewards are due to those who pledged.  In most cases these won't be available until the book is finished, and the projected deadline for that is fall 2012 sometime (and even that is uncertain but it seems realistic from the perspective of June 2011). But there are a few promised incentives, like the CDs that were promised at the $90 level, that can be sent right away. I will be collecting the names of those backers who signed up for those perks and will try to get them sent off by the end of the month. 

And now that the pledge period is over and the project is funded, as a survival strategy I'm going to step back somewhat from the social media swirl so I can create the time needed to actually write the book!  Don't worry, I'm not turning into a Luddite, but you might see my Facebook activity go down for a while. I will continue to stay in touch by posting occasional updates here on Kickstarter, and also on the BSA group site on Facebook.  Anyone wanting to reach me can post messages here and via Facebook, but I may not get to them immediately.  If you don't see a lot of activity or recent posts, no worries; it means I'm 'in seclusion' and working hard on the book. And lest you're wondering, 'seclusion' does not mean sitting on some beach in some romantic locale, slurping Mai Tais at your expense! Maybe a little of that...but mostly, I will be secluded in my basement which is actually not a very romantic place, trust me! But it is secluded and quiet, which is the main thing. 

All my best wishes to everyone who helped make this a success. 

Thanks to the support of my friends Richard Meech and MItch Schultz, I can offer an additional incentive at the $90 level.  How about this: Everything promised at the lower incentive levels, plus one copy each of their amazing documentaries, each signed by the creators and by me (I'm signing, why? Mostly because I'm a talking head in both and they were kind enough to ask). This is a limited offer, to the first 50 backers who select this option. These documentaries will be collector's editions someday. And, an added incentive: you won't have to wait until the book is finished to collect your reward. They will go out within a week or so after the fund-raising window closes for the Kickstarter project. Richard Meech is the creator of Vine of the Souls: Encounters with Ayahuasca, and MItch is the creator of DMT: The Spirit Molecule. See their websites for more details: http://www.vineofthesoul.com

and http://thespiritmolecule.com/

I think we are caught in an accelerating fractal time loop! So much is happening I can't keep up with it. But a few things I wanted to bring to your attention. As you know if you've been tracking these updates, I have changed some of the incentives for pledges on the Kickstarter main site. One of the offers that has been popular are the free passes to the Evolver Intensives webinars at the $130 level. Those sold out almost immediately,so my friends at Evolver have kindly agreed to let me offer 20 more passes at that level, which is great. I just posted the change on the main site, so those incentives are now available. Get em while they're hot!

http://evolverintensives.com/

Also in connection to the Evolver event, I wanted to let people know that Evolver would like to sign you up to be an Affiliate to promote this program (as well as future programs). As an Affiliate, you can get a 20% commission on every pass that you sell from your site. So this may be of interest to those of you who have web sites, mailing lists, and other promotional sites or activities.  This may also be of special interest to those kind people who have invited me to make podcasts for their sites!  So for details on how to sign up, go here:

http://evolverintensives.com/affiliate-program.html

And for the personal touch, to resolve any problems or answer questions, contact Jennifer Palmer at jennifer@evolver.net.  She will help you get signed up and resolve any issues. I can tell you from personal experience she is awesome. 

And, here's another podcast, courtesy of Lorenzo at Psychedelic Salon.  He's gone back into his archives and unearthed this one, appropriately titled Exploring the Abyss, from an early Terence show in 1982. In Lorenzo's own words: November 1982 talk that Terence McKenna gave in which he spoke about four abyss' humans must face. And about some of the early explorations with his brother Dennis he says they were either “very loose science or very tight magic”. He also has some very interesting things to say about death.

Very timely and so cool. Even I haven't heard this one, so enjoy. 

http://www.matrixmasters.net/salon/?p=370

Stay tuned. More podcasts and 'stuff' coming up. Fundraising continues and is looking good!