Program

Each day will begin with a musical "Tune-in". Afterwards, as well as in the early afternoons, the plenary events will be presented as a "Panorama": with short talks and panel discussions a chairperson and several speakers will illustrate the day's topic in order to give the audience reference points for easy navigation through the dense symposium program. Before noon, in the afternoon, and in the evening 45 to 90-minute seminars, workshops, and panels will be staged. As a rule there will be three blocks of four events each. At the end of most lectures the speakers will be available for discussions and/or individual conversations. In addition our supporting program in the Convention Center’s big lobby offers ample opportunity to meet famous scientists, therapists, and witnesses of the times, to discuss with them and to ask questions.

Topics

Friday, 13th January:
From the Plants of the Gods to LSD
What is D-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide? • The Discovery of LSD-25 • The Witches of Salem: Ergot as Remedy and Devil’s Poison • Methergine, Hydergine and Dihydergot: Medical Applications of Ergot Derivates • Teonanacatl: The Synthesis of Psilocybin by Albert Hofmann • Approaches: Hofmann’s Friendship with Ernst Jünger • Appreciation of Albert Hofmann’s Lifework • Writers and Drugs: From Charles Baudelaire to Aldous Huxley • LSD and the Eleusinian Mysteries • Plants of the Gods: Gordon Wasson and Richard E. Schultes • The Relatives of LSD: Ololiuqui and Ayahuasca • LSD-Research and Psychotherapy in the 50s • LSD behind the Iron Curtain: Stanislav Grof’s Work in Prague • Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds: Psychedelic movement of the 60s • The Problem Child: LSD and the Mass Media • The Empire Strikes Back: The Demonizing of LSD and the Supression of Research • From Grateful Dead to Jimi Hendrix: LSD and Counterculture • Joyous Cosmology: Alan Watts and Timothy Leary • Woodstock or Paris May ‘68? - A Cultural Comparision

Saturday, 14th January:
The Ecstatic Adventure
The Effects of LSD: The Position of Today’s Research • The Worldwide Application of LSD in Therapy • Special case Switzerland: LSD Research and Therapy • Psycholytic and Psychedelic Therapies • LSD in Design and Fashion • LSD in Art and Music • The History of Drug Policy • Mysticism and Psychosis: Common Grounds and Differentiation • The Necessity for Transcendence • The Right to Get High • Techniques of Altering Consciousness • The Significance of Set und Setting • LSD and Meditation • Neo-Shamanism • New Psychedelics and their Specific Effects • Tihkal und Pihkal: Research and Work of Alexander T. Shulgin • The Psychedelic Revival of the 90s: The Global Techno, Rave and Trance Rituals • From Religious Experience to Holistic Thinking

Sunday, January 15th:
New Dimensions of Consciousness
The Meaning of the Psychedelic Experience • Psychedelic Medicine: Therapy and Treatment • No Drugs – No Future: Sketches of an Adequate Drug Policy • The New Rituals: LSD as a Sacred Substance • Freedom and Hedonism: The Future of Psychedelics • Psychedelics and a New Paradigm: Personal Responsibility and Self Reliance • The Future of Religion: Dogma or Transcendental Experience: • The Future of Human Consciousness • Future Society: «Brave New World» or «Island» • Visions and Initiatives • Insights and Outlooks: A Summary • Closing Ceremony

August 2005 • Subject to change