In some cultures, the shaman is an honored and revered figure; while he/she occupies a place that is by necessity somewhat removed from the rest of his/her society, they are nevertheless figures of great value to the community as a whole. Unfortunately, this is not the case within "modern" western society, and our shamans are often persecuted, prosecuted, and at best anonymous. When one passes from this world into the next, it often does not even render a blip upon our cultural radar. Such was the case in early 1997, when the community of western psychedelic shamen lost one of its most courageous, intrepid, and articulate members, D.M. Turner. Turner was the author of two ground-breaking books on entheogens that are essential elements in the libraries of modern psychonauts: The Essential Psychedelic Guide and Salvinorin: The Psychedelic Essence of Salvia Divinorum.
Unfortunately, when Turner completed his stay in this particular incarnation, the future of his books in print was left hanging by a precarious thread. In the absence of a will, the copyright in both works reverted to his family, who were unsupportive at best of his psychonautic explorations, and did not feel that it would be appropriate to authorize any further reprinting of the books. To see his writings go out of print would only have compounded the loss rendered by his passing, and I know for a fact that he would have wanted the information contained in them to remain available indefinitely.
In light of this, with the help
of many like-minded individuals I have prepared HTML versions of both books
as a memorial to this courageous explorer so that the wisdom he labored
so hard to bring back from hyperspace and share with others would not be
lost. Links are also available for downloading the text and graphics of
both works so that they may be saved on one's hard drive and hopefully
printed out and circulated among those not fortunate enough to have internet
access. I could think of nothing more rewarding as payment for the efforts
that I and my collaborators have put into this project.
The
Essential Psychedelic Guide
Salvinorin:
The Psychedelic Essence of Salvia Divinorum
In
Memory of D.M. Turner
(offsite link, courtesy of The
Resonance Project)
