Entheogenesis Australis 2008 Symposium is a conference that explores the positive applications of plant-based psychoactives and empathogens.
Performances: Dr David Caldicott, Dr Des Tramacchi, Anna Kokavec, Tim Payne, Torsten Wiedemann, Michael Bock, Twix Elbert
Info: na
| Venue: | |
Copland Theatre, Economics and Commerce Building, Melbourne University. Victoria
|
Tickets: Early Bird tickets are on sale Now for $75 until the 3 November. Then general admission ticket will be $95 until sold out.
Time: 8:30am - 9pm
06/12/08 Entheogenesis Australis 2008 Symposium – Melbourne University
Entheogenesis Australis (EGA) is a not-for-profit association that exists to create a supportive environment that fosters mature, open discussion about psychoactive plants and chemicals. We seek to explore ways to assess societal impacts and examine the positive applications of plant-based psychoactives and empathogens.
Altered states of consciousness have long been a fundamental part of human culture, and as our world becomes increasingly fast-paced, alternative modes are becoming ever more significant and consciously explored.
The Entheogenesis Australis 2008 Symposium aims to address the issues relating to drug use/misuse from social, cultural and historical/traditional perspectives. EGA speakers will draw on the backgrounds of physiology, biology, pharmacology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, botany and more to provide a more realistic context to the role drugs and altered states play in the modern world.
If you’ve ever asked yourself “has the ‘War on Drugs’ created more problems than it tried to solve?” or “is MDMA really a more dangerous drug than alcohol?” - then EGA is for you.
Entheogenesis Australis is a collection of thinkers from all walks of life, we come together to share knowledge about sacred plants, chemical alchemy and states of consciousness.
We hope you will join us on this exploration
Shortlist of Speakers
1. Headliner – Under raps for now :wink:
2. Dr David Caldicott - Psychotropic mushrooms, an analysis of misidentification
Bio Dr. David Caldicott is an Irish research fellow of the Emergency & Trauma Department of the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia. He is the convenor of the OzTox Collaboration, an independent multidisciplinary, hospital-based research group committed to a harm minimisation approach to illicit drug use. He has been an outspoken critic of politicians supporting 'zero-tolerance' and prohibitionist drugs policy, questioning the evidence of their efficacy in preventing morbidity and mortality from illicit substances. He believes that drugs policy should not be guided by moral values, but by interventions known to have an effect on users behaviour. He has advocated a pill testing program in South Australia, as recommended by the 2002 Drugs Summit, but has yet to be granted a license by the State Government.
Dr. Caldicott is one of the founding members of The List, a politically independent group of experts committed to maintaining the truth on illicit drug debate in the Australian media. The List promised to monitor the media on drugs policy issues in the run up to the Australian federal general election in 2007.
Dr. Caldicott is one of the designers and co-authors of the Designer Drug Early Warning System, and was the Project manager for the TRAUMATOX Project. Both of these studies are some of the largest of their kind ever conducted in Australia. In addition to having a research interest in the acute health effects of illicit drugs, he is also co-author of the Bombs, Blasts and Bullets course, a primer for first responders approaching mass casualty incidents of terrorist origin.
In the emergency department, Dr. Caldicott is known for his assertive manner towards patients and colleagues, and can often be found engaging the internet for research during shifts.
3. Dr Des Tramacchi - "Persecuting Ephedra, Persecuting Religion: a comparison of the Avesta and the Queensland Drugs Misuse Act as moral guides"
Bio: Des Tramacchi holds a PhD in Religious Studies specialising in entheogens. He has a deep interest in trance and altered states of consciousness, shamanism and other wisdom traditions. He is a keen student of ethnobotany and has trained in both biology and anthropology.
4. Dr Anna Kokavec - “Wine: Medicine or Poison for the Human Body?”
Bio: Dr Anna Kokavec, a registered psychologist, is currently a Senior Lecturer and Head of Section for the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe University, Bendigo. To date Dr Kokavec has published a number of experimental papers aimed at investigating the effect of alcohol on the complex neuro-endocrine-immune feedback loop between energy intake and metabolism, immune response, and activity of steroid hormones. Dr Kokavec is also listed as the first author on several theoretical publications that aim to explain the malnutrition and lack of appetite for food commonly observed in the alcoholic population. Other research interests, separate to the substance use area, include supervision of major projects in the migraine and chronobiology areas.
5. Tim Payne - ‘Why are we still taking drugs’
Bio: Tim Payne originally trained as a Biologist, and is a comitted science generalist.
He has worked in Tropical Agronomy on 3 continents, in Gestalt Psychotherapy, in Martial and Living arts and Zen in Japan. He now runs a world leading precision Scissorsmithing business and is convinced that if God is alive on earth today s(h)e
is probably James Lovelock.
6. Torsten Wiedemann "The iboga journey"
Bio: Torsten is an avid plant collector and amateur ethnobotanist specialising in pharmacologically active plant species. He runs a nursery and online community for enthusiasts of psychoactive and other ethnobotanical plants. On his subtropical property 'Wandjina Gardens' he maintains a large collection of native and exotic plants for preservation and research.
Torsten's main interest lies in plant species and drugs that affect the serotonin neurotransmitter system as he believes this to hold the key to a happy and content individual life and society. He was privileged to be one of the first to propagate the tropical west african shrub Tabernanthe iboga outside its native countries and has made the species widely available to the rest of the world.
Torsten is doubtful of the existence of gods and spirits and hence approaches the astonishing healing power of plants such as iboga on a pharmacological basis with full recognition of the cultural context.
7. Michael Bock - ‘Absinthe & Toot: the exciting intoxicants'
8. Twix Elbert “ketamine as a model of schizophrenia: evidence from human and animal studies”
Bio: Twix Elbert completed his honours in psychology in 2007 at the University of Sydney developing a novel animal model of anxiety. He is currently a research assistant at the university's psychopharmacology laboratory and his research interests are in the neurobiology of schizophrenia, with an emphasis upon hallucinogenic drugs (DMT and ketamine) as pharmacological models of the illness. He is also interested in the applications of flotation tanks in performance enhancement.
9. TBA
Location: Copland Theatre, Economics and Commerce Building, Melbourne University. Victoria.
Date: 06/12/08
Registration starts at 8:40am in the Foyer and the event will run till approximately 9pm.
Tickets
Entheogenesis Australis is a presale only event with very limited ticketing, and over the last 3 years the event has sold out completely well in advance of the event commencement date.
Early Bird tickets are on sale Now for $75 until the 3 November. Then general admission ticket will be $95 until sold out.
For more information about tickets see;
http://www.entheo.net/2008tickets_1st_round.htm
There is also a student option available this year (see the web page).
Entheogenesis Australis Incorporated is a not for profit association. Our official statement of purpose can be downloaded on the link below.
http://www.entheo.net/EGA_SOP.doc
For more information see our web page
http://www.entheo.net
To stay current with EGA happenings join our NEW email list subscribing at http://www.entheo.net
Each year we will now be alternating between and indoor inner-city conference space and a 4 day outdoor gathering as we saw last year. As we feel we can reach a larger gamut of people with this approach as well as create the most sustainable mode for our association.
In Plant We Trust
EGA Crew :)
You can contact us email entheogenesisaustralis@gmail.com
|
