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Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT
Since the mid-1950s, the psychoactive compound DMT has attracted the attention of experimentalists and prohibitionists, scientists and artists, alchemists and hyperspace emissaries. While most known as a crucial component of the “jungle alchemy” that is ayahuasca, DMT is a unique story unto itself. Until now, this story has remained untold. Mystery School in Hyperspace is the first book to delve into the history of this substance, the discovery of its properties, and the impact it has had on poets, artists, and musicians.
DMT has appeared at crucial junctures in countercultural history. William Burroughs was jacking the spice in Tangier at the turn of the 1960s. It was present at the meeting between Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and Tim Leary's associates. It guided the inception of the Grateful Dead in 1965. It showed up in Berkeley in the same year, falling into the hands of Terence McKenna, who would eventually become its champion in the post-rave neo-psychedelic movement of the 1990s. Its indole vapor drifted through Portugal's Boom Festival and has been evident at Nevada's Burning Man, where DMT has been adopted as spiritual technology supplying shape, color, and depth to a visionary art movement. The growing prevalence of use is evident in a vast networked independent research culture, and in its impact on fiction, film, music and metaphysics. As this book traces the effect of DMT's release into the cultural bloodstream, the results should be of great interest to contemporary readers.
The book permits a broad reading audience to join ongoing debates in studies in consciousness and theology where the brain is held to be either a generator or a receiver of consciousness. The implications of the "spirit molecule" or "the brain's own psychedelic" among other theories illustrate that DMT may lift the lid on the Pandora's Box of consciousness.
Features a foreword by Dennis McKenna, cover art by Beau Deeley, and thirty color illustrations by various artists, including Alex Grey, Android Jones, Martina Hoffmann, Luke Brown, Carey Thompson, Adam Scott Miller, Randal Roberts, along with Jay Bryan, Cyb, Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule, Art Van D'lay, Stuart Griggs, Jay Lincoln, Gwyllm Llwydd, Shiptu Shaboo, Marianna Stelmach, and Mister Strange.
Regarded as the “nightmare hallucinogen” or celebrated as the “spirit molecule,” labelled “psychotogenic” or “entheogenic,” considered a dangerous drug or the suspected X-factor in the evolution of consciousness, DMT is a powerful enigma. Documenting the scientists and artists drawn into its sphere of influence, navigating the liminal aesthetics of the “breakthrough” experience, tracing the novum of “hyperspace” in esoteric and science fiction currents, Mystery School in Hyperspace excavates the significance of this enigmatic phenomenon in the modern world.
Exposing a great many myths, this cultural history reveals how DMT has had a beneficial influence on the lives of those belonging to a vast underground network whose reports and initiatives expose drug war propaganda and shine a light in the shadows. This conversation is highly relevant at a time when significant advances are being made to lift the moratorium on human research with psychedelics.
REVIEWS:
"Meticulously researched and highly readable. St John covers every imaginable aspect of DMT’s place in the Western aesthetic and intellectual landscapes. Setting down his book, I came away with a new appreciation of just how embedded the DMT meme has become."
—Rick Strassman MD, author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, DMT and the Soul of Prophecy, and clinical associate professor of psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
"Graham St John’s book on DMT untangles the threads of this holy molecule, from anthropological antiquity to labs in Hungary, from hipster soothsayers to visionary art at festivals, including some of the best descriptions of the wonderfully weird tryptamine worlds inside all of us. Read Mystery School in Hyperspace and appreciate the miracle in our midst."
—Alex Grey, artist, and author Net of Being
“Combining the breadth of a scholar, the savvy of an underground journalist, and the open spirit of a radical empiricist, Graham St John has written the definitive cultural history of the weirdest molecule on the planet (and in your body). Mystery School in Hyperspace tells amazing tales, sheds light on the shadows, and brilliantly referees the ongoing psychoactive rumble between the sacred and profane.”
—Erik Davis, author of Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information
"Scholars and psychonauts alike will find much to appreciate in this lucid, thoughtful, provocative, and thoroughly enjoyable cultural history of DMT. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Mystery School in Hyperspace is remarkable in its deft interweaving of neurochemistry, countercultural thought, spirituality,...
DMT has appeared at crucial junctures in countercultural history. William Burroughs was jacking the spice in Tangier at the turn of the 1960s. It was present at the meeting between Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and Tim Leary's associates. It guided the inception of the Grateful Dead in 1965. It showed up in Berkeley in the same year, falling into the hands of Terence McKenna, who would eventually become its champion in the post-rave neo-psychedelic movement of the 1990s. Its indole vapor drifted through Portugal's Boom Festival and has been evident at Nevada's Burning Man, where DMT has been adopted as spiritual technology supplying shape, color, and depth to a visionary art movement. The growing prevalence of use is evident in a vast networked independent research culture, and in its impact on fiction, film, music and metaphysics. As this book traces the effect of DMT's release into the cultural bloodstream, the results should be of great interest to contemporary readers.
The book permits a broad reading audience to join ongoing debates in studies in consciousness and theology where the brain is held to be either a generator or a receiver of consciousness. The implications of the "spirit molecule" or "the brain's own psychedelic" among other theories illustrate that DMT may lift the lid on the Pandora's Box of consciousness.
Features a foreword by Dennis McKenna, cover art by Beau Deeley, and thirty color illustrations by various artists, including Alex Grey, Android Jones, Martina Hoffmann, Luke Brown, Carey Thompson, Adam Scott Miller, Randal Roberts, along with Jay Bryan, Cyb, Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule, Art Van D'lay, Stuart Griggs, Jay Lincoln, Gwyllm Llwydd, Shiptu Shaboo, Marianna Stelmach, and Mister Strange.
Regarded as the “nightmare hallucinogen” or celebrated as the “spirit molecule,” labelled “psychotogenic” or “entheogenic,” considered a dangerous drug or the suspected X-factor in the evolution of consciousness, DMT is a powerful enigma. Documenting the scientists and artists drawn into its sphere of influence, navigating the liminal aesthetics of the “breakthrough” experience, tracing the novum of “hyperspace” in esoteric and science fiction currents, Mystery School in Hyperspace excavates the significance of this enigmatic phenomenon in the modern world.
Exposing a great many myths, this cultural history reveals how DMT has had a beneficial influence on the lives of those belonging to a vast underground network whose reports and initiatives expose drug war propaganda and shine a light in the shadows. This conversation is highly relevant at a time when significant advances are being made to lift the moratorium on human research with psychedelics.
REVIEWS:
"Meticulously researched and highly readable. St John covers every imaginable aspect of DMT’s place in the Western aesthetic and intellectual landscapes. Setting down his book, I came away with a new appreciation of just how embedded the DMT meme has become."
—Rick Strassman MD, author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, DMT and the Soul of Prophecy, and clinical associate professor of psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
"Graham St John’s book on DMT untangles the threads of this holy molecule, from anthropological antiquity to labs in Hungary, from hipster soothsayers to visionary art at festivals, including some of the best descriptions of the wonderfully weird tryptamine worlds inside all of us. Read Mystery School in Hyperspace and appreciate the miracle in our midst."
—Alex Grey, artist, and author Net of Being
“Combining the breadth of a scholar, the savvy of an underground journalist, and the open spirit of a radical empiricist, Graham St John has written the definitive cultural history of the weirdest molecule on the planet (and in your body). Mystery School in Hyperspace tells amazing tales, sheds light on the shadows, and brilliantly referees the ongoing psychoactive rumble between the sacred and profane.”
—Erik Davis, author of Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information
"Scholars and psychonauts alike will find much to appreciate in this lucid, thoughtful, provocative, and thoroughly enjoyable cultural history of DMT. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Mystery School in Hyperspace is remarkable in its deft interweaving of neurochemistry, countercultural thought, spirituality,...
492 pages, Paperback
First published November 24, 2015
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About the author
Graham St John
11 books26 followersGraham St John, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and historian with a research interest in transformational events, movements and figures. Among his books are Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna (MIT Press 2025), Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT (North Atlantic Books 2015), Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance (Equinox 2012), Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures (Equinox 2009), and the edited collections Weekend Societies: Electronic Dance Music Festivals and Event-Cultures (Bloomsbury 2017), The Local Scenes and Global Culture of Psytrance (Routledge 2010), Victor Turner and Contemporary Cultural Performance (Berghahn 2008), Rave Culture and Religion (Routledge 2004) and FreeNRG: Notes From the Edge of the Dance Floor (Commonground 2001). He was recently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellow in the Dept of Arts, Humanities and Media at the University of Huddersfield and is currently Senior Research Fellow in the department. He is Executive Editor of Dancecult journal.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 29, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. As the title says, it's about the cultural history of DMT. Starting in the 1950s when it seemed to first hit western civilisation through the writings of William Burroughs through to Terence McKenna and Timothy Leary upto the clinical research by Rick Strassman. It looks at the effects it has had on the trance music scene in recent years as well as art, literature and film. It discusses the different settings and types of ingestion, ayahuasca etc. It's filled with a variety of "trip" descriptions as well as discussions about whether the DMT world and the entities one finds there are a real separate place or reflections of our mental state. Anyone interested in psychedelics will find this book interesting and enjoyable to read.
February 6, 2017
Rarely have I come across a book about a subject so interesting that I just couldn't bear to finish. The writing of this book is not bad, it's just bloody annoying. Sentences that run for lines and lines, way too many sentences inside other sentences and an endless variety of words I never heard or read before. It's a bloody shame that what could have been one of the most intriguing books I read this year has been spoiled by its author who seemed more intent on showing off than reaching his audience.
July 25, 2017
The author has written the definitive cultural history of DMT. The book is a wonder of information relating the historical context, people, and general lore surrounding DMT. I leave the details to be enjoyed, but I have a good baseline of reading on the subject and am comfortable saying this is the best yet. There is also the benefit of having the authors source material as cited throughout the book and being able to further enrich your education regarding this most perplexing molecule.
December 31, 2017
Meticulously researched and annotated, this history can veer towards the overly academic at times, but overall, it presents a great history and lineage of DMT usage in the western world. Most surprising to me was its heavy use in Australia, and the huge influence this substance has had on modern music. I especially appreciated the author's attention to the fact that The luminaries of DMT usage are all male, something that I think will change, and soon.
August 21, 2021
Genial
April 5, 2021
Unreadably awful
May 5, 2024
2.5/5
July 25, 2024
Great cultural-history-monography about the most bizzar astrochemical in the human neocortex, just like Andy Letcher´s Shroom. Woo-hoo!
June 1, 2021
The best book on DMT, for now. The chapters focusing on the music inspired by this drug bored the hell out of me, but that's simply a personal choice as I'm sure others will enjoy those chapters and find the focus on Burroughs to be boring.
I just wish one bloody book on this topic would provide evidence for these ridiculous claims that DMT mimics a near death experience. If it helps people cope with death, that's fine, but it's simply nothing like a NDE and I don't care if there's trace amounts of this chemical in our brains when we die, it's not the only candidate, and I'd argue to focus on just one is reductive and then if it is the case that DMT is responsible for the NDE, okay, so then what? This is just silly. We've managed to get over the pineal speculation, now it's time to drop this hypothesis, for it seems to rely on peoples experiences who either are religious or grew up surrounded by religion. I was not. And I'm not alone. So what accounts for our experience? Well, no one seems to have an answer.
I just wish one bloody book on this topic would provide evidence for these ridiculous claims that DMT mimics a near death experience. If it helps people cope with death, that's fine, but it's simply nothing like a NDE and I don't care if there's trace amounts of this chemical in our brains when we die, it's not the only candidate, and I'd argue to focus on just one is reductive and then if it is the case that DMT is responsible for the NDE, okay, so then what? This is just silly. We've managed to get over the pineal speculation, now it's time to drop this hypothesis, for it seems to rely on peoples experiences who either are religious or grew up surrounded by religion. I was not. And I'm not alone. So what accounts for our experience? Well, no one seems to have an answer.
June 14, 2020
Fascinating trip thru past & present of the sacred toxicomania.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews