The Sacred Secret with Don Teeter

Description

Austin Access Television Enlightenment vs Enfrightenment Original Broadcast Date 12/05/03 Natural Magic Recreating the Grail History of the Aminita Muscaria Mushroom and Practical Use and Applications for Health Benefits Santa Claus as the Mushroom --Soma Sacrament

Transcript

[00:00] Kory: ...like to thank you for allowing us into your homes for this sixth episode edition of, uh, season three of Esoteric Science Roundtable. And, uh, today we're going to be discussing The Sacred Secret, uh, the Amanita muscaria mushroom and its relation to the Holy Grail mythos that many may be familiar with. And I would like to thank my guest, Don Teeter, for taking the opportunity, uh, child, and for traveling quieter for peace, as a matter of fact, for taking the time to get here to our show and to bring forward this information.

[00:30] So thank you a lot, Don, for taking the time to come on publicly. And if you want to just start, please, by giving us a bit of brief, uh, background on yourself and how you discovered the Amanita muscaria, and how you got started in your research into the mushroom and its qualities, and its... Don: Well, I guess you'd start it in Sunday school, where, you know, nothing seemed to make sense. The story they were telling me just was... I never really did believe it. And then when I was 13, uh, you know, it was

[01:02] 1969, and people were checking out a lot of alternative things, and I was looking through an old... in the article was Hinduism, and I came on a reference to a plant god, an ancient plant god that went back at least 1200 BC, whose name was Soma. And Soma was a seer and a sage by sapience, and he made the blind see and the lame walk, and he healed all of the sick. And I'm

[01:33] thinking, well, this is exactly the miracle cures and action that I was told that an impossible man-god... in church school. The next paragraph in that encyclopedia said that Soma was somehow related to Dionysus of the Greek myth, that it was exactly the same as the ambrosia, nectar of the Greek myth, and that it was the legendary herb of i...

[02:07] read that passage several times, and the things that kept coming to my mind was: one, in 1200 BC or so it was already... they were calling this plant a 'he'. Kory: Right. Don: And the correlation with the miracle cures just didn't seem... you know, it was much more likely that a plant was causing the blind to see or the lame to walk than some impossible man-god. And that's pretty much where I started my

[02:38] research. It took a long, long time to kind of, like, wean myself from the man in the story and understand the story as just being a way of passing down knowledge. This mushroom has had a profound impact on Western religion, from basically India and even into China, all the way to, you know, Ireland and Scandinavia and Spain. The mushroom is widely distributed; it grows

[03:08] wherever pine and spruce, maple and trees grow. It likes birch. There's at least a dozen trees that it grows with in a symbiotic relationship: the mushroom is essential for the life of the tree, and the tree is essential for the mushroom to fruit. When I first discovered Soma, nobody knew what Soma was. There were at least 200 plants proposed as candidates for Soma. In 1969, unbeknownst to me at the time, a man

[03:40] named R. Gordon Wasson proposed Amanita muscaria as the plant that was the legendary Soma. I discovered it about 1973, his book. Ever since then, Amanita muscaria has been the only plant that really makes sense as the legendary Soma. Kory: And you were pretty young at that point, obviously. You're probably about 16 at the time when you read that guy's book, is that... Don: Yeah, when I read the Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality. Kory: So you got on this, uh, learning excursion pretty

[04:10] early on, all things considered. Don: Right, but it was real confusing to begin with, because there was so many candidates for Soma. I mean, Soma was everything from rhubarb to hemp to opium to beer, and none of those actually fit the description, right? They gave the full metaphysical and mystical and supernatural properties that had been attributed to it. Kory: I understand that. And so, um, from your own research, you really don't... you're not coming at this from a supernatural or, you

[04:40] know, something along those lines. You're trying to approach this from a purely scientific and a research perspective, is my understanding. Don: Right. Is, if something is real, then it can be the thing that, um... Religion has done, or complicated the issue, is they brought in the spirituality aspect of it and have forgotten about the real part of it. Kory: Right. Don: And yet the real part of it is the part all of the ancient legends stress as

[05:10] being the most important part. In other words, the Soma is more important than the Soma ceremony. You know, the... this plant is the most precious thing in the ancient legends. It's the most precious thing in creation; it's the most precious thing they know. There's a lot of good reasons why it was so precious. Kory: Okay, well, let's go get into a bit about some of the legends of the Holy Grail, and how this legend of the Holy Grail and some of the

[05:41] attributes given to the Grail... have you been able to tie them over to your research, if you may? Don: Well, the Grail in itself is a paradox. You have a vessel that, even when it's empty, is full of wisdom, that it's a never-ending supply of knowledge and healing and inspiration and poetry. These are similar attributes to Amanita muscaria. In the legends, where you can definitely say yes, they're talking about the mushroom, or yes,

[06:11] they're definitely talking about the magic pot that the mushroom makes, the two are related. I should point out that the discovery of the resurrectability of Amanita muscaria, the fact that the plant really is an immortal plant in the true literal sense of the word, has completely blown open the knowledge that's in these ancient... Kory: And that, I guess, is something to kind of touch upon as well: that once you prepare a Grail like we have right here in front of

[06:41] us, it does regenerate itself every three days. It revives, or is born again, every three days, just in the same sense of many of the religious myths that we find of being born again on the third day. And that this follows along the lines, but this is something substantive. This is something that can be proven over and over again, and shown again in a scientific manner, that it meets those... Let's see here, as well, some of the other things we can discuss. And again, some of the other terms that some

[07:12] might be familiar with: ambrosia, nectar, Haoma, against... Soma we mentioned, Maga, the great gift. Some of these terms you've been able to, again, tie from other records as being the Holy Grail, as being this mushroom. Don: Well, it's... it all comes back to this legendary herb of immortality. Uh, nectar: you know, the Greek gods drank nectar, and this is what kept them alive and immortal. Well, nectar means death... ambrose...

[07:44] ambrosia is not mortal, or in an older meaning, not death. They're all saying this plant is immortal. And this has been the, uh, kind of the stumbling block to understanding the ancient myths: unless you really know that this plant truly is immortal, that the ancients were... a very real phenomena, then his legends don't make sense. Kory: Right, true. Don: And the thing you have to understand

[08:14] about ancient legends, stories, religious myths, anything like that, is the ancients would take a story and put knowledge into that story, and in remembering the story they could remember the knowledge, because they didn't have writing. And even when they did have writing, they didn't trust... so the important stuff was always put in a story, pass along orally, in an oral tradition. Kory: Right. Don: And the story has to be memorable. But one of the first things that storytellers did was start personifying this

[08:44] mushroom. It became a he, a warrior, a prince, a medicine, a healer, a shaman. And this mushroom has been a lot of gods. You know, the name Soma is actually the name of a god, but Soma means 'the pressed one' in Sanskrit. Kory: I said, let's touch upon as well, from the Rig Veda, from one of the oldest Hindu, or one of the oldest religious writings available to us, to humanity, uh, Soma is given a lot of attention, and also

[09:16] Soma, the attributes given and describing the Rig Veda, seem to lend that it is indeed the mushroom. Could you touch upon that a bit? Don: Soma is the pressed one. It was used in the Soma ceremony, and basically they would kill a cow, peel its hide, put it on a pile of cut grass, sit down on it, take some of the dried Soma, sprinkle it with water, let it... then they would press the juice out, and it would go into a terracotta or wooden pot.

[09:48] Then they would add milk or barley, or sometimes both, to this pot. Out of that they would dip out individual cups of this, what's now Soma, and they would drink it. This was the premier ceremony; this was the fundamental ceremony of the sacramental religions, those religions that consume the substance for its enlightenment. And

[10:19] this ceremony is extremely ancient. Even by the time it's written down in the Indian version... Kory: Right. Don: ...it's still a variant of the original ceremony. The ceremony was probably very, very old. Kory: Again, there is a significant portion of the Rig Veda that's, uh, specifically covering the Soma. Don: There's a little over a thousand numbered hymns in the Rig Veda, and approximately one tenth of them deal exclusively with Soma. But when you read the others, and you also really... when you understand that Soma can be also

[10:50] many gods, then actually the whole book is dealing with Soma, but in manifesting different facets of its action. It has different... in its healing capacity, or... and it's one of its other... Kory: Right, attributes. And, uh, for more information, if folks are interested, uh, there are a couple of ISBN numbers that would give folks a bit more about some of the things that we're not going to be able to fully get into on the show today, unfortunately, was... we're forced to go with the hour time slot that we have. And

[11:20] so, um, there's a lot more that can be gleaned about this subject if one... or delve a bit further, and perhaps have an opportunity to look into some of the other things that have been published along those lines. And this would be a good start to consider. Okay, let's see. I would like to, uh, also... we'll have a graphic here momentarily that'll accommodate what we're discussing, but I want to go ahead and get into the Beaker people, and, uh, and we'll touch more upon the graphic in a second. But discuss the Beaker

[11:51] people that you've been able to, uh, find out about, and some qualities about that culture. Don: Well, the Beaker culture, which is also called the Corded Ware culture, is a culture, a prehistoric culture of Europe, and it's like the first pan-European culture. It stretches from east to Moscow; it eventually makes its way westward, across into Scandinavia, into the British Isles, and then down into Spain, Italy, and it even jumps across Gibraltar into

[12:22] North Africa. The Beaker people last from about 4200 BC, is when they first start showing up, approximately 1350 or so BC, when last little remnants of them kind of taper off. And there's really not much difference in the burial practices or anything; it's just that the beakers now get... and they're not buried in the guy's hands, but they're still buried in the tomb with them, or in the burial plot with them. The

[12:52] Beaker people are probably the ancestors of the Celts and the Germans, and probably several other tribes that are now, you know, non-existent. They are extremely ancient, and they were very widespread, and they lasted a long, long time. And all of the Beaker burials have one common element, and that is: the man is buried holding a pot. Kory: Okay, and then we will have a graphic later that's going to be a picture that represents that, and will really hammer the point home. But that is what really, uh,

[13:23] gleaned my attention in particular, and really solidified this for me, that what you're saying has a lot of momentum and has a lot of validity: is that you find these cultures around the world where these people buried, or curled up in a little, you know, like a fetal position, and they're having this little corded cup right there beside him in the burial plot. And for so many cultures around the world to have this in common, there cannot be just a mere coincidence to that. We find throughout a wide, vast area of

[13:54] the ancient world many individuals were buried, from very widely varying cultures, with one commonality: curled up with the little beaker cup. And that lends a lot of credence to the fact that they considered it quite sacred. Don: It was tremendously important to them, and it was very widespread through the ancient world. Kory: And as were these myths that we find about being resurrected on the third day, and things of that nature, that we find that are the same when we study comparative religion. And here's the graphic; let's go to

[14:24] that, please. And that really hammers home the point. You see, he's holding there in his hands the corded beaker, and that he's buried with it, and that... how important it was. And we find this time and time again. Don: Right. They've dug up thousands of Beaker burials, and there's probably thousands that are still in the ground. Kory: Absolutely. And for something to be that pervasive when there wasn't the internet, there wasn't, you know, mass communication, but yet you find it that vastly available, you really have to consider

[14:54] that. We really have to factor that into our paradigms, whether we're considering comparative religion or whether we're considering the expanse of culture, language, custom, things of that nature, where we find these commonalities. Uh, these... this can't be miracle incidents. And so this is what really helped seal home the validity for me of this science, and I will definitely verify it and, you know, call it a science, from what I've been able to determine, from what, uh... from the short amount of time that I've been studying this mushroom. But, um, let's

[15:24] go ahead and, uh, touch upon proving the theory a bit, as far as, uh, if you could expand upon how we can flesh out a few more points that will bolster your claims. Don: Well, in the Rig Veda, Soma is an immortal god. It is, you know, considered the ancient one, the Ancient of Days. Uh, it has a lot of names that are dealing with immortality, and here we have just a few examples. Well, this is actually a comparison between Soma and the

[15:54] Christ. There's 108 names of Soma and there's approximately 60 names of the Christ, and there's also like 58 names of the Messiah, but some of those are repeats. The names of the Christ match the names of the Soma, concept for concept, and there's even classifications like immortal god, an animal name like eagle, horse, bull or sheep; in the case of the plant

[16:27] names, the true vine. There's a concept in Christianity of the bread of life, the living bread, the fruit of the Tree of Life. These are all matches with this much older tradition that's in the Rig Veda. And it's the... it's the impossible part of the Christian story that's really the most important part. Kory: True. Yes, the virgin... faith comes into key component of any belief system. Don: But, you know, the virgin birth applies to a mushroom, because the ancients didn't... they

[16:57] they didn't know how they showed up. They dug them up, there was no roots; they looked at them, there was no seeds. They had no conception as to how a mushroom got here. All they knew is that it... which to them was the sky father, right, and the earth mother produced this fruit, and there's no... they had no conception as to how it did it. Now, if you gather Amanita and you dry it out and you place it in water, it turns water to wine. The wine, if you drink it and you're sick, there's

[17:27] antibiotic properties in this mushroom, and it will make you better. If you consume more of it, then you may actually gap... pierce the gap that's, you know, in the screen of time, and you'll be shown the future, or told the future, because it also causes auditory hallucinations and along with visions. Kory: Well, let's keep one thing firmly in mind as well: this is perfectly legal. There's nothing illegal or, uh, you know, under the table about this sort of thing. This is something that you can acquire perfectly legally. Don: Yes, it's available

[17:57] through mail order, it's available in some herb stores, it's available to anybody who goes in the woods in the right time. Kory: Right. Let's, uh, let's go to this background, if we may, and touch on this information, which is quite important. You're going to be doing, in the near future, a seminar. Don: Yeah, this will be, uh, the 11th, at the Gardens of the Ancients, at, uh, 7 p.m. We'll be doing another lecture. Kory: Okay. And if anyone has any information, wants any information about, you know, some points about this, uh,

[18:27] I would consider... I would ask you to consider calling this phone number, going to this website, and doing what you made to, uh, you know, educate yourself a bit more about this. Um, and what was the time? Can... could you please tell us? Don: December 11th, which is a Thursday. Kory: Thursday, 7:00 p.m. Okay. So, and if you have any questions, uh, you want details, um, directions... Don: Directions, yeah. Give us a call or check the website. Okay, um, seating is kind of limited, so it's probably a good idea to call and make sure.

[18:57] Kory: Okay. Don: But we'll get into a lot more detail than we'll be able to get into... Kory: Right, absolutely, that's what I would emphasize. Uh, we're not gonna be able to get into all the details that we'd like to hear in this hour time slots, so if people have an interest in some of this information, there's other... there are other resources to check into. Uh, let's look at... what do we have here behind us now? What is this contraption in this chart? Don: Okay, well, this is actually, you know, one of the experiments that convinced me that Amanita muscaria was Soma, okay, because it is an immortal, um...

[19:29] This is Amanita muscaria that has been dried and then soaked in water. I drank the water; three days later it looks like this. Kory: Okay. Don: Now, this mold always came back on. I kept wondering, you know, what's this mold? Is this the plant coming back to life, or is this just some type of mold taken over on it? Kory: Right, good points. Don: But after watching it for, you know, several times, probably a dozen times, do this, it always was the same type of mold. Okay, and then one day I went

[19:59] out for a walk in the woods to gather some specimens, and I hadn't been out there in a couple weeks, and I found, like, a half a dozen large specimens that had keeled over sideways. The tops had turned black, and each one of them had this ball of fuzz growing around it. And everywhere, as this fuzz touched the ground, it had eaten the needles. It almost looked like a little bird nest scooped out under it, where had it eaten its way back into the soil. Okay, so I got down on my hands, and using my little hand lens, and I'm looking at this, and I looked

[20:29] at it for probably a good half an hour, and I just kept examining it, and I realized that this fuzz that was erupting from the mushroom is the real plant. So a mushroom is just a fruit; it's kind of like the apple compared to the apple tree. Kory: Okay. Don: You know, the apple is not the tree. Kory: Right. Don: Well, the mushroom comes from a plant that looks like mold that's growing through the soil. You never get the mushroom back when you resurrect it, but what it does is it reverts

[21:01] to this primitive form and continues to live. And when it goes into this primitive form, it is truly immortal. The tiniest piece of it can become a huge plant; it can live for centuries. Kory: Really? Don: Yeah, there's no time limit on its... in the primal form. Kory: And the ancients obviously knew about this occurrence, or at least some of them. Don: Right, right. In fact, it would have been almost impossible for the ancients to not discover it. Kory: Why

[21:31] is that? Don: Well, if you, uh, had a cow horn, or a cup you made out of wood, or a terracotta pot, and you put mushrooms in there and you soaked them in water or berry juice or some honey mixed in with the water, okay, they're going to resurrect. They are going to fuzz out just like that picture showed, and they do it in about three... Then they invade the walls of the pot, which you can see in behind us. This is what happens. Kory: The more optimum way to try to create a Grail, correct, as in the terracotta, as opposed to a glass container? Don: Right. In the glass it can't attach

[22:02] itself to the walls, whereas in the terracotta it actually penetrates the fabric of the pot. And I've even had some Grails where it's grown from the inside completely through to the outside, and the pot was fuzzy on the outside. It's pretty amazing. Um, this is a... one of my first larger Grails, and you can see that there's pieces of mushroom in there, and they're all coated with the mycelium, but also the whole wall of the pot is packed full of the stuff. It's just growing right in there. This... you just feed it, and what you're feeding

[22:33] it is the food that you're going to drink. And it has a cycle: you let it grow, let it dry out, and then you fill it again. It sits for six to twelve hours, you drain it off, the fungus gets fed, and you get the antibiotic and effects from the Ambrosia, basically the same as the mushroom. Is... this seems to be the only logical explanation for all of the magic vessel legends

[23:03] that there are in Eurasia. Dionysus was so sacred, the terracotta cup that you poured his sacred wine into became sacred, you know, a magic vessel. The Soma ceremony: the Soma was poured into wooden cups, which the individuals carried their whole life and right into the grave, just like the beakers. Kory: Okay. Don: And basically they're just the eastern version of the beaker. Kory: There's all these legends of, or association,

[23:35] I should say, of the Christ with the Grail. Don: Yes. You know, the Grail... the Christianized versions of the Grail legends say the Grail was the cup that caught Christ's blood at the crucifixion, or it was the communion cup that he had Last Supper with. But there was something magical about this cup. Well, when you understand that the Christ in the Bible is not a man, that it is this mushroom, then that relationship makes sense. And that the Christian Grail legends are basically Celtic, about

[24:08] magic cauldrons that never run dry, and there's an older, much older than Christianity, background for these magic... And the magic vessels have been, you know, another mind-blower for people who study these legends, because how can you have a pot that never runs out? You know, how can you have a pot that produces wisdom and inspiration and healing? Um, these were all miracles to the ancient people. Kory: Absolutely, and to us, to these in the States. Don: It

[24:38] blows my mind. I mean, you know, it blows my mind every time I fill it up and I drink it off and I go, wow, you know, this is really good. And then I do it again next week, and it still blows my... It's like the only thing in the world that, you know, you can have your cake and eat it too. Kory: That's one, yeah, because it regenerates itself, and it falls in line with the common, uh, things that you're familiar with from, uh, the legends of, uh, the... again, the virgin birth, three days in the grave, or three

[25:08] days in the tomb, and the resurrection, and things of that nature. Don: Right. And the disciples don't recognize them after it's resurrected. Kory: That's a good point. Don: Because they don't see that this is the mushroom reformed and reborn. Kory: Good point. Also, the Catholic Mass: I was raised Catholic, and I realized, through the communion and the ceremony and the ritual that's put together to honor and consecrate the host and to consecrate the wine and the chalice, that we're remembering and we're, you know, repeating this ceremony, this ritual, that very well may be, according to your understanding,

[25:39] the basis of this... this Grail, and the basis of, uh, the host, the Eucharist, uh, and the cup during the, uh, the, uh, Catholic, uh, Mass. Don: Well, they're all kind of variants of this more ancient tradition. Kory: Right. Don: You know, the so... like I said, the Soma ceremony by the time it's written down is a variant. As long as you were using the mushroom, then you would be considered part of this mushroom cult, and it didn't matter whether you, you know, pounded the mushroom up and put it in some oatmeal and consumed it, or you put

[26:10] a fluid into a magic Grail and consumed it, or you were just eating the... you would still be considered part of this mushroom cult. And yes, you're talking a cult that goes back to at least seven... you know, five thousand BC, which would be seven thousand years before the present. Sure, although in reality it probably goes back a hundred thousand, two hundred dollars, because of the lack of written evidence, and it's just difficult. Things get graded that

[26:40] far back. Kory: Definitely, without... um, let's see, uh, and we did speak a bit about some of the aspects of making the Grail. We're not really going to get to that too much, lack of time, unfortunately, but a couple of things that I want to emphasize. Um, some of the, uh... we do... you would... you do have to feed the fungus, as we described, in order to keep it, the sustainability of it. And there are foods that you felt and have discovered that seem to be better to

[27:10] keep, to maintaining it, if you get into that a little bit, please. Don: Yeah, like most plants or pets, the better fed it is, the healthier it is. Kory: Right. Don: Um, so you should vary the foods that you feed any particular Grail. Kory: Good point to emphasize, that it doesn't like the same thing all the time, just like we are. Don: It will resurrect on grape juice, no problem, and, uh, one thing... Kory: Pasteurized. You did emphasize it should be pasteurized grape juice. Don: Well, either you pasteurize, or, you know, you buy pasteurized, which is done in the factory, or you should heat the

[27:40] water that you are using for the grape juice. Like, if you were to use frozen grape juice, the water that you put it into should be hot, you know, boiling, or had been boiled. It's a very... Amanita mycelium is very resistant to anything that's going to hurt the fungus... is going to come in on its... which is why barley, if you use that, has to be cooked. You can use a basic beer recipe, just leave out the hops and the

[28:10] yeast. You can use that as the fluid you fill the Grail with, and... but again, it'd have to be heated and then it has to be cooled. You can't put hot fluid into the Grail, because it will kick... kill the living mycelium; it'll just cook it. Kory: Okay. Don: Because this plant is alive in the Grail. Now, in this form it's, like, dormant, just dried out. Kory: And you just have some caps in a little baggie here, and this looks a little bit like... on the illegitimate or what-have-you angle, but it's, again, perfectly legal. Try

[28:43] to get a little better angle of this guy, so let's see if we can't maybe get a close-up quickly. But this, uh... Don: In this form it'll store for several... it goes bad... Kory: I'm gonna focus in a bit here, folks, so just be patient and we'll get a better view of this guy. And you can see from the portrait in the background how it definitely resembles the more living, uh, version, the orange characteristics. And it has a... I've

[29:13] noticed kind of like a honey smell. Don: Yeah, it's very distinctive. As the Persians in their religion call it, um, one of the names is 'the honey-sweet knowledge of divinity', and it's all stuck together as one word, and it's one name. But it has a very distinctive smell and taste. I've been told by people who are, I guess you call them, ex-Catholics, who have tasted the mushroom with me, that it tastes just like the host that they had in church. Kory: And

[29:43] I'm familiar with that, so I can probably at some point in time relate and relay that... find out for myself if that is indeed the case. Uh, let's see here what else we can get. Uh, also, let's go ahead and, uh, or emphasize the point that if a person is preparing Grail, you do not want to consume any carbonated beverages. And please expand on that, if you wouldn't mind. Don: Well, this is due... you know, this is knowledge gained at personal experience. I was doing a pretty good dose of the mushroom juice one night. I was... I had just soaked them in water for like 12 hours and then drank

[30:14] it, and I was feeling pretty good. And the last thing I can remember is drinking a couple hits of Pepsi, and then waking up about 150, 200 yards from where I'd started, beat to a pulp. I had stones sticking out of my head and out of my elbows, not on my knees, and I... what I remember, the trip was... it was a very black experience, and I couldn't walk, and I kept falling down, and I don't even know why I was moving. Kory: Um, so there can be some ill effects if you're... if you don't follow

[30:44] a proper procedure in that respect. No beer would be another aspect too, of a carbonated drink. Don: Right, champagne, bubbly, anything that's got bubbles in it, you don't want to drink. Now, the mushroom when it's fresh is toxic. If you look in any mushroom handbook or whatever, it'll... it's going to say poisonous. When it's fresh, it does cause coma-like sleep, excess salivation, problems, nausea, vomiting, cramps. When it's dried, it completely changes the chemistry of the plant, and

[31:16] what happens is, as it dries, a chemical called ibotenic acid loses a carbon dioxide molecule and a water molecule and becomes a chemical called muscimol. Now, carbonated water is carbon dioxide dissolved in water, so when you mix carbonation with muscimol, it goes right back to being ibotenic acid, and you have the same effects as if you'd eaten the fresh mushroom. Kory: Okay, and not to advise, necessarily. Don: Yeah, and it can come out very quickly. You

[31:47] can... less than five minutes after, a couple sips of soda will send off... send off this bad reaction. And as long as you follow those two rules, it's relatively safe. Kory: Right, there aren't a lot of pitfalls with this, and then we wouldn't be bringing this out publicly if this was something that you could endanger yourself with. This has so many more overwhelming positive benefits and attributes to speak about and to bring out, uh, just a couple of slight precautions that you would have to take if you going to pursue this information a bit further. Um, let's see, uh, let's go ahead and speak a

[32:18] bit more about, uh, just some of the, uh, aspects of what the future may hold, and what you in particular hope to accomplish, your motives, for instance, in bringing this information out to the public. And what do you hope to achieve? I mean, you did throw out the term, uh, mushroom culture, or things of that nature, and if you could please expand on that concept a bit, as far as how this can take off a bit more and be beneficial to a great number of people. Don: Well, when I read that... the first, uh, section of the Rig Veda that put me off on

[32:48] this trail, you know, when I was 13: healing effects. You know, this was a real plant, and it apparently had real effects, and these effects sounded beneficial. Kory: Right. Don: At least, you know, the religion I grew up with said these were effects to be desired, you... and that it was, you know, your duty to do this, but nobody knew how. Kory: All right, good. No ready-made... nobody made handbook for us in that instance. Don: Right. The

[33:20] fact that this plant can resurrect, come back from the dead, colonize a clay pot in a non-sterile, non-laboratory... is proof that it's putting off some exceptional antibiotics. There's the only way it could grow in this conditions is if it's putting off good antibiotics. Now, you know, we're raised in the era of penicillin and amoxicillin and all kinds of stuff that come from simpler life forms, so yeah, we can look at a mushroom and go, yeah, there's a good possibility that's putting

[33:50] off antibiotics. But the ancients didn't know anything about antibiotics; they didn't know anything about drugs; they didn't know anything about chemistry, except practical applications of it. The medicinal potential of this plant is extremely high. There's at least three plants in it, or three chemicals in this plant, that are related to known antibiotics. There's another chemical that's in there has killed sarcoma 180, which is a number type

[34:20] of cancer in mice. Then there's another chemical in there that is related to a chemical that's being used to treat epileptic seizures. And, you know, epilepsy was probably a very scary thing in the ancient world. Kory: Certainly, certainly. Possession, or something along those lines. Don: Right. And so when they talk about, you know, it casting out demons, I mean, there's a rhetorical question in the Bible, you know, about... they say Jesus casts out demons with Beelzebub, which is the lord of the flies. Now, fly agaric, which is its common name, and

[34:53] Amanita muscaria, which is a scientific name, both deal with the power of flies. It will draw flies to it, it will stun them. It doesn't usually kill them, although you can kill them with the mushroom: if you put it in, like, put the mushroom in a glass jar, put a fly in there, the mushroom will actually use up the oxygen in the jar, and fly will die of oxygen starvation. There's an association of this plant that goes back very anciently, flies and the mushroom, and

[35:23] Beelzebub is lord of the flies, is just a kind of a derogatory name for them, for the mushroom, but it's the same as our common name. Kory: That's interesting. Don: Um, the healing part of it is really what I want to accomplish: the ability of this plant to kill viruses. Kory: And speak about your own experience, if you would, quickly. Don: Well, I was doing, uh... I was trying to work up doses. It was when I was first experimenting with the plant, and I was working my way up, gradually doubling a

[35:53] dose every week. And I started off with a 16th of an ounce, and then an eighth of an ounce, and then a quarter of an ounce. And at the quarter of an ounce level, I got this burning and tingling on my... at a cold sore site. Now, I've been having cold sores since I was a teenager, you know, sometimes two, sometimes three... Kory: That's a recurring thing we're just used to dealing with every so often. Don: Yeah, it happened every few months. I'd have a cold sore, always in the same spot. Well, I ate these mushrooms, and I was enjoying the effects, and all of a sudden the

[36:23] cold sore site started burning and tingling and itching like it was going to come in. Well, it hasn't... didn't come in then, and it's never been anything since. That was a few days ago... this was going on 14 years ago. Kory: Right. So you're able to demonstrate through your own experimentation, and I really, uh, have to admire you for being the guinea pig and being willing to use your own medicine and demonstrate on your own self that this has some relevance and some validity, and it can have practical applicability to people. And so again, let's

[36:54] get into the concept again. Let's fill that out a bit, fleshed out a bit more, about perhaps the point in time when more people can rediscover this aspect of the Grail through the Amanita muscaria, and how it can be more common, more widespread, more understood, and we can have a healing cult or culture derived from this understanding. And then we can demystify some of these things, some of the things about it, and bring it into a larger understanding, larger awareness, because

[37:24] it does have, apparently, considerable benefits to mankind: healing, the relaxation, the expansion of consciousness that some might want to consider as well, that can be achieved through this. And that being the case, it seems like a substance to bring out publicly and to ask folks to consider, because it could be something that could really perhaps revolutionize, uh, different aspects of culture. Now, you've subtitled your book The Sacred Secret: The

[37:56] Return of the Christ. And if this could return to its fuller, you know, understanding, and it could, you know, re... uh, regain some of that ground it once had, then perhaps that Christ consciousness mentality could be revived through something shared like this. Don: Well, yeah. The New Testament, especially the letters in the New Testament, are very hard to understand. In fact, they're almost... and it isn't until you consume the mushroom that you can even understand what

[38:26] they're talking about. No, I mean, it's... imagine there's a bunch of hippies out in Haight-Ashbury. Kory: Okay, that's not hard, indeed. Don: And they have a bunch of writing that they're doing amongst themselves about the effects of, say, LSD. Kory: Okay, sure. Don: Okay, then there's war, destruction; all of this goes away, except there's some writings from these hippies in Haight-Ashbury, and everybody who reads these writings goes, man, this is gibberish, I don't really understand it, because all we know is war, pestilence, famine. We don't have a point of reference for this. It

[38:56] seems... we don't know what LSD is. Okay, LSD went away. Okay, then, you know, 2000 years goes by and LSD's rediscovered. What they wrote would make perfect sense to somebody who took the LSD. Kory: Right. It would be the same mindset; they would be recapturing in their own subjective understanding what they had read, and so it would have an internal meaning for them, as opposed to just reading some text and saying, oh, these people said this, and... Don: That's right. None of this makes sense,

[39:26] right? How can, uh, sound make colors, or how can colors make sound, or how can the room breathe, or, you know... Kory: And that is the overwhelming, you know, quality of the so-called Christ consciousness, is that it is something universal that is intrinsic in us, that we have to bring out of ourselves. Don: Right. And, you know, in the New Testament has a lot of references to, like, you know, 'nobody gets to the Father except through me', and when you understand that's a statement by the mushroom, or for, you

[39:57] know, the idea of having a spiritual rebirth, and nobody gets to the kingdom of heaven unless there is this spiritual rebirth, these sayings don't make any sense unless you understand the sacrament that triggered these things. And, you know, once I consumed the sacrament, I had a completely different understanding of the New Testament than I did before I did that, and I understood what they were talking about. Yes, you know, not only can't you enter the kingdom of heaven without being reborn, you

[40:27] can't even understand it; you can't understand the concept. So, um, you know, consuming it definitely helped illuminate a lot of the hidden parts of the text, the stuff that didn't really make sense in the... um, discovering its resurrection, and the fact that once it resurrects it's immortal, you know, was the last pieces in the puzzle of, uh, understanding the Christ story as a reference to the mushroom rather than a reference to a real historical man. Kory: Right,

[40:58] that had some kind of mystical or supernatural qualities attributed to him. Don: Right, but since no man can be born from a virgin, they're obviously talking about something else. Since no man gets up from the dead if he's truly dead, then they're obviously talking about something else. Kory: Okay. Don: You know, no man can turn water to wine without using a drug plant. There's a lot of different drug plants you can make psychoactive water with. No man just makes water... Kory: Catalyst, you need something. Don: Yeah, you need a sacrament. Kory: Okay, good point. You know, it looks like we

[41:28] have a few, uh, calls on the line, so we do want to go ahead and grab a few calls and see what your public has to say. Okay, hello caller, you're on the air. Uh, hello, caller? Caller: Hello. Kory: Yes, how are you? Caller: I'm, uh, awesome [ __ ]. Kory: Well, thanks for your call, have a nice evening. Caller, you're on the air. Caller: Hello? Kory: Hi, how are you? Do you have a comment? Caller: Very good. Uh, yeah, now, of course, I've seen a show before with the Chris Athanas, yeah, and, uh, the other control house, I think. Kory: Uh-huh. Caller: I've never seen the... anybody over there

[41:58] on the Don Teeter. Kory: Well, he came from quite a far way to come travel, uh, here to be on the show today. Did you have a specific question for my guest? Caller: Yeah, uh, like, speaking of the mushrooms, um, you seem like that you send a large sack, um, I guess it's towards, like, the bottom big part. How's that? There was a... but like the large sack. Kory: Are you talking about what I'm touching here, or...? Caller: No, no, the mushroom behind y'all. Kory: Oh, yes. Caller: The bottom of it, yeah, the large sack. Have you seen it? Kory: Yeah... oh, um, I'm not sure what you're talking about, caller. I'm going to let you go. Hello,

[42:29] caller, are you on the air? Caller: Hey, Kory, how are you? Kory: How are you doing tonight? Caller: Listen, uh, I won't speak of my usual topic. You know who this is, right? Kory: I do, as a matter of fact. Please. Caller: Okay, thanks, if you'll allow me to speak tonight. Um, it's my... I'm kind of misunderstanding some certain aspects. It's my understanding that the Amanita muscaria is completely illegal. Kory: You're talking about psilocybin mushrooms, correct? Caller: No. Kory: That's a good... I'm glad you brought that up. Okay, you're good for some stuff after all, neighbor. I'm just kidding. The, uh... no, it's different, completely different.

[42:59] Please let him know about that. Don: Yeah, the chemistry of Amanita muscaria: there's nothing illegal about it. Um, muscimol is not scheduled on either the federal or the U.N. drug scheduling, and it contains no psilocybin. Caller: Oh, okay. Kory: So we're looking for a psilocybin... so we're talking apples and oranges, almost. They're not going to get it out of this. Caller: Well, maybe they're not the mushrooms that I've experienced, but likely not. Speaking... I'm not speaking from any experience at all, but when I say this... but I wouldn't advocate

[43:30] the use of any type of mind-altering substance such as a mushroom, because actually I've seen people go completely insane on cycle... whatever you call this, like a silver, uh, aspect. You know, I know these mushrooms you're speaking of are not those type at all, is that what you're saying? Don: No, there's nothing... there's no similarities. They're both mushrooms, but that's where it ends. Kory: We're talking apples and oranges. Caller: And, uh, my brother also has done some experimentation with, uh, the former, and, uh, yeah, he's advised me against it as well, so... Kory: Well, yeah.

[44:01] Caller: I thank God that I, uh, stopped using mind-altering substances around 10 years, because certain substances such as that will actually cause a lot of problems in your life, a lot of depression. Kory: And see, that's where this completely differs, and this has the healing capacity, this has the, uh... Caller: Well, I was hearing you speak of positive benefits, but I just... I was sitting here thinking that, just, wow, I mean, the negative aspects, from where I'm coming from... Kory: Right, outweigh... You're

[44:31] tying all that into a whole another substance entirely. Caller: Okay. Um, one other comment, um, real quick: it's actually about, uh, your buddy Jeff, and I've been watching his show for a while. Kory: Okay, please. What's up? Make it briefly, so we're gonna stay on topic as much as we can, but go ahead. Caller: Oh, well, that's okay. I just... it kind of had it tied into with his, uh, Jesus shows, and, you know... Kory: I'm going to do more in the next couple of weeks, and so maybe if you want to just... well, yeah, I'll talk to you about it then. Caller: Sounds good, okay, thanks. Kory: Have a good evening. Take care. Okay,

[45:01] hello caller, you're on the air. Caller: Hello. Kory: Hi, how are you? Caller: I'm good. Uh, I just heard you guys making references to, uh, plants. Kory: We are, indeed... a particular mushroom, the one that's behind us in the portrait there, is the Amanita muscarias mushroom. Caller: Excuse me, I'd like to say that, uh, mushrooms are actually not plants. Kory: Yeah, well, my mistake. I'm not the expert here, my guest... Caller: I heard your guest referring to less plants as well. Don: Well, in ethno-botanical reference sense, they are plants.

[45:31] Caller: Because they're in the genetics, photosynthesis, or... you know what I'm saying? Don: Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying, but in the, uh, ethno-botanical sense of people using them, they are considered herbs. Kory: Do you have any other comments along those lines? Caller: Oh, no, I just wanted to, you know, let everybody know that they are not plants; they're a fun guy. Kory: Okay. Don: In fact, new research, you know, in the last 20 years, with DNA testing, has proved that funguses are their own type of life form. They

[46:02] are not really related to the plants or the animals. Kory: And see, I would think that would also help lend to the uniqueness of this particular substance and its properties, as we're describing. Okay, hello caller, you're on the air. Caller: You stupid [ __ ], Harley. Kory: We've gotten some really good ones. Uh, brother, you need to try this mushroom, my friend; it will expand your vocabulary a bit. Hello caller, you're on the air. Caller: Hey, what's up? Kory: Hey, how are you? Caller: I'm pretty good. Kory: Do you have a comment? Caller: Uh, yeah. Kory: Okay. Uh, we're gonna try to get some serious

[46:33] calls, and if at all possible... I mean, we like you fun-loving guys out there, they're just chilling on the couch at the house, nothing better to do; we appreciate your time. Uh, but we're trying to, you know, conduct this in a bit more serious manner. This is... you know, we talk about mushrooms, you think, you know, it's all fun and games, but that's not the case. We're really trying to present this as something that can really alter, yes, your perception, but alter... and our understanding about some basic truths that can allow for some

[47:03] cooperation. And that's the key here: we're trying to bring awareness so that we can have fulfillment of cooperation, understanding, some mutual points that we can agree upon. And that's the key here. Hello caller, you're on the air. Hello? Hello, caller? Caller: Oh, I'm on? Kory: Yes, you are. Caller: Oh, okay. Um, well, I guess it was like a year ago, or, um, someone gave me these mushrooms, but they weren't like the regular shrooms that, you know, everybody needs to get high or whatever. Kory: Okay. Caller: But anyway, I got high off 'em, and, um, like, I thought I was dreaming. Kory: Yes. Caller: But

[47:34] apparently I was really, um, looking this girl's... Kory: Okay, well, hope you had a good time there. Caller: Hey, Kory? Kory: Yes. Caller: Hey, it's me again. Kory: Okay, go ahead. Caller: I remembered what, uh, one comment I wanted to make to you. Um, it seemed like you might be in a... you were kind of in agreement with, uh, what your guest was saying about equating the mushroom to Jesus. Kory: That's not... that's not quite true. Caller: Okay, because I had mentioned you say before that you did believe, indeed, that Jesus was

[48:04] a real man. Kory: Yeah, you know, and that's... I'm glad you brought that up as well, because I talked extensively with my guest before we came on, that we have some fundamental differences in our philosophy as far as that goes. Caller: Okay, well, great, I didn't know that. Kory: And I'll be able to use the following two weeks to expound upon my beliefs and what I think, and put it in the context of the value of what this is. We don't agree 100%, and that's... there's no reason for us to. We're trying to bring awareness and bring out the positive healing benefits, and what this can bring to many people, irrespective of your

[48:34] creed, your culture, your religious beliefs. You know, it extends outside of that, and so we don't want to just hone in on things that are going to trivialize this. This is much broader than that. But my specific belief is not exactly as my guest's, but... Caller: Okay, well, that's what I was trying to clear up, because it seemed like... Kory: Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. Caller: Like, for my own self, I just couldn't, uh, I just can't grasp that concept. Kory: Because you're also referring back to what I've said publicly previously, that doesn't exactly, you

[49:05] know, lend that I believe everything that my guest does. And that's... Don: Well, and I'd like to make, you know, a statement too. It took me a good 10 years in research to realize that you didn't need the man, that it was actually a hindrance to understanding the story. And that has been where I've come from. And I guess my understanding came when I walked into a public library, and I looked at the real books, the encyclopedias, the science books, the technical manuals, the dictionaries, and they

[49:36] took up one little tiny section of the library, and all the rest of the library was filled with fiction, because people would rather read a good told lie than dry knowledge. And that's when I understood that you didn't have to have a real physical man for the story to make sense, when they were trying to put this dry knowledge, this very important but yet dull knowledge, into a story to preserve it. Once

[50:06] you understand that fiction is what most people read, then for them to make a fictional story before there was writing, and making an enjoyable story to be told around the... and to be understood by not everybody that was hearing the story, but by the few who understood the secret of the story, then that all makes sense. Kory: And, you know, there's... we're always going to have differences revolving around Jesus Christ. Don: But there never was a man born called Jesus Christ. Caller: How do you know that? Don: Well, because

[50:37] Jesus is a common name, and it's the Semitic version of Jason, which means the... just like Jason and the Argonauts. And Christ is a title, and it means 'the anointed one'. An anointing is what left a little dot on your forehead when you were anointed with the sacred oil. And the anointed one's more modern interpretation would be 'the appointed one'. In other words, this was the one appointed

[51:07] by God to be the messenger, or the son of God, or the Messiah, or the Christ. Caller: Well, do you believe that... do you believe in the soul? Don: Uh, there's no evidence for the soul. Caller: Well, what gives you emotions and feelings, and why do you cry when you're sad, and why do you cry when someone dies, or laughs? Don: That's all, um, your chemistry. It's all about... Kory: Hey, I'll let you go, brother, but let me just jot this in real quick. If this man's information, if one hour show that Don's information has, uh, to present, that

[51:38] Don's information is presenting, if this changes your paradigm, if this fractures or destroys your faith, then what faith did you have to begin with? Since faith is what is required to have belief in a supernatural or some kind of religious system, if this man challenges your beliefs, then, you know, what is your belief system, what is your faith base at that point? You know what I mean? So if you feel firm in your faith, then you... then, like myself, then I feel very comfortable having Don on, to complement what I already feel is true. And that, uh, again,

[52:09] coming together on common points is far more of a greater importance than to try to quibble over some of the, uh, you know, implications of this. Do you have another comment? Don: Well, you know, I don't really care what anybody believes. Your belief is your belief is your belief, and I don't want to change your belief. I don't want to, you know, destroy your belief. I don't really care what you believe. Kory: But you still want to bring out this information. You feel compelled for some reason to bring this out, because it's valuable. Don: If

[52:39] I can look at the same story that everybody else has looked at and get a different interpretation out of it that leads to a real... then it's worth understanding, or trying to understand, the story differently, because we've seen what, you know, understood... understanding the story the way it's normally interpreted has produced. Kory: Yeah. Don: It has produced nothing but this, you know, division, uh, religious abuse, wars, death. This is what you get understanding the story the way it's traditionally understood. This is a different way of understanding exactly

[53:10] the same story, with a different, hopefully, outcome. Kory: Okay, let's... I'm glad you clarify that a bit; that's important. Okay, caller, you're on the air. Caller: Hello, I was looking for a web... What you've got at the bottom of the screen appears to be an email address. Is there a website you can go check out? Don: Um, that's the email to contact me. There's a, uh, web... Caller: Actually says a website for The Sacred... Kory: Yeah, we did have the earlier. I don't know how easy it's going to be for my producer to get back to that... quite... Sacred

[53:41] Secrets Worldwide.com, or something like that. Don: Yeah, that's the email address. Caller: Yeah, but then... yeah, but you don't have, like, a website you can just go look... Don: Uh, go ahead and email me, and I'll send you a link to, uh, The Sacred Secret website. Caller: Thank you, Mr. T. I want to apologize for the other viewers that are basically rude to you. Don: Yeah, there's no problem. Caller: All right, thanks. Kory: Thanks, have a nice... see, and no need to apologize. You know, everybody, this is a public forum, and if you have something, you know, rude or whatever to say, hey, you know, whatever. Hello caller, you're here? Caller: I have a question for your

[54:12] guest, please. Um, I... uh, a friend of mine mentioned of a wine that he had tried from Germany years ago, and he said that there were gold flecks in it. When he mentioned this to me, we were actually speaking of the Amanita, and he was wondering if... we both were wondering if this wine actually had the Amanita in it. He said the German people also... it

[54:44] was common knowledge that this wine was more than just a wine; it had more oomph to it. Um, so I wanted to ask, uh, Mr. Teeter if he heard of this wine. And second, um, I wanted to ask, or perhaps Mr. Teeter could elaborate on the fictional story of Santa Claus, and if there are any relation, connections with Santa Claus and the Amanita

[55:14] muscaria. And thirdly, uh, to do... go check out, uh, Gardens of the Ancients. It was great, it's very informative. Don: Thanks, thank you very much. Well, I'm not exactly sure about the German wine. I've heard some stories similar to yours. I do know, if you soak dry Amanita in just plain grape juice and let it sit for like 12 hours and then drink the grape juice, you get a very most pleasant... There's a definite relationship between Santa

[55:44] Claus, evergreen tree, and the mushroom. Santa Claus wears the same colors as the mushroom, the red and white. There's association between reindeer, which seek out the mushroom and consume it and then get high. There's this association of the gift under the tree. And that's what I really like to leave it with: there's all these trees in the world, and then the Bible calls them the trees of life, and under those trees grow the fruit of the

[56:14] Tree of Life. And understanding that legend leads us back to the Amanita muscaria, which is the root of all of this religion. We have these beliefs today because our ancestors had these beliefs, but where did they get them? Obviously out of nature, because our ancestors lived in a state of nature. Kory: Okay, we have very little time left, so I want to thank you very much for taking the opportunity to come on. I want to thank my producer, Chris, for commanding the helm of the Starship Esoterica. I want to thank all you folks out here in Austin

[56:44] for taking the time to view. I'm sorry we're not going to be able to get the last callers. Uh, thanks for all, everybody taking the time to call. One last thing: I can't really get a good shot of this, but Duality magazine is available. There's free publication, a wonderful publication, some contributors from Access Television, some posts you may know, have contributed to this. And this is a wonderful free publication you might find around town; has a lot of information. You'll be hearing more about it in the future. But thanks a lot, Don, for taking the time to come on. Appreciate it, and hopefully have you on again in the future. This is really informative,

[57:14] good information, and hopefully we can have some kind of a mushroom culture sprout up around this information, and the Holy Grail can take on more relevance for people. Thanks a lot, Austin. Have a good evening.