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Brainforest Café

SpectreVision Radio

In the Brainforest Café, Dennis McKenna discusses a wide range of topics related to philosophy, plant medicines, psychedelics and consciousness in nature. Guests are invited from diverse fields such as anthropology, neuroscience, and spirituality to explore various aspects of the human experience. Some of the topics that are covered in the Brainforest Café include the history and the role of plant medicines in traditional healing practices and the potential benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health. The Brainforest Café also explores the cultural, social, and political implications of psychedelic use. Dennis McKenna shares his own personal experiences with plant medicines, offering insights and reflections on his own journey of self-discovery and transformation. The Brainforest Café is a thought-provoking and engaging exploration of the intersection between science, spirituality, and culture, and offers a valuable perspective on the potential of plant medicines to transform our understanding of ourselves and the natural world.

McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy
https://mckenna.academy/


SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring the anomalous, the luminous, and the numinous. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions.

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  • 65 episodes
  • Updated July 27

Episodes65

Newest first
  • July 27 · 1 hr 3 min

    Ayahuasca, Science, and Shamanism

    In 2003, Carlos Tanner woke up in his car underwater, having blacked out behind the wheel and driven into a river. Deep in an opiate addiction, he went to the Amazon to save his own life. What he found there became his life's work.

  • July 13 · 1 hr 9 min

    Can Plants Replace Animals in Drug Testing?

    Every drug on the pharmacy shelf was once tested on animals, and a rule in the ethics of research says that if a humane alternative can be built, it should be. Almost no one builds it. Matt Metcalf is trying to, using living plants.

  • June 29 · 1 hr 2 min

    The Pharmacy Was Always the Pantry

    In this episode of the Brainforest Café, Dr. Dennis McKenna sits down with his old friend Dr. Cedric Baker, an ethnopharmacologist and medical herbalist who has spent decades studying the ethnobotany of food across five continents.

  • June 14 · 1 hr 13 min

    Can Yeast Save Endangered Psychedelics?

    As the global psychedelic renaissance accelerates, wild-harvested plants face a devastating supply-and-demand crisis. Peyote cactus takes up to thirty years to mature, sassafras forests in Southeast Asia are being clear-cut and incinerated to distill safrole for MDMA, and Sonoran Desert toad populations are being decimated for 5-MeO-DMT.

  • April 20 · 1 hr 7 min

    Decoding the Divine: The Shared LSI Secret of the Greek Kykeon and Vedic Soma

    Chemist Matthew Stahl shares with Dennis McKenna his discovery that ancient Eleusinian kykeon likely used barley infected with a safe fungus, mixed with young barley's natural plant compounds under mild acid to transform a mild substance into a powerful, LSD-like visionary brew with no nausea.

  • March 23 · 54 min

    Rewiring the Muse to Restore Creative Flow

    Intimate conversation where filmmaker Greg Hemmings explores psychedelics, plant medicine, and creative healing while announcing his neuroscience-infused YouTube series “Rewiring the Muse”.

  • February 23 · 1 hr 16 min

    Remarkable Amazonian plants that shape human consciousness

    Ethnobotanists Mark Plotkin and Dennis McKenna explore ayahuasca, DMT, sacred plant medicines, indigenous wisdom, and psychedelic science in a unique cross-release of Plants of the Gods and Brainforest Café.

  • January 12 · 55 min

    Pacha Nishi Project, Ayahuasca Cultivation, and Amazonian Restoration

    Michael Coe is an ethnobiologist and applied ecologist with a Ph.D. in Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation Biology. As an Assistant Professor at Tarleton State University, his teaching and research focuses on the relationships between humans, ecosystems, and traditional knowledge systems. Passionate about biodiversity and the sustainable management of natural resources, Michael brings a dynamic interdisciplinary perspective, helping to integrate contemporary ethnobiology and ecology with tradit

  • January 5 · 2 hr 40 min

    Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna

    Terence McKenna was the stand‑up philosopher of the apocalypse. A cognitive libertarian. The anti‑guru who rejected authority—even his own. Twenty‑five years after his passing, the “Tryptamine Elf King” still haunts the present, reverberating through the sensorium of a new generation. Inspired by Graham St John’s definitive magnum opus, Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna, the inner circle—the family, the friends, and the co‑conspirators who knew the man behind the myth—

  • Dec 29, 2025 · 1 hr 7 min

    It's Going to Get Weirder: The Terence McKenna Story

    Sharon McKenna is the director and producer of the forthcoming feature documentary, “It’s Going to Get Weirder: The Terence McKenna Story.” Sharon  is a writer, film director, and journalist whose work has appeared in a range of outlets, from several alternative weeklies to MSNBC digital, among others. Her career spans three-plus decades of network news production, investigative reporting, corporate creative work and screenwriting. Her screenplays have been optioned and won numerous awards, and

  • Nov 25, 2025 · 1 hr 7 min

    From Conventional Medicine to Plant Dietas and Spiritual Growth

    Nissan started his career as a medical doctor and began his work as a general practitioner in an urban community clinic system. He then specialized in ophthalmology and practiced in a small town for 36 years. He became dissatisfied working strictly on the physical level and received training in Gestalt psychotherapy and had a small private practice. He became interested in the field of Natural Vision Improvement which combined his interest in vision with present moment, embodied presence. A read

  • Nov 3, 2025 · 48 min

    The Faerie Rings, a Magical Tale of Healing and Rebellion.

    Zina Brown is the writer and director of The Faerie Rings, an upcoming narrative feature filmabout the promise of visionary plant medicines, and the cruelty of those who would outlawthem.Zina’s unique visual and narrative style has been awarded in film festivals across the world,including the Barcelona International Environmental Film Festival, Kyiv Film Festival inUkraine, Mexico City International Film Festival, Amsterdam International Film Festival, SanAntonio Film Festival, and the Woods Hol

  • Oct 20, 2025 · 54 min

    Entheogen Stewardship Project—Protecting Sacred Plants and Indigenous Wisdom.

    Kevin Reed, founder and president of the Entheogen Stewardship Project, a vital new nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting culturally significant plant and animal species sacred to indigenous communities worldwide.Kevin brings a remarkable 45-year journey as a student of psychedelic science and culture to this crucial conservation work. His path began in 1984 under the mentorship of legendary researchers Sasha and Anne Shulgin, followed by profound connections with iconic figures includi