Bringing Back the Rap

For Newsletter:

Terence McKenna—the legendary ethnobotanist, psychonaut, gonzo researcher, and weaver of the spoken word, was famous for what he called “raps”: part lecture, part workshop, part poetic channeling straight from the unseen realm where plants and fungi speak as clearly as people. Ever since I broke my pelvis in 2023 and cracked myself open to new levels of my own experiencing, messages have been coming through me in a similar form.

Since that time, I have been recording my own “raps,” spoken-word transmissions that seem to originate from somewhere outside me, but interweave my own experience and participation, on my phone. I then run these messages through the transcription software I used to use when I was a journalist, and the program returns a rather hilarious bullet-pointed summary, as if it were a meeting. Perhaps it’s because the software often detects multiple different speakers within one conversation that includes only my own physical voice. It matches the experience I have when I’m speaking (but do with that information what you will). The conversations reflect the research I’m currently pursuing, observations about life, as well as where I’m at in my personal healing journey. I also create visually interesting handwritten journals for both purposes (some of which are quite hard to decipher) processing my experiences moving through the world with no base; documenting breakthroughs and struggles, incredible discoveries, and various transmissions I’m receiving.

I’ve never created more in my life, and I’ve never shared less. While I needed to remove some of the pressure to produce, it’s not a good feeling.

I’ve been cataloguing and analyzing all this stuff as part of my thesis work, and want to somehow turn it into something I can share—so I decided to just go out on a very vulnerable limb and share one of the blog entries that normally only my advisors see. This one felt like a direct transmission from Terence himself, and was more joyful than some of them can be. It includes the raw audio transmission, which I recommend listening to because, like with Terence’s talks, half the fun is in the delivery. But I am also including a transcription, so you can read as well/if you prefer, as well as my accompanying journal pages for the day and the very businesslike software-generated meeting summary.

It feels scary to share this in public, but I want to start putting more out there, and I want to see how it lands with people. Please, let me know if this sort of thing is of any interest, or if you prefer more straightforward content. As I mentioned previously, I am also creating some course offerings, and actively hosting events and workshops, that draw upon my research and training in ancient cosmologies and transcendence practices, which include medicine work in all its forms (food, drink, psychedelics, plant medicine, and esoteric spiritual traditions); Cosmic Wayfinding (navigating our world using ancient and archetypal astrology and timekeeping systems); trauma-informed healing work; and making major life transitions, including coming home to queer and trans identity.

The mystic, artist, and medicine person are all cut from the same archetypal cloth, and I feel the urge to also share material that’s rougher, more personal, more bizarre and artsy-psycho-spiritual; material that more directly channels those unseen, amorphous spaces where boundaries blur and we connect with the experience of being part of a much, much larger web than we could ever conceive of, where anything is possible, every living thing is ensouled, and we remember that we are magic again.

I hope you enjoy these transmissions.

https://stepintotheportal.substack.com/p/bringing-back-the-rap

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Bringing back the RAP

Listen/Transcript

https://otter.ai/u/kphRJShVBkjIpw5bP49qjjAzc0A?view=summary

Action Items

• @Riordan Regan - Explore ways to capture and share messages of awakening through spoken word and active listening.
• @Riordan Regan - Seek guidance from ancestors and benefactors on how to effectively communicate and be of service through speaking.
• @Riordan Regan - Practice active listening and presence in daily life, not just in the forest.
• @Riordan Regan - Reflect on the role of consumption and ingestion in spiritual practices, finding a balance between experience and moderation.
• @Riordan Regan - Cultivate more gratitude and less apology in interactions, recognizing when events are meant to unfold as they do.

Outline

The importance of listening and connecting with the divine through breath and sound.

• Unknown Speaker discusses the importance of listening and connecting to the divine through breath and sound.

Spirituality, direct experience, and the fear of writing.

• McKenna seeks to share spiritual messages through speaking, rather than writing.

Life's dualities amid nature, mushroom foraging, and spiritual connection.

• Unknown Speaker reflects on life's dualities while surrounded by nature and spiritual allies.

Forest harvesting, inner connection, and writing challenges.

• Unknown speaker reflects on inner connection, appreciation, and writing challenges.

Writing, addiction, and personal growth.

• Unknown Speaker grapples with relationship between art, writing, and communication.

Healing, awakening, and personal growth through surrender and self-awareness.

• Unknown Speaker grapples with healing and awakening, learns through painful experiences.

The power of rap as a medium for art and messaging.

• McKenna reflects on his past creative endeavors, including rap, and how they align with his current message of awakening.
• McKenna seeks guidance from ancestors on how to share his messages with others and experience liberation.

Active listening, connection with nature, and mushroom use.

• Unknown Speaker reflects on active listening, connecting with nature, and mushroom-assisted spiritual practices.

The importance of taking things into one's body, including medicine and sex.

• Unknown Speaker reflects on the importance of taking things into one's body, citing sex and medicine as examples.
• Terrence advocates for communion with medicine in Abu Kalindi, contradicting the idea of eliminating consumption.

Addiction, obsession, and personal growth.

• Unknown Speaker reflects on their addiction to cacao and its role in their spiritual journey.
• Speaker shares their experience of being in the moment and feeling joy with Amanita mushrooms.

The nature of creation, consciousness, and the unstoppable death force.

• The speaker reflects on the nature of consciousness and the role of the ego in creating the unstoppable death force of capitalism.

The blurring of lines between creator and receiver in a co-creative process.

• Unknown Speaker discusses co-creation with AI, blurring lines between self and technology.

Embed:

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