Works by
Daniel Pinchbeck
(Writer)

Audio

• Reality 2.0: Shamans, Psychedelics, and the Next Step in Evolution (2008)
  What is it that attracts shamans, mystics, and other visionaries to the realms of altered states? It is the understanding that some wisdom cannot be accessed through ordinary consciousness alone. On Reality 2.0, trailblazer of non-ordinary reality Daniel Pinchbeck shares a first-hand account of his quest for a "system upgrade" for human society. Listeners join this 21st-century explorer and philosopher-journalist for an intriguing investigation of:

  • Shamanic cultures from the Americas to the Amazon, and the urgent messages they have for Western society

  • The 2012 phenomenon and the possibility of a new realization of time and space for humankind

  • Crop circles: de-bunked hoax or legitimate transmissions from galactic intelligence?

  • The potential of plant medicines such as iboga and ayahuasca to help address the spiritual crisis of our postmodern world.
    
    Is our culture poised for the next leap in human evolution? How is technology changing us? Are we in the midst of a global "quickening" that will transform our individual and collective consciousness--and are heavy psychedelics required to participate? Pinchbeck explores these questions and more in this fascinating look at the issues most relevant to those curious about the future of our world.

Non-fiction

• 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl (2006)
  The acclaimed metaphysical epic that binds together the cosmological phenomena of our time, ranging from crop circles to quantum theory to the resurgence of psychedelic drugs, to support the contention of the Mayan calendar that the year 2012 portends a global shift-in consciousness, culture, and way of living-of unprecedented consequence.

• Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism (2002)
  While psychedelics of all sorts are demonized in America today, the visionary compounds found in plants are the spiritual sacraments of tribal cultures around the world. From the iboga of the Bwiti in Gabon, to the Mazatecs of Mexico, these plants are sacred because they awaken the mind to other levels of awareness--to a holographic vision of the universe.
  
  Breaking Open the Head is a passionate, multilayered, and sometimes rashly personal inquiry into this deep division. On one level, Daniel Pinchbeck tells the story of the encounters between the modern consciousness of the West and these sacramental substances, including such thinkers as Allen Ginsberg, Antonin Artaud, Walter Benjamin, and Terence McKenna, and a new underground of present-day ethnobotanists, chemists, psychonauts, and philosophers. It is also a scrupulous recording of the author's wide-ranging investigation with these outlaw compounds, including a thirty-hour tribal initiation in West Africa; an all-night encounter with the master shamans of the South American rain forest; and a report from a psychedelic utopia in the Black Rock Desert that is the Burning Man Festival.
  
  Breaking Open the Head is brave participatory journalism at its best, a vivid account of psychic and intellectual experiences that opened doors in the wall of Western rationalism and completed Daniel Pinchbeck's personal transformation from a jaded Manhattan journalist to shamanic initiate and grateful citizen of the cosmos.

Other

• The Journeybook: Travels on the frontiers of consciousness (January 2009)
  The Journeybook is an essential map of hyperspace for the contemporary psychonaut and the uninitiated alike. Travel through time and space and partake of mushrooms at Harvard, hemp in Nimbin, DMT in the Amazon and anti-depressents in the suburbs of the West, to name but a few of the experiences which await you. Dance at Dionysian festivals, meet alchemists in the laboratories of Switzerland, trippers in the corporate highrises of Brisvegas, and journey to the edge of the universe within our anthology's pages...
  
  The Journeybook is a collection of tales of altered states, essays, history and manifesto for psychedelic culture in the 21st century. It covers the modern usage of sacramental plants and offers insights into traditional and contemporary shamanism, as well as analysis of the current state of global psychedelic culture and its place in a sustainable future.
  
  It features interviews with Daniel Pinchbeck, Dennis McKenna, Terence McKenna (previously unpublished), as well as articles by Brummbaer, Dave Cauldwell, Des Tramacchi, Erik Davis, Graham St John, Rak Razam, Tim Boucher, Tim Parish, and others. An 18x 20 cm art book edition with over 250 pages, it is fully illustrated with over 50 pages of colour paintings, photography and digital graphics from the Undergrowth art collective, including new works by regular Undergrowth contributors Ahimsa, Gerhard Hillmann, Izwoz, Oliver Dunlop, Rak Razam, Tim Parish, and others.
  
  The Journeybook is an essential handbook for those interested in the subject of consciousness, spirituality and understanding the rich pharmacopia of thought that exists beyond the confines of mainstream cosmology.
  
  Click here to purchase this book from Undergrowth Inc.

• The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies & Possibilities (2007) by Arjuna Ardagh, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Carl Calleman, Christine Page, Corrine McLaughlin, Daniel Pinchbeck, Ervin Laszlo, Geoff Stray, Gill Edwards, Gregg Braden, James O'Dea, Janosh, Jay Weidner, Jean Houston, Joanna Macy, John Major Jenkins, John Petersen, José Argüelles, Karl Maret, Lawrence Joseph, Llewelyn Vaughn Lee, Meg Blackburn Losey, Peter Russell, Robert Sitler, and Sharron Rose
  
  What Will Happen in 2012? Will there be an age of awakening, a new step in human evolution, or even an end to the world we know? For years, archaeologists have known the Mayan calendar predicts this date as the end of an era on Earth. Today, more and more researchers, spiritual explorers, and even scientists are witnessing signs that 2012 will mark a critical shift in the history of our planet. Now, the leading authorities on the 2012 phenomenon present their insights about this enigmatic date.
  
  Featuring essays from 25 renowned experts on the question of 2012, this invaluable anthology examines the mystery from every angle--spiritual, economic, ecological, and scientific--and to decide for yourself whether 2012 will end with a whimper or a bang. In The Mystery of 2012, you will discover the startling predictions and revelations of prominent thinkers, including:

  • John Major Jenkins' journey to the source for answers--the original Mayan calendar

  • Gregg Braden's examination of the scientific evidence for a shift in the Earth's magnetic field, and how it will affect all life

  • Barbara Marx Hubbard's and Peter Russell's explorations of the accelerating pace of evolution--why we may literally be transforming into a new species

  • Ecologist Joanna R. Macy's vision of "The Great Turning," and how we can take part in this shift to a life-sustaining culture

  • Daniel Pinchbeck's investigation of the shift of consciousness that will be necessary for humanity to survive 2012

  • Jean Houston's predictions on the coming "Jump Time," and her practical advice for dealing with the impact it will have on your life

  • Corinne MacLaughlin's discussion of using spirituality and consciousness to influence business and political trends