Reposted by Mike Jay
‘In every human culture, burial is hedged about with ritual observance. Yet in certain historical moments the threat of the dangerous dead has flared up into a desperate and persistent conflict with the living.’
@mikejay.bsky.social on vampires and revenants.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@mikejay.bsky.social on vampires and revenants.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Mike Jay · Demand Stolen Rings: The Dangerous Dead
It’s understandable that the dead should be angry or vengeful: after all, they have suffered a terrible calamity....
www.lrb.co.uk
February 12, 2026 at 8:30 PM
‘In every human culture, burial is hedged about with ritual observance. Yet in certain historical moments the threat of the dangerous dead has flared up into a desperate and persistent conflict with the living.’
@mikejay.bsky.social on vampires and revenants.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@mikejay.bsky.social on vampires and revenants.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Mike Jay
Sleep paralysis, somnambulism, hypnic jerks: we’ve all drifted through the borderlands of sleep & wakefulness. Those borderlands have preoccupied philosophers, scientists, & novelists, from Montaigne’s “most profound and maddest fancies” to E.M. Cioran’s warning of sleep’s “frightening importance.”
Daydreamers and Sleepwalkers: Crossing the Borderlands of the Unconscious
Scientists and philosophers have spent centuries studying sleep. Each descent only deepens the mystery.
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
February 2, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Sleep paralysis, somnambulism, hypnic jerks: we’ve all drifted through the borderlands of sleep & wakefulness. Those borderlands have preoccupied philosophers, scientists, & novelists, from Montaigne’s “most profound and maddest fancies” to E.M. Cioran’s warning of sleep’s “frightening importance.”
Only recently learned that A MAN CALLED HORSE and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALLANCE are both based on short stories by a little-known female author. Both in this collection which is solidly excellent.
January 27, 2026 at 8:52 AM
Only recently learned that A MAN CALLED HORSE and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALLANCE are both based on short stories by a little-known female author. Both in this collection which is solidly excellent.
Reposted by Mike Jay
“If we conflate the richness of biological brains & human experience with the information-processing machinations of deepfake-boosted chatbots, or whatever the latest AI wizardry is, we do our minds, brains & bodies a grave injustice.”
— @anilseth.bsky.social, winner of @berggruen.org Essay Prize
— @anilseth.bsky.social, winner of @berggruen.org Essay Prize
The Mythology Of Conscious AI | NOEMA
Why consciousness is more likely a property of life than of computation and why creating conscious, or even conscious-seeming AI, is a bad idea.
www.noemamag.com
January 14, 2026 at 5:45 PM
“If we conflate the richness of biological brains & human experience with the information-processing machinations of deepfake-boosted chatbots, or whatever the latest AI wizardry is, we do our minds, brains & bodies a grave injustice.”
— @anilseth.bsky.social, winner of @berggruen.org Essay Prize
— @anilseth.bsky.social, winner of @berggruen.org Essay Prize
The most detailed account yet of the Liberty Cap’s emergence - highly recommended 🍄
🥳Delighted to announce the publication of Psilocybe Pickers: A Short History of Bemushroomed Britons by Dr Robert Dickins - out now! ❤️📖
Includes a Foreword by Dr Andy Letcher.
More details & orders here:
psychedelicpress.co.uk/products/psi...
Includes a Foreword by Dr Andy Letcher.
More details & orders here:
psychedelicpress.co.uk/products/psi...
December 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM
The most detailed account yet of the Liberty Cap’s emergence - highly recommended 🍄
Reposted by Mike Jay
In the middle of a wild wkend at Entheogenesis Australis' Garden States. Missing way too much but what I have caught has been deeply engaging.
Below daytime is Dave Nickles dropping bombs on the local community and night time is @mikejay.bsky.social going deep on mescaline art.
Below daytime is Dave Nickles dropping bombs on the local community and night time is @mikejay.bsky.social going deep on mescaline art.
November 29, 2025 at 10:14 PM
In the middle of a wild wkend at Entheogenesis Australis' Garden States. Missing way too much but what I have caught has been deeply engaging.
Below daytime is Dave Nickles dropping bombs on the local community and night time is @mikejay.bsky.social going deep on mescaline art.
Below daytime is Dave Nickles dropping bombs on the local community and night time is @mikejay.bsky.social going deep on mescaline art.
Reposted by Mike Jay
Still a few tickets left for this event with the amazing @mikejay.bsky.social tonight 6-7.30 at @kingsioppn.bsky.social
All welcome as Mike discusses his new book on the discovery of N2O & the birth of psychedelic science👌👌
All welcome as Mike discusses his new book on the discovery of N2O & the birth of psychedelic science👌👌
Do you know the history behind the discovery of laughing gas?
Join @mikejay.bsky.social, historian of science and medicine as he discusses his latest book, Free Radicals.
21/11, 6pm Wolfson Lecture Theatre, SE5 8AB
Tickets: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/free-...
Join @mikejay.bsky.social, historian of science and medicine as he discusses his latest book, Free Radicals.
21/11, 6pm Wolfson Lecture Theatre, SE5 8AB
Tickets: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/free-...
Free Radicals - In conversation with Mike Jay | King's College London
Mike Jay will discuss with Dr Matt Butler the fascinating stories and cast of characters involved in the discovery of laughing gas (nitrous oxide) which is the subject of his latest book Free Radicals...
www.kcl.ac.uk
November 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Still a few tickets left for this event with the amazing @mikejay.bsky.social tonight 6-7.30 at @kingsioppn.bsky.social
All welcome as Mike discusses his new book on the discovery of N2O & the birth of psychedelic science👌👌
All welcome as Mike discusses his new book on the discovery of N2O & the birth of psychedelic science👌👌
Reposted by Mike Jay
From ancient dream theory to hypnosis, somnambulism to psychedelic mind-expansion, "The Unconscious" by Antonio Melechi traces the wider social and scientific history of the unconscious mind. Coming in February! mitpress.mit.edu/978026205102...
November 7, 2025 at 12:30 AM
From ancient dream theory to hypnosis, somnambulism to psychedelic mind-expansion, "The Unconscious" by Antonio Melechi traces the wider social and scientific history of the unconscious mind. Coming in February! mitpress.mit.edu/978026205102...
Reposted by Mike Jay
#OnThisDay in 1977 the artist William Kurelek died. His 1953 autobiographical painting, The Maze, painted during his time as a patient at the Maudsley Hospital, continues to captivate visitors to Bethlem Museum of the Mind. Discover this intriguing artwork here: bit.ly/MOTMMaze
November 2, 2025 at 5:13 PM
#OnThisDay in 1977 the artist William Kurelek died. His 1953 autobiographical painting, The Maze, painted during his time as a patient at the Maudsley Hospital, continues to captivate visitors to Bethlem Museum of the Mind. Discover this intriguing artwork here: bit.ly/MOTMMaze
Reposted by Mike Jay
Listen to a series of recordings made by the ethnographer James Mooney in 1894 of different Native American Ghost Dance songs. According to the Library Of Congress notes that accompany the recordings, the performances are probably by Mooney himself — publicdomainreview.org/collection/j...
October 11, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Listen to a series of recordings made by the ethnographer James Mooney in 1894 of different Native American Ghost Dance songs. According to the Library Of Congress notes that accompany the recordings, the performances are probably by Mooney himself — publicdomainreview.org/collection/j...
Reposted by Mike Jay
The tragic story of James Tilly Matthews, a former peace activist of the Napoleonic Wars confined to Bedlam asylum in 1797 for believing that his mind was under the control of the “Air Loom” — a terrifying machine which was brainwashing politicians: publicdomainreview.org/essay/i...
October 4, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The tragic story of James Tilly Matthews, a former peace activist of the Napoleonic Wars confined to Bedlam asylum in 1797 for believing that his mind was under the control of the “Air Loom” — a terrifying machine which was brainwashing politicians: publicdomainreview.org/essay/i...
‘Tis the season…
Mushrooms in Wonderland - Mike Jay
Was Victorian fairy art and lore inspired by actual experiences with mind-altering fungi?
mikejay.net
October 4, 2025 at 8:28 AM
‘Tis the season…
Reposted by Mike Jay
"Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Mind" by Mike Jay
"…Mike Jay brilliantly recovers a lost intellectual tradition of drug-taking that fed the birth of psychology, the discovery of the unconscious, and the emergence of modernism." Mike is always a great read!
erowid.org/books/psycho...
"…Mike Jay brilliantly recovers a lost intellectual tradition of drug-taking that fed the birth of psychology, the discovery of the unconscious, and the emergence of modernism." Mike is always a great read!
erowid.org/books/psycho...
September 24, 2025 at 3:30 PM
"Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Mind" by Mike Jay
"…Mike Jay brilliantly recovers a lost intellectual tradition of drug-taking that fed the birth of psychology, the discovery of the unconscious, and the emergence of modernism." Mike is always a great read!
erowid.org/books/psycho...
"…Mike Jay brilliantly recovers a lost intellectual tradition of drug-taking that fed the birth of psychology, the discovery of the unconscious, and the emergence of modernism." Mike is always a great read!
erowid.org/books/psycho...
Reposted by Mike Jay
Erowid needs your support. Donate toward real, honest info about psychedelics plants & drugs…for harm reduction, benefit enhancement, and the history books.
Matching challenge!
$20-$499 donations are DOUBLED
$500-$3,000 donations are TRIPLED
Erowid.org/sept_drive
Donate and help spread the word!
Matching challenge!
$20-$499 donations are DOUBLED
$500-$3,000 donations are TRIPLED
Erowid.org/sept_drive
Donate and help spread the word!
September 18, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Erowid needs your support. Donate toward real, honest info about psychedelics plants & drugs…for harm reduction, benefit enhancement, and the history books.
Matching challenge!
$20-$499 donations are DOUBLED
$500-$3,000 donations are TRIPLED
Erowid.org/sept_drive
Donate and help spread the word!
Matching challenge!
$20-$499 donations are DOUBLED
$500-$3,000 donations are TRIPLED
Erowid.org/sept_drive
Donate and help spread the word!
Reposted by Mike Jay
From fairy-rings to Lewis Carroll's Alice, mushrooms have long been entwined with the supernatural in art + literature. @MikeJayNet on early reports of mushroom-induced trips and how one species became established as a stock motif of Victorian fairyland. publicdomainreview.org/essay/f...
September 16, 2025 at 4:47 PM
From fairy-rings to Lewis Carroll's Alice, mushrooms have long been entwined with the supernatural in art + literature. @MikeJayNet on early reports of mushroom-induced trips and how one species became established as a stock motif of Victorian fairyland. publicdomainreview.org/essay/f...
Reposted by Mike Jay
If you're anywhere in Australia at the end of Nov then I'd suggest you make your way here. This is the first outdoor entheogenesis conference in 8 yrs. An incredible event with a sharp line up of speakers. @mikejay.bsky.social @tehseennoorani.bsky.social @pyrodelic.bsky.social @gmantic.bsky.social
September 7, 2025 at 9:36 AM
If you're anywhere in Australia at the end of Nov then I'd suggest you make your way here. This is the first outdoor entheogenesis conference in 8 yrs. An incredible event with a sharp line up of speakers. @mikejay.bsky.social @tehseennoorani.bsky.social @pyrodelic.bsky.social @gmantic.bsky.social
Reposted by Mike Jay
‘One veteran shaman, returning from his first experience performing at a top-dollar eco-lodge, asked the ayahuasca researcher Stephan Beyer why these people had come halfway round the world to see him when they weren’t sick.’
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Mike Jay · Priest of the Devil: On Shamanism
‘Shamanism’, as a concept, is of course a Western invention, and from the earliest cross-cultural encounters it was...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 4, 2025 at 12:12 PM
‘One veteran shaman, returning from his first experience performing at a top-dollar eco-lodge, asked the ayahuasca researcher Stephan Beyer why these people had come halfway round the world to see him when they weren’t sick.’
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Mike Jay
Thrilled to see this mammoth review of "Shamanism" in
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Mike Jay · Priest of the Devil: On Shamanism
‘Shamanism’, as a concept, is of course a Western invention, and from the earliest cross-cultural encounters it was...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 3, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Thrilled to see this mammoth review of "Shamanism" in
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Mike Jay
Ever dreamt of being chased, falling, or flying? Our new exhibition, 'Between Sleeping and Waking', will bring together 200 years of artwork to show you are not alone!
Opening this Thursday, 14 August *ੈ✩‧₊˚ bit.ly/MOTM_dreams
Image: Let There Be Light, Edgar Farrar, 1943.
Opening this Thursday, 14 August *ੈ✩‧₊˚ bit.ly/MOTM_dreams
Image: Let There Be Light, Edgar Farrar, 1943.
August 11, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Ever dreamt of being chased, falling, or flying? Our new exhibition, 'Between Sleeping and Waking', will bring together 200 years of artwork to show you are not alone!
Opening this Thursday, 14 August *ੈ✩‧₊˚ bit.ly/MOTM_dreams
Image: Let There Be Light, Edgar Farrar, 1943.
Opening this Thursday, 14 August *ੈ✩‧₊˚ bit.ly/MOTM_dreams
Image: Let There Be Light, Edgar Farrar, 1943.
