The Castalia Foundation - Psychedelic Review Archive

THE CASTALIA FOUNDATION PSYCHEDELIC ARCHIVE

The fierce winds of psychedelic rebellion in the 60s blew a diasporama of underground publishing-houses across the United States, and beyond. Armed with bright inks and typewriters, freedom-fighters fought the decrepit corporate press. The Southern California Oracle, pictured above, appears to have been the CIA's response to the popular San Francisco Oracle. Packed with Freemasonic and Illuminati symbolism, The Southern California Oracle is a great example of how 'authority' attempts to co-opt the counter-culture. Click the image above to review some interesting symbolism.

The Southern California Oracle is harder to track down than its cousin, The San Francisco City Oracle. If you — or someone you know — has old copies of The Southern California Oracle in a dusty box, then scan and upload them. We only know of one complete, scanned issue. You can read this rare item by clicking on the image of The Southern California Oracle, above. The modern reader, versed in Freemasonic symbolism, will recognize the pervasive use of this abuse-group's signs and symbols throughout the newspaper. The CIA's fingerprints are all over this 'underground' publication.

Reality Hackers was just one of many consciousness-expanding publications that rose up to meet the psychedelic wave. You can download issue #5 of this magazine by clicking on the front-cover of it, above. This issue deals, intriguingly, with the topic of designer-viruses and social manipulation. We'd love to provide readers with a full-collection of all psychedelic ephemera of the sixties, seventies and eighties, but many of these magazines were sadly lost to time. Got something of interest in your attic? Upload it to archive.org and share it with the psychedelic community. Keep our history alive!

THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO ORACLE — HERE'S YOUR COMPLETE ARCHIVE

The San Francisco Oracle (available to read, above) was a hugely popular newspaper, distributed across Haight-Ashbury, and beyond, by street-vendors. While The Southern California Oracle (featured at the top of this page) was heavily manipulated by the CIA, the San Francisco Oracle was more-or-less the real deal. This vibrant newspaper represented the authentic psychedelic-movement in print.

The Castalia Foundation team includes surviving members of the Underground Press Syndicate. In upholding the ethos of the Syndicate we preserve a free public-archive of The San Francisco Oracle. You can browse through complete scans of every issue of The San Francisco Oracle by clicking on the images above. The newspapers have been organized chronologically and formatted into PDF files.

The San Francisco Oracle was just one of many psychedelic newspapers that comprised the 'underground press' of the 60s. An entire social movement sought to wrestle control of mass-media away from the establishment. Recognizing the risk to their power, groups like the CIA were quick to either mimic (for example, The Southern California Oracle), and infiltrate the underground press.

PSYCHEDELIC TREASURES — RECOMMENDED READING

A fascinating article from Progressive Architecture (1966) exploring the use of psychedelics in the field of architecture. Several successful architects describe using LSD and mescaline to solve complex architectural challenges. Their clients' reactions? Delighted and impressed.

Lisa Bieberman worked in collaboration with our founder, Timothy Leary. Here, we republish her remarkable book on navigating difficult LSD sessions. The book is early precursor to LSD Zen, taking the reader through odd 'game' situations which may arise during a non-solo LSD session.

Start Your Own Religion is Tim Leary' essential guidebook to dropping-out: "Avoid conflict with the establishment. Avoid recruiting and rapid growth. Preserve clan harmony. Your clan must be limited to essence friends. The structure of your clan must be cellular." Vital reading for freedom-fighters.

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