Tom Lyttle Publishing
Journals, Anthologies, Feature Articles, Reviews
Thomas Lyttle published 8 books and 100+ articles for the scientific and popular press. His work centers on ASC (altered stares of consciousness) . These books include "Psychedelics Reimagined" (Autonomedia), Psychedelics: A Collection" (Barricade/Lyle Stuart) and others. Thomas Lyttle was admitted into "Who's Who In America" for his unusual and original contributions in publishing.
Tom Lyttle's work has appeared in peer-reviewed academic journals such as "The International Journal of Addictions", "The Journal of Drug Issues", "Lucidity Letter" and many others. He has interviewed or collaborated with many of the great artists and writers of the 1960's and the 1990's "new-age" movement, including Allen Ginsberg, Dr. Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, Ram Dass, Dr. John Lilly, Dr. Alexander Shulgin, Lisa Law, Dr. Annie Sprinkle, Peter Fonda, Robert Anton Wilson, HR Giger, Dr. Albert Hofmann and many others.
Mr. Lyttle also worked for 25 years as a professional chef in South Florida for many private clubs, yacht clubs, polo clubs and golf clubs. He was trained by an ACF (American Culinary Federation) "Master Chef - only 400 of these exist in the USA. He was also trained by Le Chaine de Rotissuere, the famous elite cooking society founded in 1200 AD. His chef background especially emphasizes "fusion" cooking such as Floribbean, Tex-Mex, Cajun and other peasant cooking. Tom Lyttle was also classicly trained in French, German, Italian, Spanish, English and other "continental" forms of haute cuisine.
Tom Lyttle's work has appeared in peer-reviewed academic journals such as "The International Journal of Addictions", "The Journal of Drug Issues", "Lucidity Letter" and many others. He has interviewed or collaborated with many of the great artists and writers of the 1960's and the 1990's "new-age" movement, including Allen Ginsberg, Dr. Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, Ram Dass, Dr. John Lilly, Dr. Alexander Shulgin, Lisa Law, Dr. Annie Sprinkle, Peter Fonda, Robert Anton Wilson, HR Giger, Dr. Albert Hofmann and many others.
Mr. Lyttle also worked for 25 years as a professional chef in South Florida for many private clubs, yacht clubs, polo clubs and golf clubs. He was trained by an ACF (American Culinary Federation) "Master Chef - only 400 of these exist in the USA. He was also trained by Le Chaine de Rotissuere, the famous elite cooking society founded in 1200 AD. His chef background especially emphasizes "fusion" cooking such as Floribbean, Tex-Mex, Cajun and other peasant cooking. Tom Lyttle was also classicly trained in French, German, Italian, Spanish, English and other "continental" forms of haute cuisine.
Abstracts & Citations
Lyttle, Thomas; PSYCHEDELICA MYSTICAE: White Light Drugs and the Search for the Pineal, (1994)
Lyttle, Thomas. Drug Based Religions and Contemporary Drug Taking.
JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES, 18(2):271-284,
Identification of 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (bufotenine) in takini (Brosimum acutifolium Huber subsp. acutifolium C.C. Berg, Moraceae), a shamanic potion used in the Guiana Plateau
Christian Morettia, Yvan Gaillardb, , Pierre Grenanda, Fabien Bévalotb and Jean-Michel Prévostoc
Unité No 84 Biodival, IRD Orleans, 5 rue du Carbone, 45000 Orléans, France bLaboratory of Analytical Toxicology, Quai Jean Jaurès, 07800 La Voulte sur Rhône, France cFédération de Biologie Clinique, Hôpital Desgenettes, 108 Boulevard Pinel, 69003 Lyon, France
Received 30 May 2005; revised 20 November 2005; accepted 15 December 2005. Available online 7 February 2006.
References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.
Abstract: This paper is the first thorough analysis of takini, a hallucinogen used by the shamans of several peoples in Suriname, French Guiana, and the region east of the Para in Brazil. The drug is contained in the latex of the Brosimum acutifolium tree, and until now, its psychotropic properties appeared inconsistent with the more general medicinal uses of the tree in the surrounding region.
Our chemical and botanical studies reveal that the active ingredient of takini is bufotenine; and that this compound is only contained in the subspecies Brosimum acutifolium Huber subsp. acutifolium C.C. Berg that is found in the same area of the eastern Guianas.
Keywords: Bufotenine; 5-Hydroxy-tryptamine; Takini; Shamanism; Amerindians; Hallucinogenic beverage
Article Outline1. Introduction2. Takini: a historical overview3. Previous chemical studies4. Present chemical studies4.1. Botanical material4.2. Analytical technique4.2.1. Material4.2.2. Extraction and injection5. Results6. Discussion7. ConclusionsAcknowledgementsReferences What's New with My Subject? Drugs, Music, and Ideology: A Social Pharmacological Interpretation of the Acid House Movement Authors: Thomas Lyttle a; Michael Montagne b Affiliations: a PM & E Publishing Group, Boynton Beach, Florida b Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts DOI: 10.3109/10826089209047341 Publication Frequency: 14 issues per year Published in: Substance Use & Misuse, Volume 27, Issue 10 October 1992 , pages 1159 - 1177 Subject: Addiction & Treatment; Formats available: PDF (English) Previously published as: International Journal of the Addictions (0020-773X) until 01 January 1996 Article Requests: Order Reprints : Request Permissions
White Light Drugs and the Search for the Pineal, by Tom Lyttle
Integration: Journal for 'Mind-Moving Plants and Culture (4)
Lyttle, Thomas. Drug Based Religions and Contemporary Drug Taking.
JOURNAL OF DRUG ISSUES, 18(2):271-284,
Identification of 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (bufotenine) in takini (Brosimum acutifolium Huber subsp. acutifolium C.C. Berg, Moraceae), a shamanic potion used in the Guiana Plateau
Christian Morettia, Yvan Gaillardb, , Pierre Grenanda, Fabien Bévalotb and Jean-Michel Prévostoc
Unité No 84 Biodival, IRD Orleans, 5 rue du Carbone, 45000 Orléans, France bLaboratory of Analytical Toxicology, Quai Jean Jaurès, 07800 La Voulte sur Rhône, France cFédération de Biologie Clinique, Hôpital Desgenettes, 108 Boulevard Pinel, 69003 Lyon, France
Received 30 May 2005; revised 20 November 2005; accepted 15 December 2005. Available online 7 February 2006.
References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.
Abstract: This paper is the first thorough analysis of takini, a hallucinogen used by the shamans of several peoples in Suriname, French Guiana, and the region east of the Para in Brazil. The drug is contained in the latex of the Brosimum acutifolium tree, and until now, its psychotropic properties appeared inconsistent with the more general medicinal uses of the tree in the surrounding region.
Our chemical and botanical studies reveal that the active ingredient of takini is bufotenine; and that this compound is only contained in the subspecies Brosimum acutifolium Huber subsp. acutifolium C.C. Berg that is found in the same area of the eastern Guianas.
Keywords: Bufotenine; 5-Hydroxy-tryptamine; Takini; Shamanism; Amerindians; Hallucinogenic beverage
Article Outline1. Introduction2. Takini: a historical overview3. Previous chemical studies4. Present chemical studies4.1. Botanical material4.2. Analytical technique4.2.1. Material4.2.2. Extraction and injection5. Results6. Discussion7. ConclusionsAcknowledgementsReferences What's New with My Subject? Drugs, Music, and Ideology: A Social Pharmacological Interpretation of the Acid House Movement Authors: Thomas Lyttle a; Michael Montagne b Affiliations: a PM & E Publishing Group, Boynton Beach, Florida b Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts DOI: 10.3109/10826089209047341 Publication Frequency: 14 issues per year Published in: Substance Use & Misuse, Volume 27, Issue 10 October 1992 , pages 1159 - 1177 Subject: Addiction & Treatment; Formats available: PDF (English) Previously published as: International Journal of the Addictions (0020-773X) until 01 January 1996 Article Requests: Order Reprints : Request Permissions
- Purchase Article: US$35.00 -
White Light Drugs and the Search for the Pineal, by Tom Lyttle
Integration: Journal for 'Mind-Moving Plants and Culture (4)
Psychozoic Press to Psychedelic Monographs & Essays (PM&E), Anthologies, Articles
Can we out-trick the Trickster? Can we use our imaginations to cure the imagination? Can we use magick? Through ritual? or even writing? The hermetic personality is the magician, the shape-shifter, the trickster even liar - the chameleon. Alchemy and magick were the psychological languages of the past. Synchronistic events are those subjective experiences that make up life's meaningful coincidences. Hermes is the magician who has the ability to cross dimensional boundaries, as a mediator between the human and the divine, the personal psyche and the unconscious.
The Hermetica included works on magic, alchemy, astrology, healing, gnosis, theurgy, ritual and philosophy. These texts were based on notions of sympathetic magic, that like substances sharing an essence could influence one another through resonance effects. Likewise the hypnotic and magnetic qualities of charismatic individuals can create rapport with others to influence them.
Writing was originally a form of magic, an epiphany with the god and secret of the priests. It is perhaps mankind's most far-reaching creation, taking almost an infinite variety of forms. Many societies have created their own forms of conventional visible marks linked to spoken language. No other invention but the wheel has had such a lasting impact. A holistic understanding of the universe presents itself to the mind through experience and is comprehended at the theoretical level through the activities of science.
We create myths to satisfy our need to understand our environment and to give us some sense of control over it, or at least an understood place within it. A given myth has stability (is an enduring structure of relationships of meaning) because it is adaptive psychophysiologically for an individual or social group. We need a way to make the myth real to us, and that is the fundamental reason why we connect ritual to our myths. One way of describing rituals, then, is that they are motor actions that seek to enact the reality of the mythic structure of meaning our brains instinctually produce.
The simultaneous strong discharge of both parts of the autonomic nervous system creates a state that consists not only of a pleasurable sensation, but, also, under proper conditions, a sense of union with conspecifics and a blurring of cognitive boundaries. Both meditation and ritual can lead to the spillover effect and the simultaneous discharge of the arousal and quiescent systems. But they come at the experience from different directions. Meditation begins with the quiescent system and by its hyperactiviation can achieve spillover into the arousal system (from trophotropic to ergotropic). Ritual approaches from the opposite system (from ergotropic to trophotropic).
Psychedelic Monographs and Essays 1-6
Chemical investigations have confirmed lysergic acid amides are produced in several plants of the bindweed family including Baby Hawaiian Woodroses, which contain up to ten times the concentration of psychoactives as Morning Glories. Lysergic acid amides including chanclavine, ergine, isoergine and ergonovine are present in the psychoactive Argyriea species which include speciosa, acuta, bernesii, capituata, osyrensis, wallichii, splendens, hainanensis, obtusifolia, and pseudorubicundo, mainly concentrated in the seeds. The larger Hawaiian Woodrose, Merrimia tuberosa also produces such amides, but unlike the others it is not nearly as potent as the Baby Hawaiian Woodrose. --Psychedelic Monographs and Essays Thomas Lyttle, Editor/Publisher
Psychedelic Monographs and Essays Fort Lauderdale, FL 33001
Psychedelic Monograph's (sic) and Essays, Volume One (Autumn 1985). Psychedelic Monographs and Essays, Volume Two (Summer 1987). Psychedelic Monographs & Essays, Volume Three (Spring 1988). Psychedelic Monographs and Essays, Volume Four (1989/1990). Psychedelic Monographs and Essays, Volume Five (1990/1991). Psychedelic Monographs and Essays, Volume Six (1993). Psychedelics: A Collection of the Most Exciting New Material on Psychedelic Drugs (1994). Psychedelics Reimagined (1999).
The Hermetica included works on magic, alchemy, astrology, healing, gnosis, theurgy, ritual and philosophy. These texts were based on notions of sympathetic magic, that like substances sharing an essence could influence one another through resonance effects. Likewise the hypnotic and magnetic qualities of charismatic individuals can create rapport with others to influence them.
Writing was originally a form of magic, an epiphany with the god and secret of the priests. It is perhaps mankind's most far-reaching creation, taking almost an infinite variety of forms. Many societies have created their own forms of conventional visible marks linked to spoken language. No other invention but the wheel has had such a lasting impact. A holistic understanding of the universe presents itself to the mind through experience and is comprehended at the theoretical level through the activities of science.
We create myths to satisfy our need to understand our environment and to give us some sense of control over it, or at least an understood place within it. A given myth has stability (is an enduring structure of relationships of meaning) because it is adaptive psychophysiologically for an individual or social group. We need a way to make the myth real to us, and that is the fundamental reason why we connect ritual to our myths. One way of describing rituals, then, is that they are motor actions that seek to enact the reality of the mythic structure of meaning our brains instinctually produce.
The simultaneous strong discharge of both parts of the autonomic nervous system creates a state that consists not only of a pleasurable sensation, but, also, under proper conditions, a sense of union with conspecifics and a blurring of cognitive boundaries. Both meditation and ritual can lead to the spillover effect and the simultaneous discharge of the arousal and quiescent systems. But they come at the experience from different directions. Meditation begins with the quiescent system and by its hyperactiviation can achieve spillover into the arousal system (from trophotropic to ergotropic). Ritual approaches from the opposite system (from ergotropic to trophotropic).
Psychedelic Monographs and Essays 1-6
Chemical investigations have confirmed lysergic acid amides are produced in several plants of the bindweed family including Baby Hawaiian Woodroses, which contain up to ten times the concentration of psychoactives as Morning Glories. Lysergic acid amides including chanclavine, ergine, isoergine and ergonovine are present in the psychoactive Argyriea species which include speciosa, acuta, bernesii, capituata, osyrensis, wallichii, splendens, hainanensis, obtusifolia, and pseudorubicundo, mainly concentrated in the seeds. The larger Hawaiian Woodrose, Merrimia tuberosa also produces such amides, but unlike the others it is not nearly as potent as the Baby Hawaiian Woodrose. --Psychedelic Monographs and Essays Thomas Lyttle, Editor/Publisher
Psychedelic Monographs and Essays Fort Lauderdale, FL 33001