Dale Pendell Explained

Dale Pendell (April 14, 1947 – 13 January 2018) was an American poet, ethnobotanist, and novelist. Writing in an evocative style all his own, he fused science, folklore, and poetry in describing the relationship between psychoactive plants and human beings. A long time student of ethnobotany, Pendell discussed historical and cultural uses of "power plants" in his works. He read and distilled the literature of pharmacology and neuroscience, of ethnobotany and anthropology, of mythology and political economics as they intersect with the direct experience of human psychoactive use.^[1]

His publications include the Pharmako Trilogy: Pharmako/Poeia (1994),^{[2] [3]} Pharmako/Dynamis (2002),^{[4] [5] [6]} and Pharmako/Gnosis (2005),^{[7] [8]} all published by Mercury House. He covered all the major categories of psychoactives and detailed the use, the pharmacology, the chemistry, the political and social historical implications and effects of the use of psychoactives. Pharmako/Poeia won a 1996 Firecracker Alternative Book Award.^[9]

He was also a myth critic. Certain of his works comment on the origins of cultural myths.

Pendell also delved into politics, introducing the concept of "Horizon anarchism" at his Burning Man 2006 Palenque Norte lecture.^[10]

Bibliography

• The Gold-Dust Wilderness (1971)
• Physics for the Heart (1985)
• Chasing the Cranes, with Steve Sanfield, (1986)
• City Limits Blues (1986)
• Rough Cuts & Kindling (1986)
• Swirling (1986)
• Mokujiki: Thirteen Tanka, with Kazuaki Tanahashi, (1988)
• Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft (1995, Mercury House)
• Living With Barbarians: A Few Plant Poems (1999)
• Pharmako/Dynamis: Stimulating Plants, Potions, & Herbcraft (2002, Mercury House)
• Pharmako/Gnosis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path (2006, Mercury House)
• Inspired Madness: the Gifts of Burning Man (2006)
• Walking with Nobby, Conversations with Norman O. Brown (2008, Mercury House)
• The Language of Birds, Some Notes on Chance and Divination (2009)
• The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse (2010, North Atlantic Books)
• Equations of Power (2013)
• Salting the Boundaries (2014)
• Seeking Faust (2014)
• Jeremy and the Mantis (2018, Mercury House)

External links

• Official site & blog
• Erowid's Dale Pendell vault
• Erowid review of Pharmako/Gnosis
• 'Magical Practice', a discussion with Dale at the World Psychedelic Forum, Basel, 2008 (MP3 available)
• Dreamflesh.com review of Pharmako/Poeia

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Poet of Plants . . Emily Green . October 19, 2003 . March 13, 2018.
2. Snyder. Gary. Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons and Herbcraft . . Summer 1997. 98. Gale Document Number: GALE|A19777487
3. Cohen, George. "Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons and Herbcraft." Booklist, 15 Mar. 1995: 1296. Academic OneFile. Gale Document Number: GALE|A16848594
4. Web site: Speed Junkies . . Richard Gehr . August 20, 2002 . August 28, 2013 . December 15, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131215145921/http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-08-20/books/speed-junkies/ . dead .
5. "The poetry of stimulants." Whole Earth, Summer 2002: 38. Academic OneFile. Gale Document Number: GALE|A89646379
6. Web site: Pharmako/Dynamis . . Sarah Fox . Summer 2003 . August 24, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131015190848/http://raintaxi.com/online/2003summer/pharmako.shtml . October 15, 2013 .
7. Web site: The high life . . Emily Green . May 13, 2007 . August 24, 2013.
8. Web site: Literary Review: 'Pharmako/Gnosis' by Dale Pendell . Psychedelic Press UK . 7 August 2012 . August 24, 2013.
9. Web site: Firecracker Alternative Book Awards. ReadersRead.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20090304133738/http://www.readersread.com/awards/firecracker.htm. Mar 4, 2009.
10. https://psychedelicsalon.com/podcast-055-horizon-anarchism/ Podcast 055, "Horizon anarchism", Burning Man, 2006