Warm greetings and a belated welcome to



image by Lord Nose

Amongst other things, this issue will take you deep into the pristine wilderness of Britain where entheogenic fungi are to be found in abundance in the autumn months. In particular, my close essence friend (and also designer of Prescience) Iain J. Lewis provides 3 detailed accounts of various treks into the heart of Britain's wilderness where such indigenous fungi were gratefully consumed and where, in the wake of the psilocybin experience, conversation and heartfelt emotion touched upon notions of the sacred.

Iain's observations of the mushroom's educational-cum-spiritual impact are germane and it is immediately apparent why psilocybin has been ascribed as a sacrament. The mushroom allows one to sense with overwhelming conviction that the biosphere, Gaia, be alive, well and replete with Natural Intelligence whose expression is everywhere and everywhen. The mushroom basically resolves itself as a kind of esoteric communication device to the higher intelligence woven into the fabric of Nature, as if one's senses were suddenly capable of tuning in to the finer frequencies issuing from the environment.

Why such a beneficial and fortuitous state of natural affairs should be 'laid out' by Nature adds further depth to the mystery. As some might say, something is 'going on', something is a trifle 'fishy' out there in the wilds of the Earth, not in any bad way of course but rather indicating truly great things. In fact, the more one pursues the mushroom and follows its sometimes elusive trail each year, more and more does it seem like reality is some kind of ultra-smart sci-fi scenario whose plot is more cunning than we can imagine.

How can I be so sure of all this? How can Natural Intelligence be absolutely confirmed? Indeed, how can Prescience persistently maintain such a quixotic ethos? Well, speaking for myself, the truth is that I write this editorial from Palawan, the so-called last frontier of the Philippines and a definite candidate for Aldous Huxley's Edenic island Pala detailed in his last novel. For the last month or so I have been discovering the undersea world of coral reefs where untold species of fish and coral dazzle the senses. In perceiving such a multicoloured ecosystem with eyes wide open it is glaringly apparent that Nature be intelligent in terms of its capacity to generate exquisite systems of biology. Nothing human culture has made, no machine nor any computer system, can match the sophistication or engineering majesty of a living organism like, say, a turtle or a stingray. To snorkel through a pristine coral reef teeming with aquatic life is to bathe in Natural Intelligence, conscious experience being the way that Natural Intelligence (and thus Nature) comes to know itself for what it is.

Read on then and enjoy Iain's illuminating accounts of wild treks into the sacred heart of Nature. Also included in this current volume is an account of a rather special psilocybin experience I had in the Palm House at Kew Gardens, London, circa 1993. A certain subtle facet of the Mystery seemed evident to me then. Seven years on and experiential events during forays into jungles and coral reefs here in the Philippines seem somehow connected, the promise of Natural Intelligence still on course. We live in good times. Stay tuned. The greatest show on Earth has only just begun. Some grand resolution this way cometh....


This site is still graphically under construction, but the bulk of the site -- the articles themselves -- are here already. In no particular order, they are:


THE WATERFALL : ABER FALLS 1999
I CLOSE MY EYES AND SEE MORE CLEARLY : 1998
PSILOCYBINETICS : KEW GARDENS 1993
JUNIPER HARMONICS : LAKE DISTRICT 1999
ANGEL IN MACHU PICCHU : MACHU PICCHU 198?
SACRED GROUND : MOUNT SNOWDON 1998

Prescience 4 stands in memory of Terence McKenna, 1946 to 2000.
His visionary approach helped show us the way.

Simon G. Powell - 7th March 2000 - Amongst prolific Hibiscus flowers, Malapacao Island, Palawan, The Philippines