Michael: "Well, Carolyn," Terence says, gripping one of Roger's medical brews, "you certainly have swept me up in a whirlwind ... from a cosmic game designed to .... bring together alchemical opposites on the roof of the St. Francis Hotel to an ad man's pied-a-terre in Pacific Heights ... you move in some strange circles!"
"And," he says with a quizzically amused expression on his face, "I think your bartender might be a practitioner of voodoo, given the barman spiel I just got for this rum cocktail."
Leonard: "Ooh, give me some of that. But just some. His drinks are real powerhouses, even for me." After a sip and a shudder, she turns to face him. "It's not me, really. I'm just a boring private tutor with some interesting clients. It's this place, you know? It's so resonant with so many different energies. Even the place names here, they're like conjuring words. What about you? You travel in some interesting circles yourself! You know Viv, and ... didn't you say you did some traveling in South America?"
Michael: "Genevieve I only know, a) in passing and b) as a fellow seeker of wisdom. Her books," with this Terence gasps in delight, "she manages to express the psychedelic impulse and experience better and more precisely than a dozen scientists or a hundred pop songs. She goes very very deep into what it all means." Jo can tell Terence is being a little cagey around Viv because, you know, he doesn't know who's a narc and who's not.
"As for South America," Terence says, "you might call that a little exploration that went deep and, well, small as well, from the jungle as a whole breathing ancient engineered system down to the... let's say micro-cellular level."
Leonard: "I have to get around to reading Viv's books. She says it's okay that I haven't, but the more I hear about them, the more I think I should," Jocasta replies.
"South America sounds incredible -- I'd love to hear more about that. I studied psychology at Berkeley, but ecology was my minor, and I've always been fascinated with ideas about the ecosphere as a coherent system that provides its organisms not just with what they need to survive, but what they need to understand that system."
Michael: Terence seems speechless, but very soon a huge warm smile spreads across his face. "My word, Carolyn... I have to ask now, who you studied under and when, because I have the strangest feeling the work you may have done as an undergraduate is the reason I am able to pursue my own degree right now, a sort of ... bespoke degree in ecology, resource management, and shamanism. Extraordinary." By this Terence is of course acknowledging the age difference between himself and Jo, but also the fact that he has returned to school after not quite lasting the first time.
"When I was here the first time, at Tussman, the experimental school... I mean, it was really quite brilliant for an 18-year-old who was sick of grades, of expectations, but also I knew that if I truly wanted to study shamanism, to deeply bore into questions of existence and man's interaction with nature and Spirit, to have that world open up to me, it wouldn't come even at the most experimental school. It would come from learning directly from those shamans and from the plants and fungi that they've used to find those paths, since well before the first cities, the first priests, the first wars wormed their way into humanity's hearts."
"But here I am, back at Berkeley, its ... gravitational well is truly too great to escape sometimes. What a difference seven years makes, though... now they're giving me a degree in the things they couldn't possibly offer me insight into the first time around. The student becomes... well, not a teacher quite yet, because who am I to claim that mantle other than being here to ... spread the mushroom gospel, if you will. But let's say the student becomes the auto-didact, more like. At the very least pursuing a Bachelor's gives me access to some of the best libraries on the West Coast. The treasures that are in there, overlooked by generations of anthropologists and botanists, you wouldn't believe."
"I haven't said a thing about Colombia, Carolyn, and I really must apologize. It is front of my mind at the moment because along with the coursework I'm working on a book with my brother and the other... experiencers who were there with us. The manuscript is at a very early stage but given your interest I'd be more than willing to share it with you."
Michael: "But before that, I have to ask ... are you a cop?"
Leonard: Jocasta practically busts out in giggles. "Oh, goodness, no. I'm...well, I'm probably not the furthest thing from a cop, but the distance from there to me is pretty vast. No, I'm just trying to play it cool because -- " she gestures with her wine glass over to Archie -- "my boss invited me. You and I share more than a few interests, I think, so you probably remember from the convention that I try to play it cool around him and his kids. But whatever you did in Colombia -- and I very much want to know more about it, everything about it -- isn't gonna get you in trouble with me." She takes a sip of wine and continues.
"As far as my schooling goes, you give me far too much credit. I was just a girl from Sausalito when I started my studies, just a lucky girl with no direction, looking for something to occupy my mind. I studied ecology under Dr. Stebbins -- you may know him, he's still there. Mostly desert ecology, though I remember him talking about Colombia as well; while you were studying plants, he was studying lizards." She gives a little crystalline laugh, remembering it. "But he's the one who made me start thinking about how everything in the living world is connected, how it's this intricate web where you can't put a strand out of place without disrupting the whole pattern, but how you can start anywhere and 'read' the whole thing. Back then, I wasn't...well, let's just say I was very reluctant about your mushroom gospel. Like a lot of penitents, I had to spend some time in the dark before I could see the light. But that door is wide open now, and I'm trying to learn more every time I step through it."
"Let me ask you something, Terence, before you go on -- and I want you to go on. Do you give any credence to the idea of psi powers, or of extrasensory or parasensory perception? No wrong answers. You can tell me now, or...later. After the party."
Michael: "Well, I couldn't well believe that every living being is part of a web of co-existence and that reality is holographic without also believing in extra-sensory perception, now could I? In fact, I'd go a bit further, and say there's nothing 'extra' about such perception, whether it comes from meditation or mushrooms or mere inborn gifts. We all have the senses, the question is whether they're trained up to the task of what they're seeking or not. The minute that the government starts taking something like ESP seriously—and I know for a fact they have—" Terence says portentously, "you can be sure there's something to it that can be quantified and measured."
Leonard: "Sometimes it seems like they're not taking it seriously enough," she says, cryptically. "But I agree completely. That's where this lucky girl is looking these days, Terence -- at that place where the nock in the arrow of psi power fits into the string of the bow of entheogens. If that's close to what you've been writing about, it would be my privilege to read it."
Michael: "Well then, let's make plans for you to swing by my and my old lady's place in Berkeley sometime this weekend! We can pass the pipe, rap about alien spores and holographic ecosystems, and I can explain to you the vision I had on the roof on Friday night and what I think is really happening and how it's all going to come to a head at the winter solstice in six months."
Jocasta: "That sounds delightful, Terence. Six months! I better get my affairs in order." She finishes off her wine. "I'm absolutely famished; I'm going to get Archie to make me a hot dog. You should meet Marshall -- Dr. Red, you probably have heard of him. I bet he'd love to meet you as well."