Graham St John, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and historian of transformational events, movements, and figures. His forthcoming book Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna (MIT Press, Sep 30, 2025) is the latest among his ten books, which also include Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT (North Atlantic Books 2015). Graham is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Media, Humanities and the Arts at the University of Huddersfield, UK.

• (00:00:13) - Introduction
• (00:01:38) - Early McKenna Brothers’ History
• (00:06:38) - Terence’s Rejection of Science & Authority
• (00:09:49) - Timewave Zero Theory
• (00:18:10) - Limitations & Criticism of Timewave Zero
• (00:22:35) - Compressionism & Acceleration of History
• (00:25:59) - Possible Modern ‘Transcendental Object’—AI
• (00:28:27) - Terence’s Oratory Legacy & Cultural Impact
• (00:33:01) - AI Simulations of Terence’s Voice
• (00:40:12) - Research Process & Acknowledgements
• (00:41:36) - Rick Watson & Early Psychedelic Experiments
• (00:46:49) - John Parker’s Influence
• (00:49:03) - Unusual Characters from Paonia
• (00:52:25) - Telegraph Avenue ‘Salon’
• (00:55:31) - Neo Etudiant Newsletter
• (00:59:54) - Morning Glory Seeds & Hawaiian Wood Rose as Psychedelics
• (01:03:59) - Need for Further Research
• (01:05:03) - Writing the Biography During COVID
• (01:06:26) - Closing Remarks

Tony Ācworth (pronounced Ayk-worth) is a visionary herbalist, psychedelic advocate, forest guide, and self-described “wily wizard” living with his wife and five-year-old son amid the coastal rainforests of Brentwood Bay, Vancouver Island.

For 15 plus years, Tony has walked the plant (and mushroom) path, logged over 5,000 clinical hours doing comprehensive intakes with patients, helping them untangle what truly plagues the mind, body, and spirit. Under the mentorship of herbal elder and prolific author and mycologist Robert Rogers, Tony deepened his reverence for the fungal world and its wisdom.

In 2015, he was hired to work in Pacific Rim College’s herbal dispensary. Soon after he created and began teaching their first medicinal mushroom materia medica. From here, Tony began offering herbal clinics, nutrition courses, herbal therapeutics and mycological exploration weekends for students in the community herbalist, nutrition, and permaculture programs at the College. At home, he spent a decade developing his own ritual for psilocybin ceremonies, immersing himself in shamanism from Iquitos to the moss-laden forests of Vancouver Island.
This led to guiding individuals and men’s groups through the ritual experience, facilitating deep
personal explorations for those who participated.

Tony is also the creator behind DelOs, his heart-led line of herbal-supported mushroom microdose blends, with the expressed purpose of supporting the human body and nervous system with herbal medicine to help rewire stagnant, disserving patterns and improve overall well-being.

In 2026, he will expand his offerings by launching a dedicated Psychedelic Therapy Training Program at Pacific Rim College, further bridging ancestral plant wisdom with modern integration practice.
Recently, Tony blends mushroom intelligence with machines as a mycelial-minded systems tinkerer building ethical, living AI ecosystems designed to help people recalibrate and remember who they truly are. His work guides both personal recalibration and scalable AI solutions for human-centered collaboration, ensuring that advanced technology uplifts humanity.

He’s a father, a leatherworker, a Raspberry Pi hobbyist and if he appears in your life, chances are, the mushrooms arranged it.

Tony Ācworth is a techno-mystic wizard: part forest guide, part quantum gardener, part mycelial ambassador – all heart.

Dr Harry Shirley has a PhD in organic chemistry and research experience at the
University of Oxford. His research focussed on the synthesis of biologically active chemicals
of marine origin. Having left academia some years ago, he now holds a deep passion for
Jungian thought. He recently published his paper “the Buddhabrot and the Unus Mundus” in
the International Journal of Jungian Studies, which explores the role of the Mandelbrot set in
mind and matter.