Terence McKenna

Background

Terrence McKenna was born on November 16, 1946. He was fondly referred to as the “Timothy Leary of the ’90s” and the “intellectual voice of rave culture.” He was deeply appreciative and in awe of nature and spent his youth fossil-hunting. He also developed an interest in psychology at a young age. At 14, he began reading the works of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. McKenna attended the University of California, Berkeley, and was accepted into the Tussman Experimental College (but he dropped out). He returned almost 10 years later to complete his degree in ecology, shamanism, and conservation of natural resources.

McKenna became one of the pioneers of the psychedelic movement and began to give public lectures and host workshops. He was especially interested in plant-based psychedelics such as psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, cannabis, and the plant derivative N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (D.M.T.). He wrote and published numerous books throughout his career including “The Archaic Revival,” “Food of the Gods,” “The Invisible Landscape,” “Psilocybin Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide,” and “True Hallucinations.” McKenna and his wife Kathleen Harrison founded Botanical Dimensions, a nonprofit ethnobotanical preserve in Hawaii. It was created to collect, protect, propagate, and understand plants of ethnomedical significance. He was involved in this undertaking until the couple divorced in 1992 leaving Harrison to manage its operations. They have two children, Finn and Klea. McKenna died of brain cancer on April 3, 2000.