FALL 2007 issue

Please share with our readers a little bit about yourself...

“Zoe Seven” is the result of my on going investigations into the human psyche and the nature of reality. He is the main character of my on going trilogy – Into The Void, Back From The Void, and the forthcoming Beyond The Void. Said books represent the next step in consciousness exploration and follow the mind and experiments of an amateur researcher investigating altered states of consciousness induced by the combination of psychoactive compounds (aka entheogens) and mind modifying devices. This research reveals that the ingestion of entheogens during specific mind machine induced brain states – theta, REM (rapid eye movement sleep) and delta – produce drastically different experiences than when psychoactive compounds and mind machines are used independently of each other.

Experiments with this novel combination lead to a series of uncanny occurrences including out of body experiences, encounters with hyper dimensional beings in waking reality, and “full dimensional shifts” into alternate realities. Zoe Seven’s books are written in such a way that to those lacking similar psycho-spiritual experiences, they will read like science fiction.

I note that you refer to Zoe Seven in the third person. Why is that?

I oftentimes think of Zoe Seven as an extension of myself, like an alter ego. You see, when I go back and read about what I’ve done – the experiments and their resulting experiences – it seems to me as though someone else was actually doing them; like it all happened in a dream somehow. It’s almost like a part of me is the ’daring psychonaut’ who is willing to take his brain and mind to its very limits, perhaps further... While another facet of me plays the role of the ‘observer,’ who avidly takes notes, which end up becoming Zoe Seven’s books.

The first instalment of the trilogy, Into The Void, was the culmination of nearly five years of personal research. During this time, I took it upon myself to boldly go where I had never gone before: straight into the deepest aspects of myself, of my psyche, to try and understand how reality – the fabric of existence and everything that exists within it – was created and is maintained. I was curious about the origins of time, space, and consciousness, even God. As I like to say, “If God exists, I want to know what makes that fucker tick.”

Early on I concluded that the best tool to investigate and study these existential concepts including the nature of consciousness was consciousness itself. With this in mind, I began to expand my mind not by using any technology or chemicals, but rather by in taking knowledge and information: hundreds of books, lectures on audiotape, magazine articles, papers and abstracts, live workshops - everything that I could get my hands on about subjects like quantum physics, biology, chemistry, psychology, philosophy and shamanism. After a few years of doing this, and only then, did I commence to experiment with AVS technology and entheogens as well as with their combination. As explained in Zoe Seven’s books, I don’t use entheogens out of addiction or anything of the like. They are used only as tools for serious experimentation and mind research.

How did you initially get involved with AVS technology? What equipment did you first use? When was that?

Back in 1996, while reading various books on the subject of consciousness exploration in preparation for my own research, I came across a book called, Megabrain: New Tools and Techniques for Brain Growth & Mind Expansion by Michael Hutchison. This book greatly influenced the direction of my investigations at the time, as it deals with AVS technology. And given my exposure to books on shamanism right around that same time period, it seemed to me as though both fields of my research would complement each other. It is important to note that my books, especially Into The Void, are not meant to be ‘how to manuals’ on the use and combination of psychoactives and mind machines. Rather, my books chronicle the experimental findings of someone who has merged these two fields out of a sense of curiosity.

The first audio-visual device I used was the DAVID Paradise. I also purchased the OASIS neuroelectrical stimulator together with it. The resulting experiences of both devices were so exciting to me that they quickly got me interested in experimenting with other similar mind machines including the NOVA Pro, Bob Beck’s BT-6, the Audio Strobe system and a couple of lucid dreaming induction devices called the Dream Light and the Nova Dreamer. I also bought the Mind Mirror III EEG, an electroencephalograph especially designed to measure altered states of consciousness.

One of the many things I learned from this specialized research of mine is that neuroelectrical stimulation would greatly help in recalling details of entheogen induced explorations. A neuroelectrical stimulator is a device that is attached to the temples or earlobes to stimulate the brain to release a number of neurochemicals, including dopamine, acetylcholine and beta-endorphin. As explained in Into The Void, one of the books I was reading during this initial phase of my research discussed the work of a neuroscientist by the name of Allan Hobson, who theorizes that when the brain enters REM sleep, it stops manufacturing the neurotransmitter chemicals responsible for memory. And this is interesting. Although humans have typically about five dream periods each night, we have very poor memory of them, if at all. Hobson’s theory made sense to me therefore. And it would prove useful in my own research when psychoactives were introduced. Because you see, the one universally reported side-effect of neuroelectrical stimulation therapy is vivid dreaming. The result of this being the increased short term memory, thanks to the release of neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, which is the neurotransmitter responsible for the storage, processing and retrieval of stored memories.

Most people that have taken psychedelics will tell you that after an experience, it is difficult at best to remember details about what took place while under the influence. But by undergoing neuroelectrical stimulation therapy for about 3 weeks before ingesting entheogens and then engaging a chemical or plant induced modified state of awareness, it is a whole different story. Details of the experiences are very clear and most of the information received during the experience is recalled.

After a few years of experimenting with neuroelectrical devices and AVS technology, both separately and later in combo, I decided to see what would happen if psychoactive compounds were added to the mix... The result: Into The Void – and Zoe Seven.

Are you still personally using Mind Machines? Do you have any favorites? Is there anything you can tell us from your long-term perspective about the use of AVS that you would like to share?

From time to time, I still find light and sound devices very useful to help induce specific mind states such as deep delta and theta/hypnagogic reverie. But this varies, as I have gone many a month without using them at all. I really enjoy the Photosonix models, including the Nova Pro 100 and the Luma 10. Although I’m a little biased on the latter as it includes 2 special sessions, which happen to be my favorite mind machine sessions: Into The Void with Zoe Seven and SuperZenSeven. Christopher Oliver, creator of the AV3X, helped design those sessions based on ideas I had been using in my own light and sound sessions. As well, the lucid dreaming induccion devices almost always help induce lucid dreaming with minimum effort.

Over the years of using AVS technology, I can attest to their efficiency in bringing about reliable meditative and other similar states. Similarly, I cannot say enough about the results of combining lucid dreaming induction devices like the Nova Dreamer together with an entheogen like sublingual Salvia divinorum or ayahuasca. As one is able to go into a lucid dreaming (or REM sleep) episode under the influence of said entheogen, resulting in an entirely new type of experience. This type of experimentation might just be the next step in entheogen/consciousness exploration. As here we are talking about full “dimensional shifts” to alternate realities and dimensions, i.e., you actually going “there,” to a different system of reality. As opposed to say, seeing blobs of light or geometrical visual patterns.

As far as what long-term benefits can be ascribed to the use of AVS technology and/or entheogens, I am of the belief that both are tools. It is the user really that determines the type of results. In other words, you get out of them what is inside you. Nothing more. With entheogens for instance, which oftentimes act as psychological amplifiers, if the user happens to be a little creative, he or she can become more creative. Similarly, If they are a little intelligent, this intelligence can increase. But if someone is say dumb, or into deluding him or herself, entheogens will not make the user “smart,” but dumber or even more deluded! So you see, entheogens can be double-edged swords.

Somewhat similar is AVS technology, as these devices facilitate particular experiences but do not force them. The experiences are very individualistic depending on the psychological, emotional, spiritual and perhaps even intelligence of the user.

What considerations should someone new to AVS and/or entheogens take into account before experimenting with combinations of these?

First of all, I would discourage you or anyone from attempting such a thing. Unless you happen to be a seasoned explorer like Zoe Seven. As explained earlier, the modified states resulting from this type of combination are drastically different than with either entheogens or AVS technology separately. Speaking from my own personal experiences, once one begins to work with a psychoactive shamanic plant, for instance, a particular “psychic state” begins to develop in the individual over time. Similarly, by using some of the AVS technology available, over time, new neurological pathways that interconnect both brain hemispheres are created. These two results can act synergistically, taking the individual’s consciousness to higher level of consciousness and being. I have noted that my somewhat limited psychic functioning has increased as result of my experiments. My creativity as well. In addition, a “sophisticated depth and level of thought,” for lack of a better description, has seemingly manifested as well.

Your first book was centered mainly around experiments with psychoactive chemicals and mind machines. While your second one deals with many psychoactive plants and AVS technology. What is next?

For the final instalment of Zoe Seven’s trilogy, I will be engaging in a totally new set of experiments. They will be based on Dr. Michael Persigner’s work - induction of altered states of consciousness via rotating magnetic fields.

The are several experimental devices I will be using, similar to the ones Dr. Persigner used in his own experiments. I will combine these with a few psychoactive plants, including San Pedro, ayahuasca and Salvia divinorum. The experiments will attempt to bridge realities: this one, with what is sometimes referred to as the astral plane. As discussed in Back From The Void, while in a small town in Brazil - Abadiania – Zoe Seven discovered a portal which discarnate entities that incorporate into a Brazilian medium/ psychic healer use for this purpose. These entities are invisible (and non-physical). Zoe Seven interacted with them while in an entheogen induced trance state. But for these new experiments, I will be conscious, with eyes open and in a lit room. The magnetic fields will act as the tuning frequencies while the entheogens will amplify the signal from the next plane of existence. In other words, Zoe Seven will attempt to see into this other reality not in an out of the body or trance state but fully awake.

Should people call you “Zoe Seven, or…? If not, then, is Zoe Seven real or is he a fictitious character?

As explained earlier, “Zoe Seven” is the personification and result of the many altered states of consciousness this writer has experimented with. It is also true that he is a character in a trilogy in progress I'm currently writing. As explained in book 1 of the trilogy, Zoe Seven contacted me from a future probable timeline and explained he'd been manipulating certain events and experiments so that he could come into existence in our 3D reality. Then, at the end of Into The Void, he crosses over from said framework of potential reality to find himself 'here,' in me as Zoe Seven. Which sometimes makes me wonder whether I created Zoe Seven or, if Zoe Seven actually created the writer of his trilogy.

So to answer your question - whether Zoe Seven is real or not - let‘s just say that Zoe Seven wasn’t “real” until he met one particular writer…

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