April 19 - Bicycle Day Turns 75

albert hofmann 1943 bicycle ride blotter art

AO +2018, April 19 ☉ The 75th Anniversary Of Bicycle Day

AO +1943, April 16 - Sunrise Over Serendipity Day

Whilst quite a large part of the World tore its Self into smaller pieces to draw new lines on the map -once again, for the sake of power, by the rule of greed- a fungus of certain infamy, felt the shunning of her offspring had lasted long enough after its birth in 1938. Therefore, she sent her child back to Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, to communicate with the doctor responsible for its delivery, five years earlier, when and where her baby first saw light on Earth.

Their initial contact, then and there in the lab, left the doctor feeling confused to such a degree, that he could not focus on or continue with his work. He returned to his home and, after regaining a relaxed state of mind, became moderately hypnotized by the visual aspects of the lingering transmission, which mesmerized him for a couple of hours.

When his ego resumed consciousness control behind the dashboard of his mental processing unit, the doctor, who actually had a professional foreground in chemical sciences, thought he had actually enjoyed quite a pleasant experience, due to an unsolicited intoxication. In fact, at that time he gathered he had maintained a less-than-perfect level of sterility procedures at the lab; that he must have unwittingly ingested a minute amount of the substance he had felt to reinvestigate that day. It would take quite a while before both sides of the nondual nature of their first contact would dawn on him. Until that time, it would appear to him a serendipitous event had occurred.

From the human perspective of a materialistic individual, this particular substance, the offspring of said infamous fungus, would soon become a renowned tool -the most powerful of its kind to date- to explore the inner realms of the Terran psyche. Some of us consider it a spiritual antiseptic, whereas others may even refer to it as an evolutionary counterweight to maintain the dynamic balance of Nature during the creation of a device of destruction, conceived in the same era, on the warfaring side of the globe. ... Such peculiar ways the Universe finds to equilibrate its Self.

In this historical play, Albert Hofmann performs the role of the doctor; Claviceps Purpurea, also known as Mother of Rye or Mutterkorn, plays the part of the zealous fungus. Their "Sorgenkind" bears the name LSD.

albert hofmann 1943 bicycle ride blotter art

AO +1943, April 19 - A Cautious Pinch Of Psychedelic

Not quite content with the result of their first encounter, as her child had obviously not spoken loud and clear enough to become fully and unequivocally understood by the doctor and therefore did not receive the essential attention it deserved, Mother of Rye arranged for a second meeting, three days later.

The whispering echo of her voice presented Dr Hofmann with the deliberated decision to self-prescribe the first dose of LSD, in order to enable the two to make closer acquaintance. Easily convinced by the vivid memory of his recent pleasance, the scientist reasoned that by consciously repeating the experiment, it should become establissed with certainty whether or not the serendipitous encounter between his research chemical and his self had indeed happened accidental.

The self-administered "cautious dose" -250 micrograms, in retrofact- proved not as small as Hofmann had expected. Not quite, not by far. Little did he foresee about the friendly onslaught of chaos at his very fingertips, screaming in eager silence. Yet as soon as he felt inebriated by the initial effects, he laid down his work and asked his assistant to accompany him on his bike ride home, as it seemed unsafe to him to head out on the road by himself.

Moments later, looking over his shoulder whilst biking, he could see Mother of Rye, fading into the distance, waving with a wide smile and a satisfied sigh, as she knew she had accomplished her Great Work. Finally her child made its way into the wide, wild World.

The trip that followed wrote history and its effects resonate throughout spacetime, far beyond here and now. This date, April 19, has become known around the globe as Bicycle Day - the annual cerebralation* of Dr Hofmann's serendipitous discovery and the quintessential bike ride.

🚲 Trring Trrring!


* cerebralation (n), from cerebralate (v):
a personal:eye:zed portmanteau
of cerebral and celebrate


all text ⓦ Satyr Barbarossa
(cc) 2014 - 2018 / CCBYNCND4.0


As always and (un)usual, between Now, Never and Forever:
click any highlighted text for additional, linked content.

- a short essay on the Psychedelic Renaissance:
How About A Positive LSD Story?

- essential reading:
LSD - My Problem Child (Hofmann)
available online at MAPS (english)
Erowid (english / german / russian)
and the Psychedelic Library

- more relsdated literature:
Erowid / Psychedelic Library

- essential viewing, see below:
Hofmann's Potion (Littlefield)
The Substance (Witz)










.: from sorgenkind to wunderkind :.

all text ⓦ Satyr Barbarossa
(cc) 2014 - 2018 / CCBYNCND4.0


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