Wheel is Turning
September 17, 2026 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197529683.003.0005 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that LSD functioned as a catalyst for perceived interconnectedness and multimedia improvisation, and that the movement from private epiphany to collective ritual was shaped by converging figures and groups—Kesey's Pranksters, Leary's Millbrook circle, and the early Grateful Dead—while situating psychedelic mysticism within issues of privilege, colonial reception, and Indigenous sacrament. |
Abstract
Abstract Chapter Four follows the “turning wheel” of psychedelic awakening as it moved from private epiphany to collective ritual, tracing the converging paths of Ken Kesey’s Pranksters, Timothy Leary’s Millbrook circle, and the embryonic Grateful Dead. It begins with Furthur, the Day-Glo-painted Prankster bus that carried a crew of LSD-fueled experimenters across America in 1964—part road trip, part rolling performance, part mobile myth-making machine. The chapter frames LSD as a catalyst for perceived interconnectedness and multimedia improvisation, setting the stage for the Acid Tests where the Dead became the house band for communal mind-meld. It then moves through Millbrook’s uneasy meeting of West Coast prankster chaos and East Coast psychonaut seriousness, before examining Leary, Alpert (Ram Dass), and Metzner’s The Psychedelic Experience as a Western repurposing of Tibetan Buddhist bardo teachings. Along the way, it situates psychedelic mysticism within issues of privilege and colonial reception, Indigenous sacrament (María Sabina), and early research milestones like the Good Friday Experiment.