For those not familiar with the game,
Spit in the Ocean is a form of poker
played by dealing out a certain number
of cards and then, from the top of the
deck, turning a single card face up. This
is the wild card and it is wild in
everyone’s hand.
For those not familiar with the
magazine, Spit in the Ocean is an irregu
larly published pastiche of thought and
literacy put out by the Intrepid Trips In
formation Service (of Hoo-Haw fame
and more). It will deal out a hand of
seven issues, each with a new wild card
editor and a new theme, reflecting that
editor’s interests. This article will con
cern itself with issues three and four,
which have just come out together.
Leary’s High Intelligence
Number three’s wild card editor is
none other than Dr. Timothy Leary and
the issue's theme is “Communication
with Higher Intelligence.’’
In a letter published in number two,
Leary states “There is a new generation
of turned-on young scientists just now
manifesting itself in publication — long
hair mathematicians, computer-adepts,
bio-chemists, geneticists, particle
physicists, astronomers. These are the
people I would like to present in my issue
of Spit."
And here they are. The participants
range from poet-scientists to novelists to
physicists to an ex-Marine Captain
turned-Prankster.
To begin with, Leary has some fas
cinating ideas about the possible future
of homo sapiens, especially in terms of
the gearing up of the nervous system to
deal with this future. He says, in an ex
cerpt from his book Exo-Psychology.
“Whatever the mind can conceive it
tends to create. As soon as humans ac
cept and neurologically imprint the no
tions of higher levels of intelligence and
of circuits yet to be activated in the ner
vous system, a new philosophy of evolu
tion will emerge.’’
Several exponents of the various as
pects of this new philosophy are in
cluded in .this volume.
Saul-Paul Sirag (“I’m interfacing be
tween mind and matter, working on the
physical models of consciousness, try
ing to find out what they hell is going on")
contributes not only some fiction (see
above), but also provides an introduc
tion to the volume (about various
Pandora’s Boxes being opened by the
less rigid thinkers in the scientific com
munity) as well as an article entitled
“The New Physicists" (in which he dis
cusses who some of these thinkers are
and where their thinking is taking them).
One of these New Physicists is Jack
Sarfetti. His contribution, “Higher Intel
ligence is Us in the Future,” consists of
various quotes and individual ideas on
the “new renaissance ”of thought, e.g.,
“Matter is thought impressing itself in
space/time. This is the modern Qabala!
There is an equivalence of conscious
. ness to energy."
Neil Freer, in “The Spherical Uni
verse,” presents his theory of the
Universe-as-Bubble and gives insights
into the velocity part of Einstein’s Theory
of Relativity (E = MCZ).
Robert Anton Wilson replies to
Leary’s 18 point questionaire on H I.,
both on this planet and off, and how it
might be achieved here. Some intelli
gent answers to intelligent questions.
Joanna Leary writes about aliens who
come to this world every day. Who are
thrust into blindingly bright, cold, harsh,
inhospitable surroundings. She then of
fers suggestions on how to ease the
alien’s journey from their world into this
f
based on an actual experiment.
Christensen’s poem is an odd one
about bats while Ackerman’s two pieces
are extra-terrestrial visits via the mind’s
eye. It’s space poetry and ethereally
beautiful.
Straight from the Gut
On not quite so grand a scale, but of _
equal interest in its own right, is issue
number four, an all-woman issue called
“Straight from the Gut.” Says editor Lee
Marrs in her introduction, ‘‘I asked do
zens of creative women to show me a
piece of their unseen work (too bad we
never call it “play”) that had come
I
by using the methods Dr. Frederick
Leboyer outlines in his book Birth With
out Violence.
Along with science speculation, Leary
also deals with science fiction. He calls it
“The most important and relevant litera
ture of our era,” but says that, unhappily,
few SF authors “are able to come to
grips with the notion of higher intelli
gence." However, he here represents ex
cerpts from three novels — Rotwang,
The Stars My Destination and Gravity's
Rainbow (by Tom Hildebrand, Alfred
Bester and Thomas Pynchon, respec
tively) — which do indeed deal with the
subject.
In addition to these he includes a short
story by Saul-Paul Sirag and Ken Babbs
and poems by Diane Ackerman and
Marty Christenson.
“Metaphase,” the short story, is an
interesting and amusing little tale about
a combination computer-plus
dangerous drug attempt to communi
cate with Harry Houdini on his 100th
birthday anniversary. It seems to be
straight from the gut. A work that was
dose to their soul, rang with heartfelt
power or tickled their funniest bone ...”
The works in this issue, albeit often
off-beat, generally fall into two major
categories: the written work and (since
Marrs is primarily known for her under
ground comics like ' Pudge, Girl Blimp”)
visual presentations.
The written words are from Mugsy
Peabody (“Little Cat, The Potted Palm,
and the Naked Lady,” an amusing little
fantasy concerning the triumvirate men
tioned in the title); Phyllis Speros ("The
Movie of Dee Dee” about a woman
whose life is constantly on film and how it
compares to the author's acting career)
and Kathy Reilly (' Miasma,” a Kafkaes
que reflection in a mindless situation
women all too frequently are involved
in).
Aide Light s "Journal Entry June 26th”
blends both the written word and the
visual. The words are about a specific
incident in her and her daughter's life
which caused fear, a particular fear
women have but men seldom do. Light’s
photographs show other views of her
life.
On the visual side, we are offered
photographs by Happy Hyder (“Lifeo
graphs,” portraying various women in
their various moods) and graphics by
Shelby Sampson (“Once in a Lifetime,”
about a trip she took as a young girl with
her family in their Wood); Marilyn Hill
(“Pure Adventure,” a strange combina
tion of bold drawings and words that
don’t fit on a line) and Marrs (“Pain
Porn,” a capsulization of the female
psyche; she delves into the differences
in men’s and women's psyches, why
they are that way and what we may
each, individually, do to change it).
“Individual expression” is indeed the
key phrase for this volume.
Grandma Whittier’s Seven Prayers
Running through the entire seven
issue series is the seven part serializa
tion of Ken Kesey’s new novel, Seven
Prayers, by Grandma Whittier. In
Prayers one and two (neatly coinciding
with issues one and two and also pub
lished in the Northwest Review's special
Kesey issue), Grandma Whittier has her
86th birthday celebration on Good Fri
day at her grandson’s farm. Present at
the party are a black gospel-rock group
known as the Birds of Prayer.
After a strange all-night debacle she
manages to affront the charismatic
leader of the group, but the next morning
surprises all by announcing her desire to
accompany the group on their cross
country tour “to check up on some old
mineral rights in Arkansas.”
The first leg of the journey is south to
Los Angeles for the Easter Sunrise ser
vices in the Hollywood Bowl. We also
see how her relationship with the group
begins to grow, especially with the bril
liant four-year-old son of the group’s
leader.
Prayers three and four (in the corres
ponding issues) outline her experiences
at the Service and its devastating after
math, involving a crazy man “dressed
entirely in Leprechaun green” and vari
ous desperate but absolutely necessary
acts.
It’s difficult to comment much on the
merits of the story until all the install
ments are in, but I would venture to say
that if you've been pleased with Kesey’s
work in the past you won”t be disap
pointed here.
Copy space has always been the bain
of the newspaper reviewer and in order
to make it fit, I’ve had to delete so much
from this story it hurts. I can only say that
both of these issues (as well as numbers
one and two, for that matter) are highly
recommended. At present, the only way
they may be purchased is by sending
cash, check or money order to SITO,
85820 Ridgeway Rd., Pleasant Hill OR
97401. Prices are $2.50 per issue
(specify which one), $6 for any three
issues, or $12 for all seven.
By BOB WEBB
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