If you spend enough time walking through Johannesburg this time of year, you'll eventually get a provocative New Year’s greeting: a pamphlet promising “penis enlargement.” Besides solutions to a man’s bedroom anxieties, the advertisements promise all sorts of other tools for a grand 2012, including aides to win jobs, court cases, and lovers’ hearts.

Salvia divinorum is a member of the mint family with known hallucinogenic properties which have been known for centuries. Historically it has been used in shaman rituals in the Oaxaca Mexico region. The psychoactive substance within salvia divinorum has been isolated and is called salvinorin A (salv A). Unlike the typical hallucinogenic drugs that act on the serotonergic system, salv A primarily acts on the kappa opioid system.

THE HUMAN DNA IS A BIOLOGICAL INTERNET and superior in many aspects to the artificial one. Russian scientific research directly or indirectly explains phenomena such as clairvoyance, intuition, spontaneous and remote acts of healing, self healing, affirmation techniques, unusual light/auras around people (namely spiritual masters), mind’s influence on weather patterns and much more.

The event is billed as “10,000 years of culture – 187 tribal nations – 10 days – all in one location.” Despite the full agenda of Thunder in the Desert, organizer Fred Synder advises: “We’re on Indian time, so take off your watch and put it in your pocket because nothing starts until the medicine men and gourd dancers finish their blessing ceremony.”

Shamans in Peru have conducted ceremonies imploring the spirits to save the world from apocalypse.
The rituals were conducted on Thursday in Lima, Peru's capital, as part of a regular series of events designed to welcome the new year.