The History of Alchemeyez

Alchemeyez Visionary Art Congress was founded in 2010 as the continuation of the Vision of the late Terence McKenna, who began the original project in 1999 by the name Alchemical Arts Conference, which brought together the best contemplative and psychedelic artists, musicians, and teachers on the Big island of Hawaii for a weekend of education, upliftment, and inspiration. Sadly Terence passed away before he was able to repeat the Conference, but as fate would have it, and in the spirit of great legacies, the Vision was not to die.

The work is being continued by a collective of today’s illuminated artists and musicians, and is led and produced by one of America’s well-known psychedelic painters and poets, Rio Gordon. Rio came into the knowledge of Terence’s work around Christmas 2009, and spurred by what he called an ‘angelic encounter’ he set out on an ambitious, inspired effort to bring back to life the simmering energy of the original Project. Having been inspired and joined by many of today’s leading creative Visionaries, while on art tour, Rio found himself in a unique position to put the pieces together for a repeat of the seminal and groundbreaking Conference.

Together with Andrew Jones, Adam Scott Miller, Amanda Sage, and other young spiritual artists, and led by the idea of including Robert Venosa and Alex Grey, who were both participants in the original Conference, steps were taken in the early days of 2010 to hold this special Event at the heart of its birthplace. Coming together on the slopes of Kilauea caldera in Kalapana, on the Big Island of Hawaii, the first annual Alchemeyez Visionary Art Congress came to be. The name Alchemeyez was a brainchild of both Rio and Andrew Jones, who formulated the new verb in a planning session while discussing a way to pay tribute to the original idea, but brand the new Vision as its own legacy. The four days in June, 2010 of the first Alchemeyez set in motion a tidal wave of collaboration, inspiration and education on topics as diverse as shamanism, meditation, ritual healing, art creation, and general transformation according to the principles of spiritual alchemy first described by the late C.G. Jung.

Today, this Vision has a new home based on the principles of Terence’s work and the funding and allocations to continue to expand and develop this exciting spiritual legacy. The Big Island of Hawaii is fast becoming a hot-point for lucid and psycho-spiritual art and music, and Alchemeyez has become its fixture, namesake, and concentration point. Attendees to this amazing journey through the third-eye mind and heart will find themselves enveloped in waves of sacred and illuminated art, celebration, and personal transformation. This year, in 2011, the Gathering will be held at the Hilton Waikoloa Village near Kailua-Kona, and will feature 26 Visionary Artists, 35 musicians, and a host of keynote speakers, teachers, healers, performances and interactive installations designed to cleanse, inspire, illuminate, celebrate and build upon one of the greatest spiritual legacies of our day. Please join us as we build and expand and heal ourselves and our Planet. We’ll see you on the Big Island of Hawaii this May 13-16, 2011 as we open our Art Portal!