What is the Summer of Love 3.0?
Launched in the summer of 2017 and continuing…
An event took place on the 26th May 2017 which launched the ‘Third Summer of Love‘ in Amsterdam.
2017 was exactly 50 years since 1967 and the first ‘Summer of Love‘ which had its origins in San Francisco.
2018 an 2019 are exactly 30 years since 1988/1989 and the ‘Second Summer of Love‘ originating in London.
Origins
In the summer of 1967, the world experienced the first Summer of Love, a cultural turning point whose impact is still being felt today. Tens of thousands of young people journeyed to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury in search of freedom through sex, psychedelic drugs and uninhibited self-expression. During a time of political upheaval and instability, they triggered a global peace movement that would influence society indefinitely.
21 years later in London, during the balmy summers of 1988 and 1989, a second Summer of Love came to light, hallmarked by creativity, sexual and personal freedom (after AIDS had temporarily put the kibosh on permissive expression) and the use of psychedelic drugs. Once again, the spirit of love, peace and freedom overruled the day’s oppressive political environment—this time, Margaret Thatcher’s polarising government. All-night raves, the legacy of those times, became a paradigm that continues to influence society today.
Thirty years later in 2017, a third Summer of Love has arisen. This time in Amsterdam and led by Rudi Somerlove, a musician and seasoned psychonaut whose calling is to bring attention to the current renaissance around psychedelic substances and entheogenic plants.
“You don’t have to tell me to turn on, tune in and drop out, because I never dropped in,” jokes Rudi, who dubbed himself Somerlove while managing a band in London during (unsurprisingly) the second Summer of Love.
Creative visionary Rudi, 53, launched the Summer of Love 3.0 together with people weaver Brid Ni Fhoigil, 55, and shaman Yelena Love Unconditional, 38. The core team is two thirds female by design, as higher consciousness is only possible through the rise of the divine feminine.
Rudi explains how for millennia, the masculine lizard brain has overridden the feminine mammalian part concerned with emotions and feelings. But when the two become balanced, we can more easily access the third part of our brain that deals with higher reasoning.
“Psychedelics are catalysts. They seem to take human consciousness and set it on a higher level. When we realise we have the potential of healing ourselves through them, we can move to a higher consciousness and stop killing the planet,” he says.
By creating Summer of Love 3.0, the trio hope to trigger a larger movement, inspiring others to explore altered states of consciousness with a view to raising their vibrational frequency permanently.
Getting Higher
Higher reasoning is what SOL3 is all about. “The three essential credos that tie all the Summer of Loves together are love, peace and freedom. It’s as simple as that. That’s what we’re promoting. After fifty years, we still don’t have these three basic things—in fact, it’s predominantly the exact opposite. Through the healing powers of psychedelics, we can finally turn things around,” Rudi says.
For Rudi this is life’s calling, revealed to him through psychedelics. After discovering his ‘super power’ for manifesting four-leaf clovers following a psilohuasca ceremony in 2015, Rudi sat perplexed when, having managed to manifest three, he realised the archetypal three wishes from fairytales literally lay on the coffee table in front of him.
After thinking long and hard about what to wish for, Rudi says he drew a blank. “I realised I already was the luckiest man in the world, and what was clear was that I had to give them away.” Following an ayahuasca ceremony in 2016, the details of the third Summer of Love were downloaded directly from the spirit of mother ayahuasca herself, and Rudi’s life purpose was revealed. “She told me that the four-leaf clovers were invitations. Each one is an invitation from the universe to our events, and whoever receives one is meant to be there.”
Naturally, Rudi has busied himself manifesting enough four leafs ever since and to date, the universe hasn’t let him down.
Psilohausca Celebration
For SOL3’s launch in May 2017, which also commemorated the first two Summers of Love thirty and fifty years ago respectively, Rudi, Brid and Yelena created an event consisting of a psilohuasca ceremony combined with spectacular performances, inspired by Timothy Leary’s Human Be-ins of the 1960s. Sponsored by MagicTruffles.com, several events have taken place regularly since then, following a similar format.
Much like ayahuasca, psilohausca is a combination of psilocybin (the active substance in truffles and magic mushrooms) and MAO-inhibitor Peganum Harmala, which breaks down psilocybin at a slower rate, fortifying the trip.
Unlike the recent trend for microdosing, the focus at SOL events is on big doses. The point is to go deep. “Microdosing is fine, but it’s like sticking your toe in the water and pretending you’ve had a bath.” says Rudi, who thinks the real life-changing insights come from a maximum dose. “You undergo an ego-dissolving, mystical experience that can lead to a spiritual metamorphosis.” No coincidence then that the symbol chosen to represent Summer of Love 3.0 is the butterfly.
Each SOL3 ceremony includes colourful visuals, music, sound healing, and other acts meant to both accentuate the senses, and intensify the trip. “The idea is to celebrate the moment, just like the cliché goes: Be. Here. Now,” he says.
The Dutch Advantage
Rudi, who’s British and has lived in the Netherlands for twenty years, thinks the country can play a unique and crucial role in this third Summer of Love.
“We have the luxury of being one of the only places in the world with certain legal psychedelics,” he says. While the Dutch government’s liberal attitude to drugs, particularly cannabis, is unmatched by other countries, its laws are inconsistent. Not all psychedelics are legal. Still, “you can’t do this in London, Paris or Berlin—in those places it always has to be under the table.”
This means SOL3 events can be advertised openly as psychedelic, fully aligned with its message: that psychedelics heal, leading to greater consciousness, love, peace and freedom.
Both here and outside the Netherlands, there has been a huge resurgence of interest in psychedelics. A flood of scientific research, such as studies of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in cancer patients and others with alcoholics, have pointed to its medical and therapeutic benefits. Organizations such MAPS (in California) or the Beckley Foundation (in Oxford) are actively pursuing further scientific research.
“Their time has come. It’s a psychedelic revolution and I see the Summer of Love 3.0 as a drop in the ocean that will ripple out from Amsterdam to encompass the entire planet,” says Rudi.
The Bigger Picture
According to Rudi, all SOLs follow a pattern. during a time of political or economic turmoil, a catalyst (a mix of young people and psychedelics) emerges, leading to a revolution that reshapes lives by establishing new societal norms.
In SOL1, it was the Vietnam war—a war that couldn’t be won—and the young who were expected to fight but refused, instead tuning into LSD. Their exploration changed the face of music and culture, and was a catalyst for feminism, gay rights, the civil rights movement and the environmental movement. The creative spirit of those times lives on in the iPhone, which Steve Jobs admitted was inspired by an acid trip.
Rudi says taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important in his life. “It reinforced my sense of what was important—creating great things instead of making money, putting things back into the stream of history and of human consciousness as much as I could.”
In SOL2, it was a long economic recession, when the British government decided to introduce a law, the Public Order Act of 1986, preventing free assembly. This time the drugs were MDMA and LSD, used at raves, where getting together was the way of connecting in a disconnected world. The young demonstrated en masse by dancing in fields all night and the unlikely scene of football hooligans from rival teams hugging each other was witnessed. Now big dance festivals are the norm and the end of that Summer of Love saw the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Now in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 for SOL3, it’s a time of potential catastrophic climate change, division, polarisation, nationalism and a renewed drive towards fascism, which is affecting every generation across the board. Psychedelics such as ayahuasca, DMT, shrooms and LSD are growing in popularity, and their use for healing certain conditions is rapidly becoming evident.
“It’s not just a youth movement this time. If we are going to solve these issues, it has to happen together, with every generation since 1967. We need to wake up and wake up quickly,” says Rudi. And he hopes psychedelics will help us to do just that. Their use leads to the lessening of labels, and a rejection of the individualism and political divisiveness preached by our leaders in favour of a deep connection to the sacredness of life and universal love.
“Summer of Love 3.0 is the solution because love always triumphs over evil –that’s the story of mankind,” says Rudi. “We’ve got the ball rolling. Now we need to keep doing what we are doing.”
The next event to promote the Summer of Love 3.0 is called FIVE SENSES and will take place on Friday 6th September 2019, details can be found at www.summeroflove3.com/newevent.
Words by Dara Colwell
Five Senses
Three words that link together all three Summers of Love are the prevalent ideals of
LOVE, PEACE and FREEDOM
For this third Summer of Love we are adding two new ideals
COMPASSION and HEALING
Together these ideals make up the FIVE SENSES a new set of values that we can all stand behind and which make perfect sense.
We are actively working to breathe new life into a world where the FIVE SENSES are the top priority values, agreed upon by humanity as a diligent path to follow to begin healing this ailing world.
Third Time Lucky
This is the final stage of a three stage process which began in 1967 with the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
It was revived and continued through 1988 & 1989 where gatherings of ‘The Rainbow Warriors’ at illegal all-night raves was commonplace and a further generation was passed the torch of ‘Love, Peace and Freedom’.
Now these former generations, and this new generation, can work toward completion through the years 2017, 2018 & 2019. Adding two more ideals ‘Compassion & Healing’, acknowledging the empathic and curative qualities made evident by responsible and guided use of psychedelics and entheogens.
Using these ‘Five Senses’ this Third Summer of Love will be the ‘Third Time Lucky!’ because finally these ideals will take hold and our planet, with the cooperation of all its inhabitants, will begin to heal itself.
Our intention is to promote the current renaissance around psychedelic substances and entheogenic plants for the purposes of healing ourselves and then by extension putting right the damage done to this fertile and abundant planet in the name of constant and unrelenting economic growth.
The difference about our ‘Third Summer of Love‘ is that it will be about the healing properties now becoming evident through the use of psychotropic substances and entheogens.
These also help increase compassion for all of humanity and the other creatures, plants, trees and beings that share this beautiful blue planet we call home.
Together we are witnessing humanity’s emergence into adulthood, out of a dysfunctional period of adolescence, to collectively take responsibility for this planet and all life within and upon it. To ensure that it remains a place of natural diversity, fertility and sustainable abundance in perpetuity.
Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon humanity will finally break free from its ancient oppressors and realise its true authentic nature as guardians and caretakers of this wonderful environment for future generations of all species to continue to enjoy, thrive and co-create.
Through responsible and guided use of psychedelics this natural evolution of our species is accelerated. Entheogens can show us the way to complete this essential transformation both painlessly and effortlessly. Ensuring that there will be an intact and undiminished planet to leave for every conscious being to continue to enjoy for eternity.
Right here, right now what the planet needs is a ‘Summer of Love 3.0‘ Third Time Lucky!
Amsterdam is the only place this ‘Third Summer of Love‘ can emerge, as here we have the luxury of a traditionally tolerant and progressive society quick to realise the medicinal benefits of psychedelic and psychotropic plants.
Taking our cue from the second Summer of love being two summers long we are making the ‘The Third Summer of Love‘ three summers long.
Thus we started in 2017, will continue through 2018 until the end of 2019. This happily and numerically coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first Summer of Love in 1967 and the 30th anniversaries of the second Summer of Love in 1988 and 1989. A coincidence not to be overlooked. Therefore we now have three glorious summers to bring our message to the world.
We will encourage further events and affiliated causes across Europe and the rest of the world.
The symbol for the ‘Third Summer of Love‘ is the butterfly, reflecting the colourful, transformative, peaceful and natural origins of entheogens and their divine providence, in addition to the personal metamorphosis which often accompanies ones journey beyond entheogenic healing.
The unique environment of the Netherlands lends itself very well to the continuance of this awakening because, as you probably know, here the use of certain entheogens is tolerated. Through our naturally progressive and tolerant community we have positioned the Netherlands at the forefront of this burgeoning revolution and psychedelic renaissance around the medicinal use of psychedelic substances.
Interview with Rudi by Magictruffles.com
3rd Summer of Love
Last summer, we spoke to founder Rudi Somerlove, who shared with us
his fascinating story of how the 3rd Summer of Love came to be.
Rudi hosted us for this conversation on his houseboat at the “Lake of
Joy”, to get there we had to follow a small path where we passed a
Royal Mail postbox and Rudi’s self-customized purple Jeep. Arriving at
the houseboat the view over the Lake of Joy is in its own right
spectacular, but Rudi quickly points to a flower box full of clovers.
Rudi was barely born at the height of the Hippie era in 1967, when the
first Summer of Love emerged in San Francisco. Though he was not able to take part, he is convinced it influenced him on a deeply subliminal level.
When, two decades later in the land of his birth England, the second
Summer of Love started, with its rave parties and the famous smiley
logo, he was in the front row managing a funk/rock band called Wise Up.
Now, in 2017, the Summer of Love celebrates its fiftieth birthday and
Rudi sees everywhere that the time is right for a third psychedelic
revolution. Which, as far as he is concerned, starts in the country
which he learned to love in the past twenty years, the Netherlands, and in a city that deserves it, Amsterdam.
And so it happened, four of these happenings have already taken place, all centered around truly magical psilohuasca ceremonies.
But what is psilohuasca exactly?
As the name suggests, in many ways psilohuasca is similar to ayahuasca, which is also used in plant based healing rituals.
Participants in the ceremony take a combination of psilocybin (the
active substance in Magic Truffles) and a MAO-inhibitor in the shape
of Peganum Harmala (Syrian Rue) seeds. The seeds make sure the
psilocybin is broken down in the body at a slower rate, giving the
Magic Truffles a longer and more intense effect.
Seven years ago, Rudi took part in his first psilohuasca ceremonies.
During these experiences he got obsessed with the idea that we all
create our own reality and therefore are able to create our own
happiness. One day after one of these ceremonies he notices a bunch of
clovers growing in a planter at home and decides to try to find a four
leaf ‘lucky’ clover. He goes through the whole planter multiple times,
but he simply can’t find one. After he retreated back into his house
however, he remembers the insight gained whilst on the recent
psilocybin trip, that he can create his own happiness. He returns to
his planter, closes his eyes, moves his hands closely over the clovers
and with complete conviction says the word “Manifest!” He opens his
eyes and almost immediately sees a lucky four leaf clover waving at him.
At first Rudi couldn’t be happier, but after an hour or so he starts
to doubt and decides to try and repeat his trick. Amazingly, he again
finds what he’s looking for. Later that day he even succeeds a third
time. Looking at his three lucky clovers he realizes they are a symbol
for three wishes he can now make, the archetypal three wishes from all
the fairy stories he heard when he was a child. It is then that Rudi,
after some considerable consideration, concludes he has absolutely
nothing to wish for. He also realizes how happy he actually is. He is
healthy, lives in a beautiful place and his big dream, a self-built
Jeep is parked just outside. He then decides to hand out the lucky
clovers to his friends and believe it or not, the wishes of all
recipients have come true so far.
Fast forward to 2016. The lucky clovers are still manifesting for Rudi
although the chance of finding a lucky clover are thin (1 in 10,000,
look it up). Rudi has now found hundreds with his method which he
believes is a gift from the divine. Then, at an ayahuasca ceremony at
his houseboat, the purpose of it all is revealed to him: the lucky
clovers are invitations for a psilohuasca ceremony honoring the
fiftieth birthday of the Summer of Love and the thirtieth birthday of
the Second Summer of Love. And so the idea for a Third Summer of Love
launched from Amsterdam was born. Rudi emphasizes it’s not just some
little idea of his, he is convinced it is meant to happen like this,
and he can do no other thing than to make it happen, it is his
destiny. The numbers alone seem to be in complete accordance and the
universe encourages it. 2017 is 50 years since 1967 and the first
Summer of Love. 2018/9 are exactly 30 years since the second Summer of
Love in 1988/9. Encouraged by these startling coincidences and
numerological perfection Rudi starts making laminated invitations with
his dried lucky clovers and hands them out to potential participants at different events.
And so the time came for the launch party of the Third Summer of Love
on the 26th May 2017. It promised to be something very special and it
was. Not only was the ceremony lead by the very experienced
shaman Yelena Love Unconditional, but the happening was also accompanied by
several musical and visual performances. Among others there was Frans
van Meerendonk, who gave a performance of his Samsara Gong Shower,
Stefano Sgarbi, who produced polyphonic sounds with his voice and
Mandy Servais Glowballz who gave an impressive light show performance
with a poi display of led-lights. Also featured was Jhelisa Anderson’s Chakra
Sound System, Celtic Harp from Catherine Ó Croidheáin, singing from
Ilona West and acoustic guitar and vocals from Louise De Lune. Before
the ceremony started there were different speakers, among them Summer
of Love-survivor and Provocateur Hans Plomp renowned for the well-read
book “Uit je Bol”.
A similar second happening entitled “The Fields of
Elysium” followed in November and brought even more people and artists
together. The following year two more happenings took place entitled ‘Third Time Lucky’ and ‘Love, Peace and Freedom’ respectively and these were even more successful and spectacular than the first two.
For those who are interested there is both good and bad news. The last ever happening is planned to close the Summer of Love 3.0. It will take place on 6th
September 2019 and will be similar in content to the other happenings.
However, to get a ticket you will need an
invitation (one containing a four leaf clover), which, if you don’t
already have one, you can get by getting in touch via the website of
the Third Summer of Love. The only condition is that you need to be an
experienced psychonaut. The set and setting of these events are not
for newbies or first-timers. The price of a ticket is 200 euros. This
will cover the costs for everything described above including the
psilohuasca ceremony. On the 6th September we will gather at 14:00 and at
18:00 the psilohuasca ceremony will start. The exact location will be
revealed to participants after buying their ticket. Of course it is
possible for participants to spend the night at the location, free of
charge, however it is recommended to bring your own sleeping gear. A
nourishing soup will be provided for sustenance after the ceremony.
‘My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realised, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.’ ~ Albert Camus
Questions?