Very excited to see my poster hanging behind an absolute hero of mine, Cambridge Biologist, Dr Rupert Sheldrake (sitting right of photo). If you have never heard of him, look him up. He is the brains behind Morphic Resonance and the author of the ironically titled bestseller, 'The Science Delusion', which scrutinises a series of ten dogmas within the scientific arena with dynamic and credible arguments in an effort to push the parameters and 'Set Science Free', which is the USA title.

The man interviewing Dr Sheldrake and sitting on the left is Netherlands resident and childhood friend, Rudi Somerlove, with whom I have collaborated several times. He has the exciting task of interviewing such luminaries and movers and shakers of the Consciousness Revolution right now. It is becoming a more mainstream fact that consciousness (experience, subjectivity) is our primary source of existence, rather than a material viewpoint (observation, objectivity). Both primary and secondary viewpoints compliment one another to give a more balanced viewpoint. This profoundly changes and expands our understand of who we are and the nature of the universe. Fascinating, huh?

The following blog comes with a caveat; I do not endorse the use of party/recreational drugs, nor is the blog below doing so. Taken irresponsibly, they can have traumatic and damaging effects: Don't take the risk. However, entheogens have been used for thousands of years successfully by indigenous peoples all over the world as a well-being medicine and to deeply connect to Mother Nature. Just recently, scientists such as Dr Robin Carhart-Harris have been allowed to research their extraordinary medicinal properties here in the UK, which is great news, because this is not only helping to shatter the destructive fear culture of this powerful tool and, thus, re-educating us, but it is looking at natural, sensible solutions to heal.

Over to you Rudi:

When I needed a logo for our third ‘Summer of Love’ venture here in the Netherlands there really was only one person I could turn to. Harriet and I have known one another since we were teenagers and throughout that time I have constantly admired her artistic acumen. Plus Harriet had already recently provided me with a really impressive logo for my new company Metamorphogenesis.

Our first step after engaging Harriet for this commission was an extensive Skype call to discuss ideas and explain what I wanted and expected for this logo. Most important was that it was eye catching and conveyed the spirit and essence of what our third ‘Summer of Love’ is all about. Harriet asked me to make a mood board with ideas and I sent her some doodling I’d been doing around the idea of sigils. A sigil is an inscribed or painted symbol considered to have magical powers. We wanted a design that honoured the feel and zeitgeist of the original ’Summer of Love’ but somehow also progressive and encompassing the ideas from now behind our new Summer of Love 3.0

Also important for me was the inclusion of the four leaf clover symbol which has a special significance for me along with the strap line ‘Third Time Lucky’ following the idea that this time the ideas embodied by the spirit behind the ’Summer’s of Love’ will finally take hold and become normal reality. 

The aims of this third ’Summer of Love’ is to promote the current renaissance around entheogenic plants. Catching the zeitgeist around the growing movement for the use of entheogens for healing and promoting awareness of a higher consciousness which is currently evolving in humanity. The first two ‘Summers of Love’ have informed and influenced this new and emerging 'Third Summer of Love', a celebration of health, life and a new conscious era dawning for the planet as a whole. We stand on the threshold of exciting times as the power and efficacy of these medicines are being proven in case study after case study to help with PTSD, depression, addiction and reducing the anxiety of the terminally ill. Amsterdam is the only place this 'Third Sumer of Love' can emerge, as here we have the luxury of a traditionally tolerant and progressive society quick to realise the medicinal benefits of these plants.

Harriet provided some initial sketches which were promising and we worked together to tweak it into the outstanding logo you see now. At one point it became evident that we needed a kind of shorthand logo too which was developed from the original. Nice touches from Harriet were the outline around the yellow ’Summer of Love’ lettering which really makes them pop. Plus the graduation of colour from one side of the lettering to the other so the outer edges are orange graduating towards yellow in the middle this gives a dynamism to the lettering helping to make the curvature stand out. 

The idea of using a red pool ball for the centre of the sun was an idea I had when I realised that the pool ball no.3 was a red colour which meant we could use it for the sun design at the centre of the poster. I asked Harriet to make this as subliminal as possible, so that the pool ball only appears when pointed out.  

Initially the sun was a different shape, we looked at many ideas for sun shapes, but we settled upon the hypnotic one you see now. This was adjusted at the final stage so that instead of appearing to rotate from right to left (anti-clockwise or backwards in the western tradition) it now rotates from left to right (clockwise or forwards in the western tradition). I think you’ll agree that we chose the correct shape for our sun as it now gives a hypnotic effect which really draws the eye in towards the centre of the logo. The curvature of the lettering and the bright green contrasting background giving the appearance of a single (third) hypnotic eye looking out at you.

Finally Harriet added some special effects to our overall purple background to give the poster a slightly worn and used look as if it had been pulled from an attic somewhere after 50 years from the time of the original Summer of Love in 1967. The fading and creasing effects do this brilliantly.

I’m sure you’ll agree Harriet has done an outstanding job and the logo really pops. We have had many compliments from all different kinds of people about the striking appearance and the hypnotic effect that it produces. At the end of our launch party people were scrabbling to remove the posters to take home as a souvenir. Thank you so much Harriet for your valuable and ongoing contribution to our project, we are very grateful.

If you would like to know more about the Summer of Love 3.0 please visit or join our: 

Website www.summeroflove3.com  

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/166021720520305/

Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SummerofLove3_0