Psilocybin Sacrament

Uncovering the role that hallucinogenic plants played in the development of Judaism and Christianity begins with understanding pre-Christian fertility rituals, says author and independent researcher Jan Irvin. “When survival depended on the fertility of the earth, and fertility was a gift of the gods, people sought to promote fertility by appealing to divine power. The swiftest and surest way to know the mind of god was through the use of herbal drugs.”

In his most recent book, The Holy Mushroom: Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Christianity, Irvin revisits the groundbreaking 1970 work of John Allegro, titled The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, in which Allegro argued that Christianity was intentionally devised to disguise the activities of a secret mushroom cult, whose teachings were eventually forgotten.

Irvin builds on evidence suggesting that elements of ancient religion, including the ritual use of Amanita muscaria, the sacred mushroom, survived into Medieval times. Allegro’s primary example of this is the basis for Irvin’s new research – the presence of a thirteenth-century fresco in Plaincourault, France that illustrates Amanita muscaria as the Tree of Life.

The concept that human contact with hallucinogenic plants has played a major role in shaping history is rapidly gaining traction and Irvin’s work helps to advance this area of study.

Comments

Fresco Link

Submitted by Jonathan Talat Phillips on Mon, 11/10/2008 - 12:16.

Here's a link to the mushroom Tree of Life fresco.

Food of the Gods

Submitted by Spiralyst on Mon, 11/10/2008 - 13:21.

Terrence McKenna's "Food of the Gods" is another great resource for theories on psilocybin's role in our ancestoral relationship with the planet through religious ritual.

yes!

Submitted by makeitglow on Mon, 11/10/2008 - 15:48.

Glad to see this posted here - this information neeeeds to be pushed forward, into the shallow haze of the cultural/societal mind, which continues to keep people imprisoned. also check out two incredible interviews conducted by Martin Ball of the Entheogenic Evolution Podcast:

prt 1: http://entheogenic.podomatic.com/entry/2008-10-09T12_49_12-07_00

prt 2: http://entheogenic.podomatic.com/entry/2008-10-16T13_44_03-07_00

Cannabis was a part of the divinity equation---why not shrooms?

Submitted by highryder on Mon, 11/10/2008 - 15:49.

http://www.debatebothsides.com/showthread.php?t=36523 Cannabis was part of the divinity equation, why not sacred mushrooms?

Syrian Rue (Peganum harmala).

Submitted by vivifidal on Mon, 11/10/2008 - 17:32.

also commonly used entheogen in the region boosts shrooms to ego-rupturing magntitude, should be noted that Muscaria and Psilocybin are vary deifferent creatures since almost no psiloshrooms can be ingested in toxic doses other than baeocystis and many of the components of Muscaria and Pantherus are quite toxic however other safer sources of the alkaloids do exist, its possible that boosting bufotenine related compounds w/ harmala might increase the potency in relation to the toxicity of other chemicals present.

Amanita Muscaria; Herb of Immortality

Submitted by RedBeardATX on Tue, 11/11/2008 - 13:32.

"Amanita Muscaria; Herb of Immortality" by Donald E. Teeter is available for free download. Mr. Teeter picks up where others such as Wasson, Allegro, and Heinrich left off. Mr. Teeter asserts the same hypothesis that Amanita muscaria is likely the root of most of today's religions. However, Mr. Teeter goes one step further and actually creates the Soma, Living Bread, and Holy Grail; plus, gives recipes and instructions so that you too can drink the elixir of immortality.

His book can be found here: http://download.ambrosiasociety.org

Here's what Jan Irvin, author of "The Holy Mushroom" said about Donald Teeter's earlier book, "The Sacred Secret":

"Teeter builds on the works of Gordon Wasson, and using a different deductive approach than John Allegro, reaches the same conclusion that Jesus Christ is none other than the mushroom. Many over the years have asked me if there was a book that contains recipes on preparing the fly agaric. Until I read this book, I didn't believe any existed. Section 2 of this book contains several excellent recipes that many will appreciate..."

so....? whose first?

Submitted by zezt on Wed, 11/12/2008 - 17:22.

I wonder who may be the first to try this elixir and report back on what happens? Very interesting in first intervew where Jan says how Wasson was very hostile to Allegro about his mentioning the Judaic Christian emphasis on PHALLIC mushroom symbolism. And how Jan found in Wasson's own elitist book, that he had seen this emphasis in other cultures yet drew the line when it was shown to exist in Judaic Christian culture!

Amanita Muscaria is NOT Psiloscybin!

Submitted by vivifidal on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 00:07.

although many have had interesting experiences w/ it it should be reiterated to the n'th degree Amanita is NOT safe and contains toxins that can produce not only visions but some of the worst untreatable death inducing EXTREMELY painful protracted excruciating and when compared to other entheogens the vision aren't all that informative or impressive either. DO NOT EXPERIMENT WITH THIS FUNGUS! Other better safer substances are available and its more of a dissociative than a psychedelic anyway, if you take it and live the only major lesson you will learn is that sometimes stupid people do REALLY stupid things and still live...It's like giving Dick Cheney your pin number stupid, uh don't do it. Its not like an oh this is your brain on drugs kind of warning I'm giving you this is a within a week of doing this you will have caused irreversable damage to your liver that can NEVER be repaired kind of warning, you will feel trippy and drunk, you will feel sick, then a few days later you will feel ok, then you you will feel really bad then die or you will just feel a bit giddy and hardly get off and live to talk about it, regardless it is absolutely NOT worth the risk.

The Eternal Fleece

Submitted by RedBeardATX on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 17:33.

Vivifidal, I believe you are mistaking Amanita muscaria with Amanita phalloides or Amanita bisporigera also known as "the death cap" and "destroying angel", respectively.

Amanita muscaria contains muscimol and ibotenic acid which, when heated or dried, converts to muscimol. These are the chemicals that we, the Ambrosia Society, use Sacra mentally. They are also being studied by scientists and pharmaceutical companies for their psychotropic effects and health benefits. http://www.ambrosiasociety.org/xoops/modules/newbbex/viewtopic.php?topic...

I would like to invite everyone to view the Resurrection Video and Photo Gallery from our Ambrosia Lab.

When most people think of mushrooms, they think of the fruit, the only visible part above ground. The organism itself, and all fungi perfecti, is actually comprised of a network of thin fibers running below the surface called mycellium.

One of the secrets of the dried Amanita muscaria mushroom is its ability to resurrect in three days after re-hydration by growing its "Eternal Fleece".

Resurrection Video: http://www.ambrosiasociety.org/resurrection.html

Photo Gallery: http://www.ambrosiasociety.org/zenphoto/

ecolocal,

Yes. Yes, I have.

assuming that an individual specimen is correctly identified...

Submitted by vivifidal on Fri, 11/14/2008 - 04:40.

mushrooms of the same species vary somewhat in balance of alkaloids from locale to locale, muscimol and ibotenic acid are not the only alkaloids present and drying is NOT a sure way to limit toxicity...add to this the possibility of misidentification or mutation and its still NOT worth the risk as I said before there are many much safer substances available. It is a disrespect for human life to recommend Muscaria to anyone when other better substances are available. I have spent over 25 years identifying fungi for edibility and other uses and have seen many specimens of 100% lethal Amanitas that could easily be mistaken without microscopic inspection and a spore print so its like packing your own parachute based on seeing one youtube video once through. Again promoting Muscaria for shamanic purposes is ABSOLUTELY irresponsible in this day and age. If someone wishes to use pure lab grade muscimol,ibotenic acid or 5ho-dmt they probably won't die but again there are many more reliable substances available...btw, the photo on the site looks very much like an Amanita Pantherina (although even experts often argue over what differentiates yellow Muscarias from Pantherina and the strains often seem to overlap) and I know of no one who having used Pantherina ever wanting to do so again or recommend such to others.

hmmmm

Submitted by zezt on Fri, 11/14/2008 - 19:13.

you seem very passionate about your warnings vivifidal.

yet you dont link to any reliable sources which back up your claims.

I know Jan, so would be able to get back to him with your info, and see what he says.

Muscaria is history...

Submitted by vivifidal on Sat, 11/15/2008 - 03:44.

but not a very good shamanic tool for today and encouraging its use could lead to people dying or being badly hurt. I doubt that even Jon Ott would recommend it presently knowing what we now know about so many other less dangerous and more useful entheogens. Its effects are unreliable and variation in different individuals extreme and rarely but sometimes lethal and the result of misidentification so dire that evangelizing its use today could only be described as evil. I will eat an Amanita Caesarea without question a Rubescens I would be more sceptical of since its not quite so easy to identify. Muscaria and Pantherina vary a huge amount from one specimen to the next and even a Phalloides can sometimes masquerade in such a way as to provoke confusion so it seems that only someone growing them for sale in vitro would benefit from hyping the species as an entheogen in this day and age. But I guess the North American Mycological Asociation and the American Medical Association, the CDC, people I know that have had really nasty experiences are NOT reliable sources so I won't bother linking to any scientific or other peoples negative personal experiences since it might kill someones marketing buzz...

Muscaria IS History...

Submitted by RedBeardATX on Thu, 12/11/2008 - 14:32.

... it is the root of almost every religion throughout the history of mankind. :)

Truffle Shuffle

Submitted by Andy Hahn on Fri, 12/12/2008 - 14:16.

Is it too much of a stretch to think that humans are capable of connecting with the spiritual realm without the use of some magic potion? I feel there's a massive case of projection going on here to justify our own consumption. When ever I do any sort of mind altering substance its to escape the reality of the physical world. I've made contact while under the influence, but then its gone as soon as the drug wears off and I'm back in my life which I would try to escape from again. If I started to justify my drug use as some sort of spirtual quest, or rather as THE spiritual quest of humanity I would be totally overlook why I got high in the first place and why I assume everyone gets high or tune out or whatever. Maybe if we stopped trying to escape from where were are we might find the spiritual world all around us all the time in everything.

Jordan Shoes

Submitted by Inin-Soi on Sun, 04/18/2010 - 12:17.

Help! I tried smoking the Jordan Shoes and now I feel really bad. What should I do?