The Ancient Art of Tripping
("Beware the leaven of the Pharisees!")
I read The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross some twenty years ago and
wrote it off as a crackpot book. I liked the concepts proposed in it, wanted
them to be true, but it was just too far out in left field. So I stuck it on a
back shelf where my friends wouldn't see it, sandwiched in between This
Hollow Earth and The Opium Wars of Planet X.
Okay, so I was tripping on acid every other day and chanting to trees in
between trips. So what if I was in an occult group that traveled the caves of
Arkansas, mounds of Tennessee, and swamps of Mississippi in search of
interdimensional doors. There was still a small homonculus modeled after David
Hume that dwelt in my mind. This homunculus was in charge of keeping me
from going too far over the cliff-edge of Newtonian reality. Whenever I
entertained ideas of lost Atlantis, flying saucers, yetis, Tibetan Shangri Las,
or other fortean phenomena, the homonculus would whisper, "This just can't be
true. Too, too, too far out. Come back to Earth."
And the homonculus screamed bloody murder when I read The Sacred
Mushroom and the Cross. After all, I was raised in the buckle of the Bible
Belt.
But now, two decades later, I can view the book with new eyes.
For one thing it has a ring of authority that I didn't perceive twenty
years ago. What I didn't know at the time was that the author John Allegro
is one of the world's leading authorities on the linguistic aspects of ancient
scriptures. He was selected as a representative of Great Britain on the
international committee to translate the Dead Sea Scrolls-- though he lost his
position when he opposed the secrecy with which they were handled.
Secondly, I now know more about languages and psycholinguistics, as well
as usage of psychotropic substances in spiritual practices, than I did then. In
the intervening decades I have developed a familiarity with Korean, German,
Spanish, Latin, Anglisc, Chinese, and Greek. This, coupled with years of
studying such writers as Benjamin Whorf, Fred Wolf, Albert Hoffman, Gordon
Wasson, Carlos Casteneda, and Terrence McKenna, tends to shed a whole new
light on Allegro's allegations. The theme of the book is that the story of
Jesus Christ, along with numerous other parts of the Bible and indeed much of
ancient mythology, is neither more nor less than an esoteric metaphor for
shamanistic practices of mystery cults. A couple of thousand years ago,
mystery cults were widespread throughout Europe and the Middle East.
Prominent among them were the Greek cults of Demeter, Dionysus, and
Orpheus, the Egyptian cults of Osiris/Isis, and the Hebrew Essenes. Climactic
and deeply personal spiritual experiences of Divinity were offered through
rites/psychodramas which utilized experiences of extreme physical and mental
conditions. These conditions were induced by various means such as fasting,
meditating, dunking, and usage of psychedelic potions. Allegro places major
emphasis on puns and other wordplay pointing to fungi, especially Amanita
muscaria, the Fly Agaric or Redcap mushroom. This mushroom is the one most
often depicted even in modern times in illustrations (especially in children's
fairy tales) and in interior decor such as wallpaper since it is quite attractive.
It has a white stem and bright red cap. The cap is flecked with white specks.
In his book, Allegro includes a photo of an early Christian mural showing Adam
and Eve standing alongside the Tree of the Forbidden Fruit. The "tree" is
clearly an Amanita mushroom.
In the wordplay, as in the theology of the cults, there is a twin focus:
mushrooms and fertility. Many of the puns revolve around the mushroom's
resemblance to sexual anatomy. The young fungus is round and white, like an
egg. Within a few hours it is "born" from itself, bursting forth from the "egg"
in a phallic shape. Later, its adult form can be seen as a penis (the stem and
cap) flecked with sperm (the remains of the veil through which it burst) or
even as a penis (the stem) entering a womb (the cap). The Judeo-Christian
Scriptures are rife with metaphor and wordplay that not only signify
psychotropic herbs but also the phallic and yonic symbols of fertility. Eros may
be intertwined with Psyche, but they are both enamored with Dionysus.
Allegro's concepts in this regard are supported by the findings of others,
including the author of the present article. He cites, for example, the names
of Jesus, Moses, Peter, and even Yahweh as puns on mushrooms and fertility.,
The book deals almost exclusively with linguistic aspects of the ancient
Middle Eastern cultures. Research done by others since that publishing have
delved far deeper into prehistory.
We are primates. Our earliest primate ancestor was a form of tree
shrew, a kind of rat with thumbs. They were not rodents, but, like rodents,
they were omnivorous, as were/are most of their descendants, including most
monkeys, apes, and humans. There can be little doubt that psychotropic
substances appeared among the many food plants/medicinal herbs ingested by
our ancestors since day one.
The oldest known scriptures of any major contemporary religion are the
Hindu Vedas. Two prominent deities described in the Vedas are Soma and
Amrta. These two divinities have been recognized for centuries as
psychotropic substances or concoctions of such substances.
Numerous scholars down through the years have attempted to pinpoint
exactly what those substances might have been. Some have specified hashish,
opium, jimson weed, or ergot of grain. At last Gordon Wasson, a mycologist,
discovered the true identities of Soma and Amrta. Reading the descriptions of
these two gods as literal descriptions, rather than allegories, he found Soma
to be the psilicybin mushroom and Amrta to be the Amanita muscaria. The
latter was the mushroom of the sun while the former was the mushroom of the
moon.
Amanita was used all over Europe and Asia in ancient times, and is still
being ingested by Siberian shamans today. Psilicybin was one of the most
highly valued of the many psychotropic substances used by Native Americans,
especially in Central and South America. It is still being used widely by Latin
American shamans as well as by modern researchers, bohemian intellectuals,
and followers of The Grateful Dead.
Some anthropologists speculate that ingestion of these, and similar,
substances may have been an integral correlational ("causal") factor in human
evolution even prior to paleolithic times. One can certainly make a good case
for psychedelic usage as originating many (or even all) conceptions of
spirituality in prehistoric societies.
Primitive art appears prominent as evidence of psychedelic influence.
Artists tens of thousands of years ago demonstrated skills that were entirely
sufficient to depict human beings and animals in realistic form. Yet they almost
invariably painted both humans and animals in bizarre aspects and hues.
Archaeological evidence includes much data that might be profitably
interpreted in terms of ancient cultures using hallucinogenic substances for
spiritual practices at every level of sophistication from the primitive animism of
paleolithic humans up through the rational philosophies of Athens and the
radical theologies of Palestine. So what happened? What historical factors led
us to the present attitude of aceticism and hedonistic denial?
A Change of Climate
The Middle Eastern cultures, including the Hebrews, enjoyed much
more variation of ideology 2,000 years ago. There was a plethora of sects
with practices both Apollonian and Dionysian. Behaviors that we twentieth
century people would call "hedonistic" were much more prevalent there (and
everywhere else) then than now.
Allegro, as well as other members on the international committee selected
to translate the Dead Sea scrolls, notes that twentieth century forms of
Judaism are survivals of a belief system that was once much more varied and
permissive. Peoples who once worshiped at the feet of naked, well-endowed
fertility goddesses now keep their women so wrapped up that only their
beady little eyes bug out of the burnoose. So what happened? Maybe it was
just a change of climate. Let's climb into our time-tripping vehicle (TTV) and
see. Climate changes slowly so we'll set the controls for, say, 20,000 BC, just
to give ourselves a solid background and plenty of leeway. And voila! Here we
are, 20,000 BC, the height of the most recent Ice Age.
By the twentieth century AD the Middle East will be mostly desert,
but now, in 20K BC, glaciers extend deep into Europe, as far south as what
will someday be France, and in Asia as far south as China and northern India.
Glacial periods such as this last about 100,000 years. During the glacial
periods, the warmer areas closer to the equator undergo what are called
pluvials, or extremely wet periods.
Here in 20K BC most of North Africa and the Middle East are covered
with fertile parkland, spotted here and there with dry, desertlike areas.
The humans here are our immediate ancestors, physically about as
modern-looking as we are. As near as we can see, they live exclusively by
hunting and gathering, though there may be some scatter-cropping going on,
especially around large rivers with their flood seasons. ("Cast thy bread
upon the waters.") Flora and fauna are plentiful and human populations are
sparse, perhaps no more than 10-20 million people worldwide. There is no
major shortage of food in these regions, no motivation to cultivate.
Okay, so we get the picture. Now we jump back into the TTV and pop
up to about 9,000 BC. By this time the glaciers have receded. Some drying
has taken place in southerly areas but not nearly to the extent that we will
find by the 20th century AD, 11K years hence. Much of the Sahara, for
example, is still fertile and green. We can see farmers working the soil
where one day will be only sand. There are people planting and harvesting grain
all over North Africa, the Levantine, the Arabian peninsula, and Asia Minor.
Small semi-pastoral groups wander the landscape, still in the process of
evolving from hunting/gathering roots. (Couldn't resist the pun. Sorry.)
Okay, we've come this far; now let's check out the scene at the earliest
cities. We hop back into the TTV and trip on up to about 4,000 BC. (Yes, I
know we might have found a city or two, like Jericho for example, at 6000 or
7000 BC, but 4K BC puts us solidly into civilized Sumeria. Sumeria is where we
want to be for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that
Allegro traces the derivations of most of his Amanita-related terms to
the Sumerian language. Just as fascinating as the psychedelia is the fact
that so many words in modern English {"elate", for example} ultimately
derived from Sumerian, via Latin, Greek, and Semitic languages. And
Sumerian was neither Semitic nor Indo-European.)
The desert areas have gotten pretty extensive by now, though still
considerably less than in the 20th century. Mesopotamia, Arabia, and the
Levantine are still quite green. Agriculture is by far the dominant lifestyle.
Hunter/Gatherers and pastorals abound, to be sure, but they are relatively
small groups, short on political or economic power. Chariots are unknown,
as are cavalry, though some of the desert folk may be seen riding camels.
When the herders do get it together enough to conquer an agricultural
land, they end up being absorbed by the subject culture in a generation
or two. The nations which "replaced" Sumeria in later millenia Akkadia,
Chaldea, Babylonia, and the rest were essentially Sumerian in cultural traits.
So the conquering herdsmen became administrators, merchants, farmers, etc.
Likewise the inhabitants of Palestine, the Canaanites, were culturally
Sumerian. It wasn't until the ascendance of the Hebrew pastoral culture
that major changes took place in the lifestyles of the Levantine.
So we climb in the TTV and juke on up to 2000 BC. The climate
has dried considerably, stimulating the growth and movement of the
pastorals. Now large bands of desert nomads are a periodic danger to the
farming communities.
Cities have high stone walls to protect the inhabitants from invaders.
The agricultural peoples are still in control, but that control is beginning to
slip.
The Children of Ebrium (Abraham) have moved into Palestine. For the
most part, they live side-by-side in harmony with the Canaanites, but
occasional conflicts flare up. Competition over resources, combined with the
ease with which the mobile herders can raid the planters, inevitably leads to
warfare on both large and small scale.
Religious differences furnish an added cause for friction between the
two economies. The history related in the Old Testament consists largely
of conflicts between the warlike pastoral Hebrew gentry and the Canaanite
populace. The pastorals, naturally ascetic, look askance at the fertility
practices of the farmers. By the time of the Old Testament Prophets, say
800 or so BC, the struggle between the two religious outlooks has become the
dominant theme of Levantine politics.
By this time (what the hell does that mean, in the context of TTV
mobility?!!!!) we are getting a little homesick for the 20th century. But we still
have one more stop on the way. We set the controls for the time of Rabbi
Yeshua ben Anthropos (Jesus Christ), about 30 AD. Voila! We are there!
And here we are. Looks alot like California. Still plenty of desert, but
there's considerably higher proportion of green and growing areas here than in
the Levantine of the twentieth century. Palestine still looks a bit like the
land of milk and honey promised to Papa Ebrium. The river valleys are
parkland something like Pennsylvania or Tennessee. There are large desert
areas though, especially in North Africa and the Arabian peninsula, and
the Sahara appears much as it does today. Having scoped the climatic scene
of the Middle East during the past 20,000 years, we hop back into the TTV
and pop up to the present. Whew!
With this perspective, we can see why fertility became the dominant
religious theme among the farmers of the region. Year by year, century by
century, the climate became drier and hotter. Arable land was reduced bit
by bit, and the competition between farmers and pastorals increased
accordingly.
It must have seemed to both of them that only Divine Will could be
the cause of these tragic conditions. The agriculturals made love in temple
and field to entice the god[s] to deliver Divine seed, while the pastorals
sacrificed animals (and perhaps captured farmers as well) to propitiate angry
deities. At some point the monotheists achieved political domination and
the fertility cults were forced to go esoteric. During the Roman period in
Palestine, the esoteric underground was persecuted by both the Romans and
the Hebrew hierarchy. Yet, it remained popular among all classes of people.
By Medieval times, we have lost track of it entirely. Chances are that it was
driven even further underground by the Inquisition.
But it has been said that "plants that cannot bloom by day will flower in
the night" (Jefferson Starship). In the twentieth century Dr. Albert Hoffman
accidently discovered psychedelic properties in his synthesized chemical LSD.
This substance is many times as potent as any of the naturally occurring drugs.
LSD was popularized in the 1960's and 70's. It is making a comeback in the
90's. The rest is subject for a whole new article.
ADDENDUMS
According to John Allegro, Greek legend names Eumolpus and Triptolemus
as the first great proselitizers of the Rite of Dionyssus.
Triptolemus! Were I to write a satire of Allegro's work, I might
speculate that our slang word "trip" derived from this legendary figure's
name. If I did write such a satire, it wouldn't be because of disagreement
with Allegro's linguistic extrapolations, but simply that such wordplay is
irresistible to many writers. Food for thought as regards the authors of
the Bible.
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Kabbalistic sources analyze the name Yahweh as follows:
The name Yahweh (transliterated "Jehovah" by King James' biblical
scholars) is composed of the four Hebrew letters YOD-HAY-WAU-HAY
(YHWH or YHVH in the Roman alphabet. Vowels were rarely used in ancient
Hebrew, and the YOD {"Y"} was not considered a vowel.) As with Chinese
characters, each letter of the name had its own meaning:
YOD: "hand"; projection into temporal continuity
HAY: archetype of universal life
WAU: fertilizing agent, that which impregnates
HAY: archetype of universal life
Thus the name Yahweh indicates projection of the eternal into the
temporal, impregnating it with spirituality and divine energy. The meaning
of these is expanded as they unfold within the spiritually-mature human
being. The name of Jesus can be likewise expressed as YHSWH (YHSVH
or YHSHVH) which can be pronounced "Yoshua" or "Yeshua". The fifth
letter is "SHIN" or "SIN" (no known relation with the English word
"sin"). It means "the spirit/breath of God". In accordance with the
ancient Greeks, the soul (pneuma) was cited as breath. Thus we have Jesus
as a name with all the meanings for Jehovah listed above, plus the added
emphasis that it is the essence of divinity which is breathed into matter.
