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.We noticed this passage previously when discussing the mushroom as the Morning Star ,germinated by the dew that fell from Venus before the dawn. °9 It was pointed out there that theRephaim were those cast down from heaven , identified with the fallen angels ofDEATH AND RESURRECTION Genesis and Jewish mythology.According to the Bible, these sons of God were seduced by thebeauty of mortal women and begot a race of supermen (Gen 6: if.).Later Jewish tradition has itthat their seduction was at least partly their own fault since they had taught the girls the art ofcosmetics, and so had begun the awful progress of mankind to degeneracy and sexual abandon.More important, they taught them charms and enchantments, the cutting of roots, and made themacquainted with plants. (Enoch : iff).To raise these dormant spirits of the dead was the way to enlightenment.However, the noisesproduced by those through whom the spirits spoke were not necessarily intelligible.Isaiah speaksof such necromancers or ventriloquists ( belly speakers ) scornfully as chirping andmuttering when they seek by oracle their god through the dead, on behalf of the living (8:19).In the New Testament it is called speaking with tongues .Thus the faithful are encouraged to pursue love (agape), be zealous for spiritual gifts, especially that you might prophesy.For onespeaking in a tongue speaks not to man but to God; for no one understands him, but he uttersmysteries in the Spirit.He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues, unlesssomeone interprets, so that the church may be edified.If even lifeless instruments, such as theflute or harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? So withyourselves; if you in a tongue utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what issaid? For you will be speaking into the air.Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should prayfor the power to interpret.tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, whileprophecy is not for Un- believers but for believers.If, therefore, the whole church assembles andall speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say you are mad?. (ICor 14:1 23); which was perhaps better than accusing them, like the apostles at Pentecost ofbeing filled with new wine (Acts 2:13).Looking back over the discussion of this chapter, we can see how the worship cf the mushroomencompassed every aspect of the processes of nature.When modem religious practice seems attimes removed from reality, a Saturday or Sunday relaxation, even entertainment, rather than aconcerted effort to influence the deity or be influenced by him, it is worth reminding ourselvesthat for the ancients it was a life or175176 TEB SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSSdeath matter.If the god did not respond to their pleas for rain or sunshine, they, their children,and their crops and animals died.When, before their eyes, the greenness of the ground vanished under the wilting heat of thesummer sun, the dwellers of Near Eastern lands then, as now, viewed the future apprehensively.Everything depended on the god s bounty in the Autumn and the following Spring.The enemy, intheir mythological terms, had killed the fertility hero; would the New Year see his resurrection?In the little mushroom, men could see a prime example of the transience of nature s gifts: in themorning it appeared, and by nightfall the worms had consumed it.The god himself had beenamong them; they sought him and apprehended him, but his manifestation was a temporary thing.For one ileeting moment he fulfilled his promise that those who received him could become the children of God .The worshipper could not approach the god empty-handed.He must bring with him a gift, itselfgod-given, as an atonement to the earth.Only thus, and by calling simultaneously upon the godby name, could he withstand the demonic power of the fungus.For to eat the god was to die withhim; in the short hours of the initiate s complete communion with the deity he had died to theworld.It was then that he was at most fearful risk, and the days of careful preparation for theultimate mystery were given their most crucial testing.This was the time of trial or temptation through which every participant in the cult passed.To raise the sacred fungus was to raise the spirits of the dead, and thus to communicate with thesource of subterranean knowledge.This we may now identify with the Bacchic Anthesteria andpossibly the Church s Agape feast, the drawing up of the phallic mushroom.Very much earlierthan the documentary recording of either of these cultic practices is the raising of the fungus inthe so-called gardens of Adonis .For long this mystic practice has remained obscure in itsdetails, although there has been little doubt that it had to do with the lamenting and raising of thedead god, and thus presumed to be connected with an agricultural cult.For the first time we candecipher the names involved and are thus able to draw together a number of other references tothe mushroom religion and those who partook in its rites.XVIIIThe Garden of Adonis, Eden and Delight;Zealots and MuslimsThe most explicit reference to the lamenting for the fertility deity in the Old Testament is foundin the account of the prophet Ezekiel s vision of the Temple.In a psychedelic trance he fanciedhimself being carried hundreds of miles from Mesopotamia to Jerusalem:Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of Yahweh; and behold, theresat women bewailing Tammuz.Then he said to me, Have you seen this, 0 son of man? You willsee still greater abominations than these (Ezek 8 :i4f.).Jerome translates Tammuz here as Adonis,1 quite properly, since the Mesopotamian hero-deitywas but another representation of the Semitic and Greek Adonis, known and worshipped,particularly by women, all over the ancient Near East.Jerome also records that in Bethlehem ofhis time (fourth fifth century) there was still a grove connected with Adonis.2 It was thepractice in the so-called gardens of Adonis for women to gather round pots in which certainseedlings had been shallowly planted and to try and urge their germination by various means,including loud lamentation for the dead god.The heat of the sun and the method of planting andfertilization seem to have had a seemingly magical effect, but under the circumstances of theirpropagation the shoots soon withered away.Whatever the plants were that the women later chosefor their agricultural ritual,3 a kind of sympathetic magic to promote the growth of the crops, theorigin of the cult is clearly seen in the search for the sacred mushroom in the holy mountains ofthe north.The transient nature of the gardens of Adonis is exemplified in the rapid growth and as speedydisappearance of the mushroom.Jonah s178 THE SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSS sunshade fungus was eaten by worms the day after it appeared: it came into being in a nightand perished in a night (Jonah 3 :io).A modern observer of the Amanita muscaria detected itsfirst appearance at 8 a.m.and by 4 p.m.the same day the fungus was fully grown and beginningto rot.4 The Phalloidic species, like the Stink-horn, Phallus impudicus, rises some three inches inhalf an hour, and the whole erection is complete in one and a half hours [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]
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.We noticed this passage previously when discussing the mushroom as the Morning Star ,germinated by the dew that fell from Venus before the dawn. °9 It was pointed out there that theRephaim were those cast down from heaven , identified with the fallen angels ofDEATH AND RESURRECTION Genesis and Jewish mythology.According to the Bible, these sons of God were seduced by thebeauty of mortal women and begot a race of supermen (Gen 6: if.).Later Jewish tradition has itthat their seduction was at least partly their own fault since they had taught the girls the art ofcosmetics, and so had begun the awful progress of mankind to degeneracy and sexual abandon.More important, they taught them charms and enchantments, the cutting of roots, and made themacquainted with plants. (Enoch : iff).To raise these dormant spirits of the dead was the way to enlightenment.However, the noisesproduced by those through whom the spirits spoke were not necessarily intelligible.Isaiah speaksof such necromancers or ventriloquists ( belly speakers ) scornfully as chirping andmuttering when they seek by oracle their god through the dead, on behalf of the living (8:19).In the New Testament it is called speaking with tongues .Thus the faithful are encouraged to pursue love (agape), be zealous for spiritual gifts, especially that you might prophesy.For onespeaking in a tongue speaks not to man but to God; for no one understands him, but he uttersmysteries in the Spirit.He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues, unlesssomeone interprets, so that the church may be edified.If even lifeless instruments, such as theflute or harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? So withyourselves; if you in a tongue utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what issaid? For you will be speaking into the air.Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should prayfor the power to interpret.tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, whileprophecy is not for Un- believers but for believers.If, therefore, the whole church assembles andall speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say you are mad?. (ICor 14:1 23); which was perhaps better than accusing them, like the apostles at Pentecost ofbeing filled with new wine (Acts 2:13).Looking back over the discussion of this chapter, we can see how the worship cf the mushroomencompassed every aspect of the processes of nature.When modem religious practice seems attimes removed from reality, a Saturday or Sunday relaxation, even entertainment, rather than aconcerted effort to influence the deity or be influenced by him, it is worth reminding ourselvesthat for the ancients it was a life or175176 TEB SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSSdeath matter.If the god did not respond to their pleas for rain or sunshine, they, their children,and their crops and animals died.When, before their eyes, the greenness of the ground vanished under the wilting heat of thesummer sun, the dwellers of Near Eastern lands then, as now, viewed the future apprehensively.Everything depended on the god s bounty in the Autumn and the following Spring.The enemy, intheir mythological terms, had killed the fertility hero; would the New Year see his resurrection?In the little mushroom, men could see a prime example of the transience of nature s gifts: in themorning it appeared, and by nightfall the worms had consumed it.The god himself had beenamong them; they sought him and apprehended him, but his manifestation was a temporary thing.For one ileeting moment he fulfilled his promise that those who received him could become the children of God .The worshipper could not approach the god empty-handed.He must bring with him a gift, itselfgod-given, as an atonement to the earth.Only thus, and by calling simultaneously upon the godby name, could he withstand the demonic power of the fungus.For to eat the god was to die withhim; in the short hours of the initiate s complete communion with the deity he had died to theworld.It was then that he was at most fearful risk, and the days of careful preparation for theultimate mystery were given their most crucial testing.This was the time of trial or temptation through which every participant in the cult passed.To raise the sacred fungus was to raise the spirits of the dead, and thus to communicate with thesource of subterranean knowledge.This we may now identify with the Bacchic Anthesteria andpossibly the Church s Agape feast, the drawing up of the phallic mushroom.Very much earlierthan the documentary recording of either of these cultic practices is the raising of the fungus inthe so-called gardens of Adonis .For long this mystic practice has remained obscure in itsdetails, although there has been little doubt that it had to do with the lamenting and raising of thedead god, and thus presumed to be connected with an agricultural cult.For the first time we candecipher the names involved and are thus able to draw together a number of other references tothe mushroom religion and those who partook in its rites.XVIIIThe Garden of Adonis, Eden and Delight;Zealots and MuslimsThe most explicit reference to the lamenting for the fertility deity in the Old Testament is foundin the account of the prophet Ezekiel s vision of the Temple.In a psychedelic trance he fanciedhimself being carried hundreds of miles from Mesopotamia to Jerusalem:Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of Yahweh; and behold, theresat women bewailing Tammuz.Then he said to me, Have you seen this, 0 son of man? You willsee still greater abominations than these (Ezek 8 :i4f.).Jerome translates Tammuz here as Adonis,1 quite properly, since the Mesopotamian hero-deitywas but another representation of the Semitic and Greek Adonis, known and worshipped,particularly by women, all over the ancient Near East.Jerome also records that in Bethlehem ofhis time (fourth fifth century) there was still a grove connected with Adonis.2 It was thepractice in the so-called gardens of Adonis for women to gather round pots in which certainseedlings had been shallowly planted and to try and urge their germination by various means,including loud lamentation for the dead god.The heat of the sun and the method of planting andfertilization seem to have had a seemingly magical effect, but under the circumstances of theirpropagation the shoots soon withered away.Whatever the plants were that the women later chosefor their agricultural ritual,3 a kind of sympathetic magic to promote the growth of the crops, theorigin of the cult is clearly seen in the search for the sacred mushroom in the holy mountains ofthe north.The transient nature of the gardens of Adonis is exemplified in the rapid growth and as speedydisappearance of the mushroom.Jonah s178 THE SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSS sunshade fungus was eaten by worms the day after it appeared: it came into being in a nightand perished in a night (Jonah 3 :io).A modern observer of the Amanita muscaria detected itsfirst appearance at 8 a.m.and by 4 p.m.the same day the fungus was fully grown and beginningto rot.4 The Phalloidic species, like the Stink-horn, Phallus impudicus, rises some three inches inhalf an hour, and the whole erection is complete in one and a half hours [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]