The Eucharist Was Visionary Plants

Someone asked me for evidence that the Eucharist was visionary plants. The answer has to provide concise scholarly evidence and arguments, strictly framed as relevant for discussing the true origins of Christianity and the Jesus figure.

This article or notes page covers:

o Justification for presenting this information, with respect to discussion of the true origins of Christianity and the Jesus figure.

o List of individual items of evidence that the Eucharist was visionary plants. Each item should specify whether ancient, mid-ages, or modern; Christian, Jewish, or Pagan. Goal is lots of items that are ancient era, Christian, and just a little of the other combinations to establish visionary plants as potentially the norm throughout Jewish and Pagan religious history as well as Christian history, per the maximal entheogen theory of religion.

o List of books and journals containing further items of evidence. Each entry should specify chapters or articles that are - whether the resource covers ancient, mid-ages, or modern; Christian, Jewish, or Pagan. Goal is as above.

o Definitions and characterizations of the anti-entheogen ('Conservative'), minimal entheogen theory of religion ('Liberal'), and the maximal entheogen theory of religion ('Radical').

Justification for presenting this information, with respect to discussion of the true origins of Christianity and the Jesus figure.

The view that the Eucharist was originally, during the house-church era at least, was normally understood as meaning a mixture including visionary plants, generally correlates with and supports the view that there was no Historical Jesus, because the central presence of visionary plants tends to support an emphasis on mystic metaphor rather than literalism about the original meaning of the Jesus figure.

There have been only a few postings raising the question of the relation between psychoactive plants and the original Christian Eucharist, and none of them have formally put forth a list of evidence or detailed position statements or hypotheses, or presented any sort of serious or sustained focus on the issue.

Many scholars of early Christian origins are unaware that anyone has proposed any involvement of visionary plants in early Christianity. Those who are aware of this, too often are only aware of John Allegro's theory, or Wasson's research about Vedic or Central American religious use of visionary plants, or Hofmann's theory of ergot in Eleusis.

That gives the impression that such theorizing is completely individual and marginal. There has actually been far more research than just that, forming a growing community of researchers, forming a new entire research paradigm.

This posting brings the seemingly isolated pieces together and summarizes the current state of the research on this subject, so that those who are interested can investigate further, and make an adequately informed decision of whether the subject has much potential relevance to discovering the true origins and rise of Christianity.

List of individual items of evidence that the Eucharist was visionary plants

Each item should specify whether ancient, mid-ages, or modern; Christian, Jewish, or Pagan. Goal is lots of items that are ancient era, Christian.

Some representative samples of the possible evidence that the Eucharist was visionary plants:

It is possible easily to make wine that produces intense classic religious experiences. One can *readily* and *easily* produce proof of this. take modern wine, add cowpie mushrooms into it, if exotic a pinch of henbane cannabis opium, have divine revelations about time, control, self, and will. No one on earth, not Zaehner or the entire inquisition, can deny this - they can only *spin* it one way or another. It may be ecstasy of demons or the HS , but it is the hardest concrete fact of science, the very definition of scientific method, the bedrock of chemistry with agelessly old roots. Do this, experience that, compare notes to confirm. (then censor the notes as profit dictates)

Wine and mixed wine themes are assoc with a *religious* figure, Jesus (& Dionysus), therefore visionary plants more likely than alcohol as the active element in this thing called 'mixed wine'.

Standard polemic of ecstasy/authority, standard contrast of inspiration/drunkenness

Various images of visionary plants in religion throughout eras/regions/groups

Demeter holds out a mushroom in a relief -- shown in:

http://www.dhushara.com/book/diochris/dio1.htm -- Treading the Winepress: Yeshua and Dionysius

http://www.dhushara.com/book/diochris/dio2.htm -- Treading the Winepress: The Epiphany of Miraculous Dread

Christian mushroom-trees (Entheos magazine, James Arthur)

Christian lily Annunciation article in Entheos

Dual mushroom-handled bowl showing Persephone. Thomas Roberts reports it in a lecture. He's including it in an article he'll publish.

The New Gutenberg Reformation - Entheogenic Experience as the Basis of Religion

Prof. Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D. (Stanford), professor of educational psychology

at Northern Illinois University

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2468.html

This graphic identifies the baby-mummy Virgin Mary in the Dormition icon as amanita-form:

http://www.rutajit.com/Images.htm - scroll down a little to the man holding a wrapped baby

The complete icon online:

http://www.beloit.edu/coterie/classics/public_html/main/courses/fyi2000/museum/unusual_jesus/Mary_and_Jesus_Cyprus(1106).jpg

from here:

http://www.beloit.edu/coterie/classics/public_html/main/courses/fyi2000/museum/unusual_jesus

Mark and his lion with Amanita halos with white dots on red edge

http://www.egodeath.com/entheogenpicfinds.htm

Christian Last Supper with the table as an Amanita mushroom, on the cover of Bible Review magazine

http://www.egodeath.com/entheogenpicfinds.htm

Virgin Mary wearing an Amanita cap cap

http://www.egodeath.com/entheogenpicfinds.htm

Bowl of mushrooms and bowl of snails in a mosaic

http://people.etnoteam.it/maiocchi/fabbro.htm -- Mushrooms and Snails in Ancient Liturgy of Early Christians of Aquileia. Franco Fabbro

Amanita Muscarian in the triptych in the healing picture (Apples of Apollo p. 230)

Some this art "much too late" but still why was such std to plug in visionary plants to religion?

Central American phrases for entheogens - Christ's flesh, etc.

Many other pictures of entheogens in Christianity/religions (see books/ journals/ sites)

The close connection of religion and entheogens in late 20th C pop music

Wine centrally prominent in Last Supper as a religious ritual supper & in all Christian *religious* practice; visionary plants more likely than alcohol as relevant factor/element

Various known use of visionary plants in religion throughout eras/regions/groups.

Plato, Ecstasy, and Identity -- Michael Rinella's Dissertation on ecstasy, wine, and inebriants in ancient Greece. At http://www.egodeath.com/BooksByOtherAuthors.htm find "Rinella".

Ease of matching known entheogenic experiences with myth if myth interpreted as entheogens metaphor

o The mytheme of eternity matches known visionary-plant effects: exp of suspend sense of time's passage

o The mytheme of affixion matches the visionary-plant experience of space-time embeddedness

o The mytheme of unity matches the visionary-plant experience of cosmic unity.

o The mytheme of death and rebirth matches the visionary-plant experience of death and rebirth.

The entheogen theory of myth-religion makes the formerly unintelligible intelligible at last.

Art portrayals

It enables a theory of magic/supernatural/miracle metaphor, for example, calming the storm by calling for divine help

It solves the problem of "Jesus the magician" and "Jesus falsely predicted the apocalypse".

Intelligibly provides instantly for all the fantastic elements of the New Testament: raising the dead, ascent visions, devil, demon possession and exorcism, ascent to heaven without dying, sacrificing one's firstborn child(-self). It enables translation that suddenly at once sweep makes sense of hundred of tall tales/supernatural/magic.

ancients had RE on tap; entheogens dirt simple explanation of how

The known, repeatable-on-demand effects of visionary plants match the mythemes.

The Eucharist was the center of Christian practice even in house-church days.

Eucharist like paschal meal ritual in which also mixed wine was prominent

Early house-church Christians *reclined* at banquet with mixed wine -- if the mixed wine was watered-down alcohol, reclining would make less sense than if -- as reported -- unmixed wine is so intense had to be watered. Their unmixed wine was more intense than our wine; therefore they must have added visionary plants.

Drinking clubs/symposia Dionysus handing the out of control person the thyrssus, and bouncers/horses

Poured wine on tombs -- banquet "in remembrance of the dead", but what did that really mean to them? It makes no great sense with alcohol, but it makes full sense with death-rebirth-causing visionary plant beverage.

The entheogen model of religion has elegance/coherence breadth of explanatory power. What about the non-entheogen theory? First, there isn't even one; it is an incoherent mess, chaos -- it is a wreck, it makes no sense. The contest is between truly a *systemic theory* vs. trainwreckish non-theory or whole patchwork of forced, unconvincing speculations requiring dragging in many dubious/arbitrary, contrived, made-to-order, invented-on-spot assumptions - lots of gaps and fake putty inserted (for example, different ancient psyche was source of religious-myth symbol meanings; ritual imposed highly intense impression on their psyches; were so sober they reluctantly used wine to purify water and strove to avoid effects, yet they talk about this mixed watered down alcohol as still causing divine madness); entheogen theory perfect & seamless. What argument is there against the entheogen theory of religion? There aren't any. There is every reason to suppose, no reason not to. Thus, there is a high probability that the theory or model is correct.

The character of Hellenistic/Christian mystery-religion doesn't sound at all like alcohol, but like visionary plants. Alcohol conflicts/contradicts the descriptions.

Visionary plants & esotericism have frequently been connected - Wisdom of the Ages, Crowley, etc.

It is not possible to look at entheogens' effects then look at early Christianity & Hellenistic mystery-religions and then say "there is not a clear fit" or "there is definitely not a fit; it contradicts"? (if have reasonable knowledge of entheogens' effects & myth & MR). in some respects ambiguous; they evidently kept it so, but all makes sense deduced to be such, and there is some direct explicit evidence -- even though still *vertical* early and the entheogen theory of Christianity is only now forming/being defined for 1st time.

The *speed* and *ease* and immediate naturalcy of entheogen theory bodes well, suggestive. A few months ago I was the first to propose th of myth and esotericism as centrally all about entheogens and determinism (compare today's pop centralizing of "unity", all is one, as the central message -- rather than my centralizing the idea of "all is determined" - like Hellenes).

Same timing of the historical formation of the entheogen theory and the anti-euhemerist heyday in late 20thC (John Allegro, for example)

Role of historical Jesus cause replaceable instantly perfectly with role of visionary plants. visionary plants demonstrably do exactly what Jesus is said to do: intense experience of the Holy Spirit, regeneration, transformation, new life sense; fixity experience, rebirth experience, end of time, self-sacrifice of one whole version of oneself, -- Jesus as symbol does not cause these claimed experiences; visionary plants do cause all of them.

Anointing can cause intense religious experiencing - anoint compare witches flying in book Claudia Muller-- vs. OT kings

Religion was claimed to involve *intense experience*, not like today's mood of sentimentality in ritual & abstract intellectual "symbol". non-entheogen theories fail to account for provide for intense experiencing -- unlike the entheogen theory.

Sacred eating and drinking is at the center buildup of myth stories.

Water from belly after Amanita has mixed-wine effects (quote the water from belly passage)

Makes clear sense of next cup will be with you in the next age, in the kingdom of god

Causes series like the core Jesus passion sequence: "The next time I drink this wine with you, it will be in the new kingdom, the kingdom of god" -- that is true for each initiate, comparing before and after the main ego death experience each person undergoes during their series of initiations.

Jacob Needleman writes in the book Lost Christianity that an Orthodox monk told him "I could tell you of things a thousand times better than your yoga"; Needleman could not imagine what he could possibly be alluding to.

Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition

Richard Smoley

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1570628106

2002

Richard Smoley writes:

p. 156: "... there is a rich heritage of spiritual techniques and practices in Christianity, though it has often been buried or hidden. During a visit to the Greek peninsula of Mount Athos, the center of Orthodox monasticism, Jacob Needleman had a monk say to him, "I could tell you of things a thousand times better than your yoga." But, Needleman adds, "he never said more, not even when pressed by the stunned interpreter."(2) While we will never know what the monk had in mind, some of the inner practices of Christianity have begun to come to the surface again."

2 - Lost Christianity, p. 36

Lost Christianity: A Journey of Rediscovery to the Center of Christian Experience

Jacob Needleman

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1585422533

Ancient Hellenic texts say wine had to be mixed with 3 to 20 times water or else death, insanity -- that can't possibly be modern wine.

Contemporary coding in lyrics matches type of coding in myth when interpreted accordingly

Controversies centered around leading eucharist, removal of eucharist from women house-church leaders to top-down bishops - bishops made a big point of removing away the eucharist from the populace- if the eucharist was merely symbolism, who cares about having access to it? If it is entheogenic, the battling makes more sense.

Jesus had a trial or two, on the very night of his betrayal. This is not plausible historically/literally. In contrast, it is perfectly plausible as mystic-state metaphorical descriptive report. Mixed wine at Passover and other sacred *dinners* or Plato symposium throughout the night.

As reported in Pagels book The Gnostic Paul http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1563380390 , Valentinian Pneumatics would worship as part of the full large group (we can assume an official church-building), then go off as a small group (we can assume in a house-church) to take the sacrament of redemption (apolytrosis) -- which was something *different* than the food or drink of the common Eucharist and claimed to have superior effects.

Explains much more - Mystery Religions, great amount naturally easily (effortlessly) explained plausibility with small axiom set, where there was no plausible explanation at all before,

integrates perfectly-immediately into whole w/ other comparably alt theories producing not a liability but even greater plausibility of that whole resulting set of alternative theories

agrees with shamanistic knowledge, mythic themes match known experiences, Central American encounter of Christianity & visionary plants (natural to plug in visionary plants into Eucharist), Christian scholarship now pop "shamanism" yet loudly studiously ignore or hasten to diminish the visionary-plant basis of shamanism ("late degeneration from previous methods used by the superior previous shamans")

Enables whole new better theory of myth and of mystery religions and of Hellenistic myth

Enables, as necessary enabler, bringing together a clear and intelligible theory of myth for the first time, and of religion, mysticism, shamanism, determinism/Reformed theology, purgatory intelligibility, battles house-church vs. bishop.

Has no disadvantages (no reason blocking it), and after just 30 yrs of not even trying to substant it, good evidence found -- worst problem with it isn't in its proposal itself, but rather, confusions brought in by HJ paradigm.

Increased Meaning, intelligibility, explanatory power. It enables huge explanatory power, where there was chaos and separation and puzzlement before. Eliminates postulating a "primitive psyche" and tortured contrived theories centered on a doubtful principle, based on literalist paradigm; for example, Rene Girard.

Breadth of explanatory power: Other religions, other regions, all also solved this way.

No clear definite alternative competing hypotheses - just puzzlement, fragmentation, chaos, mystified scholars.

Non-entheogen theories forced to suppose that ritual was more impressive to those primitive minds and that symbolism was impressively meaningful

Non-entheogen theories can't explain how compelling intense experience forced upon them if in OSC - have to explain away claims of intense experience: didn't really - pretense; ancients more suggestible; they had intense intellectual understanding of symbols... (cart before the horse, mixing up cause vs. result, which is a symbol and what the referent is); it was all just superstitious and primitive trance that their feeble savage exotic minds were able to work up through ritual/symbol.

Readiness of anti-euhemerist scholars to consider the entheogen theory (Acharya, F&G), & readiness of entheogen scholars to consider anti-euhemerism (Heinrich, James Arthur, Allegro)

Per Irenaeus, Valentinians participate in the communion celebration with the common church, but they reserve the pneumatic eucharistic celebration for private meetings among initiates. Pagels' book Gnostic Paul, p. 74 ( http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1563380390 ). The secret Valentinian sacrament of redemption (apolytrosis) is discussed on pages 66-68.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JesusMysteries/message/14079 -- 4 Ezra (Latin Apocalypse of Ezra) 14:37-48. Paraphrased: I took the five men as the Most High commanded me, and we went forth into the field. A voice called me: Ezra, open thy mouth and drink what I give thee to drink! I opened my mouth, and there was reached unto me a full cup, which was full as it were with water, but the colour of it was like fire. I took it and drank; and when I had drunk, my heart poured forth understanding, wisdom grew in my breast, and my spirit retained its memory. My mouth opened, and was no more shut. The Most High gave understanding unto the five men, and they wrote what they were dictated in order, in characters which they knew not. So they sat forty days. They wrote in the day-time and at night did eat bread. I spoke in the day, and at night was not silent. So in 40 days were written ninety-four books. When the forty days were fulfilled, the Most High spake unto me saying: The twenty-four books that thou hast written publish, that the worthy and unworthy may read therein. But the seventy last thou shalt keep, to deliver them to the wise among thy people. For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge. -- Tr. G. H. Box, APOT, vol 2, 1913, pp. 623-4

Even a contemporary Catholic scholar, R. C. Zaehner, and an evangelical fundamentalist, Dave Hunt, don't deny the efficacy of entheogens to produce a state that is at least mystic-like, that can be described as religious experiencing.

Huston Smith argues for the equivalence of mysticism and entheogens - though this is the minimalist entheogen theory/paradigm.

Because most fervently denied/tabood for example Mexico Spanish conquest suppression of mushrooms - obvious who/why what stood to gain/lose by reintroducing active inspiring original reason why eucharist was venerated/central in 1sdt place. The most taboo thing anyone could propose is that the eucharist is entheogenic - pharmakon of immortality. How did that proposition become the ultimate taboo? It was tabooed for reasons of collating exclusive power.

Look at what happened in 18th-19th Century Central American expectation about eucharist, and resulting disappointment at finding that it was merely a placebo/inactive, their use of visionary plants in eucharist, to this day, look at that natural perfect instant given fit, look then at how Catholic bishops forbade visionary plants and in characteristic fashion disparaged it, and drove it underground; this provides a perfect contemporary recent example of how and why such suppression *originally* occurred when women-led house-churches were co-opted and the women leaders suppressed and the direct ungoverned access to the HS was tried to be suppressed/re-channeled under official power.

General immensity of this particular redefinition, the redefinition of 'wine' - the Death Star core vulnerability effect. Official Christianity has a vulnerability at the core: they reached agreement that the Eucharist is the ground 0 core of Christian practice and is the means through which united/regenerated. And they debate this transubstantiation. This foundational centrality means that how we interpret the eucharist is a move-the-world leverage pivot point of how we interpret all of Christianity. Everywhere in Christianity is a-meal, everywhere the eating/drinking: *if* this eat/drink is entheogenic, not just symbolic, everything is totally transformed. This very immensity of potential transformation is itself key evidence to suggest the entheogen theory. (But note also that poses, end of time, raise the dead, submersion washed in water, sacrifice your firstborn child, etc is redefined; whole 2-layer meaning flip. the "systemic participation" factor.)

There is a perfectly entheogen-shaped hole right in the dead center of Christianity -- Christian practice, theology, lore, storyline, etc. So there is a strong case for entheogen use often and centrally throughout Christian history, but what about the specific case of the "original" Christians and the "authors of the canon books"? Or what about the "oral tradition" prior to those writings?

Hasidic Jews using psychoactives: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n973/a06.html?59101 (highly condemnatory and judgmental attitude in this news article)

Relevance: Jewish, in the modern era (1500-2000)

There are mushrooms in the lower portions of the tamborine girl's garments in the "Dionysus Triumphal Procession" mosaic.

http://www.tunisiaonline.com/mosaics/mosaic14.html

http://www.tunisiaonline.com/mosaics

Reported by Brian.

Relevance: Antiquity, Pagan.

Mushroom in Mithras' leg and skirt

http://www.egodeath.com/images/mithrasmushroomleg.jpg

I recognized this on May 1, 2004.

For more info, see Mithraism.

Books and journals containing further items of evidence

Each entry should specify chapters or articles that are - whether the resource covers ancient, mid-ages, or modern; Christian, Jewish, or Pagan.

Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy

Clark Heinrich

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0892819979

Amanita and ergot in various religions and esoteric systems

1995

States we don't know if Jesus existed; theoretically assumes there was.

The Mystery of Manna: The Psychedelic Sacrament of the Bible

Dan Merkur

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0892817720

2000

Jewish use of visionary plants, especially conjectures ergot.

The Psychedelic Sacrament: Manna, Meditation, and Mystical Experience

Dan Merkur

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/089281862X

Jewish use of visionary plants, especially conjectures ergot. Mystics' encoded use of visionary plants. Pretty clearly implies that visionary plants are basis of mysticism throughout history.

The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist

Carl Ruck

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/089089924X

Ch 5 Jesus, the Drug Man [pharmakon of imperishability]

Marijuana: The Burning Bush of Moses

Robert Thorne

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0967105609

More well-read in mysticism than other scholars of the history of entheogens in religion

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East

John Allegro

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0340128755

No historical Jesus; he was a personification of the mushroom (or, visionary plants). Linguistic evidence, double-entendres.

Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible

Chris Bennett, Neil McQueen

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1550567985

Mostly cannabis, some coverage of visionary plants in general. Unbalanced toward overemphasis of cannabis, implying the monoplant fallacy, though occasional supplementary notice of other plants. More likely than his proposed cannabis for anointing is a henbane mixture (I don't think he mentions that).

The Road To Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries

Carl Ruck, Albert Hofmann, R. Gordon Wasson, Jeremy Bigwood, Jonathan Ott, Huston Smith, Danny Staples

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/091514820X

Proposes that ergot was transferred from wild grain to cultivated grain, then soaked and filtered with water, to provide the entheogenic kykeon beverage for the Eleusinian mystery-religion.

The discoverer of psilocybin and LSD (Albert Hofmann) believes Eleusis was based around visionary plants.

Mushrooms and Mankind: The Impact of Mushrooms on Human Consciousness and Religion

James Arthur

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1585091510

Visionary plants in Christianity: pages 20-33

It is also available online as the bottom half of:

http://jamesarthur.net/mm_01.html -- Find: Mushroom symbology in popular myth

Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda

Dan Russell

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0965025314

Some coverage of suppression of entheogens in the Christian era.

Relevance:

Antiquity, Paganism

Antiquity, Judaism

R. C. Zaehner

Zen, Drugs and Mysticism

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0819172669

Catholic; diminishes entheogens, but no more severely than it diminishes non-Catholic mysticism. The forward says he was a "substance abuser", and that he criticized and offended everyone.

Relevance:

Modernity, Christianity

Drugs, mysticism and make-believe

R. C. Zaehner

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0002151553

I haven't seen this.

Relevance:

Modernity, Christianity

The Age of Entheogens

Jonathan Ott

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0961423471

Like McKenna, in his zeal to rush to condemn Catholic suppression of entheogens, he bounds right over the house-church era with its use of the visionary-plant Eucharist. There is some coverage in the Notes. Defines eras: The Age of Entheogens, The Pharmacratic Inquisition, and The Entheogenic Reformation. Includes The Angels' Dictionary -- entheogen-aware definitions of religious terms.

Relevance:

Antiquity, Christianity

Middle Ages/Renaissance, Christianity

Modernity, Christianity

The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy

Manly Hall

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/089314830X

Written in 1925 (age 24), published in 1929. Hall near page 112 states succinctly that the mystery religions centrally used drugs to induce a visionary state. He cites S's (Rene Girard) book in 1845 as stating this.

Robert Graves' 1960 edition of Greek Myths has a prefix stating that he now realizes that the Centaurs represented the use of mushrooms such as Amanita or psilocybin/stropharia cubensis. Robert Graves in 1958 -- in the essay Food for Centaurs. You can read the 2-page summary in bookstores now, in the Forward of Volume 1 of the 2-volume set Greek Myths, paperback, by Robert Graves, speculating about mixed wine including amanita or cowpie mushrooms. The same Forward also appears in the combined volume:

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0140171991

Hellenic Mythicist Karl Kerenyi Was Early Advocate of Entheogen Theory of Greek Myth and Mystery-Religion

Hermes: Guide of Souls

Karl Kerenyi

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0882142240

A preface in this book states that Karl Kerenyi was explicitly an early advocate (1940s?) of the theory that Greek myth and mystery-religion importantly involved visionary plants. There seems to have been a continuous thread of such postulate -- *not* a point-in-time original creation of the theory, such as the publication date of a book by Clark Heinrich (1995), John Allegro (1970), R. Gordon Wasson (1970), Robert Graves (1958), Manly Hall (1932), or the 19th Century French scholar cited by Manly Hall (~1850). (Dates approx.)

Entheos journal issues

http://www.entheomedia.org/Issue%20one.htm -- entheogens in Christianity; pictures indicating amanita in Christianity

http://www.entheomedia.org/Entheos_Issue_2.htm -- Annunciation lily as Datura; pictures comparing the two

http://www.entheomedia.org/Entheos_Issue_3.htm -- makes the case for entheogens in Mithraism

From Symposium to Eucharist

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0800634896

Explains 'reclining at table', per house-church era

The Religion of Paul the Apostle

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0300084412

Paul as 'shaman' -- but loudly ignores visionary plants, which Eliade has explained were a late degeneration deviating from the original, pure, traditional methods of shamans, due to later inferior natural capacity of the psyche

Forgotten Truth: The Common Vision of the World's Religions (appendix)

Huston Smith

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0062507877

Also back of Huston Smith's book on perennial philosophy and esotericism

This auth, and the various books with general coverage of visionary plants in religion, is an example of the strong resonance between esotericism, perennial philosophy, religion, and entheogens -- which then provides general plausibility for the specific question of whether many earliest Christians often used visionary plants in and as the eucharist, or for anointing.

Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals

Huston Smith

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1591810086

Doesn't cover early Christianity but still Christianity vs. entheogens.

Council on Spiritual Practices

http://csp.org

Thomas Roberts' website and collated book gathers entheogen-covering passages from many books on various aspects of religion, mysticism, psychology, and philosophy.

The World of Classical Myth

Ruck & Staples

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0890895759

Doesn't cover Christianity

A Brief History of Drugs

Antonio Escohotado

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0892818263

Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of KnowledgeA Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution

Terence McKenna

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0553371304

Terence McKenna leaps over the Christian era, he so is biased against everything to do with it -- a missed opportunity. Here is a curious example of an entheogen advocate *not* wanting Christianity to include visionary plants -- because he wants to portray Christianity as darkly as possible by his standards -- and therefore completely missing recognizing the Eucharist as visionary plants.

Ken Wilber's theory of psychospiritual collective evolution fails to integrate visionary plants, calling his general theory of evolution of consciousness into question.

Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants

Claudia Muller-Ebeling, Christian Ratsch, Wolf-Dieter Storl

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0892819715

Sep. 2003

Magical and visionary plants in European and Hellenistic myth and lore. Women as keepers of knowledge of visionary plants; consider house-churches as women-led

Scholarly and popular audience. High production standards. Extensive bibliography. Pictures of psychoactive plants from art in various eras, evidence that some number of people in Western culture have always known about visionary plants.

Favorable toward the cowpie psilocybin mushroom theory, which McKenna essentially endorses as well. Graves' forward is specifically for the purpose of making this point, of adding the thesis from the Centaur essay as the introductory frame for his famous previously written Greek Myths book -- showing his high confidence.

Book list about the entheogen theory of the origin of religions; visionary plants in religious history

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/KDBM4IID0J82

Contains some additional books not listed above.

Books Representing the Conservative/Anti-Entheogen Paradigm

The Elements of Mysticism

R A Gilbert

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1852302011

Standard objections, in line with the grudging very-minimalist entheogen theory of religion - no, less than that. flimsy and trivial to refute. page 73-76. The section begins:

"Mysticism and mental illness have little in common save that both are even now far from fully understood. The religious use of intoxicants , narcotics and mind-altering drugs has a long and dishonourable history, from the unidentified Soma of the Vedas, through the Bacchhic Mysteries and the hashish-taking of the Assassins, to the peyote-induced visions of the Native American Church. Whether or not the effects of such drug-taking are comparable to mystical experience is a question that has ... generated vehement debate."

Repeated, now with my comments inserted in square brackets. "Mysticism and mental illness have little in common save that both are even now far from fully understood. [If they are both far from fully understood, then you have a poor basis for your assertion that the two have little in common.] The religious use of intoxicants [a charged word, why not inebriants? or visionary plants?], narcotics [a selected charged word] and mind-altering drugs [another selected charged construct] has a long and dishonourable history [why not say "evil and perverted"?] [if it's a long history, doesn't that suggest it's not so dishonorable?], from the unidentified Soma of the Vedas [if Soma is "unidentified", then you have a poor basis for stating it's a drug], through the Bacchhic Mysteries [they sacrificed babies and ate them!] and the hashish-taking of the Assassins [dirty murderous Islamic mystics, with dark skin!], to the peyote-induced visions of the Native American Church [those dishonorable American Indian savages!]. Whether or not the effects of such drug-taking are comparable to mystical experience is a question [he won't even admit that it is possible to even *compare* the two] that has ... generated vehement debate [this author is the epitome of 'vehement', with a negative emphasis; he's projecting his mindset onto the debate of others].

Ancient Mystery Cults

Walter Burkert

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0674033868

He *ends* the book or *concludes* it with diminishment /rebuttal of entheogens -- p. 108-114. The standard usual arguments. Interesting how these drug-hypothesis dismissals are often at the start or end of Conservative scholarly books.

Since Burkert lacks an entheogen theory, he has to overemphasize other aspects and try to create a convincing theory of Hellenic religion based on selecting those themes and aspects as the main driving ones instead; the result is forced, artificial theories elaborately drawn but ultimately alien sounding; one can't really imagine how such themes would compel, therefore, we end up having to buy into the implicit-theory of, "those strange, strange, alien ancients". Elaborate theories of "social doubling taboo" (Rene Girard) are propped up by diligently gathering all the possible evidence for that presumed driving basis; we have to *construct* a hypothetical alien system of reasoning as the basis for our theory/model of their religion and culture-- amounting to artificial like Freud's system that strives to frame sexuality as the true driving force behind psychology and myth. It's a reductionist, cart-before-horse familiar quality throughout works of theory like Burkert -- sky castles speculatively inventing bases from incidentals, or driving forces from what are actually driven, trying to portray results as causes.

Definitions and characterizations of the 3 views of the evidence

Definitions and characterizations of the anti-entheogen ('Conservative'), minimal entheogen theory of religion ('Liberal'), and the maximal entheogen theory of religion ('Radical').

The 3 main coherent views or attitudes toward entheogens with respect to religion: We can label these Conservative, Liberal, and Radical, and group these 3 attitudes with the 3 stories of Christian origins and rise, which I have also labeled Conservative, Liberal, and Radical. For example, the Radical view of Christian origins and rise naturally fits with the Radical view as defined in the scholarly study of the relationship between entheogens and religion. Generally a scholar who holds the Conservative, Eusebian story of Christian origins, would not hold the Radical theory of entheogens -- that is, the maximal entheogen theory of religion -- but would more likely, literally demonize visionary plants as potent and taboo.

The anti-entheogen, Conservative position

Drugs happen to by unfortunate accident give superficial impression of quasi-, peudo-, mystic-like effects that deceive the unwary, but this is only like comparing our fine mystics to the delusions of the insane. Visionary plant use is a bad practice of the heathens, a pagan practice.

Entheogen use in religion or in Christian history is abnormal, unusual, the exception, Romeish, pagan, hedonistic, antinomian, heretical, gnostic, a late degenerate practice [Eliade on shamanism], an importation from outside, unhealthy, primitive in the negative sense, savage, dishonorable (R A Gilbert in _Elements of Mysticism_), later, rare, an outside influence, a later corruption, illegitimate, inauthentic, deviant, dangerous, foreign, alien, a mistake, irrelevant, immoral, madness, priestcraft, a minority practice, marginal, evil insanity, a remnant of corrupted idolatrous Hellenized Judaism, a falling away, apostate, drunken folly, alien, incidental, unimportant, insignificant.

The authentic, pure, original Christians , the Real Christians, didn't use visionary plants, even though other, outsider groups did. The legitimacy is vanishingly little; completely illegitimate. The practice is to be maximally disparaged and marginalized. Entheogen users in the early Christian era were deviants, heretics, aliens, intruders, exceptions, latecomers, peripheral, or remnants of a previous idolatrous practice.

Generally correlates with the Conservative, supernaturalist, literalist, Eusebian story of Christian origins.

The minimalist entheogen theory of religion; the Liberal position

The more negative and diminishing view within the minimal entheogen theory of religion: Visionary plants merely give a glimpse and foretaste of authentic traditional mystic experience, and are generally, overall, a negative force against authentic spirituality. The resulting state really is equivalent to the mystic state in its perceived effects, but results in pride, hubris, and unseriousness, and cannot produce lasting transformation, unlike the traditional methods of accessing the mystic state.

The more positive view within the minimal entheogen theory of religion: Huston Smith provides an annoyingly perfect example, as does the tepid defense of the legitimacy of plants in the book Zig Zag Zen, trying to have it both ways, waffling, incoherent, a carefully fabricated artificial *rhetoric* that gives with one hand while taking away with the other. Visionary plants give a virtually authentic cheap simulation of the genuine traditional mystic experiencing which was achieved by the venerable traditional means, which we all know and so need no coverage and no argument.

Heap/bury in faint praise, always upholding the vague "traditional mystic techniques" as the true standard, unquestioningly assumed to be non-plant. The legitimacy of visionary plants is limited: they were legitimately used by some Christian groups which deserve as much as any to be included as 'Christian' -- but that wasn't the main meaning for most groups.

Generally correlates with the Liberal, non-supernatural, historicist story of Christian origins.

The maximal theory of religion; the Radical position

Plants are the origin, wellspring, real meaning, main method, et cetera, of which the purported "other, traditional methods" are shams if portrayed as any more than techniques to be used *within* the plant state of consciousness. Visionary plants were centrally used in all religions, all eras, all regions.

The real main original meaning of the Eucharist was always from the start and center, emphatically and specifically visionary plants, for example wine with henbane and psilocybin mushrooms -- understood as clear majority of the most important early Christians, quasi-Christians, as well as Jews and Pagans, throughout 1-313 CE. This entheogen use was rooted securely in both core Jewish practice and core Hellenistic practice such as banqueting.

Nor was it eliminated or forgotten during the Middle Ages -- as shown by the evidence from art and later mystic-metaphorical mythemes. The main authentic real meaning of mixed wine was visionary. Use of entheogens was the main traditional practice and technique for accessing the mystic state; other techniques are intended to be done within the visionary-plant state.

If a scholar of early Christianity got their wish, to participate in early, pure, original Christian worship, they would find themselves reclining at a banquet in a house church drinking wine with plants such as psilocybin mushrooms and henbane mixed in.

A series of around ten guided, trained, and structured initiation sessions ergonomically provide deep permanent transformation of one's mental worldmodel regarding time, control, self, and will.

Entheogens have been used to a greater or lesser extent in all eras, all regions. Early Christians used entheogens to a high degree; they were highly integrated into the heart of Christianity as the central intended meaning of the Eucharist Jesus drank at night shortly prior to his betrayal, night trial, judgment, sentencing, scourging, crux fastening, and death. This meaning was intended by most or many of the original Christians most of the time, such that the visionary plants are the real, core, original meaning of the Eucharist.

Generally correlates with the Radical, anti-euhemerist story of Christian origins; no Jesus, no historical Jesus or Paul; Christianity is originally diffuse and multiple, starts largely from Alexandria, is co-opted by Rome such as by the Mithraic Fathers, and arrives last in Jerusalem.

It is a no-brainer marriage made in heaven, easiest natural fit that practically writes itself, to combine Radical theory of Christian origins w/ entheogen theory of original Christianity.

Commentary about Addressing the Question

What are the main arguments for the view that the original main meaning of Eucharist was visionary plants?

The simple question of "did the early Christians normally use visionary plants?" deserves a simple answer. It is so early, too soon to provide such. Modern systematic research has only begun! I want not to appear or be over ambitious in the response -- but it is an important post, an important response. We theorists have to have our stuff together on this. What is our standard proper response now in 4/2004?

What is the correct succinct and maximally compelling 4/04 response per state of the art? How can such interested parties convert themselves? Has to be a short perfect-length doc, with perfect to-the-point lists of books and pointers to further information. Simple plain rational case. Simply look and consider these basic fund considerations: this basic evidence we have at hand. What is the reasonable person to think? Which is more reasonable: that the original eucharist wasn't centrally about visionary plants? (visionary plants) Or that... certainly the dominant meaning is visionary plant wine. any historical supposed person has to be reconciled into that. the visionary plant aspect is the given, the starting point in reading 'wine'. a study of *meaning* and actual historical exist must be considered on top of that base.

Formulating the questions

Did many of the earliest Christians often use visionary plants as the Eucharist in the agape meal, in the early part of the house-church era?

Did the various early authors of the early versions of the New Testament canonical books often use visionary plants as part of the overall process of authoring and composition?

Did the later Catholicizing, harmonizing redactors of the canon use visionary plants often, as a norm, and consider them to be the intended original meaning of the eucharist?

During the Rome-based government takeover of the house-church synagogue network and gnostic groups, did the Rome-based ruling bishops often preserve the use of visionary plants in the Mass?

How extensively did Hellenistic-era Jewish religions and Pagan religions use visionary plants within mystery-religion, hypercosmic ascent mysticism, magic and witchcraft, philosophy schools, and throughout culture?

How do the conservative-supernatural, liberal-historicist, and radical-mystical interpretive frameworks view the proposition that visionary plants were the wellspring and origin of the specifically religious-experiencing dimension of the earliest Christianities? How do they view possibly related phenomena such as the agape meals and the experience of the holy spirit and of seeing Jesus after his death?

Why, in the modern era, is equating eucharist, visionary plants, and Jesus taboo and unthinkable? How could we possibly have gotten from such an original equation to the exact opposite, such strong instinctive denial of the possibility and thinkability of that equation?

How does the visionary-plant theory of the eucharist relate to 2-level metaphor theory, Jesus as king, and alternative Radical theory of Christian origins and rise?

High-level summary of the proposition and the answers

Many of the earliest Christians often used visionary plants as the eucharist in the agape meal, in the early part of the house-church era.

The various early authors of the early versions of the New Testament canonical books often used visionary plants as part of the overall process of authoring and composition -- not while they wrote, but as inspiration for writing.

The later Catholicizing, harmonizing redactors of the canon used visionary plants fairly often, as was the norm in the Hellenistic era, and considered them to be the intended original meaning of the eucharist, but sought to control them as the source of religious authority and social power.

During the Rome-based government takeover of the house-church synagogue network and gnostic groups, the Rome-based and Constantinople-based ruling bishops often preserved the use of visionary plants in the Mass.

The Hell