Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion

Brilliant Source and Homage to the Mysteries:
I am a student of Carl A.P. Ruck, who was one of the contributors for this collection. This volume is indeed a collection which covers several sides of the story, touching upon almost every civilization which was influenced by the entheogensis of the mushroom (Amanita and Psylocybe). For those who have read McKenna's work, this is the foundation of it, although the antithesis of his belief that the Psylocybin containing species are the Soma of ancient Aryans. The second part of this book deals with the secrets of the ancient Greeks, their worship of entheogens, their belief in their ancestors and the Eleusinian mysteries- the common temple of the world. An incredible read, very accessible to anyone interested in mythology and with an open mind.

Excellent:
A great read when read in balance with other books such as Terence McKenna's Food of the God's, Clark Heinrich's Magic Mushrooms, and James Arthur's Mushrooms and Mankind. Wasson's contributions to understanding the world's religions, and shamanism is inestimable. His open minded and non prejudicial approach to other societies was a breath of fresh air for his time. For the record to those interested in Amanita muscaria as an entheogen: Let's step away from the hysteria for a moment. The Amanita does contain Ibotenic Acid and Muscimol. As the other reviewer mentioned, the Ibotenic Acid is decarboxylated (converted) into Muscimol when roasted or dried, and passed thru the body. Ibotenic acid is mildly toxic. There are reports of Muscarine (a poison) being found in European species at 0.0003% which is too small an amount to effect a toxic reaction. The amount of Muscarine in American species has not been studied, and could be higher. These mushrooms should not be eaten raw. Many mycology books WRONGLY list Amanita muscaria and pantherina as poisonous. Here are the facts from Pharmacotheon by Jon Ott: "Deaths following the ingestion of Amanita muscaria have not been documented sufficiently to permit the conclusion that this is a lethal mushroom when ingested by healthy persons. In two cases of ingestion of considerable quantities of both raw and cooked mushrooms, the patients experienced some discomfort but recovered quickly and completely." I suggest buying a copy of Ott's book (if you can find one $80 to $200) and read the details on the research. Many enjoy it's use, and many others don't. My personal experiences with this substance have been for the most part good. I have consumed up to 60 grams by in Tea. The Amanita muscaria is also well known in Germany and other countries for its effectiveness in treating certain health problems.

Meno in the sky with diamonds...:
This is a fascinating topic, but the book is not well-written. First, the authors have a unifying theme, but the book doesn't really work as a survey. The essays are each hyperspecialized and a good editor would have included some introductory material covering the entire field and knitting the text together over any large gaps. Wasson's introductory essay doesn't seem to anticipate the material he is introducing. Moreover, Wasson's contributions are written in a perplexing and awkward style. The text is surprisingly personal, with a lot more wistful reminiscence than straightforward argument. He clearly aimed to compose something a bit more thoughtful and artistic than is typical of academic writing. Unfortunately, his attempts at narrative break up the logical structure of his argument, and his strange word and phrase choices often obscure the points he is trying to convey. He presumes a level of familiarity with both his own prior work and with "shop talk" of biology and anthropology. He invokes the names of obscure tribes and mushrooms with which I was unfamiliar, and really doesn't lay any groundwork for his terminology. More irritatingly, he draws conclusions much more liberally than I would, after presenting only the flimsiest evidence. He asserts (on the basis of no evidence) that Plato's "forms" were the geometric patterns that people see under the influence of ergot. In other words, in Plato's incredibly deep metaphysics he was really just describing the equivalent of mundane "tracers" or "trails" in his field of vision. On this account, the Meno is a recapitulation of that timeless insight: "Dude, the walls are breathing." Sorry, I just don't buy this. There are deep aspects of the psychedelic experience, and Plato may have been inspired by them, but gross visual hallucinations are not a likely candidate. His case for the notion that amanita muscaria was the Biblical "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" begs more questions than a round of Swiss cheese. He explains that there were two trees in the garden of Eden, and that the OTHER one (i.e. the Tree of Life) has the same name as a tree that, in OTHER (unnamed) "Eurasian tribes" (could we get a bit more vague here?) is identified as the tree, UNDER which grows amanita muscaria. This convoluted argument is especially frustrating, because I really want to believe he is correct here! But the details are missing, and what remains is not nearly as helpful as the Wikipedia entry on "Amanita Muscaria." The other stuff is uneven. Stella Kramrisch's chapter (not on Soma, but on the mushroom that came to be used in place of Soma) made me ask: "So what?" Reading it was like ordering a Guiness and being served an O'Doul's. Carl Ruck's bit is really, really good, and well worth the price of the whole book, but it's drowning in all this bad company. There must be better, more primary, more authoritative sources for this stuff...

A glimpse into our past:
The subtitle to this book is Entheogens and the Origins of Religion. For those not familiar with the term entheogen it literally means `god generated within' and refers to the various psychoactive substances that have been used throughout history in a spiritual context. These include the mushroom cults of rural modern Mexico, the use of a soma by the ancient Indo-European Aryan culture of pre Hindi India, and even in the rites of the Eleusis ceremonies of classical Greece. As can be inferred at this point, the book concerns itself to the investigation of these different spiritual rites that appear to form an almost common theme throughout the development of religion around the world. Wasson is the driving force behind not only the book, but also the study of entheogens as a discipline around the world. His pioneering world in the field of ethnomycology and ethnobotany in the 1940's and 50's lead him to be the first person from the western world to partake in the sacred mushroom rituals of Mesoamerica in 1953. The book itself is divided into two parts. The first consists of essays by R. Gordon Wasson, Stella Kramrisch, and Jonathan Ott covering everything from analysis of the last meal of the Buddha and the connections in mythology between the lightning bolt and the mushroom to the systematic gathering of evidence across cultures and history of the widespread use of entheogens in religious rites. The second part of the book consists of three essays from Carl A. P. Ruck, a distinguished Greek scholar. As would make sense, Ruck's essays focus a bit more intently on the relation of entheogens to ancient Greek society. Any book that is a compilation of separate works from separate authors is inevitably going to suffer from a general lack of flow or cohesion and Persephone's Quest is no exception. Certain parts read better than other, notably Wasson's efforts lead the way in this regard, but as a whole the theories and ideas raised are of the prime importance. Ruck's efforts could also be viewed as a bit tiresome, but I am a bit biased in this regard as Greek history is of immense interest and an area of study for me. Some of what Ruck describes may be lost on readers not familiar with the ancient Greek world, but then again this is the case regarding almost any area. Anyone with an interest in entheogens of psychedelics in the parlance of recreational usage will do themselves well to read this book. It certainly holds a great deal of relevance for today's world and can in fact still be seen in some of the worlds great religions such as Hinduism, where often times a surrogate has replaced the original entheogen, in the Hindu case soma was replaced with the putka mushroom, which is not psychoactive. The simple fact that the use of entheogens was/is so widespread throughout human history is a reason to study it and the current prejudice held against such substances by many academics and authority figures is completely unfounded. It seems almost to be part of a larger movement within a certain section of society that is willing to dismiss the scientific-analytical approach to such diverse topics as global warming, evolution, stem cell research and other so called `controversial' topics. In fact it seems to me that this dismissal of reason is usually coming from some sort of religion inspired dogma. In light of this the book will probably not be accepted very warmly in religious circles, which is unfortunate. What is maybe more unfortunate is that the will the part of society that readily accepts the side of reason in most of the aforementioned topics continues to persist by in large to a wholesale rejection of examining entheogens and their importance in the development of human civilization. This book is a good start to hopefully change the popular perception on these remarkable substances.

A lacking work:
I value Gordon Wasson's work. Without him, who can really say if psilocybin fungi would ever have a respectable category of books. Having stated that, my value of this particular work is a bit low. This book tries even further to continue views already expressed in Wasson's other works: It mainly discussees Soma (what Wasson believed to be Amanita Muscaria).