The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross [playlist]

[Spore]

I recorded this audiobook, because none of the currently available amateur recordings actually record the entire readable section of the book. The first 200 or so pages are readable although difficultly so.

This book is largely about language connections, however make no mistake, this is not a fringe author; maybe a fringe topic, but the author may as well be royalty. John Marco Allegro was one of the men hired for the official Dead Sea Scrolls translation team. He was the only agnostic on the team, this and his thesis along with this publication cost him absolutely everything, his reputation and his career.

His contemporary, R. Gordon Wasson eventually admitted defeat, it was posthumously printed in Persephone's Quest, he stated that he was wrong and that John Allegro was right that amanita muscaria (magic mushrooms) could be found in the garden of eden story in genesis in the holy bible.

R. Gordon Wasson and John Allegro were arguably the biggest names in this field of study, entheogens, which was the study of plant drugs as the origin of religion.

Wasson wrote a lengthy hardback called SOMA where he essentially made the firm case that amanita muscaria was written about in parables in the Rig Veda and that it was the long sought after ingredient to SOMA, a holy drink of the far east traditions. Enjoy. I apologize in advance for the low audio levels.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... z_OUO4bbhU

[martishot]

Allegedly JMA is surrounded by alot of controversy and people often try to discredit his work. Anyone familiar with valid criticism?

[Amanita Research]

I don't have enough knowledge on this to have an opinion one way or the other, but I stumbled upon this yesterday. It was talking about the background politics and the relationship between Allegro and Wasson.



(Forum link here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=120)

I don't know whether the accusations are correct, but it suggests that Wasson (and others) were backed by various big interests whereas Allegro was supposedly genuine in his attempts to uncover the history of Amanita Muscaria. The researcher in the above video starts talking about the allegations against Allegro, specifically via Wasson, around 1:14.

I have no idea, if all this is true, why they would want to target Allegro in this fashion but it suggests something was going on in the background.

[martishot]

Thanks for sharing that! It's frustrating that we'll probably never know for real, we have to make a call on our best judgement.

[Spore]

Allegedly JMA is surrounded by alot of controversy and people often try to discredit his work. Anyone familiar with valid criticism?

As I learned from what Dreamer shared, there were no substantial counter claims and almost zero scholarly criticisms of the work itself. Most everything was character assassination.

Gnostic Media and Allegros widowed wife went through all criticisms and debunked them all.

Common sense will likely show JMA right in time

[martishot]

As I learned from what Dreamer shared, there were no substantial counter claims and almost zero scholarly criticisms of the work itself. Most everything was character assassination.

Sounds like an Ad Hominem logical fallacy. Ty!

[Spore]

As I learned from what Dreamer shared, there were no substantial counter claims and almost zero scholarly criticisms of the work itself. Most everything was character assassination.

Sounds like an Ad Hominem logical fallacy. Ty!

I've found that even in politics and just about everything else, ad hominem is almost always the majority of the attack and there's very little substance to defeating the actual "SUBSTANCE" at the heart of the issue! In Allegro's case, especially after reading the book, I can say pretty confidently that, the guy was definitely a brilliant man and that his findings need to be taken seriously!