Enough of Putin (The Antichrist), Zelensky (The Hero), NATO, and a pending world war. Enough of those chilling comparisons of Putin’s war crimes to Bush and Cheney’s war crimes in their preemptive war of death and destruction in Iraq and the slaughter of civilians, including children.
I need a break from all that. It makes me sick.
Today let us contemplate the sacrament of holy communion—specifically the blood of Jesus if you’re Catholic, grape juice if you’re Presbyterian. I recently learned that those fluids are a placebo compared to what early Christians partook of. The chalice once contained hallucinogenic wine.
That possibility never crossed my mind.
According to Brian Muraresku, author of The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name, evidence has been found—on ancient pottery and in the Vatican secret archives—suggesting that for 300 years Christians got high on eucharistic wine. One sip and they lost their fear of death just as Greek pilgrims to Eleusis, the epicenter of the mystery religions, had for nearly a thousand years before Christianity. In case you missed it, Homer tells of such magical potions in The Odyssey.
Christianity arose in the eastern Mediterranean where mystery religions touting secret rites flourished and where Dionysus—son of god (Zeus) and god of the vine—was exceedingly popular. After all, he could turn water into wine.
The gospel of John was intended for a Greek audience. The first miracle depicted is the wedding at Cana where Jesus changed 180 gallons of water into very fine wine (John 2.1–11). After which, the gospel says, his disciples believed in him. (WOW. He’s another Dionysus!)
Archaeo-chemists (yes, there are such people) have analyzed residue in unearthed ancient chalices indicating the presence of mushrooms, ergot, and laurel leaves. Restored murals show women pinching leaves into chalices. Other clues suggest that for a thousand years women had brewed spiked beer and prepared wine concoctions that stimulated psychedelic experiences. Communicants experienced immortality. Some saw ineffable light.
And then men took over the church, denigrated such women as witches, and spread the word that communion with the divine could only be obtained through the male priesthood.
I don’t know how true all of that is.
But if you need a bit of a digression from all the sobering news these days, there you go.
I have read this book. The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name. A great book. Maybe our troubles didn’t start when Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Maybe they started when she ate the mushrooms and the snake started talking. lol
I am a Catholic and find this hard to believe. But I do love the wonderful art work you put at the top of your article.
Thanks for the news break. So if we Presbies started spiking the grape juice, you think we could raise our hands above our waist?
Wow!! What a digression!! Thank you!! To think that some Southern Baptist preachers of my youth held that the wine Jesus made from water wasn’t fermented. The same folks today think Christianity is a set of rules while missing the most important commandment: to love one another.
As well raising our hands above the waist the preacher might get a few more “amens” and audible affirmations. I enjoyed the tidbits about early practices of spiking wine. A good “witch” was an accomplished herbalist aware of the effects of many plants and substances and the ease with which one can influence behavior. thx.
As a devout atheist I find your article very enlightening. I plan to read “The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name” I love your articles and never miss reading them. Always inspiring and sometimes infuriating.
Ann, you will not be disappointed with this book. Another recommended book is: The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries.
Thank you for the quotes from a book I now want to imbibe…
Yes, the plants of the earth have many, varied effects on us, mind & body & spirit. Knowledge is power; the wisdom &’power of women and indigenous cultures has been systematically obliterated … and the natural balance of male & female has spun out of control. Restoring that balance; the power of nature & the sacred feminine is blossoming all around. 🎶God is Alive – Magic is Afoot🎶 Buffy St. Marie
Psychedelic Eucharist… what an eye opener this morning🌼💓🌈🙏🏼
And the Lord said…. Let there be Light.
Oh, you will never enjoy the world aright, till the sea itself floweth
in your veins, till you are clothed
With the heavens and crowned with the stare – Thomas Traherne
…..Christian clerics in alarm
avert their pens
womenless men crooked in the cloister of their age
but poetry declares it differently
older yet and lovelier far, this mystery
and I will not forget. – “Five Denials on Merlin’s Grave by Robin Williamson
Your blog today was a real trip! (Ohhh; awful pun!). I think it naive to believe that, from among the world’s sacred stories of origin, Christian communion would be the only one that did not enhance the mystical experience with natural flora! “Natural enhancement”, not illegal substance abuse. There are endless ways the brain can induce heightened experience. The Buddha experienced it. And very nice subtle analogy: We see with clear vision how toxic masculine authority dilutes and/or destroys sacred community. 🇺🇦
Well, many fundamentalists believe that God created everything on Earth for the use of humans. As far as I know, none of the “psychedelic” plants have any essential (to humans) uses that make their mind-altering components necessary. So why are they there? Oh, wow, look at the colors !!
That’s a great book. I think it would benefit humanity if we all had a sip of the kykeon at some point in our lives. Cheers!
Pyrrhus of Epirus, the inspiration for the “pyrrhic victory” term we’re hearing bandied about, is indeed a lesson that has been lost on Mr. Putie. Your blog today reminds me of what I think at least four days out of the week, generally all seven, when I grumble that an agent of change who enjoys Putie’s confidence, should spike his vodka tonic with a citrus infusion of a potent array of psychedelic plants. Putie would be ever so much better for the experience and so would we. But, on second thought, unknowingly tripping out someone of Vald’s psychotic-autocratic mind set, just might have the opposite, unintended effect. It could make him worse. There’s always worse. So keep your shrooms to yourself, and other aficionados, and raise your glass to the good and evil. Such is the way of life. I don’t hear the proverbial “fat lady” warbling yet.
“And he always had some mighty fine wine. Joy to the world- all the boys and girls.” Hoyt Axton: Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog.”
Those weren’t the original words, but they were the ones that got sold.
Cheers and thanks for your eye-opening disclosure of some possible, forgotten communion practices and the research and history of these practices throughout the world. Grape juice! Dancing, fiddling, the work of the devil! The very inanity of it. Little scared children, afraid to to anything without permission of the authority of the church. Meanwhile, life awaits, spiders spin, birds sing, cheetahs leap and I’m off for a glass of wine. Amen.