Download or read book The Apples of Apollo written by Carl A. P. Ruck and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the apostle Paul proclaimed the new Christian Mystery to the factious congregation at Corinth, it was clear that this Eucharist was meant to replace the pagan Mystery that had been celebrated for over a millennium just a short distance away at the sanctuary of Eleusis. Christianity evolved within the context of Judaic and Hellenistic healing cults, magic, shamanism, and Mystery initiations. All four of these inevitably imply a sacred ethnopharmacology, with traditions going back to earlier ages of the ancient world. The essays in The Apples of Apollo edited by Ruck, Staples and Heinrich attempt to uncover the original food of the sacramental communion. After a preliminary review of the rites and etiquette of the sacramental wine of the god Dionysos, whom Christ would replace as sacrificial offering, the myth of Ixion (who is named for the semi-parasitic plant called mistletoe) is linked to Apollo's role in demanding human victims and the persistence of such rites in the Druidic solstice sacrifice of the "wicker man." Behind the symbolism of the mistletoe and other psychoactive plants lurks the Soma of the Vedic tradition and its botanical original, the fly-agaric mushroom. Rather than being marginal to Classical culture, the fly-agaric, and the array of metaphors its amazing transmutations suggest, is central to the myths of the Greek heroes, and in particular to the first of them all, the hero Perseus, who reformed the religion practiced at the ancient city of Mycenae.
Download or read book The Road to Eleusis written by Robert Gordon Wasson and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P. This book was released on 1978 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Presented here is an astonishing solution to the Mysteries of Eleusis, the secret religious rites of ancient Greece that have remained a riddle for the Western World for close to 4,000 years. Acting on an insight into the true nature of the rites, R. Gordon Wasson sought the collaboration of Albert Hoffman, the renowned chemist who discovered LSD, and Carl A. P. Ruck, a classical scholar specializing in Greek ethnobotany. Wasson, the author of three books on the role of hallucinogenic mushrooms in human societies, has already uncovered the mushroom cult of Mesoamerica and identified the elusive "Soma" of the Vedic hymns. Closely coordinating their research, the three scholar-scientists first offered documentation on the religious rites at an International Conference on Hallucinogenic Mushrooms in late 1977. These sensational findings, given here in a much expanded version, leave little doubt that the ancient secret of Eleusis has at last been unveiled."--Pg. [4] of cover.
Download or read book Environmental Practice and Early American Literature written by Michael Ziser and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-29 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This original and provocative study tells the story of American literary history from the perspective of its environmental context. Weaving together close readings of early American texts with ecological histories of tobacco, potatoes, apples and honey bees, Michael Ziser presents a method for literary criticism that explodes the conceptual distinction between the civilized and natural world. Beginning with the English exploration of Virginia in the sixteenth century, Ziser argues that the settlement of the 'New World' - and the cultivation and exploitation of its bounty - dramatically altered how writers used language to describe the phenomena they encountered on the frontier. Examining the work of Harriot, Grainger, Cooper, Thoreau and others, Ziser reveals how these authors, whether consciously or not, transcribed the vibrant ecology of North America, and the ways that the environment helped codify a uniquely American literary aesthetic of lasting importance.
Download or read book Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy written by Clark Heinrich and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 2002-09 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated foray into the hidden truth about the use of psychoactive mushrooms to connect with the divine. • Draws parallels between Vedic beliefs and Judeo-Christian sects, showing the existence of a mushroom cult that crossed cultural boundaries. • Contends that the famed philosophers' stone of the alchemist was a metaphor for the mushroom. • Confirms and extends Robert Gordon Wasson's hypothesis of the role of the fly agaric mushroom in generating religious visions. Rejecting arguments that the elusive philosophers' stone of alchemy and the Hindu elixir of life were mere legend, Clark Heinrich provides a strong case that Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric mushroom, played this role in world religious history. Working under the assumption that this "magic mushroom" was the mysterious food and drink of the gods, Heinrich traces its use in Vedic and Puranic religion, illustrating how ancient cultures used the powerful psychedelic in esoteric rituals meant to bring them into direct contact with the divine. He then shows how the same mushroom symbols found in Hindu scriptures correspond perfectly to the symbols of ancient Judaism, Christianity, the Grail myths, and alchemy, arguing that miraculous stories as disparate as the burning bush of Moses and the raising of Lazarus from the dead can be easily explained by the use of this strange and powerful mushroom. While acknowledging the speculative nature of his work, Heinrich concludes that in many religious cultures and traditions the fly agaric mushroom--and in some cases ergot or psilocybin mushrooms--had a fundamental influence in teaching humans about the nature of God. His insightful book truly brings new light to the religious history of humanity.
Download or read book Mushrooms Myth and Mithras written by Carl Ruck and published by City Lights Publishers. This book was released on 2011-07-26 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating tour of the mushroom-centered mystery religions which have profoundly influenced Western civilization
Download or read book Sacred Mushrooms written by Carl A. P. Ruck and published by Ronin Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-18 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the ancient world, men and women joined cults known as Mysteries to unite with the deities of the otherworld and achieve eternal life. The most important of the Mysteries existed for two millennia at the village of Eleusis. Its deities were Demeter and Persephone, interchangeable in their roles as mother and daughter. The initiations and other rituals of this goddess-based cult were a profound secret: divulging information was punishable by death. For centuries, scholars have probed the secrets of the Eleusinian Mysteries and kykeon, its sacramental Eucharist — a sacred drink containing psychoactive chemicals similar to those in LSD. Their discoveries have been buried in the arcane language of alchemy, the occult sciences, and secret societies. Here, in prose accessible to all readers, Carl Ruck unravels the Mysteries, revealing the awesome powers of the goddesses, as well as the pagan underpinnings of Western culture.
Download or read book ILLIAD ODYSSEY Including the Mythology of Ancient Greece written by Gilbert Murray and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2023-12-22 with total page 715 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Iliad and the Odyssey are the foundational works of ancient Greek literature. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek kingdoms. It focuses on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles lasting a few weeks during the last year of the war. The Odyssey focuses on the ten-year journey home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, after the fall of Troy. From antiquity until the present day, the influence of Homeric epic on Western civilization has been great, inspiring many of its most famous works of literature, music, art and film. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education; to Plato, Homer was simply the one who "has taught Greece"
Download or read book Myths of Greece and Rome written by Jane Ellen Harrison and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the gods of Homer's Olympus.
Download or read book The Witching Herbs written by Harold Roth and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 2017-03-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harold Roth is a leading authority on plant/herbal magic. His new book, The Witching Herbs, is an in-depth exploration of 13 essential plants and herbs most closely associated with witchcraft—13 because it’s the witching number and reflects the 13 months of the lunar calendar. The plants are poppy, clary sage, yarrow, rue, hyssop, vervain, mugwort, wormwood, datura, wild tobacco, henbane, belladonna, and mandrake. Roth writes simply and clearly on a vast amount of esoteric information that is not easily found elsewhere and will be greeted enthusiastically by those who already have extensive experience and libraries. It is unique in that it combines mysticism with practical instructions for growing each plant, based on Roth’s 30 years of gardening expertise. Each chapter focuses on one plant and includes information on its unique plant spirit familiar, clear how-to instructions for magical projects, and pragmatic information on growing and cultivating. Roth writes, “This book is a great choice for intermediate-to-advanced witches who would like to work more closely with the traditional witching herbs, especially the baneful plants with their rather difficult spirits. Working directly with spirits is one of the fundamentals of the Craft.” The Witching Herbs is the essential plant-worker’s guide. Roth is not only a successful gardener, but also a magician and scholar of the occult. No other book blends clear, practical gardening techniques with equally lucid and sophisticated plant magic so successfully.
Download or read book The Mythology of Greece and Rome written by Jane Harrison and published by e-artnow. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Mythology of Greece and Rome" is a complete story of the Greek pantheon made by one of the most prominent classicists, Jane Harrison. By presenting the main Greek gods, Harrison tries to go way back to the past and trace the roots of the ancient Greek belief in the time before they even lived in Europe. She argues that the Greek goddesses emerged from native Pelasgian tutelary spirits, and much of the male pantheon was imposed by Indo-Europeans. Contents The Gods of Homer's Olympus Zeus (Jove, Jupiter) Hera Athena (Minerva) Aphrodite (Venus) Artemis (Diana) Apollo (Phœbus) Ares (Mars) Hermes (Mercury) Poseidon (Neptune) The Mother of the Gods Demeter and Persephone (Ceres and Proserpine) Dionysos Eros
Download or read book Greek Religion to the Time of Hesiod written by A. Le Marchant and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Apples written by Frank Browning and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1999-09 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout Western memory the apple has been the fruit of trouble, immortality, and temptation: Paris and the Trojan War, Nordic Loki and the apples of eternal life, and, of course, that infamous couple in the Garden.
Download or read book Eugene Aram written by Eric Russell Watson and published by Canada Law Book Company. This book was released on 1913 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trial in 1759, for the murder of Daniel Clark.
Download or read book Orphic Paris written by Henri Cole and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A poetic portrait of Paris that combines prose poetry, diary, and memoir by award-winning writer and poet Henri Cole. Henri Cole’s Orphic Paris combines autobiography, diary, essay, and poetry with photographs to create a new form of elegiac memoir. With Paris as a backdrop, Cole, an award-winning American poet, explores with fresh and penetrating insight the nature of friendship and family, poetry and solitude, the self and freedom. Cole writes of Paris, “For a time, I lived here, where the call of life is so strong. My soul was colored by it. Instead of worshiping a creator or man, I cared fully for myself, and felt no guilt and confessed nothing, and in this place I wrote, I was nourished, and I grew.” Written under the tutelary spirit of Orpheus—mystic, oracular, entrancing—Orphic Paris is an intimate Paris journal and a literary commonplace book that is a touching, original, brilliant account of the city and of the artists, writers, and luminaries, including Cole himself, who have been moved by it to create.
Download or read book Spirit Whirled written by Dylan Saccoccio and published by Dylan Michael Saccoccio via PublishDrive. This book was released on 2017-05-17 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of etymology, magick, occult knowledge, the sacred science, and the Language of the Birds.
Download or read book The Souls of Black Folk written by Dolan Hubbard and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in 1903, The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois was an immediate achievement. More than a hundred years later, the influence of Du Bois's critique of the political, social, and economic encumbrances imposed upon blacks in Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction America can still be felt. "The Souls of Black Folk" One Hundred Years Later is the first collection of essays to examine Du Bois's work from a variety of academic perspectives, including aesthetics, art history, communications, music, political science, psychology, history, and the classics. Scholars, teachers, and students of American studies and African American studies will find this collection an essential overview of a book that changed the course of American intellectual history.
Download or read book The Antiquary written by Edward Walford and published by . This book was released on 1905 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
