MUSHROOMS, MYTH AND MITHRAS - The Drug Cult That Civilized Europe

Carl A. P. Ruck, Mark Alwin Hoffman

City Lights Books

2011

300 páginas

10h 0m

ISBN-10: 0872864707

This illustrated book traces the history of an unlikely force in the shaping of Western civilization: the use of psychedelic mushrooms, namely by a secret society called the cult of Mithras. Nero was the first emperor to be initiated by the group's "magical dinners," and most of his successors embraced the ritual as a source of spiritual transcendence. The cult was officially banned after the Conversion, but aspects of their rituals were assimilated or co-opted by Christianity, and the brotherhoods persist today as secret societies such as the Freemasons. This is a fascinating exploration of a powerful force kept behind the scenes for thousands of years.