Ancient Psychedelia: Alien Gods & Mushroom Goddesses
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| In the myth of Osiris, he is the firstborn son of Geb and Nut. Osiris is given rulership over the land and when he found the people uncivilized, gave and introduced culture, agriculture, religious instruction and law to the people. Set, his brother, growing jealous of Orisis’ success, sought to unseat him. Set threw a “coffin party” and invited everyone to lay down and whoever fit inside the box would win the prize and get the coffin. When Osiris lay in it, set sealed it shut and sent the coffin down the river until it got lodged in a tree and stayed there for some time until it was discovered by the king of Byblos, Malcander, and his wife Astarte, who found the tree, admired it and had it cut down as an ornamental pillar for his court. Isis had left Egypt to look for Osiris and entered Byblos where the pillar had been brought. She disguised herself as an old woman and tricked her way into the royal court where she was then invited to become a nursemaid for the royal son. She had been caught bathing the son in a fire in an attempt to make him immortal and when Astarte found her doing this, Isis revealed herself to them and they asked for forgiveness. In return they would give Isis anything she wanted. She asked for the pillar which contained Osiris. At this point, Isis brought the body back and left it under her sister Nephthys’ guard while she collected herbs to resuscitate Osiris. Set learned of the plan and obtained the body, hacked it into pieces and scattered it about. Isis recovered all the body parts except for one, the phallus, and she restored him back to life, but he could no longer rule the land of the living since he was missing his phallus and he became the Lord of the Underworld. (64) Osiris’ story of his resurrection is repeated over and over throughout mythology. The theme is one of fertility and also rebirth. It has phallic elements that are obvious. It contains the tree, and when Osiris is taken from the tree, he then is missing a phallus. We have elements in common with Adonis and Attis as well. This story is also similar to the one told by King Sargon concerning his own birth, being set in a river. All of this is ancient mushroom myth and lore. There was a great Serapeum at Alexandria where Serapis and Isis were predominantly worshiped in the Ptolemaic age, and there existed a shrine with a statue of Serapis, which was built by a famous sculptor Bryaxis (65), a contemporary of Scopas. (66) At Memphis, he eventually took over the Temple of Apis, and at Abydos, he took over the temple of Osiris. There was also a Serapeum at Canopus, of which Strabo writes, “is honoured with great reverence and effects such cures that even the most reputable men believe in it and sleep in it — themselves on their own behalf or others for them. Some writers go on to record the cures, and others the virtues of the oracles there.” (67) The worship of Serapis spread to Greece and competed with that of Asclepius, and to Rome, where it was eventually forbidden and eliminated altogether and the Serapeum at Alexandria, with all its accumulations of Oriental literature, was destroyed following the Edict of Theodosius which finally suppressed the goddess oriented and non-Christian rites. (68) |
Serapis had temples at Alexandria and Memphis. Pausanius writes on the temples of Serapis: “As you descend from here to the lower part of the city, is a sanctuary of Serapis, whose worship the Athenians introduced from Ptolemy. Of the Egyptian sanctuaries of Serapis, the most famous is at Alexandria, the oldest at Memphis.” (69) In the Metamorphoses by Ovid, Lucius (Apuleius) reveals his experience in the initiation of the Isis-Osiris-Serapis rites where he describes how he ….”penetrated to the boundaries of the earth; that he approached the borderland of death and setting his foot on the threshold of Proserpine [Persephone], when he had been born through all the four elements he returned again; at midnight he beheld the Sun gleaming with bright light; and came into the presence of the gods below and the gods above and adored them face to face.” (70) Statues and steles of Serapis and Isis from the late Ptolemaic period depict them as serpents with interesting looking hats on their heads, called a modius (41, a, b, c, d, h), otherwise she may be presented as a serpent only, blended with mushroom symbolism (41f). These head pieces are said to be the mixing or libation bowls for the sacred beverage, but more often than not, they appear to be the mushrooms themselves. The kantharos or libation bowl appears to be the form of occultation employed here or it could be dual symbolism.   R: (41c) Roman Bronze Bust of Serapis c. 100-200 AD  (41d) Isis-Thermoutis & Agathos Daimon c. 100-200 AD (64) https://www.ancient.eu/osiris/ (65) Tacitus, Historia, iv, 83 (66) Cumont, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. 76 (67) Strabo, Geography XVII, 17:120-121 (68) Healing Gods, p. 79; Budge, ii, 195-201; also Milne, in ERE vi, 376-378 (69) Pausanius 1.18.4 (70) Cult of the Mother Goddess, p. 178; Metamorphoses, xi, 23-30 |
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