Ancient Psychedelia: Alien Gods & Mushroom Goddesses
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| Continuing: (15) She [Persephone] was filled with a sense of wonder, and she reached out with both hands (16) to take hold of the pretty plaything. [2] And the earth, full of roads leading every which way, opened up under her. (She was then seized by Hades and screamed out for her father Zeus, who had betrayed her to Hades. He was busy though.) (29) He was receiving beautiful sacrificial rites from mortal humans. (Eventually, her mother Demeter heard her screams and went out, as a bird, looking for her. She was really sad and distraught. She even stopped getting high.) (47) Thereafter, for nine days did the Lady Demeter (48) wander all over the earth, holding torches ablaze in her hands. (49) Not once did she take of ambrosia and nectar, sweet to drink, (50) in her grief, nor did she bathe her skin in water. She meets with Helios who urges her to stop her lamentation, and pleads to her that having Hades as a son in law is not so bad. The concept of weeping or mourning for the “hero god” is a recurring theme as well, in the whole dying mushroom cycle mythology. Demeter mourns for Persephone, Inanna for Dumuzi, David mourns for Jonathan, and Achilles for Patroclus. (68) Orpheus and the Serpent Worship of the Ophites Orpheus was a mythological poet-shaman-musician who was said to originate from Thrace, being the son of a Thracian king and a muse. The mythology of Orpheus repeats the pattern of the dying god and in this case not as much the “Sacred Marriage” celebration but what Joseph Campbell refers to as the “Hero” saga. Orpheus went on an expedition with the Argonauts and when he returned, married Eurydice who soon after died from a snakebite. Orpheus traveled to the land of the dead to recover her and played music with his lyre given to him by Apollo, who, in some versions of the myth, is his father. His playing persuaded Hades to recant only on one condition that they don’t look back, ever. Upon entering the outside world, Orpheus was overcome with joy that he had returned with Eurydice and looked back to her to see her, and she vanished. (69) This theme is repeated in the story of Melusine, explored fully in an upcoming chapter. Hecateus of Abdera, a Greek historian and philosopher of the 4th century BC, claimed Orpheus had imported the beliefs concerning the underworld from Egypt into Greece. (70) Diodorus quotes Cretan historians in citing Orpheus as a disciple of the Dactyls, who occupied Samothrace and were said to cast magical spells that caused public disturbances. They were called the “Fathers of the Cabeiroi of Samothrace” and were said to originate from Phrygia or Crete. (71) |
According to his biographer Porphyry, Pythagoras was a Pelasgian from Samos who traveled to Crete to study the Orphic doctrine from the Idaean Dactyls. (72) The sect of Ophites produced the Thiasoi who believed the body was a prison which trapped the soul and sought its diminished influence by ascetic practices including sobriety. Their philosophy, known as Orphism, deals in purification, consecration, rewards and punishments and the future state of the soul. Orpheus was the chief proponent of the idea that music has influence over the soul and had healing properties which can combat disease. (73) The concepts proposed in the Orphic traditions of the “benefits of the afterlife” resonate closely with the concepts put forth in the Eleusinian Mysteries. It’s very likely the Ophites continued the goddess/mushroom worship through the Gnostics in the late Egyptian age and through the Eleusinian Mysteries in the Greek era. An ancient Roman floor mosaic depicts Orpheus partially seated next to a tree with one-foot resting on a pedestal, with bent knee, implying a “single-foot” (42b). The skirt above the knee of the one leg silently implies a mushroom, while he wears the “Phrygian Cap of Liberty.” Surrounding him are various forms of animals, leading me to see him as a mushroom, growing next to the tree, in the forest with animals all around. It’s a simple nature scene, and in the middle is a deity which, over and over, in artifact and stele symbolism, elicits the imagery of the mushroom. The symbolism becomes more and more obvious the more one studies the imagery and understands the background of the stories. His cape, is similar to the one Mithras wears, he wears the same Phrygian cap as Mithra, and his cap is often spotted, indicating a more detailed A. muscaria cap, as seen on Apulian vases from 500 BC (42a, c). He can also be likened to Attis or Dionysus as well.  (42b) Orpheus. Roman Floor Mosaic from Palermo (68) Before the Bible, p. 71 (69) https://www.britannica.com/topic/Orpheus-Greek-mythology (70) Cults of the Roman Empire, p. 6 (71) White Goddess, p. 281 (72) ibid, p. 282 (73) Healing Gods, p. 340-41 |
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