Ancient Psychedelia: Alien Gods & Mushroom Goddesses
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| The Shield as the Sun and Mushroom From Psalm 84:11 we read: “For the Lord God is a sun and shield.” The shield is shown to have been a mushroom, not a shield, on Bactrian coins from 150-130 BC (49b; 56a), and early Roman coins (55l, m). The imagery is dualistic, and can be interpreted either way, in some instances, and in others, the shield is clearly a mushroom. Roman coins which depict Nike as a mushroom, with one leg and the mushroom skirt, also have her holding a shield with dots all along the rim, which is indicative of the mushrooms cap with gills (50i). Other shields include the early Thebes Boeotian shield (48h), Alexander the Great coins from the Macedonian Kingdom c. 300 BC, include both the Hercules club (50f) or the gorgon face (50h), both symbols for the mushroom.   R: (55l) Minerva resting hand on shield and holding spear c. 200 AD L: (50i) Roman, Constantine I the Great Rev: Nike Victory holding shield c. 307-337 AD   R: (50h) Thebes Boeotia. Shield c. 395-377 BC L: (50f) Macedonian Kingdom. Alexander the Great Shield with club of Herakles ornamenting boss c. 300 BC   R: (50h) Greece, Alexander III The Great Macedon AE Salamis Shield & Helmet c. 323-315 BC |
Scepters as Mushrooms There are many instances of the scepter being used to represent or occult the mushroom. The scepter by nature is a royal ruling insignia. It is held by monarch kings. It may be likened to the staff or shepherd’s crook, in ways, and to the crozier held by the priesthood. But this particular item belongs to kings. The oldest example I have located so far are from the Kushan Empire (Indo-Iranians who settled in Bactria), on coins from 100-192 AD (20b), and interestingly, there is a mushroom sticking out of the scepter Shiva holds on the reverse of the earliest Kushan example (20b). Byzantine Empire coins from 400 AD-1400 AD, depict various versions of the scepter as it became a more prominent symbol of the clergy. Some of these are depicted similar to the Kushan coins (54i, j, m, n; 55n), and others have an early Christian Cross that has mushroom “T”s protruding in all 4 directions (54l, o; 55o).   (20b) Vima Kadphises issued, Rev: Shiva c. 100-120 AD L: (54j) Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and scepter c. 210 AD   R: (54i) Liberalitas, holding coin dispenser and cornucopia. c. 210 AD L: (54l) Constantius II, holding labarum & resting on shield c. 350 AD   R: (54m) Anubis standing left, holding sistrum and caduceus c. 375 AD |
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