| We do know that darnel, or Lolium temulentum grows wild in most places all over the world, and this weed is very similar to wheat. It can also produce ergot. It has been called aira or “the Plant of Frenzy.” However, it should not be assumed that this was used for divine inspiration when it was as deadly as it was for people. Rather, it became common knowledge from the “accidents” what could happen if it was not handled carefully. While some people may have been experimenting with it, I have not found this to be the case, so far. Due to the fact that there had been many cases of ergot poisoning in small areas over the last 8000 years since grain has been cultivated, “spontaneous religious experiences” have occurred over and over throughout history. Sometimes these people would survive with no real damage or maybe just slight damage like the loss of an arm or leg, but they “saw god” and lived to tell about it. Apparently, women were not affected by ergotism in the same way men were and did not lose limbs like men did. Lastly, there has been speculation on the color purple and whether or not the purple of royalty can be traced in ancient history back to Clavicepts purpurea or not. In the chapter titled “Ancillary Data,” in Eleusis, the suggestion is given by the authors: “Further avenues of inquiry open up. For example, the pregnant express of Byzantine lives in a porphyry lines chamber so that their progeny would be born “in the purple” (porphyry = purple). Was this ‘purple’ the color of Cleviceps purpurea and do we have here a posthumous outcropping of the purple-robed Demeter and Hades-of-the-purple-hair? The earliest codices were written on purple vellum. Was this because only the most exalted color would be fitting, e.g., for St. Augustine’s De Civitate Dei?” (113) I would propose that this may not represent the purple of the fungus of clavicepts. It appears to me that purple came to be a royal color and that it is mentioned in reference to the “purple robed Demeter” or “Hades of the purple hair” because of the combination of the amanita (red) mushroom with the psilocybin (blue) mushroom. When red and blue are mixed together, you get the color purple. It’s just a suggestion. (113) ibid, p. 68 |