So once this is understood we can then LOOK at these myths, and interpretations, and understand that we need to look even deeper. IE more ancient than the solar myths were the lunar myths of the Great Mother/Goddess. And we realize that the solar myth-makers suppressed the Goddess and imposed their own dualistic interpretations on the universe, and the fungi and myths surrounding them. EAOR is where Allegro’s exploitation of the bad reputation earned and ‘enjoyed’ by psychedelics and leaders of the movement from our distinguished Learies to our illustrious Mansons (“and a nice lot too”) – reaches its zenith. So if there’s anything left of your poor shattered delusion, any least shreds to lovingly protect against any further damage – It is our conviction that either he [Allegro] has misread the texts or he has built up a chain of conjectures which the materials do not support. [13] it has been my practice to offer no more than the basic essentials of photographs, transliteration, translation of non-biblical passages where this might serve some useful interpretative purpose, and the minimum of textual notes." [20]

The most important thing in life was life itself, and life is rain. The reasoning is simple. Rain begets vegetation on the earth as spermatozoa beget offspring in the womb. God, the Creator, the source of rain, must therefore be the sperm of creation and the heavenly penis from which it spills. The storm is the orgasm of God. The drops of rain are the ‘words’ of God. Earth is the womb of creation. The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity Within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East is a 1970 book about the linguistics of early Christianity and fertility cults in the Ancient Near East. It was written by John Marco Allegro (1923–1988). [1] [2] Theories [ edit ] Considering how fragile the threads by which your composure hangs are – danger Will Robinson – warning warning: Beware Allegro’s END OF A ROAD (1970) his infamous sequel to SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSS. You best be careful to steer the hell clear of that thing if you value your ‘blissful ignorance’– so riled by the informed perspective I speak from.In working on the scrolls with religious colleagues, Allegro came into sharp disagreement and strong conflict with them over dissemination of study findings and results. Allegro asserts that it’s not such a controversial idea that religions could be based on the use of psychedelic plants. It’s been said that other ancient cultures might have used psychedelic plants as well in their religious rituals. In Book 9 of the classic Hindu text, the Rig Veda, a “pressed juice” called Soma is mentioned as something drunk by priests. Some sort of visionary state is reported: “Make me immortal in that realm where happiness and transports, where joys and felicities combine, and longing wishes are fulfilled.” The scrolls had been written around or shortly before the time of Jesus. They give insight into the religious life and thought of a Jewish sect based at Qumran by the Dead Sea and usually identified as Essenes. Allegro believed the scrolls could help us understand the common origin of three religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He hoped they might be able to bring together scholars of each tradition in studying their common heritage without the barriers of religious prejudice. a b c Flint, Peter & VanderKam, James (2005). The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp.324–. ISBN 978-0-567-08468-2.

Weston W. Fields (2009). The Dead Sea Scrolls, A Full History. Vol.1. Leiden: Brill. p.211. ISBN 978-9004175815. I'm sure Allegro meant his 'theory' to be taken at face value in its own terms – but its not plausible for one of his education – and there's ulterior motive galore, in light of 'Dead Sea scroll circumstances. His book and "theory' resemble a Modus Operandi. a b The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Peter Flint and James VanderKam (10 July 2005) ISBN 056708468X T&T Clark pp. 323–325 a b c Philip R. Davies, "John Marco Allegro", in Lawrence H. Schiffman; James C. VanderKam, eds. (2000). Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Vol.1. Oxford. p.18. ISBN 0195137965.

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An extremely difficult book to get through. The concept is great, but even though the book is intended for the general reader, it fails to accomplish that. Any unique idea or point that the author tries to make, is soon bogged down by a technical linguistic explanation. The author is so specialized (in ancient Sumerian linguistics) that the reader has to take his word for it when he shows his evidence. There are many references, but the general reader, myself included, is not given the tools to connect the information to the concepts in the text. One of our favorite books from the veritable genre of "who was the real historical Jesus" literature! Read the text version a few years ago, and just finished this superbly presented audiobook version. When we saw that this was published on audiobook, we were worried that the abundance of philological nomenclature might make for messy listening, but alas- we have the legendary Martin Swain in our ears again (have listened to his reading of Being and Time, Psychological Types, and Psychology of the Unconscious) and he absolutely killed it; amazing work. Allegro, John M. (2009) The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, 40th anniversary edition, Gnostic Media, ISBN 978-0-9825562-7-6. Weston W. Fields (2009). The Dead Sea Scrolls, A Full History. Vol.1. Leiden: Brill. pp.212–213. ISBN 978-9004175815. s/t: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East

Allegro saw himself as a publicist for the scrolls. His books, talks and broadcasts promoted public interest in the scrolls and their significance. At first, the rest of the team encouraged his efforts, which after all were intended to help fund their research. But they thought he went too far in raising questions about the parallels between Essenism and Christianity, and doing so in public. He was accused of stirring up controversy at the expense of scholarship. Underpinning The Sacred Mushroom is the idea that fertility was of fundamental importance to primitive religion, as it is to life. Allegro set out this concept in a preliminary plan of the book, sent to the publishers Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., on October 23, 1968: For such a dry book, this one really got my imagination going. Allegro is the philologist who translated The Dead Sea Scrolls. After initial acclaim, he was ostracized for carrying that work to its conclusion. If you're not in the linguistics field or have no interest in ancient communities and their writings and just thought that mushrooms are cool and the idea of psyhadelics being at the root of religions was cool - don't do it, watch a video or something. As a specialist in Semitic languages (Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic) – NOT Sumerian – an honest scholar would rely on a specialist in Sumerian, to collaborate with. Allegro didn't bother – suspicious avoidance.The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone in ancient Greece. A drink called kykeon was consumed which the Illiad says was made up of barley, water, herbs and goats cheese. In the Odyssey, however, the character Circe adds a magic potion to it. Some speculate that the barley used in this drink was parasitized by ergot (a fungus) and that the psychoactive properties of the fungus were responsible for the intense experiences that people reported at Eleusis. Ergot contains ergotamine, a precursor to LSD – this is why Albert Hoffman used ergot to synthesise LSD.