Muraresku wrote a remarkable book, where decent exercise in amateur archeology and anthropology is mixed with a complete madness, to a strange result. It is quite probable that the antique cults of Demeter and Bacchus, especially in Early Antiquity, were accompanied by orgies, drug taking and human/animal sacrifices. It would be quite strange if it were otherwise.
However, to suggest that there was a direct inheritance line between Late Bronze Age cults and esoteric teachings of the Early Modern Europe suppressed by the Inquisition is madness. First, many tribal groups--predominantly Germanic, which dominated Europe after the Fall of the Roman Empire had neither genetic, nor cultural relationship to the civilizations of European Antiquity. It would be again strange, if these Germanic invaders were not taking "magic mushrooms" or some other form of hallucinogenic drug and did not participate in sacrificial rites, but this is not the same as the existence of a cultural continuity.
4 comments:
Hello, you're quite right to zero in on the "secret tradition" aspect of Muraresku's book as a major problem to in the whole endeavor.
You may be interested in my summary review and other writings on the book:
https://cyberdisciple.wordpress.com/2021/05/10/cyberdisciple-reviews-brian-murareskus-the-immortality-key-summary-and-collection-of-posts/
Thanks and best wishes
Dear Cyberdisciple. Thank you for the link to your review. I find your review a little bit too harsh. Muraresku's scholarship is richer in detail than simply asserting an outdated anthropological hypothesis.
And, of course, best wishes for continuing your scholarship in Antiquities, the field, in which I know woefully little.
If Cyberdisciple still looks at this post.
Not about mushrooms specifically, but about all modes of inebriation, especially alcohol: https://oldpossumsbookreview.blogspot.com/2022/05/edward-slinglerland-drunk.html
There is very interesting paper by late V. V. Ivanov about mushrooms and mythology, but it is in Russian.
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