Clark Heinrich. Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy (Translated from English, Edited by M. Vishnevsky)

The work presented is based on R. G. Wasson’s theory of soma. It outlines and interprets narratives related not only to Hinduism but also to the branch of Abrahamic religions with which Wasson was undoubtedly familiar but did not disclose for various reasons (see the editor’s notes in the text); as a result, the book significantly expands the scope of Wasson’s research.

The author’s method involves analyzing these narratives as vessels of extremely important cultic information. While Wasson and Allegro use linguistic analysis and descriptions of art objects as evidence for the entheogenic origins of religions, Heinrich takes the path of interpreting and elucidating the narratives themselves, relying on archaic entheogenic practices. This approach reveals a whole layer of new coded information left by cult practitioners for the initiated. Such information transformed as it passed from one religion to another, changing according to historical and cultural contexts, yet retaining the core narratives unchanged.

This book is intended for a wide audience, as well as for ethnographers, cultural scholars, religious studies experts, historians, and ethnomycologists.

Clark Heinrich is one of the leading global experts in disciplines such as comparative religious studies, mysticism, phenomenology, altered states of consciousness, and ethnobotany. He is the co-author of the acclaimed book “Apples of Apollo.”

In this book, the author, in an attempt to uncover the true roots of modern religions, takes the reader back thousands of years to ancient India and explores textual and graphic sources. He analyzes Vedic and Puranic myths and images, explaining their secret meanings; identifies similarities between Vedic and Tantric cults and contemporary Jewish sects; and traces the path of the elixir from the Garden of Eden through Moses and the prophets to Jesus and the Gnostics. According to Heinrich, the main secret of Christianity was preserved by the Cathar pastors, who linked it to the cult of chivalry and the mystical quest for the Holy Grail—the cup that collected “the blood of Christ” and ultimately became the possession of alchemists, who considered Jesus himself to be their “stone.”

Clark Heinrich sees depictions of psychedelic mushrooms throughout the history of Christian iconography. He suggests that the occult knowledge associated with entheogenic mushrooms is a form of communion, something equivalent to Christ, and argues that it was indeed the mushroom that was the Logos.