The Sacred Mushroom And The Cross by John Allegro

Author:John Allegro [John Allegro]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-10-09T06:00:00+00:00

THE SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSS

“womb”, actually the female “groin” (Sumerian *B14fl_sIL(A), the “junction” of the body, where the legs meet the trunk, or, in the case of the “axe”, where the haft is inserted in the “V”—

shaped head). So two names for the fungus, the combined Tubal-Cain and barzelã’ are spun out by the biblical myth-makers into a hero, his mother’s name, and his trade.4

The ancient botanists give us an androgynous plant-name Eryngion

(Greek Eruggion), in which we can now recognize “Hermes” (ERUM) (the phallus) and “Cain” (the womb).5 Pliny says of this plant:

Marvellous is the characteristic reported of it, that its root grows into the likeness of one sex or the other. It is rarely so found, but should the male form come into the possession of men, they become lovable in the eyes of women. This, it is said, is how Phaon ofLesbos won the love of Sappho, there being much idle trifling on the subject not only among the Magi, but also among the Pythagoreans.6

Among its many reputed therapeutic properties, the Eryngion was said to correct “a deficiency or excess in menstruation, and all affections of the uterus”.7 It was also known as Hermaion, referring simply to the first element in its name, ERUM, “penis”; “Hermes”. Another phallic name of the plant was Moly, properly the “knobbed-plant”,8 a common designation of the magic fungus in mythology.

Eryngion also appears among the names given the Aloe, otherwise called Amphibion, “double—

life”.9 The prophet Tiresias was said to have been “amphibious” because he lived both as man and woman;10 so perhaps our fashion designers have found themselves a new word in place of

“uni—sex”. Pliny says of the Aloe that its bulbous root resembles a Squill, “the root is single, as it were a stake sunk into the ground”.ll That is, the androgynous herb had a bulb (volva) and a phallic stem.

It may be that we should fmd in the double-sexed Eryngion, in whatever form the name appeared in Semitic, a name of the mushroom and the origin of one part of the Cain and Abel story. After Cain had slain his brother Abel, Yahweh condemns him to be a fugitive and wanderer on the earth (Gen 4:12). Cain complains bitterly that his punishment is more than he can bear. Being an outcast, without tribal protection, he will be at the mercy of all: “Whoever finds me will kill me”.

“Not so”, replies Yahweh, “Every slayer-of—Cain (horeg—Qa yin) will be subject to a seven—

fold vengeance.” The Hebrew phrase is

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THE HEAVENLY TWINS

strongly reminiscent of our bi-sexual plant name Eryngion (*ERUM_ GAR-EN; Greek Eruggion).12

Incidentally, another phrase in that story is a similarly contrived play on the name of the mushroom, still in use today. After the murder, when Yahweh is looking for Abel, he demands of Cain, “Where is Abel, thy brother?” The miscreant replies rather petulantly with a question which has become a byword in discussions on the social responsibility of the individual: “Am I my brother’s keeper (shömër—

Even now in Persia the mushroom

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