[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Having broken the code to this extent, it is possible to tackle otheroutstanding problems in the text.For example, we ask for daily bread upon this day .In pointof fact, we have never had a textual justification for doing so, since no one has ever been able tooffer a definitive translation for the very rare Greek word epiousion which the text uses todescribe the bread .59 The rendering daily is probably the least likely possibility ;60 the marginal reading of RSV, our bread for the morrow 61 is little better.It is only when werecognize the Sumerian name for the sacred fungus out which the whole Prayer has been spunby word- play that we can see just why the cryptographers chose this Greek epithet, and why theother main alternative reading give us (the bread) that is needful 62 is the correct one.It is anattempt to render the Semitic verb s-p q, give what is needful , derived from a word-play on*MAShBA(LA)ANTATAB.BA.RI read as that-which-is- needful-give now bread .63Temptation and preparation for the mysteriesFew parts of the Lord s Prayer have given more trouble to the praying Christian and more scopefor the exegete than the verse:And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matt 6:13).The Greek word for temptation , peirasmos, came in for special attention at the time of thedecipherment of the Dead Sea Scrolls.It was realized correctly by scholars that behind this NewTestament phrase lay the Semitic word for a place for testing metals, that is, the refiner scrucible.64 The Essenes in the Scrolls talk of the time of testing that is coming using thetechnical word.65 So, here, in the Prayer, the word-jugglers have taken its Aramaic equivalent,kür bukhãnã , crucible of testing , out of *LJ.K ll-BA(LA)G-ANTA, the mushroom name.Theresultant phrase is particularly interesting because it is almost exactly the Aramaic name of thefungus as it has come down162DEATH AND RESURRECTION 163in literature, khurbakhna or khürbekhãna (Arabic kharbaq) , attached, likeso many mushroom words, to the plant Hellebore.°6Taking the sacred fungus, or, in New Testament parlance, eating the body of the Christ, musthave been a very real peirasmos, trial , of the body and spirit.It would have seemed no accidentto the cultic celebrant that the name of the mushroom and the phrase for fiery furnace of testing appeared the same.The customary translation of this powerful concept as temptation is almostridiculous, recalling youthful experiences in the jam-cupboard or behind the woodshed with thegirl next door.Well might the writer of Corinthians issue this warning:Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty ofprofaning the body and blood of the Lord.Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread anddrink of the cup.For anyone who eats and drinks without critically treating his body, eats anddrinks a crisis upon himself.That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.(I Cor 11:27 30).Isaiah long before had expressed the same warning about the planting of the Adonis (Naiman): though you make them grow on the day you plant them, and make them blossom in the morningthat you sow, yet the harvest will lee away, in a day of grief and incurable pain (Isa 17:Iof.).The Amanita muscaria is, after all, a poisonous fungus.Whilst not the most dangerous, its drugshave.a serious affect on the nervous system, and taken regularly over a long period would in theend kill the addict.Among its drugs so far isolated are Muscarine, Atropine, and Bufotenin.67The first causes vomiting and diarrhea, and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system so thatthe partaker is capable of great feats of muscular exertion and endurance.The stories which camedown of the fantastic strength exhibited by cultic heroes, however mythical the events described,have probably that element of real fact.So, too, the idea that the Maenads in their wild ravingthrough the conifer forests were capable of tearing animals limb from limb, was not entirely devoid of truth.Atropine first stimulates the nervous system and then paralyses it.Itis this poison that is primarily responsible for the hallucinatory effects ofthe sacred fungus, but also for the muscular convulsions that must have164 THE SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSSseemed to the bystanders like the demons within, wrestling with thenewly imbibed power of the god.Bufotenin, a secretion otherwise found in the sweat glands of the African toad, lowers the pulserate and temperature.As a result, the mushroom eater has the strange sensation of feeling his skinhot and cold simultaneously: hot in some places, cold in others.He finds himself hypersensitiveto touch, light, and sound.The day following his trip he will find all smells seem foul and a badtaste persists in his mouth.He feels an urgent need to urinate but is unable to do so.We are unfortunately denied reports of such clinical observations as these in ancient literature.The initiates of the mushroom cult explained such sensations in terms of demonology.Theybelieved that the god whose flesh they were chewing, or whose blood they were drinking in theirdrugged wine, was actually within their bodies.It was to be expected that his coming and goingwould be attended with dreadful physical and mental experiences, and the body needed lengthypreparation for the trial by fire.The actual eating of the bitter, burning fungus top, drinking ofthe laced wine, and perhaps sniffing up of the powdered Agaric-like snuff;68 would be only at theend of days of religious and physical preparation.To obtain some idea of the nature of thesepreparations and the fearfulness with which they were approached, we may read what Pliny saysabout the Hellebore.We have earlier noted that many of the mushroom names have come downto us attached to this potent herb, and it is not improbable that what the first-century botanist tellsus about the taking of Hellebore similarly reflects traditions which he has picked up concerningthe use of the fungus:The best white Hellebore is that which most quickly causes sneezing.It is, however, far moreterrifying than the black sort, especially if one reads in our old authorities of the elaborateprecautions taken, by those about to drink it, against shivering, choking, overpowering andunseasonable sleep, prolonged hiccough or sneezing, fluxes of the stomach, vomiting, too slow ortoo long, scanty or too excessive.In fact, they usually gave other things to promote vomiting, anddrove out the Hellebore itself by medicine or enema, or often they used even bleeding.Furthermore, even when the Hellebore proves successful (as a purge),the various colours of the vomits are terrifying to see, and after the vomitsDEATH AND RESURRECTIONcomes the worry of watching the stools, of superintending the bath, of attention to the wholebody, all these troubles being preceded by the great terror caused by its reputation, for it is saidthat meat, if boiled with it, is consumed.It was a fault of the ancient physicians that because of these fears they used to administer thisHellebore in smallish doses, since the larger the dose the quicker it is eliminated
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]