The entheomycological origin of Egyptian crowns and the esoteric underpinnings of Egyptian religion
Stephen R. BerlantCorresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author
P.O. Box 54, Broomall, PA 19008, USA
Received 17 January 2005; revised 22 July 2005; accepted 27 July 2005. Available online 30 September 2005.
Abstract
In this paper, I theorize that the Egyptian White and Triple Crowns were originally primordia of the entheogenic Psilocybe (Stropharia) cubensis, which an Egyptian tale known as Cheops and the Magicians allegorically explained grew on barley, and that Osiris was the God of spiritual rebirth because he personified this and other entheogenic mushrooms. I go on to theorize that the plant known commonly as the Eye of Horus, which the Egyptians included in cakes and ales designed to spiritually rebirth the living and the dead, was an entheogenic mushroom cap entirely analogous, if not identical, to Soma. Finally, I explain why so many scholars failed to discern these identities and relationships for so long.
Keywords: Egypt; Ethnobotany; Agaricales; Amanita muscaria; Psilocybine; History