The Blob

More frequent text posts at the BNWO companion site The Blob

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Examining Rabbit and Mushroom Synchronicities using Shamanism and Astrotheology



Earlier in an article posted on 23 June I discussed the intriguing synchronicities between rabbits and UFO's. Now I would like to investigate the connections between rabbits and the psychedelic mushroom (especially the Amanita Muscaria) and other related subjects. To do this I will highlight some of the issues raised by the study of Shamanism and its use of entheogenic (god manifesting) plants and also astrotheology.

Astrotheology is the study of theology founded on observation or knowledge of the celestial bodies. Some proponents of astrotheology are Acharya S, author of "The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold", Jordan Maxwell, Jan Irvin and Andrew Rutajit, co-authors of "Astrotheology and Shamanism". Irvin and Rutajit also put out a 3 and a half hour video lecture available for free download online called, "The Pharmacratic Inquisition".
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/DL.html

Astrotheology claims that many (if not most) religions including Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism have the worship of the stars, moon and the sun as their foundation. For the purposes of this entry, the relevance is to show some of the supporting evidence for primarily one facet of this theory, that of Jesus Christ being the anthropomorphized sun.
It certainly isn't my objective to try and prove or disprove astrotheology as a whole. I find it a very useful paradigm; it seems to fit the facts better than a straight interpretation of the Bible.

Major points tying Jesus and the sun together:
-Jesus has 12 disciples just as the year has 12 months. The earth revolves around the sun once a year. This year is divided into 12 months related to the cycles of the moon. These twelve periods also have been divided into 12 signs of the zodiac.
-Jesus is said to be resurrected after 3 days in the cave. We celebrate Jesus' birthday on December 25, three days after the Winter Solstice of December 22. On December 25th the sun starts moving back towards its apex in the northern hemisphere sky after 3 days of idling.
-Jesus is constantly referred to as "the light" in the Bible.
-Many correlations between the zodiac and the Bible-myth can be posited (eg. Adam and Eve, the Twins or Gemini; Jesus, the Fish or Pisces; The Lamb of God, Aries; John the Baptist as Aquarius etc.)

If we say for arguments sake that it is true that Jesus is the sun, it would also be easy to explain Easter as a natural result of sun and moon worship. The Christian celebration of Easter happens around the same date as the vernal equinox (spring) each year. This is the same time of year when the sun becomes hotter and the days are longer. It isn't hard to imagine ancient cultures having a particular interest in the sun and its cycles, for survival was far more dependent on the fecundity of the environment. It is also obvious that the important stages of the cycles of planetary bodies would be marked by celebration and worship. Seemingly "modern" humans have the map confused for the territory yet again (Namaste, Alan Watts). The anthropomorphisms of celestial bodies (like Jesus) have become the focus of our veneration instead of the natural phenomena which they represent, much in the same way we now attach value to money instead of the real wealth.

The most obvious characteristic of the rabbit would be fertility. Bunnies and their propensity for mating and having offspring are legend. Isn't this the reason Playboy uses a giant white bunny as mascot. "Fuck like a Bunny" is a common saying in modern speech. The connection between rabbits and sex is well established in western culture. The link between bunnies, rabbits and Easter eggs quickly becomes clear. They are symbols of fruitful, vital and successful fertility, circumstances hoped for at the onset of spring and the coming summer months. Reflect further for a moment on the Rabbit In the Moon motif and also how the moon is traditionally associated with fertility and menstruation.

There seems to be livid debate about the true etymology of Easter. Some connect it to a pagan Goddess of fertility while others to a compression of the words eastern and star. In either case the etymology would seem to suggest more support for the Jesus-myth idea than the traditional "real dude who died on a cross to be born again" model.

What about the connection between rabbits and mushrooms? To answer that I have to first explain a bit about Shamanism and entheogenic plants. John Marco Allegro (a once respected Dead Sea Scroll scholar) says in his book, "The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross," that Jesus and the gospels are derived from the ancient Shamanic practice of the ritualistic ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms, the red and white spotted Amanita Muscaria to be particular but not exclusively. Jan Irvin and Andrew Rutajit in their book and lecture also further this hypothesis and mix it together with astrotheology.

The basic gist of the theory is thus:
-Ancient cultures all over the world used entheogenic plants to experience communion with the divine. They did this on days that have celestial significance such as the vernal equinox or Easter (heralding spring time) and winter solstice (Christmas) or the rebirth of the sun as it rises back up in the sky. It's interesting to note that on Christmas day the belt of Orion (three kings?) lines up with Sirius and points directly towards the position where the sun will rise on that morning.









-The Amanita Muscaria mushroom is traditionally used in images on Christmas and New Years cards, as well as Christmas ornaments.
-The Siberian Shamans, who were reindeer herders, would pick the mushrooms that grew underneath the pine tree, dry them in its branches and deliver them to their people. Often these Shamans would enter the homes through the chimney of the traditional Siberian home or Yurt. The chimney became the entrance of choice in these structures during snowed in winter months.
-The colorful mushrooms grow, pushing themselves up through the pine needles, and at a certain stage of development look a lot like eggs in a nest. Once harvested, the remaining hole resembles a rabbit hole. Many Christmas and New Years cards have images of rabbits and mushrooms. Could it be that the holidays of Easter (equinox) and Christmas (solstice) have, over the years, become integrated with reflective symbolism?
-The image of the deity Jesus is said in this theory to be the anthropomorphized mushroom. The image of Jesus on the cross resembles the mushroom with its single leg stance, thorny crown, and sash around the waist.








Popular culture references to Amanitas and Rabbits abound:
-Alice follows the white rabbit into Wonderland where she finds the hookah-smoking caterpillar sitting on a mushroom, which makes her shrink and grow.
-The little blue gnomes, or Smurfs, live in Amanitas. A little coincidence on the side for your enjoyment: I learned just yesterday that the Smurfs wear Phrygian Liberty Caps. Caps that were worn by American and French revolutionaries (which ads a possible freemasonic "coincidence" to the Smurfs) during their respective struggles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap#Revolutionary_Icon
-In Fantasia there are dancing animated Amanitas.

This cartoon and more like it from http://diannepiepan.blogspot.com/

Now that we have the rabbit and the mushroom comfortably connected, it's possible to examine the rabbit, UFO and mushroom synchronicities as a whole. Terrence McKenna's frequent mushroom and alien discourse becomes pertinent and the Sirius mystery (snakes, amphibians, DNA, caduceus, Starseed) rears its head in the affair. Robert Anton Wilson's observation of UFO's as sexual fertility symbols in the case of the classic phallic/cigar-shaped and modern breast-saucer shaped UFO's will also be addressed (mentioned in "The Book of the Breast", I believe?). I if this resonates with your particular belief system check in for more on the matter in the near future.


The Christmas/Amanita connection is also mentioned in the excellent, "Braking Open the Head" by Daniel Pinchbeck.

Shout out to these sights for help with the above.
http://tribes.tribe.net/solarmythologynastrotheology/thread/26c9b39b-d4af-4f04-9f10-0511e1e46d04
http://home1.gte.net/deleyd/religion/jesusoutline.html

1 comment:

Remotely Controlled said...

wow, interesting stuff. I've watched all the jordan maxwell videos i can download, but haven't heard about the mushroom stuff before. I was taking 60 grams of fresh psyicle(however you spell it) every two weeks for a good 4-6 months. I stopped after taking 90 grams, far too much, and they became illegal by the time I wanted to take them again.

On the 60grams the visuals were impressive and I did feel pretty clever. On the 90 grams the visuals looking at this fucking picture shimmering as my wallpaper on my laptop for about an hour was insanely fun.

I learnt the meaning of divine comedy that night. If you ask me a philosophical question I could have told you gods answer.

About 2-3 later I decided that the coporeal world around me unneccessary and replacable, so I started smashing up my possession. Then my family investigated the noise and I started punching them! I threw my chair threw my window, and had to be sat on for half an hour until the police and paramedics arrived.

I woke up two days later in a mental health unit.

I still get kinda trippy when I smoke skunk and the closed eye mathematical arranged lasers return, but I can't really smoke now and the shrooms are illegal.

I'd advise every one to take mushrooms at least once, but not too much.

Lots of well to do people have taken them, like eminem, but why don't they seem enlightened? His songs rarely mention the divine, unless im not listening right.