From the Bodies of the Gods

ldquo;...the book is a trove to delve into and it’ll be interesting to see what further scholarship it gives rise too.”

Auteur

Earl Lee is a professor at Pittsburg State University and the author of several books, including Raptured, Drakulya, and Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity. He lives in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Texte du rabat

RELIGION / CULTURAL STUDIES "From time to time, a book comes along that stops you in your tracks and stuns your mind. From the Bodies of the Gods is such a book. It will--and should--provoke intense discussion about some of the most fundamental underpinnings of Western religions." --Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words, Reinventing Medicine, and The Power of Premonitions "An insightful analysis on early funeral rites and ethnomycology . . . deepens our body of learning about the origins of the Christian faith and humanity's entheogenic history." --Rob Dickins, editor of the Psychedelic Press UK Long before the beginnings of civilization, humans have been sacrificed and their flesh used to produce sacred foods and oils for use in religious rites. Originating with the sacred harvest of hallucinogenic mushrooms from the corpses of shamans and other holy men, these acts of ritual cannibalism and visionary intoxication are part of the history of all cultures, including Judeo-Christian ones, and provided a way to commune with the dead. These practices continued openly into the Dark Ages, when they were suppressed and adapted into the worship of saintly bones--or continued in secret by a few "heretical" sects, such as the Cathars and the Knights Templar. While little known today, these rites remain deeply embedded in the symbolism, theology, and sacraments of modern religion and bring a much more literal meaning to the church's "Holy Communion" or symbolic consumption of the body and blood of Christ. Documenting the sacrificial, cannibalistic, and psychoactive sacramental practices associated with the Cult of the Dead from the prehistoric Minoans on Crete to the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews and onward to early and medieval Christian sects, Earl Lee shows how these religious rites influenced the development of Western religion. In particular, he reveals how Christianity originated with Jesus's effort to restore the sacred rites of Moses, including the Marzeah, or Feast for the Dead. Examining the connections between these rites and the mysterious funeral of Father Sauniere in Rennes-le-Chateau, the author explains why the prehistoric Cult of the Dead has held such power over Western civilization, so much so that its echoes are still heard today in our literature, film, and arts. EARL LEE is a professor at Pittsburg State University and the author of several books, including Raptured, Drakulya, and Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity. He lives in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Résumé
The origins of modern religion in human sacrifice, ritual cannibalism, visionary intoxication, and the Cult of the Dead

• Explores ancient practices of producing sacred hallucinogenic foods and oils from the bodies of the dead for ritual consumption and religious anointing

• Explains how these practices are deeply embedded in the symbolism, theology, and sacraments of modern religion, specifically Christianity and the Eucharist

• Documents the rites of Cults of the Dead from the prehistoric Minoans on Crete to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Hebrews to early and medieval Christian sects such as the Cathars

Long before the beginnings of civilization, humans have been sacrificed and their flesh used to produce sacred foods and oils for use in religious rites. Originating with the sacred harvest of hallucinogenic mushrooms from the corpses of shamans and other holy men, these acts of ritual cannibalism and visionary intoxication are part of the history of all cultures, including Judeo-Christian ones, and provided a way to commune with the dead. These practices continued openly into the Dark Ages, when they were suppressed and adapted into the worship of saintly bones--or continued in secret by a few “heretical” sects, such as the Cathars and the Knights Templar. While little known today, these rites remain deeply embedded in the symbolism, theology, and sacraments of modern religion and bring a much more literal meaning to the church’s “Holy Communion” or symbolic consumption of the body and blood of Christ.

Documenting the sacrificial, cannibalistic, and psychoactive sacramental practices associated with the Cult of the Dead from the prehistoric Minoans on Crete to the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews and onward to early and medieval Christian sects, Earl Lee shows how these religious rites influenced the development of Western religion. In particular, he reveals how Christianity originated with Jesus’s effort to restore the sacred rites of Moses, including the Marzeah, or Feast for the Dead. Examining the connections between these rites and the mysterious funeral of Father Sauniere in Rennes-le-Château, the author explains why the prehistoric Cult of the Dead has held such power over Western civilization, so much so that its echoes are still heard today in our literature, film, and arts.

Échantillon de lecture
Chapter 6
Hebrew and Christian Ointments

Many other religions, in addition to the Egyptian religion, used fats and fluids taken from corpses. The fluids were used to make an unguent (salve or balm) that could be applied to the lips of the dead (but there is no reason to believe that it was limited to the dead and dying). According to famed Egyptologist Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, the Egyptians applied the balm to the lips of the dead by “moistening the ring finger of the left hand with various sweet ointments” and then applying the balm (v.3, 420). Very likely, this ointment also contained spikenard, which is mentioned several times in both the Old and New Testaments.

Among the Hebrews a special “Oil of Gladness” was used to anoint the dead in a “last unction.” Wilkinson notes that this kind of anointing was common “in Egypt, no less than Judaea” (v.3, 363). Early on in their history, the Hebrews almost certainly added bodily fluids to their holy oils--following the Egyptian practice--but they probably stopped using bodily fluids early in the post-exile period (586 BCE-210 CE) when the old Mosaic/Egyptian rites fell out of favor. But in the post-exile period their “Oil of Gladness” probably still contained a powerful mixture of drugs, including cannabis, which in Genesis is called “Kaneh-Bosem” according to the official recipe. These special oils would be considered vital to the dying believer by providing physical comfort and perhaps a vision that would guide him or her in the next world.

The Hebrew priests were very specific about the oil’s ingredients and its use in rites. By the time the Book of Exodus was compiled, the use of some “special” holy ointments was already being limited to the priesthood. This can be gleaned from Exodus 30:31-33.

And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, “This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations. Upon the flesh of man shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any like it, according to the composition thereof: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.”

The word “stranger” could mean “outsider,” though this passage came to be interpreted by the priests as meaning that anyone who is not a priest of Yahweh must not be anointed with this special oil. In any case, this passage in Exodus demands that any unauthorized person should be punished for …