The Sacred Mushroom & the Cross ruined Allegro’s career。 It culminated 20 years’ study of Semitic & protoSemitic languages。 He hoped to illuminate the origins of thought， language & religion。 People should then be able to better understand where they came from， shed religious trappings & take responsibility for what they do。 None of this got past the initial shockwaves。 The mushroom cloud spread more derision than enlightenment。
Underpinning Sacred Mushroom is the idea that fertility was of fundamental importance to primitive religion， as it is to life。 He set out this concept in a preliminary book plan， sent to publishers Hodder & Stoughton， on 10/23/68: "The most important thing in life was life itself， & life is rain。 The reasoning is simple。 Rain begets vegetation on the earth as spermatozoa beget offspring in the womb。 God， the Creator， the source of rain， must therefore be the sperm of creation & the heavenly penis from which it spills。 The storm is the orgasm of God。 The drops of rain are the ‘words’ of God。 Earth is the womb of creation。" In Sacred Mushroom he "set out to trace the expression of this simple philosophy thru the sacred literature of the ancient world"。 The clues lay in the development & spread of written language。 They crisscross different cultures & lead into many-layered webs of association。 They led him to believe that a fertility cult based on using the sacred mushroom， Amanita muscaria， as a gateway to divine understanding， was at the root of many religions， including early Xianity。 The mushroom was seen as a symbol of God on earth。 But because mushroom lore was secret， he reasoned it had to be written down in the form of codes hidden in folktales。 "This is the basic origin of the stories of the New Testament。 They were a literary device to spread the rites of mushroom worship to the faithful。 The stories of the Gospels & Acts were a deliberate hoax。 Thru studying Sumerian cuneiform texts which go back to 3500 BC， we can trace the proper names & words used in the Bible back to their original meanings。"
The hoax idea seemed improbably complicated。 His etymologies needed more substantiation。 Not enough was known at the time about Sumerian to verify all his suggestions。 But in the outrage Sacred Mushroom raised among Xian critics， scholars failed to follow up on the main ideas–-a way of understanding the fertility concept at the root of religion， & the way language & religion grew up together。
Sacred Mushroom was universally vilified after publication in 5/70。 Since then， other linguistic & non-linguistic evidence has come to light in support of many of its theories。 This includes a paper by Russian linguist Vladimir Nikolaevic Toporov， On the Semiotics of Mythological Conceptions about Mushrooms （'85）， as well as hundreds of iconographic images， like the Plaincourault fresco， along with several primary texts that disprove most of his opponents' attacks。 In 10/08 Jan Irvin published The Holy Mushroom: Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Xianity & was the 1st to present ancient texts that supported Allegro's ideas， including a 16th century Xian text， 'The Epistle to the Renegade Bishops'， that explicitly discusses "the holy mushroom"。 This book， in a head-on， courtroom-like fashion， analyzes the majority of attacks against the work & reveals their weaknesses & motivations， while also showing， in addition to the primary texts， dozens of Xian mushroom icons that were unavailable when the book 1st went to print。 In an 4/08 interview with Jan Irvin， Boston University professor Carl A。P。 Ruck publicly endorsed the overall thesis of The Sacred Mushroom & the Cross。 Ruck’s article on this subject， Fungus Redivivus， is printed in the 40th anniversary edition。 In the biography John Marco Allegro， The Maverick of the Dead Sea Scrolls （'05）， Judith Anne Brown uses Allegro's letters & archives to set the record straight on his reasoning & motivation。 Other scholars who have come out in support of his work include Professor John Rush in his '08 book Failed God; Wolfgang Bauer， Edzard Klapp & Alexandra Rosenbohm in their book Der Fliegenpilz， '91/'00; & Jack Herer， who was working to complete his book The Most High before suffering a heart attack in 9/09。 Astrotheology & Shamanism: Xianity's Pagan Roots （'06/'09） by Jan Irvin & Andrew Rutajit was the 1st to make a serious examination of his proposals。 It uses iconographic & symbolic evidence to substantiate many of his claims & brings together years of research & hundreds of references， many of which have only come to light since the '70 publication of Sacred Mushroom。 After 40 years， Allegro’s idea of a grand unifying theory of religion may be coming to fruition。