Religion

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross

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  • Create Date：2022-05-19 04:55:32
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：John Marco Allegro
  • ISBN：0982556276
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Summary

s/t: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East
Where did god come from？ What do the bible stories really tell us？ Who or what was Jesus Christ？ This book challenges everything we think we know about the nature of religion。 The ancient fertility cult at the heart of Christianity。 The living power of cultic rites and symbols。 The sacred mushroom as the emblem and embodiment of divinity。 The secret meaning of biblical myths。 The language of religion that links us to our ancestors。 The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross sets out John Allegro's quest through a family tree of languages to find the truth about where Christianity came from。

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Reviews

JACOB STONE ，

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 Well。。 that was interesting。。Never before have I read anything that has in a baffling yet convincing way dismantled the three major religions present in our everyday lives。。

Ryan D ，

The writing is extremely difficult to follow。 Very interesting though。。。

Matson Adams ，

According to Allegro， the ancients had 10，000 words for “Dick” and “Mushroom” and the Bible took advantage to use every last one of them to codify its REAL message。Any rationalist probably sees the bible as being a bunch of bullshit， and I’m sure the Christian Slaughter machine that was the late Roman Empire went to enormous lengths to tailor the story of Christ toward a more digestible liking， but this revelation of the “TRUE WORD” was pretty far fetched。What do I know tho， my ancient Sumerian According to Allegro， the ancients had 10，000 words for “Dick” and “Mushroom” and the Bible took advantage to use every last one of them to codify its REAL message。Any rationalist probably sees the bible as being a bunch of bullshit， and I’m sure the Christian Slaughter machine that was the late Roman Empire went to enormous lengths to tailor the story of Christ toward a more digestible liking， but this revelation of the “TRUE WORD” was pretty far fetched。What do I know tho， my ancient Sumerian and Aramaic is a little rusty。 。。。more

Don Singh ，

Allegro layouts and describes quite an alternate view of the origin stories we all accept。 Him being on the original board that translated the Qumran Texts as commissioned by the Catholic Church adds some weight to his real thoughts on the matter of the seeping of layered stories into one another and the origin of words and names that we have come to accept as deities。 Read it…。the above will make sense once you’ve read it。 Great book。

Charlie ，

This book took me awhile to get through。 I came back to it after a long pause。I enjoyed it a lot。 I'm not anywhere on the authors level but as someone who has lived within the confines of christianity growing up， moved away to hostility then come to wherever I am now。。I found it very interesting。 This book took me awhile to get through。 I came back to it after a long pause。I enjoyed it a lot。 I'm not anywhere on the authors level but as someone who has lived within the confines of christianity growing up， moved away to hostility then come to wherever I am now。。I found it very interesting。 。。。more

さやか むらさと ，

A wild etymological journey through specialized Hebrew。 You will find that the author is at liberty to relate any subject to penises， vaginas， or what these two do best together。 Borat would have raised a thumb。With a load of intriguing but somewhat obscure historical evidence， this book could have used the additional boost of writers and researchers。 It seems John did all the work。 He did。 But his piece could have been a lot more convincing with more in-depth examples and maybe a smidgen of bet A wild etymological journey through specialized Hebrew。 You will find that the author is at liberty to relate any subject to penises， vaginas， or what these two do best together。 Borat would have raised a thumb。With a load of intriguing but somewhat obscure historical evidence， this book could have used the additional boost of writers and researchers。 It seems John did all the work。 He did。 But his piece could have been a lot more convincing with more in-depth examples and maybe a smidgen of better writing。 。。。more

Thomas Lønn Hammer ，

The Sacred Mushroom 🍄 and the Cross couldn't possibly be more interesting。 It is more readable now after Brian Muraresku's "Immortality Key"， but I got to admit that I have no idea what to do with it。 It's a work of philology， a controversial one at that， and I'm in no position to judge。 I remember seeing a 'documentary' on YouTube when I was like 17， which for about 3 hours， documented mushroom symbology in various parts of the Catholic Church and beyond。。 Obviously， given its effects， it is al The Sacred Mushroom 🍄 and the Cross couldn't possibly be more interesting。 It is more readable now after Brian Muraresku's "Immortality Key"， but I got to admit that I have no idea what to do with it。 It's a work of philology， a controversial one at that， and I'm in no position to judge。 I remember seeing a 'documentary' on YouTube when I was like 17， which for about 3 hours， documented mushroom symbology in various parts of the Catholic Church and beyond。。 Obviously， given its effects， it is almost impossible that mushrooms aren't involved in the foundations of various， if not most， religions。 Is the bible a cryptic work hiding the secrets of a mushroom cult tho？ Which went undiscovered for like 2000 years until -some dude- unravels it single-handedly？ Possibly。。。。。。？ I don't know。 However it was rather scholarly， would be interested in seeing what author authors and scholars has to say about this book。 。。。more

Kai Perrignon ，

Seems more like Allegro spent a long part of his life studying a text he belatedly realised he didn't find that interesting on its own terms so he invented/delusionally discovered a way cooler version based around puns and fucking。 Not convincing but an interesting thought experiment and good peek at Bad Academic Brain。 Cool book。 Seems more like Allegro spent a long part of his life studying a text he belatedly realised he didn't find that interesting on its own terms so he invented/delusionally discovered a way cooler version based around puns and fucking。 Not convincing but an interesting thought experiment and good peek at Bad Academic Brain。 Cool book。 。。。more

Nick Feinauer ，

。

Jenny ，

Tough read

Barry ，

An extremely difficult book to get through。 The concept is great， but even though the book is intended for the general reader， it fails to accomplish that。 Any unique idea or point that the author tries to make， is soon bogged down by a technical linguistic explanation。 The author is so specialized （in ancient Sumerian linguistics） that the reader has to take his word for it when he shows his evidence。 There are many references， but the general reader， myself included， is not given the tools to An extremely difficult book to get through。 The concept is great， but even though the book is intended for the general reader， it fails to accomplish that。 Any unique idea or point that the author tries to make， is soon bogged down by a technical linguistic explanation。 The author is so specialized （in ancient Sumerian linguistics） that the reader has to take his word for it when he shows his evidence。 There are many references， but the general reader， myself included， is not given the tools to connect the information to the concepts in the text。 The general idea is simple to grasp: current religions- or cults as they are accurately referred to， are products of older fertility cults。 The proof of this thesis， lies in the ‘clues’ the writers of the religious included in their transcriptions of the bible。 Many of the names and events can， supposedly， be traced back to the names of mushrooms or fertility cult rituals。 The idea seems feasible， but again， much of the book is just supporting this claim with drawn out， linguistic explanations that tire out the reader。It also highlights how easy it is to draw wildly different ideas from the inchoate mess that is the bible。 。。。more

Sarah Lauren ，

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 This book left a lot to be desired and doesn't feel finished。 The best part was the ending excert by Carl AP Ruck。 It's clear Allegro's intention was to focus on the etymology。 However I think it could have been a more compelling book if he spent more time explaining cultural backgrounds and connections to the words。 Almost every point turned into a tangent about how mushrooms look like penises or how various words/names are some sort of reference to a penis。 Just because something looks or soun This book left a lot to be desired and doesn't feel finished。 The best part was the ending excert by Carl AP Ruck。 It's clear Allegro's intention was to focus on the etymology。 However I think it could have been a more compelling book if he spent more time explaining cultural backgrounds and connections to the words。 Almost every point turned into a tangent about how mushrooms look like penises or how various words/names are some sort of reference to a penis。 Just because something looks or sounds like penis doesn't mean it's connected to a fertility cult。 Its quite disappointing。 He had the beginnings of some fascinating new takes on the christianity and folklore， but couldn't stop talking about penises。 On a positive note， this book inspired a number of other books on the subject， and I'm excited to read them。 。。。more

2lost2care ，

What a bizarre perspective without any actual valid physical evidence。 I can just say that Scientology， Buddhism， Hinduism， you name it， only exists because magic mushrooms played a part or that

Sølvi Goard ，

Interesting enough theory to start with but gets increasingly spurious over the course of the book。

Feels Right ，

Very strange book ！ but good to have this knowledge， though ！

Alberto ，

Is everything a penis？I don't know。 On one hand he's the most preeminent scholar in his field （he translated the Dead Sea Scrolls！）， on the other linguistics has little regard for consonants and none whatsoever for vowels and that is just too squishy for my hard-sciences-leaning left brain。It really could be that at some point in history we described so many objects and concepts as a variation on the sound for genitals。 If you remembered being 12 you'd agree。 I just cannot bear not having hard e Is everything a penis？I don't know。 On one hand he's the most preeminent scholar in his field （he translated the Dead Sea Scrolls！）， on the other linguistics has little regard for consonants and none whatsoever for vowels and that is just too squishy for my hard-sciences-leaning left brain。It really could be that at some point in history we described so many objects and concepts as a variation on the sound for genitals。 If you remembered being 12 you'd agree。 I just cannot bear not having hard evidence for it。Allegro writes like someone who never did shrooms （or so he wants us to think）， but if you have done shrooms it's easy to see that his hypothesis is more than believable。Why else did the Romans have such visceral hate for the meek Christians？ Why did the Church buy and then bury this book for decades？It left me eager to read more about Greek mythology， near east cults， the apocryphal gospels， the Gnostics， the Orthodox Church。 This is a disaster， it opened a portal to an unknown facet of reality。 。。。more

Maksiss ，

The reading experience was a 1 star experience but because I respect the man and his ideas， I'll bump it up to 2If you're not in the linguistics field or have no interest in ancient communities and their writings and just thought that mushrooms are cool and the idea of psyhadelics being at the root of religions was cool - don't do it， watch a video or something。It's filled with ancient word spellings and how those words changed trough the ages and got combined into different words and it's more The reading experience was a 1 star experience but because I respect the man and his ideas， I'll bump it up to 2If you're not in the linguistics field or have no interest in ancient communities and their writings and just thought that mushrooms are cool and the idea of psyhadelics being at the root of religions was cool - don't do it， watch a video or something。It's filled with ancient word spellings and how those words changed trough the ages and got combined into different words and it's more boring than it sounds。 And he makes it sound that 90% of the ancient words are somehow connected with fertility （Everything resembles a penis/vagina/intercourse/ect。） and a mushroom resembles both a penis and a vagina， so， in a sense， 90% of the words are related to mushrooms。 And that's the book， stretched trough 200 pages。 Even got quite annoyed at a few parts， because it seemed like the guy was just pushing it a bit too much。And suuure， you could find a deeper meaning there and maybe everything connects quite nicely and the book ain't just how everything somehow resembles a penis and/or a mushroom。 But damn is that deeper meaning hard to find when one can barely get trough a chapter without dying of boredom。 Certainly not a casual read！ 。。。more

Josh ，

This book was crazy！

Nikky Glez ，

What。 WHAT。 last chapter is good。

William Shield ，

Reframing of reality。

Fernando ，

This is the weirdest book I ever read。 A good summary of the Sacred Mushroom and the cross is in Wikipedia。 The backbone of Allegro thesis is around page 128。 Early Christians were involved in an ancient Sumerian fertility cult that used hallucinogens like “mandrake” "amanita muscaria"。 According to him the sacred Christians scriptures are coded to avoid enemies。 Current Christians have misunderstood this coded text。 You are going to read a lot of Allegro’s Sumerian translations of “penis” “vulv This is the weirdest book I ever read。 A good summary of the Sacred Mushroom and the cross is in Wikipedia。 The backbone of Allegro thesis is around page 128。 Early Christians were involved in an ancient Sumerian fertility cult that used hallucinogens like “mandrake” "amanita muscaria"。 According to him the sacred Christians scriptures are coded to avoid enemies。 Current Christians have misunderstood this coded text。 You are going to read a lot of Allegro’s Sumerian translations of “penis” “vulva” “womb” and the precious liquid “semen”。 Human procreation was a mystery for the ancients， and they worshiped the sexual organs。 Carl Sagan wrote in Broca’s Brain “There is evidence that in some cultures psychedelic plants are the only domesticated vegetation。 It is possible that in such ethnobotany a symbiotic relationship has developed between the plants and the humans。” 。。。more

Kamil Kazmierski ，

This is a weird book！ It turns out most of the Bible is code for the toadstool and/or the erect penis。 Jesus was a fungus， in a manner of speaking。

Harrison Gourlay ，

Fascinating work and intense study。 This is a comprehensive， although vague， representation of Christianity's roots。 It gets deep，， while also seems to get nowhere。 I really got sucked in though， have to admit。 Good time， worthwhile。 A hearty recommendation， 4/5 stars。 Fascinating work and intense study。 This is a comprehensive， although vague， representation of Christianity's roots。 It gets deep，， while also seems to get nowhere。 I really got sucked in though， have to admit。 Good time， worthwhile。 A hearty recommendation， 4/5 stars。 。。。more

Michael J。 ，

Although a dry read at first one can acquire much knowledge。 The ancient cults of the past had a reverence for the sacred mushroom and this book is a great ride into that world。

JESSE WALLIS ，

You have to have an open mind and patience to read this book。 There is a ton of information and a lot of it is historical language。 When you dive into this book you should look at it more as a historical reference for translation paired with the author's opinions of those translations。 The book was written in the 1970s and he uses what information he had at the time， however since this books original publication supporting and refuting evidence has been revealed。 So take it for what it's worth， You have to have an open mind and patience to read this book。 There is a ton of information and a lot of it is historical language。 When you dive into this book you should look at it more as a historical reference for translation paired with the author's opinions of those translations。 The book was written in the 1970s and he uses what information he had at the time， however since this books original publication supporting and refuting evidence has been revealed。 So take it for what it's worth， an interesting take on the origin of religion and its roots in the sacred mushroom and its application to a fertility cult。 。。。more

Vasile Corjan ，

It's all about the D :）） It's all about the D :）） 。。。more

Mark ，

What utter nonsense

Klaudijus Valintėlis ，

TL;DR: everything is a penis。In more serious note， it's an interesting theory how religious and cultural merits were inspired by psychedelic experiences from magic mushrooms。 However， the more you progress with the book， the more it seems like the author got obsessed with 'you see what you want to see' syndrome。 There are a lot of relations drawn and conclusions made about things， that really lack any evidence， except for justification of specific world view。 TL;DR: everything is a penis。In more serious note， it's an interesting theory how religious and cultural merits were inspired by psychedelic experiences from magic mushrooms。 However， the more you progress with the book， the more it seems like the author got obsessed with 'you see what you want to see' syndrome。 There are a lot of relations drawn and conclusions made about things， that really lack any evidence， except for justification of specific world view。 。。。more

Mihnea Oarga ，

This book starts with a hefty dose of genitally themed etimology before going into cults and mushtooms。Is it interesting？ Yes。Do you learn multiple ways to say "penis" in various ancient languages？ Yes。But it also is hard to follow and needlessly long。 Skip about 100 pages after the first mention of "celestial semen" it'll make it a lot easier。 This book starts with a hefty dose of genitally themed etimology before going into cults and mushtooms。Is it interesting？ Yes。Do you learn multiple ways to say "penis" in various ancient languages？ Yes。But it also is hard to follow and needlessly long。 Skip about 100 pages after the first mention of "celestial semen" it'll make it a lot easier。 。。。more

Mark ，

I am a Scorpio， under the zodiac， so this book appealed to me as I could have written it myself。 It has long been out of print but in 2009 saw a reprint from Jan Irvin that brought it back to the masses at the somewhat steep price of $22 plus S&H。 It’s more accessible now than ever， if you wanted to read it and didn’t have a spare $25-$30 lying around a few years ago。 John Marco Allegro states we are more fascinated with words than the events they record。 This book is similar to the Wassons’ wor I am a Scorpio， under the zodiac， so this book appealed to me as I could have written it myself。 It has long been out of print but in 2009 saw a reprint from Jan Irvin that brought it back to the masses at the somewhat steep price of $22 plus S&H。 It’s more accessible now than ever， if you wanted to read it and didn’t have a spare $25-$30 lying around a few years ago。 John Marco Allegro states we are more fascinated with words than the events they record。 This book is similar to the Wassons’ works where they explore language and etymology。 Allegro hypothesizes the concept of God came from the phallus symbol， especially the mushroom， because of how it implies pleasure， similar to the phallus envy idea。 Everyone really just wants the perfect genitalia。This is one of the original books about language。 Terence McKenna said language is evolving and that reality is made of it， a claim that can also be seen with computer programming。 It also suggests “drugs” are needed for the full picture of reality so that aspiring leaders in these fields need to experience with them before being qualified for more important roles in the innovation and advancement of the psychedelic administration process。It’s similar to an earlier book， The White Goddess， from 1947， in that it explores linguistics and the origin of some sounds and meaning。 However， that book centers on poetry and some of its earliest examples in relation to literature and prose verse， usually pre-translation。 The mushroom as a symbol of the phallus gives arise to the concept of phallus envy in other people。 The hypothesis here is similar to Soma and the work the Wassons did on it， so that the concept of “God” is related to the mind’s ability to process and receive ecstasy as part of experience。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0