Carl A.P. Ruck – лучшие книги

This illustrated book traces the history of an unlikely force in the shaping of Western civilization: the use of psychedelic mushrooms, namely by a secret society called the cult of Mithras. Nero was the first emperor to be initiated by the group's "magical dinners," and most of his successors embraced the ritual as a source of spiritual transcendence. The cult was officially banned after the Conversion, but aspects of their rituals were assimilated or co-opted by Christianity, and the brotherhoods persist today as secret societies such as the Freemasons. This is a fascinating exploration of a powerful force kept behind the scenes for thousands of years.

Since the publication of Daniel Pinchbeck's «Breaking Open the Head» there has been a resurgence of interest in psychedelics in general and mushrooms in particular. Professor Carl Ruck has been researching and writing about mushrooms and culture for decades, and is one of the preeminent scholars on classic mythology and mushrooms. The many people who follow news and developments in the psychedelic community will embrace “Mushrooms, Myth, and Mithras” as a classic and will be fascinated by it's evidence that mushroom use was not only a practice of the elite of ancient Rome, but that the symbols emerging from the experience and rituals have had a profound impact on the emergence of European culture. Mark Hoffman, one of the younger co-authors of the book, is publisher of “Entheos, The Journal of Psychedelic Spirituality,” and is very plugged in to the community who will be interested in this book. Carl Ruck is best known for his seminal work with Gordon Wasson & Albert Hofmann on mushrooms and other plants used during shamanistic rituals for healing and spiritual experience. (These drugs are known as entheogens).