Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy

NOTE! The book is in English.

An illustrated exploration into the hidden truth of using psychoactive mushrooms in the pursuit of divine connection.

- Draws parallels between Vedic beliefs and Judeo-Christian sects, demonstrating the existence of a mushroom cult that transcended cultural boundaries.
- Claims that the alchemists' famous philosopher's stone was a metaphor for a mushroom.
- Confirms and expands Robert Gordon Wasson's hypothesis about the role of the red fly agaric mushroom in generating religious visions.

Rejecting claims that alchemy's mysterious wisdom stone and Hinduism's elixir of life are mere legends, Clark Heinrich presents a compelling case for the fly agaric, Amanita muscaria, to have played an important role in religious history. The premise is that this "magic mushroom" was the mysterious food and drink of the gods. Heinrich traces its use in Vedic and Puranic religion and describes how ancient cultures used this powerful psychedelic in esoteric rituals to gain direct access to the divine. He then shows how the same mushroom symbols in Hindu texts perfectly correspond to symbols in Judaism, Christianity, the Grail myths, and alchemy. Heinrich argues that miraculous accounts such as Moses' burning bush and the raising of Lazarus from the dead can easily be explained by the use of this strange and powerful mushroom. While acknowledging the speculative nature of his work, Heinrich concludes that in many religious cultures and traditions, red fly agarics—and in some cases, ergot or psilocybin mushrooms—have played a central role in humanity's understanding of the nature of divinity. His insightful book truly sheds new light on human religious history.