Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion [Hardcover]

R. Gordon Wasson (Author), Stella Kramrisch (Author), Dr. Carl Ruck (Author), Jonathan Ott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 1988

Discusses the role played by psychoactive mushrooms in the religious rituals of ancient Greece, Eurasia, and Mesoamerica. Wasson, who investigated how these mushrooms were venerated and used by different native peoples, here joins with three other scholars to discuss his discoveries.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (April 27, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300038771
• ISBN-13: 978-0300038774
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,581,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Persephone's Quest : Entheogens and the Origins of Religion, August 29, 2000

By 

"zahdio" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion (Paperback)

Although I only gave it 4 stars, this book is actually outstanding. I did not give it the highest evaluation because, although R.G. Wasson's material was monumental, some of the other material included did not seem of the same caliber. Wasson's perspective is really a must read for anyone interested in this subject. He was not only extremely intelligent, but he also had an innate ability to phrase his ideas in a manner that really conveyed a total picture of what he was discussing. His perspective of calling them "personal experiences rather than hallucinations" really describes his intelligent attitude of pioneering. He had the insight to realize that he was discovering a new frontier that no one had the understanding to call true, false or imaginary. He was aware of the power of people using psychoactive materials and did not try to fit all of this into a politically correct literary structure that the current autorities of his era would accept. He provides his own, somewhat negative, perspective of Dr. Timothy Leary "and those of his ilk". He did not agree with the psychedelic crowd about using these materials for entertainment and believed that there was something inherently sacred about them. Although he was the first person of modern civilization to discover and document the use of the Psilocybin mushrooms of Central America he realized there was a difference between the effects of these mushrooms and the Amanita Muscaria which has no Psilocybin and apparently produced effects that spawned a number of the major religions of the world. I recommend this book to anyone who would like REAL information concerning psychoactive experience.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Source and Homage to the Mysteries, March 31, 2005

By 

Alistair Nexus (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion (Paperback)

I am a student of Carl A.P. Ruck, who was one of the contributors for this collection. This volume is indeed a collection which covers several sides of the story, touching upon almost every civilization which was influenced by the entheogensis of the mushroom (Amanita and Psylocybe). For those who have read McKenna's work, this is the foundation of it, although the antithesis of his belief that the Psylocybin containing species are the Soma of ancient Aryans. The second part of this book deals with the secrets of the ancient Greeks, their worship of entheogens, their belief in their ancestors and the Eleusinian mysteries- the common temple of the world.

An incredible read, very accessible to anyone interested in mythology and with an open mind.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A glimpse into our past, June 10, 2007

By 

T. F. Johnson (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Persephone's Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion (Paperback)

The subtitle to this book is Entheogens and the Origins of Religion. For those not familiar with the term entheogen it literally means `god generated within' and refers to the various psychoactive substances that have been used throughout history in a spiritual context. These include the mushroom cults of rural modern Mexico, the use of a soma by the ancient Indo-European Aryan culture of pre Hindi India, and even in the rites of the Eleusis ceremonies of classical Greece. As can be inferred at this point, the book concerns itself to the investigation of these different spiritual rites that appear to form an almost common theme throughout the development of religion around the world. Wasson is the driving force behind not only the book, but also the study of entheogens as a discipline around the world. His pioneering world in the field of ethnomycology and ethnobotany in the 1940's and 50's lead him to be the first person from the western world to partake in the sacred mushroom rituals of Mesoamerica in 1953.

The book itself is divided into two parts. The first consists of essays by R. Gordon Wasson, Stella Kramrisch, and Jonathan Ott covering everything from analysis of the last meal of the Buddha and the connections in mythology between the lightning bolt and the mushroom to the systematic gathering of evidence across cultures and history of the widespread use of entheogens in religious rites. The second part of the book consists of three essays from Carl A. P. Ruck, a distinguished Greek scholar. As would make sense, Ruck's essays focus a bit more intently on the relation of entheogens to ancient Greek society.

Any book that is a compilation of separate works from separate authors is inevitably going to suffer from a general lack of flow or cohesion and Persephone's Quest is no exception. Certain parts read better than other, notably Wasson's efforts lead the way in this regard, but as a whole the theories and ideas raised are of the prime importance. Ruck's efforts could also be viewed as a bit tiresome, but I am a bit biased in this regard as Greek history is of immense interest and an area of study for me. Some of what Ruck describes may be lost on readers not familiar with the ancient Greek world, but then again this is the case regarding almost any area. Anyone with an interest in entheogens of psychedelics in the parlance of recreational usage will do themselves well to read this book.

It certainly holds a great deal of relevance for today's world and can in fact still be seen in some of the worlds great religions such as Hinduism, where often times a surrogate has replaced the original entheogen, in the Hindu case soma was replaced with the putka mushroom, which is not psychoactive. The simple fact that the use of entheogens was/is so widespread throughout human history is a reason to study it and the current prejudice held against such substances by many academics and authority figures is completely unfounded. It seems almost to be part of a larger movement within a certain section of society that is willing to dismiss the scientific-analytical approach to such diverse topics as global warming, evolution, stem cell research and other so called `controversial' topics. In fact it seems to me that this dismissal of reason is usually coming from some sort of religion inspired dogma.

In light of this the book will probably not be accepted very warmly in religious circles, which is unfortunate. What is maybe more unfortunate is that the will the part of society that readily accepts the side of reason in most of the aforementioned topics continues to persist by in large to a wholesale rejection of examining entheogens and their importance in the development of human civilization. This book is a good start to hopefully change the popular perception on these remarkable substances.