Moses and Hallucinogens: Plant Spirit Shamanism from the Bible The worldwide media interest in Benny Shanon's paper about Moses and entheogens, is encouraging us to take a good and hard look at the roots of religions and the notion that they were based on fertility cults, and shamanic practices such as Entheogens (or hallucinogenic) plants as a source of spiritual communion with the universal consciousness, or the mind of God.

1. Plant Spirit Shamanism from the Bible
Moses and Hallucinogens
Moses and Hallucinogens:
Plant Spirit Shamanism from the Bible
The worldwide media interest in Benny Shanon's paper about Moses
and entheogens, is encouraging us to take a good and hard look at the
roots of religions and the notion that they were based on fertility cults,
and shamanic practices such as Entheogens (or hallucinogenic) plants as
a source of spiritual communion with the universal consciousness, or the
mind of God.
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2. Moses and Hallucinogens - Plant Spirit Shamanism from the Bible
"Moses was high on drugs”: Claims Israeli
researcher
JERUSALEM (AFP) - High on Mount
Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs
when he heard God deliver the Ten
Commandments, an Israeli researcher
claimed in a study published in
recently.
Such mind-altering substances formed
an integral part of the religious rites
of Israelites in biblical times, Benny
Shanon, a professor of cognitive
psychology at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and
Mind journal of philosophy.
"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is
concerned, it was either a
supernatural cosmic event, which I
don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is
very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the
effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio.
Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested
Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.
"The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a classic phenomenon," he said
citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are
used that induce people to "see music."
Shanon mentions his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful
psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon forest in
1991. "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations," Shanon
said.
He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those
produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree that is frequently
mentioned in the Bible.
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3. The worldwide media interest in Benny Shanon's paper about Moses and
entheogens, is encouraging us to take a good and hard look at the roots of
religions and the notion that they were based on fertility cults, and shamanic
practices such as Entheogens (or hallucinogenic) plants as a source of spiritual
communion with the universal consciousness, or the mind of God.
John Allegro, in his book "The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the
Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near
East", postulated through the etymology of words and relates how the
development of language indicated that the roots of the religions emanating
from the Middle East were based on fertility cults, and shamanic practices such
as Entheogens (or hallucinogenic) plants as a source of spiritual communion
with the universal consciousness, or the
mind of God..
Back in the 1960's the reaction against
these ideas was so strong that it destroyed
Allegro's career, the book was not published
in the UK as it was regarded as
blasphemous, and blasphemy was still a
crime then. It's good to think that we have
made some progress in recent years.
Allegro's theory was visionary and ground-
breaking. He was the first to propose in
some detail that two major religions
Christianity and by extension Judaism were
entheogen-oriented and that the entheogen was Amanita Muscaria. His book
was published at a time when there was little or no awareness about the use
of entheogens, and was indeed a courageous act to publish this book.
Another great explorer and pathfinder in human consciousness was Terence
McKenna, in his book "Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of
Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution", proposed
that hallucinogenic plants, in this case Psilocybin mushrooms, were at the
astounding and unexplained evolution and development of the human brain in
such a short time of the evolutionary time scale (just 500,000 years from the
hominids), in other words how we developed from our ape relatives . His
theory also encompasses the development of linguistics, and the subsequent
development of human civilisation.
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4. Meanwhile..... returning to
Moses and the Acacia
Tree, let’s look at the
details of the construction
of the Ark of the Covenant
that was designed by God
and the blueprint being
given to Moses during his
40 days and nights on
Mount Sinai as described
in the Old Testament
Exodus 37. As you can see
Acacia wood was an essential component of the Ark of the Covenant.
From Exodus: 37 (New International Version)
The Ark
Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood - two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a
half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 2 He overlaid it with pure gold, both
inside and out, and made a gold moulding around it. 3 He cast four gold rings
for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two
rings on the other. 4 Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them
with gold. 5 And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to
carry it.
The Table
10 They made the table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a
cubit and a half high. 11 Then they overlaid it with pure gold and made a gold
moulding around it. 12 They also made around it a rim a handbreadth wide
and put a gold moulding on the rim. 13 They cast four gold rings for the table
and fastened them to the four corners, where the four legs were. 14 The
rings were put close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the
table. 15 The poles for carrying the table were made of acacia wood and were
overlaid with gold. 16 And they made from pure gold the articles for the
table—its plates and dishes and bowls and its pitchers for the pouring out of
drink offerings.
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5. The Altar of Incense
25 They made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was square, a cubit
long and a cubit wide and two cubits high - its horns of one piece with
it. 26 They overlaid the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and
made a gold moulding around it. 27 They made two gold rings below the
moulding - two on each of the opposite sides - to hold the poles used to carry
it. 28 They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.
Sacramental use of the Acacia Tree.
Acacias contain a number of alkaloids that have a profound Hallucinogenic
effect on humans. These alkaloids include Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The
leaves and stems are brewed together with an effective monoamine oxidase
inhibitior (MAOI) containing plant typically Syrian Rue (Peganum harmala) that
also grows in the same region (southern Israel and the Sinai Peninsula). This
brew is taken orally similar to the Amazonian brew Ayahuasca that is also a
combination of at least one other plant, typically the leaves of the Chacruna
plant (Psychotria Viridis) that contain the vision-inducing alkaloids (DMT) and
the Ayahuasca vine itself (Banisteriopsis caapi) that acts as an inhibitor to
prevent the body’s enzymes from neutralising the Tryptamine alkaloids. This is
known as the MAOI effect that was discovered by Western science in the
1950’s and forms the working basis for pharmaceutical products such as
Prozac.
The biblical scholar Arthur W. Pink (1886
– 1952), wrote;
While the miraculous preservation of
Israel during all their fiery trials is no
doubt the prominent thought here, there
are others equally significant. The
symbol selected by God was most
suggestive. It was not in a majestic tree
of the forest that God appeared to
Moses, but in a humble acacia, or thorn-
bush of the desert.
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6. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, the Acacia tree may be the “burning
bush” (Exodus 3:2) which Moses encountered in the desert. Also, in the
Christian tradition, it is thought that Christ's crown of thorns was woven from
acacia. It is of great interest and significance that the ‘humble acacia’ is so
prominent in these two biblical narratives. These narratives have formed the
nucleus of these religions and shaped the destiny of hundreds of millions of
people. I know it is only speculation, but to me there could be more than just a
reference to an available wood but symbolic or coded reference to an
entheogenic experience that is at the heart of religions as Dr Shanon
conjectures.
It is an irony that these religions have long and forcefully denied an
individual’s right to seek and access the divine directly through sacramental
entheogens.
Howard G Charing: is an
accomplished international workshop
leader on shamanism. He has worked
some of the most respected and
extraordinary shamans & healers in
the Andes, the Amazon Rainforest,
and the Philippines. He organises
specialist retreats to the Amazon
Rainforest. He is co-author of the
best-selling book, ‘Plant Spirit
Shamanism’ (Destiny Books USA)
2006. He co-authored the ‘Ayahuasca
Visions of Pablo Amaringo’ (Inner
Traditions USA) 2011.
Howard’s Blog:
www.shamanism.wordpress.com
The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo:
www.ayahuascavisions.com
Howard’s Visionary Art Gallery:
www.flickr.com/photos/hgcharing/sets/72157620870862800/
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7. Photos:
Page 2: Poster from ‘The Ten Commandments’ by Cecil B. DeMille
Page 3: Acacia Tree
Page 4; Acacia Leaves
Page 5: Acacia thorns.
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