R. Gordon Wasson

The secretive Mysteries conducted at Eleusis in Greece for nearly two millennia have long puzzled scholars with strange accounts of initiates experiencing otherworldly journeys. In this groundbreaking work, three experts—a mycologist, a chemist and a historian—argue persuasively that the sacred potion given to participants in the course of the ritual contained a psychoactive entheogen. The authors then expand the discussion to show that natural psychedelic agents have been used in spiritual rituals across history and cultures. Although controversial when first published in 1978, the book’s hypothesis has become more widely accepted in recent years, as knowledge of ethnobotany has deepened. The authors have played critical roles in the modern rediscovery of entheogens, and The Road to Eleusis presents an authoritative exposition of their views. The book’s themes of the universality of experiential religion, the suppression of that knowledge by exploitative forces, and the use of psychedelics to reconcile the human and natural worlds make it a fascinating and timely read. This 30th anniversary edition includes an appreciative preface by religious scholar Huston Smith and an updated exploration of the chemical evidence by Peter Webster.

This fascinating book discusses the role played by psychoactive mushrooms in the religious rituals of ancient Greece, Eurasia, and Mesoamerica. R. Gordon Wasson, an internationally known ethnomycologist who was one of the first to investigate how these mushrooms were venerated and employed by different native peoples, here joins with three other scholars to discuss the evidence for his discoveries about these fungi, which he has called entheogens, or "god generated within."

First edition. Hardback. No dustjacket. Hardback. Very good indeed.

"From now on any comprehensive study of Ancient Mexican civilization must start from (and with) your discoveries."-Octavio Paz Gordon Wasson's May 1957 LIFE article describing his encounter with a Mexican shaman woman triggered the psychedelic revolution. In celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, we present Wasson's groundbreaking classic, The Wondrous Mushroom, an illustrated, in-depth exploration of the history and cultural meanings of the shamanic use of psychedelic mushrooms in contemporary and ancient Mesoamerican culture. R. Gordon Wasson (18981986), former vice president of JP Morgan Trust, authored groundbreaking books and articles on sacred mushroom use, culture, and history.

Two-volume book

Colin explica con la ayuda de expertos en el tema como John Allegro, Jordan Maxwell y Terence Mc Kenna como el hongo amanita, la seta de los pitufos ha sido influyente en la creacion de mitos y papa noel-hasta el cristianismo-el hinduismo y el islam-incluso alicia en el pais de las maravillasTodos ellos, la navidad y la pascua , están basados en el maná de los judios y de los antiguos la amanita muscaria o mata moscas. La amanita muscaria siempre ha sido una seta mágica de los mitos y leyendas. Ya que nuestros ancestros no poseian la tecnología moderna, y en algún aspecto, gracias a dios que no, porque de ahí surgieron bellas películas, bailes, historias, cuentos, vestidos, gorros, medicinas, diseños y hasta las religiones y sectas tóxicas. El cuerpo principal de un hongo está constituido por una red de fibrillas de aspecto similar a las raíces miniaturizadas de un árbol.Para ello, forma un “huevo”, o aglomerado de hifas, que, bajo el estímulo adecuado, experimentará una brutal y vertiginosa erección para dar lugar a una seta. Brutal, porque las proporciones del miembro son cientos de veces mayores que las del huevo, y vertiginosa, porque de la noche al día el fruto brota de la “nada”. De ahí la expresión “proliferan como setas”, y de ahí también el mito de que las setas son el resultado de la caída de un rayo durante una tormenta. Pero no tiene nada que ver con rayos –con las tormentas, ya es otro cantar–. La explicación es que la seta ya está totalmente formada en el interior del huevo, y lo único que hace es hinchar sus células de agua. Algo paralelo a cuando la sangre inunda los cuerpos cavernosos del pene. Una erección en toda regla.

Danbury 1941 Privately Printed. True first edition. **Limited to 100 copies after which type was broken up - this is copy No. 58. Concerns an episode in the Civil War in which J. Pierpont Morgan is alleged to have sold the Government some condemned guns at an exorbitant profit. Large octavo, 184pp., folding charts, index, printed brown paper wraps in matching brown paper covered box. ***Signed by Wasson presentation to Ralph Dawson.Photo illus the carbine as frontispiece. Book is VG plus to Near Fine, almost no wear but does have a very few pages at the end with neat ink lines underlining and marks affecting a word or two or in margin only, presumably by Dawson ( underlining does not look like it was done by a book owner - too neatly done.) Box is VG with light wear, a few minor stains, but no tears. Very scarce. Wonderful gift for the gun enthusiast.

Limited to 276 copies. Designed by Mardersteig and printed at the Stamperia Valdonega in Verona on Pescia handmade paper. The book is an exhaustive study of the sale of defective carbines to the United States Army by J.P. Morgan in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. Very fine condition. xvi, 249 pages. quarter blue morocco over blue cloth, top edge gilt, slipcase.. 4to..

Inside covers are clean with no inscriptions, signature, dates, labels or bookmarks. Binding is solid with no splits. Interior is crisp. bright, clean, without notations, underlining, highlighting. or other marks. NOT ex-library. 10 color, 15 B&W, 2 maps, chart. This is a special publication by Gordon Wasson on Maria Sabina and her magic mushroom rituals, complete with 4 cassette tapes, musical score and commentary. Some shelf wear. Three separate items are sold together. The main book is bound in red and tan cloth of a Mazatec design, and is a tri-lingual transcription, Mazatec, Spanish, and English, of the ceremony. Wasson was one of the leading investigators of psychedelic drugs and their impact on culture. A true collectors item.

(LIMITED EDITION OF 1000 COPIES ONLY) The book is finely printed in Italy by the press of Stamperia Valdonega. The title page is printed in red and black ink. This book is not the same as the author's large book on Soma. The information in this book is not contained in the author's large book on Soma. OUT OF PRINT TABLE OF FOREWARD BY RICHARD EVANS SCHULTES CHAPTER 1: Introduction CHAPTER 2: Chemistry and Pharmacology of Soma CHAPTER 3: The Persona of Soma CHAPTER 4: Was There A Soma-Urine CHAPTER 5: Questions of Exegesis CHAPTER 6: Conclusion CHAPTER 7: An Early Man and Plant Hallucinogens APPENDIX 1: Resent Bibliography on A. muscaria APPENDIX 2: Manner of Ingesting the Fly-Agaric Among Siberian Natives APPENDIX 3: Professor Marija Gimbutas on Uses of Fly-Agaric in European Russia. APPENDIX 4: Principle Reviews of Soma

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