Welcome to my world and beyond...

A collection of snippets of the books I write and, occasionally, my life and the things that inspire my writing...

Friday, April 6, 2012

A-to-Z "G" is for "God of Gods"--or the Vedic plant, Soma

Well, it was almost a blog about gingerbread, which is near and dear to my heart. Another tale for another day.  And then, briefly I entertained the idea of blogging about gardening. But, I have done that in the past.  I was looking for something out of the ordinary, and just this evening, thought that goats might make a great subject.  But, the God of Gods won out.  And that is because I am fascinated by human rituals, modern and ancient.

And I think as writers, it serves us well to humor such a  fascination...often.

When I write God of Gods,  I refer to the only plant in all of history to have been deified. It is a plant...and a god--how it is referred to in the Rigveda, an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns.

Also, somewhere in the history of this plant and ritual is also the Aryan race-- the original Aryans who, 3000 years ago, migrated from "the north" into the Indus valley.  Hitler modeled his perfect race after them. Even his swastika was a form of an Indus-Aryan symbol.                                       

We don't know exactly what the plant was. But, a good theory is given here.    The author believes that the plant is the mushroom "Amanita muscaria"   Commonly known in North America as the Fly Agaric.                                            


The reason for its common name?  The myth that housewives used to pour a little milk in a saucer and then slice the mushrooms into it. When flies ate the milk, they died. There have been studies done that expel that myth...but it persists.

The mushrooms are listed as toxic to humans in all field guides, though.  Please, don't ever eat a wild mushroom that has not first been identified by an expert.

I digress.

Back to the God of Gods...   So, here is how it worked: in this Aryan ritual that was passed down for centuries, the "soma" was beaten with water, mixed with honey, and then immediately consumed.  The participants had visions.

Yes they did...hallucinations.  Along with acute nausea.

Now, what the Aryans did next was what makes all of this so fascinating . I quote from the above linked article. "...the 4th verse of the 74th hymn in the 9th book that the officiating priests with full bladders urinate the on-coming Soma"

They caught their water.  Uh huh...they caught their urine after consuming the drink, and then it was drunk again for another round of visions.  And the second time around--and even a third, there was no longer the side effect of nausea.

To read more about it, click here.

24 comments:

  1. Very enlightening. And, toward the end, disgusting. I like your disclaimer about eating wild mushrooms. A smart thing because you never know. The mushrooms in the photo are very pretty and enticing.

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  2. Hi Susan. Thank you. It does wind down to just disgusting! Wild mushrooms are so good, but it is easy to mistake some common poisonous ones for the edible types. Sometimes, a mycologist has to use a microscope to look at the spores for size, shape, and color, to properly identify the mushroom. The fly agaric is gorgeous. It easy to envision fairies living in them ;-) I have seen them in shades of yellow, through orange to deep red. They like to grow under pines and assorted evergreens. Must like the pH to be on the acidic side. :-) Thanks for visiting, and good luck with the A to Z :-)

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  3. Okay now that I know that, I can't ever unknow that and it seriously makes for a nice little detail in a story, no?

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    1. Ha! lol... "...now that I know that, I can't ever unknow..." Too funny, Tanya! Yeppers, might make a neat tidbit for a future tale. :-) I will have to watch your books for it. :-)

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  4. Yuk! It sounds a lot like some of the writings of Jean M. Auel in "Clan of the Cave Bear" where Ayla was helping in a ritual of the shaman, and later in "Land of the Painted Caves". I am a real fan of Jean Auel's Children of the Earth series. Have you read them?
    Interesting post. Best regards to you. Now, I'm off to read other posts this morning. Bye. Ruby

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    1. Hi Grammy Ruby :-) Very nice to meet you! I am a big fan of Jean Auel. One of the very last conversations I ever had with my mom about books she was reading was about the Earth's Children books. BY the time I began to read them, it was in the early 80s, and Clan of Cave Bear, and the Valley of the Horses had both been released. Maybe the Plains of Passage too. It has been a while since I read them. I will never, ever forget Ayla. Auel made her come alive in my mind...and her son, Dirk, crying for her at the end of the first book after the clan had shunned her. Wow...great writer. I visited your blog, and I will be back to read more of your story! :-)

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    1. Yep, lol, the first two words that came to my mind! Hi Lily! Thanks for visiting :-)

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  6. Oh, gross.

    It's amazing what people will do when they think that something is holy or God-given. If they knew it was just chemicals, they'd never drink their own pee to get the results. But since they didn't understand the chemistry, they thought the visions must be Divine and they did anything they could to keep them going.

    Very interesting post.

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    1. Thank you, Ishta. I confess- I love your name!

      Religion (not faith) does some pretty bad things to people. Not everyone, but historically, it has fueled superstitious minds, and, well... history shows, some bad things have been done in the name of religion.

      Thanks for visiting! :-)

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  7. This is really interesting. Imagine being the fifth person in a row to drink that..potion. Apparently it gets more and more easy to digest - recycling in the true sense of the word!

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    1. The ultimate recycling! lol...yuck. Pretty nasty stuff. I bet if we knew the things that have been done in the name of having mystic visions come to men...this is no doubt, just the tip of the iceberg. :-) Thanks for visiting. :-) !

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  8. Awesome, your colorful mushroom looks really tasty. Looking at the photo, I reckon this mushroom would sell in sweet form because it looks so good!!!

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    1. Oh, they do look so good, and THAT is the problem. Toxic to humans. Thanks for visiting and commenting. :-)

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  9. Hi, Teresa C.,

    Yep it's Teresa C from JW. I can only imagine all the poisonings that occurred whether intentional or not from ingesting mushrooms. :) Here in MO, where we have tons of edible and not, we know better what to eat or we should. Wait, I feel another story coming on.

    Thanks for visiting JW.

    Teresa

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    1. Hello, Teresa C. :-)

      Ha! A tale of two mushrooms--the common meadow mushroom and its near-twin, the deadly amanita! Mushroom gathering is fun...and interesting. I cut my teeth on mushroom identification in the wild, with a botanist who worked in the mycology field. It can be a deadly pursuit. But, morels, chanterelles, and chicken of the woods are so delicious... :-) I have read that MO is good mushroom collecting turf. :-) Thanks so much for the return visit...and nice to "meet" you :-)

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  10. I like rituals like burning a candle, or releasing a baloon, or writing something on a paper and burning it. I will pass on the God of Gods. LOL

    This was fascinating, though. One of the neat things about the A-Z Challenge is all the trivia one can pick up. If I am ever asked about bizarre rituals, I have one.

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    1. Hi Maryann, nice to "meet" you! Yes, I am a fan of rituals, too. lol, but I have my limits as well! I have learned so much already form the A to Z...and there are still 3 weeks to go! Fun... :-) Thank you for visiting :-)

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  11. But gosh...those mushrooms are so pretty............ just kidding. Such an interesting post - thanks for the very interesting read!

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    1. You are welcome, Amy--and thank you for visiting! :-)

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  12. Wow, this is definitely something else. Very illuminating. I had no idea:) Makes me want to finally get my hands on a good translation of the Vedas:) Thanks:)

    Isabella
    E is for 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon'

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    1. Thank you for the read, Isabella! I love your blog, by the way--the theme of fairy-tales is wonderful--and so thoroughly done! :-)

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  13. Pretty ugh... this. Well, Indians do still have an immense amount of rituals. The Rig Veda was written almost 5k yrs ago, I think, so back then, rituals must've been pretty weird. And in any case, Hindu gods, like Shiva, were totally stoned all the time :P

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  14. Hi Effervescencia! Boy, oh boy, it is an ancient text...older than most, and certainly older than the Abrahamic texts or the religions that sprung from them. I don't know a lot about Hinduism or polytheism in general. But I am sure of this. Every time I research something in the Indian culture, I come away fascinated or amazed.

    :-) I am a fan of Holi, and would so like to celebrate it one time in Delhi, or Mumbai.

    Thank you for visiting, and will you see you this week at Shreds and Shards :-)

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