| Description |
ix, 245 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm. |
| Series |
PSU Faculty or Staff Author ; 1987-2015.
|
| Note |
Lee (1987-2015), PSU Faculty or Staff Author. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 224-235) and index. |
| Contents |
Surviving remnants of the cult of the dead -- Sacred oils, sacred foods -- The red corpse -- Ritual cannibalism and magic foods -- Cults of the dead in the modern world -- Hebrew and Christian ointments -- Hallucinations as history -- Plants from the bodies of the gods -- Signs of the cult of the dead -- Immortality -- The cult of the dead in Greece -- The goddesses of Crete -- Minoan graves -- Eating the dead -- The horns of consecration -- The double ax -- Awakening the bees -- Zeus and the human sack -- Dionysus and the Greek gods -- Dionysus and Osiris worship: Greek or Egyptian? -- Prometheus -- Adonis -- Jason and Jesus -- From the minotaur to Jesus. |
| Summary |
Long before the beginnings of civilization, humans have been sacrificed and their flesh used to produce sacred foods and oils for use in religious rites. Originating with the sacred harvest of hallucinogenic mushrooms from the corpses of shamans and other holy men, these acts of ritual cannibalism and visionary intoxication are part of the history of all cultures, including Judeo-Christian ones, and provided a way to commune with the dead. These practices continued openly into the Dark Ages, when they were suppressed and adapted into the worship of saintly bones--or continued in secret by a few "heretical" sects, such as the Cathars and the Knights Templar. While little known today, these rites remain deeply embedded in the symbolism, theology, and sacraments of modern religion and bring a much more literal meaning to the church's "Holy Communion" or symbolic consumption of the body and blood of Christ. |
| Subject |
Cannibalism -- Religious aspects.
|
|
Human sacrifice.
|
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Funeral rites and ceremonies.
|
|
Hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience -- Cross-cultural studies.
|
| ISBN |
9781594774584 (pbk.) |
|
1594774587 (pbk.) |
|
9781594777011 (e book) |
|
1594777012 (e book) |
|
