The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist

Review by José Alfredo González Celdrán for The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist
Rating:
As we cross the threshold into the twenty-first century, we always hope that every new theory be considered on its own merits and not met by a wall of prejudices constructed from previous comparisons. This is the spirit we will need to show when reading this work of investigation whose contents must leave the reader anything but indifferent. With The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist, Carl A.P. Ruck, Blaise Daniel Staples and Clark Heinrich have investigated the great myth of human civilization; using the tools of comparative analysis, much as a team of archaeologists would excavate the remains of a buried site, they have exposed a hidden truth, mending step by step, argument by argument the scaffolding of what is probably one of the most ancient archetypes of humanity: the knowledge, use and worship of the sacred mushroom: Amanita muscaria, searching its presence in the genesis and development of diverse myths, both Greek and Judeochristian, and establishing a chain of relationships between them. Whoever approaches these pages must accept the challenge of drinking new wine from an old wineskin, and then he will not only discover a novel viewpoint on archaic themes, but also a whole new method of interpretation, fruitful in its essence and fruitful in its form. It may be that the reader will not be able to divest himself of the inevitable prejudices in which we have all been indoctrinated and will succumb to the temptation to reject the proposals and evidence presented here before even examining it, but this would be an inexcusable error: the authors have worked in accordance with the strictest standards of scholarship and offer in support of their re-examination of their subject an impressive array of data from every source available and innumerable textual citations from the primary material. This documentation, presented as footnotes on the page in conjunction with their case, allows the reader to refer to the original expression of particular points while simultaneously considering the new interpretations being given. Thus, the reader himself is given the capability of judging as he progresses through the argument the true meaning of the materia prima, according to his own particular world view. The Apples of Apollo also confirms that the character of early Christianity as a mystery religion cannot be understood as being merely marginal to the other mystery religions of the ancient world. Without any question of a doubt, the most controversial chapter of The Apples of Apollo is Chapter Five, Jesus, the Drug Man, in essence the pivotal point of the entire work. In this chapter the reader will be confronted with a Christ linked to the use of entheogens, a Christ who is the dispenser of “enlightenment” through the mushroom; this may sound amazing, but the institution of the eucharist now consists literally in the ingestion of a substance that alters consciousness, albeit a weak one — wine. But more disturbing than the inefficacy of the wine as a key to divine revelation, is that the Church finds the idea of eating God preferible to eating the plant of God, which is, by definition, also that very same God, like the bush which burned in the Sinai with an incombustible fire before Moses. The secret of those flames is but one of many revealed within these pages. So let’s escape from prejudice. Let’s abandon the fear of reconsidering our dogmas from a new perspective. Let us feel once again the fascination of the unknown, recover the distinctly human aspiration for the quest, even at the risk of the pain it might cause us. Let us dare . . . Let’s open the pages of The Apples of Apollo, journey through them, discover their proposals and who knows: it could be that, after all, the truth lies therein.José Alfredo González Celdrán