THE SACRED MUSHROOM: Key to the Door of Eternity

by Andrija Puharich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 1958

The author, a Doctor and a retired Lieutenant-Colonel of the United States army, writes like a reasonable man, a clear-minded, logical man, trained in scientific investigation. It is this tone which reassures the skeptical reader as he pursues in this book the exploration of extra-sensory experience, psychic phenomena, clairvoyance, and prophecy all heightened in intensity under the effect of the Amanita Musoaria, a mushroom which grows along the coast in the shade of great trees and about which two distinct ancient cults centered; one in Egypt and one in Indian Mexico. Dr. Puharich, who had been investigating extra-sensory perception in his Maine laboratory, became interested in the plant when one of his ""sensitives"", in a trance-like state, made reference to it. In small doses the mushroom acts as an anesthetic in sizeable portions, a poison, but taken by ""sensitives"" it appears to heighten the perception. Combining his investigation with those made by M.R. Gordon Wasson, co-author of Mushrooms, Russia and History, the study of the mushroom cult is revealed in its provocative ramifications -- a clue to ancient religious, medical, and funereal procedures, an indication of the plausibility of transmigration in one or another form, and a general argument as to the plausibility of psychic phenomena. Written in a direct style, The Sacred Mushroom is learned without being pedantic, evocative without resorting to the hokus-pokus of many books on the subject of the occult. An exciting text of particular interest to those concerned with anthropology, history and medicine.

Pub Date: Jan. 22, 1958

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION