Hoffman Mark Alwin - Entheogens, myth and human consciousness

Entheogens, Myth
& Human Consciousness

by Carl A. P. Ruck
Mark A. Hoffman

RONIN

Books-for-Independent-Minds

Berkeley, California

www.roninpub.com

Another RONIN Book by Carl Ruck

Sacred M ushrooms of the Goddess Secrets of Eleusis

NOTICE TO READER: Information presented in this book is made available under the First Amendment of the Constitution. Some mushrooms and fungi are poisonous. Get expert advice from a mycologist before eating anything. Possessions and consumption of certain mushrooms and plants is illegal in certain areas. Know your laws and get reliable advice before using any plants inritual as discussed in this book. The author and the publisher do not advocate using any controlled substances or breaking the law. The purpose in making this information available is solely to inform and educate.

Entheogens, Myth
& Human Consciousness

by Carl A. P. Ruck
Mark A. Hoffman

Entheogens, Myth & Human Consciousness

Copyright 2013 by Carl A. P. Ruck & Mark A. Hoffman

ISBN: 978-1-57951-164-7

Published by

Ronin Publishing, Inc.

PO Box 22900

Oakland, CA 94609

www.roninpub.com

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying recording or translating into another language, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission form the author or the publisher, except for inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Production:

Editor: Mark J. Estren

Cover Design: Beverly A. Potter

Cover Art: Laurence Cherniak

Book Design: Beverly A. Potter

Fonts:

Goudy, Adobe Systems

Papyrus, Esselle Letraset

Herculanum, Adobe Systems

Navel, Fonthead Design, Ethan Dunham

Library of Congress Card Number: 2012948279

Distributed to the book trade by Publishers Group West

First Clinical LSD Experience

(Influenced by Strobe Light)

My consciousness expanded at an inconceivable speed and reached cosmic dimensions. There was no more difference between me and the universe. While this was happening, I found myself at the center of a cosmic drama of unimaginable dimensions. I would say today that I possibly experienced the big bang, passage through black holes and white holes, identification with exploding super novas and collapsing stars, and other strange phenomena.

Stanislav Grof

The Potential of Entheogens
as Catalysts of Spiritual Development

Astrologers by Robert Fludd

T his is a dangerous book. If you wish to experience an awakening, be warned: this book has no railings. You will never see the World the same way. Your eyes will be forever opened and everything you have been taught about Religion will be understood as cowardly evasions at best. You will never be able to be fooled again. Hereafter it will be your choice to be fooled. The universal reflex to keep the eyes shut in a time of fear will no longer be an option.

Great teachings emphasize that all knowledge must come from the quest for the truth. No matter what the consequences, the truth must be told. The truth does hurt, and this one will leave a marklike a child who stood in the midst of a most beautiful forest and upon return later in life sees that a vast city now stands in its place. Like the child, the viewer/reader will be perplexed. The scar is upon the heart and the loss of Eden will never go away. The enlightened adult can forgive, but the child within will remember.

We will not have to wait long to see consequences from this work, because the speed of the Internet is in place. The shock wave from this book will travel like a tsunami and will wash upon every shore where false temples have been built. The astounding collection of knowledge in these chapters contains the parallel impact of the revelation in Cosmology, that we see only one percent of what we call the Universe. Ninety-nine percent is invisible to us. The cosmological conundrum mirrors the metaphysical crisis of belief.

The daunting hunt of our Species will continue even after all the temples are gone. As with the concept of Zero nothing does matter. The Enigma is the energy of this book. The Query is God. The Walkabout is the journey to the rim of the abyss. Only the courageous will embark on such a dangerous quest.

So be it. Our being was made flesh to take on such a task. This guide, like Saint Michaels Sword, certainly improves our chances.

Rev. Richard Emmanuel
Pastor of the Theosophist Church
East Gloucester, Massachusetts

T he remains of John Wycliffe were exhumed in the year 1428, burned, and cast into the River Swift, a tributary of the Avon in central England, along with all his books. He had been Master of Balliol College, but was declared a heretic at the Ecumenical Council of Constance in 1415. His crime was that he had translated the Bible into English. The translation of Scripture by unlicensed laity was punishable by charges of heresy since it opened the floodgate of undisciplined exegesis.

The Second Vatican Council opened with intense optimism under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under his successor Paul VI in 1965. This was the great liberalizing reexamination of dogma that accepted the Mass conducted in the vernacular. As part of this liberal movement, the vast documents of the Vatican Library were made accessible to young seminarians around the world. The doors closed with the ascension of Paul VI. Many student theologians deserted the Church, and even in so profoundly a Catholic nation as Ireland, there is now a great paucity of new young priests to replace the generation of Vatican II who now are reaching the age of retirement.

Knowledge is dangerous. It both jeopardizes the familiar establishment, even though it might be in error, and reveals long-suppressed secrets that encourage irresponsible innovation. Vatican II coincided with the realization of the role that visionary sacraments have played in the emergence of human consciousness and the relationship of mankind to spiritual dimensions. This offered new perspectives on the genesis of Christianity and on the marketplace of novel religions originating in the New World in the 19th and 20th centuries. The door that had opened was quickly posted with a placard announcing no admittance in the ensuing conservative papacies. The short glimpse into the mystical and hermetic tradition of Christianity left many young people perplexed and without guidance