Babele: The Stone Mushrooms

Babele: The Stone Mushrooms, a set on Flickr by Howard G Charing

Via Flickr:
On a vast mountain plateau 2250 metres altitude in the Bucegi Mountains of the Southern Carpathians in Translyvania stand clusters of giant stone mushrooms and the enigmatic Romanian Sphinx. The stone mushrooms are called ‘Babele’ which means ‘The Old Women’ in Romanian.

There are a multitude of legends and origins of these mysterious stone sculptures. Although the official story is that these stones were shaped by the wind, I’m not that sure if this is the case, as these stone mushrooms are granite which is one of the hardest rocks formations and generally resistant to a hammer and chisel.

There are also a host of legends, speculation, and intricate conspiracy theories surrounding these stone monuments, that the Pentagon and the Illuminati under the auspices of clandestine organisations such as the Vatican, the Bilderberg Group, the Romanian Government, and the CIA  etc have discovered an extensive network of underground tunnels and vast chambers constructed by extraterrestrial visitors who have left certain alien technology artifacts that if revealed could have a profound impact (in true Stargate fashion) on the future of mankind.

It is also rumoured that the original Stone Tablets that Moses received on Mount Sinai (linguistic aficionados note that the town of Sinaia is very near) have been concealed in a secret and hidden chamber buried deep beneath the Sphinx, and that a meridian drawn in the exact centre of this subterranean chamber divides the world into two equal halves. I find the latter particularly amazing, as thinking about it for a moment; if I were to draw a meridian between my legs – the world would be divided into two equal halves too.

In the absence of any facts I would speculate that it is emblematic of an Indo-European Dacian Mushroom religion. There is a lot of material about the Dacian sacramental use of entheogens (Amanita Muscaria) from Mircea Eliade, Robert Graves to Terence McKenna.

Anyway speculation and secret mysteries aside, it is a fantastic experience, a totally awesome (slightly nerve-racking) cable car ride that travels over more than one deep abyss to get there. I definitely plan to return to spend more time there and do some more speculative musings.

Moses and Hallucinogens – Plant Spirit Shamanism from the Bible

Moses and Hallucinogens:  Plant Spirit Shamanism from the Bible

The worldwide media interest in Benny Shanon‘s paper about Moses and entheogens, is encouraging us to take a good and hard look at the roots of religions and the notion they were based on fertility cults, and shamanic practices such as Entheogens (or hallucinogenic) plants as a source of spiritual communion with the universal consciousness, or the mind of God.

View this document on Scribd

 

Illuminatus by Robert Venosa & Terence McKenna: A Retrospective

Illuminatus Book Cover

Illuminatus by Robert Venosa & Terence McKenna: A personal Retrospective

I was looking through Illuminatus, the magnificent book by Robert Venosa and Terence McKenna; due to my travels these last years it has been a long time since I’ve held it in my hands. It is one of my treasures, an elegantly finished book filled with exquisite paintings from Robert accompanied by the enchanting prose of Terence. Originally published in 2000, the book is no longer in print which is a great shame as it is a bringer of beauty into the world. Checking the book availability on amazon.com the prices for used copies range up to $400.

Robert and Terence are regretfully no longer with us on the earthly plane; they have been inspirational powerhouses and beacons of illumination to thousands of people. Hopefully this magical book will be reprinted; so many more people can enjoy and explore the brilliant and sublime worlds of the divine imagination that this wonderful book offers.

Australian Government considering banning hundreds of plants – Insane but true!

Acacia pycnantha - Australia's national flower on a postage stamp

Strewth and tie me kangaroo down sport – In a novel way to expand the ‘War on Drugs‘ the Australian Government according to this report in the NewAmerican.com website, is looking to outlaw hundreds and possibly thousands of plant species that contain (even in microscopic quantities) chemicals such as DMT. Even the national flower (Acacia pycnantha)  a symbol of Australia itself is threatened by this ban, and the list goes on and on and on.

Of course an irony in this, is that DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) is also found in the brains of mammals and humans. So the next step is to ban mammals and er…humans!

To quote Terence McKenna from ‘Food of the Gods’; “We can begin the restructuring of thought by declaring legitimate what we have denied for so long. Lets us declare Nature to be legitimate. The notion of illegal plants is obnoxious and ridiculous in the first place.”  Amen to that!