I mean it’s plausible that the snakes were used in this way, but it’s also entirely possible to receive prophetic knowledge without psychedelics.
“Revelation” comes quite easily to some people, especially if they are in close communion with spirits. Before I converted to orthodoxy and was part of a church that encouraged us to pray to try to listen to God, I myself received prophecies that came true (though some of it, did not) — and I was not under the influence of any drugs, I was only praying the rosary.
Likewise, I know several other people who are equally deceived through being in communion with spirits and have gained knowledge and power beyond their own capacity.
One girl listened to “God” tell her that she would be a great artist and so she started with no training and became very successful, selling pieces for ~$40k in LA, sometimes to celebrities. She is also someone who receives prophecies that often come true.
This type of thing is very common in LA, even outside of the Christian community. I have another friend who listens to “God’s” direction and earns millions of dollars as a result coding software apps within the span of 3-6 months.
The issue here with this theory is not necessarily that it gets all the facts wrong — for example, happy to concede that there were woman worship cults, and potentially that snake venom could produce altered states of consciousness that could aid “revelation.”
But it’s also a far too materialist depiction of reality. It’s unlikely that stone, though maybe she does, also highlights that the mother goddesses that were worshiped also demanded sacrifice, often human though eventually this transitioned to animals — something Erich nuemann, Jung and Paglia are both very clear on.
If sacrifice is just human and normal who cares, if spirits are metaphors and not truly separate from human experience but arising out of Jung’s collective unconscious, or they’re actually just daimons and the Christian demon is just a weird quirk of the oppressive Christian faith (as Paglia seems to argue) then again, who cares.
But if there’s is a true nature to who God is, if he is separate from all human conception, if every single human being could die and God would still have being, then these elements — such as the “woman goddesses” demanding sacrifice, in comparison to the in the Christian faith where *our god dies for us* — matter greatly, because there is a singular truth, truth does not transform through the different apertures of different cultures.
Another counterpoint: in Egypt, cats were sacred, and yet, there’s no known means by which interacting with a cat leads to a psychedelic experience. Cats were sacred potentially because of their symbolic gorgon potential (Paglia’s interpretation) or more likely simply because the Egyptians had visions of cat gods.
I do find the snake cult interesting, especially as it pertains to the claim on the reversal of Eve, and will look at it in more depth
Yes, I don't think that snake venom was the only thing used (I often discuss fasting, meditation, rituals, etc). I think you would really enjoy my long essay, Eve Theory of Consciousness V3, which is pinned on my front page, and available in an audio format. You also may be interested in my interview with Dr Froese on his hypothesis of the ritualized beginnings of symbolic thought, where death and rebirth rituals originally functioned to help people understand that they are more than their body, ie, to experience subject-object distinction for the first time.https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/the-origins-of-human-consciousness
In that interview, we discuss venom, psychedelics, as well as more "mundane" forms of spiritual experience.
On the God question, I'm really an agnostic, though I have recently been on an Analytic Idealism kick with Beranardo Kastrup and the Essentia Foundation, which is more on the god side than not.
I'm coming at this as an exmormon, which is a type of Christianity steeped in esotericism, a syncretism of protestantism, folk magic, and mystery cults like the Freemasons. So I have a lot of first hand experience with prayer and the pitfalls of communities of faith, where people expect god to direct them on who to marry and where to work.
Yay, I am happy to see you’ve included Merlin Stone in your research! I have more recommendations for books both on the Great Goddess subject, as well as snakes in mythology etc. I also have a few notes and observations on the topic that you might find useful. It’s probably too long to comment, may I have your email? Sending a dm! Thank you!
I’m a recent subscriber. I found you through Nick Jikomes. I find your EToC theory compelling. For me it rings true. Whether or not snake venom was the original entheogenic substance is somewhat immaterial to me, but your evidence is quite convincing. That women would have been the first humans to experience “I am“, subject and object, and a concept of past and future seems entirely plausible to me. And that they would have, with that power, taken a leadership role in the early stages of sapience, schizophrenic as that may have been, makes sense.
Yeah, there are definitely a few moving parts, where each part could be right by itself. It's clear that snake venom was used as an entheogen (though not how widely). It's clear that if the human special sauce is about social cognition women would have been at the vanguard.
I think we can interpret archeology of the Upper Paleolithic and early Holocene to be that process
I will continue to read and listen to everything you publish with great interest. Perhaps I will at some point be willing to pay as a subscriber as I am generally happy to do so. Alas, my budget is not unlimited and I must restrict my subscriptions to areas of core interest. I applaud your efforts and am grateful that I benefit from your work. Thank you. 🙏
I don't know whether your theory is right, but I enjoy reading about it.
When I post my article about mythical women, I will let you know. I think you may find it interesting.
I mean it’s plausible that the snakes were used in this way, but it’s also entirely possible to receive prophetic knowledge without psychedelics.
“Revelation” comes quite easily to some people, especially if they are in close communion with spirits. Before I converted to orthodoxy and was part of a church that encouraged us to pray to try to listen to God, I myself received prophecies that came true (though some of it, did not) — and I was not under the influence of any drugs, I was only praying the rosary.
Likewise, I know several other people who are equally deceived through being in communion with spirits and have gained knowledge and power beyond their own capacity.
One girl listened to “God” tell her that she would be a great artist and so she started with no training and became very successful, selling pieces for ~$40k in LA, sometimes to celebrities. She is also someone who receives prophecies that often come true.
This type of thing is very common in LA, even outside of the Christian community. I have another friend who listens to “God’s” direction and earns millions of dollars as a result coding software apps within the span of 3-6 months.
The issue here with this theory is not necessarily that it gets all the facts wrong — for example, happy to concede that there were woman worship cults, and potentially that snake venom could produce altered states of consciousness that could aid “revelation.”
But it’s also a far too materialist depiction of reality. It’s unlikely that stone, though maybe she does, also highlights that the mother goddesses that were worshiped also demanded sacrifice, often human though eventually this transitioned to animals — something Erich nuemann, Jung and Paglia are both very clear on.
If sacrifice is just human and normal who cares, if spirits are metaphors and not truly separate from human experience but arising out of Jung’s collective unconscious, or they’re actually just daimons and the Christian demon is just a weird quirk of the oppressive Christian faith (as Paglia seems to argue) then again, who cares.
But if there’s is a true nature to who God is, if he is separate from all human conception, if every single human being could die and God would still have being, then these elements — such as the “woman goddesses” demanding sacrifice, in comparison to the in the Christian faith where *our god dies for us* — matter greatly, because there is a singular truth, truth does not transform through the different apertures of different cultures.
Another counterpoint: in Egypt, cats were sacred, and yet, there’s no known means by which interacting with a cat leads to a psychedelic experience. Cats were sacred potentially because of their symbolic gorgon potential (Paglia’s interpretation) or more likely simply because the Egyptians had visions of cat gods.
I do find the snake cult interesting, especially as it pertains to the claim on the reversal of Eve, and will look at it in more depth
Yes, I don't think that snake venom was the only thing used (I often discuss fasting, meditation, rituals, etc). I think you would really enjoy my long essay, Eve Theory of Consciousness V3, which is pinned on my front page, and available in an audio format. You also may be interested in my interview with Dr Froese on his hypothesis of the ritualized beginnings of symbolic thought, where death and rebirth rituals originally functioned to help people understand that they are more than their body, ie, to experience subject-object distinction for the first time.https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/the-origins-of-human-consciousness
In that interview, we discuss venom, psychedelics, as well as more "mundane" forms of spiritual experience.
On the God question, I'm really an agnostic, though I have recently been on an Analytic Idealism kick with Beranardo Kastrup and the Essentia Foundation, which is more on the god side than not.
I'm coming at this as an exmormon, which is a type of Christianity steeped in esotericism, a syncretism of protestantism, folk magic, and mystery cults like the Freemasons. So I have a lot of first hand experience with prayer and the pitfalls of communities of faith, where people expect god to direct them on who to marry and where to work.
Yay, I am happy to see you’ve included Merlin Stone in your research! I have more recommendations for books both on the Great Goddess subject, as well as snakes in mythology etc. I also have a few notes and observations on the topic that you might find useful. It’s probably too long to comment, may I have your email? Sending a dm! Thank you!
Goodo. I am a big fan of bookish readings of 'prior art' and reaction and lead.
As always, fascinating … and supportive of my personal thesis rooted in my own experience with entheogenic substances.
Involving venom, I hope
Uhhh … no. Painless alternatives.
I’m a recent subscriber. I found you through Nick Jikomes. I find your EToC theory compelling. For me it rings true. Whether or not snake venom was the original entheogenic substance is somewhat immaterial to me, but your evidence is quite convincing. That women would have been the first humans to experience “I am“, subject and object, and a concept of past and future seems entirely plausible to me. And that they would have, with that power, taken a leadership role in the early stages of sapience, schizophrenic as that may have been, makes sense.
Yeah, there are definitely a few moving parts, where each part could be right by itself. It's clear that snake venom was used as an entheogen (though not how widely). It's clear that if the human special sauce is about social cognition women would have been at the vanguard.
I think we can interpret archeology of the Upper Paleolithic and early Holocene to be that process
I will continue to read and listen to everything you publish with great interest. Perhaps I will at some point be willing to pay as a subscriber as I am generally happy to do so. Alas, my budget is not unlimited and I must restrict my subscriptions to areas of core interest. I applaud your efforts and am grateful that I benefit from your work. Thank you. 🙏
Thank you for the kind words!