The recently released (and well-received book) Shroom: A cultural history of the magic mushroom, by Andy Letcher (Amazon US and UK), takes the long stick to many of the myths surrounding the history of psychedelic mushrooms, as well as a number of its legendary figures such as Gordon Wasson and Terence McKenna. One particular aspect of the book though – that of the entheogen theory of religious origins – has given rise to some intriguing discussions, mostly on the part of entheogen researcher Michael Hoffman. Hoffman’s review of the book (while positive overall) disagrees with some of the book’s conclusions:
At most, Letcher’s treatment of the entheogen theory of religious origins shows that we have no compelling archaeological evidence for a prehistorical mushroom cult that was secret and unbroken. When his rhetorical verbiage and his general discussions of history are put aside, the substance of his argumentation that remains does not amount to a compelling argument against the frequent use of mushrooms (or other visionary plants) throughout religious history.
More recently, Hoffman has warned that “the shortcomings of Letcher’s book could cause some harm”, and serve as a significant setback to the field of entheogen scholarship. For a comprehensive read on entheogens in the history of religions, see Hoffman’s detailed discussion on his own website (Shroom is discussed under ‘Minimal Theory’).
