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.The Church Fathers followed him on this and even Jerome reckoned the Jewish Philoas among the Church historians .We hear, too, of an unorthodox Christian sect called the Sampsaeans (Greek Sampsënoi), whosename is certainly connected with the Semitic root sh-m sh (and so has been hitherto thought toindicate sun (shemesh)-worshippers ).42 Epiphanius, the fourth-century Christian writer, linksthese people with the Essenes but thought their Christianity was of a spurious kind, somethingbetween Judaism and the true faith.48 Apparently in his time they dwelt in Transjordan, in Peraea, on the borders of ancient Moab, and by the eastern shores of the Dead Sea.Whatevertheir sectarian connections, their name, as we can now see, demonstrates a clear philologicalrelationship with both the Essenes, healers , life givers , the Therapeutae, and the Christians.In the phallic mushroom, the man-child born of the virgin womb, we have the reality behindthe Christ figure of the New Testament story.In a sense he is representative also of the initiates ofthe cult, Christians , or smeared with semen , as the name means.By imitating the mushroom,as well as by eating it and sucking its juice, or blood , the Christian was taking unto himself thepanoply of his god, as the priests in the sanctuary also anointed themselves with the god sspermatozoa found in the juices and resins of special plants and trees.As the priests served thegod in the temple, the symbolic womb of divine creation, so the Christians and their culticassociates worshipped their god and mystically involved themselves in the creative process.In thelanguage of the mystery cults they sought to be born again , when, purged afresh of past sin,they could apprehend the god in a drug induced ecstasy.6162 THE SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSSFully to understand the part played by women in the mushroom cult it is necessary to appreciatetheir role in the creative process itself.The fungus represented a microcosm of the female part ofthe birth cycle.The man child was born from a womb or volva and its gestation andparturition was as much a part of the female worshipper as the birth of a human baby required theactive participation of the mother and the midwife.In the following chapters, then, we shall payspecial attention to the woman and her special contribution to the process of conception and birth,her religious role as a cultic prostitute, and the part played by her ritual lamentation in the raisingof the sacred mushroom.VIIIWoman s part in the Creative ProcessGestation of the foetus in the womb required three elements: the creative spirit, semen, and blood.The god provided the first, man the second, and woman the third.Of the human contributions,woman s was the most powerful and evoked most wonder among the ancients.They believed thatit was menstrual blood that formed the embryo.Pliny describes the process thus: (menses is) thematerial for human generation, as semen from the male acting like rennet collects this substancewithin it, which thereupon is inspired with life and endowed with body .Women who do not menstruate, records the same author, do not bear children, since the rawmaterial of conception is not present in the womb.On the other hand, a woman who menstruatesduring pregnancy is likely to bring forth a sickly or still-born offspring, or one full of bloodymatter .The best time for conceiving was thought to be at the beginning or end of a menstrualperiod,2 which is why in the story of David and Bathsheba in the Old Testament it is saidspecifically that the lovers had their illicit intercourse just after Bathsheba had menstruated (IISam 11:4).Galen, the second century physician, has a rather more sophisticated theory of the generativeprocess, but still sees semen and menstrual blood as its main factors.The semen, he thought, drewto itself just as much blood as it could deal with, using it as food with which to build the foetus.3The Old Testament rules for the menstruant (Lev 15:19 25) emphasize the sacred nature of theblood.Whilst in that condition, everything the woman touches is reckoned unclean and this uncleanness can communicate itself to other people.A man having intercourse with her at thistime renders himself liable to the same seven day period of ritual disqualification as his wife.Ithas to be emphasized that THE SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSSthis uncleanness has nothing to do with morals or hygiene.It is a religious state of taboo.Awoman bearing a son is similarly defiled (having a daughter requires fourteen days separation),as is a man coming in contact with a dead body (Num 19:11).A priest is rendered unclean bytouching a reptile or insect, or involuntarily discharging semen (Lev 22 4, ).Rachel used her real or pretended menstrual condition to prevent her sorely pressed father Labanfrom discovering his stolen property.When he finally caught up with his runaway daughter andson-in-law, Laban searched their tents seeking some household gods Rachel had taken.She putthem under her camel saddle and begged to be excused from rising since the manner of womenwas upon her (Gen 31 :341).Even to have touched the saddle would have rendered Laban unclean .Menses could affect almost everything, by remote influence as well as direct contact. Wildindeed , says Pliny, are the stories told of the mysterious and awful power of the menstruousdischarge. He relates a few of them and leaves us in no doubt about the fear and wonder thatattended this monthly phenomenon in the eyes of the ancients.Of course, coming from the seat ofcreation, the womb, menstrual blood was credited with wonderful healing powers.It could curegout, scrofitla, parotid tumours, abscesses, erysipelas, boils, eye fluxes, hydrophobia, andepilepsy, whilst quartan fever, according to one source, could be counteracted by sexualintercourse with a woman just beginning her period.On the other hand, such a source of power was dangerous.Under the principle of like repellinglike, which played an important part in ancient philosophy, menses was also considered to be anabortifacient.A smear of the blood could bring about a miscarriage, and even to step over a staincould bring about the same dire effect.5 Similarly, it could abort fruit trees, dry up seed, blightcrops, turn wine sour, as well as send dogs mad, rust metals, and dull mirrors.This last effect,incidentally, could be reversed by having the woman stare at the back of the mirror until the shineon the front was restored.°The distinguishing feature of menstrual blood was its dark colour, contrasting with the brighter,oxygenated blood of the rest of the body.Thus dark red, purple, violet, and similar hues came tohave a special significance, being so closely associated with fertility.Kings and magistrates worepurple garments, and the Latin purpura came to mean64WOMAN S PART IN THE CREATIVE PROCESSnot only the robes themselves but the high dignity they conferred.7 Most prized of all was Tyrianpurple, whose highest glory ,according to Pliny, consists in the colour of congealed blood, blackish at first glance butgleaming when held up to the light; this is the origin of Homer s phrase, blood of purple hue 8Further dyeing of a scarlet fabric with Tyrian purple produced the rich colour called in Greekhusginon, the Sumerian origin of which shows that it meant properly blue blood ,9 anotherpopular mark of the aristocracy
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