Clark Heinrich (born 1945) is an
American author living in the coastal mountains of
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, specializing in comparative religion and ethno-botany since 1974. He has reportedly studied with masters of yoga and Western mysticism.
He is known for his views on consuming the mushroom
fly agaric
''Amanita muscaria'', commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus ''Amanita''. It is a large white- gilled, white-spotted mushroom typically featuring a bright red cap covered with distinctive white ...
or ''
Amanita muscaria
''Amanita muscaria'', commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita, is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus ''Amanita''. It is a large white-lamella (mycology), gilled, white-spotted mushroom typically featuring a bright red cap covered with ...
'' as a hallucinogenic to achieve religious ecstasy. His book ''Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy'', which is an improved second edition of his earlier ''Strange Fruit'', explores the role that ''Amanita muscaria'' may have played in various mythologies, belief systems and religious art throughout history, such as Native American
Anishinaabeg
The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They in ...
mythology, the
Rig Veda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...
, the
, the
biblical
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
and
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
,
Gnosticism
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: , Romanization of Ancient Greek, romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: Help:IPA/Greek, nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced ...
, the
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...
legend,
Alchemy
Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...
and
Renaissance painting
Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...
.
''OMG! Where Psyche and Religion Meet'' by Josh Blanchard, ''Portland Mercury'' 9 March 2006
/ref>
The book ''The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist'' deals with possible occurrences of entheogen
Entheogens are psychoactive substances used in spiritual and religious contexts to induce altered states of consciousness. Hallucinogens such as the psilocybin found in so-called "magic" mushrooms have been used in sacred contexts since ancie ...
s in general, and ''Amanita muscaria'' in particular, in Greek and biblical mythology and later on in Renaissance painting, most notably in the Isenheim Altarpiece
The ''Isenheim Altarpiece'' is an altarpiece sculpted and painted by, respectively, the Germans Nikolaus Hagenauer, Nikolaus of Haguenau and Matthias Grünewald in 1512–1516. It is on display at the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, in Fra ...
by Matthias Grünewald
Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528; also known as Mathis Gothart Nithart) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th cent ...
.
Bibliography
* ''Magic Mushrooms in Religion and Alchemy'', Park Street Press, 2002
* ''The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist'', with Carl A.P. Ruck and Blaise Daniel Staples, Carolina Academic Press, 2001
* ''Strange Fruit: Alchemy, Religion and Magical Foods : a Speculative History'', Bloomsbury, 1995
References
External links
Summary of ''The Apples of Apollo''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinrich, Clark
American psychedelic drug advocates
Psychedelic drug researchers
American non-fiction writers
Living people
1945 births
Psychonautics researchers