What do you think?
Rate this book
The Hidden World: Survival of Pagan Shamanic Themes in European Fairytales
Includes DVD: video slideshows "Heretical Visionary Sacraments amongst the Ecclesiastical Elite" and "Melusina of Plaincourault"
It was mainly only the European urban centers that converted to Christianity, and often more for political or commercial interests, than as a matter of faith. The old religions persisted in the villages or pagani, from which the term Paganism arose. The Christians built their sanctuaries upon the pagan sites, expropriating their numinous past, assimilating the symbolism of the former deities, and commonly incorporating the actual architectural remnants. The wisdom of those deposed gods and their rites persisted in less objectionable forms - disguised to delude the censors - as country festivals and quaint tales often about the fairy folk, who coexisted with this world and could be accessed by magical procedures that perpetuated half-remembered methods of authentic ancient shamanism.
Such shamanism always involved pharmaceutical expertise. Mircea Eliade was mistaken in concluding that drugs were characteristic only of the late and decadent stages of a religion. Rock paintings of the greatest antiquity and his own abundant citations indicate that, instead, a pharmacological Eucharist was the norm; and Eliade was himself about to reverse his stance shortly before his death.
Encoded in tales seemingly as simple as Snow White with her poisoned red and white apple are themes traceable back to the great epics of Homer and the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh. These patterns of shamanic empowerment lurk also in the histories of the leading families of Europe, who could not completely divest themselves of the former religious basis for their right to rule, but instead they embraced, Christianized, and buried it in sanctified graves, as was the case with the great fairy Melusina, whose eighth abominable son, called Horrible, was murdered. A number of churches involved in the Albigensian heresy claim his body was laid to rest beneath them.
It was mainly only the European urban centers that converted to Christianity, and often more for political or commercial interests, than as a matter of faith. The old religions persisted in the villages or pagani, from which the term Paganism arose. The Christians built their sanctuaries upon the pagan sites, expropriating their numinous past, assimilating the symbolism of the former deities, and commonly incorporating the actual architectural remnants. The wisdom of those deposed gods and their rites persisted in less objectionable forms - disguised to delude the censors - as country festivals and quaint tales often about the fairy folk, who coexisted with this world and could be accessed by magical procedures that perpetuated half-remembered methods of authentic ancient shamanism.
Such shamanism always involved pharmaceutical expertise. Mircea Eliade was mistaken in concluding that drugs were characteristic only of the late and decadent stages of a religion. Rock paintings of the greatest antiquity and his own abundant citations indicate that, instead, a pharmacological Eucharist was the norm; and Eliade was himself about to reverse his stance shortly before his death.
Encoded in tales seemingly as simple as Snow White with her poisoned red and white apple are themes traceable back to the great epics of Homer and the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh. These patterns of shamanic empowerment lurk also in the histories of the leading families of Europe, who could not completely divest themselves of the former religious basis for their right to rule, but instead they embraced, Christianized, and buried it in sanctified graves, as was the case with the great fairy Melusina, whose eighth abominable son, called Horrible, was murdered. A number of churches involved in the Albigensian heresy claim his body was laid to rest beneath them.
- GenresMythologyFairy Tales
426 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2007
2 people are currently reading
231 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 21, 2021
It's rare that I read a book whose presentation is so different from its actual content that I continually find myself tittering maniacally while reading it. I dunno. Maybe I was high or something. That would be fitting since, yes, this is a look at the titular holdovers of pre-Christian religious strands in what we call "fairy tales", but more than this, Hidden World is a story of how a group of scholars can relate every single goddamn symbol and word usage in fairy tales as a secret pagan reference to...wait for it...magic mushrooms.
Now, don't get me wrong, this is a lively and enthralling book, hallucinogenic fungi references aside. There's a lot of good discussion of the ancient, "Classical" roots of European folklore, goddesses, gods, demigods, and demigorgons. There's a little less of the actual "fairy tale" shiz than you might hope for, but that's okay. The constant hilarity of the very well-argued ubiquitous symbolism of either hallucinogens or dicks (there's an occasional vulva thrown in for good measure, though) in stories like "Cinderella" or "Little Red Riding Hood" was a surprising and, I found, well-needed panacea to the usual tripe.
I was in it looking for some tentative links to witchcraft, and instead came out of the work blazing hard!
Now, don't get me wrong, this is a lively and enthralling book, hallucinogenic fungi references aside. There's a lot of good discussion of the ancient, "Classical" roots of European folklore, goddesses, gods, demigods, and demigorgons. There's a little less of the actual "fairy tale" shiz than you might hope for, but that's okay. The constant hilarity of the very well-argued ubiquitous symbolism of either hallucinogens or dicks (there's an occasional vulva thrown in for good measure, though) in stories like "Cinderella" or "Little Red Riding Hood" was a surprising and, I found, well-needed panacea to the usual tripe.
I was in it looking for some tentative links to witchcraft, and instead came out of the work blazing hard!
Displaying 1 of 1 review