“We drank Soma, we became immortal...”


In American gods, Soma was traded by Wednesday to another god, for his services and help.

What is Soma?

Soma is an immortality drink that appears in the sacred texts of Vedic and Avestan Indo-Iranians, the easternmost reaching migrations of people speaking Indo-European languages.


Among the Vedic pagans, Soma is both a god and a drink humans have access to, while at the same time being the drink that sustains the vigor of the gods themselves. Its name means to distill, but I feel, keeping with Indo-European chemical induced mantic arts, droplets is more appropriate. From Cerridwen's well to Finn's thumb, burned from droplets of salmon fat, we see a consistent target in the etymology and tales. The 9 drops of mead found where the worlds meet in Norse tales fits this theme. Any Irish reconstruction of Soma I call Drioganna, or "droplets".

Wednesday preparing to meet with Volkin.


We have drunk soma and become immortal;
we have found light, we have found the Gods.
Now what may foeman's malice do to harm us?
What, O Immortal, mortal man's deception? - Rg Veda Mandala 8 48.3

And one day, towards the end of the year,
as Caridwen was culling plants and making incantations,
it chanced that three drops of the charmed liquor flew out of the cauldron
 and fell upon the finger of Gwion Bach.
And by reason of their great heat he put his finger to his mouth,
 and the instant he put those marvel-working drops into his mouth,
 he foresaw everything that was to come, and perceived 
that his chief care must be to guard against the wiles of Caridwen,
 for vast was her skill. - The Mabinogion

"I was made from the ninefold elements
 - From fruit trees, From paradisiacal fruit, 
 From primroses and hill flowers 
From the blossoms of trees and bushes, 
From the roots of the earth was I made, 
 From the broom and the nettle, 
 From the water of the ninth wave. 
 Math enchanted me before I was made immortal, 
Gwydion created me with his magic wand. 
 From Emrys and Euryon, 
From Mabon and Modron, 
From five fifties of magicians like Math was I made - 
Made by the master in his highest ecstasy - 
By the wisest druids was I made before the world began, 
And I know the star-knowledge from the beginning of Time." - Taliesin, Chief Bard of the Britons (circa 600 CE) as found in the Cad Goddeu and translated by Caitlin Matthews

And when at the last the salmon of knowledge came, he brought it to where Finn was, and bade him to roast it, but he bade him not to eat any of it. And when Finn brought him the salmon after a while he said: "Did you eat any of it at all, boy?" "I did not," said Finn; "but I burned my thumb putting down a blister that rose on the skin, and after that, I put my thumb in my mouth." "What is your name, boy?" said Finegas. "Deimne," said he. "It is not, but it is Finn your name is, and it is to you and not to myself the salmon was given in the prophecy." With that he gave Finn the whole of the salmon, and from that time Finn had the knowledge that came from the nuts of the nine hazels of wisdom that grow beside the well that is below the sea. - Gods and Fighting Men, by Lady Gregory


Immortal Soma: It callest forth the outspun thread! - Rg Veda 9-22-7


1. FOR Indra, flow thou Soma on, as gladdening juice most sweet, intelligent,
Great, cheering, dwelling most in heaven.
2 Thou, of whom having drunk the Steer acts like a steer. drinking of this that finds the light,
He, Excellently Wise, is come to strengthening food, to spoil and wealth like Etaśa.
3 For, verily, Pavamana, thou hast, splendidest, called all the generations of
The Gods to immortality.Rg Veda 9-108-1,3

"Teeter records success with his use of Amanita muscaria and his experiments to duplicate the described occurrences surrounding the production, use and effects described for Soma and the Grail." - Teeter, Donald E. (2005, 2007). Amanita Muscaria; Herb of Immortality. 4800 Yager Lane, Manor, Texas 78653 ambrosiasociety.org: Ambrosia Society.

We have drunk soma and become immortal; we have found light, we have found the Gods.

Though the recipe for Soma is lost to us, we have a few clues that give us many possible recreations, each which one can make and try, although I don't recommend it for inexperienced Fairynauts.

Academia makes theories as best as they can, however I feel it is true religious practice that brings the truth of these sorts of things into focus. Ephedra doesn't make for the experiences described in the literature. There isn't a stimulant or speed that will make you see the gods. I feel stimulants are present only to induce wakefulness and memory of the experience. I have consistently tried 4 different recipes, none of which I'll reveal today. Out of them, only one consistently generates experiences with the gods, and give you the Illumination of Imbas Forosnai.

Similarly, without the reconstructionist community absorbing the theories and testing them for viability in a context of their rebuilt pagan worldview, those theories have no purpose at all. If you don't want to communicate face to face with gods who tell you things you don't already know, rather than imagining visions where they only tell you thing you already know, then who cares what the ingredients are.

I feel very strongly about wrapping one's head around a subject as well as wrapping the subject around one's head. On one hand, 1st person practice renders insight you won't find in academia. On the other, a lack of academic knowledge of the so called real paleopagan Old Religion leaves its spiritually apt newbies in ignorance about what we're aiming for.

Immortality

The immortality spoken of here and in the vedas refers to the 100% certain gnosis of the continuation of ones self beyond the grave. It is a falling away from this reaching illusory state of work, to a paradisiacal rest state. Without giving too much away, I'd like to describe that this gnosis isn't a belief, as belief is a certain type of faith mechanism in the mind, but the place in which this gnosis resides is seated in the known and cannot be shaken from. This gnosis also comes with some nihilistic truths which accompany the joy of knowing about the souls immortal nature.

Entheogen Shame

While there certainly are ways you can reach the same states without the help of entheogens, everyone's experience is different. The Objective and Multi-Subjective realities you'll experience under the influence of them teaches you that shame is wrong unless it is thrown from the hill of compassion. As Joseph Campbell has said, it takes a bigger hammer to kill the western ego.

Folks will say that you shouldn't rely on these sorts of things as a crutch. And while that is true for many folks, I have worked 20 years to crack my ego unsuccessfully and gain access to the Otherworld. The hammer of Soma in its first use is painful and terrifying. It comes with an anxiety that most folks wouldn't withstand. Other practices that can induce this state aren't covered by this article, nor am I interested in them as they seem tedious. They include things like a lifetime of ego denying meditation, holotropic breathing, and a combination of deprivations.

Seeing and the Frame Problem

The Framing Problem in Artificial intelligence tells us there are infinite ways to frame a set of circumstances. This tells us that the true act of "seeing" is based on mapping action to objects and place and extrapolating a three dimensional meaning-scape, while throwing out an infinite amount of relevant data. We know from this that "seeing", at the most basic level, is more than the reception and processing of visual data, but rather meaning. This can be interpreted to mean that there are no true understandings of any situation that match all the factors of reality, only relevant understandings framed in light of a motivation and meaning. The Frame problem has other implications on mysticism and philosophy because it insinuates that the human brain, in order to act, might know everything there is to know about a place and its objects in order to be able to disregard irrelevant information. I believe this is why the mind hides things from you and why you have a shadow, there is insanity in considering unending mountains of irrelevancy.

What does this have to do with Soma? Soma and its viable ingredients allow parts of the brain communicate that haven't communicated since before your memory begins. With all these faculties communicating, you have access to both mountains of irrelevant data, painted as useless hallucinations and patterns, while you also have access to its opposite, an abundance of all the wisdom their is, truly seeing its meaning and relevant implications.

Impact of Lore Traditions

Soma works best when you're familiar with the lore tradition. It uses all the symbols lying on the table of your psyche to communicate objective gnosis and truths to you outside of your psychological filters, 80% of which are involuntary. Before I was familiar with the lore, my short journey through American Drug culture, simply rendered fun trips and nothing that Timothy Leary or Ram Das would have called the "Moses Experience".

It is important to note that that particular experiment, albeit famous and cited by laymen, was conducted on theology students who were familiar with their own religious symbolism. So I have no idea that this will even work for folks who aren't church nerds or musicians.

Possible Ingredients

The five elements of Soma might be: ephedra, opium, cannabis, alcohol, and a mushroom. While folks tout the love of the Amanita Muscaria, this plant takes too much to produce any useable effects. It is most likely that these are not what we're looking for. The sacredness of cows and the importance of cattle raids and the Indo-European cattle cycle, we're looking for something in india that grows from cow poop. This is just common sense. In Ireland, "Liberty Caps" are native, while the native muscaria are uncommon. This is all my conjecture and conclusion based on the years of evidence I've looked at. I think the most compelling evidence is the Avestan tapestry found in the dynastic Noin-Ula burial site of the Xiongnu aristocracy.

Avestan Warrior presenting a Magi with the ingredient for Houma. 

According to Natalia V. Polosmak, Chief Researcher: “The ‘divine mushroom’ embroidered on the carpet resembles well-known psychoactive species Psilocybe cubensis.”
In my exploration of these things, I've found Muscarias to be terrible but not unworkable. Most of these ingredients are easily accessible. I personally replace opium and ephedra with one herb which is currently legal in the US called Kratom. It takes some experimenting with Kratom to find the liminal space between speedy and opioid-like.

The ingredients need to be mixed in right amounts, and it must be proportionate to weight of the participant.

Uisce Beatha and other things

Uisce Beatha evolved into whiskey. Uisce Beatha means waters of life in Irish. I strongly suspect, backed by practice, that droplets of this stuff made it into ritual blessing cups. This had to be how the priests were able to bring personal spirituality to the layfolk, and even cause human sacrifices to become willing. Libcorn was a possible entheogen used in England while other Psilocybe species might have been used throughout Europe. We already know the greeks used noxious gas to disrupt the normal egoic faculties so the gnosis could spill into the mind of the oracular practice. We don't know if aqua vitae or udenskyos originally had entheogenic qualities.

Legality in the US

The Constitution prevents the Federal and subsequent governments from making any "law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" and this is expressed in the case against the UDV and the Supreme Court circa 2000. udvusa.org states, "The religious use of Hoasca by the UDV in the United States has been affirmed as a legitimate free exercise of religion by The Supreme Court of The United States." So there is nothing preventing the same affirmation of a substance like muscaria or psilocybin.

BUT...

You will be arrested for buying or having any of the illegal substances involved in Soma and have to go through the court system which you will most certainly face jail time up to that point. You will most likely need to be a church in order to get an injunction, which would involve going through the court having to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt the religious nature to your practice. This is the secondary reason besides health risks. I know people who were in psychosis for week and months behind these substances. In the old days, in the Iron age, they likely were forbidden, harvested, and regulated by the clergy.

In our modern public practice, and even private group practices we don't use these substances, however, I envision a future where folks won't be regulated under such stiff circumstances and will be free to use whatever tools are at our disposal to kick open the doorway.

Next up about Soma

Make sure to watch for the next blog post about my experiences on Soma including proper preparation methods. Subscribe at the top so you won't miss it.

Comments

  1. Wow. This is the article I've been looking for! I've actually made some edible tinctures from aminita and cannabis and have had some incredibly opening/profound experiences, especially in regards to information channels opening up. Most of the time I'm in such awe, I find it hard to record my findings. I have been making notes though.

    Will be very interested in your next article. Thanks for Sharing.

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