Stella Kramrisch is transporting us in another world where we have to put aside our Western conditioned mind and to fully open our heart to grasp the complex world of the hindus Gods and particularly of Shiva, the Great God. But more than unveiling the secret stories of Shiva, this book is actually highlighting the "real presence" of Shiva in our current turmoiled World. A premonitory book !

Stella Kramrisch has done a brilliant job bringing Shiva to life. I have many other books which contain the stories of Shiva and Parvati; but no other does justice to his fantastic, immense, amazing, mind-blowing qualities. Shiva even has the power to kill with his 'lingam' which can be used as a weapon to annihilate his enemies. For those of you are interested in tantra and Kundalini, you will be delighted to understand that snakes form Shiva's ambience and that this ascetic is also master of the erotic and dance. Stella's translations will stir you imgination back to a more auspicious time. The stories make the conquests of today's corporate rulers seem pathetic.

If you are interested obtaing knowlege of the fly agaric muchroom, the soma of the anceint vedic culture of Idia, this is a good book to start with. Most of the information given is helpful and is approached from an analytical point of view. but since i'm wrighting this, it i'm going to clear up some of the mistakes made in the other reviews. The fly agaric mushroom is quite toxic. However, if heated and dried proparly the ibotenic acid (the toxic chemical) is changed to muscimol making it non toxic. Also there is no psilocybin contained in this mushroom. check out this book it's a good read

Although I only gave it 4 stars, this book is actually outstanding. I did not give it the highest evaluation because, although R.G. Wasson's material was monumental, some of the other material included did not seem of the same caliber. Wasson's perspective is really a must read for anyone interested in this subject. He was not only extremely intelligent, but he also had an innate ability to phrase his ideas in a manner that really conveyed a total picture of what he was discussing. His perspective of calling them "personal experiences rather than hallucinations" really describes his intelligent attitude of pioneering. He had the insight to realize that he was discovering a new frontier that no one had the understanding to call true, false or imaginary. He was aware of the power of people using psychoactive materials and did not try to fit all of this into a politically correct literary structure that the current autorities of his era would accept. He provides his own, somewhat negative, perspective of Dr. Timothy Leary "and those of his ilk". He did not agree with the psychedelic crowd about using these materials for entertainment and believed that there was something inherently sacred about them. Although he was the first person of modern civilization to discover and document the use of the Psilocybin mushrooms of Central America he realized there was a difference between the effects of these mushrooms and the Amanita Muscaria which has no Psilocybin and apparently produced effects that spawned a number of the major religions of the world. I recommend this book to anyone who would like REAL information concerning psychoactive experience.

I have not read the book though I would like to. However I am writing to notify all readers of these reviews of the DANGEROUS ERROR in Joseph Pierre's review of Persephone's Quest : Entheogens and the Origins of Religion. The mistake Mr. Pierre makes is in identifying the Fly Agaric mushroom as a source of psilocybin. It certainly is not a source of psilocybin and nor has Mr. Wasson claimed that it is. Merely an unfortunate error on Mr. Pierre's part. As he does note - the Fly Agaric mushroom is quite deadly. Psilocybin comes from different mushrooms - notably from the psilocybin and some panaeoulus varieties. READER OF THESE REVIEWS: BE FOREWARNED!!!