It sounds like a few different things got mashed together there. Ergot is a hallucinogenic fungus that grows on rye, and is speculated to be the cause of some of the witch panics. It’s not the same fungus found in Roquefort, but it is what they use to make LSD.
Witches flying is hypothesized to be entheogen use, since a common side effect is feelings of floating, flying, or otherwise ‘being high’.
Ah, I looked it up and accepted “rye bread” without actually reading the name of the fungus, so you’re probably right about that part.
The broomstick myth that I’ve heard does indeed involve substance abuse to achieve an altered state of mind. The broomstick specific part was because apparently some women would put the substance on the end of a broomstick and apply it, shall we say, internally, thinking that this would achieve greater (or perhaps faster) effect. I don’t know whether entheogen was the material in question.
As initially mentioned, I make no claim that this is true, only that I read it a long time ago and never really questioned it.
edit: Forgot to thank you for the clearly knowledgeable response!
I don’t know whether entheogen was the material in question.
En-theo-gen, where ‘theo’ is the same as ‘theology’, roughly means ‘to commune with god’, so it’s any psychoactive substance used religiously. It covers everything from the wine in christian communion to a witch’s psychoactive sybian, haha.
Forgot to thank you for the clearly knowledgeable response!
It sounds like a few different things got mashed together there. Ergot is a hallucinogenic fungus that grows on rye, and is speculated to be the cause of some of the witch panics. It’s not the same fungus found in Roquefort, but it is what they use to make LSD.
Witches flying is hypothesized to be entheogen use, since a common side effect is feelings of floating, flying, or otherwise ‘being high’.
Ah, I looked it up and accepted “rye bread” without actually reading the name of the fungus, so you’re probably right about that part.
The broomstick myth that I’ve heard does indeed involve substance abuse to achieve an altered state of mind. The broomstick specific part was because apparently some women would put the substance on the end of a broomstick and apply it, shall we say, internally, thinking that this would achieve greater (or perhaps faster) effect. I don’t know whether entheogen was the material in question.
As initially mentioned, I make no claim that this is true, only that I read it a long time ago and never really questioned it.
edit: Forgot to thank you for the clearly knowledgeable response!
En-theo-gen, where ‘theo’ is the same as ‘theology’, roughly means ‘to commune with god’, so it’s any psychoactive substance used religiously. It covers everything from the wine in christian communion to a witch’s psychoactive sybian, haha.
Any time!