Benny Shanon is currently a professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, having received his PhD in experimental psychology from Stanford University. In 2002 he wrote Antipodes of the Mind, in which he details the effects of ayahuasca and recounts his several hundred trips with the hallucinogenic brew.
Shanon is perhaps most well known for his ‘Biblical entheogen hypothesis’. This is the idea that Moses, the founder and patriarch of the Jewish religion, was under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug during several key events that would define Judaism. His paper, Biblical Entheogens: a Speculative Hypothesis (which can be read here) draws on the similarities between the ayahuasca experience and important moments in Moses’ life.
Shanon also explains that two species of plant – the Acacia tree (which contains DMT) and the plant Peganum harmala or Syrian rue (which contains the MAOI to make DMT orally active) – were native to the Sinai peninsula and Southern Israel. Shanon argues that the people in that area had access to the same chemicals (DMT + MAOI) which are found in ayahuasca and that they had visionary experiences through combining and ingesting them.
Shanon maintains that there are five episodes in Moses’ life which strike him as indicative of a psychedelic experience. The first is Moses’ encounter with God, in the form of the burning bush. Shanon argues that Moses’ vision of the burning bush, and his interpretation of it as “the Divine”, was a sign that his consciousness was radically altered, most likely by an ayahuasca-like concoction. The second episode was when the rods belonging to Moses’ brother Aaron, and to the Pharaoh’s sorcerers, were transformed into serpents. The third episode was the famous moment at Mount Sinai when God handed down the Ten Commandments to Moses. The fourth episode is found in the book of Exodus when Moses asks to see God, but God covers Moses with his hand so that he can only see his back, not his face – as God says, “for there shall no man see Me and live.” The fifth episode is the shining appearance of Moses’ face when he brings back the Ten Commandments on his second return from Mount Sinai.
Shanon concludes that the subjective experiences of Moses – encountering “the Divine”, altered perception of time, synesthesia (‘seeing’ sounds or ‘hearing’ colours), visions of fire, serpents, light perceive as God, and entities whose faces aren’t visible – are all experiences common with the use of ayahuasca. He claims that the three-day “purification” before the Ten Commandments were received has its parallel in the preparation before an ayahuasca session. He also claims that ayahuasca users have a “shining” appearance after their psychedelic journey, just as Moses did. Shanon has the following to say:
Taken together, the botanical and anthropological data on the one hand, and the biblical descriptions as well as later Jewish hermeneutics on the other, are, I propose, suggestive of a biblical entheogenic connection. Admittedly, the smoking gun is not available to us. However, so many clues present themselves which, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, seem to cohere into an intriguing unified whole. I leave it to the reader to pass his or her judgment.
While his hypothesis is no doubt interesting and seems to offer an explanation of the strange episodes in the Bible, I do not think that there is enough compelling evidence to support it. His hypothesis also makes many assumptions which are required if the hypothesis is to be taken seriously. The main assumption is that Moses actually existed. The only evidence for Moses’ existence is from the Bible itself, which unfortunately cannot be considered a reliable form of evidence due to its historical inaccuracies, inconsistencies and unrealistic claims. We don’t even know who wrote the Bible or when it was written. The Bible is essentially a collection of stories, allegories and testimonies which have been passed down through word of mouth and then written down by various, unknown authors. The story of Moses’ life, as described in the Bible, does not necessarily point to a real historical figure called ‘Moses’.
I would also say that Shanon is probably guilty of confirmation bias in formulating his hypothesis. He is guilty of it because he seems to select all the ‘evidence’ (if it can be called that) to support his hypothesis, but ignores all the evidence which contradicts it. There is no evidence that the people native to the Sinai peninsula or Southern Israel used hallucinogenic brews, even if the plants were available to make them. You would think that if their combination was discovered to produce visionary experiences that someone would have spread the word, or written about it.
In South American indigenous cultures there is an oral tradition surrounding ayahuasca use; in ancient Indian texts a specific visionary substance is mentioned (Soma in the Vedic texts), and in the ancient Aztec religion we find mentions of teonanactl (“flesh of the gods”), as well as statues and art depicting mushrooms. These are all pieces of evidence which point to the use of hallucinogenic substances; however, in Judaism, there is none of this evidence. Shanon’s hypothesis (which to be fair he admits is speculative) is fascinating, and perhaps may even be vindicated in the future. But I am still not convinced that Moses, or the ancient Jewish people for that matter, were using entheogenic substances such as DMT.
I think it is worth a mention that Shanon is not alone in believing that certain passages in the Bible are indicative of altered states of consciousness. Dr Eric Altschuler, a neuroscientist at the Unversity of California, said that the biblical figure Ezekiel showed all the classic signs of temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy causes temporary changes in the electrical function of the brain, resulting in seizures which affect awareness, movement, or sensation. Altschuler asserts that if Ezekiel had this condition it could explain Ezekiel’s strange “visions” described in the Old Testament. Ezekiel also experienced frequent fainting spells and times when he was unable to speak, which are also signs of epilepsy. In addition, the book of Ezekiel is especially long when compared to the other books of the Bible; a fact which Altschuler says is a sign of hypergraphia (the desire to write compulsively which also afflicts many epileptics). Ezekiel was also extremely religious – hyper-religiosity being commonly associated with epileptics.
The problem with this line of reasoning is that, like with Shanon’s hypothesis, Altschuler’s ideas rely on the assumption that Ezekiel existed, and that the Bible is a reliable form of evidence. That said, it is entirely plausible that many of the episodes in the Bible are due to altered states of consciousness (with some authors claiming that the origin of all religions is visionary in nature), but just because this idea is attractive and persuasive, that does not mean it is true.
A very interesting article, thanks! It has special relevance to me, as I have for a long time been trying to explain an experience that I had in Sinai whilst I was living with bedouins. Dr Shanon's hypothesis contains what I feel is a vital clue that may help to shed light on my very bizarre experience, and vice versa. This was back in 2008. I was offered small cup of tea one night, as all the bedouins sat around a fire. That in itself was unusual… it seemed like all the men had come to be present around that fire, which I had never known them to do before. They were quiet and attentive, and one of them was drumming.
So I drank the tea. I immediately realised it was not tea at all, as it had a strange, bitter taste, so I asked what it was, and was told simply that it was "from God". Noone explained anything more to me, and I was taken by complete surprise when, after about half an hour, I started to hallucinate vividly. It continued for many hours, I couldnt say exactly, but I guess it was at least twelve hours.
The hallucinations were intense and otherwordly. There were a lot of intricate dynamic patterns comprising of animals, plants, snakes and birds. I could hear myriad voices all around me, and I was talking to them, yet not in any language I know. At one point there was a river of glowing symbols pouring from the sky, rather like the computer code from the Matrix, and if I concentrated I could pick out words and messages from among the mostly arcane characters and glyphs. At other times I felt like I was in a timeless, infinite hyperspace. It was the most surreal, yet profound experience, far exceeding any hallucinogenic experience I have ever had in terms of its vividness, intensity, creativity and 'cosmic' character. I have never tried Ayahuasca, so cannot compare it to that brew.
Now I really regret not finding out more about it from the people who gave it to me. I met another bedouin in another place, later, and described my time tripping on a mystery tea, and asked him if he knew what it might have been. He suggested that it might have been a plant known as 'sakrana' (which shares the same root as a common word meaning intoxicated), and I asked him to help me find some. We went into the desert and he found a sakrana plant and we made a fire and brewed some up. The effects, however, were completely different from the tea I had before. They were a kind of heavy torpor of the mind, combined with a total loss of body coordination and balance, such that I injured myself badly whilst on it. It wasnt the same substance at all, unfortunately, but may also be of interest to those researching ethnobotanicals of the Sinai.
It seems that I can only be sure of this much: That at least one indigenous community in the Sinai engages ritually in the consumption of a powerful psychotropic drink. They were a traditional community, living in tents, who had a deep connection with nature, had hundreds of ingenious uses for the plants of the desert, and seemed to have a spiritual approach to life.
Hardly a smoking gun, but nonetheless, I have a gut feeling that if the drink were to be studied, it would turn out to be the Peganum Harmala / Acacia concoction you mention. Its use by contemporary bedouins living in a very traditional way would suggest that the ingestion of this may be the continuation of a tradition stretching back to antiquity?
Turiya. Your experience with drinking the tea the first time is a true Dmt experience. I would imagine they brewed acadia confusa tree bark and syrian rue seeds. Acadia Confusa has a lot of dmt inside its bark and by taking syrian rue seeds crushed they act as a RIMA, same as a MAOI inhibitor. Research Dmt experiences and you will find a lot of people have similar experiences to yours as I have as well. I met "GOD" on Dmt and had truly a spiritual experience. I can definitely see this correlation to Acadia Confusa and the burning bush. This makes perfect sense to those who have taking Dmt and I bet it makes a lot of sense to you.
could also be cubensis , there too are just as divine and ground shattering , infact they are very similar as it is.
There is indeed much art depicting the sacred mushroom within the Catholic Church. I suspect the Vatican and other strict religious entities suppress and frown upon its use, but it seems quite obvious that it was used during those early times as it is today. One story that stands out to me is one of Moses and the burning bush. That burning bush may very well have been a sort of acacia tree which allowed Moses his Revelations ☺
There is a body of neurological literatrue that suggest Mose had temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) which would account for have this hallucination. There are other accounts that VanGogh had TLE and painted what he saw during seizures. So we have two equally viable explanations.
I read “Israeli Scholar Says Moses Was Tripping When He Saw the Burning Bush” and would make only one point: I never followed up on any idea (or instruction or direction, etc.) I got while tripping; once the visuals and sound effects were done, so was I. But good old Moses followed up like he was on God’s own amphetamines. 😁 After he came down from his burning bush trip, he had a full agenda: he returned to Egypt, harangued the Pharaoh (in coordination with God’s visitation of at least 10 miraculous phenomena — including the killing of the first-born of everyone (including animals) not protected by the blood of the lamb — and led approximately 2,000,000 Israelites to the Promised Land. So … Moses’ acid trips were far more productive (and impactful to an entire race) than at least mine. 😳
Dear sam,
The reason we no longer have an oral tradition about how to make the formula is because it died out with the Avtinas family. They were the only ones who knew how to make it, and they kept it an absolute secret least it fall into the wrong hands.
The ancient hebrews smoked their DMT rather than drank it, the “sacred incense” had 11 different ingredients, only 4 of which we know what the hell they were. But one things for sure, the sacred altar on which this incense was burned was made out of acacia. And that means they were inhaling the burned acacia too, so if one of the secret ingredients was syrian rue, which it is almost guaranteed to be, as it considered a holy incense all across the middle east, that would be enough to make the magic happen.
Once a year on the day of atonement they would do what we call today “hot boxing” where the high priest would close the curtains, and stand there inhaling in the incense filled room. Read exodus.
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Hi John, thanks for your comment. Can I ask what your sources are for this information? I can’t find any evidence to do with the Avitnas family having this formula, ancient Hebrews smoking sacred incense and entering into altered states as a result, or high priests ‘hotboxing’ a room with this sacred incense.
I think hes talking about some passages in the Talmud. Somewhere in Yoma I think. (Its been a while since ive read through them). But there was one family in charge of the secret “spices” used during the offering of the Ketoret.
The high priest did make this ketoret offering to God in a secluded room. Ive never known anyone refer to it as “hotboxing,” but that was done every Yom Kippur, thats straight out of the Exodus.
But yes, there was a sacred/secret spice offering referred to as the ketoret.
As someone who has experienced dmt, I too came to this theory as well. I’m 90% sure it was some type of near death experience that brought him close to God. I’m not sure though if ancient people would have the ability to extract the dmt. I’ve extracted dmt. I used acacia,lye, water, and naphtha which ancient people could of had all of. But to form dmt out of the naphtha you need extreme cold. Where would they of had access to freezing conditions in the desert? Or perhaps they had another way to extract it into an edible liquid. Or maybe it was brought from elsewhere. But, the fact that the acacia tree is mentioned so much in the bible tells me they had knowledge of where it came from. And, since it grows in that region it was probably made there. And the Syrian rue also grows there. When taken together they create an ayahuasca type experience. To just injest the bark and not do an extraction, you would have to eat a ridiculous amount. It would be like eating a pound of mulch from your garden. I don’t know too much about the Syrian rue. If it has to be extracted or if it’s eaten as is, I don’t know. I know the Egyptians used it as like a sleep aid or something but that’s about it. So yeah, my skepticism is just due to their ability to produce this potion similar to ayahuasca. Why don’t we hear about its use throughout history?
A curious fact concerns the main type of visual hallucination that accompanies the intoxications induced by over-dosage, which consists in seeing flames in the visual field. This has been reported many times by the intoxicated people, who saw doctors and walls of first-aid centers shrouded in flames.
https://kahpi.net/syrian-rue-peganum-harmala-ayahuasca/