Does the Nervous System Have an Intrinsic Archaic Language? Entoptic Images and Phosphenes

Abstract

Psychoactive plants have been consumed by many cultures, cults and groups during religious rituals and ceremonies for centuries and they have been influential on the eruption of many images, secret and religious symbols, esoteric geometrical shapes, archetypes, religious figures, and philosophy of religions since the dawn of Homo sapiens. Some of the psychoactive plants used for religious purposes were: narcotic analgesics (opium), THC (cannabis), psilocybin (magic mushrooms), mescaline (peyote), ibogaine (Tabernanthe iboga), DMT (Ayahuasca and Phalaris species), Peganum harmala, bufotenin, muscimol (Amanita muscaria), Thujone (absinthe, Arthemisia absinthium), ephedra, mandragora, star lotus, Salvia divinorum etc. An important property of these natural chemicals is to induce the human psyche to perceive optical forms and shapes that are existent in the subconscious and presumed collective unconsciousness, and which emerge during certain trance states and ASCs (altered states of consciousness). Some of these simple geometric forms are called entoptic images and phosphenes. Entopic images and phosphenes have been found in various cultural works of art and in the drawings on cave walls, which were formed during shamanic religious rituals since Neolithic times. Also entoptic images exist in many folkloric, traditional and cultural geometrical shapes. Long before the creation of languages, visual perception and information were the only source for mankind, alone of the primates, to perceive the outer world. This article reviews the possibility of an ancient forgotten language of visual signs and symbols, which is genetically existent in the human brain and emerges during ASCs, trance states, and consciousness altered by psychoactive plants.

The Consumption of Psychoactive Plants in Ancient Global and Anatolian Cultures During Religious Rituals: The Roots of the Eruption of Mythological Figures and Common Symbols in Religions and Myths

“…There had always been a rumor that men and women drank a very powerful "magical potion" during these rituals. Most probably, these rituals were the imitation of "Dionysian rituals" and the potion was some kind of psychoactive drink, such as absinthe (or kykeon) Nichols, 2004;Ruck, 2000Ruck, , 2006Ruck, , 2009Azar, 2006;Daniélou, 1992;Sayin, 2014). There are even 13th-century secular love songs about these rituals, known as Carmina Burana ('Songs of Beuern,' 5 songs of morals and mockery, 131 love songs, 40 2 The phenomenon of "conscious dreaming" just mentioned has the formal contemporary designation of "lucid dreaming", and the objective study of sleep by means of polysomnography in lucid dreamers has documented the fascinating co-occurrence of the waking state within the rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep state, as a distinct form of "dissociated state" in which the lucid dreamer can direct the dream action (LaBerge, 1990;Godwin, 1994;Mahowald, 1998;personal communication with Carlos H. Schenck). drinking and gaming songs, the most important collection of Goliard and vagabond songs, with obscene themes and satirical of the Church, of old Northern Europe culture; written in 1230) of which lyrics were used by Carl Orff to compose his famous work of the Carmina Burana in 1936 (Azar, 2006;Sayin 2014).…”

“…Its active hallucinogenic ingredient was probably thujone (in Artemisia absinthium), a cannabinoid receptor agonist, while it might have also contained other psychoactive plants and herbs, such as magic mushrooms (Webster, 2000), ergot compounds and LSA (kykeon; Ruck, 2000Ruck, , 2001Ruck, , 2013Ruck, , 2006aRuck, -b, 2009), opium, etc. (Ritter, 2008;Gimpel, 2006;Lachenmeier, 2006aLachenmeier, , 2006bAzar, 2006;Daniélou, 1992;Sayin, 2014). It is interesting to note that another cannabinoid receptor agonist, cannabidiol, has recently been found to effectively control the disturbing dreams/nightmares -i.e., hallucinations during REM sleep--and associated abnormal parasomnia behaviors -viz.…”

“…His mother was a mortal virgin, Semele, the daughter of king Cadmus of Thebes, and his father was Zeus, the king of the gods. Dionysus (Dionysos, Iacchus, Bacchus) was the god of the grape harvest, wine making and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology; however, after investigating the philosophy of Dionysus and the real nature of Dionysian rituals-orgies, we can also add the attributes of "the god of altered states of consciousness (ASC) and sexual satisfaction and orgasm"; since the term "orgasm" also comes from Dionysian orgia (orgia, orgiasm, orgiasmus, orgasmus, orgasm) ( Figure 5, 6, 7) (Daniélou, 1992;Azar, 2006;Sayin, 2014).…”

“…During the Dionysus rituals, Bacchae danced, joined the entertaining people, and served wine and psychoactive drinks, such as kykeon or absinthe. Most of the Bacchae were insatiable and hypersexual-hyper orgasmic ESR women who joined the dances of the festival, as well as the long lasting sexual activities of the Dionysus Cult (Sayin, 2011(Sayin, , 2012a(Sayin, , 2012b(Sayin, , 2014Euripides, B.C. ;Azar, 2006;Daniélou, 1992;Ruck, 2000Ruck, , 2001Ruck, , 2006aRuck, -b, 2013.…”