> > > Why should major book fairs take place in October, any particular reason for that? ... The last time I went, I bought a book called "The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross," which is filled with a total mish-mash of Sumerian, Arabic, Hebrew and Greek text. I have absolutely no idea what the author is talking about. It's great.
>
> YES! I *want* to read that! hehehehe.

Heh. I think you would too, because I've been looking it over and it's even *more* amusing than I thought. You'd think, with a title like that, that this book extolls the pleasures of mystical flight in hallucinatory experiences, as conveniently fueled by Little Brown Mushrooms. But this book is far more earnest and Byzantine in its obscurity. As far as I can tell -- and it is pretty hard to tell -- the author's prime thesis is that the imagery, and symbolism, of the mushroom in history is the all-powerful 'key' to understanding the Mystery of the Resurrection. Literally.

Just as an illustration of how truly weird this is -- here's example from the English portion of the text, where he re-interprets the meaning of Daniel 5:25:

/ / / / / / / / "The introductory formula, MENE, MENE, is comparable in form and content with the invocation Eloi, Eloi (E-LA-UIA) that preceded the secret mushroom name (see Ch. XVII). It refers probably to the Semitic god of fate, *Meni* (Isa 65:11; RSV "Fortune"), equivalent of the Sumerian NAM-TAR, "fate demon",¹ source of the mushroom designations Nectar and Mandrake. TEKEL is our "bolt-" fungus, and PARSIN is the Sumerian BAR-SIL, "womb", a reference to the mushroom volva. We meet PARSIN in the Greek form *Perseia*, as the magic herb that sprang from the ground after Perseus had dropped the chape of his scabbard (*mukės*, also meaning "mushroom") whilst flying over what was to become Mycenae (the "mushroom" city).²"

Wow... Is this terrific, or what? I collect books about mushrooms but I've never seen anything like *this*. I've never seen anyone expend so much earnest effort preparing a 'serious' scholarly manuscript which nevertheless gets every single etymological derivation 100% wrong... in three languages. :-)


> > > ...and I got an illuminated calligraphic edition of the Q'uran in Arabic for $2.
> > >
> > > Holy cow. You mean done by hand, right? I want one now. :-)
> > >
> > > Ayako
> >
> > Wolf "B-G, does your Qur'an have several flyleafs bearing a very elaborate single 'knot' of Arabic writing inside a large cartouche? Just curious" spirit
>
> Yes, it does. But it isn't *handwritten*, Ayako. At least, it is, but it's a printed version of a handwritten book. If you see what I mean. It hasn't been inked directly onto the pages of the book.
>
> Hmm. Now that I think of it, how do I know it *is* the Koran? (Note wimp's way out of spelling dilemma.)

If it has the intertwined text knot, I'm guessing it's probably a Qur'an. The intertwined text is a highly stylized way of writing God's name as a prayer in itself. So it might say something like "Allah, the Mighty, the Merciful and Munificent..."


> It might be an illuminated calligraphic Arabic edition of Harry Potter for all I know.

Ha, probably not. It would be one thing to translate Harry Potter into plain-text Arabic for the secular entertainment industry -- and quite another to translate a 'satanic' series about 'witches' and 'crystal-ball gazers' into a calligraphic style which imitates the illuminatory text of sacred works. That would be a great way for the Arabic translator to get an instant fatwa placed on his or her unlucky head.

Wolf "oh I know you were joking, but where's all the fun in ignoring your comment? ;)" spirit