Psychoactive Deals with the Devil: From King Solomon to Rock & Roll
This is an excerpt from Sky Gods and the Recipe for Immortality: The secret influence of psychoactivity over science, society, and the supernatural.
According to the legendary Faustian story, King Solomon built the ancient Israelite temple with demonic entities. An article published by Stanford University explains:
“According to the Talmud, written in Babylon around 500 A.D., Solomon cut a deal with the devil to build the great temple of Jerusalem — with disastrous consequences. In order to build the temple, there were secrets he could only learn by capturing a demon. The demon gets loose and does terrible things to Solomon…
The Faust legend… is the quintessential modern metaphor to explain man’s helplessness before the results of his ingenuity, whether cloning or nuclear power… all the double-edged advances that are like letting a genie out of the bottle…”
Once built, the ancient Temple hosted psychoactive rituals such as burning Cannabis and Frankincense, drinking…
