Alcohol and the Alchemy of Spirit Summary and Analysis

McKenna discusses the ways humans have tried to replace natural intoxicants. Alcohol has remained as an intoxicating substance from Archaic cultural ties. Honey, a medicinal substance in all traditional cultures, has been used as a preservative. Fermented honey, called mead, has been a recreational drug of Indo-European tribes. The lore surrounding honey is that bees came from the carcasses of cows, establishing another cattle-intoxicant link. McKenna views these substances as weak substitutes for the original relationship with mushrooms.

Fermentation of grains and fruits into wine appeared later in Greek culture. Their alcohol content could not have exceeded 14%; however, Greek wines were regarded as needing several dilutions . They may have been more similar to an extract of tincture than modern day wine.

Alcohol fermentation is an example of movement from a natural...