Plate 3:1a – Codex Aureus of Echternach, Benedictine Abbey, 1030 CE Notice the mushrooms in the center frame. This is the parable of the rich man and the beggar, Lazarus (Luke 16:19-30). Notice Lazarus’s spirit is exiting from his nose, the mushroom in his mouth, and spiritual cape as his soul leaves his body.
Plate 3:1b – The rich man does not get the mushroom or communion with God. His soul is yanked out of his mouth by two demons.
Plate 3:2 – The Assumption of the Virgin, Sacramentary Reichenau, Early Eleventh Century. Biblioteque nationale de France. Notice the mushroom-shapes in blankets and shroud covering Mary.
Plate 3:3a – Christ in Majesty, Sacramentary, Saint-Denis, Mid-Eleventh Century, Bibliotheque Nationale de France. Lots of mushrooms in the hems and stoles. Notice how the thumb of the Seraph (above right) forms the stalk of the mushroom.
Plate 3:3b – Christ in Majesty, Sacramentary, Saint-Denis, mid-Eleventh Century, Bibliotheque nationale de France.
Plate 3:4 – The Temptation of Adam, St. Botolph, Hardham, England, 1100 CE Notice the mushrooms on the right, the Tree of Good and Evil. The lower right portion of the painting has been scraped away and plastered over.
Plate 3:5a –Basilica of Saint Clement, Twelfth Century, Interior of Second Basilica.
Ravenna, Italy, Basilica of San Vitale Christ Crowns a Martyr Saint, Sixth Century CE
Here we see the Sacrificial Lamb (Jesus) on top of a chalice, the bottom of which is the stalk of the Amanita muscaria.
Plate 3:5b – Basilica of Saint Clement, Twelfth Century, Interior of Second Basilica.
Plate 3:5c – Cernunnos, flanked by Hermes (messenger of the gods) on the right and Apollo on the left (sun, medicine, healing, prophecy), holds the cornucopia, spilling forth an endless supply of grain. Grain flanked by a deer (nature) and a bull (civilization), c. 50 BCE, France.
Pashupati, Lord of the Animals, The Good Shepherd with an erect phallus seated in meditation. In front, ready to receive, are two water buffalo with their heads turned over their shoulders looking up in expectation. Indus Valley 2400 BCE
Ceres, Roman Goddess of fertility, with fruit and vegetation in a basket on her head. Note her large breasts from which issue endless life held in the beaks of two large geese –dolphins(?) who represent the soul.
Plate 3:6 – “Novgorod Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Dormition early Thirteenth Century. Notice the obvious mushroom in the angels’ stoles. Also notice the mushroom being released from the angel in the form of a red dove and the right shoulder and arm of Cherub.
Plate 3:7 – Page from the Tree of Jesse, Expanatio in Isaiam (St. Jerome’s Commentary on Isaiah), Abbey Citeaux, Burgundy, France, c. 1125 CE Note the mushrooms in Mary’s sash and hem.
Plate 3:8 – Gospel of John Floreffe Bible Mosan Region (Belgium) British Library, c. 1156 CE Notice where fingers are pointing. Seraphs represent the fire of God, the negative effects of the mushroom. Notice mushroom skirts or cloaks, mushrooms on either side of the Aten disk, the mushroom dove in the Seraph’s “hair” (keep this in mind), and the mushroom cap at his feet. A Throne to the right of Seraph is also the underside of a mushroom cap. Thrones, wheels, are transportation devices. Notice the mushroom as part of God’s cloak or throne on the right (above right).
Plate 3:9 – St. John contemplating the vision of the lamb. Paul and Herman de Limbourg, 1416 CE, France. Notice the Seraphs, lamb, and book. The lamb, the sacrificial lamb, is symbolic of Jesus, and the symbolism derives from the appearance of the cap of the Amanita muscaria suggesting blood on wool.
Plate 3:10a – Gospel of Henry the Lion, Helmarshausen, Bavaria, 1175-1188 CE Notice the mushroom feet on the Madonna and the mushroom between them. Notice the mushrooms in the folds of robes and Matilda’s peculiar feet/shoes, also noted on St. Blasius, but not on St. Giles.
Plate 3:10b – Gospel of Henry the Lion, Helmarshausen, Bavaria, 1175-1188 CE Notice what Mother Mary is holding in her hand (see Plate 3: 63b). This is the burning bush, the mushroom, evidenced by the scabby bumps or portions of the veil around the top and outline of the stalk.
Plate 3:11 – The Tree of Jesse, Chartres Cathedral, Lancet Window, West end of Nave, 1140-1150 CE Notice what Jesus’ feet are resting on. He is emerging from a mushroom cap. This is also a representation of the Tree of Life (levels of consciousness) in the Qabalah.
Plate 3:12 – Hildegard’s Awakening, Bingen, Germany, 1150 CE Notice the scalloped-shaped object with tentacles oozing down to Hildegard’s head, the fingers of God. A play on the Aten sun disk or “ firry bush?” Notice the foot stool, shape over right foot, mushroom-shape beside her right leg in her habit, and the castle domes. Notice monk Volmar guiding the experience.
Plate 3:13 – Macrocosm Microcosm Hildegard of Bingen, 1160 CE Note the multicolored disk is likely a mushroom. Also notice the solar plexus in the shape of a mushroom-cross.
Plate 3:14 – Cultivating the Cosmic Tree Hildegard of Bingen, c. 1150-1160 CE The circular shape is like the cap of Amanita muscaria. The little man with red hat is Amanita muscaria, and this probably indicates the time of year “he” is harvested.
Plate 3:15 – Cosmic Healing, Cosmic Regeneration, Hildegard of Bengin, c. 1170 CE Notice the knee-thigh mushroom motif, the mushroom-shapes in the albs and the mushroom-shapes in and among the threads or roots.
Plate 3:16 – The Twelve Great Feasts, Tetraptych Calendar Icon, Twelfth Century, Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt. Note especially the Amanita shoes (transporting devices), book held by St. Paul (the mystery), and the Cherub above Mary’s head with the shoulder-mushroom motif.
Plate 3:17 – The Nativity, Stammheim Missal, 1169 CE Notice the mushrooms in the hems, Mary’s alb pulled over her feet and on the branches of the fiery bush. The head and nose of Baby Jesus might be a mushroom as well.
Plate 3:18a – Canterbury (Anglo Catalan) Psalter, 1180 CE From left to right, this is the story of creation, closer to the original meaning. The above is God emerging from the center of a fiery red cap suspiciously resembling the underside of a mushroom. In his left hand, a variation of the Alpha and Omega, and the right, the scales of justice.
Plate 3:18b – Canterbury (Anglo Catalan) Psalter, 1180 CE God in Majesty, and the mushroom which comes in many shapes and sizes.
Plate 3:18c – Canterbury (Anglo Catalan) Psalter, 1180 CE God first creates himself in the form of the magic mushroom, in front, flanked by the sun and moon, then birds and fishes, God’s messengers.
Plate 3:18d – Canterbury (Anglo Catalan) Psalter, 1180 CE God in Majesty. God warns himself about his creation while the deity (right image) pulls something out of a Cherub’s cape and fashions Eve from Adam’s rib imbuing her with His spirit. Notice the interesting curlicues surrounding the Cherubs.
Plate 3:18e – Canterbury (Anglo Catalan) Psalter, 1180 CE God’s warning (left frame) but in a dualistic world there has to be a response. Thus Snake, who represents manifestation of the wisdom of God. Note the cluster of mushrooms at the top of the tree.
Plate 3:18f – Canterbury (Anglo Catalan) Psalter, 1180 CE Adam and Eve, now understanding there is no future in the Garden, are expelled. Notice the celestial erection in Gabriel’s Cape. Adam and Eve harvest their own—they know the secret. The third frame is God’s choice of the Amanita over whatever Cain represents, perhaps, a less desirable genus and species, perhaps Amanita phallodies.
Plate 3:19 – Miniature from Germany, Twelfth-Century. Are these mushrooms or simply trees? Also notice the mushroom-wing on both angels, with the one on top, God, in the form of an angel and then Gabriel who 86s our two heroes.
Plate 3:20 – Medieval Miniature, Jacob’s Dream, Twelfth Century. Notice the mushroom-rocks, the mushrooms Jacob is leaning against, and the inverted mushroom design in the arch above the doorway; we saw this at St. Apollinaire.
Plate 3:21 – Miniature from Germany, Twelfth Century. Notice the mushroom shape of the mountain upon which Cain and Abel are sitting.
Plate 3:22 – Fresco, Plaincourault Chapel, France, Thirteenth Century. The mushroom-tree was a popular image because it can be easily mistaken for simply a “strange tree.” The counterpart to the mushroom-tree is the tree-mushroom, usually with three tops, the center turned to reveal the “gills.” The tree-mushroom might represent the earlier representation of this motif.
Plate 3:23 – St. Catherine’s, Sinai, Egypt, late Thirteenth Century. Notice how the blood oozing from Jesus’s feet becomes the Amanita muscaria under his feet; the stalk and cap are clearly recognizable. There are two mushrooms in the sleeve of Mary to his right and the figure on the left is Eve, as a mushroom; notice her Amanita shoes. Eve brought us sin (knowledge) and Mary is there to remove this “sin” via Jesus.
Plate 3:24 – The Deposition, The Holy Sepulcher Chapel, Winchester Cathedral, 1220 CE Notice the mushroom cap on the ground formed from Jesus’s blood, and the analogue to that in the cloak of the gentleman removing the nails. Also notice the mushroom tree on the far right. There was a similar tree on the left but it has been plastered over.
Plate 3:25 – Ascension, Virgin and Apostles, Monastery of the Syrians, c. 1225 CE Notice the ends of Mary’s stole terminate in the shape of mushrooms, the shoulder mushroom motif, and the burning bush in Jesus’s left hand. Compare mushroom in stole to .
Plate 3:26 – St. John the Little and Sisoes, Monastery of St. Anthony, c. 1232 CE Notice the mushrooms along the hems.
Plate 3:27 – On left and below, St. George, Monastery of St. Antony, c. 1232 CE, and variation on right, Nineteenth Century. Notice the stalk of the mushroom is clearly visible.
Plate 3:28 – The Angel Gives John the Book to Eat, Douce Apocalypse, 1265-1270 CE Notice the angel represents the stalk of the mushroom-cloud from which he or she emerges, and the celestial erection in John’s cape once he eats the “book.”
Plate 3:29 – The Appearance of the Woman Clothed with the Sun, Douce Apocalypse, 1265-1270 CE
Plate 3:30 – The Great Whore Seated on the Beast, Douce Apocalypse, 1265-1270 CE Notice the tree-mushroom in the center of the image.
Plate 3:31 – The Great Whore Drunk with Blood from the Saints, Douce Apocalypse, 1265-1270 CE Notice the mushroom-shapes in the cape an alb and that the whore’s left leg is uncovered with a possible mushroom cap at the level of her knee.
Plate 3:32 – The Seed of the Woman Fight the Dragon, Douce Apocalypse, 1265-1270 CE Note the mushroom cleverly hidden in the scimitar.
Plate 3:33a – The River of Life, Douce Apocalypse, 1265-1270 CE Note the mushroom-trees and the River of Life flowing from Christ, a possible borrowing from the Egyptian tradition. Christ holds his determinative, the Sacrificial Lamb, in the hokeypokey stance, while John is being led to Christ (probably by Michael) through the field of mushrooms.
Plate 3:33b – The top image is from the Book of the Dead of Ani, who is being lead to Osiris by Anubis and the River of Life that issues from Osiris’s throne. Mushrooms in their own way “weigh” a person’s spiritual readiness, but notice the lotus between Osiris and Ani. The bottom image is of Vishnu on the Cosmic Serpent dreaming the dream of the universe.
Plate 3:34 – Stigmatization of Saint Francis, Rinaldo da Siena, Leaf from a Gradual, Italian, Siena, 1275 CE Here we see, in one frame, the mushroom trees, Seraph (fire-maker), book, cross, plus an extra upside down mushroom. Note the tree-foil or fleur-de-lys-shape in the branches and leaves.
Plate 3:35 – Canticles of King Alfonso the Wise, Spain (Castile), 1283 CE Notice the house structures in the form of Amanita, and that the figures next to Jesus on the cross are standing on mushrooms.
Plate 3:36 – Monastery of St. Marcarius, Sacrifice of Isaac and Evangelists, Egypt late Thirteenth Century CE This is a play on the Transfiguration of Apollinarius of the Sixth Century.
Plate 3:37 – De Lisle Psalter, London, 1308-1310 CE. Notice the knife used in the bris is in the shape of a mushroom, and the mushroom cloud in the upper right.
Plate 3:38 – Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux, Paris, 1325-1328 CE Notice the blood oozing from Jesus’s foot and becoming the mushroom underneath. Also notice the mushroom shape in his loin cloth, and the mushroom in Mary’s garment, bottom left.
Plate 3:39 – Kloster Kirche Konigsfelden Switzerland, Fourteenth Century. Notice the blood-mushrooms coming from his wounds. We will see a similar scene in the New World.
Plate 3:40a – St. Mark’s Basilica, Thirteenth-Century. The holes in Jesus’s hands are referred to in The Book of Hours.
Plate 3:40b – St. Mark’s Basilica. Flanking Jesus are mushrooms not trees or a case of reverse perspective. Reverse perspective was constructed by the art historians to explain away the mushrooms. Also note the mushrooms in the border beneath Adam and Eve.
Plate 3:41 – St. Mark’s Basilica, Thirteenth Century, Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Notice the strange plants and shapes, and the shape of the cape or stole on disciple’s back, his arm becoming the stalk, with the red stripe the annulus.
Plate 3:42 – Agony in Gethsemane, St. Mark’s Basilica, South Wall, Dome of Pentecost, Thirteenth Century. Although subject to interpretation, this is more likely “trippen” in the garden, a bad trip, and a warning from the mushroom, Jesus, that only those with a positive mind-set should enter into the body of Christ. Notice the ankh in the tip of Jesus’s stole.
Plate 3:43 – Symbol for Gethsemane along side Amanita muscaria with inverted cap forming a cup or “chalice,” the Grail.
Plate 3:44 – St. Mark’s Basilica, Anastasis, or a reference to Jesus’ descent into hell (Apostle’s Creed). This is better interpreted as saving people from spiritual as well as physical death and torment; triumph of life over death. Notice the mushrooms.
Plate 3:45 – Holy Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt, Twelfth Century. Anastasis, or reference to Jesus’s descent into hell and symbolically saving people from spiritual and physically death.
Plate 3:46a – St. Mark’s Basilica. Salome dancing with head of John the Baptist on mushroom platter, 1343-1354 CE Notice dress is in the colors of the mushroom cap, with white sleeves representing the portions of the cap that stick to the stalk. Scene refers to Biblical murder of John the Baptist. On right: Platter with John the Baptist’s head, Gruuthuse Museum, Brugge, Belgium (2001).
Plate 3:46b – Gruuthuse Museum, Brugge, Belgium. Chopping block on left, Guillotine on right. Notice the mushrooms in the tapestry on the left.
Plate 3:47 – St. Mark’s Basilica, Dome of the Ascension, Twelfth Century. Notice the Mushroom hanging from the book in Jesus’s hand, the angel mushrooms, and the mushroom-shapes in their stoles and albs.
Plate 3:48a – St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice, The Annunciation, Twelfth Century. Notice the mushroom in stole of angel Gabriel, the pine tree (St. Anne), and the jar symbolic of the container for Christ. This represents one of many trinities in the Christian tradition, the one closest to the botanical mystery of the pine tree, its roots, and Amanita muscaria. Make note of the well.
Tree goddess dispensing life from alabaster jar to the priest Panehesy, “Chief Servitor of the Aten in Akhetaten” (Amarna, 1353-1332 BCE), Eighteenth Dynasty (1539-1332). Notice the strange fruits and the outline of the tree.
Plate 3:48b – Black Virgin of Montserrat, Ninth Century Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat. Also note the mushroom at the top of Crest of Catalonia.
Plate 3:49 – St. Mark’s Basilica, Thirteenth Century, North Atrium, Moses and the Miracle of the manna. It also appears that the manna is being washed in the stream issuing from the rock; it turns the water red.
Plate 3:50 – St. Mark’s Basilica, Dome of Genesis (first on the right in the atrium), Thirteenth Century. There are many mushrooms in this mosaic.
Plate 3:51 – St. Mark’s Basilica, Genesis, the Tree of Life on the left and the Tree of Good and Evil (consciousness, paired opposites) on the right. Notice how the top cap is turned so the “gills”/branches are exposed, and what appear to be baby mushrooms growing off the branches. The left tree is also a mushroom-tree. Notice the interesting plant growing between them
Plate 3:52 – St. Mark’s Basilica, 1220-1280 CE God is giving to Adam Spiritos, the breath of life, in whose right hand is a mushroom. If you look closely at the deity’s thighs and shins, the thighs are the caps of the mushroom and the shins are the stalks. The sash is likewise blown back into the form of two mushroom-shapes. Note the angels to the left and the mushroom-shapes in the hems of their gowns.
Plate 3:53 – St. Mark’s Basilica, Genesis, Story of Adam and Eve. Notice how the deity has his hands all over Eve.
Plate 3:54 – St. Mark’s Basilica. Here is close-up of Eve speaking to Snake, but Snake is informing they will not die if they eat the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil. Adam is pointing to the tree to which Snake (God) is referring.
Plate 3:55– St. Mark’s Basilica, Thirteenth Century. Noah leading animals off the arc along with his wife and their three sons and their wives, all righteous people whom God saved from the flood. Notice the mushroom originating in Noah’s sash and swinging under the lion, his robe, and the robes of his sons.
Plate 3:56 – Gradual (Gothic choir book), from St. Katharinenthal, Upper Rhine (Zurich), 1270-1274 CE Contains chants to be sung by the monastic community during prayer service. These two miniatures depict the beheading of St. John the Baptist. If you look closely at the severed neck on the right you will see a mushroom growing out of the blood. When the Baptist’s head is turned neck up, the blood and neck form a mushroom (Amanita muscaria).
Plate 3:57a – Nursing Madonna, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Siena, Palazzo Archivescovile, 1330 CE This represent the mushroom “nursing” from the root (Mary) of the pine tree (St Anne). The mushroom is cleverly hidden in the the fold of swaddling cloth.
Virgin of the Blessed Womb, Mid-Nineteenth Century, south-central Russia, Collezione Bucceri-De Lotto. Notice how Mary’s breast is in an anatomically impossible position and wrapped in an Amanita mushroom cap with the breast representing the stalk.
La Vierge au Coussin Vert, Andrea di Bartolo, dit Solario, Milan, Italy, c. 1510 CE Note the breast in an anatomically sort-of incorrect position.
Plate 3:57b – Isis flanked by Amun on the right and Thoth on the left who assist her in the virgin birth of Horus. Isis was impregnated by Osiris after his murder, thus this was not a carnal union; it was a virgin birth. Horus is the Holy Spirit in the Christian Trinity. This is the same image as Madonna and Child in the Christian tradition, a common image in Egypt’s New Kingdom.
Plate 3:57c – Above Left, Yashodo nursing Krishna, The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Copper, Fourteenth Century. Right image: Yashoda bathing Krishna with the sacred vase, Bagavata Purana manuscript, c. 1500 CE Compare to Plates 3: 48 and 4: 23a.
Plate 3:57d – Krishna: “The earth appeared like a person who has amassed wealth, green and verdant grass, crimson with indragopa insects and umbrella-like mushroom.” (Bhagavata Purana, 20:11)
Plate 3:58 – Book of Hours of Duc Jean de Berry, Paris, 1372-1390 CE Notice once again how the blood from Jesus’s feet flows into the dirt under the cross which forms an inverted mushroom with the cross as the stalk. Also notice the little mushroom growing off the larger cap and the mushroom in the alb covering Jesus’s left leg as he steps from the crypt. This is the hokeypokey. Notice the mushroom in the border above Jesus’s head.
Plate 3:59 – St. Christopher and Christ Child, St. Saeran, Llanynys 1420 CE Notice the sleeve/shoulder mushroom, and that Jesus has Amanita hat and shoulders while his midsection is not only the stalk but also in the shape of a mushroom. Also note the fleur-de-lys at the top is the mushroom-staff.
Plate 3:60 – King David, Matteo da Milano, Missal, Fol. 52v, 1420 CE Here we see the Roman goddess Ceres who brings forth life through her large breasts (representing everlasting life), standing atop a double colored (Psilicybin on left, Amanita on the right) mushroom, showing the veil stuck to the stem and cap. Beautiful. Notice the bee at the base. This is the image of the cross in the chalace; we saw this at St, John’s Bapistry.
Plate 3:61 – The Crucifixion, Matteo da Milano, Missal, Fol. 4, c. 1420 CE Notice the Amanita caps growing from the celestial vine, Amanita blood below Jesus’s feet, and the unusual red tree on the right in the distance. Notice the mushrooms dotting the blue hills in the background.
Plate 3:62 – Sainte Anne Metterza, Masaccio, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi ,1424-1425 CE Here we see the botanical relationship between the pine tree (St. Anne), the roots (Mary), and the mushroom (Jesus).
Plate 3:63a – Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, Cathedral of Saint Bavo, Flanders, Belgium, 1432 CE Notice the mushrooms as “jewels” in Mary’s tiara.
Plate 3:63b – Adam and Eve, Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, Flanders, Belgium, 1432 CE Notice the “fruit” Eve has in her right hand is very similar to the fruiting body of a recently resurrected Amanita muscaria.
Plate 3:63c – Jan van Eyck, Ghent, Flanders, Belgium 1432 CE Notice the mushroom at the base of the fountain, in the cloak of the man kneeling on the right, and the Amanita muscaria, in the form of a red box, issuing from the fountain in a similar fashion as noted at St. John’s Baptistery (Plate 2: 4a and above center) in Rome, and the symbol for Gethsemane top right.
Plate 3:64 – Nativity, Jacques Daret, Madrid, Thyseen-Bornemisza Collection, 1433-1435 CE Note the mushrooms in the angels’ capes. Can you detect others?
Plate 3:65 – Woodcut, Fifteenth Century, France. Notice that Adam is leaning upon mushrooms, and God has a white gown with a red cape, another symbolic rendering of Amanita muscaria.
Plate 3:66 – Hours of Catherine of Cleves, no. 98, Man of Sorrows with Kneeling Franciscans, c. 1440 CE Monks have mushroom around cassock. Also note the seraphim surrounding Jesus and the interesting floral arrangement.
Plate 3:67 – Hours of Catherine of Cleves, no. 81, Seth Planting Branch in Mouth of the Dead Adam, c. 1440 CE Note mushroom mountain in background.
Plate 3:68 – Hours of Catherine of Cleves, No. 80. Archangel Michael Giving Seth Branch of Tree of Mercy, c .1440 CE Note the hand of God coming down from the sky.
Plate 3:69 – Hours of Catherine of Cleves, no. 74, Gathering of Manna, c. 1440 CE The stems of the mushrooms are just barely visible.
Plate 3:70 – Hours of Catherine of Cleves, No. 49, Last Judgment, 1440 CE Notice the mushroom-shapes in the stoles and the mushroom-globe.
Plate 3:71a – Hours of Catherine of Cleves, No. 61, All Saints before God the Father, c. 1440 CE Notice the knees of the deity and the green gown on Catherine (below right) representing life and fertility.
Plate 3:71b – Hours of Catherine of Cleves, no. 61. Note the dagger in the dog, a lamb on a leash, and a monkey with a mushroom at the end of his tail.
Plate 3:72 –The Annunciation, Turin-Milan Hours, Bruges, under direction of Jan van Eyck, c. 1440 CE The miniature is Moses with the botanical god. Notice whbottom at the deity has in his left hand.
Plate 3:73 – Andrea del Castagno, The Young David, c. 1450-1457 CE Notice that Goliath has a mushroom rock on his forehead. Was the killing of Goliath a code for avoiding this type of mushroom? Notice that David has a hand gesture either aiming or warning people away.
Plate 3:74a – Saint Blaise, Master of the Murano Gradual, Venice, 1450-1460 CE Notice the red comb with metal teeth used to remove flesh during his martyrdom.
Plate 3:74b – Determinatives for St. Peter.
Plate 3:75 – Adoration of the Magi, Master of St. George, Book of Hours, Naples 1460 CE Notice the Amanita next to Mary’s left wrist, the blue outline (Psilocybin?) in the sleeve to which Jesus is pointing, and the Amanita-nimbus Jesus has above his head.
Plate 3:76– St. Jerome in the Desert, Taddeo Crivelli, Gualenghi-d’Este Hours, Fol. 3v, Ferrara, c. 1469 CE St. Jerome drinking blood – “Blood is the life” (Count Dracula). Notice the mushroom-hat, one of his determinatives.
Plate 3:77 – Virgin of Yaroslavl Moscow, Tretyakov Gallery, c. 1470 CE Notice the mushrooms in the sash and swaddling clothes of Jesus.
Plate 3:78 – Nativity in Initial H, Master of the Riccardiana Lactanius, 1480 CE Notice Jesus’ nimbus and the possible mushrooms below.
Plate 3:79a – Salzburg Missal, Regensburg, Salzburg, 1478-1490 CE Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden bears two types of fruit. One brings the sin of knowledge to the world (Eve). Notice the very different second “fruit” handed out by Mary who brought her son into the world so he could remove our sin. The one side is balanced against the other. Life, in this case, might be equal to remaining in ignorant bliss, for on the left is the ritual of faith. On the right is the ritual of knowledge and personal experience with God. Poor Adam seems confused by it all, or perhaps he is having a bad trip.
Plate 3:79b – Salzburg Missal. Here we see the King, (left) who administers the laws telling us this is the good side, while his Queen is telling us to cleanse sins put upon us by Eve. Notice where they are pointing.
Plate 3:79c – Salzburg Missal . The man on the left looks shocked or surprised with his staff in a defensive position. We are told that he neglects his sheep but maybe he is hunting for mushrooms.
Plate 3:80 – Fresno, Last Judgment, Cathedral Orvieto, Italy, c. 1499-1502 CE Notice the mushroom caps surrounding the border and their similarity with the Amanita on the right.
Plate 3:81 – The Descent into Hell, Workshop of Dionysius Nativity Church in Therapon Monastery, Saint Petersburg, Russian Museum, 502-1503 CE Notice the mushrooms in the sash.
Plate 3:82 – The Dead Christ, Hans Holbein the Younger, Basel, Kunstmuseum, 1521 CE Jesus’ last message to the world.
