R. Gordon Wasson's Psychedelic Swastikas

The former JP Morgan PR exec was "certain" that the ancient symbol was inspired by "entheogenic experience"

This will be a brief post.

There has been something lingering in my awareness which I feel compelled to share. I originally planned to write about this in the context of a longer piece on R. Gordon Wasson’s life. And I will get to that soon. Wasson’s career was so expansive that to even begin to explain it is a herculean task. But there is something that warrants attention which I simply cannot wait any longer to share with you, readers. What is this piece of information I’ve been itching to discuss?

R. Gordon Wasson believed swastikas were inspired by psychedelic drug experiences.

You read that correctly.

Wasson, the infamous JP Morgan PR guy who is widely credited with popularizing psilocybin mushrooms, argued that the ancient and controversial symbol was a sign of “entheogenic experience.” He put forth this (rather weak) argument in Persephone’s Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion, a book published in 1986 by Yale University Press that Wasson co-authored with Stella Kramrisch, Jonathan Ott, and Carl A. P. Ruck.

In it, on page 39, we find an image of two copper swastikas which were found in what is now Ohio, thought to be from around the year 500 CE:

On the following page comes Wasson’s explanation:

He wrote, “it seems that the Old World swastikas, widely disseminated as they are, were…inspired by entheogens.”

This is purely speculation on Wasson’s part, as he provides no evidence whatsoever to back the idea. Wasson relies on the fact that psychoactive plants are abundant throughout the world as the primary inspiration for his swastika-as-entheogenic-symbol idea. If you were hoping for any substance beyond that, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Wasson was not exactly known for scientific rigor or historic accuracy. He’s mostly known for being shrooms’ hype man.

He managed to find another swastika image which he included in the book, this one from ancient Greece and thought to be from roughly 700 BCE. In the caption about the “prehistoric swastikas,” he explained that “we feel certain that they are among the visions produced by entheogens.” Again, he provides no actual evidence of this, just a hunch. Classic Wasson.

My question is, why?

What point was Wasson trying to make by associating the swastika with drugs?

One thing I find particularly interesting is Wasson’s use of the word entheogen—a term he coined along with Ruck, Ott, and others—in the context of his swastika speculation. Entheogen had been coined in the late 1970s and formally became part of the literature with the publication of The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries by Wasson, Ruck, and Albert Hofmann in 1978. That text is currently available in a newer edition edited by Robert Forte which I recommend for anyone interested in this topic.

As many psychedelic nerds will already know, entheogen derives from the roots en (within) + theos (God, divinity) + gen (create, make) and refers to drugs which inspire awareness of God and/or divine spirit within one’s body and/or mind. A terribly woo concept that many people take quite seriously. (My thing is, why stop at drugs—anything can function as an entheogen. But that’s another discussion entirely…)

Wasson’s use of the term entheogen to describe a purely speculative idea about the origin of the swastika raises some intriguing questions about the relationship between psychedelia and fascist symbolism. Wasson’s logic (or lack thereof) is spacey enough that he could’ve argued that any ancient symbol was inspired by “entheogens.” So why did he pick, of all symbols, the swastika? Was there something about that particular symbol that might have captured Wasson’s attention? If so, why?

I will dive in to all these questions in a future post. But I wanted to share the information as is before I offer too much of my own analysis of it. And, as we’ll see, our ability to discern the potential meaning of Wasson’s swastika speculation will increase tremendously after we have looked more closely at Wasson’s career, business associates, etc.

All of this bears relation to psilocybin because Wasson himself was a foundational figure in the birth of the modern psilocybin industry. His musings, speculations, and politics thus cast a shadow over the field that is worth examining closely.

To be continued…

What do you think about Wasson’s swastika speculation? Let me know in a comment.