Song of Solomon 3
1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
By now we know that “him whom my soul loveth” is none other than the mushroom god. Without the mushrooms the god cannot be found. Our narrator seeks him in his bed at night and this clearly indicates a search in the recesses of the mind, perhaps in dreams but certainly it is a search of the consciousness, and it is search in vain.
2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
Once the search in bed is determined fruitless it is time to go looking in the physical world. The first search is conducted within the city, through the streets and in the broadways. This search also proves to be fruitless and so our narrator takes his quest beyond the confines of the city.
3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
The watchmen are described as going round about the city and they found our narrator along his journey. Surprisingly, he asks if they have seen “him whom my soul loveth” as if perhaps it was common knowledge among the watchmen.
4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
Finally our narrator finds the mushrooms and only a little ways outside the city. The find is precious and won’t be let go of until it is brought into the mother of the narrator’s house, into “the chambers of she who conceived me”. A potential for a misunderstanding this verse as a physical, two person encounter exists here if one is not adept at understanding the real nature of the song.
5 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
6 Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
A “pillar of smoke” is another wonderful description of the mushroom. “Pillars of smoke coming out of the wilderness” is a good question and the mushrooms are the answer. The mushrooms come out of the wilderness as pillars of smoke and there is none other. This analogy was previously used in Exodus during the Israelites flight from Egypt in which the presence of the Lord (traveling with the Israelites) appeared as a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night, both descriptions of the mushroom with its fiery red cap atop the pillar-like stem and the fluffy cloud-smoke (like) covered cap atop the pillar (stem). Perfumed with Myrrh and Frankincense indicates the mushrooms are ripe for the harvest (we discussed previously the odor of the ripe mushroom). Also Frankincense is a gum resin that is obtained from trees, two of which are the pine and the fir.
The powders of the merchant are not your average powders because our Hebrew word translated here as “powder” is “abaqah” and it means specifically light particles (as volatile). Volatile according to the Oxford Dictionary means “flying” or to “fly”, capable of flying or volant. It also can mean to easily change from one state of mind to another (consciousness altering). The common name for the Amanita muscaria is the “Fly Agaric” because of the sensation of flying that it produces but also because it is reported to stupefy houseflies (muscaria from the Latin musca, fly). So there is only one that comes out of the wilderness as pillars of smoke, has a distinctive smell and can be related to the flying powders of the merchant, the Amanita muscaria mushroom god.
7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.
8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.
9 King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.
The mythological King Solomon is none other than the Amanita muscaria mushroom. He is the Sun god Sol and the son of the Sun, the mushroom. Before we explained a chariot looking like a mushroom and now the story explains that Solomon made a chariot out of the wood of Lebanon. The wood of Lebanon is cedar. Early botanists misclassified Lebanon Cedars. They are members of the pine family, but the wood of Lebanon being used to fashion a chariot is simply the tree that produces the Amanita muscaria. The mushroom is the chariot that takes the consciousness on a spiritual (out of body) flight.
10 He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.
The stem and gills of the Amanitas (both muscaria and pantherina) are a translucent white with a slight tinge of silver to them. “Silver pillars” is a very good description of the mushroom stems. The bottom thereof of gold describes the bulbous base that has yellow in it, as does the pyramidal shaped warts on the top of the cap. This color variation (from all white spots to yellow-gold) even has its own subspecies (variety) name in the Amanitas (Amanita muscaria var. flavivolvata). The covering of purple is the canopy or top of the cap. Going to the original Hebrew translated as “purple” we discover that the word “argaman” or “argevan” translates purple to be a “scarlet”. Scarlet is absolutely the cap of the amanita. The cap is often associated with blood, due to this color of red. Scarlet is the color of blood in the arteries, whereas the color of the blood in the veins is crimson. (Properly said of the crimson venous blood, the color of arterial blood being scarlet.) Both crimson and scarlet describe the cap color variants of the Amanita muscaria. In the last part of this verse we have the “midst thereof paved with love.” The Hebrew word for “paved” is “ratsaph” which means to tessellate or embroider with stones, pave as a mosaic work of art. The mosaic is created by using many stones fitted near each other to form the work. The pyramidal shaped veil fragments on the cap of the Amanitas is strikingly this, a mosaic of what appears to be oddly shaped stones that, were the cap shrunken back down,would fit perfectly back together. The related Hebrew word “ratseph” is a red hot stone used for baking and s the related word “resheph” which is a lightning bolt.
11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
The Crown of Solomon