Song of Solomon 6
1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? That we may seek him with thee.
The narrator here questions the whereabouts of the beloved, wanting to go on a hunt with our previously intoxicated wanderer. Who it is that is asking is not clear but it appears that the answers are only going to be given in code.
2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
The beloved may have gone “into his garden” but it is unlikely that he can be found by anyone that is not adequately trained to recognize him. Although these answers would be clear to an initiate it is not certain whether the inquisitor is in the know.
3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.
“Feeding among the lilies” is describing the location of the beloved. The mushrooms feed as long as they are still planted in the ground, even among the lilies. Just as any lover would proclaim “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” is not really answering the question. It seems as if the location is not going to be revealed except in metaphor in this line of questioning.
4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
Thou art beautiful, comely and terrible all in the same package, wonderful. Sounds like quite the Tirzah (Hebrew for an Israelitess) an army with banners describes our landscaped mushroom patch, red and white mushroom caps dotting the landscape.
5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
The narrator appears to be saying to turn away because of embarrassment due to the appearance one has after being beaten up. Now again we have the comparison to the Psilocybe mushrooms (the goats as the mushroom in the dung heap (Gilead).
6 Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.
7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
These repeated phrases describe again the Amanitas, the color, spots and further descriptive terms of the same.
8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.
The virgins without number are the mushrooms. The Amanita muscaria was thought to be a virgin because it grew without seed. It was born without any visible reference and until the microscope was invented there was no other explanation for its miraculous appearance. We saw how our narrator described the mushroom patch as a group of shields upon towers now they are described as females. The threescore queens and fourscore concubines are all mushrooms in the patch. Threescore queens refer to the royal red and white robed royal plants, those of the largest stature. There are threescore counted as sixty or six (depending on how you wish to read it) of these beauties. Then there are fourscore counted as eighty or eight (again depending on how you want to read it) concubines. The Hebrew word for “concubines” is “pilegesh” and it means concubine and paramour. Paramour means for love and truly references being in love with. Often throughout history there are queens and then there are concubines. The queens are considered the official wife but the concubines were always the true love interest. Paramours rarely received the position of authority and often didn’t want it. They represent true love and free love. It was not evil or bad in any way to have several lovers and love interests and the concubine/paramour were revered just as highly as a queen in a personal sense. There were also male paramours and this too was socially acceptable.
9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
To understand that each and every time the mushroom grows it is the god, it is the son of God, and it is the god of the universe takes a bit of getting used to. This is why in the description the mushroom is the one and the only one. Whenever the mushroom is referred to in the female sense it is the top of the mushroom that is being talked about. The top half is female and the bottom (stem) is the male half and is hence referred to in the male sense.
10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?
Army with banners describes the mushroom patch. The relation to the sun and moon has color inference (the sun is golden and the moon is white and also the mushrooms before they expand look like the moon and also when the cap is bisected from the stem the center spot where it was broken off resembles the moon. The entire underside of the cap looks like the sun with the gills projecting outwards.
11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.
The fruits of the valley would usually be associated with the Psilocybe, dung-loving mushrooms, but the spring season is fruiting time for another mushroom that is just as remarkable. The garden of nuts is likely referring to the ground below the Lebanon oak. We would expect the oak to be mentioned in this book because it is the host tree for the Amanita pantherina. Oaks grow all over Lebanon and even in the valleys and produce acorns that many consider to be nuts. The fruits of the valley in the garden of nuts would be the pantherina because of the mention of pomegranates, nuts and the valley.
12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
Amminadib is a name that only appears once in the Bible and the translations vary and it only occurs in “Song of Songs”. On the one hand it is thought to be the name of a person whose chariots were noted for their swiftness. Amminadib is rendered in the margin “my willing people,” and in the Revised Version “my princely people.” The Hebrew word Amminadib is a compound of Ammiy and Nadiyb meaning “my people (is) liberal (or free)”. The chariots having previously been described as a metaphor of the Amanita muscaria mushrooms these chariots may be a reference to the Amanita pantherina because they are usually a little smaller than the muscaria, grow faster and are associated with tribal people that are free (the Celts et. al.) as compared to the muscaria worshiping middle-Eastern religions with their extensive systems of laws and conduct. It is very notable that Amminadib phonetically is very close to Amanita (which can be pronounced Ammanida).
13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.
The Shulamite has been a subject of much debate over the years and as far as we know there is no definitive answer to what the word means or its origins. We can clearly see that the Shulamite is the mythological bride and mushroom. “As it were the company of two armies” can be seen as the army of Amanita muscaria and the army of Amanita pantherina. The history of these two mushrooms and their host tree worshippers would certainly indicate that there is something underlying this antagonism between the cedar/pine (Amanita muscaria) worshippers and the oak (Amanita pantherina) worshipers (but this is far too much to go into in great detail here). We must also make note of another army that would be the Psilocybe cubensis and these appear to be neutral and utilized by both cultures (adding the Psilocybe semilanceata [Liberty Caps] in the European region).