The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name is an epic romp through history and prehistory to investigate the claim by 1970’s renegade scholars that the modern eucharist ritual that symbolizes union with God in the Christian religion was built on a sacrament of psychedelic wine and beer used ritually by the Greeks and others to bring about a direct experience of transcendence.

In other words, were the ancient religions with no name based on the direct experience of the divine realms through consciousness-altering drugs—which is a highly subjective and individual experience? If so, then how did this mutate into the modern religions that focus on collective belief in shared stories, concepts, and dogmas to unify adherents? And, in the case of Christianity, how did a sacrament that symbolizes transcendent union displace a sacrament of direct experience?

The premise grabbed my interest from the very beginning, especially the connection that Muraresku made that the original recipes for the purported psychedelic sacraments were the domain of women in the ancient world. Under Christianity, women were cut off from this ritual power and vilified as witches. The tamer modern eucharist was appropriated by men.

Mind-altering substances have been part of the human story in most ancient, indigenous, and even modern societies (martini, anyone?). So the premise of this book is both believable and compelling.

Is it true as Muraresku laid it out? I don’t know. But his 12-year search for evidence from talking with archeological chemists, spelunking the catacombs of Rome touring ancient Greek ruins with archeologists, Muraresku presents a strong case. Even if readers choose not to accept the evidence as “true,” readers will certainly come away with a broader understanding of history and our enduring connection with both our ancestral roots and the whole ancient world.

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