Plants, Stars and the Origins of Religion: With a Decipherment of the Phaistos Disk

Science and religion have always made strange bedfellows, with science earning a reputation for trying to “attack” religion and religion earning a rep for resisting and hampering scientific advancements through threats and coercion. No matter where you fall on the twin spectra of science and religion, there’s no denying the frequent fireworks when the two cross paths, which makes Matossian’s Plants, Stars and the Origins of Religion such an intriguing read. She’s trying to get to the root of religion itself through science, exploring the possible influences of both plants and the heavens on religious thought and belief. She unifies these theories through a detailed study of the Phaistos Disk, an artifact from the island of Crete dated back to the second millennium BC. And Matossian is certainly ambitious, progressing from the Greeks through modern-day Judaism, Christianity, and other religions. While some of her connections are specious, the thrust of her argument—the influence hallucinogenic plants may have played in inspiring religious visions—is one certainly worthy of further examination.

If anything, Matossian tries to accomplish too much in too few pages. I hope she returns to each of these subjects in the future in their own time.