A novel published in 1933, describes the isolation of a hallucinogenic drug from an ergot-type fungus. It remarkably predates the discovery the hallucinogenic properties of the ergot-derived alkaloid lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) by ten years. It also identifies ergot as the secret psychoactive sacrament of the ancient mysteries forty years before this hypothesis became a matter of academic and scientific investigation. In the novel, a central character plans to use an ergot derived drug as an agent of popular religious renewal, prefiguring the New Age religious revival initiated by the popular use of LSD. The story involves the mass testing of a hallucinogenic drug on the unsuspecting inhabitants of an isolated village almost twenty years before the Pont St Esprit incident of 1951, which has been ascribed to the CIA's plans for experimental dosing of unsuspecting civilians with psychoactive drugs. This article investigates how the author could have managed to foresee these future events in such prophetic detail and reveals the sources that were available. In this article the history of psychoactive drugs is set in the context of the political, scientific, literary, and philosophical culture of the interwar period and shows that the cultural history of psychoactive drugs is enhanced by such context.

“…[my] experiments with Henbane, wherein a feral, ‘hyperkinesthetic consciousness’ arises, a kind of muscular cognition which functions as a sensory organ, specifically with relation to perception of movement at one’s visual peripheries and imminent threat.”

“In many esoteric traditions, there exists an iconic or linguistic corollary between the concepts of ‘poisoner’ and ‘sorcerer’, suggesting a sinistral magical kinship. Indeed, the use of plant, animal and mineral toxins is a strand of magic originating in remotest antiquity and reaching the present day. Beyond its mundane function as an agent of corporeal harm, poisons have also served as gateways of religious ecstasy, occult knowledge, and sensorial aberration, as well as the basis of cures. Allied with Samael, the Edenic serpent of first transgression whose Hebrew name in some translations is ‘Venom of God’, this facet of magic wends through the rites of ancient Sumer and Egypt, penetrating European Necromancy, Alchemy, the arcane rites of the Witches’ Sabbath, and modern-day folk magic. This persistent thread, here referred to as the ‘Cult of the Green Snake’, finds diverse manifestations in the varied traditions it makes home.

Veneficium concerns the intersection of magic and poison. Of particular note to this study are the herbs of the so-called ‘Devil’s Garden’, which bear relation to the allied witchcraft concepts of the Graal of Midnight, the Witches’ Supper, and the Unguentum Sabbati, the flying ointment of the witches which has exerted fascination over scholars, historians, and practitioners alike. Beyond consideration of the toxicological dimensions of magical power, the concurrent thread of astral and philosophical poisons are also examined, and their resonance and dissonance with magical practice explored. Veneficium will be of interest to students of magic, witchcraft, alchemy, botanical folklore, medicine, and occult pharmacology.”

“…For those who tread the Poison Path, perhaps the best Knowledge of Antidotes lies not in any enchanted balm or chemist’s receipt, but in the balanced and proper Devotion to Fear. In its exaltation, Fear is the simultaneous knowledge and respect of those powers which can annihilate us. Its irrational axis, manifest in action, is cowardice and impulse; its flowering is courage and prudence. Robert Cochrane cautioned that the use of the poison sacrament in the hands of the fool was a ‘quick way to the underworld of insanity’, and this skull and crossbones stands as a waymark on the Path Envenom’d. Other spirit-roads may abide the fool, but not the Dark Lady of Venoms, for Mercy is a virtue alien to her dark droplets.” (p. 26)

Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time on Ayn Rand

Sorry to be a hater but imo she is a terrible writer and thinker. There are much, much better 1000 page novels out there

Also seriously if you have not ready The Archaic Revival you it to yourself to go do so.