Spiritual use of cannabis
Encyclopedia
Sacramental, religious and spiritual use of cannabis refers to cannabis
used in a religious or spiritual
context. Cannabis has an ancient history of ritual usage as an aid to trance
and has been traditionally used in a religious context
throughout the Old World
.
Herodotus
wrote about early ceremonial practices by the Scythians, thought to have occurred from the 5th to 2nd century BCE. Itinerant sadhu
s have used it in India
for centuries, and in modern times it has been embraced by the Rastafari movement
. Rastafarians and Sikhs are among the largest consumers of cannabis, as their religious and spiritual rites.
According to Sula Benet
almost all ancient peoples considered narcotic and medicinal plants sacred and incorporated them into their religious or magical beliefs and practices. In Africa, there were a number of cults and sects of hemp worship. Pogge and Wissman, during their explorations of 1881, visited the Bashilenge, living on the northern borders of the Lundu, between Sankrua and Balua. They found large plots of land around the villages used for the cultivation of hemp. Originally there were small clubs of hemp smokers, bound by ties of friendship, but these eventually led to the formation of a religious cult. The Bashilenge called themselves Bena Riamba, "the sons of hemp", and their land Lubuku, meaning friendship. They greeted each other with the expression "moio", meaning both "hemp" and "life."
Each tribesman was required to participate in the cult of Riamba and show his devotion by smoking as frequently as possible. They attributed universal magical powers to hemp, which was thought to combat all kinds of evil and they took it when they went to war and when they traveled. There were initiation rites for new members which usually took place before a war or long journey. The hemp pipe assumed a symbolic meaning for the Bashilenge somewhat analogous to the significance which the peace pipe had for American Indians. No holiday, no trade agreement, no peace treaty was transacted without it (Wissman et al. 1888). In the middle Sahara region, the Senusi sect also cultivated hemp on a large scale for use in religious ceremonies (Ibid).
concluded "the hallucinogenic properties of hemp were common knowledge in Chinese medical and Taoist circles for two millennia or more", and other scholars associated Chinese wu
(shamans) with the entheogenic use of cannabis in Central Asian shamanism
.
The oldest texts of Traditional Chinese Medicine
listed herbal uses for cannabis and noted some psychodynamic effects. The (ca. 100 CE) Chinese pharmacopeia Shennong Ben Cao Jing (Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica) described the use of mafen 麻蕡 "cannabis fruit/seeds", "To take much makes people see demons and throw themselves about like maniacs (多食令人見鬼狂走). But if one takes it over a long period of time one can communicate with the spirits, and one's body becomes light (久服通神明輕身)". Later pharmacopia repeated this description, for instance the (ca. 1100 CE) Zhenglei bencao 證類本草 ("Classified Materia Medica"), "If taken in excess it produces hallucinations and a staggering gait. If taken over a long term, it causes one to communicate with spirits and lightens one's body." The (ca. 730) dietary therapy book Shiliao bencao 食療本草 ("Nutritional Materia Medica") prescribes daily consumption of cannabis, "those who wish to see demons should take it (with certain other drugs) for up to a hundred days."
Beginning around the 4th century, Taoist texts mentioned using cannabis in censer
s. Needham cited the (ca. 570 CE) Taoist encyclopedia Wushang Biyao 無上秘要 ("Supreme Secret Essentials") that cannabis was added into ritual incense-burners, and suggested the ancient Taoists experimented systematically with "hallucinogenic smokes". The Yuanshi shangzhen zhongxian ji 元始上真眾仙記 ("Records of the Assemblies of the Perfected Immortals"), which is attributed to Ge Hong
(283-343), says, "For those who begin practicing the Tao it is not necessary to go into the mountains. … Some with purifying incense and sprinkling and sweeping are also able to call down the Perfected Immortals. The followers of the Lady Wei and of Hsu are of this kind." Lady Wei Huacun
魏華存 (252-334) and Xu Mi 許謐 (303-376) founded the Taoist Shangqing School
. The Shangqing scriptures were supposedly dictated to Yang Xi 楊羲 (330-386 CE) in nightly revelations from immortals
, and Needham proposed Yang was "aided almost certainly by cannabis". The Mingyi bielu 名醫別錄 ("Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians"), written by the Taoist pharmacologist Tao Hongjing 陶弘景 (456-536), who also wrote the first commentaries to the Shangqing canon, says, "Hemp-seeds (麻勃) are very little used in medicine, but the magician-technicians (shujia 術家) say that if one consumes them with ginseng
it will give one preternatural knowledge of events in the future." A 6th-century CE Taoist medical work, the Wuzangjing 五臟經 ("Five Viscera Classic") says, "If you wish to command demonic apparitions to present themselves you should constantly eat the inflorescences of the hemp plant."
Cannabis has been cultivated in China since Neolithic
times, for instance, hemp cords were used to create the characteristic line designs on Yangshao culture
pottery). Early Chinese classics have many references to using the plant for clothing, fiber, and food, but none to its psychotropic properties. Some researchers think Chinese associations of cannabis with "indigenous central Asian shamanistic practices" can explain this "peculiar silence". The botanist Li Hui-Lin noted linguistic evidence that the "stupefying effect of the hemp plant was commonly known from extremely early times"; the word ma "cannabis; hemp" has connotations of "numbed; tingling; senseless" (e.g., mamu 麻木 "numb" and mazui 麻醉 "anesthetic; narcotic"), which "apparently derived from the properties of the fruits and leaves, which were used as infusions for medicinal purposes." Li suggested shamans in Northeast Asia
transmitted the medical and spiritual uses of cannabis to the ancient Chinese wu 巫 "shaman; spirit medium; doctor".
The (ca. 440 BCE) Greek Histories
of Herodotus
record the early Scythians using cannabis steam baths.
What Herodotus called the "hemp-seed" must have been the whole flowering tops of the plant, where the psychoactive resin is produced along with the fruit ("seeds").
Several of the Tarim mummies
excavated near Turpan in Xinjiang
province of Northwestern China were buried with sacks of cannabis next to their heads. Based on additional grave goods
, archaeologists concluded these individuals were shamans
: "The marijuana must have been buried with the dead shamans who dreamed of continuing the profession in another world." A team of scientists analyzed one shamanistic tomb that contained a leather basket with well-preserved cannabis (789 grams of leaves, shoots, and fruits; AMS
dated 2475 ± 30 years BP) and a wooden bowl with cannabis traces. Lacking any "suitable evidence that the ancient, indigenous people utilized Cannabis for food, oil, or fiber", they concluded "the deceased was more concerned with the intoxicant and/or medicinal value of the Cannabis remains."
, cannabis was associated with the Norse
love goddess, Freya
. The harvesting of the plant was connected with an erotic high festival
. It was believed that Freya lived as a fertile force in the plant's feminine flowers and by ingesting them one became influenced by this divine force. Linguistics offers further evidence of prehistoric use of cannabis by Germanic peoples: The word hemp derives from Old English hænep, from Proto-Germanic *hanapiz, from the same Scythian word that cannabis derives from. The etymology of this word follows Grimm's Law
by which Proto-Indo-European initial *k- becomes *h- in Germanic. The shift of *k→h indicates it was a loanword into the Germanic parent language
at a time depth no later than the separation of Common Germanic from Proto-Indo-European
, about 500 BC.
The Celts may have also used cannabis, as evidence of hashish
traces were found in Hallstatt
, birthplace of Celtic culture.
Also, the Dacians
and the Scythians had a tradition where they would make a big fire and on top of it they would place dried cannabis plants.
Hashish is known as the real Dionysos "wine".
come from the Atharva Veda estimated to have been written sometime around 2000 - 1400 BC, which mentions cannabis as one of the "five sacred plants".
There are three types of cannabis used in India. The first, bhang
, consists of the leaves and plant tops of the marijuana plant. It is usually consumed as an infusion in beverage form, and varies in strength according to how much cannabis is used in the preparation. The second, ganja
, consisting of the leaves and the plant tops, is smoked. The third, called charas
or hashish
, consists of the resinous buds and/or extracted resin from the leaves of the marijuana plant. Typically, bhang is the most commonly used form of cannabis in religious festivals.
Cannabis or ganja is associated with worship of the Hindu
deity Shiva
, who is popularly believed to like the hemp plant
. Bhang is offered to Shiva
images, especially on Shivratri festival. This practice is particularly witnessed at the temples of Benares, Baidynath and Tarakeswar
.
Bhang is not only offered to Shiva
, but also consumed by Shaivite yogi
s. Charas is smoked by some Shaivite devotees and cannabis itself is seen as a gift (prasad
, or offering) to Shiva
to aid in sadhana
. Some of the wandering ascetics in India known as sadhus smoke charas out of a clay chillum.
During the Indian festival of Holi
, people consume bhang which contains cannabis flowers. According to one description, when the amrita
(elixir of life) was produced from the churning of the ocean
by the devas and the asuras, Shiva
created cannabis from his own body to purify the elixir (whence, for cannabis, the epithet angaja or "body-born"). Another account suggests that the cannabis plant sprang up when a drop of the elixir dropped on the ground. Thus, cannabis is used by sages
due to association with elixir and Shiva
. Wise drinking of bhang, according to religious rites, is believed to cleanse sins, unite one with Shiva
and avoid the miseries of hell
in the after-life
. In contrast, foolish drinking of bhang without rites is considered a sin.
In Buddhism, the Fifth Precept is to "abstain from wines, liquors and intoxicants that cause heedlessness." Most interpretations of the Fifth Precept would therefore include all forms of cannabis among the intoxicants that a Buddhist should abstain from consuming. However, the Precepts are guidelines whose purpose is to encourage a moral lifestyle rather than being strict religious commandments, and some lay practitioners of Buddhism may choose to consume cannabis and other mild intoxicants occasionally. Cannabis and some other psychoactive plants are specifically prescribed in the Mahākāla
Tantra
for medicinal purposes. However, Tantra is an esoteric teaching of Hinduism and Buddhism not generally accepted by most other forms of these religions.
Initiated by the tenth guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh
, cannabis or bhang (ਭੰਗ) was used to help in meditation and was also used before battles to aid as a painkiller, growing naturally all over Punjab. Narrated by many historical and native accounts cannabis is pounded by the Sikhs, especially during religious festivals like Hola Mohalla.
Even today, Nihang Sikhs gather in their thousands at Anandpur, on the occasion of the festival of Hola Mohalla and display their martial skills and of course cannabis is pounded by the Nihang Sikhs. This tradition has been in place since the time of Guru Gobind Singh. Their fighting style is referred to as shastar vidiya, which is among the most intimidating and brutal martial art. The compositions from the Sri Dasam Granth are used in unison with the battle maneuvers.
It was traditionally crushed and taken as a liquid or baked in with food (ਪਕੌੜਾ) and eaten. The mouth is also covered while preparing Sukha for hygienic reasons.
The point is to use it but not to abuse it. Guru Gobind Singh himself has made this clear in one account where he was offered bhang by one of his devotees. Babur said to the Guru, "Guru Ji, drink the bhang so your mediation may be stimulated". However Guru Gobind Singh replied, "Meer Ji, I have drank the Bhang, whose stimulation never ends". Babur asked, "Which is the bhang, whose stimulation never ends?". Guru Gobind Singh replied, "Waheguru(God) is my bhang, drinking the bhang the stimulation will end but meditating on gods name whose stimulation never ends."
use cannabis as a part of their worshiping of their King, Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
, and as an aid to meditation. The movement was founded in Jamaica
in the 1930s and while it is not known when Rastafarians first made cannabis into something sacred it is clear that by the late 1940s Rastafari was associated with cannabis smoking at the Pinnacle community of Leonard Howell
. Rastafari see cannabis as a sacramental and deeply beneficial plant that is the Tree of Life
mentioned in the Bible
. Bob Marley
, amongst many others, have quoted Revelation: 22:2, "... the herb is the healing of the nations." The use of cannabis, and particularly of long-stemmed water-pipes called chalices
, is an integral part of what Rastafari call "reasoning sessions" where members join together to discuss life according to the Rasta perspective. They see the use of cannabis as bringing them closer to God
, whom they call (Jah
), allowing the user to penetrate the truth of things much more clearly, as if the wool had been pulled from one's eyes. Thus Rastafari smoke cannabis together in order to discuss the truth
with each other, reasoning it all out little by little through many sessions. While it is not necessary to use cannabis to be a Rastafari, some feel that they use it regularly as a part of their faith, and pipes of cannabis are always dedicated to His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I before being smoked. "The herb is the key to new understanding of the self, the universe, and God. It is the vehicle to cosmic consciousness" and is believed to burn the corruption out of the human heart. Rubbing the ashes from smoked cannabis is also considered a healthy practice.
(1967) claimed that the plant kaneh bosm קְנֵה-בֹשֶׂם mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible is cannabis. Though some authors have claimed that academics have supported this claim, dictionaries of plants of the Bible typically identify the plant in question as either acorus calamus or cymbopogon citratus
.
(forbidden).
However, prior to modern demonization it seems cannabis was most certainly used in Islam as supported by the Indian Hemp Commission of 1893-94.
"To forbid or even seriously to restrict the use of so gracious an herb as hemp would cause widespread suffering and annoyance and to large bands of worshipped ascetics, deep-seated anger. It would rob the people of a solace in discomfort, of a cure in sickness, of a guardian whose gracious protection saves them from the attacks of evil influences, and whose mightly power makes the devotee of the Victorious, overcoming the demons of hunger and thirst, of panic, fear, of the glamour of Maya or matter, and of madness, able in rest to brood on the Eternal, till the Eternal,possessing him body and soul, frees him from the haunting of self and receives him into the Ocean of Being. These beliefs the Musalman devotee shares to the full. Like his Hindu brother, the Musalman fakir reveres bhang as the lengthener of life, the freer from the bonds of self. Bhang brings union with the Divine spirit. "We drank bhang and the mystery I am he grew plain. So grand a result, so tiny a sin."
"In his devotion to bhang, with reverence, not with the worship, which is due to Allah alone, the North Indian Mussulman joins hynming to the praise of bhang. To the follower of the later religion of Islam the holy spirit in bhang is not the spirit of the Almighty, it is the spirit of the great prophet Khizr, or Elijah. That bhang should be sacred to Khizr is natural; Khizr is the patron saint of water. Still more, Khizr means green, the revered color of the cooling water of bhang. So the Urdu poet sings, "When I quaff fresh bhang I liken its color to the fresh light down of thy youthful beard." The prophet Khizr, the green prophet, cries, "May the drink be pleasing to thee." Nasir, the great North Indian Urdu poet, is loud in praises o his beloved Sabzi, 'the Green One.'
Compared with bhang spirits are naught. Leave all things thou fool, drink bhang.
From its quickening the imagination, Mussulman poets honor bhang with the title Waraq al-Khayal, 'Fancy's Leaf.' And the Makhazan or great Arab-Greek drug book records many other fond names for the drug. Bhang is the Joy-Giver, the Sky-Flier, the Heavenly-Guide, the Poor Man's Heaven, the Soother of Grief."
J.M. Campbell
Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report, 1893-1894
consider cannabis to be the eucharist
, claiming it as an oral tradition from Ethiopia
dating back to the time of Christ
.
Like the Rastafari, some modern Christian sects (many Gnostic) have asserted that cannabis is the Tree of Life.
Other organized religions founded in the past century that treat cannabis as a sacrament are the Santo Daime
church, the THC Ministry
, the Way of Infinite Harmony
, Cantheism, the Cannabis Assembly, Temple 420, Green Faith Ministries, the Church of Cognizance, the Church of the Universe
, The Free Marijuana Church of Honolulu, The Free Life Ministry Church of Canthe.
Modern spiritual figures like Ram Dass
and Eli Wyld openly acknowledge that the use of cannabis has allowed them to gain a more spiritual perspective and use the herb frequently for both its medicinal and mind-altering properties.
In Mexico, followers of the growing cult of Santa Muerte
regularly use marijuana smoke in purification ceremonies, with marijuana often taking the place of incense used in mainstream Catholic rituals.
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
used in a religious or spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
context. Cannabis has an ancient history of ritual usage as an aid to trance
Trance
Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
and has been traditionally used in a religious context
Religion and drugs
All religions have expressed positions on what is acceptable to put into human bodies as a means of intoxication for spiritual, pleasure, or medicinal purposes. See article entheogen for more about drug use in a religious or shamanistic context....
throughout the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
.
Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
wrote about early ceremonial practices by the Scythians, thought to have occurred from the 5th to 2nd century BCE. Itinerant sadhu
Sadhu
In Hinduism, sādhu denotes an ascetic, wandering monk. Although the vast majority of sādhus are yogīs, not all yogīs are sādhus. The sādhu is solely dedicated to achieving mokṣa , the fourth and final aśrama , through meditation and contemplation of brahman...
s have used it in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for centuries, and in modern times it has been embraced by the Rastafari movement
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
. Rastafarians and Sikhs are among the largest consumers of cannabis, as their religious and spiritual rites.
Ancient Africa
According to Alfred Dunhill (1924), Africans have had a long tradition of smoking hemp in gourd pipes, asserting that by 1884 the King of the Baluka tribe of the Congo had established a "riamba" or hemp-smoking cult in place of fetish-worship. Enormous gourd pipes were used. Cannabis was used in Africa to restore appetite and relieve pain of hemorrhoids. It was also used as an antiseptic. In a number of countries, it was used to treat tetanus, hydrophobia, delirium tremens, infantile convulsions, neuralgia and other nervous disorders, cholera, menorrhagia, rheumatism, hay fever, asthma, skin diseases, and protracted labor during childbirth.According to Sula Benet
Sula Benet
Sula Benet , also known as Sara Benetowa, was a Polish anthropologist of the 20th century who studied Polish and Judaic customs and traditions.-Biography:...
almost all ancient peoples considered narcotic and medicinal plants sacred and incorporated them into their religious or magical beliefs and practices. In Africa, there were a number of cults and sects of hemp worship. Pogge and Wissman, during their explorations of 1881, visited the Bashilenge, living on the northern borders of the Lundu, between Sankrua and Balua. They found large plots of land around the villages used for the cultivation of hemp. Originally there were small clubs of hemp smokers, bound by ties of friendship, but these eventually led to the formation of a religious cult. The Bashilenge called themselves Bena Riamba, "the sons of hemp", and their land Lubuku, meaning friendship. They greeted each other with the expression "moio", meaning both "hemp" and "life."
Each tribesman was required to participate in the cult of Riamba and show his devotion by smoking as frequently as possible. They attributed universal magical powers to hemp, which was thought to combat all kinds of evil and they took it when they went to war and when they traveled. There were initiation rites for new members which usually took place before a war or long journey. The hemp pipe assumed a symbolic meaning for the Bashilenge somewhat analogous to the significance which the peace pipe had for American Indians. No holiday, no trade agreement, no peace treaty was transacted without it (Wissman et al. 1888). In the middle Sahara region, the Senusi sect also cultivated hemp on a large scale for use in religious ceremonies (Ibid).
Ancient China
The sinologist and historian Joseph NeedhamJoseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
concluded "the hallucinogenic properties of hemp were common knowledge in Chinese medical and Taoist circles for two millennia or more", and other scholars associated Chinese wu
Wu (shaman)
Wu are spirit mediums who have practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing in Chinese traditions dating back over 3,000 years.-The word wu:...
(shamans) with the entheogenic use of cannabis in Central Asian shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
.
The oldest texts of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
listed herbal uses for cannabis and noted some psychodynamic effects. The (ca. 100 CE) Chinese pharmacopeia Shennong Ben Cao Jing (Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica) described the use of mafen 麻蕡 "cannabis fruit/seeds", "To take much makes people see demons and throw themselves about like maniacs (多食令人見鬼狂走). But if one takes it over a long period of time one can communicate with the spirits, and one's body becomes light (久服通神明輕身)". Later pharmacopia repeated this description, for instance the (ca. 1100 CE) Zhenglei bencao 證類本草 ("Classified Materia Medica"), "If taken in excess it produces hallucinations and a staggering gait. If taken over a long term, it causes one to communicate with spirits and lightens one's body." The (ca. 730) dietary therapy book Shiliao bencao 食療本草 ("Nutritional Materia Medica") prescribes daily consumption of cannabis, "those who wish to see demons should take it (with certain other drugs) for up to a hundred days."
Beginning around the 4th century, Taoist texts mentioned using cannabis in censer
Censer
Censers are any type of vessels made for burning incense. These vessels vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction. They may consist of simple earthenware bowls or fire pots to intricately carved silver or gold vessels, small table top objects a few centimetres tall to as many as...
s. Needham cited the (ca. 570 CE) Taoist encyclopedia Wushang Biyao 無上秘要 ("Supreme Secret Essentials") that cannabis was added into ritual incense-burners, and suggested the ancient Taoists experimented systematically with "hallucinogenic smokes". The Yuanshi shangzhen zhongxian ji 元始上真眾仙記 ("Records of the Assemblies of the Perfected Immortals"), which is attributed to Ge Hong
Ge Hong
Ge Hong , courtesy name Zhichuan , was a minor southern official during the Jìn Dynasty of China, best known for his interest in Daoism, alchemy, and techniques of longevity...
(283-343), says, "For those who begin practicing the Tao it is not necessary to go into the mountains. … Some with purifying incense and sprinkling and sweeping are also able to call down the Perfected Immortals. The followers of the Lady Wei and of Hsu are of this kind." Lady Wei Huacun
Wei Huacun
Wei Huacun , courtesy name Xianan , was a founder of the Shangqing sect of Daoism.-Overview:Wei was born in 252 in Jining, Shandong in the former county of Rencheng . Her father, Wei Shu , was a government official...
魏華存 (252-334) and Xu Mi 許謐 (303-376) founded the Taoist Shangqing School
Shangqing School
The Shangqing School or Supreme Clarity is a Daoist movement that began during the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. Shangqing can be translated as either 'Supreme Clarity' or 'Highest Clarity.' The first leader of the school was Wei Huacun , but Tao Hongjing, who structured the theory and...
. The Shangqing scriptures were supposedly dictated to Yang Xi 楊羲 (330-386 CE) in nightly revelations from immortals
Xian (Taoism)
Xian is a Chinese word for an enlightened person, translatable in English as:*"spiritually immortal; transcendent; super-human; celestial being"...
, and Needham proposed Yang was "aided almost certainly by cannabis". The Mingyi bielu 名醫別錄 ("Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians"), written by the Taoist pharmacologist Tao Hongjing 陶弘景 (456-536), who also wrote the first commentaries to the Shangqing canon, says, "Hemp-seeds (麻勃) are very little used in medicine, but the magician-technicians (shujia 術家) say that if one consumes them with ginseng
Ginseng
Ginseng is any one of eleven species of slow-growing perennial plants with fleshy roots, belonging to the genus Panax of the family Araliaceae....
it will give one preternatural knowledge of events in the future." A 6th-century CE Taoist medical work, the Wuzangjing 五臟經 ("Five Viscera Classic") says, "If you wish to command demonic apparitions to present themselves you should constantly eat the inflorescences of the hemp plant."
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
times, for instance, hemp cords were used to create the characteristic line designs on Yangshao culture
Yangshao culture
The Yangshao culture was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the central Yellow River in China. The Yangshao culture is dated from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The culture is named after Yangshao, the first excavated representative village of this culture, which was discovered in 1921...
pottery). Early Chinese classics have many references to using the plant for clothing, fiber, and food, but none to its psychotropic properties. Some researchers think Chinese associations of cannabis with "indigenous central Asian shamanistic practices" can explain this "peculiar silence". The botanist Li Hui-Lin noted linguistic evidence that the "stupefying effect of the hemp plant was commonly known from extremely early times"; the word ma "cannabis; hemp" has connotations of "numbed; tingling; senseless" (e.g., mamu 麻木 "numb" and mazui 麻醉 "anesthetic; narcotic"), which "apparently derived from the properties of the fruits and leaves, which were used as infusions for medicinal purposes." Li suggested shamans in Northeast Asia
Northeast Asia
Northeast Asia and Northeastern Asia refers to the northeastern subregion of Asia. Though the precise definition of Northeast Asia changes according to context, it always includes Japan and the Korean Peninsula, and is sometimes used to refer to these two regions exclusively.-Definitions:The...
transmitted the medical and spiritual uses of cannabis to the ancient Chinese wu 巫 "shaman; spirit medium; doctor".
The use of Cannabis as an hallucinogenic drug by necromancers or magicians is especially notable. It should be pointed out that in ancient China, as in most early cultures, medicine has its origin in magic. Medicine men were practicing magicians. In northeastern Asia, shamanism was widespread from Neolithic down to recent times. In ancient China shamans were known as wu. This vocation was very common down to the Han dynasty. After that it gradually diminished in importance, but the practice persisted in scattered localities and among certain peoples. In the far north, among the nomadic tribes of Mongolia and Siberia, shamanism was widespread and common until rather recent times.
Ancient Central Asia
Both early Greek history and modern archeology show that Central Asian peoples were utilizing cannabis 2,500 years ago.The (ca. 440 BCE) Greek Histories
Histories (Herodotus)
The Histories of Herodotus is considered one of the seminal works of history in Western literature. Written from the 450s to the 420s BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that...
of Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
record the early Scythians using cannabis steam baths.
[T]hey make a booth by fixing in the ground three sticks inclined towards one another, and stretching around them woollen felts, which they arrange so as to fit as close as possible: inside the booth a dish is placed upon the ground, into which they put a number of red-hot stones, and then add some hemp-seed. … The Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp-seed, and, creeping under the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot stones; immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapour as no Grecian vapour-bath can exceed; the Scyths, delighted, shout for joy, and this vapour serves them instead of a water-bath; for they never by any chance wash their bodies with water.
What Herodotus called the "hemp-seed" must have been the whole flowering tops of the plant, where the psychoactive resin is produced along with the fruit ("seeds").
Several of the Tarim mummies
Tarim mummies
The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1900 BC to 200 AD. Some of the mummies are frequently associated with the presence of the Indo-European Tocharian languages in the Tarim Basin, although the evidence is not...
excavated near Turpan in Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
province of Northwestern China were buried with sacks of cannabis next to their heads. Based on additional grave goods
Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...
, archaeologists concluded these individuals were shamans
Wu (shaman)
Wu are spirit mediums who have practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing in Chinese traditions dating back over 3,000 years.-The word wu:...
: "The marijuana must have been buried with the dead shamans who dreamed of continuing the profession in another world." A team of scientists analyzed one shamanistic tomb that contained a leather basket with well-preserved cannabis (789 grams of leaves, shoots, and fruits; AMS
Accelerator mass spectrometry
Accelerator mass spectrometry differs from other forms of mass spectrometry in that it accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the mass spectrometric methods is its power to separate a rare isotope from an abundant...
dated 2475 ± 30 years BP) and a wooden bowl with cannabis traces. Lacking any "suitable evidence that the ancient, indigenous people utilized Cannabis for food, oil, or fiber", they concluded "the deceased was more concerned with the intoxicant and/or medicinal value of the Cannabis remains."
Ancient Europe
In ancient Germanic paganismGermanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
, cannabis was associated with the Norse
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
love goddess, Freya
Freya
In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot driven by two cats, owns the boar Hildisvíni, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother...
. The harvesting of the plant was connected with an erotic high festival
Religious festival
A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar...
. It was believed that Freya lived as a fertile force in the plant's feminine flowers and by ingesting them one became influenced by this divine force. Linguistics offers further evidence of prehistoric use of cannabis by Germanic peoples: The word hemp derives from Old English hænep, from Proto-Germanic *hanapiz, from the same Scythian word that cannabis derives from. The etymology of this word follows Grimm's Law
Grimm's law
Grimm's law , named for Jacob Grimm, is a set of statements describing the inherited Proto-Indo-European stops as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the 1st millennium BC...
by which Proto-Indo-European initial *k- becomes *h- in Germanic. The shift of *k→h indicates it was a loanword into the Germanic parent language
Germanic Parent Language
Germanic Parent Language is a term used in historical linguistics to describe the chain of reconstructed languages in the Germanic group referred to as Pre-Germanic Indo-European , Early Proto-Germanic , and Late Proto-Germanic . It is intended to cover the time of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC...
at a time depth no later than the separation of Common Germanic from Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
, about 500 BC.
The Celts may have also used cannabis, as evidence of hashish
Hashish
Hashish is a cannabis preparation composed of compressed stalked resin glands, called trichomes, collected from the unfertilized buds of the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than unsifted buds or leaves...
traces were found in Hallstatt
Hallstatt
Hallstatt, Upper Austria is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. It is located near the Hallstätter See . At the 2001 census it had 946 inhabitants...
, birthplace of Celtic culture.
Also, the Dacians
Dacians
The Dacians were an Indo-European people, very close or part of the Thracians. Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia...
and the Scythians had a tradition where they would make a big fire and on top of it they would place dried cannabis plants.
Hashish is known as the real Dionysos "wine".
Ancient and modern India
The earliest known reports regarding the sacred status of cannabis in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
come from the Atharva Veda estimated to have been written sometime around 2000 - 1400 BC, which mentions cannabis as one of the "five sacred plants".
There are three types of cannabis used in India. The first, bhang
Bhang
Bhang is a preparation from the leaves and flowers of the female cannabis plant, smoked or consumed as a beverage in the Indian subcontinent.- India:...
, consists of the leaves and plant tops of the marijuana plant. It is usually consumed as an infusion in beverage form, and varies in strength according to how much cannabis is used in the preparation. The second, ganja
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
, consisting of the leaves and the plant tops, is smoked. The third, called charas
Charas
Charas is the name given to a hashish form of cannabis which is hand-made in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and India. It is made from the resin of the cannabis plant...
or hashish
Hashish
Hashish is a cannabis preparation composed of compressed stalked resin glands, called trichomes, collected from the unfertilized buds of the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than unsifted buds or leaves...
, consists of the resinous buds and/or extracted resin from the leaves of the marijuana plant. Typically, bhang is the most commonly used form of cannabis in religious festivals.
Cannabis or ganja is associated with worship of the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
deity Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, who is popularly believed to like the hemp plant
Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous plant in the Cannabaceae family. Humans have cultivated this herb throughout recorded history as a source of industrial fibre, seed oil, food, recreation, spiritual enlightenment and medicine...
. Bhang is offered to Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
images, especially on Shivratri festival. This practice is particularly witnessed at the temples of Benares, Baidynath and Tarakeswar
Tarakeswar
Tarakeswar is a town and a municipality in Hooghly District in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a police station in Chandannagar subdivision. Tarakeswar is a renowned place of pilgrimage and the greatest centre of the Shiva sect in West Bengal. 58 km away from Kolkata, Tarakeswar can be...
.
Bhang is not only offered to Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, but also consumed by Shaivite yogi
Yogi
A Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
s. Charas is smoked by some Shaivite devotees and cannabis itself is seen as a gift (prasad
Prasad
Prasād is a mental condition of generosity, as well as a material substance that is first offered to a deity and then consumed...
, or offering) to Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
to aid in sadhana
Sadhana
Sādhanā literally "a means of accomplishing something" is ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist and Muslim traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.The historian N...
. Some of the wandering ascetics in India known as sadhus smoke charas out of a clay chillum.
During the Indian festival of Holi
Holi
Holi , is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and countries with large Indic diaspora populations following Hinduism, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United...
, people consume bhang which contains cannabis flowers. According to one description, when the amrita
Amrita
Amrit is a Sanskrit word that literally means "immortality", and is often referred to in texts as nectar. The word's earliest occurrence is in the Rigveda where it is one of several synonyms of soma, the drink which confers immortality upon the gods. It is related etymologically to the Greek...
(elixir of life) was produced from the churning of the ocean
Samudra manthan
In Hinduism, Samudra manthan or Ksheera Sagara Mathanam, Churning of the Ocean of Milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas...
by the devas and the asuras, Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
created cannabis from his own body to purify the elixir (whence, for cannabis, the epithet angaja or "body-born"). Another account suggests that the cannabis plant sprang up when a drop of the elixir dropped on the ground. Thus, cannabis is used by sages
Rishi
Rishi denotes the composers of Vedic hymns. However, according to post-Vedic tradition, the rishi is a "seer" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness. The rishis were prominent when Vedic Hinduism took shape, as far back as some three thousand years...
due to association with elixir and Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
. Wise drinking of bhang, according to religious rites, is believed to cleanse sins, unite one with Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
and avoid the miseries of hell
Naraka
Naraka is the Sanskrit word for the underworld; literally, of man. According to Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, Naraka is a place of torment, or Hell...
in the after-life
Samsara
thumb|right|200px|Traditional Tibetan painting or [[Thanka]] showing the [[wheel of life]] and realms of saṃsāraSaṅsāra or Saṃsāra , , literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Sikhism, and other...
. In contrast, foolish drinking of bhang without rites is considered a sin.
In Buddhism, the Fifth Precept is to "abstain from wines, liquors and intoxicants that cause heedlessness." Most interpretations of the Fifth Precept would therefore include all forms of cannabis among the intoxicants that a Buddhist should abstain from consuming. However, the Precepts are guidelines whose purpose is to encourage a moral lifestyle rather than being strict religious commandments, and some lay practitioners of Buddhism may choose to consume cannabis and other mild intoxicants occasionally. Cannabis and some other psychoactive plants are specifically prescribed in the Mahākāla
Mahakala
Mahākāla is a Dharmapala in Vajrayana Buddhism, and a deity in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, particularly in the Vajrayana school. He is known as Daheitian in Chinese and Daikokuten in Japanese...
Tantra
Tantras
Tantras refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. Although Buddhist and Hindu Tantra have many similarities from the outside, they do have some clear distinctions. The rest of this article deals with Hindu...
for medicinal purposes. However, Tantra is an esoteric teaching of Hinduism and Buddhism not generally accepted by most other forms of these religions.
Sikh
The Sikhs from the Punjab in northern India, are among the biggest consumers of cannabis, Sukha ( ਸੁੱਖਾ ਪ੍ਰਰਸਾਦ ), "peace-giver", is the term Sikhs use to refer to it..Initiated by the tenth guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...
, cannabis or bhang (ਭੰਗ) was used to help in meditation and was also used before battles to aid as a painkiller, growing naturally all over Punjab. Narrated by many historical and native accounts cannabis is pounded by the Sikhs, especially during religious festivals like Hola Mohalla.
Even today, Nihang Sikhs gather in their thousands at Anandpur, on the occasion of the festival of Hola Mohalla and display their martial skills and of course cannabis is pounded by the Nihang Sikhs. This tradition has been in place since the time of Guru Gobind Singh. Their fighting style is referred to as shastar vidiya, which is among the most intimidating and brutal martial art. The compositions from the Sri Dasam Granth are used in unison with the battle maneuvers.
It was traditionally crushed and taken as a liquid or baked in with food (ਪਕੌੜਾ) and eaten. The mouth is also covered while preparing Sukha for hygienic reasons.
The point is to use it but not to abuse it. Guru Gobind Singh himself has made this clear in one account where he was offered bhang by one of his devotees. Babur said to the Guru, "Guru Ji, drink the bhang so your mediation may be stimulated". However Guru Gobind Singh replied, "Meer Ji, I have drank the Bhang, whose stimulation never ends". Babur asked, "Which is the bhang, whose stimulation never ends?". Guru Gobind Singh replied, "Waheguru(God) is my bhang, drinking the bhang the stimulation will end but meditating on gods name whose stimulation never ends."
Rastafari
Members of the Rastafari movementRastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
use cannabis as a part of their worshiping of their King, Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
Haile Selassie I , born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974...
, and as an aid to meditation. The movement was founded in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
in the 1930s and while it is not known when Rastafarians first made cannabis into something sacred it is clear that by the late 1940s Rastafari was associated with cannabis smoking at the Pinnacle community of Leonard Howell
Leonard Howell
Leonard Percival Howell , known as The Gong or G.G. Maragh , was a Jamaican religious figure. According to his biographer Hélène Lee, Howell was born in an Anglican family...
. Rastafari see cannabis as a sacramental and deeply beneficial plant that is the Tree of Life
Tree of Life
The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
mentioned in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, amongst many others, have quoted Revelation: 22:2, "... the herb is the healing of the nations." The use of cannabis, and particularly of long-stemmed water-pipes called chalices
Chalice (pipe)
A Chalice, also known as a Wisdom Chalice or Chillum Chalice, is a type of smoking pipe used most often by members of the Rastafari movement. It is a sort of water pipe with a hose, or drawtube, for inhaling. The water cools and filters the smoke and the hose provides additional airspace for cooling...
, is an integral part of what Rastafari call "reasoning sessions" where members join together to discuss life according to the Rasta perspective. They see the use of cannabis as bringing them closer to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, whom they call (Jah
Jah
Jah is the shortened form of the divine name YHWH , an anglicized version of the Tetragrammaton . The name is most commonly associated with the Rastafari movement or within the word hallelujah, although Christian groups may use the name to varying degrees. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses use a...
), allowing the user to penetrate the truth of things much more clearly, as if the wool had been pulled from one's eyes. Thus Rastafari smoke cannabis together in order to discuss the truth
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
with each other, reasoning it all out little by little through many sessions. While it is not necessary to use cannabis to be a Rastafari, some feel that they use it regularly as a part of their faith, and pipes of cannabis are always dedicated to His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I before being smoked. "The herb is the key to new understanding of the self, the universe, and God. It is the vehicle to cosmic consciousness" and is believed to burn the corruption out of the human heart. Rubbing the ashes from smoked cannabis is also considered a healthy practice.
Ancient Israel
Sula BenetSula Benet
Sula Benet , also known as Sara Benetowa, was a Polish anthropologist of the 20th century who studied Polish and Judaic customs and traditions.-Biography:...
(1967) claimed that the plant kaneh bosm קְנֵה-בֹשֶׂם mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible is cannabis. Though some authors have claimed that academics have supported this claim, dictionaries of plants of the Bible typically identify the plant in question as either acorus calamus or cymbopogon citratus
Cymbopogon citratus
Cymbopogon citratus, commonly known as lemon grass or oil grass, is a tropical plant from Southeast Asia.-Culinary uses:Cymbopogon citratus is abundant in the Philippines where it's known as tanglad...
.
Early Islam
The Quran does not forbid cannabis; however, cannabis is deemed to be khamr (an intoxicant) by many religious scholars and therefore generally believed to be haraamHaraam
Haraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden", or "sacred". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the word of Allah in the Qur'an or the Hadith Qudsi. Haraam is the highest status of prohibition given to anything that would result in sin when a Muslim commits it...
(forbidden).
However, prior to modern demonization it seems cannabis was most certainly used in Islam as supported by the Indian Hemp Commission of 1893-94.
"To forbid or even seriously to restrict the use of so gracious an herb as hemp would cause widespread suffering and annoyance and to large bands of worshipped ascetics, deep-seated anger. It would rob the people of a solace in discomfort, of a cure in sickness, of a guardian whose gracious protection saves them from the attacks of evil influences, and whose mightly power makes the devotee of the Victorious, overcoming the demons of hunger and thirst, of panic, fear, of the glamour of Maya or matter, and of madness, able in rest to brood on the Eternal, till the Eternal,possessing him body and soul, frees him from the haunting of self and receives him into the Ocean of Being. These beliefs the Musalman devotee shares to the full. Like his Hindu brother, the Musalman fakir reveres bhang as the lengthener of life, the freer from the bonds of self. Bhang brings union with the Divine spirit. "We drank bhang and the mystery I am he grew plain. So grand a result, so tiny a sin."
"In his devotion to bhang, with reverence, not with the worship, which is due to Allah alone, the North Indian Mussulman joins hynming to the praise of bhang. To the follower of the later religion of Islam the holy spirit in bhang is not the spirit of the Almighty, it is the spirit of the great prophet Khizr, or Elijah. That bhang should be sacred to Khizr is natural; Khizr is the patron saint of water. Still more, Khizr means green, the revered color of the cooling water of bhang. So the Urdu poet sings, "When I quaff fresh bhang I liken its color to the fresh light down of thy youthful beard." The prophet Khizr, the green prophet, cries, "May the drink be pleasing to thee." Nasir, the great North Indian Urdu poet, is loud in praises o his beloved Sabzi, 'the Green One.'
Compared with bhang spirits are naught. Leave all things thou fool, drink bhang.
From its quickening the imagination, Mussulman poets honor bhang with the title Waraq al-Khayal, 'Fancy's Leaf.' And the Makhazan or great Arab-Greek drug book records many other fond names for the drug. Bhang is the Joy-Giver, the Sky-Flier, the Heavenly-Guide, the Poor Man's Heaven, the Soother of Grief."
J.M. Campbell
Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report, 1893-1894
Other modern religious movements
Elders of the modern religious movement known as the Ethiopian Zion Coptic ChurchEthiopian Zion Coptic Church
The Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church is a mansion of Rastafari movement which flourished in the 1970s in Jamaica and was incorporated in Florida in 1975...
consider cannabis to be the eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, claiming it as an oral tradition from Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
dating back to the time of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
.
Like the Rastafari, some modern Christian sects (many Gnostic) have asserted that cannabis is the Tree of Life.
Other organized religions founded in the past century that treat cannabis as a sacrament are the Santo Daime
Santo Daime
Santo Daime is a syncretic spiritual practice founded in the 1930s in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Acre by Raimundo Irineu Serra, known as Mestre Irineu...
church, the THC Ministry
THC Ministry
The THC Ministry, founded by Roger Christie from the Religion of Jesus Church, is a religion which considers cannabis to be a sacrament. Members base their practices on what they see as an eclectic mixture of ancient wisdom, modern science, and the enlightening and healing properties of cannabis...
, the Way of Infinite Harmony
Way of Infinite Harmony
The Way of Infinite Harmony is a Taoist sect that worships Her Holiness Princess Ma Gu, Goddess of Hemp .The most famous story featuring Ma Gu is the Ma Gu Xian Shou...
, Cantheism, the Cannabis Assembly, Temple 420, Green Faith Ministries, the Church of Cognizance, the Church of the Universe
Church of the Universe
The Assembly of the Church of the Universe, an entheogen religion, was established by Walter Tucker in 1969 in the Canadian province of Ontario....
, The Free Marijuana Church of Honolulu, The Free Life Ministry Church of Canthe.
Modern spiritual figures like Ram Dass
Ram Dass
Ram Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
and Eli Wyld openly acknowledge that the use of cannabis has allowed them to gain a more spiritual perspective and use the herb frequently for both its medicinal and mind-altering properties.
In Mexico, followers of the growing cult of Santa Muerte
Santa Muerte
Santa Muerte is a sacred figure venerated in Mexico, probably a syncretism between Mesoamerican and Catholic beliefs. The name literally translates to "Holy Death" or "Saint Death." Mexican culture since the pre-Columbian era has maintained a certain reverence towards death, which can be seen in...
regularly use marijuana smoke in purification ceremonies, with marijuana often taking the place of incense used in mainstream Catholic rituals.
See also
- CharasCharasCharas is the name given to a hashish form of cannabis which is hand-made in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and India. It is made from the resin of the cannabis plant...
- Church of CognizanceChurch of cognizanceThe Church of Cognizance was founded in 1991 by Danuel & Mary Quaintance in Graham County Arizona, United States.-Beginnings:In 1994, the Church announced a 16-page "Declaration of Religious Sentiment" establishing their church...
- EntheogenEntheogenAn entheogen , in the strict sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Historically, entheogens were mostly derived from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious contexts...
- Freedom of thoughtFreedom of thoughtFreedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints....
- THC MinistryTHC MinistryThe THC Ministry, founded by Roger Christie from the Religion of Jesus Church, is a religion which considers cannabis to be a sacrament. Members base their practices on what they see as an eclectic mixture of ancient wisdom, modern science, and the enlightening and healing properties of cannabis...
- Free Exercise Clause
- Green Earth MinistriesGreen Earth MinistriesThe Green Earth Ministries, founded by Bruce shoop and his wife Brenda and is a chapter of the THC Ministry church following the Religion of Jesus Church, is a religion which considers cannabis to be a sacrament. Members base their practices on what they see as an eclectic mixture of ancient...
- Ma GuMa GuMa Gu is a legendary Taoist xian associated with the elixir of life, and symbolic protector of females in Chinese mythology. Stories in Chinese literature describe Ma Gu as a beautiful young woman with long birdlike fingernails, while early myths associate her with caves...
- Religion and drugsReligion and drugsAll religions have expressed positions on what is acceptable to put into human bodies as a means of intoxication for spiritual, pleasure, or medicinal purposes. See article entheogen for more about drug use in a religious or shamanistic context....
- Church of the UniverseChurch of the UniverseThe Assembly of the Church of the Universe, an entheogen religion, was established by Walter Tucker in 1969 in the Canadian province of Ontario....
Further reading
- Booth, MartinMartin BoothMartin Booth was a prolific British novelist and poet. He also worked as a teacher and screenwriter, and was the founder of the Sceptre Press.-Early life:...
. (2004). Cannabis: A History. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-32220-8 - Shields, Rev. Dennis (1995). The Holy Herb. Source:
- Bennett, Chris; Lynn Osburn & Judy Osburn (1995). Green Gold the Tree of Life: Marijuana in Magic & Religion. CA: Access Unlimited. ISBN 0-9629872-2-0
- The Sacred Plants of our Ancestors by Christian RätschChristian RätschChristian Rätsch is a German writer ethnopharmacology and psychoactive plants and animals. Rätsch is an anthropologist and author. He was born in 1957 in a Bohemian community in Hamburg, Germany. His father was an opera singer, his mother a ballet dancer...
, published in TYR: Myth—Culture—Tradition Vol. 2, 2003–2004 - ISBN 0-9720292-1-4 - Jackson, Simon (2007). ' 'Cannabis & Meditation - An Explorer's Guide'. Headstuff Books. ISBN 978-0-9553853-1-5. Second Edition (2009) ISBN 978-0-9553853-4-6
External links
- Religious Insights into cannabis use and cultural traditions
- Erowid Cannabis Vault #2
- Cannabis is the true Dionysos cult (fr)
- Resurrection of the Higher Self by Matthew Webb, July 1989
- Free Life Ministry Church of Canthe a "Cannabis Sacrament Church" in Austin, Texas
- xCannabis Ministries Cannabis Spiritual Ministries in South East Idaho
- green faith ministry Organic spiritual & medicinal cannabis healing