Entheogenic use of cannabis

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A man smoking cannabis through a pipe in Kolkata, India
Part of a series on
Cannabis
Cannabis
Chemistry
Consumption
Economics
Effects
Forms
Law
Variants
  • Genus
  • Species
  • Strains
  • Acapulco Gold
  • Blue Dream
  • Charlotte's web
  • Kush
  • Malawi Gold
  • Sour Diesel
Related

Cannabis has served as an entheogen—a chemical substance used in religious or spiritual contexts[1]—in the Indian subcontinent since the Vedic period dating back to approximately 1500 BCE, but perhaps as far back as 2000 BCE. It was introduced to the New World by the Spaniards in 1530-1545.[2]

There are several references in Greek mythology to a powerful drug that eliminated anguish and sorrow. Herodotus wrote about early ceremonial practices by the Scythians, thought to have occurred from the 5th to 2nd century BCE. Itinerant Hindu saints have used it in the Indian subcontinent for centuries.[3] Mexican Native American communities occasionally use cannabis in religious ceremonies by leaving bundles of it on church altars to be consumed by the attendees.[4]

Indian subcontinent

ancient India.[5]

The earliest known reports regarding the sacred status of cannabis in the

Atharva Veda, estimated to have been written sometime around 2000–1400 BCE,[6] which mentions cannabis as one of the "five sacred plants... which release us from anxiety" and that a guardian angel resides in its leaves. The Vedas also refer to it as a "source of happiness," "joy-giver" and "liberator," and in the Raja Valabba, the gods send hemp to the human race so that they might attain delight, lose fear and have sexual desires. Many households in India own and grow a cannabis plant to be able to offer cannabis to a passing sadhu (ascetic holy men), and during some evening devotional services it is not uncommon for cannabis to be smoked by everyone present.[7]

A sadhu, or holy person, smoking cannabis in Kolkata, India

Cannabis was often consumed in weddings or festivals honoring

Kumbha Mela.[4]

There are three types of cannabis used in the Indian subcontinent. The first,

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.

In

Tantric Buddhism, which originated in the Tibeto-Himalayan region, cannabis serves as an important part of a traditional ritual (which may or may not also include sexual intercourse). Cannabis is taken to facilitate meditation and also heighten awareness of all aspects of the ceremony, with a large oral dosage being taken in time with the ceremony so that the climax of the "high" coincides with the climax of the ceremony.[7]

Ancient China

Main article: Hallucinogenic plants in Chinese herbals

The sinologist and historian Joseph Needham concluded "the hallucinogenic properties of hemp were common knowledge in Chinese medical and Taoist circles for two millennia or more",[8] and other scholars associated Chinese wu (shamans) with the entheogenic use of cannabis in Central Asian shamanism.[9]

In the mountains of western China, significant traces of THC, the compound responsible for cannabis’ psychoactive effects, have been found in wooden bowls, or braziers, excavated from a 2,500-year-old cemetery.[10]

The oldest texts of

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 [of weight] (久服通神明輕身).[11][12]

A Taoist priest in the fifth century A.D. wrote in the Ming-I Pieh Lu that:

Cannabis is used by necromancers, in combination with ginseng to set forward time in order to reveal future events.[7]

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.[13]

The (ca. 730) dietary therapy book Shiliao bencao 食療本草 ("Nutritional Materia Medica") prescribes daily consumption of cannabis in the following case: "those who wish to see demons should take it (with certain other drugs) for up to a hundred days."

Yangshao culture (ca. 4800 BCE) amphora with hemp cord design

Cannabis has been cultivated in China since

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."[14] 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 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.[15]

Robert Clarke and Mark Merlin, the authors of Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany, suggest that:

After the rise of Confucianism, which spread from China through East Asia to Japan, the ingestion of cannabis resin for psychoactive, ritualistic purification was eventually suppressed in Japan, as it was in China.[4]

Ancient Central Asia

Several of the

Turpan Basin and found the remains of an approximately 35-year-old man with Caucasian features who had been buried with thirteen 1-meter cannabis plants, placed diagonally across his chest. Jiang said this is the first archeological discovery of complete cannabis plants, as well as the first incidence of their use as a burial shroud.[19][20]

Cannabis has been associated with

Central Asian burial rituals around the 5th century BCE, as archaeological excavations in 1947 of a series of burial mounds at Pazyryk in the Altai Mountains of Siberia revealed 1.2 meter-high wooden frame tents in each of the mounds. Each frame surrounded a bronze vessel filled with the remains of hemp seeds and stones, and were presumably left smoking in the grave. In one of the mounds, a leather pouch containing hemp seeds, and scattered hemp, coriander, and melilotus seeds were also recovered.[21] More recent excavations indicate the cannabis used in the most ancient burials were devoid of THC, while significantly stronger psychoactive cannabis was employed at least 2,500 years ago in the Pamir Mountains.[22][23]

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.[24] 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.[25]

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."[26]

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. In the middle Sahara region, the

Senusi sect also cultivated hemp on a large scale for use in religious ceremonies.[27]

Part of the Rastafari movement, elders of the 20th-century religious movement known as the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, consider cannabis to be the "eucharist", claiming it as an oral tradition from Ethiopia dating back to the time of Christ. [28][circular reference]

Europe

The (ca. 440 BCE) Greek Histories of Herodotus 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.[29]

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").[30]

Herodotus also noted that the Thracians, a people who had intimate contact with the Scythians, introduced the plant to the Dacians where it became popular among a shamanic cult named the Kapnobatai, or "Those Who Walk in the Clouds." The shamans of the cult, also called Kapnobatai, were known to use hemp smoke to induce visions and trances.

Burial tombs of the Phrygians and Scythians frequently contained cannabis sativa seeds.[4]

The Celts may have also used cannabis, as evidence of hashish traces were found in Hallstatt, birthplace of Celtic culture.[31][failed verification]

Germanic paganism

In ancient

Germanic parent language at a time depth no later than the separation of Common Germanic from Proto-Indo-European
, about 500 BC.

Middle East

Cannabis oil was likely used throughout the Middle East for centuries before and after the birth of Christ.[4] The Assyrians, Egyptians, and Israelites, among other Semitic cultures of the Middle East, mostly acquired cannabis from Aryan cultures and have burned it as an incense as early as 1000 BC. In Egypt, cannabis pollen was recovered from the tomb of Ramesses II, who governed for sixty‐seven years during the 19th dynasty, and several mummies contain trace cannabinoids. Cannabis, as an incense, was used in the temples of Assyria and Babylon because "its aroma was pleasing to the Gods."

Ancient Israel

It has been generally held by academics specializing in the archaeology and paleobotany of

Jewish scholars, there is general agreement that cannabis is used in talmudic sources to refer to hemp fibers, not hashish, as hemp was a vital commodity before linen replaced it.[37] Lexicons of Hebrew and dictionaries of plants of the Bible such as by Michael Zohary (1985), Hans Arne Jensen (2004) and James A. Duke (2010) and others identify the plant in question as either Acorus calamus or Cymbopogon citratus, not cannabis.[38]

In 2020, it was announced that cannabis residue had been found on the Israelite sanctuary altar at

8th century BCE of the Kingdom of Judah, suggesting that cannabis was a part of some Israelite rituals at the time.[39]

United States

The more modern religion of Rastafari (recognized by the Supreme Court as a religion) is quite popular among youth and African American culture.

Even more recently has been the emergence of an entirely new religious philosophy: cantheism. Cantheism is a word that signifies any and all attitudes towards the cannabis plant as a religious experience. While not technically a religion itself, it is a philosophy that examines the inherent religious nature of man’s interaction with the cannabis plant. [40]

United States v. Jefferson, 175 F. Supp. 2d 1123 (N.D. Ind. 2001) states:

As a practical matter, the Court is in agreement with the Government that smoking marijuana at religious rituals all day, every day appears abusive. However, even if the court held that smoking marijuana "all day every day" was excessive, it would still have to determine what an "acceptable level" of usage would be as part of Israel's religion since it is clear that a main doctrine of the religion involves smoking marijuana this much was conceded by the Government. This court has no evidentiary basis with which to make such a determination and any guesswork on the court's part would result in an administrative quagmire for the Probation Office. Thus, for purposes of the court's analysis, it will assume that Israel's usage is consistent with his religious practice.[41]

High Times magazine ran an article about Cantheism in 2019. Chris Conrad: Upon leaving the seminary, Conrad worked in the anti-Vietnam War and civil rights movements for a number of years, but by 1988 found himself concentrating on cannabis activism. Based in Northern California, he became involved in the fight for Proposition 215 that, in 1996, legalized medical marijuana in the state. He also testified frequently in court. He and his wife, Mikki Norris, worked side by side for many years on marijuana activism, writing, and publishing.

Conrad coined the term Kantheism, which later became Cantheism (alternately spelled Cannatheism), in 1996, believing then that the fight for legalization was further along—and also wondering if he could establish a sacramental cannabis practice to bolster the defense of those on trial for marijuana offenses. Calling upon the history of sacramental cannabis use in parts of the world ranging from ancient Scythia and Thrace, to Egypt, India, and the Middle East, he wrote the Cantheist Creed and adopted the Egyptian hieroglyph for cannabis as a symbol.

THC Ministry, the International Church of Cannabis, the Church of Holy Smoke, and "far-flung branches of Cantheists" are cited. [42]

Caribbean

Central and South America

International movements

THC Ministry, The THC Ministry, founded by Roger Christie from the Religion of Jesus Church, is a religion[1] 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 sacrament. Its mission includes "liberating the Cannabis plant and the minds of those who do and of those who do not revere it," and is actively involved in the legal and social discussions surrounding cannabis use in society. On July 8, 2010, Christie and 13 other individuals allegedly associated with the THC Ministry were indicted by a Federal grand jury in Honolulu on Marijuana Possession and Trafficking charges.[2] Christie served four years in jail following an April 2014 sentencing, and is on probation until 2018. The name is based on the original Hawai'i Ministry of Cannabis Sacrament and all of its chapters, was founded in June 2000 by Roger Christie in Hawaii. It is present in many states of the United States, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Wyoming, Texas, and Tennessee with at least one other chapter forming in New York. It is an officially registered religion in many countries on different continents.[43][circular reference]

THC Ministry sells a legal defense kit, as the members served prison time during USA prohibition: "Our Cannabis Sanctuary Kit provides you with proof of your legitimacy as a religious practitioner of Cannabis Sacrament. You become a full supporting member of the THC Ministry the moment you request your Cannabis Sanctuary Kit." [44]

THC Ministry, which is the abbreviated and popularized name for the original Hawai'i Ministry of Cannabis Sacrament and all of its chapters, was founded in June 2000 by Roger Christie in Hawaii. It is present in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and many states of the United States, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Wyoming, Texas, and Tennessee with at least one other chapter forming in New York. It is an officially registered religion in many countries on different continents.[45][circular reference]

It is not known when Rastafari first claimed cannabis to be sacred, but 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 and quote 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 (Jah), allowing the user to penetrate the truth of things more clearly.

While it is not necessary to use cannabis to be a Rastafari, many use it regularly as a part of their faith, and pipes of cannabis are dedicated to His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I before being smoked. According to the Watchman Fellowship "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 into the skin from smoked cannabis is also considered a healthy practice.

See also

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

References

  1. doi:10.1590/S1516-89132008000500010
    .
  2. ^ Eileen Konieczny, Lauren Wilson (2018). Healing with CBD.
  3. ^ Bloomquist, Edward (1971). Marijuana: The Second Trip. California: Glencoe.
  4. ^
    S2CID 143779072
    .
  5. OCLC 30856250. Archived
    from the original on 9 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  6. ISBN 0-674-00458-2. Archived
    from the original on 2023-04-20. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  7. ^
    PMID 7024492
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-521-08571-7
    .
  9. PMID 16810401
    .
  10. ^ Meilan Solly (2019-06-13). "The First Evidence of Smoking Pot Was Found in a 2,500-Year-Old Pot". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 2022-05-05. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
  11. ISBN 978-0-521-08571-7
    .
  12. doi:10.1080/02791072.1978.10471863. Archived
    from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2020-11-15. if taken in excess will produce visions of devils … over a long term, it makes one communicate with spirits and lightens one's body
  13. S2CID 31817755
    .
  14. ^ Li (1973), p. 297-298.[full citation needed]
  15. S2CID 19866569
    .
  16. ^ "Lab work to identify 2,800-year-old mummy of shaman". People's Daily Online. 2006. Archived from the original on 2013-11-03. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  17. ^ "Perforated skulls provide evidence of craniotomy in ancient China". China Economic Net. 2007-01-26. Archived from the original on 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  18. PMID 16879937
    .
  19. S2CID 32271406
    .
  20. ^ Kristin Romey, Ancient Cannabis 'Burial Shroud' Discovered in Desert Oasis Archived 2017-01-29 at the Wayback Machine, National Geographic, 4 October 2016.
  21. S2CID 30297486
    .
  22. ^ "Earliest evidence for cannabis smoking discovered in ancient tombs". Culture & History. 2019-06-12. Archived from the original on 2019-06-13. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  23. ^ Ren, M., Tang, Z., Wu, X., Spengler, R., Jiang, H., Yang, Y., & Boivin, N. (2019). "The origins of cannabis smoking: Chemical residue evidence from the first millennium BCE in the Pamirs". In: Science Advances, 5(6), eaaw1391. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw1391 Archived 2023-04-20 at the Wayback Machine
  24. OCLC 644825549.[page needed
    ]
  25. ^ "History of Marihuana Use: Medical and Intoxicant". Druglibrary.org. Archived from the original on 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
  26. ISBN 9783110812060. Archived
    from the original on 2023-04-20. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  27. ^ Wissman et al. 1888[full citation needed]
  28. ^ Cannabis and religion
  29. ^ Herodotus. Histories. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2017-03-09. 4.75
  30. ^ Booth, Martin (2005). Cannabis: A History. Picador. p. 29. As the seeds of cannabis contain no psycho-active chemicals, it is believed the Scythians were actually casting cannabis flowers onto the stones.
  31. ISBN 978-0-521-77207-5
    .
  32. ISBN 978-1-59477-659-5. Archived
    from the original on 2023-04-20. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  33. ^ Vindheim, Jan Bojer. "The History of Hemp in Norway". The Journal of Industrial Hemp. International Hemp Association. Archived from the original on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
  34. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
  35. ^ Benet, S. (1975). "Early Diffusions and Folk Uses of Hemp Archived 2022-07-31 at the Wayback Machine", in Vera Rubin; Lambros Comitas (eds.), Cannabis and Culture. Moutan, pp. 39–49.
  36. ^ Warf, Barney. "High points: An historical geography of cannabis." Geographical Review 104.4 (2014): 414-438. Page 422: "Psychoactive cannabis is mentioned in the Talmud, and the ancient Jews may have used hashish (Clarke and Merlin 2013)."
  37. OCLC 830136076
    . Note, the second edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica no longer mentions Sula Benet but continues to maintain that hemp is "the plant Cannabis sativa called kanbus in talmudic literature", but now adds, "Hashish is not mentioned however in Jewish sources". See p. 805 in Vol. 8 of the 2nd edition.
  38. ^ Lytton J. Musselman Figs, dates, laurel, and myrrh: plants of the Bible and the Quran 2007 p73
  39. S2CID 219763262. Archived
    from the original on 2022-05-15. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
  40. ^ "Religious use of Cannabis". 17 August 2012. Archived from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  41. ^ "United States v. Jefferson, 175 F. Supp. 2d 1123 (N.D. Ind. 2001)". Justia Law. US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana - 175 F. Supp. 2d 1123 (N.D. Ind. 2001). December 12, 2001. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  42. ^ "Cantheism: The Makings of a Cannabis Religion". 7 March 2019. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  43. ^ THC Ministry
  44. ^ "THC Ministry: Cannabis Sanctuary Kit & Legal Defense Package: Request Validation". Archived from the original on 2021-02-23. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  45. ^ THC Ministry
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Entheogenic_use_of_cannabis&oldid=1218599581"