HEMP / MARIJUANA / CANNABIS; GOD’s SACRAMENT; THE HOLY BIBLE; AND YOU!

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To be lifted above sense to behold the beatific vision and become "incorporate" in God is the end sought in ecstasy. The priest or mystic in enthusiasm or ecstasy enjoys the beatific vision by entering into communion with God and by undergoing deification. The experience of ecstasy, states Mircea Eliade, one of the foremost authorities on religion, is a timeless primary phenomenon. Psychological experience of rapture, he continues, are fundamental to the human condition and hence known to the whole of archaic humanity. Some of the synonyms of rapture are bliss, beatitude, transport, exaltation.

Baudelaire, a member of the Club Des Hashichins Hashish Club founded in Paris around and writer of Artificial Paradises states the following about hashish: Hashish is the unadulterated resin from the flowering tops of the female hemp plant. The brain and organisms on which hashish operates will produce only the normal phenomena peculiar to that individual -- increased, admittedly, in number and force, but always faithful to the original. A man will never escape from his destined physical and moral temperament: He cautions that the user must be in the right frame of mind to take hashish, for just as it exaggerates the natural behavior of the individual, so too does hashish intensify the user's immediate feelings.

Baudelaire describes three successive phases a hashish user will pass through. He says the final stage is marked by a feeling of calmness, in which time and space have no meaning, and there is a sense that one has transcended matter. He says that in this state, one final supreme thought breaks into consciousness. Realization of one's union with God is necessary in understanding the true Christian sacrament. The understanding of man's relationship to God and God's relationship to man God in Man and Man in God was quite prevalent in the ancient world, particularly among the religions that utilized marijuana as part of their religious practice.

Said the great Hindu sage, Manu, "He who in his own soul perceives the Supreme Soul in all beings and acquires equanimity toward them all, attains the highest bliss.

In the Liturgy of Mithra the Persian god of light and truth the suppliant prays "abide with me in my soul; leave me not," and "that I may be initiated and the Holy Spirit may breathe within me. Western theology Catholic and Protestant teaches that the spirit created matter but remained aloof of it.

In Hinduism and other Eastern religions, the spirit is the inside, the matter is the outside; the two are inseparable. Eastern theologians hive rightly perceived that the God one worships must posses all the aspects of his worshippers' nature as well as his own divine nature.

Otherwise, how can he create beings whose nature is entirely foreign to his own? What, then, would be the meaning of the Biblical phrase: The fact that modern Christendom has no sense of union with God has led to numerous churches without the understanding for building a Christian culture and kingdom to replace the confusion of modern politics. This lack of understanding was not lacking in the ancient church and was a major source of enthusiasm for the prophets of old.

In fact, the power of the early church was manifested due to this understanding of the spirit of God dwelling in man, the temple of God. To the ancient prophets it was not a God above, nor a God over yonder, but a God within. In 1 Corinthians Charles Tart, "On Being Stoned: The sacramentality of marijuana is declared by Christ himself and can be understood only when a person partakes of the natural divine herb. The fact is communion of Jesus cannot be disputed or be destroyed.

THE USE OF MARIJUANA IN ANCIENT TIMES

Marijuana is the new wine divine and cannot be compared to the old wine, which is alcohol. Jesus rejected the old wine and glorified the "new wine" at the wedding feast of Cana. Cana is a linguistic derivation of the present day cannabis and so it is. Some Biblical scholars -- and there is a certain amount of support in early tradition of the view -- have looked upon the miracle of Cana as a sign of the Eucharist. When one mentions clusters, one thinks of clusters of grapes.

The dried flower clusters and leaves of the hemp plant, esp. Seed producing flowers form elongate, spike like clusters growing on the pistillate, or female plants; pollen producing flowers form many branched clusters or staminate, on male plants. Here and in Webster's, marijuana fits the description of the new wine and as history has shown a blessing is in it. Baudelaire said the following about the effects of hashish: This delightful and singular state It is as unexpected as a ghost, an intermittent haunting from which we must draw, if we are wise, the certainty of a better existence.

This acuteness of thought, this enthusiasm of the senses and the spirit must have appeared to man through the ages as the first blessing. In the books of Acts the apostles were accused of being full of new wine. Numerous outpourings of the Spirit are mentioned in the Acts of the apostles in which healing, prophesy, and the expelling of demons are particularly associated with the activity of the Spirit. Incense marijuana was used by the ancients for healing, prophesy, and the expelling of demons. When Christ ascended into heaven in the cloud Acts 1: The first two gifts of the Holy Spirit are traditionally said to be wisdom and understanding, which no doubt are the two things most needed by the human race.

In Jamaica today marijuana is referred to as the "weed of wisdom" and is reputed to be the plant that grew on Solomon's grave, a man known for his great wisdom. Marijuana expands consciousness and enhances the capacity for mystical and creative inspiration. Fire was also a means which to transport a saint to heaven. Recent writers have speculated that this passage was in reference to flying saucers. That is because they look at this passage physically. This ascension of Elijah like the ascension of Christ in the cloud into heaven is the "withdrawal" from the external or physical world, to be the inmost reality of all.

This can be referred to as ecstasy, rapture, or transport and is a result of the Holy Spirit. Ecstasy, rapture, or transport therefor agree in designating a feeling or state of intense, often extreme mental and emotional exaltation. Rapture is defined as ecstatic joy or delight; joyful ecstasy. Some of the synonyms of rapture are bliss, beatitude, transport, and exultation.

The true rapture is therefore one in which one is spiritually transported to the heavens. Don't expect to float up into the sky. Marijuana as history has shown is the catalyst used to achieve the spiritual journey into the heavens. That is why Professor Mircea Eliade, perhaps the foremost authority on the history of religion, suggested that Zoroaster may have caused hemp to bridge the metaphysical gap between heaven and earth.

One dictionary defines marijuana as the leaves and flowering tops when taken to induce euphoria. Euphoria is defined by the same dictionary as great happiness or bliss. In India, marijuana has been referred to as the joy-giver and the soother of grief. Bliss is defined as the ecstasy of salvation, spiritual joy.

Some of the synonyms of bliss are beatitude, transport, rapture, ecstasy, paradise, heaven. Throughout the ancient world there is mention of "magical flight", "ascent to heaven", and "mystical journey". All these mythological and folklore traditions have their point of departure in an ideology and technique of ecstasy that imply "journey in spirit". The pilgrimage from earth to heaven is not a journey to some other place or some other time, but is a journey within. One must realize that "death" through which we must pass before God can be seen does not lie ahead of us in time. Rather it is now that we have a man of sin within us that must be killed and a new man free from sin that must be born.

This is actualized in baptism and the sacramental life in the church. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Galatians 3: The effect of baptism is spiritual regeneration or rebirth, whereby one is "enChristened", involving both union with Christ and remission of sins. Some of the synonyms of regeneration are beatification, conversion, sanctification, salvation, inspiration, bread of life, Body and Blood of Christ.

Vambery calls 'bath' any club in which the members play checkers, drink coffee, and smoke hashish or tobacco. Matthew's account of the institution of the Eucharist attaches to the Eucharist cup these words: Drinking the sacramental cup therefor serves like baptism Acts 2: The present and future benefits to the individual communicant have their importance given them by Jesus, who said, "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

There was a profound change in America when marijuana smoking started on a large scale in the late 's. A large number of people resisted the draft, resisted the war What we really saw was the awakening of our generation to the beginning of Christian mentality through marijuana smoking. The earmarks of this mentality are: I don't want to go to war; I really don't want to be part of the political-military-economic fiasco you call society. Like the Indians Hemp Drug Commission three quarters of a century earlier, the Canadian Le Dain Commission conducted an inquiry into the use of marijuana.

On page of the report is the following: It is a relaxant; it is disinhibiting; it increases self-confidence and the feeling of creativity whether justified by creative results or not ; it increases sensual awareness and appreciation; it facilitates self acceptance and in this way makes it easier to accept others; it serves a sacramental function in promoting a sense of spiritual community among users; it is a shared pleasure; because it is illicit and the object of strong disapproval from those who are, by and large, opposed to social change, it is a symbol of protest and a means of strengthening the sense of identity among those who are strongly critical of certain aspects of our society and value structure today.

On page of the Report, marijuana is associated with peace. Thus marijuana is seen as particularly appropriate to a generation that emphasizes peace and is, in many ways, anticompetitive. In a magazine article by G. Chopra entitled "Man and Marijuana" on page is a section dealing with Human Experiments. One hundred persons with an established marijuana smoking habit smoked marijuana.

They described the symptoms as follows:. Neither in Roman Catholic nor in Protestant Eucharistic practice does the sacrament retain much of the symbolism of Christian unity, which clearly it has. Originally, the symbolism was that of a community meal, an accepted social symbol of community throughout the whole of human culture. Marijuana has been used as sacrifice, a sacrament, a ritual fumigant incense , a good-will offering, and as a means of communing with the divine spirit. It has been used to seal treaties, friendships, solemn binding agreements and to legitimize covenants.

It has been used as a traditional defense against evil and in purification.

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It has been used in divinations 1. It has been used in remembrance of the dead and praised for its medicinal properties. Most Christians agree that participation in the Eucharist is supposed to enhance and deepen communion of believers not only with Christ but also with one another. We must therefor ask the question, "What substance did the ancients use as a community meal to facilitate communion with the Lord?

MARIJUANA AND THE BIBLE

Hemp as originally used in religious ritual, temple activities, and tribal rites, involved groups of worshippers rather than the solitary individual. The pleasurable psychoactive effects were then, as now, communal experiences. Practically every major religion and culture of the ancient world utilized marijuana as part of their religious observance.

Marijuana was the ambrosia of the ancient world. It was the food, drink, and perfume of the gods. Would it be too much to suggest that the ancient Israelites also utilized marijuana? The following information was taken from the most authoritative books dealing with the history of marijuana.

They are mentioned at the end of this work. In Indian tradition marijuana is associated with immortality. There is a complex myth of the churning of the Ocean of Milk by the gods, their joint act of creation. They were in search of Amrita, the elixir of eternal life. When the gods, helped by demons, churned the ocean to obtain Amrita, one of the resulting nectars was cannabis. After churning the ocean, the demons attempted to gain control of Amrita marijuana , but the gods were able to prevent this seizure, giving cannabis the name Vijaya "victory" to commemorate their success.

Other ancient Indian names for marijuana were "sacred grass", "hero leaved", "joy", "rejoicer", "desired in the three worlds"' "gods' food", "fountain of pleasures"' and "Shiva's plant". Early Indian legends maintained that the angel of mankind lived in the leaves of the marijuana plant. It was so sacred that it was reputed to deter evil and cleanse its user of sin. In Hindu mythology hemp is a holy plant given to man for the "welfare of mankind" and is considered to be one of the divine nectars able to give man anything from good health, to long life, to visions of the gods.

Nectar is defined as the fabled drink of the gods. Tradition maintains that when nectar or Amrita dropped from heaven, that cannabis sprouted from it. In Hindu mythology Amrita means immortality; also, the ambrosial drink which produced it. In India hemp is made into a drink and is reputed to be the favorite drink of Indra the King of Indian gods. Tradition maintains that the god Indra gave marijuana to the people so that they might attain elevated states of consciousness, delight in worldly joy, and freedom from fear. According to Hindu legends, Siva, the Supreme God of many Hindu sects, had some family squabble and went off to the fields.

He sat under a hemp plant so as to be sheltered from the heat of the sun and happened to eat some of its leaves. He felt so refreshed from the hemp plant that it became his favorite food, and that is how he got his title, the Lord of Bhang. Cannabis is mentioned as a medicinal and magical plant as well as a "sacred grass" in the Atharva Veda dated - B. It also calls hemp one of the five kingdoms of herbs Although the holy books, the Shastras, forbid the worship of the plant, it has been venerated and used as a sacrifice to the deities.

Indian Tradition, writing, and belief is that the "Siddhartha" the Buddha , used and ate nothing but hemp and its seeds for six years prior to announcing discovering his truths and becoming the Buddha. Cannabis held a preeminent place in the Tantric religion which evolved in Tibet in the seventh century A. Tantrism was a religion based on fear of demons.

To combat the demonic threat to the world, the people sought protection in plants such as cannabis which were set afire to overcome evil forces. In the tenth century A. A fifteenth-century document refers to cannabis as "light-hearted", "joy-full" and "rejoices", and claimed that among its virtues are "astringency", "heat", "speech-giving", "inspiration of mental powers", "excitability" and the capacity to "remove wind and phlegm". Today in the Tantric Buddhism of the Himalayas of Tibet, cannabis plays a very significant role in the meditative ritual to facilitate deep meditation and heighten awareness.

In modern India it is taken at Hindu and Sikh temples and Mohammedan shrines. Among fakirs Hindu ascetics bhang is viewed as the giver of long life and a means of communion with the divine spirit. Like his Hindu brother, the Musalman fakir reveres bhang as the lengthener of life and the freer from the bonds of self. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission set up to study the use of hemp in India contains the following report:.

OFFERINGS OF DEVOTION

It is inevitable that temperaments would be found to whom the quickening spirit of bhang is the spirit of freedom and knowledge. In the ecstasy of bhang the spark of the Eternal in man turns into the light the murkiness of matter. No god or man is as good as the religious drinker of bhang The supporting power of bhang has brought many a Hindu family safe through the miseries of famine.

To forbid or even seriously restrict the use of so gracious an herb as the 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 on discomfort, of a cure in sickness, of a guardian whose gracious protection saves them from the attacks of evil influences Hemp was so highly regarded in ancient China that the Chinese called their country "the land of mulberry and hemp". Hemp was a symbol of power over evil and in emperor Shen Nung's pharmacopoeia was known as the "liberator of sin".

The Chinese believed that the legendary Shen Nung first taught the cultivation of hemp in the 28th century B. Shen Nung is credited with developing the sciences of medicine from the curative power of plants. So highly regarded was Shen Nung that he was deified and today he is regarded as the Father of Chinese medicine.

Shen Nung was also regarded as the Lord of fire.

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He sacrificed on T'ai Shan, a mountain of hoary antiquity. A statement in the Pen-ts'ao Ching of some significance is that Cannabis "grows along rivers and valleys at T'ai-shan, but it is now common everywhere. Whether or not this early attribution indicates the actual geographic origin of the cultivation of the Cannabis plant remains to be seen. A chines Taoist priest wrote in the fifth century B. It is recorded that the Taoist recommended the addition of cannabis to their incense burners in the 1st century A.

In the early Chinese Taoist ritual the fumes and odors of incense burners were said to have produced a mystic exaltation and contribution to well-being. Webster's New Riverside Dictionary defines marijuana: Euphoria is defined as a strong feeling of elation or well-being. Like the practice of medicine around the world, early Chinese doctoring was based on the concept of demons. The only way to cure the sick was to drive out the demons.

The early priest doctors used marijuana stalks into which snake-like figures were carved. Standing over the body of the stricken patient, his cannabis stalk poised to strike, the priest pounded the bed and commanded the demon to be gone. The cannabis stalk with the snake carved on it was the forerunner to the sign of modern medicine the staff with the entwined serpents. Hemp was used in Ancient Japan in ceremonial purification rites and for driving away evil spirits.

In Japan, Shinto priests used a gohei, a short stick with undyed hemp fibers for purity attached to one end. According to Shinto beliefs, evil and purity cannot exist alongside one another, and so by waving the gohei purity above someone's head the evil spirit inside him would be driven away. Clothes made of hemp were especially worn during formal and religious ceremonies because of hemp's traditional association with purity.

Ancient Iran was the source for the great Persian empire, Iran is located slightly to the northeast of the ancient kingdoms of Sumeria, Babylonia, and Assyria. According to Mircea Eliade, "Shamanistic ecstasy induced by hemp smoke was known in ancient Iran. In the Zend-Avesta hemp occupies the first place in a list of 10, medicinal plants.

One of the few surviving books of the Zend-Avesta, called the Venidad, "The Law Against Demons", calls bhanga marijuana Zoroaster's "good narcotic", and tells of two mortals who were transported in soul to the heavens where, upon drinking from a cup of bhang, they had the highest mysteries revealed to them. Professor Eliade has theorized that Zoroaster may have used hemp to bridge the metaphysical gap between heaven and earth.

In the book, Plants of the Gods: Origin of Hallucinogenic Use by Richard E. Schultes and Albert Hofman, page 72, it is stated that the specimens of marijuana nearly 4, years old have turned up in an Egyptian site and that in ancient Thebes the plant was made into a drink. According to Nikolaas j. Marijuana was an integral part of the Scythian cult of the dead wherein homage was paid to the memory of their departed leaders. This use of cannabis was found in frozen Scythian tombs dated from to B. Along with the cannabis a miniature tripod-like tent over a copper censer was found in which the sacred plant was burned.

It is interesting to note that two extraordinary rugs were also found in the frozen Scythian tombs. One rug had a border frieze with a repeated composition of a horseman approaching the Great Goddess who holds the "Tree of Life" in one hand and raises the other hand in welcome. The African continent is probably the zone showing the widest prevalence of the hemp drug habit. When white men first went to Africa, marijuana was part of the native way of life.

Africa was a continent of marijuana cultures where marijuana was an integral part of religious ceremony. The Africans were observed inhaling the smoke from piles of smoldering hemp. Some of these piles had been placed upon altars. The Africans also utilized pipes. The African Dagga marijuana cults believed that Holy Cannabis was brought to earth by the gods. Throughout the ancient world Ethiopia was considered the home of the gods. In south central Africa, marijuana is held to be sacred and is connected with many religious and social customs.

Marijuana is regarded by some sects as a magic plant possessing universal protection against all injury to life, and is symbolic of peace and friendship. Certain tribes consider hemp use a duty. The earliest evidence for cannabis smoking in Africa outside of Egypt comes from fourteenth century Ethiopia, where two ceramic smoking-pipe bowls containing traces of excavation. In many parts of East Africa, especially near Lake Victoria the source for the Nile , hemp smoking and hashish snuffing cults still exist.

According to Richard L.

CC Cannabis and the Christ: Jesus used Marijuana

The present day Cuna Indians of Panama use marijuana as a sacred herb and the Cora Indians of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico smoke marijuana in this course of their sacred ceremonies. According to Garcia it is worshipped as an earth deity and is thought to be alive and comparable to a piece of the heart of God. It is interesting to note that the use of hemp was not prohibited by Mohammed A. Moslems considered hemp as a "Holy Plant" and medieval Arab doctors considered hemp as a sacred medicine which they called among other names kannab.

The Sufis a Moslem sect originating in 8th century Persia used hashish as a means of stimulating mystical consciousness and appreciation of the nature of Allah. Eating hashish to the Sufis was "an act of worship". They maintained that hashish gave them otherwise unattainable insights into themselves, deeper understanding and that it made them feel witty.

They also claimed that it gave happiness, reduced anxiety, reduced worry, and increased music appreciation. According to one Arab legend Haydar, the Persian founder of the religious order of Sufi came across the cannabis plant while wandering in the Persian mountains. Usually a reserved and silent man, when he returned to his monastery after eating some cannabis leaves, his disciples were amazed at how talkative and animated full of spirit he seemed. After cajoling Haydar into telling them what he had done to make him feel so happy, his disciples went out into the mountains and tried the cannabis themselves.

So it was, according to the legend, that the Sufis came to know the pleasures of hashish. Due to the prosecution of God's church from the beginning of the Christian era and due to the persecution against marijuana the true understanding of the Eucharist has remained hidden from Christendom and the world, only to be revealed in these times, the culmination of all human history.

We of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church declare marijuana for the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and for the resurrection of mankind. The fruits of the mystery are remembrance of the passions and death of Christ, propitiation for sins, defense against temptation, and the indwelling of Christ in the faithful. Preparations for communion consist of confession of sins, fasting from sin, and reconciliation with all mankind.

As such the participant in the Eucharist will be in a condition in which prayer and meditation are easy and fruitful. He will find his emotion purified and stimulated, his spirituality quickened and his heart filled with love. Their Use and Abuse, London: Kegan, Trench, Turbner and Co. Translated from the second German edition by P. Francis Robicsek, The Smoking Gods: We hope you enjoyed this pamphlet.

Cannabis Ingredient of Holy Anointing Oil

If you have any questions or comments, we would like to see them. Kaneh Bosm, documented as cannabis. N This quote is from scholar John Allegro, whose work I drew from for this article. Allegro was a great scholar of both the bible and ancient languages, and his work broke a lot of ground. Allegro was also the only human secularist on the original team of scholars involved in the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, so he came to his views through more unbiased anthropological thinking than that of his more "faithful" co-researchers.

In The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, Allegro translated the kaneh-bosm reference in Exodus as "aromatic cane", and I have quoted him here on how the anointing oil "could produce a kind of intoxicating belief in self-omniscience. His writings reveal he was extremely prejudiced against cannabis, even going so far with his etymological arguments as to suggest that the Greek term "kannabis" somehow referred to a mushroom. Allegro never smoked marijuana, but his own observations of what he referred to as "the 'pot'-smokers of today, the weary dotards who wander listlessly round our cities and universities," caused him to discount any possible use of cannabis as a means of achieving spiritual ecstasy.

P One of the few that managed to survive the Catholic Church's editorial flames, without being hidden with the Nag Hamadi codexes. Q This offering of "fragrant-incense" to the Virgin of Light is reminiscent of the Old Testament offerings of kaneh-bosm incense to the Queen of Heaven 1 Kings 3: The Goddess played a paramount role in Gnostic theology. R The title Zorokothora is likely derived from Zoroaster, an ancient Persian prophet-shaman.

Centuries before the Christian age the Zoroastrian Magi were known for their use of "bhanga" cannabis , as well as a primordial entheogenic drink known as "haoma" or "soma", now widely identified as anamita muscaria, or fly agaric mushroom. The Zoroastrians had a great influence on Jewish culture during the years of Persian rule. The concept of heaven and hell conspicuously absent from the Old Testament is derived from Zoroastrianism.

Jesus' apparent knowledge of Zoroaster, and Zoroastrian sacraments, hints that perhaps amanita was identified with the entheogenic "wonder" filled "five trees" which Jesus used in his shamanistic initiation ceremonies. One of the more significant and widespread Gnostic sects, the Manicheans, were known to use anamita mushrooms, and worshipped Jesus right alongside Zoroaster. The Manicheans survived into the twelfth century in parts of Europe and China, and performed ceremonies similar to the one which Jesus is described as presiding over.

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