Philip H. Farber - High Magick: A Guide to Cannabis in Ritual & Mysticism

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

High Magick: A Guide to Cannabis in Ritual & Mysticism 2020 by Philip H. Farber.

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First e-book edition 2020

E-book ISBN: 9780738763026

Cover design by Kevin R. Brown

Interior art by the Llewellyn Art Department

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Farber, Philip H., author.

Title: High magick : a guide to cannabis in ritual & mysticism / Philip H.

Farber.

Description: Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications, 2020. | Includes

index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019055229 (print) | LCCN 2019055230 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738762661 (paperback) | ISBN 9780738763026 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Magic. | CannabisMiscellanea. | Occultism. |

Hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience.

Classification: LCC BF1623.D74 F37 2020 (print) | LCC BF1623.D74 (ebook)

| DDC 133.4/3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019055229

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019055230

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

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2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Dedication

For Stephen Gaskin, Bob Wilson, and Don Kraig

DISCLAIMER

If smoking cannabis is illegal in your state, do not partake in the related exercises of this book. Neither the publisher nor the author take any responsibility for any legal action taken against any person reading this book who partakes in illegal activities.

Furthermore, this book is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice and treatment from your personal physician. Readers are advised to consult their doctors or other qualified healthcare professionals regarding the treatment of their medical problems. Neither the publisher nor the author take any responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, action, or application of medicine, supplement, herb, or preparation to any person reading or following the information in this book.

Contents

: The Useful Plant

: Forms and Uses

: The Symbol of the Leaf

: Toward a Cannabis Qabala?

: Magical History

: More Recent History

: Your Brain (and Body) on Cannabis

: What Is Magick, Anyway?

: Entheogenic Revolution

: Free Yourself from Mental Slavery

: Dreadlocks

: Marijuana and Meditation

: Breathing

: Cannabis and the Limbs of Yoga

: Energy Medicine

: Kundalini

: Hypnosis

: Contact Highs and Shared Experience

: Laughter

: Healing

: Entities

: Ancestors

: Divination

: High Magick

: Practical Magick

: The Neosoma Ritual

: Evolution

: Mythbusting

: Dangers

: A Few Words about Words

Introduction

H ere in the United States of America, in the early years of the twenty-first century, attitudes and laws about cannabis are changing rapidly. As of this writing, a handful of states have legalized the use of cannabis across the board and dozens more have legalized some form of medical marijuana. Our nation and the world are cautiously lifting the blinders of prohibition and rediscovering the history and uses of this remarkable plant.

Some of us are starting to speak out about the various ways that cannabis has helped and influenced us over the years. We are starting to hear stories of medical patients who find that cannabis restores abilities and health, artists and scientists who use cannabis to enhance creativity, and meditators and ritual magicians who have incorporated the plant into their practices. I think its important for us to share this kind of information about how we can use cannabis safely, effectively, and in our best interests.

As prohibition recedes, science advances. In some ways, this book is even more difficult to write nowour knowledge of the plant, including genetics, evolution, history, and pharmacology, grows faster than a hemp field in summer.

I waited many years to write this book, for the political and societal signs to shift a bit. The origin of this book goes back about twenty years to the Starwood Festival, which was then held at a site in rural Western New York state. That year, Stephen Gaskin, founder of The Farm community and author of Cannabis Spirituality (High Times, 1998), presented a workshop in which he discussed cannabis in relation to Eastern philosophy. The presentation inspired (after some discussion with Stephen) my own cannabis workshop the next year, focusing more on magick and the Western esoteric tradition. That turned into a long-running series of classes and generated a lot of useful, exciting, and stony information and techniques. Much of thatand morewill be found in the coming pages.

When I say that I am working on a book about cannabis and magick, the first question I get is Why cannabis? This question, I think, is largely motivated by a lack of knowledge of the eons-long history of cannabis use in magick and meditation and by belief in some of the myths and fallacies used by prohibitionists. The short answer is that cannabis can (with the proper techniques) help to induce a state in which the processes and results of magick become more probable and effective. The longer answer, which addresses both why and how, will be found in the coming pages. Read on.

Is cannabis magick for everyone? Probably not. But the historical record and the scientific evidence strongly suggest that it can be an important adjunct for many. And as decriminalization spreads worldwide, the confluence of magick, yoga, meditation, and cannabis will become more and more common. In the past, information about this plant was purely occult, hidden away from law enforcement and disapproving eyes, and now we have the opportunityand the responsibilityto shed new light on this misunderstood corner of esoteric spirituality.