Marijuana and the Bible
by
The Ethiopian
Beacon Press 1988.
The following is the text of a
pamphlet entitled "Marijuana and The Bible" published by the
Ethiopian
OFFERINGS OF DEVOTION
With offerings of devotion, ships from the isles will meet
to pour the wealth of the nations and bring tribute to his feet. The Coptic
Church believes fully the teachings of the Bible, and as such we have our daily
obligations, and offer our sacrifices, made by fire unto our God with chants
and Psalms and spiritual hymns, lifting up holy hands and making melody in our
hearts.
Herb (marijuana) is a Godly creation from the beginning of
the world. It is known as the weed of wisdom, angel's food, the tree of life
and even the "Wicked Old Ganja Tree". Its purpose in creation is as a
fiery sacrifice to be offered to our Redeemer during obligations. The political
worldwide organizations have framed mischief on it and called it drugs. To show
that it is not a dangerous drug, let me inform my readers that it is used as
food for mankind, and as a medicinal cure for diverse diseases. Ganja is not
for commerce; yet because of the oppression of the people, it was raised up as
the only liberator of the people, and the only peacemaker among the entire
generation. Ganja is the sacramental rights of every man worldwide and any law
against it is only the organized conspiracy of the United Nations and the political
governments who assist in maintaining this conspiracy.
The Coptic Church is not politically originated, and this
was firmly expressed when we met with the political directorate of the land
during the period of pre-incorporation. We support no political organization,
pagan religion, or commercial institution, seeing that religion, politics, and
commerce are the three unclean spirits which separate the people from their
God. Because of our non-political stand, the church has received tremendous opposition
from the politicians, who do not want the eyes of the people to be opened.
Through its agency, the police force, the church has been severely harassed,
victimized, and discriminated. Our members have passed through several acts of
police brutality, our legal properties maliciously destroyed, members falsely
imprisoned, divine services broken up and all these atrocities performed upon
the Church, under the name of political laws and their justice.
Walter Wells -- Elder Priest of the Ethiopian
THE USE OF MARIJUANA IN ANCIENT TIMES
The use of marijuana is as old as the history of man and
dates to the prehistoric period. Marijuana is closely connected with the
history and development of some of the oldest nations on earth. It has played a
significant role in the religions and cultures of
Richard E. Schultes, a prominent researcher in the field
of psychoactive plants, said in an article he wrote entitled "Man and
Marijuana":
"...that early man
experimented with all plant materials that he could chew and could not have
avoided discovering the properties of cannabis (marijuana), for in his quest
for seeds and oil, he certainly ate the sticky tops of the plant. Upon eating hemp
the euphoric, ecstatic and hallucinatory aspects may have introduced man to an
other-worldly plane from which emerged religious beliefs, perhaps even the
concept of deity. The plant became accepted as a special gift of the gods, a
sacred medium for communion with the spiritual world and as such it has
remained in some cultures to the present."
The effects of
marijuana was proof to the ancients that the spirit and power of the god(s)
existed in this plant and that it was literally a messenger (angel) or actually
the Flesh and Blood and/or Bread of the god(s) and was and continues to be a
holy sacrament. Considered to be sacred, marijuana has been used in religious
worship from before recorded history.
According to William
A. Embolden in his book Ritual Use of Cannabis Sativa L, p. 235:
"Shamanistic traditions of
great antiquity in Asia and the Near East has as one of their most important
elements the attempt to find God without a vale of tears; that cannabis played
a role in this, at least in some areas, is born out in the philology
surrounding the ritualistic use of the plant. Whereas Western religious
traditions generally stress sin, repentance, and mortification of the flesh,
certain older non- Western religious cults seem to have employed Cannabis as a
euphoriant, which allowed the participant a joyous path to the Ultimate; hence
such appellations as "heavenly guide".
According to "Licit and
Illicit Drugs" by the Consumer Union, page 397-398:
"Ashurbanipal lived about 650
B.C., but the cuneiform descriptions of marijuana in his library "are
generally regarded as obvious copies of much older texts." Says Dr. Robert
P. Walton, an American physician and authority on marijuana, "This
evidence serves to project the origin of hashish back to the earliest beginnings
of history."
THE USE OF MARIJUANA
AS INCENSE
According to the
Encyclopedia Britannica: "Pharmacological Cults"
"...the ceremonial use of
incense in contemporary ritual is most likely a relic of the time when the
psychoactive properties of incense brought the ancient worshipper in touch with
supernatural forces."
In the temples of
the ancient world, the main sacrifice was the inhalation of incense. Incense is
defined as the perfume or smoke from spices and gums when burned in celebrating
religious rites or as an offering to a deity. Bronze and gold incense burners
were cast very early in history and their forms were often inspired by
cosmological themes representing the harmonious nature of the universe.
The following piece
was taken from "Licit and Illicit Drugs", page 31.
"In the Judaic world, the
vapors from burnt spices and aromatic gums were considered part of the
pleasurable act of worship. In proverbs (27:9) it is said that 'Ointment and
perfumes rejoice the heart.' Perfumes were widely used in Egyptian worship.
Stone altars have been unearthed in Babylon and Palestine, which have been used
for burning incense made of aromatic wood and spices. While the casual readers
today may interpret such practices as mere satisfaction of the desire for
pleasant odors, this is almost certainly an error; in many or most cases, a
psychoactive drug was being inhaled. In the islands of the Mediterranean 2,500
years ago and in
"The earliest civilizations of
"It is said that the Assyrians used hemp (marijuana)
as incense in the seventh or eighth century before Christ and called it
'Qunubu', a term apparently borrowed from an old East Iranian word 'Konaba',
the same as the Scythian name 'cannabis'." (Plants of
the Gods -- Origin of Hallucinogenic Use by Richard E. Schultes and
Albert Hofmann)
"It is recorded that the Chinese Taoist recommended
the addition of cannabis to their incense burners in the 1st century as a means
of achieving immortality." (Marijuana, the First Twelve Thousand Years by
Earnest Abel, page 5)
"There is a classic Greek term, cannabeizein, which
means to smoke cannabis. Cannabeizein frequently took the form of inhaling
vapors from an incense burner in which these resins were mixed with other
resins, such as myrrh, balsam, frankincense, and perfumes." (Ritual Use of
Cannabis Sativa L)
"Herodotus in the fifth century B.C. observed the
Scythians throwing hemp on heated stone to create smoke and observed them
inhaling this smoke. Although he does not identify them, Herodotus states that
when they "have parties and sit around a fire, they throw some of it into
the flames. As it burns, it smokes like incense, and the smell of it makes them
drunk, just as wine does us. As more fruit is thrown on, they get more and more
intoxicated until finally they jump up and start dancing and singing."
(Herodotus, Histories 1.202.)
EVIDENCE INDICATING
THE SEMITIC ORIGIN OF CANNABIS
The name cannabis is
generally thought to be of Scythian origin. Sula Benet in Cannabis and Culture
argues that it has a much earlier origin in Semitic languages like Hebrew,
occurring several times in the Old Testament. He states that in Exodus 30:23
that God commands Moses to make a holy anointing oil of myrrh, sweet cinnamon,
kaneh bosm, and kassia. He continues that the word kaneh bosm is also rendered
in the traditional Hebrew as kannabos or kannabus and that the root
"kan" in this construction means "reed" or
"hemp", while "bosm" means "aromatic". He states
that in the earliest Greek translations of the old testament "kan"
was rendered as "reed", leading to such erroneous English
translations as "sweet calamus" (Exodus 30:23), sweet cane (Isaiah
43:24; Jeremiah 6:20) and "calamus" (Ezekiel 27:19; Song of Songs
4:14). Benet argues from the linguistic evidence that cannabis was known in Old
Testament times at least for its aromatic properties and that the word for it
passed from the Semitic language to the Scythians, i.e. the Ashkenaz of the Old
Testament.
Sara Benetowa of the
Institute of Anthropological Sciences in
"The astonishing resemblance
between the Semitic 'kanbos' and the Scythian 'cannabis' leads me to suppose
that the Scythian word was of Semitic origin. These etymological discussions
run parallel to arguments drawn from history. The Iranian Scythians were
probably related to the Medes, who were neighbors of the semites and could
easily have assimilated the word for hemp. The Semites could also have spread
the word during their migrations through
Taking into account the matriarchal element of Semitic
culture, one is led to believe that
The Ancient
Israelites were a Semitic people. Abraham, the father of the Israelite nation,
came from Ur, a city of
THE ISRAELITE USE OF
INCENSE
It was said that
Moses, at the direction of Almighty God, first brought in the use of incense in
public worship, and that the other nations of antiquity copied the practice
from him. It was however a practice that began with Adam. The "Book of
Jubilees", an Apocryphal book, (the Apocrypha was considered canonical by
the early church and is to this day by the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church) states
that "on the day when Adam went forth from the Garden of Eden, he offered
as a sweet savour an offering of frankincense, galbanum, and stacte, and
spices, in the morning with the rising of the sun, from the day when he covered
his shame." And of Enoch we read that "he burnt the incense of the
sanctuary, even sweet spices, acceptable before the Lord, on the Mount."
Incense was assigned
miraculous powers by the Israelites. It was burned in golden bowls or cauldrons
placed on or beside the altar. It was also burned in hand-held censers. In the
Blessing of Moses, a poem belonging to the
Let them teach Jacob thy judgments,
and
Throughout the Bible
the ancient patriarchs were brought into communion with God through smoking
incense and at
Exodus 19:8 "And
The Mysterious smoke
mentioned in the covenant on
Exodus 24:15 "And Moses went
up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. 16 And the glory of the Lord
abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day
he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
Scriptures make it
abundantly clear that the clouds and the smoke are related to the burning of
incense. Exodus 40:26 describes Moses burning incense, a cloud covering the
tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle.
Leviticus 16:2-13 describes how God appeared in a cloud and refers to it as the
clouds of incense. Numbers 16:17-19 describes how every man of the congregation
had a censer full of burning incense and that the glory of the Lord appeared
unto all the congregation. Isaiah 6:4 describes how Ezekial saw God in a
smoke-filled inner court. Numbers
The Book of Grass by
Andrew and Vinkenoog includes a section on Ancient
"On one document appears to
indicate the existence of a Getic shamanism: It is Straho's account of the
Myssian KAPNOBATAI, a name that has been translated, by analogy with
Aristophanes' AEROBATES, as 'those who walk in clouds'; but it should be
translated as 'those who walk in smoke'! Presumably the smoke is hemp smoke, a
rudimentary means of ecstasy known to both the Tracians and the
Scythians..."
This passage should
be carefully noted. Biblical passages make it abundantly clear that the ancient
Isrealites also walked in clouds and in smoke. In fact it was in the clouds of
smoke that God was revealed to the ancient Isrealites. The words
"smoke" and "smoking" appear fifty times in the King James
Version of the Bible and two separate times the Bible says of the Lord,
"There went up a smoke out of his nostrils." II Samuel 22:9, Psalms
18:8.
There are numerous
other places in the Bible that mention the burning of incense, the mysterious
cloud, and smoke. This common thread is found throughout the Bible, including
the New Testament.
St. Matthew 24:30 "And then
shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the Earth morn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the
clouds of heaven, with power and great glory."
Revelations 1:7 "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and
every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all the kindreds
of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen."
Revelations 8:3 "And another angel came and stood at
the altar, having a golden censer: and there was given unto him much incense,
that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar
which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with
the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the Angel's
hand."
Revelations 15:8 "And the temple was filled with
smoke from the glory of God, and from his power."
THE SYMBOLISM OF
FIRE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
The word
"fire" is mentioned several hundred times in the King James version
of the Bible. The sacrifice of the Lord is made by fire (Exodus 29:18, 25;
Leviticus
Abraham, the father
of the Israelite nation, came from
At
The most important
of the ancient Indian gods was Agni, the god of fire, who like the Babylonian
god Girru-Nusku acted as a messenger between men and the gods. The fire (Agni)
upon the altar was regarded as a messenger, their invoker.
"...For thou, O sage, goest
wisely between these two creations like a friendly messenger between two
hamlets."
According to the
Encyclopedia Britannica, the section on "mysticism":
"The Vedas (Hindu sacred
writings) are hymns to the mystic fire and the inner sense of sacrifice,
burning forever on the 'altar Mind'. Hence the abundance of solar and fire
images: birds of fire, the fire of the sun, and the isles of fire. The symbol
system of the world's religions and mysticisms are profound illuminations of
the human-divine mystery. Be it the cave of the heart or the lotus of the
heart, 'the dwelling place of that which is the Essence of the Universe,
"the third eye", or the eye of wisdom' -- the symbols all refer back
to wisdom entering the aspiring soul on its way to progressive
self-understanding. 'I saw the Lord with the Eye of the Heart. I said,
"Who art thou?" and he answered, "Thou"'."
The ancient Indian mystics said,
"...that in the ecstasy of bhang (marijuana) the
spark of the Eternal in man turns into light the murkiness of matter or
illusion and the self is lost in the central soul fire. Raising man out of
himself and above mean individual worries, bhang makes him one with the divine
force of nature and the mystery 'I am he' grew plain. (Taken from the Indian
Hemp Drugs Commission Report which was written at the turn of the twentieth
century.)
The concept of
spiritual or inner light was found throughout the ancient world. As we shall
see that spiritual light was directly related to the burning of incense.
According to Lucie Lamy in "Egyptian Mysteries", page 24:
"The Pharaonic word for light
is akh. This word, often translated as 'transfigured', designated
transcendental light as well as all aspects of physical light; and in the
funerary text it denotes the state of ultimate sublimation.
"The word akh, first of all, is written with a glyph
showing a crested ibis, ibis comata. This bird -- the name of which was also
akh -- lived in the southern part of the Arabian side of the
"Akh indeed expresses all notions of light, both
literally and figuratively, from the Light which comes forth from Darkness to
the transcendental light of transfiguration. It is also used to designate the
'third eye', the ureaeus, related in old tradition to the pineal body and to
the spirit."
In the next chapter
we will see that the sacred cloud of incense was instrumental in the
transfiguration of Christ.
Note that
The ancient
Egyptians believed that they had received their divinities from
The ancient Greek historian
Diodorus Siculus wrote:
"The Ethiopians conceived themselves to be of greater
antiquity than any other nation; and it is probable that, born under the sun's
path, its warmth may have ripened them earlier than other men. They supposed
themselves to be the inventors of worship, of festivals, of solemn assemblies,
of sacrifice, and every religious practice."
MARIJUANA AS THE
CHRISTIAN SACRAMENT According to Jack Herer in The Emperor Wears No Clothes or
Everything You Wanted to Know About Marijuana But Were Not Taught in School,
"The Essenes, a kabalistic priest/prophet/healer sect of Judaism dating
back to the era of the Dead Sea Scrolls, used hemp, as did the Theraputea of
Egypt, from where we get the term 'therapeutic'."
The Theraputea of
The Coptic Church
has been neglected by Western scholars despite its historical significance.
This has been due to the various biases and interest of the Catholic Church
which claimed Christianity for its own. The result is that for the Coptic
Church there is very little history. It is however assumed that the Coptic
religious services have their roots in the earliest layers of Christian ritual
in
Tradition states
that "Coptic" was derived from "Kuftaim", son of Mizraim, a
grandchild of Noah who first settled in the
According to E.A.
Wallis Budge in The Divine Origin of the Herbalist, page 79, "The Copts,
that is to say the Egyptians who accepted the teachings of St. Mark in the
first century of our era, and embraced Christianity, seem to have eschewed
medical science as taught by the physicians of the famous School of Medicine of
Alexandria, and to have been content with the methods of healing employed by
their ancestors."
The Essenes were an
ascetic sect closely related to the Theraputea that had established a monastic
order in the desert outside of
Every prophet,
however great, must be initiated. His higher self must be awakened and made
conscious so that his mission can be fulfilled. Amongst the Essenes' ritual
lustrations preceded most liturgical rites, the most important one of which was
participation in a sacred meal -- an anticipation of the Messianic banquet.
Throughout the
ancient world sacrifice was a sacramental communal meal involving the idea of
the god as a participant in the meal or as identical with the food consumed.
The communion sacrifice was one in which the deity indwells the oblation so
that the worshippers actually consume the divine. The original motive of
sacrifice was an effort toward communion among the members of a group, on one
hand, and between them and their god, on the other. At its best, sacrifice was
a "sacrament" and in one form or another life itself.
The central focus of
the early Christian church was the Eucharist or the "body and blood"
of the Lord. This was interpreted as a fellowship meal with the resurrected
Christ. In meeting the Resurrected One in the Eucharist meal the Christian
community had the expectation of the
Christ communicated
life to his disciples through the Eucharist or Christian sacrament. Christ said
in describing the sacrament, "Take, eat, this is my body, this is my
blood. Do this as often as you will in remembrance of me." (I Corinthians
Baptism is defined
as the Christian sacrament used in purification and the spiritual rebirth of
the individual. I Corinthians 10:1 makes it clear that the smoking cloud of
incense was directly related to baptism.
I Corinthians 10:1 "Moreover,
brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto
Moses in the Cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat:
for they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was
Christ.
In the Biblical
story of Creation, God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing
seed and to you it will be for meat." (Genesis 1:29) Marijuana is
technically an herb and was considered a spiritual meat in the ancient world.
From this passage in
Corinthians we see that the spiritual cloud resulting from the burning of
incense was instrumental in the baptism of the Israelites. This baptism is also
compared to the "eating and drinking" of the spirit of Christ.
Spirit is defined as
the active essence of the Deity serving as an invisible and life-giving or
inspiring power in motion. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that the
sacrificial cloud or smoke contained the Spirit of God (Christ) and was
instrumental in inspiring, sanctifying, and purifying the patriarchs.
In Numbers
"Psychoactive"
is defined as effecting the mind or behavior. When we of the Ethiopian
In the Apocrypha
(Book of Jubilees), Chapter 10, God tells an angel to teach Noah the medicines
which heal and protect from evil spirits. Surely God taught Noah about
marijuana. In the ancient world marijuana played an important role in
purification and protecting from evil influences.
Note the following
concerning the transfiguration of Christ:
St. Matthew 17:1 "And after
six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up
into a high mountain apart. 2 And he was transfigured before them: and his face
did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as light. 3 And, behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 4 Then answered Peter, and
said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make
here three tabernacles; one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 When
yet he spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold a voice out
of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;
hear ye him."
The Bible Dictionary
by John McKenzie, page 898, says concerning the transfiguration that the cloud
and the formula of the utterance of the Father are derived from the baptism of
Jesus. He says that the change described in the appearance of Jesus suggests
the change which is implied in the resurrection narratives.
Some of the synonyms
for transfiguration are transformation, metamorphosis, transubstantiation, and
avatar. These terms imply the change that accompanies resurrection or
deification. Across the world, legends of godlike men who manage to rise, in a
state of perfection go back to an era before human beings had cast away from
the divine source. Hence the gods were beings which once were men, and the
actual race of men will in time become gods. Christ revealed this to the people
of his day when he told them to whom the word of God came, "Ye are
gods." (
St. Matthew 17:2
says that during the transfiguration of Christ that his face did shine as the
sun. The face of Moses also shone when he returned from the cloud on
Most people are
under the impression that Christ baptized with water. As you can see from the
following account of John the Baptist this isn't so. John the Baptist baptized
with water and Christ baptized with fire.
St. Matthew
It is only logical
that this baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire is related to the baptism
of Christ in the burning, smoking cloud of incense and to the baptism of the
patriarchs in which the patriarchs did all eat of the same spiritual meal
(incense). In the section dealing with the "Holy Spirit" the
Encyclopedia Britannica states that Christian writers have seen in various
references to the Spirit of Yahweh in the Old Testament an anticipation of the
doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It also says that the Holy Spirit is viewed as the
main agent of man's restoration to his original natural state through communion
in Christ's body and, thus, as the principle of life in the Christian
community.
The patriarchs were
recipients of a revelation coming directly from the Spirit (incense) and this
was expressed in the heightening and enlargement of their consciousness. It is
clear from Scripture that this spiritual dimension was also evident in the life
of Jesus, in whom the experience of the Hebrew prophets was renewed. Through
the Eucharist Christ passed this spiritual dimension on to his apostles. One of
the apostles even makes mention in Philippians
Christ compares this
baptism to the drinking of a cup.
St. Mark
This cup is referred
to as the cup of salvation in Psalms 116:12.
Psalms 116:12 "What shall I
render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of
salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.
It is called the cup
of blessing in connection in connection with the eucharist.
1 Corinthians 10:16 "The cup
of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood and the body
of Christ? 17 For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all
partakers of one bread.
Here we see a
connection between the cup of blessing and the communion of the blood of
Christ. Blood is the life-giving substance of the living being. Christ
communicated life to his disciples through the Eucharist or Christian
sacrament.
In I Corinthians
10:16 we note the mention of bread as the communion of the body of Christ and
that we are all partakers of one bread. This is the spiritual bread or food
used by Christ and his disciples. (A synonym for the Eucharist or the Body and
Blood of the Lord is the bread of life.) It is interesting to note that the
finest marijuana in Jamaica is called Lamb's bread.
1 Corinthians 12:13 "For by
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 11:25 "After the same manner also he
took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my
blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often
as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he
come.
If these passages
are compared to 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, it is plain that the "eating of one
bread" is the same as the patriarchs "eating the same spiritual
meat" and the "drinking of one Spirit" (the cup) is the same as
the patriarchs "drinking of the Spiritual Rock that followed them: and
that Rock was Christ." By making this comparison we see that the
terminology of the Eucharist is directly related to the smoking cloud of
incense used in the baptism of Christ and the patriarchs.
It is interesting to
note that smoking was referred to as "eating" or "drinking"
by the early American Indians. Peter J. Furst in Hallucinogen and Culture
states the following:
"Considering its enormous
geographic spread in the Americas at the time of European discovery, as well as
the probable age of stone tobacco pipes in California, the inhaling (often
called "drinking" or "eating") of tobacco smoke by the
Shaman, as a corollary to therapeutic fumigation and the feeding of the gods
with smoke, must also be of considerable antiquity."
In Licit and Illicit
Drugs, page 209, the following is quoted:
"Columbus and other early
explorers who followed him were amazed to meet Indians who carried rolls of
dried leaves that they set afire -- and who then "drank the smoke"
that emerged from the rolls. Other Indians carried pipes in which they burned
the same leaves, and from which they similarly "drank the smoke".
The Encyclopedia
Britannica states in the section on "Sacrifice" that the
interpretation of sacrifice and particularly of the Eucharist as sacrifice has
varied greatly within the different Christian traditions because of the
sacrificial terminology in which the Eucharist was originally described became
foreign to Christian thinkers.
We of the Ethiopian
Zion Coptic Church declare that the true understanding of the Eucharist has
been passed down from generation to generation so that we are able to give an
accurate interpretation of the sacrificial terminology used to describe the
Eucharist. We have shown, using history and Biblical passages, that his
terminology is directly related to burning smoking incense. We have shown that
the "eating" or "drinking" contained in the terminology
concerning the Eucharist is associated with the inhalation of smoke. We have
shown that marijuana was used as incense and that it was the number one
spiritual plant of the ancient world.
We of the Ethiopian
Zion Coptic Church declare that the cup that Christ baptized his disciples with
in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire was in fact a pipe or chillum in
which marijuana was smoked. This is a bottomless cup and soon as it is emptied,
it is filled again and passed in a circle. There is a picture of this cup or
pipe below, as well as on the cover. Like the pipe of the ancient North
American Indians, this cup was a portable altar.
Christ was the
Father of the doctrine of the Eucharist which is the communion that Jesus gave
his brethren. Jesus taught that the communion is his body and blood. Jesus was
not speaking of His physical body and blood. He was speaking of His spiritual
body and spiritual blood that was the communion of his holy church. The supper
that Jesus celebrated with his disciples "on the night that he was
betrayed" (1 Corinthians 11:23) inaugurated the heavenly meal that was to
be continued.
1 Corinthians 11:23
"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you,
that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And
when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat, this is my body,
which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner
also he took the cup, which he had supped, saying, This cup is the new
testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink of this cup, ye do shew the
Lord's death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat of this bread, and
drink of this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and let him eat of the bread,
and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
Christ said,
"Do this in remembrance of me." Here the original unity of man with
God is restored. In general the reception of the Holy Spirit is connected with
the actual realization, the inward experiencing of God.
Marijuana has been
referred to as a mild euphoric (the producer of a feeling of well-being) that
produces a profound religious experience of a mystical and transcendental
nature. This religious experience is said to be brought about by the stirring
of deeply buried, unconscious sensitivities so that one experiences ultimate
reality or the divine and confirms the feeling of the worshipper that he has
been in the presence of God and has assimilated some of His powers.
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 1835 and
writer of Artificial Paradises states the following about hashish: Hashish is
the unadulterated resin from the flowering tops of the female hemp plant.
"One will find in hashish
nothing miraculous, absolutely nothing but an exaggeration of the natural. 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: hashish will be a mirror of his
impression and private thoughts -- a magnifying mirror, it is true, but only a
mirror.
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. "I have become God."
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." To recognize oneness of self with God was contained in all the
teachings of Gautama Buddha. 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." The communion became so intimate as to pass into identity:
"I am thou and thou art I." Athanasius, a theologian, ecclesiastical
statesman, and Egyptian national leader who was closely tied to the Coptic
Church in Egypt said, "Even we may become gods walking in the flesh,"
and "God became man that man might become God."
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: "God made man in his own image"?
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. "Be still
and know that I am God" -- for the visionaries and mystics of every time
and place, this has been the first and greatest of the commandments.
In 1 Corinthians
11:28 Christ said, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the
bread, and drink of the cup." Probably the most relevant study to date
about what might be considered typical marijuana experience concludes that
marijuana gives spontaneous insights into self (Dr. Charles Tart, "On
Being Stoned: A Psychological Study of Marijuana Intoxication", Science
and Behavior, 1971).
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. 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.)
Note the references
to new wine in the Bible:
Isaiah 65:8 "Thus saith the
Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not;
for a blessing is in it; so will I do for my servant's sake"
Acts 2:13
"Others mocking said, "These men are full of new wine."
Isaiah 65:8 declares
that the new wine is found in the cluster and that a blessing is in it. When
one mentions clusters, one thinks of clusters of grapes. Webster's New
Riverside Dictionary, Office Edition, defines marijuana: 1. Hemp 2. The dried
flower clusters and leaves of the hemp plant, esp. when taken to induce
euphoria.
The Encyclopedia
Britannica says the following about hemp: 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 marvelous experience
often occurs as if it were the effect of superior and invisible power acting on
the person from without...This delightful and singular state...gives no advance
warning. 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. Acts 2:13 was the time of
pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles. 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 1:9-11) he sent his disciples the Holy Spirit
with the "gift of tongues" (Acts 2:3) and there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were
filled with the Holy Spirit and were given the power to prophesy or witness.
(Marijuana has been credited with speech giving and inspiration of mental
powers.)
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.
In Acts 2:3 Fire
speaks figuratively of the Holy Spirit. Fire was also a means which to
transport a saint to heaven.
2 Kings 2:11 "And it came to
pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot
of fire, and horses of fire, and parted asunder; and Elijah went up by a
whirlwind into 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 in India it was referred to as the Heavenly-Guide, the
Poor Man's Heaven, and the Sky-flier. 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 3:27). The effect of baptism is spiritual regeneration or
rebirth, whereby one is "enChristened", involving both union with
Christ and remission of sins. In Titus 3:5 baptism is the "bath of
regeneration" accompanying renewal by the Spirit. Some of the synonyms of
regeneration are beatification, conversion, sanctification, salvation,
inspiration, bread of life, Body and Blood of Christ.
Sara Benetowa of the
Institute of Anthropological Sciences in Warsaw is quoted in the Book of Grass
as saying:
"By comparing the old Slavic
word 'Kepati' and the Russian 'Kupati' with the Scythian 'cannabis' Shrader
developed and justified Meringer's supposition that there is a link between the
Scythian baths and Russian vapor baths. "In the entire Orient even today
to 'go to the bath' means not only to accomplish an act of purification and enjoy
a pleasure, but also to fulfill the divine law. Vambery calls 'bath' any club
in which the members play checkers, drink coffee, and smoke hashish or
tobacco."
St. Matthew's
account of the institution of the Eucharist attaches to the Eucharist cup these
words: "Drink of it, all of, for this is the blood of the covenant, which
is poured out for many for the remission of sins (st. Matthew 26:27). Drinking
the sacramental cup therefor serves like baptism (Acts 2:38) where Peter said
unto them, "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. We of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church declare a three-part doctrine of
the Holy Herb, the Holy Word, and the Holy Man (Woman).
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." (John 6:54) As such we
must see that the divine person who is active in creation, in renewal, and in
human rebirth and resurrection, is also active in the Eucharist.
There was a profound
change in America when marijuana smoking started on a large scale in the late
1960's. A large number of people resisted the draft, resisted the war ...
started letting their hair and beards grow ... became interested in natural
foods... the ecology and the environment. 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 156 of the
report is the following:
"In the case of cannabis, the
positive points which are claimed for it include 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 144 of the
Report, marijuana is associated with peace.
"In our conversation with
(students and young people) they have frequently contrasted marijuana and
alcohol effects to describe the former as a drug of peace, a drug that reduces
tendencies to aggression while suggesting that the latter drug produces
hostile, aggressive behavior. 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. S. Chopra entitled "Man and Marijuana" on page 235 is a
section dealing with Human Experiments. One hundred persons with an established
marijuana smoking habit smoked marijuana. They described the symptoms as
follows: "I have done things today which I usually dislike but which I
rather enjoyed doing today." "Nothing seemed impossible to
accomplish." "I assumed a cool and composed attitude and forgot all
mental worries." "I behaved in a childish and foolish manner."
"It relieves sense of fatigue and gives rise to feelings of
happiness." "I feel like laughing." "My head is
dizzy." "I feel like taking more food." "The world is gay
around me." "I feel inclined to work." "I am a friend to
all and have no enemy in the world."
According to the
Encyclopedia Britannica, in the section on "Roman Catholicism":
"To understand the meaning
and use of the Eucharist we must see it as an act of universal worship, of
cooperation, of association else it loses the greater part of its significance.
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. It has been used in divinations (1. the art or practice that
seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge; 2.
unusual insight; intuitive perception.) 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?" The answer to that question
is marijuana. 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. It was used by the Africans, the
Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Asians, the Europeans, and possibly the Indians
of the Americas. 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.
MARIJUANA IN INDIA
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 2000 - 1400 B.C.) It also calls hemp one
of the five kingdoms of herbs...which releases us from anxiety and refers to
hemp as a "source of happiness", "joy-giver" and
"liberator". 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.D. 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.D. hemp was extolled as indracanna, the "food of the gods". 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:
"...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.
"...Bhang is the Joy-giver, the Sky-filler, the
Heavenly- Guide, the Poor Man's Heaven, the Soother of Grief...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...
MARIJUANA IN CHINA
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.C. 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. 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." Mount T'ai is
in Shangtung Privince, where the cultivation of the hemp plant is still
intensive to this day. Whether or not this early attribution indicates the
actual geographic origin of the cultivation of the Cannabis plant remains to be
seen. (An Archeological and Historical Account of Cannabis in China by Hui-Lin Li)
A Chinese Taoist
priest wrote in the fifth century B.C. that cannabis was used in combination
with Ginseng to set forward time in order to reveal future events. It is
recorded that the Taoist recommended the addition of cannabis to their incense
burners in the 1st century A.D. and that the effects thus produced were highly
regarded as a means of achieving immortality. 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: 1. Hemp 2. The dried flower clusters
and leaves of the hemp plant, esp. when taken to induce euphoria. 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.)
MARIJUANA IN JAPAN
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.
MARIJUANA IN ANCIENT
IRAN
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." Professor Eliade has suggested that Zoroaster, the Persian prophet,
said to have written the Zend-Avesta, was a user of hemp. In the Zend-Avesta
hemp occupies the first place in a list of 10,000 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.
MARIJUANA IN ANCIENT
EGYPT
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
4,000 years old have turned up in an Egyptian site and that in ancient Thebes
the plant was made into a drink.
MARIJUANA IN EUROPE
According to
Nikolaas j. van der Merwe (Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town,
South Africa) the peasants of Europe have been using cannabis as medicine,
ritual material, and to smoke or chew as far back as oral traditions go.
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 500 to 300 B.C. 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.
MARIJUANA IN AFRICA
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.
MARIJUANA IN THE NEW
WORLD
According to Richard
L. Lingeman in his book Drugs from A to Z, page 146, "Marijuana smoking
was known by the Indians before Columbus." After the Spanish conquest in
1521 the Spaniards recorded that the Aztecs (Mayans) 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.
In the Ritual Use of
Cannabis Sativa L by William A Emboden, Jr., pages 229 and 231, is the
following:
"A particularly interesting
account of a Tepehua (no relationship to "Tepecana") Indian ceremony
with cannabis was published in 1963 by the Mexican ethnologist Roberto William
Garcia of the University of Veracruz, northernmost branch of the Maya language
family. "In his account of Teehua religion and ritual, Willianm Garcia
(1963:215-21) describes in some detail a communal curing ceremony focused on a
plant called santa rose, "The Herb Which Makes One Speak", which he
identified botanically as Cannabis Sativa: 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."
MARIJUANA USE BY THE MOSLEMS
It is interesting to
note that the use of hemp was not prohibited by Mohammed (570-632 A.D.) while
the use of alcohol was. 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. (Taken from the Introduction to A
Comprehensive Guide to Cannabis Literature by Earnest Abel.)
SUMMARY
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.
SOURCES
Richard E. Schultes,
article: "Man and Marijuana"
Richard E. Schultes
and Albert Hofman, Plants of
the Gods -- Origin of Hallucinogenic Use (McGraw-Hill Book Co. [U.K.]
Limited, Maidenhead, England [1979]).
G.S. Chopra,
article: "Man and Marijuana", International Journal of the
Addict,1969, 4, 215-247.
Earnest L. Abel,
Marijuana, the First Twelve Thousand Years (Phenum Press, New York, 1980)
Earnest L. Abel, A
Comprehensive Guide to Cannabis Literature
Earnest L. Abel,
Marijuana Dictionary: Words, Terms, Events and Persons Relating to
Cannabis(Greenwood Press, Westpoint, Connecticut [1982])
Edward M. Breecher
and the Editors of Consumer Reports, The Consumer Union Report, "Licit and
Illicit Drugs", (Little, Brown, and Co.)
Louis Lewin, Phantastica,
Narcotic and Stimulating Drugs: Their Use and Abuse, (London: Kegan,
Trench, Turbner and Co., Ltd. Translated from the second German edition by
P.H.A. Wirth, 1931) (N.Y., Dutton, 1964, reprint, 1924, trans. 1931)
Sula Benet, Cannabis
and Culture, ed. V. Rubin (The Hague: Moutan, 1975)
Richard E. Lingeman,
Drugs from A to Z, A Dictionary (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1969, 74)
John R. Glowa, The
Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs (Chelsea House Pub., N.Y., New Haven,
Philadelphia, 1986)
George Andrews and
Simon Vinkenoog, The Book of Grass: An Anthology on Indian Hemp; Chandler and
Sharp Series in Cross Cultural Themes (N.Y., Grove Press [1967])
Jack Herer, The Emperor
Wears No Clothes, 1985, 90, 91, 92.
Peter T. Furst, Hallucinogens
and Culture (Chandler and Sharp Publishers, Inc., 1976)
Baudelaire,
Artificial Paradises
Dr. Charles Tart,
"On Being Stoned: A Psychological Study of Marijuana Intoxication"
(Science and Behavior, 1971)
William A. Emboden,
Jr. Ritual Use of Cannabis Sativa L
S.I. Rudenko, Frozen
Tombs of Siberia (Dent., London, 1970)
Edward Atchley, A
History of the Use of Incense in Divine Worship
E. A. Wallis Budge,
The Divine Origin of the Craft of the Herbalist
Egon C. Corti, A
history of Smoking, by Count Corti; Translated by Paul England (G.G. Harrap,
London, England, 1931)
Francis Robicsek,
The Smoking Gods: Tobacco in Mayan Art, History, and Religion (University of
Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1978)
Diodurus, Histories
1.97.7
Herman Scneider,
History of World Civilization, 2v (New York, 1931)
M.N. Dhalla,
Zoroastrian Civilization (Oxford University Press, N.Y., 1922)
Sir Charles Eliot,
Hinduism and Buddhism 3v. (Routledge & K. Paul, London, 1921)
A.A. McDonell,
India's Past (The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1927)
Charles Anthon, A
Classical Dictionary (N.Y., Harpers and Brothers, 1848)
G. Maspero, The Dawn
of Civilization: Egypt and Chaldea (London, 1897)
Lucy Lamy, Egyptian
Mysteries
Friedrich Ratzel,
History of Mankind (N.Y., Gordon Press)
R.H. Charles The
Book of Jubilees, cap, iij, (London, 1902)
Alfred Wiedemann,
Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (London, 1987)
Geoffrey Wainwright,
Eucharist and Eschatology (Epworth Press, London, 1971)
Webster's Third New
International Dictionary, 1966
The Book of the
Dead, Edit. E.A.W. Budge, British Museum, 1895, p. 250
J. Jeremias, in
Encyclopedia, Iv, 4119, quoting Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscription IV. 19 (59)
Cnf. the story of Bel and the Dragon.
John McKenzie, The
Bible Dictionary (N.Y. MacMillan Pub. Co., 1965)
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Holy Spirit" (15th Edition, 1978) Micropaedia, Ready
Reference and Index
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Sacrifice" (15th Edition, 1978)
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Pharmacological Cults" (15th Edition, 1978), p. 199
Encyclopedia Britannica, "Coptic"
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Essenes"
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Theraputea"
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Sacred Pipe" (15th Edition)
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Incense"
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Hemp" (Microppaedia Ready Reference and Index, p. 1016)
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Roman Catholicism, The Eucharist" (Volume 15, p. 998)
Encyclopedia
Britannica, "Mysticism"
King James version of
The Bible
The Apocrypha
We hope you enjoyed
this pamphlet. If you have any questions or comments, we would like to see
them. Send them to the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, P.O. Box 1161, Minneola,
FL 34755-1161.
We of the Ethiopian
Zion Coptic Church decided to publish this pamphlet in order to give the public
an opportunity to study the church and its doctrine; not from inflated and
misleading media but from historical and Biblical reference. The Church has
received extensive publicity as "60 Minutes" has done a segment;
Life, Omni, Science, Rolling Stone, and High Times magazines have all done
articles, countless newspaper articles have been written, and various brothers
have been on radio and TV talk shows around the country.
We of the Ethiopian
Zion Coptic Church revere ganja (marijuana) as our "holy" Eucharist
and "spiritual intensifier" with Biblical, historical and divine
associations for its use. Ganja is the mystical body and blood of
"Jes-us" -- the burnt offering made by fire -- which allows a member
to see and know the "living God", or the "God in man".