COCT MINISTRY
CHURCH OF COGNITIVE THERAPY
mental, physical, and spiritual development
Religious (Sacramental or Spiritual) Entheogen Cannabis
Published on August 21, 2019
Shafeek Sandy Sanbar
Physician & Attorney, Adjunct Professor Medical - Legal Education. - OUHSC
Religious (Sacramental or Spiritual) Entheogen Cannabis
Compiled by S. Sandy Sanbar, MD, PhD, JD, FCLM
For thousands of years, cannabis and other psychoactive drugs[1] were used to induce religious, sacred and spiritual experiences. Religious cannabis (Marijuana, Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, THC) is an ‘entheogen’, in contrast to ‘medicinal’ or ‘recreational’ cannabis. Regardless of name, THC affects brain function and alters perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior.
In Exodus 30:23 of the Bible, God directed Moses to make a holy oil composed of “myrrh, sweet cinnamon, kaneh bosm and kassia”. The root kan has two meanings in many Ancient languages; hemp and reed. In the original Hebrew Bible, kaneh bosm meant hemp (cannabis plant). Cannabis, as a kind of incense, was used in the temples of Assyria and Babylon because it’s aroma was pleasing to the Gods. The Assyrians, Egyptians, and Hebrews, among other Semitic cultures of the Middle East, acquired cannabis from Aryan cultures and have burned it as incense for 3,000 years.
Shamans in Northeast Asia transmitted the medical and spiritual uses of cannabis to the ancient Chinese. In ancient China, as in most early cultures, medicine has its origin in magic. Medicine men were practicing magicians. In northeastern Asia, shamanism was widespread from Neolithic down to recent times.
Shamans were known in China as wu. This vocation was very common. In the far north, among the nomadic tribes of Mongolia and Siberia, shamanism was widespread and common until rather recent times. In China and Japan, the ingestion of cannabis resin was used for psychoactive, ritualistic purification. After Confucianism, around 500 BC, the rituals were suppressed in both countries.
Around 2000–1400 BC, cannabis was regarded in India as one of the five sacred plants, which relieved anxiety and had a guardian angel residing in its leaves, according to the Atharva Veda, the knowledge storehouse of atharvāṇas. Cannabis was a source of happiness, a joy-giver and liberator.
In the Indian subcontinent, bhang is the most commonly consumed beverage form of cannabis in religious festivals. Ganja, consisting of the leaves and the plant tops, is a smoked form of cannabis. The charas, or hashish, form consists of the resinous buds and/or extracted resin from the leaves of the marijuana plant.
In 1008 BC, the Indian king, Vallabha-raja, believed that the gods sent hemp to the human race so that they might attain delight, lose fear and have sexual desires.
Cannabis brought down from the Himalayas was often consumed in devotional meetings, weddings or festivals honoring Shiva (Mahdeva – the great god), who was a supreme being within Shaivism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
In Tantric Buddhism, a large oral dosage of cannabis is taken to facilitate meditation and heighten awareness of all aspects of their rituals or ceremony.
Both early Greek history and modern archeology show that Central Asian peoples were utilizing cannabis 2,500 years ago.
Mexican, Mayan and Aztec cultures used cannabis, along with magic mushrooms (psilocybin), peyote (mescaline) and other psychoactive plants in cultural shamanic and religious rituals. Certain Mexicans leave bundles of cannabis on church altars in religious ceremonies to be consumed by the attendees.
Some Protestant churches and Jewish factions in America have supported the use of medicinal cannabis. But a number of religions prohibit the use of ‘intoxicants’, including Christians, Islam, Buddhism, Bahai, Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Scientology, Sikhism and others. According to the catechism of the Catholic Church, “The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law.”[2]
The Sunni Islam considers cannabis to be permissible by the Bukhari laws. The Quran does not directly forbid cannabis. Some modern Islamic leaders state that medical cannabis, but not recreational, is permissible in Islam.
Many churches and ministries founded in North America during the past century treat cannabis as a sacrament, including the Church of Cognizance, the Church of the Universe, the Church of Cognitive Therapy (COCT Ministry), the Santo Daime church, the THC Ministry, Cantheism, the Cannabis Assembly, Temple 420, Green Faith Ministries, the Free Marijuana Church of Honolulu, the First Cannabis Church of Florida World Wide, the Free Life Ministry Church of Canthe, the Church of Higher Consciousness, the inFormer Ministry Collective of Palms Springs, CA, the Temple of the True Inner Light, the First Church of Cannabis Inc. in Indiana, and the International Church of Cannabis in Denver.
The Rastafari religion is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It uses cannabis as a sacred herb. It brings the users closer to God (Jah), and allows them to penetrate the truth of things more clearly.
In Mexico, followers of the growing cult of Santa Muerte regularly use marijuana smoke in purification ceremonies, with marijuana often taking the place of incense used in mainstream Catholic rituals.
In California, organizations holding religious services claim they should be able to sell pot as “sacrament” and be exempt from paying taxes. Others say it is an excuse to run unlicensed dispensaries.[3] For example, Hundred Harmonies’s Protestant church has a fully-stocked, unlicensed marijuana dispensary, with strawberry pot gummies, glass jars of Versace OG buds, and $30 mega-blunts in a display case labeled “Sacrament.” The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department seized $30,000 of weed in a 2017 raid on Hundred Harmonies. The church’s parent organization, the Association of Sacramental Ministries, sued the county, claiming religious discrimination. In 2019, the movement for religious marijuana continues to grow in size and fervor.
References:
[1]
Peyote (mescaline), psilocybin and Amanita muscaria mushroom, oipioids, pipe uncured tobacco, bupropion, cannabis and hashish, ayahuasca, Salvia divinorum, iboga, and Mexican morning glory, cocaine, crack cocaine, methylphenidate, ephedrine, MDMA (ecstasy), LSD blotter, among other psychoactive drugs.
[2] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm #2291
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_and_religion
Peyote and the Native American Church
A Spiritual Tradition With an Illegal Hallucinogen
By Catherine Beyer
Updated on March 24, 2019
The Native American Church teaches a combination of Christianity and traditional Native American beliefs. As such, its practices can vary significantly from tribe to tribe, as indigenous practices vary widely across the Americas.
Among those practices is the use of peyote in ceremonies. Yet, before you understand why and how it's used, it's important to understand the Church itself.
The Native American Church
The Native American Church (NAC) originally formed in the state of Oklahoma. It continues to primarily operate in the United States, particularly in the western states, as well as in parts of Canada.
The term "Native American Church" does not apply to those Native Americans who solely follow traditional tribal beliefs. Nor does it apply to Native Americans who are entirely Christian.
Followers of the Native American Church are monotheists, believing in a supreme being commonly addressed as the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit often works through a variety of lesser spirits. Jesus plays a prominent role in their beliefs, he is often equated with the spirit of the peyote plant.
Care of family and tribe and the avoidance of alcohol are central values of the Native American Church.
Tradition vs. Drug Laws
Many Native American tribes traditionally made use of a chemical known as peyote in their religious rituals. As the United States government became more involved in the control of various drugs, users of peyote were facing potential legal issues related to their religious use of it.
The Native American Church was officially created in 1918 to bypass this problem. By practicing an organized religion, it was much easier for peyote users to argue that peyote use should be constitutionally protected as a religious practice.
Peyote use is commonly illegal in the United States, but an exception is made for its use in Native American church rituals. Even so, there are limitations on what users are allowed to do under its effects, such as operating heavy machinery. In this matter, peyote is treated much the same way alcohol is.
What Is Peyote?
Peyote is the bud of a particular type of spineless cactus, Lophophora williamsii. It is found in the deserts of the Southwestern United States and Mexico.
The plant is known for its hallucinogenic properties. Peyote buds are commonly chewed for a more intense experience, but they can also be brewed into a tea for a more mild effect.
Native American Peyote Ceremonies
Outsiders commonly think of peyote as simply a means of getting high, but those who use it for religious purposes see it as being sacramental. The plant is understood to be sacred, and ingestion of it brings the user into a closer understanding of the spiritual world.
Chewing peyote buds and drinking peyote tea are central practices of the Native American Church. These ceremonies commonly last all night, often starting Saturday night and ending Sunday morning. Singing, drumming, dancing, scripture reading, prayer, and the sharing of spiritual ideas are often included as well.
Larger doses – and, thus, more intense hallucinations – may be used to accomplish specific goals. They can allow the user to more fully interact with the spiritual world.
Smaller doses, often delivered in a drink, are used in a manner similar to that of smoking ganja by Rastas. It can be used to open the mind and free it to better comprehend things beyond that of the mundane world.
Reference
Beyer, Catherine. (2021, September 10). Peyote and the Native American Church. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/peyote-and-the-native-american-church-95705
Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Aug;187(3):268-83; discussion 284-92. doi: 10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5. Epub 2006 Jul 7.
R R Griffiths 1, W A Richards, U McCann, R Jesse
Affiliations expand
• PMID: 16826400
• DOI: 10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5
Abstract
Rationale:
Although psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes, little is known scientifically about its acute and persisting effects.
Objectives:
This double-blind study evaluated the acute and longer-term psychological effects of a high dose of psilocybin relative to a comparison compound administered under comfortable, supportive conditions.
Materials and methods:
The participants were hallucinogen-naïve adults reporting regular participation in religious or spiritual activities. Two or three sessions were conducted at 2-month intervals. Thirty volunteers received orally administered psilocybin (30 mg/70 kg) and methylphenidate hydrochloride (40 mg/70 kg) in counterbalanced order. To obscure the study design, six additional volunteers received methylphenidate in the first two sessions and unblinded psilocybin in a third session. The 8-h sessions were conducted individually.
Volunteers were encouraged to close their eyes and direct their attention inward. Study monitors rated volunteers' behavior during sessions. Volunteers completed questionnaires assessing drug effects and mystical experience immediately after and 2 months after sessions. Community observers rated changes in the volunteer's attitudes and behavior.
Results:
Psilocybin produced a range of acute perceptual changes, subjective experiences, and labile moods including anxiety. Psilocybin also increased measures of mystical experience. At 2 months, the volunteers rated the psilocybin experience as having substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance and attributed to the experience sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior consistent with changes rated by community observers.
Conclusions: When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences. The ability to occasion such experiences prospectively will allow rigorous scientific investigations of their causes and consequences.
Reference
Griffiths, R. R., Richards, W. A., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2006). Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance.
Psychopharmacology, 187(3), 268–292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5
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Ayahuasca Shamanic Visions: Integrating Neuroscience, Psychotherapy, and Spiritual Perspectives
Spontaneous imagery narratives—or, more precisely, spontaneous waking visual and kinesthetic transformative imagery narratives—have been widely reported in many cultures throughout recorded history. Our research findings concerning the experiences reported after ingestion of the Amazonian psychoactive brew ayahuasca, which has its origins in shamanism, agree with prior research literature that ayahuasca often elicits spontaneous imagery narratives that are reported to be very intense and meaningful, and often related to psychological and physical healing, problem solving, knowledge acquisition, creativity, spiritual development, divination, community cohesion, and encounters with disincarnate entities or beings. Although ayahuasca recipes differ, the most widespread and well-studiedbrew combines the leaves of Psychotria virdis, containing the psychoactiveagent N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), with the pulverized Banisteriopsiscaapi vine, which contains beta-carboline alkaloids (MAO inhibitors). DMT is not orally active, but when it is combined with the caapi vine, the resulting brew stimulates an altered state of consciousness that usually lasts from threeto five hours. Reviews of the history of the ethnobotanical study and neuro-pharmacology of ayahuasca are available, and later in this chapter some of the brew’s bodily correlates will be described. Because ayahuasca has been reported to reliably facilitate profound healing and creative and spiritual experiences, and because it can be studied in neuroscience laboratory settings, it offers extraordinary opportunities for the kind of research bridging neuroscience and the humanities that is advocated in this book. This chapter offers an example of ayahuasca research as apart of this new metafield. The central question of the inquiry is: How canthe spontaneous imagery narratives that are so prominent during the use of ayahuasca produce the widely reported benefits? To answer this question I will draw from neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, religion, and my own research. Recent neuroscience evidence and theory offer exciting new insights into the specific brain processes that possibly occur, and this may lead to enhanced applications in psychotherapy, creative activity, and spiritual development. I will present my own model of the nature and function of spontaneous imagery narratives; this model incorporates both previous and new views,and uses imagery from a variety of religious traditions to depict the creative psychophysiological and spiritual processes involved. One new hypothesis that ayahuasca research clearly supports is an ancient idea placed in a newcontent: that creative human activities are a blending of deliberative thought processes and spontaneous experiencing.
UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics