In Good Company: Zoroaster

Zoroaster was a religious leader in Persia who most likely lived sometime in the tenth or eleventh century BCE. He was a religious poet and supposed prophet, and he was a big fan of the sticky icky.

Zoroastian philosophy is about the balance of truth (asa) vs. lies (druj). Zoroastian faith focuses on creation, existence and free will. Zoroasters writings influenced both Greek and Roman philosophy.

Zend-Avesta, a Zoroastian religious text describes marijuana as “the good narcotic”. Zoroastians use a sacramental drink made of hoama a mountain plant that many believe is cannabis. In the teachings of Zoroaster god, the drink, and the plant are all one.

Chill Out Dude

The phrase Chill Out is common amongst Cannabis Connoisseurs, but where does the phrase come from. During the 1990’s it became and extremely popular phrase, however it stretches much further back then that, and it has very close ties to the cannabis culture.

The phrase is said to originate from the use of Chillums also known as Chilams. Originating in India from the Hindu culture a Chillum is a sacred pipe for smoking hashish dating as far back as the 18th century, or possibly earlier if the evidence that the Sufi Muslims used it as far back as the 16th century is correct. The concept of the chillum migrated to Jamaica as well for the Rastafarians.

The use of a chillum is a very sacred tradition to both the Hindu and the Rastafarian cultures. There are specific rites to follow when lighting the chillum and a specific direction the pipe must be passed.

Rastafarians specifically began using the phrase chill out in reference to relax using a chillum. The phrase eventually took off and spread to include relaxing in general, not just in reference to the chillum.

So next time you say “chill out dude” remember that you are referring to using a ritualistic pipe, and light up. So everyone just chill out will you!

In Good Company: Jesus Christ

It’s been a while since I have written a In Good Company episode, so I thought I’d come back with a bang. For those of you who have never read my In Good Company series it is focusing on famous current and historical figures who have used marijuana or support its legalization.

I don’t think Jesus Christ really needs any introduction, most people are aware of who Jesus Christ was supposed to have been. Christians will probably be appalled and insulted to think that Jesus Christ might have been a stoner, but there is considerable evidence that this may have been the case.

Lets start with the name Christ, Christ means “the anointed one”, in Exodus there is a recipe for a anointing oil that would have been commonly known it calls for 9lbs of kaneh-bosem and a variety of other spices extracted into approximately 11 pints of olive oil. Kaneh-bosem is believed to be the flowering buds of cannabis plants. This anointment was said to allow priests to see and commune with Yahweh the Jewish god. Residue of cannabis has been found in vessels in Judea and Egypt indicating medicinal and visionary uses. The baptismal by John the Baptist, as it was described in the bible, was most likely to wash of the oil after its purpose was complete. This oil was probably also used by Christ to heal various skin and eye maladies increasing his reputation as a miraculous healer.

Early Christian documents found in Egypt portray Jesus as a rebel sage who preached enlightenment through rituals involving “magic plants”. There is even some evidence that what modern Christians refer to as the host may not have been initially bread at all, but magic mushrooms.

It was also the practice at the time to fortify wines with herbs, including cannabis. It has been suggested that this may have been the sacramental wine used at the last super. Could the last supper have been a meal of magic mushrooms and Green Dragon wine?


Reference:
http://cannabis.net/articles/jesus-cannabis.html

Religious Freedom Or Pot Heads With Something to Prove?

The Church of the Universe is suing the Government of Canada for $25 million alleging that the government is breaching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They claim that since the government has been providing marijuana to patients for the medicinal marijuana program but did not alter the laws sufficiently that since 2003 there has been no marijuana prohibition laws that can be enforced.

The Church preaches that marijuana is the Tree of Life mentioned in the Bible, and that followers are obligated to use marijuana anytime they want to get closer to god. Critics claim this is silly and just a blatant attempt to circumvent the pot laws. The Church of the Universe claims that, since Churches are allowed to give wine as a sacrament then, the Church of the Universe should be able to give marijuana as their sacrament. The natural counter argument is that wine is a legal substance whereas marijuana is a banned substance. This is the opinion Taz had on his Tazmania section on FM96 this morning. I would like to point out though that in the U.S. during alcohol prohibition clergy were allowed to give wine as a sacrament despite it being banned. Taz also claimed that this was a slippery slope, what would stop other churches from claiming that Heroine or Crystal Meth as sacrament, well nothing really, except there really is a Biblical argument for the sacrament of marijuana, if someone can come up with one for Heroine or Crystal Meth, well that would be a whole new can of worms.

I personally am not a fan of organized religion, I think that every organized religion is questionable at best. However I am all for freedom of religion, and I also think that churches should have the right to do pretty much whatever they want within their churches so long as they aren’t harming anyone, or infringing on the rights of others. I say give the Church of the Universe the right to give marijuana sacraments, heck I might even go back to church once and a while, just to see what that is like.

A History Of Violence: Origins of the Violent Pot User Myth

For a long time now the government has been telling us that marijuana is a dangerous drug and the propaganda they release says that people who smoke marijuana could become violent and dangerous. I know this is a gross exaggeration, and I am sure all my readers know this is a gross exaggeration, but where does this come from. The most powerful propaganda is not that it is a lie, but rather that it contains a grain of truth or that it echoes common beliefs already circulating, that being said where is the shadow of truth within the violent pot head propaganda. Some may choose to point out that since most people do not believe the propaganda that it is not a powerful story and thus probably does not contain a shred of truth, I would like to point out that the claim that pot smokers can become violent has been circulating for a long time, and many people are still adamant that this is true and that they or “a close personal friend” have first hand experience with this so obviously there are people who believe that pot causes violent actions in users.

Many people attribute the myth of the violent pot user to the days that spawned the “educational” video turned cult classic Reefer Madness, in other words the mid 30’s. Yes I do know that Reefer Madness was never actually used as an educational informative video, however it was commissioned as such before being slightly altered and camped up a bit. However by the time Reefer Madness was released the legend of the hashish induced killing spree was already well established.

Ok, so now your wondering if it wasn’t the 30’s then when was it? As far back as the 9th century hashish was disparaged as a drug that could send a man into a murderous rage. That’s right almost a thousand years ago people were saying that marijuana could induce violence. This belief in the bloodthirsty hash user in the western world arose from writings of Marco Polo from his possibly fictional visit to Alamut in 1273.

But I digress, let me tell you about the group that started it all and spawned the creation of the word assassin. The etymology of the word assassin is much disputed, but it always comes back to a cult group that began around 1090 BC by a Persian named Al-Hasan or Hasan-i-Sabah. Assassin developed either to describe the followers of Al-Hasan (Al-Hasanins) or, more likely in my mind, from the term often attributed to them, the Hashashins or Hash-eaters. Legend had it that Hasan-i-Sabah gave his warriors Hash before sending them into battle, but this has never been verified, and in fact is extremely unlikely as there is no reference in any Persian literature, even in the library of Alamut where the Hashashins originated and some record would most likely have been kept. Regardless of how apocryphal the story of the Hashashins using hash before a battle is it became legend and was repeated time and time again, and in comes Marco Polo to bring the story back to the western world reciting the story as a matter of fact rather then what it was, a local legend.

It is known that Al-Hasan used drugs to initiate his warriors into his cult, but the initiation had nothing to do with violence and in fact had everything to do with euphoria. Supposedly the initiates were made to believe that they had died, usually by being drugged, I doubt very much Hash would have been the drug of choice for this purpose. When the initiate awoke they found themselves in a garden flowing with wine and beautiful women who were supposedly virgins though they were in fact essentially harem girls. They were then drugged again and told that they had died and the garden was paradise and if they followed Al-Hasan they would be granted access to paradise again. Another version of the initiation rites states that Al-Hasan would take men at a young age bring them to a garden flowing with wine women and hashish and allow them to live that way for a few years growing up in the garden, then throw them into a deep dark dungeon telling them that if they wished to return to the paradise they would only do so at the whim of Al-Hasan and thus were told to follow his word loyally and without question. Many believed that Al-Hasan was basically a god and that they had been to paradise and returned to earth to fight as soldiers of heaven.

There is no doubt the followers of Al-Hasan were feared by their enemies, and legend has it that just the threat of being marked for death by a Hashashin would send anyone running. What is of doubt is that Hash made them the fierce warriors they were supposed to be.

Let us return to modern day. The government is trying to discredit marijuana and needs a method, what is the best way to do this? There is already a well known historical cult with a culture of intoxication and death, why not play upon that, spin it into modern tales of violence by hash users and use the legend of the Hashashins to back up the belief. Sure Hashashins are not often mentioned, but the odd time when someone questions the logic of mythical violent pot head the story of Al-Hasan gets rehashed along with questionable evidence of psychotic breaks of marijuana users.

Sources:
The Time of the Assassins - Geoffery Nunberg
Wikopedia entry Hashashin