EXCERPTS FROM:
from Green Gold: the Tree of Life, Marijuana in Magic and Religion
by Chris Bennett, Lynn Osburn, and Judy Osburn
Expulsion of the Demons, an anonymous engraving from the 1600s, is another classic example of alchemical initiation hidden behind the facade of chruchly pursuits. In the foreground an alchemist (wearing a small Phygyric initiation cap) cheerfully slides an associate head first into a large athanor (alchemical oven) where the "demons" are baked out of his head into a billowing cloud containing the universal elements in an expanding consciousness. The one who is baked holds his hand up as if to say to the other, "hold steady, right there brother." Two mushroom s joined at the cap appear in the lower left of his expanding mind-cloud. In the left foreground incense is vaporizing from a bowl set on flaming coals in a squat pan on a tripod. Directly above it a "bishop" is pouring an alchemical substance down the throat of a seated initiate who is steadying the bishop's arm that is holding a funnel in the initiate's mouth. Supernatural arms extend from his seat and grasp a pan below. Shelves of alchemical medicines are behind them. To the right of the medicines is an alchemical still. A large mortar and pestle is on a stand in the center of the engraving. The alchemists prepared sacraments to investigate the mysterious murkiness (in the pan) below, others that could blow your mind in the brilliance above. Balance was to be achieved between the extremes. It is represented by the mortar and pestle in the center. The two opposites must be meticulously ground together until they become one.
One of the most famous engravings from European alchemy is a woodcut esoteric mandala designed by alchemical adept and doctor of medicine, Hienrich Khunrath, for his masterful treatise Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom published in 1604. The alchemical mandala engraving titled "The First Stage of the Great Work" is a circle that contains the alchemists' workshop where all the elements in it are drawn in perspective toward an offset center which is an open door above which is written in Latin "While sleeping, watch!" On the left side the alchemist kneels in supplication near the opening of a Scythian-like tent. In the left foreground before the tent is a large censor with smoke billowing forth from it. In the smoke is written in Latin, "ascending smoke, sacrificial speech acceptable to God."
To the right of the center is laboratory equipment and high above everything else alone near the ceiling beams is a curious seven-leafed chandelier that is out of perspective compared to the converging lines in the beams. The chandelier looks more like a seven-fingered marijuana leaf with a flame at the tip of every finger. The only other flame in the engraving is in the tent itself. The plaque below the flame in the tent says "Happy is the one who follows the advice of God." On the cross beam above the seven-fingered marijuana-leaf chandelier is written "Without the breath of inspiration from God, no one finds the great way."
Khunrath, as did all the alchemical masters, chose his words well so that only the uninitiate d would misinterpret his meaning. But we know the tradition of cannabis incense use, especially by the Scythians in tents. Heinrich's cant, "ascending smoke, sacrificial speech acceptable to God," harkens back to the Akkadian Counsels of Wisdom ; from ancient Mesopotamia, "Sacrifice and (pious) utterance are the proper accompaniment of incense." In all probability Hienrich Khunrath knew nothing about the Akkadian Counsels of Wisdom . On the other hand Khunrath declared the entrance to eternal wisdom could be gained "Christiano-Kabalically, divino-magically and even physio-chemically."[32] He revealed the secret transforming substance was a red gum, the "resin of the wise ." Concerning the nature of the Stone Khunrath wrote: "[The] Cabalistic habitaculum Materiae Lapidis was originally made known from on high through Divine Inspiration and special Revelation, both with and without instrumental help, 'awake as well as asleep or in dreams.'" Khunrath said that one could "perfectly prepare our Chaos Naturae in the highest simplicity and perfection" through a "special Secret Divine Vision and revelation, without further probing and pondering of the causes…. So work even in the laboratory by thyself alone, without collaboration or assistants, in order that God, the Jealous, may not withdraw the art from thee, on account of thy assistants to whom He may not wish to impart it."[33]
Khunrath is telling the reader that his words are Cabalistic, or in cant: esoteric meaning is hidden in his prose, analogical artwork and the slang of the day. In his day using marijuana for religious purposes was still considered diabolic and severely prohibited. One could still be dragged before the Inquisition accused of committing satanic rites, tortured into confessions leading ultimately to death and forfeiture of all properties. His warning to work alone and beware of impious assistants is always good advice — the profane naturally obstruct spiritual exploration. However, such advice is imperative for survival if your religious sacraments and spiritual explorations are prohibited by the dominant orthodox paradigm controlling the state: beware of those with whom you would share the "especial Secret Divine Vision" for they may foolishly reveal incriminating evidence or worse, be informants working for the Inquisition that would turn you in for a percentage of the forfeiture (finder's fee) profits from the seizure of your personal property.
In Khunrath 's time hemp was a ubiquitous crop; its fiber was essential to global economic trade, for the sails of the world merchant fleets could be made from hemp fiber only—no other vegetable fiber sail cloth could endure the stresses of wind and salt air on long ocean voyages. Paradoxically, using hemp flowers as a religious sacrament was prohibited yet fields of hemp flowers could be found nearly everywhere. The European hemp flowers routinely produce about one or two percent THC isomers (Tetra-Hydro-Canabinol , considered the psychoactive carbohydrate family of molecules in cannabis), whereas the resinous red hashish of Lebanon is about ten times more potent. Khunrath praised the "red resin of the wise," calling it the transforming substance. Rabelais also burned cannabis incense , like Khunrath a century later. Rabelais was familiar with the writings of Zoroaster and he translated the works of the Roman historian Herodotus, who recorded an early account of the Scythian marijuana smoke baths. In light of this, it is not at all surprising to find the name of Zoroaster , who attained ecstasy through hemp , mentioned in many of the old alchemical texts. Nor should it be surprising to find the system of self initiation promoted by earlier Zoroastrian influenced Gnostic alchemists, like Zosimos, continued on in secret throughout the Middle Ages.
In fact, the description the Salamander in The Book of Lambspring has similarities to the sacred drink of the Mithraic Mysteries, and the details of its production allude to alchemical laboratory operations that produce a sublimate oil by carefully maintaining heat necessary to vaporize the psychoactive resin produced on cannabis leaves and flowers. Just before the dried vegetable matter carbonized in the retort a viscous red oil would appear in the neck of the glass receiver. This oily sublimate they called the eagle, salamander or red lion. In 1939-40 chemist Roger Adams produced what he called marihuana red oil by distillation, from it he isolated over sixty psychoactive therapeutic compounds. Concerning this Lambspring wrote:
In all fables we are told that the Salamander is born in fire.... It dwells in a great mountain which is encompassed by many flames. And as one of these is ever smaller than another — herein the Salamander bathes. The third is greater, the fourth brighter than the rest. In all these the Salamander washes, and is purified. Then he ties him to his cave, but on the way is caught and pierced so that it dies, and yields up its life with its blood. But this, too, happens for its good: For from its blood it wins immortal life, and then death has no more power over it. Its blood is the most precious Medicine upon earth, the same has not its like in the world. For this blood drives away all disease.... From it the Sages derive their science, and through it they attain the Heavenly Gift, which is called the Philosopher's Stone . —The Book of Lambspring, The Hermetic Museum [38]
The Knights Templar and Cannabis
The alchemical information about cannabis use was reintroduced into Europe after the Dark Ages, when the Knights Templar, founded by Hugh de Payns ("of the Pagans") around the beginning of the twelfth century, became involved in a trade of goods and knowledge with the hashish ingesting Isma'ilis. This knowledge was passed on from Eastern adepts and handed down esoterically through the medieval alchemists, Rosicrucians[1] and later on to the most influential occultists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century
The Order of Knights of the Temple was founded in the Holy Land in 1118 A.D. Its organization was based on that of the Saracean fraternity of "Hashish im," "hashish-takers," whom Christians called Assassins. The Templars first headquarters was a wing of the royal palace of Jerusalem next to the al-Aqsa mosque, revered by the Shi'ites as the central shrine of the Goddess Fatima. Western Romances, inspired by Moorish Shi'ite poets, transformed this Mother-Shrine into the Temple of the Holy Grail , where certain legendary knights called Templars gathered to offer their service to the Goddess, to uphold the female principles of divinity and to defend women. These knights became more widely known as Galahad, Perceval, Lohengrin, etc. —Barbara Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
The authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail also comment on the liaison between the Templars and Isma'ili's: "Secret connections were also maintained with the Hashish im or Assassins, the famous sect of militant and often fanatical adepts who were Islam's equivalent of the Templars ." The authors also comment that "the Templars ' need to treat wounds and illness made them adepts in the use of drugs." And the Order; "in advance of their time regarded epilepsy not as demonic possession but as a controllable disease." Interestingly cannabis is the safest natural or synthetic medication proven successful in the treatment of some forms of epilepsy.[3]
The Templars had acquired a great deal of wealth, a fleet of ships and a strong army of warriors who fought by a creed of never retreating unless the odds were more than three to one. Some began to feel threatened by the wealth and power the Order had attained. In a joint effort orchestrated by King Philip (who had been rejected membership into the sect) and Pope Clement V, the Templars were accused of heresy. Among the many criminal accusations against the Templars were mocking the cross, sodomy[5] and worshipping a mysterious idol in the form of a head. The Templars were also accused of tying a sacred cord around their waist, which was said to have been consecrated by pressing it against the mysterious head.
The Templars were rounded up and arrested on Friday the thirteenth (the origin of the "bad luck" associated with this combination), October, 1307. Although put through the extreme tortures that the Inquisition was so famous for, the vast majority of the Templars denied the charges. Of course the inquisitors coerce a small number of admissions of guilt. When subjected to excruciating pain, people will most often admit to whatever their questioners want to hear. The court repeatedly refused to hear depositions from no fewer than 573 witnesses. Some Templars managed to escape, but the majority were burned at the stake. A witness to the event stated:
All of them, with no exception, refused to admit any of their alleged crimes, and persisted in saying they were being put to death unjustly which caused great admiration and immense surprise.[8] — Stephen Howarth, The Knights Templar
Baigent and Leigh speculate in The Temple and the Lodge that some of the Templars may have escaped to Scotland. They point to medieval graves with Templar insignias, and Templar style churches (round) as evidence. Scotland was at war with England at the time of the Templars ' persecution, and in the resulting chaos the Papal Bulls dissolving the Order were never proclaimed there. Comparatively, according to Professors Graeme Whittington and Jack Jarvis of the University of Saint Andrews in Fife, Scotland, hemp was grown agriculturally in tenth century Scotland. Sediment from Kilconquhar Lock, near Fife, contained cannabis pollen . Cannabis from around the same time has been found in East Anglia, Wales and in Finland. The hemp was found to have been grown in areas occupied by religious groups of the time. Jarvis commented in an Omni interview, "the decline of these ecclesiastical establishments may have coincided with a decline in the growing of hemp."
In a letter to Chris Bennett, dated November 6, 1992, Dr. Alexander Sumach, author of Grow Yer Own Stone and A Treasury of Hashish stated:
You are on to some interesting views. The Templars were active in only rare goods — which were tax free. Silks, drugs, astronomical equipment. Cannabis as a confection — not a pipe was their toy. Turkish delight. They grew fields of hemp for canvas and rope to equip their vast fleet that traveled far and wide. Check out the connection between the Mic Mac Indian myth hero "Glooslap" who may have been a Templar in Nova Scotia. He taught the Indians to fish with nets. Cartier, centuries later saw the natives with neat hemp clothing made from native hemp. Cartier was from a hemp district in France, knew all about ships. If he called it hemp....
The Templars appear in The Perlesvaus not just as military men, but also as high mystical initiate s. This is indicative, for the Templars were only too eager to reinforce the popular image of themselves as magi, as wizards or sorcerers, as necromancers, as alchemist, as sages privy to lofty arcane secrets. And indeed, it was precisely this image that rebounded upon them and provided their enemies with the means of their destruction. — Baigent and Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge
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