>From verdant@student.umass.edu Mon May 3 19:03:24 1993 Date: 03 May 1993 17:44:40 -0400 From: Sol Lightman To: pauls@css.itd.umich.edu Subject: incense:UMACRC_requested_file +---------------------------------------------------------------+ : DISCLAIMER -- The UMACRC does not affiliate with ANY religion.| +---------------------------------------------------------------+ We do, however, believe that the right to use marijuana in religious ceremony should not be violated. The following is the text of a pamphlet entitled "Marijuana and The Bible" published by the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, or an excerpt thereof. --- ----- to request the entire pamphlet, use {{{#bible}}} 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 Africa hundreds of years ago, for example leaves and flowers of a particular plant were often thrown upon bonfires and the smoke inhaled; the plant was marijuana." (Edward Preble and Gabriel V. Laurey, Plastic Cement: The Ten Cent Hallucinogen, International Journal of the Addictions, 2 (Fall 2967): 271-272. "The earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia brewed intoxicating beer of barley more than 5,000 years ago; is it too much to assume that even earlier cultures experienced euphoria, accidentally or deliberately, through inhalation of the resinous smoke of Cannabis?" (Ritual Use of Cannabis Sativa L, p. 216.) "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 Hoffman) "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.) 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 Northern Kingdom of Israel, and written about 760 B.C., the sacrificial smoke is offered to the God of Israel. Let them teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law; Let them offer sacrificial smoke to thy nostrils, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thy altar. Throughout the Bible the ancient patriarchs were brought into communion with God through smoking incense and at Mt. Sinai God talked to Moses out of a bush that burned with fire (Exodus 3:1- 12). After Moses brought the Israelite people out of Egypt he returned to Mt. Sinai at which time God made a covenant with Moses in which the Ten Commandments were revealed. Exodus 19:8 describes the conditions at the time of this covenant. Exodus 19:8 "And Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. The Mysterious smoke mentioned in the covenant on Mt. Sinai is also referred to as a cloud. 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 11:25 describes how God was revealed to moses and the seventy elders in a cloud; that the spirit rested upon them and that they prophesied and ceased not. The Book of Grass by Andrew and Vinkenoog includes a section on Ancient Scythia and Iran by Mircea Eliade, one of the foremost experts on the history of religions. On pages 11 and 12 is the following: "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." 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 -- The University of Massachusetts at Amherst | _________,^-. Cannabis Reform Coalition ( | ) ,> S.A.O. 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