>From verdant@student.umass.edu Mon May 3 19:03:55 1993 Date: 03 May 1993 17:45:23 -0400 From: Sol Lightman To: pauls@css.itd.umich.edu Subject: useancient: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 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 Africa, the Middle East, India, and China 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." 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.) 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 Warsaw is quoted in the Book of Grass as saying: "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 Asia Minor. Taking into account the matriarchal element of Semitic culture, one is led to believe that Asia Minor was the original point of expansion for both the society based on the matriarchal circle and the mass use of hashish." The Ancient Israelites were a Semitic people. Abraham, the father of the Israelite nation, came from Ur, a city of Babylonia located in mesopotamia. The Israelites migrated throughout Asia Minor and could easily have spread the religious use of marijuana. 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." 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 2:10-11; Leviticus 6:13; Numbers 28:6; Deuteronomy 4:33; Joshua 13:14; I Samuel 2:28; II Chronicles 2:4; Isaiah 24:15; Matthew 3:11; Luke 1:9; Revelations 8:4-5) Abraham, the father of the Israelite nation, came from Ur which was a city of Ancient Sumer in South Babylonia. For the Babylonians, fire was essential to sacrifice and all oblations were conveyed to the gods by the fire god Girru-Nusku, whose presence as an intermediary between the gods and man was indispensable. Girru-Nusku, as the messenger of the gods, bore the essence of the offerings upward to them in the smoke of sacrificial fire. At Babylon: "The glorious gods smell the incense, noble food of heaven; pure wine which no hand has touched do they enjoy." (L. Jeremias, in Encyclopedia Biblica, i.v. 4119, quoting Rawlinson, Cuneif. Inscrip. IV, 19 (59).) 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 Red Sea (near Al Qunfidhah) and migrated to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) during the winter. Both these places are near the regions from which sacred incense came, and were called the "Divine Land". The bird's crest, together with its dark green plumage shot with glittering metallic specks justifies the meanings 'to shine', 'to be resplendent', 'to irradiate'; of the root akh in the hieroglyphic writing. "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 Ethiopia was referred to as the "Divine Land" and that it was the source for the sacred incense. The ancients also referred to Ethiopia as the "Land of God". The ancient Egyptians believed that they had received their divinities from Ethiopia and have always held to the ancient and honored tradition of their southern origin. Ethiopia is so important in ancient history that it is mentioned as being in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:12). 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 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 chines 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 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.) 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." 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 | _________,^-. 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