Now that cannabis is replacing alcohol among several demographics, many people are experimenting with how it is best used. Unfortunately, because of a century of prohibition, much of the common knowledge about how to best use cannabis has been lost. But it’s possible to reconstruct some of that lost knowledge, and in this essay I attempt to do so.
The best way, in my estimation, of asking how to best use cannabis is to ask: how would a skilled alchemist use it? This is to say: how would a master of the human psyche use it? Here we can learn from past masters.
Timothy Leary’s phrase “set and setting” is as relevant to cannabis use today as it was to psychedelic use 50 years ago, combining the mental and the physical considerations of psychonautics into one catchphrase.
The first part of this is the mindset, i.e. the mindset of the user. A skilled alchemist will make sure that they are in the right headspace before using cannabis. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be happy. It means to be mentally prepared for a radical change in perceptions. Don’t use it while mentally preoccupied with something else.
Also, be positive. Don’t use it fearing instant schizophrenia forever – this is how people become paranoid. People use cannabis primarily to feel joy. That’s what it’s about. Cannabis is best used to bring colour and flavour to what would otherwise be greyness and dullness. Use it knowing that it has been used all over the world, for thousands of years, to bring happiness.
A great mindset is to use cannabis understanding it’s a medicine: partly a physiological one, partly a spiritual one. Therefore, focus on its healing aspects rather than potential destructive aspects. If you are already primed to relax because of a positive mindset, you are much more likely to have a good time than someone primed to anxiety.
The second part of Leary’s advice refers to the setting in which cannabis is used. This is primarily a matter of social environment and not physical.
Regarding the social environment, the most important thing is to not use it around dickheads. Cannabis will make you more sensitive to other people’s frequencies and vibrations, unlike alcohol, which makes you less sensitive. Therefore, on cannabis, it’s more important to be choosy about your companions. Don’t use it around anyone who is liable to send bad energy your way, because you will be extra sensitive to that energy.
Regarding the physical environment, the goal is to use it somewhere you won’t be disturbed. It’s best not to be in a crowded place where people will bump into you or trip over you. Possibly the best place to use cannabis is somewhere you can lie back and relax, but not fall asleep: a couch, a day bed, a bean bag etc. Possibly the worst is in public, at night, when drunks and law enforcement are everywhere.
Skilfully combining set and setting, the master alchemist can achieve several mental transformations using cannabis.
One of the most common is, as mentioned above, joy. Through using cannabis it’s possible to transmute all kinds of low-frequency (e.g. angry, sad, bored) emotional states into something higher, something appreciative. The power of cannabis to have this effect is well-known today: Kamala Harris said of it “It gives a lot of people joy, and we need more joy”.
A lesser-known transformation is increased creativity. As Bill Hicks liked to point out, an enormous proportion of the world’s creative output has been fuelled by drugs. Cannabis, in particular, is known for breaking the thought loops and preoccupations that hinder creative expression. The author of this article is, in fact, stoned right now!
Related to this is the use of cannabis as an aphrodisiac. Many of the common reasons for failure to perform sexually – excessive stress or tension, deficient desire – are psychosomatic in origin and can be alleviated with cannabis. It can also serve to empower the creativity that can transform mere sex-having into lovemaking. Magically speaking, it can help make the user more receptive to the casting of glamours, which intensifies the romantic experience.
The most incredible transformation achievable on cannabis, as well as the least understood, is enlightenment. Cannabis truly is a spiritual sacrament, and its use can lead to spiritual insights unattainable by Normies. Countless millions have, over the millennia, come to believe in reincarnation and karma thanks to spiritual receptivity granted by cannabis use.
The simple act of smoking some weed and staring at the Moon or the stars, and listening to the wind (or even the traffic), can be enough to transmute a lower frequency of consciousness into something touched by divinity.
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