Witch hunts and the war on weed

[Ferre]

Witch hunts and the war on weed
by Reverend Damuzi (20 Jun, 2002)
The persecution of "witches" was really a war on sacred plants that continues today.

During Europe's dark ages, pagan herbalists and witches – mostly women – used cannabis in their ointments and cures. During a time when illness was equated with evil, these pagans attracted a devout following for their miraculous healing lore. The Catholic Church, threatened by the resurgence of ancient religions and by forms of medicine that challenged their exclusive right to perform healings, gruesomely tortured these women to extract confessions of supposedly satanic allegiance, and then burned them to death in public forums.

Weedy witches

Around 1000 AD, in festivals celebrating the love goddess Ostara, Easter bunnies were killed and consumed during orgiastic pagan festivals that involved cannabis. Such are the findings of Dr Christian Rätsch, after studying libraries of ancient German texts. "[Ostara's] sacred animals, the hares, would be sacrificed and eaten in a communal meal…" he wrote in his book, Marijuana Medicine. "It [was] best washed down with a good hemp beer. Unfortunately, the Bacchanalian orgies that followed… fell victim to the Christian Liturgy."

The name of the Christian holiday "Easter" is derived from the name of the Goddess Ostara, whose popular festival was celebrated in the Spring at the same time as Easter today. Christians feeding their children chocolate rabbits at Easter might be horrified to know that the Easter Bunny is really the Ostara Hare – that they are feeding their children the placebo sacrament of a heathen cult that used cannabis.

In fact, cannabis was a common feature of pagan fertility celebrations in the first 1000 years AD. Like Ostara, the love goddesses Freya and Venus were also often worshipped with cannabis offerings.

Cannabis was one of the many psychedelic ingredients in the legendary flying ointment of medieval witches, which was known to induce visions. The ingredients were heated in oil, which was then applied to a broomstick and inserted into the vagina during a masturbatory ritual.1 Gallic druids (Holy men of the Gauls) also used cannabis to get high.

Pagan healers, mostly wise women, used cannabis for a number of medicinal benefits. Curiously, some of the earliest evidence of medical-cannabis using pagans comes from the writings of famous Catholic nun and herbalist Hildegard von Bingen of Germany (1098-1179). Hildegard's self-education included ancient Greek medicine and local pagan folk remedies. From her education with pagan wise women, she learned of cannabis' healing powers. In her famous work Physia, in an entry titled "Of Hemp", she writes that "hemp is warm… it is wholesome for healthy people to eat… it can be easily digested, and it diminishes the bad humours and makes the good humours strong."

Curiously, Hildegard also wrote poetry to the "Green Power," and had strong visions, similar to Joan of Arc, who was accused of using the psychedelic mandrake plant and then burned as a witch. Hildegard von Bingen's unprecedented influence on the early German pharmacopoeia ensured that cannabis remedies would eventually become common across Europe – especially as the terrors of the Black Death crept up from European sewers and into the homes of millions, making the purveyors of mainstream medicine seem like helpless fools.

Read the rest of the article here :

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2309.html
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[Ferre]

Witch hunts and the war on weed
by Reverend Damuzi (20 Jun, 2002)
The persecution of "witches" was really a war on sacred plants that continues today.

During Europe's dark ages, pagan herbalists and witches – mostly women – used cannabis in their ointments and cures. During a time when illness was equated with evil, these pagans attracted a devout following for their miraculous healing lore. The Catholic Church, threatened by the resurgence of ancient religions and by forms of medicine that challenged their exclusive right to perform healings, gruesomely tortured these women to extract confessions of supposedly satanic allegiance, and then burned them to death in public forums.

Weedy witches

Around 1000 AD, in festivals celebrating the love goddess Ostara, Easter bunnies were killed and consumed during orgiastic pagan festivals that involved cannabis. Such are the findings of Dr Christian Rätsch, after studying libraries of ancient German texts. "[Ostara's] sacred animals, the hares, would be sacrificed and eaten in a communal meal…" he wrote in his book, Marijuana Medicine. "It [was] best washed down with a good hemp beer. Unfortunately, the Bacchanalian orgies that followed… fell victim to the Christian Liturgy."

The name of the Christian holiday "Easter" is derived from the name of the Goddess Ostara, whose popular festival was celebrated in the Spring at the same time as Easter today. Christians feeding their children chocolate rabbits at Easter might be horrified to know that the Easter Bunny is really the Ostara Hare – that they are feeding their children the placebo sacrament of a heathen cult that used cannabis.

In fact, cannabis was a common feature of pagan fertility celebrations in the first 1000 years AD. Like Ostara, the love goddesses Freya and Venus were also often worshipped with cannabis offerings.

Cannabis was one of the many psychedelic ingredients in the legendary flying ointment of medieval witches, which was known to induce visions. The ingredients were heated in oil, which was then applied to a broomstick and inserted into the vagina during a masturbatory ritual.1 Gallic druids (Holy men of the Gauls) also used cannabis to get high.

Pagan healers, mostly wise women, used cannabis for a number of medicinal benefits. Curiously, some of the earliest evidence of medical-cannabis using pagans comes from the writings of famous Catholic nun and herbalist Hildegard von Bingen of Germany (1098-1179). Hildegard's self-education included ancient Greek medicine and local pagan folk remedies. From her education with pagan wise women, she learned of cannabis' healing powers. In her famous work Physia, in an entry titled "Of Hemp", she writes that "hemp is warm… it is wholesome for healthy people to eat… it can be easily digested, and it diminishes the bad humours and makes the good humours strong."

Curiously, Hildegard also wrote poetry to the "Green Power," and had strong visions, similar to Joan of Arc, who was accused of using the psychedelic mandrake plant and then burned as a witch. Hildegard von Bingen's unprecedented influence on the early German pharmacopoeia ensured that cannabis remedies would eventually become common across Europe – especially as the terrors of the Black Death crept up from European sewers and into the homes of millions, making the purveyors of mainstream medicine seem like helpless fools.

Read the rest of the article here :

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2309.html
_________________
█ Please read the Board Rules and Posting, and you
█ Radio Free Amsterdam
People who know truth, speak truth.
Those who don't, quote scriptures.

[Echo]

I have to confess I had no idea cannabis was used by the witches. This is a curious fact. Interesting.

Echo
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[viper]

I did not know of Hildegard von Bingen.

But I do now .....
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Never Trust A Hippie !

www.viperslair.co.uk

[viper]

I did not know of Hildegard von Bingen.

But I do now .....
_________________
Never Trust A Hippie !

www.viperslair.co.uk

[Lilli]

he he at 48 sliding quickly to 49 bro thats one thing I learned ...Ive never stopped learning.
You know I walk closely with the Lord and have been looked upon as a heathen for my cannabis use from churches.

[indicaspice]

wow you learn something new everyday!
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What worries you masters you.

Haddon W. Robinson

[Rev. Chazman]

Good post. I had read that some time ago and forgotten it. Im glad you reminded me of it.

Peace
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I praise good thoughts, good words, and good deeds and those that are to be thought, spoken, and done. I do accept all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. I do renounce all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds. ---Avesta: Yasna
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