Cannabis Magick (Kieu's Version)
5 in depth strategies for incorporating cannabis for personal, spiritual, and professional magick that'll shift things for 4/20 and beyond.
Happy 4/20 on this Thor’s day in April. Throughout my time as a post-Pentecostal pagan witch/spiritualist, I’ve used cannabis as a magickal tool to aid my personal and profesh life.
First tho I wanted to share the excitement of my new service menu! My books are open! It’s taken me some time to really be happy with what I want to offer, how it will affect me as a person doing the things, and how I want to help others.
I’ve got sessions that cover planning for the professional quarter; coming up with a refresh or rebrand of your biz; and finding the “secret sauce” that makes magick for business and biz owners. There are three tiers of prices that are a lot more affordable than they have been even before using the discount. I really want to serve those developing small businesses; personal brands; and those in situations where a giant corporate company (at corporate prices) just aren’t viable.
If you’d like to learn more:
NOW FOR THE CANNABIS MAGICK!
As a person who uses cannabis for fun and medical purposes, I’ve had my share of complicated feelings about it. My very Christian upbringing instilled this taboo, “oh my gosh that’s ‘low class’”, “bums smoke weed” type of ideas into my everyday experiences. I also grew up with a Scorpio mother, who would mistake my depression; teenage need for extra sleep; and severe seasonal allergies as being “hooked on dope.” To this day I insist to her that I didn’t try any type of cannabis until I was out of high school. Something she’s still doubtful of today.
As I grew older and got over the rebellion of cannabis-to get down to actually using it intentionally-I found so much value not just in the psychoactive effects of the plant, but in the history/science/culture too. I’ve learned and unlearned a lot that has really re-shaped the way I see, experience, and interact with the world and the people in it. It’s allowed me also to connect and heal many parts of myself that I could not have if I ignored the benefits of cannabis.
So with all that in mind, I would like to offer five of the general ways I work with oui’d (my favorite new spelling) in a magickal and intentional way:
I put it on my altar. Sometimes it stays there, and others it ends up being used for various purposes.
For Inspiration: When I get back from a trip to the dispensary, I often put a nug on my money altar. I intuitively pick one, put it in a special container (it’s a Lego mushroom house) and ask for my guides, my body, and the plant itself for inspiration about what to offer in my business; what to get rid of; perspective about what’s going on in general.
Honoring my ancestors and my body with a break: My ancestors (and me for that matter), haven’t had a large history of the ability to leisurely take breaks, and live in the moment. I often dedicate a bowl or an edible to my ancestors and my own body. I usually follow this with a nourishing meal, or some stretchin’.
Crystal grid: I will sometimes use crystals, sigils, objects, etc. on my altar to make arrangements or grids for specific energetic purposes. If I have a strain of flower in my house that I think corresponds to the energetic goal, I will incorporate it in the design. I usually check Leafly for the characteristics, location, and conditions of a strain to figure out what energies it carries. Many strains also have associations with planets already! Or you can check out sources that do Astro-Cannabis predictions (like the article by Tai in the new issue of $HMEDIUM
As an offering: As a Vietnamese babe with an Irish partner, and some Irish ancestors, the fae are all up in my house. I love dead people so count them in. Plus, the gods and guides my partner and I both work with. Offering them edibles or a bit of flower alone (or mixed with herbs) has always been beneficial for us. We even use it as a way to call in gods or energies associated with hemp/cannabis, harvest, creativity, science, exploration into our space.
With your Tools
Sigils are great when drawn physically or with hand motions over/on whatever pipe, bong, fruit, lighter is part of your tool kit. This includes any baking/cooking stuff you use if you prefer to eat your oui’d.
To open spaces it can be used pre-session, ritual, or circle to help ground or increase ability to receive, notice or understand psychic messages/energetic shifts.
Dedicate Lighter, Piece or Grinder to Fire Gods or Weed Gods. This can be done via sigils like I said above, or I will also just generally do a “pour one out for the homies” type situation. Some gods great for this:
Loki - god of FIRE! Lightning, alchemy. My patron deity also tends to bring a lot of messages via weird baked research worm holes and memes. Or media. I recommend letting yourself intuitively pick a movie or show, and be ready for him to literally speak through the screen.
Magu/Ma Ku - Chinese Taoist goddess of hemp! Often times looked to by the female Wu Shamans of Daoism to call down the gods, ask for divine wisdom, cleanse/exorcize spaces or people, and predict fortunes.
Seshat - Egyptian goddess of hemp and cannabis. Seshat is great to work with for protection, death work, science/research, magick, and alchemy. She’s even got a lil’ cannabis leaf on her head. I live. Good for her.
Thoth - Egyptian god of scribes, wisdom, record keeping, astronomy/astrology, mediation. Thoth would be great as a guide through alternate lifetimes (other people call them “past lives”); researching history/culture or science of cannabis; recording observations of self, etc.
Bong water can be blessed, switched out for moon water, or even be tea! Explore the energetic changes in thought, energy, and body. Usually the rule for tea is “if you can make a tea out of it, you can smoke it”. Obviously I’m trusting us all to not accidentally poison ourselves.
Some smoking pieces are made with gemstones, crystals, minerals embedded in them. Fancy people with more than one can pick a piece for whatever their energetic intention is.
Bong water can actually be charged/infused with crystals! Again, do your research and don’t poison yourself.
Combine with Herbs: Throughout history, cannabis has been used alongside other plant friends for medicine, food, and magick.
For spells or magickal mixes (like salts, scrubs, potions), research properties of herbs and ingredients that plan well with the tones/tastes of specific strains.
In food we can either add cannabis and herbs as part of your own edible making journey, as many herbs affect the body in ways that are noticeable but not psychoactive.
I love a good old fashioned smoke sesh, and adding herbs to my bowls, joints, or blunts is very common for me. It extends my supply, and I love an economic decision. This also helps me understand and adjust to my tolerance, or wanted level of “high”. It can taste great too. Some of my favorite bud buddies are:
Lavender - for calm, creativity, nervous system regulation, to help sleep or dream magick
Rose - love magick, sensuality, embracing personal creativity, self love, muscle relaxation magick and moods
Mint - fresh inspiration, energy and mood lifting, sharp thinking, mental activity, joy
Mullein - an expectorant to help clear lungs, truth telling, throat chakra unblocking, uncovering information, clearing energy
Dill - good luck, grounding, money making, stability, protection of home
Get into the history!
Whether you’re a sober, canna-curious, or a stoner baddie: everyone can benefit from a little context on cannabis. It’s part of our culture now, even though not everyone on earth is thrilled about it. As someone who is a fan of cannabis, and consumer of the cannabis industry, I feel like it’s a community responsibility to know a little for our own decision making; ability to educate others if we want to; and be more armed against misinformation.In spirituality: Cannabis has been used as a spiritual tool for as long as spirituality and cannabis have existed. It’s first seen on record in Africa and Asia as part of spells, trace work, divination, funeral rites, and holy day celebrations to name a few. In my ancestral Chinese culture, female Wu Shamans used cannabis in tandem with TCM, Lao Tzu’s energetic body model work, and channeled script writing.
Here’s a PDF that I often send to my coaching and session clients who want to know more. Cannabis in China, India, and Tibet by MIA TOUW from the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Vol. 13(1) Jan-Mar, 1981
As a medicine cannabis has a lot of benefits when used internally, and topically. THC, CBN, CBG, and CBD are all recent complexes found in cannabis that have healing or pain management effects.
As a science the chemical makeup, process of growth, extraction methods, etc. are all really interesting. I’m not a giant science nerd when we get deep into chemistry, but if you enjoy that info, it can help you with your magic by allowing a chemical understanding of what you’re working with. You can choose a stage of growth/extraction or form of the product (flower, wax, shatter, etc.) to work with for your needs magick wise or medically.
Culturally it is really helpful to know the history-especially if you work with communities that have histories with cannabis or hemp in any context. For Example:
Cannabis is a controversial figure in the commercial and crime spheres of philosophy, medicine, mental health, and legislature. Informing ourselves on how this can affect not just us individually, but the communities around us that we aren’t part of helps us serve them better.
Understanding cannabis as a propaganda tool against non-white communities and populations is integral to social, economic, and cultural growth. Notice how I haven’t used the word “Marijuana” at all? There’s a reason for that. In the 1930’s, “marijuana” as a word was used to demonize immigrant Mexican populations. Similar to MSG being used to demonize Chinese immigrants-except nobody went to jail for using MSG. The use of the word marijuana is one example of a societal occurrence that influenced politics and policy.
It’s a data proven fact that more Black and Brown people are incarcerated, or somehow penalized by the legal system in proportionately larger numbers than lighter complexioned, white-passing individuals. Many of us (including myself) find a lot of privilege in the ability to partake, consume, and even create content around a plant that has also been weaponized against so many. We have to use that privilege for good, not evil.
Use for Divination!
I’m known partly for my love of Alt. Div., or Alternative Divination. I’ve taught classes on the concept, and also the different tools that can be used within it. Examples on including oui’d:Astrology! Besides the way we used astrology in this month’s zine issue, we can also incorporate astrology into our cannabis use by linking up correspondences of planetary hours; birth dates or other big milestones; or with comparing what you’ve been drawn to strain wise, with the astrology of the current moment.
Randomized Divination can be used via shuffling lists of strains/product types if your dispensary has an online menu. For example: if you close your eyes and land on a preroll of an indica, you’re probably being called to slow down, and savor the moment without distractions; or maybe tap into creativity and complete a project you started. Why? Indica is generally strains that can slow us down, make us lethargic, and also a lot more body feeling-y. Pre-rolls can be put out and picked back up later, but you lose oui’d and to rush is not the point of a pre-roll-which should be smoked in one setting, and savored.
Ask your guides or gods for a tarot card, song, number, rune, whatever that represents a strain and product to use for whatever your intention is. If I ask Loki for a card, and get The Empress, I would look for an edible that opens me up to receiving, indulging, sensory experiences, and self nurturing. I’d pair it with a manifestation ritual, or an energy restoring one that involves a bath/food/pampering.
The above option can be reversed as well, to ask for activities to go with a strain and product you’ve been intuitively drawn to. I can ask Thoth for a song that might inspire a ritual that goes with U.F.O.G (my current favorite strain by Old Pal. If I shuffle my usual seven times to get “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC, then I know I’m meant to look at my own destructive patterns or “fears of where I’ll end up.” Probably a good idea to do that in a high energy way, or seeing patterns in work, personal, admin, spiritual things that make me mad.
What I’ve gone through today is definitely not end of where to incorporate our favorite green plant ally. It’s just the ways I’ve uncovered in my own journey-which I am still on.
I hope you enjoy your day, and bring some magick into your lifted or shifted states.
(If you’re seeing this on actual April 20th, 2023)
XOXO
Kieu