When I began smoking marijuana I found the experience unexplainably mystical and found it to be a very effective shamanic tool. I felt like with each sacrament came a certain divine knowledge, kind of like two hours of being intoxicated by the Forbidden Fruit. I felt like for a couple of hours I could become a part of god. And I was able to get this kind of experience despite the fact nobody else I knew who smoked it saw it as I did. Somewhere along the way though, this feeling faded. Now marijuana is a ticket to better tastes, better sounds, and a dream like atmosphere as it was before, but now it is hardly shamanic at all. I'm not sure why this change took place. Maybe because I began smoking more often? Maybe the difference is completely in my head and my approach to the plant? Has anybody here felt like pot was a shamanic tool? Does anybody feel that way right now? Has anybody here made a shift either way? Is it possible for me to get back to the spiritual aspect or have I learned all I can from marijuana and should more closely consider the next psychedellic step? (By the way, the sense of euphoria has become less consistent. Whats up? Just a tolerance thing?)
I know this will be hard but trying quitting for a month and then start up again. 1 month is the amount of time it takes for it to completely clear out of your system. Then when you smoke it should be as similar as it can be to the first time you smoked. It won't quite be like it was before because you will know what to expect. Half the fun of the first time is that its something you've never felt before. You won't ever get that back.
Well, I guess since marijuana is a "gateway drug" it's time for you to move on to harder drugs like heroin... jk I find that my experiences w/ marijuana go in cycles. It's like one month I'll write good music while high, the next month I'll be in an energetic mood and want to play frisbee or something while high, the next month I'll be all spiritual and shamatic and whatnot, and the next month for some reason it seems I can barely get high after smoking 3 joints. You can either keep smoking and go through cycles like theese or quit for a while and start over, I guess. I smoke myself in and out of the phases of my life. Marijuana and my guitar seem to be the only constants in my life. But of course that's just the way I live.
It's purely in your head. You've mearly just stopped listening to your inner voice. Find it again. Next time you smoke try not to think about anything at all. Until somone speaks to you.
i know exactly what you mean man. a couple days after my first shroom trip in almost a year, i smoked pot waking up saturday morning, and sunday morning, and had AMAAAAAAZING days filled with so many amazing thoughts constantly flowing through my brain, the ENTIR day, and just getting veryyyyy closer than usual to my spirit and pure, deep down in there if you know what i mean. i wake and baked the next day as well and the same thing followed, another mind blowing day filled with beauty. i waited one week to wake and bake saturday again, and while i had some amazing thoughts, it was not remotely similar to my last experiences, and slowly but surely, these amazing experiences faded, and now i just get stoned, like you described. i've thought of places to look to have similar experiences happen, but i could not think of any possible instructions to get to that place. though i wish it were that easy, and i could just say hocus pocus and voila, im in the zone. its hard work i guess, but the spirit is an amazing place, paradise if there ever was one, my definition of paradise anyway. shine on in love and light.
Once a mystical experience happens all the time it's not a shock anymore. I'll take your example. You felt like you were part of God. Do you think God feels like "OH MY GOD, I CANT BELIEVE I'M GOD. OMG. HOLY SHIT. IM ACTUALLY GOD. THIS FEELS STUPENDOUS!@#@!#" every single day? No, he's used to it. But still, he's God. Just because you've become accustomed to your new reality doesn't mean you should take it as any less special.
Well, I'd say you might be using it too much, if your main goal is to use it shamanisticly. You don't see shamans all tripped out on shrooms and stuff 24/7, do you? They use these things occasionally to help them along, but also meditate, chant, etc. If they just depended on the plants, they'd just move from spiritual to fun. not that spirituality shouldn't be fun, but if you just use weed to have fun, it loses it's significance. I sorta know how you feel, it's not quite like it used to be for me. When I first started it was so powerful an experience every time, but it's slowly turned into something to do when I'm bored or feeling down. I think it's half mindset (reason you're using it) and how often you use it...and partially what you do when stoned. Something I'm going to try next time I smoke is just to meditate. Usually I sit and listen to music, go on amazing mind-trips, eat and savor the enhanced taste...but I too want to get back to using it as a "shamanic tool" as you put it. I think if I meditate with it, and enter into it with the idea of getting in touch with something deeper, it will work. Also, I'm going to stop using it when I'm bored or depressed, because that's gotta be having an effect. Spirituality should just be some time-filler when you're bored, and weed is too special to just be a mood enhancer. That's just my opinion though.
Like most others have said, my experiences from marijuana go in cycles... one week it'll put me in a zone for music or video games, another week it'll make me feel all energized and make me wanna go out and hike or play frisbee golf and another week it'll make me deep and think very clear and ponder different deep questions in life. Guess it just all depends on what type of mood and mindset you're in when you smoke.
yeh its not as special, for me it is part of my lifestyle now. half the day spent sober, half the day spent stoned, more or less. while i wont deny that it is doing my mind harm in the longer run, when i get stoned its always good, even if there isnt always the element of mind. at the moment, lately, ive jsut wanted to sit around and chill to technology. but not too long ago i wanted to go on walks to the park and ponder. and other times i want to be artistic with music or art. its interesting that so many people have this sort of cycle thing going. though i dunno if its a cycle really, because its not like they follow a repeating patturn?
marijuana can be a good shamanic tool, but smoking too much tends to make life too cloudy (at least for me) so i much preffer the psychedelic expirience
As with any ally, it would be wise to take a real inventory of it's uses. I think that perhaps it's a wise idea to look at the use of such things in the shamanistic way. Most shamans do not engage in the use of the substance. "They are holy men" as quoted from someone hanging out here. In that respect perhaps it may be wise to drop it for a bit and see what it means to walk with a foot in two worlds for awhile, sans the influence of any external 'motivation'. If indeed you have the shamanistic calling it will come someday full throttle without any outside influence. Peace.
thats like the complete opposite of what happened to me. when i first started smoking, it was just to relax with friends and have fun, but now its a spiritual thing and i usually smoke alone...except for at the moment because i told my parents i smoked...i would just go with what the others said and quit for a few weeks, or smoke less often and only when your in the right mood
the trick is dude, to find some freinds that share the same ammount of passion for the herb as you do......and make sure you can get some good, affordable bud, that is always important too. We have traditions and ethics everytime me and my buds get together to toke and we've met poeple (hippies mostly) that share an awsome passion for the herb like us. It's all about being happy, fuck the parents and the bullshit out there, and the goverment because deepdown you know that you enjoy the lifestyle, and have the freedom to do it. smoke early smoke often smoker for Life.
